"Why doesn't He talk to me?"

Aspen's number one question about God right now goes like this.

"Why doesn't God talk to me? God! Talk to me!"...pause..."See mom, I don't hear anything. Why doesn't he talk to me? Why can't I hear him?"

He's been bringing this up a lot, and boy is that a hard one to explain. Yes, God loves you. No, it does not mean that he doesn't love you if you don't hear him, but he doesn't talk like me and you. He talks to us in the Bible and through our thoughts.....

And you know, it really is a valid question. I've wondered the same thing myself.

After having this conversation with him, I often ask God to talk to Aspen in a way that he will know it's God talking to him.

I just thought I'd update life a little with what's going on with us right now.

Aspen is still high energy, but he is such a joy to be around (most of the time!). I've seen a big change in his attitudes and obedience in the last couple months, and am so thankful for that. One night I was just feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with the daily ups and downs of parenting him, and I stumbled across a website on parenting. I read through it and started putting some new things into practice. It really took no time for things with Aspen to change around. He is incredibly smart and perceptive and is such a quick learner. He is very loving and tells me every day how much he loves me. I am soaking it up now because I know the time is coming way too soon where that won't be happening! The next thing we have to work on is the arguing. I am getting a little weary of the constant negociations.

He is learning to play nicely with Journey. The problem is that he knows how to bug her.... Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh? The things he does to bug her right now are: all the sudden he really wants to play with Journey's dolly's, he will come up and give me a full, possessive hug in front of Journey, or he will swipe whatever she was just about to pick up/play with just because she wants it. Yes, this drives me crazy. Especially when they fight over me.

Aspen has taken part ownership of my lap top. We set up a kids web browser on my computer called Kidzui, and he loves to search for and play new games. There are literally hundreds of games to choose from on there. About once a week, Aspen and I will have a "date". Basically, a date is just a time where just him and I go somewhere together. It could be the grocery store, or more often, the coffee shop. It's fun to spend time with just him, and he seems to really value it. He reminds me everytime we are in the car alone together that we're on a date :)

He has also been learning to love some of the things Mark enjoys like remote control rock crawlers and spending time on the boat. Mark took Aspen out last week to be apart of the Christmas ships. He had a blast, and was so proud to be one of the "guys" (Ryan and Mark's dad went too). They didn't get home until 10pm, so he was pretty proud of being able to stay up so late!

Today, Troy and Tyler came over on 4-wheelers since they can't drive their cars in the snow. Mark took Aspen on a ride around the neighborhood in the blizzard. Apparently, they were doing cookies on the 4-wheeler (so glad I didn't see that!), every time Mark asked Aspen if he was scared he said he wasn't and that he loved it! Too bad Mark got rid of the rhino. They would have a blast in the snow and ice that we are having.

Journey is still my sweet girl. She loves to cuddle in the rocking chair at night, and prompts me to sing "Jesus Loves Me" over and over by saying "Jesaah, Jesaah". She will snuggle up totally still against me as long as I will sit there. It's so sweet, and I try to soak it up each night.
She has become my shopping buddy because she hates it if I ever leave her behind. I have never had a problem with her at the store (like I did with Aspen at this age countless times!), and we just enjoy being together.

She loves Aspen, but has a piercing scream for him whenever he does something that makes her mad. It really drives me crazy! Oh, and one more thing, she is a total Papa's girl. She has my dad's heart, and it's so cute to see her with him. As soon as she sees him, she will say his name in the sweetest way, as if she's in love with him. I need to get it on video one of these days, so that we don't forget it.

Christmas Ships

Can I first just say that I can not wait to get a new camera??! All these grainy shots are killing me. Anyways, Mark is mooring his boat on the Willamette River for the winter. He noticed some boats in the marina getting decorated for the Christmas ships. His first idea was for us to go out and watch the Christmas ships on the water this year. Well, that soon morphed into him meeting the guy who heads up the Christmas ships and signing up to be apart. Mark quickly decorated the boat (complete with a fishing pole catching a tuna!), and we joined them last night for the first time. It was a lot of fun.

Well, as you all know, Mark doesn't do anything half way. Tonight he is out on the river again, but this time in St. Helens. Since it is so far away, he is spending the night on the boat. Yes, in the 20 degree, predicted snowy weather. Yep, I'm pretty sure he's crazy!

Piggies!!!

Yay! Journey's hair has grown just long enough for me to put it into piggy tails! Okay, so it's just the hair on the sides of her head. The top is still very short. But you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day! She even let them stay for the whole day.

A Little More Random

Aren't the pictures amazing? These are updated pictures of the completed pool area at the club house of Mark's condo project in Costa Rica. Mark took them on his trip last month. His next trip will be in January for the broker's opening. It's going to be a huge party, and I'm hoping that I will be able to make the trip with him :)

This is a picture of my new lap top. Actually, it's the first computer that hasn't been a hand-me-down. I feel so special! Ha ha. It's cool because it's so tiny that it fits in my purse.

I recently got a job one day a week. I had forgotten how much I loved doing hygiene. It's a great, laid back office, and I am really enjoying it so far. With the economy the way it is, we have changed a lot in our approach to our finances. We have made some big goals and are working toward paying off our debt. We are hoping to pay off our car by the end of this month!

Now I just have to figure out how to keep up with all the office work for Mark...

Tea Parties and Other Things

Unfortunately, our camera broke about a month ago. I am hoping to buy another soon. I'm missing so many great moments! A couple weeks ago I remembered that I have a child sized tea set, so I got it out to see if Journey would want to have a tea party. The pictures above are from our party. I had Mark take them on his I-Phone, thus the quality.

Anyways, Journey loved it! I put milk in the tea pot, and she had a blast drinking out of the little cups with me. I see a lot of tea parties in our future...

We spent Thanksgiving with Mark's family. No pictures, but we all had a great time. This year was the first year I can remember that we didn't have any snow up there, but the boys had a great time playing outside on the Jeep power wheel 4-wheeler and just generally running around being boys. Ava and Journey also enjoyed playing with each other. There were quite a few of us getting sick or getting over being sick, so we only spent one night and did not go down to the beach like we normally do.

Journey

Here are some of the new things she is saying and doing...

"Uh oh babies" - she loves to say this all the time

She waves her hand when getting her diaper changed and says "pee yoo, what a mess!"

She is very aware of when Aspen gets to go with Mark somewhere, and does not want to be left out. She will say "ready t' go?" or "wanna go?".

Journey is still very laid back and well, easy! Of course my only reference point is Aspen, and by the time he was Journey's age, I was already in the thick of the disciplining stage. I can generally tell Journey "no" or "come here", and she will just do it. Can you say, complete opposite of Aspen? Aspen has a very sweet and kind heart, but he is defintely a challenge for us. He questions everything (like his dad), and that can really wear you out!

Home Brewin'

Mark's newest hobby is brewing his own beer, and I think we are actually saving a little money doing it! We started out making hard cider with the apple cider we pressed at my parent's house. So good! Mark has also made Hefievisen and an IPA type beer. Each brew has progressivly gotten a little better.

Straining out all the hops, oatmeal and other non-liquid ingredients.

Here it is in the "car boy" all ready to start fermenting. In about 12 hours the yeast will be working over time and we will hear the bubbling as it ferments. For the first couple days everytime we open the cupboard, we get hit with the scent of yeast.

I think this is one of the best (and most useful!) hobbies Mark has ever had. It's been a lot of fun.

"mommy, can you put me in the dirt?"

This is what Aspen asked me on Saturday night. I was confused, and asked what in the world he was talking about. "You know," he said, "put me in the dirt so I can go be with Jesus if I don't feel better tomorrow". He had been miserable and sick for a couple days by then, and I guess he was just fed up with feeling that way! Of course I was horrified that he would say or even think such a thing. So morbid for a 4 year old, it creeped me out!

When Aspen is sick, things slow down here a lot. Our normal routine when he is sick is that he gets to lay on the couch and watch tv or play video games. We have been watching a lot of the old Tom & Jerry Tails and Popeye. Journey is so used to playing and being bugged by Aspen, that she is confused when he is too sick to do those things. She misses his attention so much that she has taken to bugging the garbage out of him. She hits (gently) him, pokes him, touches keys on the computer when he is trying to play, etc. All in an attempt to get some attention out of him. I call it pay back!

Well, unfortunately, he is still sick, but luckly he hasn't asked to be put in the dirt again :)

Updating Life

Every Friday Aspen's friend, Sofia comes over for the morning. This week we also had Peyton. It was a very busy day going from two to four kids. Almost like having two sets of twins! At least we had beautiful weather and were able to take a walk.

Peyton peeling the bark off the tree on our walk.

Here's the crew on our walk. It was challenging to keep all four on the sidewalk and in view!

Aren't they adorable?

Yes, he has entered the age where it is almost impossible to get a picture of him without a weird face.

Finally, one good picture :)

Savings Blog

I have joined up with my sister-in-law, Christina on her savings blog
www.saving4myfamily.blogspot.com
For those of you that are interested, I will be posting my savings over there!

October Savings

I decided to try out the cash envelope system for budgeting in the month of October. We have never really used cash and have never put ouselves on a budget before, but with the economy the way it is, we have been searching for ways to decrease our bills.

Here are the ways we were able to save money this month:
Car insurance - I shopped our car insurance and was able to save $95 a month by switching to GIECO! Ha, Ha. But really, we did. :)

Switching our cable TV from Comcast to Direct TV. We will save about $70 a month.

And, drum roll please.............Groceries.
I put $220 in cash in our grocery envelope for the month. I only spent $205 of that!
I have $15 in cash left over to put toward November's budget, $24 in coupons off my next purchase (used like cash). And I saved 77% on my groceries for the month!

Unfortunately, we did go over our eating out budget of $100 for the month, but over all, I think we did pretty good considering we have never put ourselves on a budget :)

October Beach Weekend

Journey "feeding" her baby sand.
Aspen 4 1/2 years, Journey 21 months, Peyton 15 months
Playing at the sand hill in the boat we used to play in when we were kids.

Mark and Aspen checking out the Garibaldi bar conditions. It was a really rough day!

It was a beautiful, sunny weekend. Better weather than any time we were at the beach in the summer.

I love this picture of Aspen, but it really weirds me out! How is it possible for me to have a boy so old already???

We had a great weekend with my family at the beach this weekend. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and the kids had so much fun running on the beach that they were squealing the whole time.

Oh, and we have great news as a family. Actually two things.....

Congratualtions to Charity and Justin on the new baby. I am so excited to be an aunt again!!!

Also, Congrats to Adrian and Rachel on the engagement. So excited for you guys. Adrian, you got a great girl. We are so happy that Rachel will be joining our family :)

Girl Time

After a super busy weekend with Luke and the Halloween party, Journey and I had a little time to ourselves to just hang out. It is hard for me to see her getting bigger and becoming more of a little girl instead of a baby. Why can't we just freeze time? She is a very sweet, gentle girl who loves her dolls and is such a little mommy to them and her cousins, Peyton and Ava. I do have to add that she has become pretty good at holding her own with Aspen though. She lets us know if he is bullying, bugging or annoying her too much! In the last picture she is sharing her bottle with her baby.

She is talking quite a bit more, and is slowly becoming more independent. Slowly :)

So that I can remember later, here are more of her words now:

waffle

Grammie (tries to say, but isn't very clear yet)

Ava

please

thank you

pasta (when ever she is hungry she asks for pasta)

oatmeal

milk

Pey Pey (peyton)

trees

Naniel! (Uncle Daniel)

Fia (Aspen's friend, Sofia)

bear

Hola! (hi in Spanish)

Also, when Journey talks about snakes, cows, monkeys or cats, she uses the sounds that they make. Aspen used to do that at this age too. It was actually quite entertaining for his older cousins to go through the list of all the animals they could think of to have him say their "sounds".

Early Halloween Party

We decided to have an early Halloween party here this weekend and it was a blast! The kids looked adorable in their costumes, and really played pretty well together considering we had 11 kids, and all but one were five years old and under.

Aspen the Fireman
Batman Luke
Princess Journey and Peyton the Monkey
This wasn't all the kids, but a good majority.

From the top, Aspen, Luke, Adam

Sofia, Journey, Peyton

and Ava.

It is so hard to get a good group shot! Someone is always trying to run off :)

Playing "Simon Says" with Justin. The kids loved the game. He had them jumping, spinning, wiggling, on the ground, etc. Thanks Justin!

Activities of the Night:

Isaac bobbing for apples in the bathroom sink with Lexi, Aspen, Luke, Adam and Ben looking on.
Success! Adam catching his apple.
All the kids eating their prizes. They all did great and got their apples without completely soaking themselves or the bathroom :)
Next, we decorated pumkin sugar cookies.
We had planned for the kids to carve their pumkins, but by this time, they were done with the organized activities and left it to the adults.

Here are a few more pictures from our busy weekend. We had Aspen's cousin Luke, and Ryan and Christina had his brother Adam for the weekend. We met up at the mall for coffee and play time at the play structure. The boys have had such a great time playing together this weekend. It has been such a treat as we do not get to see them very often.

Luke 3, Aspen 4, Adam 5 years old
Journey 20 months
Ava 17 months
Aspen, Adam, Luke and Journey playing at the mall.

See Journey's bear? Mark and Journey built it at the Build-A-Bear store in the mall.
Journey fell in love with the bear as we were walking past the store and Mark couldn't say no :)

Thoughts..

Journey really loves her dolls. She has discovered the baby carrier and carries her dolls all over the house in it. I love my girly girl! On another note, she is really becoming much more confident in walking. She even crawled up the whole flight of stairs for the first time this week.

Aspen just started Kidmo!, a kids group on Tuesday nights at Abundant Life Church. He loved it!

For the past month, I have been thinking about what is really important to me, and how to make sure that the busyness of life doesn't overshadow what I feel is really important. I decided to make a list of goals/priorities for myself to see what would come out of that and then shape my schedule around that. Here's what I came up with....

- Aspen memorize at least one scripture (group of scriptures) a month

- Work on preschool type activies including learning to write letters, math, learn to tell time, matching words with letter sounds, etc. (I'm pretty much just feeling my way through this!)

- Library - 2x per month

- Work on charictar qualities - kindness, gentleness, manners, respect, etc.

- Dinners together as a family - takes organization and pre-planning on my part!

- Make up chores chart for Aspen? Not sure on this one yet.

This has been the first week that Aspen and I have been working on "school" together. So far we have had a Letter of the Day theme, and have worked on A and B. I got a few preschool workbooks that we have been using. The biggest challenge for Aspen right now (besides wanting to do this) is the writing part. He has never been an artsy type of kid. Doesn't color or draw, and has just figured out how to use a writing grip on the pen.

So I am basically still working on a schedule for us. I have decided to go back to work on a temp basis, hopefully one day a week. I will be in a group at church one day a week, and will have to try to balance the office work for Mark inside all the other stuff I am doing during the week.

I guess I don't have any set in stone answers for myself, but just analyzing this has lead to me making sure I am spending a little more time playing and reading to the kids, and a little less time cleaning and on the internet (unless they are in bed!).

Our Trip Home

We had quite the adventure getting home from Costa Rica. The plan was to leave Sunday morning at 7am, which meant that we were up and out the door by 4:30am to return the rental car and check in at the airport on time. As we were walking out the door of our rental house, Aspen asked in his sleepy state, "How many days until we can come back?" Yes, he loved it there.

Anyway, we all boarded the plane on time and waited for things to get moving. We waited for about a half an hour before the pilot came on over the loudspeaker and said there was a maintenance issue and they are waiting for the mechanic to come to work on it. We waited some more, an hour goes by and again the pilot comes on to let us know that they are actually still trying to track the mechanic down (probably a local Tico still at the bar...). Finally the mechanic showed up and started working. Pretty soon the wing was being taken apart as he searched for the problem. Yep, every flier with kids worst nightmare happened to us. We were stuck on the airplane for 4 hours before they finally gave up and let us off. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning. Now they had to figure out what to do with all of us for the night and how to get us out of there. We spent another 4 hours in the hot, outdoor airport while they worked it out.
Amazingly, the kids did great considering all we had been through. There was one other family with kids on the airplane, and Aspen made friends with their boys. They had a great time playing together on the airplane and in the airport. Journey was as easy as usual, and just rolled with the day, finally passing out from exhaustion just as we were boarding the bus (1pm) for the hotel.

For all the stress and exhaustion of the day, the airline did put us up in a nice all-inclusive resort for the night. We were all so happy to get there and see all the food and let's be honest here, drinks! The kids were excited to see the pools and couldn't wait to jump in. All that went a long way to erase the pain of the morning.

The next morning we repeated the whole "to the airport" drill. Boarded the airplane and this time there were no problems. We were all much more exhausted, but amazingly there were no melt-downs on the way home. God was really with us and I did a lot of praying on the way home that we wouldn't be the ones with the screaming kids on the airplane :)
When we finally touched down in Portland, even Journey was excited and saying "yay!"

Albertsons

Okay, not too many people care about my grocery savings. I know that, but there are a few who are a little crazy like me and would like to see. I had a great day so I have to share.

35 cans organic tomatoes

20 yoplait yogurts
6 powerade zeros

2 glad cling wrap

6 campbells cream soups

1 darigold yogurt

1 Alb. orange juice

1 pack mashed potatoes

Total......................$11.28!! (It should have been $8.28, but a $3 promo didn't come off and I didn't notice until I got home. Oh well.)

I will post about our trip home from Costa Rica when I have time. Let's just say it was verrrrry long!

It's Time To Go Home

This is the club house at Hacienda del Mar (where Mark's condos are). It's getting close to being finished and is going to be beautiful.
The back side of the clubhouse. Checking out the pool area.
Our last day of swimming.

Yay! Look at the fuzz. Journey's getting some hair!

We have had a great time here in Costa Rica. Two weeks really gives you a chance to relax and unwind from our normal, busy lifestyle. Actually, it also gives you enough time to miss it again :)

The first week went pretty fast as we were doing so many new activities. This week wasn't quite as action packed.

Just so that I will remember later what we did...

Monday - African safari zoo

Tuesday - we went out to Mark's project to see the project and show Aspen and Journey. There was actually a lot of progress since we were here in June, so that was nice to see. From there we drove up north and saw the entrance to the Four Seasons (guarded, so we didn't go in). Then we went exploring through the jungle on barely a road looking for a deserted beach. We never did make it as we were stopped by a 30 foot wide river. Passable in the hot season, but not in the rainy. We could see two houses that were cut off across the river. We talked to a lady who lived at the river's edge, curious I'm sure about a car full of gringos that far off the beaten path. She knew no English and we didn't know enough Spanish to figure out how far away the beach was once we crossed the river (she told us she knew a place to get through). We settled for Hermosa Beach and lunch at The El Velero.

Wednesday - Mark had meetings all day so we hung out at the villa for the day

Thursday - Mark had more meetings. He dropped us off in Coco for a couple hours in the morning before meeting us for lunch.

Friday - We had heard from a couple different people that we should go check out a town called Puntarenes. That was a mistake. We drove for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Walked around and got lunch there. Were hastled by the Ticos, and left in less than 2 hours. Driving that long with small kids is not fun! We did get in a lot of "I spy with mine yittle eye.........". We did have fun with that!

Oh, and it rained all day.

Saturday - our last day here. We had a great day. Found a cool new coffee shop, played at the pool a couple times, and had dinner at a cool beach front restaurant. The weather started out rainy, but turned sunny and beautiful. Probably the least humid day of our trip. We had a great time as a family, and we won't soon forget this trip.