parks

i love walking to the park. and here are my reasons:
1)we're breathing in that clean, crisp, fresh spring air that refreshes from the inside out
2)i'm getting much needed exercise. my need for Jillian lessens when i spend my days pushing around 80+ lbs of stroller and boys...
3)we randomly run into people we know and have unexpected conversations with people we don't. I love unplanned encounters with people.
4)Simeon sits still (while in the stroller)
5)we have good talks while walking - today we talked about what makes us decide to be unkind to each other (we'd had a fairly mean morning...)
6)my boys can run and run and jump and throw themselves on the ground and be boys - nobody beneath them hearing their every move...
7)there are countless activities - throwing sticks, throwing rocks, sliding, swinging, jumping, climbing, getting muddy, hanging, balancing....it seems as though each one could be done for hours straight and they'd never get tired...
... energy is spent, clothes are dirtied, and everyone arrives home a bit more tired and remarkably more content...
and now they sleep longer and more soundly... and tomorrow we will happily do it all over again!
bring on the spring and the summer.... we're ready!

Jesus loves me

yesterday was a blah day.
there were disappointments... things that i wished could have happened didn't, i didn't feel like i would have liked to, i felt exhausted and beat down ... it was just one of those days.
after dinner last night my always-kind-and-loving-husband agreed to let me go out for a little bit - just me. ah. my plan was as follows: drive to haddonfield, park far enough away that i can go for a walk and talk to God, and land at starbucks to get a perfect hot drink (last night it was a grande nonfat dark cherry mocha with whip). I did it and it worked.
my point of the story is this: God is so good. I walked down that street feeling so loved and so embraced and so OK. God was saying "I love you Elisabeth. Trust me Elisabeth" and i felt loved and free and still weary but loved and free.
God is growing in me a deep, deep trust in Him that I have no doubt is what this life is all about....

a reminder for today...

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, "Do not fear; I will help you."

Isaiah 41:13

look mommy, a waterfall!!

I always feel like God gives me the grace to contentedly handle the situation I'm in... whether its a big deal or a little deal...yet once I'm out of it it seems way less "handle-able..." for example... winter/SPRING! i really feel so excited and energized all the way down to my soul that spring is here - the birds are singing, the windows are open, the parks and the backyard are calling to us every single day. I now think that if we still had another month of winter - being indoors almost all of the time - I would go crazy. Yet while we were in the moment, it was all good.... but now that this beautiful weather is here I am so full of thankfulness!! Ah...even this morning's sound of spring rain with the open windows brings me joy. I'm thankful.
We went back to the zoo on Friday - our membership expires the end of March so we're just packing in these free zoo days. The boys and I went with Nana and our buddy Rosie and it was lots of fun for all.





Simeon still says his highlight of the day was the polar bears, even though they did nothing but lazily lounge. He loves polar bears.
Justus is such an elephant lover that one of his highlights was seeing the very unreal yet lifesize elephant statue. He stood there and made his elephant noise right at it. What a happy boy.


Nana surprised us all with a surprise ride on the carousel - Simeon picked to ride on the yellow butterfly - Justus rode an armadillo and Rose an iguana.

Lots of squeals, "oooooohs", (justus' response to every animal), "mommy what's next?", hugs.... a great day! I have found that the boys are very content holding hands with eachother which is precious for me to see.

Other highlights of our past days have been playing "Pooh Sticks" at the little river at the park, a birthday party and cookie fest for uncle Ben, picnics, learning to make letters with our bodies, shooting lots of hoops, many walks, and oh! I can't fail to mention The Circus Ship. It has been Simeon's favorite for about a month (check it out, the pictures are awesome) - but he has now memorized about 75 % of it and its his very favorite thing to do to read it to us. It amazes me every time - he no doubt has better memorization skills than I. Yet his sentences are sometimes a little off - "Mr. Paine the circus boss was terrible demanding" sounds like "Mr Paine the circus boss was tantily commanding". its so cute and so him right now.

all of these little moments of wonder and joy make for a happy house and a happy family.

as good as it gets....

thoughts on a monday

today's word of advice: try not to get dependent on sleeping with white noise. i, at some point early on in my life, got used to sleeping with a fan on in my room - and ever since it's been one of the few things that low maintenance me can't live without. we lost all power for 24 hours this weekend, which means no fans, which means no deep sleep for me. tom always told me that he thought it was mainly in my head... maybe he believes me now?? maybe not. i finally stole the boys' battery powered noise machine at 6 am in desperation. i'm embarrassed that it really even bothered me but in the middle of the night it felt like a crisis... as almost everything does to me in the middle of the night. the normal choices i make to obey or to surrender are way, way harder during the night - all the other voices seem louder and my pity party voices fight hard to win! they just might have won the other night, in fact....i was definitely pity partying. and patient Tom let me.
but the most exciting thing in the midst of our adventurous blackout was the fact that we have a gas stove so i was still able to make Chicago Deep Dish Style Pizza. please try it. really... so amazing. America's Test Kitchen tries each recipe hundreds, literally hundreds of different ways to find the best - and we, the home cooks, get to benefit from it. so, so delicious, and it makes enough to have leftovers the next day. yum.
the blackout was fun - tom and i honestly enjoy spontaneous adventures or changes in our normal routine so we had fun. but i was happy when the lights came back on - really only because of the food in our fridge and my sleeping dilemna. how do i get myself off the fan? any advice?

Justus got a little (emphasis on little) "Dora" toy that he
loves to hug.... but can you find her? she's nestled in
between his shoulder and cheek! such a snugglebug!

Simeon finally got some big boy sheets and now loves
being tucked in - even for naptime on Mommy and Daddy's bed.

and i must say that i love the spring daylight savings.... i know that most are sad to lose one hour of sleep but many of us with little ones that wake up with the sun are happy to gain one hour... every day!
a few more for my list...
10)being dealt a new hand of cards in a card game
11)sleeping to the noise of a fan
12)trying a new recipe
13)first thing in the morning hugs
14)The Trumpet Child cd - Over the Rhine

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins"
I Peter 3:8

...on my heart today. how often do i find it to be my place to correct, to judge, to "lovingly guide"... when really its about love. God's got it under control, and He's asked me to love. Oh to be known for really loving people... not out of selfishness but out of selflessness.
Without love I am nothing.

to be a saint

.... To be a saint is to live not with the hands clenched to grasp, to strike, to hold tight to a life that is always slipping away the more tightly we hold it; but it is to live with the hands stretched out both to give and to receive with gladness. To be a saint is to work and weep for the broken and the suffering of the world, but it is also to be strangely light of heart in the knowledge that there is something greater than the world that mends and renews. Maybe more than anything else, to be a saint is to know joy. Not happiness that comes and goes with the moments that occasion it, but joy that is always there like an underground spring no matter how dark and terrible the night. To be a saint is to be a little out of one's mind, which is a very good thing to be a little out of from time to time. It is to live a life that is always giving itself away and yet is always full...

excerpt from the essay "To be a Saint" by Fredrick Buechner

to the zoo with daddy

what makes you happy?

open windows...playing in the backyard... walks with no coats on....
have i mentioned that i'm SO excited that spring is almost here! =) i think that Justus would stay in the backyard shooting balls into the b-ball hoop for as long as we'd let him. and we can run and jump and scream in the backyard without disturbing neighbors. hooray!
my dear friend Jill has an ongoing list on her blog
of blessings, or things that make her happy - and I have decided to copy that great idea. There's a book of 15,000 things to be happy about, or some huge number like that... and I really like it but have always wanted to write my own. Cause really each of us has different things that make us feel excited, or cozy, or like "this just made my day". so i have no intention of writing my own book really (probably not a very good read for most) but I am going to keep an ongoing list here on this blog. whenever something new is discovered or comes to mind i just might add it here...
looking forward to morning coffee with a friend i haven't seen in a long time and dinner with some more friends!! and also looking forward to the flavored coffee creamer i bought yesterday but I'm saving it til Katie gets here.
ooh, what a great way to start my list!!

1)flavored coffee creamer
2)the first day of the year that the heater doesn't come on!
3)knowing all day that i don't have to make dinner

that's all for now. if i have to really sit and think of something, that can't count.
you should try your own=)

i love to laugh

i went for a walk today. by myself.
it was a short one - to John's Friendly Market to buy two onions and back home - but it was so wonderful. each day feels just a little more like spring, and it wont be long before the three of us and the double stroller take on the streets and the parks of Haddon Heights and wherever else we feel like roaming... i am so ready. i've missed moving, and breathing lots of fresh air.

yesterday i read this verse: "...His sheep follow Him because they know His voice." (John 10:4)
when im having a rough day, or days - easily frustratable, annoyed, anxious, edgy.... i can blame it on the boys being sick, or not enough asleep, or relationship issues... - but when it comes down to it, it's almost always because I'm not hearing God's voice above all the other voices in my head. When they're all coming at me at similar strength, I am a mess. I care what everyone thinks of me, I care that I don't feel pretty, I care that my house is messy, etc...
When my Lord's voice is clear, loud, unmistakable - different story. little deals are little deals, and all that matters is what matters to Him. What a difference it makes in a day. or a life...
i loved this verse because it says His voice IS knowable - I don't have to live trying to distinguish truth from lies, trying to sort out mush in my head. He always, and I mean always, makes Himself real and clear to me when I ask Him and choose to want Him the most....
I feel renewed by this truth.

i hope to soon post pictures of the boys in their sunglasses. Simeon thinks he's spiderman with them on, and Justus - life is just all-around better when's he's sporting his Transformers shades.
Simeon hasn't been able to separate the concept of "t-shirt" from that of "tea party". when he puts on a t-shirt he now says "now we have to have a tea party". i've tried to explain it. we think that his idea of a tea party is completely based on Mary Poppins, which he recently watched.
i wonder if he thinks we'll all float up to the ceiling while laughing uncontrollably....
no wonder he keeps requesting one.

snow day, circus and yucky ears

we love snow days. I realize that not everyone does and I so I will try to be sensitive....
we have good reasons to love them - the best being that tom gets the day off whenever it snows much. another being that we don't have to shovel at all - a perk of renting. and tom pointed out that someone like me (laid back, no need to be in control) loves an excuse to have no control. its true. an excuse to do nothing but lounge around and play? what could be better?
the 4 of us made the short trek to the park... it was beautiful... and fun. the hill was a perfect size for little guys....





and what could be better on a cold, snowy day than fresh baked goods? ummmmm these Cowboy Oatmeal Cookies are worth making.... id say they're on the list of my 4 favorite cookies right now. maybe even top 3. zucchini bread too... smells so yummy baking ...no link... but worth making.
tom and i played lots of games too ... he even made up a new one this weekend.
again, i love snow days.
Simeon went to the circus on Saturday. He went with mike and joanna (bday present from them) .... and he loved it! His favorite parts were the elephants and the icecream. He came home with a whizzing, light up sword. He's been happily talking about all that he saw ever since.

thank you Mike and Jojo!!!
and poor little Justy woke up this morning with blood draining from his ear.... back to the dr's...back on antibiotics. but thank God for his tubes.... really... it could be so much worse.
and another week begins, and its looking just a little more like spring, and theres just a few more minutes of quiet before the 1 year old and 3 year old inventors/instigators/gigglers wake up and i'm going to go be productive=)