Christmas Lyrics?

Isaac was sitting at the table today singing, "You butternut squash, you better not cry." I didn't know that was the way that song went. 

Cleaning and favorite colors

So every couple of months the house just gets to the point that I can't stand it anymore and I just have to rearrange the mess. Last night as I was laying in bed I got the itch and wanted to move some of the toy genres into the kids rooms and set up specific areas for everything. So this morning we got the handy laundry basket out and went to the basement and ground floor and gathered up all the trains and cars and their paraphanalia to put in Isaac's room and all the baby dolls and Little People toys to go in Indiana and Abigail's room. Then I went through each room with varying amounts of help from the children and we found homes for each of the groups of toys so that now they can put them away instead of the old throw everything in the toy box method we had been employing. While all of this was going on Isaac got in his head that we were "making a new house" and he decided we need to paint too. So he's following me around saying, "We can paint my room blue next because that's my favorite color, then we'll move to the basement and paint those walls. This will be quite a bit of work Mommy." And Abigail chimes in, "And paint my room yellow because that's my favorite color." I finally had to tell them that we are NOT painting any rooms today and that we probably will not be painting for a while.

She Escaped!

This morning when I came downstairs with Indiana, Isaac and Abigail were still upstairs playing in Abigail's room. As I was unloading the dishwasher I happened to notice that the neighbor's black and white cat was in our driveway. I didn't think much about it and kept unloading and tidying up the kitchen. Suddenly I hear a scream from upstairs and Isaac and Abigail start running down the stairs screaming, "Mommy! She escaped, Niko is outside. We must have left the garage door open and she got out." They were at the front door by this time, and still in their pajamas, and were ready to run out and "catch" Niko. I told them in was the neighbor's cat, but they had to go to the basement and verify for themselves that Niko was still here. It was nice to see them concerned about their pet though.

Why are you crying?

Last night Isaac and Abigail were picking up their toys and putting them into a bag. Then Isaac found the cat toy, a piece of hot wheels track with a string tied on it, and decided he was Santa and that was his whip for the reindeer. So Isaac was riding his reindeer around the living room and he'd stop and give Abigail or Indiana a toy out of the toy bag. Well that was all very fun. So Abigail decided she would join in and Isaac told her she could be mrs claus since he was Santa. After one toy delivery though isaac took off and Abigail started screaming. When she finally calmed down enough to tell me what was wrong she said,"Isaac took my reindeer." yes, she was crying because he pretended to take her pretend reindeer and she couldn't pretend she had other ones. Merry Christmas.

More deep thoughts from isaac

Tonight we were talking and I asked Isaac what his goal was. We've been working on knowing that our goal is to get to heaven. Well he looked at me and said, "mommy I don't want to go to heaven yet because to get to heaven you have to die. How old do you get to be before you die?" so then I tried to explain that we don't know how long we have but that he didn't need to worry about it right now. That got him thinking and I am not sure what conclusions he'll come to, but I'm sure it'll be interesting. I pray that he has a long full life and gets to heaven when it is over.

Making Friends

It was a hectic day yesterday. The whole time I was working the kids were loud. Some days it just gets to me more than others and yesterday was one of those days. I was very excited that temperatures outside were in the high 60s and we could go outside to play. Unfortunately Isaac wanted to go play with our neighbor Reese, but she wasn't home. I suggested we could walk around the neighborhood and maybe Isaac could find a new friend. It was very fun as I pulled Abigail and Indiana in the wagon we walked around and Isaac kept his eyes peeled. We spotted a little girl and her mom going into their house and he ran right up to the door to ask if she wanted to play. Unfortunately they had to leave and couldn't play. As we were turning around to walk the back to our house we spotted a boy coming from the bus stop. Turns out Will was coming home from kindergarten and he wanted to play. So we spent an hour or so playing at Will's house. By the time we had to leave Will had decided he was coming home with us. It was a good afternoon and reminded me how easily children make friends.

Abigail Turns 3

Yesterday was Abigail's birthday. She woke up excited to open her present. We got her a cake ball maker and we spent part of the morning making cake balls. Then in the afternoon her friends came over for a little play date and to eat the cake balls from the morning. She got a play set with a hair dryer, curling iron, straightener thing, brush, etc. from her friend Anna. And she got a penguin with a blanket from her friends the Chatmans. She has really been enjoying her presents, but you can tell we don't really do hair styling in our household. She has been using the hair dryer as her gun to shoot things, the straightener is a stapler, and I think she's asked me half a dozen times what the curling iron is. Oh, and the red blanket from the penguin makes a great cape.

Overall I'd call this birthday a success.

When I'm Big

Abigail came up to me this afternoon and told me, "When I get big like you, my little teeth will fall out and I'll get big teeth like you. See this tummy, it will help me grow big like you. And I'll use my big teeth for crunching."

Reading Boy

Isaac read a Curious George book almost entirely by himself. When he wants to, he can read very well.

Indiana has almost four teeth.

And Abigail, when asked about her upcoming birthday, she'll tell you her birthday is March 10, and Becember 7. We're working on it.

I'm terrible at baby books and remembering milestones, so this will have to serve as the official record.

Reading and Sentences

Indiana has several words she uses often. Her favorite is of course "no" but she also says "peekaboo," "mama," "dada" and I'm sure there are others. But her new phrase is, "I did it." It is so funny to ask her to do something and when she does it she puts her hands in the air and says, "I did it" usually followed by "yay" and clapping.

Isaac has been working on reading lately and he's getting very good. Today he was reading a magazine and came across the word "hooky" and he knows that two "oo" make an "oo" sound like in "kangaroo." So he said to me mommy what is "hooky." Go ahead, say it out loud it is so funny. And then I tried to explain what "playing hooky" means and he is itching to try it.

He also tries to spell words out. At my parent's house last week he was watching the movie Rio and wanted to spell "Blue." So he sounds it out and comes up with "bloo." In the car he likes us to spell a word for him too. Yesterday after he had donea few words he said,"Okay Daddy, what does 'bukl' spell." Can you figure it out? Yep, buckle, is a tricky word.

Halloween 2011

Isaac the Pirate

 Arr

Abigail's Mean Spider look

Mommy the Queen and the Baby Pumpkin

The two Pirates

Pirate and Mean Spider

The Simpson's 2011

Questions from a four year old

Tonight a young man was baptized and, during his bedtime prayer with Isaac, Jake mentioned him. After the prayer Isaac said,"So baptism is to wash away sin. Oh, so John baptized Jesus to wash away His sins." Then Jake explained that,"No Jesus was very special and didn't have any sin." So then Isaac looked up at him and said,"So why was Jesus baptized?" Good question huh? Isaac got the simplified version of the answer, but if you're over four and want a more complete answer you can read it for yourself. Matt 3:13-15

Deep thoughts

Yesterday was isaac's friend's birthday and he was invited to the party. When he came home he was disappointed that he didn't get to spend the night and I apparently said, "tomorrow we can see about you spending the night sometime." Isaac took that to mean "tomorrow I can spend the night." so this morning at church he asked if he was going to have a sleepover and I said," not tonight." He looked at me and said,"But mommy, today is yesterday's tomorrow." Think about that.

Christmas Pictures

Today I learned that getting three kids to cry at the same time is easy, but getting three to smile...not so simple. And for each kid you add the difficulty increases exponentially. Getting two kids dressed, posed and smiling may take an hour and fifty pictures but it is possible to get a shot with both smiling and looking at the camera. Getting three kids dressed takes at least an hour from the time the oldest declares he doesn't like his outfit and you finally convince (okay I bribed) him to put it on, the middle holds still long enough to get a hair tie in, and the baby wriggles around and tries to escape the tights that need to go on her legs. Then there is the posing stage. Getting three in the frame was tough so after about 2 min I gave up and off to the WalMart photo studio we went.
Okay, I know it's only mid October, but this is our last free weekend until after Thanksgiving and I just like to be early. Not to mention it's easy to get an appointment now, but early December, no thanks. So all three kids are dressed, hair is semi styled, and we are at the studio with time to spare! The poor photographer asked if we were there for Christmas pictures. I said, "No, we're here for Halloween pictures, they're dressed up as Christmas kids." My humor was not appreciated, so I after a tense minute I said, "Yes, Christmas pictures." Now just to get all three wrestled in front of the Christmassy backdrop. And after nine photos Indiana refuses to sit or stand and only wants to roll around and cry. Oh well, we made the most of the nine shots and got one that will work.

Want some photographic evidence? I thought so, here you go.

Two kids, relatively happy, in focus equals decent picture.

Add the third. One crying but looking at the camera, one singing, and one smiling but looking at something off camera. Oh, and not in focus at all. But at least they are all dressed and in the shot :-D

Teaching Indiana to Talk and Nose Racing

On the way home from church last night Indiana was doing her usual squealing and Isaac decided to teach her how to talk. So he said, "Indiana this is how you talk, 'Say "Mommy" or "Daddy" or "Isaac" or "Abigail" or "Please may I have peanut butter and jelly sandwich.'" Yep, he covered all the essentials.

Isaac and Abigail went upstairs while I was working yesterday and when I heard them coming back down the stairs Isaac was saying, "Come on Abigail lets go do the nose race." I was thinking to myself that this could be bad, after all, I have no idea what nose racing is. Turns out they had gotten into the Mr. Potato Head stuff and had picked out all the noses, they were throwing them down the hallway to see which nose won. Obviously...nose racing.

My son the architect

Isaac has taken to building with his blocks. Yesterday when Jake got home from work Isaac was very excited to show him the maze he had made. Today he was stacking the blocks to make a car shed. It was fun to see him stacking the blocks to make a wall, but he only had enough blocks for two walls. He looked at it then said, "I know, I'll just make the walls smaller, that way I'll have enough blocks to built the whole thing." His problem solving skills are really developing fast. Now he's building walls and using the box the blocks are stored in for the roof.

Killing is bad

Isaac's take on killing, "Killing people is bad because when you're dead you can't brush your teeth, or eat food, or have fun. And you're not very healthy if you're dead."

How to get Isaac to sleep

Jake and I took the kids to Kohl's on Saturday. We let them pick out something to buy and got some Christmas shopping done. Isaac got to pick out some new jammies since his winter pajamas from last year were way to small. He picked out a two pack of toy story pajamas. One set is Buzz Lightyear and the other set is Woody. Last night he went to bed in Buzz Lightyear pajamas, and this morning when he go up he was in his Woody pajamas. I asked him what happened during the night and he said, "My Buzz Lightyear jammies were making me too hot so I put on the Woody jammies." Not sure when this happened because he didn't wake us up during the jammie switch. I thought his response was pretty funny especially since the jammies are exactly the same weight, just different patterns.

Walker!

So Indiana turned 1 on August 31. She'd taken a few steps before then, but now she is officially walking more than crawling. And it's finally turned cool enough for her to try out her Indiana sweatshirt that Gran got her!

Playing Tag

Isaac was playing tag....with the cat. He was running past her touching her tail and saying, "Tag you're it." Niko was just standing there staring at him. So I said, "I don't think Niko knows how to play tag." Isaac said, "Oh" then he knelt down and said, "Niko when I touch your tail you chase me and try to touch me with your tail." Niko does not respond. Then he looked at me and asked, "Can Niko play chase?"

The catch to all this is that if Niko actually did chase him it'd probably scare him and then he wouldn't want to play with her.

Christmas is Beautiful

Isaac picked a christmas movie off netfix to watch after his nap. I said, "Why don't you pick something else, that's a christmas movie." And he replied, "I think christmas is beautiful. Like last year when we were at that hotel and there was christmas stuff. It was just beautiful."

The things he remembers. Last year when we went to the Wilderness of the Smokies Resort for Abigail's birthday in December, they had the Christmas stuff out and the kids really loved all the activities and crafts.

The Alphabet Song

Yesterday on the way home from they gym Indiana was crying so I told Isaac to sing to her. He was pretending to be Alphapig from Superwhy. And was singing her the alphabet song. He was even saying he has two fingers and a thumb, just like Alphapig.

The funny thing was that in the back seat Abigail was singing the alphabet too, but to the traditional tune. So she's singing "now I've said my ABC's next time won't you sing with me," and Isaac is saying "sing with me" at the same time.
And Indiana loved both songs.
Never heard the real Alphapig song? Check it out. http://youtu.be/lEQ14IvtE50

This morning Isaac has been playing Alphapig too. He's been going around spelling everything he sees. It is so nice to hear him sounding out words and trying to spell them. Now if I could only get him as interested in writing as he is in reading and spelling.

What's in your nose?

Abigail and Isaac were in the basement this morning feeding Niko (the new cat) while I was making pancakes. I called and told them to come upstairs but Abigail was dilly-dallying so I went to get her. On the way up the stairs she stops and points to her nose and says, "Mommy, I smell something. There's a pancake in my nose. I smell a pancake smell. I think there are pancakes up there. Yep, there's a pancake in my nose."

Weird Food Habits

Most kids like macaroni and cheese right? Apparently not mine. I made mac and cheese for dinner last night and they had a fit about eating it. This morning I gave it to them again and told them that it would just sit on the table until they ate it. So after a few hours Isaac says, "Can I put something on my macaroni to make it taste better?" I asked him what he wanted, thinking he remembered the ketchup we put on it last time he had it. Nope, Isaac wanted humus on his mac and cheese. So he spreads the humus on it and says, "Wow, now I like this." After a few bites though he's decided he's done eating again.

It's My Room

Isaac and Abigail started out in separate rooms, then for the past year or so they decided they liked sleeping in the same room. Abigail's room has a twin bed and a toddler bed so for the most part Abigail slept in the toddler bed and Isaac slept in the twin bed. With Indiana having moved out of the crib now, it's almost time for her and Abigail to share a room. So we've started changing up the sleeping arrangements. Abigail is now in the twin bed in "the girl room." Isaac is in his twin bed in "the boy room." And Indiana is still on a mattress on the floor of "the baby room" for a few more weeks until she gets used to sleeping out of the crib. So where do Jake and I sleep? In "the married room" of course because, as Isaac pointed out, even though Mommy is a girl and Daddy is a boy since we're married we get to share a room.

We've also started separating for showers into boy showers and girl showers. Trying to explain that we need to wear clothes in the house and that it is impolite to run around naked has been on our list too. Well the other day I got out of the shower and was going to get my clothes when Isaac runs in. He immediately covers his eyes and says, "Mommy, put clothes on you're being rude." The irony was Isaac didn't have clothes on either he was getting ready to shower. Kind of reminds me of the passage in Matthew.

Matt 7:3-5 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

How Not to Alert Someone to Your Presence

So Isaac was upstairs taking his nap and an hour later he asked to come downstairs. I told him he could come down and went back to watching his sisters cackle at each other while semi-reading my book. I notice out of the corner of my eye that Isaac is standing next to the couch. Then he reaches out and backhands me right in the forehead. I turned and said, "Hey, what did you do that for?" and he said, "I was just letting you know I was there." So I then say, "Next time you can just say, 'Mommy, I'm standing next to the couch.'" And Isaac says, "Oh, sorry I didn't know that. I'll do that next time."

Name Calling

So Isaac has gotten into the bad habit of name calling this week. Not really sure where this originated, but he's taken to calling people things like silly head, big head, mitten head etc. So we've been reprimanding him and telling him it's rude to call people names. Yesterday after church he tells me, "Mommy, Bryan and Brianna were rude in Bible class they said, 'Bryan head and Brianna head.'" I then had to explain to him that their last name was "Head" like his last name is "Simpson" so they weren't really being rude.
This follows him having lunch with his friend Anna Guy after which I told him to tell his Daddy who he had lunch with and then whispered, "Anna Guy" to him. He says, "No Mommy, Anna's a girl."

Baby Words and Milestones

So I am terrible at remembering what my kids first words were. Indiana has the advantage of the blog so while I'm thinking about it here are some of the words in her vocabulary.

Mama, Biba (Bible), Pat pat, Night Night. And she has a distinctive scream for "Isaac or Abigail are doing something I of which I don't approve" and another that means "whatever you're eating I want it."

She is also standing by herself as long as she is holding a toy or is near something she can grab on to. She will take a few steps without realizing it, but still prefers crawling as her main form of locomotion.

We are going to the Wilderness of the Smokies Lodge and water park next week to celebrate her first birthday!

A lot of random stuff

Proverbs 15:3 They eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Was Isaac's memory verst and so this is his application.
Isaac: But I was doing a little evil, but now I'm going to be good and not do evil. I won't say bad words and I will listen.

We like Care Bears in our house and the kids like to play Care bear a lot.
Isaac: What's on your belly badge? Oh you're share bear? I'm sunshine bear.
Abigail: We're driving our cloud cars.
Both: Daddy is grumpy and Mommy is sunshine bear.

Playing restaurant
Isaac: You can have pizza, or water, or whatever you like.
Abigail: How about cucumber or tomatoes?
Isaac: Yep we have that. Here's a cucumber and tomato
Abigail: How about cheese?
Isaac: Nope we don't have any cheese. Well, I do think we have cheese.

Abigail's prayer when Isaac was sick: Father thank you for this day thank you for mommy, and daddy and Isaac and Abigail. Help Isaac's head to feel better and help him sleep.

Isaac: What does cookie start with? Oh, I know "q."

The Birthday Song

Well I think we have gotten everyone now who gets a Birthday text message. Here are this year's renditions:

Aunt Laura March 11

Pipa April 28

Jake May 10

Uncle Peter June 13

Mima August 11

Abigail's new term

On the way home from the gym today Indiana was crying so I was singing her the "I" is for Indiana song. Then I moved on to the "I" is for isaac song. Well somewhere along the way Abigail pipes up and says "I" is for Isaac he's a churcher guy. So I said,"he's what?" and she said,"he's a churcher guy, you know like when he gets up and leads singing at church." so there you have it a churcher guy: a man who leads something at church.

Childhood misconceptions

Isn't if funny when children hear a word and come up with what it must mean? Today Abigail and Isaac were chasing each other around and fighting pirates. Then I told them to stop being so loud, they said, "We're just fire fighters. We're not mean guys." Of course I had to ask them what firefighters do. And they said, "They fight and they put out fires." So there you have it if you ever walk into a fire house and interrupt a brawl, they're just doing the fighting part of their job.

Crumb It

It's no secret that my house is often a wreck. The most used appliance is probably my dust buster or as the children have christened it, the crumb sucker. I really like this little vacuum and use it daily to clean up all the little and not so little messes my children manage to make. I also use it for sucking up all the spiders, wasps, and other insects that get into our house. It's also convenient that Isaac and Abigail can both operate it so they can help with the messes they make. Today Abigail was in bed "taking" a nap and she yells, "Mommy there's a spider on the wall." So I went up with the dust buster and she says, "Oh, good Mommy, crumb it. Get it with the crumb sucker. Oh good, you crumbed it."

Smart sneaky kids

When Isaac is misbehaving he has a variety of consequences. Today he got sent to his room. After a few minutes I notice he is being awfully quiet. The sneaky boy stopped by and picked up the Ipad on his way to his room and was even smart enough to mute the games he was playing so I wouldn't hear it. When I went up to check on him he said, "Oh, can I turn the sound up on my games now?"

Yesterday Indiana was over in the corner by herself for a while. As any parent knows that can only mean one thing, so I asked Isaac to go check her. He said, "That baby looks stinky, sniff her mommy."

I wanted to go to the gym last night after Jake got home from work. We were discussing if I was taking any of the kids with me and Jake said he'd rather I take either "the bigs," Isaac and Abigail, or the baby. Isaac, who was in the other room, pipes up, "I think we should stay with you, Daddy. Mommy can take Indiana." Just another reminder that the kids are always listening, even when we can't see them.

Pictures are worth 1000 words and videos are worth?

Indiana Playing and Saying Peekaboo

Isaac was sent to his room to wait for his Daddy. He was very quiet and this is what I found.

Indiana is mechanically inclined

Showing me how she was going to be good in church

Playing with their Care Bears from Aunt Laura

This goes along with the new song of the week. To the tune of "If you're happy and you know it."

If your name is Indiana clap your hands

If your name is Indiana clap your hands

If your name is Indiana and you're cute in your pajamas

If your name is Indiana clap your hands

His sleeping basket. Apparently it wasn't too comfy though.

Isaac's picture of him playing nicely with Abigail. He even labelled them with an "A" and an "I."

A picture before church. This is as close to everyone looking at the camera as it got.

Pretty girl in her dress.

We underestimated her sneakiness

So Jake and I have a pretty standard Saturday routine that consists of taking the trash off, going to the gym, taking the kids out for lunch then back home for the kids to take naps. We decided to rent a movie while we were out today so we could watch it while the kids were napping. They nap upstairs and the dvd player is in the basement so I took the monitors down so we would hear them when they woke up. About an hour and a half into the movie Jake says, "I have to pee." From the back of the couch we hear, "I have to pee too." Abigail has snuck downstairs and we're still not exactly sure how long she was there without us knowing it. That girl can sure be quiet when she wants to be.

What a way to wake up, and other random happenings

This morning Isaac and Abigail had crawled into bed with me as usual and were going back to sleep when Isaac jumps up and yells, "A spider!" Sure enough there was a large black spider crawling up his leg. I swatted at it and missed. By then Abigail had gotten out of bed and was yelling, "Smoosh it Mommy. Now we have to wash the bed." Abigail knows all about this because I killed a spider in her bed last week and had to wash it. Unfortunately for me, and I guess luckily for the spider, it crawled off someplace while we all scurried off the bed and I never located it to "smoosh."

The kids have several stuffed animals they love to play with and lately the animals have been "getting born." This consists of one of the kids laying on top of the animal then when they hop up the animal has "been born." Yesterday Isaac and Abigail were fighting because Abigail's animal wanted to be born but Isaac said, "No, I already borned that one."

A favorite snack in our house is frozen mixed fruit. It has pineapple, peach, strawberry, and mango pieces. Abigail always asks if she can have some "frozen mingos" for snack.

I have been taking the kids with me to the gym in the afternoons so I can work out. This may sound like a positive thing except that afterwards Isaac always thinks I need to take him to a restaurant. The other day I told him before we left home that I did not have money to take him to a restaurant. He looked at me and said, "Well, then just put it on the credit card Mommy. Stevie B's takes credit cards too." So then we got to have the credit cards have to be paid off with money talk.

The Things that are in the Bible

Isaac and I were talking about the fact that some people don't teach their kids about the Bible. He agreed that not knowing about the Bible was sad, then he said to me, "I'm going to tell them that they need to do the things that are in the Bible. I'll be good and they'll see the things that I do and be good too."

It's so nice to see him grasping these concepts.

Seriously? Seriously again?

So I've seen all these articles and chapters in parenting books about babyproofing and childproofing your home, what they don't prepare you for are the creative and sneaky ways four and two year olds think. We've had a rough couple of weeks where it seems I don't have enough eyes to keep tabs on everyone and the kids are taking full advantage of their five minutes alone.

One day while Abigail has me distracted by continually getting out of bed during her nap time, Isaac takes it upon himself to push his little tykes car over to the refrigerator and climbs on the roof to reach the cookies we keep up on top of it. I come downstairs and find him hiding in the corner and say, "What do you have?" To which he replies, "I have cookies, here one is for you."

Later in the week I am downstairs with Isaac and Indiana when I hear Abigail over the baby monitor. She is much sneakier than her brother and has learned to creap out of bed instead of running around which alerts me to the transgression. So I go upstairs and find her in Indiana's room smearing herself with petroleum jelly which she has gotten off the changing table.

Isaac has picked up a few tips from his sister too though. I found him hiding under the bed putting on deoderant.

Yet later in the week Isaac is downstairs playing and when he comes up he is wet. He proceeds to tell me he found a squirter and got water all over. I'm thinking, "Great he climbed up on the kitchen sink in the basement and got the sprayer." So he comes up and Abigail goes down and I hear her yell that the cars are all wet. This is  not consitent with the kitchen sprayer theory so I go to investigate. Isaac had found some bug spray that had been left up in the kitchen and had sprayed the entire basement. So I immediately strip him and Abigail and Indiana, just for good measure, and throw them all in the shower. Jake gets home and takes over bathing while I go to the basement and clean every toy and throw out several puzzles and stuffed animals that have taken on too much bugspray to even salvage. I then shampooed the carpets twice.

And today I'm upstairs with the kids. Indiana is playing in Isaac's room with the other two so I go in there to supervise. Well Isaac and Abigail go to play in Abigail's room and a few min later I notice it is eerily quiet in there so I go to check it out. Unfortunately as soon as I exit Isaac's room I know something is wrong, there is a strong odor in the air that is not normally in the house. I walk the few steps to Abigail's room and see Isaac and Abigail dunking their toys in Vick Vap-O-rub. Great! This shower takes a bit longer, that stuff is hard to get off. And their hair is still a little greasy.

So what is up with my kids? How is it they are finding all this stuff that hasn't been moved in months or years and all of a sudden they are drawn to it and feel like making such messes? Nothing is safe and I can't even figure out what to lock up because they are finding such random stuff. Oh well, I guess this too shall pass.

Let's catch what?

We have had vacation Bible school this week, which means we're getting home around 9:30. The lightning bugs have been out and the Isaac and Abigail were asking what the flashing lights were. Jake told them they were lightning bugs and that if they were good maybe we could go catch some one night in the bug catcher.

When we got out of the van last night Abigail stops and says, "I hear thunder bugs, lets go catch some."

Isaac describing our family the other day.
Isaac: There was a baby named Isaac. We had a next baby named Mommy, then we had a baby named Isaac, then Abigail. Then we had a last baby named Indiana. Yep, she's our last baby.

Love it

Whenever my kids want to say something, but don't really know what to say they go with, "I love you."
I always respond with I love you too. This was Abigail's latest comeback.
Abigail: I love you 5 times!

Jake's been preaching at a small congregation near Rome, GA. Isaac asked him yesterday where he was going and Jake said I am going to preach and Isaac responds: Have a good preach.

Isaac's prayers: Father in heaven, thank you for this beautiful day. Thank you for the creation. Thank you for pharoah and his being mean to Moses and saying, "I will not let the people go." And thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Isaac and Abigail and Indiana and help this food make us grow big and strong. In Jesus name. Amen.

This weekend we went door knocking to invite poeple to Vacation Bible School. I took the girls with me and Isaac and Jake went with the group from church. The first few doors Abigail was a little shy and didn't want to do anything, but by the end she'd take the flyer and tell me to stay at the road while she went and rang the bell. She also took up hugging all the garden gnomes, bunny statues, and stone bull dogs we passed...
When Isaac got home he told me, "Mommy I was going up and knocking on doors and inviting people to Vacation Bible School. But some people told me they weren't going to come. Some people will come though."

Random Cuteness

Me: Did you eat Indiana's baby puffs?
Isaac: Well I just didn't want anyone to get them so I took them.
Me: Where did you put them?
Isaac: I just put them in my mouth so no one would get them. Yeah, that's why I had to eat them.

Abigail: My foot hurts
Me: Why?
Abigail: Because I think it hurts.
Me: Oh your foot hurts because you think it hurts?
Abigail: Yeah, I think I'll take my shoes off.

I have always thought it was funny that my children call for their toys. I wonder if they really expect an answer?
Abigail: Pig! Pig where are you?

Abigail: I brought Indiana some baby shoes so now she can walk!

We always have a favorite song, right now our favorites are to the tune of  "C" is for cookie, from Sesame street:
"I" is for Indiana we hope she doesn't cry. Oh, Indy, Indiana starts with "I."
"I" is for Isaac he's a funny guy. Oh, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac starts with "I."
"A" is for Abigail, she likes to play. Oh, Abigaily starts with "A."
"G" is for Gina, that's good enough for me. Oh, Gina, Gina, Gina starts with "G."
"D" is for Daddy, that's good enough for me. Oh, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy starts with "D."

Which one to wipe when?

It was a perfect storm today at my house. Indiana was standing at her leapfrog table grunting away when Abigail comes to me and tells me she needs to go big gross. So I put Abigail on the potty...but I need to get to Indiana before she falls back on that diaper she has just filled. As I do some quick figuring I decide Indiana needs to be wiped first. Poop being ejected from a squashed diaper in the living room trumps Abigail getting impatient and hopping off the potty. So while I'm changing Indiana, and it was a three wiper by the way, I hear Isaac yell from upstairs, "I did big gross!" Lucky for me he has a little more patience. Abigail is still teaching whatever toy she took to the bathroom about the proper pottying technique, so I finish up the "babin" toss the dirty diaper in the pail on the way to wipe Abigail; run up the stairs and wipe Isaac; and get back just in time to keep Indiana from eating the crumb she's managed to swipe out from under the couch. Yeah, I worked for my supermom title today.

Food Themed Kid Sayings

Me: How about some carrots and hummus?
Abigail: Yes, that's a great idea. Get some carrots and hummus and then do your work.

Me: What should we have for dinner?
Isaac: How about we have hummus sandwiches.

Isaac brings me a box of cheerios and asks me to pour them.
Me: Isaac I'm busy right now.
Isaac: Mommy it doesn't take long to pour food into bowls.

Abigail: I got them their bowls. I put their beans and pizza in their bowls. I like beans and pizza.

More Kid Sayings

Abigail: I think daddy's at work. Don't worry he'll be back soon.
Isaac: No he won't he has to work a long day. He'll be gone a long long time.
Abigail: Oh, Daddy will be gone a long long time, but then he'll come home right Isaac?
Isaac: Right.

Isaac: When Indiana is four she'll be big like me. She has to be one, and two, and three before she can be four though.
Abigail: Then she'll get a birthday cake. We get birthday cakes on birthdays!
Isaac: When Indiana is as old as me, well when she's two she'll be able to talk.
Abigail: When she has teeth she can talk.

Mickey game: Find my hand
Abigail: Oh, find your hand. (she pushes the hand button)
Mickey game: Find my foot
Abigail: No Mickey, I can't right now.

The Simpsons Last Day in Orlando

Well the last day of our vacation is wrapping up. The kids are in bed for their last sleep before going home. The face paint is finally washed off, the last bread pudding has been eaten, and Mommy almost has everything packed up and ready to go. Daddy helped pack up the clothes while everyone was napping.

So for the last day in Orlando we started off with a pirate treasure hunt, followed by some mini-golf, and then some pool games. Mommy and Daddy won the balloon toss and free nachos! After a quick nap it was back out for some face painting then a last few jumps in the pool before listening to Daddy sing for us in the Bonnet's Got Talent show. Overall I'd call this vacation a success. The kids were great and I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time.

One thing from yesterday I will go ahead and mention is that we went to a presentation by a worker from Gatorland. He told a story about not touching baby alligators because if you get bitten you can get an infection and lose your finger. So tonight Isaac was playing alligator and bit Abigail. She then told me to put a band-aid on it, but that then her finger was going to fall off.

Isaac Tiger and Daddy Pirate

Mommy Fire Eyes

Abigail Rabbit

Day 2 Face Paint, Isaac Dog and Mommy Rabbit

Isaac's Vacation Sayings

When we're on vacation I let the kids go to sleep with the curtain open so they can look out the window and have a little light. When Jake and I go to bed I go in and close the curtains so that the light won't wake them up in the morning. Tonight when Jake was putting Isaac to bed tonight Isaac wanted the curtain open then he asked, "Daddy, why do the curtains close during the night?" So Jake explained that Mommy closes the curtains so the sun won't wake them up. It's cute that he was thinking about it though.

There are lots of helicopters here in FL and Jake asked Isaac if he'd like to ride in a helicopter someday. Isaac looked at him and said, "Daddy, will there be safe windows so we wouldn't fall out of the helicopter?" This from the kid who wouldn't walk to our hotel room because it was on the second floor and the railing was open. I like that he's safety conscious and I'm glad we decided to forgo the theme parks since they would probably scare him too.

We were at the kiddie pool and a boy noticed Isaac's black toenail and asked him what happened. Isaac tells him, "I dropped a piano on my toe and it turned black." The kid then asks, "Did it catch on fire?" and Isaac gave him a "what are you crazy look I just told you the story" look, but then says, "No, like I said, I dropped a piano on it and it turned black."

While riding in the van with Jake, Isaac had a pretend conversation with me. Apparently he ended the converstation with, "A good day to you Mommy." Not sure where he picked that up, but okay.

The Simpsons Hit Orlando Part Two

We have done a lot more vacationing since the last post which means a lot more pictures. We went to Downtown Disney on Tuesday and let the kids pick out some souven"ears" and they had a blast at RideMakerz building their own racecars. Isaac has since become an expert remote control car driver. I am always amazed at how fast the kids pick up new skills.

 And we have been having lots of fun at the resort playing mini golf and taking advantage of lots of the planned activities offered. The newest favorite in mini golf. And Isaac would make is Uncle Peter proud he has been steadily improving and will be ready for real golf in no time.

 For all the pictures check out the facebook album. (the link is on an earlier post)

The Simpsons Hit Orlando

It was a long Friday morning as the kids and I shuffled around the house finishing last minute chores, taking off the trash, picking up and then the long wait for Daddy to get home so we could leave on vacation. We finally get loaded up and head out only to get stuck in the holiday traffic in Atlanta, luckily our trusty GPS, Guapo, got us through okay. After a relaxing stop for some dinner at Cracker Barrel we reached our halfway stop at Tifton, GA. The five of us in one room for sleeping was...interesting. Isaac and Abigail refused to share their double bed so Isaac slept on the floor.  They didn't have the pack-n-play we had requested so Indiana had a blanket on the floor on which to sleep. She unfortunately napped the whole last hour so arrived refreshed and ready to play. I would put her down she would sit up. I would put her down she would pull up on the bed and then fall. I would put her down she'd decide to go exploring...until after 11 when she finally conked out.
Saturday at 2 we finally made it to our room at the Bonnet Creek Resort. It has been awesome. With 5 pools, two lazy rivers, a splash pad and a lot of hot tubs, the kids have been getting their fill of water fun. One thing I don't get though are the multiple hot tubs. It is 90+ degrees outside and the hot tubs are packed...during the day! Even the regular pools aren't too refreshing since they are so warm. 
We also have been enjoying the planned activities the resort offers daily. Isaac is a big fan of the daily ice cream social, and yesterday we won the family scavenger hunt and were rewarded with a free pizza. Yes, there is a theme here, we like food. And last night Jake rocked it for us at the karaoke party poolside. See videos below. So far we're having a blast. More to report in the next couple of days I'm sure.

Jake singing Three Dog Night's Never Been to Spain with Indiana backup:-P And Abigail running up to congratulate him at the end.

 

For all the pictures checkout the facebook album.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.641052708598.2139413.52706926&l=659d5a87cd

Random Kid Sayings

Abigail: Mommy a spider!
Isaac: Oh, a spider, I know just what to kill it with. The wheel of the car. Okay.

Isaac standing on the bathtub
Me: Isaac you're almost as tall as mommy
Isaac: Yeah, I am big, but it's because I'm standing on the bathtub. I'll be little when I get down.

Isaac: There's a bird in our grass, lets catch it in my bird catcher.
Me: The bird is too big for your bug catcher.
Isaac: No, I changed it to a bird catcher now.
Me: Oh. Good luck catching the bird then.

We like to watch the Price is Right and apparently marketers target older people during that time slot. We see lots of power chair and scooter commercials. Today it was OsteoBiflex. The commercial features a 48 year old man talking about how he likes to swim and walk outside.
Isaac runs up to me and says: I like to swim and walk outside too!
Guess I'll have to get him some OsteoBiflex.

Getting ready for vacation I took the kids to the dump to drop off the trash.
Isaac:Today we're going to Florida. Lets just pack up and go when we get back from the dump.
Me: We have to wait for Daddy. He's coming with us.
Isaac: Well, I just think that Daddy knows the way to get to Florida by himself.
So I guess Jake will just meet us there. That will really blow the gas budget.

She can crawl, she can sit, it's...Super baby!

It has been a big day for Indiana. After weeks of being so close to crawling and being able to go from being flat on her back to sitting up she achieved both today. I went in to get her from her nap and she was sitting in her crib. Then I brought her downstairs and she's been crawling all around today. Yesterday she was still just getting up and scooting backwards but today she's going forward. Here is a picture of her sitting and a grainy video of the crawling.

She also has started pulling herself up on things. She's going to be running around after her big brother and sister in no time.

More about Uno

So a few months ago we got "Uno the kitty." He is still an object of fascination for Indiana, still intimidates Abigail, and is still trying to figure out how to handle Isaac. Isaac still likes to chase him and occasionally Uno chases back. But they are on their way to being fast friends now that Isaac has taken over the feeding Uno in the morning duties. I can hear them in the basement now. Isaac is running around and every once in a while I hear a squeal and, "Uno!"

Here is a picture of Indiana and Uno checking each other out.

Things having children taught me

After a rough night with Abigail and Isaac both running a temperature and not sleeping well, I was awake in bed at two in the morning and I had an epiphany. Seeing my children suffering and just wanting to be able to make them feel better I started thinking about how God the Father sent Christ the Son to earth knowing he would have to endure suffering.

Acts 2: 22-24 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

God knew all along that Christ would suffer and die. God had the power to stop it. And God allowed it to happen so that we may have redemption through Christ. Wow! And it was no small amount of suffering, Christ knew physical pain, but also emotional turmoil. Jesus prayed asking for another path to be taken:

Matt 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou [wilt].

Another thing I realized was how frustrating it must be when we try to make our own way in this world and still expect to recieve the salvation God offers. When I tell Isaac or Abigail to do something they're typical response is, "But I want..." And at times I just want to scream, "Just do what I told you to do how I told you to do it!" I can imagine how frustrating it must be to God when He's given us the Bible and told us exactly what we must do to obtain eternal life and yet so many today respond, "But I want..." But I want to say this prayer and then Jesus will come into my heart; But I want to live a good life and God will accept me; But my preacher/pastor/minister told me I need to... and I will be saved." And all the while the Bible tells us time after time what we MUST do.
On the day of Pentecost during the first gospel sermon:

Acts 2:37-38 Now when they heard [this], they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men [and] brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call.

What about the conversion of Saul/Paul?

Acts 22: 6-16 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt [there], Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

From just these two examples we can see that we must hear about Jesus, believe that Jesus is the Christ, repent of our sins, confess the name of Jesus, and be baptized/immersed to wash away our sins. So why all the "but I wants?" lets just do it the way we're told to do it.

Now I need a nap because that was a lot of heavy thinking for so early in the morning. And I'm glad to report that Isaac and Abigail are currently feeling better.

I changed it

So Abigail went potty this morning, and if you've been following the blog you know that going "big gross" in the potty means getting a cookie. Well Isaac saw the cookie this morning and said, "Mommy how about we change it so that if I'm good I get a cookie and if I go big gross I get a squeezey hug?" And now every few minutes he comes up and asks, "Can you give me a cookie for being good? I changed it so now I get a cookie for being good." He's just not grasping the concept that when Mommy and Daddy  make a rule only they can change it or is he? Now he's asking, "Mommy can you change the rule so that I get a cookie for being good? Mommy can you change it?"

Another cute quip: I was talking to Jake yesterday about our neighbors coming home and I said, "The Yacovetts will be back." Isaac looks at me and says, "What's a Yacovett?"

What's on your finger?

Jake took Isaac with him to a youth day event at the Oxford Church of Christ last weekend. They had to get up at 6am which is really early for Isaac, but he was still excited.  As Jake was getting his keys and preparing to leave in the dim light of the early morning, Isaac extended his thumb and told Jake to touch it. When Jake touched it he asked, "Why is your thumb sticky?" to which Isaac replied, "It has a boogie on it.  It's from my nose.  Get it daddy."

The Great Pancake Debacle

Our usual breakfast is chocolate chip pancakes. I have been having extra batter at the end and thus started making one pancake larger than the others. Well of course that didn't go unnoticed and soon I was making two large pancakes one for Abigail and one for Isaac. Well this morning there just wasn't enough batter for two. I told them they had to agree on who would get the large pancake or Mommy would eat it. Well, Isaac says, "I agree that Isaac should eat the big pancake." Of course, Abigail then agrees that, "Abigial will eat the big pancake." So I explain that agreeing means they both decide that the same person should get the big pancake. Isaac thinks about it for a minute then says, "Well, what if we cut the pancake in half and share it?" Abigail doesn't want to share the pancake or see it cut in half...So Isaac and I cut the pancake and we shared it and Abigail was stuck eating normal sized pancakes.

The Tooth Hurts

So Indiana has been running a low grade fever off and on for the past two days and has been really irritable. Well yesterday I could finally confirm that there is a tooth breaking through. So it only took her 8.5 months, but finally she is getting her first tooth!

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is one of the movies I have on VHS and I let Isaac and Abigail watch it when they're upstairs. It has taken over our house lately though. My kids are stomping around singing "Goin' Courtin'" and today Isaac is Adam and he just introduced me to his wife Millie (Abigail). So now Adam and Millie are going to pick up all of the blocks. It is so funny to hear Isaac using his deep manly voice telling me what they are doing.
Oh if only my house were set up like some of those reality shows and I could have this on tape...any TV producers reading my blog? We would make a great show.

More Vocabulary

So one of our lunch staples is vanilla yogurt and granola with the occasional fresh fruit mixed in. Abigail has coined a term for this. She will ask me if she can have "granilla" for lunch.

Last night our Bible story before bed was about Cain and Abel. During his bedtime prayer Isaac prayed that he and Abigail would be good and the Cain wouldn't be bad and kill Abel. At least we know he's paying attention to his Bible lessons.

Whine party

Wyndham has a lot of daily activities for guests to enjoy. Today we took the kids down and they got to paint flower picture frames. This afternoon we took Abigail and Indiana down and it happened to be during the wine and cheese social so we came back to the room. Isaac was disappointed because he wanted to join us, but we told him we came back because of the wine social. He said, "oh, we can't go down because they're having a whining party." the kids get in trouble for whining so he understood this was a place to avoid.

DC adventure Part 1

The kids, Mom, Ms. Judy, and I started our adventure to National Harbor Friday, April 29. We "hopped on the bus" in Knoxville, TN at 10:30 in the morning and got to DC at 8:30 pm. Aunt Laura met us for the walk to the metro and the trip out to her apartment. We spent one night with Aunt Laura and then metroed over to the Wyndham National Harbor resort on Saturday. So far we've gone to worship with the Oxon Hill Church of Christ on Sunday morning and had a visit with Uncle Don and Aunt Ragnhild on Sunday evening. We water taxied over to Old Town Alexandria yesterday and spent the day walking around then metroed back. And today the kids are heading down to the children's museum while Aunt Laura and I have to work. Oh, and we may have been swimming a few times :-D. Here are some pictures from the first four days.

Taken from our 7th floor balcony

Water Taxi to Alexandria

The National Harbor in the background

Napping on Saturday morning

Icecream at Ben&Jerry's in Alexandria

Isaac's Tee Ball Game 2

Well they pulled it out in the end and won game two. Isaac had three hits but only scored two runs. He got out at home after a dinky hit left him with a longer run than the other team's pitcher. He did much better running the bases this time though. The key...I told him it was a race and he had to beat the other team to the bases otherwise he'd have to sit in the dugout. That seemed to motivate him. Now to figure out how to get him to stop playing in the dirt while in the field. He did get an out at first though after fielding a groundball and tagging first.

Hit 1 after a foul ball

Hit 2 after a foul ball

Indiana clapping and cheering for her brother

3rd Hit

Warming up

The cheering fans

Fielding? Kind of... he's the one playing with his hat.

Abigail's day

While looking at Uncle Peter's blog. http://petermalnati.blogspot.com/
Abigail: That was Uncle Peter holding his trophy for winning the baseball race.
Actually it was Uncle Peter holding his trophy for winning a golf tournament.

Me: Abigail, why do you have a cup?
Abigail: Because I have a ball....So I need this to throw it in.
While giving me the "of course mom why else would I have a cup" look.

Abigail: Jesus love the little chilren of the world. Wow, that's a good idea. I love you kitties.

Here are a few grainy videos of her playing.

Preaching

It is so nice to see my kids playing with their Bibles. They love to "read" me the stories. Today I got to hear about Jesus' death and resurrection. I typed this as they were saying it so I could get every word just the way they said it.

Isaac:  Jesus carried his own cross. Then he said something. After he said his words he died.
Abigail:   Yeah, he died and went to heaven
Me:  Did Jesus stay dead?
Isaac:  No, but then when she came in she saw that the tomb the stone was rolling away from the door and when she looked in the tomb was empty. And she saw two men sitting. And she said, "Where is Jesus?" and they said, "He isn't here." Then she saw, well she thought it was the gardener, but it wasn't. Then he talked and she said, "Teacher." And it was Jesus, then she ran to the house where the disciples were and said, "I have seen Jesus! I have seen Jesus."

He knows the story pretty well. Here is John 20:11-18.
But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down [and looked] into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing [there], and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him, "Rabboni!" (which is to say, Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and [to] My God and your God.' "Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and [that] He had spoken these things to her.

Retreat

Jake is going to the annual retreat in Kentucky with Old Union Church of Christ and most of the teens from Cartersville Church of Christ. I was talking to Isaac about Daddy not being here this weekend and he told me that Daddy was taking older kids on a treat. Isaac said when he was older he could go on a treat with Daddy. I hope when he is old enough to go he find the retreat to still be a treat.

Mobile Baby

Well, she's 7.5 months old and I hereby deem Indiana mobile. Though she isn't quite crawling yet she has perfected moving around the living room by rolling, pushing herself backwards, and turning in circles. I can set her down in the middle and she'll go from one end to the other in no time. No more leaving her unattended upstairs without the gate closed. Another perk, her new found mobility has enabled her to entertain herself for hours on end!