my free moment

I have REALLY been wanting to blog lately. But I am fresh out of stories or info to share. :(

I suppose that my family wouldn't mind a basic update.... so here goes.

We've been:
working,
schooling,
soccer-ing,
Awana-ing,
churching,
small group-ing,
dentist-ing,
baking,
carnival-ing,
volunteering,
partying,
sleepover-ing,
visiting,
cooking,
eating,
painting,
cleaning,
mowing,
babysitting,
and probably more.

Hopefully we'll have some good stories to share soon. We've just had a busy few weeks.
FUN, but busy.
More later-
j

I feel the need to give a little plug for my buddy Andrew Peterson.
As many of you know, I LOVE his lyrics and music. And I also know that many of you don't care too much for him.
BUT!!! He and this other guy, Randall Goodgame, have made a children's album called "Slugs, Bugs & Lullabies".
We recently purchased the album from Goodgame's webstore. And my kids LOVE it!!!
This means ALOT coming from the same children who ask to listen to AP music when it's nap-time on long trips. They usually say that Andrew Peterson puts them "right to sleep"!!!!
Imagine my surprise when they are requesting this new CD in the car, at home, and when their friends come over! AND they have argued about who gets to listen to it at bedtime!
I think that I'll be ordering another copy soon.
I absolutely love the songs and they don't seem to get too annoying like some of our other kids music.
So... if you're looking for new kid tunes to make carpooling easier... Get this CD!!!

I have been out of the computer loop since before Easter. It's nice to get back into the swing of things and catch up on the lastest blogs and emails.

We had nice travels at Easter time. We visited L'burg and SC. Then, T and I headed to Florida this past weekend. My parents were a blessing to us while they stayed here and watched the kids.
Yesterday was a really FULL day and we jumped feet first into our regular reality.

I was anxious to get online and see what a major Hokie person had to say about the tragedy at VA Tech. KJ has some good things to say about her favorite place. Thanks K for sharing your thoughts. :-)
I don't have any connections with Tech but I have been offended at the way the media has portrayed the campus, the campus police and how they have second guessed what "should" have happened that day. The media is just eating this situation up.
I guess they were tired of talking about Imus.

L and I are heading to the store today and then to have lunch with some friends.
Happy Thursday!

The kids and I read several Easter books today. The books talked about the Last Supper when Jesus and the disciples shared bread and wine.
L stopped each book and questioned the meaning of "wine". He was super interested in what wine was.

Tonight our church had a dinner and a communion service.
I explained to the kids that communion was similar to the last supper where Jesus ate bread and drank wine with his friends. And that the communion is a reminder of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Again, L asks about the wine.
The service continues and the pastor mentions bread and wine.
Again, L asks about the wine.
T and I took the bread and juice and L insisted that he wanted wine.

...seems like a pattern here.

On our way home after the service, we talked a little more about communion.
T says that communion is something we do at church every once in a while, that it is a sacrament, that it helps us remember Jesus, etc. etc.

L says "Dad.. what did you say after the going to church part?"
T says "it's a sacrament"
L says "Oh. I thought you said it was a soccer night"

Gotta love him :-)

Recently we were talking with the boys about Easter, and what we celebrate at Easter. I think that most kids get things pretty confused since we talk about the death and resurrection of Christ and they also hear a ton about rabbits and candy.
(I did find a great book about the Legend of the Easter Egg that ties it all together. ) ;)

We were briefly discussing the Easter Bunny when D states, "The Easter Bunny's not real." wow... that's a brave statement for a 6 year old... so I ask... "why do you say that?"
D responds "because there's no such thing as a bunny that big."
Interesting enough, he assumes that the Easter Bunny is supposed to be a big guy like those goofy things at the mall.
I then ask "well... who fills your Easter basket?"
He replies without hesitation... "you."

(hmmm.... Is he really onto us???
Hopefully the Easter bunny will still come to see him on Sunday.)

After that is settled I continue to pry and ask about whether the tooth fairy was real.
"yes"
And Santa?
"yes"

I suppose that the latter two are real in his mind because they are people? But... the tooth fairy is a fairy. How does he rationalize that?
It's just so neat to see his brain working. He's turning into quite the young man :-)

Imagine my dismay as I am I cleaning up poop from the bathroom floor at 5am this morning.
D hadn't been feeling well last night and apparently he cleaned himself up after a trip to the bathroom.
I got up to potty and stepped into a mess. Literally.
Needless to say, he is home sick today with an upset stomach. No fever yet so I hope it's very temporary.


To make matters worse... TODAY is the kindergarten play!! They have been practicing for WEEKS! Daniel had a speaking part where he recites "Little Boy Blue".
I am terribly disappointed that he will miss his stage debut.
I kept trying to think of reasons that he could have been faking the sickness so I could send him to school today. But it seems legit at the moment and he is lounging on the couch.
It's just a terrible thing to look forward to something for so long and then, Zap! We miss it!
Just one of those crappy things. Literally.
ugh.

We've had quite a problem with water lately:

On Monday, T was installing a ceiling in our laundry room and accidentally hammered a hole in a hot water pipe. Luckily he felt a drip and made it to Lowes before closing time and fixed the problem.

Last night, one of our heating elements stopped working in our hot water heater. Luckily T has purchased the replacement part and we can enjoy our long hot showers again tomorrow.

Also, last night, there was a thunder storm. Mr. Q had refused to come inside earlier and I was worried about him out in the storm. Luckily he came in at 6:45am and he was fine and dry.
Unluckily.... someone (not me) had left the sun roof open on our van last night. L and I were heading out this morning only to discover a van full of rain and tree debris.
Yeah... you can imagine.
So we spent some time emptying things out and some more time at the car wash using those nice high powered vacuums. As of now, the van is open and airing in hopes to be dry for our Easter travels.
Luckily everthing is clean and nice for our trip and I think it'll be dry soon too. :-)

Luckily I know that there is no such thing as luck... I'm just wondering what God is trying to teach me with all of these water woes..
I'm just hoping that we'll stay dry at soccer practice today!!

Today turned out to be much hotter than I expected.
We hung most of the day and I decided to give L's room a good cleaning to get ready for our move.
(L'burg family should look forward to some new kid books heading your way next weekend... and a few toys)
The more I cleaned things up the more exhausted and grumpy I became. The opposite is usually true when I'm on an organization mission. So I knew something must be wrong.
I checked out our thermostat and realized that it was 83 degrees INSIDE!!
No wonder I was such a grouch! My blood was about to boil!

Needless to say, our AC is running now and the breeze feels lovely.

I plan to tackle another boy room tomorrow. wish me luck!