Bea Goes to the Office

I know most of these are blurry but that is part of our life right now. This little lady moves too quickly to get a decent picture of her. When Micah was her age we used to put him in the exa-saucer every morning and he would have his morning poo like clockwork. He was very regular. Matt coined the phrase "going to his office" cause he would work away in there so intently. Touching everything, shaking and rattling all of his toys. So now it is Beatrix's turn to head to the office. She especially loves throwing all of her toys off of it.

Serious Beans!

These are some seriously fast growing beans!

Don't know if they are growing on love or what,

but they are shooting up out of

the ground pretty fast.

Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday night Beatrix was up almost a million times that night! ok so I exaggerate! Anyway I was Sunday was the Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt at my friend April's house. exhausted and I knew I had a long day ahead of me with the hunt and work later that night so Matt took Micah to church and I stayed home and slept for awhile. I got up had some breakfest and started getting ready. About 5 minutes before Matt picked me up to go to the hunt I started feeling really sick to my stomach. I tried to shake it off cause I knew Micah was so excited about going to the hunt. We got there just in time for him to collect some eggs. Which for those of you who are regular followers will remember that last year he only picked up green eggs. This year he picked up green, yellow and red "cause those are my favorite colors mommy". He also picked up one purple egg for Beatrix. While he was collecting eggs I needed to sit down. Matt asked me if I was ok. I told him I felt really strange. I had Bea slung on me and about 2 minutes later I told him that I needed to go inside and sit for awhile. I went into the house and went straight to a bathroom. I must have been there for awhile cause Matt and Micah came looking for me. Needless to say we went home quickly. As soon as I walked into our house I laid Bea on the couch and went to the bathroom where I spent the next 2 hours. It was a long morning! Matt called me in sick to work and I honestly do not remember ever being that sick before in my life.... it was gross!

As we were getting into the car to leave, Micah looked back at April's house. He could hear all of the kids screaming and laughing. He looked at me with such a sad look on his face and said, "But Mommy, I'm missing it."

God, Jesus and Bicycles

Today was a sweet day to be a mommy. I don't know what is going on in my little man's head, but something surely is. He has been asking me such great questions lately. Tonight for example, Matt was giving Beatrix a bottle and so I had the honor of reading a story and saying goodnight to Micah. We were lying in his bed having just finished his book about whales and dolphins when he said, "Mommy, God created everything didn't he? He made the stars, the moon, the water, the doors, the walls, the computer, the fan, the... (i could tell he was looking around his room as the list got longer and longer. i just waited patiently for him to come to the end of his list.)" I said, "Yep, Micah and do you know what else God made? He made (and i pointed at him)" "Yes, Mommy God made me and you and Daddy and Beatrix and all my friends." pause pause pause...thinking thinking thinking. "How do I get to God mommy?" *whew the wind just got knocked out of me...how do I answer this one and not make it all about dying...* "Well, buddy God lives in a place called Heaven and that is where we will see him one day when hopefully you are old and after you have had a family yourself, you will die." scared look-- "I don't want to die mommy!" me- "I know buddy, but everyone has to some day. The good news is that God had a son named Jesus who comes to stay with us in our hearts. So we can be close to God without dying." (how do i get out of this, i am thinking to myself. then he saved me.) "Mommy, what color is God?" I told him that God is like light in that he is beautiful and bright. "Mommy God isn't a boy?" No he isn't a boy. "God isn't a girl either, is he mommy? " no micah, God isn't really a boy and he isn't really a girl, he is something special, different. He did have a son named Jesus though. "What color was Jesus, mommy?" *could these questions get anymore complicated?* "He looked alot like us buddy, just darker." thinking, he's thinking again... "Mommy, Jesus rode a donkey not a bicycle." Me laughing... "yes honey, Jesus rode in to town on a donkey not a bicycle. "

I find myself wanting to talk to Micah about these things, but it ususally leads me to questions inside of myself. How do I answer his questions when sometimes I don't know how to really answer mine? And I am starting to think that there really aren't good answers for alot of these questions. At least ones that I have discovered. I don't want Micah coming to God and asking Jesus into his heart just so that he will go to heaven someday out of fear. I don't really believe that is the only reason to believe in God. I want Micah to know that to his mommy and daddy believing that Jesus died for my sins is so liberating because I don't have to live with the shame of sin any longer. I am forgiven. I was able to broach this subject with him later that night. A half hour after I had put Micah to bed he yelled for me that he needed to go potty again. I said he could get up and then I met him in the bathroom. With his underware and jammies somewhere in the vacinity of his knees he looked at me and said nervously, "Mommy?" "Yes Micah", I sighed a very deep sigh. "You know the bowl of pretzels you gave me for snack?" (this was hours ago, like 11 am) hmmm. "Well, I need to brush my teeth again." *he shows me his teeth* "What do you mean Micah?" I asked. "It was by my treasure chest and I need to brush my teeth again." me now, "Micah do you mean that you ate some pretzels just now?" He nods his head all the while pretending he has to go potty still. "Micah does that mean you got out of your bed after Mommy put you to bed?" he nods his head again and says a small yes. "Micah, is that why you told mommy you needed to go potty cause you wanted to tell me that you got pretzels?" "yes mommy." I sat there on his little step stool thinking about what to say next. "What normally would happen if you got out of your bed after I have put you to bed?" "A spanking" he says quietly. I sigh again slowly, "Micah, I am going to forgive you. Do you know why?" he shakes his head. "I am going to forgive you cause you were honest with me and you told me what you had done. I really appreciate that. It was a good decision, a good choice. What do you say to me when you have done something you aren't supposed to do?" "I'm sorry mommy." I pull up his pants and give him a hug and tell him to get into bed with an I love you.

There are so many opputunities like this to "teach" our children things. The problem for me is they come so often when I am tired and not ready. I feel like I have to be "on" 24/7 with this little man. He is so smart and he gets it. I know he does. He really gets it. I hope I can get it too. I don't want to miss these teachable moments. They are huge! The oppurtunity to show him why he needs to be forgiven, even for something simple like sneaking pretzels after he has been put to bed. Wow, I am tired. It was a good day to be a mommy though.

Bean Update

They are growing!

A Comparison ???

I get the comment almost daily that Beatrix looks just like Micah. I found one of Micah's pictures from when he was 5 months and I set up Beatrix in a photo shoot to be in the same position. My response when I hear this comment is that she looks like him now, but not like he did when he was a baby. So what do you think?

Five Months!

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There's Nothing My God Cannot Do

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Go Fly A Kite!

Micah has been begging us to get a kite for quite some time now. Saturday we ran a bunch of errands and one of them happened to be to Costco. While we were there Micah remembered that there had been a kite there a couple of weeks ago and he wondered if "NOW can we get it mommy?" Matt and I agreed to it and he picked a dragon kite. Of course it rained all day Saturday and our little man cried alot. He doesn't really get the whole waiting thing. So Sunday after church Matt took Micah to the park down the street from us to fly it. It was VERY windy! After I fed Beatrix I drove down there to get some pictures of the event. It was pretty special watching the two of them together. It is moments like those that make you want to freeze time...

Hey everyone, wanna hear the band?

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Make sure your volume is up and wait for the end....pretty funny!

a double date

Thrsday night was Neal and Tanya's last night with us and so I dropped Micah off to a really good friends house who watched him so we could all go to dinner together. It was great fun. Though as you can tell from the pics we had to take little miss with us! She was good most of the time though.

A great picture of our dear friends!

A pretty crazy one of the three of us!

Beatrix gets this deer in the headlights look almost every time her picture is taken. She is constantly drooling and chewing on her fingers. Could she really be teething at 5 months? Also, does anyone know if a baby can get dehydrated from drooling?

A Day at the Art Museum

Micah drawing what he sees.
Laying on the couch looking up at the Chihuly glass ceiling.

Drawing with art teacher Tanya.

Neal gave up his "crunches" as Micah called them.

Wednesday it was raining, correction....pouring! So we decided to head off to the Norton Museum that was featuring Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams. It was Micah's first time to an art museum and he LOVED it. He was literally the only kid in the whole museum and he was polite and kind to all the "old" people walking around. I brought peanut butter sandwiches, crackers and grapes so he was a happy kid. We found this room that featured a famous glass blower, Chihluy. It was an underwater world in the ceiling that you had to lay on the couch to look up at. Micah was so fun to watch. Afterwards we went to Panera Bread for some lunch. It was great fun.

A Day at the Beach

Micah wanted to bring a book to read like daddy.
Beatrix fell asleep right away.

Our friends Neal and Tanya came to visit us this week from Ontario for some sun and fun. The fun we had TONS of; the sun....not so much. Tuesday we packed up stuff for the beach and loaded up Matt like a pack horse. Neal is on crutches, but really wanted to go to the beach anyway. It is a good thing that we did cause it rained every day after that. The funny thing is that we haven't had rain in south florida for 3 months. Oh well, we did have lots of fun!

The Only Way...

This is pretty much the only way that I can get Beatrix to sleep.

Yeah, she lives on me!

Bea's First Cereal

Beatrix has been staring at me and watching everything I eat so I decided to try some cereal out on her. Matt gave Micah his first cereal so he did the honors this time with Bea too. Some of it went in, but most of it came out!

Two of a Kind

My two men warming up on the cement!

Moving Day for Beans

Small Crisis Explained: Micah's beans (see three posts down) have given him much joy. Every morning he asks me if he can go out and watch the beans grow. I didn't have the heart to tell him that they probably wouldn't do so hot on the pavement. Anyway, this morning Matt has been cleaning the back yard, raking leaves from our avacado tree, pruning the palms and pulling off brown fronds, and cleaning off the pavement. He started to sweep up a particularly dirty area fairly close to our house. I heard a "No!" and then a little boy bursting into tears. Matt saying, "Oh, buddy, I'm so sorry I didn't know." I opened the door and there was my little man with tears the size of crocodiles saying, "Mommy, my beans!" Matt looked at me and said under his breath, "Help, Small Crisis!" I gave him a quick smile and said, "Oh honey, It's ok! We need to plant them in the dirt anyway. To which Matt quickly grabbed a shovel and a new garden and one happy boy were soon planted! Crisis Averted!