3 fire alarms...

The other night in the middle of the night we had THREE smoke detectors start chiming (loudly) that they were out of batteries! What are the chances - 3 in 1 night?? I said maybe it was because we had changed all of their batteries at the same time last time. Doug thinks it is a wiring issue. Anyways, I am thankful that it was on a night that Doug was home!!! Just one more way that he takes care of all of us. :-) Funny thing is, I hadn't even heard the chiming, I only heard Doug once he was pulling the dresser across the room to stand on to reach the smoke detector. I am a SOUND sleeper!

Fun at the park

Not sure if you can see it in the picture, but Abigail has sand all over her face. (I know, I know, not a very attractive picture in any way shape or form!) I had just started to let her sit in the sand and play, because she is getting pretty steady.... well, I guess not that steady! She did love kicking her little legs and grabbing the sand with her hands.


Just last week Noah started going down the big slide by himself. He has been very cautious about those type of things, and he really didn't have too much interest in the "daring" type things. Last week was a breakthrough in him realizing he could do it all by himself, and then he wanted to do it a bunch of times. Then when we came home he wanted to tell Daddy all about it.


He also really likes wearing his little Ninja hood.


Abigail hanging out at the park, taking everything in and enjoying her fingers.

We are so blessed to live so close to such a wonderful park! Noah loves the sand, and it is so nice that they put a large shade over the whole park last year. FUN!

Enjoying our backyard and the firepit

Everyone on Daddy's lap!


Warm and cozy


This is the best! Loving my Christmas present already!

Abigail enjoying her broccoli

Abigail is "eating" quite a few foods now. I say "eating" because it is mostly "playing" and sucking on the food. She sure does enjoy it though! We waited until 6 months, and her first food was avocado. Since then she has had carrots, green beens, squash, egg yolk, honey dew, chicken, cucumber, apple, and toast. She is still getting probably 99% of her nutrition from breast milk.






Lest you think we are too healthy, I will share this picture I snapped as I was giggling at the opposites attracting. (And no, Abigail doesn't get the ice cream!)

Abigails first day riding in the "car"

Noah did a great job of sharing his seat

Doug and LA

Doug just left, he is driving down to LA this morning, and then he is driving back tonight. Then after he teaches his 3 classes tomorrow morning at Fresno State he is heading down to LA again, and then back tomorrow night! So - there and back twice in 2 days. Extra prayers for safe travels!

Noah giving Abigail a ride

Yesterday was the first day that Abigail got to ride in the little red car. First she and Noah rode together in it as I pushed them to the mail box, and then I let her ride by herself (she was strapped in), as Noah pushed her. They both had a gloriously good time, and I had a lot of fun watching them and taking their picture. So cute now that they are getting close to actually playing together.

Obedience

Obedience in our house means:

1. You obey quickly
2. You obey completely
3. You obey cheerfully

If we tell Noah to do something he needs to do it quickly, completely, AND cheerfully. If not, it is disobedience. I have found that having this definition of obedience really helps with his attitude and the heart of the matter when being obedient. It is often a mirror to myself - if Noah isn't obeying cheerfully or completely, I look at myself and my obedience to the Lord and there is often something there. So then I have to repent and ask for God's help. It is also often because I haven't been being 100% consistent - then it is time to up the diligence and work on being more consistent. It is such a privilege and joy to have these children and get to train them up in the way of the Lord. It is so wonderful to see the fruit of our labor already in Noah. He is such a blessing.

WinCo

I have a love/hate relationship with WinCo. Namely, I love WinCo and WinCo hates me. Not really, but it sure felt like it. I went to WinCo the other day, no I take that back, I went to WinCo 3 times the other day. I seriously debated blogging about this, because it is almost too embaressing, but I am over myself now, and I figure you might get a good laught, and if nothing else it makes me more real.

So heres the story - I decided to go on an adventure and go to WinCo the other day for our shopping. (Yes, that is what I call an adventure). I loaded up the kids and headed out. It isn't close to our house, but I had been wanting to try it and figured since Doug was out of town and I didn't have much planned for the day it would be a good day to go.

Boy, that place is big!! But I was in shopping heaven. Noah and my eyes both got really big when we got to the bulk food area, where you put everything in the little bags and tag them. To me, that is SO much fun. Getting to get a little bit of this and an little bit of that. (That is why I love buffets and pot-lucks so much!) It was all such amazing value! I got dried fruit, pistachios, peanuts, pizza dough mix, wheat germ, etc... and a few mini lollipops "wawwy-pops" (Noah still have a hard time with l's), for a special treat. We also got diapers for both kids, cat food, fire wood, marshmellows, you know, all of the necessities.

Well, we had shopped for quite a while - Abigail was in the Ergo carrier and being quite a trooper. And then it happened... we were in line and I swiped my card and it said "Enter Pin". I told her I wanted to pay with credit because that card wasn't a debit. (Is this all starting to seem a little like de-ja-vu?). Well, turns out they don't take credit, and this time I wasn't so lucky to have a spare check on me, and like a silly girl I hadn't put my other credit/debit card back in my purse. Ack!!!

I was trying to look on the bright side, and thinking "well, I guess it was fun to pick everything out and now I can pick it all out again". The kind lady then said that they could hold everything for me for a few hourse in their walk in cooler. So I went home, fed the kids and put them down for a nap - then we headed back to WinCo. We were in a bit of a hurry, because I was trying to get back before Abigail's next nap, as I wasn't able to leave right after her other one. Anyways, got there and I am in the parking lot looking for the debit card, and couldn't find it ANYWHERE. Ack!!! I went in to ask them if they could hold if for me longer, and also to see if possibly they would just be able to key in my debit number, but they said no.

So - we headed back home, Abigail napped again, and then we headed back out to WinCo. Mind you, this is no short jaunt from our house! So 3rd time is the charm and we got to buy our food and groceries. Noah had a great attitude the whole time, and we actually had a lot of fun listening to this new children's book on c.d. on the way It has a lot of songs on it as well - I think I had it all just about memorized by the last trip home. I rewarded Noah with one of those lollipops on the way home. It was a good excercise for me in patiance, trusting God, and not getting upset about the things I can't change.

I did seriously debate after the first and second time if I should just cut my losses, call them and say I wasn't going back. But like I said I had a lot of groceries, and a lot of it was necessities - like the cat food and diapers.

Oh yeah, it turns out I had left my check and debit card on the top of my car from when I was putting the kids in their car seats. When I got back from the 2nd trip they were in the street by our house. Thank you Jesus that they were still there!! And yes, I did put my debit card back into my wallet so hopefully I won't get into this predicament again.

Happy Birthday Nicky!!!

We all had a great time at Boingo's in Visalia for Nicky's 6th birthday. WOW!!!! 6? Already! It seems like it was just a little while ago that he was a cute and chubby little baby at our wedding!