welcome to moose park?!?!

Why do all the little infant sized boy clothes have graphics? What is wrong with a PLAIN little shirt? Why add the screen printed graphic? It might be cute for other people's kids, but I want the plain clothes. That I don't have to pay baby Gap prices for.

I've seached high and low for long sleeve un-printed onesies, and this burning question lingers. It seems to me that it would be cheaper to make plain clothes. So who decided to decorate? Who decided it would be cuter to take this perfectly adorable little shirt and add something to the front? My fruitless searching causes me to ask things like, "I wonder if I could bleach that out?"

I suddenly find it imperative to impose my preference for unprinted t-shirts on my son, aged 5 months, who obviously will follow in his mother's footsteps when it comes to clothing tastes. Obviously.

The search continues.

aaron's christmas commentary

Merry Happy Days!

It was super fun to get together with my mom's side of the family on Christmas Eve Day - Uncle Gary & Aunt Connie got to see Aaron for the first time and it was pretty great.







Mom wanted a picture of us by our tree. Aaron is having a bit of a rough day, but he managed to make it through the photo shoot without screaming. HA.








And we have 4 generations here while Michael takes the picture. I love our tree, decorated courtesy of Michael's family when they were out for Thanksgiving.







I had forgotten how many ornaments we got for our wedding. This year is the first one with the big tree, and we filled it up pretty easily. We've got some pretty special ornaments that have neat-o memories connected to them from childhood. Our tree is topped with a wooden cross, handmade by Dad Forbes, also a wedding gift. I still remember the first Christmas that it dawned on me that it was different to have a cross on our tree - dad told me that it was to remind us of the reason Christ came. Today it was fun to read the Christmas story to Aaron and to tell him the reason we give gifts to each other at Christmas. We did not buy him anything this year, but he did have fun playing with the paper!

What kind of unique traditions do your families have?

happy anniversary to us!

It's hard to believe that three whole years have passed since Michael & I got married. I am so thankful that God sent me such a wonderful husband! He has taught me so much, and has shown me Christ's love on a daily basis. Praise the Lord that He directed me to this godly man who is so perfect for me!

Alicia is (one of) my Hero(s)

I think the first memory I have of you, Al, is from my freshman year when Kathleen, Sarah, & Al took pity on little me and took me to a local eatery. We had a little too long of a good time, and on the way back took a wrong turn. I vividly remember seeing many trees and hills, and hearing Alicia go "AH! we can't be late!" as we flew with great haste back to campus. More memories of that year include the heisting of old NBBC uniforms and dodging the security guards (which were much less uptight than in more recent times) Yes, Alicia, once you guys graduated, the "good old days" came to a close. *sigh*

What I really want to say is THANK YOU FOR FIXING MY FORMAT!!! Those underlines were driving me nuts. You're the best.

Josh & Jason go "witnessing"

don't buy the big packs and you might as well ask

Has anyone else noticed what I have about superstores like Meijer & WalMart? Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that I can buy groceries and blank CD's all in the same store, but their little pricing games have me saying "ah-HAH!!" and triumphantly approaching the checkout lane with more packaging for less money. I have learned something astounding in my 27 years on the planet, and I am about to share it.

The big pack is not always the cheapest way to go.

Now, you might think that you would get a better deal if you were willing to buy and store 375 paper plates and 48 rolls of toilet paper - after all, there is less packaging for the company to pay for and, after all, didn't our mothers tell us that we can save money by buying in bulk? All I have to say is it might be true, but you'd better do the math. I once saved $4 on 8 bars of soap because I bought the 2 packs rather than the 8 pack. That was a good day.

Today, I had another "ah-HA" moment. I called Charter to see what the cost of upgrading our high speed from 3M to 5M, and lo and behold it turns out that I will save $3 per month by having the higher speed. Go figure.

thanks, dad...

For anyone who is interested, there are some pretty funny pictures of Aaron and I on my parents' site.

And, YAY we are now beta bloggers! Hurray!

NEW NOTE: OK, NOT yay we are beta bloggers. Anyone who can help me get those stupid underlines off the post titles let me know. I think it looks so cluttery and I can't seem to be able to isolate the HTML code that is responsible. HELP!!!

anyone remember this?

I am looking for anyone who might know if Ben Nyce ever published his arrangement of "Complete In Thee" that he taught us all at NBBC. If anyone has any information concerning the whereabouts of this song written out in sheet format, please tell me!

Updated: Here is one version. Email me if you'd like more information on this song, or a version that has the guitar chords. (click image to enlarge)

tiny munchkin

When Mom & Dad Muth were here, they commented on how the pictures on our blog make Aaron look much bigger than he actually is in person. So I guess it's the angle. (Now if only I could figure out the angle to make me look smaller in person...) So here's for all of you that say Aaron's getting "so big" - this is a picture of my little sweet baby on our futon in the office. He's sitting in between 2 pillows here. I think he's about the right size for 4 months, especially since I thought for sure we'd have one of those babies that looks, directly from the womb, like a stuffed sausage. My sore back and arm muscles rejoice that this is not the case. As an added non-related note, I'm actually quite excited about our $10 futon cover. I made it out of 2 clearanced tablecloths from Target. Hoooray for clearance!

And here's the little man in his car seat. We finally took out the newborn insert!!! Grandma Forbes got him this junior size reindeer hat and matching slippers to keep him cozy in the car. Thank you, Grandma!!! (he must have a big head from us telling him how cute he is over & over again...the hat leaves a little mark around his forehead when we take it off. OH WELL it made for a cute picture!!)

before you know it, I'll be crawling!

Happy 4 months, Aaron Carter Muth!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We were blessed to spend a great 5 days with some of our family - Mom & Dad Muth, Mary & Malcham. Anna, Tom, and their kiddos, Karissa & Christian, were able to come up on Wednesday as well, and we had a great time catching up a little with them. Nate & his wife Lissa were also here for the weekend, staying with Mom & Dad Forbes, and we were able to get in the Forbes Family Christmas Present opening ceremony in as well. Aaron was pretty excited to meet all his relatives, and our Thanksgiving day celebration went very well with 16 people in our house! We got a couple of folding tables and a more than a few extra chairs, add a bunch of good cooking potluck style (and of course, our 7 pies) and it was deliciosso!! We also had a chance to tell 5 things we were thankful for and it was really cool to hear thankfulness to God pour out of everyone! We are so blessed to have a Christian family!!!

here's a question for all you moms

OK everyone with any mommying experience! Here is the question I need help with. We are feeding Aaron on a schedule and he loves it - it's about every 3 hours during the day and he sleeps through the night, which means he's eating 6 times a day. Here's my dilemna. I don't want to start feeding him solid foods quite yet - I would love to wait until at least 6 months, BUT I don't want my baby to starve either!

According to some scheduling sources, you are gradually supposed to drop the late night feeding and stretch out the time between feedings...but I would be afraid that if I am not introducing solids, this would not be a good idea, since milk is so easily digested (equalling hungry baby). I also want to make sure to keep up my milk supply, and am a little concerned that fewer than 6 feedings might have a less than desirable effect.

Anybody out there ever delayed solids while feeding on a schedule? Or do I pretty much need to pick between the two? And, if you have delayed solids, what did you do with spacing out feedings?

and not only that, but...

Our email account is a wonder. It has a great spam filter, and best of all, at the top of the spam box page is a recipe for the original chopped pressed meat product. Today was Spam Fajitas. Previously, I've seen Spam Ginger Salad and Savory Spam Crescents.

I am not that brave.

autumn happenings

I hope I never forget

1. how you take in life with curious eyes
2. your adorable noises (experimental) with voice and lips and tongue
3. how you wake up with big stretches and fall asleep grunting
4. big blowout diapers (the stories we'll tell)
5. the look that says "thanks mom, for feeding me"
6. full body yawns
7. your little arm curled around my neck
8. how sometimes you look like a little old man (without wrinkles)
9. your "little bug" blinks
10. the way you startle when daddy sneezes

such a little person...
such a big God
such creativity

the child laughs

Sunday night, for the first time, Aaron laughed. At Michael's funny faces. How appropriate. So glad daddy could be there for this fabulous milestone. Can anyone else see the resemblance here between father and son? This is Michael's kindergarten picture - and our little mini-Michael. Aren't they adorable?

small big blessings

last week, my wonderful husband surprised me with a bag full of lightswitch and wall socket covers. a bag chock full of love straight from Home Depot. it just doesn't get much better than this.

well, actually, it does. every day with Michael is a good one. I am so blessed.

all of us went together at 7am

the Muth "Mansion"

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Here it is - another miracle! This is the house that God allowed us to buy! We closed on it last December and got to work in January. Eleven months, more than a few sore muscles and a little money later, here we live! And, at long last, here are updated house project photos. You will notice that we still haven't unpacked all the boxes, and there still isn't much on our walls. It will come together eventually, I am sure. We're still busy plugging away, remembering that the tortoise, did, after all, win the race.

Current plan is to be here for 5 years, improve as we can, and sell the house (which of course will make us filthy rich, LOL) The remaining projects are lighting, siding, flooring & trim, with a few little projects here and there; then the kitchen gets a major overhaul. Stay tuned, and keep praying!