Merry Christmas, Everyone...

It all started last week, when my friend, Noelle, came over to keep my kids for me. She brought along the singing penguin... it sings to the tune of the song "Yackety Yack, don't talk back". But it says "Quackety quack, quackety quack... Merry Christmas, Everyone!"

Needless to say, Noelle was getting tired of hearing it played over and over by her kids, so she wanted to share it with us. My kids do get a kick out of it. I never expected that Truman would like it so much, though! Watch this video to see his great moves!

My mom came to visit us this weekend, and was just able to leave this morning because the icy roads were too dangerous yesterday. We had such a great time with her! She kept the kiddos on Saturday, and Brad and I had a full-day date. What a great gift! Mom and I went shopping on Sunday. Then Monday, she helped me get our family most of the way packed for our trip to Michigan. Thanks, Mom, for all your hard work and eager help, and most of all, just for coming to be with us!

We're headed out on Thursday, and will be driving for 2 days to get to Michigan, for our Christmas visit to Brad's parents. It will be such fun, and we're really looking forward to it! Snowmen, snowball fights, walks in the snow, eating snow (but not the yellow or brown kind), then warm cozy fires, hot chocolate or tea, making yummy meals together, and having good conversations in the early mornings, late nights, and everywhere in between.

We're so grateful to have family (on both sides) that we love and look forward to being with. Merry Christmas, Everyone! :)

Happy Birthday, Evelyn!

We've got a 4-year-old in the house now! Happy Birthday, Evelyn!!!

November 30 was her actual birthday, and we were still at my parents' house in Navasota because of Thanksgiving. So we had a celebration there with our family. Mom and Amy made Evelyn a birthday cake, and we gave her our present: a little girl doll that looks like her. Meet Emily Lily Ruth Smucker (grown-ups have to call her Emily, but kids can call her Lily):

And wonder of all wonders, we actually got a family picture on that day! Thanks, GW, for being our photographer!

Here is just a cute picture of John from Thanksgiving Day. After he ate cranberry relish, his shirt was covered in red underneath that buffalo. Brad commented that it looked like someone had slaughtered a buffalo. It really did! Too bad there's no picture of that.

We had a "friends" birthday party (costume party!) this past Saturday, and Evelyn was quite excited, as usual, to have friends around. Even though I don't have pictures of her friends right now, they all had fun playing games and dancing and eating cupcakes and making "footprint" butterflies!

Evelyn has had her sights set on these "crown" cupcakes for months. The night before, while I was working on making them, the fondant I was using went all wrong. So at 10pm, I trashed it all and started over. I finally crawled into bed at 2am. If it wasn't for my sweet little Evie and her great desire for crown cupcakes, I wouldn't have persevered. And they didn't quite turn out as well as I had hoped. But thankfully, kids are easily pleased!

My Mom and Dad made the drive to attend her party here in Sherman, and Mom even dressed in costume: she was an indian! Too bad you can't see her entire outfit in this picture. But you can see her short little braids, and indian-painted designs on her shirt and vest. She's so cute!

So, to sum up, we had two wonderful birthday celebrations for Evie. It's such a joy to celebrate her life! We have been so blessed because of her!

Happy Birthday, John!

Yes, John did in fact turn 2. November 5. Almost 2 weeks ago! I had intended to write a happy birthday post, but something happened. I don't know what exactly... just lots of busy somethings. And here we are! How do all those super-blogging-mommies do it?

We had a fun family birthday celebration. My dad turned 54 on November 1 (yay Dad!), so we had a joint party at our house. Here's John blowing out the candles on their birthday carrot cake. (Perfect for both because Dad is in the construction business, and J0hn yells "TRACTOR!!!!" every time we pass by any large piece of machinery.)

We are so thankful to the Lord for John! His quick smile, funny sense of humor, attention to detail, focused problem-solving skills, ambitious running, love of books, sweet obedience (as he says "ooobeeeeyyyy! obey! obey! obey!"), loud kisses, silly faces, delight in shoes of all sorts, contagious laughter, gentle concern for people's ouchies, and creativity (which includes complimentary designs on walls, floors, doors, tables, books, Bibles, bed comforters, furniture, clothes, computers, and -- the only approved object-- paper!).

Here are a few more of our favorite birthday pictures:

Playing in their new sandbox.

Riding his new Big Wheels.

Our happy birthday boy!

Pucker up, piggy!

Last weekend was Austin College's homecoming. Every year, there's a student organization that does a fund-raiser (during the week of homecoming) where they select several professors that get to "compete" against each other for the privilege of kissing a pig. The winning professor is the one with the most money, deposited in his/her jar by students and other faculty, at the end of the week.

So this year, the winner was Dr. Brad Smucker! I felt pretty confident that he would be the winner (if you consider kissing a pig "winning"!). And he kissed it twice! First he kissed it on the forehead, and they told him that didn't count... he had to kiss it on the snout! Eeeww. He said that a few seconds after kissing the snout, his lips started tingling. Eeeww. Not sure if that was a figment of his imagination, or something real. But just to be safe, I waited a long time until I kissed him again!

Here's a picture that one of the students took and posted on facebook. (I was so far away that my pictures didn't turn out.)

In other news, John has gotten his two-year molars. Ouch!

Coming soon... pictures and updates from John's birthday celebration!

The last Adam

Brad has been reading a book by Timothy Keller, called The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. It has been an exciting and encouraging book for him. Occasionally he'll read something to me that really stood out to him. That happened just yesterday, and since then I have enjoyed thinking of the differences between the first Adam and the last Adam (Christ). Here is a quote, from Chapter 14, page 220:



The Son of God was born into the world to begin a new humanity, a new community of people who could lose their self-centeredness, begin a God-centered life, and, as a result, slowly but surely have all other relationships put right as well. Paul calls Jesus "the last Adam." As the first Adam was tested in the Garden of Eden, the last Adam (Jesus) was tested in the Garden of Gethsemane. The first Adam knew that he would live if he obeyed God about the tree. But he didn't. The last Adam was also tested by what Paul called a "tree," the Cross. Jesus knew that he would be crushed if he obeyed his Father. And he still did.



Why did Jeus die for us? What was Jesus getting out of it? Remember, he already had a community of joy, glory, and love. He didn't need us. So what benefit did he derive from this? Not a thing. And that means that when he came into the world and died on the cross to deal with our sins, he was circling and serving us. "I have given them the glory that you gave me" (John 17). He began to do with us what he had been doing with the Father and the Spirit from all eternity. He centers upon us, loving us without benefit to himself.


I hope you are encouraged and challenged by this thought as well! Our Savior lived on this earth, died as a willing sacrifice for our sins, and rose from the dead because He conquered sin and death. Wow! He is so worthy of our honor and glory and praise!

Guess who??

Our budding artist, Evelyn, drew a wonderful picture yesterday. Can you guess who it is? (It's not her; she just signed her name at the top.)







Do the whiskers on the chin give a clue? Or maybe the dark eyebrows and rosy cheeks? If you're guessing that it's her Daddy, you're right! (But the same description could have applied just as well, and possibly better, to my brother GW!) We think it's so funny that she's been drawing nostrils on all her faces lately! But I guess that's the perspective of a 3-year old.




Last weekend we went to a local pumpkin patch. It was fun for all of us-- hayride, petting zoo, and choosing pumpkins. And we even got our first family picture since Truman was born (almost 5 months ago!).







And in honor of Truman's almost-5-month-birthday, here is a picture that Brad took a few days ago. Isn't he a cutie?

Vinegar!?

Have I got a deal for you!

A couple months ago, I ran out of rinse agent for our dishwasher. It's so expensive, and such a small bottle! I didn't want to buy more until I had a coupon, or it went on sale, and I was hoping that those two things would coincide. Many, many weeks went by, but neither happened, and our dishes were getting a thick film build-up. No good.

So one night I went online to find a recipe for homemade rinse agent. And guess what I discovered? Several sources said to use plain white vinegar in place of rinse agent, pouring it into the rinse agent compartment. So I gave it a try. And it works! My dishes are shiny and clean now, and I'm super excited because vinegar is less than $2 a gallon! (And no, the dishes don't smell like vinegar. I don't know how the smell goes away, but I'm certain that my Chemist husband does! If you really want to know, you can ask him.)

Mow, mow, mow the lawn!

John is an astute observer of everything going on around him. And he's a hard worker as he puts those lessons into action! Every time Brad mows the yard, John runs out to "help" him. (See the picture below, taken in April.)

John helps Brad mow

Here is a little video I got of him "mowing" with his toy lawn mower a few days ago. He's wearing his new favorite shoes, hand-me-downs from his cousin Russell, which are about 4 sizes too big for him. Nevermind that-- it's inconsequential! He likes the shoes, so he wears the shoes!

Brave Truman

Yesterday Evelyn and I went "camping" under the kitchen table. There, we told stories and laughed with friends (the soft, stuffed, inanimate sort). I found one of her stories particularly amusing, so here it is, for your enjoyment!

"Once upon a time there was a young boy named Truman. And he just LOOOOVVVVED Mommy milk. Well, he grew up and became a brave, strong man. And he went hunting, and fishing, and swimming in the ocean. And he hunted for sharks, and he KILLED them with his water gun! And then he killed whales with his water gun. And he kept us all safe because he was very brave and strong. The End."

Last week she told me a story about killing rats (she undoubtedly came up with that story based on real life adventures here at the Half-Acre Woods. Rats had built up a colony under our deck earlier this summer, but Brad demolished them all!).

So I don't know why Evelyn is telling stories of killing, other than to say that even at the age of 3, she realizes justice. We enjoy teaching her (and John and Truman, even though they're too young to grasp this) that one day our Lord, the great Redeemer, will return and make all things right! He is the only one who can. We trust in His goodness, and praise Him for His mercies that are new every morning!

Now is a scary time for many of our fellow Texans, down South. Hurricane Ike has hit, and all the ramifications are still to be discovered. All electricity is out, and likely will be for several days at least. I'm thankful that my parents and Faith are far enough away to only experience the strong wind and rains and electricity outage, but not the mass destruction caused by Ike. And they're providing a safe place for my cousin Abby and her family.

I forget to water my potted plants, and therefore have killed off most of them. Sometime this week I'll go buy some fall-colored mums, and hopefully do a better job of remembering them! I think their bright, festive blooms will add a nice touch to our front porch and yard!

Brad and I sometimes like to make the gifts we give people. Abby has asked me to post some of my ideas on our blog. But before I do that, I wanted to ask: do any of you have creative homemade gift ideas? If so, let me know. I'll include them when I write on that topic! :)

Nice Shirt

It's laundry day. Good thing! It's not even noon yet, and I'm wearing my 4th shirt of the day. Finger paints, spit-up, and kids' lunch splatters did away with the other three! At the rate I'm going, I'm sure this won't be my last one.

Our dear little Truman, who is now 3 1/2 months old, has 2 teeth. Yup. His first one came in 3 days before he turned 3 months! Here is a picture of him on that day:

Truman- on the day he got his first tooth

If you know Brad, right now you've got to be thinking "Wow! That kid looks like his Daddy!" I was just telling Brad the other day that the gene he passed on to Truman is a strong gene! There are at least 4 generations of Smucker men (straight up the line from Truman) whose baby pictures all look like this one. Amazing! And while we're talking about genes, I can't pass up the opportunity to post this picture of John. Do you think he's making an accurate statement? :)

John-- our comedian!

A while ago my friend Christy gave me a recipe for Poppyseed Rolls. It uses canned biscuits, and I must tell you that this recipe is a favorite around our house! Everyone who tries them really likes them... it's quite a hit! So I just decided that I'll share this recipe (and some pictures of the rolls) with all of you who read this. Try it, and let me know what you think!

Poppyseed Rolls

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp dried minced onion
• 1 tsp poppyseeds
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tubes (12 oz. each) buttermilk biscuits

Melt butter and mix in seasonings. Dip each biscuit in butter mixture. Line in a bundt pan, standing on edge, until all biscuits are touching. Bake at 400 degrees for ~14 minutes, remove and cover with foil, then cook an additional 5-7 minutes to make sure it's cooked through. Remove immediately from pan to plate and serve warm.

Here are some pictures from the most recent time I made this recipe:

That hurts my carrot!!!

"That hurts my carrot!!!" We heard it at least 10 times last night. So here's the story:

John and Evelyn were eating dinner. John, being a boy, discovered that a little baby carrot fits just right in his nostril. It was really funny, and finally the expressionless face I was working so hard on cracked, and I laughed! Since I had already laughed, I decided the damage was done, so I grabbed the camera. That's when Evelyn decided to stick a carrot up her nose, too (which she has never done before!). But hers was a little piece of carrot, instead of the whole thing, and when I asked her to take it out, she accidentally shoved it farther in. The more she tried to retrieve it, the farther away it got from her finger. Until finally the only way we could see any of it was to shine a flashlight inside and flare the nostril out. We tried everything we could think of to get it out. And every attempt was met with a tearful "That hurts my carrot!!!" (That made us laugh so much-- it's as if the carrot is part of her body!) I even had an idea that I felt certain would work. "Here, Evie, take a big whiff of this pepper shaker, and you'll sneeze that carrot right out!" No luck. Thankfully we know an ENT doctor, and he gave us some advice over the phone. When that still didn't work, he told us to come on over to his house. He pulled it out in a jiffy with his special tools, and Evelyn was so proud of herself for not crying!

Truman's 2-month doctor visit was today. He weighs 14.4 lbs, and is 24 inches long. Wow! He's grown 6 lbs and 4 inches since he was born. Aren't you glad we don't continue to grow at that rate? :)

T-Rex vs. My Little Pony

Where would you place your bets? On the strong, scary and ferocious, or the graceful, gentle and kind? We mustn't be too quick to judge by outer appearances. My Little Pony (whose name changes daily around our house: Lucy, Cathy, Laura, Canny, Lay-o) has some hidden dino-kickin' powers! And what is the victor's prize? Marriage! To the defeated T-Rex! Seeing Evelyn and John battle it out with their beloved toys was the highlight of my morning.

Meanwhile, Truman (who is now 2 months old) is growing bigger and cuter every day! When he smiles, I feel like nothing is wrong in the world. He has such a sweet and captivating smile! His hair is starting to grow back in... still quite dark! For weeks now I've been feeling like we're on the verge of him sleeping through the night. Hopefully that will be a reality soon! Here is a recent picture of Truman:

Last night Brad and I went on our first date since Truman was born (thanks to the Baca's for babysitting!). We went to eat at Olive Garden (thanks to a gift card from GW & Amy!), then walked around a few stores. We had planned to go walk at a park, but it was just too stinkin' hot!

On Thursday, one of Brad's students invited us over to his house for dinner, and cooked an elaborate meal for us. That's a first for us! We frequently invite the students to our house for dinner, but it's never been reciprocated. That was really thoughtful! It's neat to see the impact Brad has in the lives of so many of his students. He's so much more than a good chemistry professor. He's a good mentor, advisor, confidante, and friend!

I've decided to occasionally share some of my favorite recent quotes. We hear some pretty funny things around here from Evelyn! About a week ago, an old lady stopped us at a store to adore the 3 kiddos. After she walked away, Evelyn asked, "How many old people are there in this world, Mommy?"

If you consider yourself "old", and especially if you don't, please don't let her observations keep you away from us! :)

Beware the Chiggerbugs!

If you've ever had an encounter with chiggers, you know they leave quite an impression. It takes days of miserable itching to get over their bites! Everyone in our family is working on building up an immunity to them. If you saw our kids, you'd think they had measles or mumps. Or at least chicken pox! Usually chiggers are found out in pastures or forests. But we have a special supply of them right here in our own back yard, in the middle of town.

Besides the chiggers, summertime is great. I love our wading pool in the backyard that Evelyn and John play in for hours at a time. I can nurse Truman, prepare dinner, and load or unload the dishwasher... thanks to the pool! The best $2 I've ever spent at a garage sale! I love all the free activities sponsored by our city. I love ice cream and popsicles and the smell of sunscreen and freshly mowed grass. Yes, summertime is wonderful!

This picture was taken a few days ago when my sister, Faith, was here visiting. We went to a water park, and she splashed around with Evelyn and John. Another one of those wonderful summertime events!

Now, a note about Brad's post... the first post of our new blog! He did not misspell "gold" when he wrote "Fool's Golb". (Because I'm rather particular about words being spelled correctly.) He actually came up with the idea of that story by playing around with the thought that "blog" spelled backwards is "golb". If only I could think such deep thoughts, spurred on by a nonsense word like golb!

Fool's Golb

Pyrite has a lousy rap. Its natural hew is golden, but gold it is not. Instead, it contains only iron and brimstone. Many an enamored prospector has, indeed, felt cursed because of its jilting. But don’t you, prospective reader, be fooled. Pyrite is valuable.

The composition of pyrite is simple. It is a binary salt consisting of iron and sulfur (aka brimstone). Iron is the most stable nucleus known, yet it will rust through and through if left in the open. But iron is vital to life. It is the essential metal in life-giving blood. It binds oxygen from our lungs until needed by the body. Sulfur stinks. Our noses are especially tuned to any sulfur-containing compounds (think skunk). Yet it, too, is an essential component of life. Cells need it for proper function of proteins and even hair requires it. Either element, left in isolation, is prone to decay or putridity. But together they seem to have tamed each other for more important purposes.

In the body, when the two are together, wonderful processes occur. They are vital components of electron transport. You could think of them as a molecular Joseph, keeping electrons to disperse in times of want. Indeed, this synergistic property of the two is involved in harvesting light from the sun in photosynthesis, and in repairing the blueprint of life, DNA. When iron and sulfur are together they are truly a force.

So why do I write about pyrite in my family's blog? Well I probably won’t be much of a blogger. So it will be my lovely wife who will post the majority of them. Many of these posts will be nuggets to value for their appearance alone. Yet for the others, which don’t quite have that je ne sais quoi about them, look deeper. You’ll find components of our life: Synergy, the harvesting of abundance, the mending of the broken, and our very life-blood.