Look, Mom! No training wheels!

Summertime!

Here I am, eating my favorite dessert - cream cream!

Mmmmmm, good.

And now, on to my favorite activity - mowing!

Aidan Singing

Last month, I took the kids to hear the Master's College Chorale at our church (Jordan was working...). Aidan watched intently for the entire 2 hour concert, and we enjoyed it so much that we bought the CD. We have been listening to the CD in the van when we are out, and I love the fact that the kids are learning such good words! Here is Aidan in a rare singing performance. He usually won't sing very loud if he is asked to sing. The noise at the end is Gresham asking for something... "mo mo mo" means "more."

OHHH Wow.

On Thursday I got my hair cut at Great Clips. I knew that it was a bad idea, but I just figured I could get it evened up a little, and only spend $14, and not have to drive 30 min. to the place where I usually get it cut.

When I got there, there were two people cutting hair - a fairly normal looking lady, and a real weird guy. Guess who I got!

I told him what I wanted, and he carefully laid out his comb, and scissors, and towel, and then STARTED A TIMER FOR 10 MINUTES. I am not kidding! I was wondering what was going to happen if the 10 minutes were up and he wasn't done. I had heard that Great Clips expects their sylists to do a cut every 10 minutes. Apparently, that's true!

At the 2:45 mark, some customers came in, and he went to sign them in. He came back with 0:57 remaining. Thankfully, he continued cutting after the timer went off!

The final product is okay. It looks pretty good as long as you don't look too closely!

The miracle of it all was that the kids were with me, and they behaved beautifully!

When my boys grow up...

Today at lunch, Aidan was asking Gresham if he wanted to be a construction worker when he grew up. He said that he would pick the name of their company, because Gresham doesn't know "what the companies are." I told him, "Well, you'll both be adults then, so Gresham will know that kind of thing." That didn't register in Aidan's mind, so I explained further, "You can name it whatever you want, because the company will belong to the two of you." Aidan said, "Okay! I'll name it Spiderman!"

When we need home repairs, that's definitely what I look for in the phone book! A company with a name like "Spiderman!"

Is this really news?

So, Jordan and I don't usually watch the news, but we did tonight. He even adjusted our "rabbit ears" antenna so that channel 5 would come in clear, since that is my favorite news station to watch. And wow, the news has really declined.

The news opened with a story about how the police messed up big time yesterday.

Then, we heard about gas prices and how high they are. They showed a nifty chart comparing the cost of gas this year vs. last year.

This led right into a story about how students at Criswell College can hardly afford to go there anymore, because it's an all commuter school. They interviewed some people at the college who said they are trying to compact their schedules so that students can fit more into a trip.

After a commercial break which featured several large, gas-guzzling SUV's, we heard a story about how GMC is offering 0% financing for 6 years because they can hardly move the SUV's off their lot.

Next, we heard about how some electric companies in Texas are shuting down and "leaving their customers in the dark."

We also learned that since "prices at the pump" are increasing, we can also expect the "price of pumps" to go up. Shoes will increase in price at least 10% this year, because of rising fuel costs.

Also, Southwest Airlines is going to pay for a renovation of Dallas Love Field by raising ticket prices.

After all this good news, we are going to stop running our AC, get rid of our car, and stop wearing shoes! We won't need the shoes anyway since apparently we won't be able to afford to leave the house!

Jordan's theory is that the news will be entirely different if a Democrat is elected in November. Suddenly, the economy will turn around, and there will be no more recession. I bet he's right!

We are so thankful that God is in control of our economy and our lives. None of this takes Him by surprise. I think that the higher prices have been good for us - we are cutting back, thinking things through, and relying on God to supply our needs.

And I don't think we'll be watching the news anymore...

The Aquarium

Yesterday, we went to the Dallas World Aquarium with some friends from church. The Dallas World Aquarium is more than just fish - it is modeled after a Venezuelan rainforest, and they have toucans, monkeys, and many other animals! We had a great time! Most of my picture didn't turn out so great, but here is one of me and the kids...

All Aboard the Potty Train!

Gresham is very interested in the potty. In fact, he sat on it for about 10 minutes after lunch (he initiated this!). He wanted to sit there until something came out. He kept saying, "Come out! Come out!" I must have commented at one point in his hearing that we need to potty train him, because that phrase is now in his vocabulary!

On Saturday night, we went to Chic-fil-A, and Aidan needed to go potty. I wheeled Gresham over to the bathroom in his highchair, and we stood outside the door while Aidan was in there. Gresham kept saying "potty train! potty train!" I figured that he probably had in mind the kind of train that has wheels and a steam engine, and so I asked him, "Gresham, what does a potty train say?" He said, "Whoo whoo!"

Aidan's birthday gift to me...

Here is what Aidan got me for my birthday! Just what I had been wanting!

He bought himself an action figure from this series back in February with some money he got for Valentine's Day. At the time, Jordan bought one as well so that they would have two to play with. I had apparently looked at this one when we were picking them out, and decided not to get it. I had forgotten all about that... Well, Aidan remembered and wanted to get it for me for my birthday! Jordan kept trying to talk him out of it, but he was set on this idea, and so Jordan took him to Target to buy it. (Thanks, sweetie...)

Yesterday, I told Aidan, "This seems to be turning into your toy instead of mine." He said in a very serious voice, "Well, Mom, you don't seem too interested in it, and I just don't know why."
"Well, son, I'm just not really into action figures."
"Oh," he said, "well, should I get you another present?"

He was very sweet. Jordan is going to take him to pick out something for me at Bath and Body Works, and hopefully his perspective on gift giving has improved!

This pretty much sums him up...

On Sunday afternoon, Aidan was playing trains with Uncle Andy at Grandma's house. I came in to find Aidan setting up plastic pigs in the trees and mountains on the model train table. Aidan told Andy, "That's the fun thing about being an animal - you get to go places where you are not supposed to be!"

Aidan and Dad playing with Aidan's Doctor Set

Dad: So, what's wrong with you today?
Aidan: I have a cold and the hiccups every day.
Dad: You have hiccups every day?
Aidan: Well, no, just today. And I have a cough.
Dad: Oh okay, is there anything else bothering you?
Aidan: I sneeze a lot.
(This game was working well for Aidan, who likes to talk about his symptoms...)
Dad: Oh, when you sneeze, do you sneeze anything out?
Aidan: Yes
Dad: What color is it?
Aidan: Mostly green I think.
Dad: Oh, well green means you have an infection, so I'll have to give you a shot.
Aidan: Oh, well that's not the shotter - that's where you put the medicine.
Dad: Who's being the doctor here, you or me?
Aidan: I am.
Dad: It's my turn to be the doctor because you already were. Tell me about your cough. Is it a long one or a short one?
Aidan: It's a long one.
Dad: Like 3 or 4 hours?
Aidan: Yes, actually it's 5 hours.
Dad: Well, if you're coughing for that long, then you need a lung transplant. I saw that you brought an ax in, where did you put it?
(Aidan went and got a knife out of the play food)
Dad pretended to do the operation.
Dad: Okay, now you're going to need to rest and eat nothing but ice cream.

Why I should not have been too cheap to buy a new pan...

Last night, we made BBQ chicken on the grill. I decided to make fried potatoes and onions to go with it. I have been needing a new non-stick pan for a looooooong time, but I am too cheap to buy one. Also, I think that the coating is not very healthy - it releases chemicals into the food. So we have been making do with our stainless steel skillet, and it works just fine for most things. If something sticks, I either clean it with vinegar or cook something tomato-y next time. Anyway, I tried to do the potatoes and onions with a little butter in my stainless steel skillet. The potatoes instantly glued themselves to the pan and required constant stirring. Well, stirring is not quite the right word. We had to pry them off the bottom of the pan with a spatula, and then keep doing that constantly. Jordan came in from cooking the chicken to help me with the potatoes so that I could cook the zucchini.

After about 15 minutes, the pan was covered with burned black potatoe starch and burnt onions, and the potatoes were still as hard as rocks.

While Jordan was helping with the potatoes, we forgot about the chicken, and it burnt to a crisp. It tasted *okay*, but the chewiness was what really made it inedible.

Jordan got our our Entertainment Passbook and found coupons for Spring Creek, so we went there. We split two adult dinners, and used the coupon, and only spent $9.89.

Another lesson in humility!

My Little Sheep

Aidan and Gresham took part in the VBS skit this morning -as sheep! They were special guest stars as some sheep that were mistaken for the "bad sheep" who have been teasing the other sheep in the skit. It was very cute, and the audience loved them!

Learning humility...

So I've really been enjoying living with a better budget, spending less on groceries, and cheerfully making good use of what we have while trying to use less. Lest I put any confidence in myself, however, the Lord has been providing opportunities for me to see that all that we have truly comes from Him! Take last week, for example. I opened the freezer to discover that I had put away the lettuce in there. The bargain lettuce that I was thrilled to get at Tom Thumb. I have no idea what I was thinking (if anything!) when I put it in there. Iceberg lettuce doesn't thaw well, and you can't make taco salad out of it...

Oh well, the Lord is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble!

Another Gresham Video...

Here's some more video of Gresham... hope you're not sick of videos yet!

My Superhero

Aidan has recently gotten into the show Super Why on PBS. It's a fairly cute show which teaches reading skills. Yesterday, we made him a superhero mask and "cape." The cape is a hand towel held on by some safety pins and black cording leftover from an Eddie Bauer project. He played in this all day yesterday!