Motherly Instincts

A few days ago, I was downstairs doing some laundry when I heard Josie frantically calling for me. She kept saying, "Hurry, please, mommy! I need you!" I ran up the stairs not knowing what to expect, worried that she was hurt or stuck or something. Instead, I found her in the living room with Bella(her favorite baby) and the baby stroller. She was keeping Bella secure in the stroller with one hand, and with the other hand, she was trying to buckle her in the stroller. She says, "Can you please help me? I can't get her seatbelt hooked together and her is gonna fall out!" She literally had been holding Bella in the stroller, waiting for me, so that Bella wouldn't fall out of it. It reminded me of how you would keep a real baby on the changing table with one hand while trying to reach a diaper with the other...not that I was ever unprepared and needed to do that. I am sure I always had all the necessary supplies right next to me;) Anyway, I thought it was so cute that she was seriously worried Bella would fall out of her stroller when she can't move without manipulation.

Anamosa

The boys, Nile, and Jim and Shirley visited Anamosa last Saturday and had a fun time together. Jim grew up there, and Nile thought it would be cool for the boys to see where their papa used to live. Josie and I were in Dubuque having some girl time, as I sang in the wedding of a friend of ours. It was really fun for us-Josie was thrilled to get to sleep with mommy in our hotel room, and she was so good the whole time we were in Dubuque. Jim and Shirley were kind enough to bring Nile and the boys the rest of the way to Dubuque for the wedding (the transmission on our car went out, so we are down to one vehicle...which, by the way, has the service engine soon light on-never a good thing). It was great to see so many old friends of ours in Dubuque that we hadn't seen in a while. These are some pics from Anamosa.

Gabe standing on a ledge that he later fell off and

just missed (by an inch, I hear) landing on the steps.

Nile said it was about a 7 foot fall-could've been

much worse than the scraped/bruised elbow he ended

up with. Gabe told me he knows the angels were watching

over him and pushing him away from the steps so he

wouldn't crack his head open when he fell.

The house Jim grew up in.

Nana with Gabe and Seth

Papa, Nile, and the boys

Seth's Preschool Graduation Interview

Seth's Preschool Graduation

Now officially headed to kindergarten!

Mrs. Fink...an angel on earth! She is SO gifted at working with Seth
and has been an incredible blessing to him and us.

Seth showing Mrs. Fink a picture he spent a very long time drawing for her.


We were so happy to see smiles this year-last year was a very different story! He basically hid in Mrs. Fink's lap and was getting so upset they finally had to skip him and go to the next child. Being singled out is extremely difficult for him, but he has come so far this year. We were very proud of him for standing up in front of everyone while Mrs. Fink talked about him-it was torture for him, but he did it!

Outdoor Fun

The kids love to jump on the trampoline while we squirt them with the hose, which I'm sure is dangerous...no injuries yet, though.

Love the little buns hanging out, and look at the air she got!

Funny Stuff 5

No intro needed, just some things I want to have written down so I can look back someday and shake my head:)

Gabe:
"Let's not be hasty making this decision, mom." (He could tell I was leaning toward saying no to whatever he was asking permission for)
"I will pick up my clothes eventually...(looks at me)...I mean I will do it now."
"Hey, can we keep our same rotation this time?" (playing a game outside with gramma where they sometimes switch spots)
"That was really generous of Jerod to buy us that ice cream."
"OOOHH, Seth, we're in heaven...Nerf heaven." (We went to Toys R Us to look for a birthday present for Josie, and they have a huge amount of Nerf guns there.)
"Mom, I know my friend knows about God because I asked him, but I'm trying to teach him that he shouldn't say God's name like that. He's still a good friend except for that. I think his brother is mean to him at home, and his parents don't discipline him enough, so that's why he sometimes has bad behavior."


Seth:
"These guys have impressive fighting skills." (His little army guys)
"We went to daddy's office, but he was having a meeting and we didn't want to spoil it."
"I want to be a secret agent or a SWAT team guy, but I don't want to do all the pushups." (no surprise there)
"I'm really good at outsmarting the bad guys."
Seth gave me a rock that he'd picked up on his fieldtrip to Woodpecker trail, and said, "Here, this is for you, mom! I put it in my pocket for safekeeping."
Regarding that same fieldtrip, he said, "The fish were hiding under the rocks because they thought we were gonna fish em up."
Josie was trying to tell him something, and he said, "Okay, but I don't want to hear it if it has anything to do with selfishness." (Smart boy-she was being selfish)
Seth: "Who's your boss, daddy?"
Nile: "Pastor Gilmore."
Nile: "Who's you boss, Seth?"
Seth: "Jesus." (nicely done)
We had a friend over to visit so we could see her before she graduates from college this weekend. Meredith has been a faithful and wonderful JLife leader for 3 years now-she is awesome and our kids love her. Anyway, Seth was wanting to show her all his cool flips on the trampoline, but was too embarrassed to ask her outright. Instead, he would say, "Who wants to see my awesome backflip?" I would say, "I do, Seth!" He would look at her and say, "Ummm, anyone else?" This happened many times during her visit, and we were cracking up.
The following are just a sampling of how this little boy's brain works...I have seriously had to look up stuff on the computer because I can't provide the detail he is needing to totally answer his question.
"Do bees feed honey to their bee children? How do they give it to them?"
"Why does the Earth have to go around and around? Does it get too hot on one side?"
"How did God make our brains be able to tell our arms how to move? How can our body do all the stuff it does just from our brain thinking about it?"
"How does our food go, like... to the correct place after we eat it, and not just all over into our body?"

Josie:
"Can I please look at the toy selection, mommy?" (At Target)
"I have to show you something, mommy. Seth wasted too much water in his bath." (Me: Are you trying to stir up trouble right now, Josie? Josie:oops.)
Talking on her play phone...then, "Here, mom. It's for you...it's a agent, you know, like a spy."
She called Nile and I in the bathroom to see her "big poopy". We were totally amazed at how a tiny little girl could produce something that size. (so sorry for the gross factor here). Nile looked at me and said, "Where did that come from?!!" (just questioning the size issue and how that is possible). Josie turns around from admiring her creation, and says, "It comed from my crack, daddy!" (And since I don't care for any of the word choices for where it really comes from, we just left it at that)
Josie, in a whiny, demanding voice: I want to watch a Dora cartoon, mommy.
Me: I was trying to find you one, Josie, but...
Josie with a quick insertion and a sheepish grin: Oh, I was just asking nicely, mommy.
Me: No, actually you were quite demanding when you said that.
Josie, laughing: Oh, mommy, you crack me up...sorry I said that to you.

Parade (Tulip Festival Part 2)

There was a long (seemed long to me anyway:))but very cool parade. G, S, and J just love Uncle Jerod and Aunt Leah! There were many times during the parade that all three of my kids were crowded around them, and sometimes on them! They have their own sweet baby to take care of, so I felt really bad, but they are like magnets to my kids! We sure love them:) Sorry-I always post in the wrong order!


Josie and Aunt Leah watching the parade

A very rare treat, for numerous reasons...

This wasn't fun or easy to clean up!

Seth-he's always ready with a silly face

Gabe watching from his front row seat

Tulip Festival minus the tulips :(

Oh my word! As I was looking through our pics from the Tulip Festival in Pella this past weekend, I was horrified to find there was not one single picture containing tulips! How pathetic am I?!! The kids had a blast, though, as there are so many fun things for them to do-kids games, inflatables, parade, great food (which they don't really appreciate but I certainly do), and time spent with family. Here are some of my faves...


My mom and Josie

Seth making slime-right up his alley:)

Deciding whether to go on the BIG slide with the boys...(the boys were begging her to try)

Wow, it is way up there...

I think I'll try!...She first told my mom, "I think I'll do it when I'm older", but then got brave!

She loved it!

An inflatable train/tunnel

Fun with Friends

My kids had so much fun with the Kampman kids on Friday. Andy was helping us do our roof, so Jamie and the kids came over to hang out with us-it was super fun to have all the little ones together, and if you've read my blog before, you know that Gabe simply adores Abigail, so he was in heaven. Seth and Josie fell in love with baby Anna, and Josiah is always ready to play or wrestle with anyone, so my boys had a blast with him:) A HUGE thank you to Andy, Luke, Kim, Doug Fern, and Todd Cramer! You guys are awesome! Most of them were on our roof for almost 12 hours, and got the whole thing done. Love you guys!!

A rare moment of sitting as the day was coming to a close, though I feel I must confess I had to put in the Cars movie for 10 minutes to achieve this:)

Gabe and Abigail-precious

Seth and Anna

Josie and Anna (Abigail took this pic all by herself!)

Ode to Cooper James

Well, we are officially moving to St. Louis toward the end of the summer so that Nile can attend Covenant Theological Seminary and get his Masters of Divinity. So many conflicting emotions, but one of the saddest parts BY FAR was giving Cooper a new home this past weekend. As soon as Nile said the words, "We will be living in an apartment on campus and they do not allow pets there...", Josie started sobbing and saying, "Cooper" over and over. Gabe ran and shut himself in a bedroom and cried for a very long time, and Seth sat and looked at us. It is so hard to break your childrens' hearts-it was emotional for all of us. We were blessed to find a truly wonderful family for him, and I am certain Cooper will be loved very much. Gabe is taking the move the hardest, which we expected. He is a little bit like his mom as far as not being a huge adventurer or risk-taker, and not doing great with new situations. We like our safe, secure, comfortable little lives:) Overall, though, all of the kids have adjusted better than I expected. The first night without Cooper was rough for Josie, because Cooper had slept by her bed every night for months. I finally had to go in and lay with her after close to an hour of crying, talking, singing, more crying...I laid down with her, and she said in the most pitiful little voice, "I don't have a dog anymore. I don't have any pets." I said, "I know, precious", and we had a good cry together. The past two nights have been excellent, and we are all starting to cope better. Anyway, here are some pics of the sweetest dog in the world, who put up with anything and was so good to my kids. We will miss him dearly (with the exception of maybe Nile-I don't think he'll miss him all that much, sorry for the honesty, love.)


Last picture with him just before he left


This makes a little girl very sad

Playing veterinarian

Doctor Opal working on him (she calls herself that)

Babysitting Allie and Bella (he stayed with them like this for at least half an hour...

and when Josie went upstairs, he let me know he had reached his babysitting limit.

Atlanta

Watching the Braves play in Atlanta

Nile and I made it back safely from Atlanta yesterday-we had gone to The Orange Conference with about 13 other Parkview people and were away from Wednesday to Saturday. It was really fun to have that time with everyone, and fun to just be with Nile and enjoy each other without interruption:) Though I love my children dearly, we have had way too few times away from them. I think I must have gained 3 pounds from eating at so many wonderful places, though. My body is simply not used to eating out much at all, and I'm fairly confident that I ate more in those 4 days than I usually do in two weeks, even though I tried to not overdo it! Oh, well, it was worth it and now I'll just have to watch it and exercise really hard for a week. My mom took three days off to come and take care of our kids (a HUGE thank you for that), and Nile's mom took a day off to help also, and we appreciate both of them so much.

It's hard to get used to all the schedules and routines, and my mom did a remarkable job...one funny thing, though, is that she forgot to help Gabe study his spelling words at all, and he only got one correct on his spelling test. This happened to be the hardest week so far this year, go figure:) Mom said he was pretty sad, and said, "Now I won't get to go to second grade." She assured him he still would, but it is so like him to worry about stuff like that.

The conference was really cool-we got to hear from Frances Chan, Andy Stanley, some other people I can't remember, and hear some awesome worship music. Steve Fee was stellar! Nile and I went to a Passion event that he and Candi Pearson (she sang at the conference, too) led worship at close to 10 years ago, so it was great to hear them again. All in all, it was a great time. Oh, Nile was also very impressive at FuddRuckers (no clue how to spell that) when he ordered the one pound hamburger, and ate it all except a little of the bun. The guys with us were harsh, and wouldn't count it as eating it in its entirety, but I was proud of him anyway.