Random Pictures

Okay, for all of you begging for more pics, here they are. I finally uploaded all of my pics onto the computer in the correct location, so now I can keep up with the picture thing. We're not picture taking people in general, so that's why there aren't very many of them to begin with!

The first is of Matthew playing with Daddy. I'm glad I got a smile, because he does not like having his picture taken. Ben, on the contrary, loves it, hence his cheesy grin. The third is me reading "The Poky Little Puppy" and the last one is of the icicles on our house. Those are gone now and a new crop is growing. We also got about 6-8 inches of snow last night and there's more to come next week!

Christmas at the Fulkerson's

We left Normal (yes, Rob's parents live in a town called Normal and yes it is hilarious to drive around and see the Normal Public Library, Normal Waterworks, etc.) in semi-blizzard conditions. We knew we only had 35 miles to drive and we could make it just fine, but it didn't look like it would be much fun. About 10 miles out of town, the weather cleared and was perfect, so the rest of the drive was fine. The kids conked out for the whole trip, so they got in a small nap that afternoon. We arrived to kisses and hugs from my parents and the kids played with all of the fun "new" cars and things my mom had found in the basement. My brothers had left their Micro Machines, Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars, and other various toys, so Mom brought them up.

We went to the Pontiac Buffet that evening and that was probably a bit of a mistake. Or, at least, Rob trying a seafood donut was a mistake. He overate at the place and paid for it in the middle of the night. Both of my parents and myself made treks downstairs to check on him. He slept on the couch in between bathroom runs and I got to hog the bed. The boys woke up that morning around 6am and Rob took over Matthew's bed. I slept in until 8am, which was a nice treat! The boys were pretty good for Mom and Dad (at least, I think so....I didn't hear any complaining.) Mom made breakfast for those of us that were well and we enjoyed ourselves. The boys got to watch Spongebob, one of their favorites, but they were playing with lots of toys as well.

Rob made his appearance at 9:30 and was doing a little better, but still not good. He needed to get out (okay, my hubby gets bored easily and usually my parents have a fix-it job for him, but not this time. If they don't have something for him to do, he helps with dishes and household chores. Isn't he the best??) so, he and I had a little date and went to Wal-Mart and out for lunch while Mom fed the kids and put them down for naps. We tried the McCoy bistro next door to my parents and it was very good. Rob was able to eat by then and did just fine.

It took a bit to get Matthew to nap, but he did sleep for two hours that afternoon, as did Ben. They needed naps pretty badly and it was nice to have a day of doing nothing so they could recoop. Unfortunately, all that extra energy got poured into being extra naughty and they were kind of crazy that night. Grandma did give them baths and Grandpa let them watch Frosty the Snowman, so that helped a little.

I got pretty tired at supper and almost fell asleep eating, so I was banished to the couch right afterwards. I don't sleep well to begin with and I don't sleep well in other beds, so that combo did not help me rest much over the break.

The next day held our last major Christmas event. All of my sibs, their families, and my grandma were coming over. That's eleven adults and five children, three of the women being pregnant. IT WAS FUN!!! Dad picked up Grandma and she arrived around 9. She had a reindeer head attatched to her walker that plays "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Explains alot about how I got my sense of humor, doesn't it? Dad and I had a bet going on who the next arrivals would be and I won. My sister Mandy and her husband Chris came in with lots of gifts, goodies, and my new niece/nephew (she's due in July.) Next came Joel and his wife Cara, who is also expecting a baby in July. Mandy and Joel are twins, so it's neat that they will become parents at the same time. Last to arrive was Adam and his wife Melanie, with Kara (4), Kate (2) and Callie (6 mos.), all of them sweethearts. The little girls, that is.

After multiple greetings and much talking and laughter, we settled down to eat our ham dinner, complete with sweet potatoe casserole, hash brown casserole, rolls, a most delicious jello salad made by yours truly, and other various sundries. Mom and Dad declared that they were eating with the grandkids so that the rest of us could visit in the living room. It was funny because Grandma ate with us, so I guess she was keeping us in line. Once again, I would have gone back for more food, but I eat too slowly, so by the time I was ready again, everyone else was done.

We opened up gifts afterwards in our traditional Fulkerson way. Dad sits near the tree and takes a gift, reads the to and from, hands it out, and the person opens it. I like this method b/c you get to see what everyone got and it takes longer. Kara and Matthew helped pass out presents, although Kara did more of the work for sure. The boys got some more nice stuff, with favorites being the bowling set (good job, Uncle Joel) and Cranium Hullabaloo (very fun, Aunt Melanie!) At least, those are the things they were playing with today. :) Rob and I are set with lots of restaurant gift certificates and I received a book that will become a fast favorite. It's called "Taking care of the Me in Mommy" by Lisa Whelchel. Good stuff! Oh, and Rob finally got his white socks that he asked for on every list this year. :)

After presents, we had a good time relaxing and chatting with family. Rob started packing up around 3pm, only because he has a hard time staying in large family settings. It's just an introvert thing, seeing as he loves my family and enjoys spending time with them. He just has to step out for a few minutes to breathe. Matthew and Ben did pretty well playing with their cousins until it was time to leave. By that point, they were both in full meltdown mode. We left around 4:30 and they were both out within the first 12 miles. They slept until we reached Rochelle, where we ate supper at a nasty restuarant (only thing open) and then headed on home. Ben fell asleep again about 40 minutes outside of Watertown and never woke up. Rob put him in his crib and he poked an eye open, then relaxed when he saw his own pillow. :) It was good to be home.

So, we had a very nice time visiting with family and would like to see everyone again soon, but I'll be at that "no traveling" stage within a few weeks. I guess you'll all have to come and see us!

Christmas at the Litwillers

I've decided to divide our extended weekend in Illinois into two posts so that a) people acutally finish reading the thing and b) I can get a nap in this afternoon!

Rob came home an hour early on Friday (thank you, dear) and so we were able to start our adventure earlier than planned. The kids and I had spent our morning attempting to stay alive (the kids made that part pretty hard on themselves) and cleaning so that we didn't come home to a dirty house. We at least got the living and dining rooms done, but I still had to do dishes when I returned. (Mom--I heard that!) Rob packed up the car while I made two quick phone calls and we were off....to run a few errands. Matthew kept asking if we were going to Grandma's yet. "No, dear, we have to go to MBBC/the bank/Wal-Mart/Arby's..." and by the time we were on the road, he had fallen asleep! He woke up around Milton and said, "When are we going to Grandma's?" not realizing that we were on our way! Ben slept a little longer than Matthew, so Rob and I had a nice time to ourselves for a bit. Our trip went well with no unusual events occuring (except that we kept passing the same speed boat about twenty times).

We got to Rob's parents' home around 6pm, so we made good time. His mom had white chicken chili waiting for us, which is one of Matthew's favorite meals, but he was too excited to eat much of it. We had a nice evening of visiting, until it was time to go to bed. Between the three of us that tried to keep the boys in their beds, it took two hours for those monkeys to calm down enough to sleep. Problem one was that Ben was in a toddler bed instead of his crib, so he kept getting out just because he could. Problem two is that we all stayed upstairs. The boys are used to going to sleep upstairs while Mommy and Daddy go downstairs. Rob and I didn't figure that one out until we were on the way home on Tuesday.

Anyway, the kids did eventally sleep and I headed for a nice shower. We did some laundry (Ben's binkie was overdue for a washing) and headed to bed. I haven't slept well for weeks and that night was no different. In the morning, Grandma made snowman pancakes for the kids, which they loved, and bacon (yummy!) for the rest of us. We had a good morning and Rob and I even ran out to Target for a few moments to find our traditional first picture outfit for Anna. Both boys were in blue Winnie-the-Pooh onesies for their first picture so we needed a pink one for Anna. They didn't have them in 0-3 month size, so we got her a sleeper instead. It's still cute!

Around 10:30, Rob's brother, sister-in-law and nephew came over and we call cooed over Baby Jamie. Matthew held him for a little bit, but dropped him onto the chair once Jamie started to wiggle. We packed up the adults and children and went to Ming's Chinese Buffet for lunch. It was very yummy and I love feeding the kids at a buffet b/c they usually eat alot. Matthew comes up with me now to make his own selections. He did get a nasty brownie and his comment was, "Mommy, that brownie wasn't even good!" I was just about ready to get up for more food when the clan decided to leave. I guess that's what happens when you're a very sloooooww eater. At least I didn't gorge myself like some guys I know that ate with us that day (**cough, cough** Rob and Andy **cough**)!

We went back to open presents and I am amazed by how patient Matthew was. Melissa needed to feed the baby and Matthew was perfectly fine with it all. Then the rip-fest began. I must say, I have much less time to enjoy my own gifts when I'm dealing with the kids. Rob and I went through them last night making comments like, "I didn't know you got that?" and "Where did that gift come from?" I won't list all of the presents, but Matthew received some cool toy power tools that he loves. He also got finger paints, and I can't wait to try them out. Ben received a garage with ramp (which Matthew loves) and a shape sorter. He likes to put in the shapes, but I'm trying to teach him how to do it without him getting completely "bent out of shape." They received many nice things and it's been fun to see them bounce from toy to toy this morning. Rob and I were particullarly fond of the Barnes and Noble gift cards, the generous gift his aunt and uncle, and I liked my book from my mother-in-law: a busy mom's devotional.

After presents, I had just about had enough of the day. I didn't quite feel human anymore, so I went down for a nap. I got up in time for the appetizer supper (go figure) and the boys played for a bit more. Ben was so tired that he went to bed at 6:45. We let Matthew stay up to watch The Santa Clause with us and then he went to bed. Unfortunately, Ben kept waking up screaming. Rob took him out while I got Matthew to sleep, and then we both worked on Ben. He would not be consoled. I think he was just too worn out. He woke up two more times in the night, doing the same thing. It was like having an infant all over again. Poor little guy...he just can't skip a nap!

We went to church the next morning and Matthew decided to stay with us. He did pretty well in the service but was constantly on my lap. I took him out with about 15 minutes left and we walked around. We went past the nursery and Ben spotted us, so I had to pick him up. We went into the auditorium afterwards and the boys took that chance to run around. Thanks to Uncle Mike for peeling Ben off the stage. We left for Chili's (Matthew said, "We already went to a restaurant!") for lunch, which was good, but the kids were being crazy, especially Matthew. We visited Rob's grandparents after lunch and had a nice time, but the kids, as Great-Grandpa Jim put it, seemed to have taken onrey pills that morning. They were totally wound up and ran everywhere, getting into everything! We left after an hour to pack up our things and head to our next destination: The Fulkersons. I'll talk about that later.

Rob's one regret from that time is that he didn't spend more time with his three grandparents. He loves visiting with them, but it never feels like enough time to him. At least he got some time during this visit because at Thanksgiving, he barely got to see them let alone talk to them.

Tomorrow (or later tonight) I'll put up the next half of our journey.

Smart alec or smart kid???

I'm going to blog about our Christmas fun later, but I had to post this goofy thing that happened this morning. Ben knocked off a bunch of Christmas cards from his Grandma's table and I said, "Benjamin Joel!" He added, "Litwiller!" Hmmmm........

"Christmas" morning

We decided to open our little family's gifts early this year rather than taking them down to Illinois with us for Christmas morning. Less stuff to pack and then bring back up! Rob and I put the presents under the tree and in the stockings after the boys were asleep last night (which was about an hour after they went to bed...crazy kids!)

This morning, Matthew woke up first and was surprised to find the gate locked at the top of the stairs. He has this morning ritual of going downstairs to turn on all of the Christmas lights before we all get up and we wanted him to wait today, since there were presents to be ripped into. Rob got up and went downstairs to light the tree while I changed Ben and then we all went down the stairs, pausing mid-way to grab our stockings off the railing. Matthew was so excited to see his candy cane full of Sweetarts that he dropped his stocking and didn't dig further for the Hot Wheels fruit snacks. Ben was also far more excited about his candy cane full of M&M's (I don't think he ever found the fruit snacks!) Rob and I had given each other our favorite candy (his was dark chocolate Rocher and mine was carmel-filled Ghiradelli squares...yummy!) We then sat down to pass out presents.

Rob passed out the presents, beginning with the youngest. Ben received a large, spinning top which he has already cracked. (I think the Litwiller theme this next year will be stewardship....all four of us need the lesson!) He also got a bag of Mega Blocks. So far he has played with the cards inside, the bag they came in, and he might have built one little thing. Typical kid! Matthew got school supplies. I know, it sounds like a goofy gift, but he was thrilled. He's been begging me for his own scissors, so I got him some, along with pencils, a sharpener, a writing tablet with lines, and glue sticks. It comes with a promise that he and I will do more schooltime together. He put it all in his backpack and has been carrying it around the house all morning, pausing to cut up tons of scrap paper (thank you, Grandma Litwiller, for all that paper!!) He also got the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos. It's a perfect little boy game. It's loud, crazy, and doesn't require parental prompting to play it right. He even plays it by himself, feeding the hippos. The orange one gets fed more often, as that is his favorite color.

Rob and I were just going to do stocking stuffers this year because we couldn't come up with anything either of us really wanted. I got him some Coke bottles from Wal-Mart that are replicas of the 1899 bottles to add to his bottle collection, along with some fun chips. I tried to find Planters Cheese Balls, but I think they stopped making them. He got me a huge box of Hershey's Pot of Gold (eating chocolate while pregnant makes for happier babies, you know!) and a blender! Not exactly a stocking stuffer, but he said he was making up for my birthday :)

We had a nice breakfast together and played with the kids until Rob went to work. Just before he left, he asked me if we gave the kids their new video. Yikes! I had forgotten all about it! We bought the Little Einstein's movie way back in July and had saved it for Christmas. I pulled it out and the kids had fun watching it and playing with their toys.

We got a nice family surprise this afternoon. After the children were in bed (and with Mega Blocks and bits of cut paper scattered all over the floor) some strangers knocked on our door. A man, his wife, and two girls explained that they were from a church in Wisconsin and every year, they call up Maranatha and find out who some of the "non-traditional" students are. Their church takes up a collection and brings these students presents. They brought in two tubs, a box, and a bag full of food, kleenex, wrapped presents, and all kinds of stuff. There was even some money and a couple of gift cards! Praise the Lord! I'm still pretty floored by their generosity and that a church would remember married college students. What a wonderful surprise.

Tomorrow we take off for Illinois to visit with our families. We're looking forward to seeing everyone again. I have all of the presents made, the cookies baked, but I haven't even opened my green and red paper to attempt making cards yet. I usually make cards during naptime so that two little boys don't "help" too much, but I've been napping myself recently. I'm just too tired otherwise. So, the cards won't get done this year, which is too bad, but maybe I can start early for next year :)

If I don't post again before Tuesday, Merry Christmas to all of you who read this blog. May your season be filled with love, laughter, joy.

Praises Come In All Shapes and Sizes

A few posts ago, I moaned about my Tupperware Open House that did not go over well. Turns out, that was a very good thing. Their warehouse in South Carolina had a fire and they lost almost all of their inventory. I won't be getting this order in until Christmas Eve. I'm so thankful that only four people ordered...otherwise I'd have alot of unhappy customers to deal with. Two of them did order presents, but all for adults, so at least they can explain the situation. I almost ordered presents for my nieces, but I'm so glad I didn't now!

So, I guess that every cloud does have a silver lining.

Silly Boys

Ben has been doing much better about not touching the Christmas tree lately, but yesterday, Matthew hung up two teddy bear ornaments that Ben could not resist. He kept wanting to take them off the tree. I told him no, then explained that we don't touch the tree, we look at it. He bent over and started staring at the tree intently. I was laughing so hard I had to leave the room!

Tonight at supper, I decided to teach the boys some etiquette. Matthew keeps trying to wipe his hands on the table, his shirt, his jeans, his mommy, wherever, so I decided it's time to learn about napkins. (Probably a little later than I should have, but oh well.) I gave both boys a paper towel and explained that we place it on our laps. Matthew took me very seriously and was so intent on putting it on his lap that he fell right out of his chair! I couldn't help it...I just started laughing at him. He laughed, too, and got up and tried again!

Silly little boys!

Puppy Love

The boys have found a new source of fun...playing with their puppies. No, we did not get a dog (and there is no way this momma wants one). They love playing with their stuffed dogs. We put up a lot of stuffed animals into the closet simply because the boys weren't interested in them yet, but Matthew found this dog in the closet, dragged him out, and named him Charlie. Charlie goes all over the house with Matthew. Charlie likes to be thrown over the couch, down the stairs, eats dog food, and poops inside of Daddy's wrist braces. (Thanks, Aunt Mandy, for teaching my son how to get a little puppy to poop by massaging his bottom!)

Charlie has to be present for all naps and at bedtime. He occasionally rides in the car with us, but is not allowed in the stores. We might take him to Tiny Trackers because he looks a bit like the dog, Tiny.

I was informed the other day that Ben needed to join in the fun. So, I found another little dog in the closet for him. That dog is named Abbie. (Hmm...Charlie and Abbie...sound familiar to anyone on the Litwiller side???) Abbie is now Ben's buddy and goes with him everywhere (except when Matthew swipes her and puts both doggies in their "cage.")

I can handle this. It's pretty cute and it keeps them from asking for a real dog. I really have no use for a dog or cat in the house, so a stuffed substitute is just fine with me!

Random Stuff

I haven't posted anything really funny or interesting about the kids recently because, well, I've just been too tired whenever I get at the computer! I'm usually on here during their naptime (which is also my naptime) or before bed, so my brain has not been functionally well enough to type all of the funny stuff they've been doing recently. But, I'll give it my best shot!

Let's start with Benjamin: He has been talking up a storm recently. He pretty much starts babbling when he wakes up and doesn't quit until he's asleep. Now that he can speak in sentences (some 8-9 words long!) it's like the dam has broken. I'm glad that he can speak better now, because he's been whining and crying a lot less. He will tell me, very calmly, when he needs help with something. He has also been taught to say, "May I be excused, please? when he's finished eating. Politeness at the table is big with Rob and I and if a child can speak in sentences, then they can ask for things politely.

Ben has also taken up the hobby of singing. He can sing the theme songs to Bob the Builder and Winnie the Pooh. Okay, not the entire thing, but enough that anyone could understand it. He has added Jesus Loves Me and Away in the Manager to his repetoire as well. He usually wants me to sing Away in the Manager and he does the motions. It's like I have my own little interpreter! He is quite the charmer and smiles a big, cheesy grin at everyone he meets.

Matthew is still my little sweetheart and I think he always will be. He's so much like me in personality that it's hard not to adore him :) He has been amusing me quite a bit here lately with his "raised eyebrow" face. It makes me laugh everytime! We've had some interesting conversations, like when he asked me what to do when you love a girl. I decided to just go through the whole thing and told him to pray about it, get to know her, talk to Mommy and Daddy about her, and if he wants to marry her, he needs to ask her Daddy. He took it all in and then I asked him if he had anyone in mind. He said that he didn't yet. That's a relief!

I've enjoyed seeing their senses of humor develop as well. Matthew finds situations and people very funny. An example: Yesterday, we were at the library and Matthew usually climbs up and down the stairs while I check out books. Then we meet right near the entrance so I can re-winterize them. While I put on his gloves, he told me that a lady going up the stairs looked at him and said, "Oops! Wrong kid!" He found that very funny, that she mistook him for her son! Ben's sense of humor involves teasing people. If I tell him not to touch something, he'll get near enough to it to almost touch it, and then he'll look at me, grin, and run away laughing. I hate to admit it, but I think that my sense of humor got split in half and each of my sons has a piece! Poor Anna will have to suffer with Rob's sense of humor.......j/k!

Speaking of Anna, she's doing well. I had an appointment today and everything is fine. I take the glucose test at my next appointment. This time, I get to drink the stuff at home an hour before the appointment rather than doing it there and waiting for an hour. I'm sure I'll have the diabetes again, but at least it will only be for three months this time around!

And that's my little guys. Oh, the big guy is finally done with school for the semester. So far, it looks like he passed everything, even the class that he thought he had failed. Praise the Lord!

O Kissmasmee

That's right: The Litwillers have finally decoracted for Christmas. I put it off for quite awhile only because I wanted the mininal amount of time possible to keep little fingers off the tree and other decorations. We also don't do much (my wonderful husband detests Christmas decorating) so I knew it wouldn't take long when we started. Matthew kept asking and asking and asking, so we finally got out the decorations on Saturday night after the Christmas Cantata at church. (We went to work in the nursery.)

The tree went up first. Our tree is leftover from the apartment days, so it's pretty small. It's also very scrawny. I really must post a picture of it. We're afraid that the neighbors might take up a collection for a new tree for us so we don't disgrace the neighborhood (we live in a nice, historic district with houses that do those house tour thingys.) Anyway, Rob took out the top part (it's in four parts) and said, "Well, boys, this is it! How do you like it?" Matthew made a face and immediately looked in the box for the rest of it. What was funny was when they kept looking after the thing was up!

Rob put on the lights and red beads while I sorted through the ornaments for all of the indestructible ones. That's means only 1/4 of the ornaments went up, but since that's all the tree will take, it's okay! The boys put them on with my direction. Matthew did very well and has since then been fussy about the tree being perfect. Ben couldn't figure out how to get them on the branches so he gave up and just handed me ornaments. Since then, he has been taking some off and managed to tip the tree over yesterday. ***Sigh*** Now you know why I waited so long!

Rob put up the star on our Charlie Brown tree (the first time the star went up, it tipped the whole tree over, hence the nickname) and plugged in the lights. Next, we took out the stockings and put them up, along with my decorations that go on top of the piano. The boys went to bed shortly afterwards and we collapsed.

The next night, the boys and I went back to church for Cantata Round 2 (again, working in the nursery) and while we were gone, Rob surprised us. He hung up lights in the window! I'm so proud of him...getting over the trauma of Christmas decorating in childhood (what did you guys do to him, Leanah???) They look nice.

You know, as I've sat back and looked at that sad little tree, I realized something. It's grown on me. I actually like it now. I don't think I could ever get rid of it. It's perfect for the boys, it doesn't overwhelm them, and it's just plain cute. They think it's a big tree and that's all that matters. I'd have to say that was $20 at Target well spent.

Back in Business...Sort of

On: Our modem! Rob bought a new one today, spending twice as much as we anticipated, but it was "needed." I guess we're paying for the conveinience of not going to MBBC every day to check our mail.

OFF: Today's Tupperware party. I had only one person show up in two hours time. I know that I have some orders coming in, but it was a little disheartening to pack up the kids and ship them out with Rob for 2 1/2 hours, only to have most of the time to myself to pick at the huge amount of snacks I made (anybody want brownies and punch) and play Spider Solitaire. The kids were pretty good for Rob, and he even took them to McDonald's for their lunchtime. Brave man.

Other news: We have about a foot or so of snow and we're getting more this week. Yipee!!! I just love the snow! It makes everything look so beautiful and peaceful, especially just after it has fallen but before people shovel. I will admit that I'm glad it's finals and Rob will have the time to shovel it properly. He did try to go out there on Saturday morning and clean it off better, but it had frozen and he couldn't get it to do much. We need to buy some sand or something. I'd go out there and shovel it myself, but Rob won't let me. He wouldn't let me last year b/c it's not a girl job (we have very strong opinions on what are girl jobs and boy jobs around here....which is a pretty funny subject and source for playful arguments between us) and he won't let me this year b/c I'm pregnant. (I'm telling you what, though...if we had a lawn mower, I'd be out there next summer! I love mowing lawns...especially barefoot!)

An Update

Our modem is actually working right now, so I'll leave a quick update. We're getting a new one on Saturday, so everything should go back to normal. It's weird how disconnected we've felt from something that is, quite frankly, completely unnecessary. (I'm also a cell-phone hater...don't get me started on that one.)

We've had lots of snow in the past few days, starting on Saturday. We got six or so inches, which partially melted on Sunday, then the slush turned to ice by Monday morning. Rob did not get out to shovel the slush on Sunday, so our sidewalk was a sheet of ice for a couple of days. Then we got another five inches or so on Tuesday night (that covered the ice and made it safe to walk.) We're getting some more right now.....it's just a Wisconsin winter wonderland!! The boys tried to help Daddy shovel on Saturday, but it was sleeting, so Matthew complained that his face hurt and Ben wouldn't leave the porch (smart kiddo.)

Rob's been buried in papers this week. He's had two due each day. He has managed to keep the late one's down to two (one that was due in October which he can acutally still turn in and one for the class he doesn't like very much.) He'll get those done soon and then have finals to study for next week. He's very exhausted right now and has been shaking and not thinking clearly from the lack of sleep. I drove him to school and work today, so that helped.

I had two cookie exchanges this week, so we have plenty of goodies at our house. I need to post Rachael's recipe for her chocolate galaxy cookies--they are to die for!!! I find it humorous that I drove in snow storms either to or from both gatherings. Anything for homemade cookies!!

We had another Second Harvest at Maranatha this week and got lots of staple items. We also got some other things that turned out to be VERY expired, so those went out with the trash. Most expiration dates are not really when the items expire, but these things were WAY past their prime. Oh well, at least most of what we got was usuable and you really can't look a gift horse in the mouth.

We do have a big praise--Rob got another grant and since he didn't need the money this semester, we have taken it out and are able to pay a bunch of bills, including some medical bills for my trip to the ER back in October. Praise the Lord!!

I'll put up another post on Saturday after our modem is switched. Just wanted to let y'all know we're still alive!

Modem Mayhem

We are experiencing technical difficulties....please stand by......our modem died the other day, so we have no internet access at home right now. I'm typing from the computer lab at MBBC (thanks, Rach, for keeping the kids a little longer today). We're hoping to have a new modem soon, but in the meantime, if you need to contact us by e-mail, use Rob's school address. Or call us...I like to hear adult voices!!

I'm having a Tupperware open house this weekend, so if you're interested in buying anything, go in through my website and e-mail me using my Tupperware address (which is the contact on my personal website.) It's a mystery hostess thing, so you could win the chance to be the hostess (or some other fabulous Tupperware prizes!!)

And that is all. I'm very tired, so I might fall asleep typing..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Gotcher Nose???

When Matthew was around Ben's age (20 months or so), we had a grand time playing that great game, "Gotcher nose." You know the game I'm talking about...you grab the child's nose and run around while they chase you, laughing hysterically. Then you place the nose on their elbow or something. Matthew and I still enjoy that great game, only it's gotten more elaborate.

Well, I tried to play that with Ben today, but did not get quite the same response. We were sitting on the couch and I reached over, grabbed his nose and said, "Gotcher nose!" He furrowed his brow, frowned, stood up, and grabbed my nose. Then he sat back down, triumphant, and continued reading his book, all as if to say, "Two can play at that game!"

What I Did On My Thanksgiving Vacation

Wow. It's over. Thanksgiving Break is actually over. We had anticipated this weekend for quite awhile, and it's over. It was good, but not as good as expected. It was fun, but we're all exhausted and ready to get back into our routine.

We took off on Wednesday for Illinois after Rob got off work at 2pm. For once, we actually left at the time I wanted to leave! Usually it takes a half-hour longer, but this time we were on the road by 2:30pm. Just as we were leaving Watertown, it started to snow, then quickly turned into rain. And the rain, rain, rain came down, down down...thankfully not in rushing, rising rivlets. It was tolerable and we didn't have to pull off the road once. It did take us an hour longer because we crawled around Rockford on I-90/I-39. I'm guessing it was extra traffic/two small accidents that caused the back-up. Then we crawled over the bridge near Ottawa since only one lane was open. We were very ready to stop at my parents' home for supper that night!

The kids had fun playing with my folks that evening and the next morning. We took off after breakfast (turkey bacon--ha-ha!) and went over to Rob's side in Normal. Yes, my husband is from Normal. Make all the jokes you want. We made mashed potatoes, Rob made gravy and carved the turkey breast, and brought the grandkids for entertainment. We ate over at his grandparent's home with 10 adults and the two boys in attendance. We had a wonderful time, but didn't get to visit as long as we would have liked to with everyone. That just seems to happen with large family gatherings.

We did have a wonderful time visiting with Rob's brother, Andy. The kids just love their Uncle Andy, who always comes over when we visit. He wags them around and wrestles and in general roughs them up pretty good when he comes over. He's going to be a full-fledged Daddy in the next two weeks (the sooner, the better, Melissa??) so he needs the practice. Rob and I both enjoy sitting and talking with Andy. Again, I'd just like to say that it is so nice to be nearer to family and to SEE people, not just talk over the phone!!

Oh, one funny thing we saw on Thursday: We went to Meijer's to find a toy for MJ (didn't get it) and on the way back, we looked over at Best Buy and saw a line of about 30-50 people (with tents and sleeping bags) already lined up for the opening on Friday morning. We laughed about it, declaring them crazy, then found out that Rob's other brother (Dan) and his wife had actually waited outside a Circuit City like that! I suppose we might have been crazy enough to do that in our pre-kid years, too. Enjoy that computer Dan...you earned it!!

Rob and I packed up and took off on Friday morning, without the kids. They were invited to stay for another day to spend more time with their grandparents and to get to see Uncle Dan and Aunt Kim. We had a nice drive home, stopping for lunch at a Cracker Barrel. You just can't beat good, southern cooking at low prices (right, Mom?) Rob and I had huge lists to accomplish, but didn't get much done simply because we didn't know where to start! He did get two papers completed and I got some Tupperware stuff taken care of along with a bit of housework, but it just didn't seem like we had enough time. I'm also getting over a headcold, so that didn't help my drive to work at all!

The kids had a great time with their grandparents. They went to the Make-A-Mess Fun Center on Friday. It has a ball pit (gasp!), slides, an inflatible obstacle course, fishing game, dress up, sand area, painting, you name it! They had a blast, but I think Matthew has talked more about Uncle Dan's puppy, Charlie. Little boys and puppies just belong together. (As for me, keep the dog and give me a bird anyday.) The kiddos came home Saturday afternoon and were rather tired, but very happy. They pleaded with Grandma to stay, and as Grandma and Grandpa were pulling out of the drive, Matthew said in a sad voice, "Good-bye, Grandma. I love you!"

We let them rip around the house for a few hours, then we all bundled up tight and walked the few blocks to Main Street to watch the "Parade of Lights." Matthew is now a seasoned parade-goer, so it took no prompting to get him to run out in the street to collect candy, stuffed animals, glow sticks, and coffee packets. They had fun, but eventually Benjamin wanted to run out, too. We didn't let him, but Rob did hold him for a bit. It was very fun, but very cold, so we went home to have chili for supper and warm up.

It was a good weekend overall, so I guess we really can't complain. I think I just had too many high hopes about my childless day....the list was too long to complete! Oh well....why do today what you can put off until tomorrow, right???

Happy Belated Thanksgiving from the Litwillers!!

Glamour Shots

Well, Anna had her first model photos taken today. One picture is of her facing the camera, the other is of her profile. Pretty amusing to get two pics that way!

I had another ultrasound today, just to check and be sure that Anna's heart is fine. The doctor couldn't fully see everything at the last ultrasound and wanted to double check b/c of the heart murmur Rob was born with. She's fine, although we think she was asleep during the whole thing b/c she didn't move much. She sure kicked up a storm on the way home, though!

He did say that she's six days ahead of schedule growth-wise. I saw on the computer that a new possible due date is March 23rd. I've stopped paying any attention to due dates whatsoever for my pregnancies b/c it really doesn't matter. I'm having c-sections anyway, so I'll just show up for the scheduled surgery!! So, the 29th...the 23rd....whatever! As long as she's born and born healthy, I'm not concerned with dates anymore.

In other news, the boys have fully hit their next stage of life as brothers.....the wrestling/hitting/tormenting phase. It's actually pretty funny to watch (for the most part) as it goes in cycles. They'll be playing together nicely, then Matthew will do something (never usually a big deal) to irritate Ben. Ben immediately hits Matthew. (It may also start with Ben hitting Matthew for no reason.) Ben is punished and told to apologize to Matthew. Matthew is told to forgive Ben. Ben pets Matthew on the head, trying to be nice. Matthew doesn't like it and moves away. Ben hits Matthew.....and you get the idea. Matthew doesn't physically hurt Ben (unless he turns off the TV), but instead, takes things from Ben and tried to get Ben to chase him. It's not that bad, usually, but yesterday we watched their friend David and they took a break from torturing each other and ganged up on poor, unsuspecting, brotherless David. Poor kid...but they all played nicely for the most part. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad for David b/c he and his big sis gang up on Matthew and "scare" him sometimes. They all torture each other, and yet they love to play together!

I'm going to stop my rambling now and get to sleep. It's possible this post didn't make sense, so we'll chalk it up to two little boys having nightmares last night and waking us up. Crazy kiddos.....

Matthewisms

We went to Wal-Mart the other day and I tooled around the toy section, trying to get some ideas for Christmas. I told Matthew to let me know what he liked. He'll be easy to shop for: just get him one of everything in the toy department. In particular, he liked the $350 Jeep that he can drive around. I told him it was too expensive and he said, "Well, that's okay. Maybe we can find it at a garage sale." That's my boy!!

I took the boys with me on a prenatal visit today, just to get them involved. They were very well behaved (Ben kept saying "Very quiet. Doctor"), but Matthew got a little concerned when the doctor was listening to Anna's heartbeat. He looked at me and asked what she was doing. I explained and then he said, "Is she going to do that to me?" I told him no, and he visibly relaxed at that point. A doctor he is not destined to be!

This one's just for Grandma Litwiller: Matthew was singing "If You're Happy and You Know it" and was making up his own things to do. The one that made me laugh was: If you're happy and you know it, pat your poe-poe. Rob taught him that one.

And the newest pretending is being Mowgli from the Jungle Book. That would be okay in summertime, but running around in just a pair of underwear in forty degree weather is not exactly acceptable. And of course, Ben has to do it, too.

Playing Pretend

I am very proud to say that Matthew seems to have inherited his mother's imagination. He's been playing pretend recently, and it's been fun to watch him act. Right now, all of his play centers on movies or characters he is familiar with, but I'm sure he'll be making up his own stuff pretty soon. Peter Pan was one of his favorites for awhile, but neither Daddy nor Mommy appreciated the sword-fighting that was involved with it, so that tape went back to the library. In his Peter Pan world, I was Wendy, Ben was Michael, Daddy was Jon, Grandpa Fulkerson was Cpt. Hook, and Grandma Fulkerson was Mr. Smead. Later, Grandma was promoted to Tinkerbell. That one has worn off and now....

I'm Tigger!!! Matthew was watching the Tigger movie and now pretends he is Tigger. So, we have lots of bouncing going on at our house. I dug up a hat and gloves that Uncle Andy had given us. The gloves are orange with stripes on them and the hat has Tigger's face and ears. He wears them all over the place...he's so cute. Ben, of course, had to have a hat as well, so I found one with Winnie the Pooh on it. Ben walks around singing, "Winnie the Pooh" (the only words he knows) and asks me to sing the rest of the song. I'm now Kanga, Anna is Roo, and Daddy is Christopher Robin. At least I didn't have to be Rabbit!

I will say this for Tigger...he can stay! Matthew repeatedly tells me that Tigger is nice to people, Tigger obeys, and Tigger is kind. If that's the case, then Tigger is more than welcome here!!

The Other Ones

I've been posting a lot about the boys (and why not...they're so adorable!), so I decided to take a moment to update everyone on the other two people that live here...me and Rob.

Rob has about one month left in this semester and he's trying to keep his head above water. He works 40 hours a week (it was more until they caught him and made him reduce hours) and is in school 13 hours per week. Just when he gets caught up on work, he falls behind again. He's hoping that he can get all caught up over Thanksgiving break. We'll be going down to visit family briefly and then come back here for the rest of the time off so that he can get more work done. Thankfully, his big stuff comes after break so he can get that prepared as well.

Rob's carpal tunnel problems have also resurfaced. He went through therapy back in the spring for this problem, but has recently noticed it resurfacing. He's been trying to take care of himself as his therapist taught him to, but we can't find his wrist braces, which would help tremendously. (It's funny....for such an organized person, my house sure is in chaos! I wish I could blame it on the kids, but I was like this BEFORE they came along.)

So, while Rob's plugging away at school and work, I'm busy with the kids and my ministries. I do love raising my kids and count it a priveledge to be with them all day. They are both so sweet and the good times far outweigh the bad. I love to laugh with them, play with them, and instruct them. We haven't had formal "school" times, but I think my kiddos learn best informally right now, anyway. Matthew has recently indicated a desire to read, so I'll be working with him on that.

I love being involved with the church. I can't imagine not having several "irons in the fire" when it comes to church ministries. I love greeting children in the nursery and getting to know the parents, especially our visitors. What a wonderful way to welcome people into the church by warmly welcoming their children and providing a safe environment for them to play while their parents focus on learning about the Lord.

My other ministries are more minor, in that they don't involve much time. I am the missions assistant for our missionary circle and I send out b-day cards to the missionaries our circle takes care of. I am still writing the newsletter for our moms group each month, which is a lot of fun. I was recently challenged to focus more on momish devos instead of discipline techniques and advice, so that will be an interesting new focus for me. I've also been attending the ladies' Bible study each week, and that's been neat. I don't contribute much to the group (or anything, really) but it's neat to go and listen. I spent far too many years yacking over nothing in S.S. and now it's time for me to sit and listen.

And that's me and Rob. Wow....that sounds really boring. But, that's what we're up to right now. We're still madly in love with each other and frequently talk about leaving the kids with relatives for a week (any takers???) and going on a second honeymoon. Come to think of it, we didn't even spend a week on our first honeymoon! I just adore that big guy (although I'm bigger than him right now) and mourn the fact that I can't spend more time with him. I keep telling people that he's perfect...and he really is.

One adorable Rob story and I'll close: The other night I woke up for one of my many trips to the bathroom (why did I drink so much water after 7pm??) and when I came back to bed, I noticed that Rob was on his tummy. He looked exactly like Ben! He was so sweet that I had to kiss his cheek just like I do the boys when they're sleeping. I told him later that the next time someone says, "Oh, Ben is so cute! He looks just like you!" that he needs to turn and say, "thank you!"

Crazy Little Ben-Ben

**chuckle** My adorable little twenty-month old did something today that I figured would happen sometime, but I didn't expect it to happen just yet. Here's the tale of crazy little Ben-Ben.

Rob had taken our laundry down to the basement this morning and had started a load. About 1/2 an hour later, I went down to transfer the laundry into the dryer. Matthew decided to come with me and Ben stayed upstairs, happily playing with a fire house and cars. As I was transferring laundry, I heard a scraping noise upstairs that could only mean one thing: Ben was moving a chair across the kitchen. Hmmm....is he doing what I think he's doing? Nah...he wouldn't. I finished my chores, called for Matthew, and we tromped up the stairs together. We got to our door and tried to open it, to no avail. Ben had locked the door.

The door to the basement has a simple lock on the top, with no actual keyhole on the other side. The boys have played with it before, but always when we're upstairs. They usually come down with us, so it hadn't been a problem thus far. But, now Matthew and I were on the basement stairs, with nothing but a one-year-old to help us. Here's how the following ten minutes transpired:

Mommy: Ben, unlock the door.
Ben: (Jiggles the door handle.)
Mommy: No, Ben, not the handle. Move the chair back to the door.
Ben: Oh. (Chair is heard moving to the OTHER door in the kitchen.)
Mommy: No, Ben, bring the chair over to Mommy and open the door.
Ben: Oh. (Chair is moved back, door handle jiggles again.)
Mommy: Ben, climb up on the chair and open the lock.
Ben: Oh. (We discovered later that he got into my recipe cards at this time rather than opening the door.)
Mommy: (Gets a good idea). Ben, turn on the lights! Climb up and turn on the lights. (They are located right next to the door.)
Ben: Oh. (The light switches are being flipped.)
Mommy: Okay, Ben, now open the door.
Ben: Oh. (Gets down off the chair and turns the handle again.)
Matthew: Mommy, I don't think Ben is going to open the door.
Mommy: I don't think he is either. I'm going to go around the house through the basement doors and see if Daddy left the front door unlocked. You stay here and try to get Ben to open the door.
Matthew: Okay, but I don't think he's going to open it. Ben, climb on the chair....

I go out the basement door and around to the front. Praise the Lord, Rob left the front door unlocked and I hurried into the kitchen. Ben was rather surprised to see me. I let Matthew in and told him to keep Ben from locking the door while I shut the basement doors. I came back upstairs, and Matthew had locked me out.

Thankfully, he opened the doors after about two seconds. Needless to say, I haven't been back downstairs today to do the laundry. And I haven't stopped laughing about it either. Oh, and about 1/2 hour after this, Rob came home from class, so we would have had some help w/o having to break down the door.

And we're having another one of these people???

Where Cooties Come From

We have now found the answer to the eternal question: Where do cooties come from? Matthew says, "Cooties come from drinking after girls. That's how boys get them."

So, to all the little boys out there, don't drink after girls!!

If you take two little ones to school....

...then they will want to wear costumes. If you put them in costumes, then they will want to run around (and out). If you let them run around, then the little one will appoint himself "official door opener." If he opens the doors, he might get blown away.

And I could go on, but I'll stop there. Today the boys and I went to Maranatha for a dramatic play group, hosted by Matthew's Sunday school teacher's class (she teaches early childhood education at the college.) We were the first one's to arrive, mainly because we dropped Rob off at work and then puttered around campus for a bit. The boys enjoy visiting several people and going to the library, so we did that for a bit. Praise God for "Grandma Jan" (Mrs. Sturgill) who took Matthew potty, as it was downstairs and there's no elevator for Ben's stroller.

As the first one's to arrive, we got the first choice of costumes. Matthew chose a lion costume and I picked out a toucan for Ben. I really wish I'd had my camera, b/c they were adorable! Many of the students in Mrs. K's class took pics, so perhaps I will get a copy. They had a blast running around with their friends (about 15 or so other children from church.) Ben kept trying to run out the doors and did appoint himself doorman (even though he could barely open the door!)

After a bit, Mrs. K. had the kids settle down for a story. She had multiple puppets to show the kids, and among them were Fred the Attentive Dog and Cocoa the Obedient Bear from Sunday School. Matthew sat okay for the story and added his usual input to the group. Ben sat on my lap for a bit, but then fussed off and on. I had to take him out to talk to him a few times, but he finally did better when I let him walk a bit. He's just to young to sit still yet. Matthew eventually laid down on the floor. I could tell that he was getting tired...trip to Grandma's combined with time change made for a very tired kiddo. He didn't even try to sing the songs, and that is VERY unusual for him. (Being his teacher in Tiny Trackers has made me more aware of his capabilities and participation level in things like this...and I'm so glad I've been able to observe him!)

I finally figured out what was going on about halfway through the class. Mrs. K. was teaching her students how to handle the little guys along with demonstrating a bunch of different ways to use puppets and other objects. The kids just loved it. She had Matt and Ben's friend David come up and sing "Amazing Grace" to show that children are not too young to learn. He was so sweet and he brought tears to my eyes. (Okay, that's not saying much, b/c I cry alot when I'm pregnant! I can't even listen to country music because I blubber like an idiot! Oh, and Mom and Dad? That video on Sunday made me cry, too!)

At the end, she had a gift for each of the children. Matthew chose a little container of Play-Doh and I picked out a giraffe for Ben. We left pretty quickly b/c it was very hot in there and b/c the boys were in need of naps. They slept for 3 hours this afternoon, which means I got a nice long rest as well!

Trip to Pontiac

This past weekend, the boys and I travelled to Pontiac, Il., home of the Indians and my parents. We had a great time visiting with them and I'll try to stay awake long enough to finish this blog.

We took off after taking Rob to work on Friday and it took us a little longer than usual to get there. We had to make two potty stops (one for Mommy and one for Matthew) and one break for lunch at a Wendy's. I think I have amnesia about taking the kids places, b/c I forgot that one parent vs. two little guys are not good odds at a fast food place. They weren't bad, but Matthew had to go potty twice, so we all had to troup to the bathroom and back, leaving our food on the table. I was smart enough to ask for it to go so that I didn't have to deal with a tray.

We did finally make it to Pontiac, and I stopped outside of Wal-Mart to get the kids into their Halloween costumes. We went trick-or-treating at Grandpa's Work (or Papa's work, as the kids call it.) They got a few treats (and some laughs) from Dad's fellow employees, then we went to trick-or-treat at Grandma's. My parents only had one treater on Halloween, so they had lots of candy left. Matthew tore into about four pieces before we caught him!

Mom and I took the kids to a park and then to do some grocery shopping. I was pretty worn out by that time. We went to another park the next morning and Dad and Mom took the kids to a third park Saturday night. They were so excited to get out to all of these fun, new parks. They also picked their favorite activities in the house. Ben's was getting into Papa's chair whenever Papa got up and Matthew's was hiding in a tub while Papa bopped it around. It was fun to watch them play with their grandparents.

On Saturday afternoon, I got to go to a baby shower for Rob's brother and his wife. Their first little one will be arriving in the next month. They got a lot of nice things (although I missed some of it b/c I had to exchange some items with my sister...like our new phone!!!) It was so nice to go to a family event. That is something we really missed about living in Cali. I especially like how well I fit in with Rob's side. I know some people feel akward with in-laws, so we are very blessed that both of us fit in well on the opposite side. (I had to say that b/c I know that all of them read my blog---I love you guys!!)

We went to church w/Mom and Dad and I was a little nervous about leaving the boys. Neither one did well a month ago at their Litwiller grandparents' church, but this time they were fine. I think they were sick last month, so that's why they were cranky. We left for home after lunch, and that was an interesting trip. It was so windy that I almost got blown off the road a few times and when that calmed down, I hit lots of construction, and when that calmed down, the boys started playing together. They are so cute, but their loudness is not conducive to a car ride, so I had to ask them to quiet down. I did find a Patch the Pirate radio program, so that interested them for the rest of the trip.

It's good to be home. I keep having huge waves of tired (like during supper when I almost fell asleep eating.)

Congrats to Jesse and Karen on the birth of Anthony David. For my blog friends, please pray for the little guy. He is 8 weeks early. He's doing good so far, but as with most premies, breathing is an issue. Pray for Jesse and Karen as well, as Anthony will have to stay in the hospital for awhile.

Pics of last weekend

Halloweekend

We had a very nice weekend doing some fall/Halloween activities as a family. Fall is my favorite time of year and it was so nice to share some of my favorite things with the boys. We don't celebrate Halloween (what is there to celebrate anyway, besides my birthday??? I never understood that...) but we do go out and trick-or-treat on our nice, historic, very safe street.



On Saturday, we went to Ebert's Greenhouse for their Fall Festival. It's one of our favorite places out here and we were eager to see what they did for fall. It was very family friendly, without a stictch of typical scary Halloweenish stuff. I don't mind the Halloween stuff so much, but it was nice to see a really neat alternative for fall. They had storybook characters all over the place, some as cutouts and some as scarecrows. There was a hayride (which we did not take b/c it was very cold and windy) and all kinds of kids activities. Many of them cost a dollar or two, but the ones the boys were most interested in were free. They have three little houses to play in, a sandpit, and a bunch of farm animals to see. Matthew was thrilled to pieces when the cow and the goats licked him. Ben liked watching the cow (actually a calf) romp around in her cage.



We walked around the grounds and enjoyed their beautiful landscaping, complete with a fish pond full of koi fish. The boys each picked out a mini pumpkin, Rob and I got hot drinks, and we picked up some squash for later. As we were leaving, a man handed us two tickets for some of the attractions. We decided to let Matthew do the fish pond game. He got a big coloring book and crayons, with which he was thrilled to pieces.



We had a wonderful rest of the day as a family. I was going to go to a Stampin Up! party that night, but we were having too much fun as a family for me to leave. Today, however, held my all-time favorite sport: Trick or Treating.



Here in Watertown, Trick or Treating is held on the Saturday or Sunday afternoon before Halloween. It's kind of weird, but it's safer. This year was Ben's first outing with us, and he did great. He was dressed as a puppy (Matthew's first costume) and Matthew was Eeyore again. I wasn't going to spend the crazy prices they were asking for costumes, so we tried on last year's costume and it still fit. Barely, but it saved me lots of money. I wore my princess robe (which Rob says makes me look like a witch b/c I can't find my crown.)



We headed out at one o'clock exactly and covered about ten or eleven blocks. Our street is great for this wonderful sport, b/c everyone gives out the good stuff and lots of it. The boys did great and had tons of fun. They really got into the spirit of it and enjoyed seeing the other children in their costumes. It's a neat time to get out and greet the neighbors as well. Rob stayed home and handed out candy and tracts with a trick-or-treat theme (a must for us...after all, what better time to hand out tracts than when people are coming to you!) Matthew helped Daddy pass out candy when we got home. Oh, we had to make a last minute run to Papa Murphy's, as they were handing out cookie dough! That was neat.

We were a rather tired bunch by the time it was over, but there was no time for napping before church that night. The boys were in bed by 7:30pm and Rob and I hit the hay shortly after nine. (Literally....we have a bale in the backyard that was making us mad.....get it, we HIT the HAY.....) It was a very fun weekend and well worth the lack of sleep.



We're tired now, but it was a good weekend. I've got lots of pictures, but I once again saved them in a weird place, so I'll post them later tonight.

Cain and Abel

It has begun. This morning, Rob was on the thinking chair (I was still sleeping) and the boys stopped making noise. Rob got a little concerned, so he investigated. The boys were in the kitchen and had opened the big bag of Halloween candy and had gotten into a box of Jujubees. Rob asked Matthew if he opened the bag. With a sticky candy in his mouth, Matthew said, "No!" After three more questions of "Did you do it?", Matthew finally admitted to opening the candy, but then said, "Ben ate some too!" Rob asked Ben if he ate the candy, and he said, "Matthew open!" Ahhh....so young to be starting the blame game. A few hours later they are still blaming each other....

In other news, Ben discovered yesterday that his bottom has a crack. I was changing his diaper and was just about to put on a new one when he reached down and grabbed his little cheek. He got a panicked look on his face and said, "Ripped! Ripped!" I still haven't stopped laughing!!

The Black Hole

We have decided that our home is an electronic black hole, meaning our electronic devices are going haywire on us. Here's the list of crazy things:

1. Three major appliances have been replaced in one year's time. Granted, the old ones belonged to my grandma and were rather old, but still, that's kind of crazy.

2. The breaker for the dryer had to be replaced. (It works now, Praise the Lord!!)

3. Our phone takes "vacations" where it will not allow certain buttons to work, or all of the buttons, will ring but I can't answer, or won't ring at all when people call.

4. The cords from the DVD player to the TV have become increasingly touchy.

5. Our clocks keep uncoordinating themselves.

6. The alarm clock does not function properly and now makes a bizarre noise when the alarm goes off. Thankfully, we still wake to it and the boys no longer wake up to it.

I think that's it so far. We're guessing that the washer might be next. It is a Maytag, but it's that old avacado green, so who knows how old it is.

And the baby just moved. **smile**

Sugar and Spice

...and all things nice, that's what litte GIRLS are made of. And, that's what we're having! Rob is so very excited (and I guess I am too.) She's doing just fine, so says the perinatologist.

As for names, we are deliberating between Hannah June and Anna June. We're leaning toward Anna right now, but we'll see. Anna was the name of a friend of ours from California who died of cancer a little over a year ago and so that is a special name to us. Also, AJ is a lot cuter than HJ. They mean the same, grace of God, so that's not a debating point. I did inform Rob that if she's born on the 17th of March that Erin would have to figure into the picture, but I haven't convinced him of that yet.

Matthew was less than thrilled at the idea of a sister. All along he's wanted a baby girl, but now he says that Ben can have a baby sister, but he wants a baby brother. I tried to point out that he already has one. His newest name suggestion is "Tweety Bird." His friend Angela says the baby should be named Kayla. Hmmm....I don't think either name is in the Bible.......

So, break out the ribbons and bows...we're having a girl!!!

New Pictures

Thanks to Second Harvest, we now have PLENTY of batteries, so I was able to download pictures. I saved them in a goofy place, so I'll post pics of Matthew later.

Counting our Blessings

We have had so many blessings this week that I need to take time to count them all!

1. A visit from my mom. We had such a nice time visiting with her. It's such a joy to have a mother who is also my friend (although I never thought I'd say that back in high school!) She did a lot for us, but just having her here was so nice.

2. A new dryer. We'd quite forgotten what dryer dried clothes were like, as we've been without one since March. An electrician is coming on Monday to figure out why the fuse keeps flipping off when we use it, but we have managed to catch up on laundry.

3. Food. Second Harvest was such a huge blessing on Tuesday, along with someone giving us a bunch of canned/boxed stuff on Friday and a friend of Rob's dropping off several pounds of ground deer meat today (with a promise of more).

4. The children. Matthew is such a delight to talk to, Ben picks up more vocab daily, and the new baby is moving around. Being a mommy is so much fun!

5. My husband. I came down with stomach flu on Thursday (my usual 12-13 hour bout of the stuff) and he stayed home to take care of the kids rather than find someone to keep them all day. He hasn't spent that much time alone with them in a loooong time. They went to bed at 7:30 instead of 9 (tee-hee) and he said that being a stay-at-home dad is NOT his calling. However, from what I heard in between snoozes and runs to the bathroom, he did a pretty good job.

6. Help with bills. Once again, we received a surprise check in the mail and were able to get more caught up on bills. Also, I have been contacted by three people about ordering Tupperware/having a party, so the business will keep on going.

God is so good. Praise the Lord for his continuing goodness.

General Update

We have had a very busy and interesting past few days here in the Litwiller household. Let's see if I can catch you up quickly:

Friday: Benjamin came down with a stomach virus, his first real bout of the stuff. After his initial "sickies" (as we call it), he faired pretty well. He didn't stop vomiting for about five hours, but he was pretty calm and rested comfortably on the couch. He slept pretty well that night, only waking up once for water, and then ate anything I'd let him the next morning! He picked up a few new phrases, like "All done" when he finished throwing up, "I spill" to inform me he had thrown up, and "Sickies all gone" the next day. He's completely back to normal now.

The weekend: We had a pretty nice weekend, although I had to learn that I am not well. I keep forgetting that I have bronchitis, so I do too much and then start coughing. Thankfully, the medicine has helped tremendously, so I am doing better.

Rob was able to get some work done, but he is still behind, so next weekend will be a very busy one for him. I doubt we see him much on Saturday!

Sunday night: My mom came up to spend a few days with us. She and Dad were going to go on vacation, but cancelled, so Mom came here for a few days instead. She treated us to Papa Murphy's after church, and that was nice. We hadn't had their pizza for several years after trying some nasty deep dish thing they had. The regular pizza is MUCH better and now that Rico's is gone, we may order from there instead! The kids love having Grandma here, although Ben kept asking for "Pa-pa" and didn't understand why his favorite grandparent (any grandpa) had to stay home. He keeps saying, "Papa house?" which means "Grandpa's at his house, right?"

Monday: We had a pretty good morning going grocery shopping and spending time with Grandma. We had planned to go to the library after naptime, but Matthew woke up with the flu. He's a little easier to handle, as he doesn't stay sick as long and can make it to the toilet most of the time. His problem is that he completely freaks out every time he gets sick. At one point, I thought he would hyperventilate! He went to bed early and slept okay that night. Now we're just hoping that Grandma doesn't catch it!

Tuesday: Ahh, the day I've been waiting for....we got our new dryer! My wonderful in-laws bought us a dryer for Christmas and it came yesterday. Unfortunately, the fuse keeps blowing, so our landlord is coming over today to check it out. We've been saving up the laundry, so there are large mounds of clothes yet to be done.

Rob came home after his first class thinking he had the flu. He slept for three hours, got up, and went to work feeling better. We think he may have had a very mild form of it.

We took the kids to the library, along with Wal-Mart in the evening. Mom bought me a winter coat and cleaning supplies (thank you, Mommy!) In the afternoon during naptime, I went to Maranatha for the Second Harvest food bank. The school gets food for off-campus students, faculty, and staff and we pay what we can. I got tons of snack food and drinks, along with a few baking items and such, so our pantry is full to bursting, praise the Lord!

Today: Mom and the boys are out for a walk right now (to the bakery) and she will be leaving this afternoon. It's been so nice to have her here, even for a short time. She did manage to straighten and clean my house while she was here. I laugh whenever I walk into a room, because I can tell she was there! Rob told her he's going to call and give her weekly updates to make sure I keep it clean. To that I say: you try having a rotten first trimester followed by a cold and bronchitis and see how clean your house is! I am feeling better now, so I'm sure the house will look better. Poor Rob...I always tell him he deserves a better housekeeper!

That's us!

Breathing Easy

I have alluded to my problems with this cold in my blog, but had not addressed the problem directly. I caught a cold about three weeks ago, and like so many others around here, could not shake the cough. The problem I was having in particular is difficulty breathing. I finally called my ob yesterday to see if she would approve an inhaler for me (I do have slight asthma) and instead got sent to urgent care for a pneumonia check! Thankfully, that was not the problem. Instead, they said I have acute bronchitis and the asthma problem. They gave me an inhaler and I haven't wheezed since! I had a wonderful night of sleep and have been breathing much better and coughing a lot less. I'm also on a steriod for a few days to open my airways. They said it was safe to take during pregnancy, especially since I won't be on it too long. It made me a little dizzy this morning, so I'm thankful that I have no where to go today, because I couldn't drive anyway!

My mom is coming here on Sunday and staying forever (right, Mom?) so that was very good timing on her part. Our prayer request right now is a financial one, because we found out that my medical coverage (through the state) will only cover pregnancy-related stuff, and this doesn't count. Thankfully, the medicine and inhaler were not too expensive, but we're dreading the hospital bill. Praise the Lord it wasn't pneumonia and I didn't have to be hospitalized. We might've had to sell one of the kids.....

I am feeling much better, so no matter how much we go into debt, it was worth it. I feel as close to normal as I've felt since I got pregnant, and that's saying something! The kids and I even made cookies today (snickerdoodles...my grandma's recipe) and it was nice to do something fun with them w/o all of the coughing, hacking, and other unpleasant side effects.

Oh, while Rob was in the waiting room yesterday with the kids, Matthew struck up a conversation with a guy waiting in there with his son. After a bit, Matthew asked Rob if he could go to the man's house sometime. Rob said, "Well, we don't know where he lives!" Matthew replied, "He lives in his house, Daddy!" Duh!!

My son, the player

Today I watched the almost five-year-old daughter of a friend of mine for a few hours while she took her three-year-old for allergy testing. Angela and Matthew play together all the time, at least twice a week if not more often, and get along very well. Today, however, took the cake.

I had to take Rob to work since I had a Tupperware party tonight (which went well) so we put Angela's booster seat in between our two boys for the trip. Here is the conversation that went on between the two:

Matthew: I love you, Angela.
Angela: I love you, Matthew.
Matthew: Hey, there's the Tine-ese restaurant! Do you like the Tine-ese restaurant, Angela?
Angela: Yes, I do like Chinese.
Matthew: You should come there sometime wiff us. Would you like to come wiff us?
Angela: I would like to come with you!
Matthew: Mommy, can Angela come with us sometime to the Tine-ese restaurant?
Mommy: Maybe.
Matthew: My mommy said yes.
Angela: Your mommy said maybe.

(A little later on the same ride....)
Angela: I luv ya, Matthew!
Matthew: I love you, too, Angela!
Angela: I saw a flock of birds shaped like an "L." Luh-luh-luh. (Angela is going through the book "How to Read in 100 easy lessons" or whatever it's called.) That's an "s" on the sign. S-s-s-s.
Matthew: You want to go wiff us to Chuck E. Cheese sometime? We went wiff my grandma and grandpa.
Anglea: Okay.

When we got home, the kids and I took off for the library, which is only about one block away. Matthew and Angela insisted on holding hands the entire way there and the entire way back. They walked verrry slowwwly, slower than me, and that's saying something! They chatted the whole way about dogs and pictures and Angela kept trying to corral Matthew if he veered in the wrong direction.

So, my son has now asked a girl out on a date, held her hand, and declared his affections for her. She, in turn, is already trying to keep him in line. Hey, Rach, should we set a date for twenty years from now??? Start picking out their china pattern???

Kids are just so cute :)

Finally, some fun!

That's probably what my kids were thinking today after three days of dealing with a mommy that isn't breathing well and can't take them anywhere. Today is Watertown's fall festival and we decided to pretend that we had money ($11, to be exact) and spoiled the kids a bit. The kids events were practically behind our house at The Market, an Anitque place. They got to bounce in the bounce house, and that was funny. Matthew had a ball, especially when Daddy kept pushing him over. For Ben, it was more of a "Keep my Balance" house. He spent about five minutes in there then came to the door and said, "All done." At least he got to try it (they were the only kids in there at first) and he was half price because we didn't know how he'd do. Some friends from church showed up with their kids and Matthew had fun bouncing with them. It's terribly hot and humid today, so we had Matthew stop a little early....he was sweating profusely.

We skipped the sugar/sand art table, watched the horses, and saw the measley petting zoo (a pig and a goat) and then made our way downtown. There were about four blocks of craft booths and we're not into crafts, but it was fun to look. We bought some kettle corn to munch on (first booth) and explored. Matthew got free popcorn later on and I spotted some very pretty hand-made cards (good ideas for later!) We bought our lunch at a vendor (brat for Rob, burger for me, hot dog for the kids) and ate for a bit. Then we trekked back up the street to the Maranatha booth and bought a brownie. They were making balloon animals, but since Daddy makes those, we skipped letting the kids get one.

We had a great time, but not as much fun once we got home. We had mounds of dishes and laundry to do, plus two wired kids. I finally took off around nap time and went to a card making event at church. There were only three of us there, but it was fun to sit and make cards in the air conditioning. My wonderful husband put the kids to bed, hung laundry on the line, and wrote out his remaining assignments for the semester. He's very overwhelmed right now, so please pray for him.

The kids should be getting up soon, so I'd better sign off. Oh, for those wanting pictures, you'll get them when we get batteries for the camera so we can download them! (Ahh...the sounds of the horse-drawn cart going by and the Elvis impersonator near the river....gotta love living close to downtown for events like this!)

Funny Moments

I haven't been feeling well lately (monster cold) and so I've had a tough time with the kids. (Like right now, as Matthew is yelling at me to fix the TV AGAIN!!!) But, I have had some cute moments.

Ben also has a cold and likes to wipe his own nose. He'll come up to the kleenex box and say, "Nose!" I hand him a tissue, his wipes his nose, then says, "Back!" Glad I keep the box out of reach or it would be full of slightly used tissues!

Today was "Mommy needs to repeat herself 90 times" day. Maybe it comes from working with high schoolers, but I do not like to repeat myself: after all, a three-year-old and a nineteen-month-old should obey the first time, right? Anyway, I got pretty frustrated and yelled, "Does Mommy have to repeat everything she says???" Matthew said, "huh?" Sigh.....

Ben had his 18 month check-up yesterday and it went well. Praise the Lord, no shots this time! He was cranky enough as it was. He does have some junk in his ear, so the doctor gave me a prescription for medicine in case it develops into an ear infection. He is 25 lbs 4 oz, 33 inches tall, and his head is still off the charts. He did pretty well except for when his privates were checked and I can't say as I mind him fussing about that! I'm thankful that I have a doctor that keeps things on the medical side. Some friends of mine have had trouble with a particular doctor in town that questions them about discipline. Rephrase: the doctor asks the CHIILDREN how they are disciplined. One friend has a five and a three year old: you can imagine how well that interview might go over. Needless to say, we've been passing info around our set to avoid that doctor. I understand the whole need to look for abuse, but it's really none of a doctor's business how a child is disciplined, especially if there are no marks or signs of abuse. I'm thankful we never had a pediatrician that asked, even in Cali. We had a sheet to fill out, but I just skipped that question and our doctor never asked about it.

I'm off to figure out why it's so quiet out there.....

Big Weekend

This past weekend, the kids and I went to Illinois to visit with Rob's parents. Our purpose was two-fold: visit family and give Daddy peace and quiet while he works and rests. We had a wonderful time and the kids were delighted to spend so much time with their grandparents.



We took off on Friday after dropping Rob at work. It's a three and a half hour drive, so not too bad at all. Both of my kids are amazing travellers, so it was not a big deal to take them by myself. Neither one needs to be entertained. I just pop in some music and they sing along and enjoy the scenery. We stopped halfway down to have a picnic at a reststop and let them run around for a bit, then we finished the trip. When we arrived, Matthew ran into the house and yelled, "Grandpa! Abbie! We're here!" Abbie bounded up the steps and barked like mad, which made Matthew fall back against the door until Grandpa calmed her down. Ben walked in and looked at Abbie as if to say, "Hey, cool! A barking dog!"



Grandma came home a bit later and I don't think Matthew gave her a moments rest until she dropped them off here on Tuesday! Matthew is a Grandma's boy, be it Grandma Litwiller or Fulkerson. Ben prefers his Grandpa's and had to know where "Pa-pa" was all weekend. We'll see who the next one prefers!



I had a Tupperware party at my sister's that night and it went very well. Not too many attendees, but a lot of outside orders, so she ended up with a lot of free stuff. I didn't go to bed until around midnight that night, so I was rather tired all day the next day! Jim and Leanah took the boys to the children's museum in the morning and offered to let me stay home and rest. I took that time to run to Target (forgot my brush and a pony tail holder) and to Krispy Kreme for a Cafe Kreme and glazed chocolate donut. Then I rested in a recliner, called Rob, and read the paper. Bliss!

The kids managed to take some semblance of a nap that afternoon, and then we visited GG (Rob's grandma). She is a very sweet lady and I love how she devotes her full attention to the boys when they talk to her. Matthew sang a few songs for her and recited his Tiny Tracker verses. After the visit, Jim and Leanah treated us to the Cracker Barrel (one of my favorite restaurants) and then we went home. Rob's brother Andy came over and thoroughly tickled and tackled the boys, which they loved, then my sister came over with a puppy that she is fostering. (She works for a shelter and usually has some puppies or kittens that are too young to adopt out yet.) Matthew carried that little thing everywhere and had a ball. The funniest part of the evening is when Ben sat down to read his book and Wilma (the puppy) came up and licked him all over the face. He didn't seem to appreciate it much, but he didn't cry either, so that's good. It was awful cute! Little boys and puppies just belong together, I guess. Oh, my parents poppped by briefly after the Steve Green concert they attended, so the boys got to see both sets of grandparents!

Church the next day did not quite go as well as usual. (Although Steve Green was the special music: very cool!) Matthew came out of Sunday school saying that he had been crying for his grandparents and we found out that Ben was unusually fussy as well. New nursery combined with colds did not make for happy children. We did get to see Jim tell a story in sign language during Junior church, which was very neat. Matthew really liked it. After that, we had lunch at Steak and Shake and then I headed home WITHOUT THE KIDS!!! That's right, my wonderful in-laws asked a few weeks ago to keep the kids until Tuesday. They did very well and didn't cry for Mommy (unless a punishment ensued, but that do that with me and Rob too!)

Rob and I enjoyed our two childless days very much. We had planned to get a lot of housework done, but rested instead. Rob worked on school stuff and I caught up with my Bible study. We grocery shopped (and took our time) and headed to Madison for supper at the Olive Garden. My adorable sister gave us a gift card that we enjoyed very much. It was so nice to eat in a restaurant without having to cut up food, referee, and keep children in their seats.

While at the grandparents, the kids visited more great-grandparents, played at the park, ate at Chuck E. Cheese, did not nap, and wore out their grandparents. At least they had the decency to go to bed at seven that night! I could tell they had a blast when they got home (that included the grandparents.) I could sense a special bond had been formed that could only come with Rob and I out of the picture for awhile.

The kids came home around 1pm on Tuesday and it was nice to see them again. Ben cried (I think he wanted to stay with Pa-pa) and Matthew looked for Daddy. It wasn't until later that they snuggled on my lap (forever) that I knew they had missed me. Ben even napped on me for an hour, something he simply doesn't do. They didn't get to see Daddy until 8:15 and they clung to him until bedtime. They slept late this morning and napped good this afternoon, so I know they are catching up on sleep. They had a wonderful time, as evidenced by this afternoon's pretend session of "Grandma's House." Their toy dog was Abbie, Ben was Pa-pa, and the toy room was Grandma's. That was funny!

Totally unrelated: Today at breakfast, we were having Ben practice some new words. Matthew asked him to say "fire." Ben said "wa-wa." I don't know where that came from!

Preacher Quote

We're at the end of our missions conference at Calvary and our keynote speaker is Dr. Sanders, who was a pastor here from 1960-72. The service had gone long because two missionaries had given their reports and by the time he got to preach, the service had gone on for about an hour. He then proceeded to assure us that he would only preach for 35-40 minutes at most because, "If you haven't struck oil in 35-40 minutes, then stop boring!"

I just about died laughing!

Fun Sayings

Matthew has been asking everyone recently what their favorite color is. Rob and I answer (blue for Rob, green and purple for me) and then he asks Ben. Without fail, everytime, Ben says that his favorite color is Mommy. I'm curious to know what color that would be in a Crayola box....

Today I watched Devin and Daniel for a bit, two of the boys' friends. Devin had a plaid shirt and khaki shorts on, so I asked him why he was so dressed up. "Do you have a hot date?" I asked. Devin, age four, replied, "No, I have a cold date." I think I've been on a few of those...

Matthew has been loads of fun to talk to, as usual. His new topic of conversation is talking about God and how he loves God. He's been asking quite a few questions about salvation, so Rob has been centering their bedtime devotions on that topic. Neither one of us think he's quite ready yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if he understands it in the next year or so and is ready. It's been so neat to hear his questions and see his thought processes at work. We certainly do not want to push him, but we want to be ready when he is ready.

Matthew has decided to take the role of daddy around the house. He loves to reiterate my instructions to Ben. (Personally, I think he should reinforce his OWN instructions.) I told Rob today that Ben doesn't need a bossy older sister...he has a bossy older brother. (No comments from my siblings, please!)

Ben has expanded the list of people that he misses. They now include Daniel, Daddy, Pa-pa, Abbie (Rob's parents' new dog), Mommy, and some other word we haven't deciphered yet. He's chattering up a storm and he tries so hard to communicate. He'll be talking well before we know it.

One last one...I try to work on picture identification with Ben when we read. The other day, I pointed to an elephant and he called it a doggie. We then asked Aunt Mandy, who works at an animal shelter, if they have any of these "doggies." She found us pretty amusing...I think.

Good-bye, First Trimester!

I am pleased to say that I am officially entering the second trimester of pregnancy #3. I celebrated this morning by getting sick in the sink twice. It would be nice if entering the next pregnancy phase meant getting better instantly, but I know from experience that it does not. I still suffered from morning sickness well into my fourth month with both boys, so I don't see this ending until late October. That's okay...at least it is easing up some. I'm able to cook meals now, so that's progress. The main thing that makes me sick is the dishes. We don't have a dishwasher (he went back to school) so I have to do them by hand. Yick.

I had a check-up yesterday with Dr. Oliver. My weight and blood pressure are fine. She tried to listen to the baby's heartbeat but couldn't find it (not surprising because I'm only 13 weeks) so she pulled out the ultrasound. That's more exciting anyway because I get to see the baby. She was doing flips in there, so it took a minute for Dr. Oliver to find her heart! I'd say she's doing just fine. (Again, no clue if it's a girl yet...just wishful thinking.) I do have another picture, but it's so blurry that it's really not worth posting. It's amazing how clear those machines are and how terrible the pics turn out. Kind of like driver's liscence pictures.

We went to a birthday party last night for a friend of Matthew and Ben's. They had a blast playing around in the balloons and eating Blue Moon cake from Culver's. The cake was a child's delight and an adult's nightmare. Blue custard, very sweet, covered in sour gummy worms and colorful gel. I didn't even bother to take Rob a piece. The kids just loved it....I ate some due to heartburn problems. It did help, but I skipped the gummy worms. Ben ate those off for me. :) I might have liked it when I was a kid, but I don't remember eating that much candy back then...just chocolate. Mmmmmm.....chocolate.......good thing I grocery shop today!

Maestro, if you please...

Today the boys decided to bang on the piano for awhile (which I don't mind, because it's already out of tune, a little old and used, and it keeps them occupied.) I peeked in on them and Matthew had taken a hymnal, propped it open to "How Great Thou Art", and with proceeded to play with perfect form. It came out as a jumbled mess and he was singing "Jesus Loves Me", but it was still adorable! If only the camera had batteries......

Benjamin has been doing a very good job of stringing together words. Most of the time he says "no" with another word (usually repeating what I told him not to do) but he has constructed one sentence. It is "I miss Daniel." Daniel is his little friend from church that he plays with often. He will also say "I miss Papa (grandpa)" and "I miss Daddy." Matthew often recites a list of everyone that he misses and Ben seems to have picked up on it. It is the most darling little voice and I love hearing it! He has another pseudo sentence (No like it) that he uses at supper and when I give him plain milk. (I recently took away the chocolate because it's just getting too expensive and they don't need the extra sugar, although a friend of mine justifies it by saying that we're adding vitamins to the milk.)

We had our second night of Tiny Trackers and we learned a few things:
1. Put the three's where we can reach them during story time.
2. Have an extra craft ready.
3. Don't ask if they need a drink or need to go potty: they all will every time.

Otherwise, it was lots of fun and all four of our little guys said their verse!

Mmmm....dinner.......

(Okay, so I've started two posts with phrases like that....can you tell I used to be a Simpson's fan??) Tonight we had the most delicious dinner this house has seen in a very long time. I think the memory of this dinner will be with us forever and hopefully the smells will linger on. What did we have that was so delicious? Well, I guess if you look at the meal, it was pretty standard. But if you remember that I'm still in the first trimester of pregnancy and even looking into my kitchen can make me naseous, you'll understand how good a home cooked meal is to this family.

Our menu tonight was ham, au gratin potatoes, green beans, and cornbread. Let me elaborate on these dilectable items: The ham was half of a ham that we bought as part of a meal deal at Pick and Save. With the purchase of the $20 ham, we also received a 3 lb turkey breast, a loaf of bread, a bottle of soda, and a box of stuffing. We're set for meat for awhile! The ham had a yummy glaze and was well-received by the boys. Even Ben, who's new hobby is not eating at mealtimes, gobbled down as much ham as he could.

The potatoes were a box thing, but they were still very yummy. As for the beans, well, Rob doctored them up good. We had a huge can of green beans from Second Harvest (Maranatha does a Second Harvest thing for married students and off-campus students) and Rob cooked them up with some ham and extra ingredients and they were soft and yummy (I may go into a coma just thinking about how good they were). Matthew, our resident green bean-hater, was forced to eat some and actually liked them. The cornbread was homemade, but by the time it got on our plates, we were too stuffed to enjoy it. It'll be a nice breakfast side tomorrow.

Man, that was a good meal. We portioned out some for Rob to take to work on Monday and have been making many plans for the remaining ham. Rob and I will top it off with Mocha Brownies leftover from the Tupperware party last night. Mmmmm....nothing like a goood meal. (Oh, and Rob cooked it all, just to give credit where credit is due!)

Tiny Trackers

Our first night of Tiny Trackers went very well. We had four three-year-olds in our class and it was fun. Three of them just turned three in the last two months, so it was interesting to see their skill levels compared to the 4's and 5's when we joined them for songs, puppets, lessons, and gametime. They did pretty well considering how little they are.

It's always a joy to work with the pre-school crowd, as they do and say some very funny things. One little boy didn't quite get the concept of running down to the pin carrying a ball. He rolled it instead, but he knocked down the pin, so it was kind of cool inspite of the mistake. Matthew and another boy ran for the other team's pin, so they had a bit of a problem with directional sense. The last boy did well, but seemed confused when he was told to to run down and then told to run back! It didn't seem to make sense to him, but he did it anyway. They were all very cute.

I think my favorite quote of the night came at the very end when the parents were picking up the kids. After two boys had been picked up, the third one said, "My mom won't be here forever." And it was said pretty matter-0f-factly with just a hint of resignation to his fate.

Matthew loved it and has been asking continually to go back. We kept them pretty busy and no activity was longer than ten minutes, so there is no way the kids could get bored or have time to misbehave. Rob and I taught the lesson on creation by me talking about it and Rob choosing a sign for each day of creation. The kids caught on pretty quickly. It was very cute to see them sign turtle (my favorite animal sign.)

In other news, I have my first Tupperware party tomorrow night. A friend is hosting it, but it's in my home, so I have a bit of cleaning to do. It should be fun and relaxed. Oh, Rob took the day off work so that he could get some extra sleep. We all took a nice, long nap this afternoon (from which I don't think I've woken up yet!)