Christmas at Home

What a blessing to have Christmas in our home! We miss our family and friends dearly but it is a treat to be in our home and start our traditions for the first time. Every other year we've been in on the road or in transition but not this year! I especially miss the way my Nana Joanne has someone read the Christmas story from the Bible and then organizes the children and a few reluctant adults into a play that helps the children understand why we have Christmas. I hope we will follow that example to teach Jacob, Daniel and Elisabeth that Christmas is not presents and Santa, but our Lord Jesus Christ's birth.

Today we had a big turkey and ham lunch with friends and then went to a candlelight service at church. Jake stayed with us in "big church" and I think he'll want to do that more often now that he knows we play with fire in "big church." We came home and had a little hot chocolate and settled in for the night in our warmest jammies.
On Friday we baked a birthday cake for Jesus and every second since I've realized that was entirely too soon. It seems I have been chasing boys off of the counter every five minutes since. You could feel the anticipation in the air as I put them to bed and we talked about tomorrow finally being Jesus' birthday. We have spent a good amount of time talking about the meaning of Christmas over the last few weeks and so far all that has sunk in is "it's Jesus' birthday and we get to eat cake." Better luck next year I hope. It has been a blessed year in that this year, both boys learned the name of Jesus Christ and they know that God made everything (even bugs and tractors). Jake is turning into the little boy from Jerry Macguire. At mealtimes he always has a bit of trivia to perk up the conversation. "Did you know that birds eat worms?" "Did you know that lizards eat bugs?" Then Dan runs to tell "Zeh-dee" good morning and then he looks out the window for Frosty. The family across the street has an inflatable snowman and the boys are amazed that he leaves each morning and comes back each night but they never see him come or go. They look out at dinner and yell "Frosty's home!"

Erik installed a pull up bar in a doorway for those times when you just need to do pull ups. Dan always needs to do pull ups when his Daddy does.

I pray you all have a Merry Christmas, I wish we could see each of you! If you ever want to wear short sleeves and no coat at Christmas, come stay with us.

Our Christmas Bunny

Well here he is! We got up early and had a busy morning shopping for Zebedee, then headed over to our friends' home to pick him up. The boys were very excited but I don't think Zebedee shared the sentiment, that could be because he was in an ice cream Drumstick box but who knows.The boys diligently assembled Zebedee's hutch once we got home while the bunny was "secured" in his ice cream box with the assistance of a toaster stacked on top. I know this is where my parents would pipe in with the story about the time I "secured" my hamster in the cage for the night with a large stack of books piled high in the air. In the night, the hamster knocked the books down and my parents thought someone was trying to break into the house. My dad jumped out of bed and proceeded to patrol the yard with a gun. Once they discovered the perpetrator to be a hamster I was sternly warned to never stack books on the cage again.We let the little guy hop around the play room for a while and fed him apples and celery to bribe him into loving us. Jake even offered him trucks while Danny just chased him. Jake thanked God for Zebedee during his dinner pray along with fire trucks, cars, semi-trucks, tractors, tow trucks and trucks. I don't think any sort of produce will ever spoil in our house again with the bunny around. We've been trying different types of fruit and I hit the little boy jackpot with tangerines (tangeens in Danny speak). They strangely keep disappearing and I find little pieces of peel all over the house along with sticky little fingerprints on the walls. Mysterious clues indeed!

Another Family Member on the Way

Okay, how many of you read that and panicked thinking we were pregnant? :-) We are getting a new pet tomorrow! His name is Zebedee and he is a mini-lop bunny, about 6 months old. A friend from church took him in from a family that raises show rabbits, however Zebedee couldn't be shown because he has an under bite. He's falls easily into the realm of "so ugly he's cute."

Jake had no interest in the rabbits but Danny was fascinated. He petted every one that was taken out of the cage and when our friend held a palm-sized bunny towards him, he kissed it! Then he told her which other bunnies needed to come out to be kissed and he proceeded to kiss each of them in turn on the nose. Erik, of course, was interested in getting a mating pair of meat rabbits to supply us with meat. I'm a little less than optimistic on that endeavor.

The boys have done so many cute things this week I don't know where to begin. Erik taught them to pound their chests like gorillas so Dan walks around beating his chest while shouting "gah-rilla!"

I'm sure you all know that Erik has a beard now. When Jake was Dan's age I taught him the words for many of his body parts. He was really excited to show you his "chinny chin chin." Well Danny apparently feels he has no chin and instead has a beard like Daddy. If you ask him where his chin is, he rubs his chin between his thumb and index finger like men with beards do and says "beard." He has high aspirations!

Poor Miss Libby had vaccines this week, 5 shots and one oral. Now she has a goopy eye and just isn't feeling well. Her brothers have no sympathy. Jakey is just excited that he discovered he can jump over things...and people. If you lay in the floor or fall and are crying and happen to be in the floor because you can't crawl or walk yet, too bad. You are an obstacle course that must be conquered. He runs and jumps over his obstacle and lands with a resounding thud and much laughter. I love little boys, however I think they will have to grow on Libby. Merry Christmas!

A White Christmas

Well, we had to drive for an hour to find it, but we do have snow in Southern California. Erik told Jake before we even left the house that we were going to play in snow. That's pretty much setting yourself up to have to drive to Colorado if all else fails. because if you tell Jake something there is no rest until it comes to fruition.

We ended up just north of Gormon, CA in the Hungry Valley ATV reserve. It is high enough in altitude that the snow hung around for a little while. The guys walked through some trails and saw guys on dirt bikes, which was very exciting for little boys. Dan was really confused about how cold snow is so he kept calling it hot. Jake just wanted to pee in the snow, and Erik was more than happy to let him.
I took Danny back to the doctor, after the second diagnosis, which was impetigo, he took antibiotics. It seemed to work for a while and then soon his rash worsened. We went back for a third diagnosis this week, excema, and now have more medicine. This seems to be working. Erik and I have decided that it probably was excema all along but it got infected so that was why the antibiotics seemed to help at first.

Jake is looking over my shoulder as I type. He pointed at the picture and said "There's Jacob looking for motorcycles." He does love to speak in third person... Merry Christmas!

Danny the Red-Nosed Toddler

We took our family Christmas pictures not a day too soon because last night Dan was trying to walk on the curb at church and face planted. The tip of his nose took the majority of the road rash.

That coupled with the never-ending impetigo rash leaves him looking pretty rough. This is a beautiful shot, minus the rash, that our friend Hallie took when she did our family pictures.

We should just PhotoShop the rash out and this would be beautiful! Why is it that when you do family photos, each person's best is someone else's worst? It makes it really hard to decide which one to pick. Is it better to go with Danny's chin tucked it or being able to see the candy in his mouth (I'm not above bribery) or should we go with Libby's turtle face or Jake's cheeks sucked in because he too has candy in his mouth. What to do...

Peas

Libby started vegetables last week and apparently peas are delicious! Danny sat close by tonight to watch us feed Libby so I jokingly offered him a bite. Surprisingly, he accepted, ate it, and asked for more. Poor Libby, even her strained peas get taken away by her brothers. I thought this was a cute picture with the green peas all over her face and the "leprechaun" bib Stacey bought for Libby while in Ireland.

Tonight as I was putting the kids to bed, Jake told me he was going to jump off the bed and touch the ceiling fan. He also said I should watch out because if it falls it will "break yourself and have fire." Hmmm... He is really entering boyhood with the little plots he devises. Danny is developing a deep love for prayer and asks us to pray often. He will interupt at any point and yell "Pray!" and fold his hands expectantly. We think he only likes to do it because it is the one thing he can tell us to do and we will immediately do it. The power to control! He yells "Amen!" at the end like a Southern Baptist though, I bet his Nana loves it.

All I Want for Christmas is a New Front Tooth

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We ate too much at the Hunt's and had a great time. After eating too much turkey, all a girl wants to do is take a good, long nap with her daddy. Or maybe she was seeking protection from Danny, who dumped sweet potatoes over her head...

Jake has been quite cranky lately and not eating well, shocking I know, but it was evident that his teeth were bothering him. He has fallen and put his front tooth through his lip many times and I noticed at one point during our trek westward that one of his teeth was turning dark. I waited until we got here (and had dental insurance) and took him to see the dentist this week. He had to have a root canal and a cap put on the dead tooth and he has been feeling and acting and eating much better ever since.

It was an ugly process though. They don't like to use sedation if they don't have to so they strap the kids into a "papoose" that holds them still and then use a thing that resembled a torture device to hold his mouth open. Erik took him to that part and I am grateful, I probably would have cried more than Jake. The cap is painted white on the front so it doesn't look natural at all but at least it isn't silver. Erik wanted the bling though. Too bad.

We decorated our tree yesterday and Jake is a little confused about stockings...

The boys were very helpful and only broke four ornaments and one snow globe!

Libby has discovered that she has a bottom lip and has been sucking on it. It makes her look a little like a turtle, a cute one though.

It will be nice to spend Christmas in our house with no traveling and really start our own family traditions. I really miss the huge family Christmases from my childhood but am ready to establish our own way of things. Let me know any neat traditions your family does!

Turkey and Impetigo

Happy Black Friday to all of you across the U.S. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving yesterday and found great deals today. We weren't brave enough to venture out into the crowds, except to Walmart for an ice cream emergency.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Hunt family (Grandpa Sue and Uncle Brad according to Jacob). We were a little late as I had a very flat tire on the van and Erik and the boys bought a new tire and fixed me up. Don't they look like great helpers?


Jacob has decided that he is big and independent recently. His new favorite phrase is "My do it!" Today I called him a monkey and he quickly told me he was not a monkey, he's a BIG boy. At dinner tonight I told him he had to eat his meat before he could have more bread and I was promptly told "I'm sorry, I can't do that." Now where did he pick that up? He's seen the movie trailer for Ratatouille many, many times and one of the lines is (father rat to son rat) "Eat your garbage!" Of course he had to repeat that one to me after I served lunch the other day. Life is getting interesting... We were taking an afternoon walk last week and Jake noticed that a large willow tree had been trimmed. "The tree got a haircut!" he said. And then you could see the wheels turning...hmmm...when I get a haircut I get a sucker. "The tree got a sucker! The tree got a sucker!" Our neighbors think we are crazy. Several have come up to introduce themselves and ask us why we dug up the beautiful palm tree from the front yard.

So I'm sure you are thinking, turkey, and...impetigo? Yes, impetigo. My children have to get weird diseases, remember hand, foot and mouth? and now Danny has impetigo. They gave us these horse pills to break open and sprinkle in his food and that is impossible, it tastes horrible! I put it in his yogurt and tried it after he refused it and I know why now. I gagged, literally gagged. We tried to come up with a strategy and aren't doing so well so help us out here! Fill the comment boxes and share your wisdom here, by the way, the pharmacist said he wasn't making a suspension because it tastes so bad, instead he recommended we break open the capsule and sprinkle the foul stuff on his food. Genius! I have to go now, Danny has been digging in the desk as I sit here typing and found a glue stick. We've been putting so much medicine on his mouth lately he thinks it is a really big ChapStick tube...

Mondays Are The Best!

With Erik working at church now, we have Mondays off. This is really a blessing because we can go do all sorts of family things without the weekend crowds. This Monday we visited the LA Zoo with some military friends we met in Ohio but are now stationed in LA.


The boys were excited to see lions and monkeys, but most of all elephants! We watched the elephant pace around her pen expecting the boys to be awed by this huge animal but all Jake noticed was that the elephant had a big "tractor tire" to play with. Hmm, elephant or old tire, which is mor exciting?

Overall it was a pretty fun day! Jake is teaching Danny all the best excuses for getting out of bed these days. We have: I need water, I need juice, I need a snack, I need a truck, my truck needs a trailer, and I need to potty. Last night I heard too much giggling and went in to find the lights on and both boys in the closet playing trucks. A couple days ago Jake decided Libby's bed wasn't in the right position so he turned it 180 degrees to give her a better view. While a little peeved, we were also a bit impressed that a 32-pound boy could manage that.

Libby has been a little sniffly and wanted to sneak in bed with us this morning. I think she's faking, she looks a little too happy here.

Who Stole My Palm Tree and Why Would You Do That?

I didn't realize how bad crime is in Southern California until this week when someone stole a little palm tree out of our front yard. What is the world coming to that we are stealing plants? Is the grass next? We left the house and palm tree last Saturday at 9:00 am and returned at 11:30 am to find no tree. Broad daylight!

Prepare yourself, here is the crime scene photo. It's ugly, I know. Palm fronds everywhere. Dirt. An empty hole. I'm not sure who you contact for botanical theft but I assure you I shall find out.

Halloween, Take 2

Since our first attempt at costumes was marred by the stomach virus, we had to try again on Saturday. The boys were sick on October 30th and 31st, Erik and I really became sick late in the night on the 31st and it just wasn't pleasant. We got dressed up on Halloween night to try and do 20 minutes of Halloween, just so they could have a couple pictures in their costumes and get some candy for me, I mean, for themselves. Alas, Jake threw up all over his outfit and that was the end of that idea. But here is a picture of Libby in her costume pre-Jake explosion.
And here are pictures of my cowboys a few days later, washed and ready to try again.
Jake has named these two little pumpkins "Mr. Pumpkin." Anyhow, now that we are a ministry family, our big day off of work is Monday. This Monday we went out to a local airfield and watched privately-owned airplanes take off and land for a while and then headed over to the Feline Conservation Center for big cats in Rosamond, CA. The boys really enjoy the Jungle Book so they were really excited to go see Bagheera and Sheer Khan up close, until the cats started "growling." As the boys walked by the bigger cats would "stalk" them from within the cage. It's a very strange thing to watch an animal that wants to eat your children.

Libby's baby dedication will be this weekend and we are so excited. It is a wonderful blessing that we have gotten to dedicate all three of them in the same church. Wish you all could be here for it!

The Halloween Visitor

I've heard so many conservative Christian groups say that Halloween is evil and now I know it is true. About midnight last night, as soon as it became Halloween, the stomach flu hit our house, namely Jake and Danny. Jake is winning the "Who can throw up the most war" with a current score of 6 to 4, at least 3 of those on me. Needless to say, long night. They have some really cute costumes and I hope we can get them dressed and make a brief appearance tonight but we shall see.

Jacob, Micah and Riley's 3rd birthday party was a blast! The boys loved the cake because I bribed them by putting Hot Wheels on it. I know the way to little boys' hearts!

Here are all the little boys eating cake on the back patio. I think they like it...

Erik picked out a little remote control airplane set for Jake's present, I think it was really Erik's present but the boys liked it too.

We had a fun day of fingerpainting last week. They have watched us paint so much it seemed time for them to get to paint.

Birthdays and Bunny Chases

I am still in shock that Jakey turned 3 already! He had a pretty normal day since the big party is this coming Sunday but he did get a really neat present from "Grandpa Sue and Uncle Brad," as he calls them. They brought a little tool set with included a picket knife and power drill that actually works, all plastic of course. He has had so much fun watching Erik work on the house and now he has his own tools.



Last night we went on our first walk around the neighborhood. We came around the corner and a fluffy white bunny was sitting in a yard at a very busy intersection. Obviously, it wasn't a desert bunny so Erik had to investigate. We met a little girl who was trying to round up the bunny, whose name is Maya, but the bunny did not want to go inside. Erik, Jake and the little girl chased to bunny all over the neighborhood for 15 minutes and finally wore her down and trapped her. What excitement for the boys, Erik included!

This is just a cute picture from a couple of nights ago. We bought The Jungle Book and sit in the play room every night to watch Mowgli. Dan decided Libby couldn't have Daddy all to herself during the movie so he crawled up too. We got up this morning and got our flu shots. We thought that if the boys watched our brave faces as we went first it would help. Nope, just made them start crying sooner since they saw what was coming. They survived though.

The house is slowly coming along but I don't know if we'll ever get it all done! Come see it anyway!

Pumpkin Patch

This morning, the boys and I visited a local pumpkin patch with our Mothers of Preschoolers group. Jake and Dan were amazed at the enormous pumpkins and had to touch every single one!

Farmer John read a story about the Native Americans and how they would grow hardy vegetables like gourds and Indian corn that would keep all winter. Jake really liked the Indian corn and didn't want to give it back.

Then we went on a ride. I thought Jake would cry and Danny would be happy but I was mistaken. Dan didn't scream but he was pretty nervous and Jake loved it!

Next we were off to see the animals in the petting zoo. Dan was excited to see chickens, which he believes say "a-doodle-doo," and one very large pig.

Overall we had a great morning and left with two cute little pumpkins! We are going to a fall harvest festival on October 31st and Libby will be a pumpkin (thanks Mimi and Sam) and the boys will be cowboys.

Jake will be 3 on Sunday! On the 28th we are having a party for him and some other little boys with close birthdays. It may be at our house if our furniture arrives, please pray for that! Happy Halloween!

The New House

Well, here it is! The boys have officially dubbed it "The New House." We will move in as soon as our furniture arrives. Why is that many people feel the need to tell us all the horror stories of moving trucks crashing and burning and thus destroying all of a family's possessions? We called the moving company today to check on our furniture's progress across the U.S. to no avail, hmmm...

We have employed an army of slave laborers from church to complete the majority of painting. Erik is about 99% done with constructing the fence around the pool and the new carpet went in two days ago. It is coming along well! I am anxious to get in since we have been living in other peoples' home for two months now. We put an ad in the church bulletin shamelessly begging for free pub equipment for the house (pool tables, dart boards, fooseball, etc.) It's a tough life!

On a different note, Erik lead our first Saturday night college/career group (called Crossroads) last Saturday and it went really well. He put together a multimedia bonanza that covered our testimonies and discussed cultural Christianity. Good job Erik! He has started his own blog for the group so check it out! There are quite a few students still here from our last tour in Lancaster and a ton of new students too. As soon as we get our home set up we will have everyone over after Crossroads to hang out and on Fridays the girls will come over for lunch and Bible study, I am ready to get started. We should be able to move in just in time to have Jake's 3rd birthday party along with two of his friends who have close birthdays. It will be nice to have our old friend group back together after two years. Friends are such a blessing!

The Daily Grind

We are settling into a strange routine these days. We get up each morning, Erik goes to work and the children and I go to the rental house. The kids and I "renovate" all morning and then come "home" to the H.'s house for naptime. Erik arrives at the rental house during lunch and works all afternoon. We get up, have a snack and head back to the house to work until bedtime.

The boys are becoming overly frustrated with us because there is a perfectly good pool in the backyard and they haven't gotten to swim in it yet. The first time we walked through the house, Jake saw the pool and said "Get naked! Let's go swim!" and started stripping off superfluous clothes and galloping with his cast to jump in. They certainly took to the water this summer!

Libby celebrated the new rental house by learning to roll over there yesterday. I explained to her that she is not allowed to become mobile until we are set up in our home and not living in someone else's house while renovating another. She is a sweet baby!

Anyway, please pray for me. I'm feeling the strain of the last two months of traveling with three under three and my nerves are unraveling. I guess I had some unrealistic expectations for how things would unfold once we got out here. It is going to be a couple more weeks before we get into our house, my friend group from when we lived here has dispersed and I am feeling a little lonely and couped up. The head pastor's wife holds a monthly Bible study for all the church staff wives and that was really refreshing to able to identify with the other ladies and have someone to unload on. I also went to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and met a few ladies. We have a playdate scheduled for Monday with a family with two boys the same ages as Jake and Dan. Erik has strep, hopefully the boys won't catch it and force us to stay home from church and the playdate! I need adult contact!!!

Great Expectations

Howdy! As we begin this new stage of life I greatly desire to keep in touch with all of our family and friends scattered across the U.S. We are starting a new career in a familiar but far off place and we have so many expectations and hopes for this next stage of our lives. We are still in a bit of shock at this new turn but excited to see what God has is store for us Texas transplants. I hope you all enjoy checking in every now and then to see what our little crew is up to.
As we begin to get settled in I have been reflecting over our "little journey" quite a bit. It has been long but filled with plenty of little blessings from the Lord along the way. We were so excited that we got to spend some extended periods of time with various family members so that our children could really get to know y'all. Thank you to everyone who took us in and especially, thank you to Nana for inviting us back even though Jake broke his leg in your living room. That one has been a long time coming...little boys!

We left Odessa, TX at 8 am (Central) and arrived in Lancaster, CA at 2:30 am (Pacific) and within 12 hours we had 2 rental houses offered from folks in the church at very reasonable prices, for Southern California. We have chosen a house and will call the moving company tomorrow to have everything delivered. With three days left on our insurance we took Jakey to a pediatric ortho specialist and he chose a traffic cone orange cast, which he says is "beautiful!" Erik started his first day in full-time ministry by playing a gold marathon. He had to be at "work" yesterday at 6:45 am to play 100 holes of golf. It's a tough job huh? We have begun meeting college students though and are really excited to get started.

You are all always welcome to come out to the beautiful Antelope Valley any time. We love you!