Angels

Today, at my parent's house, we were reading the Bible Story about when the angel came to visit Mary to tell her that she would give birth to Jesus.  It talked about how Mary was scared when the angel appeared.  Out of curiosity, I asked Samuel if he had ever seen an angel.  He said, "Nooooo . . . "  I then turned to Hope and asked her (because if anyone has seen an Angel, it would be our little miracle girl!).  She answered with a firm, "Yes!"  (In this split second I was thinking, WOW - so cool!) that was quickly followed by, "There's an Angel in my Bible Story book too!"

It freaks me out!

Samuel loves the new bike that we got for him . . . but he only loves it at my parent's house on their beautifully, flat, cemented driveway (can you tell I'm jealous?!).  He won't ride it at our house because our driveway is uneven asphalt with lots of dips that you have to watch out for and his bike ends up being tippy because both training wheels can't touch the ground at the same time to keep his bike stable.  We were loading up his bike today to take to Grandma's house for him to ride and this was the conversation:

Samuel: "I don't waaaaant my new bike!"
Me: "Samuel, we are going to Grandma's house.  You like your new bike there, remember!?"
Samuel: "Oh yeah!!" (big smile one his face)
Daryl: "Samuel, we'll teach you how to like your new bike at our house too"
Samuel: "Yeah, maybe when I am 5 or 6"
Me: "How about when you are 4?"
Samuel: "Yeah"
Me: "Or how about when you are 3 1/2?"
Samuel: "I'm 3 1/2 right now!!!!"  (with a silly grin on his face)
Me: "I know!  Maybe you can learn to like riding your new bike at our house right now!"
Samuel: "But Mommy, it kind of freaks me out a little bit!" (nodding his head importantly like he is telling us a very true and honest statement)
Me: laughing hysterically . . . no words :)

I love it when he comes up with big boy phrases like that!  Where does he hear this stuff? ;)

The Baseball Game

Tonight we headed over to the Westwood Little League baseball diamonds to see a good friend's son, Travis, play.  I didn't mention anything to Samuel about it until about 5 minutes before we left because I wasn't sure what the weather would do and I wanted to make sure we were actually going to go.  When I told him we were going to go and watch a baseball game his eyes got big and round and he got really excited.  He asked, "The Tigers??!"    He barely got through the rest of dinner without jumping out of his chair and running around in circles from excitement.  When he got down from the table he ran over to the TV and turned it on . . . I guess that is the only way that he's watched a baseball game before . . . he just assumed the game we were going to be watching was on TV!  I explained to him that we were going to drive in the van to a real baseball game.  That made him even more excited.  He had to grab his ball, his mitt, and his bat.  He looked at me with sparkling eyes and said, "Mommy!  Maybe during a commercial we can go out on the baseball field and play catch!"  Haha!  Still not quite understanding the whole not watching the baseball game on TV thing.  He was absolutely enthralled when we got there.  Despite a 15 minute pouring rain delay a few minutes after we got there, it was a fun evening!  Samuel watched a lot of it but then he had to go get his bat and have his Daddy pitch some balls to him.  Travis' team (his Dad is the coach) was ahead 5-0, then the other team pulled into the lead by getting 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th with 2 outs.  In the top of the 6th (the last inning) Travis got up to bat with a guy on 2nd.  He hit a beautiful double and and the guy on second scored, tying the game 5-5.  They tied on a time limit call . . . couldn't start an extra inning after 8pm.  So glad that we took Samuel!!  The girls were there too - they did great.  Hope found a little boy to run around and play with and Aliyah stuck pretty close by my side.  That's okay with me!  It's nice having a 21 month old that I don't have to chase around everywhere. :)

Love this saying . . .

"Heaven was in him before he was in Heaven"

Please Jesus, let this be true of me!

Lunch With Grandpa

We were playing in the backyard this morning when Samuel said, "Mommy, where can we go?  I want to go somewhere!"  It was almost lunch time so I quick called up my Dad and asked if we could join him at his work for lunch.  He readily agreed so I quickly packed a lunch and we were on our way.  For early May, it was a pretty warm day!  My Mom met us there (she was the photographer!) too.  After lunch we took a walk around the pond.  Such fun memories being made!

I love the special relationship that my kids have with their Grandpa!  They absolutely love spending time with him and I have a strong suspicion that the feeling is mutual!  (This picture was the one that we later turned into a canvas for my Dad for his birthday.) 

Pointing out some turtles that were sunning on a log.  After that we threw some rocks at them to make them all jump off. 

I wouldn't trade time with family for anything else in the world!! 

Samuel pointing out the turtles to Aliyah

Aliyah got a little too close to the edge of the pond and fell in the mucky mud.  A few wet wipes and all was good again!

This picture was taken right after we saw a dead deer in the shallow pond water.  Nice.  I don't think the kids noticed it.  Thank goodness!!

After the walk we headed inside so my Dad could show off his grand-kids to his coworkers.  Can you believe that this is the first time he's had the chance to show them off at his work?  The kids were shy but they had fun seeing Grandpa's office and where he works.  Their favorite person that they met was Liz because she gave them all Klondike bars!!  It was a messy treat but the kids sure enjoyed it. :)  We kept my Dad a little over his lunch hour . . . (by like an hour!) . . . Oops!!  

The Grandma That Lives At Grandma's House??

Samuel is at such a fun age!  I love what he does and says.  Here's a few examples from the past couple of days:

• Samuel keeps the Grandparents straight by calling my Mom (Grandma Stegink), "The Grandma that lives at Grandma's house" and my Dad, "The Grandpa that lives at Grandma's house".  He sometimes call Daryl's Mom "Grandma Neil" and her husband "Grandpa Neil".  
• Samuel loves playing Chutes and Ladders.  He likes to play fast and he can count out the spaces all by himself.  When a ladder is coming up he'll even say "I want a 4" or whatever number it takes to land on the ladder.  Same with a slide . . . "No 3, no 3!"  He's learning his numbers (1-100) really well by playing this game so much.  His favorite numbers are 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, etc.  But instead of twenty-two it is "two-de-two" and thirty-three is "three-de-three".  It makes sense, doesn't it? ;)
• My Mom got Samuel some real soccer shoes at a garage sale this past weekend.  When she gave them to him he was so excited.  He couldn't believe that he had real soccer shoes.  He showed me how he could run so fast in the grass now and kick the soccer ball so far.  He then told me, "Look Mom!  They even have prickles on the bottom of them!"

Aliyah, my fashion girl :)

Aliyah is just like her Mommy . . . she loves clothes!!  Whenever I bring home a new article of clothing for her (or for her sister, much to Hope's dismay!), she wants to try it on right away.  Hope was wearing a new shirt today and when Aliyah saw it she went over to Hope and grabbed at the shirt, saying "wear it, wear it!"  Little stinker!  Today when Hope and I came back from the doctor and running errands, Aliyah saw the purple shirt that I found (on clearance at Old Navy!) and insisted on wearing it right away.  Then she found the cute blue hat and put that on too.  Doesn't it bring out her beautiful blue eyes?!

                                     

 Samuel thought he needed his picture taken too.  Complete with a funny face.

/

 Hope doing a funny face.  Ignore the snotty nose . . . we're in the middle of another ear infection . . . again . . . ugh. :(

 Isn't she a fashion statement?  Silly girl! :)

 The sunglasses definitely complete the look!!

"Peek-a-boo!"