Feed them to the Lions

Isaac and I are upstairs working and doing school when we hear a large crash from downstairs. Turns out Indiana probably with help from Abigail, turned over their bookshelf and spilled all their books. After telling them to clean it up I came and said, "What are we going to do with those girlies?" Isaac looked at me and said, "Um feed them to some lions?" I said, "Okay know where there are any lions?" To which he responds, "I think there are some in Africa." So then I said, "Oh, how are we going to get the girls to Africa?" and he says, "Well, maybe we should just take them to the zoo." So then I asked if he thought the zoo would just let us toss the girls in with the lions at the zoo and Isaac says, "I have no idea." So we've decided against feeding the girls to the lions for now.

Wedding shower

There was a wedding shower for a lady at church who was getting married, since Abigail was awake I decided to take her. As we were getting ready to go she asked me if we are all going to take our clothes off. I then had to discuss that in this case "shower" meant party and was not for getting clean. 

No Hands Snuggling

I know, it's been a while since I posted. Not that the kids haven't done anything to write about, but they have been doing so much I haven't really had time to write. So I decided to break that streak today and take a few minutes to write.
This afternoon Indiana woke up from her nap in a less than chipper mood. She wanted to snuggle me, but she didn't want to be held. So she would climb up in my lap, I'd try to wrap my arms around her like usual and she would grab them and say, "No hands." So we ended up with her leaning against me with my arms out to the side so I wasn't touching her at all. After about five minutes she woke up enough that she wanted to go play, which is good because no hands snuggling is kind of awkward.

Abigail Learns to Read

So Abigail has said that since she is now four it is time for her to learn how to read. The only problem is that she usually doesn't want to stay still and learn her letter sounds or how to put them together. So we've come up with "shower words." When we shower I write words on the shower wall and she sounds them out while she is in the shower. It has actually worked pretty well and she can sound out most of the words I write for her. Yesterday though she cracked me up when she was sounding out the word "sheep." She said, "qeep?" I said, "What sound does 'sh' make?" and she said, "It's like "quiet" right?" That got me laughing, I said, "Well, it makes 'shhh', not quiet." At least she remembered that 's' and 'h' make a sound when they are together.

Abigail's colors

Today Abigail was coloring on the iPad and I said, "why don't you use the pink?" She replied,"I don't have pink, that is magenta. And that isn't green it's chartreuse." Now if we could only get Indiana to become interested in learning her colors, she still calls everything pink.

Who needs a paper shredder?

The local Kmart is closing so Sunday while we had an hour I took the kids to look around. We picked up some tape, scissors, toothbrushes and a few other random things. Well the kids have been very excited to use their scissors. today I gave them all the junk mail we received and they have been happily cutting it into small pieces all morning.

Rainy but warm

What to do on a rainy yet warm January day with three kids cooped up in the house? Open the windows of course. And when windows are open and kids are stuck inside they discover that from Isaac's bedroom window their voices echo off the neighbor's house. So if you live nearby me and have heard things like "echo" "cow" "monkey" emanating from my house now you know why.

Love reading

Isaac loves to read. He reads two chapters a day in his "chapter" books. He finished Knight Before Dawn in two days. He also gets to read a story from his bedtime story book most nights before bed. This morning when jake got up for work though he found the light on in isaac's room. He had been up for an unknown amount of time reading. I am glad he likes to read but that is a little too early for reading.

Avoiding bed or really hungry?

It is always hard to tell on Wednesday night after church if the kids are really hungry when we get home or just trying to avoid going to bed. We usually eat before church since it starts at 7:30. Tonight the girls were whining that they were still hungry so I said,"you can have corn, green beans, or garbanzo beans (which were the first three vegetables I found in the pantry) if you are hungry." They picked green beans and have nearly devoured the whole can. They must really have been hungry tonight. Usually when faced with canned veggies or any other options they take the other option. Either way it is still a win win for me because at least they ate vegetables.

Gator boys

So the kids and I are all a little sickly today. I think it is just a cold, but we all have slight fevers and aches. In an effort to keep the kids calm and not wanting to watch anymore Thomas the Trains I turned on Gator Boys. The show is about guys who go around and catch alligators that are bothering people. One guy uses PVC pipe and a rope to catch gators in the water. The problem is now the kids are playing gator and chasing each other around with a paint stick they're using as a catch pole. Abigail had now learned to "train" Isaac the alligator by feeding him cheerios as gator snacks. Fun times at our house.

I know He loves You

So Isaac has been doing some reading comprehension and drawing conclusions in his schoolwork. He'll have a little sentence or story to read then a few options to pick from for what will happen next. This is usually followed by some lines to write about what clues in the story led to the conclusion you chose. Tonight we were out at a restaurant and I said, "Hey, Isaac, I love you." Isaac said, "I love you too." Then I said, "I love your Daddy." And Isaac said, "I know he loves you too. The clues I used to figure that out are...Well, when he kisses you that reminds me that he loves you." So there you have it it really is in the kiss. Hmm...there's a song in there somewhere.

Pictures of the Kids

Every year I try to at least take the kids to have one professional picture made. After yesterday's session I was again reminded why I only do this once a year. I got off work at 1:30 and my session was scheduled for 3:30. So I got the girls in the bath to wash their hair since Indiana had been styling it earlier with yogurt or some other sticky substance. After making it through all the splashing and soaping, shampooing, conditioning and a few tears I finally got them out of the tub and dried and lotioned. Then I got them dressed in their outfits, located their dress shoes, and tried to keep them out of the yogurt while Isaac changed into his suit. Finally we loaded up in the van and actually left the house around 3:00. It was worth it though they all pretty much cooperated and the pictures turned out well. I ordered pose 2 for our package because I thought it captured their personalities pretty well while still looking orderly. Pose 25 and 26 are really what most of our pictures turn out like at home though. Enjoy!

http://www.myonlineportraits.com/ViewSharedAlbum.aspx?ShareID=e6abe0c0-3483-4f15-b726-69493aef413e

Isaac Quote of the Day

Today I was listening to Exodus chapter 26 while Isaac and Abigail were doing school work. Isaac was doing his school work when he suddenly looked up and said, "Did he say Wonka?" We like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I had to look back to see what Isaac really had heard. Want to guess? The verse says, "The length of one curtain..." One curtain, does kind of sound like Wonka if you are just listening a little.

Abigail quote of the day

I was cold so I put on a long sleeved shirt and long sleeved pants. Indiana wasn't cold so she has on a short sleeved shirt and long sleeved pants.

Is that our church?

We have been enjoying our gospel meeting this week with the church. Brother James Rogers has been presenting lessons on following in the footprints of Jesus. Last night he spoke about the steps of Jesus leading to His church and that it isn't "our" church but that the church belongs to Christ. I have been impressed with how well the children have been behaving each night and this morning I found out they are listening as well.
I have several devotional songs that I've been trying to learn and have found that congregations post videos to YouTube of the congregation singing. This morning I was playing a new song and Isaac came up and looked at the ipod and said, "Is that our church?" So I took the opportunity and asked him, "Whose church is it?" and he said, "God's." So then I asked him, "Who bought the church?" and he said, "Jesus." So far he'd been following brother James' outline so I followed up with, "How did Jesus pay for the church?" and Isaac said, "He had to die. That's sad." So then we talked a little more and Isaac came to the conclusion, "Jesus died so we could be members of His church and go to heaven."
We recently had a youth day and I had the opportunity to speak to the young ladies about being ready to give and answer from 1 Pet 3:15. In that lesson I talked a little about earning money verses being given money to spend. I've noticed with my kids if they want something and I tell them they can do chores to earn the money to buy it that once they've earned the money sometimes they decide to save it instead of spending it at the dollar store. As adults I think we are the same way, doesn't that bonus money usually go faster than our weekly paycheck? Do we tend to order more food when someone else is taking us out to eat verses what we would order if we were paying for it ourselves? What if we had to donate blood to earn money? What if stores had blood bank lines and when you took your new shoes up to the counter instead of getting out your wallet you sat in a chair, a nurse put a needle in your arm, and you had to give a pint of blood, or a quart, or a gallon? How long would most of us wait to get new shoes? Jesus didn't just give a little blood for the church though, He gave all of it! So when people say they love Jesus but not His church I find that highly contradictory. If we love Jesus we'll love the things He loves, and what could He love more than the one thing He gave His life for? He gave his life for the assembly, the congregation, the called out people, the church!

Life Goals

We have always tried to teach our kids that their number one goal in life is to get to heaven and their second goal is to help as many people get to heaven with them as they can. Tonight while showering Abigail I was asking her how we get to heaven and she said,"By doing what God says." So I asked her how we know what God says and she said,"We read the Bible." Then I asked her how we help other people get to heaven and she looked at me with a classic Abigail quizzical look and said,"uh, we pay money?" Not sure where that came from but we went on to discuss it and concluded that teaching them the Bible was a better answer to that question.

Indiana's vocabulary

Indiana has started talking a lot more lately. She usually still says "hold you" when she means "hold me." Today she was sitting at the table with Abigail and said, "Abagab, you. I, me."

Vocabulary Issues

So Indiana has a bad habit of just walking up to Jake or me and making a noise of some type so we'll look at her. Then she usually walks away or wants to be picked up. Well this afternoon she walked up to Jake and said, "Eek." He looked down at her and she didn't indicate that she wanted to be picked up so he said, "Oh, did you just want me to acknowledge your presence?" And she said, "Presents!" and followed after him saying, "Present? Present?" Oops, now we have to try to explain to a two year old that no there isn't a present for her.

Tomboy

I think Abigail may be a tomboy. Today she is wearing some striped overalls and pretending she is an engineer. This in and of itself may not establish the fact that she is taking after her brother. When she is playing with her fruit stand lego set, and instead of making a marketplace she makes a caulking gun, that pretty much says it all. So now she is shooting her caulking gun with pretend bullets and hitting targets. I don't think she understands what caulk actually is, but she has seen her Daddy use a caulk gun before and she was very interested in it. So she is now happily shooting pretend bullets at mice from her caulking gun and is very entertained. As long as she's happy and not making a mess it's okay with me.

Things overheard on a monitor

Today Indiana is supposed to be laying down for a nap. Usually I lay her down and just let her do her own thing until she falls asleep. Sometimes I find her asleep in the rocking chair after she has rocked herself to sleep. Other days she has pulled her pillow and blanket to the doorway and is sound asleep there. So far today she is still going strong but I have been able to pick out her singing "I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery, flying, I'm in the lords army. Yes! Sir!
And she said a prayer. And now she is quiet so maybe she is going to sleep. It is neat to hear her doing her nighttime routine of family bible time and singing and prayer all on her own before a nap.