q&a with ethan

so ethan is learning to answer questions. the first question he learned to answer was a while ago: "who do we pray to?" "God." it makes my heart melt to hear my son acknowledge His Creator and Lord. then more questions came...
"who do we sing to?" "God."
"who tells us to obey daddy & mommy?" "God."
"who made you?" "God."
so far, so good.
"who do you want to pray for?" "God."
"who is coming home soon?" "God."
"who came to visit?" "God."
"who drives our van?" "God."
"who brought you chickfila?" "God."
well, i have to hand it to the kid. if you're gonna pick one answer and stick to it, "God" is the answer to go for! so, at this point, i'm thinking that ethan is starting to get the hang of colossians 1...

for by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Him. and He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. and He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might He preeminent.
- colossians 1:16-18

well, i was strapping ethan into his carseat the other day, and i saw him noticing the clouds in the beautiful blue sky. "oh, ethan! look at the pretty clouds! who made the clouds?" i asked, expecting the same answer i've heard a million times.... his eyes lit up, a big smile spread across his face, and he exclaimed..... "MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

uh oh....

i just found the magazine that i would love to jump into and live in...cottage living...(if only i could "blue skiddoo" like on ethan's favorite show!) i love pouring over magazines with great, affordable ideas to improve my home in little ways! "little ways??" brian asks... umm, a new--bigger--kitchen table has morphed into a slippery slope of kitchen changes... but we're leaving the countertops! ha! but that was all before i found this magazine. oooh fun. maybe i'll ask for a subscription for my birthday. it's not expensive at all... i just can't ever think of anything i want for my bday! so go check out the magazine online. if you're tammy, catherine, or kristi, i know you're gonna love it!!!!!!!! and if one of you has already heard of this magazine and didn't tell me, you're in trouble!

mom can be fun!

brian captured this shot of me and ethan on the slide last weekend... and it did my heart good to see both of us having so much fun together. so often i am teaching and correcting and disciplining ethan in an effort to "train up this child" for God's glory that i forget or run out of time in the day to just have fun! i find myself telling him not to drop the crayons on the floor more often than i sit down and color a picture WITH him. i think i can be a pretty fun mommy when i take the time to put the laundry down and let caroline just be for a minute so that i can attend to ethan's wishes for "more football" (basketball). he recently discovered that i can dribble the basketball on the living room carpet (quite a talent with a foam ball, actually!!), and he gets pretty cracked up about it.

in the world of child development and speech therapy, we use the term "language explosion" to refer to the point when a child's expressive language increases tremendously in a short amount of time... usually, it's when children progress from the point of saying mostly single words to all of a sudden speaking in phrases. i'd seen this occur in the children i'd worked with, but boy do i understand why it's called an explosion now!!! in the last 2 weeks, ethan's language has absolutely exploded. he is saying new things everyday that crack us up. (of course it's too late for me to think of any right at this moment...) he knows most of his basic colors (thanks to his matchbox cars!), and his favorite by far is "GEEN!!!!" his walls are painted denim on top, and below is white beadboard. he can be found sitting on his bed, pointing back and forth, saying, "white wall, buuu wall. white wall, buuu wall." :)

i have to remind myself on a daily basis to slow down and enjoy this little explosion we call ethan. well, maybe slow down isn't the word. :) but you know what i mean. we went to visit brian's grandparents last weekend, and i was reminded of how much he'd changed since christmas-- and that was only 2 months ago! there are so many things he's done lately that i've already failed to write down. i'm sure i won't remember them all. and it really doesn't matter that i remember them all. what matters is that he learns the love of our Father through the love of his mommy and daddy. sometimes that means discipline. sometimes that means one more reading of "time for bed". and sometimes that means an all out tickle war on the couch... and for those of you who know ethan's laugh, you know that i could live off one good laugh of his for a week.

this week's gonna be a busy one. we're getting ready to go out of town next week (yay!!!!!!! more about that later...), my grandma is having surgery, friends and family are coming in town, and frankly and i just have a lot to do. but between packing and visiting and cleaning, i hope to brush up on my basketball skills... i'm gettin' pretty good!

a little of her mama...

my mom found this picture of me at about 6 months old... (didn't i just say i didn't do the lace thing?? ha!) she said that she remembers this picture in her head when caroline smiles really big. caroline is a good mix of me and brian. most people say she looks more like me than ethan, but they definitely can't hide the fact that they're brother and sister. :)

caroline's bed

i promised to post a picture of caroline in her sweet crib... she's so little in such a big bed! i don't know if you can see the detail, but the crib bedding is simple white eyelet (no lace... i'm not really the lace type). i often find her looking up at her abc wall hanging when she has woken up. i never did find a mobile that coordinated with the vintage theme of her nursery, but apparently, she's not missing it! she's learning her alphabet instead! :) ("a c's" as ethan says.) so, here's my sweet little girl in her new crib. next thing i know, i'll be posting about her being in her big girl bed (sigh).