Watch Out Julia

Watch out Julia Child's! Here comes L!!!

One Friday L told me she wanted to make Sunday dinner and she was going to make soup. The next day she mentioned something again and said she wanted to go to Farmers Market for vegetables. I needed eggs anyway so we headed out and also stopped by Meijer. L was VERY particular about her produce purchases. Including $4 tomatoes that she insisted on having because of their color and size. After home church L set to work(with a little help). She had carrots, potatoes, green peppers, onions, and very expensive tomatoes along with shredded chicken, stock, and noodles. Earlier I had a talk with J and B to let them know what was going on and that we needed to be very excited about the end result. I also promised there would be sandwiches and bread and dip. Can you tell that I wasn't expecting to add this into my regular meal plan? When the time came L dished everyone up and.....IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!!!! Even B liked it despite so many veggies. L is our veggie kid after all! I told her we would call it L's Farmer's Market Soup. I think I may let her loose in the kitchen more often to see what new creations unfold!

How To Eat a S'More

Step 1: Remove shirt if you are under 2 1/2 feet tall. If over, just be careful. Melted chocolate stains!!!

Step 2: Check out all the ingredients and find the chocolate. It's by far the best one.

Step 3: While eating the chocolate half stick the marshmallow half to your stomach so you don't lose it and so no one else steals it. Something about marshmallow goo all over your stomach makes it unappetizing to others.

Step 4: Don't worry about the mess. It is well worth it. And look, you now have a little snack stuck to your stomach for later. Perfect!!!

Excitement

So we as a family do not celebrate Halloween but the excitement leading up to going to the pumpkin patch is always great. This is one of L's favorite things to do all year! Which is kind of funny considering we are normally there for 10 minutes total. She started asking about pumpkins in July!!!

L found this cute little pumpkin as soon as we jumped out of the van and H fell in love with it. I tried to get her to look around a little more but she wouldn't leave "her" pumpkin so H never made it 10 feet past the van.

"What is taking those guys so long?"

After the pumpkin patch we brought back Chick-Fil-A for dinner and then made S'Mores in our bedroom fireplace. We finished up with some Bible trivia and then it was off to bed.

Another fun Family Night!!!

New Wheels

I love sunny, beautiful fall days. Unfortunately this fall hasn't produced as many of them as I would like. Anytime the sun peeks out from behind the clouds though you will find us outside. The kids have been enjoying their new wheels.

This summer L mastered a two wheeler. You can now find her zipping around the circle while giving mommy a heart attack. She taught herself in one day and fell countless times but you know L. She is as strong willed as they come and would not give up.

B has been learning how to skateboard.

H loves hanging out in the wagon.

Even little O joined in on the fun when she was with us and enjoyed hanging out in a stroller.

Now I'm sure daddy would love to join in the fun of having new wheels but the kind of new wheels he's looking at cost a tad bit more. Does anyone else agree that a sports car is not an ideal set of wheels when you have three kids and who knows how many more to come? J says it can be our date night car. Fun...yes! Practical.....hmmm?

18 Months!!!

I really can't believe H is 18 months already!!! I wasn't planning on posting this today but after the H day I've had it seemed appropriate. She is still a laid back child but she has MOST definitely found her opinion and will. Today we started out with her first Mommy and Me gymnastics class. She was very excited as we were getting ready to go. This is after all at the same place where big sister goes. It is basically just an open gym for this age. She did well and took all of her surroundings in like she always does. I'm wondering if she will be one of those photographic memory kind of people. Even the teacher was laughing at how she would look at every single person and object so intently. She loved the big slide and walking down the long tumble trampoline. She even tried a couple of small jumps on it. I think she is catching up more and more every day. When you see the other kids her age in the class you can tell she has a little more catching up to do but I'm sure by the time she turns 2 she'll do it. There are some areas though that she is extremely advanced and that is also very obvious. Oh and did I mention she is talking up a storm and very expressive. Today I'm pretty sure I heard her calling "Mommy!" about a thousand times and that is not an exaggeration. (Please note the exclamation point on the end as that is very critical.) She also did a couple of laps around the cul-de-sac with me and was very concerned that the leaves were falling off the trees. She loved trying to catch leaves as they were falling with B and L. J and I comment each day at how funny she is. We aren't sure if she is our funniest child or if it's because she has older ones to imitate which is hysterical. When she decided she didn't like her pulled beef sandwich for dinner tonight she fed part of it to the dog. Did I mention that Mosheh becomes more fond of H by the day? Then for the ultimate "my baby is not a baby anymore but is now a toddler" sign. H threw her first all out temper tantrum!!! After her bath......and after I wrestled her into her pajamas......after I finally caught her running around upstairs naked it happened. I'm still not quite sure what she was so upset about. Perhaps it was the fact I put an end to the streaking party. She was screaming and throwing herself down for a good ten minutes. I held her in my lap and told her she was not going anywhere until she calmed down. Finally after ten minutes with no sign of self-control and calming down I called J up and he held her. H calmed down within two minutes and we talked about how we don't behave that way and then she was off to say goodnight to brother and sister like nothing happened. Ahh the joys of toddler training and discipline.

Playmate

So a couple of weeks ago when cute little O came to spend some days with us it was clear that all H needs is a playmate. School went so smooth those couple of days since H was distracted and not constantly trying to steal the kids books away so she could have a turn. The schoolroom was officially moved this weekend and things are now going much better. More on that along with pics. later.

H and O playing so nicely together.

The one day when we went on that insane field trip I had many people thinking they were twins. I could not understand this since they are 8 months apart, have different color hair, eyes, etc.. When I took this pic though I could see why people might think that. They are close in size! H still has an inch on her though.

However, when H decided she was going to pick on one of the older ones and steal their books she now had her own little sidekick.

Celebrating and Missing Daddy

So it is really hard to believe that the last fall feast is over. Where is the days, weeks, and months going?!?! For Tabernacles we set up our "pop-up" Sukkot in the living room and had a few dinners and family Bible times in it. It was snug and cozy when you try to feed a family of five in there. Ahhh, great memories! We also had cupcakes to celebrate Jesus's birth. L enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to Him.

The day after celebrating J left for L.A. for a conference. L had a really hard time with this and cried on and off all day on Sunday and then randomly throughout the week. J used to travel so much but I soon realized that L was too little to remember those days. I try to completely change the schedule up when J is away. It seems like the kids and I handle things better that way. After we left the airport we headed back to the zoo. I had promised the kids one train ride this year and I thought this would be the perfect distraction. It was a gloomy day and I was REALLY worried the train wouldn't be running. Praise the Lord it was!!! I did not have a back up plan!!!

The kids love riding the train. They were especially excited about getting to ride in the caboose facing backwards.

H can't wait for the ride to begin.

After the train we went to see if the tiger was up. Even though there is that piece of glass there I always take a step back when he comes right up to the window! That is a big cat! H has absolutely no fear when it comes to animals.

When we went over to the white tiger he was happily resting but as soon as I set H down by the window he jumped up and came over. Mmmmm midday snack.

We survived J being gone and were all happy to see him when he came home.

Are You Ready.....

Are you ready............

.....for some FOOTBALL?!?!

Any Questions?

This is B.

This is B with allergies.

Any questions???

We are praying that allergies start to let up soon with the freezes we're having at night. The kids attention span's seem to go down at least 50% during allergy season. It has made for some great cuddle up and read moments though. I guess that is the best way to learn when feeling under the weather.

We Are Family

Is this not just the cutest bunch you've ever seen? I LOVE this picture and still think it's a miracle it turned out so well. You would never know that just minutes before it was total mayhem. I always wish at these "appear to be the perfect children posing for the perfect picture" times there would be a video camera rolling to capture that mayhem. It would make for a great laugh. I do think this bunch is pretty darn near perfect but I may be a little bias.

H was absolutely obsessed with baby C and wanted to be holding him constantly.

While all the guys played some disc golf the girls and the kids played at the playground one day.

Some of us didn't have enough energy for the entire visit.

While others made up for it.

B is not only a great big brother but he has taken on the responsibility as oldest cousin quite well. While at the playground he reminded me of a herding dog rounding up his sheep. I'm not quite sure what we would do without him.

Instilling a Love for Nature Pt.2

One of the favorite activities to do at the cottage is to go fishing. Now normally this is a daddy activity. I don't mind fishing but I do not, can not , and will not put worms on hooks or take fish off of hooks. Before we left daddy gave B a quick review of the proper fishing procedures. Even though I knew B knew what to do I wasn't convinced he would be able to do everything all by himself. So I'm ashamed to say that while the kids fished I was praying that they wouldn't catch anything.

While the kids fished I read them some science and history.

B was all ready. They didn't catch anything..whew..but it was a relaxing way to spend an hour.

And this is what happens when you forget to hold on to your pole when casting out. Thankfully big brother went in the lake to retrieve it. Um...or maybe I should say L got her pole back after B said it was too cold but mommy lowered him down anyway because it was COLD and there was no way she was getting in and then she didn't pull him back out until the pole was retrieved. B is such a good sport.

Instilling a Love of Nature Pt1.

So I am not an all out nature lover. I love to be out in nature but I have my limit. I will go camping for a day or two but I then need a nice, warm bed. I don't look at camping as a vacation. Beach is vacation!!! My kids love being outside but they too do not like bugs and other creepy, crawly things. I'm trying to get past my own fears so I don't pass them on to my children so they can enjoy God's creation around them.

B and L climbing up the sky-trail stairs. These stairs pretty much did me in considering I was carrying H in the carrier. This is the best workout!

Checking out the dam.

H loved looking into the river at the fishies.

The kids were so excited to find this Mama and baby sunning on a rock. There were two more babies not to far away.

See I like nature....as long as it's not touching me!

See Ya Later

Have I mentioned how much I love our homeschool co-op? I LOVE IT!!! The kids have learned so much and have made some great friends. B and L's best friends were actually siblings which was great. Unfortunately they moved to Fort Wayne a couple of weeks ago. Their mom is also pregnant with twins so for the next couple of months they have Dr's orders to stay in their house to avoid sickness. We met at a McDonald's so the kids could play one more time before they moved and go on "House Arrest".

B and M are two great boys who can relate to having little sisters to protect.

L and R were inseparable at co-op. In fact, R was how I would get L to go into her class. They could normally be found holding hands and telling secrets in the halls. They were precious!

Here's a picture with a couple more of M and R's siblings. Oh there are 4 more older ones not in the picture not including the upcoming twins. We love this family and will stay in touch through email and get together when we can. B and L were sad to say good bye but I told them we would see them again. So it was more like "See ya later!".

Celebrating Megan's Life

The kids and I just got back from the service to celebrate Megan's life. It was beautiful, meaningful, sad and joyous all at the same time. Megan touched many lives and I'm sure the people present both last night and today is only a small fraction of that group. God was most definitely glorified through all of this and His name was lifted up. I know that Megan will continue to touch lives through her family's strength and confidence that she is now with the Lord and they will one day see each other again.

I'm praying that the next week will be healing for Ken, Lori, and Monica as they get away together. I know that there will be definite times of grieving but I pray for times of laughter, fun, and relaxing as well. We will continue to lift them up in prayers during this difficult transition.

Thankfully a friend offered to watch the kids in one of the nursery rooms. I gave B the option of coming in with me but after days of prayer and thinking about it he decided he would rather not. We talked a lot about it and I respected his reasons for staying with the girls. J unfortunately is still out of town but he REALLY wanted to come home and almost jumped on a plane at 1am to be back in time.

Instilling a Sense of Adventure

Oh I'm missing our weekly beach nights! It's always hard to find fun activities to do through the winter for Family Night. What can I say, we're beach bums all the way!!! So our last beach night was quite an adventure. We had heard of a beach where we could take Mosheh with us. It took us FOREVER to find it but it was worth it. We thought we found it only to climb up this STEEP sand dune and find woods on the other side. We were looking for the lake!

I wish I could have snapped a picture of J and Mosheh running down the dune. I was laughing too hard. Sand was flying everywhere.

We drove around a little more and we found it. Just to see a beautiful sunset. I think this was one of the prettiest Lake Michigan beaches I've seen.

Yes we have become those people who like to take their dog with them places. If he's with us he can't be getting on the couch at home. That's another post.

The waves were huge! We let the kids go in up to their ankles.

It was REALLY cold but that never stops the kids on beach day.

Mosheh worked on his tan.

I hope our kids are liking when we go on adventures. Any time we are lost or going to do something new we call it an "Adventure". I hope my kids will learn that God takes us on "Adventures" in life and how we respond to them is up to us. L is always up for an adventure(as long as she's rested). B loves our adventures too but he sometimes has reservations when it pushes him out of his comfort zone. He likes to feel in control. I have no idea where he gets that from!