Popcorn for Breakfast

When the kids wake up at 8 and Mommy is still working on the church newsletter...

Daddy is in charge. And this is what it looks like:



When I asked Asher what he thought of Daddy being in charge and providing a popcorn breakfast, he said, "It's a treat!"

Indeed, it is.

Such a treat having you as the Daddy in this house.

We love you.

Apel of My Eye

I love this woman. I love sharing with her. Life. Moments. Milkshakes.

This is a picture from our wedding day (I would say night as it was after 11pm here, but that just makes it awkward). Yep. We went to Whataburger. We were starving. (ADVICE: Either make it a point to eat at your wedding and ignore some guests OR just eat after the reception.)

We were so hungry that we decided that it would be satisfying and probably even a little cool to go into Whataburger in wedding dress and tux and get some world famous breakfast taquitos. And it was. The cashier, a little caught off guard, even gave us our meal for free after confirming that we had actually just gotten married. (ADVICE: If you do decide to just eat after the reception, go in full wedding attire to your favorate spot and see what happens... could be free and you'll get a lot of looks!)

Fortunately for us, God sovereignly brought Kirby's uncle to the same Whataburger wielding a couple cousins and A CAMERA. I feel like we sort of ruined the magic for boys, though. I mean we had just left minutes ago, running through sparklers, driving a highly decorated Escalade, off to Honeymoonland only to be sited at the local Whataburger. I'm sure it was like seeing the man formerly known as Mickey Mouse, mouse head detached, taking a smoke break at the Happiest Place on Earth.

But these are some of my favorite pics from that day. These are some of my favorite moments in life. The ordinary. There are so many exciting times and special days in our life, but at the end of it all, I love my wife. I love my kids. I love my family. I love my church. I love the God who gave us all of these perfect gifts.

To enjoy.

To share.

Friday Funnies

Asher has been awfully bossy round these parts, lately. So much so that we call him Mister Bossy Man....a title that he loves. He proudly walks around saying, "I'm Mister Bossssssssy Maaaaaaaan" as if that's his superhero name. McKlayne has started getting swats on her hand for fit-throwing and Asher is constantly on her, "No, ma'am! We don't act like that." Then to me, "Momma, you need to give her a spanking. She's acting ugly. Tell her, 'No Ma'am.' "

Well...that was just background...onto the Friday Funnies.

McKlayne had to get a shot on Monday. Before we left the house I told Asher to pick out some books and pack a few supplies so that he could color, as I explained to him that we wouldn't be playing with Dr. Rusty's toys because a lot of kids have been sick...since...you know...it's flu season...and that the toys might be "yucky." When we got to the office and walked into our room, McKlayne started walking toward the basket of toys.

A: "No, McKlayne. We can't play with Dr. Rusty's toys. They feel sick today. Maybe we can play with them next time, when they feel better."

**************************************************

While buckling McKlayne into her carseat, I hear a moaning behind me. Asher was standing in the front yard.

M: What's wrong?

A: more moaning....

M: Are you okay? (I was thinking...maybe he's standing in a pile of ants....so I turned around in a panic..)

A: The wind...(he continues to whine as the wind blows his hair...he tucks his head down with his arms over his head)

M: Doesn't it feel so nice? I love this wind!

A: No, the wind...it's trying to steal my pretty blonde hair!

M: (trying not to laugh) Why would it do that?

A: Because the wind likes my blonde hair and wants to trade. It's trying to steal my pretty blonde hair!

Apparently all the swooning over his "pretty blonde hair" has gone to his head!

**********************************************

And, I'll leave you with this pic:

This Pottery Barn Kids magazine has been his requested potty reading material this week. Seriously. EVERY time he's sat down on the potty this week, he's asked for it. That's my boy. I'm trying to convince Charlie that it's just all the Halloween costumes that he likes to peruse.

Little Punkin...

Hurry! Go make one of these from the dishtowels in the Target Dollar Spot...such a festive, easy little dress.

(It's getting harder and harder to take pics of her these days...she won't stay still and is not quite the camera ham that her brother was and still is...is that because my second child hasn't seen as much as the camera?)

I've made all 3 of my nieces and my neighbor's little girl one....they took me like 10-15 minutes each to make...so easy! (Hope that Stella gets to wear hers before October is over :)

Houston Coupon Class

Heather and I have taught two local coupon classes...and this weekend we're going to Houston to teach one! We have a few spots left if you'd like to come and learn how to save hundreds off of your grocery bill each month. So, if you live in the Houston area and have a Kroger nearby and are interested, go here.

Go check out what Heather got this week....she feeds 5 boys each week plus a ton of other people and spends way less than what she used to.

Think couponing is for junk food only eaters? Go read this post.

Hope to see some of you there!

Friday Funnies

Charlie's Edition of Asher's Friday Funnies:

Disclaimer: we really don't want to offend anyone with the following material, we mean to express this in the most innocent, non-hateful way:

Proof that we need to be more careful about the conversations we have around Asher since he is absorbing everything he hears:

A couple was coming to look at our house, which is for sale by owner, and before they came we realized that they were Jewish, due to the yarmulke the guy was wearing. This spurred numerous questions about the Jewish culture past, present and future in our home for about an hour before they came...mainly all these questions were from Kirby.

"I've heard Jews are rich, is that true?"

"Are those who are Jews today, the same peope who were the Israelites from the Bible?"

"Will all the Jews be saved? Or how does this work, if God protects the Jews, who are his chosen people, but still reject Jesus as their King?"

And there were several more.

Asher loves to watch out the windows for people who are coming over to our house. A few minutes before they arrived, we told him that people were coming to look at our house, and he headed straight for his post. After a few seconds of waiting, he said, "When are they coming?" "In just a few minutes," we said. He then said, "Momma, when they get here, do we need to get them some juice?"

******************************************************

As Asher and I were playing in the yard the other day, Asher says, "I see Mary." "Dada, look. Is that Mary?" I couldn't think of any Marys that we knew and was a little confused I looked up to see a middle eastern woman from our neighborhood walking down our street with a head scarf.

Friday Funnies

I have been meaning to start this for a while now. But, like most things I plan to do, this has taken weeks to months to actually materialize. It is my hope to collect conversations (or pieces of conversations) from these two tiny people who are always making us laugh by posting funny or sweet comments the kids make each week on Friday's.

For the most part, until McKlayne can contribute, these will be from Asher.

Several funny conversations that I can recall over the last couple months:

I made my niece, Brynn, a pillowcase dress for her birthday in July. Asher was my model since they're pretty much the same size. Throughout the project I would try it on him to see what needed to be taken in, etc. The final time I tried it on him, he looked down at himself, took in a deep breath and said, "Oh, Momma, I'm an angel!!" while twirling around in circles. Now, anytime that McKlayne or I am wearing a skirt or dress he tells us that we look like angels. He is really the angel.

*********************************************************************

Since Heather has completely freaked me out of feeding my kids hot dogs, every time Asher asks to eat a hot dog, (other than at Jason's Deli, since ALL the meat there is nitrate free) I tell him, "No, hot dogs will make you sick." One morning I made pigs in a blanket. When Asher climbed up into his chair and saw what was on his plate, he looked at me, his nose wrinkled in total disgust, "Momma, will this hot dog make me sick?"

M: "No, those are different from the other hot dogs."

A: Very relieved, "Oh, good. Will it make me better?"

********************************************************************

About a month or so ago, I had been having a bad day. I was irritable at the kids. Charlie. Everyone. It was a tense day in the Apel home. I was especially irritable at Asher. I had been impatient with him and my tone towards him had been ugly. I had to stop several times throughout the day to apologize to him for "speaking to him in an ugly way." Even after all that, I still hadn't learned. Right before dinner, I was short with Charlie when he asked me a question. Being the wise man that he is, Charlie asked me to pray before dinner (knowing that I needed to examine my heart before I could offer a prayer of thanks to God.) So I started, "Lord, I'm sorry that I've just been ugly to everyone today..." then I hear this tiny little, "Meeeeeeeee!!" I look at Asher and he has one of his hands up in the air as high as he could reach, while his head was still bowed reverently, eyes shut tight. I guess he thought God needed some help in figuring out who I had been ugly to that day. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point...I think I did both.

*********************************************************************

A couple weeks ago, I was in the bathroom getting ready.

A: "Whatcha doing, Momma?"

M: "Fixing my hair."

A: "Oh, it's broken?"