A Child's Prayer

A conversation with God, starring Mommy and Matisse:

Mommy: "Father God, thank you for our food"

'Tisse: "Yeah, food. And ba-pa"

"Yes, thank you for backpacks."

"An' bus"

"Thank you for our bus."

"Yeah, uder bus"

"Um, okay, thank you for the other bus, too."

"Yeah, uder bus"

"Okay, God, thank you for ALL the buses in the whole wide world."

"NO NO NO!"

"Scratch that. Not all the buses. Just thank you for the ones we can ride and the play with each day."

"Yeah. Ma-men."

October: A Photo Journal

Well, I was going to just put up a bunch of photos for the month, but seeing as Blogger is messing with my head right now (really, I just uploaded a ton of photos and they disappeared immediately. Cruel and unusual torture, I swear...) Anyway, I'll start at the end, and the rest will have to come later. Meaning, another day.

Halloween:  Our Little  Chefs   Robots   Ghosts 

Luke slept through trick-or-treating earlier in the day, but I forced him allowed him to go out later.

They INSISTED on being ghosts this year. I didn't even know they were aware of what a ghost is!

They screamed bloody murder when I tried to put the makeup on them. Oh well. Still cute (and comfy, too!)

Off they go!

Swiper, no swiping! Swiper, no swiping! Swiper, no... uh oh! (Dora reference, for those that aren't in the DFC. Dora Fan Club, that is.)

We bought the owl specifically to rid of the squirrels in the yard.  Apparently we forgot to tell the squirrel.

See the lollipop sticks around him? Those are the ones he had already eaten.

Food Allergy Awareness Walk

Joel's Food Allergy Awareness Webpage

In honor of the boys 3rd birthday, please take a moment to click the link above to view details about the walk we are participating in next month.  The goal of the walk is to raise money for food allergy research, a subject obviously very close to our hearts. 
We are hoping to raise $250, so every little bit counts! Thanks!

Third Birthday Boys

The twins turned three years old this week! Amazing.  We decided to skip the great big party thing this year, and instead opted for a few smaller gatherings.

Birthday Celebration I:  We bought the kids' tickets for a ride on Lake Michigan for the 2010 Tall Ships Tour.  (Daddy was supposed to come, but had "very important plans" that day and couldn't cancel.  So Grammy happily joined us instead.)
Our vessel was the Appledore IV:

I planned to take photos after we finished sailing (I figured it'd probably be best to actually hang on to my children during the sail itself!)  Plans never quite work out as intended, though; by the time we were docking, both boys were squeezing their legs together, begging to go potty.  As soon as we docked, I rushed with them off the boat and across to the nearest what I thought was the nearest restroom.
Hurray for Google images! This isn't our ride, and obviously isn't
Chicago, but it IS the Appledore IV!

Here's one of the few images I actually took on board. You can see how much attention they give me when I try and take pictures.









After sailing, we spent a few hours walking around Navy Pier through large crowds of people.  I recently learned of a great tip for taking kids to crowded events: write your cell phone number on your child's arm, so if he gets lost, someone can instantly call you. That day, I also learned the caveat to this tip: you actually have to have a pen that writes well enough on skin so someone can read it.  Instead, I settled for writing it on a scrap of paper and shoving it into each boys' pocket.  Happily, we stayed together and never had to find out if this trick actually works or not. (When the boys came home, Todd later was telling me, in amazement, about the random piece of paper that he found in Joel's pocket with my phone number on it.  I'm not quite sure how he thought it got there...?)

We came back and brought the boys to our new favorite restaurant, Red Robin, to celebrate with a birthday dinner.  (This is "our favorite restaurant" because they are very allergy friendly and have a great plan in place to keep things as safe as possible.)  They ended the meal with a song for the boys, to which each child promptly hid his head in Daddy's arms.  They brought out the obligatory ice cream dessert, which the boys could not eat (due to allergy risk), but the adults could (except for me, as I'm allergic to milk.) So instead, the  boys were given birthday mandarin oranges.  Mmm, mmm!


Birthday Celebration II:  We were scheduled to have a small birthday party with some old friends in our backyard.  The theme was a campout, and I had great plans to make it the greatest campout the boys had ever experienced! (I chose the theme at the beginning of the summer, assuming we'd be taking the kids camping a couple of times this year.  We never did.  So this would have actually been the only campout they've ever experienced.)  But, seeing as our family motto is "plan a little, change a lot", the week before the party, sickness+mosquitoes+whatever else forced us to cancel the camping party.  Instead, we decided to go a local bouncy land called Monkey Joe's.  It's filled with giant inflatable slides and mazes that the kids can enjoy to their little hearts' content!  Everyone had a great time!

After finishing playtime, we headed over to Colonial Cafe for dinner, presents and birthday desserts.

 Playtime with friends, waiting for the "surprise" to arrive. 

When the waitress brought out "The Kitchen Sink" (a giant sundae served in a sink), we anticipated a slightly different reaction from the boys.  Evan Matisse laid his head down, and Joel got up from the table and stood behind me.  At least the rest of the kids enjoyed it!

Don't act too enthusiastic, Evan Matisse!

After the singing, everyone (including the twins) dug into their giant dessert.  Luke didn't get a bowl, but he did get to eat the bananas!

And of course, what's a birthday party without cake?  I made these ice cream cone cupcakes to fit the setting:

Some kids ate them up; others (like mine) wanted nothing to do with them.  I'm just going to tell myself it's because they were too full. 

It was a great birthday for the boys, and very stress free (a first for me!)  The celebration isn't quite over; we'll be getting together with my dad's side this weekend to celebrate.  Lucky kids, they don't just get a birthday, they get a birthday month!

Three year checkup stats:

Joel- 30.5lbs, not very tall (I forget the heights), will be needing glasses in a year or so (astigmatism in both eyes).  Tiny, but otherwise healthy!

Evan Matisse- 28lbs, not very tall either, great eyesight, healthy boy! 

Oh, and just to show how much they are indeed "boys" now (not babies), you notice my new way of referring to Evan?  That's because he and Joel have both decided they prefer to call him Matisse (his middle name) instead of Evan.  We parents are slowly trying to make the switch (which I actually agree with, since Evan seems to be way too popular of a name these days.) If I show the boys baby photos of themselves, they will tell me the one picture is "Goal" (their way of saying "Joel"), and the other pictures is "Teese" (what they usually call Evan Matisse.)  They've really committed to the change!

Family Time at Stearns Woods

Sundays are supposed to be church days, but since the kids can't be in the daycare (because of the peanut allergy, it is too risky), we've decided instead to devote Sundays to being family days.  (We do devotions at home, so we still are able to get in our time with God, too.  And our pastor's weekly message is available for listening online, which allows us to hear him without being there. He's amazing and I miss getting to attend church each week, but it is just too risky for the boys at this age.)  We've been really trying to make each week something special and different that we can really remember as time with one another.  This week was no different, so we decided Sunday was the perfect day to take the kids hiking.

Hiking with three under three is pretty slow; Joel likes to search for bugs, and Evan likes to stop and examine anything that catches his eye (which is pretty much every single thing around.)  Luke was actually the quickest of the three, and at times, getting stuck behind his brothers, was pushing them, trying to get them to move faster. (Finally he was able to escape from behind them and took off, leading us the family the rest of the way.)  Though it was slow going, we had a great time, and I can't wait to bring them out again. 

Luke and Daddy

Freedom makes Luke happy

Always trailing behind, but this time they found something! 

Acorns, just like Tinkerbell uses!

Evan found a beautiful mushroom

Near the end, two of three are worn out; 

Joel is never worn out.

It was a lot of fun, but hopefully next time we'll not have to contend with nearly as many mosquitoes. We loaded ourselves up with OFF (yuck) before and during the hike, but even so, ended up with swarms following us and biting the few spots we had apparently missed.  Joel is allergic to mosquitoes (surprise, surprise), so he's got a few swollen spots today, but I think even he would agree that a few pesky bites are worth the fun we had on the trail.

Don't Pee on My Carpet and Tell Me It's Juice!

Have you ever heard of this book title? It instantly came to my mind today, with a slightly different twist.


As I may or may not have mentioned, the twins are now completely potty trained (hurray!)  Except,  Joel likes to use his freedom as a weapon, specifically when he is upset.  If you happen to be holding him when he starts crying, watch out, you're gonna get wet (as one of his aunts recently discovered... sorry, Renee.)

Today he was without bottoms, as we take them off for quiet time (for easy bathroom access if either of them needs to go.)  Quiet time ended (or rather, the boys refused to stay quietly in their rooms any longer), so they were out, but still bottomless.

While upstairs cleaning, I heard Joel throwing a tantrum, so I went down to check on him.  Immediately I saw a stream of wetness on the carpet and knew what had happened.  The conversation that follows, well, let's just say I'm not worried about any cognitive delays:

Mommy: "Joel, did you PEE on the carpet? We do not PEE on the carpet!"
Joel: "No, Juice!"
Mommy: "Don't tell me that's juice! I can tell that it's pee.  It's even on the kitchen floor!"
Joel: "NO! JUICE!"
Evan: "No, Monny! Juice!" (Yes, he lovingly refers to me as Monny instead of Mommy.)
Mommy: "You're telling me that it's juice on the floor, not pee?"
Joel: "Yes!"

Mommy, frustrated, walks into the kitchen. And hears:

Evan (to Joel): "Juice?"
Joel (to Evan): "No, pee."

WHAT? He's informing Evan that it is indeed pee?!

Mommy: "JOEL! I just heard you tell Evan that this is pee on the carpet!"
Joel (in his sweet little angelic voice): "No, Mommy, juice!"

Stinker.  One absolutely adorable stinker. 

(Don't worry, though.  I got him back.  We had a long talk about how Jesus wants us to tell the truth, which pushed him to tears.  Which, of course, was followed by lots of cuddling, singing lullabies, and "Mommy loves you forevers."  Oh yeah... I totally got him back... uh, right?)

Independence Day

Three years ago today, I was checking into a hospital room, told that I was developing preeclampsia, and that I was going to need to stay hospitalized until my body would force our twins to be born (very) early.  I was 24 weeks pregnant; the doctors were hoping that I'd make it to week 27.


I laid in bed, catching glimpses of fireworks rising above the trees outside my window.  It was a very lonely 4th of July.

Praise God that the doctors were wrong! I did NOT develop preeclampsia, they were NOT delivered too early  (they were born at 35 weeks, which was only one month premature.)

Since that day, 4th of July has really meant something special to me.  I recognize and celebrate our country's freedom, but more importantly, I celebrate God as the ultimate doctor and healer!


 We had a great weekend with family.  Both my brother (plus girlfriend) and sister (plus fiance) were around, so we trekked out to my parents for a fun weekend together.  We spent most of the time in the pool, which Joel loved, Evan liked, and Luke almost tolerated.

First time swimming with water wings. They became pros in no time!

Sunday, the 4th, was spent at our house with Grammy, Grampy, and Uncle Scott visiting.  I had gotten them basic matching outfits, which they promptly soaked in the pool.  Just by chance, when I changed their clothes, they still ended up in red and blue!

 We are hoping to make it to the parade today, followed by fireworks this evening.  I'm thinking the boys will love it, if we can just get them to stay up that late.