Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Picture Post

My little boy is 6 years old! He's in first grade this year! Where has the time gone????

Opening some Indian figurines from Gresham. This was a surprise to Gresham too. I didn't tell him what he got Aidan, because I knew he would tell. Andy, do you remember telling me exactly what I was getting when I turned 6? Little brothers are good at that. Soon, Gresham will be old enough to pick out his own gifts for people and appreciate the surprise. Maybe.


Wow! It's the nerf gun I wanted!

Here is Mr. Fix-it with his tools. He rigged up this set-up himself. We actually used to do this with our little tikes car to get under it and fix it, but now that car is an outside toy.


My baby Owen is two months old already!!! He is almost sleeping through the night - he sleeps from about 9:30 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. now, and goes right back to bed without keeping us up for two hours. It sure is nice to feel like I've had a decent night's sleep!


I call this picture Pretzel Legs.



Funny

Gresham: Where is Dad?
Mom: He's at a job fair.
Gresham: OHHH! Does it have one of those round and round things? (Moving chubby arm like a ferris wheel)
Mom: You mean a ferris wheel?
Gresham: Yeah!

I can just picture him imagining Dad having lots of fun riding rides at the job fair!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Lord Abundantly Provides

So, I haven't posted about this on the blog yet, but Jordan lost his job right after Owen was born. Whenever I say that, people then ask if his employer was cutting back because of the economy, and I have to say no, he was fired. It was his fault, and he has learned from his mistake and is moving on. Needless to say, this has made our summer more exciting!

Jordan has a new job starting on August 24. He is actually hoping to find a better position before then, but if he can't find anything else, at least we know he has a job starting Aug. 24. He has also been getting unemployment, which helps.

Although this trial has not been fun, we have seen the Lord work in ways that we would not if life was easy! Just one example...

Aidan turned 6 on Wednesday. He didn't have much of a birthday list this time, and we were having a hard time figuring out what to get him that wouldn't cost much and that he would actually play with. (Now that he is older, it seems like all the toys are ugly action figures or video games...) He wanted a nerf gun that shoots a whole bunch of darts at one time. His friend has one, and he played with it at his house. I couldn't find the nerf gun, and couldn't come up with anything else to get him. I did buy a basketball because I knew he wanted one of those. The night before his birthday, Jordan ran out to Target to get wrapping paper and decided to scan the clearance racks in the toy dept. just in case. He found the exact nerf gun that Aidan wanted marked down 30% off! I told Aidan that I wanted him to know that the Lord provided that nerf gun for him. Aidan seemed to really get it and said, "Yeah, He made Dad go to Target at just the right time to find that gun!"

I have been reading the book of Deuteronomy. The setting of Deuteronomy is Moses addressing the nation of Israel just before they enter the land promised to them. They have just finished wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, which was punishment for their disobedience. God humbled the people during the 40 years in which they wandered - it says in Deut. 8:3 "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord."

If God can speak food into existence, then surely he can take care of us during this difficult time. He provided for the Israelites out of His great mercy despite their sin against Him, and He will provide for us. Food may sustain us, but God is the one who provides the food. We are in a place of being humbled - of realizing that God is the one who gives the ability to make wealth.

May God alone be praised!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Gresham

Because we are homeschooling Aidan, Gresham has picked up a lot of "school talk." Yesterday, Gresham and I did an alphabet train puzzle. I haven't really worked with him on letters much, but he knows what letters are and that we put them together to make words because of listening to Aidan's school. This puzzle has a letter and a picture of something that starts with that letter on each piece.

Mom: Gresham, do you know what letter this is?
Gresham: Yes. I do.
Mom: What is it?
Gresham: I don't know (very typical Gresham conversation)
Mom: It's an A. What does A say?
Gresham: I don't know.
Mom: It says "a"
Gresham: Oh, A says "a" and A spells with apple. N spells with nuts...

Today we got home from church, and I was changing him before his nap...

Mom: Gresh, I will buy you anything you want if you will stop pooping in your diaper.
Gresham: Ok, how about M & M's?
Mom: Works for me!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Owen at 8 weeks (a day early!)

He is looking and acting much more like a baby now, and less like a newborn, but he still sometimes curls up in a newborn pose!

Gresham is trying to look like Owen. Note the size differential... it's amazing how much growth takes place between 2 months and 2 years! Just the difference in feet makes me laugh!


This was the first time I have seen him hold his head up this high! He also rolled over in his crib this afternoon. I heard him fussing and went in and found him on his back!
These 8 weeks have flown by... I can't believe he will be 2 months old in a week. He is such a cute baby and loves to cuddle. He is smiling at us now and making lots of cute cooing noises. And the nights are going better... he now goes back to sleep after he eats, which is enabling his parents to be much more sane!
Owen, we are so thankful to God for giving you to us. You are a precious gift and we love you!

Cow Appreciation Day


Since we love Chic-fil-a and we love free food, we were sure to dress up as cows for Cow Appreciation Day!
We recycled our costumes from last year, but added the sign for Aidan. Aidan had bronchitis last week, so we weren't sure if we were going to be able to go to CFA or not, otherwise Jordan and I would have dressed up too! Next year for sure...

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Brothers


I took these cute pictures of the boys in their matching flag shirts, but they came out fuzzy with my camera... We'll have to try again. It was too bad, because it's hard to get all 3 of them to look this cute at the same time!

Monday, July 6, 2009

7 Weeks


Finally today, at 7 weeks old, Owen is looking at us and smiling! We love it! It makes all those late nights worth it... or I should say, middle of the nights... Owen goes to bed fine at 9:30 or 10:00 when we go to bed, but then wants to be up forever during his nighttime feeding. It's getting a little old, but this shall pass! Someday! I know it will...

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Swagbucks

Have any of you signed up for swagbucks? If not, you should! Swagbucks is a online program where you earn "swagbucks" for doing searches. You sign up for free, download the swagbucks searchbar, and then use the swagbucks searchbar instead of google or whatever else you would use. It is very easy to get started, and does not require any technical knowledge... As you search, you will randomly be awarded 1-5 swagbucks.

Your swagbucks can be redeemed for giftcards and other prizes. One of the best options is to redeem for Amazon.com giftcards. 45 swagbucks will earn you a $5 giftcard. If you get people to sign up under you, then you earn your swagbucks plus any that your friends earn (but they get theirs too).

So if you use me as a referral, I will earn swagbucks faster, which will help us earn giftcards to buy homeschool books or other things that we need!

Here is the link:

http://swagbucks.com/refer/SarahDees

When you sign up, you get 3 swagbucks to get started with!