"Don't take financial advice from broke people."

This is a quote from Dave Ramsey. Dan and I have quickly become fans of his. We appreciate his approach to finances and agree with most of it. But he said that quote about financial advice the other night on his TV show. It's so simple, yet so brilliant. And it can apply to so many areas of our lives. Are you looking for advice on how to raise kids? Ask people whose children are following God's way, making a difference in the world around them. Want marriage advice? Ask a couple who has been faithful to each other in marriage for 50+ years.

You've got to be kidding...

Hoping to reach my goal of completing all my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, I bought the boys a few things at Target tonight. While shopping, I saw two boys about 10-12 years old, clearly brothers, going around the toy and game aisles with those scanners you use when registering. Really? Now kids register their Christmas wish lists at Target? Please.

(Bonus points if you know who the bratty kid in this picture is...)

Troy, come back!

Losing in OT against KC?! How can this happen?! Do we really have NO DEFENSE without Troy?! It was a good morale-booster for KC, but did it have to come at our expense? Black Friday shopping is always ugly with many tempers flaring, but add to that an unexpected Steelers' loss? I'll be lucky if I can get my Christmas shopping done without a black eye.

Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum

Tonight we enjoyed an evening with the boys at the train museum. Isaiah remembered going there last year, so he was really excited to go again. Sam also had a great time, and loved pushing the buttons to make the trains go.

So excited to see the James train

Only in the 'burgh

Hmmm. The burger king at McD's??

Watching the man in the control room... there were a lot of trains to keep track of!

Finishing off the night with train cookies

Laughing out loud

So tonight I was browsing around the Houghton College online bookstore. I'm feeling the need for a replacement Houghton College sweatshirt. Although my current one is definitely a wardrobe favorite, I'm feeling a little bored with it at the same time, as I wear it several times per week. While looking around at their products, I came across this GEM... A Houghton College Snuggie!!!

What have I become?!

On Friday around 10:30 a.m., I was driving down Community Center Drive as I pulled out of the Mars Bank parking lot. I saw two boys who looked to be about ten years old standing by the road. I noticed them, because, obviously, it was Friday morning, and, as far as I knew, they should be in school. One of the boys bent down, and I looked in my rear view mirror as I passed them just to see him throw a rock at the minivan. So what did I do? Drive on, shaking my head in disgust? No such luck.

I stopped the car in the middle of the road, got out and yelled (not angrily, but just because I was a good distance from them) "What are you thinking?! Go do something productive with your lives!" The boys backed up from the crazy lady yelling in the middle of the road, and, as an SUV slowly pulled up behind the minivan, I got back and drove on. I have the police non-emergency number in my phone and thought about calling it. (This is a suprisingly difficult number to find...) I was weirded out enough by my reaction to the rock-throwing and decided just to move on. Strange!
(See some pictures below... unrelated to this incident.)

The last few days...

The boys played outside while...

Dan blew leaves 12 feet in the air Peeking through

Helping me fold laundry... which mostly consisted of him putting clothes in and out of the basket, and then climbing in, of course The boys in their jammies

Caught doing good...

We expect Isaiah to help set the table, but have never asked Sam to help. He sees his brother doing it, and wants to prove he can help too. He's very determined. =)

Dan is a Champ

For three reasons...

• Last night he made me a pumpkin spice latte
• He watched the Notebook with me
• He used a walk-behind leaf blower on our yard for about 4.5 hours today

More Opinions

Sam has become extremely opinionated. He has an opinion about everything from which shirt he wears to which diaper he will wear. I can pull a diaper out of his diaper holder, but he wants a different one. The one I picked out is not the right one. AND THEY'RE ALL THE SAME. Ok. God is teaching me patience. I realize Sam wants to be independent and make his own choices. So even if I ask him to go over and get a diaper himself, he will sit there and deliberate for like FIVE MINUTES over which one is the right one.

As for the shirts... I used to let him choose his shirt (his favorites are his Elmo shirt, Thomas shirt, and Lightning McQueen shirt)... and then put a sweater or hoodie over that shirt. That method is not working any more. He will get his shirt on and then refuse to wear anything over it. I could force him, but that's just not a hill I'm willing to die on.

I can tell he's two because he argues with me about the fact that he's two. If you ask him how old he is, he still says, "Na!" (How he says one). And if you tell him he's two now, he'll violently shake his head no, and say that he's one.

Oh, and today during lunch, he dipped his oranges in catsup. And liked it.

Side note: When Isaiah was this age, I saw this stage as filled with acts of rebellion. Now, with Sam, I have a lot more patience and confidence as a parent, and I realize that it is just a normal stage of toddlerhood. I have learned to choose my battles thus destressing my life and my children's lives.

Opinions

Lately, Isaiah has been really opinionated about my appearance. He'll say things like:

• Mommy, let me see your hand. Why aren't your nails red? I want your nails red.


• Mommy, today I want you to arrange your hair really pretty. I want it in the shape of a U. (Yet when I style my hair, he says he likes it flat better!)

Mommy, I want your toenails to be red.

...I'm not sure what this is all about! He seems too young to be in that I'm-embarrassed-by-my-parents stage!

Weekend with family

We had a great whirlwind trip to Dingman's Ferry, PA to see my sister's family. We drove out Friday and back Saturday.
The funniest thing was how the kids kept getting Katherine and I mixed up. Abbie kept calling me Mommy Saturday morning while Katherine was sleeping then taking care of Karis, etc. We kept having the conversation after she called me mommy, Me: "Abbie, am I your mommy?" Abbie: "Ok!"
Then while I was showering and getting ready, Sam kept calling Katherine Mommy. Seeing the confusion on their faces was priceless. Snuggled down, driving to eastern PA

Happy to watch videos... for 6 hours!

Daddy was driving a little too fast... with no gas!Attempting to get a picture of all four cousins... Where's S?Is S really kicking K???!!Then he decided to hug her And K is crawling away again... just as we got S on the couch I has had about enough of this

Well, they're all in the picture

We finally decided just to hold them down! Cousins in jammies, eating breakfast

S just loves babies... he wanted to hold K So sweet...

The dirt on Hines

Did you hear that my favorite Steeler, Hines Ward, was voted the #1 dirtiest player in the NFL? Do you believe that? With a smile like this?! Come on! He's all heart. Can you blame the guy for playing with 100% intensity and passion?! Sure, he hits hard, but isn't that why we love him? And that's all I have to say about that.

The Nightcap

So we have a weird problem in our bedroom... bet THAT got you interested! Hahahahaha. No. So we have electric heat in our house, and each room has its own thermostat. Well, when we turn the thermostat on in our room, it heats up WAY too much. Even if it's barely on, the room becomes stifling hot within minutes. So our solution is to never use the heat in that room. We stay warm enough at night with a bunch of blankets... but lately my head has been getting cold. So I'm considering wearing a nightcap. Maybe that will solve my problems. =)

Sam's birthday

Tomorrow is going to be a crazy busy day, so we celebrated Sam's birthday one day early. A little sleepy... waking up

Not too happy about pictures this early in the morning

Brothers... It's been almost two years since this one!!

Elmo cupcakes... Isaiah helped!

Two Elmo cupcakes later.... he had quite the messy face!

Trunk-or-treating

Last night we took the boys to trunk-or-treating at a local church. If you ask me, this Halloween event is the greatest thing since sliced bread: it's fun, safe, and much more efficient than traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating. Falling asleep on the way to trunk-or-treating So excited to get some candy

One of the trunks in the Steeler section...

The little one loved any and all dogs present...

And anything dressed as a dog... Searching for pennies

Pumpkin bowling