Zachary has grown leaps and bounds the last month or so. He speaks so clearly and is using sentences. For instance, he said this morning, "Mommy, I see three bus." The booger had the number correct! He's very observant. He is really obsessed with cars, airplanes, dump-trucks, etc. He even goes to sleep with his choo-choos. I have to go fish them out of his crib so that those sharp points don't wake him (and consequently ME) every night. Anyway, Zach just adores them. I really do thank the Lord for his obsession with cars! I've taught him so many things using "choo-choo's"! He now knows his colors, how to count to five and opposites thanks to Cars! His other favorite obsessions are Numbers and Letters. He is so proud of the fact that he can name every letter and it's sound. He's also so proud that he knows his numbers! He plays with his magnetic letters and numbers constantly. He loves to read so that he can pick out letters in the book. His last and most favorite obsession is pestering the SNOT out of his sister! It's really funny and fun seeing them becoming SIBLINGS!!!! They squabble like cats and dogs all day long. . .but then there are the glimmers of sweetness. . .like whenever Zach gets in trouble, he has to go find "Na-na" and get a hug! Today he said, "Na-na, I love you." I asked him if he loved Mommy. He said, "No, jussss Na-na." Turd :) To say Zach has hit is terrible twos is an understatement! Now if I can just get him to get rid of that pacifier. . . . .
Loren, the sweet darling has begun pre-school. We dropped her off and I cried. . .Loren was like "See you Later!" I am so thankful for our decision to send her to a Christian School! I mean when she comes out of school telling me, "Mommy, God knows my name" . . . WOW! I mean all kids in Pre-School get to learn how to print their names but only those in Christian schools are blessed to have their teachers say, GOD knows your name! It's nice to have that partnership! Loren's favorite activity in Pre-School is the puppet center AND taking care of a little boy named Chase. She enjoys writing her name and painting/creating. She played, "School" all weekend and pretended to be Mrs. Bretsch. I of course was her student! I got in trouble a lot in Loren's school and had to sit in her "Thinking Chair." Loren has really become outgoing as well! When we go to the park she always finds another little girl and asks her to be "Best Friends," and off they go! Zach just tags along behind pestering them :)! Loren has been doing AMAZING on her medication! It is still a shock to actually see her EAT! I mean without a fight! It's awesome! Her medication gives her insomnia though. I'm up with her at least 3 nights a week with her. It also causes her to sleepwalk. . .which is scary. It's tiring for me but I'm just so grateful there is something to do for her condition! Loren's favorite thing in the world is to bake with Mommy and Daddy! She always helps me prepare meals. Every Saturday Mike lets me catch up on sleep and he gets up and cooks breakfast with the kids! They do anything from Waffles, to coffeecake to muffins! Loren has got REALLY good at baking! Zach just makes a big mess :)
Mikee is so excited with life. . .FOOTBALL HAS STARTED and the Bears got a great QB! Therefore, I have a VERY excited husband! He's enjoying pre-season games a lot! He got together with a bunch of his college buds to do his fantasy football draft. They actually all met in Colorado but we couldn't send him :(. (We have to save Vacation for Kristopher's wedding!) However, he got to skype in. Maybe next year! Mike also gets to do one of his favorite things! He gets to do the Chain Gang for our Local Public School! He and Dad do it together! They love it (hey and it's Christmas money for us! Plus, plus situation!) Mike also is very busy with our church plant. He puts a lot of effort into the finance committee as well as being an elder of the church. He fills in a lot of rolls around the church. I am so proud of how much he does and what a gracious spirit he has! Mike is doing great at his job. He gets to design and build all day long! I am very grateful that he is so happy in his job.
I've been so busy these days. I looked at our calendar and realized that every day this September is booked except for two Thursdays. I enjoy being Mom. I was really discontent with my position for a long time. Where I lived before I was extremely lonely and bored all day long. Now that we've moved, I have a great network of friends who are more like family. I never feel like I or my children are lacking! I love where I'm at now as Mom. I don't feel like I'm lacking or missing out. Honestly I can't ever see myself returning to work. . .ever. I like volunteer work and being a homemaker. I like being Carpool mom! A year ago I didn't think I would ever utter those words. So I've been working hard on my 30 in 30 list! It's getting there! Recently I fulfilled item number 13! Girlfriends: Slumber Party It was so much fun! We all wore our PJ's, did girlie things and watched Calendar Girls. No one actually spent the night but we "partied" until 1:00 am. . .I wore a pair of PJ's I got when I was 7 years old! It used to be a night dress. . .now it resembles a VERY thin, tight t-shirt :)! I was also blessed to do number 28 and number 1. Number 28 was: Spiritual Experience: Weekend Women’s Retreat. My best friend Lisa got us tickets to the Women In Faith Conference in Indianapolis Indiana. If you ever have the chance to go...do it! It was Life-changing! Consequently, I did number 1 as well: All By Myself: Road trip over 2 hours. I'm petrified to travel by myself. I once got lost trying to get to a boyfriends cross-country meet in high school and ended up driving around lost in East St. Louis. I'm PETRIFIED of getting lost. However, thanks to Mike's thoughtful gift of a Tom-Tom I made it without incident!! So I literally have only 15 items left and most of those are partially completed!
These are those PJ's I've had since I was 7!
So far, I'm still running! I'm amazed at how long I've been able to run without any major arthritis setbacks. I had one chest-wall inflammation but 5 cortisone shots into my chest cured that. . .yeah, ouch is right!
I've continued to run the Children's Ministry at our church. It's tiring most days. It's a lot of hours, however, it's rewarding. Our little church is growing slowly. It always seems like 2 steps forward 5 steps back. Church planting is hard and I had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into!
Other than that, I still scrapbook in my spare time. I do it digitally because A) It is 1/32nd of the cost of real scrapbooking and B) It's just more fun!
Well, now that I've written a novel, I'll put some pictures in here from the weekend. The kids had a great time playing "Water Table" on the deck. On Saturday we went to City Hall and fed the fish.
And just for grins. . .This goldfish was 2 feet long. A friend came by and she thought it might be a koi (sp?) fish. . .I think it was too ugly to be one of those :) It scared the crap out of us! Oh and there were catfish in there at least 2 feet to 3 feet long. I won't post those pictures because as ugly as the goldfish was, these were UGLIER!
