My Ebenezer

It appears that Seth is following in the footsteps of his cousin Titus, who once upon a time would eat anything .  (Truth be told, he probably still would, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's past all that!)  I cannot tell you how many times I have found Seth seated contentedly by Daisy's cat food, with a mouth full of kibbles, and dimpled fistfuls more waiting to be shoveled in!  Can we say GROSS?!?  I mean, okay, it's one thing to be curious.  We might all be curious what cat food tastes like.  But for crying out loud; once you discover that it's disgusting, back away from the dish! I think the worst part is, for hours afterward Seth has cat breath.  EEEEWWW!!

Week 39?  Wow, what happened to weeks 36-38?  Well, they're in here too.  Happens sometimes, that you just don't get around to everything on your list.  September has been busy! As always, we do lots of eating!  Seth loves to eat. :) Last month we sold all of our jet-skis, and this month we pooled that money together and bought this one!  It is much nicer and more reliable than all three of the others combined.  Except for a little mishap that we experienced last weekend where we hit something in the water and the rudder broke.  "How important is a rudder", you ask?  Very.  Trust me on that one.  Again with the eating--this time at McDonald's, the kids' favorite place! Noah helping me eat grate cheese.  Grating cheese is like blueberry picking; more gets eaten than harvested! Just when you thought it was safe to take a shower:  watch out for that plastic armed man!  Ah, the joys of sharin...

Well.  The blog.  Once again I have dropped the ball with this thing, but not because I didn't have anything to say or any pictures to post, but because sometimes life has a way of, well, getting in the way.  There are things that vie for my attention like no other; such as the 6-year-old's homework every. single. night.  Or the 10-month-old Fussy Pants plastered to my leg. Those kinds of things.  But like I've said before; if I didn't have them, what would this blog be about, anyway?  They give me my best material, after all! So Noah.  I wrote a rather anguished post about him the other day (read below), but the Lord has been answering those prayers already.  I wouldn't say that I see a marked difference in him just yet, but in us.  The scripture verses that I've been working on memorizing and the extra time in prayer have really helped Josh and me handle the curveballs Noah throws our way.  We still have a long road out, but we hav...

The 365 Project has been good for me.  It forces me to remember my camera and to take pictures of the rapidly fleeting moments that make up our lives.  However, one thing I have noticed is that it takes away from the writing about our lives, which is also important.  With a focus on only the moments you photographed (ie: the highlights of life--because who photographs the hard times?), I find I don't get an accurate representation of the year going by.  So I thought I'd write a little about the challenges of parenting that we're presently facing in our lives, just to keep it real. Take Noah for example.  (While I normally shy away from showing everyone's true colors, I think I would do myself a disservice if I look back on this time of our lives and think everything was rosy.  It's not.)  Here is a child who, once upon a time, was the happiest guy I knew.  He smiled at everybody, never met a stranger, and charmed everyone he met.  Fast for...

Week 35 out of 52 already!  Praising the Lord for another week of His grace!  Here's how it went: It began with the discovery that Seth can open the door to the garage! *gulp*  Due to the doorknob being placed about 3" too low (which dates way back to our renovations on this house and was unavoidable and regrettable all at the same time), I now have to have eyes in the back of my head.  Other moms out there, where do I get those again? Muffins!  Baked in my new reusable muffin liners, which were a gift from Jen.  Aren't they super cute? :) Noah, reading from Chocolate Fever, by Robert Kimmel Smith.  Stay tuned for a video of this! Noah caught a crab in our back yard. And, it is time to bid farewell to our old jetskis.  They have become more and more unreliable over the last few months, so we sold two of them and are debating what to do with the third.  We do plan to replace them with a newer, more reliable model a...

Well, Noah started school last week, a fact that became more evident when I reviewed my photos; only ONE day's worth of  photos of Noah for the whole week!  I'll have to fix that this coming week.  In the meantime, it is mostly just Seth and me at home these days and these photos reflect that. This is my view all. the. time.  Seth is never far from me, and is happiest when he's on my hip or by my feet.  He often crawls up behind me and pulls up on my legs, just like this.  Trying to get supper cooked with a munchkin strapped to my legs is not easy and usually takes twice as long!  Driving home from church on Wednesday night, we saw the full moon gorgeously lighting up the sky.  In real life it was more orange than it showed up in the photo. And sometimes you just need a tea break.  Constant Comment is delectable (and if Noah were a tea, that would be his name! Ha!) and has been my tea of choice lately.  Seth loves ...

I love Family Camp on so many different levels.  There is the fact that I don't have to cook or clean up after one single meal for 5 days in a row.  What's not to love about that?  There is the fact that my husband doesn't get cell phone signal at The Wilds: hello undivided attention!  (But that one's just between you and me; don't tell him I said that!) There is the fact that there is child care, not provided by me, for each and every chapel service.  I could go on and on.  But one of the main reasons I love Family Camp is for the spiritual refreshment I come away with.  You just can't beat it. I was convicted about how much time I spend "frittering" on facebook or in front of the t.v. when I could be investing that time in my marriage, kids, and home.  Josh felt the same way, so we resolved to come up with a policy about tv that we can use for our family.  We've been talking about it and praying about it ever since we left, but so far we'...

"Busy" just doesn't begin to describe the last month around here.  "Crazy Busy" comes closer.  Rather than eat up my time trying to sort through my photos and get them all uploaded, maybe I'll just post one or 2 photos per week to cover the last four weeks of my absence. We bought a bike seat for Seth so now we can ride as a family. TBC hosted a week of Vacation Bible School, and I did some face-painting for that. We enjoyed spending more time with some family during the week between VBS and family camp Took the kids to the beach one evening.  Noah played in the water, Seth ate sand, Josh and I talked.  All around a good time!  We met some family and friends at Reedy River park in Greenville, SC on our way to the Wilds. Behold: the only photo I got from Family Camp at the Wilds.  I do believe only I am capable such photographic negligence.  In my defense, I did spend a fair amount of time reading while Seth took naps a...

This week Seth learned to pick up food with the "pincer" grasp and place it accurately (albeit messily) in his mouth.  A must for anyone! :)  He has been loving little pieces of banana, baby goldfish, Gerber puffs, and anything else he can pinch.  On occasion, Josh and I have been watching cooking shows together after the kids go to bed. We have been inspired to make our everyday food more flavorful.  Here was lunch one day, as I boosted our turkey sandwiches with a little sun-dried tomato pesto.  It was yummy! We celebrated Noah's 6th birthday a couple of times this week; once on Thursday with Matt and Jen's family, and then on Saturday (his actual birthday) with just us.  Here's the cake I made for Noah's party on Thursday night.  The idea came from Family Fun magazine a couple years ago.  Love. This. Picture!  Noah, completely unaware that Josh was taking this photo, with a genuine smile on his face.  To me this s...