The Best Swimmer...

I just showed Matthew a picture of Michael Phelps swimming. He said, "Is that a real person?" I said, "Yes, he's the best swimmer in the world!" To which Matthew replied: Well I AM the best Doggy Paddler in the world!" :) <3 this kid!

For Grandma Lu...

I was walking around our property the other day and snapped some shots of some of the flowers we have around here. I know how much our Grandma Lu loves flowers and she came to mind... So, Grandma Lu, these pics are for you!(My mom gets credit for the plants, I kill green things. lol)

The kittens like to come find water on the "leaves" of these when we've just watered the plants.

These are the humingbird's favorites!"

There is a bird feeder in this planter box and all the bright green colored birds love to come spend time there.

We love you Grandma Lu and sure wish we could have more time with you. We hope you have beautiful flowers blooming all around you!

Joe's Pirate's Booty...(All Before 8a.m.)

"I finally found the pirate treasure I've always been hunting! Now THIS could go in a garage sale and people would pay $133 for it!!" (When we were moving to Northern CA, he kept bringing me things "For the garage sale" and didn't understand why nobody would pay big bucks for them!)

He quickly set up a "Cleaning Station" and got to work! 

When everything was nice and clean... a "Mystery Soup" was created. 

Oh the joy of being a mom of boys!!!

Chicky Mama... Matthew.

He walked in the door like this and I said, "Matthew, what do you have in your hands?" To which he replied: "A baby chick." Then he opened his hands and said,"It's just about to hatch!" He waited a few and said,"Can I sit on it like a Mama? Oh, we need to get milk or nectar ready." Bless his heart.

"Can I have some Cawoshion?"

My boys LOVE getting cologne from their Dada. Today, Matthew brought this to me and said, "Can I have some Cawoshion?"... He can't remember "cologne" and has mixed it with Lotion. :) I just love when they "mess words up" because it reminds me how little they are. :)

"Where do you think he is from?"

I took the boys on a walk in downtown Petaluma the other day.  We walked over the bridge, next to the water, through the Farmer's Market and then Joe spotted a clock tower and wanted to see it. So, we went to the Blvd and went into a couple of art galleries (after getting to see the clock, of course)... While at this particular gallery, I asked Joe, "Where do you think this guy is from?" He thought for a second and said, "The place where people starve." Interesting response. He has seen commercials about children in Africa who need sponsors and he's seen some National Geographic shows about different cultures. Oh the conversations I have with this boy. :)

Their Dada Adventure to Bodega Bay...

My boys, all ready for an adventure with Dada. They each packed their own backpacks... Matthew got two books, a blanky and a stuffed animal and told me, "Incase I get sleepy." Joe packed water, food and shoes for the water "Just incase.!" The picture isn't great, but Joe was wearing two different hats, sunglasses and a necklace... Matthew just wanted Dada's hat. :) I had a photo shoot that afternoon, so Aaron took them out a couple of hours before my shoot to give me time. It turned out, they didn't get back until a couple of hours after my shoot too. It was such a blessing to have time to myself to prepare my camera etc, and then to grocery shop ALONE. I felt like a loved lady with his "Acts of Service" love. :) Thanks Babe!

Look what we found...

Joe and I found the littlest grasshopper on the door of my car. I had him go to the other side of the glass to look, seems like it was a good idea... atleast for the grasshopper! ha ha Joe ended up finding a little leaf and trying to get him on the leaf to rescue him. The grasshopper had another idea and hopped on to Joe's arm. I think he liked that better. He took him to a tree and released him. It was SO cute!

Matthew's Weapon!

I walked in the room to the backsides of two wrestling boys. Joe was on top of Matthew, and Matthew said, "MAMA!!!" Joe, at that point had seen me, got off. Matthew, having not seen me yet, said, "That is my weapon!" LOL My name is his great weapon... Hmmm, sounds like a good time to teach him about the name of Jesus, He can help him out of more than "Mama" can! :)

(Picture from some water fun we had in the backyard. Cracked me up he had no idea that grass was on him for the longest time)

Joe's Great Grandpa

(This pic is from the Discovery Science Center in Southern CA... I just think it's funny! It has nothing to do with the blog entry, except I like to put a pic of the boys when I'm writing about them! ha ha)

As we were driving back and forth between Nana & Papa's house and VBS in Southern CA, the boys and I had some fun conversations. One of which revolved around family and the "who's who" in the family. We talked about Nana's parents and how I never got to meet them, but we will in Heaven. We talked about my Papa Jack and how he will also meet him in Heaven.

Joe said, "Well, I have a great great Grandpa." I said, "Yes you do, and you'll meet Him when you get to Heaven too." He said, "No, I have him now...Grandpa Don." (Grandpa Don is my grandpa). I said, "No buddy, Grandpa Don is your Great Grandpa." He stopped me right away and said, "NO, POP (my dad) is my GREAT Grandpa, and Grandpa Don is my Great Great Grandpa!"

It hit me, he thought I was talking about "Great" as in awesome, not as in generations! I thought it was SUPER cute, so I called my dad and left him a message to tell him how GREAT Joe thinks He is. :) So cute! (And he's excited for so many people to meet in Heaven!)

Inevitable Evening with Matthew

My sweet boy... We had an inevitable evening of Goodnight time tonight. It started like normal, a hug, a kiss, a prayer and a few random questions to keep the door from closing.  About ten minutes later, I heard a shrieking call to "Mama!!!" (which is NOT typical for Matthew... He's an easy sleeper)

I went back in the room to see my boy whimpering and to hear him say, "Mama, my mind is playing tricks on me to scare me. It's telling me there are monsters under my bed." To which I responded, "Well, ya know what you do when that happens?" He looked at me inquisitively. I cocked my arm, with fingers in firing position and blew up the bottom of his bed. HA HA HA Unfortunately, he was legitimately scared and that did not take care of his concerns. ;)

Take two, "Matthew, do you want to know what we really do when things try to scare us?" I went on to tell him that the devil will always try to scare us, to bother us, but we just have to know that God is bigger than the devil and the devil can not be where God is. I shared with him how, when I was little, I used to often go to sleep saying, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" because I was fighting fear away and the devil can not be where Jesus is!

So, we prayed together. Mama prayed for peace to be in Matthew's room, for angels to fill the room and give no more space for anything scary, and that God would remind Matthew to call out to Jesus when he is afraid so the devil has to run away.

Matthew said, "But what about my mind? I can't control my mind." I said, "Well, that is when we pray. When we pray, God understands that our minds can be weak and He jumps in to make us strong." I reminded him again, he needs to believe that God heard our prayer, that he loves Matthew and that he will sleep sound. I did another hug, another kiss, and walked out the door (leaving it a crack open at his special request... that isn't typical for us).

As I stood outside of his room, I listened in for a minute to hear my 5 year old say, "Get out of here devil. I am with God and YOU can not be here!" I WAS SO PROUD OF HIM! (My eyes just got watery! I want my boys to know how to kick the devil OUT of their lives, from moment to moment when they need to!)

God is good... I'm so thankful for how He swooped in to bring peace to my son and came to my rescue as a mom. He is so faithful and kind and I just love that we can call out JESUS with 100% security HE IS with us.... awesome. Just awesome.