Makeshift Snowboarding ~ Sort of!

More Snow Fun

The kids have spent the better part of the day sledding in our back yard (and in the park across the street) with some friends of theirs. The trampoline that came with our house is semi buried in the ground and our sleds are stored underneath it -- so part of the fun for them was digging the sleds out from under the "trampoline snow fort". I was busy playing a game with their friends' mom--so I failed to take even a single photo of the sledding! =( "Bad, bad mommy"!!(I'm hoping they'll go out again tomorrow and I'll take some then). Pretty fun stuff!, it's even more fun now that three of the five kids can put their own snow gear on ~ there are few things more exhausting to me than the mere thought of putting gloves and boots and snow pants and hats and . . . on toddlers!

Silly Samuel

So, Samuel found a picture a few days ago . . . the picture of the oldest four kids with balls stuffed under their shirts, sitting next to me when I was very pregnant with Anna -- it was a very silly, highly pregnant looking sort of picture, all the way around. Samuel was explaining to Anna how the "ball" in mom's shirt was her! "See that big lump in mom's belly . . . that's you Anna! . . . but you got out ~ that means you fell out of mom's shirt!"

Birthdays and Blizzards!

They didn't occur together and I don't know that our big, fat, snowstorm should really be called a "blizzard"--but it sure has been fun! Last Saturday (the 24th) was Daniel's 7th birthday. Daniel had two friends spend the night (they even got to be here for the "birthday morning donuts"!~ which Daniel thought was pretty exciting!). Several more friends came over for a "Webkinz/Football" party. We played most of the games in the back yard and it was downright hot outside! . . . By Tuesday night it had started snowing and continued to snow for over 48 hours -- dumping over 30" of the white fluffy stuff outside of our house. It finally stopped in the middle of the night last night. So, this morning Kevin and Levi are outside shoveling (we didn't have to go anywhere during the storm, so they've just waited for it to finally stop falling).

Feverish~ly writing!

One of the benefits of being home this past weekend (instead of off on our field trip adventure . . .) is that we've had the fun of being part of Kevin's latest book. He is in the process of writing a super fun children's book. He's been reading it to our family a few chapters at a time, as he finishes them. The kids have been able to give him feedback and usually beg for the next chapter! It doesn't have a title yet, but I can't wait until it's finished and in print =)

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.