Preschool :)

Ever since their birthday Cody has been insisting that "4 is for preshool."

I'm not against it.  It just seems tough to fit in with everything else.  But with Steve having done some tidying on Saturday and with most of the wash caught up I thought this morning was a good morning to have some preschool fun.  For some reason this was one craft that stood out to me from Leah's preschool days.  (She's the only one who went to actual preschool - luck of the firstborn pre-tution days ;))

When we brought home a book about chameleons from the public library I told myself we would do this craft and talk about the amazing creation that is color changing chameleons someday.

finger paints + sponges + a lesson in mixing colors equals the start of a good preschool morning :)  Blue in the front, yellow in the back and green in the middle.

Then I pulled out the work books I had bought but they were, of course, for einstein preschoolers and started out with printing letters.  Thankfully I found one book that had concepts like biggest and smallest and a book of preschool mazes and they did like all twins learn to do early on...shared.  One circle for you, one circle for me and back and forth the book went.

And so did the pencil...you think I could find 2 pencils around here that wouldn't keep breaking!!???

To Quote Cody...

"is that a SCHOOL day?"

He was still sleeping when they left so this was his first hint of the color chaos!

Clash day, so much fun.  The boys are always a bit tougher but they were all having fun with it...even though they do look quite sad.

 

ps. one might almost think it was 5:00 it was still so dark out there!

 

 And for the two remaining at home... so special to have a best friend, 24/7 playmate.  Today they're out dinosaur hunting.  Quite a serious business.  Although Cody would have loved to come stop by your toy boxes, Sue.  "Don't we have ANY guns anymore?!"  Thankfully it doesn't take too much effort to have his hockey stick transformed. :)  Of course everyone should know that dinosaurs are particularly fond of eyeballs.  What a wise son to protect his delectable morsels.

A Great Daddy

is one who can convince a tired and frustrated 4 year old that the hamburger pattie that keeps trying to slip out of the bun is actually...

a robber.

And that his fingers have to be the police men to keep him locked up in the jail.

And if the robber tries to escape out the back door just quickly turn him around and bite him in the bum.

Problem solved.

Boy is no longer freaking out that his hamburger is falling apart but is instead, eating it faster than he's ever eaten any hamburger before.

Sometimes I wish for quick thinking like that during my days!

ps.  and yes, daddy had everyone around the table laughing.

Field Trip

Not too often I'll go on a field trip with 2 of my siblings and their kids!

We'll have to make sure we all go along for gr. 3...Brian, I'm looking forward to seeing your pioneer costume ;)

'Cause to Keep it Real...

I have to stick the highs right along side the lows.

Sweater - I like it
Apron - pretty - my sis-in-law made it
Capri length sweats - well they replaced a pretty skirt in order to get some work done and they were comfortable but I'll admit they're the same pants that left me feeling so shabby in town the other day.
Black ankle socks - great for the boots I was wearing with the pretty skirt hours earlier
Orange crocs - so comfy to wear around the house

All of that together - yup awfully tacky.  :)

A real Tuesday moment.

Last one

Another one that is just so our family.  Steve started doing this to Leah when she was just a little thing.  She would stand on the top bleacher at the sports field near our house, hurl herself into his outstretched arms only to head straight back up towards the sky.  No wonder she doesn't mind it way up there on the horse!  She still got her turn doing this but she's a little heavy to get much height now.  Cam on the other hand?  He got a little air! 

 Huge thanks to Jete from Urban Fig Photography for taking these beautiful keeper photos!

Steve and I...he looked really fine.  :)

 ahh yes, after you give the kids permission to be silly there's pretty much no going back.

5 little rug rats/blessings....depends on the hour. :)

bits and pieces

I have tried and tried all day to get photos up here.  I'm going for a couple of posts just to share these with you.  Just wanting my secret friend to realize how special a gift it was/is/will be.  Looking at this sunshine + beloved ones is going to be my rainy weather antidote this winter!

Give the kids permission to be silly...

I specifically asked for this photo.  I carried these two for 4 years and 9 months now.  Obviously it doesn't happen as often as it used to (full time while expecting is a little hard to beat :) )  but occasionally they still both need their mama at the same time.  Sometimes I might get strange looks but I carried our singleton 4 year olds that needed the love and attention and so I also do the twins.  It really is my normal and it's a privilege I treasure!  I think this is the only picture I have of me carrying them both besides a few of me holding them on my lap as really little ones.  For all the times I carried two car seats and two babies and looked strange doing it, I don't have a picture to see the outsiders perspective.  Now I do. :)  

 

Annabelle's Fiddle

We got a CD from the library "Pumkids" and discovered this delightful song.  Hope you can hear the words on the video as the words are fantastic! Obviously the artist was writing from experience! :)

For anyone who has ever learned violin, had a child learning it or attempted to teach someone to make this beautiful instrument to sing!  It's almost always worth the initial pain :)

Annabelle's Fiddle

This is a small part of a devotional emailed to me this morning.  What a vivid picture!  How many times have I kept tipping the jug, hoping to fit 1 1/2 cups into a 1 cup measuring cup day!

 

A One-Cup Life

By Glynnis Whitwer

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:  Ecclesiastes 3:1

"So when the recipe called for 1-1/2 cups of milk, I directed one girl to get the two-cup measuring cup from the cabinet. She made it to the right cabinet, but picked out the one-cup measuring cup instead.
Instead of correcting, I showed my daughters how to make that size work. But I also wanted them to learn why we had to make the change. I wanted them to learn that you can't put 1-1/2 cups of liquid into a 1-cup container.

As I thought about this principle of measurement, I realized it doesn't work with milk and it doesn't work in life. Yet so many of us try to cram 12 hours of work into 8 hours of our day. We have more books than can fit in the bookcase and more clothes than closet.

For years I tried to put too much into my schedule. "Yes" slipped off my tongue with little thought and no prayer. I'd collapse at night, exhausted and annoyed.

My life had to be simplified, which meant reducing the demands on my time. A year of cutting commitments resulted in a manageable, more focused and more productive life. It took making hard decisions, but it was worth the peace I gained.

That year I learned I have exactly enough time to do what God wants me to do"

I edited this a bit as when I read the part I posted it seemed to end pretty abruptly.  Not an indepth solution by any means.  Just something to think over.

 

Seeing how I'm on a Roll...

The love of a brother is a precious thing...

 especially when Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a little scarier than one expected!

I love this man and I love these kids!!

Moving Along to October

These two turned 4 on Saturday and I decided I would like to try and make it an annual thing to get this picture.  Those little Cody fingers inside Cara's shirt = something so loving and sweet.

 What they're really actually like... ask Jete who took our family pictures today!

 They're not helping me out for the picture I wanted to get but this is them, even willing to share a soggy, sucked on balloon.

Speaks for itself :)

 These two are also precious, also much loved.   And we also thank God for the blessings He's given us in them.

First...Going Back to September

Today was a busy day and already this morning's Thanksgiving Day church service seems a far way off.  The sermon, from Phillipians 4, is one I would like to go back and listen to again, there was so much rich truth I know I missed.  But one thought that stuck and went round and round my brain... "God gives us what we ask for, except when He gives us something better"  Now this has nothing to do with gain of health or wealth etc.  This statement of truth is directly tied to this verse...Hebrews 12:6

⁶ For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”

Can we truly wrap our minds around the fact that our trials, the chastening of the LORD, is better for us than what we prayed for?  Maybe only those going through trials with Christ at their side.

 

I'm quite behind on recording family moments here.  Way back in September Sam had his 7th birthday.  This tender-hearted son of ours is a dear boy and huge blessing!

Cam was so excited to give a present he had found.  He handed it over and then said over and over, "isn't it a great present, Sam?!"  They squeezed eachother so tight.  As for the gift...it's one of those ones that looks great in the box but actually doesn't last that long when all is said and done.

 

When all the kids were done with their spoiling we packed the school kids onto the bus and started hussling.  Sam was having nature day and he had picked the corn maze for his barrels of fun.

This is honestly what we as parents did with our small group.  We ran and chased after these kids trying to make sure we didn't get lost and left behind in the maze :)  The two phases together were estimated to take about 1 hour to explore.  We finished in just under 35 min.  The two boys kept us all moving!

 And a hay wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch.

 where they were allowed to pick out one to take home.

And naturally, a pumpkin looks kind of basketball-ish so it was tossed up and down a few times.

 These two buddies sure have cute grins and they sure had fun together!

 What a naughty grin!!!

 Then, with Gramma's help, we packed the boys from Sam's class from school over to the church gym for a whole lot of sports, with some cake and supper thrown in for good measure.

Leah had this cool idea that she wanted to make Sam a sports version of pin the tail on the donkey.  She drew up this cool poster....

 And all the kids had fun trying to set the puck in front of the stick.  It was fine until their sweaty heads made the blindfold wet and stinky.  The last couple of kids had my utmost sympathy!  not that it stopped them from trying it out.

This year Steve had just outlined a soccor field for a cake.  To be honest, I think Sam was a little disappointed it wasn't more exciting but I told myself next year I would be way more organized and hopefully that would help in the cake department too!

He's a precious son, this Sam and we love him and thank God for him!

Down the path of honesty...

Let me start with saying I'm so thankful to you all for stopping by, whether occasionally or daily, and keeping up with our family.  As we head towards the twins' fourth birthday I've been doing a whole lot of remembering how things were and I keep coming back to a very thankful place for how much less busy life has gotten since, at least in the feeding/diapering/carrying etc. kind of way.
Back in those days the blog was in many ways one of my few connections to an adult world.  Besides a quick visit to the grocery store and conversation with those who came by to drop off a meal or stay and help out with wash and cleaning, for the first 6 months after Cara and Cody were born I often only left the house on Sunday mornings to go to church.  Writing the blog and knowing you were reading was a delight for me.  And it still is.
Yet, I'm often plagued with the knowing that the posts I write are shallow in light of eternity.  They may delight, intrigue, hey, maybe even encourage other moms out there that they're not the only ones, but I tend to stick to the stories that I know will make you smile...if not laugh out loud.
Now this is not all bad.  You wouldn't believe how tickled I was when my sister called me the other morning to say that a group of kind hearted women all together in a kitchen for the purpose of doing good and blessing people with far less materially than we ourselves, well that group of women were sharing laughter over yesterday's story that a bunch of them had read.
And I repeat, it is a good thing,
read Proverbs 17:22:
A merry heart does good, like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is a time for weeping and laughter.

Laughter, it is a gift from God.  But it is not everything.

So this morning when I read Kara's latest post about Moms going through crisis I knew that the least I had to do was share it with you.  No matter if you're like me, a mom who's never had to live life with that kind of heart ache or if you're like her I think she has some very bang on things to think about. 
For me it was that note about clinging to your spouse.  That doesn't take a crisis to become true.  Daily grind can have me lashing out at the very person God gave me to go through life as the bestest of friends.  Yup, I fail on this point often and this morning I was thankful for the reminder of what I should do.
This summer we shared our 10th anniversary.  I wrote a post with some thoughts but allowed Steve to read it first seeing as it was a little more in depth  than most of what I write here.  Steve vetoed some of the content because he wanted me to be careful about what I was willing to share with the web. There was nothing really worthy of gossip or speculation but some truths about living life and marriage when I've allowed the busyness to suck out the vitality.  About how marriage that doesn't recieve vast amounts of the love equivalent of Miracle Gro can be stunted or at the very worst withered up.  Knowing I have no idea who actually reads all these thoughts, he was pointing out I better think it through carefully.  It was wise advice.
That all said, I do want to be honest here.  I don't need people to put what they read here + what they think they see when they see me out and about to = a sunny false picture of who they think me to be.  Believe me, there are some seriously faulty parts.  (Actually, obviously one doesn't have to go too many posts backwards to remember that seeing me out and about doesn't necessarily give off a sunny picture :) )
I don't know what I'm really all getting at.  Once again I've allowed my fingers to take over and they've led a pretty crooked path of thoughts down the screen. I guess what I'm hoping is that the blog is to the honor of God. 

One of those moments!

Leah came home from school today and after looking at me for 2 seconds said oh so gently, "by the way, your shirt is on inside out" in that tone of voice that only a girl will use on her clueless mother.

That wasn't the bad part.

Yah, that part is the fact that I went to town looking and feeling like a complete scrag to find birthday presents for the twins and their share-the-day- cousin.  I realize it wasn't that smart of me to take them along on a surprise finding mission but I didn't have much choice.  Last week at 10pm the night before Sam's birthday I still didn't have much for gifts for him and I didn't want to have to look across the table that sheepishly at my husband again for a long while.  But I digress.

Like I said, I went to town and was feeling awfully shabby next to the pretty lady in jeans and heels.  So walking through the aisles of Zellers trying to twirl and spin in order to keep the gifts I was carrying behind my back out of sight left me feeling slightly crazy.  When the lady at the till said she didn't have any bags for the presents I was feeling pretty desperate so I took off my big baggy hoodie to tuck them inside. 

The lady did do a double take and at the time I wondered if my arm pits were hairy but everyone else I met through out the next 3 stores also looked at me funny, despite my pinning my arms to my sides.

It just took my daughter to point out that the sleeveless shirt I was wearing despite the chilly temp was not the biggest problem.  It's just that not only was I wearing a sleeveless shirt when most people had on a sweater or coat, I was wearing that shirt inside out.
And it was painfully obvious.

Hair Cuts...

That would obviously be a lock from Cara not Cody.  The lego man is there just for length reference.  Just a few things I would like to make special note of...

1. The floor and their clothes are full of wisps of hair - but they really didn't cut too much off.
2. They stuck to the front - but they really didn't cut too much off.
3. Cody's might be a bit tough to hide when he gets his VERY needed haircut in the next couple of days - but they really didn't cut too much off.
4. We'll pretend Cara's growing out her bangs...that actually didn't exist - but they really didn't cut too much off.
5. Steve's and my pillows are covered in hair when I just washed everything yesterday due to one of the kids having a midnight accident - but really!!  they didn't cut too much off.
6. I wasn't planning to make time to clean up hair or make a blog post - but they really didn't cut too much off.
7. We're going to have family pictures in less than 2 weeks!!!!! See this post... - and let me tell you I'm VERY VERY THANKFUL that they really actually didn't cut too much off!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8. While giving self or sibling a haircut is pretty much a rite of passage out of toddlerhood and while our babies are really already going to be FOUR at the end of this week!!!!! this is the first time they've ever tried this stunt, please see point 7 and recognize I'm sure glad that they got it out of their system with quite minimal damage!!!!

ps.  please excuse the amount of !!! marks in this post.  Truth is when I first saw the hair laying around, my heart and brains were making quadruple the amounts of them.
pps. another truth?  I was too chicken to examine them super carefully so this post was created with minimal inspection.  Should I go to do their hair in a few hours and discover extra missing chunks you may see another post with more !!!!!!!!!!