Sunday, October 30, 2011

Giggles and Prayers

Prayers are no laughing matter... or are they?
Do you think God chuckles just a little
when He hears His little lambs pray?

The kids love to say prayers. I haven't yet taught them about praise in their prayers, as I never think of it until they have begun praying and at that moment, I don't want to correct them. Their prayers are full of requests. Mike and I can't help but laugh as the twins pray because it is always exactly the same and yet so different.
EVERY one of Chezney's prayers is "Help us to ____. Help mommy to ____. Help daddy to ___. Help the homeless guy with no arms to ____." And she does this till she has "helped" EVERYONE she can think of. SO during her prayers, Mike sticks out his fingers and silently counts how many "helps" have been uttered- as I suppress my giggles.
Then it's Cohens turn. "Dear God... thank you for ____. And thank you for ___. And thank you for ____. Thank you for _____. And thank you for ____." Until every "thank you" he can think of has come out of his tiny lips. SO during his prayers, I stick out my fingers and count the number of "thank you's" as Mike laughs.

It makes me wonder
who is the example in this house.... ;)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Brotherly Song

Grandma bought Danissa some new training bras today at Danissa's request. This evening, as she was laying out her clothes for tomorrow, Ethan saw her stack of new bras and- in his best sing-song voice he says: "Dani-ssa go-ot boo-by things."

Friday, October 28, 2011

My Sleepy Little Lion

Kinder-prep Field Trip

The kinder class went to Smallwoods Harvest for a field trip. They fed animals, rode the cow train, went through the maze and just had a great time together. I've always loved this age... they are so fun to watch and the field trips are lots of fun! =)Chezney shared her cow with a classmates little sister... always loving to be the "big girl"... she had fun mothering this little girl!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Flashback

In honor of Halloween, here is flashback of my first halloween as a mother. Danissa was 11 months old and was dressed as a Pooh Bear Bumble-bee.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Forever

Cohen: "Mom... I'm going to love you forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever (deep breath) and ever and ever and ever. For THIS many weekends (holding up 3 fingers). Then... the loving stops."

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

1st Piano Recital

Danissa played "The Water Lily" at her first recital, but for costume purposes, her teacher had her change the name to "Fall Fairies". She was nervous but did fantastic. I love the look on her face when she was done... a shy relief.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Wisdom

My daughter knows something that I think many people don't. We were talking about bad things that happen to people and the "what if's" that can happen in life. About "stranger danger" and the scary things that have happened to children and adults sometimes (Rated G) At one point I finally said "Danissa... does God say that He won't let anything bad happen to you?" At this she replied: "No. He never said that. But He did say that no matter what happens to me, He will always be with me."

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Rainman

"L 68466557 J" Ethan says to me as I'm hugging him goodnight in his bed. "What?" I asked, puzzled as to what he might be talking about. Then, I go to the place that I had tucked his dollar bill away for him so that his siblings wouldn't steal it away from him sometime tomorrow when he's not looking. Sure enough... there are some numbers that sound like what he said, so I say... "Ethan... say it again." And as he says the numbers, I read along "L 68466557 J". My son has memorized the serial number on his dollar bill...

PUMPKIN DAY!

This year, we decided to go toward the more economically friendly pumpkins and bought them ahead of time at Walmart. Then we headed up to Cider Works for some fresh donuts and cider while Ethan was at a birthday party. We then picked him up and went to The Patch in Malaga for some hay ride and corn maze fun! After that, we headed home for dinner, made caramel apples, carved AND painted our pumpkins, roasted the seeds and finally headed to bed. Busy but fulfilling day that we all look forward to each year! (pictures of the finished pumpkins to come...)


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Paintbrush

Tonight while doing the painting portion of our pumpkin day (painting the pumpkins) Cohen is talking to me: "Mom... am I allowed to use this... this... what is it called?" The rest of the 3 kids at the table all say "Pumpkin?" at the same time. "No... THIS!" Cohen says, pointing to the object in his hand. Then Chezney, with a slightly sarcastic tone says "A PAINTBRUSH...?" Cohen: "Yea! Am I allowed to use this paintbrush inside my pumpkin?"
Half of me laughs and half of me cringes.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Fire Drill

Yesterday the River Academy had it's first fire drill of the year. This, of course, is the twins first fire drill ever. When I arrived to pick them up from school, they excitedly got in the car and told me ALL about the fire drill, the noise, the girl that cried, everything. Then Cohen- in all his manliness- told me of how he would, if we ever had a fire in our home, go outside and fight the fire with the hose and save us all. He is such a little protective warrior boy. Gotta love him!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Sick

My two oldest boys are home sick today (Ethan and Daddy). It's given daddy some snuggle time that is probably good medicine for both of them. I've gotten some time to run around with Chezney and Cohen (nothing out of the ordinary) and then got to drop them off and have some alone time with Danissa after picking her up from school and then taking her to piano. Then it was off to work for me while Mike manage the kids- sick. All in all, a normal but not normal day all wrapped up into one. The kids are finally asleep, hubby is wrapping up his last video game for the night, I'm done editing, posting, tagging, burning CDs, and off to bed we go!

You Never Really Know What's Around the Corner...

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Mommy in the making...

Scenario: Mike and I are sleeping and Chezney has claimed her spot between us sometime in the hours of the night... she moans and rolls over. Then says, still sleeping "Cohen... you need a bath..." Ahhh... spoke like a little mommy... or an annoyed sister.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Spider Meadow

Mike went hiking today with some friends of his. They are actually wanting to put together a mens hiking group but aside from maybe one more time this year, they will have to wait till next year to really get the group going. This trip definitely motivated Mike, though. He thought it was beautiful and said words just can't describe the trip.

Crazy Day!

I woke today alone because Mike was out hiking with the boys (Shawn and Mike #2). I laid in bed enjoying the coziness and the girls came and snuggled with me. If only I had known what I know now, I would have stayed there... permanently.
As soon as we began getting dressed for church, attitudes were in full swing. Clothing changes were necessary multiple times until we finally got out the door in decent shape. Through all of the chaos of it, we still ended up walking out the door with Ethan wearing 2 mismatched socks (one was mine!), Chezney wearing the wrong color of shoes due to a sudden growth spurt, and Cohen having issues with the undershirt he was wearing managed to escape the house in only a pull-over sweater (no shirt under it).
Not so bad? Your right... it keeps going.
My mom calls to tell me she has in her possession the car that Cohen had stolen from church weeks before and she wanted to go with him to return said stolen car. Then on the way to church, I caught Danissa in a cold hard lie and she tried to play dumb to get out of it. Something she NEVER does. So, by the time I get to church, she's crying, I'm dealing with her lying, and my mom takes care of my stealing son. Danissa has lost it so she's puffy and crying, so she hangs out for a few minutes in service before being escorted to sunday school.
We leave church all in one piece. *phew*
My mom and I are on our cell phones on the way home talking about how the morning had just been so out of character. Hoping for a better afternoon.
I head to the grocery store and to cut to the chase of that part of the day, we have an uneventful shopping trip. As we leave, however, I ask my 3 younger non-dependable children to hold onto the cart as we walk through the busy parking lot. For the first time in probably 7 years, my eldest DEPENDABLE daughter decides it's a great idea to take off into the parking lot to the car. As I yell her name, she almost gets hit by a backing-out car. Now we've got some attention. Just what we need.
On the way home, I call my mom to tell her the one-more-thing-gone-wrong that we had to just laugh at because of how the day has gone. In that conversation, my mom drops her phone and it falls to pieces- yet we can still hear each other. Laughing hysterically, we get off the phone as I pull into my driveway.
5 Minutes later I'm on the phone.
"Mom... you'll never guess what happened."
"What?"
"Chezney came running up from downstairs as I'm unloading the car, shouting that the mama kitten had gotten a bird and it's dead in our house."
"Oh... yuck!"
"SO... I follow Chezney downstairs and ask her to show me where it is. As we round the corner, Chezney shouts "IT'S ALIVE!" and I look up to see a bird flying around my downstairs living room. I already got it out but just had to call and tell you..."
OH MY GOODNESS!!! WHAT A DAY!!!!