The Sweetest Gift of Christmas

I must say, Ellie has given me the best Christmas gift of all (other than Jesus of course) ... being potty trained. WOOHOO! How sweeeeeeeet it is! Sing it with me (to the tune of "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"...

"All mommy wants for Christmas is no diapers
no diapers, yes no diapers!
If I don't have to change anymore diapers ...
Then I'll have a super duper Christmas!"

HUZZAH!

Yup, she's been in underwear all week and she's been DRY. And just the past 2 days, she's started telling us when she has to go potty! We've been out shopping plenty and she's been dry all through it. We are pretty excited!!!

And here's a cute picture of the "big girl" to celebrate!


Merry Christmas to us!!! No more diapers (except at bed)! YEAH!
~JG

Little things

Well, here are the little things of life.

1. We are growing Ellie's bangs out. We have entered the world of headbands, barretts, etc. How long will this ordeal be? Only her hair (and God) knows.

2. I gave up the potty training that I have been trying the past few days ... for both our sakes. She doesn't seem to get it, and I don't have the patience. I did finally find training underwear ... and they will be waiting for her in a few weeks or months. I don't like diapers ... but I dislike wet underwear (and worse) much more.

3. I took Ellie to the doctor this morning and she has some sort of bronchitis thing (I probably have the same thing - my doctor's appt. is tomorrow morning). So we went to Target and got her prescription and hopefully that will cure her cough. Poor thing has been coughing for almost a month now. Last night she woke up at midnight with a temperature, so she crawled into bed with me. At 2am she finally fell asleep. Then Caleb woke up missing daddy (who is on a trip to TN). Rough night for all of us. Tomorrow morning I go to the doctor and will hopefully get some medicine to cure MY hacking cough. Enough is enough!

4. Looking forward to my Grandma, aunt and uncle coming in town! They arrive tomorrow (it's a busy day!). Yeah!

5. Watched the movie Up!. Wonderful! I cried 11 minutes into it both times we watched it.

That's about all. Time to put Caleb down to an early bed (Ellie's already down). Yeah!

~JG

Star Wars in Concert

Tonight Aaron and I (along with Dick and Darlene and our friend Bryan) went to the SUPER AWESOME Star Wars in Concert at the Wachovia Center in Philly. Again ... AWESOME!!! The Royal Philharmonic played Star Wars music from all 6 movies accompanied by scenes from the movies on a massive screen overhead ... and in between each song Anthony Daniels (aka C3PO) narrated live! He has such a cool voice and expressive face. It was the best concert ever!





In addition, around the rim of the Wachovia Center were various props and costumes from the movies - Chewbacca, an original score of music from John Williams, prop guns, and my favorite - Queen Amidala's costume when she visited the Senate (see the picture!), etc. There was also "licensed Star Wars in Concert" stuff to buy ... t-shirts for $35 and such. I did NOT purchase the $50 Princess Leia hoodie! But it was really cool!




Perhaps my favorite part of the music was the Darth Vader sequence (see the movie below) showing his redemption. After all, that is the heart of Star Wars - the rise, tragic fall and ultimate redemption of a man. The need and search for redemption lies in every heart for it is placed there by God. And our need for redemption is so powerful that 6 blockbuster movies were made about it. Watching the images and listening to the music, I am reminded how thankful I am for my redemption given to me by Jesus.





Perhaps the funniest thing about the concert was all the people that came dressed in costumes! Kids came with their parents and we saw little storm troopers, jedi's and fighter pilots ... and many many lightsabers. One family came dressed up - the mom was Princess Leia (complete with bun hairdo ... with glowlights around each bun) and the dad draped himself rather well with Christmas lights ... the kids were little jedis.

On the way home, we were behind a minivan that had a little lightsaber duel going on inside! It was dark and all we could see were a green and blue lightsaber going at it in the minivan (what was being said inside we could only wonder ... "If you don't put those lightsabers down this minute, so help me, I will pull this car over and ..."). What a funny end to the night!

Yes, the Wachovia Center full of crazy Star Wars fans and we had a fabulous evening!!! So GLAD we went!

~JG

Ignorance is Bliss

After saying prayers with Ellie tonight, I left to get some vaseline since above and below her lips are chapped (from sucking on them). As I put on the vaseline, she was pursing her mouth in a ever-so-slightly odd way and I had that "mommy intuition." So I asked her, "Ellie, are you eating boogies?" And she opened her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and right there was the biggest hard boogie ever. Disgusting! And even more disgusting was that I groaned and picked it off her tongue to throw in the trash! Sigh. What we mothers do.

I should have ignored my intuition and let her eat her boogie.

~JG

I want to remember . . .

Last night at dinner, Aaron and I were downloading about our days and the kids were eating (somewhat) quietly. All of the sudden, Ellie pipes up, "Mommy, thanks for making this DELICIOUS dinner." Just like that. Completely out of the blue. So sweetly. And in a complete sentence ... as only a 2 year old can say it. I stopped and looked at her and teared up! It was such a sweet moment! Then Caleb saw how happy I was when Ellie said that so he piped in, "Thank you mommy for making this delicious CUP to eat! Heehee." Nothing like 4 year old silliness. I just said "Yup, no problem," but silently thought, "Good try Caleb but Ellie won this round of 'mommy's favorite'!" HA. And then commenced a 5 minute conversation between Caleb and Ellie of silly things to eat ... the ceiling (always a favorite), the chair, the cup, the floor ... and I think they may have actually eaten some actual food in there as well. Ahhhhh ... the sweetest moments of life usually aren't the big ones.

~JG

God wants to be found

I played a very short game of hide and seek with Caleb yesterday. I ran upstairs ahead of him and hid behind our bed. He ran up too, but then got distracted by some toy that he found, and instead of looking for me, he walked around looking at the toy. Needless to say, I did not stay hidden for long.

I remember when the kids were still learning how to play hide-and-seek. I would hide in really obvious places (like under a blanket in the middle of the room). Of course, their hiding places were even more obvious ... they hid in the exact same place as I had just hidden and then told me to find them. :-) But as the kids got more practice at it, I'd try to find some more challenging places to hide. One of the best was in our laundry room. Now, the kids never had any reason to go in our laundry room. All that is there is the washer and dryer. And they didn't do any laundry, so why go in that room? So when we played hide-and-seek, they never even thought about looking in the laundry room. Which made it quite perfect. And then when it would take too long and I could tell they were getting frustrated, I'd start making little noises. And THEN they would find me! And it's always fun to see their delighted little faces when they find me. But the point of the game was ... I wanted to be found by them. Maybe give me a minute of silence to me myself first ... but I didn't want to stay hidden all afternoon ... I wanted to be found.

Well, I'm continuing on in my Beth Moore bible study, and today we found ourselves in Acts 19, Paul's 3rd missionary journey - spending 2+ years in Ephesus. And in Ephesus, God did EXTRAORDINARY things through Paul, to get the people's attention. But what I found really interesting is the concept that God WANTED to be found by the people.

Ephesus was a city known for its interest in magic and the occult and the unseen world. So God used their interest and performed amazing miracles - far surpassing anything they had ever seen. Even handkerchiefs that Paul touched were used by God to cure illnesses and remove evil spirits. God wanted to be found by the Ephesians. As Beth said, "He did not lead them through a cloudy pillar. He got their attention through supernatural phenomena, because that's where they were looking."

In the same way, God got the attention of the Magi by showing up where they were looking ... the stars. "When He wanted to lead the Magi to the Christ child, He did not lead them by a mark in the sand. He led them through a star because they were star gazers - then He went beyond anything they had ever seen ... God wants to be found ... and He is so gracious to show up right where we are looking." I can just imagine if God had made a huge "crop circle" in the Magi's front lawn ... it's huge, glowing bright fushia, with a big smiley face lawn gnome perched right in the middle. And the Magi would walk past it, never seeing it, because their necks are forever tilted upwards looking at the sky. Maybe that's why God used a star. He is wise and He knows how to be found, if we are willing to recognize Him.

I bet God would be awesome at hide-and-seek ... he'd pick a great hiding spot, but never tough enough that we couldn't find Him. And if we looked and looked and started to despair, His giggling would lead us straight to Him ... hiding underneath a blanket in the middle of the living room with His feet sticking out.

~JG

What is trust?

I've been going through Beth Moore's bible study on the life of Paul. Today's study mentioned how Paul went to Ephesus and made a bee-line for the synagogue, so eager and passionate for his fellow Jews to believe in Jesus. And after a very difficult time in Athens and Corinth, these brothers and sisters were actually interested and receptive! They asked him to stay longer. But, apparently God had other plans for Paul, and Paul knew he wasn't to stay. So he declined. Amazing. After so much turmoil during his travels of people rejecting him or attacking him, here were people who asked him to stay. If I were Paul, I think I would've argued with God. "But God, I can do so much good here! They actually want to hear more! What will happen if I leave?" But as Beth Moore wrote in Week 5, Day 4, "There is a bumper sticker that reads, 'There is a God and you're not Him.' We are wise to trust Him when He seems to be leading us contrary to those things we want to do or those things which seem so rational and fitting." And perhaps because Paul left, God prepared Apollos. I wonder what might have happened if Paul had decided to do his own thing and NOT leave Ephesus like God instructed. Or perhaps it's better to say, what might NOT have happened if Paul had decided to do his own thing ... ?

So after reading that, I pondered what trust really is. Because Paul certainly had it. He trusted God, even when God was telling him to do something that didn't really make sense. What is trust?

I imagine trust to be something like this ... I'm standing on one end of a large room blindfolded and I cannot see anything. Not even a subtle difference in light or darkness. And all the way across the room is another person, able to see. And they call to me to walk towards them. Trust is being blind but stepping forward anyway, knowing that the other person is in this for my good. Being blind is key, because if I can see, it's not really trust, is it? It is my own ability.

But what creates the trust? I'm not going to start walking towards just any person who calls me. No way. Who is that person across the room?

• Do they know me? Are they really in this for MY good? Are they going to care if I trip on an obstacle? Will they really do everything they can to make sure I make it safely to the other side of the room? Or do they only think of themselves?
  
• Are they competent? Even if they desire my well-being, if they cannot communicate to me how to avoid obstacles and where to step up or down to avoid falling, then I don't want to trust in their directions.
  
• Will they stay until the end? I don't want them to walk out of the room while I'm standing in the middle, not able to go forward or backwards, just because they get tired or frustrated or need a tinkle break. Will they be patient with my mistakes, or will they give up, saying "You can't follow anything I say! Finish on your own!"?
  

I can think of several people who I would follow without question. I would step out blindly towards Aaron's voice. Because I trust him - he knows me, is in it for my good, he is competent, and he will stay until the end. I would follow my parents and parent's-in-law, as well as many friends. I would not step out upon hearing my children's voices ... they do know and love me, but competent? Not quite. At least, not yet. Give them another 18 years and my answer might change.

Will I blindly step out when I hear God's voice? Does He know and love me? Yes. Is He in this for my good? Yes. Is He competent. Oh yes. Will He stay until the end? Yes.

He deserves my trust. So why do I find it harder to trust God in certain things than I do my husband, or my family or friends? Perhaps because I'm forgetting Who He is, and that He deserves and has earned my trust more than anyone else.

So perhaps, when I find myself in a situation, figuratively blindfolded and hearing God's voice calling me to cross the large room, and I hesitate, I will remind myself of why God deserves my trust. And then I will take that first step, blind but safe.

~JG

"I conquered the world again ... oh wait ..."

This morning, I felt like superwoman! We all got up a little early, Aaron made french toast for breakfast, and I had enough time before taking the kids to school to cut up veggies for the roast tonight (I had even remembered to take it out of the freezer early for it to defrost - WOW!). In fact, Caleb helped me make dinner. We had a lovely time together at the kitchen counter. I cut up carrots and onions (hardly cried) and potatoes and browned a large roast and he washed off all the celery and helped me dump stuff into the crock pot ... I turned it on to cook all day ... the kiddos were off to school ... I had MOPS, came home, played games with the kids, even picked up and vacuumed ... and man, I was feeling pretty good! I went back to the crock pot at 4pm to make the gravy - I even remembered to do that ... and it was cool as cool can be. The light was on saying, "Hey, I'm cooking" but it LIED! It had not cooked. At all. What happened? ARGHHHH!!! I had not conquered the world! I had tried. But I was foiled. DRAT! Foiled again! So now, we could eat raw roast and veggies ... or not. It's Chinese takeout for us! At least it's warm.

~JG

"What's that Smell?"

Well, much has happened since our last blog ... go figure. I'll start with sometime last week, Aaron and I were talking and decided that it would be neat if Aaron made a bedroom set for us. So we looked online and found plans we liked (it's scary how we have the exact same taste ...) and Aaron was off and running. On Friday, I left with the kids to spend the weekend at our parents; Dick came over to our house so he, Aaron and Randall could go out to Hearn Hardwoods and buy wood for the first project - a headboard. And they had a blast. Aaron told me all about picking out the right white oak quarter sawn ... and the awesome flecking (I don't even know if I'm spelling any of this right ...) in the wood ... and I said "AWESOME! Glad you had fun, honey!" Aaron and Dick spent the Friday night and Saturday prepping and cutting the wood, and the headboard is all together as I type. Aaron needs to sand it and varnish/etc. That was quick work! He is having a wonderful time woodworking. He hasn't really done that for awhile, and I think it's energizing him. Go Aaron! And I love it 'cuz we get new furniture! Double win!

Anyways, I returned with the kids Saturday night. I walked into the house and immediately said, "What is that smell?" And I started the sniff test all around. Couldn't figure it out. It wasn't the dishes - I'd done those before I left. It wasn't the cats - they were upstairs. I was getting a little nervous that I'd soon become accustomed to the odor and not notice it anymore ... but any guests would. Hey, I'm fine with a slightly messy house, but definitely not a smelly house! Well, we ate dinner, then I went upstairs to put chaos into somewhat of an order ... and voila! I walked into Ellie's room and discovered the odor! A big pile of dog poop right in the doorway! (Did I mention we are "foster dog-sitting" Riley, an 80 lb chocolate lab, for our youth pastors until they move into their new house ... this Saturday!) I was actually relieved. At least I had discovered the smell. So I happily called Aaron to report my discovery and have him clean it up (a stipulation of foster dog sitting was that he had to clean up all you-know-what). I do have to defend poor Riley - that is the first time he ever did anything in the house. He's really a good dog! And I'm actually going to miss him. It'll be pretty quite around here next week. Maybe our cats will dare to venture out of our bedroom. Hmmmm?

Well, it's our day off, and Aaron has been happily woodworking away. I had a great time switching out the kids summer and fall/winter wardrobes. Woohoo! Although, I did have my moments of productivity.

You see, our kids both love their blankies. Caleb's poor blankie survives him chewing on it, wrapping it around his fingers and toes and toys and who knows what else. The little binding around the edge has started to come off, and he just uses that to chew on and lasso trains. Ellie's blankie is 32 years old. Yup - it's my old baby blanket. And the knitting on the edge started to come apart. Well, that's not good- she'll pull on it and the whole thing will come undone. Soo, I resolved to FIX the blankies!

I asked my mother's advice (thank God for mothers!) and we visited Joanne Fabrics together to find new satin blanket trimming. And today, I cut the unraveling edge off of Ellie's blanket and sewed (yes, with my sewing machine!) a new pink satin trim on the new edge. It's definitely not professional. The top thread is white and the bottom is blue (I was so happy to get the machine threaded that I really didn't feel like messing with the bobbin!), but that's ok 'cuz there is blue in the blanket. It's a bit of a hack job, but it's done and it is NOT coming apart! It looks a bit strange - there is the original soft and faded 32 year old white/cream and almost translucent satin edging on 3 sides, and the new pink (Ellie's choice) crisp, hard satin edging on one side. But, it's home-made. :-) I finished it this afternoon, and Ellie's been carrying it around like a little Linus-ghost all afternoon and evening. I think it passes inspection.

This evening I tackled Caleb's little blankie. First, I had to take out all the stitches of the narrow satin edging that was actually still in place. That took forever. Fortunately, it's a very small blanket - less than 1ft sq. Then I got out the new wide satin edging (cream - not pink) and started to sew it on. How in the world do you do those dumb corners?!?! Ok, I know I could've stopped and looked it up somewhere, but I wanted to get it done. So it is done. And it is NOT coming off! HAHAHAH!!!! Y'know, when I turned off the sewing machine after the last stitch, I felt like I had conquered the world! Then I took out the blanket, cut the threads and looked at it ... and I didn't feel like that anymore ... not even a continent. Maybe I conquered a very small city. In the middle of Montana. Well, the blanket is fixed. It will be fine. And after Caleb chews on it for a night or so, it'll look just right. :-)

Ahhh, the things we do for our children. And I have discovered, once again, I will never make my living from sewing.

And yes, Randall, this is yet another blog that mentions poop. :-)

~JG

It just hit me...

It's been a couple weeks since we last posted...and later we'll fill you in on our little vacation to Ephrata and Sight and Sound...and update you on our baby turtle (just hatched - in our kitchen - about 11 days ago).

But I had to write this morning, because something amazing just happened to me. I was outside pulling some tall grass from our flower beds. The cicadas are singing, the sun shining bright, and the geese are heading my way.

Yes, I could hear the honking of the geese - about 12 of them, and I knew they were getting closer.

I didn't look up...I've seen plenty of geese before...I knew they were coming and it seemed like they would be flying right overhead. And they did.

As all this was happening, I was thinking to myself how wonderful it was that geese don't poop in flight - they take care of that when they're on the ground - I'm one happy guy that geese don't poop in flight - I don't need to worry about a thing...

As these thoughts were about done scrolling through my head like a Star Wars title crawl, it hit me!

Literally...it hit me...and at the same time it hit me that I had been wrong all these years.

Geese can and do poop in flight.

You do need to be wary when the geese fly overhead.

You need to protect yourself.

Beware the geese.

Ellie "Sleep-Eating"

We had a family picnic this evening - dinner and a movie in our family room. I picked out a 30 minute film about monkeys (a VHS tape I took out of the huge bag of VHS tapes that dad was getting rid of a few months ago), and Papa John's delivered our pizza just in time. Ellie was in her high chair and Jen, Caleb, and I were each seated behind a TV tray. The film is older, but very entertaining.

When it was about 20 minutes in we looked over to see how Ellie was doing (as she had been unusually quiet for a while), and this is what we saw (enjoy!) : ~AG

Whew ...

It's been awhile since a post ... well, since a NEW post anyways. We've had a lot going on.

VBS - July 13-17
VBS went great! I am way too tired to write about all the things that I could write about ... but I will say that we had over 300 kids, 100 volunteers, we had a great time, the kids had a great time, everyone had a great time at the Friday Family Night, we are so appreciative of all the wonderful people who helped ... and we're tired! :-) This was Caleb's first year in VBS and I loved watching him throughout the week. He was SO excited when he received a "Kindness Coin" for being kind. And I was so touched at his excitement. What was just a whim of an idea weeks ago turned into something personal. But now the Kindness Coins are gone because he keeps sucking on them.

On Monday, we relaxed and our family went to Sesame Place - our very first experience there! We exchanged vouchers for tickets so did not have to pay the ticket price ... but made up for it in parking fees, locker fees ($15!), and spending 1/2 our weekly grocery bill on lunch. But it was worth it. We spent 9 hours there and we had a marvelous time! We put all our stuff in an expensive locker, and walked out into the water park ... all 4 holding hands, with nothing but our swimsuits and shorts and watershoes. No phone. No wallet. No camera. Just us. And it was a great feeling! Freedom! We loved the Lazy River and water slides and Ellie went on her first water slide alone (it was pretty tame) and in the evening we changed into clothes and went on the "dry" rides ... and Caleb went on his first roller coaster (it was actually fun! I liked it!) and Ellie wanted to but she has to wait until she's 3. It was a really fun day.

On Tuesday night I drove out and spent the night with my parents. Wednesday morning, mom and I drove dad into Phoenixville Hospital for his surgery ... with a 6am check in time. We waited in the waiting room until noonish when the doctor informed us the surgery was done and everything was ok. Then we waited another 3 hours so we could see him in his room ... he was a BIT sluggish. :-) Then I drove back home and had church that evening.

Friday after lunch we all drove out to see Grandpa Marvin in the hospital. The kids didn't push any buttons or pull out any IV's ... YES! No, they were actually very well behaved. Dad looked pretty perky for just having surgery. And he has about 6 coloring pages from Caleb and Ellie hanging in his room. Saturday morning mom and I went to see dad, and looks like he'll be released tomorrow! We had lunch with Dick and Darlene and headed back home ... where ...

... we made dinner for Pastor Shawn and Kristal (youth pastors at CLC). And their dog Riley. They haven't yet sold their house in Lancaster so cannot look for a house here ... and needed a place for their chocolate lab (Shawn's brother had been keeping the dog but it wasn't working out with his kids). So now we are the foster parents of an 80 lb. chocolate lab until ... whenever they can buy a house here. Whew! (Riley just barked at Muffin ... Aaron is calming him downstairs ... let the fun begin!) Riley is really a good dog - he's trained to ring the bell to be let outside, doesn't jump on furniture, doesn't really bark (except for getting aquainted with our cats), is very gentle with the kids (who have already tested him) and is good with other animals ... after he satisfies his curiosity ... which our cats are not letting him do as of yet. I agreed to the arrangment on 1 condition ... Aaron takes care of all poop/pee of the dog and takes him on walks if I don't want to. So we are both satisfied. We'll see how this venture goes! The kids are pretty excited!

Funny moment ... during dinner, we were talking with Shawn and Kristal, and Caleb is really excited at having new people over so he's being very silly. And he looks at me, smiles and giggles and says, "Screw you!" Then he says it again, with an adorably silly look on his face. We all stop, try not to laugh ... and Aaron and I ponder how to address this. I don't know if he heard it from somewhere or if he just made it up, as he frequently does with other words ... but we calmly informed him that wasn't a polite thing to say. "Ok" he replied. And Shawn and Kristal just laughed, muttering "Pastor's kids ...".

Next week I'll be at Kids Camp. It will be fun and totally worth it, but I'm really looking forward to some down time soon!

Anyways, off to bed!

~JG

A Glimpse of the Past

This was an email Jen sent to me on January 22 of this year. You may have also received this email...even if you did, it's a great read the second time around. ~AG
====================================

My Afternoon ...

Our family eats a nice, normal lunch.

After Aaron returns to work, Caleb, Ellie and I play a game of Candyland. It is 1:30pm. Ellie drops out of the game early. She starts collecting discarded cards and boing-ing the red figure all around the game board. Caleb whips me soundly. Twice. I didn’t even let him cheat.

We start getting ready for naps (or “quiet time”) … but …

While sitting on the toilet, Caleb accidentally pees everywhere. He didn’t point down in time. This is rather unusual. Pee is in his hair, face, clothes, mouth, on the bathroom floor … we both concur that it is time for a bath.

I get the kids naked for the bath. Caleb gets in. I need to run some more cool water. Ellie pees on the floor. Ellie gets in. I clean up the pee. From both children. Did I mention the toilet is[n't] flushing completely?

The kids are finally clean and covered in bubbles. They whine and bicker while in the bath. Ellie is very tired and Caleb is pushing her buttons.

Ellie dumps a toy full of water out of the tub. So I get her out. She has hit her wall. She cries “bubbo baff!” over and over hysterically, stamping her dripping wet feet.

I take Ellie to her room and dry her off. Her injured nose (from her slip yesterday - but that’s another story) starts to spontaneously bleed again. I find Kleenex and attempt to stop the blood but she cries all the more hysterically. She would much rather bleed all over her carpet.

I get her nosebleed slowed, and settle her into her rocking chair with some books, dressed in a diaper and pants only. I go get Caleb out of the bath. I wrap him in a towel and tell him to play with some trains while I get Ellie settled. He happily complies.

Ellie and I sit in the rocking chair with the Kleenex box. I sing her the “3-2-1 Penguins” theme song. She yells “NO NO NO mommy! No sing song!” and then she giggles. And asks me to sing it again. I will never understand the mind of an almost 2 year old. I sing the song about 28 times until I’m convinced her nose really has stopped bleeding. I put a shirt on her, finally, and settle her in her bed with a bunch of books. I leave to get stuff to clean up the blood on her carpet.

On my way back, I check on Caleb. He is in his room, naked, covered in green, yellow and orange marker … on his hands, belly, legs, arms … I think, “Ahhhh, that was the crash I heard. The marker and crayon bin.” I confiscate the markers. I will be back.

I go and clean the blood off Ellie’s floor. She lays in her bed, watching me with her binkie and blankie. She reminds me to turn off the light on my way out. She is ready to sleep!

I go back to Caleb and explain, again, why we have the rule of “only get colors out with mommy and daddy”. We go into the bathroom and I scrub him, leaving a hint of color tint throughout his little body. We get dressed in clean, non-peed on clothes, he climbs in my lap and whispers “I wuv you mommy”, gives me a kiss and crawls into his bed. It’s amazing how that little kiss makes up for a multitude of pee and marker! I start his music and leave.

I walk to the bathroom. There I see … water on the floor, towels with either pee or nosebleed strewn about, washclothes with either pee or marker tint hanging over the sink, toys with bubbles in the tub and bubbles all over the sink (I don’t remember how those got there …), kids dirty clothes … and I walk away.

It is only 2:50pm.

And I thank God that this was a totally and completely abnormal afternoon.

Hope yours is going better!

Love ya! :-)

Jenny

Our Family Tea Party

Well, we finally had our very first family Tea Party. But we are not the ordinary family, and it was not an ordinary Tea Party. It first started when Caleb (always immediately mimic-ed by Ellie) announced we needed some groceries. So Aaron made a grocery list for Caleb to remember - apples, bananas, something starting with a "c", donuts and eggs - and told him how to remember each item because they all started with the alphabet. And Caleb took his money (which somehow materialized out of thin air ... ahhhh, that I could have that power!), took Aaron's keys, hopped in the car and took off to the grocery store (which interestingly resembled our bedroom). And he came back with all the groceries! He remembered the entire list. What a smart boy! HA!

Anyways, the kids eventually figured we needed to buy some tea. So they took me to the grocery store ... (I didn't know the grocery store had laundry baskets with clean laundry ready to be put away in it!) ... and we finally found the tea on what looked to be a computer desk. Caleb was about to walk out of the grocery store without paying (gasp!), but I insisted we stop by the nearest laundry basket to pay for our tea. Phew! Then we returned to Ellie's room (and her little house filled with tea cups and such), and Caleb and Ellie made us tea. Over and over again. And then they swiped our tea and ran squealing off into the sunset (which looked like the hallway) ... only to return to offer us more tea. And I learned that Caleb likes his tea with 30 lumps of sugar. A little tea with his sugar, eh? Aaron became a tea taster as he made a "tea smelling apparatus" for his nose made of out legos. The kids didn't even notice it was there. I think Caleb tried to fool us by offering us tea out of a Little People toilet chair instead of a cup ... but we didn't fall for that! HA - we weren't born yesterday!

Well, the kids are in bed ... both simultaneously yelling for us. And we have our new date TV show (now that The Office is on summer break) ... "Royal Pains". Very good show!

Happy 4th!

~JG

Day Out with Thomas!

Sunday after church, we all headed off to Strasburg, PA (about 1 1/2 hours west of us) for a little family getaway and to enjoy "A Day Out with Thomas"! Caleb (and Ellie) had such a blast last year ... he still talks about it ... that we decided to go this year as well. Only a few short years until they are on to bigger and older things! sniff.

Anyways, we had a lovely time! We stayed the night at the Red Caboose Motel - all the rooms are old train cars - situated on a farm right across from the Railroad Station. We had a blast exploring our train-room! Inside was a double bed and a bunkbed with a futon underneath. And yes ... a very small bathroom. :-) But it was surprisingly comfy!


We watched the Amish drive by in their buggies ("Why are they called buggies?" "Ummm, 'cuz they are."). We saw the farm animals - they particularly liked the "blond pony" - played on the nice wooden swing set, climbed the "tower" (a silo with 72 stairs winding up for a view of the countryside ... jelly-legs!), and then, my favorite, we joined other guests at dusk and watched "Monsters Inc." on the side of the barn, all wrapped up together in a blanket, with popcorn (just our family in the blanket - not the other guests ... perhaps I should clarify ...). It was a lovely night and I didn't even get a single bug bite! God is good.

Monday we ate breakfast in the Caboose Train car (chocolate chip pancakes - YUM!) and headed over to the Train Station. We had tickets to ride Thomas at 11:15, and the kids were SOOOOOO excited!


Here's a video from on the train ... Caleb was so intent on looking around he couldn't even comment about the train ride. :-)



We played with train tables (of course) and did a few other train "rides" as well ...

... the little train Cagney (they were pretty excited to go through the tunnel)


... the Cranky Cars (the kids sat and propelled the car by bicycling with their hands)


... and the push car (Aaron and I did the work while the kids held on ... what a workout!).


We had a lot of fun, and the kids were tuckered out during the ride home. Caleb picked out a replica of one of the diesel trains for his train table ... and he is treasuring it! He still treasures the Express Coaches that he picked out at last year's Day Out with Thomas. It's neat to see him look at the picture of the REAL train #90, and then squeal about his little wooden train #90.

Ahhhhhh ... the joy of trains. I wish I would've thought of a wierd little talking train years ago ... I'd be rich.

~JG

An Adventure in Life ...

Today we had a play date at the Please Touch Museum in Philly with Caleb's bestest-estest friend Isaac and his mommy (and my friend) Jackie. Was Caleb EVER excited! I told him we would be leaving about when the little clock hand reached the 12 (for those who do not wish to think - that is noon). At 10am, he ran up to me and told me excitedly, "Mommy, the big hand is at the 12 - we can go to the museum now!!!! C'mon, let's go!" and I had to break it to him that the LITTLE hand had to reac the 12, not the big hand. He sighed and said, "OK. I'll be patient." Oh, my little boy!

Well, time did pass, we ate lunch and we left. I was so prepared with changes of clothes, fruit snacks, hand sanitizer (never forgetting the fateful Thanksgiving incident of the puking bug probably picked up from the PTM - yuck), trains (for the train table there - a favorite), directions from the PTM's home page, cell phone (often forgotten at home), camera (fully charged), books for the car ... I was SUPER MOM! So, I haven't actually driven to the PTM, but I've been passenger many a time, so I thought I had it nailed. I even debriefed Aaron before leaving, and knew to stay in the left lanes, as the exit from 676 to 76 was a left exit ... fool proof, right? Oh no ... hence the title "Adventure in Life".

The PTM's directions never mention a direction on 676 ... there was no "676E" or "676W" to 76. Nope. Just "take 676 to 76". Ahhhh, trusting fool that I was. Apparently, there are 2 directions you can take. And there is not much time to decide which way to go. I had no time to process and analyze whether going east or west would get me to my desired location before I had to choose, so I choose ... and of course, choose incorrectly. I made the mistake of muttering "Stupid signs", which got Caleb to asking "Why did you say stupid signs, mommy?" so I tried to nonchalantly explain that I had made a mistake and would have to turn around ... somewhere ... and it wasn't a big deal and it would be a little adventure! As I'm driving, I'm thinking, "This does not look right. I took the wrong way! ARGHHH! How do I turn around? I'm downtown Philly - there is no way to turn around! It's all one-ways and wierd round-a-bout paths to get to main roads ... ARGHHH ... oh no ... I'm on the Ben Franklin Bridge driving across the river into New Jersey! Sigh. There is definitely no u-turn now ..." And as I'm thinking all this, Caleb is saying, "Mommy, where are we? You made a mistake, mommy? How do we turn around? How do we turn around, mommy? Are we still going to the museum? Can we turn around and go to the museum? ... Let's just turn around and go to the museum."

So, we cross the Ben Franklin Bridge and enter Camden, NJ - not a place I'd like to drive around lost in - so I pull over and call Aaron (thank God for cell phones!). I say, "Hi honey. I have a question for you. Say ... someone happened to be in Camden instead of at the Please Touch Museum ... how would that someone happen to turn around, go back over the Ben Franklin Bridge and find her way to the museum?" He laughed, then empathized (like a very thoughtful husband), and then became my knight in shining armor (from afar) as he went online to google maps and directed me street by street back over the bridge (a rather round-a-bout but not impossible path) and to 676 (the correct direction). What a man!!!

And somewhere in there, while trying to escape NJ, Caleb pipes up, "It's OK mommy! If we drive over that bridge again, we won't have to call daddy because we'll know how to turn around!" And I immediately smiled (as I looked for 9th street to turn right on), because that is so true. If we make a mistake (I hope I am not the only one who makes these), we can make a choice to learn from it. And then we move on with life. And hopefully not make the mistake again! I know now that if I accidentally drive over the Ben Franklin Bridge and need to turn around, I can take the Water front exit, take a right on 9th street, take a left after the bridge-thingy (also follow the teeeeeny green signs pointing for the BFB) and then another left leading to the toll ways. I also learned that it is a $4 and 20 minute mistake (although I could whittle down the minutes next time). And I also learned that my kids learn how to deal with mistakes by watching me deal with my mistakes.

So, we DID make it, had a great time and made it back home without ANY wrong turns. YES.

~JG

Caleb's Graduation

Caleb had his preschool "Graduation" last night. Each class sang a song and recited a bible verse, then received their "diploma". It was really very cute - gotta love it when kids sing. However, the paparazzi were a bit much!!! I'm all for parents taking pictures ... I mean, I was one of them ... but when you are standing in the center aisle, smiling at your child singing, forgetting that there are hundreds of parents behind you who just might want to see their child too ... sigh. But people were very patient and (outwardly) calm. That was good.

Ellie did very well sitting with us (and Grandpa Marvin, Grandma Betty and Grandma Darlene) in the pew. Graduation is only for the preschool classes, so she won't qualify until next year. The funniest moment (for me) was during a lull part of the "ceremonies". The classes were switching out or something, so we were all waiting patiently through the switching ... when Ellie YELLS out, "HI CALEB!!!" And Caleb, on stage with his class, smiles, jumps up and down, waves and YELLS back, "HI ELLIE!" That was pretty cute.

We all went out for ICE CREAM afterwards! Hurrah! Caleb was soooooooooo excited for everything - singing, "graduating", getting ice cream, grandparents ... I haven't seen him that excited in a LONG time! He just couldn't contain himself!

Here's a video of Caleb and his class singing a song. Enjoy!



And here are a few pictures ...

Look at us women! We all match! GO TEAM!

"Hi everyone!"

Ellie traced our hands while we waited.

Caleb wanted to give Ellie a BIG hug afterwards! Ahhhh ... they DO love each other!

The most important part of the entire evening ... ice cream!

~JG

Highlights from my trip

I am back from a wonderful time in IA/MN, and life is returning to normal ... whatever "normal" is. HA!

Some highlights of my trip ...

Seeing my cousin Aubrey graduate high school ...



Seeing my wonderful Grandma Jeanie ...


Spending time with my best friend Karina and helping to take care of her two precious new babies, Calvin and Lucia (6 weeks old) ...


I forgot how much those first few months revolve around the feeding/changing/sleeping schedule! It was just a few years ago, yet it seems like a lifetime. I always rolled my eyes when I heard people say, "My, how time does fly." And now I find myself saying the exact same thing ... because it's TRUE! However, taking care of TWO itty-bitty babies is a bit different than taking care of ONE itty-bitty baby! But we got our rhythm down ... changing, getting the bottles ready, feeding, holding, swaddling ... and repeat. I am SO glad I got to be there with her! We had a fantastic time, and I will truly treasure that time together! I thank God that He put us together way back in middle school. Could I have predicted, as a little gangly, clueless 12 year old, that Karina and I would be still giggling away and buying matching shoes some ** years later? (Years have been deleted to protect ... well ... me.)


Here is a digital scrapbook page I made of Karina, Damian, Calvin and Lucia. As you can tell, we had lots of fun and there was lots of laughter! Damian is such a goof, and such a good husband and daddy. And he's really tired right now ... for some strange reason!


When I returned home, Aaron and the kids were waiting up for me ... and I received the most lovely return reception! Caleb and Ellie ran into my arms crying "MOMMY!" And Caleb stayed there for about 5 minutes, just hugging me and sighing "mommy" over and over. Ellie quickly turned to Grandma and Grandpa and had to show them things, but she was very glad to see me as well. YES! It's almost worth it being gone to receive such a welcome home! And Aaron was glad to have his teammate back. He did an amazing job being single daddy for the week ... but there is a reason God meant the family to consist of two parents.

Well, I had fun, but as Dorothy said, "There's no place like home."

~JG

So ... to preface today's blog, you need to understand 3 things.

1. For the past week, Ellie has been inseparable with her green "purse" of sidewalk chalk - still shrink-wrapped. I bought it for her last Tuesday from the dollar section in Target, and for some reason, it has never left her side. She walks around the house with it, brings it in the car, on errands, to school (leaving it in daddy's office), she sleeps with it ... it is the first thing she thinks about in the morning and the last at night. I have no idea why, but she loves the thing!

2. For the past week, my ears have been blocked and have hurt a bit. I've been wondering if I have an ear infection, and finally decided to go to the doctor.

3. For the past week (ok, past month or so), Ellie has been telling us when she poops. "I POOOOPing!" This is good, except she uses the same phrase for any lower bodily function ... toots, pee ... you get the idea. So it has become a bit of a "cry wolf" thing for us. "Pooping?" we say. "Yeah right. You'll be fine for a few more hours."

So, now that you understand those 3 points, let's commence with today's story.

The day started out with Ellie waking up ... and her chalk is nowhere to be found. She fell asleep with it last night ... it is gone this morning. Honestly, where can a bright green plastic container of chalk go? But alas, it has escaped us! We've looked ... and cannot find it. Ellie cried and cried for her chalk and we tried reasoning with her ... it worked a bit ... but 2 year olds do not reason well. Anyways, Aaron took Caleb and Ellie to school and I stopped off at the bank before Ladies Bible Study. Sooooo, I had the bright idea of also stopping in Target to pick up ANOTHER purse of $1 chalk. YES, problem solves, right? No. Target has no more chalk. Apparently, many other 2 year old girls have a chalk fettish as well.

Well, I went to Ladies Bible Study and left early for my doctor's appointment. Our family practioner is right down the street so it's very convenient. I checked in for my 11:15am appointment ... and was finally seen at 12:45. Yes ... apparently, it was one of those days at the doctor's office! I read through 2 Martha Stewart magazines ... and I mean READ through them. It was that or Men's Health. I also half listened to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire because the contestant was from Eagan, MN ... where I grew up! She didn't win. Anyways, I was finally called, was weighed, blood pressured, ears checked out, got medicine and a prescription (I have fluid behind the ear drums and an infection which accounts for the pressure and pain) and drove home by 1pm. Sigh. Fortunately, Aaron was able to pick up the kids and watch them through lunch time!

Aaron left for work, and me and the kiddos trucked off to a different Target ... for my prescription and to see if there was any chalk! No chalk. And the pharmacy was closed for lunch. We walked around Target for awhile, looked at the toys - very annoying loud toys in my opinion - and the pharmacy was STILL closed. sigh. Soooo, we went across the street to ACMoore in hopes of spending some time there waiting for the pharmacy to open. Fortunately, what I wanted was 75% plus my 20% coupon so I was very happy. In ACMoore, Ellie announced, "I POOPing." "Yeah, right," I thought. I couldn't smell anything, so it's probably something else. We ended up leaving ACMoore for home (Aaron booked an eye appointment for himself this evening, and I need to drive him in case they do a eye-dilation-whatever-exam so we'll head back to Target then). It was good - it was past 2, and Ellie was in the beginning stages of a melt-down. She NEEDED a nap.

We got home, Ellie was so tired she didn't know what to do with herself, and Caleb wanted to play badmitton (don't ask). I carried Ellie up to her room to change her diaper before naptime ... only to discover she had the nastiest diaper I've seen in months! It was a 20-wet-wiper. Poor thing. She really DID poop this time! (For those of you counting, YES, this blog does contain another reference to poop. Huzzah!)

I'm tired. But I will praise the Lord anyhow ... I can praise God that ...
1. I live in a country where 2 hours is a long time to wait for the doctor, and I'm able to get medicine when I need it.
2. The biggest issue for my child is where is her favorite chalk and not something life-threatening.
3. Ellie's colon works very well. It could be worse. It could not work at all.
4. Someone invented wet wipes. Bless them.

~JG

"I want to love you!"

This afternoon, while I laid on the couch trying to wake up from my nap, Caleb was chasing Ellie all over the downstairs trying to kiss her. At first, she ran away, giggling, and loved the attention and kisses. But after 10 minutes or so (yes, 10 minutes), she grew bored and wanted to watch the BOZ episode on TV instead. Caleb still wanted to kiss her. But Ellie would have none of it and said so sweetly, "No kiss me, pwease Cawub." So Caleb had to comply, but he was so disappointed. He replied, "But Ellie, I want to kiss you. I want to love you!" But for Ellie, BOZ won out over Caleb's kisses. He was so bummed. So I told him, "Honey, there's many ways to show someone you love them. You don't have to kiss them." Then it was time to get our shoes on to leave for CLC's leadership meeting. As I was putting Ellie's shoes on, Caleb stood nearby and held out the measuring spoons (from where he got them?) and happily informed us, "I love you with these measuring spoons!"

Moral of the story: there are MANY different ways to show someone you love them. Even with measuring spoons. What weird and wonderful thing can YOU do to show someone you love them? HA!

Mother's Day Stuff - a little late

Yes, I know that Mother's Day has come and gone ... but this week has been busy, and I just learned how to add pictures and video to the blog ... so here's some Mother's Day stuff. Hey, at least it's of this year and not last year!

The Friday before Mother's Day, Caleb and Ellie's preschool put on a lovely presentation for us mommies! They had made gifts and practiced songs ... and here are some videos of the songs and pictures of how cute they were!



Caleb's class made pictures and answered the question, "Why I love my Mommy." Caleb's answer: "Because she makes food for me." And notice his picture - pretty sparse! He's not much into craft time - he'd rather play trains!




"Ahhhh, I'm tired of standing here ... when do we get to eat?"


Here is a video of the classes singing "Mommy loves me" to the tune of "Jesus loves me". Caleb was very intent on singing on doing the motions (I particularly like the "She even loves me when I'm mad" line) ... Ellie just looked around the entire time. But boy, did she look cute!




Caleb, Ellie and me ... I love my kids!



So Mother's Day was very nice! They actually understood the idea of a day just for mommy! Now, Caleb is informing me that "Daddy's Day" is coming up very soon ... and that is a day "just for daddy, not you! Not for Ellie, just daddy." Yes. And today, while in Target on the way to the cat litter aisle, we passed the card section. Caleb screamed out VERY loudly, "I SEE DORA!!!!!" Yes, there was a Dora the Explorer Father's Day card nestled in between cards of manly-looking oak trees and cards with tools and nails. Of course, Ellie had to examine said Dora card. And Caleb explained to Ellie, as only an older and wiser brother can, that the card was for daddy for "daddy's day." Then Ellie ran down the aisle, clutching the card to her chest, and shoved it in Aaron's hand, saying "Here daddy, here daddy! For YOU!" All in all, we ended up buying said Dora card. I don't think it will be a surprise for Aaron. But that is the nature of being a daddy!

Well, I hope this video uploads soon, because I'm going to bed. I need to recover from the "Girls Sleepover" at church last night into this morning. 40 girls, ages kindergarten through 6th grade, along with several moms and youth chaperones, spent a fun-filled night in the gym! We actually had a great time with no problems at all (except for a few complaints of belly aches ... due to too much junk food and running around. I wasn't very sympathetic.). They were really well behaved. I broke them up into groups, and they moved through different stations (the nail station, hair and make-up station, etc.). I led the "Church Tour" where we walk around the church in the "dark" and end up playing hide and seek in the dark sanctuary. It's always a winner. :-) But it does tend to get a little old by the 5th tour. Oh well - seeing the girls' reactions is always fun! After the stations, we had a bit of down time (where I received a "make-over" which really meant that my face became a piece of abstract art with ALL the colors of the rainbow on it), then movies and then bed. I fell asleep finally after the girls ... around 3am. Not too bad. Except I kept waking up at every sound - those "mommy ears"! And I had such wierd dreams! I dreamt that I didn't wake up in time to go and buy the doughnut holes from Dunkin' Donuts ... I dreamed that Aaron dropped off Caleb and Ellie at the sleep over for some reason, and that Zac Efron was there to babysit (no more watching High School Musical at 1am!). And those dreams seemed so real, so that it took me a few moments upon waking up to determine that I still did have time to get the munchkins, and that Zac Efron was not playing baby dolls with Ellie. So, now I will go to sleep and hopefully have much more normal dreams!

Good night!
~JG

The Shoes...by popular demand

I don't really think I need to say anything, here...

"Master" Dick Gruber

Well, he did it!  My awesome dad has his Master's Degree in Christian Leadership...which just makes sense, cuz he's a great man of God and a great leader...and I'll tell you more about him closer to Father's Day...cuz I want to get the pictures and footage on here.  Check it out:

                                        

                                        

                                        

    

                                       

We'll put all the pics up on Kodak Gallery soon...Here's the video of Dad's part in the Ceremony:

                                      

Love you all!  Peace.

~AG

Baby Blues

Dad sent a Baby Blues comic strip in the mail a week or so, and Aaron ended up reading one to the kids at breakfast that morning. They just loved it and asked him to read it over and over again. It went as follows:

Mom is holding baby Wren while older sister Zoe walks by. Zoe calmly says, "Today, I'm going to finish reading my book and then draw a picture of a horse." Middle brother dashes by holding 2 toilet plungers. He says, "Today, I'm going to see if I can hang from the ceiling using suction cups!" Mom looks down at Wren and says, "Have I told you today that I'm glad you're a girl?"

Well, today at breakfast, Caleb looks up from his MiniWheats and asks Aaron, "Dad, will you do dat ... dat ... dat ... toilet ... do dat toilet ... hanging fwom da toilet ... da hanging reflective cups ... do dat ... wiff da hanging reflective cups ..." Needless to say, we did NOT get the message. It had been a full week since that comic strip episode, with no mention of it since! It took us awhile until we finally understood he was asking for Aaron to read the comic strip again, about hanging from the ceiling with suction cups!

Sometimes, when our kids seem to make no sense at all, they really do. Will we take the time to listen?

~JG

Amazing Grace was...AMAZING!

Good evening, everyone!

We went to the church tonight to see the free concert of selections from a new musical called Amazing Grace. It was...AMAZING...and awesome...and gripping. The music was absolutely beautiful and stunning, sung by some world-class actors (one of the men has played Jean Val Jean in Les Miserables over 2900 times!). But the most amazing thing was the story of John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace.

The evening was hosted by Chris Smith, who wrote the show - he narrated parts of the show, introduced scenes and songs, which were then performed by the ensemble. It was very well done!

The show is scheduled to get a four week 'workshop' in New York in the Fall (which means they assemble a cast, rehearse the show, change a lot of things over and over, then perform for people with money to see if they can get some sponsors), and we soooo hope it goes onto Broadway so we can see the whole thing someday!

So...if you are around and free tomorrow night (Saturday, May 2), the concert starts at 8:00pm and it'll get over around 9:45. You should go see it! I think we've already said how AWESOME we think it was!

God bless!
~AG

"No sun..."

So, one of the funniest moments for Jenny and me at the movie today was near the beginning of the film. James Earl Jones says something about how we are at a point on the earth where there has been no sun for a month, now...and from Caleb we hear, "No sun?....Oh. ma-an." He sounded like Swiper the Fox. We both laughed out loud.
~AG

Earth

Ahhhhhh ... a momentous occasion! Our children sat through their very first movie in a theatre! Well ... they sat ... and stood ... and changed seats ... and climbed in and out of laps ... and wiggled ... and flew space ships through the air ... and chased the popcorn bin down the aisle ... but we stayed through the entire movie!!! Hurrah! I saw the ad for the Disney movie Earth, was interested, and so we decided to use some AMC gift cards and try the "theatre experience." The kids actually did very well until the last 30 minutes or so. I brought Caleb's itty-bitty blankie, and Ellie's buppy and binkie in my purse ... just in case. But my wonderfully genius idea backfired. Ellie started getting restless, so I gave her buppy and binkie, which she grabbed ... and then she started whining for blankie. Ok, blankie is relegated to her room because it is big and we don't want a little Linus-child. And she knows this. But she whines and whines and whines and whines for blankie until I had to take her out and have a talk with her. That did it. Except for the squiggles. But nothing will cure 2-year old squiggles.

All in all, the movie was great! Breathtaking footage! I'm glad we went - even though Aaron and I are exhausted! {:-)

~JG

Chickies ... and ... guess what?!?!

Every year, CLAEL (Caleb and Ellie's preschool) acquires chicken eggs from a nearby farm. So last week, these eggs sat in an incubator in Ms. Joanna's office. Each egg was "adopted" and named by each class (Caleb's class got egg D and thus named it "Diamond." Ellie's class got egg B and named it ... well ... it was unnamed for quite awhile until it was finally christened "Butterball" - which was instigated by the teacher rather than the students, I do believe.) The classes came to see the eggs every day. This week, the eggs hatched! So on Monday morning, I got to watch a chickie break out of its shell while others continued pecking away at their little hole - really neat! Each day this week, each class gets to come and see "their" chickie (uh, yeah Caleb ... that's Diamond ... sure ...). The kids just love it! Caleb has been talking about Diamond the past few weeks and he was just precious as he held the chickie today. He just sat there, holding out his hands, so carefully and still, softly sing-song-ing "Hewwo Diamond. Hi chickie ... cute chickie ..." It's really cute to hear him so excited about it. And Ellie ... well ... she's just excited about what anybody else is excited about.

So tonight at church, everyone had gone home and Aaron had to finish up something. So Joanna, her son Craig, Caleb, Ellie and I got a few of the chickies out to hold. We let 2 of them run around on the bright rug with a lovely picture of Jesus teaching children, keeping careful watch so Caleb and Ellie didn't trample them in their excitement (Ellie does NOT understand the concept of "personal space" for any poor creature. That is why our cats do not materialize until night time.). So ... in the course of the few minutes of freedom, of course the inevitable happens! Yes, the chickie poops on the rug. And the kiddos are delighted. "Ewwwww!!!! Icky poop!" And I easily clean it up with a wet wipe (one benefit of small creatures - small poop!). And a few minutes later, the other chickie poops on the rug, right on Jesus' face! So it looked like Jesus had a nose. Is that sacriligious? Well, I think we'll absolve the chickie of any terrible sin as I think it was definitely before the "age of accountability". Anyways, I quickly cleaned up that poop too! And eventually Aaron finished, we put the chickies back in their home (neatly avoiding Ellie trying to pick one up by it's scrawny little neck), washed our hands and finally left (at 9:25pm - whew!).

In the car on the way home, Caleb pipes up, "How do they poop and pee? Where is their penis and bottom?" And we smothered our smiles and answered very matter-of-factly, "It's under their feathers." And that satisfied him.

So ... once again ... our blog centers around the wonderful topic of poop. Go figure! :-)

~JG

"Look what I can do!"

Well...Caleb is finally at the prime stage of development where the "Look what I can do!" comes to the fore. If you've ever seen the Mad TV character, Stuart, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I walked into Caleb's room one night to put him to bed and he started to show me this jump:




Then tonight Caleb decided to show me some more moves...and Ellie had to try them out, too. So here they are:




God bless!
~AG

Ellie...toys...and..........poop.

It has been a beautiful day here in Bensalem! The sun was shining all day, it was well into the high 80s, and even broke 90! Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter (er... more hot). Jenny is trying to find a little pool for our backyard (even though it's gonna dip back into the 60s after tomorrow...).

Jen took Ellie to the doctor today. She had a high temp, an ear infection, and bronchitis. She's been having coughing fits on and off for the past couple weeks, but they've gotten worse in the last couple days so we thought we'd take her in. Jen picked up some antibiotics at Target and that should help both problems.

As I was putting Ellie to bed she had a couple funny things to say. First, I was talking with her about how she shouldn't put her toothbrush into the emergency drain in the sink (you know, the extra little hole near the top rim of your sinks)...it's dirty, and it's not good to get your toothbrush dirty. Jenny had a talk with her about this same thing last night - but for Ellie, being told once isn't enough...being told twice isn't enough...20 times?? So as I was explaining to her why we shouldn't do it, she piped in with, "It's not a toy." I think she gets it more than we give her credit for.

The second cute thing she said was at the end of the book we were looking at. It is a book with lots of little pictures in it, and the last page has a toy box with toys in it and a train on the front. In the box is a bear, and she had to kiss the bear. And then the bear had to kiss her. And then she was talking to the bear (which was my part). And the bear asked her what kinds of toys she liked. And she said she likes poop. Little poop. And little poop is soooo stinky.

Why do my posts always revolve around poop?
~AG

Saturday Night Snuggles

Ok, so due to the fact that Caleb got a nap this afternoon (although desperately needed), he was NOT ready to go to bed at bedtime! So he sang songs from Polar Express to himself (he actually sang "Christmas Comes to Town" while "Rockin' on top of the World" was playing on his CD player). Then I laid down with him in his bed for a little bit and we talked about our day and about our upcoming vacation (he asked me to repeat the itinerary a few times), and then, inevitably, came our "I love you" contest. I said "I love you" and he said "I love you watts and watts" and I said "I love you even more" and he said "I love you watts and watts and watts and watts and watts and watts and watts and watts and watts and watts and watts and watts and watts and WATTS!" and he patted my cheek. And I said "I love you up to the moon and back" (who's read that book a million times?) and he said "I love you all the way up to God." Well, how can I top that except "I love you up to God and back again" so he said "I love you around in a big circle!" I figured I'd stop there because that's like infinity, and infinity is the end of the game. So I just said "I think we love each other a lot" and he said "But God loves us even more!" And I smiled. And he wrapped his blanket around his hand and held it in place with his hooked finger.

Then I went to check on Ellie. She was actually awake ... a little unusual for her. So I crawled into her little toddler bed with her. Whereas Caleb likes to hold hands and pat cheeks and such, Ellie didn't want to be touched at all. So we laid there, listening to GT and the Halo Express. And she named all the parts of her face. And then named all the parts of my face. And then she wanted to kiss all the parts of my face. My cheek, other cheek, nose, forehead, eye, other eye, chin, hair ... repeat (I did draw the line at kissing my teeth, though). I think I got about 50 kisses. And after each kiss, she'd look at me with the cutest little delighted smile. It was so sweet.

Today was good. It was really fun and relaxing. There were so many neat things that made me smile and laugh. But the best part, I think, was those "late night" moments with Caleb and Ellie. Thank God they weren't too "late night" ... 'cuz I don't think I would've enjoyed them nearly as much! And thank God that I don't sleep on a toddler bed! That thing is small!
~JG

A Fun Day (for Tortoise Poop)

We had an AWESOME fun day today!

First we had to go over to the church for a Missions Flag rehearsal (tomorrow we are having a combined Missions emphasis service with all the elementary-aged kids sitting with their families in the main sanctuary...and some of the kids are going to be carrying in flags). I was going to leave early to get a few things set-up...and just as I was sitting down to eat my Frosted Flakes Caleb had a bloody nose. So I held some tissues on his nose for awhile, then left without eating my cereal. No big deal, though, cuz I picked up some Munchkins from DD on my way in to the church.

We had a great rehearsal, then we went to a big Children's Expo put on by one of the local State Senators, Tommy Tomlinson. It was held at Council Rock South High School ($$$). There were fire and rescue trucks, a police K-9 show, magician, Franklin Institute Science Show, huge inflatable slide and bouncy house, free food and drinks...and the petting zoo!

PETTING ZOO
Ahhh, yes. You knew I would get to that title comment sooner or later. The petting zoo was cool - a couple lambs, some baby goats, bunnies, little chickens, a pig, a burro, a llama, some grown goats, and a tortoise. I'll put some pictures down below. We fed the animals, petted the animals, 'talked to the animals', watched the llama step on the tortoise, then watched the tortoise poop.

Yep. I haven't seen too many tortoises do too many things...but I saw this one do-do a lot. He must've been stepped on by the llama too many times. Of course, I know that all animals have to poop - I've just never seen tortoise poop...and I thought it was really cool. I'm probably just really weird. Well, here's a picture:

Yeah, that's not his tail. In fact, I didn't see his tail at all. Right click the photo and open it in a new window or tab if you are as weird as me.

OK. Actually the coolest thing was sitting in the State Trooper Helicopter with Caleb and Ellie. It's just like sitting in a car...but it's a helicopter. We got to walk all around it, touch it, step up on it, look in the cockpit, spin the rotors............not that last one. It was cool.

Caleb liked the big slide, Ellie liked the animals. Here are some more pics! Catch ya later! AG

Broadway at CLC

OK. When I first saw the poster that this was coming to CLC, I was interested, but a little skeptical. Then I had to change the date of one of our kids' events because someone had scheduled this concert at our church on the same night. I was a little frustrated (but it did give me a couple more weeks to plan the event...that's good).

I just went to their website. And I'm amazed. And I'm looking forward to it. Check out this song called The Testimony:



You can hear more of their music here.

Amazing Grace is a new musical that is trying to get to Broadway, so they are doing some concerts to help it get feet. They have some pretty amazing talent involved.

You are all invited to come out to the concert! Feel free to book a night at our place if you need to.

Going Shopping

Today I had an interesting shopping experience! Oh, that every shopping experience were like this one! I approached the check out, showed my few items to the cashier and was surprised that my total was only a dollar and some change (unexpected sales, how I love thee!). So I handed over my dollar and change, and then the cashier gave me a twenty in change back! I hesitated, pondering what I should do. Should I take it and run? Should I let him know it was too much change? Would he even care? I must confess, I stuffed the twenty with my other bills and said "thank you" very sweetly. I figured Caleb was a little too young to figure out the "math" part of playing cashier. So then Caleb turned around the little plastic cashier station because it was MY turn to be the cashier, and HE got the "money". Our money looked pretty cool - we made it out card stock and colored pencils. We had blue nickels, purple dimes, red quarters, and the bills didn't match each other at all in color which was fine. I think the $5 bill had polka dots ... I figured I wouldn't explain to Caleb, quite yet, that counterfeiting money is a federal offense. Just the thought of having to explain the words "counterfeiting", "federal" and "offense" just makes me sigh. Anyways, I rang up Caleb's purchase of a Lightning McQueen race car, 2 plastic forks and 2 plastic knives with cheer and charged him $20. He paid me cheerfully and I gave him a blue nickel in change. And then it was his turn to be the cashier. And we repeated this about 20 times. Come to think of it, I'll probably never need any plastic utensils ever again.

Jen

Making Room to K'Nex with God

I was just playing with Caleb. We were playing with some of his K'Nex. Yesterday I created two 'things' with wheels, and he immediately turned them into lawn mowers and star ted 'mowing' the grass fringe of the throw blanket Aunt Laura made for him when he was born.

Well, one of the wheels fell off of one of the mowers - I was sitting there 'resting my eyes' when it happened – and Caleb immediately said in a somewhat whiney voice, “One of the wheels fell off!” I know it was a statement, but I know it was a request for help at the same time. I opened my eyes to see what happened...so I could help him...he's my son. And before I could lean over and lend a hand, Caleb had grabbed the wheel and put it back on. I don't think it is on all the way...so he'll probably be asking for help again soon.

I couldn't help but let my mind wander to how God views us sometimes. We ask God for help, but then we immediately take things into our own hands and try to do it ourselves.

The problem, a lot of times, isn't that we don't ask God for help...but that we don't give God room to do what He wants to do. This may mean we have to wait a bit longer. It may mean that we get uncomfortable. It will require more FAITH.

In a lot of leadership and self-help type books we see this idea labeled 'margin.' They talk about giving yourself margin. I think we need to give God margin in our lives. We need to make room, plan room, or build room in our lives for God's margin.

It needs to be the practice of every Christ-follower to give God margin. Isn't that what being a Christ-follower is all about? How will we ever see God do amazing things in our lives unless we give Him the room to do them? Check out what David wrote:

Psalm 40:1-2 (NIV)

1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

So, ask God to work in your life. Ask with Faith (see Matthew 8:5-13). Ask with Hope (see Psalm 146, esp. vs. 5). Then give God margin...wait for Him to act...before you do.

Happy Easter!!

I'm going to try to post some videos of our day!

"The Great Egg Hunt"




"Easter Basket Excitement"




Ellie explains why Dora is in a Time-Out:



WOW. It took a long time to upload these. I'm going to bed.

The First Post...

OK. Our first blog post. This is supposed to be groundbreaking and precedent setting. So...

We are going to be sharing stories with y'all (Jen mostly...maybe...she's such a better writer than I am), videos, pictures...a bit of our life.

That's all for now, cuz I want to click through everything and figure out how to set things up. Good night!