Like old times

Jon and I dropped the kids off at Papaw and Nana's on Saturday and went to Columbus. We had such a great time. It reminded us both of when we were dating in college. We even enjoyed the time together while stuck in traffic. We listened to Jon's itunes and even the regular radio. (I am usually listening to toddler favorites and bible schools songs in my car, so all the songs on the radio sounded new to me! ha!) We weren't in a huge hurry and had time to just think about being together. We had time to talk serious and light hearted.

Jon said he was hungry for philly steak for lunch but we doubted we could find one outside of a mall food court. So we headed on to the stores and what did we see across the street? A phillie steak restaurant! yay!
The stores we actually went to Columbus for didn't prove to be fruitful but Jon suggested we stop at a store we passed along the way and we hit the jackpot there! We found lampshades to match our new bedding and a painting that I love for the dining room. It makes me happy every time I see it. I like that Jon and I share a love of art. We like abstract art that "speaks to us". The picture in the dining room doesn't speak to Jon and  to be truthful, it doesn't actually speak to me. But it makes me happy. I smile every time I see it. It's kind of like hearing an oldies song. My heart lifts and the corners of my mouth do too. And the day was so enjoyable that now I attach that memory to the painting too.
On the way home Jon had another idea to stop at an antique shop. Those of you who know me, know my theory about antiques. Why pay a lot of money for junk that either doesn't work now, never did or you could buy cheaper new. However, since we were having such a great time I figured I'd just enjoy being with Jon and maybe find some fun trinket for the kids.
Right when we walked in the door there was a painted oak cabinet. It was old and had the honest worn look to it. It is painted robin egg blue and we both loved it. The best part is that the price was a steal! We snagged it as well as a large ten candle -candle holder for the fireplace. Our chimney needs work and as our sweet German landlady said "expensive to fix, no use". So we "no use" but can enjoy having lit candles in it if we like. So we found the candle holder and cabinet and crossed the street only to have to shuffle things around in Jon's little car. The lamp shades, painting, cabinet and candle holder barely fit in the car. Once we got to my mom's we had to leave the cabinet there in order to be able to take our children home with us! Oh the joys of his car just keep giving.
I kid.... sort of.

We will get the cabinet to our house soon and I'll get pictures of our treasures.

The day together was so refreshing. The sun, the radio, the drive, the hand holding. It felt like old times and made my heart full.

Fun week

We got to spend time with Jon's grandmother for her birthday. She is such a sweet lady. She painted with Emma and even got down on the floor and played dominos with her. She played "store" and read books. You'd never know she's 94 years old.

 The kids and I went to the Cleveland Science Center this week and enjoyed the time with my sister, her kids and my mom. This place is great! There is so much for kids to do and it kept my attention as well. There are inside and outside fun activites. I can't wait to go back.

 The water fun was great. Just those exhibits and activities could have kept the kids happy for hours.

 There also is a play area that even teaches science along the way. There were tons of smiles and giggles that day.

Just stuff

It's been and will be birthdays galore for the next few weeks. We have Jon's grandmother, my grandma, my mom, my niece, myself and my daughter all within about a month.

It's been fun to get to purchase gifts again. We had to be really cheap and no little or nothing while Jon was in school and it's been fun to get to find something small for all the birthdays.

I have realized that giving gifts is one of my big love languages. I love to give and get thoughtful gifts. I love spending time thinking of special things to buy for each person based on their individual likes. I especially enjoy thinking back to things they have mentioned in passing and surprising them with it on their special day.

I have roses blooming! Emma and I picked some beautiful long stem roses for my mom's place setting at her birthday dinner. The whole dining room smelled so nice.

We also made a happy birthday banner out of some old wrapping paper. Emma was so excited to show Nana when she got here.

In other random news Emma and I have been getting lots of laughs from watching youtube videos in the evenings. Tonight, thank you Jen, we laughed at people who were drugged up from having their wisdom teeth out.

Greyson is making crawling attempts. He is also trying to walk. It's too close to call which will happen first.

I learned the hard way not to feed Grey kiwi without straining the seeds first.

We are looking forward to seeing Jon's grandmother, in from California, tomorrow for her 94th birthday party! She has a great spiritual legacy and continues to encourage us all in the Lord.

Greyson's room before and after

Before

Complete with pink walls and flowered border.

 After

Khaki walls and no icky border.

9 Months

Greyson turned nine months old this week! It's hard to believe, yet at the same time I can't imagine life without him.

He is very interested in walking. He wants to stand up and tries to even take your hands away while you hold him up. I don't think he knows that he can't do it alone yet. He also is making some progress on the idea of crawling.

He loves eating baby food and taking baths with Emma. He occasionally will take a drink from a sippy cup but really just wants to drink from a regular glass and does a pretty good job with it.

He thinks everything Emma does is hilarious, and lately has decided he's interested in the dog. Jarrah is interested in him too... well, more accurately, she's interested in the puffs he drops from his high chair.

He can clap when he wants to. He was doing it a lot a few days ago and when Jon got up I tried to get Grey to do it for him and- nothing! Fortunately I had captured it on video. Now when I ask Greyson to clap he looks at me and gives me raspberries.

He's sweet until he's not. He is either really happy or really mad. I think we will have a new challenge with his personality daily. That is one reason we are teaching him some baby signs. I foresee him having a temper and getting frustrated. So we are trying to give him as many communicative signs as possible to help us all out. 

He likes to snuggle with me, he sucks his left thumb when he's tired. It's adorable.

He's a joy and a blessing.

It happens

Tonight at dinner I asked Emma if she wanted her bath with Greyson or after him. At first she said she wanted a separate bath and then changed her mind.
So after dinner I got them both in the bath and all was going as usual. I had Grey all washed and he was in his bath seat playing and having a good time. I had Emma's hair all lathered up when I noticed Grey's face.
He was grunting. OH NO! I didn't have time to get him out of the bath so I did the next best thing. I called Jon for backup.
By the time Jon got into the bathroom Grey had already pooped in the tub and fortunately it was staying put.

Jon came in and was behind me. Greyson kept staring at Jon and as he got ready to get Emma out of the tub, Grey starting crying. I looked at Jon and saw that he was ready for bed which for the next week includes his plastic eye shields. He looked like a large fly in boxer shorts!  Jon's eye shields look like plastic lens the shape of aviator glasses, with small holes all over them. And the best part is, that they have to be taped on. So he had them taped to his forehead. No wonder Grey got scared. Jon lifted them up to show Greyson that he really was daddy and that calmed him down.

Jon got Emma out of the tub, sudsy head and all. I got Greyson washed and out of the tub. Jon got the tub cleaned and Emma back in the tub.

Crisis averted.

Two clean kids are in bed as is their daddy... the fly.

20/20

Jon had Lasik surgery yesterday. He was 20/100 in one eye and 20/400 in the other eye.

Four minutes later he was 20/20 in both eyes.

He can relate to the guy in the Bible. You know, cause there is only one guy in that book, I guess I can elaborate...

John 9:6-7
After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

Jesus could have just made the man able to see, but instead he put mud on the man's eyes and sent him to go wash them. Why the mud? I guess so the man had a reason to go wash, he was dirty and grimy. But the bigger reason, I believe, was that the man had to trust Jesus. He had to have faith that what Jesus said was true. He had to believe that washing his face, as he probably did daily, would suddenly give him sight- simply because Jesus said so. He had to have help getting to the pool which required him to share with at least one other person that he was practicing faith in Jesus.

Someone helped him go to the pool, he washed and came out, four minutes later, he could see. 20/20

He did trust.
He did believe.
He did have faith
He did have sight.

Faith in Jesus never disappoints.