Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Chancery: “Asher is playing with his new key car he got from McDonald’s.”

Asher: “I figured out how to put the key in, but for some reason, the car doesn’t seem to go very well.

 

Chancery: “That’s probably because I switched keys with him…”

 

Asher: “Really?  Did you do that?  Because if you did, it’s quite clever!”

Chancery: “No, I thought about it, but I couldn’t find a close enough match!”

 

Asher: “Chancery, I think we really are two of a kind!”

An Accurate Quote

Chancery currently has an obsession with telling us she has “boogies” in her nose.  Often, if we don’t get the hint, she will put her face directly in front of ours, stick her finger up her nose, & declare, “Boogies!”

I’m not sure how this started, but we can seldom have a conversation in which she doesn’t bring up “boogies” at some point.  Hopefully she will outgrow this stage soon.  It surely won’t go over well when she gets to highschool.

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I was reading a book to Chancery the other day, in which there were pictures of all different animals & I was telling her what they say.  On the last page of the book there’s a picture with all the animals & I said, “It’s quiet now, what do YOU say?”

She very confidently exclaimed, “Boogies!”

I thought it was a pretty accurate statement.  At least she seems to be aware of the habit, now to get her to realize that it’s not the most appropriate thing to say all the time.

Maybe A Little OCD?

I was sitting by the computer the other night, enjoying my nightly routine of surfing the net & consuming Hot Tamales & Chocolate, when I looked down at the desk & noticed that my orderly tendencies might be getting out of hand.

I mean, it’s one thing to eat them in pairs, but to line them up two by two…  I’m a little worried about what I might discover about myself next

Mail call!

A few days ago we received an envelope in the mail from PChad’s Mum.  Enclosed in the envelope were some Valentine cards for the kids, so I set them aside & waited for the kids to get up from their naps.

When they came downstairs for their snacks, I told Asher that Grandma had sent a card for him & a card for Chancery.  I held them both up & asked which one he thought was for him.  He correctly pointed to the one for him, so I asked how he knew that that one was his.

I expected him to say something along the lines of, “Because it has a letter ‘A’ on it, and my name starts with ‘A’,”  but instead I got a much simpler answer…

Me: “How do you know that card is for you?”

Asher: “I know by my eyes!”

Flap Book

I was reading Asher a few books last night before bed, & I’ll admit, I might have been trying to rush him a bit through the first book.  The book in question is a flap book with approximately 25,000 flaps.  He caught me in the act & said, “Wait, Mummy, I haven’t looked at them all yet!”

I tried to play it off & offered an, “Oops, sorry,” but it seemed that Asher wanted me to fully understand the folly of my ways.  He told me, “Mummy, flap books usually take a long time.”

I think he picks them as his bedtime books intentionally, for just that reason.

Blame Game

Yesterday after church, PChad took Asher home in his car & I had Chancery in the truck.  Once we got home, I opened the truck door to get Chancery out & I noticed she had taken her shoes off.

I asked, “Chancery, where did your shoes go?”

She pointed to the floor & said, “Thanet!”

So it starts already.  Blaming the cat for something he couldn’t possibly have done…..

Sunday Pictures

Asher - 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Chancery: “I’m standing up today so that everyone can see how cute I look in my skirt.”

Chancery: “Asher, did you know we are going to church today?”

 

Asher: “Yes, I know that, Chancery, and I am going to Sunday School, while you have to go in the nursery.”

 

Asher: “And do you know the best part about Sunday School, Chancery?  They have snack time, just like we do at home.”

 

Chancery: “We have that in nursery too, and you are right.  It IS the best part!”

Smelly? Try This!

When commercials are this good, you just want to watch them over, & over, & over....



but maybe that's just me....



And lets throw in a little Neal Patrick Harris too.

Our Summer In Burdett

Looking outside right now, it’s hard to imagine the warmth of summer, especially with 2 feet of snow covering the front lawn.  I was recently looking through some old pictures & decided I’d bring some summer to my blog.

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When PChad was in Seminary, one of the requirements was to do a summer assignment at a church.  We were assigned to a small church in the middle of nowhere Southern Alberta.  While we were there, I took a break from corporate life & enjoyed some holidays.  PChad took a break from school, and pastored the church.




I thoroughly enjoyed being able to take advantage of fields & wide open spaces.  I’m a country girl at heart!















And every now & then, PChad would take a break & enjoy it with me too.



The parsonage came supplied with two Momma cats, so we were able to enjoy a fresh batch of kittens shortly after we arrived.













One of the parishioners loaned us a puppy (with the hope that we’d become attached & take it back to Michigan with us), so we were able to hit the “puppy stage” that is a vital step on the road to becoming parents…









…and we named her “Prairie”.







After our time commitment was over, we headed to PChad’s parents for a few weeks, and had the opportunity to take our niece & nephew camping for a few days.

        All in all, it was a great summer.  We had a great placement, and felt really welcomed by the community, and as an added bonus, we got to spend some time with PChad’s family.

Bravery

Asher seems to be going through the different attributes lately.  The other day we were in the truck & he was sitting in the way back, trying to get my attention.

 

When he finally got it, he said, “My kazoo is going in this large hole.  It is going in this large hole because he is brave.  He is brave because he is so tall.”

 

I wonder which one he’ll explain to me next…

Letters From The Manse -Review

I first heard about this book a few weeks ago at a Christian Women’s group.  I was interested in it mainly because the book is made up of letters that a new pastor’s wife wrote to her family just after moving to Prince Edward Island.

What is so remarkable about this book, is that Joan & her husband Blair, moved from city living in Ontario, where they had modern conveniences, to such a remote area of the island (they were seven miles from the small town of O’Leary) that they had no power, and they had to learn how to cook on a coal stove rather than gas.  Blair was pastor to 3 churches in the area, which lent certain struggles of it’s own.

She started writing her letters in 1949, just after moving to the island, and continued for the next year & a half until they had their first child & discovered that they just didn’t have the time for writing anymore.

I think the length of the book is perfect, it’s a rather short 130 pages, but the interest of it is the culture shock she experiences, and after awhile, as they adjust to rural living, it starts to lose it’s snap.

I’d recommend this book to any wives in the ministry, as I’m sure we can all relate to some of the tales she tells, and also to those who want to take a look back at what yesteryear on the Island looked like.

Strength

I was having some trouble opening a new jug of milk, so I passed it over to PChad to open for me.

Asher asked, “Why couldn’t you open it, Mummy?”

“I guess I’m just not strong enough,” I replied.

Asher reasoned, “Daddy is strong because he has a nose that has hair in it!”

So does that mean that the person with the hairiest nose is the strongest of all?

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Chancery: “Asher said he has something special to show everyone this week.”

 

Chancery: “But whatever it is, it’s taking him a long time.”

 

Chancery: “What do you have over there, Asher?”

 

Chancery: “I can’t WAIT any longer!”

 

Chancery: “Yeah, I don’t think you made that on your own.”

Asher: “Daddy MIGHT have helped me a LITTLE!”

A Little Fun For Your Friday

The UK's first season of So You Think You Can Dance is quickly wrapping up. They are down to their top four. I just watched the top 6 group routine & thought it was quite entertaining. Enjoy!

The Birthday Gift

A few days ago, PChad asked me what I’d like for my birthday.  Oddly, this year, I hadn’t really thought about it much, so I pondered awhile & decided I’d like him to get me the first season of “Lost”, and I wanted him to watch it with me.

 

He lovingly replied, “No.”  And that was about the end of that conversation.  I didn’t really think about it anymore, and my birthday suddenly snuck up on me yesterday.

 

Asher brought me a present while I lounged in bed, and I discovered to my delight, that PChad had in fact, gotten “Lost –Season 1” for me.  As I read the back of the box, I excitedly announced, “With over EIGHT HOURS of extras!”

 

PChad very quickly answered, “I don’t watch extras.”  I’m happy to concede on that point.

Jumpin’ Jumpin’

Asher has a habit of jumping down the stairs with a thud on every stair.  Since the stairs are right next to PChad’s office, it can be quite the distraction when he’s trying to work, having the door rattle with every thud, is not that conducive to concentrating.

So we’ve attempted to stop him from doing so.  Right now we are in the constant reminder stage.  Every time he starts thudding down the stairs, we remind him that he’s not supposed to do that & if he persists, he gets a time out.

The other night, he was coming down to tell me goodnight …

THUD … THUD … THUD! 

So, I gently reminded him that that was an unacceptable way to travel down the stairs.  He came quietly the rest of the way only to inform me, “But it’s so amazing to jump down the stairs like that!”

Let’s Try It Again

After the success Chancery had the first time she tried stringing some words together, she thought she’d give it another go at dinner the other night.

She had eaten 2 bites of her pork, then announced:
      “Food, all done.  Cake!”

Sorry, Chancery, it doesn’t work every time!

A Perfect Afternoon

There are different theories about what makes a perfect afternoon.  Some are in this camp:

And there are others in mine.

Sunday Pictures

Asher  - 3.5 years

Chancery – 1 year

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Asher: “Here’s a good one, Mum!”

Asher: “And another good shot, are we done? … What? Chancery isn’t smiling?”

Asher: “Chancery, what’s going on?  Are you sabotaging this photo shoot?”

 

Asher: “Listen up, I want you to smile, and I want you to do it now!”

 

Asher: “I think we can move forward now, Mum.”

Chancery: “This is all I got for you, Mum.” 

Asher: “OK, I give up too.”

Next Time Take The Stairs

When I was in jr. high, my family was on a trip in Washington DC.  We had decided to go visit one of the battlefields in the area, and we hopped on the elevator ready to start our adventure.  On the way down, my brothers decided it would be fun to "shake" the elevator, so they started swaying from side to side.  I thought I should get in on the action, but of course I had to do it bigger & better, so I started jumping.

Little did I know that elevators are fitted with emergency brakes to stop an elevator from plummeting towards the ground if it senses that it is descending too rapidly.  Apparently, my jumping, caused the elevator to trigger the emergency brakes, and the five of us were suddenly trapped between floors for a few hours until the fire brigade could come & rescue us.

This wouldn't have been that big of a deal if my mom wasn't claustrophobic.  She's not the biggest fan of elevators at the best of times, but to say she was upset with me, would barely scratch the surface.  But it could have been worse....

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Nicholas White was working late one night & became trapped in the elevator.  Apparently it was a major malfunction & he was stuck for the next 41 hours!  And the entire ordeal was caught on the surveillance video.

Easy Entertainment

This morning Chancery kept asking me for a sandwich, but seeing as she had already had a good snack & it was still an hour until lunch time, I figured I had better find something to both keep her occupied for awhile, and tide her over.

What do you have on your spoon, Little Miss?

 

Just some of the stickiest peanut butter that Mummy could find!

 

Even when the spoon was totally licked clean, she got mad at me for taking it away!

Memory Through Music

We have some piano books that are full of kids songs & one of the songs we ran across teaches kids what their address is.  He learned that quite quickly, which could be a good thing if he gets lost, or it could be a bad thing if he tells random strangers what his address is & they decide to come check it out.

Asher has been having some difficulty when it comes to spelling his name.  Not that he can write it.  He’s not THAT brilliant, but we’d like him to at least have a starting ground for when he gets to the writing stage.  So we thought perhaps it was time to teach him a song that spells his name.  Quite conveniently, his name can be substituted in the “B-I-N-G-O” song.

“There was a Mummy, had a boy & Asher was his name, oh…  A-S-H-E-R, A-S-H-E-R…”

Within 5 minutes he was spelling his name at the top of his lungs.  Brilliant.  The only problem came when he wanted us to sing about Chancery.  Trying to sing 8 letters in that space just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

“C-H-A-N-C-E-R-Y, C-H-A-N-C-E-R-Y…”

Maybe we’ll have to name the next kid Al.

Watching the Wheels Turn….

Last night, PChad was watching some TV with the kids after dinner.  He had told them that they could watch TV for awhile & then they were going to have a bath.
Now, Chancery LOVES baths.  She loves them so much that the other day, PChad walked into the house & she ran up to him saying, “Bath!  Bath!”
So, they were in the basement, watching TV & Chancery was walking aimlessly around.  Suddenly she walked up to PChad & said, “TV all done.  Bath!”  And then she walked over to the door.

She sure knows what she wants & she has started working really hard to let us know just what that is. 

What A Pain

The other morning, Asher was in Chancery’s bedroom & I could hear him talking over the monitor. Suddenly he yelled, “Ouch!  Daddy I hurt this part of my body! … Daddy, what’s this part of my body called?”
PChad: “That's your foot.”
Asher: "“No, what’s THIS part of my body called?”
PChad: “That is where your toe stops & your foot starts.”
Asher: “Oh… Daddy, I hurt that part!”