Family Journal

I made some Butternut Squash Soup for supper yesterday and was concerned that I'd be the only one that liked it. (Stuart liked it a little bit)  I saved some of the pumpkin to make pancakes.  Elizabeth has been begging for pumpkin pancakes. It seems to me she cried when I made them last fall though.

Stuart just snuggled up to me and said, "My Mommy" this made me happy.

The other night Mia could not fall asleep. This made me nervous because the last time that happened she ended up walking in her sleep a few hours later. I mostly dislike this because it wakes me up. It is also not fun to try to get a sleep walking child back to bed. And I remember the scary feeling of waking up in the cellar in the farmhouse. Creepy. I do hope I never find Mia in our cellar.
Mia was not the problem last night, but Elizabeth came to my bed around 4am saying that she had a bad dream. There were lions involved. "Why do children dream of lions", I asked Nate in the morning... "it's not like we even have lions..." he replied, "and if we did they would not chase us." (notice 4am does not count as morning)

When it was time to drive Mia to school yesterday morning the younger sister was lying on her bedroom floor in underclothes and tears. I should have gotten them up earlier. It is a fine line.

Our youth group took a trip to the city a week ago. Mia was so excited to go along to Philly. What is a subway she asked?  Answer: a train that runs underground. Imagine her puzzlement when our 4 stops were all above ground. Ha ha. 

I thought about it a lot the next day... the look on her face when Nate told her that the people sleeping under the bridge, they live there. They do not have a home.

We helped to serve lunch at a rescue mission named Sunday Breakfast. We cleaned, sang, and served. It was Saturday lunch.

Mia has been kind of obsessed with the idea of a chocolate fountain. She thought she really hit the jack pot when we ate supper at a buffet that had one of these. I asked her the next morning what her favorite part of Philly was and she said, "The chocolate fountain". Ah yes. 

Last week I got to spend a day with my college kid brother. Theodore Wade.  Coffee shops, thrift stores, vintage clothing buy it by the lb. stores, lunch at Honey's. Nate was jealous. About the lunch bit... not the shopping. I sent him a picture of my freshly squeezed orange juice just to torment him.
I found a green purse at the thrift store and Ted asked, "Does the zipper work" impressive.

Craft Show this past weekend. We were freezing  Saturday morning.

These silly grins read: Happy to have the craft show stand set up. Happy to get to go on a date. Even if we have to take the box truck.

 Elizabeth is still falling asleep on her bus rides home. It is only a fifteen minute bus ride. So she also fell asleep at church last night, with her legs tucked up underneath her. She woke up half an hour later (church sill in session) with her legs asleep. Awful. She is learning her ABC's.

 

Stuart is potty trained. I'm so proud of him.  It's been a month or two now and I can count on one hand how many times he's had those bad kind of accidents. Potty training in a day. (not really one day) It makes for two very long days in the bathroom.... worth it in the end.
Stu likes to be naughty and play with the computer. Last night I found that he changed the desktop to this photo:

 A few weeks ago I found all my actions in photoshop were missing. There is that one option in the menu to "clear all actions" I assume he found it.
He recently started to call Nate Daddy again.  As opposed to "Ducky" this is progress!

 I had Mia assist me on my last family photo shoot. She brought a stuffed monkey and waved it over my head and yelled at the children the whole time. Bless hear heart. I loved it.

I recently listened to the book "Kisses from Katie" It has me thinking about life. The way we think life should be, and the way God wants it to be. Am I living my life as "crazy" as God would have me live it? Crazy as in, all out, full blast following His will.  Which makes others think it's crazy. I just think He has more for us  than we have for ourselves. I like my life to be somewhat predictable with goals and a bucket list. God's list though, that is what matters.