What did he say?

I look forward to the day when Isaiah's speech will be clear enough to understand everything he says. Today is not one of those days.

I took the boys to Wal-mart this evening. An elderly lady stopped us to say just how cute the boys were and how she wished her children were that small again. I told her the boys names and she told Isaiah she loved his name. Isaiah smiled and then said "I poop in potty I get Hershey!" Thankfully the lady didn't have a clue what he was saying. I just smiled and acted like he had just quoted the 23rd Psalm.

What do you do?! I once thought that MY children would never walk around saying things like "Mom, I need to poop!" Why couldn't we train them to say things like, Mother, I am going to use the restroom, or Mother, I am going to have a bowel movement. No, poop just fits doesn't it? I do here Jeremy trying to tell him "number one" or "number two" which is a little better I guess. I don't think Isaiah gets it though. The other day I asked him if he needed to go potty. His responce sounded something like "after that (new way of saying NO!) I'll go one and two and three and four" while trying to count his fingers.

We're still having some bad days when it comes to potty training. I get so frustrated. I try not to let him see it, but I do get frustrated. I think we'll let Nathan's wife train him. Doesn't every wife try to mother her husband? Wow, I'll be a great mother-in-law. Here, marry my son, he needs a mother.

I think I'd better get off. I'm tired.

Crustless Zucchini Pie

My Mother-in-law gave me this recipe last summer. We love it!

1 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 eggs, beaten
1 T. minced fresh parsley
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup Bisquick baking mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Stir in zucchini, Bisquick mix and cheese. Pour into two greased 9 inch pie plates. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 2 pies, six servings each.

I saw a quote today: If they like it, it serves 4, otherwise, 6.

Thunder Bay Trip

Ready to go (I think Daddy needs new shoes!)
The boys slept the entire 22 hour trip. I wish. They really did do pretty good. The trip home was worse than the ride to Thunder Bay, but they made it.

Nathan getting his bath.

We woke Isaiah up at 10:30 to watch the fireworks on Canada Day. He was thrilled. I don't think he stopped talking at all through the 15 minute show or the walk home. Thankfully he went right back to sleep without any problems.

Jeremy, Dad and Isaiah hiked the top part of Mt. Mckay. (you drive up the first half)

Dad took us on a boat ride on Lake Superior. It was a highlight of our week. I love this picture of Isaiah because it reminds me of reaching over the side of the boat to feel the water when I was a kid. Anyone remember the old NLGM boats?

Nathan wasn't sure about the life jacket, but he sure was cute!

Gamaw and Gampa from Under Ay!

On our way home we stopped at Agawa Bay. It's about 1 1/2 hours before you get to Sault St. Marie. It's always hard to stop for things like this when you have such a long trip ahead, but Jeremy humored me and stopped. It's always hard to leave my parents. Jeremy tells me I'm always emotional the 8 hours until we hit Sault St. Marie. The drive there is along Lake Superior, and on a nice day it's a beautiful drive. After we hit SSM we cross the border and then we're in Michigan and boring 75. Once we're on 75 I start looking forward to getting back to our little house and life and usual. All that to say, Agawa Bay was one last look at the lake. The boys loved it.

We're Back

I've tried twice to post pictures from our trip, but for some reason it's not working. So, I am posting simply to say that I will be back soon with more details. We had a great trip, but now we're back to normal (?) life. We have VBS every night this week at our church. It's making us very busy, but it is going well. More later.

Home Alone, Chocolate Smiles and Bloody Ears

This is old news, but I decided to post about it anyway. Last weekend Jeremy went camping with is brothers. Aside from the trip I took to Thunder Bay in 2006, I think I can count on one hand the number of times Jeremy and I have been away from each other overnight. (maybe one hand and a thumb, but not many) I know some of you have husbands that go out of town a lot for work. I've decided that I am very glad that Jeremy doesn't have to do that! It was a good weekend, but being a single parent is not an easy job.

I decided that I would concentrate on just spending time with the boys. I maintained the house and did some laundry, but nothing more than necessary. I watched a Barney DVD with Isaiah. That was an experience. I also played outside with Isaiah for awhile. That is something I should do a lot more of. We had a great time. I was struck at one point at how few of times Isaiah and I really laugh during our days. We laugh at Nathan and Nathan and Isaiah laugh at each other, but not often do Isaiah and I share a laugh. It was a very sobering thought for me. I feel like right now all I do is correct or respond to whining. I'm not sure of the exact wording, but I was reminded of the verse in Proverbs that talks about a merry heart being like good medicine. I wonder how much less crying and stubbornness would happen if Mommy had a smile on her face all day (or most of it -I am human!) Just a thought. How do you make your kids laugh? I remember my dad telling me a story of one of his aunts. Her son opened a can of chocolate syrup using an electric can opener, but forgot to hold onto the can. Chocolate syrup spilled all over the floor. My dad told me his aunt sat down and laughed!! I've never forgotten that story.

I'm way off track. Back to the weekend. Saturday morning I did decide to do something productive so I cut Isaiah's hair. I was almost finished, just trimming around his ears with a scissors and I chopped a piece off the top of his ear!!! I felt horrible! He has a nasty scab now. He keeps telling me his ear is feeling better. :( Nice reminder to me that I made it hurt.

I was going to go into more details, but we really didn't do a lot more the rest of the weekend. I wanted to rent a movie, but redbox didn't have what I wanted. I really missed Jeremy in the evenings. Especially when it was time to put the boys to bed, and then once they were in bed. Suddenly I had free time, but no one to share it with. Jeremy had a great time with his brothers. In case you're wondering, they played 54 holes of disk golf! The boys and I also had a good weekend, but we were all happy to be back together again.

P.S. We leave tomorrow evening for Thunder Bay. We will be driving through the night. We'd appreciate your prayers! I'll try to update some while we're there. I am looking forward to some Canadian summer weather!

Grateful Child

This evening at supper Jeremy asked Isaiah to pray.


Isaiah:
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for the food.
Thank you for Pappy,
Thank you for Pappy's food,
Thank you for Grandma's Flo's food
Thank you for disks
Thank you for carrots (while peaking at the table)
Thank you for dip
Thank you for forks and spoons
Thank you for knives and forks and spoons
Thank you for that dip
Thank you for tennis balls
Thank you for Daddy's tennis balls
Thank you for my tennis balls
Thank you for my bouncy balls
Thank you for water
Thank you for juice
Mommy: "in Jesus Name..."
Isaiah: Thank you for juice
Thank you for water
Daddy: "In Jesus Name..
Isaiah: "In Jesus name, Amen!"

Could it be?

I hesitate to post this, but I think, I can say that Isaiah is pretty much potty trained. He has worn one pair of underwear for the last three days. Stop. Rewind. Not the SAME pair. One pair per day instead of 3 or 4. He's still waking up wet in the morning, but the first thing out of his mouth in the morning is usually "Go Potty!!". Two weeks ago Jeremy and I woke up on a Monday morning and talked seriously about giving up on potty training for at least a little longer. Maybe it was just Monday morning blues, but we were getting sick of cleaning up "stuff". We had already invested so much time in it that I decided to keep going a little longer. For awhile he would go if we reminded him and took him, but he if forgot, everyone was sorry. I guess something clicked in the last few days because he has started to tell us now. I hope it lasts!