Thursday, December 30, 2004

An Interesting Sidenote

I just wanted to add that Isaac, Elijah and I drank 2 gallons of Eggnog (or eggmilk as the boys call it) in the last couple weeks. This is excluding Sammy's soy nog.

Discoveries

It seems everybody in our family has made some fun and exciting discoveries over the holiday season.

- Jeremiah and I discovered fondu. Our friends thru a very fun (and very delicious) fondu party.

- Isaac discovered Books on Tape. There is nothing more precious than finding your boys in their room sitting together quietly following the story and turning the pages everytime they hear *BEEP*. The one drawback is they want to listen to the story in the van everytime we go somewhere.

- Elijah discovered pistachio nuts. He would bring me pistachios by the handful and say "open these please".

- Samuel discovered chocolate and egg nog! Dark chocolate and soy nog that is.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

A Couple Links

I don't have much time to write now, but I just wanted to share a couple links.

First, World Vision is a reputable organization where you can donate online specifically for tsunami relief. Its hard to wrap your mind around such an enormous tragedy, but every little bit of help counts.

Second is Freecycle.org. Freecycle is a place where you can list things you are giving away for free, and also see what other people in your area are giving away. My friend Tanya got a beautiful table thru freecycle. You simply find the group closest to you and join.

Friday, December 24, 2004

Christmas Eve

Well it's Christmas Eve already. Fortunately, I do not have any last minute errands to run. I do have to wrap gifts, but that can be done in the comfort of my own home. We will be going to the Christmas Eve service at church, one of my favorite services of the year. The boys get to open their stockings after church.

Yesterday, Isaac had his 5 year checkup. It was very thorough (for most children its their pre-kindergarten screening) and he was declared healthy as a horse. He is a healthy boy, he hasn't been to the doctors once since his 4 year checkup.

The boys recieved some Christmas money from Jeremiah's dad this week. We brought them to Target and let them pick out some Thomas and Friends trains. These trains have kept them sufficiently occupied for days now. They are a little confused about the coal in one of the trains, they keep calling it "cocoa". The first night they had the trains Elijah stayed up as Isaac slept playing with Isaac's trains (he thought he was being sneaky). Little did he know that Isaac was up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning playing with Elijah's trains.

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Boys and Trains...



Today we brought the boys to the "Festival of the Trains" here in Traverse City. If there is one thing they love, it is trains. We could of packed a lunch and stayed all day. It is a very cool exhibit of miniature trains complete with detailed landscapes. There are many buttons for little kids (and adults) to press that make different things happen, such as turn the lighthouse on, hear a fog horn, ect. This is the second year we brought the boys, and the second year we had to drag Elijah away kicking and screaming. Maybe next year we can drop them off in the morning and pick them up that evening, than we can get some real Christmas shopping done ;)

More Pics

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Christmas Carols Elijah Style

Elijah has been going around the house for a couple days singing "Jingle Bells". Just this morning I noticed he is singing Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Outa My Way!.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

A New Title for Us

After reading this article in the New York Times about Natalists, Jeremiah and I both decided that we fit in this category.

All across the industrialized world, birthrates are falling - in Western Europe, in Canada and in many regions of the United States. People are marrying later and having fewer kids. But spread around this country, and concentrated in certain areas, the natalists defy these trends.

They are having three, four or more kids. Their personal identity is defined by parenthood. They are more spiritually, emotionally and physically invested in their homes than in any other sphere of life, having concluded that parenthood is the most enriching and elevating thing they can do. Very often they have sacrificed pleasures like sophisticated movies, restaurant dining and foreign travel, let alone competitive careers and disposable income, for the sake of their parental calling.
-David Brooks, New York Times, 12/7/2004


Sunday, December 12, 2004

The big "5"



Today is Isaac's fifth birthday. Seems he thought he was going to grow overnight. The first thing he did when he woke up was weigh himself and say "I'm still 40 pounds" (really, its closer to 50). Than when he was getting dressed he asked me why his clothes still fit him.

We already went to Chuck E. Cheese but we will be having cake and ice-cream. Isaac picked out banana cake. "Banana might be fun" he said. I guess we will find out.

So we will be spending the day enjoying and spoiling our birthday boy.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Its December Already!

Yesterday we put our Christmas tree up. It definately doesn't look like it stepped out of Martha Stewart Living, but it's special to us. For starters, the bottom half of the tree is bare (with a one year old, this preserves my sanity). Also, it has some ornaments made from things such as paper plates and popsicle sticks. Its also a bit crooked...okay alot crooked but the boys haven't noticed.

Today we are leaving on our Christmas shopping trip to Grand Rapids. This is something that I have waited all year long for and something i'm extremely grateful to Jeremiah for. See, he gets 7 personal days a year at work and in December gets paid for the days he doesn't take. Jeremiah didn't take one day this year... not one. So not only does that make him a terrific employee, it makes him a terrific husband who brings home a big check so his wife can go Christmas shopping :D

We are also bringing Isaac to Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday, something he has been waiting all year for.