Kalimantan who?

So I know very well that I have not been keeping up with the blog.  I have been a bit distracted in my thought life and just where we are in life right now.  Nothing bad, just new and different.  Some have asked if we are moving again…Lord-willing, yes.  Our new house is on the market.  It would take a lot of time to explain how all of this came to be and maybe I will type it all out one day on the blog, but for now I will just say that the Lord is most definitely leading Josh and our family in a new direction.  I am excited about it…though I don’t really know exactly what I am excited about.  🙂

Anyway, on to a funny story.  Josh got this book called OPERATION WORLD that is put out by Operation Mobilization and has lots and lots of countries…maybe all the countries in the world…in it.  It tells about the country and its faith, population, etc, etc.  We have been using it as a guide to pray for the nations.  On the day we started, we read about Kalimantan, Indonesia.  At the end we were praying and Mack really wanted to pray.  He said, “Dear God, thank you for…what’s that name again?…”  Josh said, “Kalimantan.”  Mack said, “WHAT?!,” as if he hadn’t ever heard that word before in his life.  Then, he tried to pray again and stopped mid-sentence and asked, “Kanamanta?  Is that Truette’s daddy?”  (friends we have who live in Indonesia)  It was so funny.  The girls couldn’t hold back their laughter and neither could us parents.  🙂

“Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession.”  Psalm 2:8

Ruby and Me

Today Ruby and I took a few hours to go out and run some errands together.  She had mentioned wanting to be by herself with me, so we took advantage of doing that today.  We went to Target and roamed around.  It was fun to stop at the things that interested her the most.  We found a JESSE cowgirl doll that she just had to have.  She talked to that doll all throughout the store and in and out of the car the rest of the day.  I am glad she decided to leave her in the car while we ate Mexican or I may not have gotten to talk to Ruby!  We enjoyed cheese dip and chips; it seemed that this restaurant had a bigger bowl of cheese OR it could have been that all the other family members that love cheese dip even more than we do were not there!  We also ran into the Dollar Store and the grocery store for a few things as we get ready for VBS next week.  It was really a fun day!  Ruby said, “This is the greatest day ever!!!”  How sweet!  I plan to take Molly by herself next to get our nails done together or something.   I think she would really like that.  Josh took Molly and Mack to the playground and to The Varsity.  Fun was had by all today.

It’s amazing how hard you have to work to make sure you get one on one time with your kids!  As I talked to Ruby over lunch I just smiled.  She is so fun to talk to and has a very sweet personality.  We talked about church, about next year’s school year, about possibly moving, about how yummy cheese dip is, and more.  She was so cute.

Hopefully next week I can work in some Molly and Me time.  Happy, hot Saturday!!!!

Father’s Day

This past weekend I went over to Augusta for a quick trip to see my dad and to celebrate Kaybeth’s 3rd birthday.  It was fun!  The kids totally loved the water slide at the birthday party.  I forgot my camera, so I don’t have any pictures.  🙁  I did snap some pictures of the kids giving Josh his Father’s Day gifts.  I found THE perfect card for Josh from Mack.  It was hilarious.  Some of you will understand and some may not, but you can know that it was perfect.

Mack is a little confused on the whole “Mother’s Day” or “Father’s Day” thing.  He told Josh “Happy Mudder’s Day.”  He also gets upset when Josh calls him “son.”  He says “I’m NOT YOUR SON.”  We try to explain it to him, but he just doesn’t get it.  He will sometimes add, “I am not Daddy’s son, I am his ‘buddy-roe.'”  Molly and Mack had a big argument over whether Josh was their Father or the Daddy.  They are funny.

Mack also thought that he was supposed to open the cards and gifts for Josh.

And here’s the inside of the card for Josh from Mack:

We are grateful to have Josh in our lives.  The kids are extremely blessed to have a Daddy like him!  And I can’t forget to send a shout out to Swervin’Mervin’ and Big PawPaw!  Hope everyone had a great Father’s Day!  We love all of you!

Little House…

We are enjoying the Summer.  We had been spending many days in the sprinkler and in the woods until this “heat wave.”  We were out Monday morning at 8:30, but the kids were “tooooo HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,” so we opted for some games and a movie inside.  I was perfectly fine with that!

Here are some shots from our time in the woods.  The kids were digging dirt and filling Ziploc bags with it, digging holes, making mud and more…

I love this picture.  Mack is squirting Ruby and the look on her face is hilarious!

Oh my.

Last night we took the girls to Fox Theatre to see LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.  I was less than impressed, but that’s ok.  The girls really enjoyed it.  Molly kept calling it “The Foxes Theatre.”  Josh corrected her every time.  In my effort to clear it up, I said, “Molly, like ONE Fox, not lots of Foxes.  Just one fox.”  She then said, “Oh, ok.  When are we at ONE THE FOXES THEATRE?”  That girl is funny.  She also saw popcorn as soon as we ran in the lobby (we were a few minutes late).  As soon as she sat down she said to Josh, “When can we get popcorn?”  To me, a little later, she said, “At the breakdown (meaning intermission) can we get popcorn…pleeeeaaaase?”  This wouldn’t have been so crazy if she had not just eaten a lot of food at OK Cafe AND a huge milkshake!!!  The girl is a bottomless pit.

at the house before we left

The girls were intrigued by the strange pictures in the bathroom at OK and throughout the whole restaurant.

They were beside themselves most of the night with giggles and laughing and silliness.

Please note where Josh is sitting.  He was to share this strawberry shortcake dessert with Ruby, but she is left-handed and was blocking his ability to get in there with his fork…..clearly a seat change was necessary.

Better.

Molly was a true fan and wore her bonnet the entire time.

We got home near midnight!  Mack was still awake because he and Uncle Jason were playing and playing and playing.  He cried earlier in the day about us leaving him, but he may have had the best time of all of us!  This morning he asked if Uncle Jason could come over again and play.  How sweet!

Funny girl

Molly was sitting in the back seat yesterday pretending to be talking on the phone…she is really good at it, too!  Here is what I heard her say:

“I am just out of commission right now.”

Pause.

“No, you don’ t have to come.  I will be alright.”

Pause.

“Yeah, I am sure.”

Out of commission???  Where did she hear this?  It wasn’t me, I promise.  That girl is hilarious.

Mack got a hair cut

Mack got a hair cut just a bit ago.  He didn’t want to go in “that girl one.”  See, we went to Great Clips, which is where the girls got their hair cut last month.  Mack usually goes with Josh to the barber up the street.  He was not happy that I was taking him to “that girl one.”  Thankfully, there were several other little boys in there getting their hair cut.  It helped him–that and the huge bowl of dum-dums.

On the way home in the car I said, “Mack, you look so cute with your new hair cut.  I really like it.”

“Sanks, Mom,” Mack said.

“Girls, do you have anything to say to Mack?” I asked, trying to encourage them to be sweet.

Ruby said, “Mack, I sure do like your hair cut!”

“Sanks, Ruby.”

There was a pause.  Molly wasn’t saying anything even though Mack had turned his head in her direction.

Then, he said, “Molly, is there something you wanna say to me?”

It was so funny!  He was set on having her compliment his new hair-do.  She reluctantly said she liked it.  That stinker!

Family pictures are tomorrow.  Say a prayer for us!  These times stress me out.  I don’t know why, really.  It’s just a picture.  Right?  Just a picture.

Mack

Mack goes through phases of saying crazy things.  For the longest time he would call people “Mr. Uncle-head.”  I have no idea what that means.  It would vary and come out as, “Mr. Uncle-Pooky-head” or “Uncle-head, booty.”

We’ve  switched gears and everything is “belly-button.”  “You are a belly-button crazy head.”  ?!

Last night Josh got the ultimate insult when Mack said, “You are a girl belly button.”  Wow.  It doesn’t get much worse than that, huh?

Crazy boy.

June 1st!

Whew.  I don’t know about y’all, but May wears me out!  Between end of the year programs at church, at school, graduations from little ones to big ones, Josh’s out of town schedule and Ruby’s birthday—June is a month I welcome.

Let me do a little catching up so that we can go into the summer months fresh and up-to-date….at least that is my goal.

The kids have played out in the sprinkler that Uncle Jason got them.  They were playing “Red Rover” in a very funny way.  Only one kid stood over and called for one of the other two to run over and “break through.”   Mack would say, “Rain Rover, Red Ranger, MOLLY send over.”

Ruby got a package from Gran and PawPaw the day before her birthday, she got a gift from us and Ashlyn on her birthday, then she got a package from Sweetie and PawPaw the day after her birthday.  It was loaded with fun stuff.  (I didn’t take a pic of her opening Gran and PawPaw’s gift because she got it directly from the UPS man and just couldn’t wait to open it…not to mention I was about to die on my fifth day without Josh!)

Ruby thought this book was especially appropriate for her!   Give Ruby some glasses and you’d hardly know who was Junie B. and who was Ruby E.!   I love hearing Ruby read this book aloud.  She uses such inflection and lots of feeling as she reads.  She is a smart cookie (said her Mama!).

These shoes were a huge hit, Sweetie!  Molly put them on and told me that they fit her, so maybe you thought she should wear them, too.  Hmmmm…..

Ruby’s friend, Katherine, came back to town for Ruby’s birthday.  We celebrated with them and the Barsh family and had a great time.  The kids had fun eating, playing and torturing frogs!  Yuck.

Mr. Bill helped lead the kids in a little art project.  They drew on shirts and did a great job.

Oh, this poor frog.  🙂

Last, but not least, let me show you what Katherine gave Ruby when she visited us Friday morning:

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE paper dolls.  They are so cute!  We just love them.

Josh bought our LHOP Fox tickets for half price at Publix!  We are so excited about taking the girls to see the show.  I am hoping that they will wear their bonnets and apron that Gran made them.  How cute would that be?  Maybe Josh will wear some suspenders and boots like Charles.  If I wear a perpetual smile and let out a sweet, “Oh, Charles” or “Mary and Laura, I’ll meet you at the Mercantile after school today and we’ll walk home together” or maybe, “Good day, Mrs. Olsen!”, then I could be mistaken for Caroline….assuming I straight iron my hair and pull it back in a bun, of course.  I’ll do it if Josh will do it….and I think we all know what ain’t happenin’!

Happy June 1st!