To Marcus on his first birthday

To Marcus on his first birthday-
I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! It has been a year of transition for all of us- when you came we lived in MI, daddy worked at a small church, and you came to work with me most days. Now we live in Indiana, daddy works at a huge church, and I get to stay at home with you and the others every day! The many changes this past year have hardly phased you at all- you have found security in the love of your family and seem to have enjoyed the ride!

You are a happy baby and such a joy to your mommy. You have a sparkle in your eye and a fun sense of humor. You get a kick out of each of your siblings. Lorraine and Aggie are constantly mothering you and protecting you, and you are usually quite cooperative. They love to wrestle on the floor with you and make you laugh with your favorite toys. Seth also loves to wrestle, and has been known to give you a smack on the head for good measure whenever he walks by. He can’t wait until you are old enough to play trucks with him! He taught you how to make truck noises and dinosaur noises already. You absolutely love sharing a room with him. I often hear you growling at him in the morning to wake him up!

You started walking all of a sudden at 10 1/2months. I thought you had the balance for awhile, just not the desire. Once you made up your mind you were off! 12 steps by the second day, then I quit counting. You also decided he were weaned that same week. In fact, your preferred method of eating is now standing upright while someone holds the bottle in the air, preferably while you holds on to nothing at all, using only your mouth on the bottle to correct his balance if needed. (I thought maybe your daddy can install one of those rabbit feeders in the house somewhere that you could just go to any time you are thirsty!)

Your favorite foods: Almost anything at all, but especially mandarin oranges, mac and cheese, and anything sweet. Of all the kids you are the quickest eater- dinnertime is about FOOD, and nothing else until you are so full you can hardly move.
I think you might be the most animal-loving child we have. You learned to pant at your doggy very early, and you always want to know where he is. You wrestle on the floor with him and even seem to enjoy his licks. Otis is very patient with you even though you are not even remotely gentle! You have also been known to share his dog food.
You also seem to love music more than any of the others. When we sing songs you already try to sing along. One day when your daddy got out his violin I thought you were going to go crazy with excitement- You flapped your arms and hollered and danced about it! You already know how to dance and will often stop what you’re doing to dance to a catchy commercial (especially with a fast drum beat!)
As I write this we are outside, where I hoped you would have fewer things to get into and less of a chance of waking up the other kids. You seem to need the least amount of sleep of all of us (adults included), and like normal, today you are the first and awake from your nap. If you had it your way I think you would sleep from 8pm until 5am and then MAYBE take one hour nap during the day, but only if all the food in the house was eaten first. At this moment you are getting into the back pocket of the green umbrella stroller where I keep the diapers and wipes when we go to church. Apparently there are also some tasty crayons back there…

Baby Marcus, it has been such a joy to watch you grown and change in this past year. You add sparkle and joy to our lives in your own special way. I thank God for making me your mommy!
Love, Mama

It's a good thing I'm cute!

It is a good thing God made me so cute... especially at 2am, 3am, 4am and 5am when I like to get up and try to get my mommy and daddy to play with me. Last night I talked to them about doggies in the night, I growled and played in my crib and I tried my best to wake up my brother to play with me. He wasn't interested, so I had 2 hours of not so much fun by myself. I am tired today and so are mom and dad.

Fall in Indiana!

Fall is officially here, and it sure is beautiful here in the country! This is our backyard-

Julie and Eveline (friends from Quincy) came down this weekend and we had a great time! Here we are carving the pumpkins they brought us. Lorraine was grossed out as usual, but she was brave enough to scoop her own "pumpkin brains" out this year!

Not surprisingly, Marcus was the only one interested in seeing what pumpkin actually tastes like.

This morning we had another new adventure: Touch a Truck! Lorraine's kindergarden class went and I took the other kids on my own. WHAT FUN! They had all kinds of trucks and cars for the kids to climb in, beep the horns, etc. Aggie and Seth got turns digging with a back hoe, pulling the horn in a semi, and even spraying with the power washer!

Is this an awesome slide OR WHAT!?!

Aggie's fourth birthday!

To Agnes on her fourth birthday
My hummingbird, my tornado, my whirlwind… sometimes I think you have so much energy it shoots out of your fingertips and makes your hair stand on end!

A glimpse of Aggie at age four- Yesterday you bounced out of bed at 6am ready to go and full of energy. You stayed in your pjs drinking chocolate milk and watching Curious George, Sid the Science Kid, and Super Why. (You can tell I was very tired that morning because you got to watch all three of your favorite shows!) During breakfast you wiggled, ate, wiggled, argued with Seth, wiggled some more, almost fell out of your chair, then finally finished eating. You got yourself dressed, made your bed, and brushed your teeth in about 30 seconds flat. You are always so eager to start the day and ready for absolutely anything! Yesterday was one of those all too common days that I didn’t quite get around to brushing your hair, so you ran around all day with the sides sticking out and up and what looks like a birds nest in the back. Nonetheless you spent most of the day feeling pretty in your dress up costumes. I love how you dress up like a princess and even a “wedding girl,” while all the time insisting that you are NEVER going to get married and NEVER going to have babies. Yesterday you were unusually creative at making adventures for yourself. You swung on a door and broke it off its hinges, broke a mini blind (actually your story was “Mommy, this was just laying on the floor and it broke!” as you handed me the pieces.) Then you saw Marcus sitting in the bathtub enjoying the warm water as it filled. ..when I turned my back for one second, you quietly turned the water to COLD and walked out of the room. As I write this you are feeding your baby doll “mommy milk” in the sandbox.

You and Lorraine are still very close sisters. You are so very much alike, yet so different! Your favorite things to do with Lorraine: stay up late and giggle with her (or drive her nuts while she is trying to sleep), play dress up, do crafts and paint. But Lorraine does not always understand your love for mess and adventure! Seth is more like you in that way. You and Seth sure do play hard together- some days creating joyful chaos together, some days turning the chaos against each other and doing nothing but fight. You love to tease everyone at all times (you get this from daddy.) Your favorite insults at the moment- “Seth is a poopy diaper!” and “Rainy is a piggy princess!” You and Daddy share a special sense of humor when it comes to harassing everyone else in the family!

You are still in love with your baby brother Marcus. You get such a kick out of his little developments, especially when they are clumsy or messy or loud. I remember you belly laughing when Marcus was trying to figure out how to use a sippy cup for the first time. And my heart completely melted when you said “Marcus is slobbering on my teddy bear blanket and it’s ok with me if he do-s that.”

You add randomness, chaos, adventure, and lots and lots of laughter to our family. You have a huge heart, even for your siblings, and enjoy any time you can share anything from a piece of candy to a party with others. You take life as it comes, and I imagine you often wonder “How can I make this more fun?” I cannot begin to imagine what God has in store for you as an adult. Perhaps you are one of those kids who really will grow up to be an astronaut or airplane pilot! As I watch you live each day you remind me to rejoice in the present, to take each day as a gift of God… a full glass of chocolate milk… drinking every last drop out of it, using the energy and sugar to have adventures all day, and finally collapsing into bed exhausted.

Happy fourth birthday Aggie Sue! We sure do love you!

The kids today

Monday was our first experience with school pictures. This of course led to everyone wanting pictures taken, so here are a couple of my favorites.

This is Lorraine ready to go to school. I heard the photographer got the fake smile off her face pretty easily. He said "Lorraine Cook... is your daddy a pastor? He was just in here getting his picture taken. Did you know he had bows in his hair?" Lorraine is still loving school. Her biggest complaint is that at lunchtime she doesn't always get to eat her food because her friends are talking to her too much. She has also gotten in trouble for talking once or twice. No surprise there! I sure do love that first few minutes when she comes home FULL of things to tell me about her day! (Also, she has a very loose tooth!)

My angel Aggie!
Her latest great quote (this was completely out of the blue...)
"Daddy, when I grow up, I am NOT going to marry, I am NOT going to have a prince, I am NOT going to have babies that puke up on me, and I am NOT going to be a grandma."
Seth seems HUGE these days to me! He is in 3T clothes and just seems so grown up! He and I are getting along a little better most of the time. He is excited about this new sweatshirt I bought him. I also bought him new Crocs last week- he loved them so much he actually slept with them a couple times!

This little guy is almost 1- i can't believe it! He is wearing Seth's favorite shirt from last year in this picture. Seth wasn't so sure what he thought about that! He is walking just great and is really into sound effects. If you make any strange noises he instantly belly laughs! He is also learning how to wrestle with his siblings and actually can hold his own a little better. Not that he doesn't still have it rough... this morning Seth was pushing his stroller down the hill, and somehow they both fell and rolled a bit- Marcus facedown in his stroller! His cheek is a little scratched up today- poor kiddo!

Oh, these two. Newly best friends and worst enemies at the same time. They sure look like angels here... I hear they played like angels on monday when i went to the dr as well. Of course, later when I went downstairs where they had spent their angelic morning, I found the basement COMPLETELY trashed- every toy off the shelves, every puzzle dumped and scattered.... Oh, these two!!!

As for me and Josh... We are doing well. Josh swears his confirmation kids have given him his high blood pressure (he went to the doc yesterday). Are we already to the point of a buying a home blood pressure tester thing? Scary. And me... I am feeling much much better this week, after a bad week last week, but tons of support from my dear husband. Prayer and exercise are key! Though I have been waking up, puking, than instantly HUNGRY! And much to my dismay I have already had to dig out the maternity clothes (not that they were very dusty!)

All for now- better check on the kiddos!

day in the life

These are the highlights:
For more pictures click here
http://s349.photobucket.com/albums/q392/Emilymariecook/Day%20in%20the%20life/

Toddler theology

I was a religion major at Hillsdale college, and I have struggled with most of the common perplexing theological questions. Yet every now and then, the children will surprise me with a new challenge…

It was an ordinary day, waiting at the drive-through at Wendy’s, when Aggie started licking her shoes. “Aggie! Don’t lick your shoes!” (“Lick shoes?” Said Seth and commenced with his own meal of shoe germs in the backseat, and in kindness also gave one of his shoes to Marcus to chew.) “KIDS!” I said. “Do you have any idea how many germs live on the bottom of your shoes?”
Aggie suddenly became very serious. “Germs?”
“YES!” I said, sensing that this time she might actually listen to this lecture. “Your shoes pick up germs when you walk, and if you put them in your mouth they could make you very sick!”
“Ohhhh… do my hands have germs now?”
“Yes, in fact, let’s wash them before we eat.” As I got out the hand sanitizer, Aggie continued to worry about germs in other places. Are germs in my hair? The car? My shorts? The food? My carseat? My books? The dog?
Finally she sighed and asked, “Mommy, why did God make germs?”
That’s a tough one, I thought. “Well, it’s just part of living in a fallen world honey. There won’t be any germs in heaven.”

Her eyes grew wide- “So we can lick our shoes in heaven?!”
“Well…. I guess so….”
Even if I had more to say on that subject, she wouldn’t have heard a word. Her eyes were sparkling as her mind filled with all the great things she can lick in heaven when there are no germs to worry about.

Later that night I heard the girls bickering quietly, then Aggie said loudly “YES you can lick your shoes in heaven Rainy, Mommy said so!” “Aggie, you can NOT!” said Lorraine, obviously taken aback by the impropriety of the idea. Josh looked at me sideways… all I could do was laugh uncontrollably.

Wonder what Jesus would have said to that one? :)

Hello again!

Marcus started walking all of a sudden at 10 1/2months. It seems to me he has had the balance for awhile, just not the desire. Once he made up his mind he was off! 12 steps by the second day, then I quit counting. He also decided he is weaned that same week. In fact, his preferred method of eating is now standing upright while someone holds the bottle in the air, preferably while he holds on to nothing at all, using only his mouth on the bottle to correct his balance if needed. (Perhaps Josh can install one of those rabbit feeders in the house somewhere that he can just go to any time he needs milk!)

Today we are doing another “day in the life” photo journal- so expect new pictures tomorrow I hope! My computer has been down for a loooooong time… thank you to Josh who resurrected it from the dead. But I have lost all my files since before we moved… all the pictures, the notes about the kids, and worst of all ALL of the stupid receipts I painstakingly entered one by one to keep track of our finances now that Josh is self-employed. I am trying not to cry about that one!

Other than that we are doing well. We survived a very busy very bad week where everything seemed to be broken and evil… then we enjoyed a weekend with the Beckers, a few good night’s sleep, and we are much refreshed this week. Lorraine is not so sure she likes so-called “holidays,” because they mean you don’t get to go to school that day! She has been starved of her friends all the way from Friday until Wednesday.... oh the torture!

Not too much else to update here… I am feeling pretty good as long as I get my sleep- it MUST be ten hours or else. This makes for a more hectic life as I am not so sure how to get those things that were once naptime jobs done during the day! But we are learning, and we started today with our flylady lists for the kids (which they LOVE), made beds and visits from birdie (I will explain those things tomorrow.)

More soon if my computer allows!