Focus on Family - Birthday, Stairs, and a Stubborn Squirrel

Such a busy week! I'll start off first saying that Thursday was Alexander's third birthday. I posted about that on Thursday too. He is such a blessing in our lives, and we thank God for him every day in our prayers (and Isabel too).

On Saturday evening, we had a bunch of people with their kids over to celebrate Alexander's birthday with us. It was pouring rain in the morning, and the activities we had for the kids were all outside (bubbles and sidewalk chalk), so I was really worried that there would be nothing for the kids to do except play with Alexander's toys. But the rain stopped at around noon, and the sun came out for a little while too, drying off our driveway! That was great.

Hannah, Alexander, and Jeremy playing with bubbles

Naomi with sidewalk chalk

It was great to see all the kids playing well together. Alexander also emerged from his shy shell that night too. That's probably because of the sugar he had (ice cream cake, chocolate, and lots of juice). But I loved seeing him rough-house with Jeremy.

Alexander would go up to Jeremy, hug him, then throw them both onto the couch. It really was great to see it, considering that whenever Jeremy came into the room when they were both younger, Alexander would burst into tears and run to me for safety. He was pretty scared of Jeremy.

The birthday cake was a Dairy Queen ice cream cake with Woody and Buzz from Toy Story on it. Toy Story is Alexander's favourite movie right now, so we thought that would be a good idea. Alexander is still a little shy because when it was time to sing "Happy Birthday" to him, he just nestled his face in my shoulder. He wouldn't even blow out the candles. I think we'll have to practice that for his next birthday.

We want to thank everyone who came for coming (again), and for loving Alexander with us. :)

On Sunday, we celebrated Alexander's birthday with my family (if I had invited them on Saturday, there would be no room in our house. It was very crowded). We had strawberry too-tall cake (from M&M), and while we sang, Alexander didn't shy away. So maybe Saturday was a good practice. He still didn't blow out the candles, though.

My maternal grandparents were there, and it was wonderful to see them, since we don't see them so very often. Gramma loved holding Isabel, and Isabel loved it too!

After coming home from my parent's place on Sunday, Jeff dropped us off so he could go get a haircut. He came home almost completely bald! GAH!!! Apparently, the guy cutting his hair was sort of a beginner, and didn't click the right extension on the razer properly, so when he ran the razer through Jeff's hair, the extension fell off, and buzzed some of that hair completely off. So he had no choice but to buzz it all. Needless to say, Jeff didn't have to pay for that haircut. I'll be glad when it grows back in, though. I've never seen him with hair this short before. I'm glad he is not going to go bald as he gets older. I haven't gotten a picture of Jeff yet, but I'm working on it.

Isabel has officially found her feet. I haven't gotten a picture of it, but she lays on her stomach to reach her feet. She tries to put them in her mouth, but she's a bit chunky, and she can't quite get them there. :)

Whenever I put Isabel into the jolly jumper, Alexander runs over to her to give her hugs. He also crouches down to talk to her, and she gets the biggest smiles on her face from that. She really does adore Alexander.

Isabel also loves being in the jolly jumper. Since she's discovered her feet, she jumps when she's in it. Before she found her feet, she would just hang there.

On Friday, Jeffery decided that he wanted to fix our front porch stairs, as they were not very sturdy. He merely wanted to reinforce the stairs and re-anchor them. But as he took them apart, he noticed that they were not anchored to anything at all! They weren't even attached to the porch or the house - they were just floating! And all of the wood was rotting, so we were surprised that the stairs hadn't fallen apart before then! Jeffery just tore the stairs down. So we are coming and going through the side door.

Monday was a very dirty day for us. Alexander didn't have socks on, and we went outside a few times, and this was his feet just before lunch. The bath water that evening was brown. But he had a lot of fun, so I guess that's worth it, right?

On Tuesday morning, Isabel woke me up as usual at around 8:30 a.m. Alexander had already gotten up. He went downstairs and somehow got a hold of the Baby Tylenol Cold & Flu medicine. He opened up the child-proof lid and drank it. GAH!! He drank about 2 tbsp - he really likes the cherry flavour, I guess. I had to bring the kids to Immanuel CRC because I was demonstrating that morning with the ladies from Home with a Heart. Alexander was whiny and grumpy, and he fell asleep on my mom for a good hour. I'm assuming it was the medicine.

When we got home, I gave Alexander lunch and tried to put him down for a nap, but he woudn't sleep. I guess an hour on gramma was good enough.

Jayme was there (she was a participant in the second Home with a Heart class my mom taught), and she talked about the project she has been working on, Lorenzo's Angels. Her younger son, Lorenzo, has been diagnosed with autism, but the government refused funding for therapy. So Jayme has been trying to raise money for his therapy herself, which is why she started Lorenzo's Angels. This past Sunday she had organized a large yard sale, and she was blessed to see her family and friends all come to support her as volunteers in the sale. She wasn't expecting some of the people to come, and Lorenzo's autism brought people in her family together.

Jayme and I are planning on getting together some time soon to brainstorm on ways to raise more money for Lorenzo's therapy. One of my ideas are to hold a craft sale with local artists and artisans and the money from renting the tables, raffle, and either an entrance fee or freewill offering (or both!) will go to Lorenzo. You may hear more about this later when the details get ironed out a bit more. I'm very excited about it, though.

Our little annoying guest squirrel is still in our house. Well, we haven't actually seen him in the basement again (the peanut butter treats are completely untouched!), but I hear him rustling around in the chimney from time to time. This morning it sounds as if he's been scratching to get into the living room (he's obviously trying to find a way to get outside), so I wouldn't be surprised if we came downstairs one day to find this squirrel sitting in our living room. I really hope he runs into the cage in the basement first, though.

This coming weekend we are planning on renting a bin and getting rid of all the garbage in the backyard and basement. Jeff is also planning on tearing down the panel walls and make-shift wood pallet floors in the basement too. We will probably also tear down the rest of the front porch as well and get that all out of the way.

This post is long enough, so I'll stop there.

-Shirley

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." - James 1:12