Beautiful day in the neighborhood

Today was a beautiful day in the neighborhood. We took our bikes on a little ride about our neighborhood. We are lucky to live so close to so many things now. We took advantage of it today. We rode our bikes to have lunch at a local pizza place. Then we rode over to the video rental store and picked up a few games to play...then made our way back home.

Pinky

 
Meet my new friend Pinky...Pinky Tuscadero. She is my new bike!!!!

Happy Birthday

The little man is 6 months...wow 6 months. I can hardly believe it.

Here is a little walk down memory lane...it is a short stroll.

From August 18

From August 2008

From seton shower

From seton shower

From Russell and Melissa Wedding

From Marble Falls

From brothers

From archer and his foot

Valentine's day

Today was a nice Valentine's day. I think falling on a Saturday made it much less stressful on us all. Christian was up first and opening his and 1/2 of Archer's presents. Then he wanted to move on to his Daddy's too. I had to stop him just in time. Both the boys got a book, a card and a little stuffed love buy. Archer got a baby teething toy and Christian got "Horton hears a Who", which we watched with dinner tonight.

Speaking of dinner..that was my favorite. Earlier this week I had decided since I had the day to prepare, I would make 3 fondues. I made a classic cheese fondue and served chunks of baked chicken breast, bread, broccoli and carrots. Then I made a pizza fondue and served bread, pretzels and cheese. Then for the best...chocolate marshmellow fondue, this is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I served that with angel food cake sticks, strawberries, grapes, almonds and Christian's favorite Pretzels!

I took several pics too because I was so happy with my presentation. It tasted good when I was making it. However, hot dishes and 3 year olds don't mix, so we had to transfer the fondue into different bowls. It still tasted good, but cooled quickly. We watched Horton Hears a Who with dinner. It was a very nice Valentine's evening with my favorite 3 Valentine's.



Tonight as we were putting Christian to bed I asked him if he was my Valentine. He said no, I asked who was my Valentine then and he said "Daddy" I think he has this Valentine thing figured out!

Wenck vs Wenck

Here is some video of the boys playing the new Wii. We are all having lots of fun with it.







Christian had a busy day and ate lots of candy and chocolate. This was the end of his sugar high.

New trick

Watch this video to see Archer's new trick.

The Woodcutter Story

This is a Max Lucado story our pastor used in his sermon on Sunday. It talks about circumstances and how we can deal with them. Since I heard the sermon on Sunday it has come back to me about 3 different times and it is just now Wednesday. I wanted to share it, in case you need it too.

Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen before—such was its splendor, its majesty, its strength.

People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused. "This horse is not a horse to me," he would tell them. "It is a person. How could you sell a person? He is a friend, not a possession. How could you sell a friend?" The man was poor and the temptation was great. But he never sold the horse.

One morning he found that the horse was not in the stable. All the village came to see him. "You old fool," they scoffed, "we told you that someone would steal your horse. We warned you that you would be robbed. You are so poor. How could you ever hope to protect such a valuable animal? It would have been better to have sold him. You could have gotten whatever price you wanted. No amount would have been too high. Now the horse is gone, and you’ve been cursed with misfortune."

The old man responded, "Don’t speak too quickly. Say only that the horse is not in the stable. That is all we know; the rest is judgment. If I’ve been cursed or not, how can you know? How can you judge?"

The people contested, "Don’t make us out to be fools! We may not be philosophers, but great philosophy is not needed. The simple fact that your horse is gone is a curse."

The old man spoke again. "All I know is that the stable is empty, and the horse is gone. The rest I don’t know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can’t say. All we can see is a fragment. Who can say what will come next?"

The people of the village laughed. They thought that the man was crazy. They had always thought he was fool; if he wasn’t, he would have sold the horse and lived off the money. But instead, he was a poor woodcutter, an old man still cutting firewood and dragging it out of the forest and selling it. He lived hand to mouth in the misery of poverty. Now he had proven that he was, indeed, a fool.

After fifteen days, the horse returned. He hadn’t been stolen; he had run away into the forest. Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses with him. Once again the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke. "Old man, you were right and we were wrong. What we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us."

The man responded, "Once again, you go too far. Say only that the horse is back. State only that a dozen horses returned with him, but don’t judge. How do you know if this is a blessing or not? You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? You read only one page of a book. Can you judge the whole book? You read only one word of a phrase. Can you understand the entire phrase?

"Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. All you have is a fragment! Don’t say that this is a blessing. No one knows. I am content with what I know. I am not perturbed by what I don’t."

"Maybe the old man is right," they said to one another. So they said little. But down deep, they knew he was wrong. They knew it was a blessing. Twelve wild horses had returned with one horse. With a little bit of work, the animals could be broken and trained and sold for much money.

The old man had a son, an only son. The young man began to break the wild horses. After a few days, he fell from one of the horses and broke both legs. Once again the villagers gathered around the old man and cast their judgements.

"You were right," they said. "You proved you were right. The dozen horses were not a blessing. They were a curse. Your only son has broken his legs, and now in your old age you have no one to help you. Now you are poorer than ever."

The old man spoke again. "You people are obsessed with judging. Don’t go so far. Say only that my son broke his legs. Who knows if it is a blessing or a curse? No one knows. We only have a fragment. Life comes in fragments."

It so happened that a few weeks later the country engaged in war against a neighboring country. All the young men of the village were required to join the army. Only the son of the old man was excluded, because he was injured. Once again the people gathered around the old man, crying and screaming because their sons had been taken. There was little chance that they would return. The enemy was strong, and the war would be a losing struggle. They would never see their sons again.

"You were right, old man," they wept. "God knows you were right. This proves it. Yours son’s accident was a blessing. His legs may be broken, but at least he is with you. Our sons are gone forever."

The old man spoke again. "It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. No one knows. Say only this: Your sons had to go to war, and mine did not. No one knows if it is a blessing or a curse. No one is wise enough to know. Only God knows."

* * *

The old man was right. We only have a fragment. Life’s mishaps and horrors are only a page out of a grand book. We must be slow about drawing conclusions. We must reserve judgement on life’s storms until we know the whole story.

I don’t know where the woodcutter learned his patience. Perhaps from another woodcutter in Galilee. For it was the Carpenter who said it best:

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."3

Rocky's birthday party

Rocky's birthday party finally came today. Christian has been excited and waiting for this party for weeks now. He picked out the presents and cards all by himself. Since Rocky is his best buddy he has a really good idea about what Rocky likes...Handy Manny and Lightin' McQueen.

The kids had lots of fun and we visited with all our daycare friends. Rocky's Mom is a teacher in the 1-2 year old room, along with one of her cousin and Rocky's Nona is Archer's teacher in the infant room and was Christian's teacher as well.

Here are the pictures from today. We almost had to drag Christian out of the bouncy house. We think he jumped for 2 of the 3 hours we were there. He took brief breaks to eat cake, hit the pinata and watch Rocky open presents.

Snuggle Puppy

Here is our favorite bedtime song.

The Toddler Workout

Christian has invented a new workout that I am calling the Toddler workout. The idea is, if you can do everything his does for 30 mins you will most likely lose weight, but you will also most likely end up with lots of bruises on your knees (and maybe every where else).



(there are 4 little videos posted via this link)

The Month of LOVE

Maybe that is what we should call Febraury in our household. Chris and I have two anniversaries we celebrate. The 1st day we met and the day we were married. Then right in the middle is Valentine's Day. So it will be the month of LOVE!!!

Last year I posted about our anniversaries

And now we are celebrating 7 years of knowing each other and 5 years of marriage. Now we can drink some of that wine we have been saving since our honeymoon! Wooo whoo!

(taken in Sonoma Valley on our honeymoon, April 2004)