Domestic Adventures

If you happen to be foolish enough to buy chocolate-covered doughnuts, and your foolishness extends to leaving one, half-eaten and unattended at the kitchen table, please note that any small children in your house will automatically detect this temptation and messily consume the leftovers. When you realize the extent of your mistake and confront chocolate smeared mischief maker, it is imperative that you refrain from saying something like, “oh! I need to wash your face!” because phrases like this will send him running like mad into the living room to bury his chocolatey little face in your once white couch cushions.
Not that anyone around here would be foolish enough to buy chocolate-covered doughnuts, of course.

When Trent set this site up for me (over a year ago!) he filled in the little “About the Site” spot. I thought it was sweet of him- who doesn’t want their husband to describe them as a lovely lady, right? It’s also kind of funny, but honestly I’ve meant to change it ever since. The thing is, every time I try to type a new summary, it sounds so cheesy and generic, so I always hit cancel and we go back to “lovely lady”.
The only thing is, it seems somewhat obnoxious to have my own blog declaring me a lovely lady. I hope to be, but the description is not there because I think I’m so great; rather because I’m so uninspired!

Trent has always been more tolerant of spicy food than I, and he has passed that along to our children. I can just barely handle the heat of Chex’s Hot & Spicy mix and I warned Micah before letting him try a bite. “It’s too spicy, just have a little bit.” As soon as he had downed his small portion, he came back for more. “More too spicy, peas!”

This little mouse was another of our Minnesota finds. Trent spotted him behind the glass at the restaurant bakery while paying our check and bought him to surprise me. The mouse’s face is made of some Hershey Kiss variation with almond ears and icing nose and eyes. His back half is a cherry dipped in white chocolate, the stem of the cherry making his tail.
He was almost too cute to eat - but not quite!

Guiding our children spiritually is such a huge part of parenting and it has always been an issue close to our hearts. This is not to say we always have everything together ourselves, but we enjoy talking about teaching our children and encouraging other parents.
Last night we had the opportunity to speak with another mom whose goal is to encourage parents in teaching their kids about God. Chanda and I met on the Moms of Grace forum, and after she read this post by Trent, she asked if she could interview us for her podcast on TeachKidstheBible.com. I think we both felt a bit humbled to be asked how we make our Bible teaching time work. We talked about what has worked for us and shared how pleased we have been with Emmaline’s growth and understanding. We also emphasized that our story time started with a very simple plan and just a few minutes a day.
The podcast should be posted sometime near the beginning of the week at TeachKidstheBible.com. There are some other great resources over there too, so check it out when you have a chance.

Every week the kids and I go to the library. Emmaline chooses books while Micah and I pick out dvds. We have great fun in the children’s section, but interest wanes when we venture away from that corner of the library. There’s not much patience for the rows and rows of grown-up books.
Imagine my joy at realizing I can browse the library from home, order the books I want and they magically appear on my doorstep. Well, maybe not magically, but with no cost or effort from me so that’s pretty close to magical. Whenever I see something I think I have to have at Barnes and Noble, I run home, type it into my friendly little library search box and voila! It’s mine for three weeks. I also love to surf Amazon for great books, then jump over to the library site and order them there.
Now, if only I had time to read all these books!

Emmaline’s shoes

Micah’s shoes

I can’t help it. They just make such cute little girl shoes!

The past few weeks Micah has really been putting words together. His newest charm is “peas” as in…
“Watch….moomee… peas” (watch movie please)
“Swing…peas” (swing please)
“Chawkit…milk…peas” (chocolate milk please)
It’s too cute, I can’t help but give in when he says “peas”. Most of the time. When I do tell him no, all that cuteness and politeness evaporates and he erupts into a hideous tantrum. “Nooo! Chaaaawkiiiiit!” That part is not so cute.

Emmaline and Micah helped harvest carrots yesterday. I planted a seed mix that produced a rainbow of colors. It was so much fun to pull them out of the ground and guess what color they would be. The orange, yellow, and purple made a beautiful dish for dinner. After a systematic taste test, we decided yellow tasted best.