Sunday Quotables
John: "I thought it was so cool the way the light slowly filtered into the room!" (After I drew the curtains in the dining room)

Daniel: "Did you see vat, Mama? Ve soap is sticky, wike ve vo-wews." (Referring to the Leapfrog Talking Word Factory video).

Isaac did a nice recap of his CGS Sunday School lesson about David and Jonathan. The arrows and spears probably didn't hurt his recall.

Labels: boy talk, boys, church

- posted by Lenise @ 5:17 PM |

 
Before I Forget
Jay said something else really charming at church (before the snowstorm, of course!) when we went to pick him up from children's church. It all started so predictably: "When I see food, I'm interested in eating it."

And then: "When I see Mama, I'm interested in kissing her."

Everybody together now: Awwww :)

Labels: boy talk, church

- posted by Lenise @ 10:57 AM |

 
At Least They Behaved When it Mattered
The boys have had a rough re-entry period. I'm not sure the fireworks last night were the best plan, since they resulted in a very tired Isaac today, but apparently he was good as gold in Sunday school...

The wedding was fabulous. Well-planned, meaningful, and just all-around beautiful. The little attendants did a great job- both flower girls, and my boys. Isaac missed recessing with the wedding party since he fell asleep about 10 minutes into the ceremony, and my brother and sister-in-law wisely decided to let him sleep! Jay was a little thrown off by this, but eventually accepted that he would have to walk out alone. They were both loud and busy during the rehearsal, and I was very concerned that they would be disruptive, but even Jay (who was awake the whole time) was exceptionally quiet and still under my sister-in-law's watchful eyes.

I do not have photos of the boys (or much of anything), since I was in the wedding party and had handed off my camera in the hopes that my brother or SOMEONE would snap some photos. No such luck. I'll have to track them down from someone else. Paul was occupied as well, and was not able to hear or see much of anything, since Daniel is at the age of perpetual motion. My cousin, who was also in the wedding party, was also missing her husband, as he had jobs to do too. Hopefully we can get copies of the video from my older brother so Paul and Aaron can experience the lovely ceremony too!

KYP's custom-made necklaces were a hit with the bridal party, but also various attendees- Uncle Todd himself admired the little yellow butterfly-shaped crystals. My sister had GORGEOUS flowers- yellow roses and blue hydrangeas. Just lovely. I can not say enough good things about the whole event. It was just wonderful, which it would have been in any case, since my sister has truly found her Prince Charming. We couldn't be happier for them!!

Labels: boys, church, family

- posted by Lenise @ 7:53 PM |

 
From the Mouths of Babes...
Yesterday Isaac's Sunday School class decorated foam crosses with little glue-on plastic jewels. Pretty!

As we were headed out to lunch, I noticed him peeling his jewels off the cross. "Why are you doing that, Isaac?" I asked, "Those are to make the cross pretty!"

"I don't want the cross to be pretty." He replied, and then a moment later he added, "God doesn't want the cross to be pretty".

A little stunned, I agreed that he had a point, but I'm still not sure if it was inspired or just inspired-appearing contrariness. We talked a little about the sad day at the cross and the joy that came afterwards, but I don't think it all sunk in too well. I was recounting the story to the friend we met at the restaurant, and after I told her what Isaac had said, Jay opined, "Yeah- God doesn't like pretty things!"

Again, I really don't know if he was misguided or just mischevious, but Karen and I assured the boys that God DOES like beautiful things, and we all thought of beautiful things He had made.

It's a roller coaster ride, this parenting business!!

Labels: boy talk, church

- posted by Lenise @ 8:34 PM |

 
Besides the Other Stuff I Haven't Blogged About







We had a momentous weekend for Mother's Day: [the boys'] grandparents in town, Paul's birthday, and Daniel's Baptism. My brother took some gorgeous photos of the offspring, below (watch out for that right hook, Grandpa G!). I took one of the B grandfolks and one of Isaac catching up on some reading =]

Labels: boys, church, photos

- posted by Gary @ 5:52 PM |

 
Effusive
While this was not the first Sunday Jay participated in saying the Lord's Prayer during the church service, this was probably the first Sunday he said it loudly enough that the entire sanctuary took note. I suppose when you're out of sync with the rest of the congregation (as is bound to happen when you're three), you don't have to speak that loudly to be noticeable, even in a gigantic room like our church's sanctuary (built to seat at least 1,000- and well occupied). All the same, it is a little embarrassing to have the assisting minister (who was leading the prayer) give your child the thumbs up sign (not that Jay noticed, thank goodness!). If it hadn't been the youth minister, I don't think any formal notice would have been made, but it was the youth minister, and with his help, Jay was good and disruptive today. *Sigh*

Labels: boys, church

- posted by Lenise @ 7:52 PM |

 
Meantime

This one's still for sale. This church would be a fabulous B&B. *Sigh*

Labels: church, real estate

- posted by Lenise @ 12:12 AM |

 
Anybody Need a Church Building?


This cute little church building is in walking distance from our house. I'm sure it would make a nice little B&B, but at $139k, you'd have to be awfully serious about it! Meanwhile, it looks like a congregation of 50 would be cramped.

Not that that sounds like a bad size for a church (in some ways, it sounds very nice, but then I wouldn't know from experience one way or the other) but it'd be awfully hard to support a pastor with 15 families!

BTW, Marc, it's currently a Pentecostal Church. I don't know whether they're disbanding or growing...

Labels: church, real estate

- posted by Lenise @ 11:55 PM |

 
Dancing Queen
We were so pleased when Jay started singing along with a praise song in church this morning. Now that he's in the threes class, he starts out the 11 o'clock hour in church with us until children's church starts about 15- 20 minutes into the service. The last few weeks he's been very difficult, not wanting to stand during the singing or do much of anything else except draw on the registry pad. He was still very rambunctious, but I encouraged him to stand on the pew during the opening hymn so he could see Daddy up front playing his French Horn. He seemed to like that, and so later when we sang "Open the Eyes of My Heart", Jay caught on to the "I want to see you" refrain and sang it over and over again. Participation is good!

I was not entirely prepared for his musical prowess this evening, however. I had put in my new ABBA Gold CD for clean-up music in the playroom, and Jay started singing, "dancing queen" again and again. Later, Isaac was playing at the keyboard (I was playing the CD from our PC) and disrupted the music several times. At one point, he restarted the CD, and less than 5 seconds in, Jay said, "Dancing Queen!" There's one for the baby book. The first song he recognizes from just the instrumental intro!

And just because it makes me happy to note these things, a mom of five (give or take) behind us told me after the service that Jay is so cute she wanted to "eat him up". When she saw my expression, she added, "I know he's a handful." =] So I thanked her, of course, since it is so nice for people to let me know that my children's frequent drawing of attention to themselves isn't ALL bad. It seems like Paul, "Mr. Thomas", and I were saying something similar about the younger boy last night. *Sigh* they sure are cute, and as was also said last night, it sure is a good thing!

Labels: 3-year-olds, church, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 10:37 PM |