Today

So, I figured out why I am blogging more this week than say...the last year. Ben bought me a nifty little netbook that is ALL MINE. That's right. Mine. Kids cannot even breathe on it. That said, here is today:

Sonora and Quinn pooled their creative juices and made a note delivery service. Your note will be printed and delivered via paper airplane for the low low price of 1 cent.

I requested a note to be sent to Ben letting him know that I love him. Here is the finished product.

Judah is not quite used to our new school schedule and he was worn out today. He was getting REALLY cranky so we put him on the closest thing we could find for blanket time. This is how we found him a few minutes later. School is tough.

Finally, I busted these out tonight for the first time in about 4 years.

Excited to start a new tap class tonight. Classes started in August so I'm hoping that I can catch up. Haven't tapped in years, so I'm looking forward to it. Fun + Exercise. What a deal :)

Lego Love

The kids heard that my little jewelery box was breaking so Quinn and Harper took action. Quinn designed the fancy little box and Harper fashioned a ring tree. Love, Love, LOVE them!

This Post Has No Title

A couple things from today...

I was sitting on the couch looking up at the ceiling when I saw what looked like a spider. I asked Quinn if HE thought that it looked like a spider. He said, "Yes, and you can scream now."

Also, this morning Sonora asked me what I was like when I was a baby. All I could think of in response was, "I was little."

That's all I could think of...really? I think I'm slipping...

Mother of All

Ben and I had the privilege of teaching Sunday School together this morning. While I stepped out to make some copies, he decided to try and have the kids impress me upon my return. He taught them the Hebrew meaning of the the names Adam and Eve. Adam being 'man', and Eve being 'mother of all'. I came back in and Ben looked at one little boy and said, "What does Adam mean?" The young man replied "man!" Then, Ben turned to Quinn and asked, "What does Eve mean?" Quinn replied, "Mother in Law!"

24 Hours

Random things heard in my house in the last 24 hours...

"I'm not wearing a shirt because I like to feel the wind rushing through my armpits." ~Q

"Aren't I precious?" ~S

"Can I have a bowl of sugar?" ~H

Life is Dangerous

So last night at dinner the kids were having hot dogs and Harper said, "I can't eat this, it will kill me." Quinn looked at her and said, "If it does, don't worry Harper, everytime we see a hot dog, we'll think of you." Then later, when I asked her to go to bed, she replied "Awww mama, if I do that, it will kill me like a dog being whipped by a one eyed crocodile." Happy to report, she made it.

Bits and Pieces

Writing to remember a few snippets from today...

In random order:

Harper: At dinner, she said, "Mama, do you know you have the best mama smile ever?" I don't know what she's up to, and frankly, I don't care. I'll take it :)

Quinn: This afternoon the kids went door to door looking for work. (Yes we feed them) Surprisingly, a neighbor told them to pick up sticks from the yard and she would pay them $2 each. She went to give them the money beforehand, and Quinn gave it back to her saying that he couldn't take it until she saw the job he had done. I WAS SO PROUD OF HIM!!! I saw a glimmer of the man that I pray for him to be.

Nate: After the kids brought their money home to show us, Ben told them that they now had to pay taxes. Running away upstairs, Nate yelled as he went, "I don't believe in taxes."

Judah: It is so fun to walk hand in hand with Judah. He is so short and his little legs are so chubby, that he has to take five steps for every one of mine. I love it. I looked down at him today as we were walking and felt happiness and sadness at the same time. It is such a precious time, that will be gone all too quickly...

Sonora: Alright, I admit, I saved this one for last. The first words I heard this morning have stuck with me all day...She walked down the stairs, and the first thing out of her mouth was, "What is that ugly smell? Smells like chicken."

Number Nine

Frankly, I feel like this picture says it all...

The Game of Life

Well, since I haven't posted since JULY!!!, and I have finally finished updating everything, I think I should finally take back up posting on here. I know that in the 6 months that I have taken off from blogging I have missed the opportunity to chronicle so much.

Last night, we had a sort of family game night. We chose the game of Life and with all six of us playing, it was a looooooooooong game! It was interesting, as things usually are when we are all gathered around the table, and as you can see from the look on Quinn's face, this was a no nonsense game. He was in it to win. At all costs. The little bugger took all my life tiles, but I'm not holding a grudge...


Sonora had a bit of a learning curve.


Nate was all business, and the fact that he was the banker (and a good one at that :) came as no surprise to anyone!


Did I mention that this was a really long game?


The game fare of the evening was butterscotch candies. Thanks to Harper. The entire game Sonora kept asking for one more candy, just one more candy, and at the end of the game as no one was listening to her, she finally gave up...walked over to Harper and said..."HAAARRRRPEEEERRRR, can I PLEASSSSE have a hopscotch?"

And finally, I really have no comment on this image, it speaks for itself. I would however, like to wipe some of those memories from my consciousness.

Quinn walked by just now, and looking at this picture, he said, "Ahhh...those were the times!"

Yes, indeed, these are the times...

Vacation Bible School 2009

There have been so many funny things said around here lately, and I have been forgetting to jot them down when I hear them :( We have been busy with VBS and now the planning crunch for school, so I'm hoping to blog more in the near future. Until then, here are some cute VBS pictures. The theme was The Boomerang Express (The Australian Outback). The kids had fun!

This year, I helped in Q~ and H~'s class, so most of my pictures are from there, but I did happen to snap this one of N~ up on stage practicing for the family night program.


J~ in the nursery...


Q~ and H~'s Class.


The busiest place in VBS: Crafts


Yes, a kangaroo in diapers. There is something just wrong about that.


Obviously, it rebelled.


At the end of family night, the kids got to throw water balloons at the pastor.
S~ didn't get one.

Not including the lack of water balloons for S~, it was a very fun week!

A Pudgy Mirage

Maybe it's his age. Or maybe it's just Q~, but he has been a riot this week. Tonight I was walking through Wal-Mart with him and he asked me if he was fat. Don't ask me, I don't know...

After that, he said "What's that called when you see something but it's not really there? A ma.....mmmmm.....mmmmaaa......massage?"

Obviously, in Q~'s mirage, he's pudgy...

Frankie

We are doing Bible Drill at church this summer on Wednesday nights. I LOVE Bible Drill! I loved it as a kid. N~ loves it too. He is very good at it, and I'm really proud to have a chip off the old, I mean really, really young block. He is so competitive, that it is a great fit for his personality.

Q~ and H~ are not quite as thrilled with the program. They don't quite have the order of the books down, so tonight Ben decided to quiz them. He threw out this question to them:

"What book comes between Joel and Obadiah?"

Q~ answers with a question of his own.

"Frankie?"

Yep, Frankie.

Moose Prey

Today out of the blue, Q~ asked me if calling someone a 'big fat overgrown hairy moose' was a cuss word.

What could I say?

To add to the moose theme, tonight H~ said,

"Mama, what's a moose's prey?"

To which Q~ replied,

"They don't eat prey, they ARE the prey baby".

Last Rites

So we were eating dinner the other day...chicken. Again. Q~ was in fine form that evening as he speared a piece of meat with his fork and said,

"Say your prayers chicken...bawk bawk"


I don't know what to be more worried about...that Q~ talks to his food, or that he's waiting for it to answer...

What's it Going to Take??

The kids spent an hour cleaning their rooms this afternoon. I should have taken before/after pictures, because the difference was HUGE! I was thrilled! When Ben came home from work he went to check out their work as well. He looked it over, was pretty impressed, and said

"Now boys, what's it going to take for you all to keep it this way?"

(Using his best car salesman voice by the way)

Q~ answered,

"YEARS and years of practice."

At least he has a firm grip on reality...

Mama Maidenhood

We are soooo busy this week, planning our trip to Michigan! Wahooooo!!! We can't wait! I did however have this little bit in my draft file...I enjoyed it, I hope you will too...

The other day, I was having a conversation with Q. This in and of itself is a good thing,,,seeing as he is hardly still long enough to...to...you know, breathe. Anyway, he is always asking me great questions, and this time it was about my last name. He is obsessed right now with how to address people and why. Mrs. vs Miss...Mr. and why there isn't a married Mr...etc. Well, he was asking me about my maiden name and what that was and why I'm not called that anymore, and such. So to clarify is his mind, he asks "So, before you married daddy you were called Mama R~(insert remainder of maiden name here)?"

I educated him. His mama does indeed have a name besides mama. Although, even on rough days, that's a pretty awesome name!

Wide Eyed

WARNING: Scary post ahead...





Staring contests. Remember those? Well, it seems my kids are now into them. They wish they could beat me. Up til now they couldn't.


That all changed today. At lunch the kids figured out that if they open their eyes REALLLLLY wide, they have a better chance at winning. Not full proof, but better. I would start into the contest, then they would pull their big eye trick and I would start giggling. Nearly got me every time.








N~ did find a way to win everytime...


Like I said, scary...

"Problematic" Math

This morning I was wanting Q~ to hurry up with his math so that he could help me with J~. J~ had a BAAAADDDD day...I think he's teething...Anyway, I told Q~ to hurry himself on up and he said, "Mama, you know, there's a reason they call these things 'problems'." Yes, and he did air quotation marks for "problems".

By the way, once Q~ uses "the air quotation marks" to say something and I laugh about it, they get used ALLLLLL the time.

Mama, I'm finished with my vegetables, I'm "serious". Mama, I didn't actually "hit" him. Mama, I "swept" the floor, can I go outside now?

AND, the list goes on...

So, here's looking to tomorrow. A day full of "questions", "explanations", and hopefully some type of "learning". Til then, I think I'll go to "bed".

In the Blink of an Eye

I have been struck lately at how much the kids all seem to be growing. Their childhoods seem to be flying...I put this collage together today with tears in my eyes.


Incredibly thankful this Lord's day...

Or Something

Man, oh man this week has flown! It seems that I have been so busy. I will try to post some pictures of our semi-finished schoolroom on the homeschool blog tonight. I will try. But, until then, I have to get this down...

We had the cable guy come in yesterday to put in a line upstairs so that I could have 'The Beast' (my lovely nickname for our new printer) close by when I need it. Now, we had company yesterday, my SIL with her two kids. Add that to our five and there were seven kids under the age of 10 in our house when he walks in the door. BUT, not just seven REGULAR kids...we had just hyped the kids up on sugar bread,,,yes the kids call it sugar bread (Amish Friendship Bread,,,very yummy, but verrrry bad for you),,,so there were seven SUGARED UP kids and they were careening through the house. Upstairs, downstairs, outside, back inside, and I'm pretty sure there was at least one crying the entire time the poor man was here. Darn sugar. N~, and Q~ followed him around the entire time asking questions such as...

what are you doing? how does that work? are you using the right drill bit? how do you know that will work? have you done this before? where does that wire go? you better do that right, my daddy's coming home soon...

I'm pretty sure I saw the guy roll his eyes...I told myself he must not have any children.

Sooo.....all that to say this. While he was here he asked me a question of his own...and I quote: "Do you 'like' have a daycare or something?"

Yep, or something:)