We're Getting out of the House!

I rather last minute decided to take the kids to Deckerville so we could see my grandma one last time before she heads off to Florida for the winter. But did I get any pictures of my cute grandma with the kids? Of course not! What was I thinking? Anyway, here are a few pictures from our trip.

The hay bales are for Jenny. :)


Wherever we go he'll find a critter to play with.


Tommy is still crazy about Beeper.


Fun with the twins- I sure miss the old LIttle People like we used to have. I'm so glad my mom saved them.


Cousin Rebecca and Anna (crying of course). Rebecca had a bad week last week and spent one night in the hospital. She had a viral infection and had little white sores in her mouth, but she is MUCH better now.


We're on our way home!

Another Group Shot

This is as good as it gets!

Beautiful Night

Oh the joys of having a godly husband. I never have to worry about him running off to the bar after work (although he's probably thought about it once or twice), he just comes home to us because he loves us and knows that's what God expects of him. Here he is with Anna, enjoying some fresh air this fine almost fall evening.


And here is Casey getting some exercise with Tommy


and Rachel


and Adam


and Abby.

Potty Talk

Tommy likes to carry on conversations while he's on the potty. One of today's conversation started with...

"Did you know Jackson's mom is old like you? (Long pause)... And Daddy buys money at work!"

So there you have it, Amber. I always thought you looked like a kid, but apparently youth is in the eyes of the beholder. :)

Anna - 6 weeks

The half grin

The full-out big smile

The grumpy face (this is how she looks from 9-11 at night... it's 9:30 now and she's sleeping- yay!)

And all of these in just a matter of minutes!

Anyone? Anyone?

So we got our phone bill yesterday. There was a charge on there for $10.60 labeled hospital tv charge. What? Have any of you girl seen this before? I'm slightly annoyed. We watched a video on shaken baby syndrome and two videos on breastfeeding, but I don't recall anywhere saying we'd be charged for them. TEN DOLLARS?!?!?

Tales from Kindergarten

I just had to write this down before I forget it...


(Conversation just minutes ago)
Me: So Adam, who do you sit by at lunch time?

Adam: Oh, the little fat boy in my class.

Me: What?

Adam: The little fat boy. He's a good boy, he's my friend! He always stays on green, but I've been on all sorts of colors.

After School

Rachel came home and went right to work coloring another masterpiece.
It was a good day today, she didn't have any temper tantrums after she got home. That's what happens when she is really tired.


Abby is following in big sister's footsteps.


Avoiding eye contact and being very quiet can only mean one thing- he's pooped his pants.


Here is Adam's motivation for being good at school- bottle caps from daddy's work. If he doesn't stay on green, he doesn't get any bottle caps. It's working so far...


Adam likes to roam around the back yard with his backpack on. I sure hope the cricket didn't end up inside the bag... that would probably land him an instant ticket to red.


I had to yell at them tonight for picking my flowers. They moved to the flowers after they picked all the green tomatoes off the plants.

Our Neighbor

We have a neighbor that is very dear to us. We have been neighbors for about three years. Her husband passed away almost two years ago, and she had to put one of her dogs to sleep earlier this summer. She has been horribly lonely and depressed ever since the passing of her husband. She has no family in the area, so she always says we are her family. :) Her depression and anxiety have been getting worse this past year. She doesn't sleep much at night and frequently talks with us about how she is feeling, such as being empty or having ugly darkness inside her. She wakes up in the night feeling scared.

We have invited her to church several times. She knows we believe Jesus is the only way. Even our heating and cooling guy (Mark H. from church) has been over to her house to repair something and shared the gospel with her. I gave her the book The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus a week ago. She is absolutely loving it. She said when she wakes up in the night she reads a chapter of it, and it's been very easy to understand. Yeah! We are praying that her eyes will be opened and she will put her trust totally in Him. Satan has been very powerful in her life lately, but without God she won't be able to overcome him. If you think of it, pray for our neighbor and that we'll have the right words to say to her when we have our conversations.

The Big Harvest

Last night we harvested the the pumpkins. Two of them are cooking pumpkins, so I am curious to see how they differ from the other pumpkins in taste. I usually just make muffins with them anyway. I tried a yummy coffee cake recipe a few years ago that had a layer of pumpkin in the middle, I'll have to post that sometime.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE!!!!!!
Have a wonderful day (I'll probably see you later)!!!

This and That

Well the day just wouldn't be complete without a picture (or two) of Anna and Tommy. He thinks she's really cute. :)

It is currently quarter after midnight and I was waiting for Anna to fall asleep. It's been 15 minutes now, so she must be down for the night. Meaning 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I need to get to bed!


Cathy, dinner was hit. Adam inhaled 3 pieces of chicken. He kept asking, "This is good for me, right?"
Here is a pic of everyone enjoying the rice krispie treats.


This little munchkin will be two in November. Abby is already practicing for the terrible twos by screaming loudly when mad and stomping her feet when she doesn't get her way.


The extra hump on my shadow would be Anna, of course. See Jenny M.- this is why I need one of those cool slings!


Casey was stung by a bee yesterday when he was mowing up by the flowers. Oh dear. At least he's not allergic.


Well, the first week of kindergarten is going... um... not as great as I had hoped. He has been on "red" the past 3 days because he doesn't listen to the teacher, and sometimes he tells her he doesn't want to do whatever he was asked to do. Today he had a problem with moving around on his mat at nap time. Twice. OK, the kid hasn't napped in years, he's not going to start now.

4 out of 5

take #1
Abby! Over here!


take #2
Adam must have caught a bug.

Laurie, here's your recipe

***Caramel Oatmeal Chewies***


1 3/4 c. quick or old-fashioned oats
1 3/4 c. flour, divided
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt, optional
3/4 c. butter or marg., melted
2 c. semi-sweet choc. chips
1 c. chopped nuts (mine didn't have any)
1 c. caramel ice cream topping (we like Mrs. Sanders, soooo good)


PREHEAT oven to 350. Grease bottom of 13x9 pan.

COMBINE oats, 1 1/2 c. flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Stir in butter; mix well. Reserve 1 cup oat mixture; press remaining oat mixture onto bottom of prepared baking pan.

BAKE for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with choc. chips and nuts. Mix caramel topping with remaining flour in small bowl; drizzle over nuts to within 1/4 inch of pan edges. Sprinkle with reserved oat mixture.

BAKE for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack; refrigerate until firm.


*** Side note: Adam was on red yesterday (meaning he disobeyed the teacher). Apparently he was climbing up the slide the wrong way on the playground at recess. And so it begins...

Adam's First Day of Kindergarten

Adam had a super first day at school today! I couldn't wait to get home from work (it was my first day back) to hear all about it! He said it was "real nice" and it was "the best day of the year"! Wow, I wasn't expecting that. He loved recess and lunch time. And he stayed on green ALL DAY! That means he was good, that's all that matters. :)


I wish I could remember everything he says because he is just so funny.


Apparently Adam was done with pictures, he wouldn't show his face anymore.

Brotherly Love

The Little Mommy

Rachel can't bear to hear Anna crying. I had to put the baby down to give the boys a bath the other night, and Anna didn't want to be put down. So Rachel came to her rescue.

Anna is 4 Weeks Old!

I can't believe a month has flown by. Anna has been such a blessing to our family. She generally gets up once in the night to nurse (sometimes twice, but usually once), she is grumpy for maybe an hour a day- then she's back to a long nap. She weighs about 12 pounds (this was measured by Casey standing on the scale, then holding Anna so I don't know exactly how accurate that is). We love her hair. Her eyes are going to be blue. I want to go hold her now.

Yesterday

I wanted to do a day in pictures yesterday, but that idea quickly flopped. So here are the 3 pictures that I took...


Abby wanted to go to school with Rachel.


When Rachel was leaving for school the cement truck pulled up... Tommy was enthralled.


Yeah, I should be the one practicing.

Strange noises

I think I'll just stay up all night tonight. Thomas has fallen out of bed twice (don't worry, he's in a toddler bed pretty low to the ground), Adam won't stop gritting his teeth (I can hear it even with their door closed), and the baby will need to eat soon. I know when they are teenagers I'll miss these times, but for now I just want some shut eye.

First Day of School!

Rachel bounded out of bed this morning when she heard my alarm go off. She exclaimed, "I've been laying in bed awake FOREVER!" I guess that means she was ready to go to school this morning! My big first grader, I can hardly believe it!


Casey dropped Rachel off on his way to work. I'm excited to pick her up and see how her first day went! Adam starts kindergarten next Monday, we get to see his class and meet the teacher tomorrow morning.



"Bye Rachel!" (Tommy was the only child awake to see her off.)