Busy Week

Well we have a busy week ahead of us. Our friend, Charlie, came into town last night. We went to eat at our favorite place, Jubilee Joes! (Oh, and I checked out that consignment store right next to it and found the cutest yellow purse for only $16.00. They have some really cute stuff. I will have to make another trip.) He spent the night last night. Now I have to wash sheets and get ready for Nathan's parents who are coming into town tonight. His dad will leave in the morning, but his mom will be with me all week! My mom and sister-n-law will come into town next Saturday before the party.

I will be in full blown party planning mode all week. I have to work Tuesday and Thursday morning and Wednesday night, but at all other times I will working on the party! There is trail mix to mix, rice crispy treats to make, a huge cake to bake and decorate and a watermelon to carve. Ian is having his pictures taken on Wednesday, and I still haven't figured out what he is going to wear on the big day! And somewhere in there I have to keep Mrs. Jan entertained so that maybe she will come back some time. I am so nervous and stressed already.

On a higher note, Ian is WALKING! It is official. He is a walking boy. He still prefers to crawl because it is faster, but he can walk across the room. I am so happy for him but a part of a mommy's heart breaks when her baby takes his first step. I think it is the same part of the heart that tells her she needs another baby....(no not yet, I promise).

Sugar Ants!

Take this scene in for just a moment. Asher is sitting at our high-top table in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal as we are discussing the days events to come. He turns around to see me at the sink and accidentally knocks the entire bowl of cereal off of the table with his elbow. Now if this were a normal table it might not have been as bad, but this is a high-top table so the bowl bounced a couple times throwing milk and cereal everywhere. When I say everywhere I mean everywhere. It was all the way up the walls, on the cabinets, on all four chairs and even on the underside of the table. I cleaned the mess up quit thoroughly immediately and was thinking the entire affair was over.

The very next day Asher was eating a bowl of apple sauce and the same exact thing happened. Once again I cleaned the kitchen as best I could. Then yesterday I found it! A trail of sugar ants going from the back door all the way through the kitchen. Mind you, I am a little bit of a clean freak and the thought of anything in my house causing any kind of bugs (even if they are harmless sugar ants) to come in sends a chill up my back. I killed all the ants in view and cleaned the floor as best I could.

This mornig....THEY WERE BACK!!! Dum, dum, dummmmm! So I hauled everything out of the kitchen, even taking everything out of the pantry and mopped...twice! If those darn ants come back I think I might just go a little crazy! Why is it that such a small creature can cause so much stress and cause me to expel so much energy on a clean up mission?

That "Mom"!!!

I joke a lot with my friends and coworkers at church about being "that mom". You know, the crazy, over protective, no body wants to keep your kid because they are afraid you might lose it if they do something wrong kind of mom. Well I work at the summer camp at church and we always end up with that one kid who always has a runny nose, never has enough diapers, never has a change of clothes, and always seems to be ill. We complain about those poor children who really have no control over any of the above mentioned things. We try to keep them at arms length and really hope that their moms come get them before they need another nose wipe. Well today I took my babies and dropped them off just like I would any other day. Ian is in my class, and within about 15 minutes I was thinking "oh no...I am 'that mom'". His nose was running all the way down his chin and when he sneezed it was like a slim bomb went off. He was just yucky! I consoled myself with the thought, "at least he is in here with me and no one else has to deal with it". Then with only about 40 minutes left before we could escape and go home with no harm done, Asher's teacher comes to tell me that Asher is in the bathroom crying for me. Poor little guy. He was miserable. He had wiped his nose so many times that it was bright red. The teacher gave me "that look". You know, the one that says..."why in the world did you bring your kid here today knowing he was sick and expose all of the other poor innocent children to his sickness spreading germs that are leaking out of his nose at this very moment". Well I did what any responsible mother would do. I brought him to my class to tend to him myself. You know, the class with all the babies....the babies who have not yet had enough life experience to build up immunities to this kind of thing. Well all I can say is...Thursday just might be a slow day for me. Not really! I made sure he didn't touch anything and he stayed away from the babies, but I was just wondering what in the world his teacher was thinking. I mean, he had already been around those children for 3 1/2 hours. I don't think a few more minutes could really do that much more harm. But I guess she wanted to be sure we shared the germs with everyone.... (the lesson today was on sharing)!

The whole point of this story...today I ended other being the other "mom". The one who sends her sick kid to church to be around all the other kids and give them his sickness. That mom is the worst kind and I took that role on full force today.

I guess I need to go now. My poor sick children need me.

Monster Bash

Well, the birthday party planning is in full swing. If you haven't known me long enough to experience a birthday party with us, you may not know exactly what that means. Just ask Nathan, he could give you the low down. I love to craft, and decorate, and make cakes, and have friends over, so I usually spend a month working on the party plans. Nathan is a graphic designer, so I always put him to work on the invitation. By now most of you will have received your invitation, but if you have not, rest assured that you are invited! I have been working on some of the decorations I thought I would share with you. It has been so much fun! Now, don't get me wrong, I know this is not the best party stuff out there, but I like to use mostly hand made stuff and really enjoy the process. Asher has named all of the Monster Guests and has already claimed them as his own after they serve their purpose.

"Jesus is God?"

Okay Kristen, I am doing it. I don't really know why anyone would want to read about my day, but I know that I enjoy my life, so maybe you guys will get some good laughs along the way. This morning I got out of bed at 6:00 am to the sound of Ian crying in his crib.....I am just kidding. I know you don't want to hear about that kind of stuff. So.....how about this...today while I was fixing Asher's lunch he asked me "How many gods are there?". I quickly put down the spoon in hand and went over too him. I explained that there is only one God. Asher, "Then how can He live my heart and your heart and Baby Ian's heart?" I then went on to explain that God can be every where all at the same time because he is not just a simple human like us. Asher, "Then who is the man with the gray beard?" I knew he must be referring to Jesus so I explained as best I could to a three year old that God wanted to be just like us and live on Earth for just a little while so he made himself into a person for a little while. Asher, "So....there is only one God and Jesus is God?".

I am so amazed at his precious little mind. I have mentioned to my bible study ladies that one of my biggest desires is to finish college and get a degree, but there could not possibly be a better job in all the world than being here with my little boy!

I hope this can come as an encouragement to all of you, as it was for me. I was reminded that his mind is just waiting to be filled and I want to be sure it is filled with the best stuff possible. I am so blessed to be able to have these conversations with him and see him begin to grasp with "childlike faith" what even adults have a hard time taking in.