Lost tooth

Ellie's first tooth was loose for over a week, than came out today. She thought it was a hard cheerio and held it out to me. I looked at it, and told her it was her tooth.

She danced around and wanted to tell everyone she lost her tooth.

She put it under her pillow and received 50 cents. A quarter for the tooth and a first tooth bonus.

Christ has come

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. ~ Galatians 4:4,5

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. ~ Luke 2:6

There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. The Word Made Flesh And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:9-14

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16

Growing Kids God's Way

Since starting this class, I have noticed a difference in our parenting and our children's behavior. I want to wax poetically about the instruction found in the workbook, but I can't seem to put it into words.

Here goes my waxing.

Three things I have learned:

1. My job as a parent is to raise a woman and man to obey God. As they learn to obey me, they learn to obey God.
2. If I give an instruction, and it is not obeyed as it should be, and I do nothing or ask again and again, I am teaching my child it is OK to disobey.
3. Be consistent. Be consistent. Be consistent.

For all that is covered in the class, my list isn't much. Just know that it is definitely worth the time. We have a few classes left, and I will definitely miss our weekly support in parenting.

Snow days

The biggest snow fall in December since 1909 blanketed us Saturday. It was forecast to be a big one, and by noon I thought they were all hot air. But it picked up sometime late afternoon and became the storm they said it would. We ended up with about 10-12 inches. Myrtle in Virginia near DC had about 22 inches. It was heavier snowfall southward.

We went to Gary's mom's for dinner. We are thankful we have our Honda CRV. It handles great in snow.

Yesterday, we finally made it out to play. Church was canceled, so we didn't have to be out early. We ate breakfast at a leisurely pace, and then I searched the house up and down for snow apparel. Found the snow pants, hats, scarves, mittens, and boots for Josh. No where were there snow boots for the pink princess. She ended up in her rain boots with two pairs of socks (one being mine since they go up her leg farther.)

The kids had a grand time making snow angels and frolicking. Before we even were up, our neighbor was out with his snow blower. He cleared half the block, including all our walks. Gary was very grateful.

I made an arc around Hunter's area, so there would be no mistaking where the yellow snow was.

I asked on freecycle.org for snow boots and had a very prompt response. A lady had a pair we could have. We picked them up on our way to AJ's for dinner with the Arnold crowd.

Today the kids begged to go out again. Ellie had off, since she's morning kindergarten and there was a two hour delay. They had to endure shopping first. But we did get out again, and Ellie had on her "new" snow boots. I, on the other hand, still have my duck boots that are at least 13 years old and are dry rotting. I was all set to buy new snow boots, insulated ones, at Wal-mart today, but everybody else beat me too it. The only size left I found was gigantic. Quite disappointed.

Josh and Ellie wanted to make a snowman. I tried, but I couldn't get the snow to cooperate and we ended up with a two foot tall little snow man. He has sticks for arms, stones for buttons, lavender for hair, and Ellie had the great idea of M&Ms for eyes, nose and mouth. The leftovers were eaten, of course.

Happy Birthday in December

Matt and Claire sent the kids their birthday present. I had to call and check that it wasn't a Christmas present. It was a wonderfully large tent system. A tent, a tepee and two tunnels. The kids enjoyed themselves immensely.

The tent became a collect all.

The children were rather upset as pieces of it started disappearing. We only have so much room.





We can get it out again on the next snow day.

Thank you Aunt Claire and Uncle Matt!

Fresh air, almost

I armed myself with Nature's Miracle (NM), NM laundry detergent, and NM laundry booster. I divided the load in half and soaked the first half in all three for several hours. I washed it and did it again. Smell is gone. Second half-same thing. Smell gone.

The almost is ground zero - my jeans. They still stink. They are currently soaking for the fourth time and have been sprayed with NM at least four times. I have confidence I will wear them again without nary a fish boat smell.

Stuck with a smell

Monday night I finally got around to folding a load of laundry I did last Wednesday. I picked up my jeans and put my hand in the pocket to smooth it. I noticed the corner was stiff and there was an awful smell. I sniffed the pocket corner and grimaced. I had Gary smell it; He suggested cat urine. I thought that no, definitely not cat urine, because I am quite familiar with that smell, and this wasn't it. I thought ans thought what I could have had in my pocket that would create such and odor. I knew I recognized the smell and finally put a name to it. It smelled like an algae encrusted fish tank. Now to figure out why that smell was in my pocket.

I smelled other pieces of laundry in that load. All the same nasty smell. I put the load back in the basket to be washed again.

Well, now the load has been washed three more times, one just another wash, one with Nature's miracle (the cat urine remover,) and one with almost an entire box of baking soda. Each time I rewashed, I let the load soak. Still smells, but I believe the smell is decreasing.

After the first rewash, I finally remembered what I had in my pocket: fish oil pills. I took them with us when Gary and I had dinner out. We forgot to take them, and I forgot to check my pockets before throwing them in the washer.

I know Nature's Miracle will get the smell out, I just wonder how many washes it will take.

Sisters?

Perhaps Ellie should have had a sister?

Josh doesn't mind dressing up. He likes to have his nails painted. And he likes to have his hair done.

All great fun for Ellie.








And here is miss cutie pie with pony tails she put in herself. I didn't know she could do that.

Our tree and Lego train board are the background.

Milk and soda update

Josh's bottom has been doing much better. And there have been less diaper changes needed. We still have rice milk to use, and I don't know if I'll be buying more. I might try goat's milk again. Just for kicks, several months ago, I bought goat's milk for the kids to try. They actually asked for it, though I must have suggested it, since they wouldn't have come up with that request on their own. They didn't so much care for it.

With taking Josh off cow's milk, I thought I'd try some very expensive goat's cheese, since the soy cheese didn't work out. He didn't have a problem with the grilled goat cheese sandwich. And today I found goat's milk sliced cheese and goat's milk shredded mozzarella cheese and goat's milk yogurt at Trader Joe's.

We haven't had Josh exclusively off cow's milk, but for the most part he hasn't had any. I was wondering if we should try putting him back on it to see if the symptoms return.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I found a less expensive natural soda. Much more economical.

What a day!

UPDATE: The previous posts are as complete as they are going to be. And whatever I was going to say on this particular post, is lost to me.


This and several previous posts are works in progress. I decided to post the titles for you all to wonder what I might write about.


OK. I while downloading (or is it uploading) photos, I remembered what I was going to say.





Ellie was in the Souderton parade today on her school's float. She was a present.




























One comment - when someone is in a parade, and you are going to pick them up when it is over, I recommend having a predetermined location for said pick up spot. I drove around for over a half an hour in the rain/snow (see comments below) looking Gary and Ellie. I was mostly concerned that they were continuing to get even wetter and colder. It turns out that Ellie had to use a restroom. Once that was accomplished, I found them right away.







And we had our first snow of the season, which started as rain before the parade ended. [We got wet and colder.] You can see the water drop on the above photo.










And Gary started setting up our Lego train board.

A new soda

In my attempt to eat healthier, I have not been drinking as much soda, not that I drank much anyway. But since I do still crave the occasional carbonated beverage, I decided to look for a healthier soda. And since "soda" and "healthy" seemingly don't belong in the same sentence, I wasn't too hopeful.

But alas, Giant Food Stores, the only one I checked so far, had several natural soda options. I went with the cheapest. It only has a fifth of the ingredients of regular sodas, and it does not contain high fructose corn syrup. Although it was the cheapest, it was still pricey. I got a 6 pack for the price of a 24 can pack.

Here you see Josh and Ellie displaying a can. (When I get a chance to download the photo.)

Rice milk anyone?

Josh had his three year checkup. I told his doctor about his bowel issues. [Call me if you don't know and want details.] He suggested buying Lactaid milk. After looking up much information about lactose intolerance and milk allergy on the handy Internet, I decided that if his problem is milk, than he should be off dairy altogether, not just switching milks.

So, today started our journey of no dairy for Josh for two weeks, a road Josh doesn't really care for even though he doesn't know he's on it. He cares not for rice milk and tried, emphatically, to wipe it off his tongue. He didn't like his brush with soy cheese, but I can't blame him.

It was also suggested to add more fiber to his diet. I used my trusty Internet and bought prune juice, very high in fiber. If I mask it with the correct proportion of apple cider, both kids drink it.

I still have ground flaxseed to buy and bran muffins to make.

We have two new dogs

Here are our new dogs, Ellie and Josh.

Using their creativity, Ellie and Josh decided to move about the house with leashes, found themselves doghouses (which they are inhabiting in the photo,) and even asked to be tied up for a short time.

I drew the line at eating on the floor.

Camping in the cold

I think we are starting a Josh's birthday camping tradition. This is our second year of camping in November. And it's very important to remember the space heater.

After the camper was set up, Gary got our campfire burning. He roasted our hot dogs and kielbasa over it. I organized the camper. It is no fun to camper, even for one night, with stuff strewn about.












Here are Josh and Ellie being crazy.













Our humble little camper getting all wet. It rained on us last year too.