Sports Pictures

Joseph's dad took some fall sports pictures of the boys:



Daniel is playing soccer with other 6/7-year-olds. Go Fireflies!





















David is a 4-year-old fan of the Steelers!

One of Joshua's first words is "football!" :-)

Quotables

1. David (4 1/2 years old) was laying down for nap time: "Mom, I want to go to sleep, but I can't because my eyes make decisions [to stay open!]."

2. Joshua (15 months) walked up to me this morning and told me "stinkies, stinkies." And he was right -- he had stinkies! Wow!!! His other words are variations of Mama, Daddy, Daniel, David, football, drink, goldfish, and this. When he wants to eat something, he points at it earnestly and sticks his tongue in and out, in and out, in and out.

3. After lunch today, I was extra sore and stiff as I tried to stand up - not unusual at 36 weeks pregnant. I said, "Oh, owww, my back is really hurting."
Joseph, concerned, asked, "What would you like me to do?"
Daniel (6 years old) casually replied, "She's okay. She just needs to walk it off."
Thanks, son - I'm feelin' the love! :-)

20-Second Hug

Today I was feeling tired, and I was trying to think of what activity the boys should do next. Daniel said, "What should I do now, Mom?"

I said, "Hug your mother; she needs a good hug."

He gave me an obliging, wimpy, less-than-half-hearted hug.

I said, "How about hugging your mother while I count to 20?"

Pretty shocked, he said, "20 seconds!?! A 20-second hug?! No way! I'm never hugging anyone for 20 seconds!!"

I chuckled inside and thought, "We'll see - someday you may change your mind!" :-)

Stomach Flu and Salad?

Both our boys like salad. Real salad - with veggies in it! Maybe it is because we only feed them one meal a day and it is always salad?! Just kidding.

Daniel (4 years 9 months - he's counting!) especially prefers salad. He will choose a salad at a restaurant every chance he gets - even over a burger and fries! And he likes cool dressings -- honey mustard, poppy seed, raspberry vinaigrette, etc.

Today Daniel woke up with the stomach flu. After throwing up for the 2nd time, he moaned, "Mom, I don't want breakfast, (sigh), and I don't want lunch. (sigh) But I do want dinner."

I was thinking "That's reasonable - maybe you'll be feeling better by dinner time."

Then Daniel added, "I do want dinner - if we are having salad."

Hmmmm ... generally we follow the stomach flu with toast and Sprite. Salad?!?

Homecoming 2006 - Naked Toddler Jumping!

Oct 2006 - We went to Taylor University Homecoming. Professors from each major were in the gym so students could come visit with them. Lots of kids were jumping on the pole vault mat at one end of the gym, so we let Daniel (almost 2 1/2 years old at the time) join them as we visited.

Suddenly, from across the gym, Joseph saw Daniel start to take his shirt off, so he excused himself from his conversation and started walking towards him. In the mean time, as Daniel proceeded to take off his pants, Joseph started running across the gym towards him. Daniel continued to undress, until he was happily jumping on the mat in nothing but his socks!!!

After increasing to a full sprint, Joseph tackled Daniel to cover him! As he began to re-dress Daniel, and he asked, "Daniel, what were you doing? Why did you take your clothes off?"

Daniel answered simply, "I was hot!" :-)

2006-2007

I found some memories I jotted down from 2006-2007. Here they are ...

1. Oct 2006 - Daniel (2 yrs 4 months) prayed, "Thank you God that you are so kind and gentle."

2. Oct 2006 - We potty trained Daniel, at the encouragement of our dear friend Amy Morello, who was potty training her twins Alex and Peter! It is always better to potty train with a friend, right?!

3. Nov 2006 - Daniel (2 1/2 years old) had an ear infection, and after we explained this to him, he said, "Does David have an ear-itation, too?" :-)

4. Feb 2007 - Daniel (2 2/3 years old) was repeatedly struggling to stay in his toddler bed, and so he had been disciplined quite a bit. This led to two notable conversations:

- Over time we had shared with him that Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sin. After being disciplined again for getting out of bed, Daniel asked with a deep sigh, "When will Jesus take my discipline?"

- Later he asked, "Mama, when you lived with Gramps and Grammy, and when you slept in the bed I sleep in [he usually slept in my old room on Belleridge Pike] , and when you got out of bed, did you get disciplined?" Yep, sure did, son!

Quotables

Daniel (4 1/2 years old) commented tonight while eating a McDonald's Sundae, "Ice cream is the best thing in the world, (reflective pause), except for Jesus!" :-)

David (almost 3), was talking about food he likes, including "maca-cheese 'n roni." :-)

... in a size 4T??

We have a good friend, Harry Miles, who played college football for the Citadel in South Carolina. He is now a very good high school head football coach in Savannah, GA. We recently enjoyed a lovely visit with Harry and his wife Sarah. (Sarah is my dear friend from high school - we've been friends for over half our lives! Wow!)

Harry is still a big, strong man! 6'4" and thick with muscle! The boys REALLY liked seeing Harry's Citadel football helmet and he even let them try it on. Then he got out his BIG jersey from when he played at the Citadel. It seemed almost as tall as Daniel!

When Daniel saw this real football jersey, his eyes were wide with amazement. He asked Harry with all sincerity, "Do you have one in a size 4T?" :-)

Daniel and David felt pretty cool swimming in the jersey and helmet!

The Hardware Store Worker

Last year we frequently shopped at hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowes as we worked on many home-improvement projects in our newly purchased house. Daniel thought the workers at these stores were really cool. And at one point he even said, "When I'm 16 maybe God will let me work at Home Depot or Lowes!"

At Christmas time last year we were talking about Mary and Joseph. Daniel said with confidence, "Joseph worked at a hardware store." He paused as we cocked our heads and look at him with confused expressions. Daniel explained what was obvious to him, "Joseph worked with wood!" :-)

That Friendly Old Man

Last year in November, Daniel and I were in Lowes and he saw a big inflatable Santa on a top shelf. His excited response was to point and say, "Look Mom! It's Noah! ... or is it Moses?!" ;-)


This year, we were driving in the car and we passed Rally's drive-through restaurant. Daniel laughed and laughed in the back seat. "Mom! There's an old man sitting on top of the Rally's drive through! ha! ha! ha!" (I'm thinking, "What is he talking about?!) "Mom," he continued, "it was that friendly old man who sometimes gives candy to kids in the winter! ... sitting on TOP of the drive-through!"

Now I get it! :-)

I'm not Jesus!

I got out Daniel's winter coat from last year, and I said to him, "Does this still fit you?" He started to put on the coat and answered cheerfully, "Let's try it. I don't know. I'm not Jesus - I don't know everything!"

Very true statement, Daniel! :-)

Praise Ye the Lord

Daniel has been learning the song "Praise Ye the Lord, Allelujah!" at church.
However, he sings: Praise G the Lord, Allelujah!
I explained to him that the word is "ye" and it means "you."
He said: No, Mom, it is 'G,' like short for Jesus. Praise "Je-" the Lord! :-)

Nicknames

Last winter when Daniel was 3 1/2 and David was 1 1/2, a high school girl at church often called Daniel "Dan the Man," and he called her "Anna Banana." In response, we were explaining to Daniel the idea of nicknames. He replied, "David's nickname is 'no!'" ;-)

VERY loud

Daniel was telling me about his day today. He was building lego towers with a baby sitter. Daniel said that when they knocked it over, it was VERY loud! It was like 500,000 lions roaring outside or like 2,000 homes falling over. David even had to cover his ears!

I love his descriptions!

Conversations with Daniel - Fast-backwarding

Daniel likes to watch videos. His favorites right now are about fire trucks and ambulances - kind of like rescue hero documentaries for kids. We just implimented a new movie ticket system for Daniel. He gets four tickets each week, good for one half-hour movie. He can use up to two on any day, but he only gets four per week. He can bring me a ticket and say, "Is this a good time for me to watch a movie?" So far, this is helping to eliminate his consistent asking, "Can I please watch a movie?" and it is helping him make choices. By the way, if I tell him to watch a movie (which I occasionally do - right before company comes, when we are babysitting several children, etc) he doesn't have to turn in a ticket.

All that to say, I was putting in a VHS video for him the other day. We were talking about the numbers on the VCR moving quickly as I was rewinding. Daniel said, "Oh - if we were fast-forwarding, the numbers would go the other way. But since we are fast-backwarding, the numbers go like this!"

Fast-backwarding! What a great word! Makes total sense to me!

Conversations with Daniel - Vibrating

- Jessica -

Daniel (4), David (2), and I stopped at Wendy's to use a reward coupon from the library for a Frosty. After a few minutes of sitting at the table eating their Frosties, Daniel said, "Brrr. I'm so cold I'm vibrating!" ;-)

Yep, shivering is a lot like your body vibrating!

Conversations with Daniel - Marriage Concerns

- Jessica -

4-year-old Daniel was having a snack at our kitchen table with Grammy (my mom) and I was doing dishes. Out of the blue Daniel said, "What if I ask some ladies to marry me and they all say no?"

Grammy wisely took his concern seriously and encouraged him that if God wants him to get married, He will provide a godly wife for Daniel, and that he doesn't need to think about that yet.

Daniel replied with a solution to the problem, "I guess I could marry a dog or a cat ... Or I could just marry a man!"

Grammy calmly explained that God designed for a man to marry a lady, not another man.

Daniel said, "Yeah, that would be silly for me to marry a man."

Grammy elaborated that it would be more than silly, it would be sinful for him to marry a man.

After letting that idea soak in for a couple seconds, Daniel moved on to some other subject -- Bikes, Diggers, more snack ...


Whew! Sincere deep life concerns and lessons at the kitchen table!

Daniel at Homecoming 2006

- Joseph -


When Jessica and I visited our alma mater, Taylor University, during homecoming, Daniel was 2 1/2 years old and David was 6 months. We were in a large gymnasium mingling with our old professors and classmates. As I was talking with my professor, Bob Lay, I was watching Daniel about 50 yards away jump up and down on a mat with some other kids. I noticed Daniel was beginning to take his shirt off. I excused myself from my conversation with Dr. Lay and began jogging over to Daniel. All of a sudden he started taking off his pants and underwear - I began sprinting! I jumped on the mat and tackled my naked son, "what is going on?!" He answered, "I got hot, daddy." :-)

Daily Life - May 7, 2008 - Snoring

- Jessica -

I want Daniel and David to learn many many things from their dad. But this request was a bit too far! ;-)

Tonight when Joseph was putting Daniel to bed, Daniel called from his room, "Dad!"

Joseph, from in the hallway: Yes, Daniel?

Daniel: Can you teach me how to snore?

Daily Life - March 2008

-Jessica-

Allow me to introduce you to the honorable "Sir Daniel," a knight at Rachel Kimbell's princess birthday party. What a valiant dragon-slaying guy!

Bikers? Swimmers? Skiers? Soccer players? Basketball guys? Football men? Runners? I never know until a given minute which sport they are pusuing, but they definitely love their athletic outfits!! They would wear a "sports" outfit everyday and everywhere if they could!