House for Sale

I'd like to offer an apology to our family and friends who check our blog frequently. We have been busy getting our house ready to go on the market and it's been completely consuming. We are tremendously thankful to all of our friends and family that have stepped in to help prepare the house or watch the kids for us while we prepared. Also, we'd like to send a special thanks to Zac's dad for painting and preparing several rooms in the house, and Zac's mom for taking the kids for two weekends in a row! And thanks to my aunt, uncle, and cousins for taking the kids for the weekend! There is no way we could have finished the house without all of your help!!!!

We know that the timing of the sale of our house is all in God's hands. We are trying to carefully let go of our worries and remember we are surrounded by His presence and perfect timing. It is extremely difficult keeping the house suitable and spotless for showings with three little ones so I pray that the house would sell quickly, but again, it is in His timing. My kids have been very good despite us being so distracted and unable to give them the attention they are used to. Aubriella cleaned the entire playroom yesterday, made Micah's bed, and did several small chores. What a trooper!

Here is a link if you want to check out our house -Feel free to make an offer ;)

www.4531washburn.com

First Father/Son Retreat

This past weekend, Gavin and I went to Covenant Pines in McGregor, MN for a Father/Child retreat. This was the first year he was old enough to go, so we thought we'd give it a try. We both had a great time! The weather was forecasted to be cold and rainy all weekend, but Saturday ended up just about perfect. It was a little chilly, but the sky was clear and the sun was shining.

The other fun surprise was that Mike Norton from Mora was doing the preaching part of the weekend... accompanied by his great storytelling abilities and some magic tricks. I got to know the Norton family quite well as I grew up in Mora. I played music and formed a couple bands with Mike's son, Zak, in high school and after high school. Also, I used to help the Nortons when they led retreats at Big Sandy back in the day (not too far from Covenant Pines). So it was great to catch up with him in between activities too.

Gavin got to try all kinds of new activities while he was up there. One of the coolest parts for him was the huge climbing wall. I don't know how high it is, but I'll guess about 40 ft. And, once he gets to the top, there's a long cable ride for him to ride on. Click on the album below to see some pictures, and there's a short video of the cable ride below that also. I did a poor job shooting the video because I lost Gavin through the viewfinder for a couple seconds, but you'll get the idea.

Covenant Pines 2009 Photo Album

What has Micah been up to?

Micah adores his puppy we got him for Christmas. He carries it around the house with his blue blankies and loves to play and sleep with him.

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed~ Micah enjoyed this story recently before nap. I heard him jumping around on his bed making monkey noises during naptime. I peaked in to catch him acting out the story. It is pretty cute when his little mouth makes his monkey sounds because his lips form almost a perfect circle.

Wrestling~ You never know when he's going to come full force from behind and take you down. He also likes to run full speed and body slam you. You have to make sure you are fully alert if laying on the floor because you are his prime target.

Playing with the Superheroes! He enjoys making his guys fight one another and has some great sound effects too. He recently ate off two sponge hands from a small flexible Spiderman. I had to sneak that one into the garbage. Micah enjoys putting the heroes in cars but gets very frustrated when the cars are way too small for the bodies.

He has recently started coloring more with his brother and sister and is doing a little less of biting the tips of the markers or crayons off. How many tips can one boy eat?

Yea! He's finally saying "mama"! Along with dada, hiyee, mo (more), bye , moo, roar, maow (meow), ruff ruff, and the famous monkey noises. He still not talking a lot but it is fun when he decides to say one occasionally. He tends to enjoy breaking into song once in a while too. We have absolutely no idea what he is singing but you can tell he's singing.

He's just learned how to open the fridge and his favorite thing is summer sausage. So, he just opens the fridge and helps himself to a piece of summer sausage, closes the door and runs off to eat (while our dog closely follows). You can often catch him pushing a chair up to the microwave, sticking things in there, and closing the door. We have started to keep the bread on the counter instead of the bread drawer because he is constantly in there getting pieces of bread out.

His favorite job is putting his clothes and anything else he can find down the laundry chute! He also likes to get into the bathroom, get toothpaste on his toothbrush, and brush his teeth.

He's a busy busy boy and is extremely hard to keep up with but I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here experiencing every exhausting minute of it.