kid stuff

Micah got a Nerf gun from a friend. It's a little hard for him to use so he usually comes to us asking, "Can you pull the sugar?" :-)
He was outside with Jay while Jay was tightening bolts on our new trailer (pictures coming soon).  Micah was so excited that Jay let him play with the extra "scratch-it" tool. (ratchet)  I love all the words Micah thinks he knows and tries to use.  There are lots of them, but I can only remember these two right now.

Poor Lydia... I kept track of every sound and movement Micah made, but I haven't tracked anything of Lydia's really.  But she's 8 1/2 months old and is moving (not a crawl really, but she can get where she wants to), and can pull up and pull along furniture a little.  No teeth, but I think there's one on the way.  And... Score one for Mommy, she said "mama" first of anything!  Actually I think she's just complaining and it comes out like "mamamamama."  She and Micah play well together, especially when she's stuck in the crib and he's stuck out of it. :-)  I love to hear them laughing and yelling with each other.

We were at the playground today and another little boy pointed out a rainbow.  Micah quickly told him that God made the rainbow.  I love how little kids don't really think about whether people want to hear what they're saying or not.

Get-a-way and Get-home

We got away on our first date weekend since Lydia was born!  Yippee!  Jay and I dropped the kids off with Grandma and Papa Dirkse on Friday and headed over a rainy Steven's pass toward Bellingham.  I was so thankful to see the edge of the rain cloud north of Everett.  We stopped off in Burlington for the All-you-can-eat Pasta Bowl at the Olive Garden then camped at Larrabee State Park south of Bellingham.  It's amazing how easy it is to pack for one night camping with no kids!  It was so easy.  And I am glad we didn't have the kids since the train went by at 8:15 and 10:15 pm, then again at 6:45 am, just a few hundred feet from our campsite.  Then there were the Christian college guys jamming on their guitars until Jay kindly asked them if they knew it was past the quiet hour mark.  They were enthusiastic in their playing and singing, but did not realize what a bad witness they were being to the people camping on the other side of us (they were NOT happy about the noise).  We were up early the next morning, and I admit we had a hard time wanting to be quiet after the noise our neighbors made late at night. :-)  We headed to Fairhaven/Bellingham to run our 15K race.  It was sunny, cool, calm, and absolutely perfect running weather!  Jay and I had a great time running (I think I had a little more fun than Jay...)  Oh, and you can definitely tell when you are on the West side: there were compost cans instead of garbage cans. :-) 

But... I was glad to get back to my kids.  I read a little poem once about being "tied down" to laughter sweet, chubby feet, etc.  It's so true.  Even though we were having a great time, whenever I saw a mom and baby I wanted my babies with me!  So it was quite nice to have Lydia grin from ear to ear and bounce up and down when I walked into the house.  Even my ever-busy Micah took a break after a while to give me a quick hug. :-)  I am so thankful for my kids, and for my husband, and his parents, and my parents, and well, just everybody God has put in my life right now.  Thanks everyone for your friendship!

Limo

Mom: (pointing out the car window) "Micah, Limousine!" 
Micah: "Yeah! Limo...limo...limonade!"

Forgotten already

So Micah said something really funny when I was putting him down for a nap today.  I'm finally sitting down to write it down, and it's gone!  It was so cute.  It went something like this.  He had a pull-up on for nap and was all settled in bed when he reached down under the covers while saying, "My body (his word for bottom)'s sneaking/peeking/slipping out." I had put his pull-up on crooked and he was having issues with it.  I think he said sneaking.  <>  There are so many funny things that I think I couldn't possibly forget.  Then I do.  Oh well, I'm glad he keeps saying them.