Bryan

Can you tell we are dreaming of summer?

Mommy's little helper.....


...or not.

Bryan was cross-eyed in this picture. This is a fun little boat that when you blow into a straw on the back, inflates the balloon and shoots the boat across the water. At our house we just like to blow up the balloon over and over and over.

Yes, our little Bryan is officially potty-trained and while he is very excited, Mommy is thrilled to be done changing diapers after 7 1/2 years, and no, it doesn't make me want to start over. :-)

We are very proud of our BIG BOY!

Keeping warm

Elizabeth seems to be getting some cabin fever (or something :-) ) from all the time we've been spending inside. The temperature is hovering around 0 degrees in Michigan and we're all looking longingly at the 2 feet of snow that has piled up on our back deck, wishing for some warmth to create "snowman snow."

(In case you can't tell from the picture, Elizabeth's symptoms consist of brown circle punch outs adhered to her skin with the use of Scotch tape. She and a friend got creative in trying to trick me into thinking she was ill.)






In an attempt to both educate our children on one of his first loves (music) and to get out some of their pent up energy, Eric has been introducing one of his favorite musical artists or bands each night after dinner. So far they have become acquainted with U2, the Beatles and Elvis.

Dancing to the Beatles.


Fun, fun fun with Daddy!

This is the craziness I live with. Have a great weekend!

Braces in snowy Michigan

Elizabeth's exciting news of the week is that she is the proud owner of BRACES. She chose gold with yellow rubber bands. Mommy would have chosen the more invisible clear brackets but bit her tongue and allowed her very excited daughter to do the choosing. Pictured is the end result. So far she's had no complaints and is excited to show anyone and everyone who cares to see them.

On Friday, we took advantage of a beautiful wintery Michigan day and headed to the local sledding hill. Shockingly, this was the first real family sledding outing we had taken. Up to this point, the idea of traipsing up the hill with young children had seemed more like work than fun. With two of the young ones able to handle the climb on their own, we had a great time.

After a few times down (and up) the hill, Bryan delegated himself as the "pusher." After the same climbs up the hill, Mommy and Daddy were only too happy to oblige him.

Ready or not, here you go!!!

The fast ride down was definately worth the LONG climb up.

Taking a break on the way up.

Just enjoying the wonder of it all.

Mommy's Helpers

Helping Mommy make one of our favorite treats--caramel bars.

We were blessed with some special visitors this past weekend. Kaitie (pictured) is one of the Tower family's all time favorite babysitters. She is home from school and stopped in to say hello. The same afternoon, Trisha, who is another favorite babysitter, also stopped by before heading back to college. Both of these girls were students of Eric and it is such a blessing to be able to be a part of their lives after their time at Grandville is over. It's always a reminder of the ministry that Eric has in the lives of teenagers. It's not one I would have chosen but I watch in admiration as he connects with these kids and we've all benefited from getting to know some wonderful students.

Bryan was very serious about his responsibility even with the choice of finishing or going to play with Kaitie. He eventually made the obvious choice.

One other note of interest on Bryan this week: The other night, Ashlynn was working with me on a new Bible verse she's learning and decided to climb onto the piano bench and recite it (What can I say, our children were born to be on stage :-) ). Anyway, Bryan followed her right up on the bench and began reciting Luke 2:1-4. We had worked on Luke 2:1-20 for the month of December with the girls, never realizing that his little ears and mind were picking it up and he had memorized it right along with them. We were shocked and realized that it's time to include Bryan in Scripture memory time.

This is a sight that warms a mother's heart. If doesn't happen all the time, in fact --rarely, it happens rarely :-), but what a joy to see Ashlynn benefiting from Elizabeth's blossoming ability.

Have a great rest of the week!