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With the 08' Olympics at hand and all the amazing athletes competing its easy to get caught up and inspired by it all. Elijah today showed a level of commitment I think few athletes have. His game..."basek ball". the object of this game from what I understand it to keep the basek ball away from Gabriel at all costs. he is so committed to this that today he even skipped using the toilet, went in his pants (#1 and #2) and kept playing "basek ball". Me..."whats that on your pants Elijah?" Elijah..."nothing my pee is still in my tummy, Im ok Im playing "basek ball".

Olympians you got nothing when it comes to committment.

As many of you know, we recently moved from Vermont to Ohio, and have been restoring a 1920 foursquare. Its getting closer to time to start on the front rooms of the house but up until now its been full of boxes. Yesterday I built some shelves in the basement and while moving boxes down there I came across a couple marked stuffed animals. Gabriel latched onto this stuffed bear that has a blanket attached and its all his little 2 year old mind has thought about since. "look at me daddy...banky bear" gabe says while hugging banky bear. Now at bed time all the boy's "friends" have to be present or sleep cannot be achieved. New toys are not needed as long as there are always some old ones in a box.

to view more pictures of the bathroom, click on photos in the column to the right.


finally the bathroom is getting closer. the closet is done, the floors are done and the counter went in yesterday. little by little its getting there

From the land of make believe I write about truth. John; "no we aren't going to the park because you hit your brother after I told you not to". Elijah; "but I'm not hitting him right now" John; "that doesn't make what you did go away" Elijah; "o.k. ... is it gone away now, can we go to the park?"

the problem with some of the choices we make is that we have to face consequences for those choices. its a struggle teaching these little guys about life while they are so little but in my mind its probably the hardest thing to learn especially in a world where truth is what we want it to be.

Ephesians 6:4 and 6:10-19

we have been having a stretch of hot weather as is normal for this time of year, and all is normal around here, but there always seems to be something that gets under my skin.  for the last few nights around 9:30 or 10:00 PM let me say that again PM!!! the Ice cream truck has been making the rounds through our town.  this girl has a huge yellow flashing light atop her creme mobile and speakers so loud you can here the annoying song from inside our family room from three blocks away.  It is summer, kids are out of school playing during the day... during the HOT day.  Is there any trace of the ice cream truck and its refreshing contents during the hot afternoon, No! Instead the proprietor of the cream machine is intent on tormenting all the little sweaty children of mount vernon as they lay their clammy little heads on their sweat soaked pillows at night.  

its now obvious to me that the value our kids place on things is not directly proportionate to how much they cost, but rather some secret kid code.  the secret kid code is inborn and little is actually known about it.  what seems to be a rule is that the more expensive, the less they like it and visa versa.