Article

Here's a good article for all the parents out there.  I got it from another blog I read.  It's pretty interesting.  I hope you read it.  Leave a comment on what you think...

motherhood is a calling and where your children rank

Jenny

Book Review

You know when you were in school and you had to do a book review and hated it?  Well, I hated it.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to read but I strongly dislike writing(which is odd since I have a blog...) so doing the book report was always hard for me.  And now I'm voluntarily doing one!  Well, one with my own requirements. :)  Actually, I have to be honest with you, I'm partly doing this to brag that I actually finished a book.  Well, I grown up book.  I finish at least 7-10 books a day but I don't think everyone wants to hear how Curious George was saved from his kite flying experience or how many animals Elmo and Ernie can count(I know the answer to both by the way!).  So anyway, I finished a book last week.  It was a pretty good one.  So here's a little bit about it...

Child of Promise
By Debbi Migit

This is a true story about the author's battle with infertility and their process of adoption.  I found it on super sale at a Border's that was going out of business(by the way, I heard all of them are closing so if you are like me and still have a gift card to one, go quickly!).  Since James and I are tossing around the idea of adoption I thought I would be a good book to read.  It was interesting to see how God worked in her life to bring her three children through adoption.  It showed that, even though the kids were adopted and not biological children, God provided the right children for their family at the right time, just as He does with biological children.  Having seen just a tiny bit of the other side of adoption/foster care through my previous job, it was really interesting to see the process through the adoptive parent's side.  It clarified why some of them continually called the office asking if we had any babies who needed an adoptive home. :)  The book raised a couple questions that I am thinking about in our life:
1. could we adopt a child from another race?  how would they fit into our family? our church? our community?
2. could we adopt a child through a private adoption in the US?(a baby??- I always thought I would adopt a child who was 2-3 years old and from another country)

So, if you are looking for a quick, easy read about an adoption story, I would suggest this book.

Now if I ever finish Bring up Girls by James Dodson(that I have been reading since February), I will give you another insightful book review. :)

Splash fountains!

James' mom and sister came for a visit last weekend.  Saturday morning we wanted to do something but was hot... as usual!  So I thought it might be fun to go splash in some fountains! O thought it was fun... some times.

 S thought it was fun... all of the time!

 Where did the water go???

I got several good videos.  This one shows S and his love of water!  He was so funny!

I want to upload another video showing O but for some reason it's not letting me browse for the file so I will add it later.

The new bed("we got it from Lowe's" of course!)

So we finally broke down and decided O should have a "big bed."  We went through a lot of different options and then my brilliant, smart, wonderful husband had a fantastic idea... bunk beds!  We didn't bunk them(she is only three and they still have their own rooms) but we put the top bunk, with the rails, on the floor for O.  That way she still had the railings to make sure she didn't fall out. And when S gets old enough to have a big bed he will have the ones with the rails and O will get the other bed.  Here's her reaction when she saw it.  I'm not sure why everything looks neon...

Her first words were "It's beautiful!"

Then the jumping started.  I knew it would. We have one rule, only jump on the bed when there's an adult there.  So far it's work.

Going to bed...

O did have one more memorable comment when she saw her bed.  She said "We got this bed at Lowe's!"  For some reason, O loves to talk about Lowe's.  She says we get everything there(beds, teddy bears, you name it!).  I didn't think we went to Lowe's that often but maybe we do!

The bed has been a good place to play

 

O actually has been in her big bed for 3 weeks.  I was planning to backdate this post to when it actually happened but something occurred at nap time today I wanted to share(by the way, if you haven't check in a while, make sure you look at previous posts because I think I'm mostly caught up now).  Anyway, O was quiet for a while after going to bed at nap time.  Then I heard talking.  I didn't really think too much about it because she has talked in bed before.  Then I heard strange noises.  This is what her bed looked like when I went to get her... and no, she doesn't normally sleep with a saucepan.

So I guess the hope that she continues to take naps and doesn't just play in her room are gone. :)

We made fireworks!

First I want to wish everyone a very happy 4th of July!

Second, I want to make sure everyone knows we didn't make real fireworks(in case you were worried!).  I had been receiving a Better Homes and Garden email weekly for several weeks now but never opened it.  The other day I opened it and spent about an hour looking through all the stuff they sent me... recipes, crafts, decor ideas- it was really cool!  So here's the fireworks!

You need:

pipe cleaners, cut in half

glue

glitter

Dip the ends of the pipe cleaners in glue and then dip(or stir) them in glitter.

 Yes, you can also glue and glitter your belly if you want! :)

One of the finished pipe cleaners...

Oh, you can glue and glitter your hands too!

Here are all the pipe cleaners glittered...

Next you will twist the pipe cleaners together and spread apart to make a "firework."  I suggest you do this not in front of your children and over paper because not all the glitter stays on the pipe cleaner.  I'm still finding glitter and we did this craft last week!  Don't you love glitter, it's the gift that keeps on giving!

Another suggestion, if I may...  hang your "fireworks" somewhere where you don't mind if there's a little glitter.  We hung ours from the window frame of our big picture window.  Also, warn whomever else in the house if you hang them somewhere behind a curtain.  All I will say is they kind of look like spiders when you pull curtains back and they swing in front of your husband who didn't remember that they are there. :)

The kids' vacation

While we were in Branson, the kids went to St. Louis to spend a week with Grandma and Aunt Kim.  Grandma and Aunt Kim were nice enough to take a lot of pictures!  I don't have all the stories to go with them but here's several groups of pictures and a few details...

The Transportation Museum was visited again.  I guess we missed the other side when we were there a few weeks ago and there was a train you could ride.  You can see the excitement on O's face.  She loved it!

They also went to a place called Grant's Farm.  This place sounds really fun and I hope to go there when we visit next!  There were all sorts of different animals there. Also joining them was Cousin Linnea and her two kids(her daughter is 3 like O so they had fun!). I did include the picture of O touching a donkey's... backside since Aunt Kim thought that was funny.  They didn't get a picture of S trying to climb in the area with the really big turtles!  It's not surprising to me that he did that, he really likes turtles right now.  Anyway, I didn't get any pictures but I did hear it... how you ask? I received a voice mail from Aunt Kim.  She had "purse dialed" me.  All I heard was random noise and then Grandma and Aunt Kim both saying "S! S! S! No! No! No!"  I had to call back and see what was going on.  How funny!

Also at Grant's Farm was a water mister.  S loved it, of course!!

After Grant's Farm, everyone went over to Aunt Sue's house for a little family get together.  I was told everyone was there and everyone had a great time!

They also went to Old St. Charles and to the river and got to see a barge.  Also, more water activities. :)

Every night the kids watch a 15 minute episode of Word World and then get ready for bed.  Here they are on Aunt Kim's bed watching their "Quacky Show."