keep on rolling

though internet was down here for a week, life certainly didnt take a break. we switched rooms so the boys are in our old room and we are in theirs. this was mostly because we needed a better mattress for joel's work weary bones and our fold out couch just wasnt firm enough anymore. as anyone with kids knows, any changes like this make bedtime a new challenge. my goal is to get them good and worn out so they just crash and abram doesnt have the energy to get out of bed and run down the call with his mischievious grin.
school is winding down and simi will be home in a few weeks for summer break. this summer i have a few things we will be focusing on. one is potty training. we have started putting abe in big boy pants in the morning, and he is getting the idea some times but just as many times i will pick him up and find a soggy bottom boy. he insists on sitting on the big potty with no small seat on it. what is good enough for the rest of us is good enough for him.
another focus will be reading with simeon. he totally gets what reading is and has been reading the easier Bob books to me, we just havent had time to do it every day. so in summer we will. knowing how my son loves lists, i started one on the door of all the books he can read out loud to me. we will also be working on a math curriculum.
one other goal i had for the summer has already been realized. bike riding. simi got a new bike a couple months ago (thank you aunt stea!) and after a couple weeks of hard work, he figured it out and is zooming up and down the sidewalk. (with training wheels still). i made this video a few weeks ago and he can go even faster now. and of course i have to make all things equal, so abram demanded a video of him shot too. if i can get blogger to let me, i will upload it too. funny that they both ended it the same way, riding up to me with a big grin. i love those guys.

workin' hard

well, i havent posted in a while as i mentioned in the last post. i cant say exactly what has been taking up my time, but i guess the photos below show what has been taking up joels time, which means my time has been with the boys. and blogging and watching busy boys dont mix. example, i just had to stop this post to wipe off the wheels of abrams car and now he is going back outside to muddy them up again. sigh. these are the small things (see blog title) that fill up my days and when joel is working on the house, my evenings and saturdays too. but i cant complain as my husband has shoveled and hauled and even boiled tar to create a home for us. and i remember that as i wipe and wash and hug and kiss and make a home for us here.. . . . sorry, another break to wipe of abrams hands so he could go outside and play again. also, i do work at the center 2 days a week, so i am not completely homebound. below are the latest pics of his labor.
this is the tar paper and tar that seals the foundation. (this is all stuff joel has told me, i know nothing about all this)
this is the middle section of the house, right between our part and lau and valis part. those sheds in back are the wood we bought last fall and will be using soon to do the framing.

here is a panoramic picture of the whole property. joel put together 6 photos, so dont worry the walls really are straight.
the foundation is finished. these walls go a couple meters below the ground. and are surrounded by gravel. the water line is installed. now they are working on leveling the ground, putting in gravel and then the concrete slab will be poured. they are hoping to do that this saturday. then the construction can start going vertical. up is good.

math

a boy turning 2
+
easter celebrations
+
a week long retreat in the mountains
+
a pile of laundry after retreat
=
very little blogging time

i promise pictures and news and even videos will be coming soon

things heard around our house

simi- mama, whats a wise man?
me- someone who listens to God and understands what God wants him to do.
simi- then i am a wise man.
me- well, you have to be older to be a wise man, you have to follow God for a long time and then when you are big you will be a wise man.
simi- ok, i will be a wise man. but i also want to be a librarian


abram- wat dat sound?
(sounds of birds outside, a distant horn honking)
me- the birds? a car?
abram- no, dat sound is socks

simi- i miss gavin like a dark dark cave. I miss gavin like a puzzle that is missing one piece and you look all over and you cant find it.

bye bye 1 year old

tonight i put to bed my 1 year old and tomorrow morning i will hear the soft thumping down the hall, feel a dip in the end of the bed and hear a sweet clear voice say "goo mohnin mama" i will open my eyes and see my 2 year old boy. i think you have been reading the baby books behind my back because you are hitting all the milestones already. you learned how to get out (a technique called the climb and slide) of your bed a few weeks ago. twice this week you have asked to go pee pee on the potty, though we know you do it just for the reward of flushing it. you are wasting no time in growing up.
2 years ago i sat down in my favorite comfy chair after putting simeon to bed and decided to time the contractions that had been coming erratically for 5 days. your father was at a meeting and i didnt want to call him unless it was real. after a half hour of regular contractions i called him. Your grandma mary was already on her way from North Carolina. i walked around, took a bath, and waited until it was time to go to the hospital. as we drove to the hospital, a beautiful, huge full moon came out. like a harvest moon, but there are no crops to harvest in april, i think it was sent just for me. i was at the hospital just 3 hours before you came at exactly 7 am, just as all the nurses were supposed to be getting off their shifts. you were my teacher that night. as you entered the world, i learned that love is greater than pain, that God gives us more strength than we realize, and that there is enough grace available for each moment, if we can receive it.
you have continued to be a gift of joy, from the moment they put you in my arms and i saw your adorable chin, to just a few hours ago when you asked me to show you my muscles and started pushing up my sleeves. You are a study in contrasts. You know no fear, going on anything you can reach at the playground, but around strangers you cling to your mama. You love to dig in the dirt yet you sleep with a doll. You act like changing your diaper is a violation of your constitutional rights, yet you love to cuddle and lay your head on my shoulder as i sing. You yell across the street "buna ziua" to total strangers, but you refuse to show off your latest cute trick upon request. like your brother, (could it be inherited ;) you know your mind and wont be persuaded easily. You and Simeon have the sweetest, most reciprocal love for each other. hugs and kisses (and occasional headlocks) are given and received freely. with you our family grew, but also deepened in love. you are our sweet Abram Nicholas and we are thankful for you.

not trying to make you mad, anonymous

but since i know a lot of you are interested in health care, here is a story by NPR on the Japanese system. very different than the canadian or european model, uses cooperation with government and private hospitals. benefit- very low cost universal health care drawback- hospitals are losing money
my favorite part is when they ask the japanese health minister how many people go bankrupt in japan due to health care costs. he had to ask the translator to repeat what the interviewer asked because the question was so absurd to him. thats how it should be, right. go bankrupt for gambling, buying too big of a house, spending too much on vacations, but not for having cancer.
ok, anonymous, i really am not trying to stir up anything, just want to pass along a story of another country and their system. its good to learn as much as we can so we can make educated decisions. NPR mentioned an upcoming story about Thailand's healthcare system.

sign of spring

sunshine, playing in the mud and making muscles for the camera. aren't little boys the best?