Answered Prayer

For quite awhile Jamie has had a very simple, short prayer each night before bed - let Uncle Michael come home to our house. This weekend the prayer was answered. Mike arrived Saturday night and left after lunch today. Jamie cried when he saw that his bed was no longer made up for Uncle Michael.
Sunday ended up being more fun than they thought it would be due to snow. Our evening church service was cancelled, so we had a nice night at home. Our living room floor became a large train layout, and then a farm set-up.
On Monday we took a trip to Brookside Gardens Conservatory for their sculpture show. The two buildings were filled with beautiful plants - mostly tropicals and bulbs. It smelled amazing! It makes me long for spring, when all the tulips, daffodils, and other bulbs bloom. I can't wait to get into the garden again! We stopped at Ikea to walk through the store and have lunch. Jamie was not impressed by the long-awaited chance to play in the play area. I guess it's not as much fun as Dot made it seem.
Today we visited the pet store, where the kids dreamt of having many new pets. However, as I would be the one cleaning up after them and having to purchase their food and other supplies, I vetoed every one. Maybe when they are older... After lunch at Quiznos we headed home to say goodbye to Mike. The kids are sad that he is gone, and are a bit tired and whiney from the late nights, but they seem to be recovering - the dvd's I rented are a hit.

If we did it all over again...

Thankfully I am not in the middle of planning a wedding right now. I remember those days as being busy and a bit stressful. (And how is that different than my life right now?) However, I do like to look at those very pretty dresses (although I feel sorry forany modest bride-to-be right now, as all the dresses seem to be strapless).
I did run across this wedding ring option. It's a bit too modern for my taste, but it is interesting. Ah, well, we aren't doing it over again, and it is well out of our price range.

Modesty, Again

I have recently been working on a few dresses for this spring, and was a bit disappointed with how low the neckline was on one (it didn't seem that low on the pattern's picture). I was (and still am) looking for an idea of how to add to the dress to make it more modest without making it look funny. I have found many sites that talk about modesty, but don't give pictoral examples. I have found many sites that sell modest clothing (usually pretty expensive). The most interesting site yet, though, is a modesty survey. It has given me a lot to think about - most of the time we hear things along the lines of, "men are stimulated by sight, " or "make sure your clothing isn't a stumbling block to your Christian brothers." Not often are we females given practical examples. This survey, however, gives us the chance to read guys' minds as related to modesty. No pictures, but the questions are very specific, and the answers give even more info. Check it out, girls - you may be a little surprised.

Valentine's day as a snow day

Well, we did get some snow and ice, and some areas of Baltimore had power outages. Not us. We had the equivalent of a giant unflavored icee all over our neighborhood. Not fun to play in, not fun to clean up. And not a snow day... at least for Dot! Jim did have the day off, and used most of it shoveling icy slush. He has a four-hour delay this morning.
We did celebrate Valentine's day with a nice dinner: crumbed green beans, crab cakes and popcorn shrimp, mashed potatoes, homemade wheat rolls, and fudgy cherry chocolate cake. The kids did not like the crab cakes, but did stuff themselves with the rolls. (Jim actually bought that potted mini rose plant for me - without being "reminded" - how romantic!)
After dinner we all rested on the couch bed and enjoyed Disney's Alice in Wonderland. I had just finished reading the book to Jamie at nap time, so I thought he would like to see the movie. It is now favorite!

Do home-schoolers get snow days?

For the most part, we have not had real winter weather here. While we have had some cold temperatures (nothing like Minneapolis!), we have not had a good snow. The kids have been bemoaning the lack of sledding. My prediction has held true, and now that it is the week of Valentine's day we are getting a storm. (We've gotten big snow storms on past Valentine's weeks.) However, this storm hasn't been dropping much snow. The ping, ping, ping on the windows lets us know that we are getting freezing rain. Weather experts predict one-quarter- to one-half-inch of ice for our area, with the possibility of a bit more snow at the end of the storm tomorrow afternoon. Jim is pessimistic, and hopes we won't lose power.

Dot's art

Dot may be jealous of all the new and exciting things that Jamie has acquired and experienced, but we've spent more on her lately than on him. This Saturday she started in a new art class. First project - learning to draw an apple. She learned about shadows and highlights. She began with pencil, but finished with chalks. Here is one of her first week's projects:

Promises fulfilled

Now that he's done his part, and gotten fully trained, Jamie expected us to follow through on our promises.

We went to Chuck E Cheese's on Friday night, and spent way too much money on a not-that-good pizza and tokens. The kids loved every minute of it, though. Jamie cried when we left.

We let him pick out his new undies.

We installed the leaves for his bed on Saturday morning. He has enjoyed playing and sleeping under them. Dot is jealous.

Too soon to say for sure...

Beginning last Saturday we restricted pull-up usage... Things have progressed quickly, with a few failures, but more successes. Even away from home things are staying dry now. Hooray for Jamie! Now we will have to follow through on all those promises we thought we were making in vain. A trip to Chuck-E-Cheese's, a turn in the Ikea playroom, new Cars briefs, etc...

Science Fiction Craft Time

The robots are coming!

Hooray! Hooray!

The Robots are coming!

You'd better get out of the way!

All hail the mighty (tiny) robots!