Not Me! Monday

I haven't shared a Not Me! Monday in a while and so I thought I'd drop in with some things that I, of course, did NOT do!
Not Me! Monday is an origination of my dear blog friend MckMama. You can check out more stories by linking up to her blog here:


So onto the things that I "did not" do in the past while...

*Today I did NOT see the Schwan's man driving his big yellow truck down the road and think to myself, "I need ice cream sandwiches right now!" and then proceed to run down the road after his truck, waving my hands at him so he would stop and come to my house. My neighbors would have all stopped and stared had I done that, so I did not.

*Last week, when asked about the keys for a closet at our church, that had been in my possession for MOPS, I did NOT tell a church staffer that I gave that key back last year, only to get out to my car, actually look at my key ring to see it hanging innocently where it has been for the last two years. Nope I would never do that, it would make me seem like such an airhead! I, of course, did NOT go back into church with my head hung in shame and would NEVER blame it on pregnancy brain.

*A week ago Friday we started potty-training Aphia. The first day did NOT go so well (no actually, it really didn't- it was horrific). Saturday did NOT go better (sarcasm back in place here) and by Sunday she was NOT dry all day! After 7 days she was NOT telling me each time she had to go potty and I am NOT extremely proud of her!!

*My cravings for veggies and hummus have NOT calmed down a bit over the past week, because I figured to curb my cravings I'd buy a brand of hummus that I'm not as crazy about as Athenos. This craving that has NOT calmed down is good because I was NOT eating it non-stop... or just by the spoonful because it's so yummy.

*Finally, tonight, I did NOT convince my family that they each needed an ice cream sandwich or orange push-up simply because I wanted another one. Nope not me! And when they all happily agreed to having our yummy treats that I worked so hard to get this afternoon, I did NOT get them out of the chest freezer, only to leave the chest freezer WIDE open for the next hour and a half. That would have been very absent minded of me and I would never do that. Not me!

Got any "Not Me!"s to share?? We all do. It's therapeutic... give it a shot ;)

Love Watermelon Juice

Last night for dinner we had pancakes and watermelon (don't judge me) and both of the kids LOVE watermelon. Jonah prefers to eat it right off the rind and Aphia likes hers in chunks. I put the chunks in a bowl for her and she proceeded to eat the entire bowl full, as well as drink the juice right out of it too!

Family Canoe Trip

We were blessed, two summers ago, with the addition of a canoe! It's a wonderful, light weight, perfect for portaging in the BWCA, canoe that holds our family in it's loving kevlar!
A couple weekends ago, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we decided to go out on Lake Pulaski for our first family canoe experience. It was marvelous. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their time, traveling from Griffing park, along the shoreline over to West Pulaski Park for a snack picnic. Jonah loved "helping" paddle and Aphia was pretty good about sitting still and enjoying the scenery.

This adorable little picture below is the baby- drawn by Jonah.

*I heard this conversation from the other room, the other day:
Jonah: "Aphia, please get away. You're knocking down my blocks."
Aphia: "I know. But I love you."
Jonah: "I know you do, but please love me somewhere else."

*In my pregnantness (I think I just made that a word), my emotions are CA-RAAAAZY! When I was pregnant with Aphia, there was one time that I was driving down a country road, and it was lined with trees, whose leaves were beautifully changing into brilliant oranges, yellows and reds. It was so gorgeous to me, I cried at the sheer beauty for a good 5 minutes of the ride. Sheesh.
Well let me tell you of a little story from yesterday. I was driving north on Hwy 25 in Buffalo, right in town by the post office. I saw a truck pull out from the fire station, going south, and turn it's lights and sirens on. The southbound lane had a long line of cars waiting for the light, they all did their best to pull over, and I in the northbound also pulled way over. I always pull over, but no emergency vehicle has had to use my lane to get by, if they had been traveling in the opposite direction. But yesterday they did! I of course started crying, because well, that's a huge deal to a pregnant, emotionally charged lady! I was glad to get out of their way, so they could quickly get to where they were going.

So if that wasn't enough for me, Jonah stops mid-sentence and says, "Mom we have to pray!" And so we did, just like we always do, whenever we hear sirens. Prayers for the first responders, for the situation, for the victims, etc. We finished and Aphia promptly breaks out into "Jesus Loves Me!" and oh boy were the tears aflowing then! I look back and shake my head. Yes it was a very tender moment for the three of us, but BAWL WORTHY??? REALLY?!?! Again- sheesh.

I don't really have any inclination of whether this child is a boy or girl. But if the fact that I was not very emotional with Jonah, pretty darned emotional with Aphia, and EXTREMELY OVER THE TOP emotional with this baby says anything- it'll be a girl, a very emotional girl. Oh goody- as if one isn't enough :)

Uh Duh!

We had an "Uh Duh!" moments as parents this morning, prompted by none other than 4 year old Jonah. He speaks truth and common sense into our lives quite frequently, and this morning was no different.

Jeremiah and Jonah were talking during breakfast and Jonah, being the "rules boy" that he is, was talking about sin, how he doesn't want to sin, but sometimes he does, etc. Jeremiah talked about forgiveness and asked Jonah, "So after you sin, do you pray and ask God for forgiveness?" to which Jonah responded with, "No. I just pray before and then I don't do it!" Uh Duh! Maybe we should all try to live that out.

Amazingly we have a Savior who knows just how very human we are and that we do constantly falter and fail. He is here to pick us up, wipe off the grime, and set us on our path again. But He never continues spurring us on to stop sinning and turn to the way of righteousness. My 4 year old gets this... why don't we? I shouldn't always wait until after I screwed up, but rather, prevention is the key! Pray prior to sinning and have faith that the Lord will help me to do the right thing! Uh Duh!

Where Does the Time Go?

Last night we put our baby in her big girl bed. If you don't know Phia personally- she's very much the baby of the family, which is going to create some challenges when Baby 3 comes. I said to my mom yesterday, "I'm a little worried about how she'll be when the baby comes." Hoping to get a response such as, "Oh, she'll do just fine!" I instead got, "Yeah... I know... me too." Defeat. No! Not really, we'll work with it. But really, it WILL be a challenge, again where Jonah was not. It's hard not to compare them- they are so drastically different. But I LOVE how each of them is- unique in their personalities, characteristics, quirks, and the like.


So anyways, we put Phia in her big girl bed. She loved the quilt- the pink, the flowers, the polka dots. She did marvelously! And I was very happy with it. Their room is much bigger without the crib in there now, which is helpful.



Jonah loves sleeping on the top bunk! He usually naps on the sofa in our living room, but today begged to sleep in his top bunk and told me as he snuggled in, "I just love to sleep up here!"

Here she is- getting ready to go to sleep!

All tucked in!

Bunk Bed with her new quilt and sheets

Kids helping Daddy to push the mattress out of their bedroom

Peeking out from their new bunk beds!

Easter 2009

The Kruger Family Easter!

I'm ready for more ribs Mom!

We had a fabulous Easter! The festivities included:

1. Finding Easter baskets with presents from the Easter Bunny!

2. Finding Easter eggs all around the house with jelly beans and M&M's inside (Aphia found one, and then each one after that was like a whole new surprise, "Anoner one Mommy!! Anoner one!!"

3. Having to eat all of our breakfast because Daddy told the kids that the Easter Bunny left him a note that said that the kids had to eat all of their breakfast before they could have candy. Jonah wanted to SEE this note and was very intent on quizzing Jeremiah about it, "Where did the Easter Bunny put the note? Did you see the Easter Bunny leave it for you? Are you SURE he left one for you, I can't find it."

4. Wonderful Easter Service at church, topping it off with the ending song being a song that I had been singing before church that morning, "My Redeemer Lives!"

5. Southern inspired Easter lunch at Grandma and Grandpa Wuollett's- bbq'd baby back ribs, coleslaw, garlic smashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, sweet tea and chess pie!

6. Fun visiting the Jasper's for dessert and to be able to see more family!

7. Getting home at a decent hour, watching "The Empire Strikes Back" with Jonah and heading to bed early :)

It was a great day of celebrating our Risen Jesus! Jonah LOVES saying, "He is Risen!" and having us respond with, "He is Risen Indeed!"

This is just a fun picture of Jonah and Daddy, riding on the "new to us" scooter, that Jeremiah got for free from work.