Bouncy House Fun

On Saturday, we ventured out to visit Grandma and Grandpa in their new digs in Lacey and had a nice time visiting with them and then going to lunch and then to Safari Charlie's for a little bouncy house fun. The twins were nearly ready for their naps when we arrived, but mustered up some energy for the fun at hand. Caleb was the first to tire out though and came over to Grandpa for hugs and a little sitting down time for a bit before he went climbing and jumping again.

Josiah was able to go on the bigger boy structures as well as play in the 1-5 year old area. It was hard to catch him in action as he was running from place to place having a blast. He waved at me from up high in one of the play areas and he had a friend with him that waved at me too. Later I asked him, "What was your friend's name?" He told me he didn't know and then asked him if he told him his name. He replied, "I told him, but he didn't call me that, he just called me dude." I then asked when he called him and he said, "I just said...Hey!" Not too different from adult male interaction I hazard a guess?

Daniel is giving me a funny expression here that reminds me of his best pirate impression, "Where do pirates get their gasoline?" ......"Rrrrrrrr-co!" :)

Caleb was gleefully climbing and running around, but I found him on a couple of occasions crashed out and laying on the little mat areas ready for sleep as well. In the big jumpy area, there was this ladder that led to a slide that then had various obstacles that then led to another ladder and slide which led back into the main area. When you got in this other area, you were cut off from seeing anyone in the main area until you made it through to the other side. Caleb bravely tackled the ladder first and slid down only to discover he was trapped over there without us and called for me. I went back there to rescue him and by that point he was a little scared. He wouldn't climb the 2nd ladder and wanted me to carry him, which didn't work well and I could barely get him up and fell a couple of times in the process. Then in the meantime, Daniel tried to follow me into that area to find me and then HE was all upset because he was trapped. UGH! So then I went to rescue him and then Caleb climbed the ladder again and they were BOTH back there with me. Twins! Troublesome Trucks! Thankfully, Daniel WOULD climb up the other side and it was easier to get Caleb up the 2nd time. Following that, they stayed in the main area!

The twins had the most fun on the non-bouncy house climbing/sliding area. They climbed up that structure countless times and slid down the slide with great delight. At the very end of the time at the Safari Charlie's, Daniel injured his knee somehow and was limping around. I was afraid it was really badly hurt at first as he kept collapsing when he walked, but as it turned out he was fine (THANKFULLY!) This of course was good because I forgot to post (no pictures) that Caleb had an injury this last Wednesday while Josiah and I were at Awana. Daddy and he were playing a tickling game and Caleb came over to tickle Daddy in the chair and Daddy grabbed his arm to catch and tickle him, but he jerked away just as Daddy grabbed him and there was a ligament in his elbow that got pulled out of place over the bone (called nursemaid's elbow). The injury did not swell, so at first David thought he was OK until later he was still holding onto it and wouldn't move it at all due to the pain. As it turns out, at the E.R. (after an ambulance ride...that is ride number #2 for him for those who are counting) the doctor popped it right back into place and within minutes he was using it properly again with no pain. Amazing! Have you ever heard of a severely painful injury that has a quick fix? Wow! We were thankful!

King Josiah

This last Wednesday for Awana it was "Bible Character" night and so naturally I thought it would fun/funny for Josiah to be King Josiah (of whom he is named after). The story of King Josiah can be found in 2 Kings 22-23 or 2 Chronicles 34-35 if you are interested, but some interesting points from the account are that Josiah became king at age eight, he found the Book of the Law when he ordered the temple to be repaired and cleaned up, and it is written of him at the beginning of his story that he "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left." The latter is pretty high praise and we pray and hope for Josiah to also be a man of God that would be obedient to God's ways.

A funny side note to add here is that Josiah told Daddy that kings always have swords, and so he should have a sword too for his costume. And though this is probably true that King Josiah had a sword, we opted for no sword at Awana this week as it would be too much of a temptation for him to use it. :) Instead, he had his one personal scroll or "Book of the Law," which incidentally can be considered like a double-edged sword anyway, so technically....he had a sword, yes?

Fall Party

For Josiah's homeschooling curriculum, it was suggested that we plan a fall or Halloween party as something fun to do. Since we don't celebrate Halloween, the logical choice was to have a fall party instead. We invited one friend over (Josiah's friend Hannah) and had three fun activities. The first activity as you may have guessed was to decorate pumpkin cookies. One thing I found helpful, was that I put the frosting on first without the kid's help and then put the decorations out for them to adorn their sugary pumpkins.

They of course also had to enjoy the lovely sugary goodness as well though none of them finished their cookies. They had just had lunch, so I think their tummies were full.

We then carved pumpkins, but first I read them a story called, "The Pumpkin Patch Parable" by Liz Curtis Higgs. It is really cute and it makes an analogy about pumpkins and pumpkin carving to the Christian message of salvation. The pumpkin seed is the Word sown in the heart, the pumpkin growing is like different people (all pumpkins are different sizes and shapes), taking out the slimy gunk is like working on getting rid of the sin in our lives (see note at the bottom about this point), putting a light in represents Christ's light in us and lastly, the smiley face would be our joy in Christ shown to others. As we did each step, I tried to make the concept stick. We shall see if it does! At the end I had them pose by their pumpkins (that Laura, Linda & I carved), and had them do different faces for each shot. Above here is their silly faces.

Josiah and Caleb were the only ones to really get into the whole scooping out the gunk stuff! Hannah was a little reluctant to get here hands dirty and Daniel hardly tried at all to do so. Note to self: carving pumpkins takes a long time (even a simple design) and is not super kid friendly other than the scooping the gunk part. This picture is showing their super sad faces. Caleb's and Josiah's were the funniest in this shot!

This was their super MAD faces! And here Hannah and Daniel had the funniest faces. Guess I can't get them all at once! You may have noted in the prior two photos also that the BIG pumpkin has a cross and two hearts and the little kid pumpkins with happy faces are looking to the cross.

The last activity planned for the party was to try apple bobbing. It is hard by the way to GET a picture of kids bobbing for apples! This was one of the best of Caleb and Hannah going for it! Hannah was so cute, she was gingerly getting her face near the water, but didn't want to get wet. Caleb and Daniel didn't really try to hard, but decided instead to just reach in and grab and apple, take a bite and then throw it back in a few times. Ummmm.....note to self again....bobbing for apples is not a game for 2 year olds! Oh well, it was fun!

Josiah was the only one to really DIVE IN (literally) to try and get an apple with his teeth. He was unsuccessful, but he got a little wet in the process and did a funny shaking off the water dance at one point as well. Daniel was busily eating an apple as you see here.

Our crazy Josiah boy, having a blast at the fall party. They all crashed (thankfully for me) soon afterward and I had Laura and Linda here to help me clean up a bit! It was a fun time for all and we sent Hannah home with a bunch of cookies to share with her family and her little pumpkin also. This was definitely a fun tradition I hope to be able to repeat each year.

**Note regarding the pumpkin book: Though the pumpkin analogy was cute and had some direct correlations, I wanted to point out that one does NOT have to have ALL sin removed from their lives before they can ask Christ to come in. We can all repent of our sin and ask Christ to enter at any time. It is over TIME that then we are called to holiness and little by little God chips away at various areas of sin in our lives and as we grow in Him and rid ourselves of that SIN, Christ in us can then shine brighter and our JOY in the Lord can be more evident as we show it outwardly by our actions. I found it interesting to note that if we do not remove the sin (or pumpkin gunk) that Christ's light in us would essentially be hidden from the world. "Hide it under a bushel....NO....I'm gonna let it shine!" Blessing to you all! I pray that you know the Lord Jesus Christ!

Girly Girly-ness!

Miss Naomi and her little cute tongue action. If you can't read her shirt it says, "I'm cute, Mommy's cute and Daddy's lucky!" :)

She is 7 1/2 months in these photos and is looking as cute as ever. She has been getting close to crawling lately, but I still have to encourage her to keep her knees up to try it. She can hold her head up nicely on her tummy, but doesn't like to keep her tummy in the air along with her head, but would rather flop down and pivot and scoot backward on her tummy or kick her feet vigorously hoping they will help her swim forward to the object she wants. When she is near an object to pull up on, she tries but doesn't quite have the muscle yet to do it all on her own. She loves it though when we prop her up and let her stand and hold onto something. Today she managed to sit down from that position without falling backward, so that is good too.

She loves to chew on her toes now too when she gets the chance and here she is trying to get a taste.

SUCCESS!!

Yet Another Beautiful Sunset

Since we live on the north hill, we get some REALLY neat shows in the evening from time to time. This day the whole sky was lit up with color and it was just gorgeous!

Fun Fall Pictures

Caleb is most definitely our clown of the Carpenter crew. I just love, love, LOVE his expressions! He is always making me laugh with his antics of late!

He thought he was pretty funny making himself a leaf hat in this one! Caleb is most definitely also our outdoorsmen. He will sometimes request to be outside and will sit out there in the back yard by himself just playing with leaves or walking around the yard. Daniel and Josiah just don't really do that. I have the feeling Caleb will be our avid hiker for years to come of the bunch! After the recent day of hiking, Daddy was praying with Caleb and he thanked God for the "ribers (rivers), ribbits (frogs), hiking, and BIG mountains." Of all the boys, he gets the most giddy about being in the mountains!

At the park we went to in Ashford last weekend, I found him in this state saying, "Want down, Momma!" Thankfully, I had the camera on and ready and so took a shot before helping him get down. He just has no fear sometimes!

He is having a fun time in the little rocking dinosaur here giving another great expression.

I wish the shadows weren't covering Daniel's beautiful blues, but this is such a classic Daniel shot and he is so happy in this photo! Something funny he is doing lately is he will turn on the lights (at any time of day) and say to me, "It's Good Morning, Momma!" He has also taken to saying, "bother" when he is frustrated (compliments of me)! He can say the Pledge of Allegiance now (albeit a bit mumbled/mispronounced) without us helping and he loves to sing various songs as well such as Jesus Loves Me, the ABC's (an old favorite), Twinkle, Twinkle and a few others.

Daniel also enjoyed riding on the rocking dinosaur as well. Daniel is hilarious on the trails, after a while he huffs and puffs very dramatically as if it is SUCH WORK to be hiking. I am sure he would rather play his Leapster in the car, but we are encouraging him to get out and exercise a bit! He does enjoy exploring for sure, but any time there is much of a challenge or risk involved he opts out.

Josiah was all over the playground and it was hard to catch him motionless at any time! We also went on a little hike around the area (a paved trail most of the time) and had a nice time together collecting leaves, flowers, and other plant life. Josiah found a friend at the playground (much to his delight) and they had fun climbing up the grass mountain behind the play area and exploring the back sides of the grass mountain. It took some coaxing to get Daniel to go up the grass mountain, he kept saying, "I just can't do it, I just can't do it!" However, when he saw a well-beaten path, he went up easily and then said at the top, "I did it!" Caleb went off the beaten path pushing his way through grasses and such to climb, he didn't need a path whatsoever! One time though Caleb fell on one side of the grass mountain and Josiah came to his aid. It was very sweet.

This picture of Naomi isn't ALL that much different from others I have posted, but this was proof she came with us to the playground and hike. I do like the lighting on this photo though, it turned out really clear and bright.