Field Trip ~ Plan C!

So . . . for quite a while we had been planning to go on a "field trip" to the Sand Dunes this weekend . . . about 4 hours away from our home. (It seemed like a good excuse for an adventure in our travel trailer and it coincided with some of our current studies). Unfortunately, several things conspired against us and we ended up not being able to go. Much of our family has been fighting sickness for the past week and with the onset of cold weather last weekend, Kevin became very unexcited about the prospect of hauling the trailer over the snowiest mountain pass in CO (to get to the dunes). After several reconfigurations of our plan, we ended up settling for a short field trip today to the Western Museum of Mining and Industry (In CO Springs). The kids and I had been there a few years ago and enjoyed it ~ and we wanted Kevin to go this time! They have an amazing tour guide (Brad) who really loves what he does . . . it was a good choice and the kids were not disappointed.

Bookworms in training

Samuel and Anna love to pretend they're kitty cats lately. On this particular morning (first photo), they borrowed couch cushions, blankets and even Suki's dog bed to build "nests" (as they call them) for themselves and curled up beside the fire with their books!

A few more firsts . . .

We are waking up to our first "snow on the ground" day of the season (as opposed to the one at the tail end of summer that didn't actually stay on the ground) . . . there isn't very much of it out there, but it sure is pretty. The kids are delighted because it's enough to qualify for cinnamon rolls at breakfast! We reviewed our study of rocks recently and finally managed to produce a few rock candy crystals that were worthy of eating (a first!, now if we can just figure out how to get them to crystalize on the string instead of on the sides of the bowl . . .) We also tried a few new foods recently -- hubbard squash and mashed turnips (different nights!). . . the turnips were more popular than the squash, which frankly surprised me. Either way, we served them on our "Green Eggs and Ham" plate and even ended up reading Green Eggs and Ham as Sam scowled at his squash ~ we should have named him "Sam I am"! Kevin has a "first" of his own tomorrow -- an author book signing at a local bookstore. (I think this means I'm baking cookies today for him to hand out!)

Just thinking . . .

Just thinking today about one of my favorite worship songs (below). Have you ever had one of those moments, where thankfulness sinks into your heart and spreads out into all the little nooks and crannies ~ and you just can't get away from it? I'm so thankful today for a world that feels in nearly every way, that it's "all as it should be". I'm drinking in the laughter and fun and joy of everything in it . . . especially my sweet children and wonderful husband!

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

"Oh my, what have I done?!"

Our sweet Anna loves scissors more than any child we've ever had . . . and now we've officially had the "young child cutting their own hair" experience! ~ another first for us (and hopefully the last!) Below we have Anna apparently delighted that cutting ones own hair is not a criminal offense, as well as an action shot of Anna cutting out her drawing with the (now) infamous scissors!

Good Morning, Colorado!

The sky was absolutely beautiful a few mornings ago . . . I couldn't get to a good spot to capture it (without having window panes in the photo) -- next time I'll have to climb on our neighbor's playground equipment at 6:30 in the morning!

Kids are funny

Samuel was in the car with me and I slowed down for a traffic light:

(Samuel) Mom, did you just step on the brake pedal?
(me) Yes, I did -- you're right!
(Samuel) The brake pedal is on the driver's side and the "go pedal" is on the passenger side . . . but really they're both on the driver's side, because there's no steering wheel on the passenger side!

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One of the things we've been studying in school lately is sea creatures (sharks, dolphins, whales, seals, etc.). At 7:00 Saturday morning, Daniel and Emily had climbed into our bed and were talking with us.

(me) What's Levi doing?
(Emily) Oh, he's reading a book
(me) What book?
(Emily) One of the library books on sharks and whales, he's trying to find out what kind of whale swallowed Jonah!
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Samuel was in the car with Kevin and told him "when I get older I want to have a car just like this . . . but people will have to teach me how to turn the radio on!"

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We were discussing human development and how long babies generally are when they are born. In our family they were pretty much 20 - 21" at birth. We decided to measure how long our little dog, Suki, is . . . just so the kids would have a visual point of reference. He is pretty close to 21". As I was measuring him, he stretched out and was closer to 23". After I let the poor dog hop down from the couch Anna turned to me and said "when I was a doggie I was 23 inches!"

Fall and several "firsts" . . .

We enjoyed a fluke "summer snow" on Monday (since we never managed to plant a garden, we just got to marvel at how fun it was without suffering any personal loss!). We're now delighting in the first days of autumn and some cool, pleasant weather. Last week the kids returned to AWANAs and Anna was perfectly delighted to finally be old enough to go! She also got to begin worship dance with Emily (in a different class, but at the same church). Over the weekend, we went camping a few hours from home (at a place called Kenosha Pass, where the Colorado Trail cuts through a beautiful area of aspen trees). The kids enjoyed turning the surroundiing woods into their own private play place. They even found some downed trees big enough to create a makeshift teeter-totter! We experienced another "first" when Levi fell and sliced his leg open. He needed to be rushed 50 miles back to Denver for 17 stitches! He handled the whole ordeal quite well and is on the road to recovery. He's looking very forward to being able to bend his leg again!

Bible Bee

This summer the three oldest kids spent many, many hours memorizing hundreds of scripture verses and Bible facts. They were studying for a local "Bible Bee" competition which was held on Sep 12th. There were 17,000 kids who took part in it all across the country (the National Competition will be held in November in Washington, DC). None of our kids advanced to Nationals (and they're a bit relieved!). Nevertheless, they worked really hard and we are proud of them! We presented them with trophies at church the day after the competition ~ they were pretty happy about that!

Back to School

We started school again right after Labor Day. We always celebrate the return to school with some sort of cake. It used to be a school bus (with gummi bears as passengers!) . . . until Emily reminded me that they don't ride a school bus! So, we've since tried a notebook, a big pencil and this year I attempted an apple (except it looked more like a heart!) Oh well! The kids returned to their Monday enrichment program shortly after we began our studies at home (hence the photo with the backpacks and lunch boxes!)

Hiking our very own Castle Rock

We went hiking with my sister and her family on Labor Day weekend. We followed the trail up to the base of Castle Rock and the kids took off to see who could shimmy their way all the way to the tippy top of "The Rock" first. Emily reached it first, but the boys took a very impressive alternate route and found a fun little "cave" to stand under. Kevin didn't have nearly as much fun trying to help them get back down! Anna dubbed Suki "Hiker Doggie" and we took him with us! I was a little concerned that Anna and Samuel would slow us down . . . when they raced up the trail it quickly became apparent that they were up for the task! I don't think they even slowed down until we got to the top. It was a fun time, especially for the cousins to hang out together.

A field fresh full of fun!

We were thankful that they didn't charge us for all the berries that we ate as we picked strawberries and raspberries Labor Day weekend! We have a local "pick your own" produce farm that is a favorite at the end of the summer. We filled our tummies and our little containers with some awesome fresh berries!

Conversations with kids

Daniel -- "Samuel, I run really fast!"
Samuel -- "Are you faster than God?"
Daniel -- "well, no"
Samuel -- "are you faster than Jesus?"
Daniel -- "no"
Samuel -- "then you're not that fast"!

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We were talking at dinner about how there may be some 18 or 20 year old young man out there who could one day be Emily's husband. Or there may be a baby down the street or across the world that one of the boys may end up marrying. Since it isn't that unusual for women to marry guys who are a bit older than they are, "because girls tend to be more mature" . . . to which Levi got his "yuck face" look and said "we're not less mature, we just don't use it!"

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The kids had dentist appointments a few days ago.
Levi: "The dentist left me sitting in the dentist chair for 45 minutes, waiting . . . with nothing to do -- except play with Mr Sucky!" (the water suction hose)

Sam's "half birthday" celebration!

Sam got to go on his very first half birthday outing tonight. He hit the golden age of 4 1/2, which is when (in our family) the kids get to have a special night out with just mom and dad! We went to Chuck-E-Cheese and had lots of fun! Samuel also helped me make a cake earlier today (Daniel and Anna helped too!). For some reason Sam is quite excited about police cars and wanted me to put a police car on his cake, with us and him inside! I told him that I wasn't making a super fancy cake for a half birthday, so we settled for a picture stuck on top of the cake of all of us in a police car, hmmmmm . . . still not sure why we're all inside the police car!!, I'm not going to ask any questions! Nevertheless, we had a really fun night with our super silly boy! (Can you tell who took the picture of the three of us out front?!!)

My sweet Daniel!

I had a "mom's night out" over the weekend. The older kids were still awake when I got home and Daniel (6) rushed to greet me. I asked how the night was and this was his reply (complete with big sad puppy dog eyes)

"It wasn't that great of a night. We had ice cream for dessert and we finished the 'full house clean up' fast enough that we even got to choose 3 toppings for our ice cream . . . and we got to have a tailgate party in the driveway while we ate it! . . . and it was a beautiful night . . . there was a nice breeze blowing and it was all quiet and still, except for the crickets chirping . . . but it wasn't that good . . . because you weren't here"

aaaaaaawwwwwww! Can't they stay six for just a little longer?!

Silly camera fun!

Motor oil and mentoring

Levi and Kevin have spent quite a bit of time in the driveway lately, working on an old Chevy Suburban that we've acquired. Kevin is in the process of trading out his Navigator for an older Suburban with a "bigger engine" (as Samuel loves to say!) In spite of its many broken parts (some of them quite endearing ~ like a driver's seat that rocks back and forth as you drive . . . and some of them just down right funny ~ like having to roll the windows down to reach outside and open the doors!), it is better equipped to haul the travel trailer than the Navigator was. So, we upgraded our sleeping quarters and downgraded our driving digs . . . which probably means we came out even!

Nevertheless, one fun side benefit to this has been having some extra opportunities for Kevin to indulge Levi in his love of working alongside his dad and learning to fix things. Levi enjoys many free time activities, but he will drop WHATEVER he is doing (at any hour, in any weather!) when the opportunity arises to help Kevin with a repair project (in the house, on a car, in the yard, wherever). A few months ago, the lock was broken on our bathroom door (and people kept getting stuck inside accidentally!). Kevin bought a new locking doorknob and handed the package to Levi. Levi replaced it himself in a matter of minutes. We find ourselves frustrated from time to time with his lack of enthusiasm for schoolwork, but really appreciate his willingness and enthusiasm to learn and serve in so many other ways.

When Levi was about five years old, I noticed that he could fix things that I couldn't figure out (clocks, vacuum cleaners, fans, etc). We could see, even at that age, that God has uniquely gifted him to understand how things work and to take great delight in using his mind and hands together to get a job done.