Christmas Presents

but first...

a few "Ezekiel-isms"

• "ki-muss lites" - Christmas lights (I mis-posted last time)
• "jus-jus" - just
• "say-same" - same; as in, "we have the say-same drink"
• "Mah-kies hit me" - Malachi hit me
• "He's a she" - that dog/cat/person is a she/girl
  • 
  • Our house on Christmas morning
    
  • 
    
  • 

From their Grandpa Honeycutt, they received Jeeps. Yes, our children are the proud owners of PowerWheels. It is just nice that we have the space for them to drive them. I think that is Ezekiel's favorite present.

From friends at the daycre, they got 1 bike with training wheels (no brakes) and 2 scooters. They really were brand-new looking. We were told that they were only used outside once. Malachi loves have a "real" bike now! (and over an acre of land to do so).

From their Grandparents (Rieder), they got a transformer, viewmaster thing with extra pictures, ornaments with their names on it, books, and a few other odds and ends, not to mention time spent together at our new house in FL and at Disney.

From their parents, a mini-recliner (little boy sized), Potato head accessories, and a few other Lightning McQueen odds and ends in their stockings.


I know there are a few others that are working on sending their presents, but, of course, we don't mind if they don't send anything at all. You may notice that the parent list is the shortest. We know our boys don't need a whole lot. They have just about everything. Plus, we try not to make Christmas about presents. We buy gifts for our children all year long when they need something. I'll try to post some Disney and Christmas pics soon.

Daycare Christmas Program

Monday, December 21st, the boys' daycare held a Christmas play for the parents to enjoy. Our boys got a little stage fright but made us proud. This was their 2nd performance with their first ever daycare. How cute!The Nativity Scene (Malachi's head is to the left of "Mary")

"Mary & Joseph"

Sheep

Sheep Ezekiel

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer

Z singing with his class

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

(from Disney)

We live

We finally have internet at our house, as of last night. We are working on getting settled in our new house. We moved in about 6 weeks ago. The boys room is now set. They like their bunkbeds and have plenty of room to play.

About 3 weeks ago, Ezekiel got pneumonia. He had recovered well until this past Saturday. He started out by complaining about his ear hurting in the morning. Nothing major after that until about lunch. He then just whined and wanted to be held. I took him to urgent care. He had a middle ear infection in the ear that still had a tube. His other ear was healthy and had no tube in it. He had no cold symptoms whatsoever. I don't ever remember him getting an ear infection without any other symptoms of a cold. I'm just glad there is a wonderful urgent care for children about 10 min. away in Tampa. They have taken good care of him twice without much waiting.

Malachi is really excited about their Christmas play next week at the daycare. I'll share more after it happens. He ate like a horse today, not sure why. I guess, maybe, he is growing. Poor boy is not skinny like his brother but short like his Daddy :)

I'm looking forward to posting more and posting pics, too.

October Daycare Photo

Yes, they really did pose like this! I am so impressed with them!

Ezekiel-isms 2.8

"Pu-gu-licks" - Publix
"baby" - very (as in, "its baby cold")
"Mommy see it" - let me see it
"moose-kick" - music
"Mah-ky" - Malachi
"ah-uh" - I want
"ah-uhn" - I don't want (as in, "ah-uhn milk")
"jep-py-his" - Zephyrhills
"Hammy Hammy" - Handy Manny (still one of my faves)
"kwi-mus" - Christmas
"ah-weh-come" - your welcome
"gwan-pa" - grandpa

He will be three before too long. I can understand him 90% of the time. Sometimes I have to translate, but if people know him at all, they understand most of what he is saying.


One Malachi-ism and a funny story.
"Pug-lix" - Publix

In the car last night, someone said something about Urine. Malachi (immediate reaction) said, "[person's name], your WHAT?!?

It came out of his mouth so funny that I just could stop laughing.

Random note: We have joined the Wii-nation and loving it!

We are homeowners again!!!

Friday, October 30th, we closed on our house! We are the owners of a 3bed, 2 bath, 2100 sq.ft. home, over 1 acre house. It is totally not our style, but is the biggest, and we are loving it already. All of our stuff is in the house. Thankfully, there is plenty of room for all our stuff, but I have no clue where anything is. I'm going to work on that tomorrow.

Here are the pics of our 800 sq.ft. trailer that we rented for 3 months. Daniel and I slept in the extended living room area ;)

the kitchen table we used as a filing system

the boys ate here and we ate on tv trays

playing with trains in the living room b/c the play room was too small

the tiny kitchen (stove, sink, refrig., no dishwasher)

the hallway

the boys room (yes, they shared a twin bed)

the one teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy bathroom

the "master" bedroom (used for our clothes and the boys' toys)

I guess I forgot to put a pic of our bed in the extended living room. I'll work on that for later.

More pics to come of the beach and other fun things we have been doing.

The Whirlwind is Almost Over!

So, here is where we are right now...

We just finished helping coordinate, feed, and photograph my sister-in-law's wedding in NC. We left on Thursday evening for NC around 5pm. We arrived at my parents house at 2:30am on Friday. The boys were up at 7am! We did some finishing touches on our leftover stuff back in NC from our move. We leave tomorrow morning around 7am in order to be back in FL for the 6pm service and dinner.

I was able to get a job in Tampa (the next county over). I drive around 30min. one way to get there, but it is not bad. I teach all 3 grade levels in Reading. Most of my classes are students who did not achieve well on the FCAT (similar to EOGs). I have enjoyed it thus far. I was hired on a Monday afternoon (teacher's first day) and was a work the next day. I was "official" on Wednesday. Students began on Tuesday, the next week.

The boys LOVE their daycare, which is at the church where Daniel works. Malachi is in VPK (pre-kindergarten). He is enjoying learning. Ezekiel was put in the 3 year old room since he is advanced. He loves it, too.

We accepted an offer on our house of Monday this week. We should close in September 20-something. We now have 2 months left to find a house in the Z-hills area. We are happy for the temporary housing with no lease but ready for a house with room for all of us and our stuff. We will be looking at some homes next week.

The boys were ringbearers in the wedding today. We bought them suits. Ezekiel called it his "soup." When he says bathing suit, it is "baby soup." He was so exhausted from today's festivities and no nap and little sleep that he was in bed by 7:30pm and should sleep until we wake him up in the morning.

We don't have internet or cable/satellite at our temporary house, so I will try to do better about updating later. That's why these are a little far and few between.

Pictures!!!

Last week we were at General Council in Orlando. We had a great time.

Bibleman (Malachi)

My friends Tigger & Pooh (Downtown Disney)

Rainforest Cafe - very scary for the boys - in Downtown Disney

Playing outside at the house

More Playing outside

Maw-Maw Carol (plus Grammy & Grandpa) came down with us to help us move. This is from a recliner in our furnished temporary house.

We're "settled" in.

We arrived with our U-haul with car-in-tow and Durango at our "rental" temporary housing (for 3 months max) on Thursday morning around 1:30AM. We had planned to leave NC around 6am, but we didn't get to leave until 1:30pm. I love how plans work out :) Anyways, we would have made it sooner, except we were stuck on a stretch on I-95 in SC for about an hour. A tractor trailor must have jack-knifed in the rain, so we got to STOP! It was nice to take Ezekiel pee on the side of the road and share mom's snack of friendship bread with Daniel, Maw-maw Carol, and Malachi (while stopped). We also inched along interstate 95 to 295 as Jacksonville decided to route all traffic for 95 & 295 into ONE LANE! How wonderful!

Well, we made it without any excitement on our part that day. We were able to sleep until 8 or 9am. Then, we began to sweat more than any human should ever have to sweat! The humidity is horrible. Thankfully, we got some help to unload most of the stuff into a storage unit (our rental is furnished). The head pastor and great man, J, came out to assist while Maw-maw and Grammy watched the boys nap and unpack kitchen boxes.

Friday, Daniel went into work for a few hours. I took the boys to the local spraygrounds/splashpad. Malachi wanted Ezekiel to play, but Z would have none of it. It ended in a double meltdown. I'm glad I had to other "mothers" along that day. Malachi had a "talk" with Ezekiel about being his buddy next time and playing. It is so funny how Malachi is a splashpad man, and Ezekiel is a swimming boy. Z hates the splashpad, and Malachi is finally warming up to the pool. He used to be terrified of water.

Saturday, we went out to breakfast, toured Lakeland and saw Southeastern, then ended the day with CiCi's and swimming at the pool at Grammy & Grandpa's hotel.

Sunday was church. Malachi did great, once we got to church. I had to wrestle his clothes on him at home, then throw him in the car. Once there, he calmed and actually sat in his seat the whole time! I was so proud of him. Ezekiel did fine in nursery, too. Grandpa, Grammy, and Maw-maw headed for home right after church. We went to a little Italian/Greek restaurant and home for naps. Church at 6pm, then warm-up the taco meat we bought in the microwave b/c the oven pilot hasn't been lit yet.

Monday, I did laundry and clipped coupons. Afternoon we ate lunch at the house then went to a local bank to start a new account. Then, we ran home and packed, so we could get in the car to head to Orlando for General Council.

We've had a fun time at the Liki Tiki resort in Orlando and a great time at General Council.

We hope to sell our house soon. It was viewed on its 2nd day on the market. Then, we can seriously buy a house. I'm looking forward to more space than a hotel and little 2 bedroom can provide. It's been a whirlwind.

Please pray that I can find a job. School starts in a few weeks. I am believing and praying that God would provide that.

Love ya.

Welcome Summer Michelle!

Today, my big brother became a DAD for the very first time! He has "adopted" Jasmine as his own, and he is a wonderful father to her. It was so neat to see my brother, David, smile from ear to ear with the birth of his daughter, Summer Michelle. Michelle, his wife, did an excellent job and was thrilled that no extra surgery was necessary. It was blissful to see the proud parents.

She was born at 7:43am, weighing in at 8 lbs., 10 oz, and 21 in. long! She has blue-gray eyes and a head full of thick, dark brown hair. More pictures to come!

Congratulations, David, Michelle, and Jasmine on the birth of this beautiful bundle of joy!!!

We are moving to Florida!!!

In 2 weeks, we will be moving to Florida. Daniel has been offered and accepted a full-time children's pastor position in a small town outside of Tampa.


We are sad to leave our friends and family but excited about the opportunity that God has given us. He has given Daniel a wonderful job at a wonderful church and even provided cheap housing for us before we even had a chance to look for an apartment.

God has performed 2 incredible miracles thus far. Now we are praying and believing for our house to sell and a job for me. Praise the Lord!

Anticipation

I'm literally giddy with anticipation over what is happening in our lives right now. I can't share right now and ask that those who do, only share with those who will pray. I have spent hours upon hours crying out to the Lord for help, and he has answered the cry.

Now, I am spending hours and hours praying that He would continue to do the miraculous in our lives.

You see, CFA, our church, has been in the "Pursuit of the Miraculous." About 2-3 months ago, it moved to "Receiving the Miraculous." That is where we are. I hope that in the next few days we can fully divulge all our "secrets." It's not meant to be secretive but the timing has to be right.

I can't wait to share!

What a Blast!

Malachi's Green B'day Party Luau was great! We had a TON of people in our tiny little house. Malachi got some great presents, but most of all, had a great time with friends and family. Daniel had told Malachi he would make him a green Mickey Mouse cake similar to Ezekiel's cake, but he just ran out of time to make it. So, the day before I was at Target and ordered a Mickey Mouse cake. It was great for our theme, and Malachi got some figurines out of it to play with.

Malachi's Green Luau

We had some things pop up that made us decide to have his 4th birthday party THIS Saturday at noon. Malachi will be having a green luau party at our house. If you can come, please let us know. Presents are NOT required! We have plenty, but if you must bring something, Malachi likes Cars, Mickey Mouse, Handy Manny and just about anything green. We hope to see you there!

More on the day...aaarrrgggghhhh!!!

So, I had to wake Ezekiel up from his nap early today to go to the hospital to get Malachi and see their newest cousin, Ivey. She was born at 3:09pm, weighing over 9 lbs., and longer than 22 in. Malachi was the only one to actually see her before we left for church. Tomorrow, we'll visit again.

Ezekiel was cranky for over an hour. When we sat down to dinner, Malachi went to the bathroom at church and didn't return for awhile. We found him in the bathroom with green poop all over his leg, shoe, back, etc. Church starts at 6:45. We left for home to bathe at 6:30. Malachi wanted to do it all himself (for the first time ever, only this time, the clock was not on our side). I got to church late (7:00). My pager went off at 7:30, which is supposed to mean Ezekiel, but it was Malachi with runny poop (in church). I was so blessed to have a man who adores our children and is a wonderful father, hanging with him until I could figure something out.

I got Z's pull-up. He was still wearing underwear! Malachi was, again, wearing a 2t pull-up while his little brother was wearing underwear. Poor Malachi!

When I got home, Ezekiel pooped in his underwear and then in his bedtime pull-up!

I am so tired of poop and running to the potty to pee with Ezekiel. I don't know if I want to see tomorrow. At least, I think, someone is giving me a phone, and I will be reconnected.

I am soooooo grateful that I was not working today. I ended the day with many laughs and smiles. Any other workday would have killed my nerves and driven me totally crazy. I'm thankful my child was sick like that while I was not at work, but this ALWAYS happens. Every summer break this happens (and sometimes other breaks as well).

I'M DONE!!!

Interesting Day (to say the least)

Just so you know, Malachi's runs ended after his nap that day(of course, he was in Daddy's care then, so he didn't have to clean up all that I did).

Today, we took our time getting ready and then went to the hospital to see Felicia & Nathan. She went in at 6am to have labor induced. They also have a little girl that is 2 weeks younger than Ezekiel but a little bit bigger than Malachi. Funny, huh? Anywho, the boys love their little girl cousin and jumped at the chance to hang with her (wherever they were). Ezekiel has been potty training since Saturday. Yesterday, he stayed pretty much dry all day. Today, I didn't even put him in a pull-up when we left the house. We ran to the bathroom about 12 times (literally) in the 2-3 hours that we were there. On one of the trips, Z had just peed 5 minutes before but insisted that "Ize pee-pee in da potty." As we opened the door, Daniel called me. I was leaning over him (Ezekiel) while talking on the phone to help Z get his pants down, and guess what?

Down, went my phone!!! It was submerged in water literally for about 1.3 seconds (if that). It began to malfunction and now does not work. I think I might have slipped and said, "crap," in front of both my boys. No parent of the year award for me! There are much worse things, though, and I never say anything close to that normally. As long as Ezekiel doesn't start saying it like, "hush-yu-mouff" (hush your mouth), then it's not so bad---which, for the record, Daniel and I did NOT teach him that.

Now, I'm in a real dilemma. We are in the process of canceling our home phone. It should have already gone into effect but hasn't yet (thankfully). We didn't get insurance on my phone, so I'm trying to figure out a cheap way to get a phone back quickly. I think one of our friends from church will be giving me her old one, and I am so ok with that. As long as I can call and text people, I'm good. I should be back with a phone by tomorrow afternoon at the latest! What a great day :)

YUCK!

So, Saturday, a small part of Sunday and today, Ezekiel has been in the process of potty training. He's doing pretty well---much better than Malachi in the first few days. He's only had one puddle on the floor thus far. We went to Target on Saturday and bought all 3 boys new underwear. Ezekiel got Diego. Malachi got boxer briefs of Transformers, and Daniel got well, not tidy whities.

Today, Malachi has had the diarrhea. He hasn't complained of a stomach ache, but he hasn't been able to make it to the potty in time. I've been cleaning up the runs all day. Now, I think they are sleeping. I'm tired of poop!

Ironically, my almost-4-year-old has been wearing a pull-up today, and my 2 year old has been wearing underwear. It has been a fun, first day off for me :)

I hope it gets better after nap!

Woo-hoo!!!

Tomorrow is my last day of school! I'm ready to spend the summer with my children. My boys need some discipline, and Ezekiel is ready to be potty-trained.

Daniel is itching a lot right now. He got bitten by one black ant on Tuesday. He went to the doctor on Wednesday. After the doctor looked at the 6 in. diameter swelled area on his arm and his swollen knees (previous problem), he was given 4 prescriptions. One was an antibiotic, another was a steroid, another was strong advil to use after the steroid, and then 2 epi-pens (just in case). He's doing much better, and I'm glad we didn't have to make an emergency room visit, but it stinks that he is so allergic to something like that.

I still can't believe how Ezekiel talks as well as he does. He will name just about any character, "Hammy Hammy" (Handy Manny) is still one of his favorites. The "wu-pets" (wonder pets) are also a personal favorite.

Malachi is gearing up for school in August. He still needs a pull-up to sleep at night, but I guess we'll tackle that one this summer, too. I'm not quite sure how to handle it all, but most of it will get done (as it does each summer).

Truly, though, my heart is at home with the boys. I would like to have more children, but it is hard that I can't totally control how they are raised. I want them to only take the right things and be spared (for awhile) from the bad. I'm just trusting the Lord that change will come. I would love to be a SAHM. Maybe in a couple of years we will be able to work that out. I'm praying for change.

Malachi's Party Plans

Malachi's birthday is July 9th. I have a little time, but I also have 2 weeks of school left and an anniversary on June 22nd. So, I was talking with Malachi about what his "theme" should be. As it stands today...

"Green" party!

His favorite color! He doesn't want a Cars party, again. He doesn't really want a Mickey Mouse party like Ezekiel; however, he does want a Mickey Mouse cake. So, it looks like we'll have green drink, green (Mickey Mouse) cake, green plates, green cups, green decorations...you get the idea. I am kind of stoked about this. It saves $$$$$!!!! Generic stuff is so much cheaper than any Disney or Nickelodeon theme. I was worried he would chose Diego or Handy Manny. I think he may stick with that decision.

Not to mention, we can call it "going green" and people will think we are helping the environment (ha, ha, ha). I also like the idea of not endorsing a character but just having a good time. Malachi will be wearing green, I'm sure.

We'll see how it ends up :)

A few Malachi-isms for the road...

• "ress" - just
• "ever-one" - another one
• Handy ManDy - sometimes instead of Handy Manny