Noah and winter fun!!

So today we had a snow day!!! Aaron was off today because of the wonderful snow storm! This morning we went into the front yard and made snow angels and had a snowball fight. We came inside, had hot chocolate w/ marshmallows and ate grilled cheese and soup. Naptime came and went too quickly, then we hopped into the van and drove to a nearby sledding hill. I got to go down the hill once with each kid and Aaron took each of the boys down several times. On the way home we stopped at the video store and Aaron ran in to get a few movies. While the boys and I were waiting on Daddy, Noah asked me to write a letter to his friend Michaela. I will close with his letter.
I hope your snow day was as fun as ours!!

Dear Lord,
Thank you for my dear Michaela. Please Lord, let her to marry me.
Love,
Noah

update

My friend Peggy went to be with the Lord this afternoon. Thanks to everyone who prayed. Please keep her family and husband Glenn in your prayers.

Prayer Request

Please pray for my friend Peggy. She is currently in a coma and the doctor's do not expect her to make it. She has had cancer for several years and yesterday, during surgery, they discovered the cancer had spread to a large area. She fell into a coma and never woke up from surgery. Please pray that her children will all be able to make it here soon. She is a Christian! Praise the Lord. I will post an update when I have news to share.

He POOPED in the potty!!!!!!!

If you have been reading "What's new with the Dell's" for a while you know that we are potty training Collin. Well, we started last summer and I thought we were done 9 days after we started this adventure. I was elated at the thought of such a quick trip down potty training lane. He was in big boy undies and 100% day trained for several weeks when I collapsed in the hall in front of the boys, was taken to the hospital and gone for several days with no warning AT ALL! Well this erased all of his success and we were back to pull-ups and until this morning he had not pooped in the potty since Aug 12. Praise the Lord! I do not think we are at the end of this stage for Collin, however, I do know it is a step in the right direction. I am glad he finally had success in this and pray the big boy undies will once again be part of his life. I know he will be happy when that day comes because it also brings about the much desired Chuck E Cheese potty! I can't wait to share more!

Come sit with me...

I often hear the phrase "come sit with me, Collin" come out of Noah's mouth and generally it is followed by a quick "no" from Collin. Well today, Noah decided to snuggle up on the couch with a blanket and watch "Jonah" (Veggie Tales movie) and Collin decided to join him. No invitation, he just took the initiative. He knew the invitation was always open and he took the opportunity to act on the moment and snuggle up on the couch with his brother. Noah asked Collin if he wanted covered up too and after Collin said yes, he covered his brother up and together they watched the movie for a good 1/2 hour. It was beautiful! My heart leaped at the tender exchange and then I was humbled!! How many times do I turn God down when I feel His prompting for me to spend time with him? Too many to count!! I know the invitation is always open to spend time snuggled up with my Father, today, I will take time to snuggle and cover my soul with His word. I encourage you to do the same!

Big Day For Noah!

This evening Noah experienced MANY big moments in various area's of development. He is a smart kid (big shock coming from his Mommy), but he doesn't like to attempt things until he has thought about them and is fairly confident that he is able to do it. I love this about him, but I pray that as he continues to grow so will his desire to try things even if failing is an option. Last summer he attempted to ride his tricycle only a handful of times same thing goes with his bike. Well, today he sat down on his tricycle and took off. Then, as if that weren't enough, I asked him to work with me on his letters. At this stage in the game he knows a few, but doesn't want to talk about them in a learning environment yet, but tonight he drew an "A" and a little "a" ALL BY HIMSELF! Then, to make my heart burst with even more excitement, while we were working on "Aa" he asked if he could just draw. I got out the papers and crayons and I drew a stick figure. Let me explain a few things first, he doesn't like to draw! AT ALL! Sometimes he will want to color, but he never wants to just draw. Well he saw my stick figure was purple so he said it was me and he wanted to draw a man. Guess what HE DID! First attempt! If my computer would let me upload my pics I would show you, but it won't so take my word for it... it was PERFECT! I could not believe it.
I am so proud of him! He took a lot of risks today and I pray this will help him to enjoy risk taking while learning new things.

By the way, he said his stick figure was "Jesus". I guess if you are a perfectionist that is who you would draw first. ;)

My boys

This morning Collin woke up in a rather grumpy mood. The kind of morning where he followed me around whinning and moaning about how hungry he was, but had no intention of giving me enough space to make him a proper breakfast. Oh how I wish I could have thrown some food at him, cereal perhaps, but we are all still recovering so I wanted to make him a more balanced meal. Noah was happily playing with his Lincoln Logs, making his newest cowboy and Indian horse ranch when my pint sized hero came to my rescue. In the sweetest little voice Noah calls out to his brother...
N - "Collin, come look what I built for you!!" (add high pitch inflection for the whole effect).
C - "NO! I want MOM" (GRUMPY!!!!!!!!!!!)
N - "But Collin, it even has a roof. I made it for you. Come here PPPPLLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!"
C - "Alright." (much calmer)
I hear playing, even laughing.
N - "I really love you a lot brother."
I can't resist any longer, I hope not to interrupt their moment, but I just had to look! They were playing with Noah's cowboys and Lincoln Logs TOGETHER!! I teared up and peacefully finished making breakfast. It is amazing how God can touch the heart of a 3 year old, prodding him to help his mommy and calm his brother. I love the tender moments I share with my boys and hope you enjoy reading them here. My prayer today is to have the ears to hear what God wants from me today as well as the good sense to do as He leads.

Taking the day off...

Okay, the flu or something like it has hit all four of us. Today I told Noah that we were going to take today off and just rest on the couch. He smiled and said, "Mommy I get to take the day off. Okay"
Fast forward a couple of hours...
I tell the kids to go upstairs for naptime and Noah got very upset. I asked why he was so upset and he said, "Mommy you told me I could have the day off so I don't have to take a nap". I asked him what he thought it meant to take the day off. He looked at me innocently and said " I think I get to go on vacation." So not only is he sick, now I took a vacation away from him. Poor guy!

Terrible Tears from Collin.. What brought them on????

Okay, Aaron is home sick (again!) and we were all in the living room. The boys and I were coloring and Aaron was teetering between awake and asleep. There was a knock at the door, Noah was the first over to investigate. He said, "there is a man on the porch with a shovel"! Collin dropped his crayon and promptly joined his brother. Aaron went to the door and the man asked if we wanted him to shovel our sidewalk. Aaron turned him down and closed the door. Then the drama broke out!!! Collin came over to me, sobbing, reached up to me and climbed on my lap. I told him to calm down and tell me what was wrong. I will close with his response.
"Mommy, he wanted to take my SSSSSSSSSSSSSNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW away!" (More tears.)

Why the delay...

Okay, so I am fully intending on posting the second entry on Christmas, but I am having camera uploading problem's. It may be the middle of February, but I will put up Chistmas day pics with Aaron's side of the family.

Things have been really crazy here. I think that Jan has actually been more busy than Dec. It is crazy. I will not recap on the first 1/2 of the month, but I will happily take you through the happenings of today. :)
This morning I was ACTIVE!! Praise the Lord. Not only was I able to work out for almost 40 minutes, I also got to play in the snow with my boys. Last winter I was in a lot of pain and unable to be an active mommy, so this year, I am trying to make up for lost time. I am learning to take time to listen to my body so I do not overdo it, but I am carefully pushing myself so I can get the most out of every minute. I am so thankful for today.
Let me give you an idea of how things went down here. My dad helped Noah make a perfect snow angel. Noah stood up to look at his masterpiece and Collin decided to give it a try himself. Well, something got lost in translation. I looked up from Noah's beautiful snow angel to see Collin rolling (as if down hill) across the yard all the way over to Noah's angel where he promptly rolled right over Noah's angel. Thankfully Noah had moved onto making snowballs and he didn't care at all.