Blogs to read

I have spent the last half hour reading blogs and crying. I first went to Beth Moore's blog (link to the right) and read about her daughter, Melissa, and her trip to Inda with Compassion International. She has a great post today about materialism (not sure she uses that word but that's what it is to me). I followed her link to read about the other bloggers that are there and what they had to share. It's heartbreaking. And it's overwhelming. I think "what can I possibly do in the midst of this?". I am reminded that prayer availeth much. It's a promise and it's true. Sometimes it doesn't FEEL like enough but that's because we don't see with spiritual eyes. I did appreciate getting a little conviction on my own materialistic attitude. I think ahead to my kids' birthdays and other holidays and wonder how I will ever buy them presents. Seriously. Thank God that that is the limit to my concern and my children are fed, clothed, given medicine when needed, have shelter... Definitely check out these blogs and see what difference Compassion is making in India!!

Let me first say that my twins are at a stage where they fight over me constantly. I read that this is normal for 5 year old twins so I am not worried. But they fight over whose toothbrush sits next to mine and who sits by me for each meal. Hunter was upset the other day because Lily got the toothbrush slot next to mine so he put his in the middle hole with our toothbrushes "kissing", as he proudly told me. What that meant is that our bristles were touching. Brian probably would have gagged if he had seen it but I don't care. And I don't let it go to my head. Why? For statements like the following... I just caught the end of the conversation but Lily said, "Hunter, Dad is our only hope!".

Weekend

Uncle Steve showing off his new baby girl. Hunter and Lily were happy to hold her. Steve claims we are the papparazzi but we love our babies in this family!! This is my parents' 10th grandchild (and they have 1 great-grandchild!) and it's not any less exciting for any of us!!

I had to add a picture of me with my new niece. What a perfect c-section head!! :) I do hate that I'm wearing my polka dot cardigan in this picture since I already posted a pic of me in that same thing on this blog. I do have other clothes.

Samuel after his 1st homemade hair cut. We are trying to save money so we thought we'd try it out and the boys look pretty good. I trimmed Lily's bangs the other week but no picture on that. I am not good at such things but no one looks like a dork so it's all good. Brian actually did the boy cuts anyway.

Hunter's new 'do--he looks unsure because he did not care for getting hair on himself. I don't know why.

I have to tell you this...

I was on the phone w/my brother threatening his life if he did not take my picture down from his facebook account. It was the worst picture of me ever taken but the baby looked good so he put it out there for everyone to see. Thanks. He promised to remove it under threat of bodily harm and never speaking to him again.

Anyway, I am on the phone with him and Hunter comes in from the porch and says "Mom, I found this bug on the porch!!". I am half ignoring him because it's not totally unusual to find bugs and they often pick them up to show me. He starts to put the bug on the couch next to me so I glance over and...it's a WASP!! AHHH! He's holding the wasp by it's legs. Seriously. I scream and say one hundred miles a minute "HUNTERPUTTHATBUGOUTSIDERIGHTNOW!". He made it out the door with it and didn't get stung. Oh my goodness.

Well, Brian and I are taking the kids up to see the baby this afternoon and then on to his parents' house for his birthday dinner. Kathryn already made her news debut since my brother works for KGAN. So cute! *Oh, and Kathryn did inspire me to make the blog pink but I LOVE pink so it's staying that way for awhile.*

Kathryn

Well, after Michelle's water broke at 10 pm last night, at 2:30ish PM today they finally did a c-section. Poor thing. Long day for Mom and Dad but baby is here and healthy! I was there to meet her when they came out of recovery. She's soooo cute! 8 lbs. 2 oz--smaller than what they were thinking!

Here she is meeting her big sister, Cali. Her Daddy is holding her.

Update

Samuel DID pass his hearing test. Not that I was surprised. :) He actually didn't want to leave the nifty hearing van because they had puzzles--his favorite!

In other news, my brother will be a Daddy again sometime today. His wife's water broke last night and she's still in labor today. It is her first baby to give birth to (she's already a Mom to my niece, Cali)--and it's a girl! Can't wait to see what she looks like and how much she weighs and all that fun stuff! I am sure I will post a pic if I ever get up to the hospital. That's a challenge w/3 kids in tow.

Just sharing

I feel like I haven't posted in ages but it's been less than a week. I guess that tells you about how quickly this time has been going. So much going on!!

• Hunter and Lily had their "Kindergarten Readiness Test". What's really sad is that I just had to check my last post to see if I already mentioned. This brain of mine needs help in the memory department. Maybe it would help if I could remember my vitamins. Anyway, the testing wasn't as scary as I thought because I didn't have to stay in the room. I sat in the office talking w/the other Mom who had a son getting tested at the same time. We actually knew of each other because we had gone to the same high school. I had a lot of fun talking about our similar concerns over testing and school and all that. No clue on whether the kids passed but how could they not, right? That's what my loved ones tell me, anyway.
• Hunter and Lily had dental appointments today and I got comments from the receptionist and the dentist about the amount of talking they do. See, the kids are sooo big that I don't even go back with them anymore. We go to the best pediatric dentist and the twins get to be in the same room (2 chairs!) and I can see in if I stand up so I am all calm. Samuel and I played in the waiting room. He actually spent most the time pointing at the back and saying "Uh!" but we were in and out in 20 minutes. Seriously. No cavities and my Hunter has 2 loose teeth!! How weird to think I have kids old enough to have loose teeth. Lily told him that he would only lose them if he fell on my bed (since that's how he lost the front one!). Ha! Lily also told the dental hygenist that Samuel does not brush. No comment.
• Hunter is obsessed with wearing 2 different shoes when we go out. This has been going on for about a week and I just go with it. Why would I care? Dr. Erik commented on this today but, seriously, have you tried to argue with Hunter? I confess that I LIED to my child today to get him to wear the shirt I picked out. He asked if a different shirt was clean and I said no. I would have had to dig jeans out of the folded basket of laundry to go w/the shirt and blah, blah, blah and didn't want to get into an argument. I confessed already.
• Brian and I spend Tuesday nights watching Biggest Loser together. In memory (so this may not be accurate), it is "our" show--the only one we watch together. However, we like to watch while eating, drinking and laughing at the pain of others. What does this mean? :) Tonight we had healthy snacks, though. Popcorn (Light Butter from Fareway--the only kind I eat!) and Diet Dr. Pepper w/cherry (the only diet pop that is good w/o adding anything to it!). I somehow feel that if Barb (my mother-in-law) reads this, she will approve of this weekly ritual. :)
• Samuel gets his hearing checked tomorrow so I can get these people off my back about his ears. I don't think there's anything wrong w/his ears so I have refused testing thus far. So watch for my post tomorrow when I will eat humble pie. Ha! I hope the test goes well and we have a good report--not just so I am right, either! Samuel has gone from 1 word in Feb. to 20 words this month. Wow. His latest words: Apple, Animal, Spies (his brother influenced this one!), Bubble, Moo! And I admit that I get him to say the word by telling him to NOT say the word. Such is his attitude right now. That comes back to bite me when I tell him NOT to kick his brother, though.
• I spent a good chunk of my day going through this repetition: Samuel opens the freezer. I tell Samuel 'no' sternly. Samuel spits at me. I walk towards him. He says "uh-oh" and runs. No lie, we did this same thing half a dozen times at least. That makes me crazy, I know. Either my memory wasn't working or I was focused on getting something done. :)
• To end my long post, I have to say that we had the most amazing sermon on Sunday. I say amazing like it's a good thing and it was but it was also a hard thing. It was the most personally convicting/challenging sermon I have ever sat through. Painful stuff. In fact, I was grumpy for 2 days as I wrestled with it. It was called "True Spirituality". It's not religion, it's relationship. An easy statement for many of us but then he got into things that are "tools" but we make them "rules". And if something works for us then we think it should work for everyone. I really liked when he talked about how introverts struggle with thinking they don't witness enough and extroverts struggle w/thinking they don't spend 3 days alone with God so something's wrong with them. His last bullet point was that it's not about leadership, it's about obedience. And this whole sermon was coming from John 15 when Jesus talks about being the vine and the pruning process. Ever since, I run into the concept of pruning everywhere I look. How exciting for me, huh? :) No, it is because I know whatever He has, it's good. Oh, which reminds me...True spirituality and how we have IDEAS that yes, God is good. God is sovereign. Then we come up against a situation where we have to wrestle it out. I love that. I loved this sermon. I need to listen to it again.

Staycation

Brian was on staycation this week. His job is pretty slow right now so he had a full week off of work. The rest of us had our normal activities but that was okay because Dad got to help out. I admit I have been pretty lazy with him home--the house needs work again. But what a fun week and I hate to see it end--although one of us obviously needs to go to work!! :)

Samuel didn't nap well today--mainly because I was the one who tried to put him down for a nap. So Brian took him out to swing and he just zonked out!! Sweetie!

For Easter, my parents gave us some $$ to get a Wii--I can finally keep up with the siblings. :) We have had so much fun with it!! It's been a great family activity!

Lily trying her hand at Wii Bowling.

Hunter hitting the ball in Wii Baseball.

Love Your Neighbor

JoDee dropped off some cupcakes from her birthday and spent some time entertaining the kids. She taught Hunter and Lily to take a sheet and slide right down the stairs on it. They were impressed!! Even Samuel points to JoDee's house and has me say her name each time we leave the house. We are all going to miss her when she moves this month!!

Happy Easter

I hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday. We had a fun but exhausting day. Our church service started at 9 AM so we set the alarm for 6 AM so we could shower and get ready before the kids were up to find their Easter baskets. We were succesful and had plenty of time for the kids to find their eggs, open baskets and even play for a bit. Church was great--and actually pretty quick! We then headed to my side for the Mega Hunt and lunch. :) My Grandma was there to take in the chaos this year so that was fun. Samuel took a quick liking to her, which is rare for him, so that was nice! We stayed there all afternoon--the kids had fun playing with their cousins and I got to play one game of Yahtzee and catch a quick nap on the couch. Then we headed to Brian's side for another egg hunt--this one was outside so the twins were all about that!! Poor Samuel was out cold by that point so he missed out. We stuck around there, letting Grandma Barb, Papa Lee and Uncle Jeff enjoy our sugar-overloaded children until it was time for bed. Brian and I are ready to crash!! What a fun day, though. And Happy Birthday to JoDee and Travis!!

*I like the collage option because I found it impossible to choose pics but I am sad I can't caption them. I have a picture of my Grandma, my sister, my brother and the "table of in-laws" (maybe you notice my sister-in-law is due in just a couple weeks!!). I have an attempted shot of my 3 kids before church but Samuel is throwing a massive fit. Every time I pointed the camera at him, he screamed at me. Also, pics of olive fingers, cousins resting, Samuel eating Grandma PJ's white chocolate bunny and Grandma Barb helping with the egg hunt.*

A Good-bye

Guess what happened in the Kreger house today? We said good-bye to the high chair. Boo hoo. I loved that high chair--bought it new for my Samuel and it matched my kitchen. I vowed the child would use it until he was at least 3 years old!!! Little did I know I would have an obstinate child who would refuse to get close to said chair or he would scream bloody murder. So now he sits on the benches with the rest of us. Maybe we'll have to bring it back up if he misbehaves too much--dare I hope?? :)

Other than that, I am blessed today to have Brian home, to be the recipient of some favor from God today (it involves the TV so nothing major but I know it's a little gift), to remember Jesus' sacrifice and to overhear Hunter and Lily talking about Jesus' sacrifice in their sweet childish way. I am also on my way to having supper made and wanted to share what I am making: Soup bowl cabbage rolls, crescent rolls and sweetie-fry bananas with cream cheese frosting. I can't wait. The bananas are going to be the umpteenth item I will be coating with crushed Fiber One cereal. Bring it on!

Great Idea

I stumbled upon a blog called "It's Almost Naptime" and yesterday's post encouraged us Moms to brag on our kids. Why? Because sometimes the only things we say are the negative stuff because we feel so fed up!! I have to say that I can only stomach so much of the "look at how fantastic my kid is" type of post BUT today I unashamedly post about how fantastic MY kids are (and I will be brief) and I will be reading this to them later.

Hunter, age 5: Hunter is the sweetest child in the world. He loves hugs and one on one time. Hunter is all out in his affection for someone else. His teacher said that he just loves his friends at school!! He is a social guy, loves to play, a natural leader and so excited when he learns something new. Hunter looks after his brother and sister at all times--and does so with a passion!! He is loud, fun, determined and all boy! Hunter just absolutely has the best hair and he has a big chin dimple like me--just pieces of me that I enjoy seeing!

Lily, age 5: Lily is the most sensitive child in our house--so much so that she gets upset when her siblings are in trouble She has a passion for learning and loves to write (like her momma?!). She is eager to please others and is the most talkative child!! Lily loves to help and I know I can count on her to follow through with instructions. She may love social things (and boy does she!) but she is also very independent. One of the most obvious things is that Lily is hilarious--she says the funniest things!! Lily is just beautiful and is so expressive--such a fun girl and she loves girly-frilly-fancy nancy-type things--which I am so happy about!

Samuel, age 2: Samuel is pure joy. He is funny, determined, sweet and so loving. I do believe he's got a little genius in him because he doesn't talk but knows so much. He can act out what he wants us to know and he's learning his letters with the Caillou computer game. Samuel wants to be with the big kids all the time and doesn't mind if he can't keep up. He loves his parents most of all and still wants to be held. His eyes are just amazing--I so hope they stay blue like mine since the twins' eyes went hazel like Brian's. :) He's so little--our smallest child!--but it makes him all the more loveable.

You can check out the original post here: http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/2009/04/yall-ready-to-bring-out-your-inner-that.html If I knew how to post this link without making it so long, I would but I still can't figure that out!

Beautiful Outside!

Even I think it's nice to have a day of mild temperatures and sunshine!! We ate a quick supper so we could get outside and walk to Steve and Michelle's (my brother and his wife) new house. Michelle and Cali (my niece) were home and we had a fun time getting a tour. The kids especially enjoyed terrorizing--I mean, playing--with the cat. Brian was impressed with my walking--apparently I couldn't keep up in the past but I am a walking machine now. Those exercise videos are paying off. :)

Just Sharing

So my weekend involved rock painting--why do the twins repeatedly get rocks at MOPS? It's always about David and Goliath or Jesus' tomb but still... So we painted rocks this time around and it was fun. Samuel actually did a pretty good job! The weekend also involved scrapbooking, a whole lot of poop clean up (why is Samuel so obsessed with his dirty diapers?? someone tell me!!), Brian helped a bit with my brother and his family's move to a house close by and we had a successful end to our first week of chore charts--the kids got to pick their prize. Tonight I hadn't planned on feeding my family because I had plans to meet a relatively new friend, Jessica, for supper (Brian takes care of supper on those nights!) but we decided to do coffee instead so I was stuck with the dreaded question of what to feed everyone?? The kids voted for shells and cheese and popsicles so that's what we had. Don't the boys look so cute together? Such love--and such arguments sometimes!! :)

Recipe

Okay, here's the MOPS craft/bar recipe for those who wanted it:

If you want to make the jar, put in:
-1/2 bag of plain M&Ms (it wasn't the single serving bag but one of the bigger sizes--maybe the "small"??)
-Arrange 8 Peeps in the jar (harder than it looks if you have a small opening!)
-1/3 cup brown sugar--pack it down so you can fit next item
-crush a package of graham crackers (the box comes with 2 packages, right? )--add some graham crackers to jar but they might not all fit so shove baggie of crushed crackers in top of jar.

When you are ready to make the bars, empty contents into bowl. You have 2 options w/the Peeps: cut them up and mix them in or leave them whole and set them aside. Add 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla to mixture and mix well. Pat it into a greased 9-inch baking dish. Arrange whole Peeps on top, if that was your choice. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

I cut it into 9 huge pieces and it was roughly 6 WW points/piece. I chose the option of leaving the Peeps whole because I thought it would be pretty. :) I spread the Peeps a bit when they came out of the oven to cover more area. Enjoy!

Flashback Friday

I received my picture order today in the mail and as I was putting the new ones up, I looked at all the old ones I store behind the current one. I can't believe how fast times goes and that my kids are so big. Someone commented at MOPS yesterday that Hunter and Lily are getting so tall!! These pictures show Samuel at 1 year old and Hunter and Lily at around 2 years old. I love my kids!!

YouTube

My friend, Karen, told me to get on YouTube and search for "Graham Cooke: The Nature of God" because she thought it would minister to me. I just watched both parts of it (both are around 10 minutes long) and I really enjoyed it so I'm passing it on to anyone that reads this. I know literally nothing about Graham Cooke so I am not endorsing him or his ministry, per se, but I do know that I loved these 2 videos. It's just the words, music and him speaking the words. Here were some of my favorite parts (and I'm paraphrasing some):

"This great God that we serve will throw us into situations beyond us with no other thought than that His great love will sustain us."

"God is consistent in who He is (His nature) but unpredictable in what He does. We, the church, are inconsistent in our relationships but so predictable in what we do."

"There are no good days or bad days. There are only days of grace. Grace to enjoy or grace to endure."

*Side note: I made the below picture into bars last night and it was sooo good. Big hit with the kids, too!!*

Crafty

I have the best MOPS crafts at my local meeting. I really think our craft person goes above and beyond and is super thrifty. We have small group so maybe that helps but we do a craft every time and it's always fun and something I'm proud to bring home. I bond the most with my fellow Moms when we are doing craft!! Well, today we did this jar and let me tell you, it's not as easy as it looked to get those Peeps arranged. I told my table members that I was going to put a picture on my blog and they thought I was joking. Nope, here it is. I can't wait to make the yummy recipe that will come out of it. I don't what it will be but some bar with Peeps, M&Ms, brown sugar, crushed graham crackers, butter and vanilla. Sounds good!

Games

The kids and I were playing Disney Pictionary this morning when Lily said the funniest thing (which is normal for her!). I got the answer right and she said "Yeah, baby, feel the thunder!!". Ha! I don't know where she got that but it definitely surprised me and made me laugh. :)