beans, noses, toilets, socks and microwaves...Oh my!

No pictures to share this time, though you'll understand why when you read this. This will be my word picture of life in a busy family. I hope you'll find it as humorous as we did!

It started on Tuesday when Aaron found the bag of beans on the counter that his older brothers have as a part of their science kit. They had planned to sprout them in a plastic cup and add them to the garden next month. Jonah wanted to protect the beans, so picked them up and put them away. I thought I'd appease Aaron by giving him his own container of beans and keep him in his high chair while I cleaned up the breakfast dishes. It was a great idea until I looked over and saw him squishing up his nose and making a funny sound when he breathed. Yep, he'd stuffed a dry navy bean up his nose. This is a first for me. So seasoned Mom or not, I called the doctor's office and asked to talk to a nurse preparing myself to hurry all the kids into the car and head for the clinic. But, no, the nurse assured me that these things almost always come out on their own and suggested I press on the clear nostril and encourage him to blow. So, I set him on his changing table, looked him in the eye and showed him how to blow out his nose over and over and over... and sure enough, that bean did fall out. Whew, it was 8:45 AM and I'd already avoided a catastrophe.

Later that afternoon, I decided to make cookies because the weather outside was crummy, again and the kids were done early with school. I almost never make cookies- and now I remember why. We were still baking when Aaron woke up. He's fanatic about a good cookie and wouldn't leave the stove alone. I worried he'd burn himself, so we put it all away until later in the evening. After supper (Ron was working late) I tried again, but Aaron was still all over us at the stove, so I put him in the tub with Ella and asked one of the boys to take over the coookie baking. Boy (who shall remain nameless) was doing a great job with the cookies, until I came in to check and heard the microwave running with nothing in it. (He thought he was using it as a timer) We now own a dead microwave- the second one in two years.

Then Wednesday, while I'm making supper, I hear Aaron flushing the toilet in the bathroom and my mother alarm goes off (The doors to the bathrooms are babyproofed, unless a sibling leaves one open of course) So, I run in and there he holding one of his socks over the toilet. The other one was nowhere to be found....

This is what we in our household like to call.. The price of doin' business. :) (Thankfully the permanent damage was only to the microwave. Not Aaron or the sewer system!)
Have a great weekend y'all.

Ballet recital

Ella had her second ballet recital last week. Mom and Dad came to see it. She was so excited about the whole event, she woke up in the middle of the night after the recital and told Grandma "Thank you so much for saying I did a good job" (grandma was having a sleep over with Ella). And here's a little video of their performance.

Birthdays

Ron and Ella had their first joint birthday celebration this year, brought on by necessity due to Ron traveling this coming weekend. It's neat in a way, because we had hoped she might be born on his birthday. However, our babies do not come early, and Ella came along in her own time on March 7th. So, three out of four years, their birthdays are one week apart- the fourth being leap year. Instead of two birthday dinners, Ron choose the meal, and Ella chose the cake. Chocolate cake with Chocolate frosting. She did the bulk of the decorating on her own.

Educational fair

Jonah's project was in electronics, he built a circuit from tin foil, rubberbands, a clothespin and a lightbulb. I thought it was pretty cool. His question at the fair was, "How do you use a simple circuit to send an SOS signal." He'll answer that in the video...

educational fair

We headed to our first homeschool educational fair in February. Isaiah decided the week before the fair that he would like to make a volcano. No problem, I thought, sounds like the perfect project for an 8 year old boy and I have lots of baking soda and vinegar. We googled homemade volcaoes. I suggested making one of paper mache, he really wanted to make one out of clay. So we took off to the store for 10 pounds of flour and 3 pounds of salt and later that day we had...



The clay sort of slid down the bottle we placed in the middle- a consequence of doing it all at once instead of in stages, but we had only 6 days before the fair and it needed time to dry. Isaiah wrote up a nice little informative sheet and we gathered everyone around for our explosion. And it didn't work. :( We searched the church's pantry for more baking soda and vinegar, and it still didn't have enough oomph to overflow the bottle. So we sprinked baking soda all over the volcano and dumped vinegar over that (Isaiah's idea) so at least it had the effect of a volcano. Oh well, live and learn. Next time we'll start earlier and have time for a practice run before the big event. I have to say Isaiah stayed very calm throughout the entire thing and didn't loose his cool over a falled project. For that, I was quite proud of him.

DIY GUY

Aaron the DIY GUY nabbed a pair of scissors the minute he found my Ferrero Rocher candies at Christmas. He seldom asks for anything, mainly because he can find a way to do it himself. Today, his new trick was climbing the washing machine using his bare toes to grip and push himself up the side. We're thinking we should install a rock climbing wall in our basement!

Don't worry Mommy promptly absconded with the scissors and placed them somewhere even higher than before. Is that a good thing?

2008 Christmas letter

We want to send a Merry Christmas to all and our wish for God's blessings in the New Year. Here's a quick update on our family in 2008...

Ron finished his first year (and begand a second) teaching Greek, Hebrew and New Testament. He's working hard and enjoying the challenge. He has recently finished pg. 150 of the 300 pages he needs to write for his dissertation (which he needs to complete his PhD, a requirement to keep his job). He has a few revisions to do yet, so it's a long process. Favorite moment: Learning to love children's literature by reading chapter books to the kids every night. Goal: finish the dissertation by 2010.

Lisa is homeschooling 3 this year with a toddler in tow. It's hectic sometimes, but working well for us. She has a weekly Bible Study and monthly Craft Night at church to keep her sane. She and Jonah traveled to MN this summer to help with her parent's house remodeling project. We think we may have started a tradition called the "one kid trip". We also finished a chicken coop (with Dad R's help) and stocked it with 10 laying hens. Favorite moments: watching old movies with her hubby and speed walking with friends. Goals: Keep getting better at this homeschool/mom thing, exercise more and take another "one kid trip".

Jonah, 10, started 5th grade this fall. He loves to read, trap and hike but still enjoys a good wrestle or spy game with his siblings. He is a loving caregiver to our cat, Butterscotch. Favorite moments: library trips and opening Christmas presents Goal: going camping this summer.

Isaiah,8, is in 2nd grade and becoming an active reader. He's still a lego fanatic and good friend to anyone who needs one. Favorite moments: our trips to the library every other week and watching movies on Friday nights with his brothers and sister. Goal: to finish basketball well this winter.

Ella,5, started kindergarten and quickly began putting sounds together to make words. Favorite moment: family movie night on Fridays. Goal: more play time with our six year old neighbor, Grace.

Aaron,2, is full blooded toddler boy. He loves jumping on furniture, climbing on counters and occasionally throwing things in the toilet. He also has a delightful laugh and loves his blankie and thumb. Favorite song: "Hap-Birday-to-you". Goal: Independence!

With love from our family to you and yours,

Lisa, Ron and kids.