January 29 Singular sledding

Saturday afternoon:  Here is Kaity-Girl sledding all by her lonesome Saturday afternoon. There HAD been two boys and their dad sledding for a few minutes, but you could tell they had been on the hill for a long time and were not staying much longer ...

At the very last minute, we had invited Kaity's friends: Kenzie and Harper -- but they were already committed somewhere else.

Kaity made the best of sledding alone and went down a few dozen times ...

I love watching Kaity outside ... she really comes alive and is so happy.

This is such a great hill for sledding!

 I love you to pieces, Kaity!

January 29 Kaity's #2 soccer game

Saturday:  Kaity was much more alert and awake for her game today ... and so she was more focused and played much better. It was fun to watch her run and kick and block ...

I came and stood beside her for a few minutes on the sideline ... I love this kiddo.

Nice coach! Here he is giving direction and a pep-talk to his team.

Kaity's best friend, Kenzie (front center in blue jersey) played opposite Kaity this week. Kenzie played a good game too.

Kaity's game was finished at 11:00 and Emma and I scooted out quickly to pick up her car from the dealership. See you at 3:30, Kaity!

January 28 Emma's new/used car!

Friday:  Jesse and I had agreed to meet by noon today to go and check out a vehicle or two we had seen last night on Marketplace. Jesse suggested we begin with the 2009 Ford Focus. I won't give all of the details of this story--suffice it to say that once again TODAY, I experienced "the goodness of God in the land of the living." 

We had a 12:30 appointment with a fellow by the name of Kyle to see the Ford. We arrived and found it looking as beautiful as the pictures showed on Marketplace. We took it for a test drive and Jesse went through EVERYTHING on the car, inside and out, and even underneath ... clean through and through! Kyle also gave us a CARTRACK report that detailed the entire history of this car--really helpful.

Here are some pictures:

It is my very favorite color!

This is a 2009 Ford Focus, 94,000 miles. Two owners. No accidents. Newer tires. The timing belt is actually a CHAIN, and Jesse prefers those. After driving it and inspecting it, Jesse offered the fellow 10% less than the asking price and it was agreed upon with one little problem ... how to convince Emma to purchase it? We asked Kyle to give us a few hours ...

I came home to "sell" the vehicle to Emma and as I drove, I prayed. I want to grow in trusting the Lord in everyday situations, and I have been praying all week for a replacement vehicle for Emma--that God would lead us to the right one at the right place and time. The biggest strike against the car was that it was a "dealership" car, but when I explained to Emma that this is a one-person "dealership" and that he was kind and helpful and honest and nonpressuring (is that a word?) ... and also that Jesse's friend Scott was very positive about the purchase, she told me she had been praying too about God leading us to the right car ... she had just been praying this morning before I came home with all of the paperwork! Isn't that cool?

So ... we drove over to Emma's credit union, got the money order, I called the insurance company and transferred insurance, called Kyle to ask him if we could pick the car up tomorrow and everything is SET. I am so thankful. You should have seen Emma's beautiful smile!

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.  Psalm 27.13,14

January 27 Kaity and ... car searching

Thursday:  Sigh. We have been looking for a replacement vehicle for Emma now for three weeks. There are cars out there ... but getting someone to help us inspect one and ask the right questions, etc. has been difficult to find. I finally appealed quite desperately to Jesse--who is completely knowledgeable about vehicles. Jesse stepped to the plate today! He and I looked on-line (via Marketplace) and spent two hours separately and two hours together going through the potential vehicle candidates!

BUT ... it was Kaity's day to play with me ... so Jesse and I took a break and I took Kaity sledding on the hill. It was already nearing dark. Kaity had the hill to herself. It was COLD, but not windy. Unfortunately, the only sled I had in my car was the blue roll-up mat and it doesn't go very fast. However, Kaity used it satisfactorily for about 30 minutes ...

And then we came to my house to eat together and play for a little while. We even read two books! Kaity read to her new stuffed animal, Kiki, "The Three Little Kittens" and then we also read Oscar's story (Oscar is our new sea otter hand puppet), "The Sinking of Captain Otter". Kaity did a really nice job reading these books out loud. I am super proud of her--her reading has really come along this year. Yes! 

We also played the pop-up game for a little while and just goofed off. I returned Kaity to Diana just after 8pm and returned to Jesse's to continue our car search. We had a lot of cars to look at and it was so much fun listening to Jesse as he checked picture after picture and pointed out good and bad features to me. Tomorrow, we are hopefully going to go and test drive a few of these cars ...

January 25

Tuesday:  I picked Brendan up at 11:00 today from Miss Jenn. I always bring a book in the car for Brendan to read as we drive--because we are in the car for almost an hour before we arrive at my house. Today, I brought him "Brave Little Finn." He actually has a copy of this book that I purchased for one of his birthdays ... maybe his 6th? Anyway, he really delights in the story. He read part of the story out loud and then remarked on all of the pictures, wanting me to examine them closely with him--rather difficult to do while driving--but during red lights and as we waited for the littles to get out of pre-school, we looked at the book together.

We landed at the Beach House shortly after noon. Aidan IMMEDIATELY requested that I get his literary tools out: paper, colored pencil, stapler--as well as being his secretary for all of the wording of his latest book. This week's story was something about a big storm. Aidan is perfectly happy creating spontaneous books, and will sit at my table for almost an hour while he is writing and drawing. 

Here are some pictures from today:  these kiddos play and play and play ... it is not difficult to entertain them at all. Erin loves the few dolls that I have around here. She likes to change their clothing and cuddle with them.

I'm so thankful I can go to the public library every week and get fresh reading material for Brendan. These are not lengthy chapter books or anything ... just fun stories with great illustrations. Brendan is an excellent reader and understands what he is reading about--he loves amusing words and sounds--I love to hear him laughing out loud as he reads.

And this Munchkin (Aidan) is headed towards becoming an AUTHOR/illustrator. His passion for making books is pretty intense! He is almost reading ... is right on the brink of it. He loves words and letters and meanings. He has a wonderful sense of humor.

Erin makes a book each week too. She is less passionate about her writing and drawing ... but she is just three and a half. She has a very solid attention span and is interested in just about everything. She listens carefully and is so much fun to have a conversation with.

Aidan built a bunch of space LEGO stuff today too. 

Both Aidan and Erin were busy cooking meals too ...

Brendan enjoyed himself on the piano again today, experimenting with all of the interesting sounds my electric piano can make. Brendan is such a patient soul, not easily frustrated, and learns new skills all the time.

These two cuties played space LEGOs together for awhile. Erin mostly had fun with all of the "space guys" and enjoyed switching out their space helmets and air tanks, etc.

We took Emma to work at 3:30 and returned back to my house shortly after 4:00. We sat down and had a refreshing bowl of ice cream and a cookie (not grandma Carol, though--she is on a diet !!!), and then I suggested we watch a movie. We put on a CD that I have in my collection and laughed all throughout while we watched "Tangled." The horse and the camelion are the funniest characters in the story! 

We didn't end up returning to their house until almost 6:30 tonight. Traffic was kind of slow, plus we left later than usual. I didn't stay at their house to play tonight. I was too tired -- plus I still had to pick Emma up from work at 12:30, so I went back to my house and did some quick pick-up, washed dishes, and fell asleep at my desk for more than an hour before I woke up to catch up on the news before leaving to get Emma. It was a very good day, today, and I am super thankful.