Some of my faves from NCT

These are some of my favorite things I found at the NCT sale.

A friend (Rachel G) is storing this for us- it's an art table for Rebekah for her birthday in July. I plan on stocking it full of goodies (art supplies)- I think it will be awesome!

I spent less than $60 and half of it was on the table and the grobags (we don't run the heat at night so it's like a sleeping bag or sleepsack for the kids at sleepy times). The other half went to the items on the bed. Rebekah had already snagged a new sweatshirt and is wearing it in the pic.

I loved this- less than a dollar!

This was my deal of the day- 25p (37 cents!)!

My little cutie, insisting on a picture of her...

This was another great deal- maybe 1 pound 50? Less than $3!

Luke's first birthday (yikes!) will be pirate-themed in less than a month! This cute little hoodie has floral (nonscary) skulls on it! Sorry, Aunt Helen!

This is for you, Andrea! Last time I wore this, you commented you wanted to see me standing up!

Cuteness embodied

I LOVED these pictures Rachel Owens took of my kids tonight! It was just random, not really planned...Too bad my kids aren't precious!! (p.s. The awesome window is in their bathroom :)- yes, I'm a little jealous)

They're back!

That's right- my children are no longer possessed by horrible sickness! (We all 4 had colds with various symptoms and poor Luke had ulcers in his mouth and is probably working on some teeth, too) They are themselves again! I could tell the second I got up- Rebekah and Josh were singing in the kitchen (I'm so excited...duh duh duh duh duh duh...I just can't hide it...) and Luke did his usual (since Christmas) sleep in past 8am. He woke up chipper, too! I was sooo excited and sang, too. :) Rebekah was actually in rare form. She was hilarious- "Hey, guys- let's sing!" And as I was getting her dressed, "That's a great idea, Mom. Let's wear this- it matches. That's awesome." "Keep doing that." (referring to me hugging her).

Awesome news- Buddy guzzled some MILK from a sippy cup- granted I had to hold it for him, but this is great news!

We also got to pick up our friend, Lily for the morning- her week-old baby brother isn't letting her mama (Kate) get any sleep, so we happily stepped in to at least take one off her hands. Rebekah chatted about how she was excited to share with Lily and how Lily could sit in her car seat and have her seat in the stroller...The girls were so excited to play together- I took all 3 kids to the HUB- it's funny b/c Lily has the same coloring as my 2, so having 2 1/2 yr old, a 2 yr old, and an 11-month old must have made people wonder! The girls had a blast running up and down the ramp and their squeals led me to take them outside (BEAUTIFUL and WARM!!!!!!!) to play on "daddy's campus." Once again, we all had a blast and Luke was back to his usual love to watch self. Praise the Lord.

This was from our date night last Wednesday- we went to "Soul"- sorry for the poor lighting, but it is a renovated church that has been turn into a restaurant. Afterwards we went to the ONLY coffee shop open past 5 or 6pm.

Evidently Mickie was cold.

Luke "standing"- I put him there but he stayed for a while. :) (Notice that he loves to play with his bottom lip- he is doing it in this picture)

Sweet Rebekah was SURE he needed help- adorable!

Rebekah put on this bib and asked if we could take a picture of "Bekah in a bib!"

She also snuggled up with Daddy...very sweet.

Sometimes you just need perspective

Today is one of those days where I have to look at cute and happy pictures of my kids to remind myself I'm not usually so frazzled with them. Awake and "asleep" times are not going well, which is, in fact, unusual. They are both clingy and driving me nuts- one at time is par for the course, but both is tough. :)

This morning, Rebekah did help me make a coconut creme pie. Notice she does have her own dough and pan. :)

Luke was sweet, too. :)

Last night, before baths...thought you might appreciate seeing our little tugboat!

Rebekah was very excited to get to wear her "paint clothes" yesterday to paint! I thought the hands in the next picture are priceless.

I hang out quite a bit with Rachel and Kate. They both already have 2-yr-olds and have just entered the crazy world of "mom of 2!" Benjamin is Rachel's second boy (3 weeks old) and Callum is Kate's first boy (a couple days!)- Kate was stunned to have a boy! Her daughter,Lily, and Rebekah are 7 months apart (R is older) but are 2 peas in a pod. :) Love Callum's crazy newborn hair- they actually both have a full head of hair.

Saturday was cold and wet, sow e took the kids to KC Kangaroo's (which R endearingly calls KC Kangazoos)- a padded play area with lots of balls, slides, and climbing things- it's about $5 to take them and is pretty close. Luke sat there :), and I am happy to report that Rebekah finally worked up the nerve to actually climb some things and go down one slide. It is made for kids, so there is no way to help her once she has climbed somewhere (climbing is not a strong point). So, she tried and tried and tried to work up the nerve to go down the long, tube of a slide, but, in the end, just couldn't do it. :)

Granted this is in the baby area, where #1, Luke is NOT crawling or playing and #2 is the place R was the bravest! We were so excited when she climbed up a tiny mat and JUMPED into the balls! being my child (meaning scared of heights and new things sadly), this is huge!

Well, this post has done its job- I am in a much better mood and don't feel like running away! My kids really do need better sleep, tho.... ;)

Malone Genius and random tidbits

I know everybody thinks their kid is a genius...however, ours actually are!

Luke is saying Mama, Dada, and Bekah!!! He also does a passionate (mad) "more" that sounds like ("mah!") and sometimes clasps his hands together as a sign for more- also fairly angry. :) For a boy and second-born, we are quite pleased! (To the undiscerning ear- read that anyone but us :) - everything but Mama might just sound like gibberish.) I am also guessing that all this brain power is distracting him from his physical abilities, which is why he's delaying crawling- doesn't want to overwhelm us with too many new tricks.

Rebekah found a toy today that the boys who lived in this flat left that we also had in Iowa. She picks it up, and I kind you not, says, "I recognize this toy! I had this toy in the blue house! Do you recognize it, Mommy?" (Josh and she have been talking about the blue house in Iowa :) ). RECOGNIZE?! When did she learn that- and in context?

Side note- it's crazy fun and a little bit sad that Rebekah's frame of reference isn't based off just us anymore. By going to creche a couple times of week and creche at church, she learns things that we do not teach her. Case in point: a while ago she started talking about "strangers" and saying "That's not my daddy!" We still don't know where she learned that. Today, she started singing "He's got the whole world in his hands" and a new song to me, "I will make you fishers of men..." My heart melted- to hear my little songbird (even if it was at the top of her lungs while supposedly napping) with a new tune slays me. :)

Another random one- one of R's tubes from her ear fell out last week- it was sititng in her ear- yikes!! Hope she doesn't need it! Josh says it's normal for them to fall out...?

Sorry, no pics! I'll do better next time...

My dream come true

Ever since finding out we were indeed pregnant again (with Luke- not pregnant now!), I dreamed of bathing my babies together. I knew I had to wait until Luke could sit, which, like all physical things for my kids, took longer than anticipated. So, he sat here in Scotland and we only have a shower with a plastic container in the bottom for a "tub." Needless to say, very little space for one child, mush less two. However, Luke LOVES his baths and Rebekah has been dying to get in with him, so I threw caution to the wind and this was the awesomeness that followed:



There was a lot of bathing of "Little Man" or "Little Buddy," complete with "Thanks, Buddy. That was very helpful." Praise the Lord he is a lot tougher than she is in the bath. In fact, R just struggles with things on her face- she HATES water in her eyes and even is finnicky about pulling shirts over her head. Recently, she has begun to say, "Thank you for being gentle and not hurting me, Mommy" after I dress her...sigh...

Luke and his new pal, Asher, aka Dasher (Rebekah hears me say Hannah and Asher, so she runs it together and calls him Dasher). Do not notice that though the same age, Asher is crawling, pulling up, and almost walking, with twice as many teeth...instead look at my sweet boy grinning at me. :)


He may not do much, but he sure sleeps well! Now that we've dropped the 3rd nap, Luke is a rock star at night and in most of his naps (Andrea, note the word "most" and 8:30am was very late for him, too!) We've also quit the reflux meds and dropped to 2 bottles- he is not a fan of that last one, but he's hangin' in there.

This was prior to me waking him from a 2 hour nap after 13 hrs at night...funny little kid- soooo me in soooo many ways!! Seriously, I think he takes after me in a good number of ways. Time will tell.

Long story short, Rebekah inadvertently got led into big church with the other kids for a baptism. She was delighted to see us in the balcony and yelled "Daddy!!!" with a big wave during the christening. She checked in evry few minutes and we heard some loud "She's crying!" (referring to the baby being baptied) and "I am being quiet!" The sweetest thing ever was Josh leaning over to me (we were both in a fit of giggles) and saying, "We get to take her home." Great words, Josh.

She also interrupted my Bible study yesterday by saying, "But I want to talk to you..." I immediately scooped her up and stopped what I was doing. I had been reading about Jesus and the children- it seemed the right thing to do! She asked me to read it to her, which i did. She then got down and started her own Bible study, even drawing the people she had just heard about. :) My prayer is that she will associate Bible study with a loving Savior and a tender Mommy, like I did growing up with my mom.

I bought some raisins for Luke- fun finger foods that will loosen his bowels, if he's anything like his sister. Unfortunately, tho she loves them, if she eats too many raisins, she poops for days! She was not impressed with my explanantion that Buddy need to poop as much as possible and she does not. They might make her tummy hurt. her solution, "Well, let's find some raisins that don't make my tummy hurt! Can you look, Mommy? Can you check?" How do you say no to that? Fortunately, Luke hates raisins, so we are rationing them to her- fingers crossed.

Last one and then I'm off for bed- we were reading a children's Bible about Adam and Eve and she realized they were "in trouble." She whispered, "Did God pop their bottoms?" Unwisely, I said "yes" (since she had already had 2 for defiance). She looked at me, astonished, wide-eyed, and whispered again, 'But they're big people." I said, "Well, God expects to be obeyed." You can't get much by her.