One of my favorite things to listen to is the sound of my kids singing (honestly, what parent doesn't enjoy that?), but if you know me at all, you know that, as a musician, one of my desires is that my children have the same love for music that I have found. So it is especially sweet for me to hear them in the back seat of the van singing with the music we're listening to. However, the music choice of the moment is Alvin and the Chipmunks. Not my music of choice but I've heard worse. Another favorite is Magic by Pilot, and I'll be honest, there's nothing cuter than hearing Meredith belt out the chorus with exaggerated vibrato. She learned that from Rapunzel. Also, Natalie is convinced that the Chipmunks are called Chip-monkeys so I'm constantly hearing, "Are those the Chip-monkeys? They're silly monkeys!"

Playing Ketchup (say it out loud)

Much has been happening around the House of Sewell as or late, hence the train there has been no time to update this thing. But I'm thinking about getting my nails did today, so I figured I should update while still able to type.

Ryan's been busy with grad school. That's about it for that, except for a quick opinion from me on it. So far Social Work grad school is like a Philosophy class. They feed you a bunch of garbage that equals to treating people so 'fairly' that you may as well just not talk to them. It's lots-o-political correctness, which is really a new name for racism/ageism/prejudice/etc. So that's all I'll say about that :)

Lts of funnies have been going on the last month or so. A few weeks ago my brother and his family came to visit. Colby kept running outside with his back pack, but we couldn't figure out why. Turns out he had his spiderman costume in it and kept changing into it behind a tree like superman hides in a phone booth to put on his super hero outfit. Yeah, that's my imaginative boy!

Ryan and I got to go to the movies in the middle of the day a few weeks ago. We saw 50/50. It was pretty good.

A couple of weeks ago a previous youth minister and his family came to visit BG and came to the Plano campus for church. His wife and I were pregnant at the same time, along with another friend from church, during 2007 (that's Meredith). All three were in our Kindergarten Sunday School class, so I grabbed them and got a picture. It's Meredith, Callie, and Brady at four years old!



A couple of weekends ago Ryan had class on Saturday so the kids and I packed up and headed to Munfordville for a barbecue competition my uncles were competing in. I have some pics from that!




Meredith gettin' down on some brisket.





Colby wasn't amused.


The brisket.


My cousin Gary holding down that chair like a professional.


There was a pig decorating competition. This was Meredith's favorite.


Nat-nat's too. It ended up winning.


Colby's fave.


Aunt Nell won first in desserts!



We've picked up a new family member. His name is Carlton 'Flint' Lockwood the First. He was living under our back deck and was skin and bones when he showed up, so we bleeding hearts ended up feeding him and he's been around ever since. I like him because he's low maintenance. He can leave for a couple of days, then show up for a while, then head off for another day or two. That's my kind of cat!


Meredith had a field trip to the local orchard with her preschool class, and Natalie and I tagged along.




































Then the next week, the firefighters came to Meredith's school and talked about fire safety. But more importantly, they got to climb in the fire truck, haha!















Last Sunday was Meredith's choir concert. Colby is laying out this year because he's burned out and Natalie is still too young. As usual, Meredith stood on stage and 'showed herself' the entire time, lol!







My good friend Christine and I teach the Kindergarten choir class. This is one of those years that has limited Ks in general, so only one of ours showed up. Since Christine and I (mostly I) like to be on stage, lol, we got up there and sang with her. By far some of the most fun I've had teaching this year, haha! Haley did GREAT!



And this is what happens when someone dares me to do something:



Ryan and I have gotten into fried pickles lately. We ate these.



Hmmmmmm I think that's it for now. Halloween will be up shortly (hopefully) after it happens.

Did I post pictures of Asia?







































In all seriousness, you should know that I love these kids, I mean love them, profoundly, and for those that gave money or, more importantly, prayed for me while I was gone, I cannot thank you enough. My trips to Asia have been one of the most amazing, inspiring, gut-wrenching experiences of my life, and I am so blessed that God gave me the privilege of going to this place and loving on these kids. I can't express accurately in words my feelings and emotions regarding these journeys, but know that I know how blessed I am :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Topics of the Day

This is a brief conversation from earlier on the way to church between Meredith and Natalie.

Meredith: "Natalie, I have a pet zombie."
Nat (with much inflection): "A pet zombie!? That doesn't make any sense!"
Meredith then proceeded to describe our cat, Macy.

Then tonight:
Meredith: "God made us."
Me: "Yep. And some day He'll ask you if he can live in your heart."
Mer: "Not my heart. People can't live in your heart."
Me: "Okay. Well He'll say, 'Meredith, I love you Sooooo much. I want to come stay with you all the time and help you be a good girl. Can I come be with you?"
Mer: "Well, first I'll say, 'Um' and then say... "
Me: "Will you say yes or no?"
Mer: "I'll say, 'If You want to.' And then after a little while I'll say, 'Okay, thanks for coming!' And He'll go back to where He lives."
Me: "In Heaven?"
Mer: "Yeah, Evan."

<3<3<3


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Colby took a shower with his Batman cape on.

Public service announcement over.

I have lots of stories to put on here but no time to do it now. Soon. Very soon.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Colby quote of the day: "I wonder how to make a ninja star."


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Usually I am gung-ho about my kids growing and getting older for the sheer fact that I love who they are and who they are becoming, but for some reason today, I want Colby to stay six for a little longer and hold him in my lap for a little while. Love that boy ♥



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

This morning I accidentally poked Natalie in the eye. I asked her if I needed to kiss it and she said, "No, it's too bad!"

Later, she came back and got under the covers with me. This was the conversation:

N, while rubbing her eye: "You poked me in the eye!"
Me: "Not just now. I did earlier Does it still hurt?"
N: "Yes."
Me: "Natalie, it wasn't even the eye you're rubbing, it was the other one. Did the hurt transfer to the other eye?"
N: "Yes."
Ryan thought that was funny.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Natalie quote from last night: "Mommy, I love chartreuse."

Natalie quote from this morning: "Mommy, I brush your hair. It has cracks in it."


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ryan came carrying my phone into our bedroom and said Natalie had put it in a suitcase. He said she walked into the living room, unzipped a side pocket, put my phone in it, zipped the pocket up, then turned around and walked off. He said he didn't think she knew he was watching her, but was trying not to laugh because she was clearly being sneaky.

Last night Colby and Meredith decided to run away. Here are a couple of posts I made on Facebook while we were living the situation:

"Colby is in the process of running away. His plan is to walk to my parents' house to get his bike, sleep for a while, then bike to Ryan's parents' house in Corbin. I can't stand it, lol!!! It's funny b/c he's not angry, just matter-of-fact about it.

" Lol, we told him bye and let him go outside. Meredith decided she was going too. He had on his batman cape and she wasn't wearing any pants, lol! I told him he had to talk to my mom before he showed up at her house and she kinda discouraged him from it. But he and Meredith headed down the street. And we live in the country, so it's dark out here! Ryan stopped them and suggested waiting until it's morning so they can see where they're going, but he was stopping them before they confronted the two sheep dogs at the end of the road. He came in and said, "When the sun is up, me and Meredith are outta here!" These are my favorite kids E. V. E. R."

I leave for China one week from tomorrow.

Ryan starts grad school in about two weeks.

I am now a Thirty-One Gifts independent consultant. Here's my website: www.mythirtyone.com/vlsewell

I saw the movie "The Help" and highly recommend it. And if you know me, I'm very critical of movies, so if I recommend it, then you should probably see it.

Ryan put a pepsi in the freezer earlier (this story isn't going to go the direction you think it is). he went to get it but it was gone. He confronted Colby and Meredith about taking it and said he knew it was one of them because Natalie was too short to reach the 'threezer' as Meredith calls it. When both denied it, Ryan exclaimed, "Who took my pepsi!?" Natalie piped up and said, "I did." I'm pretty sure she only said that because she had been ruled out as a suspect.

That's about it.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tonight Natalie was playing with a keychain flashlight. She came up to me and told me to open my mouth so she could check it. I opened and she looked in with the flashlight. She asked if I had 'junk' in my mouth (junk is what Ryan says he has in his mouth when he spits) and I said no. She kept checking my mouth which I got tired of so I told her to check my ear. She flashed her light in it and said, "Mommy, you have junk in the ear?" I said I didn't know and asked if I did. She said yes, so to find out if she was telling the truth rather than pretending, she said, "It's orange." So I guess I should probably clean them a little more thoroughly. Ew.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Today Meredith made a bird deeded with a pine comb, peanut butter, and bird seed. It's all she's talked about since I picked her up from school. She told me it was for birds to eat, and birds eat fast, and it doesn't need to get wet because then it'll get yuck, and the bird would say, "Chiiiiiiirp," which is how birds say yuck. She said she needed to hang it up outside and tell the birds not to worry because she was going to bring them food because they're hungry.

So, yeah. I guess she's learning SOMETHING at preschool, lol!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday lunch topic 08/14/11

After lunch conversation:

Meredith: "I have to use the potty."
Ryan: "Grandmother's house is close. Can you hold it?"
M: "Yeah, it's poop. It's easy to hold poop. You just hold it in your bottom."
R: "Okay..."
Colby: "You know what's in your bottom? Poop world!"
M: "No, Colby. Just poop and pee."

How's that for dessert? :-|


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

First days

Well, Colby officially became a first grader this week. But as a failure of a mother, I didn't get his picture. However, Ryan dropped him off at school and has a camera on his phone, so he fails, too. Hey, if I've gotta go down, he's coming with me, haha!

Meredith also started school this week. She was super excited to start this morning! And in a parental win, I got a picture of her before she went into her class!



Natalie came with us for moral support and got her picture taken also.



After school, Meredith's teacher told me that halfway through the day Meredith stated, "I'm tired. I'm ready to go home now." And Meredith wasn't kidding.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone