quick updates

things have been a good kind of busy lately. here’s a few details:

we got our bedroom painted! no more pink trim! no more nasty border (by the way, wallpaper=evil…for the good of society, NEVER hang wallpaper or borders).  now it’s a warm and almost bold combo of gold and green (2 walls of each) and the little hallway is a terra-cotta color, and our bathroom is kinda copper. the only painting left back there is the laundry room and our closet. I’m so proud if Michelle’s color choices. many thanks to Matt, Jeannette, Micah and Darrell for helping out. oh and the kitchen painting is pretty much done too, and soon we should have the lighting done in there too.

my parents came for the weekend, which made the painting possible, as they hung out with the kids the whole time. it’s always good to have family come visit, and they brought us the old fishtank too.

I’ve been at my “new” job for 6 months now. I still enjoy it and am glad to be able to do interesting work in a good environment. to celebrate, I got myself an iPod (the actual excuse for getting it is the audio on my computer at work went out, and the generic MP3 player we bought stopped working). it’s pretty nifty.

Caleb’s been trying to get away with more lately, so mama especially has been more diligent with the discipline, and he’s responding well. we’re trying to teach him to listen the first time, and to not whine so much. it’s a challenge, but mama works hard for us all during the day and it’s good to see results.

Alice is pulling up on everything and likes to “walk” when we hold her hands. she’s still a sweet, active, smiley, and at times fiesty little girl. and we’re thinking she’ll be more of a challenge in the discipline area as she grows. she already does these little fits where she throws herself on the floor (which we cant help laughing at…for now at least). but the other day she was sternly told that that isnt allowed, and she actually listened.

the fall/winter weather is here and we’re loving it! the kids are so cute in their fall clothes. and we’re looking forward to having lots of family in town for all the upcoming holidays, not to mention some festivities for our 30th birthdays. we’re thinking of having a combo party sometime in January, so be on the lookout for that.

and finally on the music front, I learned that I’m not quite ready for a solo mandolin song in church. I forgot to remind the other guy who was supposed to play with us, so it ended up being just me for the first service. there’s a nice little Mike Marshall tune that sounds good for solo mandolin, and I know it pretty well, and practiced the hard part a bunch before the service started. but I pretty much bombed it, as I got too nervous. I was told that it sounded OK since no one knows how it’s supposed to go anyway, but I know it wasnt quite right. I’m glad that our band was assembled for the late service and we did our old gospel tune instead.