Advent Calendar

I realize I have been pretty much silent on here for a couple of months. I apologize for that if you've hoped for more. Unlike the silence on our blog life has been bursting at the seams and God has been always good to us. I have gotten much insight, encouragement, and good ideas from moms striving to be faithful and I hope that I can be a blessing to others too as I funnel some of the things I've learned from others and what the Lord is teaching me.

I started reading Noel Piper's book, Treasuring God in Our Traditions and have been encouraged this Thanksgiving and Christmas season to do some structured things to point our kiddos and their parent's hearts to Christ. My neighbor, Colleen, did a Thanksgiving Tree where she cut construction paper leaves to write things that they were thankful for on and hung the leaves from a cut branch. We decided to do the same and I think it will be an annual tradition now. We did this tree on Thanksgiving day but I think it would be nice next year to start the 1st of November and write out something we are thankful for each day.

It also gave me a nice glimpse of my sweet son's unregenerate heart that still needs much cultivating for Christ. He "wrote" on one leaf, trying very hard to make legible writing, which of course looked just like scribbles. We asked him what he wrote on the leaf that he was thankful for. "Christmas trees" he said. The next leaf was, "Presents". When asked what else he was thankful for, and after giving him some ideas, he ran off exclaiming, "Nothing else!" We have some work to do :).

Owen is absolutely excited for Christmas. He anxiously asks if the snow is going to melt- afraid that if it does Christmas will not come. However, presents are the only thing on his mind. I want him to truly see and hopefully believe that JESUS is our greatest treasure and our greatest gift.

My neighbor also does an advent calendar each Christmas season with her kids. Each day is a little devotional. Noel Piper also talks about this in her book. Noel shows a picture of one that she made where there is a character for each day that you put up correlating with a story that she put together from the biblical account. I scoured the internet looking for that advent and story. She is sold out of the calendar this year (I was planning on making my own anyway) but the real jewel of the advent, the story, she put up on her blog.

I am more than thrilled to have a plan for this season to help turn our hearts more to Christ and what he has done for us. If my calendar doesn't look too hideous :) I might just post a picture of it.

Sisters Dancing

Family Dance Party

We decided to have a little dance party while listening to Disney Princess songs. Enjoy.

Owen's August Sayings

Here are all the things I wrote down for August since July was such a hit :). I realize some of them I seem to be writing to Owen and some I am writing about him. I will try to get my act together... later.

8/2/2011 Owen went over the gate and I heard screaming so I came to check. The scene was Anabel laying flat on the floor and Owen stepping over the top of her. I asked him why she was on the floor crying and his reply was, “I just went through her.”

8/3/2011 Owen runs right smack into the fish tank purposely and the fish scatter


Me: Owen, you can't hit the fish tank. It scares the fish.


Owen: They're scared now?


Me: Uh, huh


Owen: They want their mommies?

8/8/2011 We had to stop and wait on the road because a herd of bison was crossing the road. The first thing you said when I pointed them out to you was, “I want to shoot them!” As we dialogued about why you wanted to shoot them your reply was, “They are for shooting!” and again you said that you wanted to shoot them but also elaborated that you wanted to shoot them with a gun. We still aren’t sure exactly where you came up with this other than mommy and daddy talking to each other about hunting them but it had been a long, long time since that had happened.

8/14/2011 You woke up in the morning with a little bit of poop in your diaper. When dad asked you why you pooped in your diaper you replied, “I sneezed and then my poo-poo came out in the morning.”

8/29/2011You were told to go sit on your chair for squeezing Adelyn’s foot. I wasn’t sure if you were being outright intentionally cruel or not so I wasn’t sure if you should get disciplined or not. However, you insisted to daddy that you should get disciplined because you squeezed her foot.

8/ /2011 I was making bread and heard trickling in the sink. You were standing on the counter peeing straight into the sink with your face beaming with pride. A week or so later (8/29/2011) you were stripped naked in the mud room because you were playing in the puddles outside. You ran up the stairs faster than myself or sisters and came back to me beaming again that you had gone pee in the bathroom sink. Sure enough I had to clean it up!

8/30/2011- The girls and I came out of the greenhouse leaving you in it to catch an ant with your beloved jar. You come running out and I asked you if you caught an ant. You replied, “No, the ant said ‘No thank you’ so I didn’t catch him!”

8/30/2011- I did something I didn’t mean to do and I said “dang-it”. You replied, “Mommy, you shouldn’t say dang-it. You should say ‘*sigh*’ (or) ‘what happened?’ instead. You try again.” I complied and said “I’m sorry Owen. You are right. What happened?” You then encouraged me, “Good job mommy!”

8/31/2011- In a conversation about the previous night’s lightning storm in which you were afraid of the thunder you asked, “The lightning doesn’t like the loud thunder?”

An Open Letter to My Daughter

This blog post on The Cripplegate is absolutely wonderful. It is a father's letter to his daughter. I am going to print it out and put it into the girls' baby books because it is the heart of their daddy too and his prayer for them. I also hope and pray they take the exhortation in it to heart. An Open Letter to My Daughter

Cookies

A little after nap cookie.

And just in case you started to think everything around here is always happy and peaceful.

This is the rage and heartbreak that ensued when she was informed that she was not going to get another one.

She was okay in the end.

New blogs

I have come across two amazing blogs for which I am very thankful. The first is the Cripplegate blog. Some Master's Seminary guys do it and it is just amazing and biblical and informative.

The other blog is the Pioneer Woman blog. I like this blog for food. You may already know very well about this blog and wonder where I have been all this time. However, if not, I have shared with one other person. She has a cookbook that is really popular too. Click on the cooking link on the top to get to her recipes and such.

New Favorite Recipe

A friend from college started a blog called Next to Nothing in which she has a lot of good recipes. The blackened chicken salad is a must try I think. It has earned its place as a family favorite. The girls even loved the chicken- and that is saying something!

Betty Botter

Betty Botter

Betty Botter bought some butter,
"But," she said, "the butter's bitter;
If I put it in my batter,
It will make my batter bitter;
But a bit of better butter,
Will make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter,
Better than her bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter,
And it made her batter better;
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.

Owen cannot get enough of this poem. He wants me to read it all day long. I think I literally read this poem to him 3-5 times a day. When I get out the butter he quotes it and runs to get his poem book. He is also really into poetry in general right now.

In light of this poem (and because I just figured this out and I'm really excited) I will put up a recipe for spreadable butter. Yep, you got it. We use butter just about every morning- on toast, or muffins, pancakes, and waffles. I hate using hard butter. I don't have the time for it :). However, the spreadable butter at the store can be pricey. So I had the brilliant (or maybe just obvious) idea of making it myself. A little google here, a little reading there, and voila! Super easy spreadable butter. You may just want the recipe already.

2 sticks (1/2 cup each) butter

1/2 cup oil (I use canola because that is what the "expensive" stuff uses)

Let the butter get really soft, whip in the oil, and stick in the fridge in some container (we use our old container that we bought spreadable butter in initially before being enlightened... muhahahahahaha).

Done. And it is just as good as the other stuff.

A new choice instrument

Owen decided that he wanted to stage a dance party for Adelyn and I so he got his drum and a couple of colored pencils (his drumsticks of choice) and had us dance to his beat. Then he put his pencils together and did something I had never seen him do before- he started playing a made-up violin. I actually don't know where he had seen this played before. I grabbed the camera quickly and asked him to redo it.

Owen's Sayings

I have a document on my computer titled "Owen's Sayings". I try to type up all the funny things Owen says. It is by no means exhaustive but is my feeble attempt to try to grasp this special age for a bit longer. Here is this month's sayings.

7/2/11 – We got ice cream and were on our way home and daddy told you that you had to take a shower and you said that you wanted to take your ice cream in the shower. When we laughed and told you that you were silly you replied, “Oh, it will get wet?”

7/5/11- I told you that your friend Jake was going to come over (Jake Hintz) and you replied, “Jacob and Esau?” I laughed and we moved on. However, you continued to bring it up so I elaborated and told you that it is a different Jacob than the one in the bible. You replied, “Oh, oh. A different bible, a new bible?”

7/9/11- Owen's take on life after coming in from an outside adventure: "Mosquito bites bite but ladybugs do not bite. Butterflies are hard to catch, and dragonflies are hard to catch.”

7/15ish/11 Dad: “Owen, should mommy and daddy kiss?”

Owen: “No, that’s gross!”

7/24/11- Owen: "Mommy, can we go to the park?"

Me: "No, I'm sorry, Anabel is sick. So we can't go."

Owen: "Oh, you can give her medicine so we can go to the park?" and then later "I think Anabel is better now. We can go to the park!"

7/31/2011 Owen woke up soaked with pee after a diaper leak.

Me: Owen, do you have pee-pee? Oh! You have lots of pee-pee!

Owen: No, I only have one pee-pee!

Our New "Little Man"

Our neighbor made her little girls some really cute rag dolls and Owen got an opportunity to play with one yesterday. Then he decided when we had to give it back that he wanted one too. So, I looked for some free patterns online and he picked out the fabric he wanted from my scraps.

Since it was family night last night and I was alone for the evening because Matt and Owen camped in the backyard

I decided that I would spend it blessing Owen with his new "Little Man". I finished him this morning and handed him to Owen- sans the tie. He said, "Thank you, Momma!" and threw him into a crumpled little mess on the floor. I had wanted to make him a tie all along and took my opportunity. With the new tie Owen exclaimed, "He is going to go work at the bank!" All of a sudden it was a daddy-like "Little Man" and he couldn't put him down. This kid loves himself some daddy

Now meet "Little Man"

He was my first sewing project where I followed a pattern and I was a bit nervous- but it was fairly simple and I think he turned out great. Now I have to hold back because I want to make a million of these for everyone I know. You, yes you, might be getting one for Christmas :)

If you want to experience the sheer joy of your own little rag doll you can go here. Or you could wait for Christmas.

The Photo Shoot

Being blessed by John MacArthur

Our little church was incredibly blessed to have John MacArthur come to speak yesterday. He was in town for a meeting with some other staff and preached at our church while he was in town. It was SUCH a blessing having him here and was an incredible encouragement to have him commend our church plant both by his presence and by his words. He preached on Revelation 1 which is about how Christ is in the midst of his church. I literally cried through most of his message it was such a blessing to me. It was so encouraging to hear that in the midst of our hardest efforts and sacrifices, the blessings, and the pain that CHRIST is in our church.

Also, I got to meet him, thank him, and shake his hand for the first time. My life has been forever changed through God working through the ministry of this man and I am incredibly thankful. I well up with emotion every time I even think about him.

Such a huge blessing! You can hear his message to our little humble church recorded through our little humble recorder here. Just go to the podcast section on the right-hand side.

by the way- The picture credit goes to Tiffany and her iphone. Way to go T!!

Owen is three!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Owen's third birthday. We decided to set aside a day to do the things that we know he has been dreaming of.

We have been going through The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Ransom in our preschool time. (We incorporate the Before Five in a Row curriculum as part of our preschool time- and The Big Green Pocketbook is one of the books the curriculum goes through.)

In this book a little girl gets on a bus with her mother and travels around town helping her mother with her errands. They go to an ice cream store, the bank, a jewelry shop, and many other places. Everywhere they go she puts some little treasure that had been given her from that place into her pocketbook (i.e. a receipt, a key chain, a box of crayons, etc. that had been given to her).

Every time we read this book Owen asks to ride a bus too and to go to the ice cream store. So for his birthday we fulfilled his dream to ride a bus and in some ways reenacted the story. We read the book to him before we left and he was so very excited. He brought along his backpack for his very own treasures.

He didn't say a word throughout the whole ride. He was just mesmerized. However, once we got off he couldn't stop talking about his experience and wanted to make sure that we were going to ride it again. When we confirmed that we would ride it back to our car he was ready to go to THE ICE CREAM STORE!! (dessert #1 for the day)

Our next three stops were the bank (to go along with his story and to purchase his savings bond from GG), the toy shop so he could pick out a toy, and the bar so he could have an emergency potty break :).

We got back on the bus and then went home for nap.

After nap Owen dream #2 was fulfilled: riding a horse! Since going to the fair last summer he asks to ride just about every horse he sees. So we went to a local ranch and he got to ride Brown Jug- the pony. T-T, Uncle Andrew, sisters, and Grandma Mumma joined us as well.

We then went to Sidewinders (a local restaurant) for dinner where he had dessert #2

Then returned home to have daddy's amazing cake made 100% from scratch! (Dessert #3!!) Matt is the new baker in the house and insists on being in charge of birthday cakes. Matt made, upon Owen's request, a dinosaur and a car out of modeling chocolate.

We are so thankful for you, Owen, and your zeal for life and compassion for others! You are such a joy to us and we are so proud of the little boy you are becoming. We love you!

Love, mom and dad

The tower

Matt just took this video and it was so cute in person I just had to share. Owen was building a fairly large tower and Anabel kept going back and forth delivering blocks to him. We got the tail end of it but over and over she would deliver a block, laugh, and then Owen would say, "Thank you!".

A few of the good ones

Somebody is walking!

Another concert. He grabbed a couple of colored pencils and had at it!

Nothing out of the ordinary. Just some normal cuteness!

Some more pics

Some pics

A nightly routine. Dad, Owen, and per Owen's request: a "big" pile of books :) And as for Matt's funny outfit it is actually a pair of pajamas that is fully body with a goofy little flap on the back that says "bear bottom" and a picture of a bear :) p.s. I didn't fully get permission to post this... but I guess you can't actually see it :)

My little sweetheart (Adelyn)

My little beach beauty (and a sweetheart too)! (Anabel)

An beautiful early morning view with a full moon

Sometimes it is fun to remember the mundane. A normal day's end. It was really all in order only a few short hours before!

Free Concert

Owen loves music. He often comes up with dance moves whose origination is a mystery to me (like in these videos). He often will get a toy that plays music and his drum and once he has played the music will drum to the beat. He is a constant source of laughter in our home :). I also love how he so carefully puts his guitar "back" like he sees done at church!

A morning walk

Anabel is a real walker now. She is so cute and tiny that it amazes me every time she does it. However, she is fully on the move! She can stand up unassisted, prefers to walk as opposed to her knees or crawling, and can pivot 360 degrees. My little girl!

In case you didn't catch it Owen very sweetly says, "Walk to me!" and then says "Good girl!". He really is so thoughtful and sweet!

Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

I wanted to make a casserole that calls for canned cream of chicken soup (Mom Mumma's famous chicken chile casserole!) but didn't have any canned soup. I tend not to buy it because it contains MSG which makes me feel a bit crummy. I figured that you must be able to make it at home. I looked up a recipe online and came across this. It was quick and easy (I kind of eye-balled the spices which helps) and tasted fabulous. Now I also have one of Matt's favorite casseroles ready for dinner! Thought I'd share it!

Podcast!!!

So, I really love our church. A lot. I'm so thankful and humbled to be a part of it. People in it take the one-another's seriously and the call to serve and love seriously. I feel like it is a little piece of heaven on earth- which is what church should be. Anyway, I'm super stoked that our church has a blog and a podcast! Sanctified cleaning here I come!!

Cornerstone Church website

I also quite often listen to sermons from my church back during my college days which will always, always hold a very dear place in my heart. The pastor, Jack Hughes, is such a man of God and of the word. I'm thankful to still be able to hear him preach. You could, too, if you want :)!

Calvary Bible Church website

Advice to a new mom

My friend who is expecting was really humble and asked for baby advice. I gave her a list of my favorite baby products and then finished with the most important advice of all. I thought I would just post it here also because it is important. Having twins and a toddler pushed me to the end of myself and my abilities and my pride and taught me a lot about the gospel lived out in the most mundane and chaotic times. I still have leagues and miles upon miles to go but I think in God's goodness he has taught me a lot in the last year. To boast only in the cross and that God truly is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him. I might elaborate more on that later but for now this is my advice to a friend :).

Also, make sure you really prepare yourself by meditating on the gospel. It may sound basic, but it will prepare you to praise God for the many blessings of your new little one but also the things that will be hard. It is hard to live in the mundane and lose the freedom of spontaneity. To remember that the greatest thing you could do is to serve as Christ served though he was God will help when you feel like you have accomplished nothing but change diapers and feed the baby (which you may or may not feel). You have accomplished a TON in the eternal perspective by serving your baby by changing diapers and feeding him! It will also help when you get angry at your baby for the first time and then think you are a horrible mother (you have Christ's perfect record on your account and his forgiveness and his power to keep going and grow). Because Jesus lives in you you have the power to give yourself up for your baby, to sacrifice yourself for your babies' ultimate good; because Jesus sacrificed himself for your ultimate good.