You asked for it...

Wave and kiss:


Goodnight My Father (missing the second line, but he remembered most of it) =):

Handmade = Treasure The Moments

Here is Andrew, getting ready for his nap. He's sleeping on a fleece pillow that my friend Emily made for him, the blanket tucked around him is from my friend Idella, and the crocheted one next to him is one I made last year.

All little children that I have known recognize and appreciate handmade. As I was settling him for his nap just now, it got me thinking. The development of our children as people depends on our hands, our care, our time. When Andrew asks me to sing Goodnight My Father* to him one more time, or insists that I repeat the "ABC's" starting at "QRS", when he begs me to pray for him just a little longer (= cuddle time) and screams if I shut the door before he gets a chance to say "I love you too, Mommy", I am investing in a man. I am handshaping his character.

I read today in the book Beautiful In God's Eyes (by Elizabeth George) that "...50% of a child's character and personality development takes place by age three, and 75% by age five". The laundry needs to be done, there's little fingerprints on the walls, my dining room set is sticky, the floor is wanting a good scrub, my hair isn't fixed, I haven't put my makeup on yet...but my children need me. Getting the Stuff done is important. But investing my time, treasuring the moments with my babies, is always first.**





*Goodnight My Father is a song Barbara Cuomo taught me in Sunday school when I was probably 6 or 7. She handed out the lyrics on these little pieces of paper. I think she wrote it herself. I put the paper in my bottom drawer and still had it when I moved out to Tulsa in '01. The lyrics are a little choppy, and some of it may have changed a little with my memory, but it has comforted me in more situations than I can count. It's a beautiful prayer, and I'm so glad that Andrew loves it too. Maybe I'll put up a video sometime of Andrew singing it so that you all can hear how it goes.

Here are the lyrics:
Goodnight my father, put thoughts of Jesus in my head
Holy Spirit comfort me, put angels all around my bed
And fill my dreams with the things that please you
I long to hear Your sweet voice, it is so peaceful.


**To balance this, I assure you that I realize: Greg comes before the kids, God comes before Greg. =)

The Boys Ride Out

Greg is amazing. He agrees to do things I'd never do. Like, for instance, taking the boys out on each of their respective vehicles together -- Elijah on the four-wheeler and Andrew on his tricycle. Brave guy. Elijah needs the button pushed the whole time too, so he has to hunch over for the entirety of the walk. The boys love it though. Check out this little video for a super cute action shot.

(I especially love the riding away shot of the little peachy head and sticking out ears, while Andrew speeds away in the distance.)

Jelly in his belly

Andrew, Elijah and I just got back from a walk to our the office in our complex. They had a package there for the boys from their Poppy (Pete). When we got home and opened it, the boys discovered that it was full of jelly bean eggs! Pete also sent along some extras in a bag for Greg and I, and Joy if she was still here. (Isn't he thoughful?)

I turned around for a moment to load this picture into the computer, and noticed that Elijah had gotten quiet. When I found him he was sitting on the floor with a stunned look on his face and green drool all over his yellow PJ's. He was sucking on his first jelly bean. Woops. I didn't realize that he could figure out how to open the eggs. He is beyond pleased with himself. Ah well.

Andrew and Elijah say "thank you so much, Poppy! You know what we like!" Now excuse me while I go stash them over the fridge before the boys clean the whole box out in one go. =)

Video!

It feels strange to have such an empty house. We had a wonderful time with my family (if you read Greg's post, you already know that). I am so glad and so honored that they actually made the time and were able to come and check out our lives down here. My dad wasn't able to come with my mom and the kids, but he will be working on Caleb's new house (oh, BTW he bought a house in North Carolina) in May, and then renting a motorcycle to come down here for a little visit. Should be fun! Andrew will be besides himself with excitement when he sees his Grandpa "Poppa" ride in on a bike!

I haven't been posting too much because of all the excitement of the visits, but I'll try to catch you all up a little at a time.

Joy was able to stay with us for 4 or 5 weeks after my mom and everyone else left, which was awesome. She was a huge help to me, cleaning, cooking and just hanging out. We recorded a Johnny Cash song together on my new little sort-of-home-studio. We also attempted to write a song, but it ended up a little more like a Fiddler On The Roof jig, so we trashed it. We have not given up on our quest to become JoyFaith -- The Next Big Thing, so look for us on a billboard near you.

One day I had Joy make datenut bread (Mary Simchera's fantastic recipe), and gave her some clean, large tin cans to bake it in. Joy hasn't done a heck of a lot of quick bread recipes, so she didn't realize that you never fill something more than 2/3 full. (If you didn't know that, make a note of it!) This is what happens when you ignore that rule:

It may be hard to see, but the entire can is covered in baked on bread. The stuff inside was still good, but it took her about a half hour to get the bread out of the two crusted cans. Yummy.

Last weekend, Sarcy flew in from Michigan. It was so wonderful to spend time with her, as always.

On the last day that Sarah and Joy were here, we attempted to rewrite Moon River as Sock Knitter, but hit a mind block. If you have any lyrics for me to spoof on that song, I'm going to be recording it hopefully next week, and sending it in to one of the major Knitting podcasts. (Does anyone know of any copywright issues for spoof songs?)

Here's two short video clips from today:

(Note the static in Elijah's hair at the end)


(Quick disclaimer: I thought Greg had said Andrew could go down hills fine.)

When I had Greg watch this after we got inside, we were actually crying we were laughing so hard. In case anyone is wondering, a knee is slightly pink, but no other injuries were sustained.

The blues

Sarcy's coming today! I'm leaving in a few minutes to pick her up from the airport.

Greg tried to dye Andrew's hair blue today.



As you can see, it didn't take very well.


Ah well. That dye was from when I made my hair blue at Cornerstone about 4 years ago. Maybe it'll work with some newer stuff.

The Big Visit

For the past seven days we hosted seven members of the Roselle family, at our 1600-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment, in Georgia. The idea was originally for Jonathan, Christopher and Joel to come down as sort of a "boy's-week-out" adventure. We had also planned to fly Joy down to help with our move this summer. So, after considering the cost, and since Jonathan was going to drive down anyway, we asked him if he could just bring Joy down a couple of months early, to save us the cost of a plane ticket. So, when Grace found out that Joy would be coming down early, she decided that she wanted to come too. And, of course, that left Rachel, feeling left out, so Jo asked if it would be okay for her and Rachel to come along as well.
We all had a very good time together, and it was nice for them to be able to see everything we're involved in here in Columbus. They got to see Rivertown, the church we're a part of, our Wednesday night worship home group, and Thursday night worship team practice. They also enjoyed the amenities of our apartment complex, including the exercise room, tennis courts, pool, playground, and walking areas. The pictures are from our outing to Krispy Kreme.
I don't think I've ever hosted so many people in such a small place, for an entire week, so being me, I did somewhat of a logistical study of large family household consumption.





The following is a list of the resources the 11 of us used during the seven-day span:
-11 gallons of milk
-9 dozen eggs
-7 lbs of butter
-5 gallons of lemon aid
-6 lbs of sandwich meat/cheese
-5 loaves of sandwich bread
-6 boxes of cereal
-2 lbs of bacon
-10 lbs of sugar
-1/2 lb of coffee
-3 recipes of Cuban black beans
-1 recipe of lentil soup
-3 recipes of chicken soup
-2 recipes of vodka sauce
-3 recipes of spaghetti sauce
-4 recipes of spinach gnocchi
-2 recipes of sopa seca
-2 recipes of guacamole
-3 recipes of banana bread
-4 recipes of double molasses cookies
-2 recipes of cowboy cookies
We also used:
-5 rolls of paper towels
-5 mega rolls of toilet paper
-10 Ziploc Snap 'n Seal containers
-3 boxes of tissues







We also:
-Took 34 baths/showers
-Processed 18 loads of laundry
-Processed 16 loads of dishes
And, threw away 31 bags of trash.
The Roselles left yesterday morning and are stopping to visit Caleb, in North Carolina, on their way home. After they left, I spent the entire day deep cleaning the whole house, which included laundry loads of towels, sheets, and clothes that took me 10 hours to complete.
After considering the cost of housing and feeding a large family, I have decided that I wouldn't have it any other way. Sure, it can be expensive sometimes, but it's a small price to pay, considering how great it is to be surrounded by family.

I'm Back...

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so here I am. Several weeks ago, Faith posted about all the foods I dislike. Here is a list of the stuff I do like. Bear in mind that this list is not all inclusive, but includes some of my favorites. Also, if an item is listed with a specific name or recipe, it means I have committed hours of research and taste-testing to come to that conclusion. Not that I’m a culinary snob or anything. So, in alphabetical order, here they are:

Banana Pudding (Mom’s recipe is the best)
Blue Berries (only plain, not cooked into anything) (the wild bush in my parent’s front yard is the best I’ve ever had)
Boston Lettuce / Callamatta Olive / Artichoke Heart / Romano Salad
Bratwurst
Buttermilk Biscuits (Faith’s recipe is the best)
Caleb Roselle’s Baked Ham
Chicken & Biscuits (The ladies of the Warren Center community building make the best)
Chicken Soup (Jo Roselle makes a killer recipe)
Concorde Grapes
Crème Brule (L’Adour, Jimmy’s Harbour Side, or Hannah Roselle make the best)
Crepes (The Joy of Cooking’s recipe is the best)
Dewy Meadows Light Amber Maple Syrup
Dewy Meadows Maple Cream
Edy’s Dreamery Vanilla Ice Cream
Greg’s Balsamic Salad Dressing
Greg’s Smashed Potatos
Hebrew National Hot Dogs
Hershey’s Vanilla Milk Shakes
Hummus (Faith’s is the best)
Imported Hard Cheeses (ie. Gruyere, Manchego etc.)
Indian Food (in general)
Italian Food (not so much the Americanized stuff, but real, Italian dishes)
Jelly Belly Jelly Beans (Cappuccino, Strawberry Cheese Cake, Watermelon, Coconut, Buttered Popcorn)
Jonathan Roselle’s Pizza
Jo Roselle’s Chicken Soup
Jo Roselle’s Pot Roast
Lobster Bisque (Jimmy’s Harbor Side and Seldom Blues’ recipes are the best)
Kettle Corn Popcorn (Orville Reddenbacker’s is the best)
Knockwurst
Kozy Shack Rice Pudding
Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
Mango
Mussels
Pene ala Vodka (Faith’s recipe is the best)
Popovers
Potato- Leek Bisque (Faith’s is the best)
Rawdatain Mineral Water (Kuwait)
Reese’s Pieces
Sam Roselle’s Spaghetti Sauce (Faith’s version is the best)
Seafood Bisque (Mom’s recipe is the best)
Straw Berries
Thai Food (in general)
Vanilla Milk Shakes with rainbow sprinkles
Vietnamese Food (in general)
Zapp’s Cajun Dill Potato Chips


Gerg

Oh what days

Well. My sweater was completed in record time, and it turned out well. I know you were all wondering. (Tongue firmly planted in cheek.)

On to topics more relevant to this blog.

Last week, Greg and I hosted/led our first home group at our apartment. It is focused on worship, which means that I had to practice (gasp!) and pick out songs, type up lyrics, etc. Also, I felt the need to clean (of course) and also bake (count them) 1. banana muffins 2. pound cake 3. a chiffon pie. Someone tell me I was out of my mind. Thank you.

More than likely due to all of this, Andrew decided to go on an all out whining fest, and Elijah wouldn't be satisfied with anything. Here is the innocent Mr. A.:

Looks almost innocent there.

I was completely overwhelmed, and, as anyone would, I just wanted my mom. Thankfully, she happened to be out and called me on her cell. I poured out my woes to her, telling her that I was seemingly trying to impersonate the Martha of the New Testaments, and so she gave me a little talking to, prayed for me, and, well, was just Mommy. Just what I needed.

I still managed to get two of those things baked, along with every other single thing needed. My back was killing me, my feet felt like they'd break down the center and I was exhausted, but the homegroup went well. This is how I got Elijah to cooperate for the last little while of preparation:

He's never even tried a bottle before, but I happened to have some vanilla Soy Silk...

Desperation, I tell you.

Yesterday I took Andrew in for his Well Baby exam and shots. He wasn't very trusting of the Dr.

I brought him into the next room for the shots, and I suddenly remembered why I hate shots so much. They had him lie down on his back on the table, and I crossed his arms over his chest. Then while he was looking up at me, they stabbed him in the legs with three shots. I have to admire them for being quick, but the look on his little face turning from sweet trust to crumpled pain was almost too much for me. I nearly cried too, but thought they doctors would think I was wuss, so I packed it in.

Tomorrow I bring Elijah in. Ask me how I feel about shots then.

Sandwiches, everyone likes 'em, sandwiches. *

I always assemble sandwiches for Andrew without the top bread, because, what's the point?


Have you ever seen such cuteness?

The third little guy is Monkey, Andrew's very good friend, who just moved away on Friday. =(






* If you are not familiar with this quote, you'd better brush up on your Ghoti Hook trivia. Whoever can name that song will receive special recognition in my next post on top of the fact that you'll know you're cooler than anyone else.