Pope Benedict's Words

Perhaps you noticed my new quote under the title picture. A friend of mine had it at the bottom of her email and it struck me (probably more than it normally would have since I'm pregnant). It made me remember that bringing a life into the world isn't something that just happens because of us and our plans. This baby is necessary to God's plan and it's an honor for Jeremy and I to be chosen as his parents. It's a lot to think and pray about...

Hmmmm...

The other day Thomas announced that he would be asking Santa for an airplane for Christmas . No problem, sounds easy. I decided I should ask Samuel what he is asking Santa for.

M: Samuel, what are you going to ask Santa for this year?

S: I can't tell you.

M: Why not?

S: It will be a surprise for you on Christmas morning.

Now there is childhood innocence and trust. But maybe I'll have him write a letter to Santa...

Make a Smilebox greeting

Oops!

Samuel finally lost the tooth he's been wiggling for a month! Unfortunately this morning in his half-awake state, he thought he had a rock in his mouth so he threw it in the toilet and it got flushed. So when you notice the hole in his smile just admire it, don't ask about what happened to the tooth! (Also don't mention you read about it here!) He wasn't too upset but he doesn't really want to talk about it. Poor guy.

He's Thankful for...

I believe when Samuel did this project in preschool last year he was thankful for his sister. Thomas is thankful for tractors, maps (so his tractors have somewhere to drive) and Noah's ark (because he likes the animals). Can we say they have different ways of thinking?!

Thomas has been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde lately. Sweet and helpful for a little while and then angry and destructive half an hour later! Please tell me this phase is almost over!

Great Idea!

I'm not sure what website I was on when I found this idea but I was looking up Thanksgiving place cards and I thought it was a great idea! My family kind of has a tradition of making fun place cards for holidays and I volunteered the boys to make them this time. The boys thought of what to be thankful for about each person and Samuel decorated them. We're planning on making turkeys that will hold them, but we'll see if that happens!

Small Successes

1. The cat house is done. We have friends who have been asking us to take some of their kittens off their hands. I'm not overly excited but the mouse population in the house has been too high and the kids are excited. I'm not sure when we're actually getting the cats but since they will be outside only cats and we don't have any outbuildings they needed some place warm to sleep first.

2. I have reinstated my "one big chore a day" plan. I rotate chores so that everything gets done once every two weeks. I was doing pretty well until morning sickness hit & yes, that's been over for months now, but I never got back on track. I've now done my chore (almost) every day for a week & the house looks much better. This is Eggbert. I found him when I cleaned the fridge out. Thomas made him way back during E week (It's now J week) and had a fit when I said we had to throw his "friend" away (his word, not mine) . So we took this picture. May he rest in peace...

3. I got my hair cut. This is more my hairdresser's success but it took me a month to remember to call and set up an appointment so I'm counting it. My hair was way too long. I like it much better again.

4. My desensitization project with Julia is working. She hates for me to mess with her hair and would immediately pull out any bow or rubber band I put in. I, however, hate rats' nest hair and refuse to let her hair look like that. It was getting to the point where it need to be pulled back or cut so every morning for a couple weeks I've fixed her hair. At first it lasted 15 minutes. We're up to about half a day now and she has even asked me to pull it back a couple times. (By pointing to a stray hair tie on the floor and saying "please" as she pats her head.) Doesn't she look cute? :)

I don't know why you can't click on this to make it bigger...
5. We are all well. Please pray that we stay this way for awhile! :)

I've Outdone Myself

So I'm not much of a crafter. If it involves more than construction paper, scissors and glue, forget it. However, since Jeremy had to work most of today and I'm feeling a little short of patience I decided to try this craft (yes, doing a craft when you don't have much patience seems strange but having the kids at the table doing something organized was much better than them running wild around the house!) It only added magazine paper and wooden skewers, which I happened to have, and it turned out really cute! If you want to know how to make it email me. It's not hard but I don't feel like typing the instructions. I got the idea from Family Fun's website. Their instructions were the basket but we have a bunch of unused pumpkins around and it was easier to put the feathers where I wanted them in the pumpkin. I'm very proud of us.

The feathers did look a bit like corndogs!

Yum!

Even Julia enjoyed helping decorate the feathers (and playing with them).

We decorated the backs of the feathers and wrote things we are thankful for on them.

I'm not sure the basket likes being a turkey though,

it may never be the same!

I may be a little too proud of this craft!

Gobble, gobble!

She's Only Got Brothers Part 4

Three of them to be exact!

Fun Day

I seem to have a mysterious disappearing background. I'm not sure why and I also can't change the color of my font right now so when I picked a new background you couldn't see the text because the current color blended in. Whatever... maybe tomorrow my background will be back! It's too time consuming to mess with it much.
Anyway yesterday Samuel got out early because our high school football team was in the playoffs and the played two hours away. So we took advantage of the time by, well, not going to the game. We went into town, we didn't get to see my parents because they are sick (hope you feel better, Mom and Dad) but that made for different adventures.
We went to play at Holmes Lake with the B family. Samuel and Thomas had a blast running around with Clare and Jacob and Julia had fun running around by herself and checking to make sure "Baby" (Emily) was still in her stroller. After the B family went home to make dinner we headed over to the bridge to throw rocks in the lake and look at the ducks. Then we went to a nearby buffet to meet Aunt Beth and her friend Therese. I way underestimated how much time it would take us to eat. We got a table right away but Samuel felt sick (until I realized we forgot to have a snack and he hadn't eaten since his early 10:50 lunch time, once we got some food in him he was fine) and since kids eat free on Tuesday the place was a zoo! After our somewhat chaotic dinner we went to the B family's house for my last Bible Study. We've been meeting for six years but for the last few there have only been three of us in our very well organized and dedicated Bible Study ;) and one lady is moving. She's actually moving closer to Jeremy and I but with kids in school and drive times our 5:30 meeting time was getting harder and harder to make work. Anyway we're thinking about changing to a once a month Rosary group and meeting while kids are in school so we probably aren't quitting forever. The kids played really nicely together and enjoyed the Geo track set. Other people's toys are so fun! The boys have been asking to go on an adventure so we called this one and everyone was happy. :)

Words 2

An update to the Julia Dictionary
mow- more
foo- food
fow- four (I don't know why four, she doesn't know 1, 2 or 3)
stuh- stuck
ta-da-la-lah- ta dah (she adds a little L roll in there)
hel-la-loh- hello (L roll again)
where ___?- she says this with her palms up
ni-ni- night-night
dowa- door (all doors must be closed in her world)
I have also heard her repeat a few words but only one time: ear, eye, Jen, apple

Halloween

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, but I'm not against the kids having fun picking out a costume and doing a little Trick or Treating. Thomas announced about a month ago that he was going to be a combine, confidant in our ability to provide him with a costume. Jeremy found a picture on the Internet, brought home a box and realized, five minutes after starting, that Thomas was way too little to wear it. Luckily we had a diaper box laying around and I raided the cupboard for a few almost empty boxes. I masking taped it together and passed it off to Jeremy for painting and better assembly. As you can see he did an amazing job. When his manager decided everyone should wear costumes to work on Friday Jeremy finished off the big one for himself. It was a hit.

After the complicated combine I lobbied for an easier costume for Samuel. He decided on a spider and attaching four panty hose arms to a black sweat shirt seemed very simple! Julia was a store bought bunny that I borrowed from a friend. When you are too little to have an opinion on your costume Mommy doesn't spend time making one.

We have never taken anyone as little as Julia out Trick or Treating and I don't know why it didn't occur to me to have her stay home but she caught on in about two houses. She was right there at the bowls picking out candy. The first couple houses when we told her to put the candy in her bag she did. Then she realized she was not getting any candy to eat so when we told her to put it in the bag she said "No!" We have decided in the future perhaps 18 month olds should not go Trick or Treating their big siblings can share with them later.

My favorite quote of the night was when a friend of Raleen's asked Thomas "What are you combining? Beans or corn?" "Neither," said Thomas, "I'm combining candy!" You don't need dry weather for that crop!

The kids in their costumes.

(Julia warmed up to the bunny outfit after I took this picture!)Daddy and Thomas combining at work.

Samuel got to try out the combine too.

The kids had fun carving pumpkins at my parents.