A Nicey Icey Saturday

Today was quite chilly in the morning. We woke up to a home at 48 degrees. The heat sometimes likes to sleep at night and needs to be aroused manually. It was cold, even by our standards. We got it going after a couple of minutes. The morning moved on. The kids played while Lydia prepared some things for the Lord's Day. Anna suggested that they go outside and play for a while, which was fine by us.
So Anna, Owen, and Samson all headed outside for some fun in the blowing snow. They went on the slide and climbed a tree. They made snow angels and all the other things that kids love to do in the snow.
Lately they have liked taking sticks and writing in the snow. They make pictures then the sticks quickly turn into guns. They shoot the house, trees, the dog and sometimes each other, even though this is off limits (we shoot things and animals, not people). They played some more.
I continued writing a sermon while Lydia was baking something chocolaty in kitchen. After a while I heard a slight gasp from the kitchen. Lydia commented that Owen did not have his gloves on and, of course, we don't want our children to lose their fingers. She also informed me that he was running around out there BAREFOOT.

Wow.

Cold.

Bizarre.

The Chapbook Cafe Beginning the Chilly Months

Winter is coming and that means hours of lounging in book stores sipping lattes. It also means reading magazines for free and parousing children's books that we will not purchase at the bookstore, but order off of ebay. So is the ways of a free economy. Owen enjoyed a mocha-steamer, also known as hot chocolate.
Anna also enjoyed some hot chocolate, she only drank about half of hers though. She is a tiny thing and is not able to drink 12 ounces of yummy delicious hot chocolate. (Owen, of course, was able to drink all of his!)
Here Owen is reading Parson Avery's tales of Thomas on the Island of Sodor. At one time, Rev. Avery wrote the Thomas stories as a way to promote Christian virtues.
Anna and Owen also played at the Thomas Table. It is the first time that we have been to Schuler in a couple of months. The Thomas display had 3 8x11 signs warning of all the recalls because of lead based paint. I thought that they should stop doing recalls and just set up the Thomas section under the headings of 'regular' and 'leaded'.
We enjoyed a good cookie with our drinks as well. Chapbook has GREAT chocolate chip cookies, but the cakes are never too great. The atmosphere is very nice there though- big pained windows, stone fireplace, chess players, good art on the walls. It is one of our favorite hybrid bookstores/cafe's in town (not that there are too many to choose from!)
Lydia always looks through a pile of books. She usually leaves with a list of ISBNs that she will look on Amazon and Ebay for over the next couple of days. A week from now we will begin receiving packages from the letter carrier. The residual effects of a nice mocha have lasting implications!
In the winter I get a double mocha. In the summer I usually get a mocha smoothie. Today was the usual. It was quite tasty and gives enough energy to write into the night!
Watson was quite the darling. He slept the whole time. I am sure that if he was awake, he would have been offered a mocha too!
In time son, in time.

Big Weekend Ahead

This weekend is going to be quite busy. Our congregation has the "Grand Rapids Commission" of the RPCNA coming for a congregational visit. This means that there are going to be events Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for me (Lydia is exempt from much of the busyness for obvious reasons).

On Sunday, Watson is being baptized. This is the quickest that we have had one of our children baptize- 9 days old. Grandma Eshelman will be in from Pennsylvania to witness this blessed event. * * His baptism will be at 10AM if anyone wants to be a witness to this sacrament.

Between the services we are going to have a fellowship meal. Usually this means gross sloppy joes and ham and buns (Dutch staples). We are going to rebel and bring something yummy in lieu of sloppy slop.

Brian has been here this week making cheesecakes for the event. (He also made us a scrumtrelescent Chicken Marsala tonight for dinner!) I thought that I would share two of the three that he has made thus far:

This is a New York Cheesecake with blueberry puree marbled through it. It is sitting on my kitchen counter now. Should I eat some?
This is my favorite Brian cheesecake in the whole world. It is a cafe alaut white chocolate mocha cheesecake. You would not believe how much I want to call over the neighbors and devour this bad guy. I bet we could slip Brian $25 so that he could make another one. It really does not take that long... only a few hours to make it.
I know what Owen wants to do!
(That is Brian's crust mix in his mouth...we do brush his teeth.)

Tante Heidi ist die beste tante in der ganzen Welt!

In my last Saturday evening, I forgot to put up a picture of Tante Heidi. I must say, that I am quite ashamed since she is ALWAYS there for us for love and support. Heidi has been there for Anna and Owen's delivery and I know how much she wanted to be there for Watson's birth as well. We understand, work is an honorable thing. She made sure to check in every few hours as well as kept up-to-date on the blog while she was at work. I have heard that her fellow employees were quite interested in the unfolding of event on LOUA as well!

We are so grateful for her love and support. Her love for our family always shows in her kindness towards us.

Here is Heidi with her niece and nephews. Anna does not look too impressed, but Owen sure is infatuated with Watson.
Anna remained unimpressed for this photo as well, but the love is there.

"We love you Tante Heidi!"

"Wir lieben dich Heidi, kommen bitte, uns wieder zu sehen real bald! Wir können nicht warten, um dich in Frankfurt zu besuchen!"

Bacon Strip Lips

I will not tell you how he got a fat lip because some people are just way too sensitive. I will tell you that no one abused him. Well... some things are best left up to the imagination. (As for the Ritz crackers... I have no clue.... that is the preferred snack of the week.)

Birthday Wishes

I purchased a really great woven pith for Owen for his 2nd birthday. What little boy does not need a pith for exploration?

I was really happy with this pith and was very excited to have him wear it places. I was even considering getting myself one for gardening. Nothing says gardener like an adventurous pith!

But, the story goes, it seems as though a certain dog that was brought into this marriage does not like pith helmets. This dog prefers to eat non-food items despite his age. Owen still may be getting a pith for his birthday, but I will have to go buy a replacement- and keep it high enough to avoid being shred all over our second story floors.

My Boys

Today the boys got a chance to bond a little. They wrestled and bit each other. It is quite a blast to watch. Of course, Samson, the step-dog, was not allowed to play with us.

Mr. Birn, Could I have your buisness card, please?

Today I get an email at work that Lydia has discovered something that was potentially dangerous:

We know that Owen has been infatuated with the freezer lately and thinks that it is fun to freeze Thomas the Train and to steal Popsicles and eat them in the corner of the family room.

Tonight, it seems that Owen has decided to freeze HIMSELF! Lyd heard the lid (punny) close and went to see what he had taken out of the freezer. Nothing! He placed himself in the freezer!

We have decided to lock it from now on.. yep, probably a good idea! If we were not Christian people, we would sue Costco, General Electric, anyone that owns freezers, the US government for not making the hospital that delivers children give boy-freezer warnings, and whomever reads this post.

But seriously, think if Lydia was not downstairs with him what a horrible event this could have been... a lot like how Walt Disney ended up.

Owen's Conspiracy

He may look as though he is studying the Martyn Lloyd Jones section of my library, but is actually deviously learning how to have the house to himself....
Today as Lydia and Anna were heading out of the door to Mrs. Birn's baby-shower there was a terrible event. Lydia and Anna were outside and Lydia asked me to come out and wipe off the snow from the vehicle (it seems that wearing Birkenstocks in the middle of February is not always the best of ideas).

I was more or less than happy to do this for her and I got the broom out of the kitchen closet. I told Owen that I would be right back and I closed the door on him (so he did not get his feet snowy). I could hear him knocking and being annoyed that his entire family was out-of-doors while he was stuck inside with the dogs.

I finished wiping the car off and Lydia pulled out of the driveway. I walked up the steps to the front door to the dreadful fact that Owen had locked the door! I turned around, knowing that I did not have my keys and that all other doors were locked, and yelled to Lydia as she waved and drove off!

I yelled, 'Lydia stop!' very loud as she drove away. I made a fool of myself waving and yelling as she drove north on Union Avenue. As she passed the Notliberal compound she must have noticed her over-sized husband doing aerobics in the snow (in his pajamas, mind you). She turned around and pulled into the driveway.

I told her that Owen had locked me out. She responded that he does not know how to do that. Oh, it must have been one of the dogs then. Well, whomever it was, I got back into the house and Owen was crying because he was scared. He is not used to his large father jumping up and down while yelling in the front yard... in his pajamas, mind you.

All was well and Owen and I did some father and son things while Lydia and Anna were away. We cleaned all of the vents in the house and a good time was had by all.

Owen and Thomas

Owen has been enjoying the Thomas the Train Wooden Railway quite a bit lately. I cannot believe how intuitive little kids are; they seem to know that Thomas is the main character as well as the one in charge of other trains. Anna liked Thomas the best, and now Owen likes him the best too. It is a good thing that we have FOUR Thomas engines!

Owen's Hair

By popular demand I would like to show Owen's beard-trimmer haircut. It turned out better than I thought. It just took some touch-up around the ears and some Paul Mitchell Sculpting Glue.

Not a bad haircut for a fat theology student, huh?

Note to Self

For future reference, do not use a beard trimmer to cut Owen's hair.

Naughty Naughty

This picture was taken Sunday before we left our house for church in the morning. It totally reminds me of the kid that would be type-cast in a movie as the uber-brat that does nothing but defies his parents and reeks havoc on the entire neighborhood.

Good thing that our Owen is so sweet that he would never be mean or raise a hand to anyone.... even baby George who visited this evening. Okay, so maybe he is totally 'boy' and tries to hit, throw, punch, and break...but he is held accountable for these things!

Boys Are Gross

We had to take Owen to the doctor (well, actually we saw a physician's assistant). He began to have some sores on his chin and some different sores in his mouth. Dr. Lydia looked at them and thought that the sores on his chin was impetigo, but I told that was not true because we are clean people and our children are not sucking snot off of the floor of some daycare.
When we got the doctor's office, we found out that the sores were impetigo, and he also has thrush in his mouth.
The thrush may be from the fact that when he had croup he was on an antibiotic, but we are unsure.

For those who have 'good stomachs' I have linked the google image for both problems. Have fun!

Impetigo
Thrush

Owen and Samson are quite good friends. What other friend would allow you to look into his mouth, pull his ears and back-hair, try to ride him, and put his food in his water bowl? What a buddy that Samson is!

The Joys of Union Avenue

Owen's Birthday Weekend

As many of you know, last weekend was Owen's first birthday. We are amazed at how this time has flown by. He enjoyed his cake and party, but what he enjoyed mostly was the pack of family from Pennsylvania that came to spend the time with him.
His cousin Hannah, my brother, Preston's daughter, came to visit as well as my parents and my grandmother. Here Hannah and Anna climb the amphitheatre at Meijer Gardens.
These are the four ladies looking pretty. Anna, my mother, Hannah, and Grandma Ruth.
Owen's girlfriend, Maggie, came to see him from the east side of the state. Paige was happy to see her as well. Mags gives free hugs to Paige.
We forgot to get a birthday cake for Owen, so one hour before the party we send the family to get one from Baskin Robins. I gave my dad my credit card and he came home with a $35 cake. (It was good...but not that good!)
Lydia and Owen played dress-up at Meijer Gardens. Owen liked all of the strange clothing that there was to dress in.
Here the two girls were getting along splendidly. Let's just leave it at that.
Owen as:
a) Harry Potter
b) Seminary Student
c) Nerdy ballerina
d) all of the above

Meijer Gardens has play houses for the kids. Anna calls this one 'Anna's house'.
Here is another one of Anna and Hannah getting along perfectly....let's just leave it at that.

Happy Birthday Owen!

Happy Birthday Owen. We love you and are so happy to have you in our family and in our lives.


Psalm 1
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

This just in: As of 4:30pm Owen Justice can walk. He decided that he could stand on his own and begin tooling around the house all in one day.

Life has just gotten harder for us.

Croup DeVille

Our little Owen gave us quite the scare this weekend. (Well, me at least!) He had to be taken to the doctor because he was having difficulty breathing. He was diagnosed with Croup and given meds to help open his airway. This was the first time our little O-O refused to smile in his whole life. The little look of horror on his face was so sad. I hope that he is back to 100% by his birthday on the 25th. Both sets of grand-parents will be here to celebrate with us!