First we unpacked them...
Friday, November 18, 2005
Making it Our Own
You can see the lovely linoleum that was under the berber carpet. This is the first serious home imporovement project Max and I have done together. We were up until 4 am laying the tile in the mortar, then the movers came for the next two days and we put the grout in the day the movers finished delivering our stuff. We really like the tile we put down on the floor. Now time for changing the wall tiles and painting in the kitchen...
Monday, November 07, 2005
A Story of Playground Love and Discipline
JB, Gloria, and I went to the park again this morning, one, because they were getting very cranky in the apartment and I wasn't getting anything done anyway with them both clinging to me, and two, it was a beautiful morning and we all got some sunshine...one advantage of being in Oklahoma in the late fall 80 degree weather!.
While playing at the park there was another little boy, "three years old" he told me, that came to play with two young women accompanying him, but not really watching him for most of the time. I was helping Gloria cross a low bridge while JB and the other three year old boy were playing near by. I shortly realized that I had to monitor JB closely with this boy because of the boy's actions and words. The boy would throw sand and JB would throw sand until I told him not to. The boy would kick the wood chips at JB and JB would do the same thing...until I told him not to. One time JB threw sand again after I told him not to and he got punished for that.
The boy started to run around the little tot jungle jim yelling "you can't catch me, butthead." JB of course ran after him laughing and enjoying the fact that he had someone to play with. Then the boy stood up on a low post and said "you can't do this, butthead." JB stood on another post successfully but fell on his bottom while getting off. The boy said "see, you can't do it!" The boy started spitting at JB with his tongue and JB did it once, which immediately brought Mommy's reprimand. JB stopped after I explained that he doesn't have to do what the boy is doing especially because Mommy told him not to and he has to obey Mommy.
The part where I smiled a little was when JB started blowing him kisses instead of spitting. The boy looked rather shocked and stopped spitting at him. However, the boy kept calling JB names and I didn't want JB to pick that up, so I told JB we were going to leave now (we had been there for a couple of hours anyway). I told JB to say goodbye to the boy and thank him for playing. JB did this cheerfully and obediently. As I was leading him out of the playground, JB said a couple more goodbyes to the boy and then shouted over his shoulder, "I love you!" I think he got this from when Mommy and Daddy say goodbye or goodnight to JB, we usually follow it up with "I love you." It definitely brought a smile to my face.
The boy was not necessarily JB's enemy, but this experience reminded me of three different passages in the Bible: Prov 5:21,22 which says (paraphrase) by doing good things for your enemy you will "heap burning coals on his head" and the Lord will reward you, Matt. 5:44 about loving your enemy, and finally, Prov 22:6, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. As we were leaving I felt sad for the boy because of how he was probably being brought up, with lack of loving discipline.
I hope that JB responds to his enemies, not with hate or revenge, but with love. I want him to fight for what he believes and knows is true, and when it comes to personal, one on one battles, I hope he prays for his enemies and trusts God enough to let Him deal with them in the long run. I pray for this little boy at the park, that his behavior and thus his life will be turned around by a loving adult who fears the Lord and teaches him to fear the Lord as well.
While playing at the park there was another little boy, "three years old" he told me, that came to play with two young women accompanying him, but not really watching him for most of the time. I was helping Gloria cross a low bridge while JB and the other three year old boy were playing near by. I shortly realized that I had to monitor JB closely with this boy because of the boy's actions and words. The boy would throw sand and JB would throw sand until I told him not to. The boy would kick the wood chips at JB and JB would do the same thing...until I told him not to. One time JB threw sand again after I told him not to and he got punished for that.
The boy started to run around the little tot jungle jim yelling "you can't catch me, butthead." JB of course ran after him laughing and enjoying the fact that he had someone to play with. Then the boy stood up on a low post and said "you can't do this, butthead." JB stood on another post successfully but fell on his bottom while getting off. The boy said "see, you can't do it!" The boy started spitting at JB with his tongue and JB did it once, which immediately brought Mommy's reprimand. JB stopped after I explained that he doesn't have to do what the boy is doing especially because Mommy told him not to and he has to obey Mommy.
The part where I smiled a little was when JB started blowing him kisses instead of spitting. The boy looked rather shocked and stopped spitting at him. However, the boy kept calling JB names and I didn't want JB to pick that up, so I told JB we were going to leave now (we had been there for a couple of hours anyway). I told JB to say goodbye to the boy and thank him for playing. JB did this cheerfully and obediently. As I was leading him out of the playground, JB said a couple more goodbyes to the boy and then shouted over his shoulder, "I love you!" I think he got this from when Mommy and Daddy say goodbye or goodnight to JB, we usually follow it up with "I love you." It definitely brought a smile to my face.
The boy was not necessarily JB's enemy, but this experience reminded me of three different passages in the Bible: Prov 5:21,22 which says (paraphrase) by doing good things for your enemy you will "heap burning coals on his head" and the Lord will reward you, Matt. 5:44 about loving your enemy, and finally, Prov 22:6, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. As we were leaving I felt sad for the boy because of how he was probably being brought up, with lack of loving discipline.
I hope that JB responds to his enemies, not with hate or revenge, but with love. I want him to fight for what he believes and knows is true, and when it comes to personal, one on one battles, I hope he prays for his enemies and trusts God enough to let Him deal with them in the long run. I pray for this little boy at the park, that his behavior and thus his life will be turned around by a loving adult who fears the Lord and teaches him to fear the Lord as well.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Swing Time
Here are some pictures I took of the kids at the park yesterday.Amazingly it is still in the 80s here in Oklahoma.
We are moving from here in one week! We are excited because it means moving to our empty house in Kansas sooner and it means I won't have to go without Max! Max feels a bit stressed at having his check ride in less than a week and having so much to do before leaving here, but he is also glad he's checking early to finally move into our house. God's timing is perfect.
We will be in our house for a few days while it is still empty, which might give us time to do some changes to the house, such as the carpets and painting (probably painting before the new carpets are put in).
Notice the Zephyr look-alike statue and Gloria's pose on the swing statue. JB always looks pretty darn cute...we think...
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Splinter Surprise
JB is sitting here in my lap with me while I write this post. He's happy because he likes to snuggle in the morning and because he no longer has a big splinter sticking into his big toe.
JB wore his cowboy boots to the playground yesterday because they are the only shoes he can put on by himself "like a big boy". However, they are still slightly big and difficult to run around with and climb at the playground so I let him take them off, including socks. JB has tough feet somehow and was able to walk and run in the wood chips without it hurting...probably a product of not liking to wear shoes very much, even in Colorado where there are a lot of "owie" things to step on, like a gravel driveway.
Since it is a wooden playground he ended up getting a big slinter sticking out of his big toe. It was one that would've been very easy to pull out if he would just let me. However, JB has a fear of getting splinters taken out because of an experience with a mass of splinters in his feet and something about his Dad holding him down to take them out...he does it out of love.
Anyway, he walked around limping and periodically complaining about it hurting. I told him that the only way I could make it feel better was by taking it out since he wouldn't even let me kiss it. We ended up leaving because limping around the playground wasn't much fun for him and he put up a fight when I tried to seize his foot.
He still complained about it hurting at home, but got distracted when he was standing on my lap writing with chalk on a post out on the patio (he had to stand on my lap to get to unchalked areas of the wooden post). While he was distracted I gently yanked (do those two words go together?) out the splinter from his toe. He said "ow" with a bit of a surprised look and then said "Mommy, it feels better!"
The other little munchkin has awoken now so I have to end this post, but I thought I'd share this little story in the world of Tamsey. BTW, JB says I'm doing a "good job" typing.
JB wore his cowboy boots to the playground yesterday because they are the only shoes he can put on by himself "like a big boy". However, they are still slightly big and difficult to run around with and climb at the playground so I let him take them off, including socks. JB has tough feet somehow and was able to walk and run in the wood chips without it hurting...probably a product of not liking to wear shoes very much, even in Colorado where there are a lot of "owie" things to step on, like a gravel driveway.
Since it is a wooden playground he ended up getting a big slinter sticking out of his big toe. It was one that would've been very easy to pull out if he would just let me. However, JB has a fear of getting splinters taken out because of an experience with a mass of splinters in his feet and something about his Dad holding him down to take them out...he does it out of love.
Anyway, he walked around limping and periodically complaining about it hurting. I told him that the only way I could make it feel better was by taking it out since he wouldn't even let me kiss it. We ended up leaving because limping around the playground wasn't much fun for him and he put up a fight when I tried to seize his foot.
He still complained about it hurting at home, but got distracted when he was standing on my lap writing with chalk on a post out on the patio (he had to stand on my lap to get to unchalked areas of the wooden post). While he was distracted I gently yanked (do those two words go together?) out the splinter from his toe. He said "ow" with a bit of a surprised look and then said "Mommy, it feels better!"
The other little munchkin has awoken now so I have to end this post, but I thought I'd share this little story in the world of Tamsey. BTW, JB says I'm doing a "good job" typing.
Monday, October 31, 2005
New Posts and Pictures of House!
If you click on the title above you can see many pictures of our house that we took in our recent trip to Derby. There are also some cute pictures of JB and Gloria. Enjoy!
Monday, October 24, 2005
The Zephyr Experience
JB and I were playing with his new plastic bat and ball out in the common area in front of our apartment and we experienced a zephyr. This was a wind that started from the ground and spun up some leaves (it's finally starting to be fall here) looking like a mini tornado. It looked like it was about 15 ft high and 10 feet long. JB and I stood watching it because it actually had the leaves spinning around and around in a tornado shape. It was coming our way and we just stood there getting blasted with wind and leaves.
It was only windy for about 5 seconds, but it didn't feel like a gust of wind, it felt like we were in the middle of a zephyr. I know, I'm a Boston girl, and little things in nature amuse me. I thought it was so cool. It started out in the lower thirties this morning and is now beautiful, in the mid- sixties. This is your weather girl reporting live from Altus, Oklahoma.
Sorry if you were expecting a story about a long brown doggy with a lot of energy...that's why she's a Zephyr!
It was only windy for about 5 seconds, but it didn't feel like a gust of wind, it felt like we were in the middle of a zephyr. I know, I'm a Boston girl, and little things in nature amuse me. I thought it was so cool. It started out in the lower thirties this morning and is now beautiful, in the mid- sixties. This is your weather girl reporting live from Altus, Oklahoma.
Sorry if you were expecting a story about a long brown doggy with a lot of energy...that's why she's a Zephyr!
Friday, October 21, 2005
JB with his combat boots...
...and Gloria nearly in her birthday suit.She's always trying to do whatever her big brother is doing...and is wondering, "where's my flight suit?"
Flight Suit Buds
Don't you smile JB!JB didn't want to take the time to put on his combat boots this morning and of course an Air Force Pilot wouldn't wear his hat indoors, so this is the body part of the flight suit that his "Gramma Shell" made for him. It's a little big now because he's also going to wear it next year. Thanks Gramma Shell!
Do you like my makeup?
Gloria has started WALKING and trying on "makeup" in the same week! I think she has seen Mommy putting on lipstick or chapstick (more likely) one too many times. I'm kinda concerned as to what I might see her or JB do after watching me apply mascara.Shortly after this photo was taken Gloria was not smiling anymore because I took away the marker. I just had to take the picture though because our little girl is WALKING full-time now. She decided about two days ago, after about a month of practicing here and there, that she was just going to do it! She prefers walking all of the time now over crawling. She is so cute as she waddles down the hallway and in and out of rooms. She tries to keep up with her brother on the tennis court or the park and usually ends up falling on her face too many times.
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