Sweethearts, Singing, Snow & Surgery

We've had a busy past couple of days. On Friday we had our Valentine's banquet at church and it was a huge success. One of our deacons and wife planned the whole thing out and they did a tremendous job. It was a French theme, complete with a French menu. The food was delicious. We were honored to have Dr. and Gracie Endean come down and speak to us. They were such a blessing and I think our church folks enjoyed seeing them again.

On Sunday the Pee Wee class sang the song that they had been working on. Marshall was a bit nervous, but went up and sang anyway. Shaylen had on a beautiful velvety blue dress that was handed down to her. I don't know who gave her this one (maybe the Gauthiers or McIlwaines?). Regardless, she looked like a million bucks and was so cute singing up there. I'm glad Taigen recorded it so I can enjoy it later and so can you.

Sunday night we got dumped on again with another huge snowstorm. Taigen said we got about 6-7 inches. The snow pilings on the side of the road in front of the house are almost as tall as our minivan! It will not be melting anytime soon.

Grandma Rutledge had her hip surgery and is recovering nicely. She is so glad to have it over with. Please continue to pray for her to get her strength back. She is eager to get home. (Plus, she's probably having withdrawal issues since she can't see this blog where she is! She's probably my biggest fan.)

Mama Is A Crook

I posted last week that the kids and I went and picked up some small things to give to Taigen as a Valentine's gift. One of those items was a bag of M&M's. The kids and I wanted Taigen to be able to fill the M&M dispenser in his office.

When we were at Wal-Mart and picking out which kind of M&M's to buy, Marshall asked if they were on sale (Good boy! I've trained him right!). I told him "no" but that it was okay this time since it was for something special and they didn't cost that much. He said, "But won't the police put you in jail?" I quickly, and obviously inadequately, explained to him that just because they aren't on sale doesn't mean we cannot buy them. I reassured him that I would pay for them and then forgot all about the conversation.

Fast forward. It's been seven days since we purchased them and Marshall was obviously still concerned about the purchase. Today at lunch he asked me, "When are the police going to come and get us because the M&M's weren't on sale?" Poor kid! He's been thinking all this time that we weren't supposed to buy them! I had to launch into a lengthy discussion on the difference between full price vs. sale price and "for sale" vs. "on sale." I don't know how much soaked into his cute little head, but hopefully he won't think evil of his mama anymore. Who can blame the little guy for worrying when Mommy and Daddy have said, "No, we can't buy that right now. Maybe we can when it's on sale." Oh boy.

More NH Road Terms & Other News

On our way home from church tonight, we hit a pothole. It was big enough to jostle the kids a bit in their carseats and Marshall piped up from the back, "What was that?!?"

I said, "It was a pothole."

Silence. "Is that where pots go?"

I thought I would start off this post with a bit of humor. On a totally different note, please pray for dear Grandma Rutledge. She is having hip replacement surgery tomorrow morning. Obviously, she is NOT looking forward to it, but hopefully this will alleviate some of the pain she's been experiencing and will free her up to do the things she loves. We would appreciate your prayers for her and I'm sure she will too. Many thanks.

Happy Valentine's Day!

May I just start off this blog entry by saying how thankful we are for our friends, adopted family members and wonderful families? God has truly blessed us well beyond what we could ever ask or think! Valentine's Day is a wonderful day to not only focus on your love for your spouse, but also on your children and extended family & friends.

Last night Taigen & I were honored to be invited up to Cornerstone's Couples' Banquet. The assistant pastor, Rob, asked if Taigen might speak and graciously allowed me to tag along. They had a wonderful Italian feast of lasagna and chicken rotini (catered by Amatos), salad, breadsticks, and cheesecake! It was delicious. It's always great to see our dear families up in ME and catch up on all their news. I'm always amazed at how many of them mention that they keep up with our news via this blog. What meant the world to me is that many told us how they have been praying for us. Thank you so much. We cherish those prayers.

The kids were excited to have Ellen come and babysit again. They looked forward to it all week. Marshall woke up on Wednesday morning and said to me first thing, "Only two more sleeps!" Ellen came with a bag full of fun. She planned to work on a "secret project" with them. The kids were bursting with excitement this morning to show me their hard work for us (Valentine's Day cards). What fun they had! They went on and on about what all she did with them. We are thankful for a dependable babysitter who is also a great example for our kids.

When Taigen came home from church today, the kids ran upstairs to find their secret stash that we had purchased for him. It wasn't anything much, just some special treats the kids picked and two cards to let him know we were thinking of him and loved him. I had fun taking the kids shopping for it all. They are so cute!

I took off for church this afternoon to work and while I was gone, Taigen whipped up this wonderful cookie for me (us)! I have to admit that I didn't believe Shaylen when she told me that "Daddy made it." It looked too perfect and it had also been edged with frosting using decorator tips! Sure enough, Taigen had gotten "in touch" with his "inner creative self" and had made the masterpiece. Didn't he do a great job? It was delicious too. What a guy!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day. We appreciate and love you all so much.

Heave Ho!

There comes a time in the life of all New Englanders when they begin to experience frost heaves. Contrary to my early definition (about 9 years ago), this is not when you finally get sick of snow (although I've been hearing people start to gripe about it). It is when the soil expands and contracts during the winter. The result is a bunch of huge bumps in the road. This makes for an interesting road trip! We have several frost heaves that we hit on our way home, but one in particular is so large, it makes the kids and me laugh each time we go over it. So far there has been no sign posted warning the unsuspecting driver of the approaching heave, but the kids and I know it's there and always look forward to it. I have thrill issues, I know...

As Promised...

As promised last week, I took pictures today of the kids after they had learned about the Statue of Liberty. Their unit is focusing on America and today they were learning about American symbols. They had so much fun making their crown and torch. Marshall was even able to regurgitate a bit of the lesson and tell Taigen that the Statue of Liberty was in "Yew Nork City!" (They always have had difficulty saying that one.)

I also got these cute shots yesterday of Shaylen in her snowman outfit. I cannot recall who handed this one down to her, but I'm wondering if it was maybe Renee from one of her girls? Anyone know? She looked like a million bucks on Sunday, especially with those piggy tails.

Lastly, here is cute shot of Marshall from today. He decided to build a wall out of all of his stuffed dogs (and Curious George) spanning from his dresser to the bed. You cannot imagine the hours of fun our kids get from all of their stuffed animals, and I honestly mean all of them. Each and every one of those animals hold services, go hang gliding, go to school, sing, build homes and often assume the personalities of Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe, Mr. Phillips (the school teacher), Marilla, Matthew and Mrs. Lynde! With imaginations like these, who needs TV?

Today is the first Monday in a while that Taigen has not worked on a household project. That is, unless you count vacuuming. We just got our vacuum back from the Vacuum Doctor and our house needed it! Taigen decided to get that done while I was in school with the kids. Wasn't that nice?

We're supposed to get up to the 50's this week! What a change that will be! Hopefully that will mean outside time and lots more pictures of two cuties.

Our Peaceful Household

And this is what I was listening to for about a half an hour today. Gotta love my job!

Present Dust Collector and Other News

I thought I had better write something on here today otherwise Grandma Rutledge and my dear friend Marie are going to think some great calamity has befallen the Joos household!

We've had a great week so far. Taigen got busy on Monday morning first thing. He tore apart our room (including the ceiling fan) and started painting. It's not a drastic change, but the new cream color cleans things up a ton. Taigen had to paint everything: trim, ceiling and walls. Everything was very beaten up. Poor guy! It was an all day project. He was so happy though that the project got done. Our bedroom finally looks like it belongs with a nine year old home.

Tuesday I went and got my stitches taken out. That is a relatively painless process (ahem, Nate Perdue!) though I did bleed some. While in the office the P.A. came in and firmly instructed me that I am not to play the piano for another two weeks. Gulp. Thankfully, we have some dear ladies who are willing to step in at this time and help. It's nice being able to sing in the congregation and even in the choir, at least for a while. Aside from Marshall, the piano is collecting dust at present. Marshall loves to go and "play," though "bang" is probably the more accurate term. It's hard because he loves the bombastic and loud sounds. (I have a feeling he'll prefer Rachmaninoff & Stravinsky rather than Debussy and Chopin.)

The kids are continuing to do well in school. In Math they've started working on subtraction.We've just finished up a unit in their main class that was focusing on Spain and other Spanish speaking countries. They had so much fun trying to speak Spanish. This next unit they'll be focusing on different parts of our country. I'm excited to discuss Hawaii and especially Alaska! I'll have pictures to post on Monday when they discuss New York. I can't wait.

Until then...