All Things Work Together for Good

When we got in the car to go to church this morning, we discovered that our car was having major problems. It was still drivable, but the heater, radio, and basically everything else was disabled. So we drove to church in our frigid car and pulled into a parking spot, only to discover that the car would not turn off! Every time T tried to put the car in park, there was a horrible, loud grinding noise, and he couldn't pull the keys out, either. So the kids and I went into church, and some guys came over to help T. To make a long story short, T drove the car back home and pulled out some fuses to get the car to stop. So now we need to get the car towed and repaired.

BUT, the good thing is, it turns out that one of the men who helped T this morning is in charge of our church's moving team, which we didn't even know existed. So he said he'll put out the word and recruit some guys to help us move this Saturday!

Also, some kind friends from church are letting us borrow one of their cars until we can get ours fixed. They packed up their whole family and drove from their house, which is half an hour away, just to deliver the car to us tonight.

When I was a child, I heard stories about George Müller, the orphanage director who prayed fervently and trusted God to provide--and He did, in amazing ways. I wanted to be that close to God and have that kind of faith, but I didn't know how to go about it. In the almost-five years that T and I have been married, I've had to exercise a lot of faith in God's ability to take care of us. At first it was hard for me--very hard. I cried a lot during our first year together when T didn't have a steady job and we didn't even own a car. But every time a situation came up where I honestly didn't know how we were going to make it, God blessed us abundantly, often through our caring church family. And each time it became a little easier for me to trust God, because I felt a little closer to Him and I remembered what He had done for us in times past. I'm not saying I have faith anywhere near George Müller's, but I realized today that I'm truly not worried about this car situation or the expenses of our upcoming move, and that is a "God thing." He has changed me in the last five years. Strangely, I always feel closer to Him when life is not perfect and I'm more aware of my need for Him--not just for His provision, but for Him.

A Picture

Today when I was looking through old pictures trying to find the photos I took of our new house (we're moving in less than two weeks!), I ran across this one of Cupcake when she was seven months old. I miss the roly-poly, almost-bald Cupcake, but I'm delighted in the sweet, fun toddler she is now at a year-and-a-half.

 

Anyway, about the house, it is a small 3-bedroom house with only one bathroom, but it has front and back yards and a garage. The backyard has several raised garden beds, so I am looking forward to growing some of our own food this next spring and summer. There are also lots of flowers. I can't wait to see everything in full bloom! Now that we will have a house of our own and not be in quite such close proximity with the neighbors as we are now in our apartment, we are also considering a home birth for when our baby is born around July 4.

Keepin' It Real

Another household rule I never knew I would have to make:

"If you get pee on a tissue, don't put it back in the tissue box."

Best Buds

D.L.F. was still chattering away almost two hours after we put him in bed tonight, so finally I went in to check on him.

"I am playing my third game of Uno with Baseball Guy!" D.L.F. exclaimed proudly.

"Oh, you guys are playing Uno?" I said casually, trying to suppress a laugh.

D.L.F. pantomimed dealing out a few more cards and then said, "There! Now we're finished."

It's Real!

I heard the baby's heartbeat today. That makes this pregnancy seem so much more real. There really is a baby growing inside me! My midwife said it is almost certainly not twins, or my uterus would be bigger. I will probably have an ultrasound in about two more months, at which point we should be able to discover if Baby is a boy or girl.

Breakfast of Champions

D.L.F., while playing with a small toy motorcycle: "This motorcycle is not big yet."

"Oh," I said. "Is it going to grow?"

D.L.F. nodded.

"Do you have to feed it special motorcycle food to help it grow?" I asked.

"Yes," D.L.F. said.

"Oh. What kind of food do motorcycles like to eat to grow big and strong?"

D.L.F.: "I think...oatmeal."

---

I am starting a list of house rules that I never knew I would have to make until I heard myself saying them to my children. Today's is: "Don't chew on the toilet seat."

Nap Time Entertainment

I'm not sure if D.L.F. slept at all at nap time today, but at least he was happy and fairly quiet the whole time. When I came into his room to get him up, he had lined up all his stuffed animals and told me, "I read a story to all my friends and relations!"

Reiteration

::loud scream::

Me: "What's wrong, [D.L.F.]?"

D.L.F.: "[Cupcake] was doing something bad to me!"

Me: "What was she doing?"

D.L.F.: "She was not doing something good to me!"

Me: "What was she doing?"

D.L.F.: "She was trying to take a toy away from me."

3-Year-Old Insights

Living with a three-year-old is a lot of fun. So far today, D.L.F. has enlightened me with the following comments:

1) He was "making" Baseball Guy touch the computer monitor. D.L.F. said to me, "Mama, will you tell Baseball Guy to stop touching the screen?" I said, "Baseball Guy, sit down on the couch," to which D.L.F. quickly replied, "No, he doesn't have a bum!"

2) "Candy is kind of like beans, only it's candy."

3) And apparently, he remembers his Sunday school lesson from yesterday about Jesus being out in a boat during a storm, because while taking a bath, he started churning up the water and then said, "Peace, be still!"

Questions

Today the kids and I were taking a walk, and D.L.F. asked me, "What's that kind of truck?"

"That's a Chevrolet," I said. "Some people call it a Chevy."

"But I don't," D.L.F. said adamantly. "I say it the right way. What's the right way again, Mama?"

_______


D.L.F.: "Mama, why is sour cream white?"

Me: "Because it's made from milk, and milk is white."

D.L.F.: "Why is milk white?"

Me: "Uh...."

Fond of His Father

When we first told D.L.F. that there is a baby in my tummy, he asked, "What's its name?"

"Well, we don't know yet," I said, "Because we don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl."

The next day, D.L.F. was asking about the baby's name again, and I said, "Well, if it's a boy, we might name him _______."

"I don't like that name," D.L.F. said.

"Oh. Well, what boys' name do you like?" I asked.

He thought for a moment, then exclaimed, "PAPA!"

At Least He Asked

Words I never would have predicted would come out of my son's mouth: "Could I kick your hair?" (I was leaning over putting a diaper on him for nap time, and I guess my dangling hair looked tempting! My answer was no, by the way.)

An Announcement

On a Crisp Fall Morning

 

Cute Words

D.L.F. to Cupcake: "No, don't hug me, I'm happy already!"

One of Cupcake's first sentences, when we were on a walk yesterday: "Don't bark, dog!"

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Fun with Leaves

 

 

 

 

Kiddos

Here's Cupcake showing off her new "woolie," that is, wool diaper cover. I've made several woolies now using this pattern.

 

Here's D.L.F. typing on his keyboard. T popped off all the function keys, so basically all that's left are numbers, letters, and signs, so it's safe to let D.L.F. type away to his heart's content.

 

The Arrival of Fall

Okay, okay, what with the thunderstorms today and the cooler weather, I think I'm finally ready to acknowledge the arrival of fall. I had a little birthday money, so I decided to splurge on some fall pastry cutters from Williams-Sonoma. I figure I can use them for many years to come to make cookies and decorate pies. I tried the cutters out today and made some gluten-free cookies using coconut flour and almond meal.

 

Witty

D.L.F. got out of the car, and a minute later as we were walking toward our house I noticed water on the ground.

"How'd that get there?" I asked.

T said, "Did you take the lid off of your cup, Buddy?"

"No," D.L.F. said.

A minute later I looked back and saw that D.L.F. was taking sips of water from his cup and spitting them on the ground.

I told him, "Buddy, you can drink your water, but then you need to swallow it. Please don't spit it on the ground. That just wastes it."

D.L.F. continued to follow me toward the house. I glanced back and saw D.L.F. spit his water out again!

"Buddy," I said sternly. "Do you remember me telling you not to spit water on the ground?"

"I didn't spit water on the ground," he said innocently.

I was shocked, because D.L.F. has always been very truthful. I didn't recall him ever lying before.

"I just saw you spit it out," I said.

D.L.F. looked right at me and said in all sincerity, "I didn't spit it. I just opened my mouth and the water fell out!"

-----

This evening I was cooking dinner (D.L.F.'s favorite--tuna casserole). D.L.F. came into the kitchen with a sly grin and asked, "Mama, are you making tuna kitty cat-sserole?"

The Men in My Life

 

Today

 

 

Get a Chance

The other day D.L.F. asked me, "Mama, could you put an ice cube in my cup?"

"When I get a chance, Buddy," I replied.

One second later, he piped up again: "Mama, could you get a chance?"

Basket Boat

D.L.F. and Cupcake playing in a laundry basket full of cloth diapers (or "basket boat," as they call it).

Cute

 

Cupcake saw that Papa was resting on the couch, so she went to get her pillow and came back to snuggle with him.

 

Here is D.L.F. in his engineer hat. The other day I heard him making up a song about a balloon. This is what I remember of it:

Little balloon
Papa blew you
And you didn't pop
So I love you

3 Years Old

Happy third birthday to D.L.F.!

 

D.L.F. helped T put up streamers and balloons this morning, and then my parents took the kids for a while so T and I could take care of more party preparations. I baked a gluten-free coconut carrot cake based on this recipe, although I tweaked it by using a mix of brown rice and coconut flours, and adding extra eggs, some applesauce, and xanthan gum, and using honey and stevia in place of sugar. Oh, and using half butter and half coconut oil for the oil. With all those changes, I was really hoping the cake would turn out all right, and it did. It was moist and tasty. I frosted it with a cream cheese and maple syrup frosting. We had lasagna and salad for dinner.

 

The kids had a wonderful time with my parents and Uncle J, who kindly brought his guitar and played lots of fun songs. D.L.F. received lots of nice presents, including some new clothes, books, Duplos, and perhaps his favorite gift, his very own tricycle ("It's a motorcycle!" he gleefully exclaimed as T wheeled it down the hallway toward him). What is nice about the trike, since we live on a busy street and don't have a yard of our own, is that is folds up and is pretty light, so I can just hook it over the handlebars of the stroller when I walk the kids to the park, and D.L.F. can ride it there.

 

Oh yeah, this little imp was at the party, too:

 

A Few Everyday Moments I Want to Remember About My Kids' Toddler Years

-When they sit close together while watching a movie, sometimes they grab each other's hands and laugh uproariously as they shake their arms up and down together.

-If Cupcake sees Baseball Guy lying on the floor, she will pick him up and go in search of D.L.F. Then she will hand Baseball Guy over while gleefully exclaiming, "GUY!" D.L.F. usually says, "Thank you; that was very nice of you." Cupcake is very attached to her own lovey, Rosie, whom she usually also calls "Guy," although sometimes she'll say "Ro-ee."

-Cupcake knows she's not supposed to touch the dishwasher while I am loading and unloading dishes, so instead she'll walk into the kitchen, peer down at the opened dishwasher door, tell herself, "No-no!", walk out of the kitchen, then walk back into the kitchen and repeat over and over until she finds something more interesting to do.

And now I shall post two pictures of D.L.F. when he was a baby, for no good reason except that he was (and still is) so cute, and I love him.

 

 

Computer Clarification

Today I overheard D.L.F. telling Cupcake that she wasn't allowed to use the computer, because "it's only for grown-ups and Papa."

Excuse My Messy Chin...

...but I just finished a cookie (and I liked it).

 

Zonk

Just how we like 'em on long car rides:

 

 

Beach Trip with T's Parents

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from a trip to the beach a few weeks ago with T's parents. It was COLD and WINDY, which explains the funny expressions and windblown 'dos.

 

 

 

 

He's More Fun than a Barrel of Monkeys

More quotes from D.L.F.:

(As he patted the couch under him): "I am sitting on the Christian!" (he meant "cushion").

___

"The stroller stepped on my foot!"

___

Updated to add:

When we were driving home from vacation this past Saturday, there was one stretch with lots of tall trees on both sides of the road. T and I were commenting to each other how pretty the landscape was and describing the trees, and all of a sudden, D.L.F. piped up from the backseat: "TOILET-trees!" I guess he'd acquired some of our vacation-packing lingo and had been waiting for an opportunity to use it.

___

Whenever I am ready to get D.L.F. up, I stand outside his bedroom door and ask, "Is there a [D.L.F.] in there?" Usually, he simply says, "Yes." Today when I asked that question, however, he replied, "I hope so!"

And Another Quote

D.L.F. to Cupcake in the bath: "Don't touch the water, or you might get wet."

Quote from D.L.F.

"I don't like oats in my oatmeal."

Weekend Getaway

This past weekend, T and I left the kiddos with my parents and went camping! We took the kids camping with us last fall, but T and I had never camped by ourselves before.

We took off Friday afternoon and got to the campground around 4. We set up camp and T managed to make a fire, even with partly-wet wood. We roasted hot dogs over the fire and then drove to the beach, which was only a few minutes away by car. We walked along the beach and then sat and talked for a while. We headed back to the campsite and T went to sleep. I stayed up reading until midnight, because I'm overly noise-sensitive, and there were people talking and cars driving by until then. At that point, I attempted to sleep, but didn't end up dropping off until 2 AM...and then we were awakened around 6 AM by other campers getting up to start their day. The lack of sleep that night was the one part I didn't enjoy about our weekend away, but the rest of the time made up for it.

On Saturday, we browsed at a nearby outlet mall and bought a pair of work pants for T and a set of C.S. Lewis's letters to his friends and family that T is supposed to forget about, and I will give to him for his birthday in September. Then we had a quick lunch and went to see the movie "Up." I really liked it, but I was glad I brought a tissue...I bawled most of the way through. Then we hiked down to a different beach (where we sat and ate Subway sandwiches the night we got engaged 5 years ago...that was before I knew T had anything up his sleeve...actually, I didn't really suspect anything until T was practically pulling out the ring, but that's another story for another day). We each found a walking stick on the beach and used it to hike back up to our car. Then we drove a short distance to a state park and hiked out to the "rock" overlooking the ocean where T asked me to marry him. We didn't take any pictures this trip, but here's a picture of us hiking out to the rock the night we got engaged (apparently I had abandoned my walking stick at that point in favor of holding T's hand).

 

Then we drove back to a little side road where we parked and again hiked down to the beach and built a bonfire and sat and talked until way after dark. After that, we hiked back up to our car again and tossed our walking sticks in the bushes...and found the same sticks we had used the night we got engaged, still lying there in the bushes. I guess we're starting a collection. :-)

That night, we were so exhausted from miles of hiking that we slept much better and much longer. On Sunday, we packed up our things, went swimming in the campground's indoor pool, ate lunch at a seafood restaurant, and then headed home.

D.L.F. and Cupcake had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa (thanks, Mom and Dad!). They read lots of books and went to a park and a "sprayground." Here are a few pictures of their time together.

 

 

 

Isn't it cute how the kids are both snuggling their buddies in that last picture?

2 Pictures

Cupcake has discovered climbing, and she's pretty good at getting herself into awkward positions, but not so great yet about getting out of them. I had to snap this picture before I got her out of her predicament.

 

I got my hair cut short for the summer. I took this picture of myself, so it's not the greatest quality, but here it is.

 

Rose Garden

T is home sick, so I decided to get the kids out of the house so he could rest. We went to the Rose Garden. It was my first time there, even though I've lived in the area for six years. It was beautiful, but crowded, and there were so many stairs! Cupcake was in the stoller, so I had to carry the stroller up and down many different sections of stairs. I think there was supposed to be a ramp somewhere, but I never found it. D.L.F. did a great job of climbing all the stairs by himself. I didn't get many pictures, because it's hard to push a stroller and take care of two little kids and take pictures at the same time, but here are a few:

 

 

 

 

Ow!

I was in another room and overheard D.L.F. saying, "I am pulling your hair! Can you say, 'Ow!'?"

I thought he was talking to Cupcake, so I hurried in and was relieved to find that he was only pulling on the yellow yarn hair of Rosie, Cupcake's lovey (the feminine equivalent of Baseball Guy).

From His Perspective

Today D.L.F. was looking at the book Go Dog Go and saw a picture of a dog wearing roller skates. He said, "That dog has car sandals!"

Beach!

With the hot, muggy weather we've been experiencing, we've been itching to visit the beach for quite a while, and today we got our chance. D.L.F. remembered the beach from last year, and he was so excited when he figured out that's where we were going. It was such fun to get our city children out into God's creation where they could move and explore to their hearts' content.

When we got to the beach, I set Cupcake in the sand, and she was off! She practiced her gymnastics moves...



and checked out a big stick...


ate some sand...


and liked it so much she attempted to cover every square inch of her body with it.


D.L.F., on the other hand, mostly wanted to hang out with Papa...


and everyone played in the water.