Missed us so much that you're blue?

As always, we have lots of good excuses for being gone.

We've been learning our colors. (Asher pretty much already knew his colors, but Heather had told me some fun things that she used to do with her boys, so having different color days really helped him perfect them.) For each "color" day, we ate, drank, wore, crafted with and played with all things "blue", "red" or whatever color day it was.

These are from red day:

This was also the first time McKlayne had spaghetti...it was a fun, messy night for all of us!

(Don't be fooled...these pics were taken on March 18...I'm only 3 months behind in editing pics and blogging...as Asher would say, "No big deal.")



Proof that Asher already knew his colors before this whole things started: the morning of the first color day (which was red) I was so excited to show Asher his red pancakes.

me: Asher, what color are these pancakes?

Asher: Umm...pink! (he was really impressed)

me: My mouth wide open, annoyed that my son was so smart.

Charlie: (saving the day) Well, you're riiiiiiight...but this is red day and pink is a shade of red. Cool pancakes, huh?

The little smartie pants with his pink pancakes and milk.

Blue Day...this was the most fun of all.

We painted ourselves blue and went to eat at Blue Baker to celebrate Blue Day!
(You get free food depending on how "blue" you are.)


Asher loved looking at his blue-self.

Some of our sweet friends met us there.

The Apel girls...minus one...but that will be another post...umm...soon! Promise.
(I'm not pregnant...I just gained a sister-in-law.)

Our Sweet Em...she's one of the precious college girls (and babysitters among other things...) that's always at our house. Asher loves her.

We also potty trained the big guy at the end of April! 3 days. That's all it took. I was prepared for a whole week worth of staying in the house, constantly next to my two year old pal. Nope. The 3 Day Potty Training REALLY works, people! I was a skeptic.

My sis used this method on Brynn. I thought maybe since she was a GIRL it worked for her, but wouldn't work for my Asherboy. I was wrong. He had 9 accidents the first day, 5 the second day and 2 on the third. For the second two days he was just holding himself or dancing around like crazy, holding it in. But by 7 p.m. the night of the third day, he was telling us he had to go...I think he went about 4 times between 7 and 9 that night and was super proud when he went poop in the potty.

When he does have to "go"...like really go...he tells us (while pointing), "Go out there! Shut the door!" (I'd like to add that I don't know where he learned this...because I sure don't get any privacy when I have to "go".)

And he likes to read while he "goes".

We've also been busy working on the house...Charlie sprayed the brick.

Then a group of precious college students came out for Big Event and painted all the white trim on our house! We adore them. They saved us many weekends of having to do this just the two of us. Remember what it used to look like? It's really come a LONG way...inside and out!

You don't have to have any socioeconomic need or disability...we used to think you did until last year when we noticed that like 10 houses (several of which were young families like us) in our neighborhood had groups come out. It's basically just a big community workday were 10,000+ students get together with groups of friends or their student organizations and go serve in the community for about 4 hours. The last several years Big Event has actually needed MORE jobs! So, remember to sign up next Jan/Feb at BigEvent.tamu.edu if you live in B/CS. You'll get free work done on your home and be able to build relationships with college students.

And, I'll leave you with this of our sweet little kiss-blower:

Are you thinking, "Does this kid ALWAYS have a clip in her hair?" Pretty much...otherwise she can't see. When she wakes up most mornings and I haven't clipped her hair back right away...I often hear this, "Uh-oh, Naney Bop...need a bow?" Her big bro is always watching out for her.

Out of the mouths of babes...

Psalm 8:1&2:

O LORD, our Lord, 

       how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

       You have set your glory 

       above the heavens.

You have taught children and infants

      to tell of your strength,

   silencing your enemies

      and all who oppose you.

Last night after tucking Asher into bed late after HOPE Group we heard him singing this...

"Be lifted higher, be lifted higher, be lifted higher..."* (each "higher" his voice got higher.)

...alternating with this...

"We're singing for the glory of the Risen King! Jesus, shine your light and let the whole world see!"*

over and over...

until we finally walked in his room and knelt beside his bed to worship with him.

*These words come from two Apel family favorites that we sing often around here: 

Stronger

and

Mighty to Save

both by Hillsong.

Asher recommends that you buy them and put them on your ipod.

5 Years Ago

Five years ago today, I asked Kirby to go out on a (double) date with me (and two other people...obviously). This is not a picture of that day or that date. Just the closest one I could find to that time in my limited resources.

Anyways...
After seeing and talking with her at Island Party that weekend, it takes me almost three days and plenty of encouragement from friends to get the guts to make a phone call that went a little something like this:

K: (Hmm. I've never seen this number before.) Hello?

C: Kirby?

K: Yes?

C: Hey! It's Charlie.

K: Hiii, Charrliee...(Charlie who?)

C: Hey, I was wondering, if maybe sometime, that you and Cate might like to go out on a double-date with Ryan (Thompson) and me? You know...you being my date and Cate being Ryan's. (This was obvious. Ryan and Cate had been dating. Doof...real smooth and can you just taste the confidence...a real man!)

K: Sure, that be great! (WHOOOO HOOOO! I GET TO GO ON A DOUBLE-DATE WITH CATE!!!! I should really find out who Charlie is.)

C: Well, I will talk with Ryan and we'll get back to you on a date and what we're doing. OK?

K: OK...that sounds great.

C: OK, well...I guess I'll talk to you later. (Get off the phone before she changes her mind.)

K: OK, bye!

C: Bye! (My heart is beating too fast...I'm going to puke.)

And that was it. Cate cheated for Kirby and invited me over for some pre-date studying a few days before our scheduled date. And as they read and took notes (business school type studying), I hammered stuff together for one of my projects on their front porch (architecture school type studying). Again, real smooth.

I can't tell you how thankful I am that those days are over — for so many reasons. I do like reminiscing about how 'in love' or infatuated we were with each other. However, I much prefer this deeper love (which still includes quite a bit, if not more, infatuation) that has developed and matured through our relationships with Jesus and the trials and immense blessings that we have been through together over the years.

Another reason is that Kirby and I have learned so much in the past five years about dating and relationships that we would have done this so differently knowing what we know now. We love sharing what we have learned with our younger siblings and family members and with the college students that attend our Hope Group. The college students are probably the ones who have taught us the most, or, at least, given us hard questions that we've had to seek biblical answers for. And we're so thankful for the mentoring relationships that we've had with Aaron and Heather and others in our church. The Hendricks tend to help us with the answers to the bulk of these questions. They are so much further along in both dating research and their marriage.

So...our advice?

Love Jesus first.

Be involved in your church.

Have mentor/discipleship relationships (this is older than you, farther along that you, same-sex people that you see doing things very right) in place during 'dating' that both challenge you to holiness and accountability and protect you in the same manner.

Happy Day-Charlie-Asked-Kirby-Out-for-Their-First-Date Day!

Sweet, sweet Asherboy...

We're at the point where we can actually carry on a conversation with Asher!  Everyday, I realize just how big he's getting.  My sister has always told me "this age" was always her favorite stage with Reid.

I'm pretty sure I agree.

He has been saying the funniest things lately and I need to write these down so I'll never forget.

Here are just a few instances that have happened in the last week:

Ever since Sunday afternoon, he's been asking me to go retreive one of his horses that he left in the car after church. I've unintentionally made several broken promises...thinking that I'd walk right out and get it in and the next thing I know a phone is ringing or dinner is boiling over the stove. So, FINALLY, Wednesday afternoon...Asher walks out in the livingroom, with a horse in hand and says, "I'll just go get it Mom..." as he begins to unlock the front door...my poor sweetboy...had been ever so patient with me. (Did you read what he called me? MOM! MOM!? How sad is that...I hope this phase ends quickly and I return to being referred to as Mama or even Mommy. He just thinks he's SO big calling me that three letter word!)

Asher can count to eight...well, he counts to six... skips seven...and then eight. When reading or playing with blocks or toys we'll often practice his counting. Well, do you wanna know what he counted the other day? (My "pimples"-as he so innocently refers to them!) "One pimple, two pimple, three pimples..." AWESOME. If it'd been any other fingers ever so sweetly touching each blemish, I would have slapped them. For some reason, he's just captiavated by them. PERFECT. Can't wait for the day that he points out someone else's pimples...WHAT will I say then?

My favorite things he is saying these days (which I hope to get a video to post with these soon) are "Oopsy Daisy" when he drops something or "No big deal..." if he spills something or can't quite complete a desired task.  So precious in his little bitty voice!

Asher loves to help me "mix & make" (cook.)

Probably because he often gets to taste whatever it is...

He also loves to color...outside or inside.

Here he is coloring at Great-Grandma Apel's.  (I think this was she had just been testing him on his chalk colors...the little smartypants...after she finished  he pointed to her hair and said, "White!"  She got a kick out of it...sweet Grandma!)

He's very serious about playing guitar.  Aaron Hendrick (our worship leader and good friend) is one of his most favorite people.  Anytime Asher is in the service with us during the worship music, he'll stare at Aaron (the whole time) and strum his chest right along with him.  He loves Thursday night Hope Group because JP is sweet enough to let him play with him while he plays worship music for all of us.  And he LOVES to "lead us" with his guitar during Family Worship!  He knows most of the words to Jesus, Name Above All Names, The Doxology, and My Chains are Gone.

Here he is jamming out....lefthanded.  He's lefthanded (like his dad) ONLY when it comes to guitar.

He loves playing outside. He spends MUCH time exploring...digging...climbing...jumping...driving his new truck:

I love that sweet little comedian, artist, muscian, wild man.  I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use his gifts for His Kingdom.  

Who does she think she is?!

In just a short 8 weeks, McKlayne has gone from:

sitting up

to

planks

to

crawling

to

waving

to

pulling up.

I am so not okay with this. My baby doesn't seem like much of a baby anymore.

And she definitely doesn't look like much of a baby with all this crazy hair.

We never know what we're going to see when she wakes up in the morning.

What 8 month olds do you know that can have their hair frenchbraided?

My sister showed me this blog, so we've been trying different do's! Look through all the labels on the left. They're so cute!

This one's for you, Blaire!

Seriously, you have to sign up!

Okay, you guys may have already read about this Swagbucks thing when I posted about it a back in November and brushed it off...but don't!

 Sign up now!

I have already bought a $50 GAP giftcard and a $50 Southwest giftcard! I've earned $100 in giftcards just for using Swagbucks as my search engine rather than google...and it's powered by google!

BUT...to earn a ton of Swagbucks...I've earned a total of about 900 so far...you need to either post a referring link on your blog or send out an email to your friends and family to have the sign up under your referral. Please use my referral to sign up yourself, and then have your friends sign up under you. (I won't be getting any of their swagbucks...the chain stops at the first level of referrals.)

So, Heather, if you did this...with like all of your HUNDREDS of readers a day, you could seriously be giving away $50 giftcards for Christmas presents next year to your WHOLE family. No joke! You really wouldn't have to be doing ANY Christmas shopping with any of your own money, if you signed up for this. Once you post this on your blog, I want to know how many swagbucks you've earned in a month!

Here is our previous post:

So, there is a really cool site that you can earn gift certificates and actual prizes from your favorite stores.

Here is a re-post from the site we learned about it:

Not sure what Swagbucks is? Well, it is an online search engine, powered by Google and Ask.

But, instead of just pulling your search results back like Google or Yahoo, you have the potential to earn Swagbucks with each search. And, quite frequently I win. At least once a day, and sometimes more.

Now, I honestly can tell you, I only use Swagbucks when I am doing a search online anyway. I never use Yahoo or Google anymore, because Swagbucks gives me a chance to win while I search. I have it saved as my Homepage, so this is the first screen that comes up everytime I log onto the web.

I DON'T sit there and try to randomly search to earn extra poins...because it really doesn't work. In fact, here is the exact wording from their site.

Tip #8

Doing a TON of searches, or clicking on sponsored links, will not help you win!When searching the web, the best way to win Swag Bucks (and the only method we endorse) is to use the engine for genuine search and discovery. Our technology is designed to award users who search naturally — simply utilize our engine the way you would with other search providers.

Anway, back to how it works. Once you accumulate enough ( approx. around 50 ) you can cash in for prized. There are gift certificates, merchandise, etc.

Currently, when you win, we have all been geting 1 to 5 Swagbucks.

But, now....they have announced on their blog that they will be issuing some Mega Bucks soon. This means, you can now potentially win 10, 20, 50 and 100 Swagbucks...woo, hoo! They plan to launch the Mega Bucks this week, although I am not positive of the date. You can click here to read their announcement.

Now, that gets me excited!

In addition, when you get your free gift, if you take a picture of yourself with it and submit it to Swagbucks, they will also issue an extra 1 Swagbuck for your account. So, I plan to do this, too. Click here for all the details.

Finally, if you use Swagbucks, make sure to tell all your friends..email them your links, etc. If they sign up thru your referral, you win everytime they win. Up to 100 Swagbucks! As you can imagine, your Swagbucks will accumulate much faster.

SOURCE: moneysavingmethods.blogspot.com

So we want our Swagbucks to accumulate faster, too. So we don't care if you use this or not. HOWEVER, if you are going to try it out, please click one of the links in this post or on the side of our blog so we can 'refer' you.

Thanks!

Happy Birthday, Kirby!

Today is my amazing wife's birthday. She's 25. She believes that your body shuts down after 25. I love her.

Kirby, no matter how dramatic life gets (jeans come to mind), I love the passion that comes along with your drama. You are passionate about Jesus...

about your husband...

about your son...

about your daughter...

about our families...

about your friends...

about discipling our home...

about Her Hands and discipling other women...

about saving us money...

about Round Top...

about SO many things. You put your whole self into everything you do and every person in your life. You convict me so often by your generosity, by the thoughtfulness of every gift and how you KNOW the people in your life. I'm learning from you.

I don't know how you manage to do all the things that you do in a normal day. After having the kids for a few hours or a day, I know what a feat it is when I come home to clean house or if anything else is done outside of you three surviving. It is so important to me that you are at home and you do it with such humility, grace and eagerness.

You're the best friend a person could have. And I know they'll be many who'll echo that on this post as well. You're an amazing helper and so good to your needy husband. I love confiding in you and depending on you. I love reading with you, jean-shopping with you, Wizard-of-Ozzing with you, Round Topping with you and doing all of life with you.

Don't even get me started on how beautiful you are! None compare, Kirby.

I love you. Happy Birthday!