It Worked

The Peer Pressure Worked

She finally did it! Sarah has a blog. And the winner is....

bennett babble

And just for the record, I wish my sister lived close by. These pictures are from thier visit last summer.

House Guests !!!

Where do 15 people sleep in a 2 bedroom apartment?

Alex's brother(not pictured), his wife, their 7 children and one of her nephew's came for a visit these last few days. It was super fun. But now that they've left the house seems very quiet and suddenly very roomy.

I wasn't quite sure where everyone was going to sleep in our little 2 bedroom apartment, not to mention if we were breaking any California fire code laws, but we all manged to sleep quite comfortably. Here's how we did it. First, in the kids bedroom: one in crib, one in the top bunk, two on the botton bunk and three on the floor. Second, in the living room: Michael and Lindy on the futon, and 1 child on the recliner. Third, in our bedroom: Alex and I in our bed, 2 little boys on floor. Fourth, in the bathroom: Brooke in the shower.

Please don't call social services. It wasn't my idea, and it took some time for me to warm up to the idea. But it really worked quite well. Because we have two bathrooms, it was an extra place that we could do without and it was one of the most quiet places.

So come for a visit. We promise we won't make you sleep in the shower, but we're sure we can fit you in.

Vacation part 3

My Little Fishes

This little fishy loved the water and has no fear. The other two at this age didn't like water in their face and after one dunk completely under they were extremely cautious. Not this one, she comes up smiling and wants more. We had to keep very close eyes on her. At one point she climbed in the hot tub herself without our knowledge. I looked over and her little head was peeking over the edge smiling at us.

The one year old stage is my favorite. They are soooo cute and just enough independent to make it helpful (most of the time).

Somehow I didn't get any pictures of Elias's awesome canon balls. But we did get a little bit of a souvenir. **Warning** Did you know that five days of living in a swimming pool can cause a very severe ear infection? Apparently constant swimming and not drying the ear out wears down all the ear wax and makes the ear canal all pruney (kind of like what your hands look like after washing the mound of Thanksgiving dishes). My poor 5 year old has a horrible case of swimmer's ear. He is usually my tough cookie, but after 48 hours of treatment he is still crying from the pain.

The warm up.

Vacation part 2

Going and Coming

It was about 55 miles to the hotel we booked, which in LA is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I had planned it that we would leave just as Brooke needed a nap. But as you can tell the wrong group took a nap. It reminds me of Proverbs 16: 9 "The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps." Brooke fell asleep just 15 minutes before we arrived and promptly woke up when the car stopped. I started to get a little panicky knowing that little nap would be just enought to cause her to not sleep again but surely not be enough to have a semi reasonable 1 year old the rest of the evening. She proved herself to be a typical 3rd child and rolled with the punches. And as long as I kept doling out the graham crackers she was fine.

On the way home we stopped for lunch at a German restaurant my husband had been eyeing. I meant to take a picture of all of us with our German food but (because of our pb&j breakfast at our 4 star no complimentary breakfast hotel) I was so hungry by the time the food arrived that I only had one thing on my mind. And thus we have a picture in front of the restaurant. The decor in the restaurant was the strangest thing though. It had typical German decorations of steins and mugs and German plates on the walls, but there was also this very feminine flowery wallpaper. It was an odd site that took me a few minutes to realize what was wrong with the picture. But the food was very yummy. But really I haven't had too many meals since I've been married that I didn't like if I didn't have to cook it. And there were enough left overs that I didn't have to cook supper either. It was a perfect end to a vacation.

Vacation Part 1

3 Star vs. 4 Star

Last week we decided to have a little family vacation before Alex started working again. We got on the internet and found the cheapest hotel with a swimming pool and just camped out there for a few days. By eating pb&j all week I ended up being able to save enough money on not eating out and was awarded by my husband with another night in a hotel. The first three nights we stayed in a nice Comfort Inn but for the last night my husband found an awesome deal on a 4 star hotel. I was very excited as we were driving to this fancy hotel, but after checking in we decided that the difference between 3 star and 4 star is that with 4 star you get many more ammenities but you get to pay for all of them after you check in.

Parking:

3 star: parked 15 feet away from our door

4 star: paid $18 to park in the parking garage across the street

Luggage:

3 star: kids learned not to be sluggards and helped carried in all the bags

4 star: had to tip the bell hop to bring our luggage up

Breakfast:

3 star: free continental breakfast which included waffles and eggs

4 star: could have continental breakfast (pastry, fruit, juice and coffee) brought to room for only $15/person

Pool:

3 star: heated swimming pool with jacuzzi

4 star: bigger pool, but not quite as warm - no jacuzzi

Internet:

3 star: free wireless in room

4 star: free wireless only in the lobby nine floors below our room; in the room there was a charge for using the wired hookup

TV:

3 star: almost 100 channels, but really the 10 home shopping networks don't count

4 star: about 50 channels

Refridgerator:

3 star: free medium size fridge - no complaints except it didn't keep my ben & jerry's cold and I ended up drinking my splurge

4 star: fee for key to mini-bar, however, room was stocked with a tray full of snacks and water bottles. Just before we dived in I saw the price list for each item and quickly put it all out of reach of little kids who don't understand that paying $4.50 for a bottle of water and $6 for a handfull of jelly belly's is just ridiculas.

The bed

3 star: I wanted to steal the pillows. My husband reminded me that was stealing. Duh, that's what I said, "I want to steal these pillows"

4 star: luxurious and in my mind worth the 4 stars. In my sheltered life I have never been to a hotel that provided bathrobes. I reminded myself that the bathrobe had been throughly cleaned since someone else's naked body had been in it. My husband laughed at me as I lounged in the oh so comfy bed with the hotel provided bathrobe and pronounced the hotel 4 star worthy. It helped that the kids were fast asleep at this point and I was in my luxurious sheets with no kids crawling on me. It was quiet and I was comfy.

It's become a little game of our family to guess the color of the comforters of the bed before we get to the hotel. It's silly I know, but it does add to the excitement. In anticipation of our 4 star experience I had scoured the hotel's website to see what we were in for. One thing I had noticed and worried a little about was the picture of the white bed spread. Most of our meals had been eaten in our hotel room up to this point so I was a little worried at what kind of damage we were going to do. Turns out you can get peanut butter out of a white comforter using just some baby wipes. (And I'm sure the bell hop thought we were quite the odd family when he followed us into the room with our bags and heard the kids all scream, "Mommy won, she guessed the right color of the bed." Little do they know I cheated and looked ahead.)

Before and After

This was the view from the 10th floor of our 4 star hotel.

It was a fun and relaxing time. So glad we took the time out. I'll post more pictures in the days to come.

A Day at the Zoo

Ok, really they were having fun.

The kids were not excited about turning away from the animals and looking at the camera. I know I'm a cruel mom.

I'm not sure which the kids were more excited about the animals or the playground.

Sayings

This is the Picture

Last night at Awana it was bring your mommy to Cubbies night. It was fun having Emma sit on my lap and finally understand all the songs and stories she was coming home with. During the story time the teacher was using a powerpoint presentation to show all the things you do with your mommy. One of the things he mentioned was prayer and this is the picture he showed. Emma yelled out the first thing that came to her mind, "She's naked." Everyone laughed and the teacher tried to recover saying that she was praying in the bathtub. By then my face was already red and I was trying to give a quick lesson to my daughter that we don't shout out things during lesson time. A lesson I'm sure to repeat because after all she is my daughter. But what was the teacher thinking? I googled "girl praying", which is where I found this exact image he used. There were tons of other pictures he could have used. And I'm sure tonight during baths my 4 year old will question why we don't pray in the bathtub. Maybe we should, but I'm sure we won't be taking any pictures of it.

Anniversary

Seven Years Ago....

we were married. Seven years ago today we were in Florida for our honeymoon. I would love to be in Florida now, but not as we were 7 years ago. Not that we started off rocky. Things were great and are great. It sure would be nice to go on a vacation with my husband and just my husband.

On Monday (our anniversay day) our plan was to go out to dinner by ourselves. But things happened differently. Brooke came down with a terrible runny nose and an ear infection. Some friends from church were going to babysit, but with Brooke being sick and in a terrible mood we just couldn't subject them to our kids. However, Alex and I still really wanted to go out, so we decided to pack the kids up and hope for the best.

So we marched the whole crew into the Cheesecake Factory. In hopes of making it feel more like a date I made everyone dress up. I thought it would feel more special and it would set the tone for better behavior. And I decided to leave the diaper bag at home and cheerfully carried just my purse. (Although, is it still a purse and not a diaper bag if I shove a diaper, sippy cup and some toys in it.) All in all it was a pretty peaceful meal. Alex and I didn't have any deep meaningful conversation but neither were we completely busy dealing with spills or other disasters or disruptive behavior. In fact the only odd behavior was when Elias decided to place a pile of french fries on my head. Leave it to the oldest child to pull a stunt like that. It was a nice break from the mundane, even if we couldn't head off to Florida for a second honeymoon.

Elias practiced his picture taking skills. What is it about Cheesecake Factory's? I have never visited one that did not have a fountain in front of it. It's become an unspoken tradition that we always take a picture in front of the fountains.

The Police visit Calvary Kids

Capturing the Bad Guys

A policeman or rather a police woman came to Elias's preschool this last Friday. The kids were very excited when they heard they were going to get in the police car.

After Elias got out of the police car I asked him if he was a bad guy and we needed to lock him up. In all seriousness he looked at me and said, "I was just sitting in the car."

The kids all wore thier badges in preparation for the cop.

And More Sayings

More Sayings - all from Elias today

1.

Mom: Elias, you have been obeying Mommy really well today. Thank you for all the chores you got done.

Elias: Tell me more.

2.

As we drive to church we pass Alex's old job. The kids's always shout when they spot it. Recently we commented to them that dad doesn't work there anymore. It's been over two months and they hadn't realized Dad wasn't going to work. But anyways... Here's a conglomeration of conversations that took place on our way to church.

Elias: There's the place where Dad use to work. Do people still work there?

Dad: Yes

Elias: Where are you going to work next?

Dad: We don't know. God hasn't told us yet.

Elias: How is God going to tell us where to work? We can't hear him talk.

Dad: We can hear God talk in the Bible.

Elias: When are you going to get another job?

Dad: When God provides one.

Elias: Why hasn't he told us yet? Is he still thinking?

3.

Elias is in the stage of trying to figure out all the family relationships. We are still trying to explain to Elias and Emma that they can't marry each other.

Elias: Is Dad grandma's kid?

Mom: Yes

Elias: Is Dad a kid or a grownup?