Kid-isms

*Natalie came up with her own song, "I'm a Sinner" and has been singing it for the past few weeks.  The video doesn't quite do it justice, but here is a sample of her song...

She also started headbanging and added the words, "Rock & Roll Sinner!  Rock & Roll Sinner!" to her song, but we are trying to discourage that.  Eek!  Jon wonders what I teach her when he's away at work, but I promise, it wasn't from me.  

*Kate got such a kick out of her first time in the outdoor swing.  She giggled each time she would swing past Scott.  There he is.  There he is again.  There he is again...

*Scott and Natalie often have a contest to see who can buckle their seatbelt the fastest.  When Scott wins, Natalie will say, "We're both winners!"  When Natalie wins, she loudly boasts to Scott, "You got beated by your sister!"

*The other day we were headed out the door, and Natalie had slipped on her boots.  I said, "Natalie, do you have any socks under those boots?"  She replied, "I can't find my socks.  I'm wearing feet instead."

*Natalie was whining like crazy this morning.  Everything was wrong.  At one point, she said, "My right ear is hot, and my left ear is cold!"  I guess we all have days like this.  

*We had a little ant problem in our mud room last week.  It's a bad sign when your kids are assigning names to the ants.  At one point, Natalie came to me and said, "Mommy!  An ant went under the rug and I said, 'OH GRACIOUS!'" 

 *Natalie was playing in the living room the other day, then jumped up and exclaimed, "OH!  I'm having a bad mood."  She then ran to her room, closed the door, and emerged about 30 seconds later and informed me that she was not in a bad mood anymore. If this is 2, what will her teen years be like?!

*After a field trip to the men's restroom with Jon and Scott, Natalie came out and announced, "When I get bigger, I'm going to use a urinal!"

*We have a high kitchen counter with bar stools, so Scott needs a booster on his stool to reach.  The other day, Scott's booster seat was getting close to the edge of the bar stool.  In all seriousness, Scott said, "I feel a little bit dangerous."  It seemed especially funny coming from him.

*Scott was talking about Jesus living inside of him now, and Natalie asked, "Is God in my tummy, too?"

*I overheard the kids "baby-sitting" Kate while she was playing in her crib.  Natalie was leaving Scott and giving him some instructions.  She said, "You stay with Kate.  Pet her like a little cat.  If she cries, get her and say I love you." 

*After pretending to read a book, Natalie declared, "I learned-ed to read!"

*Me:  Natalie, never do that again!
Natalie:  I'm sorry, Mommy.  I forgive you.

*Last week I said to Natalie, "Let's get your shoes and socks!"  She whined, "But I want to stay in my beautiful toes!"

*Scott and I were doing a worksheet on which he was supposed to identify a rhombus.  Scott said, "That looks like a diamond to me.  Is rhombus the Spanish word for diamond?"

Kids are funny!

Playground by the numbers

When the warmer temps moved in, I started to price new playgrounds.  Not liking what I saw, I turned to trusty old Craigslist to find us a bargain.  Jon agreed to go pick it up and arrived to find a large pile of wood, no instructions, and some broken lumber and hardware...but it was a "good" deal, mind you.  :)  Since Jon is the handy type, I had no doubt that he would be able to whip this into something that the kids could enjoy this spring & summer.   As usual, I was impressed by his work and the end result.

The number breakdown

 
Dollars spent to buy off of Craigslist- 150
Times I told the kids to be careful during the construction process- 24
Hours to reconstruct- 6
Times the kids asked, "Can we play on it yet?" while it was still being assembled-32
Times that day Jon said, "Thank you honey for buying this!"- 0
Times down slide upon completion (Jon likened it to Crossfit)- 1,000
Splinters-1
Energy expelled by kids leading to earlier bedtimes- priceless

Crossfit

Most mornings before work, Jon will do one of his "Crossfit" workouts in the basement.  I tried Crossfit with him once...ouch.  The kids however are always eager to participate and look forward to getting in their exercise time with Daddy. 

 

 Big Muscles...  

Box Jumps...

Jump Rope...

Bar dips...

 Pull-Ups...

Kate jumping off some chub...

 Sit Ups...

 

Rings...

 

Notice Scott's grimace of pain below...all while having his feet securely planted on the stepstool.  At least he has the workout expressions figured out! 

(Future blackmail material written all over that one.)

A Big Decision

A few months ago, we implemented dinnertime devotions.  The kids love it, and rarely let me forget.  They sometimes request breakfast and lunchtime devotions too...and since it's hard to say, "No, I won't read you the Bible!"- I often oblige.  For the past few weeks, Scott has been asking when we would get to the Jesus dying on the cross story.  "How many more days?  How many more stories to go?"  Perhaps I should have skipped ahead and read it to him, but my Type A tendency told him he'd have to wait.  He came home from church a couple of weeks ago and excitedly told me that he'd learned about Jesus getting ready to die on the cross.  He then came home from Grammy's one day and bragged that she had read to him about Jesus dying on the cross.  I also found him on more than one occasion looking in various children's Bibles for the story. 

This past Sunday, we stayed home from church since Scott had been a bit under the weather over the weekend.  The kids requested breakfast AND lunch time devotions that day, and Scott was very aware that the more we read, the quicker we'd get to the cross story.  I read a couple of extra stories and at last, we got to the much anticipated one.  I watched him out of the corner of my eye as I read.  He had stopped eating his lunch, was frozen, and was taking in every word.  He asked at the end of the story if the Holy Spirit lived in him.  Scott expressed his desire to make the decision to trust in Jesus as His Savior.  He acknowledged that he sins and that this makes him a sinner.  He believed that Christ could forgive him of his sins because of His death on the cross.  Scott then prayed with Jon and asked Christ to be his personal Savior.  What a blessing and answer to many prayers!  I am also thankful that our entire little family was there, gathered around the counter, to be part of Scott's coming to saving faith.  At four years of age, we realize that Scott may not have all of the answers or understand all of the terminology, but he sincerely saw his need and wanted what Christ had to offer.  Praise the Lord!  

For God so loved Scott, that He gave his one and only Son, that if Scott believes in Him, Scott shall not perish, but will have eternal life.  (John 3:16)

To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. -John 1:12


And finally, here's Scott rendition of an Easter classic.  (We'll encourage him to keep searching for his spiritual gift.)

Hopping into Spring?!

Rules to Live By

1.  Allow garage door to rise completely before putting van in reverse.

2.  Make sure your two year old is wearing something under her pants prior to reaching your destination.

3.  Do not start your six-day Bible study at 9:00 p.m. on the night before the study.

4.  If rule #3 is neglected, DO NOT change into your pajamas first and curl up under a warm blanket before starting on the questions. 

(Oops, OOPS, oops, and oOpS!  Live and learn.)

Scott and Natalie's video debut

Here the kids are singing "Fifty Nifty United States"...the song that has plagued our van, living room, bathtub, and bedroom for the past couple of weeks...

Scott

Natalie