This And That and a Birthday, Too

Today is Ron's birthday. We're going to wait and celebrate with cake when he gets back from his business trip. Typically the kids decorate the house to surprise him, but that was difficult because Ron was home all day. So, we really didn't do much. The kids enjoyed giving Ron the gifts they picked out for him. They are doing much better picking out things they think he'll like or need rather than things they want him to have. I always enjoy listening to the kids excitedly explain to the cashier what all the goodies are for, too. We went to Hoggy's for dinner tonight and had a very nice time.






(Please ignore Tyler's snaggletooth. Boy I wish that thing would fall out!!)

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Our yard was inflitrated by dozens of robins for a short while this morning. (Although this robin was in our neighbor's yard.) I've always thought they were a sign that spring is coming. Spring seems far off on a 20 degree day in January, but the hope of spring makes me happy. The sunshine today helped, too. And...I think it's mulch, not poop.

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I love library day.

This and That

Tonight's devotional with Tyler was from one of my favorite Psalms:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who love him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Psalms 103:8-12

I especially like "he does not treat us as our sins deserve". Phew, right?! He loves us. He forgives us. He doesn't hold a grudge, and thankfully we don't get what we deserve. I like being reminded of that, and I think David said it beautifully. Our reading tonight, though, went on to verse 14, and that's the one that spoke to me tonight. Vs 14 says "for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust."


I feel like I constantly struggle to understand how my kids work. What motivates them to make the decisions they make? Why do they respond this way instead of that way? Why do they struggle with X and excel with Y? And because I don't always understand them, I'm sure I punish them for things I should instead be explaining, discussing, or maybe even ignoring. And I'm sure at those times, they are painfully aware that I don't understand them. Honestly, I don't always understand why I act or react the way I do. What I like about vs 14 is that it speaks directly to this. God knows how we are formed - He understands what makes us tick, what our thought processes are and what our intentions are. He understands that we are weak, fallen humans. He "gets" me, and He takes all that into consideration when He looks at me. It's nice to be understood...and accepted anyway.

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As most everyone knows, my Great-Aunt Mary passed away this morning. Danielle and I had planned to go see her this morning, but she was gone before we got there. Despite being sad for our loss, I am excited for her. By the time my mom called at 6:30 this morning, my aunt had already met Jesus FACE TO FACE!! All of Heaven, including her brother and sister and mom and dad, had already welcomed her home! How cool is that? Rather than sitting in her room at the nursing home today, she got to sit at the feet of God. As much as I would have liked to see her once more, I'm glad she didn't wait for us to get started on eternity.

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Danielle and I visited my mom & stepdad instead today. We had a good visit. While I was there, I took these pictures of a squirrel on their deck. In case you're wondering, he's eating a dorito. Apparently they like nacho cheesey goodness, too. I used to think squirrels were kind of cute, until I got this close up picture of him. Personally, I think his face is a little creepy.

8 Year Old (Boy) Theology

While doing devotions with Tyler tonight, we read John 14:1-6. Verse 6 was also one of the verses he was supposed to memorize for AWANA last week. It says:

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

We discussed this verse before AWANA, and I wanted to be sure he remembered what it meant. After all, it's just a little (ok, a lot) important in the whole understanding of salvation and how you actually "get" it. Tyler was not feeling serious tonight, though, and after bursting into boisterous laughter, he explained that the only way to get to Heaven was for Jesus to eat you and then poop you out into Heaven. (Caleb might enjoy that interpretation.) I believe he was interpreting "through me" a little too literally. I also believe that God happily shared in Tyler's belly laugh tonight.

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With the kids gone at school (and not really very patient with me when they are here) and the dogs not prone to posing nicely (they'd rather lick my face), I'm kind of stuck taking pictures of the birds at our backyard feeder. My neighbors must think I'm nuts. The cardinals won't cooperate, but the sparrows don't mind. I've been working on adjusting the white balance and focusing manually rather than allowing the camera to do it automatically. Of course, if I would finish reading the super gigantic book Ron bought me to explain all the processes, I might able to do a little more. I also got some pictures of a nuthatch today. When I enlarged the picture to check the focus, I noticed that I caught him in the act of extracting some insect eggs from the tree. Kind of cool, in a gross sort of way.

Photo Sundries

A Heat Wave

We warmed up to a balmy 50 degrees today!! It was cloudy and overcast ALL day, but it was not freezing. That was good enough for us! The kids went out to play around 11, came in for lunch, and went back out until 5. It was so nice to get some fresh air!


























The kids finally had a chance to try out their new roller skates on a "slippery" surface, rather than the carpet in the playroom. There were arms and legs flailing everywhere (notice the knees) and lots of "umphs" for the first several minutes, but it got better. Sadly Tyler did not knock that dangling front tooth out, though. I was impressed with how long they stuck to it. Of course, they most enjoyed riding their bikes and scooters, even while wearing their winter coats and gloves.













I mentioned on my previous post that my goal is to blog more frequently but I don't always have anything to blog about. I ran across someone on FB who is posting a picture a day on their profile, just for something to do, I guess. I thought that sounded like a good idea for my blog. I don't know that I'll post every day, but maybe I'll just post a picture every couple days even if I don't have anything to say. That would give me an excuse to play w/my new camera more, too. We'll see...

Nothing Much to Say

One of my goals for the new year was to post more regularly, but I haven't been doing too well! The problem is that there's really nothing of any interest to blog about. For example, here are the "exciting" things that happened today:

Ron wasn't feeling well today but insisted on ordering a spicy tuna roll and a spicy salmon roll for lunch. He's been moaning ever since...and I have little sympathy.

Danielle wore a very pretty white shirt, red skirt, and white tights to school today because we assumed it would continue raining all day and she would have inside recess. She did not have inside recess... and she no longer has white tights.

The first excited sentence out of Tyler's mouth when he got home from school ended with "...and it looked like a pink slushy with chunks of cheese in it!"

I got 3 free pieces of chocolate at Godiva today...and no one else knows where I hid them.

See what I mean? Nothing exciting. I'm not complaining, but it doesn't give me much to blog about.

A Beautiful Morning

We woke up to a beautiful scene this morning. We have about 5" of snow on the ground, and it was foggy this morning. It looked as though the fog had frozen to everything it touched. I believe this is called hoarfrost. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the ground was snowy, and all the trees were white and sparkly. It was stunning.

I took a couple pictures at home and then went to the metropark after I dropped the kids off at school. I was the only soul there, except for the 5 or 6 deer that ran past me in the woods. It was simply gorgeous. Here are a few pictures, but they really don't do it justice. (I really need to figure out how to use my new camera better!!)

Pinewood Derby

Today was the big day - time to unveil Ron & Tyler's finished car and see how it raced!

The "secret" was the working flashing lights on top of the police car. The police car was Tyler's idea, and they decided together it should have lights. Ron did the circuitry himself (after consulting with an expert...thanks Dad R). It was powered by batteries and even had an on/off switch. The boys really just wanted to make a cool looking car. They weren't trying to make it fast. In fact, we kept reminding Tyler not to get his hopes up about winning any races. He seemed fine with that, until we got there and saw all those shiny trophies. Regardless of how cool his car was or what a good time he had with his dad, what kid wouldn't want one of those?!!

Tyler got the response he was looking for regarding his car's "coolness". When they pulled it out for the first race and turned the lights on, we could hear people on the bleachers commenting about it. Several of the kids thought his car was "sweet" and wanted to know how he did it. We even caught some dads checking it out after the races. We were happy for him. And that would have been enough. (BTW, no idea what he's doing w/his hand in this pic!)

What we didn't expect, though, was that his car wasn't the slowest! In fact, he won his first race and got to keep going! Suprisingly, he ended up winning 3rd place in his den and got one of those shiny trophies! He was SOOO excited. A real trophy from a real competition that he really earned...not just a participation trophy that everyone got. Pretty cool!

It was a very long afternoon/evening - we were there over 5 hours. You can see Tyler kind of wilt as the pictures go along. In between races, he was running around and playing with his friends. There was also food and punch served. So, by the time the trophies were awarded, he was sweaty and punch stained but he still looked happy. Dad looked pretty happy, too.

More Snow Fun

We got a good amount of snow today (for us). Many of the schools around us dismissed early, including ours. That made for a very fun afternoon!

The kids enjoyed playing outside in the snow. Our neighbor friends came over and the kids took turns sledding down the drive. Ron pushed them with his "sled launcher", as you can see in one of the pictures of Tyler. The kids had a lot of fun; there was a lot of laughter. We finished off our afternoon with hot chocolate and, later, a chili dinner at our neighbor's house. (Tyler declared her chili was much better than mine...as he ate his third bowl full.)We really had a good day.

Later this evening I peeked out the window at the snow. Instead of seeing beautiful, sparkly, pristine snow blanketing our yard, I saw lots of piles, footprints, and sled marks - all signs of a great day. That looked beautiful to me.

We're keeping our fingers crossed for a snow day tomorrow. Probably won't know until 5am, though.

This and That

Ron and Tyler are making good progress on their Pinewood Derby car. They are quite pleased with it. The race is Saturday afternoon.





Clara is almost 11 months old now. She looks so big, but she still acts very much like a puppy.









Thought these cardinals were pretty (3 in top pic, 2 in bottom), although I wish I could have gotten a little closer. I can't look at a cardinal without thinking of my grandma. It was her favorite bird. They are very pretty, especially against the white snow.