To Be a Kid Again!

I just love watching the boys get all excited about little things in life that are normal occurances. I love how they look out the window each day and watch that bus go by each morning. When Monday rolls around they both are excited to see the trash man pick up our trash. And everyday we get to see the mail lady!! Or when the dryer buzzes or the microwave dings and they both say, "It's done!" The excitement they have on their faces when I am done vacuuming. Drew always says, "Mommy, you done, you put the vaccum away now!" The excitement of snack time when they get a cracker or some cheerios. I love it when lunch time rolls around and we get to sing the "Uh-oh Spaghetti Oh's" song. When we go to Walmart and they both get a sticker. Just the little things in life that put a smile on their faces! My favorite is when daddy comes home. The noise level sky rockets! Just seeing them yell "Daddy!" What a wonderful life they have, not a care in the world!

My Three Year Old!

Now, I am not wanting to complain here, but what is a mother to do about getting her strong willed boy to poop on the potty?! I have done everything from bribing him with a new Gordon (which is still sitting on the bookshelf) to a big monster cookie from the cookie store. We have sat for hours on the potty, but he has made up his mind not to do it. Now, he has done it a few times, but has no interest in it whatsoever right now. He would rather poop in his diaper or the tub, last night it happened again, and not in the potty. He actually blamed last nights incident on poor Tyler, but he finally confessed it was him. He said, "I pooped mommy, it was me, I pooped." Atleast he is an honest little fella! I need some help!! Any suggestions for a desperate mom?!

Oh, Wal-Mart!!!

Where have all the good wonderful bananas gone?!!!! Since moving to SL, I have wondered that!! I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter how long I stand and stare at the banana table I can never find that wonderful bunch of bananas. Just the other day, it took me about 5 minutes to find the right bananas and they were still somewhat bruised!! Plus, I have also noticed that my milk goes bad just after I buy it within a couple of days! What is happening to Wal-Mart? I will have to shop somewhere else! As Bill would say "Sam Walton would not be very happy!"

Update on the Maynard's

It has been a while since I have sent an update on the Maynard family. Well, let's see Drew told me yesterday that he doesn't want to poop on the potty, he wants to wear a diaper. He actually said, "No mommy, I wear di-per, I not poop in potty." We even bought him a new Gordon and it is sitting on top of the bookshelf just waiting for him to poop on the potty. This means I need to take some quick action and get to the bottom of this situation. Off to the library I will go!

Tyler, well, let's just say he is my early riser, still!! Drew is still sleeping at 8:40 am, and Tyler was awake at 5:15 am for the day. I am going to have to get to the bottom of that situation too. It would be nice for the boys to have their own rooms. Tyler likes to wake up and yell "Dew, Dew, Dew", at the top of his lungs, so of course, I have to get him out before he wakes Drew up. We will have to wait until Bill finishes school, then having their own rooms might become a possibility! About 3 more months to go! Yippee!

Bill is doing great, he has a heavy load these next 6-8 weeks with four classes. Then he will only have two the last half of this semester! It has gone fast now that I look back. We will be so excited when it is all over! His work is going good,and no word of any layoffs. PTL!! They have slowed down somewhat, but he still has a job and we are thankful for that.

And me, well, I am actually starting to enjoy staying at home. It took me about a year, but I am finally starting to love it. When we first moved here I have to admit I did go through some depression. It was probably a mix of moving, just had a baby, it was darn cold, a new birth control (Yaz, never again!!!), and not to mention a new job taking care of two boys! I am so thankful that the Lord took me through that. It was hard, but I learned that no matter where I am at in life, no matter where the Lord leads us, HE is always there and is always faithful! It took me some time to be content, but I can actually say that I am content where the Lord has me. I, of course, miss home, but the Lord has shown me that in not being content where the Lord has placed me is disobedience. Just how Jonah disobeyed the Lord, I guess you can say I have been in the belly of the whale and now I am spit out a more content and new person! This year has been a real adjustment, but I am so thankful that the Lord has taken me through this "life" experience to continue to mold me into what He wants me to be. I didn't realize I was going to go into all that, but I guess that was on my heart. Love you all!

We Joined a Small Group!

We have only been going to our new church for a couple weeks now, but we decided to join a small group. We really love our new church, it is full of young couples and it is full of excitement and life. Our small group meets on Tuesday nights, which was a sacrifice for Bill to make since he is really busy these next 6 weeks with 4 classes he is taking. We were both in agreement that we really needed to get involved somewhere and we really needed fellowship. The class is called "The Truth Project", by Focus on the Family. Not sure if you have heard about it, I hadn't heard it before the class. It is going to be some really deep topics we will cover. It is a DVD series that we will watch and then break into small groups for discussion. Last night talked about Truth, "What is Truth?", and got us to really question what we think truth is. We also talked about the battle of Spirit of Truth vs. Spirit of Falsehood. The question at the end really got me thinking, "Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?" It should be a great class.

We Have a Babysitter!

I must say I am blessed! I just went out with Bill and we didn't take our kids!! We found a babysitter! She is fifteen and goes to Dayspring, where we were going to church until we found a church closer to us in Okoboji. Anyway, she lives in Spirit Lake and is so sweet and down to earth, and just great! And she loves the Lord! She sort of reminds me of me when I was a teenager.

Anyway, after I picked her up and brought her back to the house, we walked in the door and I was surprised the boys literally attacked her! They both smiled at her and said "Hi" and Tyler walked over to her and buried his head in her legs. So sweet! I think she was a bit overwhelmed. I would have been too if two kids just attacked me! We showed her the house and gave her the instructions and Drew was literally saying, "Bye Mommy, Bye Daddy!", and pushing us out the door. It was hilarious! When we got back I thought for sure Drew would be up, but he wasn't. She said he went to bed at 8pm and she only had to tell him to lay down once and he was out! I told her she needed to come to my house every night and put them to bed!! I am so glad it went great! I asked her after tonight if she would like to babysit more and she said YES!!!! So we now have a babysitter. After being here 14 months and not being able to get out, this is just wonderful!!! Praise the Lord! Bill and I can now have date nights! YIPPEE!

Our Winter Wonderland

I thought I would send some pictures of our snowfall that we have received this year so far. It has not been that bad really. Well, I guess the good thing is that I haven't had to drive in it everyday. I can choose when I want to go out and brave the weather. I must say though it seems every time I have to go and take the boys to a doctor appt., it never fails, there is some sort of precipitation. It adds to the drama of just taking them out by myself! Here are the pictures. The nice thing is that we have a neighbor that has a snow blower and he dug our mailboxes out for us. What a nice guy!!! Well, his mailbox is right next to ours, so I guess he had to dig ours out too! Anyway, enjoy the pictures!