The Perfect Combination

I'm letting Serif try underwear tonight and told him not to get his socks wet. So, he went and put his rain boots on. Smart kid. Hehe.


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Thank you, Siera, for Violet!

We went to see my brother's family last night. They're oldest son is having reconstructive surgery on his face today, so please be praying for him! To simplify the story, he stepped in to break up a fight and got punched one time. He has broken 6 bones in his face including both eye sockets and several places in his nose. He's having some problems with his vision as well. Please help pray for a very successful surgery and healing process!

We went out to see him last night and Siera took off with Serif to play. He came back with this dog named Violet. Later when we got ready to leave, Siera brought Violet back to the living room and gave her to Serif. He LOVES her! When we got in the care, we heard him showing Violet his book and showing her how to play hockey. "Look Violet!" he'd' say.

Once we got home, he wouldn't let go of her. "I like Violet", he'd say as he squeezed her. She read a few bedtime stories with us, changed a diaper with us and then went to bed with him. This morning when he woke up, he brought Violet to the living room with him. He hugs her and says, "I love you, Violet.".

Thank you, Siera, for Violet! It is so sweet of you to share your things with Serif. He absolutely adores her!!!
Deven,

I woke up several times last night and just couldn't stop praying for you. Serif and I prayed for you again last night before bed and then Jeff and Serif prayed for you this morning before I got up. I've been saying prayers for you all morning and will continue to do so!

Jeff and I were talking this morning about your fortune you got last night, 'You will live a long and prosperous life.' We truly believe God uses things like that to convey things to us. I really think that was God's quirky little way of letting you know that everything is going to be just fine. He's got it all under control. =)

We love you dearly!
Jeff, Michelle & Serif

Lost puck

I was getting ready for work in our room and Serif was playing hockey in the kitchen. He comes to get me and this is what I found. He had hit his hockey puck under the stove and was trying to get it. How in the world did he figure out how to get the face of the oven off!?!


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Choo-choo?

We got home from work tonight and Serif pointed to the tv and kept saying (what I thought was) "choo-choo". We had just watched a show on trains last night and I thought he was remembering that. When I asked if he wanted to watch the train or Thomas, he kept saying no and repeating "Choo-choo". I then discovered he was saying "Tootoo!", as in Jordan Tootoo from the Predators! He had to puf his hockey jersey on and then we spent the next 30 minutes watching hockey from YouTube and Netflix with his hockey stick tight in hand. This boy truly loves hockey!!!




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Photo of the Day

This was actually taken yesterday. He was being awfully quiet as I was getting ready for work. I went down the kitchen looking for him and got a big whiff of dog food. I look around and he had been dumping handfuls of Helmut's food into the water bowl. Of course I had already gotten him ready for school and had to change him. Funny thing is Helmut devoured the wet food and left the dry! I guess it wasn't all bad.


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Jumping!

This is hilarious!! You have to watch the end!

*No one was hurt during the making of this film.

For Mikey . . .

I promised that I would post this video back around Christmas. I forgot! Sorry! Better late than never I guess. Enjoy!

To preface, Serif has been watching the video of Rocketship Run by Laurie Berkner. It goes, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Blastoff! Another Rocketship Run". You can Youtube it if you want to hear/see it. Our good friend Lila =) introduced us to her and Serif loves it! So this video shows him totally getting in to this song, then when he gets to the Christmas tree he pulls a bell ornament off the tree and starts singing Jingle Bells.

Photo of the Day

Serif woke up with the croup this morning. Despite the fact, he's been in a great mood and it's been great day!

He's still loving his guitar box guitar! He really looks like he knows what he's doing with the tuning there too. Hehe.





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Photo of the Day

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Simple Memories

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Enjoying the Snow

Nashville doesn't see much snow, but we have lucked up in the past couple of years. Today was one of those days. SNOW!

Serif got a new book for Christmas "Little Rabbit's Christmas". The rabbit gets a red sled and basically teaches to share. It's one of Serif's favorite books and when we looked out this morning and saw all the snow, it was an immediate sled moment. Daycare (along with all other schools in the area) was closed so Jeff went down to the local hardware store when they opened and got us some sleds. We started with a few trips down the driveway, then off we went down the street to Shelby Golf Course. The BEST place in town for sledding!

We were one of the first to arrive today and the snow was very fresh, fluffy and thick! The first trip down the hill, Serif got a face full of snow. He kept saying he got some in his eye and was somewhat traumatized. We hated that his first trip down the big hill went poorly and kept hoping that he wouldn't be scared to do anymore. This sledding visit was fairly short, but we had more fun later. You can see how red his cheeks got from all the snow and wind . . . poor guy. Also, see the photo of Jeff below - this was a trip by himself, but I'm sure Serif was covered!

Later, as I was pulling lunch together, Jeff and Serif went out to the driveway to sled. They ended up back at the golf course again. Went down the hill six times and Serif loved it! This time, he took his sunglasses with him!

Once they got back, we ate and then Serif went down for a nap. When he got up, we decided to take advantage of what daylight we had left, so we went out to make snowmen.

Serif got anxious to put the head on the snowman and put his snowball up there. In retrospect, I guess we could've left it as the shrunken head, but I was already rolling and packing a bigger one.

I'm posting this photo of the completed snowman, despite the unclear picture, because it shows the scale next to Serif and the fact that Helmut seemed to find the snowman quite intriguing with the delicious candy coated face. I'm hoping the snowman stays in tact for a few days so we can continue to enjoy it. He did have two peppermint eyes, but Serif ate one.

Once the snowman was complete, we headed back to the hills! You can see how much the streets had cleared from this morning. It was still pretty slushy and slippery at the end of the street, but it was pretty clear in front of our house.

Serif learned that sunglasses helped prevent snow from flying in his face. He couldn't see very well through them since it was getting dark, but he liked them on for the protection.

Here's the perfect example of him trying to decide if he wanted the sunglasses on or not. He'd keep them like this for a while until he decided he wanted them over his eyes. It was his way of keeping up with them and keeping them convenient.

Here's Jeff and Serif getting ready to sled.

It's been such a fun day that I've hated to see it end. I'm really kind-of hoping for more snow tonight so we can do it all again tomorrow.

el mariachi

Thank you Jesus . . .

Serif always gets a sheet to take home from his class on Sundays. This week, he learned that Jesus is his friend! The sheet had an exercise on there that we can help him with this week. It said to cut out hearts and keep them by the bed and when it's time for the bedtime prayer, help him pray and thank Jesus for being his friend and let him tape a heart to his bed.









I was putting Serif to bed last night and went through our normal bedtime routine. Then we got our heart and said our prayer and just before walking to the bed, Serif points up to the Jesus over his bedroom door and said, "Jesus. Hamburger!". Nice.








I guess he thought the heart looked like a hamburger. Unless he was hungry and thought if he prayed he may get a one. Or as jeff said, he knows Jesus loves hamburgers. He he.

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Bow

I had to go to birmingham today for work on the way back we stopped at a gas station. When I went in, they had a case with vintage toys and another aisle with sort-of retro style toys. I quickly picked a few things to bring home to Serif.

One thing I got him was a toy bow and arrow. When he saw it he squealed with excitement and immediately wanted me to open it. When I did, he took the bow and said, "Violin!?!" and wanted his guitar.





I did buy it in the spirit of Uncle Don but I must admit I was ecstatic at the fact that he immediately thought of music rather than hunting. Sorry Uncle Don.


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Photo of the Day

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Typical Day

A typical morning at daycare as Serif is being dropped off.


A typical afternoon as Serif is being picked up from daycare. He stayed in the car and played for 5 minutes after I got there. Absolutely no rush to leave.


This is his buddy, Grant. He's 2 weeks younger than Serif and started daycare at the same time.



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A new form of whining

Serif has started a new form of sadness where he will cry and say "Mommy, Daddy, ahhhhhh" repeated several times. This generally happens when we close his door at nap time or if he gets time out or some times if he doesn't want to go in his car seat.

This morning, we were loading the car for church and he did NOT want to go in his seat. I finally got him turned around in his carseat and he immediately burst in to tears and began his whining, except this time it was, "Daddy, yellow gum, ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Daddy, Mommy, ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Mommy, Daddy, ahhhhhhhhhhhh. E-I-E-I-O ahhhhhhhhhhhh.".

It was so hilarious that I felt really bad for laughing at his sadness but . . . aren't you laughing?


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A New Experience

Jeff and I have had a heart for the homeless for a long time, but have never really gotten involved; nor did we really know how to start. Well, tonight, as I was doing my nightly internet surfing, I saw a post on our local Listserv that the homeless had their tents swept up and demolished and these people were trying to help gather all their things and get them washed so they could redistribute everyone's belongings. All the stuff was damp from the rain last night and they were needing help washing everything before they mildewed in the plastic bags. We offered to help and just spent about 5-10 minutes talking with these sweet folks about how they're involved. They basically are there to share their love and be an ear for these people. Often times that is what they need to the most. However, it was interesting to hear them talk about everything. Here is what we learned:

1. According to their experience, it's typical when events are happening downtown that these camps get torn up. They said it is thought to be Metro that does this to help "clean up" our city for those coming down to enjoy all the events. The sad part of this is, these camps are where these homeless people live and all of their belongings are in them. As they cleaned up this torn up camp, she said there were family photos, photos of their kids, papers with personal information, and all kinds of personal belongings that anyone would be devastated to lose.

2. The Nashville homeless do not go hungry and are actually well fed. Many times food actually goes to waste due to all those helping hands and donations from all the friendly people that live in this grand city. A big THANK YOU to anyone that helps with this!

3. In general, they have a lot of stuff, but they live and plan their lives one day at a time. They can only carry so much and the rest gets left behind for the the next person.

4. There is a bus that is set up like a shop (basically) that they can go to and change clothes in and all the dirty clothes that are 'swapped out' are washed and put back in the cycle so everyone benefits. This was amazing to me and I am so grateful for those who were not only clever enough to set this up, but those who are involved to help in such a personal way.

5. Things like toothbrushes and toothpaste are hard to keep up with and other things such as mouthwash may get consumed as a beverage from those who may have an addiction. So be careful with donations like that. Please note ALL donations are appreciated and they are needed!

6. All in all it sounded like the best things to give right now are blankets, clothes, coats and (although we didn't discuss this, I would guess . . .) shoes. Make sure any donations given are washable and not 'dry clean only': This ensures that they do not just get trashed but they are able to use them over and over again.

This experience has been interesting. It's kindof weird to think that I have a two bags of blankets sitting in my house that belong to these poor folks. They did recommend that I use gloves as I transfer everything from the bags to the washer, since they are unsure of anything that might be in them. I am definitely using gloves and I am also cleaning the floor with wood floor cleaner to make sure it is all cleaned up before Serif starts running around in the morning.

As I answered the door tonight I felt the bitter cold wind blow through the door and I got a quick reality check. I saw a quick vision of these people living out there tonight and not having shelter from this weather. I am so blessed to have shelter and personal space to truly call my home, to have the ability to drive myself to where ever I need, to have my husband and child next to me and knowing they are both safe and secure. I am feeling incredibly blessed and incredibly sad for those experiencing such a downturn in their lives. I am feeling thankful for the people involved in all that is offered to these poor souls. Thankful for the couple that made the post tonight who are dedicating their own time to delivering bags of dirty soiled clothes and linens in order to help make someone else's lives better.

Although I am not involved like these other folks, I feel good about being able to wash a couple of loads of laundry for them. I realize it's not much, but when I think of the 4 blankets that are in my dining room and washer, I think about those who may have a little less shelter tonight. I pray that they find better shelter tonight and that when they receive these blankets back, it will be that much warmer for them.