iphone pics

 Here are a few recent iphone pics I emailed to myself tonight just to show you.  I'm not savvy enough to know how to blog them from my phone, but every now and then I get a funny photo with my iphone when I'm not prepared with my camera.  Here are a couple:

Last week, the activity table at our Wednesday morning ECFE class was filled with sunflower seeds - there is a new medium every week.  Here is evidence to prove to you that N wears his hoodie sweatshirt as often as possible!  But the real reason this is funny is because M spent much of his playtime here, "making coffee" like Daddy!  The sunflower seeds look quite like the coffee beans he "helps" Daddy grind in the morning. 

Here's the funny one, above, where he fills the container with seeds, puts his hand over the top (the way Daddy holds the lid down) and makes a "whirrrrrrrrrrr!" sound just like the grinder!  The best part is when he brings me a cup full of beans and says, "here's your coffee!"  I love, love, love it.

 Last night, I made the boys have playtime in the playroom, but instead of running around doing housework (like normal) I stayed put on the futon.  I should - and will - do that more often, because even though I wasn't down on the floor playing with them, they would still come over to me from time to time and bring me a toy.  I suppose it's good practice for them, to be doing independent play while I'm in the room, like I will be this summer, nursing their brother.  M loves his matchbox cars and started driving one all over me, then on my belly, talking to baby brother.  It only lasted a few seconds, but I got a quick shot of him playing cars with baby brother, below.   For being such a serious baby, he's becoming a very sweet and caring little boy.

Above is the photo I took of the boys potty training today.  I thought it was adorable because I knew that one of them was working on a number two (sniff, sniff) and when I told them it was potty time, they both grabbed a book and ran to the bathroom.  They sat like this, waiting, for so long that I finally snapped a pic because it was so cute!  They are finally finally getting it!  This session lasted just about 10 minutes and resulted in two pee pee hits, so it was still successful.  When the time for the poo to come came, it happened fast!  M is making great strides and generally keeping clean and dry all day.  N is keeping dry all day when he's feeling well and trying really really hard to get that poo in the potty, which is also progress, since he wasn't really trying a week ago.

By the way, his fever has been gone since late afternoon yesterday.  I don't know what it was, but I suspect a mild ear infection was the culprit.  I'll never really know.

It's Friday night again - have a great weekend!

Hi, I'm still here

Sorry I haven't updated this week.  It's been one of those weeks where Hubs was out of town for most of it, I got a strange call from his grandpa who was getting a scam phone call but I didn't know that and made me wonder if Hubs was in serious trouble on the other side of the globe so I spent a good portion of the day trying to figure that out, the boys are waking up in the middle of the night crying hysterically, but I think we've narrowed it down to growing pains and not night terrors, and one of my dearest friends has been with her mother in the hospital for her mom's last days and had to say good bye last night, and all I did was drop off a lousy lasagna at her house. Not my best week, I guess.

Sometimes I just don't have much fun, sweet, adorable stuff at the front of my mind to tell you about, much less the time and energy to blog it, so I just don't write because all that stuff I just told you is crowding my thoughts out. But I guess I'm not keeping it real if I only tell you the cute and funny stuff.  Lousy stuff happens to me, too.

What keeps me going is Jesus.  He's the reason I get up in the morning, the reason I apologize to my two and a half year olds after I lose my temper with them, the reason I dropped off the lasagna in the first place and definitely went over my text message limit this month texting my friend (keeping her company) while she was with her mom.  Jesus knows that I'm doing my best to please Him, to love Him, to serve Him in my current assignment to stay at home with my kids and raise children who love Him, to love my husband and others with the same love Jesus shows me.

Did ANYTHING good happen this week?  Sure, it did.

I invited a new friend over to spend the afternoon with me and the boys.  She blessed me with treats and prayer to calm my nerves.

The boys are making great strides in learning their manners.  Grandmas, you'll be shocked to hear them say "please" and "thank you" next week! 

They are also able to say the whole alphabet and count to ten by themselves - most of the time. 

They are both asking to go pee pee in the potty more often - and actually going!  My mom's M&M method seems to be working.  It worked on me, right?

Another friend and I spent a day together with our four boys, and the BOYS PLAYED TOGETHER.  There were a few skirmishes about a certain fire engine, but, hey that's to be expected.  It was a cool fire engine.  They are making a lot of progress getting along with other kids; i.e. sharing.

Hubs made it home from his European business trip in record time, and with treats for us to boot.  He's such a wonderful man who works so hard for us.  I think he's just the bee's knees.

I tried my hand at homemade bread.  From scratch - no bread machine.  And guess what?  It was delicious.  The whole house smelled wonderful, and we ate most of a loaf for dinner.  Why have I never done that before? 

What's the lesson here?  I don't know.  IS there a lesson besides we need Jesus every day, no matter how spectacular or awful the day is?