Kidlet Hilarity #13

The kids have been hilarious lately!! And I've been so busy, I haven't even had a chance to write them down! So buckle up, here we go! :)

One day as I was feeling a little discouraged about how few 'fun' things I'd been doing with the kids in school lately, we were getting ready to start a project, and Z piped up happily, "We have a lot of activities here at the Hart's house!". That was a great encouragement to me - we're making memories at least!! :)

Davey says a few new words now - haaaaa for hot, boooo for book, MINE is a favorite, he still says UT for up, usually in the context of  "Ut. Ut. UT. UUUUUUUUT!!!", and Da-do for doggy, and I think a few others. :)  It's so cute!!  He also loves to climb up on EVERYTHING, and he is for sure my 'class clown' - he's always walking around with something on his head trying to make everyone laugh. :)

Davey and Natalie are great friends, it is so fun to watch them play together. :)  He growls at her, and then she calls him "scary baby" and they giggle. :)

One day, as we were driving somewhere, Z asked Joel a question.  After he heard the answer he asked, "Is there a specific reason why?"  The next day, walking up the driveway, James had dug a trench to keep our driveway intact over the winter.  Z got to looking at it and saw that it stopped about halfway up the driveway.  He said, "Look, the trench stops in a specific place. Why?" Love those big words!

Zachary saw a poster at the library about a parade.  "OH!", he said, "We have a parade on Mememoral Day!" Everyone in the library was cracking up. :)

Speaking of cracking up, we were chatting at McDonald's over ice cream yesterday, and I told him what I had overheard from his bedroom before he and Natalie got up (they're not allowed to leave their room till 7 am).  I had heard Natalie sneeze and then Zachary responded, "Ex-sneeze you!" I thought this was hilarious, and told him so, then every few minutes one of us would say, "Ex-sneeze you!" and he was laughing so hard at one point, he almost dropped his ice cream cone.  "You're cracking me UP!", he giggled. :)

Davey likes to climb, as I mentioned.  So when we go to the park with the BIG metal slide, this can get interesting - while I push the other two on the swings (they don't have any baby swings at this park), I have to periodically run to grab him off the 4th or 5th step.  One day during this production, Natalie yelled at David, "Davey! Get down off the labber!!"

One morning Zachary was pretending to be Daddy.  I was wondering what he would say, as he was talking to Natalie.  He said, "I'm Daddy, and I'm home! Natalie, I'm so excited to see you!!"  :)  I'm thankful that's what they hear from their Daddy. :)

Natalie loves to call her brothers her friends!! One day she came up and said, "My friend wants to go outside."  I said, "Oh, who's your friend?"  She responded, "David." :)  I hope they'll be friends for life!!  Another day she was talking about her MOPS class - she and Z are in the same class this year, which has been really fun for them.  She said, "My brother is my friend at MOPS." :)

Z made up this song about Davey:  "David is so cute, as cute as can be. David is so cute, as you can see. (and repeat)"

Z has been talking about dying a few times lately, too.  One day as we were sitting on the couch, he randomly said, "I'm afraid to die because it will be so surprising.  Like maybe I will be playing on the floor or working in the garden.  It will be very surprising."  Another day he came out with, "I hope I die before I turn eleven."  I said, "What? Why?"  His response: "Because then I won't have to get my shots."  (He is very excited that he doesn't have to have any more immunizations until he turns 11. Apparently he is already dreading them, though.)

While playing Mario Kart, Z came up with this gem of wisdom: "Diddy King is Donkey Kong's son or nephew or something." :)

Nat was singing loudly in her bed one morning (before 7:00).  When she came out, I asked her to sing more quietly next time, and she responded, "I was worshipping!!"  I couldn't think of what to say to that!! :)

As Joel was teasing Zachary one day, he responded with, (totally joking, not disrespectfully) "Stop this nonsense!"

Natalie sat down at the piano, grabbed If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, put it where the music goes, and began to sing, "A mouse gets a cookie, he wants some milk milk, and two plus two, two plus two."

One day Joel and I were talking in another room and Natalie needed help with something.  She started to call, "Help! Anybody? I need some help! Anybody?" :)

Natalie says 'choke' for joke - she loves to tell 'chokes'. :)  She said, "Dis was my choke - I said, "Put my clothes in the diaper pail, and my diaper down the laundry chute."  Dat was just a choke."  :)

Natalie and Z were racing in the hall one day, and apparently Natalie won one of the races, because I heard Zachary telling her, "Well, Natalie, the first shall be last." :)

Natalie asked to sit on my lap one day, but then got down, grabbed a purse and came to sit next to me on the couch.  "Don't you want to sit on my lap?", I asked.  "No, I'm a mommy. I'm a different mommy. Mommies don't sit on laps.", she said.  She loves to pretend she's a mommy - one of my friends - she always says she's not me, she's a 'different mommy'. :)  She is such a sweet little mama to her dolls & bears and Davey and any other baby-like thing or person she can possibly mother. :)  I can't believe she will be THREE on Saturday!! Three always seems like such a big number! :) But she is definitely allowing her personality to emerge lately - OH, the personality. :)  She loves to be silly and funny and make everyone laugh, too. :)

Zachary is just such a big boy.  He is finally in a very independent (in a GOOD way) stage, and wanting to do a lot for himself!  This week at MOPS, I made up name tags and labeled bags and sippy cups and dropped David off, and got Natalie's name tag on and sent her to her class.  I made up a name tag for Z, went down to his classroom, and found him there, coat and umbrella hung up on hooks, with a name tag already on his shirt - he had even written his own name!! Color me impressed! :)  So nice to have such a BIG boy to help me out! :)  He loved sharing his new umbrella with Natalie, too, and he has been so excited to have rain the last couple of days so he could use it outside. :)

Also - Zachary's newest development - at only five years and two weeks old, he lost his first tooth!! Now, Zachary is the kind of person for which anything medical is a BIG DEAL - remember, he wants to die before he has to get shots??  And he had not mentioned a tooth wiggling or anything, and when it came out, he didn't even cry! He just calmly said to Daddy (I was downstairs), "I think I'm missing a tooth", and then they found it on the rug.  They were in the midst of playing football/wrestling, which prompted me to ask, "What happened??" but Joel said he wasn't near him when it happened, and Z didn't cry at all, so I can't imagine that it got knocked out, I think it just fell out!!  I really wanted to cry when I found out because it seems like OLD kids lose teeth - not my BABY ZACHARY!!!!

We're doing some fun stuff for school this month - a relaxed Christmas unit - by relaxed I mean, we've had SO MUCH else going on that I think we've had school three days (and not even full days) in the last two weeks??  But we have been learning together and our activities have been fun. :)  Natalie is through the letter L in her letter of the week preschool curriculum, and Zachary has finished seven two-week units of Five In A Row, which we are still loving!! I'm learning how to plan better, and what kinds of activities we enjoy and learn from the most.  The one adjustment I'm in the middle of making right now is that Davey (who will be 17 months next week!) has transitioned to only taking one nap a day - it's in the afternoon, at the same time as Nat's nap and Z's quiet time.  Which is great - I get about an hour to work around the house, relax, or prepare dinner!  But it also means that Davey joins us for school now in the mornings (insert scream of terror here).  He is into everrrrything, coloring on the table, climbing on things, screaming "Ut UUUUUUT!" at me while I'm trying to work through math problems with Z.....plus we can't do activities like marbles and certain other small motor things any more (which Nat enjoys, and she naps longer than he does, at the same time) since Davey puts everything in his mouth.  If anyone has any tips on keeping one-year-olds busy during homeschool times, I would reeeeally appreciate it!! :)

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!! I can't wait to relax at home with our family all day Monday & Tuesday!!! :)

Kidlet Hilarity #12

When the kids were playing one day, Zachary kept saying that they were going to "Jimmy Dean's Pizza".  And then he decided to order "superb - you know, the kind with everything on it." Lol!!  I just love to listen to them play together, the things they come up with and their interactions are just so hilarious. :)

One morning I told the kids they could have a 'jammie day', which we rarely have, and Z used to beg me for jammie days every day!! But this time he said, "I used to love jammie days, but now I'm not a fan of them."  Okayyyy... :)

One morning while I was loading the dishwasher or something, Zachary asked me, "Mom, can you stop that silly working and just play with us?"  :)

David is joining the ranks of the talkers now...he yells UT UT UT when he wants you to pick him up (or sometimes just UH UH UH, whatever he's in the mood for. :)  And when I ask him if he wants a spanking, he shakes his head and says, "Uh-uh" very emphatically.  Sometimes I do it just for fun, because it's cute....such a mean mom. :)  And sometimes he says uh-uh no matter what I ask him. :)

Zachary went through a week or so phase where anytime something didn't go his way, he would say, "Aw, shucks."  It was so adorable!  He also was looking around one day and said, "I spy a book we have, and I want to read it."

When Natalie does my hair, she leans over to my face and says, "Shhh. Don't talk."  Maybe I move my head when I talk?

Natalie loves to tell you all about herself now.  Her favorite color is purple usually, but sometimes yellow. :)  One day at dinner she told me, "I like monkeys.  And pigs.  I like pigs.  Did you know that?"  I did not.

One day when Davey was supposed to be taking his nap, he was instead calling for, "Bubba, bubba, bubba!"

When we were out somewhere I asked Zachary if he wanted to go home and have lunch (to get him moving), and he responded, "I guess so."

One day I went to grab something for school and when I came back down to the schoolroom, Z was reading a book about Jonah to Natalie in the tent.  After reading a little, he commented to Natalie, "God always finds us wherever we are, right, Natalie?"  And she answered, "Yeah! I might find you, scare you like dis- boo!"  Lol!!

One night I asked Natalie to sit still and focus on eating, and a minute later she was sitting backwards in her chair singing, "Focus! Fooooocus!  Focuuuus!"  Fundamental misunderstanding of the word focus.... :)

Natalie can be really picky about her food (though we are making headway on getting her to eat two bites of most things now), but there are so many times when she isn't eating her dinner and turns to Davey and says things like, "Just eat dat." or "Eat your food."  She also tells him to "Obey God." when she wants him to stop doing something that annoys her, as in, "No, Davey, don't touch my toy. Obey God."  She may have herself confused with God.... :)

As Natalie went out the door one day, she turned to my dad (when my parents were visiting), and said, "Don't forget to text me!"  Wonder where she heard that...  She also told him, "Exactly!  That's exactly right!"  when he was trying to play a game with her and did it the way she expected. :)

One morning when my dad was talking with Natalie on the couch, she was showing him a purse she was playing with.  She was saying, "I have dis purse.  Dis was Mommy's purse but she got a new one so she gave me dis one to play with.  Mommy is my friend. I have a good Mommy."  So sweet!!

I made a chore chart for the kids recently and when I sat the kids down and started sharing the idea with them, I told Natalie that her first chore would be throwing the laundry down the chute for me (I thought she'd be excited!), but she looked at me and laughingly said, "Mama, I'm not the mommy!"

I made the kids a button board to practice buttoning and was trying to explain to Z that it would build strong small muscles in his hands.  Later that day I handed him a bag to carry inside for me, and he said, "I can carry this. I'm strong because of my buttoning." :)

Natalie brought me her bear and asked me to babysit for her.  "I have go to a meeting and talk with my friends.  I have take shower before I go," she said. :)

Nat told Z, "Don't talk with your mouth fooding."

I made sweet potatoes (which I LOVE) for the kids recently, with brown sugar, mmmmm.  I was astounded that they HATED them.  Zachary said, "Well, Mom, everybody likes different things."  I said, "But sweet potatoes are delicious!"  His response?  "That's to YOU, Mom." :)  LOL!!

Natalie says 'nut' instead of knot - I think it is so hilarious - one day she was going on and on about a lacing string having a 'nut' in it, and I was laughing every time!! :)

Zachary was talking about foods that he likes, and he said proudly, "I'm just like Daddy."  They definitely all look up to Daddy and love him so much!! :)

Joel was trying to explain to the kids why he had to be gone for work for a week, and he sat down and talked with Zachary about it.  Zachary's first response was, "Who will I play Wii with?" and then he decided that I would do.  Then he said, "Oh, Dad, save the job for Greg."  Where that came from, I don't know, but I thought it was hilarious. :)

Zachary came waddling into Davey's room tonight as I was getting Davey ready for bath, with his pants around his knees and shoes still on, and said, "Mom, what should I take off first, my pants or my shoes? I need a clue."  I think the fact that your pants won't fit over your shoes will be a clue.... :)

We met my friend and her 20-month-old son at a PlayPlace today and he was a little upset when she left to order their food.  Natalie stayed right with him, and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Your Mommy will be right back. She's getting some food. She be back. Let's play."  It was so sweet!!!

We are enjoying a little slower fall schedule, though we're still busy!!  Actually it feels like the last month has been crazy but I couldn't say exactly what we've been doing!  We're looking forward to a couple of slower months at camp and more time with Daddy at home over the holidays, though. :)  Preschool is going well - we'll be finishing letter J tomorrow (for Natalie), and Zachary will be finishing his fifth unit in Five in a Row - we're finishing up Mike Mulligan by Virginia Lee Burton tomorrow. :)  I'd love to post more about school, but I had to let go of that in order to actually do a good job raising my kids and teaching them school. :)  So I take a few pictures of school activities when I can and share ideas and resources whenever anybody asks me. :)

Kidlet Hilarity #11

Natalie is talking a TON lately!!  We can usually understand what she's saying, but not always.  One day after she had tried repeatedly to tell us something, Zachary said, "I think Natalie's speaking another language."

One day after church, Zachary was asking if he would get a treat since he obeyed in Sunday School.  Joel said he would have to think about it.  Zachary responded, "I think having a treat would be the yummier choice." Then he laughed this little silly laugh, like he was laughing at his own joke. :)

One day Natalie was eating a sucker and a fly was bothering her.  She said, "Little bee, you can't get on my sucker, babe!"  She has called a few other people 'babe' since then, too, I think it's so funny. :) 

David is walking well now, but he still falls down ALL the time (I know, it's a stage, hope for his sake it doesn't last too long!).  One day when he had fallen down several times, Zachary commented, "David is getting a lot of injuries today."

One day when Natalie was the one who got hurt, Zachary said, "I'm glad it wasn't me!"  Nothing like sibling love and compassion...

Natalie was standing in the pantry and I said, "Natalie, come here!"  She came out and responded, "What's up?" :)

Nat also says all kinds of hilarious sentences now. :)  She likes to tell stories, mostly about the time she went underwater in the camp pond, or the time she fell down in the driveway and hurt her knee.  The phrase, "really hard" is another one she uses all the time.  One day she told me, "I have a eedea (idea) in my pocket. I have a bouncy ball in my other pocket."

We all had colds last week, and one morning I woke up without a voice! :(  Natalie was confused about why I was whispering, and I told her that I didn't have my voice.  She looked at me like I had two heads and said, "You forgot put yours voice on?"

Natalie and Davey were having so much fun peeking at each other through a hole in a paintball course obstacle. Natalie shook her head and said, "My baby brother is funny." :)

Natalie sets up tea parties for her and Zachary occasionally, it is so fun.  One day after they had 'eaten', I heard Natalie saying to Zachary, "Are you all done yet? Okay, go play." 

She is quite the little mother - especially to Davey - one day he got the remote, and she said, "Davey, don't play with the remote, that's a disobeyin!"

In the bath one night, Natalie was talking about school. "Zachary is in Pre-K, and I am in preschool, and I learn bout apple pie, and I like Davey..." :)

I sat down for lunch with a salad - one of the mixes that has all different greens in it - and Natalie stared at me and said, "Are you eating grass??" :)

Z and Nat were playing on the porch, some kind of 'house' game, and Natalie wanted to drive.  Zachary informed her, "No, I'm the Daddy and the Daddy drives.  If Daddy's coming, Daddy drives."  I guess he knows how it is in our family! :)

Zachary has been saying plenty of funny things lately, too, I guess I just haven't written them down...he uses all kinds of big words in his sentences now, which is always fun. :)  I'll have to keep my ears open and make sure to write them down! :)  

Davey is such a joy at 14 months - a BUSY joy! :)  He is into everything, and if he gets into the pantry, his favorite thing to do is grab some empty pop cans from the recycling bin and scatter them around the house. :)  His job right now is to pretty much grab whatever he can and scatter it. :)  I have started closing the kitchen/pantry gate a LOT more lately... :)  He loves to make us laugh, and to laugh at us - you can make him laugh by just looking at him a lot of the time.  If he discovers something he does or a sound he makes that we will laugh at, he will keep doing it till he gets tired of it.  He's definitely living up to his name, David Isaac, which means beloved laughter. :)  

Kidlet Hilarity #10

Zachary was looking in the mirror one night, as he was brushing his teeth, with no shirt on, and he commented, "My belly looks like a face, and my belly button is sticking its tongue out!" :)

Davey loves to point at everything, it is so funny.  He will point at something and say, "Dat. Dat." or "Nut-nut" if he wants something.  Sometimes we call him Nut-nut since he says that so much. :)  One day he came and found me, led me all the way over to the sliding door, and pointed to it, because he wanted to go outside. :)  So cute!!  I love that he can communicate now! :)

David sings the Jesus is My Superhero chapel song sometimes - the "yeah...yeah..." part - he shakes his fist and says "Yeah...Yeah..." It is so adorable! :)

Zachary was singing part of the song "Let my life be the proof, the proof of Your love - Let my love look like Yours, and what You're made of..."  Then he paused and I knew what was coming... "Mommy, what is God made of?" :)

A few weeks ago, as the leaves were just beginning to change, Natalie ran up to me excitedly, grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the sliding glass door, saying, "Mommy! I show you sumptin!  Sumptin orange! In da trees!"

Natalie always carries her favorite stuffed bear around, and she carries her on her hip just the same way I carry Davey.  One day when I picked up Davey, she picked up her bear, put her on her hip, and said, "I have my bear, you have yours baby." :)  She is so sweet, always cooing and baby talking to the bear as she carries her around.  And she always puts her down for a nap in David's room and closes the door.  Then she won't let anyone else go in, "No! My bear is sleeping!" :)

One day when the kids were playing out on the porch, I heard some kind of scuffle going on.  When I went out to find out what was happening between Natalie and Zachary, Natalie said, "I fussin. He fightin."  :)

We had so much fun on our trip to Cincinnati!  Zachary said some pretty funny things while we were there. :)  We spent a night at a hotel north of Columbus with a little kids waterpark in the pool area, and Z loved going down the little waterslide over and over, with Daddy or Uncle Jason catching him at the bottom. After a while, Daddy & Uncle Jason took a shift with the babies in the wading pool, and Mommy and Aunt Emily came to play with Zachary.  He wasn't sure whether he wanted Emily to catch him at the bottom of the slide, though - he had all kinds of questions, like, "Are you sure you're strong enough to catch me?" and "Emily, are you taller than this pool?" :)

The kids loved playing with their then-6-week-old cousin, Silas, when we were on our trip!  Davey even started saying the word baby! He pronounces it "beh-beh", and says it regularly now. :)

Zachary and Natalie were really sweet playing with Silas, too - Zachary was saying, "Hey, little cutie, Silas!" And Natalie was giving him kisses :)

Zachary went with Grandma to get some ice and groceries, and when they took the bag from the cooler, there was a sign with a man yelling, "Get the Big Bag so you don't run out!"  Well, we only needed a small bag, since we were only there two days, but Zachary was convinced that we were going to run out, and trying desperately to convince Grandma to get the big bag! "But Grandma, look, the man is yelling! We don't want to run out!" :)

I was standing in the dining room holding Davey and talking to him, and apparently Natalie was hungry, because she came over and said, "Go in kitchen and make supper."  Well, okay, then, bossy!!

We got some of those little rollerskates that fit over the kids' shoes at a garage sale last week, and they have been so delighted - well, Natalie fell down once and that was enough for her, but Zachary loves them!  He has been talking about them constantly and asking all kinds of questions about them.  As we were heading to the basketball court (the only paved place to rollerskate around here) one night, Zachary pushed the skates down the stairs ahead of him.  Of course, they crashed down the stairs. "Oh, so that's what would happen if you rollerskated down the stairs!", Zachary commented. LOL!

Zachary asked if Davey could rollerskate and I said, "No, he can't walk well enough."  "Yeah, and if he was going to crawl on rollerskates, he would need four of them!" was Z's answer. :)

Davey is walking now- it is so funny - he walks like Frankenstein, with his arms straight out in front of him. :) He is totally hilarious - I love watching new walkers - he is delighted with it!  He walks all over now!  And he is thrilled that he can carry something in his hands while walking (since you really can't carry anything while crawling). :)  He especially loves to get into the empty pop cans in the pantry, and he often walks around with an empty can in each hand. :)

My kids really need some help with their fashion sense - one day, Zachary came out of his room, and triumphantly announced, "Mom, look, my outfit matches!"  He was wearing a brown and green camo tank top with a brown and black pair of camo pants.  A couple days later, Natalie came down the hall, excitedly proclaiming that she matched - she was wearing a black pair of leggings with a black t-shirt.  Sigh. :)

Z has been writing stories in school this week, and that has been so fun! I want to post some of them soon!  He has been very excited about writing Fiction stories. :)  We just finished our first Five In A Row unit, and I think it was a success!  We studied The Story About Ping, and we studied China, and did a couple of experiments - the "does it float or sink?" experiment was a favorite activity, and Z loved our Jonah song too. :)  I like spending 2 weeks on the same verse, song, and Bible story, as well as the same FIAR unit - our next unit is How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, and we'll be starting that tomorrow. :)  Natalie is liking her preschool work as well, and Zachary has been having fun learning alongside her, too!  Davey loves joining us for Circle Time, Bible Time, and Story Time, and then we save our crafts and most lessons for when Davey has his morning nap. :)  We've also been doing a half hour or so of DEAR - Drop Everything And Read - after lunch and before nap, and the kids REALLY look forward to that.  (I do too.) :)  Now I just have to do a better job of making sure Z is fitting in his seatwork/handwriting pages every day...I have forgotten to have him do them at least one day a week so far!!

Kidlet Hilarity #9

Lots of hilarious goings on with the kids this month!! They are so much fun, and starting to enjoy each other even more as they each get older- I think they will really enjoy being so close in age - and I'm sure someday I will enjoy it too.... :)

One day Natalie was watching me change and play with David in his room, and then all of a sudden, she said, "Where Dackwy? (Zachary) I miss him. I go look for him. I can't find him! Oh, dere he is! Dackwy, I lookin' for you. Want talk a minute?" :)  

One day Natalie gave Davey a hug, and he fussed because he had just woken up, and she cooed in a sweet, motherly voice, "You don' like dat?"

Another day, Natalie and Davey had both just woken up from naps, and neither of them was in a very emotionally stable mood.  Natalie tried to give Davey a hug, but he just kept crying.  She stepped back, and her lip trembled as she said, "Baby no like me?"  Poor little thing!! I assured her that Davey was just grouchy and that he did actually love her. :)

Natalie was trying to say 'ice pop' and 'popsicle' at the same time, and she came out with 'ice pickle'! LOL!!

One morning as the kids were playing, Zachary said to Natalie, "Natalie, it's jumping concert time!"  Her response - "I tired, Dackwy."

I told Natalie to hurry on the playground ladder and she replies in a very serious voice, "I can't. I prolly fall.  Wike dis."  Then she proceeded to demonstrate falling down in a very realistic way. :)

Zachary occasionally says to me, "I love you even when you're mean." or "I love you even when you're grouchy."  So heartwarming... :)

Zachary talked me into buying radishes for a vegetable a couple of weeks ago - YUCK!!!  But I bought them, and he tried them, and liked them (or at least ate a few bites and said he liked them).  Later that night, he said "Thanks for letting me try radishes myself, Mom."  So it was all worth it, then. :)

One day we were discussing that meat came from animals, and this interesting quote came from Zachary - "Sausage is made from dead animals? I like that kind of dead animal. It comes in my McGriddle."  Yes, true...

Natalie has learned the word 'petrified' from the Bethany Boys - who said they weren't educational?  She and Zachary occasionally use it in the correct context, such as "I petwified of the zipline." or "I petwified of the waterslide."  

When my friends, Anna and Nate and their son Elias were here for family camp, the kids had such a good time with them!  Zachary and Natalie were so cute with Elias, and they had fun playing together!  Natalie called Nate 'Meat', so we thought that was pretty hilarious. :)  On Saturday morning, as they were getting ready to leave, Anna said to grouchy Natalie, "I'm going to give you a kiss on your cheek whether you like it or not."  Natalie laid there and let her, then said, "I don't like it."  :)

Natalie also occasionally says "No problem" which is really funny coming from her. :)

Zachary has been loving to make up games for us to play together - one night he made up this elaborate Superhero game where we wore capes (except when it was night we had to take them off to lay down), and walked around finding and collecting bad guys, then putting them in the dark bathroom (which was the jail).  Natalie accidentally opened the bathroom door and let them out once, so we had to recapture them all. :)  Another day, David played with us and he was supposed to be Batman, but at one point he was crying, so I picked him up, and Zachary said, "Batman, why are you in Mommy's arms?" :)

The kids were watching the movie Robots for movie night, and Natalie kept talking to the robots - at one point while eating her supper she said, "Hey, robot, want to see my tall straw? It's really big!" :)

Zachary accidentally sniffed some hot chocolate powder into his nose one afternoon, and he was coughing and feeling kind of awful, so he was grabbing his throat and saying, "I think I'm going to die!"  I have no idea where he gets his overdramatic tendencies.

Natalie was watching Z play an iPad game, and she asked if she could play, too.  Zachary responded, "No. It is not a multiplayer game."  "Because why not?", Natalie asked.  "It is not a multiplayer game!" Zachary responded again.  Then he did pick 'multiplayer' the next time, and they played together and Natalie won!  So he didn't feel too great about that!!

Sometimes when the kids are fighting over something, I will take it away and put it in a time out.  One day, they were on the porch fighting, and I ran out to see what was going on.  Zachary said to me, "We were fighting over the playhouse door.  Are you going to rip it off and put it in time out?"  I did not.

One day Zachary told me, "I wish we had three of everything.  Then we could share better."  Not sure that is the definition of sharing...

Natalie was walking up the driveway the other day with a pretty big rock in her arms.  Zachary said, "Whoa, Natalie has a giant rock!"  "Yes, she does", I said.  As she caught up to us, Natalie said, "This a giant rock. It really big. God made it."  Yes!! She is starting to absorb some of what I'm trying to teach her!! :)

Natalie and I were reading a book with a cat named Tiger in it.  She said, "Dat sound scary." :)

I love that Natalie is so girly and nurturing when she plays with her 'babies'.  But today I heard her throwing something away in the diaper pail, so I thought I'd investigate.  I found a few clean diapers, with clean wipes inside, rolled up, and thrown away - she had been changing her babies, and throwing away their 'dirty' diapers!!  It totally cracked me up!

Davey is definitely learning and growing every day, too - he learned to say 'uh-oh' this week, and he uses it often - since he loves to throw his food and everything else on the floor!  He also claps now, and stands up by himself in the middle of a room - but no walking yet, unless he's holding onto something - he's really close, though!!  He has gotten quite a bit more social over the summer, and he will go to more people now - his favorite game is to reach out to someone and then immediately reach back for me. :)  He blows kisses sometimes - he puts his hand by his mouth and then blows as he pulls it away - it's so cute!!! :)  

I can't believe the camp season is over - it really did go by so quickly - I say that every year, though!! :)  We all had a great time, and grew a lot through the craziness of the season.  I will definitely miss seeing our staff friends every day, and I know Zachary will be going through attention withdrawal next week, but I'm also looking forward to the normalcy of getting back to a routine with the kids and (eventually) starting school and all. :)  

Kidlet Hilarity #8

We've been having a lot of fun at home and at camp this summer!  As usual, the kids have had a lot to say! :)

Zachary and I were playing a matching game with a fruit theme, and he said to me, "This isn't the fruit of the Spirit, Mom - it's not love, joy, and peace.  It's real fruit." :)

One day Joel took Zachary to Sam's Club for lunch when he had to pick some things up, and as a special treat, he let him get a glass of pop - and when they were finished shopping, he let him get a refill! So he came home after drinking two glasses of pop (caffeine-free, just full of sugar), and he was SO hyper!!  At one point, he was literally bouncing up and down on our bed, saying in a chipmunk voice, "Do they have small drinks at Sam's Club? 'Cause the ones I drank were LARGE!!"  I was laughing SO hard at wild him!! :)

I hear Z & Nat playing in their room with one of the dancing dogs they got for Christmas - they kept pushing the button and dancing to the song over and over.  Then Z tells Natalie, "I know it's all rocky and fun, but don't use up all the batteries."

One day when we were talking about being brave, Z said, "Yeah, you have to be brave to do that. You can't be a weenie!" :)

Natalie is talking a TON too - one night we were getting ready to go to camp, and Zachary had spent the afternoon swimming with a friend of ours.  I told her we would go to camp and see Bubba, and she jumped up and down and shouted, "I so 'cited! I see Bubba!" :)

Davey took Nat's toy out of her hand and she said, "No! Have sumpin else." and handed him a different toy. :)

One night when Zachary's leg was apparently hurting him, he said, "My knee has issues." (don't know where he got that one!) :)

When we were talking about chapel, Natalie said, "Chapel team. Anne! Chapel team LOUD."  But she loooooves chapel - she begs to go and sing in chapel! And sometimes breaks out in her own two-year-old version of the chapel songs (with motions of course) - "cweep, cweep...", "Lay me down..." etc. :)  I just know Jesus' heart smiles when He hears her sing!!

Natalie and I were playing together, and she handed me an imaginary something.  I assume it's some kind of food, thank her for it, and pretend to eat it.  "NO! Don't bite it! Put it on your shirt. It's a sticker."  Whoops! :)  Then she said, "I give you 'nother one." :)

As we were heading inside one day, Natalie was following me but Zachary was not following quickly - Nat shouts out to him, "Zachary, come inside! You not listening!" Don't know where she's heard that...

As we were taking a bath one night, Zachary shocked me by saying, "I think David's head is cracked!"  Thankfully it was just a bright blue vein showing up on his forehead!! But I was rather worried for a second there!

When asked why he wet his pants, Z's response was, "I don't have any answer that would be good. I don't know what to say. I have no idea."

As they were eating yogurt one day, Nat was being rather messy, and Z brought it up by saying, "Natalie, use your spoon. My hands are all neat and tidy."

When it's time to get ready in the morning, Zachary likes to go to his room and 'surprise' me by coming back a few minutes later all dressed.  So this morning when I asked him to surprise me by getting dressed, he ran to his room, and came back a minute later, stark naked, giggling. I was surprised, alright! :)

David is talking, too - today he said "Oo-dy" for Judy!! I couldn't talk him into saying cracker, but he says "Na-na" for most any kind of food that he wants. :)  He also says Mama all the time, whenever he wants anything, and Dada, too.  He took a little bit of a step tonight, from me to Daddy, mostly with help, but hey, it's a start - it's the first time I've seen him interested in walking at all! And he stands next to everything, and by himself for a few seconds, and is starting to walk down the couch while holding onto it. :)  He is totally weaned now (waaah, but also YESSSS!), and he loves his whole milk!! :)  He had a great birthday, enjoyed opening all his presents, and really loved eating his cake - especially the frosting!! :)

Kidlet Hilarity #7

Zachary and Natalie have been so full of hilarious phrases lately! I know I have missed so many things, I wish I had more time to write them down when they happen so I don't forget them!! :)

One day on the porch, Zachary asked me what the phrase 'dearest wish' meant (he read it in the Little Mermaid book - King Triton grants Ariel her 'dearest wish' - to be a human!).  I told him it meant the thing you want the most, and I illustrated it by telling him that my dearest wish in life was to be a mommy, and God has given me my dearest wish - three of them! :)  He responded, "Well, Mommy, my dearest wish is that you would be my mommy.  So I have it, too!"  I'm pretty sure I teared up at that one!! :)

Nat calls her daddy's motorcycle "cycle-cycle".  She also always wants a drink of his Diet Pepsi, and she calls it Pepsi-Pepsi. :)

One day the kids and I were yelling and cheering as we were playing in the wading pool.  Zachary turned to me and said, "Be quiet, Mom...the people in China are sleeping!"  A minute later he said, "That was just a joke, Mom."  I thought it was hilarious!!

The next day we were talking about a friend of ours whose husband works nights and has to sleep during the day, and he said, "Why does Nate sleep in the day if he doesn't live in Japan?" :)

One day at camp, Natalie got away from me and I couldn't find her - turned out she was playing with the family camp nursery toys on the Lodge porch.  Zachary found her first, but came to tell me she wouldn't come with him.  So I asked him to sit with Davey (waiting in his stroller) while I went to get her.  It took me a minute to get her away from the toys, and Zachary came to find us.  When I asked him why he didn't stay with Davey, he said he was looking for me, because "I thought maybe you were tempted and you were playing with the toys." That does sound like me, doesn't it? :)

We have been discussing the difference between a nice tone and an angry tone, and Z has called me out on my tone a few times - one morning as I was getting frustrated about something, he said, "Mom, is that an angry tone?  Are we supposed to talk in angry tones?"  LOL!!  I sincerely believe that it is important and good for him to be able to talk with me respectfully when I'm doing something wrong, though (like talking in an angry tone). :) Nothing like being convicted by your four-year-old!!

When Zachary was gone at the GARBC conference with his grandparents, Natalie and I had a lot of fun one-on-one moments to chat - I loved it! :)  As we were walking home from camp one day, she picked up a rock, held it up to her ear, and said, "Dis my phone. You be ky-wet. (quiet)"  Then she put it in her pocket, gave me a serious look and said, "Don't touch it. I give you a 'pankin." :)

When I sent Zachary with his grandparents, I was really nervous about how much I would miss him - and the house was rather quiet!!  But he got right into their car, after I buckled him in, hugged him, and was lingering at the door, he said, "Bye, Mom. Close the door."  Okayyyy... :)  And I did cry a little bit...and all the way home from McDonalds (where we met), Natalie kept saying, "Where my Bubba go?  Where my Bubba?" prompting more sniffles... :)  But one of the desires of my heart lately has been to be able to spend more time one on one with Natalie, and that week gave me lots of opportunities for that. :)

Natalie is starting to be able to express herself so well lately - she says things like "Dis makes me happy.  Dis my favorite.  Dis makes me sad."  I love hearing what is going through her head! :)  I also love hearing how she loves our staff and camper friends, she often says things like, "I love Seb. I love Donna. I see Amy today. I love Amy."  It is so sweet for her to have those relationships! :)

At lunch this week, one of our staff friends asked Zachary to talk to her, and he said he couldn't, because he was 'worn out'.  When she asked him why, he said, "I've been talking too much this morning."  "Who were you talking to?", she asked.  "Talking to myself," he said. Oky doky then! :)

When I took the kids to the zoo this week, Zachary was very excited to ride the 'parousel', as he kept calling the carousel. :)  I was so glad he was brave and rode an animal that went up and down! And on the zoo train, the conductor said we weren't allowed to have four people in our seat even though two of them were sitting on my lap and there was plenty of room - so I was very proud of Zachary for sitting in his own seat!!

Nat told a funny joke today.  She said, "Knock knock."  "Who's there?"  "Banana."  "Banana who?"  "Banana say quack quack quack!" :)

Davey is quite the funny little man lately, too - he is starting to say things, which just blows me away - is it really possible that he's old enough to TALK already??  He says, "Nun-nun" while he shakes his head no.  He shakes his head yes sometimes, too.  He says, "Hiiiii" and "heeeey" in such a sweet little voice when he comes around the corner and finds me. :)  He said, "Dah" when we saw the camp dogs yesterday, and reached out to pet them.  And for uh-oh, he says, "Uh-uh". :)  His first birthday is in less than two weeks, which is CRAZY.  He still mostly scoots on his belly, but he can crawl when he wants to, and is trying to stand up by everything.  He cracked his head on his dresser tonight, trying to stand by it, so I'm sure he'll have a nice big bruise in the middle of his forehead from that. :(  I wish he would walk soon, but I think we're still pretty far from that.  He is getting better at being with people, and there is one staffer this week who he just absolutely adores - his face lights up every time he sees her!  It has been amazing to watch him interact with the staff and to see their love for my kids and their selfless willingness to help me out with everything!! :)

We are so blessed!! :)  

Praying for Taylor

I haven't posted on here about this, but a friend of mine is going through a very difficult time right now, and she and her family have been in my heart and my prayers so much these last couple of weeks.  Julie (see her blog here) is a college friend who I have reconnected with over Facebook and blogging in the last couple of years.  A few days ago, she took her 18-month old daughter, Taylor, to a routine checkup where the doctor noticed that her liver was enlarged, and sent her for an extra test to rule out any problems.  In the course of that testing, the doctors discovered that Taylor actually has a cancerous tumor on her spine.  The tumor is inoperable, and has been diagnosed as a Stage 3 aggressive tumor.  Taylor starts her first round chemo tomorrow - she will have five days of treatment with 16 days off - this is the first of six rounds of chemo.  She will also be having a stem cell transplant after the chemo is finished.  Julie's fifth child, Jeremiah Trust, was born this morning by emergency C-section - I can't imagine how her heart is torn between the needs of each of her five children during this time with a newborn, C-section recovery, sick child, and three other children.  Yet she and her family have been constantly leaning on God for strength and praising Him for the blessings He gives them in the midst of this trial.


To type these words about my friend's child is so difficult, I can't even imagine the pain that reality must cause Julie and her husband Randy.  Please, please, keep this family in your prayers through the coming weeks.  If you would like more information and updates on Taylor and her family, there is a Facebook page here, Praying for Taylor, that you can like.  There is also information on that page about bracelets for Taylor and donations that can be made to the family at any Wells Fargo Bank in the country.  


As I have been thinking of and praying for their family and sometimes even asking God "Why?", God has been constantly reminding me of His Sovereignty, His perfect plan, and the wonderful attributes of His amazing goodness and grace.  This morning's church service was no exception - a friend of mine sang a song which blew me away - the lyrics were so in line with what God is teaching me through Julie, Randy, and Taylor's trial.  I wanted to share a link to a video of the song on YouTube, and then share the lyrics as well - maybe they will speak to your heart as they spoke to mine.  







Trust His Heart by Babbie Mason


All things work for our good
Though sometimes we can't
See how they could
Struggles that break our hearts in two
Sometimes blind us to the truth


Our Father knows what's best for us
His ways are not our own
So when your pathway grows dim
And you just can't see Him, 
Remember you're never alone


Chorus:
God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His Heart


He sees the master plan
He holds the future in His hand, 
So don't live as those who have no hope, 
All our hope is found in Him.


We see the present clearly
But He sees the first and last
And like a tapestry 
He's weaving you and me, 
To someday be just like Him


(Chorus)


He alone is faithful and true
He alone knows what is best for you


(Chorus)


When you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you don't understand
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His Heart

God Wrote a Mattress Story

Well, I'm here to tell you a story.  I didn't write it, God did.  I'm just writing it down to share with you one of the many ways God has provided for our family over the years!

About two months ago now, Natalie started to realize that she could climb out of her crib.  At this point, I realized that our two-year-old finally needed to transition to a bed.  The problem was, we didn't have a bed for her!  Zachary was sleeping in our only toddler bed, and we didn't have a twin bed for him.  So one morning while I was feeding Davey, I spent some time talking to God about needing a bed for Zachary.  And I remember saying something along the lines of "Oh, and, God? Bunk beds would be really cool, too."

Within the next 24 hours, a friend mentioned to me a set of bunk beds that they did not need!  (Doesn't God work in amazing ways?  Just like Him to wait for me to ask, and then immediately provide.)  However, these bunk beds did not come with any mattresses.  I figured we should just get the beds, and the kids could use their toddler/crib mattresses on them for now.  So that's what we did.

We looked online and talked about shopping for mattresses, but I felt very strongly that God was going to provide the mattresses we needed, and we just needed to wait for Him to bring them to us.

I posted a 'want' message on Freecycle, and a couple of days later, a lady responded, and we drove about 35 minutes to her house to pick up a twin mattress, complete with mattress pad and sheet!  While I was there, I was able to share with her that God had used her to provide for our family!

So now Natalie had a mattress in her bunk, but Zachary did not.  He was VERY good about being the one to wait for the second mattress, but I felt bad for him.  I asked my Sunday School ladies to pray for God to provide Zachary's mattress, and I said, "I know He could just provide the money for us to go buy a new mattress, I know He works that way sometimes, but I really just want Zachary to know that this mattress is from God.  I really want Him to provide it in a cool way that shows so clearly that it's straight from Him!"

Well, we waited...and waited...a couple of weeks went by, and I continued to remind God of our mattress need, and trust that He would provide in His timing...

As we were driving to a bounce house MOPS playdate last week, we were re-routed due to bridge construction and had to drive through the heart of a nearby town.  It 'just happened' to be their yearly "put out your junk day" when everyone can put out big trash for the garbage men to come and take care of.  As we drove through town, I noticed twin size mattresses everywhere - several nice looking ones on people's lawns.  But I dismissed it, thinking they were probably wet and nasty, and went on to our playdate.

On the way home, all the mattresses were still there, and as we were getting to the edge of town, I noticed a really nice-looking mattress sitting in someone's yard.  And I just felt that I was supposed to stop.  So I turned around and brought it home!  The bottom was wet, and I felt like a complete weirdo loading it into my van, but within a day or so, it dried up very nicely, and it is actually in really good shape!

So, tonight, both the kids have their new mattresses, on their bunk beds, straight from God!  And I'm so excited to be able to share the bunk bed story God wrote just for us! :)

Kidlet Hilarity #6

Z said to me one morning at breakfast: "Mom, you're 30.  Jesus could do miracles when he was 30.  Can you do miracles?"  Good opportunity to talk about what a miracle is...

One morning Z asked for oatmeal for breakfast (my kids are so weird, they love oatmeal!).  I said something about not wanting to clean up the mess (I think it is one of the worst things to clean up and they are SO messy with it!), and Z responded, "But that's your job! That's what God has asked you to do!"  Nothing like hearing your own words coming back at you from your child's mouth...

Zachary has these little phrases that are just so funny and serious, like - "When I saw that, I thought, Wow, that's unusual!" and "I didn't know that toy could do that, I was so amazed!"

One morning I heard Z & Nat yelling out on the porch so I ran out and asked what was going on.  Nat hung her head and responded, "I fightin'."

Zachary can buckle himself into his own car seat now, but he really hates when he thinks I'm going to start driving before he's buckled!  One day, when my sister was here, we were trying to pull out of a little parking area in someone's yard and I was getting the car situated to pull out, but he wasn't buckled in yet - after he got buckled in, he said to me, so seriously, "You should stay more under control next time."  We laughed so hard!

I told Nat she needed to finish her macaroni before she could have a rice krispy treat.  She stuffed a handful of noodles in her mouth and shouted, "Ta-DA! Me dessert now!"  Ta-da is one of her favorite words, she loves to say it whenever she does anything. :)

Natalie came zooming down the slide at the park really quickly, and fell onto the ground -twice in a row! The third time, she slowed herself down with her shoes, and after she got down, she threw her hands up in the air and said, "I not fall down!"  I just can't describe how cute her little excited sentences are - she only says about 2 words in a row, so it sounds like, "I not. Fall down!" and she throws her hands up and sometimes jumps up and down... :)

One morning I was putting a bandaid on a cut, and Z said, "Mom, are you tough?  Because tough guys don't need bandaids.  Daddy taught me that."

One day Natalie had green paint on her thumb, but I wasn't sure where it had come from.  "Paint!", she showed me.  "What did you paint, Natalie?" I asked.  "My thumb" was her response. :)

Our screen door came off of its tracks, and was sitting on the porch.  I mentioned that if it was fixed, we could leave the door 'open' all the time.  She shoved it back against the glass doors where it belonged and proclaimed, "I fix it!" :)  It is so fun now because Zachary sometimes realizes that what Nat says is funny, so then we both just crack up with her together.  This was one of those times. :)

Davey is growing like a weed!  The other day I mentioned to a friend that he hadn't tried to pull up on anything yet.  Then I turned around and set him in a chair with arms (we were at a bounce house place) to feed him baby food, and while I was finding the jar of food in the diaper bag, he proceeded to pull up on the arm of the chair and stand up!!  Way to prove me wrong, Davey! :)  He is eating all kinds of 'real' food now, little pieces of chicken nuggets, salmon, strawberries, waffles, tuna, toast, banana, [potato, noodles, alllll kinds of stuff.  He loves it all!  His favorites are bananas and goldfish crackers. :)  He has four teeth now, and should have six before TOO long, I hope!!  He crawled up onto the bottom shelf of an end table today, which I have pictures of Nat doing not that long ago!!  I can't wait for him to be able to run around with his brother and sister, I know they will all have SO much fun! :)  At this point, he hates to sit (will NOT stay sitting up) but loves to crawl, and hates to walk (whenever I try to help him he fusses at me) but loves to be held standing up! :)

Another of Nat's favorite phrases lately is "I AM!", when you ask her to do something and she's working on it (or thinks she is)- not one of my favorites, but funny coming from a 2-year-old. :)

One morning Z ran over Nat's toes with a trike on the porch, after I had asked him to be more careful, so he was sitting in time out.  I asked him what he was thinking about, and he responded, "That I ran over my sister's toes with the bike. Is that what I should be thinkin' about?"  He is four and a HALF now, and as I was editing pictures this week, I realized just how BIG he's getting.  And five sounds really old!!

We ate salmon at camp tonight, and when I told Zachary it was a kind of fish (which we don't eat a lot of at home), he asked, "Does it still have the slime on it?"  (He recently took up fishing with his daddy and caught his first fish this week and must have experienced the sliminess of it? That's my guess!) :)

When Davey cries, Nat is such a sweet little mama to him, she always says, "S'okay, Davey. I here. I here." :)

On the walk home from camp last night, we had one of the sweetest moments - it made this mama's heart swell up and almost explode. :)  I was pushing Davey in the stroller with Z and Nat walking in front of us, and Z took Natalie's hand (and she let him, which is unusual!), and said, "Know what? I love you."  Nat smiled at him and said, "Luvoo too."  Zachary smiled back at her and said, "You're a sweet sister."  Then they stopped and gave each other a hug!  I was seriously tearing up! :)

So thankful for my little sweethearts! :)

Kidlet Hilarity #5

Here are some of the hilarious things the kids have said and done lately!

Zachary: "What's a wharf?"
Me: "What?"
Zachary: "They're not real, they're pretend.  There are seven of them - you know, the seven wharfs?"

When David makes a funny noise, I sometimes respond to him with a pretend-shocked, "Really?".  Natalie picked up on this and started saying, "Oh, really?" to him whenever he makes a noise. :)

One morning I was rushing around cleaning something, thinking about how I just don't have as much time to sit and read to Natalie as I did when Zachary was two, and feeling guilty about all of these things. The next thing I knew, I stopped to listen to Zachary and Natalie playing in their room, and I realized that Zachary was reading a book to Natalie.  I'm sure I cried, because it was just like God was saying, "See, Natalie is learning and being read to! I have given you each of these three children in MY perfect timing, and I will fulfill the desires of your heart for your children, maybe just in different ways than you hoped or expected."

As we were looking at a map of the United States and Canada one day, I pointed out the area where we live.  Zachary pointed to Lake Erie and said, "And that's the camp swimming pond!"  Close...

One night as the bath water was running, Natalie accidentally pulled up the stopper that makes the shower spray, and when it started showering her, she exclaimed, "Ah! Raining! Raining!"

A few days after reading the story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water, we visited the beach at camp.  Zachary noted that his Crocs floated when he put them in the water.  A few minutes later, he was standing in the shallow water with his Crocs on, mumbling, "Aw, it's not working."  "What's not working?", I replied.  "I still can't walk on the water, even with my Crocs on.  My shoes float, but why are they not floating with me in them?"

Natalie says sentences now - they are so great - her first was "I had it first."  She also says, "I choose...(whatever color or toy or food she would like to choose)" all the time.

We got this little slushy maker thing recently, and it says on the box that you can "Make a slushy from your favorite drink!"  I told Zachary we could use juice to try it out that night.  His response - "But juice isn't my favorite drink, and the box says you have to use your favorite!"

Davey is becoming so much more social - he waves now, it's so adorable!  He waves at all of his family, of course, but also at anyone he sees, so that's really fun!  He babbles all the time (mostly da-da), and when he says "Ba-ba", Zachary's convinced that Davey is talking to him (since Nat has always called him Bubba). :)  He can also crawl ALL over the house and get into everything (everything at floor level, that is), but I think that's so much better than six months ago when all he could do was lay around and cry. :)  I was thinking about that as he was happily chewing on a package of baby wipes and trying to grab Nat's lotion from me  while I was dressing the other two for bed - not too many months ago he would lay in his crib and cry the whole time I got Z & Nat ready for bed on the nights I was solo with all three (which made bedtime so stressful!) - I'm so thankful he is much happier and able to entertain himself for a few minutes now! :)

Zachary's question of the day: "Do people eat bears when they're dead?"  Actually, I don't know - do people eat bear meat? I assume some people do...or at least the Indians used to... It's a fair question!

At lunch, I had to say, "Natalie, please don't put your food in your shoe.  Why don't you put your shoes on the floor instead of on the table." Gross!

We came home from a walk, and the sliding glass door to the porch had been left WIDE open! We had been gone for about an hour and a half, I have no idea how I missed the fact that it was open!  Anyhow, when we walked in, I exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, this door was open the whole time!! I hope no big animals got into the house!!"  Zachary looked at me with a serious expression and said, "I will go see if there are any camels in my bed."  He went down the hall, looked, came back, and said, "Nope, no camels."  Natalie asked, "No camels?"  "Nope, no camels."  And we have not found any camels (or raccoons) since, just flies.

One evening while I was making supper, our neighbor's beagle-bassett dog (Sammy) was picking a fight with a groundhog in our yard, and I'm not sure what was more hilarious - the 12-inch-tall dog barking his head off in the groundhog's face, the groundhog's clicking and hissing noises as he sat up on his back legs, then tried to jump out and bite the dog, or Zachary's impassioned cries from the porch, "Sammy! Get out of that fight! No fighting!"  Probably the most hilarious part was a few minutes later, after the animals had left the yard, I heard Zachary and Natalie re-enacting the scene on the porch - Zachary was saying, "Okay, now I'm the groundhog and you're Sammy!"

They definitely bring a lot of joy to each day of our lives!  I'm so thankful that I can be with them and watch them learn and grow every day! :)

Kidlet Hilarity #4

We've had a busy month with vacation and school and lots of other activities going on! In the midst of all this, I've been trying to keep track of all the funny and cute things the kids say and do! :)  They had a ton of fun on vacation, but I didn't write a lot down, so I'm sure I've forgotten a lot, too! :(  So, here are the things I CAN remember!

When Natalie accomplishes something (like drawing a circle) or gets excited about something (like surprise hot chocolate to drink with supper), she shouts "Way!" which means "Hooray!" :)

Natalie fell down on the porch and bumped her head.  She came running, crying into the bathroom to tell me, and I could not get her to calm down, so I asked her what would help her feel better, and she responded, "Bow!"  She wanted me to put a bow in her hair.  So I did, and she stopped crying immediately! Love having a girly girl!

Our friend James was getting set up for a wagon ride at camp during a ladies' retreat.  He asked Zachary and Natalie if they wanted a wagon ride since he had everything out, and Zachary was very excited and jumped right in the wagon!  Natalie was scared by the tractor, though, and cried and refused to get on the wagon.  The whole time Zachary and James were gone on the ride, she kept saying, "No like tractor. Cry. No like." Hopefully she'll get used to it before camp!!

Zachary said "I like spiders a lot, because I'm a boy.  Boys like spiders, but girls, not so much." :) He has been insisting lately that spiders are his favorite animal.  But when we saw one in the bathtub one night, he sure climbed out quick!!

After falling down in the living room one day, Zachary laid down on the couch and said, "I need to get some rest since I fell down.  Natalie, would you please be quiet so I can get some rest?"

One morning I asked Zachary if he had any bad dreams the night before. "Yes", he said, "but I didn't come in to your room." "Why not?", I asked.  "Peace", was his response. "It's called peace. God gave me peace."  The faith of a child!!

Natalie's favorite shirt is her 'purple cakey' shirt that her aunt Anna made for her - every day she wants to wear it, and one week I had failed to do the laundry in a timely manner and she had not been able to wear her purple cakey shirt for several days in a row.  When it finally showed up in her drawer one morning, she pulled it out and excitedly exclaimed, "Purple cakey WASHED!!"

Natalie says "lalala" for Violet (her favorite puppy toy) and violin - and "tunnel" for piano and pillow! :)  Zachary is always asking her to say things, it is hilarious to hear her repeat everything he suggests. :)  She says necklace (Neh Nas) and this week at her Daddy's urging she said, "Ouchie-wa-wa!" Too funny!

Davey is making all kinds of noises now, too - he says "nin nin" when he's upset or tired sometimes, and growls ALL the time. One day we were looking at a book with some pictures of kids in it, and he would grab their faces and growl at the kids! Mean baby! :) When you wave at him, he will sometimes wave back, too, I have a video of it I need to put up! And he does this little dance where he bangs his head up and down, it is SO funny! :)

While listening to a kids CD, we heard the Fishers of Men song.  Zachary said, "If you were really catching a man in the water, that would be silly.  But it really means to tell people about God."

I accidentally threw all the kids Sunday School papers into the bag without looking at them, then when we got home, I was sorting through them, and some of them had fallen on the floor...anyhow, at one point in the sorting, I asked, "Whose Jesus is on the floor?" "What?", Zachary asked.  "Whose Jesus?", I asked again.  "Jesus is God." was Zachary's correct response. :)

Natalie is such a sweet sister - she's always patting Z's back when he's upset, saying, "Okay, Bubba, okay".  Or she will do the same for Davey, saying, "Okay, baby. Okay." if he's crying. :)

We have been really into pretending (complete with silly voices, of course) around here lately.  One day as I was pretending to be a character from a Pokemon book and allowing Z to show me around his yard, he said, "My mommy's really good about being careful when there's thorny bushes." :)

Later, I was pretending to be a cat, and Natalie needed help with something, so she said, "Help, cat! Help!" :)

Right before Easter, we did Resurrection Eggs, and so we had been talking a lot about Jesus dying on the cross.  As Natalie prayed one night, she thanked God for each member of her family, as she does each night, and then she wanted to thank God for one more thing - the Cross!!  How sweet! That has to make God's heart smile! :)

Watching a commercial on TV one day, Zachary saw a lady wearing an evening dress that only covered one shoulder.  His assessment: "Her dress is missing a piece!" Lol!

I bought the kids a 'Scribble Slate' to play with in the car on our trip and instead of Slate, Zachary kept pronouncing it "Slah-tay" as if the word were French, it was hilarious.  It made me laugh every time during the long day on the road!

As we were driving in the car one day, David was turned around (as much as he possibly could) craning his little neck to stare at Joel.  When Joel noticed, he pointed it out to me, and we all laughed about it.  Then Zachary piped up from the backseat, saying, "You need to put that on Facebook!" He knows me too well, I think... :)

The kids really like to help with the laundry - the most fun part is throwing everything down the laundry chute (which I LOVE having!!) One morning as they were working to empty David's hamper down the chute, I overheard this gem of a conversation: "If we work together, it will go faster.  Don't put your head in the hamper, Natalie, we're not bobbing for apples.  Dump it over like this.  Mom, we should do bobbing for apples sometime!" :)

SO thankful for my three blessings and the JOY they each bring to our home every day! :)

Preschool - Letters U, V, W and Easter Fun!!

We HAVE been doing school the last MONTH...I just haven't found time to post about it! :)  So, without further ado, here is a sampling of what we've been learning over the last few weeks - OH, and these pictures are completely and totally out of order, and I do not have the time or energy to get them back in order - the new uploader is not very helpful and always puts them in my post in a random order, no matter how I organize them before uploading.  Now, my randomly ordered pictures of school and Easter learning. :)

On the Thursday night before Good Friday, we celebrated the Last Supper together by eating soup and crackers and washing each others' feet and reading the corresponding Bible passages - it was very neat, and I hope we make it a yearly tradition!

This week, we studied the letter W!  Our Fruit of the Week was faithfulness, and we talked a lot about what that meant.

Zachary made a monster face out of playdough! :)

Natalie played playdough, too - and it was a jammie day!

coloring some whitecaps on their Wave W's.

We put glue on our background paper, then sprinkled sand onto it - the sand that spilled on the table became an extra sensory activity. :)  I didn't get a finished picture of our Wave W's! :(

Z's verse snake this week. :)

We used our leftover Easter grass for a sensory tub - I hid some Easter eggs in it. :)

Finding the eggs and some Easter stickers!

BIG mess to clean up!!! :)

We made Weather Windows (idea here)- Z DREW on his papers, I was so proud - drawing is something he hasn't been willing to try - he says things like, "Oh, I can't draw real things." and he won't even try - so I was very pleased that he tried!  He drew a sun, some raindrops, a cloud, and when I first asked him to draw snow, I said, "Draw something that makes you think of snow" and he drew his brain - HA HA! It is on the bottom right. :) Quite logical!!

Several weeks ago now, we studied the letter U! Our song was 'Jesus, You're My Hope' from the Sovereign Grace CD To Be Like Jesus.  I really loved teaching this verse to Zachary, he learned about tempting and the word endure, and we got to talk about the concept of always having a choice when you're going through temptation, it was very good.  Plus this is probably my favorite song on the CD, it is always a great reminder for me, not just the kids! :)

Zachary's Underground U (idea here) - he drew the long worm on the bottom middle, and the big and small circles are rocks that he drew, too!  He also cut the grass fringes along the top.

Natalie's Underground U - she cut her own grass, too, and she loves to draw circles - she gets so excited, throws her pen down and squeals, "Circle!!"  when she draws one. :)  (This is one way that my 2 learners are sooooo different - she is so far ahead of where Z was with his fine motor skills at this age but yet he knew all his letters and numbers by age two and she doesn't know very many yet. So interesting to me!)

Z with his finished verse puzzle! :)

Davey swinging in his bare feet!! :)  He is really growing up  - he'll be nine months next week! He can feed himself Cheerios now, and he is using his toes & arms to 'crawl' around everywhere now! :)  This means I can occasionally put him down now, which is a very convenient development. :)

Our weather has been SO gorgeous this spring!! This was our weather board one week in MARCH, people. Seriously, shorts in March, in western NY? Super weird. But totally awesome. :)

Making a U with our Alphabet Builders (idea here).

Natalie is all dressed up as a McDonald's worker, thanks to our friend who passed on her old hat and shirt! :)  She is cooking me 'fwies', her favorite McDonald's menu item. :)

We also studied the letter V!  And our Fruit of the Week was Goodness.  It is so important to remember that God is always good to us, and we can be good to others as well. :)

We made a Peeps Wreath! Unfortunately, I could not locate a wreath form as I was supposed to, so we used this circle of cardboard cut out of a pizza box instead. Hopefully we can do it right next year!  But six colors of Peeps still made it fun. :)  We just glued them on, and they stayed just fine!

Our finished Peeps wreath!! Loved all the colors! :)

The kids coloring the parts of their Vase V's.

Natalie's is on the left, and Z's is on the right - he did a great job coloring his vase and gluing it together!  Nat had a cold or something this morning, and threw a huge tantrum and did NOT want to glue her V on her page, so I did it for her...with the bad memories of this craft, I just threw hers away - have you ever had a craft like that, where it turned out cute, but the process of getting it there was not as fun as you hoped?

We matched these Valentine cards - counting the hearts and matching them with the corresponding numbers.

Z made a 'verse snake' with his verse puzzle. :)

We painted these cute wood flower picture holders. :)

Zachary painted a balloon on his face :)

So of course Nat had to paint her face, too. :)

Finished picture holders!! I hot glued them together. :) Z's is on the left, Nat's on the right. (I finished hers up.)

We left the day before Easter for vacation, so the week before that, I was busy getting ready, so instead of an organized week of school, we just did some fun Easter activities. :)  Here we are sorting jellybeans by color in an egg carton.

Sorting...and eating. :)

The kids dot painting on some cardstock Easter eggs that I made tape patterns on...(idea on my Easter pinterest board!)

The painted eggs...waiting for them to dry!  

The finished eggs! They ripped when I took the tape off! :(  A friend used masking tape on hers instead of the clear tape the craft instructions called for,  I think I'll try that next time.

This was our FAVORITE Easter activity - we put a piece of paper in a box, picked 3 colors of paint, dripped some paint in the box, and threw in 4 plastic Easter eggs - they rolled the eggs around to make patterns on the paper - it turned out really cute, and they had so much FUN working together on these! :)  Will definitely be doing this again! :)

I loved how they were working together to roll the eggs all around. :)

These were our finished products!!  You could use them as wrapping paper for small gifts. :)

So that has been our month in learning!!  Only THREE weeks of school left!!  It will be great to have extra time to get outside and lots of time to just sit and read books!  I am also getting really excited about planning for our fall school (official Pre-K for Z this year plus preschool for Nat and some things to keep Davey busy and learning alongside us), and reorganizing/decorating our schoolroom to make it more efficient! :)