When They Grow Out of Saying Funny Things...

...my blogs are going to get a lot shorter.  I get such a kick out of things children say. 

Kate recently was learning about the Armor of God.  She was eager to show Natalie her Sword of the Spirit and Shield of Faith crafts.  Natalie said, "Can you make the home plate of righteousness next?" 

At the kids' well checks, the doctor always asks what they want to be when they grow up.  Kate's is coming up, so I was asking her what she was going to say this year.  She said, "A rockstar or a girl dentist.  Boy dentists are mean cause they pull out your teeth."  (Lesson from Natalie)  Last night, out of the blue she said, "When I grow up, I'm going to be a witch!"  Hopefully I have time to steer her towards the "girl dentist" answer prior to next week's check-up. 

Scott just started up piano lessons again.  The sisters were interested too, so Scott said that he was going to start them on some basic lessons at home.  After Kate's first lesson with Instructor Scott, she declared, "That sounds very good.  I'm ready for the recital." 

Much to HIS delight, Jon got a buck and a doe opening morning of deer season.  The meat is now wrapped nicely and sitting in our freezer.  It may be there for awhile.  :/  The kids were a bit apprehensive at first, but quickly warmed up to the dead deer.  Scott came bursting into the house and shouted, "We named them!  We named the doe "Moe" and the buck..."  (a name I can't type here and a name I certainly wasn't expecting to hear my innocent 8 year old cheerfully exclaim.)  We changed his name to Huck.   

In light of that off color story, here's a sweeter one.  I often have Christian music playing.  Lately, Kate's been commenting on the songs after hearing the lyrics.  "Mommy!  This person believes in Jesus!"  (next song...same artist...)  "The person singing this song is a Christian!"  (and so on...) She's done this on several occasions now.  It's wonderful to hear that she's listening to the truths declared in these songs. 

The kids were watching an old home video of toddler Scott and baby Natalie.  Kate noticed she wasn't around yet and said, "When will Kate hatch?"   That hasn't been covered in her preschool curriculum yet.  

 I walked out the other day to shake out some rugs and was an inch away from grabbing the handle to head back in.  I screamed and ran in through the garage.  These things are EVERYWHERE! 

Watching the Election Results Roll In...

Four Years Ago...

Same duo, Same couch...hoping for a different election outcome this time around...

Combine Central & Complaint Control

Over fall break, the kids had the opportunity to ride on a relative's combine during harvest time.  They got to bring home (LOTS OF) soybean pods and shared them with their classmates. 

Yesterday, the farmers harvested the corn next to our house.  We took lots of pictures for Scott since he was at school.  The bare fields now surrounding us has really changed the appearance.  We miss the corn.  You know what they say...good cornstalks make good neighbors...or something like that.  :):)

Scott completed his pumpkin project and is mighty proud of his bunny pumpkin.  I mentioned putting it out for trash day since it will rot, but Scott wasn't quite there yet...guess we'll hang onto it until it starts to smell.  :( 

The first and second graders celebrated the 50th day of school recently.  Natalie dressed in 50's clothes and went to a theater, and Scott tried his hand at bowling.  He was delighted to come home and tell me that they had velcro bowling shoes!!  (Prior to his trip, we had talked about him inventing them someday, but someone must have beat him to it!)

More school fun!

I told the kids we were going to drive the van around the block the other day.  During our mini-excursion, Kate was frustrated and kept saying, "Where's the block?!  I can't see the block!"  The older kids got a kick out of this!

This past week we started a complaining contest in our house.  If you grumble, you get a strike.  The person with the most "strikes" at the end of the week loses.  We have prizes and penalties, as well.  After the end of Day 1 in our game, Natalie said, "This not complaining thing is the hardest thing I've had to do in my entire life."  On Day 2 (and every day since), Natalie has tried to convince me why she needs to drop out of the contest and expressed why she doesn't want to participate in this game anymore.  STRIKE!  

 We (a.k.a. Jon) carved and lit the pumpkin.  Now Kate's ready to move on...

K-A-T-E is F-O-U-R!

Happy Birthday to Kate!  Four years have flown by!  Kate celebrated over a couple of days with a "butterfly-owl-mountain-fat chicken" birthday.  Long story, but the theme kept expanding.  This girl brings so much joy to our family!!!  She gives the best hugs and loves trying to keep up with Scott and Natalie. 

The big kids worked for a long time on a birthday banner for Kate.  They were so excited and woke up early this morning to share in Kate's birthday excitement prior to school. 

 More pictures...

This picture below is hard to see, but it makes me smile so much.  Kate ran down the hallway to meet Chuck E. Cheese as he was coming out of his dressing room.  After giving him a big hug, she then stuck by him like glue...almost tripping him during the dance.  :)  I especially get a big kick out of this since Scott nor Natalie (nor Jon or I) would have ever done this.  I love watching her!

So thankful for the blessing of Kate!

Our Fast Fall Break

We enjoyed Fall Break!  It was an adjustment cramming everything into one week (as we've been spoiled with two weeks off in years past), but the kids had a nice time.  (Minus the dentist appointments, haircuts, flu shots, etc., of course!)   We have three voters for bringing back the flu mist...sketchy effectiveness and all. 

The kids enjoyed some extra fun activities with both sets of grandparents.  This helped to make their week off school (and my week having them off school) even more delightful!

One night, we were having a discussion about marriage and how important it is to marry a godly spouse.  (Shout out to R.K.!)  The kids were asking lots of great questions and got stuck on the topic of what if you thought someone was a Christian, but then you married them and realized that they were just fooling you.  They went on and on with this, and then Natalie let out a big sigh and said, "It would be a whole lot easier if I could just marry Scott."  :)

 Hooray for such a fun time of year!