Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

Just before Thanksgiving break Sarah's Kindergarten Class performed a Brown Bear, Brown Bear play.  Sarah was the Purple Cat.  She was visibly nervous before it was time for her to say her lines but when it was her turn she did really well.  After her lines were said you could see her relax and enjoy it more.

Sarah and her best school friend, Kaja

This past Saturday night we had my sister's birthday party here and earlier in the day my kids decided they wanted to perform the Brown Bear play with their cousins at the party.  We already had Purple Cat, Striped Zebra, Pink Flamingo and Brown Bear and White Rabbit hats on hand and I helped them construct Blue Horse and Yellow Duck hats before the party.  We called the cousins to ask them to wear clothes the colors of their character.  It was very cute but poor Sarah messed up her line and couldn't recover, spending the rest of the play crying with her head in her hands.  After having said "Blue Horse, Blue Horse, what do you see?" in her school play that's what came out of her mouth in the cousins' play, only she was standing next to the Pink Flamingo this time.  Had I thought it through and remembered what she'd said at school we could have easily placed her next the Blue Horse for the second play as well.  I felt so bad for her. Katie, the White Bunny bowed out shortly before the play was to start--I'm really not sure why, as she is our little performer but she was very happy to sit and watch.

Seth, Sarah, Rachel, Avery, Jonah and Aidan

What a waste

As I mentioned yesterday we are in the midst of a major arctic cold front.  Currently it is 5 degrees and snowing!   Last night the kids were super wound up due to not being able to play outside for days and days.  I think I'm going to need to find an indoor playground and fast!

A few nights ago as we were getting ready for bed I asked Katie if she wanted to wear her "footie" pajamas since it was going to be super cold that night.  She had just worn them the night before, but this was her response, in typical Katie fashion, "Well...that would be a waste of all those covers," as she gestures toward her bed...

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let's eat Snow!

We have been in the middle of an arctic cold front for days and days now and it will continue through Wednesday.  The highs have been in the teens and when we awoke this morning it was only 5 degrees--tomorrow morning it's expected to be even lower than that. 


All day yesterday it snowed, accummulating several inches of fluffy, powdery fine snow.  Last night on a whim we decided to have a snow snack. 


After Halloween Jeremy had bought on clearance several bottles of flavored drink syrups, which he likes to mix with Sprite. 

First we scooped bowls of snow from our back porch.

Then added the syrups. Peach, Apple and Blueberry flavors.

Let's eat snow!

No Spookiness--Just Cuteness!

Here's our costumed crew!  I had a lot fun making their costumes this year.

Jonah chose to be "Pizza Pat".  "Pizza Pat" is a book that is an all time-favorite in our family. 

Sarah made the pizza, complete with a strap for Jonah to hold.

Katie chose to be an astronaut.  Thanks goes to Aunt Amy (who is a flight training manager for the real astronauts) for providing the NASA "meatball" patch and her own personal Flight Patch (we choose to use the patch from Amy's most favorite flight).  I made this costume out of flannel to keep Katie cozy and comfy.  I didn't have a pattern, but it didn't turn out to be as difficult as I expected.

Sarah's favorite animal is a flamingo so that was a natural choice for her.  I didn't have any kind of a pattern for this costume either.  I used one of Sarah's dress-up tutus, sewed it together in the back to creat a pointed tail and then sewed boas and large feathers to it.  The beak was a bit more challenging and took some trial and error but we were overall happy with the outcome.

Aidan's second favorite animal (after the moose) is a zebra and when we saw an idea for this costume in a magazine we knew it was a must.  It's made from black sweats, white and black duct tape and black and with craft foam.  I elaborated quite a bit on the stripes from what was shown in the magazine and also alter the ears (theirs looked like rabbit ears).  Apparently, Aidan was the talk of the second grade parents at school on Friday!

Here's the whole gang!

I have to say, I enjoy making costumes more than making birthday cakes!  I wonder if I could work out a trade-off with the kids somehow???  Probably not!

Sarah the Sweet

I know I've mentioned before Sarah's compassionate and generous spirit and even though I know those are very strong qualities in her I am still amazed how compassionate and generous she is at the age of six.  She loves to draw pictures as well as create three deminsional artwork and the vast majority of the time it is made with someone in mind to give it away to--her siblings, her friends, her teachers, her parents, etc.  She has no problem letting go of her treasures if she knows it will bring someone else joy.

Aidan got a baseball key chain in his party "goody" bag for his birthday in August.  It is a cheap keychain from the Michael's dollar bins.  (BTW Michael's has awesome dollar stuff all year round, but especially at Christmas!)  As soon as Aidan saw it he knew he wanted to hang it on one of the zippers on his backpack.  About three weeks ago he was looking at it on the bus and it broke off.  Sarah was there to witness it and she could see how sad Aidan was.  She would mention it from time to time over the next few weeks, about how she wished she could get him a new one and about how sad he was.  Aidan never mentioned it to me after the day it happened, though he may have been thinking about it.  So one morning last week while Aidan was at school, we were in the van running errands. Out of the blue Sarah says, at Christmas when we draw names for gifts for the cousins I hope I get Aidan.  That way I can buy him a new baseball key chain."  That alone melted my heart, but it gets better.  We happened to be going to Michael's next, though Sarah didn't know that.  When we got there I told her she could look for a new key chain for Aidan.  She was so overjoyed!  As it turns out they were on clearance so it cost me a whopping 54 cents.  Sarah has no clue how much it cost, only that it was special to Aidan.  She was sad that she didn't have her own money to pay for it and I said she could do a couple chores for me instead.  She was completely thrilled with that idea.

When we got home from our errands she set to work making wrapping paper and a tag for the key chain. 

When she was done wrapping it she tucked away in a hiding spot and managed to keep quiet about it on the bus with Aidan and all the way until Jeremy got home.  She gave it to Aidan at supper.  Aidan totally had no clue what it could be and the delight on his face when he opened it was priceless. 

The bond between brother and sister was definitely deepened that day.  Aidan found Sarah later and gave her a hug and told her thank you again with all sincerity.  He even went in to her bed and said I love you and good night to her at bed time--not a typical occurance around here!

Fabulous Fall

It isn't called Colorful Colorado for nothing!  (That would be Colorful Colored when translated.)  Fall foliage is at it's height here and I am in awe everytime I drive through our town.  God's creativity is not lost on me.


All of these pictures were taken along the route from our house to Aidan and Sarah's school. 

Also taken on the route to the school-the pumpkin farm just down the road.

This is at the highest point in Broomfield-facing west (obviously since the mountains are in the background.)

This is a view of the farm looking North from the kids bus stop,

which is just around the corner from our house.  Last week on the way to take Sarah to school there was a four foot bull snake climbing from the road onto the sidewalk right at the bus stop.

When we arrived home from our picture taking journey there were hawks circling literally above our house.  These were taken while standing in our front yard.  This is at least third time time in the past week that they have circled and called to each other directly above our house.

Unfortunately I couldn't seem to get all four of them

in the same picture but at least I got three together.

I wonder if one of them is the same hawk who perched on our back fence a few weeks ago:

I wish I knew how to enlarge these pictures even more but this seems to be the best this blog site can do.

 

We are so blessed to live next to an enormous nature preserve where we can see such a variety wildlife, plantlife and an amazing view of the mountains.  There are of course dangers in the form of rattlesnakes, coyotes and one time my dad even saw a mountain lion.  I have personally never encountered a rattlesnake and so far the only encounters with coyotes have been listening to them howl late into the night.

Long Overdue

Life has been so full over the past couple months and it doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. Having two in school now has literally doubled the activity. Sarah is in afternoon kindergarten so my days are cut in half with 11-12:45 everyday being all about lunch and driving her to school. I'm thankful for the bus as I can't imagine making three round trips to school every day. I also am the co-director for a brand new Bible Study at our church. We kicked it off on Sept. 1st and it's amazing how much planning and prep are needed each time--but I'm loving it and it's definitely where I'm supposed to be. I am heading up a Craft Fair on Nov. 7th at our church which is sponsered by the Bible Study group so that will keep me hopping and popping until then. At the end of August I also started teaching a group of middle school girls on Wednesday nights and it is the highlight of my week! I love that age group and these girls are a lot of fun! I'm actually looking forward to the holidays this year--when our Bible Study will take a break and I hope things will actually be a bit calmer...yeah, right! =)

So here is what has been happening in our family in recent weeks. Aidan was baptized (by my brother!) on August 23rd-just one day shy of him turning eight.

The kids had great birthdays and it's been weird for me to now say I have kids that are 8, 6, 4 and 2 1/2--where has the time flown to?!

My mom, the kids and I went to a park at the base of the foothills on Labor Day called Chautauqua Park. Jeremy was stuck working on contracts at Frontier-boo! =( There are a lot of hiking trails but the kids were worn out after playing on the playground and exploring the wooded areas so we made it only to the trail head and had to turn around. In their explorations the kids came upon a deer and were literally within feet of it. It loped out into a cul-de-sac and then sauntered in a yard and began munching apples that had fallen to the ground. The kids were so thrilled to be so up close!

We were super excited to have Aunt Amy visit in mid-September. We spent a day in the mountains and the aspens were just about at their peak and the weather was gorgeous!  I will share more about that weekend in another post.

I think we are all feeling good about the routine of school and all our many other activities but even with a routine in place it always feels very busy! Oh, and did I mention Sarah started dance lessons once a week and Aidan has been selected to be on Student Council, which meets twice a month before school? I just can't even begin to imagine all the activity when I have all four in school! Katie and Jonah have become wonderful playmates and Katie seems to thoroughly enjoy the quiet time she has to herself in the afternoons when Jonah is napping and the other two are at school. I enjoy that time too!

Jonah's "Smokes"

On Friday night we were getting ready for snack time and Jonah says, "I want a smoke!" I looked at him curiously knowing that he'd never heard that term before and not having any idea what he could be referring to. He continued on for several minutes saying, "I want a smoke" or "Mommy, give me a smoke for snack" and finally adamantly saying, "Mommy, I need my smokes!" I went through a list of foods-s'mores, lil' smokies, cookies to which he said no each time. It finally dawned on my that earlier that day I had made him a smoothie to drink when he sat with me, my mom, my sister and my 19 year old nephew while we were drinking Starbucks. He had felt so big being the only kid at the table and having a "big" drink like everyone around him. So, I finally figured out he was meaning smoothie, asked him if that's what he wanted and was met with a big grin. I'm not sure how smoothie translated into "smoke" in his head but it was pretty funny coming from a 2 year old. The next night he was again asking for his "smokes". I would love to see people's expressions if he ever asks for a smoke while we're out in public!

Ready, set, read!

So, poor Aidan's baseball post keeps getting pushed back, but I couldn't wait to share this news!

Sarah has made several attempts over the past few months at reading but I could tell each time that she just wasn't ready. She didn't have that determination and perseverance to work at it. I've also figured it could still be a while before she grasps reading because she doesn't always recognize all her lower case letters and writes quite a few of them backwards.

Today we were getting ready to leave the house and she brought a book to me while I was doing my hair and said, "I want to read this." It wasn't really an "easy" reader but I didn't discourage her. Before I knew it she has sounded out the first line of words. She tried a few more words which were a bit challenging, and she didn't get frustrated, but decided to look for something easier. This afternoon we pulled out a "Read with Dick and Jane" book, which we borrowed from Grma Peggy's house in March. She read through 22 pages of it, with several lines on each page.

So, we have another reader in our house before starting Kindergarten! Go Sarah!

A Legacy

I have been thinking about my dad a lot lately--today marks one year since my dad flew blissfully into the arms of Jesus. How I would love to be worshipping with him at this moment!

I know I said I'd be posting about Aidan's baseball today, but I can't let this day pass without sharing my dad's legacy with you.

My dad was a very passionate man and he was passionate about many things: Airplanes, his Corvette, playing basketball, his wife, his children, to name a few. But, the one thing he was most passionate about was ministering to the hurting, broken, down-trodden and sick.

In any given situation-church, work, social gatherings, a walk in the park-he was constantly looking for that one person who needed a personal touch. He didn't care if the person was someone he knew well or a complete stranger. He would do whatever he could to meet that person's need, whether it be financial, physical, emotional or spiritual. He wore his heart on his sleeve and there was never any doubt how deeply he was moved by those in need. His deepest desire was show the love of God, and His compassion and mercy to anyone and everyone who crossed his path. The stories are too numerous to recount, or even count, of his outreach to the world, but I will share one with you.

I remember one Mother’s Day when I was around six years old, we saw a man in a wheel chair selling flowers on a street corner. My dad pulled the car over and went to buy flowers for my mom. As the man leaned over to get the flowers he fell out of his wheel chair. My dad gently and lovingly helped him back in to his chair and then came back to the car with tears literally streaming down his face. His compassion and pain for the man in the wheelchair is my earliest recollection of his heart for the hurting and is an image that shall never leave my mind. I knew on that day my dad was someone very special.

He lived much of his adult life bothered that he'd never fulfilled his calling to be a full-time missionary and he searched for ways to make it happen even up until a year before he died. What he may have never realized while on earth is that he was a missionary in the truest since of the word and I have no doubt he heard those words we all long for when he entered heaven, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

My heart's desire is to be a woman after God's own heart, but also a woman after my dad's heart. That I would carry on the legacy he has set before me of reaching out to those who are "the least of these" in the world. I can think of no greater honor than to be told, "You remind me of your dad."

Lookout Mountain

Yesterday the kids and I decided to take a half day trip up to Lookout Mountain, which is about 45 minutes from our house. I was only slightly nervous making my first trip into the mountains with all four kids but without Jeremy. My main concern was keeping track of them while trying to take pictures at the same time. They all did amazingly well and were very cooperative and there was No whining or fussing on the entire trip! (I usually get "I'm bored" a lot in the car from Katie and "I'm tired of walking" from any of the youngest three.) Only Jonah seemed to be out of energy by the end. For the last five minutes as we were walking up the trail toward the car he said over and over, "I need my car." "Where's my car?"

Here are some of the highlights in pictures.

Our first stop at a scenic overlook was one of our favorites on the trip. There we saw literally hundreds of ladybugs in large groupings on one of the trails. It was interesting to note that many adults went past us on the trail totally oblivious to the huge population of ladybugs but because I had little people with me and the ladybugs were all at their eye level we got immense enjoyment out of them. The largest grouping were on poison ivy bushes so I refrained from trying to get a close up of those but here is a small sampling of them. How many ladybugs can you "spot"? Aidan and I each counted several times and came up with the same number. I will reveal the answer tomorrow. (You might want to save the picture to your computer and enlarge it.)

Our picnic lunch:

Aidan said his favorite part was all the flowers. He has an amazing appreciation for the different varieties of wildflowers and how they look grouped together with varying colors of brush and leafy plants. So, here are a few of the flowers we saw along the way. He was totally wild about the orange flowers with puffy red centers in the first picture. I'm not sure what all of the flowers are but I do know that the red flowers are poppies and the blue are columbines.


At the top of Lookout Mountain is the historic Boettcher Mansion where Jeremy and I almost got married--we'd put a deposit down and then realized it wouldn't hold the number of people that would attend. So it was a bit nostalgic for me. I love the stone architecture of this gazebo, which matches the stone of the mansion (I failed to get a picture of the outside of the mansion.) Aidan loved that the inside also has stone walls and felt like a castle.


This mushroom was enormous-the top was at least the size of my spread out hand.
It was a very happy trip and we will be returning very soon--hopefully with Jeremy!

I have lots of "catch-up" blogs to post and think I will have time over the next several days to do one a day so stay tuned! Next up: Aidan's Baseball Season

The Sweet Talker

I mentioned previously about Jonah becoming a "Sasser" but recently his talk has turned much sweeter and we are enjoying it immensely!

On Sunday when Jonah saw my mom dressed for church he immediately said, "You're beautiful!"

Yesterday was a bit emotional for our family as we visited my dad's grave for the first time since the headstone was placed last week. My mom had bought flowers in the morning to place in the affixed vase and after she had arranged them here at home she was sitting quietly at the table. Jonah came along and sincerely and gently asked, "What you thinking 'bout Gramma Neece?" It was so sensitive and insightful of him. He frequenly asks us "What you doing?" but I'd never heard him ask "What you thinking 'bout?" before.

This afternoon he showed a bit of sass and sweetness combined. I said to him, "It's nap time time, Jonah" and he calmly replied, "No, thank you." He has to be the most polite two year old I've ever known, using please and thank you constantly. Even his church teachers have commented on what a polite child he is.

I'm glad the sass is on the way out and sweetness is taking over!

I have lots of pictures I want to share on here I'm just trying to find the time to do it. Hopefully I'll have them up by the end of the week.

Thumb Update and Jesus Songs

Apparently a huge blister on the end of your thumb is not a deterrent for sucking it-at least not for Katie. Katie's thumb-sucking days are definitely not over...just the opposite happened from what I expected. She fussed about her thumb all day on the day she burned it, but by bedtime that night she was sucking it again. I expected her to be miserable with it for several days but she didn't complain about it once after the first day. In fact, it would seem that thumb-sucking is repairative. The burn and blister were completely healed up in three days. There is absolutely no trace of the burn left. Who knew? I've heard of dog saliva having healing properties--perhaps it's true of humans too...

On another note...Katie is very into singing and making up her own songs these days and they are super sweet. Some songs have to do with her wonderful family or trees and flowers and butterflies but most often they are about her love for God. Here are the first few lines of a song she made up last night:

The best king is Jesus
and Jesus is the Savior
and He is my favorite-ist guy!

The song when on in this way for about five minutes straight while we were in the car. I love it!

When we got home Jonah picked up where Katie left off and here is a little video of his singing:

(Sorry for the poor quality, I was using my phone. His words are "Jesus Love Me! Jesus Love You! Jesus!)

PS-I'm so thankful for blogger's auto save! I was finished with this post yesterday except for adding the video when our power unexpectedly went out and remained out for three hours.

Make the Earth Happy Part 2

On Saturday Katie informed me that she no longer wants to be a mommy and pilot when she grows up--she wants to be a "Trash Ma'am". She wants to fly around the world in a trash mobile and make the whole earth clean--her words, not mine. Also, today while we were in the car she told me to look out the window at the tiny leaves that are finally growing on the trees around here. She said, "The trees at our house have lots of leaves already. The must be feeling very happy right now." I love these little moments the kids remind me to take to appreciate the amazing gift God has given us in the form of nature.

Katie seems very spiritually aware for being only three and a half. The prayers she says at night just tug on my heart strings. She says things such as thank you God for being God and for sending your love to us. She asks for help in doing the right things and for forgiveness for the things she does wrong. When we were in Houston in March we were at Kohl's with Grandma Peggy and Aunt Amy. I was off in another part of the store when Peggy saw someone she knew and they began to talk. This woman was going through a rough time and telling Peggy about it. All of a sudden Katie gave the woman a big hug and it seemed to make the woman's day. Both Peggy and Amy said they thought Katie could sense the woman's need for comfort and she just acted on it without hesitation. It never gets old watching my children's personalities blossom and learning more about the unique person God has created them to be.

In other Katie news we may be at the end of her thumb sucking days...she got a nasty burn this morning on the thumb that she sucks. I hope nobody turns me in for negligence on this one but I plugged in my flat iron to heat up and left the bathroom. She came along to wash her hands and decided to touch it. She knows very well that it is extremely hot, in fact I've used it on her hair and she's felt the heat coming from it when I do. But for whatever reason curiosity got the better of her today. So now she's got a huge blister at the top of her thumb. Of course she immediately stuck it in her mouth to soothe herself and found out right away that didn't work well. Her thumb is in her mouth about 75% of the day so this is a major thing. I managed to get her through her initial pain and first thumb sucking craving with a Toostie Pop. It was a couple hours later before it hit her again and this time I pacified with gum-which is a favorite of hers. However, I don't think I can continue to dole out suckers and gum whenever she is upset about not being able to suck over the next few days. She's just going to have to "suck it up" and get through this. =) Bedtime tonight is probably going to be torturous--I'm not even trying to get her down for a nap this afternoon. But maybe in the end we'll have a wonderful result of being thumb sucking free! Sarah also went through having a major owie on her thumb at this age and it stopped her sucking for a couple weeks and then she was right back at it (though she quite on her own several months after that). Here's to hoping!

The Sassy Talker

Nope, it's not one of the girls...this time anyway...

I have mentioned before that Jonah is the late talker of the group. He waited until he was almost two to say any words and now at 27 months is putting together 4-6 words sentences. Along with that, he's wasted no time in learning how to talk back. He has several phrases that he does this with but my favorite is, "yes, uh huh!" For example, yesterday at Aidan's game we were walking up a steep dirt hill to the playground and this is our conversation:

Jonah: It's muddy.
Me: No, it's just dirt. It's not muddy right now.
Jonah: Yes, uh huh! It's muddy, Mama!
(It definitely was not muddy.)

Another thing he picked up quickly is the answer of "nothing." One day I was upstairs getting ready for the day and heard a lot of noise coming from the kitchen. I peaked down the stairs and saw him rummaging in the silverware drawer. I called down the stairs, "Whatcha doing Jonah? He quickly turned around and without missing a beat said, "Nothing!" I wondered where he had picked that up from as I couldn't really recall the other kids saying it much. Then on Wednesday just he and I were in the car. I was getting a piece a gum and didn't want him to ask for a piece but apparently I wasn't as sneaky as I thought. As I'm unwrapping it I hear a "What you doing, Mama?" from behind me. And what was my quick response? "Nothing, Jonah." Busted on both counts-getting gum and lying! You would think that by my fourth child I would be better at watching my responses...

Make the Earth Happy!

I have a feeling I've lost most of my readers, considering that I haven't posted anything in almost two months. Hopefully, I have a few interested parties still lurking. I guess I just have the blog blahs. Hopefully with summer just around the corner I will have more inspiration and time. Ok, who am I kidding--there will not be more time during the summer with four busy children running the house all day. I guess I'll stick with the hopes of more inspiration.
Anyway, on to the topic of today's post. Here is a conversation the kids and I had on the way home from Aidan's baseball game last night.

Sarah: Mommy, tomorrow is Earth Day.

Me: Yes, it is. Do you know what that means?

Sarah: No, I just heard someone else say it.

Me: It's a day for us to be thankful for the beautiful earth God created for us and to remember to be kind to the earth. What can we do to show kindness to the earth?

Sarah: Pick up trash.

Me: Right.

Sarah: Plant trees.

Me: Right.

Katie: Yeah, because the trees tickle the earth! And flowers tickle the earth too, don't they mommy?

Me: Well, I suppose they probably do...

I guess to a three year old, tickling is a major form of kindness. So get on out there and think of what you can do to bring the earth some joy and laughter!

Barr Lake State Park

The past few weeks here have been unseasonable warm--it actually got in the low 70's one day this week. Crazy! We are trying hard not to be lulled into a false sense of thinking Spring has arrived though. Considering that March is typically the snowiest month of the year we know there is bound to be more winter weather in the near future.

On MLK day we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather since Aidan and Sarah didn't have school. We picked Jeremy up from work at lunch time and had a picnic at Barr Lake State park which is about 15 minutes from where he works and about 25 minutes from our house. So here are some pictures to commemorate the day.

Jonah was trying so hard to keep up with the other he had one arm swinging just as fast and hard as he possibly could while he was running. It really had Jeremy and I laughing.

Stuff and Things

I know it's been a week now since Valentines Day but I haven't had a chance to post since then. We had a great weekend here at the Craft household. Aidan and Sarah had parties at school on the 13th and both had a blast. Can I just say that Valentines Day has gotten to be almost as bad as Halloween with the amount of candy they got! (Of course-our kids gave out cards with candy attached so we are guilty in contributing to this!) We gave the kids a few little gifts mostly from the dollar spot at Target--love that place! But they also got candy and gifts from other family members and were definitely on sugar overload by the end of the weekend.

On Friday Jeremy came home with two bouquets of flowers-one for me which were my favorites-tulips! He hand picked an incredible mosaic vase and then chose the two bouquets of tulips to complement the vase and he did an amazing job. I LOVE this vase!

The other bouquet Jeremy brought were white roses for my mom. He's brought flowers to my mom on several occasions and it was especially sweet to remember her this year since it's her first without my dad. My brother had also brought my mom roses earlier that day-his were a variegated pink and I have to say that the combo of the white and pink together were stunning.




On Saturday my mom took all the kids over to my sisters for supper and play time. Jeremy and I got to have a date! We went out for Hawaiian BBQ--yum! This was my second time for Hawaiian BBQ and Jeremy's first. I am sooo hooked! I'm already craving it again-less than a week later. Since we got to the restaurant at 4:00 and no one else was there we were out of there by 5:00 and headed home to watch a movie in a quiet house. We had about four hours at home before the kids returned and it was bliss! I loved being at home without the kids and I loved watching an entire movie in one sitting without three kids climbing all over me. It was a perfect date!

At one point during the weekend Sarah asked me what a Valentine is-or why do we call other people our Valentines. So I explained to her that is a term for some one that we love very much and is very dear to us and her response was, "Well then, Jesus is my Valentine!" I love hearing things like that from my kids.

I feel like I haven't given fair time to Katie on my blog and I guess it's partly because a lot of times I can't relay in typed words the joy she is to our family. Her command of grammar and language at the age of three is amazing and I wish I would take more time to write down some of the incredible things she says but then again I'm not sure how they would translate while being read. My hope is to have an all about Katie post in the very near future.

I have been holding on to this next information for over two weeks debating whether I should share it here or not. Basically my hesitation is because this is purely a bragging moment but here goes...

As I have mentioned in a previous post Aidan is currently in 1st grade and has been placed in 3rd grade math this year. In third grade math they pre-assess every student before they begin a new unit. For every unit so far Aidan has been place in the "Challenge" group which is the highest level--basically they are working at a fourth grade level. Every few weeks I will ask Aidan how he's doing with math--is he feeling overwhelmed, is he understanding it, is it too hard? He always says he's doing fine but sometimes it's hard to really tell with him. So, a couple weeks ago we had a parent-teacher conference with his 1st grade teacher and she told us that Aidan currently has the highest math grade in the entire third grade---I guess he was telling me truth when he said he's doing OK. His teacher also shared with us a ten page story he had written during his free time in class about a couple men that had lived in the Antarctic and then traveled to China. It was incredible! The plot was well developed and the names of characters and places were very realistic and well thought out. He is currently reading at an end of fifth grade reading level and continually blows us away with his academics. During the conference Jeremy and I continually just looked at each other in unbelief and wondered where this Whiz Kid came from. We are so proud of Aidan and know that God has amazing plans for him!

More on Jonah

Jonah thoroughly enjoyed his birthday this year and seemed to understand there were presents and happiness just for him. He will happily tell you he is two when asked and seems to understand that he is bigger now.

The day after his birthday we took down his crib and set up his toddler bed and he is loving it!

We had his party a week after his birthday and even though we'd talked about the party I don't think he really grasped it until he walked downstairs after his nap on Saturday and saw all the people and balloons and presents. He was thrilled! He saw the presents and immediately said, "mine!" We had been talking about his bus cake for weeks but I guess he didn't quite get the concept at first. I made the cake the day before and he watched me put it together and apply the initial layer of frosting and then I finished it when he was napping. I showed him the finished product when he woke up and he was excited and said bus cake but then immediately thrust his fingers into the top of it-I think he was trying to pick it up like a toy. When he saw his frosting covered fingers and realized what he'd done he was broken hearted and sobbed and sobbed! I easily repaired it but wish I'd taken some pictures of the cake and his sobbing while holding out his messy hand.

Eating a chip at his party and looking cool at the same time!

When we sat him down with his cake and put the candle on he started tapping his fingers on the table saying, "happy, happy, happy" because he realized what would be coming next. He seemed to love being sang to.

I'm excited to see what Jonah adventures await us in the coming year!

Jonah's Happy Day!

My final baby is two years old today. I am filled with a mix of happiness and sadness. Sad about being totally done with the baby days--even though he's not technically been a baby for a year now I've still thought of him as one. A year ago he still relied on me for basically everything and now he can feed himself, clearly state his wants and needs (sometimes with screaming and tantrums!), he can mostly dress himself, he goes potty and brushes his teeth, and walks everywhere instead of being carried. Thankfully he is still full of cuddles and kisses! As much as I miss having a baby in the house (after 7 straight years), I am more excited about entering a new phase as a family. As Jonah grows so do the possibilities of things we can do as a family. I love to watch him learning how to interact with the other three as they all play together. I love hearing new words tumble from his mouth day by day. I love seeing his personality really begin to emerge--he is quite a little ham and so full of expression!

On another note--I have thought about posting on here all month long but seem to have been suffering from "blog block". Hopefully with this post I will have gotten past that and return to regular blogging again.

Have a happy day!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

These pictures are from a few years ago but I couldn't resist sharing them. I only wish that Jonah could be a part of them too--perhaps I could figure out a way to super-impose him as an angel or something! Aidan is 4, Sarah 2, and Katie 3 1/2 months.

I hope you have a very blessed Christmas. Hold your loved ones close today!

Stocking Stuff part 4

Jonah-Joe's turn! It's so weird to look at his pictures since his ages at Christmas are different than the other three.

2007 - 10 1/2 months

2008 - almost 23 months

We had opened presents a few days before these pictures were taken and when I handed Jonah his stocking he was quite disappointed that there wasn't anything in it this time.

Stocking Stuff part 3

Katie's turn - Our smiley girl!

2005 - 3 1/2 months

2006 - 16 months

2007 - 2 years

2008 - 3 years

Stocking Stuff part 2

Here are Sarah's pics--looking at these really makes me miss her curls!

2003 - 3 1/2 months

2004 - 16 months

2005 - 2 years

2006 - 3 years

2007 - 4 years

2008 - 5 years

Stocking Stuff

Each year we have taken pictures of each of the kids with their stockings as a way to mark their growth. I'll be sharing those photos over the next four posts. Here are Aidan's pics - Enjoy!

2001 - 3 1/1 months old

2002 - 16 months old

2003 - 2 years

2004 - 3 years

2005 - 4 years

2006 - 5 years

2007 - 6 years

2008 - 7 years

A Tribute

Sorry for the lack of posting this week...it's not for a lack of wanting to. It has just been crazy busy with trying to get ready for our trip to Houston as well as the sickness that has continued to make a pest of itself in our household.

This will be our first Christmas without my dad (Dec. 26th will be the six month mark of his death) and I've been thinking of him and missing him a lot these past few weeks so I thought it would be fun to share some pictures of him from Christmas past. These are in very random order and I won't put captions on all of them but for reference-I'm the youngest of the three children in our family. I'm sure my sister and brother will not be thanking me for sharing some of these...

My dad and I seemed to have a thing for accessorizing

with the tree decorations as seen in the next three pictures.

This picture was taken last Christmas-one month before

my dad was diagnosed with stage IV Colon Cancer.

(Notice Jonah is chewing on a dog toy--at least he got to it before the dog did!)

Love you Dad!

Wekend Recap

We had a busy and fun weekend! Jeremy and I had a wonderful time shopping on Friday. It was eight blissful hours of just the two of us. I'm very excited that finished all our shopping for the kids and most of the shopping for the rest of our families. We also enjoyed a quiet, leisurely dinner at The Outback-yum!

Saturday evening we went to an event called Bethlehem Journey at the church where our kids go for AWANAS. It is was somewhat of a tour with stops at the Temple where Zechariah went mute, Mary's house where she was visited by the angel Gabriel and Elizabeth's house where the babe within her leaped for joy upon hearing Mary's voice. Following those stops we headed into Bethlehem but not before being stopped by Roman soldiers and paying our taxes to Cesar. We were given plastic coins to drop into a chest and which the kids thought was great fun. We then entered an area that was set up as Bethlehem would have appeared so long ago. Complete with an innkeeper and live sheep, goats and donkey to pet. There was also demonstrations of blacksmithing, pottery spinning and mat weaving where the kids could make their own "pinch pots" and weave a paper mat. There were authentic samples of bread from that time and other items used during that time. Also the kids got to play the game of Dreidel and bring a dreidel home with them. After spending time in the city of Bethlehem we headed outside where we met the shepherds, complete with live, sheep, who had been visited by the host of angels and then finally we entered the "stable" where Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus were found. It was a really neat experience and the kids really enjoyed the hands on part of it and seeing what it was like when Jesus came into our world. The church did a really nice job of making the sets and scenery and costumes to bring the experience alive.

It became extremely cold overnight. Sunday dawned with a couple inches of newly fallen snow and temps in the single digits. Jeremy was working during the morning and I decided not to venture out on my own with the kids to church so we enjoyed a cozy morning at home. Temps continued to drop throughout the day and we were in the negative numbers by evening. We built a fire and continued to cozy up for the rest of the day. I spent the afternoon wrapping presents and and am mostly done with wrapping which is great since it will be a busy week with getting ready to head to Houston on Sunday.

The temperature dipped to -17 during the night---a new record for Denver and it was -10 when we woke this morning. It has not crept above zero all day. Due to the extreme cold Jeremy's car would not start, even after having roadside assistance come out to help. So we've enjoyed having him home with us today. Aidan and Sarah still had school though-thankfully the van started just fine. Jonah began to show signs of being sick yesterday and today woke up with a high fever so I headed to the doctor with him this afternoon to confirm that he now has strep. I'm really praying that Aidan and Sarah won't get it this time around--especially with us heading out of town in a few days.

It is supposed to warm up to 32 tomorrow-which, if it actually happens, will be surprising since it was supposed to get up to 13 today and didn't make it anywhere close to that. We are supposed to get another few inches of snow overnight as well--add that to roads that are still icy from yesterday's snow and things could be pretty treacherous in the morning. (btw-treacherous seems to Aidan's favorite word these days.) Jeremy will likely be taking my van to work tomorrow as his car is unlikely to work until it is well thawed out.

Sorry to be long-winded but I had to make up for missing the previous two days. =) Be looking for funny sayings from Katie and Sarah in tomorrow's post.

The Twelve Days of Christmas like never before

I heard the end of this song on the radio today and knew I needed to hear the rest so Jeremy sweetly searched it out for me and did one step better than the audio version by finding it on youtube. Truly entertaining!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Have a wonderful weekend! I'm heading out for Christmas Shopping and dinner with Jeremy and NO kids! It doesn't get much better than that! Jeremy and I love shopping together and it's been quite a while since we've had a date so this will be heavenly!

Easy Recipe

This recipe comes from my dear friend Cristyn. I made it for the first time last year and was instantly hooked. It is super easy (a good thing!) and one of those treats that you just can't stay away from (a bad thing!).

White Christmas Candy

1 pkg. 24 oz. Almond Bark

2 Cups peanut butter Cap'n Crunch cereal

2 Cups rice crispies

2 Cups dry roasted unsalted peanuts

Melt almond bark in microwave. Stir in other ingredients until well coated. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Allow to cool. One batch makes about 40 pieces. Note-don't take too long to spoon out of bowl as the almond bark hardens quickly.

Enjoy!

Good Read

I am always on the look out for great children's Christmas books-especially books that are Christian themed. Last year we purchased this book :

It quickly became a favorite. I love everything about it. From the illustrations to the adventurous story line which weaves together God's amazing creativity in nature with the reason why Jesus needed to come to earth as a baby to save us. It can be purchased in most stores-I'm pretty sure we got ours at Target. For more info you can visit the author's web site: http://www.lisatawnbergren.com/books.html