lots of snippets

-Kami and Maddie got into the play - they are super excited!

- I was at the highschool the day of the dance auditions, from 6-8:30. Kami was at a track meet and I figured everything would work out just perfectly because all last year they dropped her off at the high school. Well, unbeknownst to me, she got dropped off at 7:30, at the Jr. High clear across town, and couldn't get hold of me as my cell phone was dying (as usual, the big piece of garbage that it is). I finally found out about Kami at 8:00, jetted over to pick her up and got her back just barely in time for her to try out.

-I saw a repeating pattern of a real need around here and went and got a "smart phone". Do you know, I think that I can finally become a cell phone carrier now - I actually really like this thing! My kids like the feeling of security of being able to reach me at any time...


-Our pond suddenly rose Saturday night, and carried the canoes away with it - Kami and Caden had to perform a rescue mission early Sunday morning. Without their amazing help that they give me every Sunday morning, we ended up walking in during the third verse of the opening hymn. Woops. Probably would have helped if I had been getting everything ready instead of standing around watching the progress.


-Nolan got registered for Kindergarten yesterday. He informed me that next year he "will be all grown up" and I realized as I filled out forms that he will graduate in the year 2025. Why does that sound so far away, and yet arrive so quickly?!

-I tried to talk Nolan into staying home with me and never go to kindergarten, but he was quite adamant. I grasped at my last best argument, informing him that surely he would want to stay home with me, because if he goes to Kindergarten he will have to get a shot... He hardly hesitated- he chose shots over staying home with me!! "Shots aren't that hard on tough kids like me."

-While at registration Abram became quite grumpy - he's been trying out all sorts of moods lately. He looked at a picture of all of the students that was on the wall in the office, and with a huge scowl on his face said, "I don't like that picture!!" I said, "Oh, you don't? Why? Does it offend you?"(I like trying out words on him that he doesn't know or understand to see what he does with them.) "Yes. Fends me!" "Well, don't look at it then. You don't have to look at things that you don't like." He looked away with disgust, then suddenly turned and looked at it again and with a huge smile on his face proclaimed, "I LIKE it now!!" - I can't get enough of the way he moves and talks and tries to be as old as all the other kids.

-Maddie keeps the garage door decorated with tasteful, seasonal "welcome home dad" signs. They welcome him home whether he's already here or just returning from a trip.

-Isabelle has some serious daddy adoration going on. Everywhere we go, all over the house, there are love notes or signs for Shawn. One family home evening, during a lesson, she kept studiously working away drawing and writing on a piece of paper and wouldn't stop even though Shawn kept asking her to. Finally, he scolded her and took it away from her. Her heart was broken, and when he looked at it, it was a love note, to him, telling him what wonderful family home evening lessons he does, and how much she loves him.
Taped to his mirror:

Taped to the back of his chair at dinner time:
- Isabelle also posts signs for us:
- this particular evening our little organizer also had an agenda written out for each of us: 1. pray 2. song 3. lesson 4. acktivity 5. treat 6. pray 7. (talk about the lesson more.)

-Nolan and Abram have started playing together so well. I always love it when the youngest child finally gets old enough to actually join in on a "game" - as my kids call them - or should I say gets old enough to be coached through a game. Because really they just do and say whatever the older sibling tells them to do or say. And I always love to listen in as their plots unravel: Nolan to Abram, "Then you punched me." Abram makes a punching sound. Nolan to Abram, "Then the lava started coming!!" They make frightened sounds and run for their lives.

-I continue to find toys in the strangest places - here, were Abram's "army guys" when I went to put detergent in my dishwasher:

or cars precariously perched on each ascending tier of branches in one of our trees.

-I enjoyed a moment of humor the other day when Nolan arrived home from a play date, took off his shoes, and I noticed that he was wearing some socks that barely stretched across his heel. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that he was wearing some of those Old Navy socks that have the size printed on the bottom of the foot. The size said, "3-6 months". You might think your kids are ready to leave the house because they have their shoes on, but when you live here, you just never know!:)

- The boys were saying that they were ready for lunch today, and trying to buy a few more minutes for myself to get finished cleaning bathrooms, I asked them if they would like to go look downstairs in the food storage for something that looked good to them for lunch. I was thinking they would probably come up with ramen noodles, spaghettios, or macaroni and cheese, but they came up with two cans of tuna fish and two cans of corn. Nolan informed me that they wanted tuna fish sandwiches, corn, and chips for lunch. They helped fix it, ate it with relish, and Abram only spilled his milk two times. It's a joke at our house how often we have spills during meals - not always done by Abram. Maybe I will go buy sippy cups for every member of the family- we'll all be safe and Abram will decide that he wants to use one after all. ;)