got me in stitches

A friend and her friend started the blog got me in stitches to share crochet and knitting projects, hints, advice, etc. I am now a moderator as well (which lets me put pictures and posts up). Come on over if you crochet or knit ... or if you're interested in starting. It's lots of fun!

Prayer

My friend Nikki gave birth to their son Henry Paul at 26 weeks gestation yesterday. He is in the Little Rock NICU and will be there for a very long time. Even if you don't know this lovely family, I know they (and I) would appreciate any prayers you can offer up on their behalf.

Much more comfortable than jeans

Since I am renouncing jeans, I have a new pair of pants to choose from:


For people who are real sewers, they know that a pair of pajama bottoms is just about the easiest thing to sew. However, since I am NOT a sewer, I am very proud of myself and my pants!

Spider lily

Is this not the most beautiful and interesting flower you've ever seen? They are similar to the surprise lily (they suddenly pop up in mid- to late-summer, normally after a large rain), but they are very rare in this part of the country. I never saw one until last year when my mom's neighbor gave her some, and she passed a few along to me. This is one of six that are currently blooming in our back yard.

Jeans

The favorite American attire - good ol' jeans.

Well, not for me.

I have finally decided to quit trying. I have been trying to find a pair of jeans that fit well for YEARS and have never been able to find even one. And folks, this week I tried on some that cost over $100... and they STILL didn't fit well.

I am now officially a khaki-wearing person. I am tired of wasting my time on this illusive dream.

Fall

This week I have been wearing socks. This means it's official, folks - summer in Fayetteville is winding down.

I can't wait to see the leaves changing color soon.

Appreciation for toilet paper

Even if my sons bicker (see yesterday's post), at least Benji appreciates bathroom products.

A few minutes ago Benji asked me, "Mommy, who gave you fancy toilet paper and fancy wipes?"

I normally buy the most expensive paper products (Cottonelle toilet paper, Viva paper towels, etc.) but decided to give the cheap stuff a try in order to be a little more thrifty. Obviously, Benji thought the new toilet paper and wet wipes are great.

Bicker, bicker, bicker

Lately all my kids seem to be doing is bicker, bicker, bicker. And the crazy thing is that Zachary hardly uses his words, but they can still annoy each other all day long. I'm seriously worried about when he actually starts doing more talking - then I can only imagine the escalation. :(

Can you tell it's been a rough day so far???

Any advice on bickering children? Except banish them to different rooms. Or perhaps hire a full-time baby-sitter every day?

Gift from Nona

Here is the cute baker's hat that my mom sewed for Benji for his birthday (along with the mini bread pan).

Hope or hopeless

Monday and Tuesday this week were very discouraging for me in the mothering department. Benji seemed to relapse into some old behavior that I thought we were done with. The endless repetition of discipline [otherwise known as normal-life-with-two-young-children] was getting extremely tiresome. I woke up this morning feeling little hope for my 4 year old son who can be such a handful at times.

Then this afternoon God showed me this verse and reminded me of the song based on it:

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. " (Romans 5:5)

Hope in Benji is disappointing. But hope in God is not disappointing. Why? Because He has poured His love into our hearts. Even if I have no reason to hope in Benji, I always have reason to hope in God. And I also will believe God for those desired changes in Benji - whether they happen tomorrow (my preference) or in 20 years, depending on God's timing.

And I also have hope that this verse can be an encouragement to another weary mom or dad out there. Blessings on our tough role as parent.

Finger knitting

Benji and Zac both enjoy seeing me knit (for about 5 minutes and then they want me to stop and play with them). So I though Benji might like to learn to do a modified knitting called "finger knitting" which is basically using your fingers in lieu of needles. He caught on pretty well and made the necklace for his giraffe (well, he made about 1/3 and I did the other 2/3 because he got tired).

More sugar?

A few days ago, Benji told me, very scientifically, as if he had recently read the research in the most up-to-date scientific journal, "Mom, did you know that kids need to eat more sugar?"

Nice try.

But I'm not falling for it.

Time for the cake

Benji will be four on Monday, but we had his party this morning.

The party involved cake and party hats.

It involved party blowers.

It involved helium balloons and friends.

And it involved Daddy. (He took the day off to spend time with the birthday boy.)

Combine all these ingredients - one happy birthday boy. Mission accomplished.

Welcome baby Alex

Our new nephew arrived this morning, and we want to welcome him! We haven't seen him yet (plan to make a trip this afternoon), but we already know he's a cutie. My parents-in-law arrived in town 2 days ago - and how considerate of my sister-in-law to wait until they had arrived to go into labor!

This makes yet another early September birthday. We now have 2 friends and 1 nephew who have birthdays within 4 days of Benji's birthday. We moms are going to have to coordinate which day to have whose party!!

More home improvement

Yep, we're on a roll. Once you start, it's hard to stop.

Here's the new color of our living room. And this time it was me (Laurel) to do the painting (a first for me). It took 2 days, but I have to say it was easier than I expected. Also, you get the house to yourself and you get to turn up the music as loud as you want! :)


Next week I'm hoping to recruit several of my home-decorating-savvy friends to do a shopping trip to help "accessorize" the room. Home decor is definitely not my talent - so it's great to have friends who love to do it plus are good at it.

Anybody need to use a cake pan?

Benji's 4th birthday cake is currently baking in the oven. Therefore, the house smells all homey and chocolately. Yum! I realized that I am starting to have a collection of specialty cake pans. I currently own:

- tractor pan
- car pan
- animal head pan (can be used to make a pig, cat, dog, giraffe, or bear)
- duck pan

And I'm sure I'll be adding 1-2 every year with new birthdays.

They just sit in my cupboard other times of the year, so if anybody close by ever wants to borrow any of those, just let me know. I know if Sheryll hadn't moved far, far away - we would have been swapping back and forth. Check out her blog for her most recent cake creation for baby Jonah's 1st birthday.