Snow Day and Green Eggs and Ham

Today was a snow day for us. Well, the boys and I were home anyway, but we got to spend it with Richard because school was cancelled due to the snow!  We had a great day shoveling, relaxing, making cookies, and marveling at the snow. I will put up some fun snow pics later, but here are a few pics from our day together. 

Richard and Elijah watching Batman.  Elijah "reading" in the bathroom while he was supposed to be trying to go potty. 

**I made the boys green eggs for supper and they had some ham with it. We were originally going to do this for "Patrick's Day" but had chicken instead. Jonah read the story to Elijah while I cooked it up and it was adorable!  It looked pretty gross to me, but they gobbled it right up!***

Stellan Name Gallery Part II

Praying for God to "Drive" away the SVT! (From ND)

God is in control. God has a plan for Stellan. Millions are on their knees in prayer for little Stellan and MckMama. Last August when doctor's did not think this precious boy would survive, people from all over the world began sending pictures of his name in food, nature, and many other things. Stellan's Gallery was created and became a testimony of many who were praying for this little man. A fellow MckMama blog follower, Lauren, has created Stellan's Gallery: PART II. 

It is easy to do and a great way to encourage their family. Simply take a picture of his name, in your own creation, post it to your blog, link your blog back to hers, and there you have it. 

Pray for Stellan!

If you are reading this than please drop to you knees in prayer for Stellan.  If you are a frequent visitor of my blog, you know that usually I participate in Not Me Mondays created by MckMama. Her sweet baby boy had SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) in utero and wasn't expected to survive. God performed a miracle and "healed" him against medical odds!  However, Stellan has had one other run in with SVT since birth when he had RSV this winter. Now it is raging it's ugly head again and they are in the hospital trying to stop his racing heart. It is beating 300 bmp at times.  This condition is not safe for a baby and their could be grave consequences if this does not stop. 

She has not updated her blog for quite sometime so I am not sure of what is happening. I know they have tried numerous procedures and medications to try to stop it and they have not worked. 

Lord, we come to you now and fall to our knees for baby Stellan. We know that you are powerfull and ultimately in control. This is a part of your plan for Stellan and although we can not understand we trust you. Please wrap your arms around Stellan and slow his racing heart Lord. Give his family peace and hold them up as the unknown continues. We love you Lord and thank you for being a God we can come to anytime. In your precious name,

 Amen!

So Sweet

Jonah, Elijah and I were just eating a delicious lunch of mac & cheese and hot dogs when Jonah said something that made me tear up.  He was babbling about randomness and Elijah and I were just listening when all of the sudden he said he wished he was a grown up so he could get married to Elijah.  I explained that we aren't allowed to marry our immediate relatives and he thought about this for awhile and then with a huge smile on his face asked if I would help him do something when he was all grown up. I said sure, but what is it?

He said, "Mom, will you help me find a girl to marry who is just like you?" I was too choked up to speak and he continued with, "'cause I can't marry you, but I hope someday the girl I will marry will be just like you."  I told him I would be more than happy to do that, but God has already picked out someone special for him. He said it would be ok if I still helped him find his wife, 'cause maybe God doesn't know he wants one just like me.  (Isn't that sweet? I am sure he will feel differently when he gets older and is actually searching for a future spouse, but I will gently remind him of his desires as a 4 year old).

Just had to post this so I wouldn't forget later!

Making Cookies and Memories

Some of my favorite memories of my childhood revolve around making cookies with my mom.  She used to let us help from the beginning to the end.  We made all kinds of cookies, but my favorite was when we made sugar cookies and decorated them. We would do this almost every Christmas and some holidays in between.  My mom would make frosting and divide it up, color it, and let us go to town.  For Christmas a few years ago, I found a box of 100 cookie cutters for $10 and gave it to Jonah.  We have used the cookies cutters for play-doh and cookies.  There are letter, numbers, shapes, and all sorts of other cookie cutters.  

I have started making cookies with the boys for different holidays/occasions.  They love it!  It is such a fun time and extra special to me since it is one of my favorite memories of growing up. 

Yesterday we made some cookies for friends who watched the boys last week while Richard and I went to my sister Laura's choir concert.  Jonah helped me while Elijah was still napping and he woke up just in time to frost them.  Jonah and I had some fun conversations while it was just the two of us and he told me this was one of his favorite things to do with me! 

I took some pictures and Jonah and Elijah took turns wearing our little apron we found at the farmers market last summer. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled for another one!

The Chefs. (I think Elijah is "winking" in his picture)

The Thank You cookies for the Fetch's and a few of our beautiful Shamrock/flower/musical note cookies.

Happy "Patrick's Day"

Jonah has been counting down the day to "Patrick's Day" as he calls it!  I am not sure why though. I have had some adorable shamrock decorations (yep, the ones from TJ Maxx) up for awhile.

 After he inquired about them I picked up a book at the library explaining St. Patrick's Day.  Ever since he has been pumped for the green holiday.  

We started out the day by heading to a water park in town at a newer hotel, the Canada Inn.  I dragged my sister Nikki along, who had lots of fun by the way, and we met up with some of my friends from work and their kiddos.  They had a special and it was only $10 for all 4 of us to swim instead of almost $30!  The picture below is only a small part of the park, but where we spent most of our time. (I took it form the hotel's website)

After swimming, we grabbed some lunch and had a picnic at Nikki's apartment. Then I raced home and got the boys down for their naps. After naps we were able to visit with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins who were passing through town.  Then, we had our some good friends (The Fialas) over for chicken on the grill. We had a great time visiting and eating, although it did get a little late. For dessert I made the boys green ice cream, which impressed Jonah.  Don't tell him it was just vanilla with food coloring.  He thinks I have super powers! It was a fun filled day, but he was pretty disappointed to wake up the next morning and discover "Patrick's Day" is just once a year!  Hopefully next year will be just as exciting for him!

Not me! Monday

It is NOT monday and I am NOT excited to share in MckMama's denial of truth, as I have missed a few weeks due to my crazy schedule.  Please join in the carnival of fun and remember all the things you did NOT do last week.

1. I did NOT hold off writing this post because it is NOT my 100th post!  I did not decide it would be appropriate to use this post to celebrate that.
2. I did NOT go for a walk with the boys and my sister today, since it is NOT 40 degrees!  We (my sister and I) did NOT have just as much fun wearing our puddle boots as Jonah and Elijah did splashing in the puddles while we chatted.
3. I did NOT take the boys to walmart last week after MOPS at 1130, even though this was against my better judgement, and bribe them to remain in the cart with lifesavers that our table had won that day! 
4. I did NOT spend 3 solid days watching batman on the couch with boys when Elijah had the flu. Nope, because I certainly couldn't have been getting anything done instead.
5. I did NOT lie to my son when he caught me throwing away piles of his "artwork" which I had already spent at least 20 minutes sorting through. I did NOT tell him that I spilt a drink all over them and that is why I was throwing them away and he did NOT want to see them anyway. I did NOT feel extremely  guilty for not just telling the truth, but was relieved when the garbage can stench made him gag and prevented him from discovering the truth!
6. I did NOT force my 2 1/2 year old to sit on the toilet on more than one occasion this week when I was sure he was trying to poop.  He did NOT, both times, manage to get more poop all over himself and the floor than in the toilet. I did NOT wonder if God was laughing at me since I was trying to force him to potty train because he seems so ready but is just too stubborn!
7. I did NOT read 5 books last week because I could hardly put them down, and would stay up very late doing so. (I love Karen Kingsbury). I did NOT agree to stop doing this because my sleep deprivation was getting the best of me, and manage to read another one last night and today. Bummer!
8. I did NOT use my new cleaning organizing system, Spring Clean Year 'Round, and absolutely love it (Thank you Cindy)!  It was NOT totally freeing, like the product claims to be and easy to use. My kids did NOT love helping me too!
9. I did NOT buy a bag of dark chocolate M&Ms and eat them almost by myself in the span of 2 weeks! 
10. I did NOT have to drag my sons kicking and screaming from the daycare at the gym I workout at because they did not want to leave! I was NOT the only mom whose children cried when she came to get them instead of leave them!
11. I am NOT going to take a nap now instead of doing other things that are more important.  I am also probably NOT tired from staying up late reading my book!

Here is to a new week and hopefully Spring around the corner!