Pumpkin Patch Playtime

I love taking the kids to the pumpkin patch! When Will was little, we took him to the one at the Methodist Church in Independence. When we moved to Texas, I was excited to take all four kids to a farm to find pumpkins, and we began a tradition. Last year, however, we didn't get to go. It rained so much last October that all three or four times we tried to go, the patches were closed because of too much mud.

This year, I took Ben, Maddie, and Jon with our MOPS playgroup on Friday. We had such a great time, that we went back with Allen and Will on Saturday. The kids enjoyed having their faces painted, they loved riding the barrel train, the boys loved the sound of the tractor, and all of them had fun choosing a pumpkin. The sun was always in an awkward position for photos, but I did get a few good ones. Since my latest posts have been lacking pictures, this one can make up for them.

Pumpkin Patch - Take 1 (starring Ben, Maddie, Jon, & Mama)

 Pumpkin Patch - Take 2 (starring Mama, Daddy, Will, Ben, Maddie, & Jon)

 

A Few Little Laughs

Our kids still say and do things that make us laugh. Here are a few things we've heard recently.

Maddie said, "I like this headband so much you need to get your camera and take a picture of us."...so I did.

Ben said, "Mama, are you being SERIOUS at ME?" ....no, uh...I was trying out sarcasm, but love your question.

Allen overheard me say, "Ben! don't lick your feet! But if you're going to at least sit down first, so you don't fall over..." That kid was standing up in the living room, holding his toes to his tongue (yuck) -- incredible balance; can YOU do that?

Will said, "Mama, I like the lunch lady at school. She looks a lot like you except her hair is white instead of brown, she is taller than you, she doesn't wear glasses, and her eyes are different." ...so how is it we look alike?

Ben said, "No! Mamas aren't allowed to tickle my feet!" But, why not? "Because you can't throw me in the air like Daddy can. Only he can tickle me." Well, what can Mama do? "You can hold me and hug me when I'm crying. .... NO!! Not right now!! Only when I'm hurt!"

Jon said, "Is that thunder? I better go to Maddie and Ben so they aren't afraid. See ya!"

The kids had a conversation about where Jesus lives. Will said, "He lives in heaven." Maddie said, "No, he lives in my heart." Jon said, "Maddie's right, but he lives in MY heart." Will said, "How can he be in more than one place?" Ben said, "No, no, no. Jesus lives in our house, but only sometimes. Only when we vacuum."

I heard from my sister-in-law that my niece Julianne called me on her toy phone and said, "I love you, Aunt Sarah." When Julianne told her mom about it, she sadly said, "Aunt Sarah didn't answer, but I left her a voice mail." ...now how could I NOT call that sweet little girl to hear it for real? I just told her I got her message and called as soon as I could.

Crazy Busy

We still seem to be too busy for me to sit down to post an update as frequently as I like. It seems we have something going on all the time. Sunday we go to church, then spend the afternoon napping, watching football, making lunches for the week, and folding laundry.

Monday the little ones and I sometimes get together with my MOPS group while Will is at school. As soon as I pick up Will we have a whirlwind of activity as I try to seat the kids for a quick snack, and keep the little ones out of trouble while I help Will with homework and make dinner. After dinner, Will and Allen head to Cub Scouts.

Tuesdays, the little ones go to preschool and I head to Bible study, then the grocery store. Occassionally, I can meet Allen for lunch, but otherwise, I run errands all afternoon. When I'm done, if there is still time left, I head to Starbucks or Barnes & Noble to work on my Bible study since I can get much more done when its quiet. I pick up the little ones, then the big one, then head home for the whirlwind again. Luckily, the weather has been awesome lately and I can send the kids outside while Will and I work on homework. Just before dinner, Will empties the clean dishes from the dishwasher. Tuesday evenings I am the one going out. Once a month I have book club, another Tuesday I eat our with moms of multiples. Those other two, I am either home catching up on my Castle and House recordings or reading.

Wednesdays... whew! Every other week, the little kids and I go to MOPS for the morning. We drop Will off at school, come home so I can finish my coffee, then we are off again. We get home around lunchtime. Last week I had to get the fund-raiser cookies in between, and finally had so much on my plate for a day I called my neighbor for help. (I am SO thankful for a sweet neighbor who doesn't mind bringing Will home from school occassionally -- a little thing that helps me so much!) After we get Will from school, we work on homework, have breakfast for dinner (cereal or eggs) then go to the church to meet Daddy. The kids all go to Kidz Praise, and Allen and I go to the Wednesday evening Bible study. Once a month, I have a MOPS steering meeting so I skip the Bible study. I have to admit, I only half-listen to the lecture... I often am reading ahead on one of the other two studies I am doing. The kids are enjoying KidzPraise -- well, the little kids are anyway. Kidz Praise is a high energy time of learning and worship -- they sing, dance, play instruments and games. Like I said, the little ones like it. Will isn't crazy about it, but his other option each week is to sit next to us and work on his handwriting. The first (and, so far, only) time he chose to write, I had him copy neatly Philippians 2:14: Do everything without complaining or arguing. Will does NOT like to work on his penmanship, but he did learn a scripture that night., and he can still recall the verse. By the time we get home Wednesday after church, I am worn out and I sleep well.

Thursdays are nice. . . life starts to slow down a little bit. Ben, Maddie, and Jon go to preschool and I have the day off. Lately, I've used Thursdays for errands or lunch with a friend. Sometimes I sit at home reading. Thursday nights, we don't go anywhere. I like Thursdays. . . . a lot.

Friday is similar to Monday. I work on laundry if we are home. Otherwise, we might go play with friends. Usually, Fridays are pretty easy going. Once we went to a firestation, once we had a playdate here, once we went to the pumpkin patch.

Saturdays are never the same. Allen lets me sleep a little bit later. Since he doesn't get up on Saturday to work out at o'dark-thirty, he gets a bit more sleep, too. This weekend, we went back to the pumpkin patch (this time so Will and Allen could enjoy it with us.) We headed to Lowe's to get some rocks and dirt. Allen and I went on a date while Christina kept the kids.

So, now you have an idea of all we do. We're busy -- and that isn't taking into account all the added laundry when the kids throw up all day (and we've had a week of those days this month). That isn't taking into account the assignments that Ben, Jon, and Maddie come home with (like make this creative poster about each child and everything they like to play with or do.) That isn't taking into account the other activities we've managed to squeeze between our normals ones (working on Cub Scout requirements, making snacks for scouts, taking family photos, going to a few other meetings for church, planting seeds in the garden, going to the doctor with kids, going to a Sunday school party or MOPS dinner, fitting in a home owners association meeting, having girls night out with the Sunday school class, and completing plans for our high school reunion.) I'm tired at the end of the days, but everything is good. We are all back to healthy and ready to attack another week.

September Happies

There have been many times over the last few weeks we have done things just because it would make someone happy. Here are a few:

#1 -- Making Ben happy, but the others enjoyed it, too. Ben loves monster trucks, and I read that Bigfoot would be making a local stop, so I took a detour on the way home from school one day.

#2 -- Making Jon, friends and kids happy. In the span of one week, I thought about taking the kids to the firestation, then, separately, two friends told me to consider a firestation for a MOPS playdate. Great ideas come in threes, so I set up a MOPS playdate at the firestation that was right next door to a great playground. We all had a great time with that one, and, yes, Jon loves firetrucks!

 #3 -- Making Maddie happy, (but forgetting to take pictures.) I put stuff in the childrens clothing consignment sale again this year. Most of it sold, but it was all clothes, so I probably won't get too big of a check. Like I have been doing, I got the kids' clothes I needed for the season. I picked up a few shirts for Will, a couple church shirts for Ben and Jon, but a bunch for Maddie. I also picked up four costumes hoping I could convince the kids that they would be great for Halloween. (And at $2 for a costume, it wouldn't hurt my feeling if it ended up in the dress up box.) Somehow, she is the one I never have enough clothes for when the new season hits. Ben and Jon are able to wear most of Will's outgrown clothes, and I usually get Will new pants as school starts. When I brought the "new" clothes home, Maddie decided to try on and model each new outfit. She loved playing like SHE was the Polly Pocket (a small doll she enjoys playing with that has many, many outfits.) I picked clothes I thought she'd like, but her favorite surprised me -- a green hooded long shirt and rainbow stripe leggings. I thought her favorite would be pink.

#4 -- Making Will happy. He attends Cub Scouts weekly and has really be enjoying it. After he gets his homework done we often work on some small things, like a scrapbook, that he needs to complete for his next rank or bead.

#5 -- Making the family happy. We attended a campout that the church hosted. It was a way for us to try camping on our own with the kids, but without the added stresses of meal preparation. All the tents were put in the softball outfield (quite comfortable for sleeping). The church took care of the cooking. We enjoyed all our meals, and had fun watching a movie on a big screen. Sadly, we had to pack up and the morning events were cancelled since a big storm was heading our way. I think we'll try to do it all again next year since we had so much fun. Will came home and drew a map of the campgrounds :)

#6 -- Making Allen happy. Allen had seen some signs around town that there was a fireman competition last weekend. When he told me about it, he didn't realize I had started setting up the Firehouse playdate, and he thought the kids would enjoy seeing the relays. I can't say I was originally crazy about the idea, but the weather changed so it was a great day to be outside. The kids seemed to enjoy it, too.

#7 -- Making these two happy. Will started playing chess with Granddad, so he was thrilled to already know a few things when Allen got the set out.

#8 -- Making Mama happy. This is the kind of day I can say that LOTS is making me happy lately. Fall arrived over the weekend and the cooler temperatures give me a bounce in my step. I have been crazy busy, but in a good way, but that's why I haven't posted lately. I am still working through 1 Peter in my own study time, and now I am also taking a class on Tuesday morning called His Story, My Story. It has been a time-consuming, energy-sapping, tear-jerking two weeks so far, but I am loving it. The point is to write the stories of my life so that others can understand how God has worked in it. Then, the hard part. . . telling the stories. One of these days, I might post some of the stories, but for now, I am keeping the audience small until I can find the courage to share them.

Those are just a few of the things we've been up to lately. It looks like October will be even busier, so don't fret if I don't post very often. We just have a lot going on and the blog is on the back-burner for awhile.

Princess Speak

Except for church days and school pictures, we now let the kids (all of them) pick out their clothes and get themselves dressed each day. Ben and Jon are a lot like Will, putting on multiple sets of clothes each day, not caring a whole lot what the word "matching" means to me. Maddie, on the otherhand, is great about picking out the sets.

This morning, Allen sent the kids up to get dressed. Maddie came down wearing a yellow floral-print skirt and matching top. She accessorized it with purple princess shoes and floated down the stairs flipping her hair. Ben was at the bottom of the stairs finishing dressing himself. Maddie looked down her nose at him, lifted her eyebrows and said, "Ben, please put your poncs on."

Ben had a confused frown as he demanded that she explain, "What does that mean? Ponce???"
She rolled her little three-year-old eyes, sighed loudly, and shook her head at his ignorance. "Ben! Ponce are what you are wearing with your shirt, but I'm a princess today so I talk nice. Don't YOU say that, though. Only a princess can talk like me."
Ben didn't seem convinced. He stood up and started to walk away, but she quickly stepped in front of him with her arms out. "Now you can donce with me!"

Labor Day Weekend

I had plans of writing a fabulous story about an awesome Labor Day weekend. HAD, past tense. Life is so darn busy that its hard to fit blog time in. Once I get a chance, its hard to go back almost two weeks and remember everything I wanted to remember. In the end, I am taking the easy way out. Here's what's left of the story -- it's just the important stuff anyway:

Labor Day weekend, we went to Waco and pseudo-camped in my parents yard. Our friends, Casey and Christina, and their four children met us for a day and a half of fun. The very patient daddies pitched the large tent with all eight kids helping. Casey and Allen let each of the kids take a turn hammering in a tent stake, and then the kids spend a long time going in and out and in and out and in and out of the tent. Dinner was campfire-cooked hot dogs, and all but the youngest two kids cooked their own. We roasted marshmallows for dessert, and somehow the kids were all de-stickied before we just sat around the fire talking. The four of us parents tried finding that magic moment in six kids when they have just enough energy to walk to the tent and get in sleeping bags, but not enough energy left to jump and play once they are there. At one point we had a planned camera-flash photograph, and it revealed that most of the kids were already laying down on the grass. That meant we reached "The Moment." and we rushed them to the tent to get some sleep. Christina slept inside the house with the two babes, and Casey, Allen, and I had cots or air mattresses outside the tent. The six kids were inside. Casey ended up sleeping in the tent, too -- he went in to tell the kids a story, but fell asleep in the process. It was a still, quiet night, and the Texas temperature had dropped enough that we were quite comfortable.

The next morning, the kids went for a walk before breakfast. I think Allen and someone fished for a bit. We ate breakfast, took the camp apart, made lunches, and spent the rest of the day at the park and zoo. The kids crashed at the end of the day, and the Smith's took that opportunity to drive home. We had a wonderful time and I can't wait to get together with them again in four years! AND, it went well enough that Allen and I are already talking about taking our family camping again soon.

Five Years Later

Five years ago, I took this picture of two not-quite-two-year olds. You already know Will, and the pretty little girl is Marcella, the daughter of some dear friends of ours.

Her dad, Casey, went to high school with Allen and me, and he was one of the groomsmen in our wedding. He is a friend we don't see but every few years, but each time we get together, its just as comfortable as if we visited each other often.

Last time we saw the Smith family was when Christina was pregnant with one and I was pregnant with the triplets. Fast forward a few more years and here are Marcella and Will, both 6 years old.

Since the toddler picture, four more kids were born in 2006 -- their daughter, Theresa, and our kiddos, Ben, Maddie, and Jon. In 2009, Casey and Christina had twins -- a son, Eben, and daughter, Eleanor. And here are all the kids now!

We are thankful that we got to spend a bunch of time with them over Labor Day weekend. I am sad that we won't see them for awhile as they are moving overseas for four years. I was thinking that's a long time to go without seeing good friends, but that's how long its been since the last time, too. Now, I'm anxious to hear of all their coming adventures!