Recently...

Our life speeds along as life tends to do and in its course this poor little blog gets neglected. It's a good thing I do not care one whit for blog stats because I'm sure mine would be in shambles.

Anyway, recently we've been spending a lot of time doing Playdoh. For real, that is my life. Liam wakes up talking about Playdoh and goes down for his nap talking about doing Playdoh after his nap. Playdoh time mostly consists of mama making "peas", "swirls", "noodles" and cutting out animal shapes with cookie cutters. Currently Liam's favorite thing to do with it is dump it in and out of the containers. I can't honestly say it is my favorite time of day, but I make the most of it and try to be cheerfully involved with Liam.

Playdoh nose! 

Liam has also discovered singing which is a joy. My heart rejoices when I hear "Jesus loves me" and a church song based on Psalm 8 that he loves. It is so funny to hear him singing the words and getting them all mixed up. I got him up the other morning and he told me he was singing and talking about packages in his bed. The kid loves a good package and is delighted to see the UPS man pull up.

We are also experimenting with "mama's quiet reading time" which means about 20 minutes a day of Liam reading or playing quietly by himself while I read my own book. This might not seem like a big deal if your kid is a good independent player, but mine is not so this is huge. So far we've had two successful days so we'll see how that goes.

We still have A LOT of Liam and mama reading time! 

Each day has joys and challenges and I am trying to remember that the years are short and these days at home with just Liam are so precious. That is not easy to remember when he is pushing my crazy button, but I try. God's grace is sufficient for each day and I am so thankful for that.

Here are some other random pictures from our life lately: 

We had some gorgeous late fall days with temps up into the 70s. We busted out the shorts and t-shirts again and spent some time "painting" with water on the sidewalk. 

Liam's two best buds, Peter and Lucy, joined in the fun

Rob went for four days to a conference in Florida at the end of October, so we stayed as busy as possible. Here we spent an afternoon and evening with Liam's other best bud, Liam Tucker. 

Also while papa was gone we had dinner at Steak 'n Shake. I hadn't been there since college and it was just like I remembered. 

We had a pumpkin carving party with our small group one Sunday. Liam loved the candle in the pumpkin after it got dark, but not the yucky stuff inside. 

Roasting marshmallows over the fire

Loving on that s'more!

We didn't celebrate Halloween, but Liam did get a cookie with black icing that he thought was delicious...

We've been trying out Kefir {store-bought - I'm not adventurous enough to try making my own!} to get more probiotics into Liam before the winter rounds of stomach flu hit. Contrary to this picture, he loves it and calls it his "smoothie". 

Our last batch of cherry tomatoes before we pulled the dead plants up. 

Helping mama make pumpkin bars. Liam is fascinated by the kitchen and loves to "help" cook and bake. 

Liam loves games, particularly marbles, dominoes and Rumikub. He obviously can't really play, but I've found it's a great way for him to learn numbers, colors, counting, sorting, etc.  

I snapped this picture before church to send to my mom and brother because Liam is wearing a cardigan my brother Ben wore in the late 80s. 

Rob's 27th Birthday

The year rolled around again to Rob's birthday on Saturday. Unfortunately he spent most of the day doing school work, but we still managed to sneak in some fun and escape from school for a few hours. 

Friday night we went to one of our favorite restaurants in Bloomington, Siam House. They have an extensive menu of Thai food, and I always say I'm going to order something different, but I don't. Neither does Rob. We only go there about twice a year and we always order the same thing. I can't spell it or pronounce it, but it's this red curry with coconut milk, cinnamon, chicken, potatoes, onions, cashews and a whole lot of magic wonderfulness. It's a little sweet and a little salty and all around amazing. I always wish I could cook like that when I'm eating it. But then I suppose it wouldn't be such a treat to go out to dinner there! 

Friday evening and Saturday I was in the kitchen making Rob's birthday treats. He didn't really want or need any gifts, so my gift was love and time and treats.We invited a bunch of friends over Saturday night so don't worry, we didn't eat all the treats ourselves! I made him a salted caramel cheesecake {thanks Joy the Baker} and a Biscoff Pie. Oh and Liam helped me make cupcakes for the kids at the party. 

I know you are all salivating for a bite right now and let me tell you, the treats were good...

Cheesecake and Biscoff pie 

I, of course, loved the salted caramel cheesecake the most, but the big hit at the party was the Biscoff pie. Biscoff is a European spread similar to Nutella, but not chocolate. You may have had Biscoff cookies on a Delta flight before. They are a gingery type of cookie that some genius turned into a spread. It would be delicious on toast, apples, by the spoonful, etc., etc. I substituted it for peanut butter in this peanut butter pie recipe {if you make this, follow the instructions from the first person who comments} and made a gingersnap crust instead of a graham cracker crust. 

Here's a close up of the Biscoff jar {empty of course} so you can go to your nearest grocery for some. 

It is always good to celebrate a birthday, especially one of someone you love so much. I couldn't imagine doing life without you, Rob, and I'm glad for every day the Lord gives us! 

Election Day...

As if any of us could forget, it's election day. I was reading this morning in Hebrews 1 where the author quotes Psalm 102:25-27: 

"Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, 

and the heavens are the work of your hands. 

They will perish, but you will remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

but you are the same, and your years have no end." 

What an excellent reminder for us today! The God of the universe does not change based on the whims of our political system. He is the one who ordained the system and already knows the outcome. We can rest in his sovereignty and not fear, no matter who wins at the local to national level.