Yesterday evening, as I was sewing a zipper in Paul’s special blue car pajamas, I thought about that these are some of the richest years of our lives.  Paul and Hannah at that time were both sitting on the piano bench, both playing the piano, and both singing.  They were having the time of their lives playing so nicely in the living room while I ripped out the old zipper and sewed in the new one (all of which took about an hour).  They were so happy!

Earlier in the day (or else it was another day entirely) they were both out in the 8′ wide hallway of our (unfinished) new addition, and they were holding hands and facing each other and “dancing” all around.  It largely amounted to hopping around as they held hands and burned off energy.  It was neat to watch.

I just rolled through a few pictures, and here are some that show more of our rich, abundant life.

One day, Paul told me that Hannah didn’t know her letters.  It happened to be the day I was very busy baking and preparing for my mom’s birthday supper.  So, I suggested to him that he could teach Hannah her letters.  They both willingly worked at it for a while.  He would hold up a big letter and ask her what it was.  She would say a letter name, but it would be the wrong one.  Paul would correct her and then ask her the sound of it.  When she made the wrong sound, he would tell her the correct sound, and she would repeat it.  Later in that day, they both sat on rugs in the dining room and he “read” books to her (saying the words from memory).  That was so sweet!  They were happy that day, and adorable.

I don’t know what’s happening here, but this is
Paul and his Uncle Luke.

This is Paul and Hannah playing on the shelves
in a closet of our new rooms.

Hannah enriches are lives by simply
being our beautiful Hannah!

Hannah always finds a way.  She is quite
accomplished at playing in the water/
washing her hands at the bathroom
sink.  She stands on a stool in order to
step up and grip the knobs of the bath-
room vanity cupboards with her little
toes so she can reach the water spigot.

In the evenings and on the weekends when the
men are not here working on the rooms, Hannah
and Paul enjoy riding bikes and running around
in the new rooms.

Right now our life-enriching, abundant-living little people are in bed enjoying abundant sleep–complete with a blankie and bear swap.  It was Paul’s idea.  He is sleeping with Hannah’s teddy bear and blankies, and Hannah is sleeping with Paul’s teddy bear and blankies.  They both seemed to like the idea, especially Paul.  This swap is a first.

I was giving Hannah and Paul their baths and Hannah bumped her arm.  I could tell it hurt, but she was being a big girl and not crying.  I asked her if she had a bumpie on her arm.  I was going to follow that with and offer to kiss it, but before I could continue she said,

“Maybe Jesus make it all better.”  And she went on playing.  Yes I think Jesus can make bumpies better a lot more than kisses can!

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Paul was pretending to be blind one evening as I was putting him to bed.  He said he was like Bartimaeus.  I feel so rewarded when our kids come up with references to Bible stories we’ve read, and that was one we hadn’t read for a while.  The stuff is going into the memory banks!

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My sister-in-law and her family were coming and bringing supper on Saturday evening.  She was bringing a casserole, and I told Paul & Hannah that as they started getting hungry close to supper time.  Then, Andrew asked Paul,

“What’s a casserole?”

Paul:  “It’s a kind of cake.”

Hannah:  “Wait until New Year’s!”  (That’s what we tell them when they want something special, like a new toy, and that’s what they also tell each other when they talk about things they want.)

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Last evening, after giving the kids baths, they were playing in the living room.  Out of the blue, Paul stated,

“Hannah has leprosy.”

Me:  “What?”

Paul:  “Hannah has leprosy.”

Me:  “No, Hannah doesn’t have leprosy.”

Paul (evidently trying again):  “Hannah has a skin disease.”

Me:  “No, Hannah doesn’t have a skin disease.”

Paul (not giving up):  “Hannah has bumpies.”

Me:  “Yes, Hannah does have a bumpie.”  So, he was trying to turn the fading scratch on her upper lip into leprosy?  I guess that’s what we get for explaining to them that leprosy is a skin disease that is bumpies all over your skin.

And here are some pictures of the Tiny Talkers eating bananas like Mowgli in The Jungle Book movie.  BTW, Paul goes around singing I’m the King of the Swingers and The Bare Necessities of Life. For the former, he is usually leaping and flying around on the couch while he sings it.  We have some video footage of it!

Isn’t Hannah as cute as can be?
In some of the pictures you can
see her “leprous” scratch.

Here’s the King of the Swingers, VIP,
(aka Paul).

Doesn’t he have a great smile?  I just
wish the shadow wasn’t there.

Our kids go bananas over bananas!  (I think that’s because I don’t often buy them.)  I got them some bananas instead of Valentine’s candy (and I got Andrew some apples).

My husband is still the greatest, even though I am about 15 days behind on my Valentine posts (it might take me a few months to get them all done!).

Today, even though I didn’t remember it, Andrew remembered that today is the 7th anniversary of our engagement.  And, he bought me a dozen long-stemmed roses!  Isn’t that really nice?  Not only that, but he also got me one of my favorite subs from Subway.  He said he didn’t know which one I would like better.  That’s about right–I like them both about the same.  I think he loves me!

The roses on a shelf that Andrew
painted in his new office closet.

The roses on a shelf in our new (blue–
can you tell?) bathroom.  Andrew
painted these shelves too.

…about why it’s been so long since I’ve posted here (and it will likely be a little while longer).
I was pouring every energy into working on Hannah’s bean-bag chair for her birthday that is so fast-approaching (March 11th).

Then, in the middle of that rush, we are at a point with our addition that we can do some of the work to help out on our budget.  And I thought I could barely find time to work on the bean-bag chair!!!!  This is stretching me beyond all limits, but hopefully we can pull through, get some sanding, nail-h0le-filling, and painting done (before I die of exhaustion), and then, I will catch my breath and try to sew on the bean-bag chair like mad.  Meanwhile, we may be eating lots of hamburgers and hotdogs and whatever food I have stashed in the freezer.  And, the blog is going to have to wait, as much as I don’t like putting it on hold.

Also, for those of you who didn’t get the significance of this post, it was a sneaky way to announce that our new baby is due to arrive in August (you’d have to remember pictures from before Paul was born to know the background of this that makes this picture capable of bearing such a message).  Yes, that means we’re expecting a baby (not adopting, or getting a goat, or anything like that).  Hannah is very excited about it and wants to hold the new baby.  We are all excited about it.  I am doing fine, have been doing fine, and so on, in general.  I can tell I’ve got less energy and want to sleep  more.  I think I’m pulled down about 3 gears.  I have skin problems like I’ve never had before, whether that’s due to the pregnancy or just the way it is (these started a year ago, it’s just worse now), who knows.  And, because the OB doctors like pregnant women’s blood sugars to be lower than when they’re not pregnant, I’m back on my diabetic diet.  (Mine are always just a little high, my HBA1C was 6.5.  They want it under 6.)  That seems to be doing the trick for now, and I don’t need to take any insulin at this point.  So, I think things are going great at this point, and we hope and pray God keeps it that way.

So, be patient, and hopefully in a few days or a week, I’ll be back to more regular posting here.

I love our Hannah more than anyone ever loved a daughter, I think.  She makes me so proud!  Not to mention she’s so cute it’s nearly unbearable.  And she’s got brains.  She’s as smart as a whip, and she doesn’t always use her sharp mind to think up how to pester Paul.  She figures out some really neat stuff to do, as some of the following pictures testify.

The latest thing that makes me so tickled with our cute, smart Hannah is that she is potty-trained!  And that’s at 1 month shy of being 2 years old.  She has so impressed me.  A little while ago, I decided it was time to get serious about potty-training her.  (She’s been bowel-trained for a long time, starting about when she was 9 mo. old, with one period of relapse in there when she was about a year old, I believe.  But after that, no problem, she always told me when she had to go.)  Through December and the holidays, at times she would tell me “potty-potty” when she had to pee, but it wasn’t every time.  So, after the holiday hustle and bustle, I started taking her to the potty about every hour.  She usually stayed dry between times, and she would even tell me when she had to go.  That lasted about 2 weeks.  I was using the Pull-Ups training pants.  Then, she quit telling me when she had to go.  When I would take her, she nearly always had at least a little wetness in her paper underwear.  It was getting frustrating.  I wondered if she just wasn’t ready for this, and considered going back to diapers.  However, with Paul, I never went backwards if he showed some new ability in potty-training, and I was still wondering what had happened since she had been staying dry, telling me when she had to go, etc.

A couple days ago, I was getting them ready for baths.  I always have Hannah sit on the potty when I draw the water, or inevitably we end up with a puddle on the floor.  I had her sit on the potty.  I drew the water.  Then, she got off the potty and was walking around in the bathroom.  In a little bit, she said, “Oh no!”  There was a puddle on the floor.  She was surprised and I think a little horrified at what she had done.  I made a big deal over that it was a terrible mess, and asked her where she should put her pee-pee.  “In the potty,” she said.  We proceeded with the bath.

After the bath, I got Hannah out and put on her shirts.  I left her to roam the bathroom like that because Paul was crying that he was cold.  I was dressing Paul when Hannah voluntarily walked over to the little potty, sat down, and peed in it!  I was so thrilled!  I lavished on the praise and she got two miniature marshmallow treats (our potty treats).  I realized that she did indeed know when she needed to go, and she knew how to put it in the potty.  Ummmm-hmmmm.

The next day, I didn’t put any underwear on her whatsoever, just a pair of sweatpants.  I explained to her that she didn’t have on any underwear, and if she pee-peed it would run down her legs and onto the floor and make a terrible mess.  That was yesterday (Wednesday).  I was slightly nervous that I might have puddles all over the floor, on the carpet, and go through many pairs of sweat pants.  I reasoned that if we kept having puddles after several days, I would quit the program.  You  know what?  She hasn’t had a single accident.  She always tells me when she has to go, and she gets right into the bathroom and puts it in the potty.  She even didn’t wet at all during her 3-hour nap this afternoon.  I am so happy!  And she loves going to the potty too.

I think we hit the nail on the head this time.  I believe she just got lazy with the Pull-Ups, and didn’t bother to tell me when she needed the bathroom.  Now, when she knows there will be a huge problem if she doesn’t get there, she takes the time to tell me and use the bathroom.  Our next step is to get her some big-girl cloth panties.  (I would put some on her now, but I don’t have any.)  We’re going to try to find some pretty ones for her.

Hannah and her great-grandma

Hannah loves to put on clothes–
and she always puts both legs in the
same leg-hole.  I think she looks like
a mermaid!

One day when I didn’t see or hear Hannah
I found this.

And another such time, this (She was rocking her
bear and no less than 4 doll babies!  Is she a born
nursery-worker, or what!).

Looking out the window of one of the new,
unfinished rooms.

Frequently, Paul will cover up Hannah with
one of her blankies.

Another day when I didn’t see or hear her, this is
what I found.  She likes to be up high.

Again, Paul had covered her up, and I’m sure he
surrounded her with some of his favorite toys,
including the brown coconut that he is enjoying
(just like in the Mowgli movie) until I make it
into a cake tomorrow.

My Valentine doesn’t think I’ll be able to keep this up all month.  He said soon I will have to start complaining about him.  Well, I sure hope I don’t do that!

One of the things I really like about my husband is his willingness to eat a lot of different foods that I cook.  He likes good ol’ meat, potatoes, and vegetable; stir-fries, stews, Moroccan Beef with Couscous, Asian foods, Italian foods, soups, sandwiches, salads, eggs and his all-time very favorite–cold cereal.  He even willingly eats oatmeal.  He isn’t a picky eater, and he does eat leftovers.  I don’t have to make something entirely new and fresh each meal or else risk him running to Hardee’s.  When I try a new recipe, he’s very willing to try it and we both evaluate it and decide if we ever want to make it again.

Andrew is willing to eat a lot of things, and he has made my life pretty easy in the cooking department by telling me what he won’t eat.  That is zucchini or squash of any kind (no matter what it’s in or how well it might be disguised–and he has asked me not to “trick” him by hiding it in things.  I have promised never to do that, and so he trusts my cooking.), cream cheese (except there is one casserole that he likes that has it in–and he eats it with full knowledge of the cream cheese in it), and aged food.  If something is out of date, or starting to mold, or if it’s leftovers that have been in the refrigerator a week, they are to hit the trail, not the plate.  So, I just don’t keep more leftovers in the refrigerator than we’ll eat in a few days (if I have more, I move them to the freezer).  If I really want to make a stir-fry with zucchini or squash in, I know I’ll get to eat all of the zucchini and squash, and that’s o.k.  And, since I love cream cheese, I use it for myself, but I don’t make dishes for him with them in.  Pretty much everything else, he is willing to eat.  Some things are raving favorites, and some things are just standard fare.  We like to have our raving favorites often, but sometimes we just have some solid standard fare, and he’s content with that too.

Along the cooking line, Andrew has done an excellent job of teaching me how to make good pizza and good lasagna.  Soon after we were married, he showed me how to make pizza.  Not only is it the toppings (sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms, black olives, sauce, and cheese), but you have to layer them just right.  The brown and non-colorful things go under the cheese, and the pretty things (red pepperoni, green peppers, and black olives) go on top the cheese.  Another thing that Andrew says makes a difference is sprinkling the dough with Parmesan cheese before putting on any of the toppings.   The sauce is another important ingredient.  I had been having him taste each batch of sauce to tell me when it was right as I added a little of this and that.  Finally, I wrote down the ingredients and amounts of how he liked it, and I’ve been using that recipe to can up lots of pizza sauce in the summers.  And we have excellent pizza around here!  For the lasagna, the biggest difference he made to improve it (besides marrying me so we could eat it together!) was to have me add mushrooms and black olives to my existing lasagna recipe (which is one from my Grandmother).  We have some really good lasagna around here too.

Andrew loves pizza very, very much.  I think I could serve it 4-5 times a week and he’d be happy.  He often helps me make it when I am making a turn of pizzas (usually 8 pizzas–to stock our freezer), helping put on the toppings, which can be time-consuming.

I’m really happy I married a man who likes lots of different and good foods.

This is Andrew making pizza back in the summer
of 2006.  Doesn’t he look impressive?

Let’s just say that I’m a day behind.  (The truth might be even more severe—several days behind?)  I really wanted to put up this post yesterday, and then earlier today, but all my time was taken up with necessary tasks with our new addition.  Getting things in order for the guys to work on the addition does take priority over my blog.  So, I hope you can enjoy a Tiny Talk Tuesday on a Wednesday!

I check on Paul in the bathroom, walking in and saying, “Are you finished?”

Paul, “No, I’m not finished.  I need my privacy.”

I exit and close the door.  Wow!  He needs privacy at 3 years old!

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I ask, “What did God say to Moses?”  Paul and Hannah say, “Moses, Moses!”

Then I ask, “What did Moses say?”  Paul says, “Here I am, at the burning bush.”

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Hannah talking on the telephone (pretending):  “Hello?  Lowly Worm, are you at your house?  This is Hannah Joy Vogan.”

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Paul is learning the 10 commandments passage in Exodus 20.  At random times, Hannah blurts out, “I am a jealous God.”

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A couple nights ago, Andrew was bathing the kids and he was doing “This Little Piggy” on Hannah.  He said, “This little piggy had roast beef.  This little piggy had…” and Hannah finished “No other god!”  At least part of the Exodus 20 passage is sticking!

Paul & Hannah in the snow on Sunday, Feb. 7th.

I enjoy that My Valentine loves to sing.  I love to sing also, so that makes us two of a kind.  Not only does he enjoy singing, but he can sing very well.  He can hit the right notes, he can read music (and sing by sight-reading too), he can keep time, and he can stay on key.  He does all of that much better than I can.  When we are singing together, especially a cappella while we are traveling, or something like that, if I am having trouble getting my notes, he will skip up to my line and sing my notes for me to help me out, and then when I have it better, he will switch back to his tenor or bass, or whatever part he is singing that time through.  When we sing together at the piano, he often likes for us to sing the song through 4 times so he can sing each of the parts through once.

Just last month Andrew started attending the Rockingham Male Chorus practices, and after an audition, he has been accepted into the group.  He’s having a lot of fun singing with them on Tuesday nights (when it doesn’t snow too deep, that is).  I’m looking forward to taking our children to hear him sing in their programs once he learns the songs well enough to sing in them.  I’m delighted that Andrew is enjoying singing, and finding ways to keep in practice and have fun with it.

This is a little bit of a misfit for this Valentine post, but I must include this.  Paul has been repeatedly requesting us to sing “The Old Rugged Cross” as his bedtime song.  He usually asks us to sing “all the parts” (his way of asking us to sing all the verses).  We usually only have time to sing one of the verses.  Today, since our church was canceled due to the deep snow, we had a miniature service at home in our living room with Paul & Hannah.  Hannah requested several songs, and then Paul requested “The Old Rugged Cross”.  Hannah voluntarily brought us the hymnbook so we could “sing all the parts”.  Paul was rearranging things in the living room so he could slide off the arm of the couch into a wash basket.  As soon as we started singing his song, he stopped all activity, and stood still at rapt attention.  He was completely captivated as we sang the whole song, a cappella, with me singing the soprano and Andrew singing various other parts on different verses.  He just stood there, completely still, taking it all in.  He never said anything about it.

Then, this evening, Paul, Hannah, and I went grocery shopping while Andrew was watching Avatar (don’t ask me what it is about that stuff that interests my husband, because I’ll never know).  While we were going through Wal-Mart, Paul started singing “The Old Rugged Cross”.  I started singing with him, and as I sang the soprano line, he was singing a harmony line!  I was so impressed!  O.k., he was doing his best to sing a harmony line.  It wasn’t exactly any harmony line in the hymnbook, and it wasn’t exactly harmonious with the soprano line, and I’m sure anyone else who heard just thought he couldn’t sing on-key or couldn’t carry a tune, or something.  But, I knew what it was all about.  He knew the melody perfectly well, he was trying to sing just like he had heard his daddy singing earlier today.  I was proud of Paul!  After we got home, as we were getting everybody in bed, I asked Paul to sing “The Old Rugged Cross” with me like he had in the store so Andrew could hear it.  Well, this time, Andrew, Paul and I sang as a trio, and Paul chose to stick to the soprano line.  He did very well.  He requested the verse with “Jesus suffered and died” in it, but we only sang the first verse.  Tomorrow we’ll have to sing all of them again.

I’m really happy my husband likes to sing and is passing along that love for music (and ability) to our children.

Something that I really like about My Valentine is that he is great with children.  That means all children of all ages.  From infancy to teenager hood, somehow he is able to figure out how they think and what would make them happy.  From the time Paul was first born (and it continues now) Andrew seeks opportunities to spend time with our children.  He wants to include them in every aspect of our lives as much as possible.

When Paul and Hannah were very tiny, Andrew would hold them and look at them, and comment on their expressions and try to figure out what they might be thinking and observing.  At each stage of their development, Andrew would comment on their new ability–often times subtle things that I either hadn’t picked up on, or that never struck me as significant.  None of it escaped Andrew.

Now that Paul and Hannah are older, Andrew still likes to spend time with them.  They read stories, romp,

tell silly jokes (he’s still trying to teach Paul what a joke is), make up silly songs, play hide ‘n’ seek, play tag, watch movies, or just sit and snuggle when everyone is tired.

Paul and Hannah love their daddy, and they love it when he plays with them.  A couple times during the day he usually comes up from the basement for a few minute break and will romp and play with them in those couple minutes.  They love it, and Paul and Hannah are sad when he has to go work again.

Not only does he play with them, he is very considerate of little kids.  He is always trying to figure out what would be interesting and fun for their age level, be it a little trip to the convenience store down the road to get a few cookies on the day we get to turn their car seat around to face forward, or hiding their M & M’s under their plate, cup, spoon, etc. instead of just giving them to Paul & Hannah, or cutting holes in a box and then crawling in it with them, or showing them lions roaring on the internet.   Whatever he figures out to do, the kids are always tickled and have a blast.

Andrew also consciously tries to figure out how little kids think and what their worldview is, and then ends up explaining things to me based on that.  And, he’s always right.  He has figured out why some things scare them, why some things make them insecure, why some things and situations seem to make them more whiny or prone to misbehavior.  As he tells me how they are thinking and interpreting data and their surroundings, then we can work together on solutions or corrections.  It also works in the positive, helping us figure out how to give our kids a good time.

I am very blessed to have a husband who relates to children so well.   Our children are blessed by that quality also.