Bedtime Schmedtime

I've been a stickler for bedtime the last few weeks, because the kids have been so tired since school started. But then I read that the next "super blood moon eclipse" wouldn't be until 2033.  That led me to think of the kids being in their twenties, and I couldn't possibly not watch it with them.

Nice, Anna!!

I was teaching a group of kids at the second week of Awana last week.  I opened with an object lesson.  I held up something in a paper bag.  I asked the kids to tell me what was in it.  They agreed they could only guess.  Then I had another leader look in the bag and asked her to write what she saw on the white board behind us.

As we waited for her to write, Anna raised her hand and then exclaimed, "I know where you're getting with this!"

"Oh, yeah?" I asked, smiling at her phrasing, "Where am I 'getting with this'?"

"You're trying to show us that we couldn't see everything that happened, so God had someone write it down, and now we can all read about it in the Bible."

Sometimes that kid surprises me!

Apple picking

I love apple picking, love, love, love it!  It's one of my favorite things.

We had an especially great time this year.  We went with our friends Jill and Harper, and the weather was perfect.  The kids climbed up in the trees.  We picked not just apples, but pears and raspberries, too.  The kids had fun exploring the corn maze, and we enjoyed some apple cider and conversation afterwards.

These two

Luke and Ally seem to have grown up so much in the last month or so.

Today my heart was just so full of pride for the two of them, of the little people they are becoming.

It started with Ally.

Every time I need tomatoes, Ally takes the bowl and picks them for us.  Anna never wants to help.  Luke usually doesn't either.  Kate is Kate, so she'll help, but she does so reluctantly.  Ally was always willing to help, and once she got praised for it, she began to jump at the chance.  So much so, in fact, that she doesn't want to let anyone else help her, even if they want to.  Today I decided to grab some pictures of my happy tomato helper.

While I was taking pictures of Ally, Luke asked me to fix the chain on his bike.  I told him I'd help him when I was done with Ally.

When I came over to help him, I found him using a wrench on his bike.   I was a little worried he'd be making matters worse, but when I came closer,  I found he'd actually taken one of the bolts off that we needed to remove to access his chain and he was working on the second.

What a couple of smart little helpers I have.

Do you like apples?

We were getting the meal on the table and I mentioned how I never liked apples when I was a kid, but I love them now.

Dave commented, "I'm only luke warm on apples."

Luke beamed and exclaimed, "Yeah!  Dad is like me!"

I wasn't sure if Luke meant that he, too, wasn't a giant fan of apples or if it was all about the expression "luke" warm.  I didn't want to ruin it for him, though, so I didn't ask.

Butterfly

A few weeks ago our neighbor a couple doors down sent me an email asking if we'd like to adopt a caterpillar, since she was going out of town.  We jumped at the chance.  She set us up with a butterfly house, a little caterpillar, and access to her milk weed.

We were able to watch the caterpillar poop what seemed like ten caterpillars' worth of poop and double its size in just a day, then triple its size, and then spin a beautiful, gold studded green chrysalis.  We watched and waited until the day it came out a beautiful monarch butterfly!

The kids said goodbye, and we set it free in our yard today. 

Immature... and so funny

I bought some silicone muffin cups a few days ago to help separate things more in the kids' lunch containers.

The kids found them really fascinating.  They all wanted to play with them.  They kept asking to make muffins.  And, for some reason, Luke spent the entire day referring to them as his "rubbers," much to the amusement of my immature sense of humor.

Because stay-at-home moms get bored, I had to share the story with a couple friends.

This evening after I packed their lunches, my friend and I texted back and forth the following.  She cracks me up!

Stinker

I'm doomed.

My kids have a little too much of their Daddy's sense of humor, and they, apparently, also see the ridiculousness of some of my hang ups.

When I arrived at the twins' lunch last week, I was so concerned with how they were doing.  Luke, for one, was absolutely fine.

He had the lunch I'd packed him spread out before him, and he stirring his thawed berries into his plain yogurt.  He saw me, then looked back down at his yogurt, watching as it turned more pink as he stirred it.  

"Mom," he said with a sly little grin, "I'm eating food dye!"

I love tomatoes

We've had enough tomatoes for snacks, BLT's, and green salads for a few weeks, but we recently moved into pico de gallo and tomato salad mode.

I love this time of year!

I've been known to say you can't have too many tomatoes, but today's pickings might just challenge my belief.

Snaggle tooth

If I were a second grade teacher, 

I don't think I could do anything all day but admire all the wonky-tooth grins.  

I mean, really!

Anna pulled out the left top tooth last week, and look how far her adult tooth is already in.  

She's been trying to get the other top one out.  

But I told her we first had to get a picture of her smile just as it is, 

because I love it so much.

The magic of childhood

There was an incredible rainbow at the cottage last weekend.

A few minutes after we'd looked at it, I was working on the dishes when Anna came in and said, "I want to find where the unicorns and leprechauns live."

Well, I thought, this is random.

Then she continued, "It would be so cool if the rainbow some time ended in our yard!"

Catching on that the unicorns and leprechauns must live at the end of the rainbow, and pushing out the thought that the refraction and dispersion of light means it could never actually "end" where you are, I said, "That would be cool!  Then we'd get to see where unicorns and leprechauns live!"

"Yeah," she said excitedly, then with sadness added, "but it might be the unicorn side.  I'd rather it be the leprechaun side."

Realizing for the first time that the unicorns and leprechauns don't live together, that they each have their own side,  I commented, "Oh, I don't know, Anna-pie; it would also be pretty cool to see unicorns."

"Yeah," she agreed, after thinking it over, "Then I could ride on a unicorn!"

This thought made her so excited that she gave a few little hops before continuing on her way.

Oh, how I love her!

One zucchini

When we planned to spend most of the summer at the cottage, I tried to figure out a way that the kids would still have as much of the gardening experiences that they've had other summers.

In the spring, we still started the tomatoes and some herbs from seed and watched them grow downstairs, and we still planted the tomatoes and squash in our garden at home, but I wanted the kids to be able to see something they planted grow.  So I had the idea of building two raised beds with the kids.

We brought the beds to the cottage.  Kate planted her cucumbers in one, and Anna planted zucchini in the other.  We also planted some lettuce, kale, tomatoes and herbs in pots.

The lettuce grew really well, but everything else, especially the raised beds, were a total flop.

None of the cucumber plants and only one of the zucchini plants grew bigger than a seedling, but miraculously, the one zucchini plant grew one zucchini.

Anna was so proud!

Back to school

4th grade, her last year at our elementary school (Whaaaaa?)

2nd grade

5-year-old kindergarten (aaallll day)

5-year-old kindergarten, too

Oh, my goodness!  I am going to miss these little goofs during the day!