Announcing....

....the beginning of a new blog:



http://www.being-re-made.blogspot.com/

Don't panic people, I am NOT quitting this blog.  I just need a place where I can share my thoughts without having to bother with pictures. 

Check it out - hope to see you there!

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Little Guy Photo Shoot

Sigh.

I have this terrible problem.  I constantly take pictures of my two favorite toddlers.  I can't stop.  I love it.  (Although they don't, usually.)   I'm thinking of renaming this blog "Isaac and Joshua's Personal Scrapbook".  (Kidding.)

It may annoy you to see post after post with pictures of my two adorable little brothers....I've noticed that my posts have consisted of 95% of pictures of THEM ever since Joshua came home last March!!  It's been nearly a year and maybe I've lost some blog readers due to that fact. 

However.  I cannot help but capture their smiling little faces......way too soon they'll be grown up boys, and this precious time in their lives will be gone.  I don't want to forget  how sweet they are right now!  I don't want to take for granted each day I have with them.  They are gifts from God, and after waiting for both of them for so long I just HAVE to take pictures of them.

And so, here we are.  If anyone is still reading after that lengthy explanation, here are my sweet brothers.

 We get asked ALL the time if they are twins.  People are always surprised when we say that they're a year apart.  :-)

 Isaac is coming up on his 2nd Gotcha Day this February!  I can't believe he's been home that long.  He has come SO. FAR.  Since we first met him.   He can carry on a real conversation now!  Just like a little man!  It's so cute!  And he trusts us - he knows what's going on and understands things like, mama is going to the store and will be right back.  

 And Joshua is right there with him.......the complete copy-cat of everything Isaac says or does.  Poor little guy is sick right now, too ~ all croaky and weepy and coughy.  Don't you just love how he's posing like a girl here?  (I still think he could get a killer job being a Huggies diaper model.  Maybe pullups, now that he's older.) He's our sweet one......emotional, cries at the drop of a hat, etc. 

 Totally sweet.

 These two little surprise tag-alongs are such a blessing!  I never thought I'd get to be a big sister again, TWICE! 

 This little four-year old is sweet too....but I'd say more sweet and spicy.  That's my favorite food to get at a Chinese reseraunt, sweet and spicy chicken.  And that totally describes Isaac, to the core.

Sweet in the sense that one minute he can be patting Joshua on the back and telling him that everything will be okay...and spicy in the sense that he is our little police man and will tear the house apart trying to bring justice to some offensive member of our family.   David slammed the freezer door this afternoon, and Isaac was all over him for it.

"DAVID!"

Of course I asked Isaac what was wrong, and he replied, "Naughty David slam that door. BAD David!"

 If you ask this little guy how he's doing, he'll always reply, "Um, just fine."  Sometimes, with a little promting, it's "Um, just fine, sanks."  Since he copies Isaac ALL the time, he often has difficulty expressing what he is thinking or wanting.  For example, the other night,  I heard him crying in his bed.  I went to his room, knelt by his bed and asked him what was wrong.  All I got was, "Um, nuffing."   Hmmm.  Nuffing wrong, eh?

 Since there is constant talk of Jonathan going into the Navy Seals, the little boys have caught on to that pretty quickly.  Although they like to joke and say he's going into the "Baby Seals".   And this morning, Joshua woke up all sniffly from his cold and didn't feel good.  Courtney was trying to comfort him, and Isaac went right up to him saying, "Don't worry Josh, it's okay.  I take care of you." 

Yesterday Isaac got a nasty little hangnail on his pinky finger.....so out came the nail clippers.  I went ahead and trimmed the rest of his "piggies" (as we call them) and then did Josh, since he was right there too.  Josh asked, "You do my two piggies, too?"  I said of course I would, and then Isaac said, "Why Josh only have two piggies, not ten?" 

"Because that's the way God made him, Isaac.  God gave him special piggies."

"Oh!"  And on the conversation went as we trimmed nails. 

They sure know the difference between being rude and being polite, too.  Just now, Isaac came running inside, whining, "My juice!! Where my juuuuuice?"  And I replied, "Well, that's not how you ask, young man."  Suddenly I heard this chipper little voice saying, "May I have my juice please, ma'am?"

*Sigh*.  I love my brothers.  I love taking their pictures.  I love keeping track of all the funny things they say and do.  I am so, so, blessed.

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I Never Thought I'd See The Day.....

....when I'd purchase two extra large shirts for myself.  Really.  Nothing wrong with that particular size.....it's just that I'm, you know, eighteen? Kind of small still?   

But today, that's exactly what I did.  And no I have not gained a hundred pounds overnight.  These shirts fit me perfectly.  I mean, like, to perfection. My exact size.  And yet they are XL!

This isn't a new phenomenon either.  I've seen this sizing problem for years.  It's rather funny, because I never buy clothes according to size - it never fits!  The small size for this particular shirt was about 2 inches wide.  Hmmm, wonder why?

The size I'm supposed to be in is always grossly tight.  And, that's the way it's meant to be.  But....I am not exactly into the explode-out-of-your-clothing look.  So I usually buy a size or two bigger, hence my XL purchase above.  (And look at that great price!)

Don't be afraid to go against the tidal wave of what looks popular, friends.  Seriously, just because something is a good price or what everyone else is wearing doesn't mean it's modest.  I would have been having a difficult time breathing if I'd bought this shirt in my size.  There's just no reason for it!  Be careful as you pick your clothing ~ as you browse racks of clothing, look for modest, not necessarily popular. 

There's nothing wrong with looking fashionable and modern.  But be selective.  Be picky and choosy. 

Be modest.

I'm able to find modest clothes pretty easily ~ skirts/modest pants are easy to find, and tops of most any kind can be worn modestly with a little tweaking.  Tank tops under any low-cut shirt work terrific....small jacket sweaters over sleeveless shirts are great, too.  It definitely take some creative thinking!  But it's not hard to do, and SO worth the effort. 

Anyone else out there finding that XL clothing fits them to a tee?!

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A Few of My Favorite Things

 Josh.  Simply cutie-patootie Josh.  So sweet I can hardly stand it.

 Brownies - hot, and rich, and gooey.  (And from scratch!)  Find my recipe here.

Out-of-this-world adorableness.  Seriously, how did I get such cute brothers?

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately.....I'm just keeping incredibly busy right now!  Plus my camera batteries died.  (Batteries do help when it comes to blogging!)

Have a wonderful Friday, everyone!

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Book Giveaway: It's Not That Complicated

Sophia's Siege is hosting a book giveaway.......featuring the Botkin girls' latest book,

 It's Not That Complicated!

I have not yet read this book, but hope to do so soon.  Click here to enter!

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Missing My Goats

Well.......I haven't yet posted this, but several months ago I sold all of my goats.  All of them.  Cutie pie babies included.   I miss 'em! 

I didn't realized until after I sold them how much time they chewed up (no pun there!!) as I am now getting copious amounts of school done.  (I think I'm finally seeing the light at the end of a loooong tunnel - graduation 2012 here I come!)  I was laying in bed the other morning and thinking of how nice it is not to have to rush to get up to milk in the frigid morning air with numb fingers anymore.

But.  I miss them.  I miss their soft baaaing at night when I would go check on them before bed.   I miss the way they'd cuddle up to me and snuggle their heads into my arms.  I miss the way they LOVED me and STRONGLY DISLIKED everyone else.  :-)  The way they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt who their owner was and who it wasn't.

 I was looking back on pictures of when we first got goats......I was fifteen and actually, scared to death of them!!  I look calm in this picture but I remember being pretty afraid of how.....big they were.  And those horns......*gasp*.   The fear I felt as I would run into their pen, throw them their hay, and then dash out as they came galloping towards me......well, I remember it!  I got over that one within the year. :-)

 Dad was the one who got me started with goats.  He was the one who had dairy issues, so we turned to goat milk as an alternative.

David, now vehemenantly against goats, is actually posing with our first male goat, Jasper.   He'll never admit it now but he liked the goats back then!!  It was originally the boys job to take care of them.  But.  I soon took over.

 

 I had so many good times with baby goats!  Rosie and Clover were so cute.   

I miss just sitting there and watching simple things, like the babies nursing.....thinking about how amazing it is that there's just enough milk for the number of babies a doe produces each year.  Simple things like how mama always licks the babies bottoms while they nurse to keep them clean the first week of their life.  And how the babies saliva is basically an anasceptic that keeps the teat free of infection.

 Good memories of bottle feeding this spring......gosh that was a pain but it was pretty fun, too.  Heating up milk, feeding the stinkers, wiping off wet noses, even being jumped on with less-than-clean hooves. 

I spent hours out there with my little "herd".......working, of course, but also just watching.  Watching floppy newborns wobble around and then collapse after a few steps for a nap.  Baking in the sun.  Even smelling sweet.

Heading out there in my "goat jeans" and mucking stalls......raking up pens and clipping hooves...and admiring mini baby goat hooves......:-)  Singing while I "milked to the beat".  David and I created two goat theme songs that we sang every morning when we milked together - they were silly but those were good times.

 Even staring at pregnant bellies and wondering...prodding....guessing how many are in there?!  I LOVED being able to feel the babies moving around in there.  How awesome is that.  I would do it almost every day when my girls were pregnant!  Wondering.....is that a hoof?  Or a nose?  Or a tail?

 Even the babies that didn't turn out...super cute.  (I only ever had one "ugly duckling" and he was still pretty darn cute. :)

 Waiting with high anticipation for those beginning signs of impending labor......loose ligaments, acting weird, losing their plug......and then delivering the little munchkins.  And yes, there was a lot of blood.  And yes, I was OKAY with that.  :-)  And yet I am not okay with having my blood drawn...even to the point of passing out.  Weird, I know. 

 Missing snuggling day-old furry babies.....they're just about as cute as puppies.  (Maybe even cuter in my opinion.)  Missing plump udders......large jars of cold, fresh milk.....goats that know their routine and cooperate.....*sigh*

Having goats for the last few years was wonderful.   A grand experience.  I learned a ton.  Had probably a dozen instances where I thought I'd killed one of them.  :-)

 For now, I'm not able to have goats; other things need to take priority at the moment.  I've entered a new phase of life for now - but I hope that I can someday get back into goats!   

My siblings dislike (hate would be a better word) goats; so I have ALWAYS had issues trying to convince them to pet one.  However.  I was searching waaaay back in the archives of Courtney's blog, and FOR THE RECORD.......here is a link to a post where Courtney actually admitted that the goats were cute. 

 

Incredible.  :-)

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