The Fork Incident

After finishing her dinner yesterday, Emily got down from her usual spot at the table. I asked her if she could please put her fork in the sink. She told me "no" and proceeded to throw the fork onto the floor beside her. This angered me a bit, so I reprimanded her for fork throwing and proceeded to pick the fork up and place it in the sink. I then told her that since she did not put the fork in the sink, she could not have any Nerds. The angry eyebrows magically vanished and her hands dropped from her hips. She then responded, "OK, I'll put the fork in the sink, Mommy!" I then informed her that I had already put her fork in the sink and that she missed her chance to get the nerds by not doing what I asked. Figuring the conversation was over, I went back to eating dinner.

As I was about to take my next bite, I heard the silverware drawer open. Glancing over to see what Emily was into, I witnessed her take a fork out of the drawer, prance across the kitchen, toss the clean fork into the sink, and declare "Okay, Mommy, can I have some nerds now?"

Emily and Elvis 5-4-2010

Counting the Days; House of Pain

Diggin' fer gold. 2-12-2010

"Hey, buddy. What's happenin'?" 2-12-2010

Taking a little ride. 1/32 horsepower engine. 2-12-2010

Emily wanted "five" ponytails. She got four, but who's counting? 2-21-2010

Josias taking a picture of himself. 2-21-2010

Emily with crazy hair after piggy tails 2-20-2010

Shane doing taxes. Hee haw! 2-20-2010

Well, it looks like we'll finally get to move to the permanent house in about 18 days (March 18). I'm just a little excited. Not looking forward to going through all the "stuff", but I am a little giddy over getting our printer, crockpot, and stroller back. I'm also excited about purging out all the stuff we haven't used forever and no longer need. We should be hosting a huge yardsale around the end of April, if you'd like to come buy our treasures (i.e. junk)!

For now, we'll continue renting off of some friends of ours. We've been staying in a 3 bedroom/ 2 bath house with a living room and den. It's been a good setup as they had some furniture and cooking utensils in the house already. Shane's been walking to work, and the house is also close to the church. I think I've filled up the gas tank on the van once in the last month :-) The price of gas for the house is a different story. The kids have taken over the living room with toys (no furniture, just toys and a rug), but for some reason every time I look down, they are running around my legs. I sometimes feel like a small planet with two very loud moons.

The largest toy in the living room is a pop-up tent that Mamaw and Papaw bought the kids for Christmas. It's a pink princess tent, but it has come to be called "House of Pain". It seems that every time the kids get in there together, someone is getting bludgeoned or getting their hair pulled out.

A Man, a Pregnant Woman, and a Barn

One dark evening, a man and a woman trudged over the desert ground, the woman perched upon the family donkey, the man walking closely beside. The burrow stumbled, throwing the woman off balance. "If we hit too many more rocks, this baby's coming tonight!" the woman blurted. "Can we please stop for a minute? I really need to go to the bathroom."

The man, a little irritated, replied, "Honey, can you wait until the next big rock? You've already gone every half hour today. I was really hoping to get there tonight. We've been traveling a week already. The rest of our group is probably already there." Nevertheless, the man stopped to let her relieve her discomfort. Eventually, they trailed into town. Finding no vacancies in the local hotels, they made their way to the stable to spend the night. The rest, as they say, is history.

Have you really ever thought about why they had to stay in the barn? :-)

Image from www.thecoloringspot.com

Little Update

Just a little note to let you know we're finally in New Mexico. We're renting a house from some friends while we look for a place of our own. Praying God will show us where we need to be. We miss our friends in Alaska, and we're so thankful for the friends God has given us here as well. They have made the transition back so easy for us.

At the moment, we are watching the Buckeyes win against Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Fourth quarter and we're finally pulling ahead a little. Go Bucks!

We pray you have a wonderful 2010!