Shenanigans

Oh sure...he is cute, adorable, sweet, funny...he's two! How much trouble could he possibly get himself into??? Oh let me tell you!! This week alone he has managed to do the following:

• used John's deodorant...on his entire face and arms
  


• used the Aloe, in his hair and in his arms together with my body spray



• dunked randoms toys in the toilet
  


• tried to use dark purple nail polish as lip gloss...3 times
  


• dumped said nail polish on the hall carpet....and managed to eat a little



• used the fire extinguisher in the kitchen...on the kitchen stove, as well as the rest of the kitchen
  


• at 5 cocoa-coffee cupcakes in a matter of seconds(with a small amount of help from his sister)



• broke a candle holder on the back patio
  


• ate the sour cream directly from the container in the fridge



• after extinguisher mess was cleaned up, used the moment I was on the phone to re-mop the floors for my...aka...flooded the dining room
  


• used half a bottle of new body wash to clean Dora in the bathtub



• ate a Popsicle that has been in the "yucky" freezer since last summer (the "yucky" freezer is where we keep the training birds for Bentley)
  


• sprayed the Goof Off Gel all over the entire kitchen floor two minutes before we were leaving for church



• smashed numerous Cheese Nips into the carpet and couch
  


• repeatedly jumping from his dresser to his crib, breaking the weld on the crib



• repeatedly jumping from his dresser to the pack in play...not broken yet
  


• telling mommy she is a princess almost every day



• kissing mommy and daddy's faces each night
  


• giving the best hugs ever



• being a loving, helpful son-brother-friend

Fun Easter pic

Needless to say, the blog has not been on my list of priorities lately. We still continue to pray and seek God for where and what he has for us. We are waiting for the results of John's judicial review regarding the loss of his job at the tribe. We are thankful that he was able to get a job at Les Schwab right away, although it is less than half the salary he used to make. We continue to trust that God will continue to provide and see us through this hard time of our lives. We are preparing to sell our house-hopefully soon-this summer. We feel confident that God desires us to declutter our lives, our homes and prepare our family for change. More specifically, we are pretty sure this includes moving....out of this house within the community, in another city, another state and quite possibly another country....right now our focus is on the first step of decluttering our lives and finances. This is scary and exciting all at the same time. We covet your prayers!
It has been very hard for me. John is working what seems like more hours, for less pay and its extremely physical work so he is beat when he gets home. This means that not only do I have my usual mom/wife things to do each day, but now I have tackled many of our household update/remodel projects. Let's not forget to add the college class and church obligations into the mix! It's been very stressful and taxing. I have been cutting back on many of my outside activities merely because I can't do it all.
On other news, the kids are doing wonderfully. The girls will be done with preschool this week and Jeremiah will be done with First Grade next week. Judah has been potty training and has done beautifully. He is completely out of diapers and his only accidents are when he has to poop...it seems it's better for him to stand next to the toilet to poop rather than sit on the toilet! Oh well! He will figure it out sooner or later. Jeremiah is loving Little League and he is doing really well. I just got Alison signed up for Whiffle ball for the month of June and she is so excited.
Well...we shall see how long it takes me to update the blog next....and what exciting things will have happened!

Craziness...the weeks and months have been flying by! God is ever-so faithful and we are so blessed. The kids and I are on spring break and we are enjoying the time off. We have been going through a lot of changes in our family...we just ask for continued prayer over us and the path God has for us!

Really....two months???

I just reallized it's been nearly two months since the last blog! Crazy!!

Things are good in the Thorndike household. We made it through our birthday months and the holidays....December and January are brutal for us with 3 of the four kiddos birthdays and the holidays. We also had a visit from John's family over the new year which was a lot of fun. I've been in school as well so there is no shortage of things to do around here.

As always, I made at least two of the kids birthday cakes and Alison had a turn at getting a store bought one(thank you Nana and Papa). Most of the time they come up with some great ideas for their cakes and so it's up to me to try to make them happen! Alison wanted a Strawberry Shortcake theme so that's what she chose. Jeremiah is really into his newest movie How to Train Your Dragon, so I made him a fire-breathing dragon cake....it turned out pretty good! Judah has a few favorites right now, but he is really loving Mickey Mouse, so I made his as well and it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

We are so blessed to have such great kids!

OH MY FINALS...

Paper, pencil, laptop, coffee, quiet, focus, the need for toffee! All these things are my life lately as I prepare for a finale!
So next week is finals week for me. I have a grueling schedule of final lectures study hall and cram sessions to get in before the weekend...not to mention that it's Miss Alison's 5th birthday tomorrow! LOTS going on, but I am really going to enjoy the two week break when I'm done. If my schedule goes as planned, next term I will have only two classes on campus instead of three and I will be taking one course online. Hopefully this will help lighten the load at home for John and the need for additional childcare at least through the winter. It's very hard to get out of our property during those heavy snow days so the less I have to travel and cart the kiddos around the better! Although, come spring I will probably be looking forward to getting out of the house ;)

(John, Dan, Cara and Derrick at our Family Life Harvest Party)

Yay for Thanksgiving next week! I say it every year, but fall is our favorite season :)

The kids are doing great in school. Jeremiah continues to do well in first grade and loves lunch...haha...he just started eating lunch at school (we qualified for free lunches) and loves all the choices. Alison is doing very well in preschool. She just moved up from the preschool math curriculum to Kindergarten Math. She has started reading some words and I have a feeling that by the end of the school year if not in early spring, she will be 100% Kindergarten. Hosanna is doing good in preschool, but at her age it's mostly just social. She is recognizing some letters and doing really well overall.

Judah is getting busier and busier! He is talking up a storm, loves Mickey Mouse Playhouse and is absolutely adorable when he dances along with the music!

Classes are going well for me....2 A's and one B....I think at my age, that's pretty good! lol