Nerners!

Yes, you read the title right. Nerners is our nickname for Anderson....poor little guy. Aaron came up with this when he was talking to Andy during the first few days of his life. It stuck and so now he is lovingly referred to as Nerners by us all. Some of his other nicknames include- Master Chubbers (Grace made this one up), Anernon(Me), baby Nerns, brother(Eli), and a variety of short lived nicknames that come and go. I thought I would post some updated pictures of Anderson since our computor can post things again thanks to Aaron's friend Paul. He was a God sent, really. Anderson has been such a blessing to our family. He has an easy going temperament and he is very intense. His personality is similar to Eli's when he was a baby. Although there are differences. He likes to bang on things and hear the sounds. I think he may be our loudest child so far. He is very much into the touch and feel of things.
Here are a few pictures and two videos.

This picture is of Anderson at 3.5 months old.

These next two pictures were taken just this last week.
Anderson loves to just sit and kick his feet when he is excited

Emilie my sweetheart!

I stole this picture from Katy's blog since I still can't download anything.

Emilie had a birthday last week on Jan. 30th. She is now 8 years old. We had a combined family birthday party a week early to celebrate Emilie's and her cousin Sophia's birthday.Sophia turned 4 on Jan. 29th. On Emilie's actual birthday she, Grace, Tyler, Esther, and myself all went to the mall to get Emilie's ears pierced and have a girls night out. Then we came back to our house for a sleepover. The girls had a great time and so did I. It was easy to have fun with such sweet girls around. Esther continually asked me how she could help in many situations and Tyler was a funny, hilarious, giddy, chatter box. Grace loved being with the big girls and Emilie was skipping though the mall with contentment. It was just good old fashion fun!

Emilie at 8 years old amazes me. I am SO very proud of her. Emilie is wise beyond her years and continually blows me away with how quietly confident yet so very humble she is. Parents and kids at school have commented on how quiet Emilie is and they almost seem worried about her. I was too,at first. However, the more I ask, learn, and observe the more I have come to realize that Emilie speaks when there is a need and she is very thoughtful about what she says. I am thankful for that. She is not frazzled by little things people say or do. She most of the time just assumes the best and moves on. She prefers quiet over loud, which is why she doesn't run around all over the playground at recess most of the time. Her teacher was concerned that Emilie was feeling left out but as I questioned Emilie I found that she didn't feel left out at all. She actually preferred the quiet down time. I am thankful that she can determine her needs and take care of herself. She is not top in her class in every subject but I really don't care about that. I think as we grow, wisdom trumps knowledge anyway. Now we all have areas that are being molded and shaped and Emilie is no exception but, I kid you not, I watch and learn from this girl much of the time. Thank you Jesus for Em!

Favorite kid saying of the week
Tonight I was serving dinner from the stove and delivering the plates to each person one at a time. This is what tenderhearted Eli said....
"Mom, you are really nice. It's really nice that you serve everyone else first and you always get your food last."
Aaron confirmed and said he agreed.

Oh my goodness, did that make my heart smile or what! We mothers make a lot of sacrifices that don't get noticed but when they do, what a paycheck!

This entry was posted on a blog that I check occasionally. I liked it so much that I copied and pasted it onto mine. It was originally posted by a missionary who just returned to Africa.

Be content with your house, even if it isn't how you want it. Be content with your car, and your yard and your furniture. Be content if things don't match or they are a little outdated. Be content with your situation. Be content with simple food and living simply. Be content with little and don't think you need more. Be content with bad teachers, difficult bosses or discouraging news. More than just content, be thankful and joy-filled and gracious. Be content to be content. Be content so that you don't need anything to be content so that you can be content. Be content with things are hard. Be content with things are good. Be content to live in whatever circumstances you find yourself. Be content so you don't need anything more to be content. Being content is not an excuse for laziness or procrastination, but not being content is not justification for greed, self-indulgence, ignorance and just living the American dream.

Please, for your sake, be content. That is my hope and my pleading from the bottom of my heart for you that you will be content. Enjoy the blessings that God gives, but in them, be content.
Philip. 4:11
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Kids, they make me laugh!

Grace, Anderson, and I were on our way to pick up Eli and Emilie from school the other day and this is what Grace said to me as we are waiting at the stop light. This came out of the blue.

Grace
Grace: " Mommy, how do we go up?"
Me: "Hmmm, what do you mean?"
Grace:" You know, how do we go up?"
Me: "Are you asking me how we float up to heaven?"
Grace: "No Mommy, look at that sign up there. It's telling you to go up!"
(She pointed to a big sign up ahead that was pointing straight but through the eyes of a child it is pointing up. Which, in actuality it is.)
I wonder how long she sat there dreaming up how our car would go up.

Emilie
Me: " So Em, do you think you want to get your ears pierced for your birthday?"
Emilie: "Yes, I do."
Me: " How do you feel about it? "
Emilie: " Well, I am not really nervous about it hurting. I am scared that they might accidentally hit my nose or something like that." ( She says this calm and very matter-of-factly.)

I take a second to try and figure out what she means. It hits me and I can't help but giggle. You see, I have been telling Emilie that her ears will be pierced with a ear piercing gun.

Me: "Emilie have you been thinking this whole time that someone was going to stand and point a gun at your ears and shoot?
Emilie: "Yes, I guess so."

We both had a good laugh!

I just can't believe that she was still willing to go through with it.

I love you my girls! Thanks for showing how adult communication can be pretty poor at times.

I wish I could post pictures of my girls. EEEEERRRRGGGGG!

Missing the snow!

I miss the snow. Yes, I said it. I miss the snow. I really enjoyed being trapped with my husband and kids. I felt so free to spend time with each of them. I knew we couldn't go anywhere so I wasn't trying to think of something I needed to do. All our commitments were canceled, including church, and it was nice. We live on a hill so we have a choice of three hills to go down and all of them were pretty bad for a long time. The first day that I could get out and drive with the kids, I found myself not wanting to go. I could be getting a little lazy, I don't know, but I think I am just not a huge fan of the hustle and bustle of life. Life is short and I just don't want it to zip by without getting a chance to soak it up.

Three things I learned during the snow storm
1) I have a long ways to go on perfecting my wifely skills.
2) I have a long way to go on perfecting my mothering skills.
3) Neighbors become family when no one can go anywhere.

Kid sayings of the week

Grace:"Mommy I like these build-a-bear shoes because I can put them on my dog easy."
Me: "Oh, good."
Grace:" It's because of the scarecrow." ( She proceeded to show me how she could undo the VELCRO shoes.)

Emilie:"Mommy, can I get a band aid for my cut?"
Me: "Sure."
Emilie goes to get a band aid and comes back into the room. I am busy with something and not really looking at her while she is talking.
Emilie: "Hey, Mom these band aids are kind of weird, they don't have that little soft spot."
I looked up to see her about to put a Breathright strip across her cut. I stopped her before she stuck in on.

Little House

Our power went out tonight from 4p.m. until 8:45, it was a lot of fun. We got out the candles and flashlights. Aaron already had a fire going in the fireplace so that was good. We got our games and craft books and had a great time. Aaron put a blanket over the entry to our downstairs living room and it was nice and toasty in there. Our neighbors told us that PGE said it may take awhile to get the power on again so we got all our bedding out and planned on a slumber party. The kids were loving it. At one point the lights came back on and we all simultaneously gave a disappointed sigh.Then to our delight, the power went out again for another couple hours. At around 7:30 our neighbor Debbie came over to visit and get warm. She stayed to hear Aaron tell us all a bedtime story. Aaron is a great story teller and we all enjoyed it. When the power came back on Debbie headed home and the girls chose to sleep in their beds. Eli wanted to still have a slubber party so I laid with him until he fell asleep. Tonight felt like we lived during the Little House on the Prairie times. It was wonderful......for a night!

Update!

I have to title all my blogs as "Update" since it takes me so long between blogs.

Oh my goodness can you believe it. I am actually posting a blog. I want to explain my last post. What happened was that I had typed the title and then I accidentally pushed enter. Only the title got posted and then my computer froze up. I gave up and went to bed. I didn't remember until a week later.
Anyway, it was my intention to write a bit about the death of my sister Gretta and how we were all doing. I thought about just skipping this subject altogether but that would not be real and it would not be an honest representation of how life is going right now. The short of things is that we all miss Gretta terribly and Christmas will not be without a strong ache in our hearts. Some days are full of joy and fun. Some days are full of tears. That is just the nature of mourning the loss of someone you love. Because Gretta's death was so sudden and so unexpected it is hard for my heart and mind to fully except what has happened. I know it is just a process that God and time will heal. Kevin and the girls are hanging in there. I am sure Christmas is going to be tough. For those of you who do not know, my mom has moved into there house and is helping with the girls and around the house. My plan is to visit over there at least once per week and twice is even better. I try to call every other day to keep in touch. Zoie and Sydney want me to bring Anderson over so they can cuddle him. He has been such a source of comfort for the girls. Whenever we have arrived in the past month Sydney or Zoie have picked him up right away and pretty much taken turns holding and kissing him. He has been a good source of laughter too. I know God is using him to help me heal too. I wish I could post a recent picture but I cannot post pictures on this computer. Our old computer broke and we are borrowing this one. (It is so hard to not be able to post pictures. Errrg!) Anderson will be six months on Christmas Eve, can you believe it? I can't! He is such a sweet happy baby. We are just loving him!

As far as life in general, we are finally all healthy. Let's see, Eli got the stomach flu about a week and a half ago. Grace got it 3 days later. Emilie got it 2 days after Grace. Anderson got a very mild case a day after Emilie. Then I got it. Aaron got it this last Saturday night and NOW we are all healthy. I am loving the snow and so hope the kids get the rest of the week off. I LOVE having them all home. We are all really looking forward to Christmas break. Now that Aaron works at Portland Christian he gets 2 weeks off also. Yeah!!!! This is just what the Dr. ordered. I am going to leave you with two funny things the kids said this last week.

GRACE
Grace "Mommy, did you get sick last night?"
Me "Yes, I did."
Grace "Did you throw up?"
Me "Yes, I did."
Grace "What color was it?"

ELI
Eli said this in the car on the way home from school. I was looking forward watching the road and he was talking to me.
Eli "Mom, is my wee wee the smallest?"
Me "What?!"
Eli "Is my wee wee the smallest?"
My mind is going crazy thinking of crazy thoughts like, who in the world is he comparing his wee wee with. Oh my goodness! I came to a stop light and turned around.
Me "Eli, what are talking about?"
Eli held up his hand and wiggled his PINKY. "You know mom, my wee wee. It's the smallest one."
I was laughing so hard I started crying.

Thank you God for such wonderful kids that make me laugh and bring joy to my heart!!!!