can I have that in writing?

Lately I've been trying to incorporate the kids more into the "work" of keeping a house. I always intended to be the kind of mom that taught my kids to do things instead of doing it all myself -- I imagined myself calmly and patiently letting them try various tasks, not being stressed my the extra time and mess it would involve. Well, more often and not, I do the work myself -- even when they seem eager to help. But I'm trying to change.

Today, while Anders was napping I asked the twins to help me with a big kid job. They were intrigued and excited. I told them I thought they were old enough to unload the dishwasher now, even putting away glass things. Oh yes they were sure they were. So they began with gusto, working together -- and to my amazement, actually helped me get the job done.

When they were all done Eva looked and me and said,

"Hey Mom, if you ever need help unloading the dishwasher again, just ask us, we'll do it!"

I was thinking I should get that in writing for the teenage years...

And a health update -- I am almost all better and am digging my way through the accumulated house work. And Lance is feeling the best he has in days, still yucky, but WAY better. Thanks for your prayers.

hope you are well,

Aimee

insanity

I think I might be the unintentional cause of my husband going insane.

We've continued to be quite sick today and decided to trade off during bedtime - we lay with Anders till he falls asleep and some nights this is quite the ordeal. Anyways, minutes before Lance laid down with Anders I offered to put some music on for Elijah (same room) Now Lance lies hostage with repetitive children's songs rife with sappy synthesizers and programmed drums... sorry honey. I really am.

Hopefully Anders falls asleep really quickly.

Please do pray for Lance - not just cause of the music - but he is quite sick. This cold has knocked him down hard. I'm getting better but it still hurts to swallow and my ears hurt. The kids - who haven't been out of the house in THREE DAYS are starting to get antsy. Tomorrow Eva has dance class so we'll venture out for that. They will welcome the change of scenery for sure!

all for now.

Aimee

Soundtrack

Elijah is always singing. He has for years. Linda says Lance was the same way. Today Elijah called me into his room during his rest-time and said he had a question. He sang me a tune and then asked,

"Does that feel in your heart (taps his chest) like it's dangerous"

I answered yes and asked if he was trying to make the song sound dangerous. He said yes and explained that it was about when the wolf came to the shepherds.

I love his mind and how he is figuring things out, like "dangerous" music to set the tone.

In other news Lance and I both got a vicious cold this weekend. It has been a weekend FULL of movies. We have been enjoying a free netflix trial - lots of movies/tv series that the kids enjoy. They are having their first taste of Bob the Builder (encouraged) and Barney (discouraged) as well as Kipper - a series based on books by Mike Inkpen. We have a book about Kipper that they love and it turns out the episodes are really great. Low key and apparently the most hilarious thing the twins have ever seen. Elijah practically can't breath he laughs so much. I think the humor is simple - a hat being blown away by the wind - and the story so straight forward - building a snow bear and hoping the snow won't melt - that they can really understand what is going on, so it ends up being a lot funnier.

Anyways I am feeling somewhat better today and consider it a personal victory that there were no movies today until 11:30am! Lance and I have been tag teaming kid care and alternating having naps. He still feels pretty terrible. Last night we had oatmeal for supper - a sure sign that mama is sick or exhausted. Eggs tonight?

That's all for now.

aimee

ps. if you got spam from me I am very sorry. I think my email account sent out a million junk messages unbeknownst to me. Blech. I changed the password, hopefully that will remedy it.

only a matter of time

I had been surprised that our garage pantry lasted so long undetected by furry visitors. But today when I pulled out some dry goods to bake, streams of bran and powdered milk spilled onto the garage floor. Turns out it's not frugal to stock up on lentils, beans and flour when mice chew through the bags. Argh. New storage solutions on the horizon. And I've got some cleaning to do. I HATE mouse poop.

Elijah just said - update

"MOM you gave me a lot. You gave me fifteen hundred two pounds!!" Hopefully he still likes the smoothie and can't tell it's full of beet greens and black beans. Mwhaahaa haa!

update:

well, the greens and beans weren't the trouble. The beet stems were a little hardier than I thought. Talk about stringy. I choked mine down and I can't believe Elijah drank most of his. Eva had one spoonful and politely said that she didn't like this smoothie. Yeah, me neither.

Second Sickie

Well, we thought somehow the rest of us had made it through unscathed. But now the little guy is sick. Same deal. Hot, Cold, tired, pukey. He just woke up from his nap. I stationed him on the couch and he's sleeping again. What a dear. So please pray for him. And us. I guess one at a time is perhaps an easier way to tackle sickness. Sure keeps us homebound though!

encouraged

I've been listening to Caedmon's Call's album "Overdressed" today. It has been breathing life into me - or rather, God is using it to breath life into me.

A couple of songs especially:

Need Your Love

Your love is a heart that’s beating
Your love is an angel’s wings
Your love is a boat that sails on a never-ending breeze
Your love is a sunset fire
Your love is a melody
Your love is the grace that brings the sinner to his knees

I need your love, your love
I need your love to stay with me

Your love is a newborn laughing
A fire in the winter’s cold
Your love is the bread and wine that breaks to make me whole
Your love is a king returning
Beneath the banner of victory
Your love is the chains of a prisoner finally falling free

I need your love, your love
I need your love to stay with me

You can change my name
You can make me someone new
Love is always a promise
And your promises are true

I need your love, your love
I need your love to stay with me

I need your love when the flames consume me
I need it when my heart breaks
I need it as a still small voice
When the earth around me shakes

Sacred (I know I've shared this before and now I am rediscovering it)

the children are sleeping

but they’re running through my mind

the sun makes them happy

and the music makes them unwind

my cup runneth over

and I worry about the stain

teach me to run to You

like they run to me for every little thing

when I forget to drink from you

I can feel the banks harden

Lord, make me like a stream

to feed the garden

wake up, little sleeper

the Lord, God Almighty

made your Mama keeper

so rise and shine

rise and shine cause

everything is sacred

and all this time

everything I’ve dreamed of

has been right before my eyes

For more words/music check out their website: here

Also, Elijah is doing much better. That was our longest sickness to date. I called the doctor on call at our clinic twice and got great advice. So now he just has a little stuffy nose. But this week there was a lot of tylenol, fluids, sleeping and movies. The rest of us are at various stages of colds but no one with a fever like Elijah had. Thanking God for that.

That's all for now.

Aimee