Sleep, blessed sleep

I think one of the things I miss the most from our pre-kids days is sleeping whenever and however long I want. Really, though, this post is not going to be a ranting about lack of sleep but celebrating when my boys do sleep!

Caleb is still a pretty solid napper though he is starting to show signs of being done with sleeping in the afternoons. Isaac usually does not sleep, but I impose a required rest time where he has to be in his bed to either sleep or read his books. I ususally use the rest time to do devotions and then get some of my work done on the computer. If he sleeps, he will usually walk into the room by me wiping the sleep out of his eyes. This is how Isaac looked after a rest period when he slept pretty hard last week (look at those tired eyes--he had just finished rubbing them after trying to wake himself up):

And here is one of Caleb resting peacefully. Isaac created a special treasure box (yep, it is a wipes container to which he attached stickers and glued pictures and even colored with marker)for Caleb before they had to lie down, and we let Caleb put it at the foot of his bed. You can see in this picture that Caleb moved his pillow to the foot of his bed so he could check out his treasure box. I guess he fell asleep while holding it.

Purchases

We are trying to teach the boys about money and managing it when they have it. Because of Christmas (and the extra money and gift cards that came as gifts) and now Valentine's Day, they have gotten lots of opportunities to practice spending their money--so that part of the lesson (how to spend it) seems to be mastered. I am not sure that they are learning how to save their money, though--especially when Isaac asks me each morning if we can go to the store that day to buy some stuff.

This week, though, they both made a couple purchases, and both of them are so proud of what they bought. Isaac purchased a stuffed animal snake while Caleb bought binoculars and some frog jacks when we were at the Safari Park. They also each found a Mario (from Super Mario Brothers and MarioKart) t-shirt at Kohl's that they had to buy. I am glad that they are happy with their new stuff--the pictures below are evidence of their joy showing off their new things. (Caleb even made me retake his pix since one of his guys was not showing clearly. If you look closely, you can see that he is holding the frogs, and his binoculars are hanging off his shoulder so his shirt did not get covered by them!)

And, yes, I know that the boys need haircuts. Another day and another post, I guess!

Outing at the Safari Park

My plus-one pass for the SD Zoo and Safari Park (kinda dislike the new name--it will always be the WAP to me) is expiring at the end of this month, and I don't think we'll be renewing it this year. Yesterday I told the boys that we could take Dad to the Safari Park if it wasn't raining today. This a.m. Isaac was up bright and early, and instead of turning on the PBS cartoons, he tuned into the news so he could watch the weather. Boy, were they excited to inform us that it was not raining so we could go!
It was a chilly a.m. (low 50s for you Midwesterners who are looking at drifts of snow...) so we hiked up to Condor Ridge where we saw the bald eagles, a porcupine, a prairie dog, a couple hawks "enjoying" each other (Isaac asked what they were doing so I just talked about the two-bird pyramid they were building), a couple cute li'l burrowing owls, the condors, and some big horn sheep (just sheep with short horns, actually). The picture below is of the boys at a view point overlooking the San Pasqual Valley.

We also got to see the Sumatran Tiger wandering through its enclosure which was very fun since it is usually sleeping and/or blending into its environment. We skipped riding the train since we viewed the rhinos up close (see one over Caleb's left shoulder?!?) and got a great glimpse of the giraffes walking under the palm trees (a little harder to pick out in this tiny picture but they are there!). We saw our "regular" sights: elephants, lions, gibbons, Nile Monitor, meerkats and the play areas. The boys have gotten braver and spent time watching the gorillas. We did a couple other new things this time--playing in Discovery Station and going into Lorikeet Landing. Somebody gave us their cup of nectar and another person kindly passed over their lorikeet so Paul got to feed one.

Here is a pix of Isaac with Paul and the bird (though Isaac was not too excited about being that close to one). The video allows you to hear the sound of the birds in the exhibit and see the bird in action including its tongue (not sure if that is what it was) licking the nectar and Paul's hand. It was a really cool experience!By the time we left the park, it was a balmy mid-60s and delightfully sunny. After such a good day, I am wondering if I will last an entire year without getting another pass. We (the boys and I especially) have enjoyed going to the park and zoo with so many family members and friends and even with just each other for a special outing.

He's growing up...

I catch myself thinking this on a very regular basis lately when I watch Isaac do or say something that seems too old for him. I notice he is getting closer to being six years old with all the things he is able to do or think through these days. He suddenly seems so grown up.

One of his newest accomplishments is that he can snap his fingers. I think he is pretty proud of himself because he is constantly snapping. (I am not sure that he even is aware of it at times, and I am afraid that his teacher is going to have the talk with us about helping him drop the habit!) Here is a video of his snapping in action (and you can hear Caleb's "are you serious?!?" line that we have been hearing regularly these days):



The other new thing Isaac is doing is riding his bike with no training wheels. Now, I realize that a lot of kids are doing this much earlier, but our boys just love their scooters and have gravitated towards them more than bikes. Last week he finally asked Paul to take the wheels off the little bike, and he took off. The bigger challenge is pedaling and trying to keep his balance on his regular-sized bike with no training wheels, but he is doing it. He has informed me that he likes riding in the street better because there is more room than in the back yard.





I was talking to our neighbor lady while Isaac was riding on the street, and before I knew it he had ridden almost to the end of the block. As I called him back, I saw Caleb at the top of the hill by the pool starting down the hill on his scooter. Nobody crashed or left the neighborhood, but they do keep us on our toes!

Football!

Caleb is a football fanatic. And that is putting it mildly. Each Sunday during football season he would set up his little football guys and moved them to match the plays happening on the tv, and it was so fun to see his joy as he recognized the different teams playing. (I am not sure who was more excited to turn on the football when we got home from church this year--Paul or Caleb!) He usually knew which teams were matched up against each other each week. His favorite teams were the Vikings, Chargers and the Crusaders (our school team) though he seemed to really like the "G's" (Packers--his name for them changed by the time the Superbowl came around). Now that the season is over, he is still asking who will be playing and when, and his little guys are still busy playing games each day.

Today was a good day for Caleb since Paul came home with some NFL stickers. Somebody asked Sandy if she knew of anybody who might like football stickers, and she thought of Caleb right away so she sent them home with Paul. Below is the video of Caleb and Isaac getting the stickers.


And here is one of Caleb telling Paul the names of each team according to their logos (got most of them):

I love my job(s)!

Yesterday Paul and I spent the day at a worship workshop with 18 other members of our worship team and people from a few other churches. The day was a wonderful day spent worshiping and learning about worship and what it means to be a worship leader. It was such a treat to be part of such a neat day that not only gave our teams a chance to "jam" with other worship teams but also validated what we are doing at our church which was a great source of encouragement!

I am thankful for the members of my team who were able to spend the day at this conference (a long one for us since we left at 7:30 a.m. and did not return until after 4:00 p.m.). My volunteers are a blessing to me and to our church.

One thing we took away from the day and got to use in our service this a.m. was "be prepared for anything." Our service stretched a bit long so our pastor switched how we took communion which meant we had to adjust a few songs being played including the new doxology we were introducing. The team did a great job pulling it together with very little communication! Our pastor is going through the entire Bible in the next 12 weeks, and today was creation. We watched this video during worship today--a fantastic reminder of how great our Creator is: http://www.andiesisle.com/creation/magnificent.html

A special thanks to Baby Anna and her parents for taking the boys all day and spending hours playing with them. The boys had as good of a time as we had at the conference!

I am so thankful that God has given me the opportunity to be a wife and mom yet still be able to "work" for our church as youth leader and worship director! I love the jobs to which God has called me at this point in my life!

New Year...We're still here!

You would think that with Christmas vacation and time off we would have had some time to share Christmas pix and details of what has been happening to us the last few weeks...I am just happy to report that we are still here and have started our 2011 differently than I would have liked. You see, Christmas is my busiest time for "work" at church since we have extra services and a lot of my regular worship team members are gone or just need a break. That would be one excuse for lack of postings. My other excuse is that I got sick right before the new year hit, and it was one of those cold-congestion types of sick that just seemed to hang on for a while. I am not saying this to make you feel sorry for me (but feel free to if you want ;-) but just to clarify why we have been "silent" on here for a month.

Although I started off the year with a cold, it has been a reminder to me of all the blessings in our lives. I am soooooooo thankful for our health and for good doctors. For all the people who serve at church in worship--they really make my "job" easy and so rewarding. For family--all three of my boys (that includes Paul!) and the joy they bring to my life, our parents (three of whom visited us in the last month), our siblings and nieces and nephews, and extended family. For friends and the family they are to us on this side of the country.

I am also thankful for the weather here...we had a lot of rain before and after Christmas, but this week is beautiful (sunny and in the 80s the last couple days already) so we are enjoying being outside playing and going for walks again.

We enjoyed a visit with Paul's parents right around his birthday--celebrating Paul's birthday, eating at Red Robin and playing the games there, making donuts, playing Sorry, reading books, opening presents, and trying to stay dry.

We spent lots of time over Christmas and New Year's with Jill and Mark and the girls--presents, puzzles, games, Guitar Hero, and lots of giggling and screaming.

We just spent a week and a half with my mom who gave us the gift of getting away--an entire weekend of movies, a play, dinner out, shopping, and lots of relaxing with no kids!!! (I know it sounds pathetic, but it was so nice to just sleep whenever and however long we wanted! Ahhhh, we are well-rested!)

We ended our long weekend visiting with my great-aunt and my cousin and his family who all came up for Sunday afternoon and evening to just catch up while Mom is visiting.

Now the house is quiet, and we are looking ahead to a "normal" week--just the four of us and a regular week of school and the daily routines of work (incluing having to wash the dishes again since I don't think I did any while Mom was here). I still have a tickle in my throat and an occasional cough to clear the tickle but am finally feeling almost normal again. I think my voice is almost back to normal which is good since I have had three Sundays off from singing--THANK YOU to everyone who filled in for me (especially my hubby) and took leadership while I was MIA.

Happy New Year!