Never!.....yeah right

I just got through telling a good friend of mine last week that I NEVER rearrange my furniture.......and guess what I went and did last night? That's right, I did what I NEVER do, LOL! It wasn't really my idea though. Me and Robert were just sitting and talking in the living room last night while Rachel played and Josiah slept in the swing. Suddenly, Robert said "ya' know, I think that the sofa would look better over there, loveseat over here, piano there" etc. So I said "let's move it all". We jumped up and got busy moving furniture. Poor Rachel was so confused! She kept saying "why" or "what are you doing". Of course, she was very helpful when it came time to move the Christmas presents! =) Needless to say, after 3 years of the same living room arrangement, it now looks different. I guess I've been reminded again to never say never!

Ok, one more post for today =) Usually around this time of year we do something special for the Sunday School bus my husband captain's. This year money has been so tight that we didn't know what we were going to do. Between my husbands 20% paycut and trying to brace ourselves for him being off of work (without pay) for 9 days next month, we really didn't know what we were going to do for the kids. Robert always says that our family comes first no matter what, but we still feel sorry for not being able to bless others like we'd like to. Well, Saturday on outreach a man asked Robert if there are kids on the bus who will not get any Christmas presents. Robert told him yes and then the man said that he had asked for a donation from a local store and had received one with a bunch of toys and would like to give them all to the bus! Needless to say, we ended up with a huge bag of toys to wrap and give to the kids! We were so excited. So Saturday night while Robert made chocolate dipped apple slices for the kids, I wrapped all of the gifts. We were up until midnight and were exhausted on Sunday, but it was so worth it. God is so good!

Chunky monkey =)

Josiah is 4 months old and quite the chunkers nowadays! He is tipping the scale at 18.4 lbs! The Dr. said he is in the 90 percentile for weight and 80 percentile for height......just a big boy! I haven't given him any rice cereal yet but probably will within the next month or so. I am wondering just how "fatty" my milk must be though, my goodness, I'd always heard that breastfed babies are "lean", yeah right! He still has a problem with scratching his face, as you can see. It happens in the middle of the night usually when he gets hungry. He doesn't cry, he just starts moving around and scratching his face, it's the most annoying thing! He somehow gets the socks off of his hands and even though his nails are not long at all (I'm constantly clipping and filing them) he still finds a way to scratch. He is so much fun though, always has a smile readily available =)

"I love Jesus"

Late Friday evening after getting home from helping the Hamiltons move, and puting the kids to bed, I put out a few more decorations in the living room, including a nativity on the coffee table along with a "Noel" sign and some scented pine cones in my flower vase. Saturday morning Rachel woke up and headed for the kitchen where she always demands "I want cereal!" but she didn't quite make it. Instead, she noticed the nativity on the coffee table and ran over to kneel and look at it. Then she exclaimed "it's baby Jesus!" and I said "yes, it is, and Mary and Joseph", next thing I knew she leaned forward and kissed the little "baby Jesus" and said "mama, I love baby Jesus". Now, I must tell you that I had tears in my eyes by this point as I said "yes, I do too" and then I knelt down next to her and told her the story of baby Jesus and how He's not a baby anymore and that He can live in our hearts when we recieve the Holy Ghost. Oh, what a wonderful Saturday morning! I cannot explain the joy I had at just that small little glimmer of understanding that radiated from Rachel as she listened to the story and said "I love Jesus" after I was done telling it. Of course it was right then and there I was reminded of how simple a child's faith is. Oh how I love Jesus!

You can pick your friends, pick your nose...BUT you CANNOT pick your FRIENDS nose!

Group fellowship was fun as usual last Saturday. Below is how Rachel spent it (well a few minutes of it anyways):
Of course Joel was in on the action too:

And, just for the record, them picking their noses was NOT planned for the pictures. It happened and me and Chelsea (Joel's mama) just thought it was hilarious and this is why: right before they began (picking their noses) I was telling Chelsea about our Pediatric visit the prior Friday. Both Rachel and Josiah see the same pediatrician and so we schedule their appointments at the same time. While the dr. was checking Josiah, Rachel was picking her nose, graciously I might add, and both me and Robert kept telling her to "stop". Finally the Dr. turned around and said "let her finish!" and then explained that it is completely normal and actually a wonderful thing. I guess that if a kid is not picking their nose, then there usually are developmental issues. After sharing this info with Chelsea and having her confirm that our kids must be very well "developed" I turned and Rachel came walking up picking her nose. I snapped a pic and then Joel walked up and started too.........I wonder if THEY were somewhere discussing the technique! LOL

This is a pic of us just being goofy (which is almost always). I like to say, "it's the joy of the Holy Ghost". As you can see, Rachel did to something other than pick her nose, which is evident by the chocolate on her shirt....yes, she sure did have fun with the chocolate fountain:

Tis' the season to be busy

Last week we were able to get into the seasonal "mood" by going here and there for various events. We went to a Christmas play, that Rachel absolutely loved (Josiah just nursed the whole time, lol). We also went to Desert Ridge market place one evening for their storytime with Clifford. After the storys and songs we walked to the fountain area where it "snows" every evening. Rachel loved catching the flakes in her hands and was worn out by the time we got home. So far even though this time of year has been horrible financially, we have really been able to have a good time. It's funny, because we've actually had more fun than we have before and I think it's just because we are just rolling with the punches, so to speak =) We hope that you all are having a good time of year also!

I think I've kinda' fell in love....

Okay, so you all know that I've been cloth diapering now since having Josiah and I absolutely LOVE it! I can't even express what a financial relief it has been not to be spending so much on diapers and the fact that Josiah has not had diaper rash at all only adds to my adoration of cloth. Our water bill did go up slightly though, it's been an extra $2.47 a month!!! (I'm in love) So, anyhow, I decided last week while doing laundry that it is time for the next step in my love relationship with cloth.......CLOTH WIPES!!! Yay!!! It will be so much easier to throw them all in the wash instead of dealing with throwing disposables away, or flushing them. I will post pictures as soon as I am done making them all. I found the following site with cloth wipe solutions: www.zany-zebra.com/cloth-wipe-solution.shtml . I personally plan on using the Chamomile 'n' Honey, mostly so I can enjoy a steaming cup of tea after all of my hard work =) Oh, just for the record, my husband thinks that I have absolutely lost my mind...........but he sure does appreciate this kind of money saving mind loss! =) LOL

Thanksgiving pictures

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving as promised. Better late than never right? =) As you can see Rachel and Robert liked playing the memory card game (she's getting pretty good at it) and we all liked playing Blink, even though there was some cheating going on in the end hee hee, maybe I should say instead that there were some planned pranks pulled, lol. Josiah just wanted to rest and was still catching up the next day when we got home and he fell asleep in his bumbo seat!

Handel's Messiah!

Ok, so we got a call yesterday afternoon letting us know that there were some extra tickets at the church for Handel's Messiah at GCU that evening if we were interested in going, we decided to go. After thinking about it a few moments we thought about Rachel trying to sit through the entire production............NOT going to happen! When I was studying music for my Associates Degree I sang in the college's Masterworks choir and performed Handel's Messiah one year, so I knew first hand that it would be extremely boring for a 3 year old after about 10 minutes. After calling around to find a babysitter, hopefully, we couldn't find one since everyone had plans (it's that time of year), so we decided to go ahead and introduce little Rachel to another part of the Arts. Granted, we have taken her to various Musical drama productions, we have never taken her to the symphony or anything like it, we just figured we'd wait till' she's like 5.

We got all dressed up to go last night and Rachel was soooo excited! She wanted to wear her "fancy" coat and all=) Of course times have changed for some and folks just don't dress up for these events like they used to, but we still do, it's fun =) We arrived and were greeted with smiles and "awe, how cutes" when Rachel would say hello to everyone. Just for the record, Josiah was hungry and oblivious to anything else! When the lights went out and the music started Rachel was entertained for exactly 23 minutes! Then she was fidgety and eventually DONE! So of course at intermission we saved her and whisked her away to go look at Christmas lights =)

All in all it was a enjoyable evening though. We ended the evening by going to Village Inn and eating a slice of pie while discussing with Rachel our plans for Christmas. She is well aware we are going to Disneyland and seems to think that we are going to eat at Mickey's house.............hmmm fancy that!

Fuzzibunz diapers for cheap!

If you're looking for cloth diapers for a good price Zulily has Fuzzibunz on sale for only $13.99! They have some really cute ones with different saying's on the rear such as "does this diaper make my butt look big" =) Here is the link: http://www.zulily.com/e/fuzzibunz-120511.html#pid_891501?pos=20

Professional photos.....finally =)

We finally had pictures taken and they turned out nice I think =) I will upload the family portrait later on, once I scan it into the computer. Josiah didn't smile but he wasn't crying either which was surprising since he was hungry at the time.