Is it over yet?

Let's just say August has been rough....

Frat boy

Doug has this nick-name...we call him "frat boy"

He likes to joke and play. He says that dad taught him to be silly.

He has a little social butterfly. He is so people oriented that he will find a friend anywhere we go. It does not matter if the child is older or younger...he will play or interact with him or her in some way.

He also seems to sense that he is cute. He likes interacting with college age girls. If we are entering a building on campus, he will run back and hold the door for college girls.

I figure that some day, down the line, he will have valuable social networking skills for some job.... but for now he has the nickname "frat boy."

Ah, the joys of twins....

S we went to open house at the boys' school AND...

There was some confusion about which child was in which classroom. It sounded like something got switched in the computer.

I'll be interested to see where they are at the end of the first day.

I'm impressed

School starts this week (do you hear mommy cheering!).
I think the boys are ready...for the most part. Doug is mostly saying that he is ready to go back.

So at dinner tonight I asked all three kids if they would name three goals they wanted to accomplish this year.
Andy impressed me the most with his goals. Here are his goals:

1. To work on being more focused this year
2. To get better with his handwriting
3. To get better at Reading and Math
   

I like that he is reflecting on how last year went, that he knows what he needs to work on most, and that he is specific with at least two of his goals.
I can hardly believe that we will meet teachers at Open House and school starts this week.

Romantic at heart

Josie is for the most part a little tom-girl; however, she can be girly-girly too. She loves to wear dresses (and a hat) to church.

Recently, Jim and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. Jim and I actually went out on a date. If Josie had had her way then daddy would be in "Sunday best" with a bow-tie, and mommy would be in a dress, with make-up, and "those heels I've been saving" (Josie's words...not mine). We did dress up, but opted for a little more moderate then heels and bow tie wear.

So a week later, when Jim came home with a cake from a new bakery in town, Josie decided on her own that the cake was for mommy and daddy's anniversary.

God sometimes forces me to clean out!

Sometimes in my life (like Noah and his flood) God has forced me to prioritize and clean things out.

In the past I have had some incidents with water (a leaky storage unit, water from a cracked humidifier, etc.), but this time is it something more pleasant. A student who is leaving to do student teaching in a foreign country in the Spring, was looking for housing in the Fall. She is a student I happen to know from previous opportunities I have had on campus. So we have cleaned and moved things around and we will have an undergraduate living in what was our guest room. It promises to be an interesting Fall semester!

Rev Jim

Our minister was on a trip today...so Jim preached. His verse from the lectionary was about the mustard seed. So Jim talked about the necessary conditions for our faith to grow. His "soil" was being in the word, such as spending time in a devotional each day. His "water" was small accountability groups, such as a Sunday School class. His "light" was the Holy Spirit/Jesus.

He through the children's message to me....I brought a balloon and likened a balloon to our faith. It may start out small but when we let God work within us, our faith grows.

Fig!

It is fig season here. We took probably about 20 pounds off the tree in one picking. Josie loves eating them straight off the tree. I dipped a bunch in chocolate and we took them to two different potluck dinners we had. We got lots of positive comments on them.

Summer...It's flying by

I compose blog posts in my head...but obviously they do not usually make it to the blog these days.
I have been uber busy.

• We (Doug, Andy, and I) were involved with a summer enrichment camp (Doug & Andy attended while I supervised teachers).
• We have been enrolled in swim lessons.
• We have gone swimming on our own.
• We have visited friends and relatives.
• We have tried to keep the house a little cleaner than what I manage during the school year.
• I have done a little data collection for my dissertation.
• Doug and Andy are learning to ride their bikes without training wheels (we need fine tuning but basically have it).
• I am also that mean mom who is forcing the children to do some school related work during the summer so that we are not losing what we learned.
  

Strike!

You know that you are bowling with small children if...

• you hear a big whump every time the children toss the ball out into the lane.
  
• the ball is rolling so slowly it gets stopped by the pins.
• the ball is rolling so slowly it starts rolling back towards you.
• the child gets a spare because the ball bounces off one pin and hits the second pin that is part of the split.
• The ball gets stuck in the gutter between the edge and the "buddy bumper."