multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2251. kids rolling down grassy hills
2252. a great dinnertime discussion following by the kids praying for each other
2253. field day :: potato sack races and tug-o-fun
2254. the escape found in reading a good book
2255. the closing of a really great chapter of life :: 3 years of watching Vince :: what a blessing!
2256. Joe washing dishes
2257. Sara's ever-expanding vocabulary :: I can barely keep up with her new words
2258. waking up to birds singing a beautiful song {loudly!} outside my window
2259. a full decade of Lydia :: Happy Birthday LJ!
2260. Anna asking me :: "Mom, how do you spell 'I love Lydia and I love everyone in our whole family except the mean people.'?" :: silly girl
2261. Sara telling me "dress off!" when I was changing her clothes
2262. an amazing beautiful double rainbow :: possibly the most beautiful, clearest, sharpest rainbow I have ever seen
2263. post-rain sunset
2264. a great first game of the season for Rebekah's soccer team
2265. last day of school
2266. a tangible, almost immediate answer to the sincere prayer of an 11-year-old :: thank you Lord!
2267. great, wonderful, fabulous, caring, excellent, passionate teachers
2268. having Luis {our basement contractor/carpenter} join us for our last-day-of-school BBQ
2269. four kids with check-ups at the dentist and zero cavities!
2270. Rebekah's first shift at the library
2271. a Saturday morning family walk {before it got unbearably hot}
2272. a freshly mowed lawn
2273. much-needed rain
2274. stopping in time to not hit any of the 3 deer that tried to cross the road right in front of our van. in the dark. in the pouring rain!
2275. a good run, despite the heat
2276. kids literally COVERED -- head to toe -- in dirt!
2277. godly, encouraging parenting commiseration

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

conversations with a 9-year-old

Mom: "Morning sweetie. Are you going to take a bath?"

9-year-old: "Yup, it's picture re-take day, so I should."

Mom: "But, honey, you love your pictures. You aren't getting re-takes."

9-year-old: "I know, but we might have to re-take our class picture and I don't want to ruin it for everyone by not looking nice. That would be a bummer."

Stuff you might hear in our van on the way home from Costco::

Joe {singing}::"I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing. I will sing. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. With my mouth, will I make known, MY faithfulness. MY faithfulness. With my mouth will I make known MY faithfulness to all generations." {oops, a little bad theology there. We'll get right on that!}

Anna {when asked if the baby will be a boy or girl and what we should name it}::"Girl. Clifford the big Red Dog."

Joe {when also talking about what we should name the baby}::"Tinkerbell if it's a girl and Joker if it's a boy."

Heard 'round these parts ::

Anna is talking SO MUCH lately. She is exploding with language and putting multiple words together every day. It's so fun to watch {and hear!} her grow in this way. Here are a few of our favorite funny things that she says lately ::

• "wii game" {we think she wants to play, like all the big kids . . . plus we often see her with a calculator or some such smallish thing, swinging it around like crazy. I'm sure she'll be playing with the best of 'em soon enough!}
• "brownie"
• "cookie"
• "Haddie" {what she calls her cousin, Haddon}
• "Baby" {what she calls herself}
• "No, no mamma!"

Joe has, as you know, been talking for quite some time, but in the past week he has developed some new phrases. We don't know where they came from and we're not overly thrilled about them . . . although we do find them quite funny {but we try not to let him know we find them funny}. He mostly uses them when he's playing the wii, which he is exceptionally gifted at I might add. Anyway, from the mouth of the Joe-ster ::

• "What the dutts?"
• "What in the hairs?"

We really don't ever use any phrases beginning "What the . . . " or "What in the . . . ", so I'm a little confused as to where he picked them up. But I do find his interpretation to be quite comical.

Great Quote

I read this quote for the first time the other day and really, really liked it. I thought you might like it too {I know it's a little reminiscent of the theme for my Thankful Thursday post the other day, but you just can't get enough of this kind of stuff}:

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. {Mary Jean Iron}

Enjoy the weekend!

Silly kiddos!

A few of the silly things heard around here the past few days:

• "This reminds me of when I was a little kid." (Lydia)
• Rebekah: "Mom, if you have any more babies we're going to have to start driving a limo." Lydia: "Or maybe, like, a church van."
• "Can we please go see the parking lot for the trains?" (Joe)
  

Well, maybe . . .

Lydia just said to me:

"Maybe I got sick from daylight savings time."

Hmmm, I've never heard that one before, but the timing lines up pretty good so I guess we shouldn't rule it out. Anyone else get sick from daylight savings time?

Quote of the day

"God is so silly. He just snowed on all the roofs!" (Joe)

The view out our kitchen window when we woke up:

Happy Birthday Abe!

I'm pretty sure that today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. If it's not today, it's pretty close to today and we'll call it good! I went to Lincoln Elementary School. I know that's not super important, but it is related and so I said it. Abraham Lincoln said lots of great stuff. In honor of his birthday here is a quote of his that I read today . . . and enjoyed. I hope you enjoy it too:

"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time."