I couldn’t stand it anymore. Our streak of beautiful comfortable weather has just continued and continued. So, one day last week, we escaped for lunch and a trip to the locks. Where we live there is a man made canal. There’s a beautiful area that is where the locks are and the gatehouse for the canal. It really is truly beautiful. There’s a bike/walking trail that runs from the gatehouse to the end of the canal too. k We’ve never biked it all the way, but we have gone down some of it. It’s truly gorgeous. The kids enjoyed being able to breathe fresh air and play on the playground and I loved the scenery.
Tag Archives: Josiah
Dear Lord…
Overheard
Proud Mommy Moment: The kids are outside playing while I get some things done in the kitchen (aka my office). I have the window open should a need arise and I can hear them singing at the top of their lungs:
“The joy of the Lord, is my strength. The joy of the Lord, is my strength.”
They make it through two verses and then pause and seem to have some kind of discussion. During that pause my heart swelled. I was so proud. My children are remembering and singing the hymns we sing each night during worship. Wow! Look how “holy” they are! I’m just the best mother in the…wait, what are they singing now…
They belt out with, “He tells me funny jokes and I laugh Ha Ha. He tells me funny jokes and I laugh, ha ha.”
Proud mommy moment deflated.
Now, this verse is not in our hymnal and, after sharing with Mark, learned it is a variation from a verse Mark taught them, “He fills my heart with laughter and I say haha.” Yep, I’m proud again…
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Josiah can be particular about certain things. Shoes and socks are one of those things. He’s been learning to put on his socks by himself and his shoes too. However, it’s been quite distressing for him. One day he came up to Mark looking all perplexed with his socks in his hands.
“Daddy, I don’t know which sock goes on which foot.” He announced. And he was serious.
We tried to tell him it didn’t matter, but to him it does. So, now, when he asks us which sock goes on which foot, we examine the socks, and then declare which one goes on which foot.
And one day that backfired, because he forgot what I told him. And then when I told him it was the opposite foot from my previous statement he got all confused. So, then I had to go back and “reexamine” the socks and change my answer again.
***
Speaking of socks. Mark was giving the announcement to get socks and shoes on to go to church one evening. Josiah was running around searching and searching. He finally came to Mark and announced, “Daddy, I don’t know where my socks are!”
Mark looked down and informed Josiah, “They’re on your feet dude.”
Josiah smiled, and said, “Oh!” and then went and found his shoes.
Snow Beauties
Skating and Tubing
I did get to venture out to do activities two days. On Monday, I went snowboarding…okay, well, let’s just say I took a lesson. The only way I could stop was to fall down so I stayed on the bunny slope and since I didn’t have any ski pants/or ski bib, my rear was numb for hours (I’m talking hours) afterwards. Then Friday, the day before we left, I got to go skating and tubing. That was fun! I’d never skated outdoors.
But that didn’t stop them from trying…
And falling…
Ace got really good before we left. I was proud of how hard he tried. He fell pretty hard a few times too but he got right back up and tried again. Josiah was more interested in building a snow castle for a long while. I was so glad we didn’t have to pay for him to skate!
Let me just say that snow tubing is a blast and is really physically demanding. My arms were sore for three days after we went. But it was so worth it!
Back at the Ranch…
Well, with several little ones that couldn’t take being out in the cold and snow for long periods of time, I and the grandparents and Aunt B did a lot of indoor maintenance. So, we got lots of fun pictures of the kids…Oh, before I start…want to know how much luggage and stuff one has to take to be snowed in in the mountains with our six kids??? No, well, tough, I’m going to show you.
With a winter storm looming and temps getting way low, we had a morning inside with everyone. We split up into groups. I grabbed some extra sugar and flour I had brought and mixed it with peanut butter to make playdough. It was great fun, except that I forgot the twins were allergic to peanut butter and we were all stressing trying to make sure they didn’t grab any (Way to go Aunt Abbie)!
Another day, we had the little ones inside and to keep them busy, I filled up a sink full of bubbles and they wen to town. They did really good keeping it in the sink too!
The Great Outdoors
Since the biggest part of our trip was the snow. I’ll post those first…
Happy Birthday Liam!
Okay, I’m still sifting through the three hundred plus pictures from our ski trip…they should be up next week.
So, to keep from getting even farther behind…here’s Liam’s birthday.
I got in on one of the Daily Deal websites and was able to get a party package for six to the bowling alley for half price. We got two because with our family, well, you just need two to accommodate us and our friends!
This was the first time bowling for all of our kids (unless you count Wii practice before we went).
Winterfest with a Bunch of Characters
We’ve been out all last week (hence the sporadic posting). Well, we haven’t just been out. We’ve been in the mountains. Covered in snow.
We were able to take a family trip with Papa, Grandmere, Uncle B and Aunt B and their seven children. Yep, our motto of “Go, go, go” may have hit it’s all time high.
We traveled to Beech Mountain, NC. From all respects, we had perfect “skiing” weather. It was clear the day we came up, snowed the next day, clear the next, snowed a lot the next day, and then clear and cold after that. By the time we had to leave, the roads were all clear. We praised God throughout the week for the weather He sent. We fully expected to just see snow on the slopes and at the ski resort, however, we had it everywhere.
So, while we continue to unpack, and recover from a stomach bug (we traveled didn’t we???), I’ll share a few things I need to remember:
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Liam got a kick out of telling his aunt and uncle jokes. They encouraged it too. At one point, Liam announced, “It’s flowing out of my brain and down to my tummy.”
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Our nephew H (once described as Liam on speed but has since slightly, ever so slightly toned down to “just like Liam”), has now been renamed as “Me too.” Everytime we (especially Mark or I) would announce we were going to do something, he would pipe up, “Me too, Me too.”
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H is also quite the daredevil/stunt artist. Mark was able to observe him on skis as he went down the learners’ slope and straight into the mesh gate. He and Uncle B were exclaiming, “H stop, H stop!” And as he quickly neared the gate, “H fall! H FALL!” They continued to watch as he ran into the gate, bounced off, laughed, and turned and skied off.
I got to observe this daredevil spirit when we went ice skating. He got tired of waiting on his mom to take him around the rink so he just took off without anyone. Skated two steps, fell hard, laughed, and got back up and did it again….wash, rinse, repeat.
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Mark and I both got a kick out of the sweetness of the cousins. They all played together so well (which was a blessing in place crammed with nineteen people). We got to watch Josiah cuddling with a cousin to look at a book.
Mark told me about Zoe and Cousin O on the slopes. They would race Mark to the lift, get in on a lift in front of him and he would watch them giggle and talk and play the whole way up. It really warmed our hearts!
***
We learned that all ski personnel are dudes. When we referred to any of them we would say, “There was this dude.” As we discussed this, I remarked my snowboard instructor (yes, I said snowboard…yes, I tried snowboarding), was old.
Aunt B replied, “He’s an old dude.”
By the end of the week, we even had Papa calling them dudes.
Is that all the funnies???
I think that’s enough. Stay tuned for pictures, between the three families, we have about four hundred of them…don’t worry, I won’t totally bore you with unbelievably cute pictures of my kids, nieces, nephews, and family…or maybe I will (insert evil laugh here).
I’m Dreaming of a White DayAfter Christmas
We woke up, the day after Christmas to snow falling. It rained the whole night before, so we didn’t have any thing sticking. It tapered off to sleet in the afternoon then picked back up and after that, it started to stick! This was our second snow this year! And, if you know where we live, you know that is highly unusual! Yet again, I had a cold. But the kids enjoyed it.
Finding snow stashed in a corner and attacking with snowballs…again.
All told, we probably had about one inch, if that much, stick. It was fun while it lasted because it was gone mid morning the next day.
Since we’re going skiing soon, we opted not to take Bryant out in it. He got to see it from the window and was as impressed as a five month old can be with snow.