So cute!

Had to share this because its just too cute. Caleb is learning the Lord's Prayer in Awana, and although they haven't finished it all yet, I thought it was worth posting already.

Sorry for the sideways view. I have to remember not to hold the camera lengthwise if I'm recording!

Home Sweet Home

Last Friday, the 18th, we closed on the house, with everything going smoothly. We couldn't believe it as we drove off with the keys in our hands. It is ours! God is amazingly good to us, which we all know full well, but are still blindsided by now and then.

Now, the work begins... Our to do list is ever so long. The good news is that the boiler was fine, but we do need 3 replacement radiators. (basically rare, hard to find cast iron antiques). The plumbing is being fixed by our wonderful friend. He has been working hard all weekend. We have to decide on a cooling system, get a roof estimate, and do a bazillion things inside. But, it will get done. (it will, won't it?) Who knows when we'll move in... We were hoping the end of May, but... Pray for us!

Flip Flops

The weather has warmed up significantly, and Aidan has been very intrigued with mommy and daddy's flip-flops (much to Daddy's dismay when he couldn't find one of them for the longest time yesterday). He's been flopping around in our gigantic ones, and then I remembered I had these ones. His chubby feet barely fit, but he loves the idea, and has been proudly wearing them all day. Such a cutie.

A look into his world.

I got to spend the neatest afternoon with Caleb on Monday. I rode the bus with him to his preschool, and spent the afternoon there. I basically shadowed him throughout all his activities, and got to meet his precious little friends. It was a very neat experience, and he was thrilled to have mommy there, though he got a bit jealous when many of the other kiddos wanted my time as well.

I loved seeing how he interacted in that environment. He was a tad spacey, but he sat still, followed directions, and answered questions well. The other kids seemed to enjoy him. I was actually very relieved to see that although he wasn't a strong leader, he wasn't very timid either. We ate lunch, sang songs, read books, played in the learning centers, played outside, made a craft, etc.

Guess what I woke up to this morning? Figures.

http://www.galesburg.com/breaking/x282705142

Yep, a 5.2 earthquake rocked our old brick duplex around 4:40 AM this morning. If you know how I feel about earthquakes, you know it definitely freaked me out. Especially when I considered in my half awake panicky fog, just when our duplex was built, that it was definitely not retro-fit, and that we were basically on the 3rd story. At first I thought it was a tornado? or a plane crash? It couldn't be a quake in the midwest... isn't that a big part of the reason we moved here? :)

The boys didn't wake up, and Weston pretty much just rolled over and went back to sleep. Sigh.

Kellan and Ethan doing a puzzle

Got out a puzzle for the twins to play with this morning, and it was comical to watch how differently they interacted with it. Ethan was very curious, took a piece out gently and immediately attempted to try to fit it back in. Kellan, grabbed the pieces as quickly as possible, and passionately flung them all over the room.

Grrrr...

Caleb: Knowing he is not allowed to pretend shoot people, just things, "Mommy, are we allowed to shoot animals?"
Mommy: "Yes, I guess we are allowed to shoot animals."
Caleb: "Even bears?"
Mommy: "Yes, even bears."
Caleb: After thinking for awhile, "but mommy some people are bears..."

Ahh, the wisdom of the young.

Looks like we just might have a house...

Everything seems to be going super smoothly. We got our financing secure, and we heard today that we might try to close this Friday! How crazy is that, that God might get us through this whole process and into the house in a little over 2 weeks from when we put the offer in! We're getting pretty excited. Trying to decide just what we'd have to do, and want to do before we move in. Our plan would be to rent here at least one more month so we can get as much done as possible before we actually move in. How we are going to get much done with 4 little kids in tow will be interesting, but I know it will all work out.

Spiritual Things

Caleb has really been grappling with "spiritual things" recently. He's been trying to wrap his head around some of the aspects of God. How come we can't see God? How come we can talk to God but we don't hear him talk to us? Does everyone go to Heaven?

Today, his Sunday School teacher stopped me after service to share a sweet moment that happened during class. She said it was pretty quiet at one point, and they heard Caleb say in a very sweet clear voice to his friend, "Aren't you so happy that Jesus died on the cross for you?" She said all the adults in the room pretty much teared up at that. Mommy did too.

On the way home from church in Daddy's car, they drove by "our" house. Daddy reminded Caleb that it might be our new house pretty soon if God decided that He wanted us to have it. So Caleb said, "I'll ask God if He wants us to have it.". Then he prayed aloud, "Dear Jesus, do you want us to have this house? Amen." Then he told Weston, "God said 'yes'", and Weston asked, "Did he say yes to you in your heart?" and Caleb replied "yes". Then Caleb launched into a story about how the other day in bed he heard his stomach say "feed me".

The Chunky Monkey Award goes to...

Kellan! He weighed in at 23lbs.3oz. and was 30 3/4 inches. Ethan was 21lbs.5oz. and 30 1/2 inches. And you can sure feel the difference when you pick them up. Funny though because Ethan is the better eater... but Kellan likes his milk a lot more.