howdy::sept09

hey all!

by request of my sista - i am blogging! it has been since the first day of kindergarten, so i guess it is only fair to update you on the status of the uhls home!

first of all - riley is doing GREAT in school. his teacher has been quite the blessing to us - and evidently she feels the same about our sweet riley. he came home yesterday with a note attached to him that said "i read a book today all my myself." now, that is progress! he is asking constantly how to spell words and just tonight - he asked if i could use my tracking finger while we were reading before bed. precious! it is still hard for mommy though. i would rather school be every other day for just two hours or so. not saying that next year might hold something different for us, but for now and for this year, our little boy is happy and therefore mom is happy. our prayers are being answered and we trust that god led us to this decision for a reason. we are enjoying seeing this story unfold!

reed is doing well too. he is enjoying his time with mommy - well, i think he is! he doesn't ask for riley much - other than when we are going to go and pick him up. he just knows he's at school. his sentences are progressing and he sounds so big! we are even entertaining the idea of a big boy bed. notice i said entertaining!!! :-) that crib is such a nice place to have a time=out, since the stairs don't seem to work for this little one. the bed is nice except, as kristina saw today (sorry you had to witness that!) he gets so upset that he tinkles in the bed. oh gosh, never thought i would have type the word tinkle... is that even spelled right??? reed's new phrases are...
::can i, can i???
::oh mom, it is so very cold (or so very hot) or so very *whatever*
::mom, can i play tennis?

he is totally cute - and totally mischievous at the same time. love his HEART!
*how do you like the leg warmers? he didn't want to give up these too small pjs, so we cut them off and he likes wearing them - without the leggings - as underwear. just in case you were wondering*



jason's job in california is drawing to a slow close. he has been there more the past two months that in the last six (well, it just feels that way, i'm sure it's not reality) - just being honest!!! so we are praying about where he will be next and praying for one that isn't quite as stressful - oh YES LORD! :o)



that's about all that is going on here - it's been rainy, but not too cold. definitely fall weather-ish - and actually, we have enjoyed the rain. it has been cozy on the days that we needed coziness. i've been discovering more and more that GOD is good, girls, GOD is good. a friend of mine challenged me to get up and get in the word for 30 days straight and it would make a difference in my life and OH, MY, she was so right. i have been kind of hermit-ish, well i feel that way at least, but what i did was i dove in to studying the different kinds of loves - eros (groovy kind of love), philos (common interest love, friends, sisterly love) and the best of all, agape (the god kind of love). what i have been so tenderly hearing is that i can easily muster up the common interest love, but it's the agape love - the unconditional love - that i have a hard time with. and so, i tried to figure out why this was and was drawing a blank. i have always felt loved by my family and my friends. that ah-ha moment was that it's that "I" have to be taken out of the equation. agape isn't the kind of love that i can muster up - it's got to be oozing out of me b/c jesus is IN me.

I CANNOT DO IT.

as hard as i try...

I CANNOT DO IT.

my motives have to be truly from HIM - and the only way to get there is to be with HIM daily and to be in the WORD daily. this kind of love is the supernatural outcome of being filled with the spirit (rom 5:5; gal 5:22)

i want to ooze with the agape kind of love.

i KNOW that god has been working on me tenderly over the last few months about how to do this with my boys - well, specifically the main boy. why is it that when the hustle and bustle of life comes that we forget to talk to our best friends - and when we do, we end up saying not so nice things? well, perhaps it's just me - but perhaps not. so i am working on being NOT a nag - and more of a safe, uplifting place for my man.

but now i am feeling a little nudge on how to love god's somebody (the ones that may not be easy to love). give it up melanie that it will be work to invest in someone new - give it up melanie that you will become weary and it will be hard to love on someone not so loveable - just give it up...

i'm beginning to understand how to do this kind of love with my family - now, LORD, make it spread to ALL AREAS of my life. give up what I think and let God do the thinking for me.

i will end with a tweet i rec'd today (yes, i joined twitter, but i'm not really sure why. i still don't "get" it but am sure loving getting updates from KLOVE!)

Words are wonderful, but when you walk in love, your commitment must contain much more than just words. (1 John 3:18)

see, even tweets can be used for encouragement!!! let me know what is going on with each of you all - what are you learning? what is going on in your worlds??? do we need another list of questions to get the ball rolling??? :o)

hugs to you all!
mel

K/1*here*we*come

well, guys, we made it through the first day of kindergarten. now, it wasn't pretty - well, as far as my part goes, but we did make it through...



i will tell you that i had a lot of lessons today - a lot of thinking time. i am glad that riley is willing, able, and ready to go to school. some kids close to our family just don't have school as an option this semester - and continually today the lord just kept telling me to be thankful in this day, so that is what i have done. so, not really for you all, but for me, i am putting my thoughts down so that when i look back i can remember, vividly, the pictures that were painted for me this day...

i am thankful we live in a country where schools are abundant and where parents can be actively involved in their children's schooling.

i am thankful that riley is healthy and we can send him to school.

i am thankful that riley is going to be able to be a blessing to others - lord knows he is such a blessing to us...

i am thankful that riley is excited about learning and was able to try and read a book to me - even after just one day...

i am thankful that i can have some time to pour in to our little reed.

i am thankful that riley's teacher is a christian and that we have already discussed our faith - and we are complete strangers.

i am thankful that a friend told me about mom's in touch and i am going to be able to try to charter a group at our elementary school to pray for the school and the people therein.

i am thankful for a husband that has encouraged me to stay at home with our children.

i am thankful for our neighbor, mr. jim, who came and sat with reed while i took riley to school and walked him in on his first day.

i am thankful for my peeps that continually checked on me today - b/c you know what an emotional case i was!

i am thankful for a dear friend that emailed me to share that my mom had given her words of wisdom when her first child went off to school for the first time...

i am thankful that the lord has chosen us to raise two boys to love him.

i am thankful that god is spurring me on to make a fresh start - just as riley is having a new chapter open in his little world.

i am thankful for a god that has listened to me all day - calling on him for reassurance that we have done the right thing!

AMEN!!!

happyBIRTHDAYS!!!

So, I'm a little late in posting that our little boys have both celebrated a birthday!!! Riley is now 5 and Reed just turned 2 (yes, Muri, that is 2 and not 3! hehe!)

Man, how time sure does fly!

Riley is still attending preschool at the little church down the way (which so reminds me of nursery school at the Baptist church where we grew up!). He still "enjoys" it most of the time - but would rather stay at home most days. We just started t-ball again for the spring and he is enjoying that so much! We can surely see a difference between this year and last year - the attention span is a little bit longer! :-) He LOVES being outside and going on adventures looking for bugs, ducks, frogs, really anything but snakes... we caught 2 the other day and he told me today that he didn't really like them that much! However... to know our Riley is to know that he LOVES Star Wars. We are always "pretending" to be one of the characters and we make up stories that go along with the chosen characters. Normally I am Queen Amadala, he is the "young" Anniken that needs to be trained, and Reed is either C3P0 or R2D2. However, he does also like to be an Ewok; thus what I was greeted with one night after coming home from the Clinic... priceless!!!




His birthday present from us this year was Star Wars sheets and man, you would have thought they were GOLD. He loves them! Our Rilester is the sweetest thing - he comes out with some of the sweetest comments to us, especially at bedtime. It is like he winds down and just tells you what's on his mind. We are so thankful for him and for his sweet spirit! Here is is surrounded by his birthday balloons!



And here is with his cake...



and here he is asleep, the day after birthday festivities - how peaceful!!!



Reed is in to all kinds of things now -- just the other day he asked what we were going to do today! He imitates anything you ask him to say - and is now listening SO MUCH better. So, on trips to stores he at least doesn't DART away when you are walking in. Phew, mom's, remember that first day when it clicked with the child to actually LISTEN!!! Now, don't get me wrong, it is not always, but I at least know that he CAN do it! HA! His personality is awesome - he is such a ham! He loves to flirt - loves to chase - loves to smile - and loves his blankets (yes, all THREE of them!) We are so blessed to have him in our family and I dare I go so far to say that Riley feels that way too. Yesterday Riley said, "Reed, I love you." And afterwards.... "Hey mom, I think that is the first time I have said that to Reed." Yep, takes a little longer with the guys!!! Here is a sweet picture of our 2 year old. He takes some good pictures on our steps!!! :-)



Eating his birthday cupcakes that were in the formation of a 2!


The traditional "jersey" onesie that the boys wear on their birthday!


And just a blast from the past picture... that seems so very long ago!!!



We got a FUN package from Idaho for the boy's birthdays and I wanted to share the pictures!!! The theme was artsy things - the package was AWESOME, including three different pain ts, markers, paper, a dry erase board, etc. It was so fun to open. Thank you girlies!!!



Check out the cards to Riley - soooo sweet!


We are soooo glad that the girlies are going to be a quick ONE flight away... long weekends HERE WE COME! Today Reed asked if we could go and see SaraKate and Riley chimed in and said, "Yeah, I miss them, let's just go!!!" Ready DD?

happy*BIRTHDAY*dd!

as some of you know, my sister celebrated her birthday yesterday!!! it seems that as we get older, the hype around birthdays dwindles and it just feels like another day... at least the last few birthdays of mine have seemed to just pass by... no trips to mcdonalds for a birthday cake - no going to the skating rink and skating until your hair is wet. not that we WANT that type of celebration, but it's just not the same!

so, i'd like to fill you in on what it's like to have a sister that you dearly love! from the get go i can remember just being in awe of my sister. seriously. if you have ever seen pictures of us when we were young you would know why. she was the prettiest thing you have ever seen! her hair was this beautiful blonde color and mom would curl it sometimes (with sponge curlers that you had to sleep in!) and it would look just perfect. i can remember begging her over and over again if i could just come and sleep in her room on the FLOOR! (now, why would i want to do that when i had a perfectly good bed in my own bedroom???) she was just that cool to me - OH, remember the fun tea parties on the back porch on Meadowlawn? That was fun - was it ok to just wear underwear outside then?

i can remember sharing clothes - and in all we didn't have that many fights about them! i remember styling our hair (especially our BANGS) in that bathroom on Greenwood Drive every morning before school. i remember how we came up with the cool idea to lace a ribbon in the knee hole of one of our favorite pairs of jeans - and of course the ribbon would match our outfit!!! i remember going to numerous basketball games and never once (well, once, when i was sick with strep) did i NOT want to be there. she was good, i tell you, good!!! i remember saying goodbye when she went to college and being so sad because she wasn't going to be around anymore and i knew things would change...

well, little did she know that baby sister was going to follow her to college!!! ha! you know, now that i think about it, i bet that wasn't so cool - to have me follow her there. never ONCE did she show me or tell me that it was silly for me to do that. she welcomed me and even talked me in to rushing the same sorority. all this even while she was still on campus. now, how many sisters do you know, 2 years apart, that would welcome that??? well, she did...

and to this day, there is no one that i would rather have for a next door neighbor. she does love me (and now my kids) unconditionally. she is the sister that all girls would like to have. she loves largely and lately, she has become more "cool" as she strives to be the mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend that god wants her to be. we were raised in church and we do have a solid biblical background; however, there comes a time when you learn to truly listen to god. that ladies, is what it is all about.

so, sister of mine... i love you dearly... and i am so glad that you were born... in our family... first.

ps. that picture is not of us, but it's pretty cute, eh?

Hey guys! I just had to post because two of the boys, Jason and Riley, are at at Monster Truck tractor show and I just think it's funny! Jason just sent me this picture!!!



Doesn't that just make you laugh??? I love it!

While I'm here - we had such a GREAT time in Idaho with DD and the girls. My boys were so SPOILED - over and over and over again. They just LOVE their cousins so very much :-). We took lots of pictures and I posted them on facebook - sure wish there was an easy way to import them here. Well, for all I know, there is an easy way, but I just don't know how to do it. If you do, please leave and note and tell me how!!!

Here are a few...



Reed enjoying stickers on his face!



Sara Kate doing the same! :-)



Sara Kate posing in one of the dresses DD and I used to wear - oh yea, we were stylin'!



Sara Kate and Reed longing to get outside in the snow!!!



Anna B and Riley cuddling in the comfy rocking chair!



The clan watching Tinkerbell, was it??? Oh, and check out that Leigha... for those of you that haven't seen her, she is knock out gorgeous - and her sweet presence is the best. Now, I'm sure she shows some attitude at times, but man, she is such a good buddy to have!!!



And we will end the pictures on a sweet one - we found them this way in the back living room. Riley was "reading" Sara Kate a book!!! Priceless!



I also wanted to ask you all to pray for a sweet family in our life group. The mother of one of our members has been through the treatment for ovarian cancer recently - had a clean bill of health and was trucking right along... until around Christmas. She was having trouble with her bowels and was admitted to the hospital. While there, they removed a large section of her colon and her omentum. Both came back from pathology as cancerous. The doctors have asked her to concentrate on just getting better from the surgery and that they would talk treatment plans after that. So, that is what they have been doing. Yesterday, however, she began getting very nauseous and she started throwing up. She is now at the ER and they are going to admit her because they could not determine what was causing the nauseousness. So, please lift up Lannie in your prayers - she is facing an uphill battle and is very discouraged and wondering if she will ever feel normal again. I KNOW that you all prayed for Ruth while she was in Austria, so I'm asking the same for Lannie. Thanks to you prayer warriors. It sure does make a difference!

Hello all! As most of you know we are in IDAHO! :-) We are having a good time - and we do have some nice snow! We haven't played much in it because the wind is so cold! I promised to post some video of Reed and Sara Kate because their interactions are so sweet. So... here is a clip!

Well, as hard as I tried, I could not get the video to work... so here are a few pictures!

hellooooo!

hello all! it has been quite a bit since i posted last!!! i've been busy reading my sister's blog though - if you haven't read it... do! it's so good! she has been listing all the things that she and her family are thankful for - beginning with the letter A and going through the alphabet! pretty stinkin cool! Click to the left over there and sit down for a spell to read!!!

we have been doing well. jason is still working on that job in sacramento - man, it's a doozie. that's all i want to say about that. riley is enjoying school - his favorite part of the day is playing outside. what else??? :-) reed is growing like a weed and soooo trying to put a complete sentence together. he talks and talks and talks and looks at you like you should understand what he is saying. if i don't understand, i look at riley and he seems to always have the correct interpretation. can someone explain that to me??? :-) priceless!!!

wanted to share a few pictures... the first is a sweet, sweet picture that we took of the boys walking down to the creek. we are longing for a warm enough day to go on an adventure!!!



uncle steve - do you recognize that jersey? it's one you bought for riley when he was reed's age! precious!

this other picture is of riley's FIRST drawing of a stick person. he is just now ENJOYING to sit down and color/write/draw. before he just wanted to cut, cut, cut!!! this was a drawing of his cousin, anna brooke. sorry anna b, you never got it b/c he colored it with a very dark sharpee and you couldn't see the drawing anymore :-(. i was so sad!



that's about it from here. we had a good thanksgiving and we have so very much to be thankful for. i don't know about you all, but we are being bombarded in every direction about how americans (most of us) are so focused on material things. is there a reason that i have about 20 pairs of shoes in my closet? why do the boys have so many toys that we just don't know where to put them all? it's a bit ridiculous, so, we're going to be re-evaluating the way we do things - even a small change would make my heart feel so much better. i pray that god is tugging on your heart - there are so many out there that need a little bit of jesus and perhaps if we aren't trapped by our "things" we could be a better voice...

love you guys!