All Aboard

I snapped this picture last Wednesday, after our Bible Study.

Simon is wearing his "Tim's Tots" T-shirt.

And Evie is wearing ... part of her "take-home" outfit from the hospital!

Seriously.  We "rediscovered" a few 0-3 months tops and are using them as 3/4 sleeve additions to her Fall Wardrobe!  

Well ... I just received a phone call from Janet (with H.R. at GFA) with an answer to prayer.  We have someone willing to watch my kids an afternoon a week so that I can volunteer IN the office.  Trying to squeeze time from home with these two little kids (and one who doesn't nap!) would be next to impossible,  especially for phonework, which might be a big part of what I will be doing for Kris in the Creative Giving department.  (Besides, God has already closed the door 2 times from different at-home volunteer opportunities).

I was just praying for this today, while walking with the kids, so I'm really excited!

Another shot of Evie in her "take-home" outfit!

(She actually ended up wearing another outfit home, but this is the one I had bought for take-home)

Evie making a phone call.

Maybe to wish her friend Ruth a Happy Birthday!

Ruth will turn one this week!

(For us, this means just 5 weeks until Evie's birthday!)

I have realized I have certain pockets of disorganization in my life.

My closet:  is either all-together (I'd let anyone walk in and take a picture.)

or completely a mess (You would literally be stepping on mounds of clothes)

Currently, it is a mess.

Another area I've let go and don't even care about:  my inbox.

I have over 7,000 emails.

I don't even THINK to delete them.

I kind of like having them there - they are a source of knowledge (when I use the search mail feature)

Simon eating one of his FAVORITE foods.

A Frozen Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.

I either make these ahead for fast-fixes

OR, if he wants one, I just pull out frozen bread and make a sandwich with that.

Matt loves these, too, especially with a tall glass of milk.

This was hilarious - an icy, icy cold water competition.

Sharon won by an "iceslide" (as opposed to a landslide)

I think it was approximately 2 minutes that she submerged her foot in the water that was left from the homemade-icecream ventures.

We were seriously worried about frost-bite.

This was probably taken around 11 p.m. or so.

Evie had woken up (I was planning on this as she had skipped 2 meals that day, due to our busy schedule)  I kept her up for a while to enjoy the bonfire.

Terri brought the fire-pit.

 Funny --It looks like Matt is the only guy here, but to the left of the camera there was Matt S., Nathan, Preston, and Jon.  (I think Sam was inside playing the Wii)

Oh, and Jon brought a bunch of SMORES ingredients, so we had smores around the bonfire!

Evie might be officially crawling, if you count the "Army" method.

Mom calls her G.I. Jane.

She can pretty much get anywhere, so I guess it is crawling.

She is also gaining incredible upper-body toning.

Blaize and Evie playing on Saturday morning.

Matt kept Simon, Evie, and Blaize while Mom, Kelly, and I went out for lunch.

(Alex was napping at my parent's house, under my dad's watch).

It was nice to have girl-only time and conversation.

Oh, Evie is also getting her top-two teeth!

Dad entertaining both boys after church.

If you enlarge the picture (or have good eyes) you can tell the ball says, "He's got the whole world in his hands."

Taking after his dad ...

Matt was in charge of the pork-chops.

Matt is super-organized now!  He sold his old ipod last week (and other possessions of his) to buy the new ipod touch.  He is using all of the organization features on there, and it has proven to come in quite handy!

Blaize just hanging out outside with all of us.

Simon and Pops picked a pear from a nearby tree.

Simon:  Mom, I found a gold rock. (We were outside at the Arboretum)

Mom:  Simon, bring it over here.  That might be an answer to prayer.

(It was just a piece of, well, shiny rock, but you never know how God might surprise us!)

Here is something quite articulate that I read in today's passage from "Streams in the Desert."

********

"Paul rejoiced in three things...he had 'fought the good fight,' he had 'finished his course,' he had 'kept the faith,'  What did all the rest amount to?  ... Why do we not act as if it paid to lose all to win Christ?  ...  Ah, we haven't his arithmetic.  He counted differently from us; we count the things gain that he counted loss.  We must have his faith, and keep it if we would wear the same crown."

Kool-aid stain around the mouth (from children's church)

Some things never change ...

Kelly checking in on us patio-loiterers.

(Sidenote:  We watched Brian Regan's new DVD yesterday - hilarious!  We gave it to my dad for his birthday, and, bonus, we got to watch it!

We celebrated both my mom's birthday (very end of August) and my dad's (very beginning of October) yesterday.

Evie bonding with her uncle....they  need more "bonding opportunities!"

Bride-to-Be Tania, Blaize, Groom-to-Be Scott, Evie

Blaize and Evie will be going to Kindergarten the same year, graduating the same year, going to college the same year...maybe they'll go to the same college.

Simon exclaimed, "Gigi has a million monies!"

So, our payment of not watching the boys as well as we could was that Kelly, Matt, Scott, and I spent a good 15 minutes cleaning up this mess WITH Simon and Alex.