The Things They Teach These Days...

Marshall and Shaylen have been learning throughout this year how to read. They are doing a tremendous job too. Shaylen tries to read just about everything she can see. One of the things Mrs. Lawson has done throughout the year is to teach them "word families." They learned what the vowels said and then made words. So "cat" is in the "at" family. That family would include words like "bat," "hat," etc. You get the picture. Each word they've learned has had families to go with it. So, when they sound out a word somewhere, they'll frequently say, "That was in the _______ family!"

Sunday morning the kids finished up breakfast and Marshall went in to the bathroom to wash up before we left for church. He was in for quite a while and when he came out he said, "I washed my face and hands with soap and went potty AND poo-poo! [pause] Hey! That's in the oo-oo family! [which we have NOT covered this year!]" Of course, Taigen and I could hardly contain our laughter and didn't help matters by saying, "And if you add 'sh' to it, that would be what?
"Shoo-Shoo!"
We actually came up with quite the family: Boo-Boo, Choo-Choo, Moo-Moo, Shoo-Shoo, Poo-Poo. Who would've "thunk" it!?

Another guffaw from today: Shaylen was complaining all morning about how her cheek was hurting. I told her that after school I would take a look at it. Come to find out, she's got a canker sore in there. Poor thing. I told her that I would put some medicine on it to numb it. Well, that made her worry for a bit because she thought her cheek would then turn yellow like my hand and arm did when I had my surgery (iodine). After much reassuring, she relented and let me put it on the sore. Marshall was so concerned for his sister and cried! I came down the stairs while they did their quiet time. A few minutes later Marshall came down the stairs in tears.

"What's the matter, Buddy?"
"I don't want you to make Shaylen's cheek dumb!"

And The Winners Are...

Every year Heritage has it's Spaghetti Dinner & Men's Dessert Contest. They say it's friendly fun, but I know those guys bake to win. Remember last year's entries? We were blown away! Taigen realized this was not your average man's dessert contest. Needless to say Taigen's been conniving and planning for months now. When I say months, I mean months. He was talking about it way back in October when we were in Colorado. He did research online and finally discovered the cake he wanted to make. He did a trial run last week and the results were good. He tweaked a few things and submitted his entry tonight. The pressure was on.

There was a lot of smack talkin' going on between the men. I must say that the prelude to the dessert wasn't bad either. We had spaghetti and meatballs (or Power Balls as we ladies call them, because the recipe is from a lady with the last name of Powers.) that were fabulous, scrumptious salad & bread. You had to pace yourself because you knew the desserts were coming.

Drum roll please...After much tasting, deliberations and maybe even more tasting, the non-biased judges awarded the following prizes:

Best Tasting: Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake made by the same guy that made Marshall & Shaylen's birthday cakes and the winner of last year's Most Creative award. (Sorry, I couldn't get a picture of it before the judges cut into it. It did look beautiful.)

Most Creative: Supreme Cookie Pizza made by the same guys that made the Fenway Park cake last year. (And the recipient of most of Taigen's smack talking. Let's just say they are a bad influence on each other!) These guys baked a cookie, smothered it with red frosting, grated a white chocolate bunny for the cheese (isn't that morbid?), and used fruit strips, black licorce, fruit roll ups and marshmallows for the desired toppings. Then they put it in a real pizza box and had an additional side of anchovies (Swedish Fish). Too cool! It looked awesome! Don't you think they did a great job?

Best Looking: Now of course, you all know that I think Taigen is good looking! But to have the judges think he is the best looking is something to brag about! Just kidding. I'm talking about his grand piano cake. He carved two chocolate cakes by hand to the desired shape and frosted them as smoothly as he could. He placed it on two foam boards cut in the shape of a piano to support it. There were Lindt White Chocolate bars for the white piano keys and Lindt Milk Chocolate for the black keys. He also cut some foam board, wrapped it in foil and frosted it with melted chocolate for the raised piano lid and propped it up with a dowel. For the legs, he bought white cake pillars and spray painted them brown so he could get the desired effect. It didn't taste too badly either! Needless to say, I was proud as punch of him. I told him tonight that he got in touch with his inner-Martha Stewart.

The Things They Say

On the way home from church tonight both of the kids said something that made us chuckle. It's funny how what we say and the way we say things soaks right into their little heads! They are little sponges.

From Marshall: "Daddy, do you think we could open up my window? Just a skosh?"

From Shaylen: Marshall slipped one of his shoulder straps off at one point during the journey home in order to look at something behind us. I noticed and very seriously told him to quickly put it back on, and to never, ever take it off while we were driving. It is dangerous! When he asked why, I told him that if we were in a car accident and he didn't have his seatbelt on, he could get thrown from the car. In all seriousness, Shaylen asked, "And break open our noggin?"

Bible Land Houses

One of the focuses in Kindergarten this week for Marshall and Shaylen is learning about the Bible lands. They've seen pictures of the land itself, the trees (they were excited to see a sycamore!), the seas, and today, the homes. In fact, they got to make their own city today. They were required to do one, but they enjoyed it so much they begged me to let them make several more. What a cute idea!

Here are Shaylen's.And here are Marshall's.

Word From Afar

Yesterday Marshall and Shaylen got a package from Auntie Janelle (Via Pastor Endean returning from Zambia, who gave it to Jessica Krupnek, who sent it to us. Whew!). The kids enjoyed opening up their Valentine's gift (African maracas and a drawing she did for each of them) and enjoyed watching a wonderful slide show that Janelle put together for them. They were so excited!

The question now is, should I be thankful to Janelle for giving them another toy that makes noise?

Things That Go "Bump" In the Night

It was good to get a full night's sleep again last night. Taigen made it home from Greenville, SC at around 8:00 last night. Why was he in SC? Well, he had the opportunity to go down and be on an ordination council of a friend from ME. He left at 3:30am on Saturday morning (or as Janelle says it, "o' dark thirty"). The kids and I held the fort for the past three days...and nights.

I'm sure I've heard the bumps, snaps, pops and creaks of this house before when Taigen is home, but when you you're alone, it's another matter. You hear every one. I found myself saying, "Think on things that are true. Think on things that are true." (Philippians 4:8)

Taigen recently purchased a golf club with some Christmas money he'd saved. I think the name of it is "Big Bertha." Well, let's just say that Bertha and I spent the long nights together. I'm no Tiger Woods, but factoring in adrenaline, fear and motherly instincts, I think it's safe to say that any intruder would have a serious handicap after I got done with my swing.

Where the Creepies Dwell

Yesterday as we were talking with the Arnolds, the kids were playing here, there and everywhere. Daniel asked where Caleb could go and "safely" color and I suggested either the counter or maybe downstairs in the basement at the art table.

Marshall piped up and emphatically said with much expression, "No! Not down in the basement because there is a Father Long-Legs down there!"

Hey! At least I'm happy to know that at least my son is respectful when it comes to creepy crawlies and their "official" chain of command.

There is Joy! Joy! Joy in Serving Jesus

This past week was hilariously busy...every day. Even though it seems overwhelming at times, I have to honestly say that it is truly a joy and an honor to be in the service of the King! God forbid that we should ever become dusty and rusty from slackness.

On Thursday, Taigen and I had the privilege of going to Concord and judging the New England Association of Christian Schools high school competition (and much to the twins' delight...Ellen got to babysit during the day!). It's always so encouraging to see these young kids hone their talents for the Lord. Taigen judged preaching, Bible Memory and Male Vocal solos and I judged the Male Vocal solos with him and also Small Vocal Ensembles. They all did such a wonderful job! You can see pictures of some of the teens from Cornerstone in Scarborough here (click on the "CBA at the NEACS Competition link). It was hard to watch them and think, "I remember when they were these little bitty kids in my classroom!" There was a lump in my throat as I watched them compete.

We had the privilege of having Missionaries Daniel & Jennifer Arnold in our home Saturday and Sunday night. Once again we were reminded of God's great work in providing this home for us where we can minister to others like the Arnolds. We tucked them away in the guest room where they could have both privacy & room to spread out if they wanted, but close enough for fellowship if they wanted to come over to "our side." Marshall and Shaylen were such good helpers in getting the room ready for them and putting age appropriate toys out for Caleb and Lucy.

The Arnolds presented their ministry to us on Sunday evening at church. Their hopes are to get to Germany by 2010. We pray that support will be raised soon so they can reach that goal. What a wonderful time of fellowship we had together! They are dear, dear people.

Well, it looks like we're up to another joyfully full week. Every night is filled. Please accept my apologies in advance if the blog is somewhat silent. I'll post when I can. Continue to pray for us as we serve on the mission field of NH.

Feed the Birds

One of the things the kids learned about today during their "Winter" chapter was how to make a bird feeder. I decided against the "Go-dig-in-the-snow-and-try-and-find-a-pine-cone-to-dip-in-shortening-and-roll-it-in-bird-seed" method. Instead, I went with the easier and New England-friendly version: Take some yarn and string some Cheerios on it. Thankfully, Mrs. Lawson focused on that one (hmmm, she must've not wanted to mess with the shortening either!).

The kids enjoyed their project and will most likely hang them when it's not snowing (i.e. obviously not today). We had warm temperatures this weekend and enjoyed lots of melting. Taigen and I didn't even need coats on Sunday. I thought, "Maybe it's finally done snowing." Wrong-O! We are supposed to get anywhere between 3-6 inches today. I'd say we've already gotten about 4"! Let's see...that must make our grand total in the front yard to be over 3 feet. Maybe we'll defrost by June.

First Flying Lesson

Last night we were so excited to have company over. Two couples from church were able to come over and help us consume the chicken parmigiana and the homemade peanut butter cheesecake (another Taste of Home hit!). This is the first time we've had them over and the Irelands and Tocks were such a joy to fellowship with (but I say that about everyone). The kids were looking forward to having them since we've spent a considerable amount of time with both in their homes.

Mr. Tock brought along a special treat for the kids, but especially for Marshall. He brought one of his remote control helicopters. You should have seen Marshall watching over Dale's shoulder as it was charging. He kept waiting for the green light to turn on. I think that was probably the longest ten minutes of Marshall's life.

Well, it finally did get charged and the boys (and Shaylen) had fun playing. I think I know what to put on Marshall's Christmas list this year!

The Good Samaritan

Many of you are familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan taken from Luke 10:25-37. Marshall and Shaylen heard about this story in Bible class this week. During Bible class several people dressed up acted out the story. It must have made an impression on them because yesterday as I was making dinner the kids started acting out the story and took turns being the good Samaritan. I whipped out the camera and got a few shots. I loved how they tried to make the story real (all except for the man being "stripped," "wounded," and left "half dead").

Simple Joys

Li'l Cheddar Meat Loaves

Okay, meatloaf despisers (i.e. Janelle), this post is NOT for you. But for those of you who want an easy dinner for you and your kids, this recipe is a must have. Let's just say that Marshall ate two of these last night and was eying the last one on the platter. I got this recipe out of the 2000 Taste of Home Annual Recipes book (p. 89). It has become a favorite in our family.

Here's what you'll need:
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 lb ground beef
Sauce:
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp prepared mustard

In a bowl, beat the egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion and salt. Add beef and mix well. Shape into 8 loaves; place on a large cookie sheet (I line mine with foil and then grease it for easy clean-up) or in a greased 13x9x2 baking dish. Combine ketchup, brown sugar and mustard; spoon over loaves. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for approximately 45 minutes.

These are so moist and full of flavor, and a great way to stretch one pound of hamburger to feed your family and friends (that is, unless you have a Marshall-man like we do!) I hope you enjoy these as much as our family does. (Side note: If Janelle can eat caterpillars in Zambia, surely she could stomach some meatloaf, don't you think?)

Last Week's Events

We had a busy week last week. Isn't that how I'm starting out most posts these days? At the beginning of February our calendar looked fairly empty. Amazing how it fills up isn't it?

This past Monday we drove to Salem to spend some time with our good friends Pastor Matt Fagan, his wife Amy and their three children. Matt is the pastor of Heritage Baptist Church, a church he started in June of 2001. They took us to see their church. It is amazing to see what all they have done (really, what God has done!) on the inside of their building. They have transformed a house into a beautiful sanctuary and lots of classroom space! Spending time with them was so encouraging. We all had a great time and the kids didn't want to come home.

Another thing that happened last week was that Shaylen got her hair cut for the first time since September! It had been getting very long and the struggles with tangles each morning brought tears to the corners of Shaylen's eyes. Poor thing. The lady that cut it took off about two inches. It was fun to listen to them discuss Charlotte's Web. Marshall was content to sit in the lobby and look at his airplane book.

On Thursday, Taigen and I finally got to enjoy our Christmas present to each other: tickets to hear Yo-Yo Ma at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, ME. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Ma, he is a cellist (the greatest there is), and not a rapper, as our neighbor thought. (Seriously, do we look like the rapping type? Taigen even had a suit on. Tee Hee!) The stage was empty except for a vase of flowers and a single chair. Yo-Yo sat and played three Bach pieces for us. It was a most relaxing evening, especially after a chaotic day for Taigen.

On Saturday, I packed up the kids and drove down to Massachusetts to surprise my friend Joni for her 30th birthday. Unfortunately, Taigen was unable to go with us.We definitely surprised her! One of the first things Enzo said was, "Marshall and Shaylen are here!" We're so thankful that the kids are good friends. They had fun playing together outside, getting all wet and muddy in the process. It was a wonderful party. It was a two hour drive, but soooo worth it!

Last night we had a huge storm blow through New England and dump about 10 inches on us. We went out and played for over an hour. Being the diligent mom and blogger that I am, I took the camera and took about 35 pictures. There were some great ones of each of the kids, ones of the kids together, ones of the kids with Taigen and some with the kids and me too. However, I am not necessarily the best multi-tasker and I accidentally deleted them while attempting to download them to the computer AND talk on the phone at the same time! I wanted to kick myself to the moon! Oh well. Lamenting won't bring them back. I'll just have to get outside and take some more in the near future.

Many of you have asked how my hand is doing. I am back at the piano and it's feeling fine. It's not as flexible yet, but that will come with time. I can tell when I've done a lot (especially on Sundays) because it aches ever-so-slightly. Thank you so much for all of your prayers.

I think that is all of our Joosey news. I hope you all are doing well. Feel free to leave a comment. I've detailed out how to do that here. It's free and we love hearing from you.

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.