Josh's New Room

I don't know what it is about Sundays. Every other day of the week the kids are good nappers. But on Sunday, they both seem to balk at the thought of a mid-day snooze. Thankfully Josh will hang out in his room for an hour or so giving us a little break, so we'll take what we can get I suppose. This past Sunday, Josh apparently had a bit too much energy for sleeping. After he was in his room for a an hour and a half or so, he came out of his room and announced that he had to show me something. I followed him in his room and found that a tornado had hit while he was in there. His bed, which is usually in the corner against the wall, was in the center of his room... the top drawer of his dresser was on the floor with all of the contents strewn about and I think every book he owns was somewhere on the floor. I thought about taking a picture, but before I went to get the camera I had already begun to clean it, without even realizing it! Darn obsessive nature! I asked him why he did that, more amazed than upset, and he told me he wanted his bed a different way. So, I decided to rearrange his room. He was so exited that the side of his bed wasn't up against the wall anymore and that he could get out of either side. He is so proud of his new room that he has been meticulously keeping it clean. When we were reading our bedtime books, he wouldn't even let the book we weren't reading touch the floor because that would mess up his new room. And when we got home this afternoon, he said that he couldn't watch TV until his covers were all fixed. Maybe we should rearrange the furniture in every room so that Josh will do all the cleaning for me! It could work, right?

Snow Day!

This weekend we decided to take a day trip up to Flagstaff and show the kids snow for the first time. We had been telling Joshua throughout the week that we were going to go see the snow on Saturday. On Wednesday he woke up convinced that today was the day we were going to the snow. He was devastated when he learned the sad truth... that he would need to wait 3 more days. But thankfully, he survived the disappointment.

We left for our trip at about 8:30 a.m. We were about 40 miles or so outside of Flagstaff and still hadn't seen one little patch of snow. We started to get a little concerned, even though I had confirmed with the visitor's bureau the day before that all of the recreation areas were still covered in the white stuff. But about 5 minutes later, we started to see little patches, which turned into big patches, which turned into a complete covering of snow. Josh, who had been utterly bored (but extremely well behaved) until that point, got so excited, and kept telling us over and over again about all the snow he was seeing (just in case we didn't see it ourselves).. We were beginning to think we didn't even have to get out of the car and he would still be completely satisfied.

Turns out we couldn't have picked a better day for our little jaunt! The temperature was in the mid 50's, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We didn't even need jackets! We decided to go to Fort Tuthill on the southern edge of Flagstaff. Turns out we were the ONLY ones there. It was awesome to have the entire place to ourselves. Joshua was mesmerized by the snow. Ben on the other hand wasn't much of a fan... wouldn't touch the stuff. But once he had a shovel to play with, he decided it wasn't all bad. After a few minutes of play, Joshua started saying that his hands were hurting from the cold (we didn't have gloves yet), so we decided to head into town to track down some gloves and get some lunch. We found a little ski/camping shop and got some really nice gloves for Josh, Andrew and I. After a good lunch at Chili's we headed back to Fort Tuthill where we were still the only people in sight. We played for an hour or two, making snowmen, snow angels and throwing snowballs. Then we hopped back in the car and headed to Starbucks for hot chocolate (Joshua's idea, naturally). After finishing our cocoa, we hopped back in the car and headed home.

It was amazing. The kids spent over 4 hours in the car and I don't think anyone cried all day. I don't think our day could have been any better. I see us doing this many many more times. Here are some photos of our fun day of play!

I Still Do!

Last night our church had a marriage recommitment ceremony. It was amazing. My friend Jennifer organized the event, and asked me to be a part of the planning team for it. For the last 6 weeks or so we've been planning this wedding for 40 couples, and it has been so much fun. It certainly turned into a grand affair. I'll have to let the pictures speak for themselves! I was given the honor of providing the musical accompaniment to communion, singing "I Will Be Here" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Everything turned out so beautiful. I spent the whole day at church helping to make bouquets of roses for the 40 brides. It was a great time of female bonding, and so much fun.

Of course the most important part of the evening was that Andrew and I got to reaffirm our marriage vows. I've heard people say the first seven years of marriage are the hardest. April will be our 7th wedding anniversary, so the timing was perfect. And it was wonderful to share that time with many from our church family, including some incredible friends. It was truly a night to remember!

Twilight Bandwagon

Yes, I have hopped on! I am about 50 pages away from being done with the series, and it has been quite an enjoyable read. I'm sure that I will probably read it again at some point. This series is quite the phenomenon. I know multiple people that have gotten completely addicted. The biggest "Twerd" I know is my friend Jennifer. Jennifer is attending Twicon, the Twilight Convention, in July, and entered a commercial contest, and asked us to be actors in it. If you haven't read the books, you'll have absolutely NO idea what is going on, but if you have read them, it's AWESOME! Check it out and don't forget to rate it! And remember, Andrew and I will be available for autographs! =)

Enough is Enough

Ben is getting to know his pediatrician a little too well lately. We were back in the office today, for what we thought was going to be an 18 month well check. Instead, it turned into a double breathing treatment/steroid injection visit. He's been kind of congested over the last few days and we have been giving him the breathing treatments at home, but going all day at school without a treatment has proven to be too much for him. He got sent home from school on Monday, and when we kept him home yesterday and were able to do the treatments every 4 hours or so, he was totally fine. So we thought we were doing better. Andrew, who got to endure the doctor's visit today... with both kids... said that he sounded OK when he picked him up from school, but got progressively worse on the car ride, until he was coughing continually by the time they got to the doctor. So now he has to get rechecked tomorrow and has to take a preventative steroid by way of the nebulizer everyday for at least the next 2 months. Poor kid. I guess the breathing issues are going to be his "thing". They haven't diagnosed him with asthma, but he seems to be prone to upper respiratory issues when he gets even a little bit sick. After 2 breathing treatments, he was pretty amped up and crazy by the time we got him home. But thankfully the high wore off right around time for his last treatment of the day, right before bed, and he zonked out about 30 seconds into the treatment.

In all these trips to the doctor, Benny is a pro at the whole routine. He knows how they take his pulse-ox, pointing his little index finger out as soon as he sees the clip coming. He is totally calm and doesn't fight against the examination, which is uncommon for this age, and today, he was even saying "doctor" plain as day. He's such an easy going kid, even when he's being poked and prodded. You just gotta love him!

What NOT To Say To A Woman

A scene at our dinner table this evening:

Ben, sitting in Mommy's chair, pats the chair to have Mommy sit with him

Mommy: "Benny, you're sitting there, I don't think I'll fit."

Josh (to Mommy): "Your butt is reaaallly big."

Dance Machine!