I am sure you are all curious what this is...well, Joel loves to talk about doing the potty dance when he has waited a bit to long and the other day at lunch it was obvious this was the case. So I asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom and his reply was "No, I am just doing the Macaroni and Cheese Dance" - bet you didn't know there was such a thing huh? Needless to say, we finally found our way to the bathroom and magically the dance was over!

Also, I think I have mentioned before that my son has an obsession with the local fast food chain Spangles. In fact, I got a note home from his preschool teachers telling me he had sung the theme song to the whole class. Well, Sunday night after services my dad wanted to go to Subway (keep in mind he also loves Spangles). Joel started to beg to go to Spangles and my dad was asking my mom, Kent and I where we wanted to go. Kent, mom and I all said "I don't care" - Joel pipes up and says "I DO care" - it was pretty funny. My dad decides that since someone in the car cared so much, we might as well go to Spangles...Joel definitely knows the art of debate at an early age!

My sisters and nephews, grandmother and aunt and uncle are all coming into town this weekend - so we are gearing up for some fun! Hope everyone else is having the same kind of wonderful spring weather we are experiencing - it is awesome!

I can't believe I haven't updated in 4 months! So - here is a quick recap:

November - enjoyed the lovely fall weather and spent Thanksgiving here - all my family came into town, so it was my first initiation into cooking the entire meal (sans pumpkin and pecan pie since I dislike both...and since I was born on Thanksgiving it is even more strange). My birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year and I had a great time having everyone here.

December - we stayed home for Christmas too. It was a quiet one with only my parents here. Kent made me a porch swing - which is awesome and I can't wait to use it more frequently when the weather gets warmer. Joel had a great time and got WAY too much stuff. We also made a quick trip down to Ft. Worth to see my sister and her new place - it looks great and was a lot of fun to see her.

January - Joel went home with my mom for a week to Atlanta and then I went down the following week and stayed. We made a trip up to Asheville and saw the Biltmore - that place is AMAZING. The house covers 4 acres - can you imagine? Needless to say - it was very interesting, but I can only imagine what a nightmare it would be to have a toddler in that place - can you image the places where they could go to hide...Joel would love it! We also went to see the King Tut exhibit in Atlanta. King Tut was not actually there, but a lot of the treasures from his tomb. Here was something interesting I picked up - did you know that the word Pharaoh is actually a Hebrew word? It was crazy to see how wealthy that nation was at one time that they would bury a fortune with the king once he died.

February - My in-laws came into town and we had a really good time with them. Kent had an adventure race in MO and I went over there with him while my in-laws watched Joel. The start and finish were at the location where I went to FC camp year ago (Camp Clover Point for all you knippersinkers out there)! It was so strange to walk all over the place and even get to walk through the boys’ side of camp! HA. It brought back a lot of memories. Kent said he now has memories of 40 miles of hills that he canoed, biked, and trekked to associate with the camp! He and his partner finished 3 in their age group, which I thought was pretty impressive. I have spent the last couple of days with two sick boys - Joel has an ear infection and Kent has Strep - no fun! But they are on the mend and Joel's energy level has shot way up, which means I better get off of here!
Oh one last story about Joel - when I was in Atlanta Joel was talking to my mom and I in the car and he told me that I was "certain" - I asked if he even knew what certain meant and he replied - "It means highly probable".....I pause and look at my mom who tells me that it was on a Veggie Tales show he had watched and we both just started to crack up. He keeps me on my toes!

It's been a while and I thought I would post some of Joel's funniest comments these past couple of months. As a preface to the first story - Joel is obsessed with pirates right now. He has several books about them and one of the books came with a fake sword, pirate hat and eye patch - so he pretends he is one quite frequently. So, a few weeks back my mom was in town and we were having lunch at my house with her, my grandmother and one of my mom's friends. I asked Joel to say the prayer and he starts out saying "Dear God" in a pirate accent and I don't have a good feeling about where we are going. He proceeds to say... "Thank you for the food, Matey. Thank you for the day, Matey. Amen" - so we had to have a discussion about how we do not call God Matey and we don't use accents in prayers. It is amazing that these are the kinds of things I get to deal with!! :)

The second story's background has to do with all the questions Joel has had about God recently. He is very intrigued by the thought that God is all around us and he can talk to him anytime, anywhere. He is also learning and asking lots of questions about what God likes for us to do. So, a few days ago while we are eating lunch, Joel starts to tell me how God likes us to share, and I agree. He sits there for a few minutes and tells me that Spangles (a local fast food chain) just tastes better (that is there slogan...yes, he has heard the commercial a few too many times apparently). I replied that apparently he thinks it tastes better. So then he says..."God likes it when we go to Spangles" - interesting reasoning, huh? Guess he didn't like his PB&J that day! 3 year olds really keep you on your toes with the things they come up with.

The last story is from the morning and is very heart warming to this mom. Joel hasn't felt good for the past couple of days - he has a cold. This morning he said he didn't think anything could make him feel better - then he stopped for a minute and said "I think God can make me feel better - I will ask Him....God, please make me feel better" - the faith of a child is so touching and gives me a first hand look at what Jesus meant when he said our faith should be like that of a child.

Last night we went on a family bike ride. We live out in the country, but about 3 miles away is the local Coliseum - so we rode with Joel in the bike trailer and packed his strider bike (a small bike with no pedals that Joel strides on and learns to pick up his feet and balance before moving on to a big bike with pedals). Anyhow - we made it up there and we were in the parking lot letting him ride around and he decided he wanted to go up the "big hill" (basically a long ramp up to the building). The first time, he went part way up and got a little speed and picked up his feet. The second time, he and daddy go all the way to the top and although I am a little concerned, I decide not to be the mom who doesn't let her little guy try anything and let it go. Well, he was doing great until the very end when he had gotten a little overconfident and started to wobble and then - boom - went flying over the bike. Of course, I ran over to him and I had to hold him. Although he was crying he looked at me and said, "Mommy can you put me down so I can shake it off". Do you think he has heard that one before?! He shook it off and got right back on the bike! It was so sweet and little funny too. However, last night and today he wants to call everyone we know to tell them that "he thinks he hurts" - he ended up with two nice raspberries on his elbow and knee. So - on behalf of Joel to everyone that we know - Joel thinks he hurts!

I had to post this funny story from last Sunday. Joel came out of Bible class with a card made of construction paper. I asked him what he studied about and he took his card and said..."Noah built an ark and then God made a rainbow." Then while he was opening the card that had a pop-up rainbow in it, he said "and God said 'Ta-Da'". I had never heard that one before - but Joel was very impressed! :) I probably won't be able to see a rainbow anymore without thinking "Ta-Da"! :)