Bath time for Zac

Favorite gifts

The pencil canister Benji made for Daddy for Christmas

The bracelet Benji made for Mommy for Christmas

Growing up my mom always said she preferred homemade gifts... and I now see why. It is so special to receive something your child actually made by themselves (or with just a wee bit of help from Nona in this case). They will be treasured for years to come.

Benji, the Elvis impersonator

This was taken in the middle of the night a few nights ago. And no, he did not go to sleep with his chest showing. It must have been his idea of stylish nighttime outfits.

Oswald Chambers

This was part of today's devotional - thought I'd share:

"The idea is not that we do work for God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us - "I reckon on you for extreme service, with no complaining on your part and no explanation on Mine." God wants to use us as He used His own Son."

A night at the square

My most recent holiday decor

Yes, we have a wreath at our front door. But this new addition to our holiday decor is more important by far. Today at 1:30 p.m. the UPS guy rang the doorbell.

The inopportune doorbell caused Benji not to go to sleep (even though he had been quiet in his room for a long time - a good sign that a nap is imminent)
AND caused Zachary to cut short his nap after only 15 minutes (while he normally sleeps 1-2 hours)
AND caused me not to nap when I really needed some rest.

The result - one unhappy mommy - and some new holiday decor.

If markers are involved, Benji is always interested. So when I explained what I was writing, he decided he needed to write his own sign. This is his note to the postage folks.

Therefore, post office, FedEx, and UPS - be warned. Mommy will not be messed with from noon until 3 p.m.

A new exercise pose

Zachary

The boys meet Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus

Decorating the Christmas tree

Benji putting the star on top

Zac is choosing the perfect spot for his ornament

Benji the builder

Christmas in Paris

Sounds great, doesn't it?

Tonight one of the bedtime books I read was "Madeline's Rescue" by Ludwig Bemelmans. Madeline lives in Paris. Tonight Benji informed me that he thought it'd be a good idea for us to go for a trip to Paris for Christmas. The reason? So he could ride on a boat like the picture and also to skate board.

The poor boy is going to be sorely disappointed come Christmas day.

Benji in the sling???

Benji was really insistent in wanting to get into Mommy's sling a few days ago so I finally agreed. It turns out the claim that it can carry 50 lbs. is accurate (Benji is 34 lbs. currently).

Like father, like son

February 2007

November 2007

Anybody weary of the whining of a 3 year old?

I know there must be others like me out there, who just really feel like you can't listen to another whiny word or you will implode. Or maybe it's just me. Here's a verse God showed me today that has given me some encouragement:

"Let us not become weary in doing good, [even when the recipient isn't deserving] for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. [Oh, you mean I can't just give up?? Today I was definitely tempted. Harvest? I am DEFINITELY ready for some harvest.] Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers [especially my own family, specifically a certain 3 year old who will go unnamed]." (italics are my own comments added) - Galatians 6:9-10

Anybody who is having a better day than me and reads this, I'd love some prayers for patience and that my eyes will be focused on the harvest.

Apple, it's just different

So we finally got rid of our old, old computer last week. We bought an iMac, and have now put our self into the "Windows switcher" category of computer users.

We've been needing to replace our old computer since August last year for various reasons. As part of the criteria for getting a new computer, I've been keeping tab of our computing habit and shortlisted the following as our main use for a computer at home:

1. Internet
2. Digital life (our photos and videos)
3. Productivity (spreadsheet, document, presentation)
4. AV console (really as our movie theater)

Based on the above, we could really go Windows or Mac as a platform to adopt, and with Mac pricing being more and more competitive as they are now, Mac has become a consideration for me. At that time too, both camps have been touting their upcoming OSes, so I wanted to at least wait and see what they have to offer before buying.

So January came and Vista was released and..... was a big flop (IMHO). Vista's hardware requirements are insane and feature-wise, nothing much to offer that's new. That's when we decided we will give Mac a try for once. Of course we had to wait till now to get it because Leopard just got released roughly three weeks ago.

Being a first time Mac user, I was very curious about all the things being said about being a Mac user - snobbish bunch of folks, think they are better than the rest of the world, etc etc. Why are people branding them this way and why are the Mac-faithfuls so... faithful even when the company was at the brink of losing it all? I thought I'd try to discover it for myself, therefore paid much attention to the tiniest littlest thing about my personal experience with the iMac. So here's a list (so far) from my first day till now, starting even from the unboxing experience.

1. Everything down to the most insignificant thing is neatly packed - I deal with Dells and Lenovos at work and those machines come neatly packed except the mouse, manuals and CDs. Those three most often than not are thrown into a large box that goes on top of the chassis. However, pick up the iMac packaging and shake the box, you will not hear anything jiggling inside. That's because everything is neatly and tightly packed. Everything (keyboard, mouse, manuals, CDs, remote, batteries) has its proper place cut out for/shaped to fit in one single box.
2. Adhesive on the plastic CD jackets - Can you remember the last time you have to pull a CD/DVD out from one of those flimsy plastic jacket? You pull back the lip (sealed onto the jacket by some adhesive strip), start pulling the CD/DVD out and what happens? The lip closes back and the adhesive strip (which is on the lip) is now stuck to your CD! Why can't they put the adhesive strip on the jacket, which is how Apple did theirs?
3. One way batteries - How do you have to install batteries on devices that require batteries installed parallel (one next to another, not one behind another)? You have to alternate them (first one goes in +-; second goes in -+; and on and on) right? With Apple's Wireless Mighty Mouse, you put all the batteries in the same way, +-)
4. Integration of little, seemingly insignificant tools but highly useful - Spotlight (Apple's search) can return you dictionary entries and is also an instant calculator as you search for things. Dictionary can return Wiki entries. Now I don't have to hit the web or launch apps to do this.
5. Help that helps - Help on the Mac is just so cool. You want to do something but don't know how to get there. Pull up search and start typing. If it's something you have to navigate the menu to get to, Search will put a big blue arrow next to the menu item to get your attention.
6. Stereo sounds - Sure, stereo sounds have been around for a while, but from an OS' default sound scheme? Try sending a mail from Apple Mail. When the mail is sent, you'll hear a jet engine swoosh by from your left to your right.

Like I said, I'm paying attention to the tiniest of details here. There is nothing revolutionary in the above-list, but it does reflect on the level of detail a company pays attention to in its products. So far, Apple has not disappoint. Have I have applications crash, or have to restart my Mac? Absolutely. But it has also done the task I need it to do simply and easily. I'll probably blog about that in the future. But right now, I'm just having fun learning to do things differently.

Our 14 hour camping trip

We arrived at the campsite at 4 p.m. on Friday. We left the campsite at 6 a.m. on Saturday. A brief but memorable camping trip.

I enjoyed the camping trip we took a few weeks ago so much that I really wanted to go again before wintertime. Sometimes it's best to let these things go - especially if you have a son with an ear infection AND a cough and it getting into late autumn already. But I was not deterred, and therefore earned the Worst Mother award by forging ahead with the planned trip.

On the positive: I got to make and eat a s'more. Benji got to throw rocks into the lake. Zachary got to enjoy rambling among the leaves. We made family memories.

On the not-so-positive side: It got dark at 5:30 p.m. Benji had a tantrum because we required him to put on his hat and coat. Benji had another tantrum when we tried to get Amoxicillin down his throat (to treat the ear infection). During bedtime in the tent Benji coughed and then threw up - on one of our sleeping bags. We had no extras so we just had to clean it the best we could, turn it around, and use it. Benji continued to cough a lot that night, which made his parents worry every time we heard him cough, thinking how stupid we were for coming. It was colder at night than we expected and we (meaning the parents) froze. Shearn Yoong got to where his feet were numb. Very little sleep actually occurred.

By six o'clock, we decided that we had had enough family camping memories for the year. I drove the kids home in my car, with the heat blasting at full power. Shearn Yoong took the tent down and packed up the rest of the gear ... in 10 minutes flat - no small feat in the dark. This proves how motivating cold weather is.

I finished Zac's stocking

And I even got it finished before Christmas! (Of course, this is his 2nd Christmas but he didn't seem to mind last year.)

I got the pattern and the yarn from my aunt and uncle's shop Straw into Gold - check it out at www.straw.com

Caramel apples

Benji is checking the Joy of Cooking recipe for caramel with Nona's supervision (it's unwise to let a toddler free reign with the brown sugar!). We have a annual tradition of making caramel apples at Halloween time, but this is first year where we decided to make the caramel from scratch. Now, opening caramel wrappers and melting them down is quite good. However, we now know true caramel goodness. It is only four ingredients: heavy cream, dark corn syrup, brown sugar, and butter - and is definitely worth a little more effort. I'm thinking we need to make a new tradition of making them mid-November as well! :)

Zac caught a big fish

Granola bar recipe?

Benji loves the Kashi granola bars, but at the rate he eats, I really should stop buying them from Wal-Mart and start making an alternative. I tried a pumpkin granola bar recipe this evening but was less than impressed. (Of course, over-baking them didn't help, but I don't think they would have been that great even if I hadn't been putting Zac to sleep and had gotten them out of the oven at the proper time.) Anybody have a good granola bar recipe (or other snack bar recipe that is easy to take on-the-go and isn't super messy/sticky)?

Cold weather gripes

I myself prefer cold weather over the heat of Arkansas summers. However, my kids don't seem to take after me in this regard. It has only been colder for two days and I am already REALLY tired of the griping related to the following wintertime activities:

#1 - wearing a jacket
#2 - wearing a hat
#3 - putting chapstick on chapped lips
#4 - blowing noses
#5 - putting lotion on chapped cheeks

Of course, most of the griping comes from Benji but that is only because Zachary is too young to know the fine art of whining yet - thank God for this so that the sanity of the mother can be preserved. Part of me really doesn't care enough to deal with the inevitable whine that follows every minor request, "If they want to be freezing cold, then let them!" However, if I don't require them to follow #1 and #2, it is more likely that I will have to deal with #3, #4, and #5. It's a loose-loose situation - unless we move to the Bahamas. I'll have to bring this up to Shearn Yoong tonight.

But for now, I am wondering if any of you have any suggestions/hints/tricks/bribes that help your young ones deal with the previous gripes. And don't suggest logic or reason because that DEFINITELY has no effect on them.

Spiced pumpkin seeds recipe

Today was my first time to bake a pumpkin so I can use fresh pumpkin than than the canned variety in a recipe - we'll see if it makes any difference. But that also gave me the opportunity to roast pumpkin seeds - yummy!

Here's a recipe I found online which was simple but tasty:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 tablespoons margarine, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
2. Combine the margarine, salt, garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce and pumpkin seeds. Mix thoroughly and place in shallow baking dish.
3. Bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

The reason why Mommy doesn't exercise at home much

Hey, let me try those!

While my brother was flying a kite, I was ...

Doing gymnastics

Perfecting my jogging technique

Contemplating the nutritional value of leaves

Flirting with Mommy as we walked one round of the trail

Perfect kite flying day

Today was a perfect kite flying day. We took advantage of the wind and the beautiful weather and headed to Gulley Park after Shearn Yoong got home from work.

Just hanging out

Zachary

Brotherly love

Zachary was awake from 5 until 6:45 a.m. for some unknown reason (not for lack of Mommy trying to nurse him back to sleep). So once he eventually succumbed to sleep, he slept in until 8:15 a.m. - quite late for our family.

Benji woke up at 6 but stayed in his bed until 7 because his mean parents have made this a rule. Benji and I had some nice time together this morning - you know, reading a whole book without the Godzilla baby coming to try to eat the pages, stuff like that. But after 45 minutes or so, Benji starting missing his little sidekick and said, "I miss my brother."

There are time I wonder if the 25 months spacing between the boys was a little too close, but comments like that make this Mommy happy. I hope they always stay close and full of brotherly love.

Birthday pictures

Nona and Zachary at the playground

Drunk, half naked one year old

Benji still loves party hats too!

Zac's first bite of cake

Zac's cake

His first bite

Interesting... so THIS is sugar.

That's pretty good - I'll just help myself.

Forget the fork - I just use my hands.

You know, after this bite, I think I'll stick to eating leaves. It was okay, but foliage is even better.

Botanical Garden of the Ozarks

We visited the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks this evening. We were a little disappointed to see that it was smaller than we had hoped but what is there does look nice. They also plan on expanding in the future. However, we did get some photos there and enjoyed a family outing together.

Contemplating great things? Perhaps ... or perhaps not. More likely thinking about dinner!

Benji loved climbing the ladder up to this lookout in the children's garden section. We did it 3 or 4 times. We agreed it would be a fun place to live except for 2 things it lacked: a bathroom and a stove.

Considering his future ... should he take the path least traveled or stick with the pack?

Camping fun

Last weekend was the first time we took the boys camping. We all had a great time!

Benji thoroughly enjoyed the food!

The guys hiking

I love this shot that Shearn Yoong got of Benji throwing a rock in the creek.

Why did God make that anyway?

After we had read our stories, sung our songs, and done our back rub, I was sitting with Benji before he went to sleep tonight when he decided to quiz me about his anatomy. The first ones were easy.

"Why I have eyes?"

- to see with

"Why I have ears?"

- to hear with

"Why I have eyebrows?"

- hmmm, because God gave them to you

Good question! Why do we have eyebrows? From my perspective the only point I see to eyebrows is to make some girls torture themselves by plucking them so they're smaller and have a nice curve. Can you guess, I don't pluck mine. Of course, I naturally have not-bad-too-bad eyebrows, so I don't know what I'd do if they were bushy and unmanageable ... but with my pain tolerance, probably nothing!

Anybody out there know the real answer? Of course, my answer to Benji was correct but it didn't really answer the question.

Morning at home

Who needs a stroller when I have one of these?

This is the first time I've tried taking a walk with both boys in the wagon. Zachary did a great job staying on his bottom (which was my concern). Such little dudes!

Benji realized his Momma was getting tired so he started pulling. (Shearn Yoong, I know what you will think when you see this picture. And yes, I told Benji to pull over to one side of the road, not to walk down the middle! Do I know you or what???)

Long pants

This morning we woke up to much cooler weather. The boys and I all wore long pants and long sleeved shirts this morning as we left the house. I cannot tell you how much this thrills me. Summer is something to be endured and not much else. Guess what's for dinner? Soup!!

Guess who's three today?

We visited the fire station yesterday with his play group. At first it was fun, then not so much. There are quite a few noises in a fire station (not even counting the sirens) which were just a bit much for Benji.

Time for cake!

A birthday isn't a birthday without the hats

Benji and Zac's cousin Eli also enjoyed playing with Benji's new fire truck

Happy birthday Benji-boy! We love you!