Thursday, February 28, 2013

My little helper

Making brownies last week (pre-stomach flu)



Birthday Boy

Benjamin turned six yesterday.  He was bummed to discover he had to go to school on his birthday.  But, he did get a birthday crown, at least!  They don't do treats at his school, and I didn't think his classmates needed another pencil (the "treat" option that is allowed), since they got at least 10 pencils in their Valentine bags.  Benjamin woke up to a pile of presents in the living room, and opened them immediately.  He got a donut with candles in it for breakfast.  We sang then, because Jonathan was gone most of the rest of the day.  We had soup supper before church, and we sang there as well.  Benjamin wanted me to make cauliflower soup--his favorite--for the supper.  I thought alphabet soup (pasta and veggies) might be better received.  I also made a dirt dessert.



You can see his two missing bottom teeth in this shot!


Saturday, February 16, 2013

100th Day of School


Benjamin made this at school--there are 10 dots on 10 strips of paper.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Blizzard Pictures

We are (Jonathan is) still digging out from our blizzard!  The snow started falling Friday morning around 8:00, and didn't stop until noon on Saturday.  We probably got about 32 inches total.  More snow than we've ever seen in one snowfall!  Jonathan spent 5 hours on Saturday doing the driveway.  He had to shovel the top layer of snow, and then he was able to snow blow the bottom layer.  Today he conquered the front stairs, the deck, and the gigantic mound at the end of the driveway.  No church today, since the plow guy couldn't make it through the 8-foot drift at the end of the driveway.  The boys are loving playing in the snow!

Our first view after opening the garage door.

The view from the garage, looking down the snow-covered driveway.  That tiny black thing is the mailbox!

Looking out the front door


Tunnel fun!



Shoveling the front steps.


Benjamin sitting on the front steps.

Sledding down our hill.  Paul wiped out and got a face full of snow three times before he decided to call it quits!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Update

I haven't taken any pictures recently, but we've been keeping busy.  Last Friday and Saturday, we were in the Catskills area of New York looking at a church where Jonathan has a call to be an associate pastor.  It was nice to visit and get a feel for the church and the people.  A lot to think and pray about...

Last Sunday we went to an indoor water park and hotel.  It was Jonathan's Christmas gift to the family. Benjamin loved it!  He went down the smaller water slides, played water basketball, and went on the lazy river.  Paul was a bit more hesitant about the whole experience.  It didn't help that he got dumped on by the giant bucket within five minutes of being in the pool.  He was okay with the lazy river, because he sat on my lap, and he liked just being in the pool and trying to swim.  Also, since the boy has no body fat, he was shivering almost the entire time!  Jonathan and I got to go down the big water slides a few times.  Benjamin has been taking swimming lessons, so he was excited to show off his swimming skills to Daddy.  Last week, Benjamin swam halfway across the pool at swimming lessons.  He was very proud of himself!

I'm going to start volunteering in Benjamin's class on Monday afternoons.  Yesterday was my first time.  Benjamin was so excited to have me there.  As I was working with his math group, he said, "Mom, you're being very encouraging!"

Both boys like school once they're there, but both would rather stay home and play.  Lately, Paul has had tears every school day morning.  He always says, "Mom, pick me up short."  His teachers say he seems to be fine at school, so I don't know what the tears are about.

Funny story about teaching Sunday school this past Sunday...We had a guest preacher, and his daughters came into my Sunday school class.  The first grader wanted to know why my husband was shorter than me.  Her older sister said, "Because that's the way God made him!"  It was the tone, like, you should know this kind of thing by now!  I said that his parents are short, too.  She was surprised that I had met his parents, and then thought I was pretty lucky for getting to go to Florida.  After a little time had past, she said, "You know, I think he's probably shorter than you because he doesn't eat as much as you do!"