Photo Shoot and Ethan's (very Late) 10 year pics

Illness and The Quotable Kids Roundup

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Last Wednesday afternoon the two older kids came down with a fever/body aches/turns into a nasty cold after a few days virus. Rosie got it Saturday, and Bella came down with it on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Brian was working 12 days swamped in projects that served to make his fibromyalgia stay at a completely hideous level, so if he wasn't at work he was completely crashed here at home. Now I know what house arrest is like, unless you count Walgreens runs for more medicine and tissues or midnight trips to WalMart.

We did make it out to enjoy the gorgeous early spring weather for a short picnic on Valentine's Day, but it kind of backfired as toddlers and picnics really aren't the best combination, and the feeling better kids of the morning all came home moaning. Rosie suggested that we reschedule Valentine's Day because it didn't feel like Valentine's Day.

Which, considering that Brian's mom also had emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix this past Friday, and is of the same opinion, may just happen. We did, however, do the best we could on the actual day, but I was seriously outnumbered by sick people.


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Now for the funnies. If you're my friend on facebook, you can disregard the rest of this post because I type them in there first, but I have to save them here for posterity. Blogger better last for posterity...

February 13 -

After having a fever and body aches all day yesterday, Rose ended the day by saying, "This was a wonderful day, I got to watch lots of movies, eat yummy food [like frozen yogurt tubes], and take my favorite medicine!"

She then went on to have fever induced night terrors two nights in a row and she wasn't as easygoing about her holiday being spoiled the next day, though. She'd been sick Christmas day too, and I think she was more than a little bummed to be sick on a holiday again. :^)

February 14-

Anna: Where's Daddy?
Me: He just went to work.
Anna: It's Valentine's Day!
Me: You don't get off work for Valentine's Day.
Anna: Why?? That's rude!
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Ethan had a very similar, though less shocked, reaction.

And today:

First a discussion on a dinner dish morphed and Rose elaborated, "But I don't like it because it has beans, and I don't like beans. Except for chocolate beans - those are the best beans!"

Then later:

I was trying to figure out how and who might be able to make it to the missions conference tonight that we've been planning on and preparing for.

Me: I wish I knew what to do.
Ethan: Don't ask me. I wish I could give you advice, but I don't have any experience being a mother.

He continued on about how there were probably mothers at church that had experience -why don't I call one of my friends - and besides half of my friends were grandmothers, they had children and grandchildren which was double experience and there were probably even some that had great great grandchildren and that would be a lot of experience!

I want to live in Alaska when I grow up.

Ethan: I want to live in Alaska when I grow up.

Me: You just said you were tired of ice.

Ethan: Yeah, but all those beautiful sights and camping.

Me: I think you could do more camping here.

Ethan: Sarah Palin goes camping like once a week.

Anna: Sarah Palin's lived there her whole life. She hasn't found a warmer place.

Ethan's 10th birthday - Game party sleepover, take two

Pa and Gran made drastic improvements to a crude fort built of

found materials. Now it has a dry raised floor and is better

closed in against the weather. And Gran added her decorating

touch. She also painted his orange bedroom walls sky blue to

match his nature theme and Pa installed some new shelves for his

nature treasures.

This was one of Ethan's top birthday wishes along with a Twilight

turtle that his Gramma got him. Folkmanis makes beautiful

puppets and this Sequoia Tree Wildlife Playset is no exception.

tacos with the fixings and root beer floats


this was immediately put to use - in my downstairs room
It really is rough having a birthday in January. :^)


Art quality drawing paper - he was just running out.
This is his passion.

And owls are his favorite animal this year. This was

almost an owl pellet dissection party.

Folkmanis' Snowy Owl puppet from Mama and Dad.

Playing the borrowed Wii. A big treat.

Cherry and Coconut Key Lime pies and

lemon iced rice krispy treat cupcakes.

Ethan's back!

Visit his blog here.

A Believer

Ethan: "Mom, doesn't Santa only deliver to children?"
Anna: "No! He delivers to believers. People who don't believe get coal. I don't get coal; I'm a believer...(quickly turns into the Monkees melody)."

"Thanksgiving" by Ethan

I asked Ethan to write about his Thanksgiving in his journal today. Sometimes I worry that he'll never know how to write in complete sentences, but for now, I'm not cramping his muse.


The pumpkin,
the cranberry.
Life.
Nine years of mine.
Anna, Rose, Bella, Mom, Dad;
Gran, Pa, Gramma, Pappy, Grangran, Eloise,
the past ones, the others.
The turkey steaming,
stuffing with gravy on top.

Thanksgiving.

He went on to write similar pieces on other holidays. I think he may have a future with Hallmark.

Fifth Annual Thanksgiving Psalm Memory Challenge

Each November we choose a Psalm to memorize before Thanksgiving. We've been working our way through Philippians, and have finished (mostly) the first chapter, so we've spent the last few days reviewing Psalms we've memorized in the past - Psalm 1, 23,63 (we don't know this one as well - I had morning sickness that year, blah!) 67, 100, 113, and 150. We initially memorized Psalm 23 when Anna was not quite two, so that she could learn it for Sunday School (she did!), so Rose didn't know it. We've been singing it to this video:




There used to be a website for this song with a different video, but I can't find it anymore. I was glad to find the song on youtube.

I set Psalm 67 to music the year we memorized it and Ethan is the best at long-term retention, so he remembers it. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they all remembered Psalm 113 and Psalm 1 from last year.

This year's Psalm pic was easy since Rose has newly adopted this song:


I prefer the Praise Baby version which is the version she first got stuck in her head, but I couldn't find a video for it - you can listen to a clip here ( "Better Is One Day"). Hillsong's "Blessed" covers a few more verses. The new Sons of Korah have their complete version of the Psalm:




Psalm 84

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!

10 For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!


As we read through it today, Ethan said, "oh, the Sons of Korah, I like their Psalms! - remember I read through all the Psalms?" I love that boy!

So will you join us in the memory challenge? Choose a Psalm, there's a length appropriate for any one's learning curve, and join us! Let me know in the comments which Psalm you'll be memorizing for Thanksgiving this year.

Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord!

For Ethan

Owl Day

I've missed doing themed school days. It's a lot harder to fit in when multiplication and writing and so many other things second and fourth graders need to know overshadow the simple joys of early school days. We did a lot of these days when Ethan was younger, now I try to squeeze them in when I can, especially for Rosie, who ought to be doing fun things for kindergarten.

Sooo... Ethan is rather obsessed with owls right now. They are his favorite animal and he's really nature-obsessed anyway. He constantly is working on decorating his room to look more like nature with stuffed animals, vines, and other natural things. He recently confiscated two fans that I was getting ready to put in the attic and positioned them in his room so that he could simulate windy days.

When the National Wildlife Federation magazines came for October and Your Big Backyard was completely owl themed and Ranger Rick had an owl feature too, I knew that it was time for an owl day. So yesterday, we did our usual math and breakfast Scripture reading, then launched into our theme.

First we watched this video of Owl Moon:



Next Anna Kate read us Snow Moon, its wonderful illustrations making her giddy with delight.

Then I read Baby Owl's Rescue, and Rosie read the simple Owls Live in Trees.

They watched a Birds of Prey video, then read their NWF magazines (wow! didn't know all that cool owl stuff was there!).

Ethan read The Life Cycle of an Owl.

They watched Animal Profiles: Owls (sorry most of these videos are on the Discovery Education member website that our state pays for) and National Geographic Kids Wild Detective: Night Owls.

Then we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to a local college campus for the kids to ride their scooters (we've been trying to get out as many days as possible for some exercise) and to collect and observe different types of leaves for our botany studies. We left the scooters to take a nature trail that turned out to be at least three times longer than I'd expected. Ethan's leg hurt, and sleepy Bella was cranky and bit heavy in the Moby, but Anna Kate kept exclaiming that it was the best nature walk ever as we found wildflowers and leaves and pincones.

Not long before we made it back to where we'd started we found these gorgeous trees. Look for Rose at the base of the tree for some size perspective:

We made it back home and put Bella to bed and the children still had happy hours to spend outside with their friends riding scooters, playing basketball, and enjoying the tree house. We topped it off with Rose's favorite barbeque pork riblets and some owl cupcakes (cupcake topper template here, addtional party details and products here.)

We like to do bat watches, particularly when driving home at twilight. Night before last, we had a bat watch and saw several, but Rosie kept missing them. She was particularly distressed as Anna counted off "14, 15, 16" (I only saw two.) She never could see any, so tonight as darkness fell, I swooped her up from her chair at the table and carried her across the street to the field and we watched and waited.

*

We were finally rewarded by a bat swooping right over our heads! Rose was a happy girl.

*

This morning she said to me, "I loved Owl Day - can we do it again today?" I promised a Bat Day soon.

Pinewood Derby

Ethan did a great job building and painting his pinewood derby car and racing it for the first time this year. It didn't perform as well as he'd hoped, but it sure was a beauty.

everyone got a certificate - he just

wanted to win

second from the left

Ethan's birthday party

his actual birthday

The Party

He originally wanted a Zelda theme, but it was rather difficult to put together due to the Zelda games serious undermarketing, so eventually he morphd it into a general game theme. We borrowed a wii, put out Twister, board and card games, hooked up the Nintendo 64, and played.

The balloons on the chairs were his idea.

pin the tail on Epona :^)

Silly Boy

Ethan's Birthday Letter - Nine Years

Sweet boy,

I feel change in the air. Nine years old is not a little boy anymore. Christmas and your birthday weren't full of action figures and toys, but things like ds games, an aquarium, nerf guns, a crossbow, and ocarina, and lunch out with mom and dad. Of course, the little boy still came out in fits of absolute giddiness at being out to lunch or getting an unexpected gift, but my boy is growing up.

I want to stop it, and then, again, I don't. Because I'm already seeing glimpses of the extraordinary man you're going to be. Your tender heart, that, while sometimes is far too easily bruised, also is so very sensitive to the things of God. You're a people-pleaser, but even more than that you're a God pleaser. You feel personally every misuse of His name. You are not afraid to speak for Him to friends and teammates. You care about doing what's right. And you can't stand to be in sin. When you were caught doing something wrong recently, you were so very upset. Much more upset with yourself for doing wrong than for the discipline you received.

But I can't pick you up anymore. I remember thinking about when the last time I carried you would be, but then I don't remember if that was it, or if it came later.

But you're too big to carry now. Uggh. I wasn't done carrying you. I'll always carry your sweet little boyness in my heart. Pausing here while I put myself back together...

So yes, back to the pet thing. I kept thinking about what to do, this too busy, too allergic mama. But you asked to spend your Christmas money on a goldfish, and the time was right. (You ended up with a beta, though.) You name him Nick. And said he needed a middle name, so I suggested Sebastian. And you said, yes, Nicholas Sebastian --------. I hope he doesn't break your heart. I hope he's a hardy little beta.

Cub Scouts was a big part of your year. You are growing to be a lover of outdoor things. You are seriously bummed that a January birthday doesn't make a nature hike party or camp out a very good idea. I don't think you realize how much you are like your dad in this love of nature. It's so hard for him to do those kinds of things with you now, but he loved them too. Still does. And I'm glad that you guys can still do some of these things together. Cub Scouts makes that a little easier. And you are so cute in your uniform. I know you'll hate that I said that, but I think you still secretly like being told that too, even if you have hit the gagging phase tolerance level for sappy things. Yep, you used the word "sappy" today and knew what it meant. Didn't know that was on your radar.

Football wasn't really your forte as it had been in years past, but that's okay. I'm glad that you ended up enjoying it after all, and I'm sorry the weather didn't cooperate as well. You have so many talents it's hard to know what I ought to be signing you up for! I also want you to have friends and get lots of exercise. You love swimming and are good at that. But you also are finally interested enough in learning the piano to practice, and you'd like to learn how to play your guitar. And art. The drawing and now sculpting are way beyond me, but I want you to have the materials you need. You were so excited to get modelling clay tonight!

There's so much I want to teach you, but already at age nine I feel like I'm running out of time. So much to learn, so little time. Your time with me is half gone. Half gone! Is it possible? Be still my soul. I'm so glad I'm not a mama bird with just a few months, eighteen years is flying by, but I know you'll be ready. Your daddy is pouring his heart into you. He wants you to know God and to know His Word thoroughly so that your foot doesn't stumble. And he teaches you diligently. I want you to absorb God's words, hiding them in your heart. This is the best thing I can teach you, because His words give life, are eternal, and will accomplish His purposes in you.

Last year you were overwhelmed by the lack of boys in your life. But you have taken great joy now in being the best big brother to your little sisters (well, usually, the older they are the more they can get on your nerves, huh?). And you've made your first really good friend in our neighbor, William. I'm glad that you finally have a boy in your life on a regular basis, you wouldn't believe the things mothers start to feel responsible for and guilty over. I'm praying this year that William will come to know and love Jesus as you do, so that you can be the best of friends for a long time.

Bella Grace is a beautiful gift to all of us this year, but I will never forget your sweet face shining with tears of joy as you held your baby sister for the first time. I knew that you planned to watch over her for the rest of her life. I hope she survives it :^) - she's blessed to have a brother like you.

You are always volunteering to go with me on errands, especially at night, and I love your chattering company.

What do you love this year?

1. Zelda. I finally found a Link costume I could make for you for Halloween. Wish I had been able to do that when you were still in the dress-up stage. You don't play dress-up much anymore. Some days I miss my four year "superhero of the hour".
2. Your nintendo ds. Rosie got a Leapster 2 for her birthday and thus began the descent of handheld gaming systems in our household. Before long, Anna Kate had bought a Leapster off Craigslist and you were gathering together every penny you had to get your ds. You got it off Craigslist too and have loved it. I'm still just amazed at how easy they make a 10 hour car trip. If only Bella could play a ds!
3. At the beginning of the year you still vacillated between Star Wars toys and Transformers. But now you say that you're not into those things anymore. You want a nature bedroom now. We bought pine garland and pine cones in after Christmas clearance. We'll see if this is a new phase or the new you.
4. You loved shooting the bow and arrow at the Cub Scout sleepover and also shooting, there, and occasionally with Pa. I think that Nerf Gun and the crossbow may figure big in this new year.
5. Drawing. If you're not on the ds or computer (can't forget Guild Wars), you're probably drawing.
6. And your mp3 player was a permanent fixture this year - until you got your ds. Did I mention that you love that thing?

In school, math is a little trickier because we're still working on those times tables. The cursive writing is starting to get a bit more comfortable. The reading is so much better! Now to make you love that enough to do it on your own more :^) You're getting there. You enjoy science and social studies too.

I always wonder what really important stuff I've forgotten in these letters. But I guess I'll just say, "I love you" and I still "wanna wake up every morning to your sweet face." Just like when you were three.

Forever and for Always,

Mommy

Ringing the Bell

Kids Stats

Bella - crawling and sitting herself up - she's really going to take off soon! I think she's going to get a second tooth soon. She hated banans a couple days ago - gagged on them. Even just a little mixed in her cereal. She loved applesauce. Ate the whole bowl up.

Rosie- quoted Psalm 113 almost perfectly for my mother until the last verse - "He gives the bear and woman a home making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!"

Anna Kate - first item on her "I'm thankful for" list today? "I'm thankful that we don't live when they stoned kids for disobeying"

Ethan - on filling out an "If I were a Pilgrim" worksheet question, "my life would be differnt because" - "NO electricity"

Kid News

Ethan:

Chose to make his Christmas box for a 2-4 year old girl. I think that he's decided that little sisters must be his life work, for now at least.

Anna Kate:

Told me yesterday, "I want to do ballet until I'm twenty so that I can be a professional!"

Rosie:

When asked what she's thankful for: "My mom and my dad and my sisters and my brother and that we can go to sleep so we can grow. Going to play outside and have fun and come back inside and get a bath and go to sleep - all these things are so beautiful. And I will wake up and be a teenager because I grew, and I will love my children. My friends. And I'm thankful for everything. Amen."

And she always says "amen" the traditional way, not with a long a sound. :^)


Bella:

Trying to crawl - she gets in the right postition, but tends to go backwards. She covers a lot of distance, though. Loves to give kisses, and she gets pretty spastic when she sees her Gran or Pa.

I Have the World's Best Eight Year Old!

Bella woke up from her nap, so Ethan went to entertain her while I finished Rose's music lesson. He just brought her out. He'd changed her diaper and dressed her!

A little while later he said, "And she was poopy too! That's the grossest thing I've ever done."

Mamas

After singing several songs including "There is a Fountain" and "Nothing But the Blood", we read a chapter on "God is Holy" from Leading Little Ones to God. One of the the end of chapter questions was "How do we know that we are sinners?"

Ethan quickly answered, "Because the Bible tells us so." Rose quickly added, "And our mamas." Ethan smiled and responded, "Mamas are good blessin's!"

Our Kids Speak in Song Lyrics

Brian picked up Bella and said, "Baby, Baby."
Ethan, who was sitting nearby asked, "Do you love her with the sweetest of devotion?"