Jesus and legos

Life lessons with Zeke:
So a couple of days ago Zeke and I were in the kitchen and he pointed at this old trivet I have hanging in the kitchen from my Grandma Krull. He asked what it was, so I explained to him and told him about Grandma Krull. He asked where she was and I said she is with Jesus know. He said who is Jesus? (now this is Zeke's new thing, I ask him if he wants some rice and he says who is rice?) So I began to talk about Jesus and what the Bible says he was like while here on earth. How he spent time with the poor and those alone and in need. He healed the sick and loved the lonely. At first he didn't agree, he said no Jesus was a baby. So we continued to talk and later he looked at me and said "mama I think Jesus would share his legos" I said Zeke I think you are right!
I love that he can put it into his own terms and make it make sense in his world.

Things I think are good...

Lately I have enjoyed a few random things which I will list here:

Movies: In 2007 the best movie I saw of course was Juno, I think you all know that. (of course I think I only saw 3 movies in 2007!)
Also just saw The Great Debaters, amazing movie, i love movies that are true and have happened, i love movies that make you proud of other people and where they have been and the change they helped bring about in our country.

Book:
A thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini. I have been wanting to read this book since it came out but was too cheap to buy the hard back and it was always checked out at the library. So I finally borrowed it from my dear friend Karen. It is one of the best books I have read in a really long time. We read his first book, the Kite runner a few years back in our book club, I think it was the 2nd book we picked, also one of the best books I have read. What is crazy is the author has only written these 2 books. He has a way of capturing you and connecting you to the characters so that love them! You can't put the book down, I read it in 2 nights when Dan was gone. If you have not read it you should!

The political debates:
I have to admit this is the first election that I really care about. I have always voted but honestly have just voted for the republican because thats what you do.
This year Dan and I have taped the debates and when the kids go to bed we get excited, pop some popcorn and watch! I guess we are getting older and realize the importance of this election. Adam had a really cool site on his blog called glassbooth where you can go and answer questions and see which candidate cares about the things you do. It was great to reaffirm Obama believes in a lot of the things I do.

Hot drink:
Our whole family has been sick for over a week now and it is fun! My throat has been hurting so I started having a slice of lemon in hot water with some honey. It is really good and I think it has helped a lot! I think it is good, but not everyone feels the same!

Soup:
I made a recipe of Kathy Risinger's a few days ago and have been enjoying it at every meal. She gave me a tortilla soup recipe a few months back and it is so good and easy. I think she had the recipe on her blog a little while ago, try it out!

Baby Einstein:
There seems to be a certain time of day, (evening) that the kids are just crabby and restless. So every once in awhile I throw on a baby Einstein, and luckily there are a few older ones that Zeke still enjoys, so nice that both the kids can enjoy something while dan and I can eat a meal semi peacefully together.

Sleeping in:
Now once you become parents this luxury is gone for what seems like forever. But we had a fleeting time of the kids sleeping in until 8am!!!!! The first week and a half we were up here the weather was so rainy that it would be a little darker than normal so they would sleep in until 8. We were in heaven while it lasted.

Amazing Race:
We have loved this show for years and we were rooting so hard for T.K. and Rachel and they won, Yay!!! THis season was awesome and they were a couple who remained calm and kind to one another in the midst of some serious stress!

Those are just a few things I have enjoyed lately, thought I would share!

It's snowing in Redding!

So today Zeke and I were sitting at the table playing with legos when Scarlet needed to go outside, I turn around to open the slider and what do I see, SNOW falling! It was so fun, Zeke stood on a chair trying to catch some in his hand and yelled mama its almost like Christmas! For some reason he thinks it can only snow at Christmas.
Anyway it is freezing cold outside and the snow is not staying on the ground yet but it is getting thicker as it falls so maybe later today. What is funny is today for Zeke's class his teacher planned a winter wonderland with literally thousands of pieces of tissue paper balled up into snowballs and they are supposed to wear big jackets and mittens and hats, how fitting is it that is it actually snowing!

So tired of boogs

That is what we call boogers in our home and I am so tired of seeing them all over my shirt and in kleenex all over the house. Our whole family has been sick for the last week and it is not fun. Sofia has not slept for the last 2 nights. She has had so many boogers she sounds like a rabid animal snorting around my room in the middle of the night! It just sucks for babies because you cannot give them cold medicine so they just have to suffer. They can't blow their noses you have to use the aspirator which no child enjoys.
The first night of her sickness Dan slept in the family room because he has a hacking cough and didn't want to keep us up. Sofia slept for a few hours until I came to bed at 11pm then she was snorting and uncomfortable. So we tried to sleep in bed but she was just a mess, and I began to go crazy from listening to boogers snort in and out for 3 hours. So I went to lay in the hallway but the dog thought this meant play time. So from 11pm to around 2am we were awake and miserable. I went downstairs at one point to suck the boogers out of Sofia's nose and Dan didn't even wake up over the crying and noise, he took Nyquil and didn't even know I came down there. Lucky dog! Around 2:30 Carol came in (she is visiting for the weekend) and took over and let me sleep which I was so thankful for. Last night we were only up for about 2 and 1/2 hours so it is getting better!
Anyway Dan is leading worship tonight and he sounds the worst out of all of us. Hopefully this week our boogers will clear up!

The Sun is shining!

The last few days it has been sunny or at least not raining! So of course Zeke wants to be outside! The pic with the dump truck is of Zeke in our backyard with our really tall weeds, yes some of them are about 3 feet high! It is hard to be motivated to go clean up a backyard when it is 40 degrees out! Zeke doesn't seem to mind in the afternoon when it is in the mid 40's out. Yesterday we went for a walk around 9am and it was so cold, Dan loves this kind of weather, clear but really cold out. It burns my face off! You can see Sofia was quite bundled up, she didn't complain the whole time we were out.
Unfortunately I do not have a lot of interesting updates to give you, we are pretty boring lately. We are still getting into the groove of school and a schedule so we pretty much do the same things daily. This is actually comforting to me, having a routine makes things feel normal and doesn't give me time to feel sorry for myself! I have to admit the house is still a mess and there are still boxes to unpack, but it is slowly starting to get me motivated!
Dan lead worship last weekend at the Stirring and it went great, we are starting a series called When God dreams, I think it is going to be really good.
Alright I gotta get back to building legos with Zeke! In the mornings when Sofia takes her nap we do homework then build cars with legos!

some happenings in the Lance household

I was talking to my mom on the phone today and she informed me that Dan and I had not updated our blogs for a few days and I had not realized the week had gone by already! It has been a busy week getting into the swing of school with Zeke and still trying to unpack and get settled. Zeke has school in the afternoon which is not real condusive to Sofia's naps, but we are working out a schedule. This post will be random happenings this week.
The pictures are of Sofia and her fat lip. Her and Zeke were playing and she got pushed face first on the tile and got a bloody nose and a fat lip, it was sad and Zeke felt so bad because it really was just playing. She is tough and it is cute when she smiles and it is lopsided. And Scarlet settling in to her life of napping and trying to dodge to rain as she does her business outside. It has seriously taken her this whole week to get used to going out in the rain, the first few days she would hold it for hours and hours because she was scared to go outside! She is a spoiled so cal doggy!
It has been raining since we have been here, one week. Yesterday it was cloudy but no rain until evening, it is hard getting the kids out of the car when it is pouring down, no one stays dry. Zeke said to us the other day "why is it just raining and raining and raining here?" I guess he is used to last winter in Riverside where it rained a total of 3 times.
Dan and I met with Zeke's teacher yesterday and she gave us some insight into what they do in class and what we need to work on with him.
She said he does great with his numbers and letters but his writing is really struggling. We have not worked with him in holding his pencil the correct way we just kind of let him do what he wanted and now we have to correct that! He is catching on and doing great, I have been working with him 2 times a day in order to help him catch up to his classmates. He was not required to do anything homework or writing at his other pre-k class so it is an adjustment. He would much rather play with his legos but he gets so excited when he accomplishes his work.
Sofia got another tooth on the top, she still has a crazy swollen gum on top with no tooth yet we keep saying maybe there is just a huge tooth in there and it will pop through and we will have to call her Mater from the Car movie. (he has huge buck teeth if you have not enjoyed that film) She is adjusting well, she is recently attached to me and gets upset when I am not in view. I am hoping this is just a stage because it is hard to get anything done!
Well those are just a few thing going on, we are slowly settling in I still get emotional when I realize my parents don't live down the street anymore or we can't call up Steve & Karen to hang out or when my mom calls and I have to pull it together so I don't cry on the phone. There is always that comfort with a mom where you hear her voice and you get choked up. Maybe that is just me. I will try to update more often. Sorry this is kind of all over the place, just writing down thoughts as they come!

Zeke's new favorite pass-time

Zeke is very excited about the fact that we have stairs, he is constantly sliding down them on his stomach and cracking up the whole time. I do not share the same love of the stairs with him. I have forgotten the constant up and down of cleaning up and oh I forgot my glasses or shoes etc. I have begun to make piles at the foot of the stairs so that I do not have to go up and down 50 times a day. We installed some safety gates with doors that open because Sofia is just as enthralled with the stairs as Zeke is.
Zeke began at his new school today and he did great, he goes everyday now and in the afternoon, he has a small class of 10 kids and I am so excited about that. They are much more academic than we are used to but I think it will be great preparation for Kindergarten next fall. What the heck we almost have a kid in elementary school! There are many changes with his new school, including a dress code! As well as he needs a backpack and a folder and he has homework! I think the homework will be great it keeps me diligent in working with him at home which I need.
Last night was the kids and mine first time to the Stirring and it went great. It was definitely overwhelming meeting new people and realizing I have to make new friends and start over! The kids did great and I am so impressed with how Zeke is handling so much change. Thank you Jesus for that! Anyway just wanted to do a quick update and let you know we are surviving and we are thankful for where God has placed us.
love to all our peeps in the 951, miss you all.

Sofia is 1!

The day before we hit the road we had a family party for Sofia. My parents graciously opened their home and did all the work for the party! My mom made yummy tortilla soup and sandwiches, along with our family favorite chocolate mint freeze for dessert. She also made a small cake for Sofia to dive into. (she did not do any diving)
We had both of our families over for lunch and time together to celebrate Sofia. As you can see from the picture Sofia doesn't care for sweet things she did no eat the cake and just made faces when we tried to feed it to her.
It was a great time with family before leaving, thanks mom and dad for all of your hard work. Sofia will thank you later in life, she would not have had a party otherwise!
I was planing on updating with some more info but Sofia is all of the sudden stuck to my side constantly crying all day long. I'm not sure but it may be due to some change that has been going on lately!

Day one of Redding

Well we made it and are settling in finally to Redding. Dan blogged about our trip, seriously it could not have gone better, thank you Jesus! The kids did great and so did the dog after she barfed once!
We have been unpacking all day and are still not even close to being done. The car was ridiculously full and so it will be a process! Zeke seems to love the new house, there are fans everywhere and new places to explore around the house. He loves sliding down the stairs on his stomach and Sofia has already tried to climb the stairs and fallen. She got a bruise on her head to start the day off. She is into everything and I cannot get a single thing done without stopping to get her out of the dog food, or off the stairs or out of the oven! Anyway it is good to be here, it rained all day but we have kept ourselves occupied with unpacking.
Thanks for praying for us, please continue as we have a lot of change ahead!