He's Driving Me CRAZY!!!!!

here is how i find josiah when i turn my back for a few seconds:

and then i find them like this and it just warm my heart! i almost, ALMOST, forget how crazy they drive me!

Halloween, 2009

this year for halloween, the kids were sick. both of them! it was a tough week. by saturday night they were on the mend, but not quite up to par. ely got sick first and then josiah caught it. they are both still coughing, but no longer sick.

we had big plans to go to the pumpkin patch and look at all the pumpkins and gets some pictures, but ely said she just wanted to stay home. i did get a pumpkin from the grocery store so she could carve one if she decided. they only had 3 pumpkins left and the smallest one i could get was 20lbs! we brought it home and carved in on halloween.

ely carving her pumpkin. it's serious business!

josiah slept through the carving so he got to paint his pumpkin later. he wasn't so sure about the paint, but he got into it after awhile!

josiah's first trick or treat house. he held the candy for the rest of the night.

all the trick or treaters

abe (spiderman), malachi (superman), ely (dorothy), tessa (green m&m), josiah (candy corn)

we went to the harvest fair at the church down the street. there were games and more candy of course.

Saturday Morning Breakfast

every saturday morning, at 6:30am, local churches and volunteers meet at a a church to provide showers and breakfast for the homeless living in bellflower and neighboring cities. as a church, our home group decided to sign up for one saturday a month. preston and i have felt convicted lately that we have not been serving god's people. we do a good job i think of helping out our friends when there's a need, but we haven't been stepping out of our comfort zone to meet people where they are. we also want ely and josiah to see and experience service to others. two weekends ago, we began this process and it was a success! ely was a huge help. she helped us crack and beat the 90 eggs, cook the bacon and fill juice cups.

it didn't end so well though. as we all know, service means sacrifice...and if you know us nespers, we are not morning people. we all got up early and were a little cranky by the end of the meal. ely also sacrificed her finger. she was helping daddy with the bacon and burned her finger. i know it hurt, but she cried for and hour and a half! i thought maybe we should get it checked out until i saw her playing basketball! she was fine, just a little hurt and mostly tired. i asked her to tell me about her morning and everything was fine until she remembered what happened and then the water and drama started all over again!

chrissy cooking the tortillas because she's mexican

(her joke, not mine! :))

shaun cooking the eggs

allison and josiah

cracking the eggs. she actually didn't get too many shells in the mix!

filling the juice cups

before the bacon incident...

i don't have any pictures from after because there was alot of crying going on to distract me. it was a great experience and we're looking forward to doing it again next month.

Rainy Day

it's the beginning of november and it's 80 degrees! where is fall? i am really looking forward to some cold and rain! well, at least california's version of cold and rain! ely is too. whenever it's overcast she's hoping for rain so she can go out and splash in the puddles. when we got one day of rain, we went out to experience the wetness. josiah was ready for a nap, so he didn't enjoy it quite as much.

i asked if josiah if i could take his picture. this is him in the various stages of shaking his head no. he was not happy wiht me!

LA County Fair

we had planned on going to the la county fair the day that we got our ultrasound, but that day ended being a little too overwhelming for us! so we rescheduled and went the last weekend of the fair.

WELCOME TO THE FAIR!

ely petting a goat

there was a pretend grocery store set up. ely filled her basket 5 times! she loved doing the grocery shopping! i think i need to tap into this new found enjoyment!

ely got to ride one ride. of course she loved it!

josiah and gramma kathy cuddling

there was a princess tent set up that the other one of ely's favorite! i'm not sure how i feel about all the cooking and cleaning toys they had set up for the princesses...ely had fun though. :)

I Love You As Much As....

this morning ely and i were telling secrets to each other. her secrets are along the lines of " josiah is a silly boy" and "i love eggs."

ely: (whispering) josiah is a silly boy.
me: (whispering)i think that's because he has a silly sister!
ely: (out loud) that 's not a secret!
me: ok, here's secret: i love you as much as an elephant! no, i love you as much as a t-rex!
ely: wow! that's big.... i love you as much as a butterfly.

i try not to be offended by what comes out of the mouths of 3 year olds, but sometimes it's kinda tough! :0)


here's ely's song she didn't learn but didn't make up either. to the tune of brother john

i am strong! i am strong!

where did you get your strength from?

because i am so strong, that's why i'm strong.

and that's why god loves me so much so strong.

How Many Are in There?

twins don't run in my family so this was not just a shock it was earth shattering. we're getting used to the idea still. hopefully in the next couple of days will be able to start the preparing for two more blessings in our family to join us in february!