Mini Post Monday

Okay, so it is a bit late, but it is still Monday - so no comments from the peanut gallery, ya hear??

• I think Ethan has a future career as an inventor.  Tonight at dinner he said, "We should make a toy ear that when you push the button, ear wax comes out!"  Aaron and Jerry confirmed that they would buy that gross toy in a heartbeat, so I'm guessing it would be a big seller!

Ethan choosing out a toy at Toys R Us.
• Speaking of ears, my kids call Q-tips, "ear-picks."  Gee, with a name like that, I'm a bit scared to use them!
• Things I like hearing out of my child's mouth: "Dad, can you please move?  I'm trying to vacuum."

Jerry laying floor tile.
• The bathroom remodel has been all about laying tile this past week.  Jerry got down floor tile and got the custom tile we ordered up on the wall.  It looks awesome!

Our awesome custom wall tile.  This stuff looks sharp!
• It is fun to watch my kids develop their own personalities.  This last week we took the kids to Toys R Us to spend some Christmas money.  Ethan found something he liked, didn't care that it didn't use all his money or wasn't the "best" or "ultimate" or whatever.  He liked it, so he chose it.  Aaron, on the other hand, had to line up every Lego set he saw that he liked and was in his budget, then sit on the floor in front of them to ponder what would be the absolute perfect choice. 

Aaron studying his Lego choices.  He went with the Space Police set all the way to the left, if you want to know!
• One of my goals for 2009 was to read more books of literary significance.  I love to read, but I am admittedly in a rut when it comes to reading.  I like to read easy fiction.  I like a good romantic, historic, or action novel.  These are fun to read, but not challenging in any way.  I wanted to expand my literature selections to include non-fiction, "classic" literature (the kind that is found on recommended reading lists), and Newberry Award winning children's literature.  So how'd I do?  According to our side blog, I read 34 books this year.  Not bad.  Of those 34, 21 books fall into the "easy fiction" category.  I wish it had been half or less, but that still means that I read 13 books this year that probably wouldn't have been in my "read" pile last year.  Of those 13 books, 5 were non-fiction, including one biography.  This is a very new thing for me!  The remaining 8 were still fiction, but were "classics" or award-winning, or deeper "make you think" books.  My goal for 2010 is to make it half and half.

The big boys making no bake cookies - yum!
• We finally got Andrew a new car seat and switched him to forward facing.  When he was born, we got a bucket style seat that went up to 30 pounds, so he still fit in it until just before Christmas.  He really loves being able to see out the window now, though!

Although you wouldn't know it from the look on his face here, Andrew loves his new car seat!
• Remember the couple I told you about last week who died on Christmas Eve?  At their memorial service this past Saturday, the family walked in to "Pomp and Circumstance."  It turns out that my friend, Pat, always wanted her funeral to start off with that song because she saw her death as the "commencement" of her life with Christ in Heaven.  She knew because of her faith in Jesus, her death was not the end for her.  Isn't that a wonderful song for a funeral when you look at it that way?