Kids in Houston

On Tuesday, I (Chris) loaded up the kids and took them to Houston with me. We stayed last night at my sister's house and then the kids and Kim took me to the airport to drop me off. I'm on my way to Spain today to do a seminar on how to use our new DVD. There will be leaders at the conference from campuses all over Europe and the ME. I'm looking forward to how the Lord will use it to draw students to Christ.

As for the kids, they were so excited to be at their Aunt's house. They were running around and jumping up and down. You'd think we'd been in the car for 14 hours. When we got to the airport today, Zach was unhappy that he didn't get to go with me, but Kim said by the time the got out of the airport he was fine. I'm sure they'll have a great time in Houston. Isabella wanted to know how many planes I would take to get all the way to Spain. It will be 3. She was unimpressed. "We've taken three planes before with the whole family!" she said.  I'll try to write from Spain, but it all depends on if I can get to the internet. I appreciate prayers for safe travel and for the kids in Houston and for Liza as she goes to the Crusade Mom's conference outside of Austin. Thanks!

Love all the time (part 2)

Tonight at the table, Isabella and Zach were talking while I was cleaning up.  Isabella asked Zach, “Does Isabella love you in the morning?”  To which he squealed, “yes.”  She said, “Does Bella love you when we are going to bed?”  “yes” was his reply…
I think they got it

Out and about

Today I am out with the kids running some errands. I've learned how to blog by email so it is easy to blog something quickly. 

At the stop light we saw a big truck. Isabella asked what the big pipes on the side of it were. I told her they are the exhaust pipes that go high so it won't get in your face. She replied, "Oh yeah. So if you get close you should watch out so you don't smell your own breath!" 

:-) I told her that is another problem entirely.

Baking Cookies

As many of my friends know, I (Liza) do not love baking cookies, but Isabella got a baking set from a good friend for Christmas and has been wanting to use it.

Last week she asked me a couple of times if we could bake cookies. At the store that day, I picked up some cookie dough (one area where I don’t think cheating is necessarily wrong) and after nap, before Zach woke up, we set to it.

She really does a good job, although she doesn’t really need the roller. She has it, but prefers using her hands.

The only sprinkles I had were Christmas trees and green and red sugars, but she didn’t care. After some deliberation, she decided she would take her cookies to AWANA that night to share. They were a hit! And she is a good baker.

Oh, yes!

For a long time if you asked Zach a question, he was quick to say "No" but almost never said "yes." If he said nothing, that probably meant yes. In the last couple of weeks that has changed. He'll say yes if you ask him something, but if he really means it, he'll say, in a very serious voice, "Oh... yes."

For example, when we went to get Isabella's mattress at Sam's, I had to move his car seat to the front seat for it to fit in the back. When we got going, he looked all around with wonder at all the stuff he could see and pointed everything out to me. When we got home, I said, "Zach, did you like being in the front seat?" "Oh yes daddy." I knew he really meant it. It makes us laugh every time he says it.

Love all the time

A couple of years ago, a teacher talked in our Sunday School class about how he affirmed his love to his children.

Each night as they were going to bed he would ask them “Does Daddy love you in the morning?” and then he would answer “yes, daddy loves you in the morning.” Does Daddy love you at play time?” “yes, daddy loves you at play time.” He would continue through different events of the day, and at the end he would say “Does Daddy love you all the time?” “yes, daddy loves you all the time.”

Well, I did that with Isabella, and have been doing it with Zach. A couple of nights ago, I asked him, “Does Mommy love you in the morning?” and he actually responded “oh, yes.” I walked through different things during the day, including do I love him when he dumps his food on the floor. He paused at that one, and then said “oh, yes.” It was delightful because I didn’t know he had gotten it, and he understands that I do love him all of the time, even when I don’t like what he does.

Just like...

Tonight we went out to get the mail. When Isabella saw the dead plants that died from the recent freezes, she said, "Daddy- all your plants are dead!" I agreed. Then she said, "It's ok. They'll grow back again. Just like Jesus when he died for our sins and then on the third day rose again!" I had to laugh in agreement. 

I wish I enjoyed food this much

Pictures with Nonny & Papasito

Tonight I was uploading pictures to print and thought I would post these of Zach with my (Chris) mom and step-dad. The kids call them Nonny and Papasito.

Zach was enjoying some Thai food and learning how to use chopsticks.

What's he doing?

Can you guess what Zach is doing?
He's watching Thomas the tank engine on TV. For some reason, he spends most of the time watching Thomas with his hands over his eyes just peering through his fingers. I think he doesn't like it when they are frowning or when they derail (which is quite a lot it seems...) But despite the way he watches, he still requests it all the time. "Ont to atch choo choo! Ont to atch Thomas!"

New Bed

Isabella got a new bed last week. After quite a bit of reporting that her little bed (her red toddler bed) was too small and not comfortable, we decided to get her a new one. When we came back from Houston with my (Chris) old captain's bed that I had all growing up. We got a new mattress and a 1" memory foam topper. We put those inside a zip up plastic mattress protector. She and mommy went out and found pink sheets and a new polka dot bed spread and now she is quite happy her new "big cozy bed."

Houston Marathon

Last Sunday, Chris' sister, Kim, ran the Houston Marathon. We went out to see her at several points along the race. The kids had a great time and it encouraged her to keep running knowing that she'd see us and others along the route. She finished in about 5hours 40min. I'm sure she would have gone faster, but her knee was really hurting her. We we very proud of her to finish in time to get a finishing medal!

Here we are at mile 14.
After Kim (the kids call her Tata) went on running, then Zach decided that he should run too and took off down the street with the marathoners.
We caught up with her again at mile 19 and Liza and Isabella ran with her for a little ways while Zach and I watched.

Here she closing in at the end. I was holding Zach and trying to get her on video as well, so it made for a not the best clip. You can see her wave quickly to us though before she went on to the finish.

This is the official video of her crossing the finish line. She comes in after about 10 seconds...

I so cute

Today I was talking to my sister who is keeping Zach and Isabella in Houston while Liza and I are in Dallas at our annual student conference. She said that last night she gave Zach a bath and then when she got him all dried off, she put footy pajamas on him. He got up and stood in front of the mirror, smiled a big grin and said, "I so cute!"  I'm glad to see that he doesn't have any self esteem issues! :-)