Sunglasses needed

Shine the light.

"For you were once darkiness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light." Ephesians 5:8

I feel good

After more than a week of illness, I'm happy to report that we are all officially WELL!

A little of this, a little of that.

Sam had art class today.  His assignment was to draw two real animals, and then an animal that results when the two are combined.

He drew a butterfly on one side of the page.

On the other side, he drew a dinosaur.

And the beautiful animal that emerged from the two?

A dino-but.

Courtesy of Sam.

N-O-A-H

I am so excited about Noah's recent progress in "school".  I started doing pre-school work with him about the time the older boys started in school, so he's been working for about 6 weeks now.

And he's learned about 15 letters! 

I had to come up with some new memory tricks for Noah.  So I thought I'd share what I do for each letter. 

A: "Up, down, and across!  Hooray for A!"  Fist in the air.

B:  The two loops are bees wings.  Bzzzzz...says the bee!

C:  "See, it has it's mouth open!"

D:  "DaDEE has a big tummy!"  (Brian loves this one)

E:  As we count the lines going out, "One, two, threeeee....Eeeeee!"

F:  This was tricky.  I told him it looks like a Fffflag.  And then made up a little ditty.  "F is for Flag.  Funny, funny flag"  Stress the F sound. 

G: Not yet

H: He just picked this one up on his own.

I: Not yet

J: Not yet

K: Not yet

L: Lllllick.  This one has his tongue out!

M:  Mmman climbs a Mmmmountain.  We trace the mountains with his finger.

N: Up (Voice goes up), down (voice goes down), up (voice up again).  "N,n,n,n,n" (Come down a 5 note scale).  It worked.

O: Make lips round like an O.  This one's pretty obvious

P: Not yet

Q:  Look, it has a tail!  It's so CUte!!

R: Not yet

S:  Sssss says the ssssnake.  And it looks like a snake, too.

T:  This one's really bizarre, but I only had to tell him once;  See the bridge, and a ttttiger is walking across.  And you know what he's drinking?  T!

U:  YOU could sit inside of it!

V:  Not yet

W:  Not yet

X:  Follow with finger and say, "X it out!"

Y: Not yet

Z:  Follow with finger and say, "Zzzzip up the Z!"

He has a lot of fun going through these and after a few days of getting through all the ones he knows, I'll add one or two more. 

White top, red sweater, and blue jeans

I pledge allegiance.

To the...

Flag??

Really???

Sam, with Mom's opinion in his back pocket, made the choice to abstain from saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school.  Now, he says he just stands quietly and prays.

He thanks God for the country we live in.

And that's about as far as I'll go with devotion to `my' country. 

Devotion to my God is a whole different story, however.  I pledge Him my allegiance, weak and human as it may be.  Looking ahead with joy to my true country!

Besides, have you thought lately that as far as our nation goes, we are definitely not "under God"?  Maybe "beside God" or "over God".   Ask Noah, he might be able to tell you - he's learning those "under, over, next to, down, below" words.

So we're also refraining from lying.

Division Champs

Woo-hoo!!!!

Oh...the Twins Baseball Team?

Yeah - that's great too.

Sweet Dreams

Bedtime...

Isn't it wonderful?

Your toast

We had toast with dinner the other night.  Sam and Caleb each wanted one more piece and the rest of us were just finishing up, so I told them they could go and put their own bread in the toaster.  As you will see, letting them help out in the kitchen is apparently a very rare occurrence. 

Sam, after putting the bread in.  "Now what do I do?"

Dad instructs him on pushing the lever all the way down.

They were standing side by side, gripping the side of the counter and staring at the toaster. 

As I was enjoying my last bite of cheesy scrambled eggs, I heard Caleb jump up and the toast pop up at the exact same time. Sam start whining and throwing a full-blown fit about how "Caleb made the toast come out!!  Caleb!! Stop!!"

"Sam, Caleb didn't make the toast come up when he jumped.  It popped up on its own because it was done."

He calms down slightly but is still whiny. 

"Then I get this one!"  He grabs at the toast he can see - the other one is a bit shorter and hidden down a bit inside the toaster, being the end piece.

Then Caleb starts complaining and wondering where his is and when it will be done.

I take it out of the toaster.

"It's right here, Caleb."

His eyes light up. 

"Hey look!"  he announces to the family.  "Both pieces came up at the SAME TIME!"

Aren't toasters AMAZING???!!

Time to start cooking lessons. 

Happy Birthday Olé!

My gramma celebrated her 90th birthday this past weekend!

Isn't she beautiful?

We all love her.

"And in a few weeks, it'll be your turn, daughter."

A round and a round and a round we go.

Still waiting

With Caleb at the breakfast table the other day:

Mom: Did you know that Jesus could come back any day?  Isn't that cool to think about?

Caleb looks out the patio doors, up into the sky.

"Well, it's not right now!" he proclaims.