My Ebenezer

When we moved into this house in May 2010, there were certain projects we had left undone with the intention of completing upon move-in. But then there were all those boxes to be unpacked, and life to be lived, and here we are four and a half years later, with many of those projects yet undone.  I'm sure none of you can relate to that. :) Josh and I decided that we needed A List (oh, goodie, I love those!); a list of projects still needing to be done, and that on Saturdays we could pick one or two and knock them out.  This week's project was Installing a Windowsill and Trim Around the Kitchen Window.  For four and a half years, my tomatoes and windowsill knick-knacks (who doesn't have those?) have been sunning themselves on bare wood.  Today, they have a beautiful marble sill to sit on!  Thank you, Josh, for taking the time to complete this!

Two years ago today, God gave us our second little miracle in the form of Seth Marshall.  These two years have flown by!  Here are a few fun facts about our boy whom we affectionately call our "Loose Cannon." The fact that we call him Loose Cannon should say a lot!  Everything he touches turns to disaster, and you just never know what mess he will create next. He talks a lot, but as of yet I can only understand about 1/4 of what he says.  Sometimes you can pick up hints from the context of the situation, but other times I'm just at a loss as to what he needs. One thing I do understand him saying is, "MMmm, that's GOOD!" (which sounds like "MMmm, va DOO!") when he's eating a tasty food. Seth is ready to be potty-trained, but am I?  That is the question.  I'm thinking of taking a week off from school and just doing that full time.  We'll see. He has a very strong opinion about what he wears, which is foreign territory for me...

On Thursday of this week, we attended the Jacksonville Fair with Matt and Jen's family, and on Friday evening, Matt and Jen were kind enough to watch our kids (thanks, guys!!) while Josh and I took in a performance of The Nutcracker.  To say that the two experiences were different would be an understatement of epic proportions.  Maybe I am just biased, what with my inner ballerina and all, but I was in my element at the ballet, and very much out of it at the fair.  I left the fair with a headache, and left the ballet dancing (at least inwardly). That said, here are some pictures I took (go, me!) of both events: Nervous much? Jen and I caught Brianne and Titus grasping Noah's shirt while waiting in line for this ride.  That's right, go to Noah when you need a little assurance. Or not. ;) Titus, Noah, Brianne, and Libby on that very same ride a few minutes later. The agricultural building is, in my opinion, the best part of the fair.  They ha...

There are certain realities that just go with the territory of having boys.  Among others, the boundless energy. The mud.  The guns. The obsession with anything motorized.  The complete inability to stay out of puddles. And the climbing of trees.   Deep down I wouldn't trade any of these things, even though I may complain (loudly at times) about the amount of laundry that I do. It's what makes them boys .  And I love them! Oh, and P.S.  When did Noah get so BIG?

When Josh brought home a white rabbit the other day, I had to think fast to prevent Noah from coming up with the ever-popular-but-very-prosaic "Snowball" for a name. Besides, we used to have a bunny named Snowball (guess who named it?) and it was time for a new name.  So I suggested Olaf, which is perhaps the funniest snow creature I have ever seen.  Everybody loved it, and so here I present to you, Olaf. Oops, that's not Olaf.  That's my photobomber, Seth.  Olaf is behind him. There we are!  Noah was delighted to find that Olaf likes celery. A very happy Noah with a very nervous Olaf

We enjoy a good read-aloud around here.  In September we read Treasures of the Snow , by Patricia St. John, and in October we read The Horse and His Boy , by C.S. Lewis.  As we were finishing that one, I reserved a few books at the library to preview and choose for our next read-aloud.  One of those was Mr. Popper's Penguins, which after I reviewed it, planned to assign to Noah as part of his reading class curriculum.  However, the next day I discovered him reading it, and he was already 2/3 of the way through!  He devoured that book before I ever had a chance to come up with study questions and such, so I guess it's off the list.  But boy did he enjoy it!  Here's an excerpt from the part that had him giggling out loud: "Penguins are very intelligent," continued Mr. Popper.  "Listen to this, Mamma. It says here that when they want to catch some shrimps, they all crowd over to the edge of an ice bank.  Only they don't just jump in, becau...

I used to come here more often.  This blog was my outlet; my sounding board for whatever I wanted to talk about.  Quite simply, I miss it.  I miss the clickety-clack of the keys as I divest my cluttered mind of its burdens and delights.  So I'm back.  At least until my life jerks me once more into reality, which could be any minute... School fills up a good bit of our time.  I have to admit that sometimes we all have attitudes like this: but thankfully, most of the time it's more like this: In case you were wondering, we have never had second thoughts at all about our decision to homeschool.  Thank the Lord that He seems to have made it clear that we did a good thing.  Noah loves that school doesn't take all day, and I love that I get to witness him learning new things and have more influence in shaping his character.  Speaking of shaping character, that is a constant job.  But you knew that. Seth is almost two, and doesn't ...