Saturday, July 18, 2009

Scooter Fun


Found a second scooter at a yard sale yesterday (we'd had one, and that was often a source of conflict!), and so tonight Caleb and Aidan asked to ride them on our walk. They did really well, and I had to snap a picture because they were so cute! And to make it even sweeter, the twins wanted a turn in front of our house, with helmets and all. They were truly adorable! As you can see...

I think Ethan (left) and Kellan look so different here!
Ethan
Kellan

Friday, July 17, 2009

Caleb preaches it...

I am still chuckling at this one...

We were out in the backyard this morning, and Caleb and Aidan were quarreling over who got to ride which scooter. Aidan was having a particularly horrible attitude, and then hurt his leg on the side of the 'less cool' scooter as he grudgingly got on. He started whiningly crying, and Caleb pipes up, real loudly, "Must be God's discipline."

I laughed so hard I was crying... unfortunately no other adults around to appreciate it, so I had to share it on here. As far as I know, Caleb hasn't really been exposed to that concept (a little much for a 5 year old), but in his logical little mind it made sense. Ah, the wisdom of a child.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

God's creation is just awesome!

We have a lot of fun with nature around this house. I think my boys are very fortunate that they got a mom who doesn't mind a few creepy crawlies... About 2 weeks ago, we were out in the front yard feeding the fish in our little pond, and Aidan spotted a caterpillar. It was very cool looking, and sure enough, after looking it up online, it was definitely a monarch caterpillar. We were thrilled, and put it in our bug habitat with plenty of the weeds he was found on. I was a little worried because it wasn't milkweed, which I know they feast on, but sure enough, he gobbled up this common weed/vine thing that we have tons of. He ate constantly for 3 days, and then attached himself to the top of the habitat, and hung in a J shape. In the morning there was a perfect chrysalis. About 10 days later we noticed it had turned clear, and we could see the orange and black colors inside. The next morning, sure enough, a beautiful monarch butterfly greeted us! Mid-morning we took him outside, held him gingerly for a few moments, and then left him on a marigold flower. A few hours later he flew away! It was so fun to experience all this with the boys! God is so good to allow us a glimpse into the majestic in ordinary experiences!


Wish I had chronicled it more through photos, but here are some of the release at least...





Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Some Perks of being a Youth Pastor's Kid

* Having tons of super cool high school and junior high students thinking you are pretty super cool too.





* Tagging along on fun trips, such as this one, to "The Gauntlet Summer Challenge" in Baraboo, WI.



* Youth Group T-shirts


* Opportunities to try exciting things.




There are many more, of course, but I'll make that a separate post entirely... mainly just wanted to show off some pictures from last week, when Caleb and Aidan and mommy got to meet daddy up at camp for the last 2 days.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

4th of July


We were excited to actually be home for the fourth this year, and to have friends visiting... Had a cookout to attend, and fireworks to watch... but it rained, all day!

Oh well, we still had a nice day, and got to do some little fireworks of our own. We also ate outside, until it just started raining too hard.












And the Lake Storey fireworks were postponed until Sunday night... Since Weston was gone to camp in WI by then, a friend met me in the Target parking lot (much less crowded then the actual lake) to help out with the boys. They loved it, even the twins, as long as they were in mommy's lap.







Tuesday, July 7, 2009

more clever than we sometimes give them credit for


We've noticed the twins starting to play the 'let's confuse people' game with their identities lately. They did it to a babysitter recently, and have to daddy on occasion. It seems they can sense when someone is really second guessing themselves. If they are asked, "Are you ___________?", they will get a smirk on their faces and both say no, or both claim to be the same one, or whichever. Pretty funny. They haven't tried it with mommy yet, but they must know they couldn't fool me. :)

Also, lately when I enter their bedroom in the morning or after a nap, I have started asking, "who wants to get up first?", and they've started competing with a quick "me!". It's gotten to the point where they often shout "me!" when I first creak the door open.

I had relayed this to Weston, and he thought he'd used the tactic to trick them in the bathtub. Neither likes to be the first one to get washed up, so Weston asked, "Who wants to be washed up first?", thinking they'd compete with "me" in the same way. But they outsmarted him! In the response to daddy's question, Kellan quickly shouted, "Ethan!!!".

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

More pictures from Tee-Ball











The season is done, but wanted to include a few more cute pictures.

two of their favorite parts (snacks and the trophy)




two of my favorite parts



Happy 5th Birthday Jedi Caleb!



Can't believe we now have a 5 year old! We celebrated with a very fun Jedi Training Party yesterday, and Caleb's enthusiasm made it all worthwhile. Enjoy some pictures!

Listening to training instructions

Jedi Duels

Getting the Robots

Getting General Grievous

Breaking the Death Star Pinata

Kellan and Ethan thought they were just as big as everyone else.

Jedi Caleb, so serious

Aidan (he was so enthusiastic the whole party, and pretty much wore his Darth Vader costume the whole time... and in the 24 hrs since.)

the cake

Opening Gifts

Mommy and her 5 year old