Grammar 101 Taught by Joel

My current "Joel project" is to change the way he corrects Evan's grammar.

The other day Evan said, "I catched the ball, Joel!"

Joel then said in a rude tone, "Evan, what's wrong with this sentence? 'I catched the ball.'" (It was rude, but I had a hard time not laughing at the way Joel said it.)

I scolded Joel for being rude and he responded, "Well how am I supposed to tell him it's wrong?" I suggested he repeat the sentence, the correct way, back to Evan in the form of a question. "For example, you could have said, "You caught the ball, Evan?"

Just yesterday we had success. Both boys started to play Candyland and Evan said, "Mommy teached me how to play."

Joel: "Mommy taught you how to play?"

Yeah, Joel! I rewarded him with a marble in his jar for that one!

FYI: The "marble jar" is our new behavior modification technique. When the jar is full, Joel gets to go to an arcade with Dad. He loves getting marbles and quite honestly, it is working extremely well.

"The Box Givers"

Evan came running upstairs today and excitedly proclaimed, "Somebody knocked on our door and it's the box-givers! Maybe it's for me, Drew and Joel."

UPS had delivered a package. Unfortunatly for Evan, it was only a scrapbook I had ordered online, but his new name for the UPS driver made me smile.

Germ-a-phobe Joel and Prayer

Yesterday Evan was really sick with the stomach flu and now Joel is scared to death that he will get it. "I don't want to puke" he keeps telling me. He was at Grandma and Grandpa's house when Evan came down with the flu, so he told them he didn't want to go home until nighttime.

At 6 o'clock when Joel walked in the door, he briefly greeted me and went straight up to his bedroom and closed the door. I went to check on him and he told me to "close the door quick, I don't want the germs getting in here." When he went to the use bathroom, he held his breath until he was "safe" in Mom and Dad's bathroom with the door closed (he wouldn't use the kids' bathroom because "that's where the germs are").

Do you think I have a germ-a-phobe like Howie Mandel on my hands? I recently heard Donald Trump is also a germ-a-phobe. Hmm, I'm thinking...both guys are making lots o' money... maybe it's not such a bad trait to have?

Anyway, I'm getting off the subject here (yes, I've had coffee!). After Joel was tucked in bed, he was so worried he'd puke that he asked me to pray for him. I prayed once and then five minutes later, risking catching a germ in the hallway, he came to find me and to ask me to pray for him again, "I feel better when you pray, Mom."

First think this morning when Joel heard Evan awake, he ran to Evan and asked him if he was feeling better. Evan said he was better and Joel proudly said, "That's because I prayed for you this morning. I prayed for you, Drew and Mom and Dad." Evan responded with a hearty "Thanks, Joel!" Joel repeated the same thing to Drew when he woke up.

Now here's what I need you, my faithful readers to do for me:
Please, PLEASE pray that Joel does not get the flu! He has all the faith in the world that God will keep him safe. I also believe that God will keep Joel safe, but I also know we, as sinful men were cast from the Garden of Eden and now live in a world where we are exposed to many germs. (Wow, one cup of coffee and now I'm preaching!) I just want Joel to experience the power of Jesus and of prayer.

Thank you in advance for your prayers!

Batman, Spiderman and Scooby-Doo

Almost 24 hours a day Evan is thinking about superheros. This week he came downstairs dressed in his Batman hat, cape and socks and his Scooby-Doo shirt and sunglasses. I couldn't resist taking a picture. This is what he told me yesterday:

“I did like this (pointing finger down) on your new couch and something felt like it bit me, that’s how I have spider-sense. Cool, huh? That’s because now I can do this (climbing on cupboards) and now I can dribble (a basketball) with one finger. I can climb like this on the window too.”

This superhero thing also works for eating well. "Evan, you have to drink your milk and eat your dinner if you want to be a superhero." Grandpa tried this tactic first and it worked so well that now we use it at home almost daily.

If Evan is a superhero, what does that make me -- Wonderwoman?! Oh yeah, baby!

Drew or Britany?

Here's Drew with his favorite Christmas present, his baby "Sarah." Sarah goes everywhere with Drew and here he is pulling a "Britany Spears" with her -- she's riding on his lap in the driver's seat of his Jeep. Where are the paparazzi now?!

FYI, Sarah was named after his Aunt Sarah in Montana; she is Ben's youngest sister.

Drew's Room

I have finally finished Drew's room and I'm so excited because it turned out great!

Ever since our trip to Africa this past summer, Drew has been fascinated wtih airplanes. So, I used airplanes as the theme for his room. I didn't want it to look like a baby's room and wanted it to be simple enough that he could change it up as he got older. So...TA DA, here is his new room. The airplanes and clouds look like they are painted on the walls, but they are actually adhesives from "Uppercase Living," a new product that my friend sells.

Suzanne Pictures

According to my niece, Suzanne, in the Christmas pajama picture she looks like an "elf." So to redeem myself for putting her "elf" picture on my blog, I'm posting two pictures of her from this week at homecoming. FYI: She is 16 and a junior in high school.

All Six Grandchildren

My mom's new Christmas tradition is to buy matching pajamas for all of the grandchildren. This is the first year that we can say our family is complete. None of my parents' three children are having any more babies, so here they are -- ALL six grandchildren.

Ben and my three boys: Joel-7, Evan-4, and Drew-2
Mindy and Jeff's daughter: Suzanne-16 and
Mark and Robbon's two daughters: Mia and Ashley, ages 2 and 10 weeks.

Did you notice all the blue belongs to Ben and me?! How did my sister and brother get all the girls?!

On another note: I haven't exercised in 1 1/2 weeks due to a severely painful pulled muscle near my shoulder blade. I have, however, enjoyed three visits to a chiropractor and some good muscle relaxers and pain medicine. Quite honestly, the pain is almost completely gone today but I'm not going back to the YMCA until Monday.