Junk Drawer

Does anyone else have one of these? Ours happens to be the silverware drawer, and this is the first time we have lived in the same place long enough for our junk to gather for more than a year.

Mac has just recently realized he is tall enough to look inside the "treasure" drawer, and he is finding the craziest, weirdest things.

It is a dream come true for him.

He gets so attached to the funniest things. For the past several days, it has been the ketchup packets he found. He takes them everywhere and can't stop talking about his ketchups with the "tiny green plant with the red tomatoes," and is especially enthusiastic about explaining that "the tomatoes are so squishy!"

Camo Corrie

There are two Johns' kids in this picture.

the alphabet train

Last time Mac & Corrie saw this toy, they had a very tough time sharing (well, I guess I would have to say there was pretty much no sharing, just crying).

But not this time! :-)

Here is how they played for the better part of an hour. Very sweet.

Welcome to the princess!

A little late, but couldn't help but document Mac and Corrie in their costumes this year. Mac insisted on wearing his spiderman mask, but he would only wear it like a hat. After they got their costumes on, they just stood there and stared at each other and admired each other's new look. When they started talking, it was pretty funny.  (Translation below)

Corrie: "That's Spiderman! That's spiderman"

Mac: "No Corrie, you're not spiderman, you're a princess! I'm spiderman. You're a princess and you have tiny little wings..."

"LOOK GUYS! Welcome to the princess!"

Sunday

We did it. Against all odds, we made it to church this morning. And what an unexpected blessing it truly was. Here I thought that Mac was coloring nicely on the children's bulletin. Then I looked more closely and saw that he was just stabbing through the paper and making the pencil stand straight up in the air. 

But the biggest accomplishment of the day was the annual Thanksgiving dinner. So far, we have attempted to partake in at least three other big church family dinners, and each time we have somehow ended up so far away from the food that by the time we got to the buffet, there was pretty much no food left. The last time I was so disappointed I actually cried. I was so hungry and the kids had waited by themselves at the table for at least 15 minutes for their food.

But not this time! Not only was Ellis able to come, but we got there 1/2 hour early, and we sat at the very first table closest to the food. Success!

The Awana kids sang such a cute Thanksgiving song before the meal. Mac wanted to stay and watch with us instead of singing. He and Corrie were both mesmerized! 

Mac and Ellis spent time building fork and knife structures while we waited to eat.

Mommy and Corrie just enjoyed hanging out and playing with the fake leaf decorations.

We all left with nice full tummies, except for Mac. He would only eat the bread and butter. He loved playing with his fishing pole toy that the doctor gave him for enduring his flu shot the other day. 

  

All in all, a very fun time. It's always fun getting to be around our church family.

And this one has nothing to do with our Sunday church service or church dinner, but I just could't help but share:

 

My wildest diaper-cake dreams have come true!

Did I really just do that?

Yep. I did. There comes a time when you start to employ a triage strategy to keep things going, particularly at 4am.

You have enough days in a row of waking up several times a night to go to the bathroom, wait for the sweet little baby in your abdomen to settle down, comfort a crying, sick child, give medicine to a sick husband, try to find a sleeping position that is remotely comfortable...and eventually it all just becomes one big blur of a normal night-time routine.

And you also find that you adjust your standard of acceptable night-time interventions. Well, let's just say you stream-line things a little.

When Mac woke up this morning, I heard him saying, "I don't want the towel." What? Oh yeah. Now I remember. He woke up crying at 4am because he had wet the bed. Apparently, I went to the linen closet and put a towel over it. Okay buddy. Back to sleep! Seemed completely rational at the time.



Don't worry buddy, this is just a season (a memorable one!) We'll get it together soon. :-)

Did that sound a little Orca-ish?

Took me a while to realize what on earth Corrie has been saying lately, but now we see that she is already on her second language. Yep, she speaks whale.

Comfort

My arms were made for you two. 

And we were made for His:

"He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart." -Isaiah 40:11

Corrie Johns

Corrie has been doing awesome with potty training. I mean, to her, it seems like, "yeah, I make pee-pees in the potty...what's the big deal?" 

Well, we have had a few incidents lately though, and this has been the common state of her bed as the sheets and blankees are being washed.

But even though cleaning sheets gets a little old, cleaning Corrie is always fun :-)

            

Another thing about Corrie is that she shares her brother's love for Ranch dressing. Mac will eat almost an entire bag of carrots if he can dip them in ranch, whereas Corrie will eat an entire bottle of dressing if she can just lick it off of the same carrot over and over again. 

We keep encouraging her to "make crunchies with the carrot like Mac!" But she really doesn't care. Well, the other night I noticed carrots missing from her placemat...and when I looked at her she said, "I makin' crunchies!" Hooray Corrie!

But then when I was getting ready to clean up saw that we are not quite there yet on the whole "eating carrots" idea. Yes Corrie, good job on making crunchies! But please don't spit them out all over the floor :-/.

"My eyes have seen your salvation" -Luke 2:30

This week's Awana memory verse is a little tougher than the last one. So far, here is what Mac and Corrie have gotten down:

Mac: "My eyes see...SPIDER-MAN!"

Corrie: "My eyes...PRINCESS SHOES!"

We're getting there. :-)

Lord, would give them eyes to see Truth? May they see and experience that Your salvation is even better than Spider-Man and princess shoes.

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you..."

-Ephesians 1:18

And this one made me cry...

Yep. An unexpected family birthday dinner - all of us together! And even some "ear treasures." (Mac's words for earrings :-).

Extreme Bumpies

Hey Marla!

We had a blast with you these past couple of days. Thank you for all of the fun and conversation in "the deep end." :-)

I know one thing for sure: Mac and Corrie's favorite part of going to the grocery store will never be the same again!