Mom's been dying to see a picture of Lisa's new boyfriend. So, since we got to meet him this weekend, we snuck a few photos. You can see the rest on our flickr photolog. Click here! As you can see he is a very nice guy playing with the kids and all. No, he's not the cute little guy (that would be Eli), he's the one with the blue shirt.

So last night I busted into a bin of my old things from childhood. My mom dropped it off about 5 months ago and it's sat unopened. I was saving it for a special night... well either I missed that night, or it just isn't coming- so I opened it.

Some of the contents: My pink bunny, Baby Foodoo #2 (#1 got whisked out the window of our car onto some Colorado freeway- a heartbreaking experience), An Original Kitty Cat Club Poster (we held meetings in my closet-- let me know if you want to join), letters, crafts, and a HUGE Colorform Miss Piggy Paperdoll, complete with outfits for every occasion-way cool. But the best part was my journals. No joke, one entry reads like this...

Nov. 18, 1985
I allwas (always?) want to talk to Sarah. Do you know why? Well, because I love Chad. I am not sure I will be marryed to him. But I like him. He asked me to borro my crayons. (Yeah...I know, pretty eloquent for a third grader.)

Ok, so as I read, there seemed to be an theme... page, after page, after page, AFTER PAGE of I love Chad Does he love me I think he does gosh isn't Chad cute, Chad.. Chad... Chad. At least I was consistent. Anyway, it just got me thinking of what God has given me. I have had many crushes, then it was Chad (who I think is a pig farmer now) and others after that. How was I to know that God would give me MORE than I could imagine in my husband. I will be the first to admit that I don't deserve the man that Ben is to me. I just think it's cool that God can dream so much bigger and better that we can even fathom. Thank God for that- otherwise I might be a pigfarmer's wife...

A quick quote of the day:

I'm sitting on the couch, lost in the world of sweet Ava Jane, thinking of how all is good in my beloved home and in my beloved children when Nate bounds down the stairs with the most interesting news to share. I give him my full attention and with a very serious and intense look in his wide eyes he says,

"Mommy, Eli had a BIIIIIIIIIG BROTHER chunk of poop in his diaper this time!"

Nice...

Why Nate, inspector of all things squishy and brown, has to compare poop to people and examine it trying to decide whether or not Eli had eaten raisins the night before is beyond me.

All I can figure is that a fascination with poop is passed down from generation to generation.

If you're a parent or even someone who loves to hear the innocent, sweet sounds of a child speaking their first words, there are a few key words that just melt your heart. As Eli's beginning to experiment with the English language, he occasionally stumbles upon a word that is actually English. He has begun to increase his stock pile of recognizable words (at least by me and Ben). For awhile there, it was mama, dada, ball, more and then a whole lot of loud screaming (no...literally), gesturing and a slew of interesting words that are, I'm convinced, in the vocabulary books of his very own language.

I personally love the sound of ma-ma. It's sad to watch your child grow and begin to go from ma-ma to mommy and then to mom. So, I kinda bask in the sound of ma-ma.

Well, somehow Eli has decided to ditch the innocent "ma-ma" stage. I don't know if it was just lacking the cool factor or what.

I'm now affectionately beckoned with, "MAWWWWWWWWW!"

Hmm... sweet isn't it? I'm feeling pretty jipped. Ben still is "Da-da", Nate is still a gentle "Uhh-uh" (which is a general term, but in this context means "Hey, you") and Ava is still "ba-by".

I get "MAWWWWWWWW! Ish-bish ball lupp-up uppy mooore" (translated means, "let's play that game where we pass the ball from me to you again.") The latter is always spoke in a completely calm intonation. What's that all about?

I know what the parent books would all say... do not respond to the undesired behavior. Yeah, at this decibel, it's a little hard to ignore.

So we wanna be like the rest of you. Consider it a compliment. Thought we might feel a little closer to all of you if we shared with you the random stories of our day.

You're probably wondering who "alley" is. We didn't get a cat (although Ben AGAIN tried to talk me into one the other day) and we certainly aren't looking to add any more to our numbers here. Alley is referencing Luke 14. The ones in the alley were invited to the banquet-- because the original guests didn't have time. This chapter has got us thinking. Are we willing to leave the things we find so important for Jesus... and are we willing to go to the alleys to find those that will leave it all? Can we throw up our hands and know that what he has for us is far better, if only we'd come? Anyway...

On a lighter note I thought it funny when my sister asked how my day was. If she only really knew...

Date: somewhere between yesterday and today
Time: early
Ben and I woke to Nate asking for breakfast. Trying to buy just a few more minutes of sleep we reminded him of the milk in the fridge he'd saved from the night before. Success. He left- but Eli's up. We bring him into our bed hoping to cuddle back in. Not his intentions at all. He squirms out and is off... and Nate is back, but he's a cuddler (as long as your ok with the occasional knee in your back), so all is well. By this time we try to force our eyes shut.. if only for a minute. Eli is just a bit too quiet so we send trusty Nate to investigate. As we lay there we hear, 'OH NO!'. Great. Now fully awake, we run downstairs to find Eli with Hershey's chocolate syrup in hand, chocolate running down his chin and a huge grin on his face. (Apparently Nate decided to make chocolate milk.)

For all those of you who get to wake up normally... enjoy.