Christmas 2010...

26 days to go...

Of course, that's assuming that I am not overdue- as is the norm here. I'm at that stage of asking the question..."So who can tie my tennis shoes for me?" Thankfully, I have lots of willing helpers! Ron snatched this shot of me before we headed out to Concordia's Christmas concert. It was a lovely evening!

We are getting ready for baby. After 10 days vacation, we came home to trim and doors installed in the new room in the basement and a message from the carpeting store saying they can install this coming week. Ron is busy tonight painting trim so we'll be ready when they come. I am so looking forward to getting the baby's room together, it will be a huge relief to know he has as place. And a huge relief to the older boys to have space. I should really post a pic of their current little bedroom. Think hoarders (without the dead stuff.) :)

Ella

We Trick or Treat at a Noah's Ark festival that is held at CUW's campus. The children's ministry group puts on a puppet show, crafts, snacks and games and then the kids trick or treat in the dorms. Very fun and avoids all the scary aspects of Halloween that we are not so found of. Ella invited her bf Grace and the two happened to dress as Laura and Mary Ingalls. Precious.

Aaron

Aaron's fourth birthday was a few weeks after Isaiah's 10th. All of last year he has told people who ask that he is 6. (in an effort to be as old as his big sister, I'm sure.) So, how does he answer that question now? "I'm 7!" We're still working on that. :)

He's finally showing interest in writing his name and identifying letters. I so enjoy watching that happen.

Band

We attended our first official band concert as parents last weekend. The last time I was at a concert, I was in the band. It seems like years have flown when I experience something like this.

Jonah started studying trumpet this fall, he attends band practice once a week and practices most days. I think he loves it. We're excited for him and have encouraged him with our stories of band trips and fun. He's also started working on guitar and is still taking piano. I think he may have found a niche.

Even Aaron enjoyed the concert, tapping his foot and asking the names of the songs. It was only 40 minutes, perfect for his attention span. We enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa with us too!

Isaiah went to the concert thinking he would like to play the flute (they had been listening to instrument sounds online and the flute appealed to him). He left the concert convinced that the clarinet would be a better choice. Too many girls in the flute section. :)

10th birthday sleepover

I had promised Isaiah a party with friends for his 10th birthday. October 29th was that day, so he sent invitations out to 4 friends for a 3PM to 10 AM extravaganza. They played capture the flag, ate, played pool, ate, played Legos, ate, SIM city on the computer, you get the idea. They set up sleeping bags in our basement rec-room and put Isaiah's Lego gifts together until Ron told them lights out. They were asleep by midnight and up at 5:30 the next morning... hungry. I sent down crackers and juice and turned on the oven to bake up some Monkey Bread.. our staple Birthday breakfast (two packages of refrigerator biscuits broken and rolled into balls, then rolled in butter and cinnamon/sugar. Place in bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees until they smell done. (sorry I don't use a timer for these, maybe 45 minutes?) We also had bacon, orange slices and apple cider.

I have to say, it was a great time because it was a great bunch of kids. I've made a note to myself in the future... Birthday sleepovers are no problem as long as the kids know a few basic things...
1) How to be respectful to adults and other kids
2) How to be laid back about taking turns and helping others
3) How to use their manners.
I heard lots of pleases and thank yous from this group and was very pleased at how well they all got along even though some had never met. I would do it again in a minute... well, I can say that now that I've had a some time to catch up on sleep.

One cat is not enough...

for four children. Our cat, Butterscotch, has proven herself to be a "one-kid cat" and that kid is Jonah. She sleeps on his bed, if he sits on the couch, she sits on his lap. The rest of us are just here for her amusement and to bring her food and water, I guess. Well, this has led to Isaiah and Ella asking for more pets. Isaiah thinks a dog would be swell and Ella has begun longing for a kitten. For the last month she has been asking every day, heartbroken when I tell her we don't intend to have any more indoor animals. And then an add came across the homeschool wire for two free rabbits, hutches included. We met the rabbits and the kids loved them.

This is Ella with "Cookies and Cream". She carries it around singing to it like a little mother. She's in rabbit heaven.

The hutches came to us in a bit of disrepair. The shingles were not attached and they needed a painting. Thankfully, I have three kids who were perfect for this job. They handled it all themselves, with a little advice from Ron about shingles. Here's the before picture:

One coat of primer and two coats of paint later (with almost as much paint on Ella as there was on the hutch). We had our "new" hutches. Here's the crew. Isaiah is holding his rabbit, "Thumper".


By the way, they are both male rabbits. So, no baby rabbits in our future...for now. I had thought it would be a neat experience to have a female and see her have a litter. (Is that my husband groaning I hear?)