The Amazing Mind.

I was thinking tonight about how much the boys are changing. Physically of course, growing taller and more slender and so "boy." But mainly, just how much their minds and ways of thinking are maturing.

We got some books from the library from the Eyewitness Series. If you've never heard of them, they are really informative books about all sorts of different subjects, with facts and pictures. We got 3 this time about Robots, Submarines and Earthquakes/Volcanoes.

The boys are absolutely enthralled with these books! It's amazing to see how, even though tired at the end of a long day, they perk up and ask the most insightful questions. You can practically see their busy minds turning as they try to fit the puzzle pieces together.

The past couple of night we've been reading the Earthquake/Volcano book, which is really high-tech and hard for me to even understand! I have to paraphrase a lot of it because I'm reading about the different layers of the earth and what magma is made of and different types of volcanic eruptions, scientific data, etc. Sometimes I'm totally stumped on how to explain things to the boys but I'm glad it's stretching even my mind a bit. It could use some stretching;)

The book has led to the boys wanting to watching volcano videos on youtube:) So tonight I bribed my buddies and told them after their bath, if they were super quiet (i.e. not stomping and talking at the top of their lungs and doing everything humanely possible to wake up their sister) while getting in their jammies, we could watch a few videos before dinner.

You wouldn't believe how quiet they were! (Filing away bribery tip for another day!!) We watched some volcanoes erupting, an earthquake knocking over power lines and a hotel and Hurricane Wilma hitting FL several years ago.

Youtubes pretty cool when you want to watch stuff like that;) Anyways, it's just fascinating to me to watch the boys' minds change and stretch and try to hold all this information that they can barely understand but want to so badly.

I'm glad I get to be a part of watching it:)

Tonight I am thankful for the chance to make memories with my children. I'm so glad I have more opportunities each day instead of always feeling like I haven't done "enough" or they are going to have some deprived childhood. I am thankful they can grow up knowing how loved they are and how special it is to be a part of a family!

Our Van visits the Doctors.

Another busy day done ~ check! Today B started out the cold, rainy morning putting on our spare tire. Zakkai was never more than a couple feet away, soaking in every little mechanical detail:)

We had to do lots of walking to and from school today because of our car visiting the "doctors." B took the van over to Discount Tire and they replaced the tire with no questions asked! Definitely a great place to do business.

Then our van went over for check-up #2 where we got the news that the brakes had ground into the rotor and we had a disc brake instead of drum  (whatever that means) which meant we had to get TWO brakes replaced instead of one. Go figure.

So now our pockets are lighter but our van is safer and for that at least, we are glad!

Little Missy was a bit off today and we're wondering if her tummy wasn't feeling too great. She had some signs of tummy-upset and was in bed for the night by 4:30pm! The time change has messed with all of us....well, mostly the younger crowd in the house and sleeping has been off.

Hopefully a good night's sleep will cure the grumpy sleepies in this house!

Zakkai and I did a fun project together after dropping S off at school the other day. I noticed Z was collecting leaves on the way to school (see all the crumpled brown leaves on the bottom of the picture:) and so on the walk home I asked if he'd like to collect colored leaves and make a craft.

My boys always jump at the chance to do a craft so he picked up leaves with great zeal! After watching him pick up all the mottled brown dead leaves and proclaiming them beautiful all I could think was "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!"

We came home and colored a nice big tree and spent lots of time gluing our beautiful dead brown leaves on it:) Z loves glue! And dead leaves.

He also requested a red owl in the middle of the tree. I know it doesn't look quite like an owl but he was happy with it so no judgements!! Now our tree is decorating our door and brings a bit of fall inside:)

Today I am thankful for my Grandma. She is such a wonderful friend to me, offering a listening compassionate ear, a tender sympathetic heart and arms full of neverending love. I couldn't have been blessed with a dearer Grandma. I love you, Gma!

Busy Bees

Today felt like a non-stop day! I know I'm not the only one who has days like this. I left bright and early this morning with the kiddos to get them flu shots. Well, I shouldn't say bright....it was more dark and raining cats and dog or elephants or something:)

We sat in traffic for an hour before finally making it to the doctors. The boys did great! E got hers last week and was obviously still traumatized as she burst into tears when the doctor walked in and cried in sympathy with her brothers.  She actually had a reaction to hers and the doctor is deciding what to do with future shots. 

Both boys refused the nasal spray and opted for shots. Yup, those are my kids! haha. Samuel volunteered to be first, hopped up on the table, rolled up his sleeve and watched the whole process, tense but without a peep. I was SO proud of him! Shots have been so very hard for him in the past and I couldn't believe how brave he was.

Zakkai started out brave with the wonderful example of big bro before him but chickened out when it was his turn:( He had to be forcibly lifted onto the table and the nurse had to literally bear hug him to get him to hold still while I held his hands. I felt bad for him but he brightened up with the magical appearance of stickers. And later they each got their very first pack of baseball trading cards as a prize. Daddy may or may not have had something to do with that;)

Then we rushed back to get the boys to school. On the way back I noticed our tire pressure light came on and started hearing a weird "bump bump" sound as we were getting off the highway. Long story short, by the time all the errands/picking-ups/dropping offs of today got finished and we came home, our tire (almost brand-new tire I might add) was very flat. When B and I went out to look at it a little while ago, it was completely flat so we are trying to figure out how to get it fixed. Yuck.

On top of that, we are having brake issues and have to get that checked out a.s.a.p. And if that weren't enough, B got a call back from his dr and his blood tests came back showing definite signs of gallbladder issues. They want to do more tests, including a ridiculously expensive blood test and an ultrasound.

So. I guess the bottom line is, when it rains, it pours? Literally.

Praying for wisdom, peace and provision!!
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I took some pictures the other day of all 3 kiddos just hanging out together on the floor:) They have all been playing with or near each other lately. It's really cute!

Eliana's been doing a funny new thing these past several days of randomly stopping in the middle of crawling, spreading out on her belly and kicking her legs for a few seconds. Then she gets back up and goes on her merry way:)

She has also really gotten into trying to climb the stairs in the past few days. She is getting awfully persistent and we are having to block her way now!

She thinks she's a big girl these days!

Today I am really thankful that the kiddos and I made it safely to the drs and back in the pouring rain with a bad tire. Thank you, God!!

A Special Message

Our family made a special video for someone that we love very much.... Grandma! It's her birthday today and 3 special kiddos (and a surprise guest..haha!) wanted to tell her something....

We pray you had a special day and that you know how loved you are! Happy Birthday!

Curlers, Tux and Lost Keys.

I must admit that I am glad this day is nearly done. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought the time change made the day LOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGGG. It's probably a great thing for people who get to sleep in or wanted an extra hour to finish some project.

But we got woken up bright and early by little roosters who pointed outside and said, "Look, it's light outside! It must be time to play!" And we said, "It's only 530am. Go back to bed!"

The roosters won.

 I discovered today that Eliana is not only afraid of umbrellas but also hair curlers! I rarely put them in but decided to today before church and when I came downstairs, she scrutinized me carefully and crawled over to Ben and buried her head in his legs! I tried to pick her up a bit later and she immediately pushed me away and practically threw herself to the ground.

Of course Ole' Softie (a.k.a. Daddy) took full advantage of the situation and gave lots of cuddles to his little princess:) Neither one of them minded!

 I hurried to take the curlers out so I could get hugs, too. Can we say that somebody has us wrapped around her little fingers???

Samuel has been begging to play this computer game that he gets to play at school if he finishes all his work. They have Mac computers in the classroom for the kids to use so he was pretty excited that daddy has one, too, and that he knows how to use it! He calls it a "Macs computer." :)

The game is called "Tux Paint" and you can paint pictures with this little penguin. Z was just begging to have a turn, too, so his turn was after we got home from church.

It had to be delayed a little while because when we got home today we realized that we were locked out! We lost one of our house keys last week and haven't been able to replace it yet. B took our one remaining key off the key chain to leave for me yesterday since he was working all day.

And neither one of us replaced it.

Our landlords are out of town for an extended vacation so we had to call the handy guy to come help. Once he called back, he promised he'd be over in a half an hour.

We spent ONE and a half hours in the car waiting.

It was really fun.

We're having 2 extra keys made just in case....

Today I am thankful that I don't live in my car. I am really thankful for a comfortable place that feels like home when we walk in. A place with a roof overhead, heat and comfortable beds!