It doesn't get much better than this....

Last night after putting Miss Baby to bed, I came by the boys' room to say goodnight and as I walked in, I could hear CKB was telling a story to them, I didn't catch what it was about until I'd gotten almost to Mr. A's bed and was saying a quick goodnight so I wouldn't interrupt whatever tale CKB was in the middle of.

As I approached Mr. A's bed, I heard "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego" from CKB, then he paused while I said goodnight to the boys quickly -

I thought he was telling them more from his story he's made up for the boys that involves knights and dragons and such, but instead he was telling them the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

After giving Mr. A a kiss and hug, I was walking toward Mr. E to tell him goodnight, when Mr. A impatiently said "What happened next, Daddy???"

:)

I thought to myself, it doesn't get much better than this :) The boys were completely absorbed in hearing an account from the Bible, not asking for stories of dragon slayers, not talking about video games, but listening and learning from their Daddy about the deliverance of those 3 men - it doesn't get much better than this :)


Daniel 3

1	Nebuchadnez'zar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
2	Then Nebuchadnez'zar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnez'zar the king had set up.
3	Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnez'zar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnez'zar had set up.
4	Then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
5	that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnez'zar the king hath set up:
6	and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
7	Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnez'zar the king had set up.
8	¶ Wherefore at that time certain Chalde'ans came near, and accused the Jews.
9	They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnez'zar, O king, live for ever.
10	Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image:
11	and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
12	There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
13	¶ Then Nebuchadnez'zar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego. Then they brought these men before the king.
14	Nebuchadnez'zar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego? do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
15	Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
16	¶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnez'zar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
17	If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
18	But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
19	¶ Then was Nebuchadnez'zar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
20	And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
21	Then these men were bound in their coats, their hose, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
22	Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego.
23	And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24	¶ Then Nebuchadnez'zar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
25	He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
26	¶ Then Nebuchadnez'zar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, came forth of the midst of the fire.
27	And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
28	Then Nebuchadnez'zar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
29	Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
30	Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego, in the province of Babylon.

Moving isn't everything these days - what's been going on w/us....

Well, the move is still on - sort of....everything is out of the old house, but we're not done there yet, unfortunately.

The cleaning crew came and cleaned inside the house - in the process somehow the baby gate on the hallway ended up off the wall and in the garage leaving a chunk missing from the wall...um....hello? The gates were there when we moved in and we intended to leave them right where we found them (and used them a lot in the past 3 years). So, I have that little issue to deal w/with the cleaning folks as well as the fact that they did not clean the attached garage, which should have been included in the cleaning. I'm waiting on a call to tell me what day they plan to go back out and take care of that. Fun.

The day after the cleaning crew was there, the carpet folks came - grape slush stain - annihilated - hooray! The carpet looks fabulous - better than when we moved in which is amazing - I am sooo thankful for this - the crazy house had carpet under the dining room table - think 5 children - wet fruit loops coming in contact w/light beige carpet.....ketchup spills....you name it, it happened. Yay for the carpet people - totally worth the money.

The yard guy did his thing last week and should be back next week for an extra mowing just to make sure things look good for our final exit. The heat is starting to take its toll though - the yard was looking great about 2 weeks ago and today when I went by, I saw some burnt areas - sigh - scheduled the sprinkler to run and took off.

I will be going back tomorrow to set out the recycling bin that is full of cardboard boxes and replace a few lightbulbs that have gone out in the past few weeks during the moving process and leaving the extras there. Also, weeding the flower bed and spreading the one bag of mulch we had left over there around and that's IT - I'm soooo tired of fooling w/that house at this point. If we get any of our deposit back, great, if we don't, well, I can't say it's not from trying to do our best to leave the house in as good a shape as we were able to.

Now, on to more cheery things - the new house.....is a mess.  :) I've been spending so much time going back and forth to the old house to do things that nothing has been getting done at the new house - FRUSTRATING - but soon, soon, we'll be done w/the old house and I can get working on the new one. I did buy a shower curtain for the girls' bathroom - that's something, right?  :) And today at Walmart the girls and I decided on the rest of the color scheme for their bathroom - now, to implement it! Sometime....and the boys' bathroom...and the hall bathroom and ours....well, they'll wait for a bit I guess....

Even more fun - I found out last night that the local library was having a book sale - so I added that to our list of things to do today and we went - got library cards while we were there and perused the sale - we found some goodies and brought home a bag of books for a whopping $5 - fantastic! The girls were thrilled to find some Boxcar Children books - a few piano books, also a few Nancy Drew, and some American Girl books as well - the boys picked up some as well and I got some books for school - never can have too many books, we say!

So, that's the long and short of it for us the past few days....what's been going on w/you?

Mr. A is 4 years old!

Mr. A is now 4 - where does the time go to? When we moved from So. TX, he was just a tiny baby - I can't believe it's been 4 years already.

He is a BUNDLE of energy...has a great deal of lung power, ie, VOLUME and doesn't let any of his older siblings push him around. He is a MESS, but a good one. He is ALL boy and ALL sweetness. He is a delight to us all - Happy Birthday My Sweet Boy!

The cake...and no, I can't take credit for this one - the bakery at Target fixed it up for us...

 Mr. A checking things out from one angle.....

 ...and then the other.....

 Mr. A:  "Looks good, thanks Mama and Daddy!"

 Time to blow out the candles...candle....hey, we just moved, I was glad to remember to get a candle at the store! I won't even tell you how we got it lit without matches...ahem.

 Miss Baby enjoying some cake!

 Whoa, an Iron Man mask! (the children have not seen Iron Man 1 or 2, but the mask looked pretty cool at the store, and, well, here 'tis!)  Doesn't Mr. A look....less than frightening?  :)

 Mr. A - "neat, Bumblebee!"
Miss A - "ha ha ha ha"

Hmm, not to take away from Mr. A here, but what IS Miss A laughing and pointing at?

 OH MY!

 Now THAT is a bit scarey.....I don't remember Iron Man having a beard...and...glasses...ahem.

 Aren't these expressions PRICELESS???????

 Mr. A: "Whoa!!!  An RC RC!"

(We can't wait for Toy Story 3)

 Ta-da! Birthday present time is over, TIME TO PLAY!
Now, what about that basketball....for some reason when we asked Mr. A what he'd like for his bday, he just popped off with "a basketball" - uh....o.k.
And that little red/black thing on the table....his VERY OWN wallet :) He wanted to be just like his Daddy and big brother :) Sweet!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. A!!!!

Well, since you're obviously on pins and needles re: my laundry room attraction...

I posted the other day re: why my laundry room has been so full lately...of company....and here's the reason why.....

In a fit of insanity....or something....we brought home these 2 little sweeties last weekend.


Since I never went to vet school, I do not pretend to be sure if they are boys or girls, but maintain that they are, indeed, boys or girls....or one of each....whatever, the vet can tell me for sure....I have my suspicions.

They are named:

Orange - Merry

Black tabby - Pippin

and no, NO ONE here likes the LOTR Trilogy. Nope, no one.

Since they entered the house, and later the confines of the laundry room to be sure they were on their P's and Q's re: litter box 101, it's been a very popular place.

Now, if only I could get the children to do a load of laundry w/every visit....but then they'd have to be tall enough to get the clothes out of the washer...and I'd have to trust them to treat stains properly...and....well...nevermind.

I'm a hypocrite, hear me ROAR!

O.K. I think...maybe...perhaps...possibly...I'm going to (gulp) sign up on.....Facebook....

Ok, Ok, get off the floor and back into your chair....geesh, I could hear the thud all the way over here!

Yes, I know, I have long talked of my dislike, nay, disdain of said venue, moaned and groaned about how no one really communicates any more, EXCEPT on Facebook....been upset to find out information about close kindred that was posted to the world on Facebook and never told to me by said kinsmen, but then who am I.....hmm, getting too philosophical here....back to it.....said I would N-E-V-E-R get on Facebook.....and now....for reasons that I will keep to myself, because come on, you have to keep some things to yourself, right? I am considering.....thinking about.....might....sign onto Facebook. So....all you Facebookites, share your tips and tricks to get me up to speed on how it all works and I'll be grateful because you know I don't like things to be too difficult and good grief, it's not like I have tons of time on my hands....

Sigh.

I don't know what will come of it. Probably nothing. I will have 0 friends, to be sure, no one will want to 'be my friend" - I will no doubt.....diminish, and go into the West, and remain CAB.

I've never had so much company in the laundry room before....

Can you guess why?

Where have we been?

Well, here, there, and yonder, but tonight we will head out to a local church building for the girls to have their Spring Piano Recital!

Miss E has the honor of being selected to play "The Star Spangled Banner" to open the recital.

Miss A is a few pieces down from the beginning with her "Harmonica Medley" consisting of "O When the Saints" and "America".

She is self-taught on the harmonica and her teacher graciously agreed to let Miss A play at the piano recital!

Miss E is playing 2 pieces that she composed - "Spooky Attic" and "Waltzing Fairies" - then another later on by Bach, "Minuet",  and toward the end of the program, "Minuet in G Major" by Bach also.

Miss A is also playing a piece she composed, "Quiet Moonlight" and then later in the program will play "Sonatina for a Wooly Worm" by Samuel A. Ward.

The girls will be giving short speeches preceding each of their pieces to share a bit about the composers. They have been practicing them the past few days and I think they are going to do very well.

I soooooo wish I knew what I did w/the video camera when I packed up the house last week. I should've known. Thankfully the piano teacher's husband is supposed to be videoing it - I hope it won't be long 'til we get a copy!

In other news, we're mostly moved in - we are certainly moved in as far as living in the new house, but we do still have some things at the old house, mostly stuff in the garage and back yard. We might be able to go and get the rest tomorrow, Saturday, but it will depend on if we can find anyone to help CKB lift the heavy stuff from the back. We'll see.

That's all I have time for right now - we've been busy, are busy, and no doubt will continue to BE busy! What have you been up to?