God delighting the heart of a little boy...

When we went to Tanner's last week, we had been planning to pick apples. Aidan had been asking to do that for a very long time, and was more excited about that than almost anything else. However, we were not anticipating just how expensive everything was going to be that day! Especially since the twins, at 2, now have to pay admission costs for things as well. We made a quick decision to just do pumpkins, since not doing that would leave the greatest amount of upset little boys. Needless to say, Aidan was very disappointed. He even said later on in the week after he'd placed a found penny in his piggy bank, "now do I have enough money to go apple picking?"

Wouldn't you know though, God had a plan. On Monday we got a call from a neighbor who asked if we could use any apples, because her tree had produced way more than she could use. So, Daddy and one very excited little guy trekked across the street to pick some apples.
I love how He encourages even the youngest of hearts.

Tanner's

There is a very fun Pumpkin Patch/Farm about 45 minutes from here that we have been to every year. We decided this year to go on Columbus Day, since Caleb had the day off. Despite the very cold weather, we still had a very fun time, minus a few meltdowns as we kept them all up way past naptime and didn't eat lunch until pretty late.

Caleb's First School Field Trip

Last week, I had the privilege of going with Caleb's Kindergarten class to their field trip to "Dexter's Mini-Farm". To cut down the costs of their excursions this year, one of the teachers volunteered her farm, and many adults did a lot of prep work to make the day fantastic. The kids got to ride a horse, ride on a barrel train, gather eggs from a henhouse, feed goats, pet rabbits, taste and see many many fruits and vegetables, and pick a pumpkin. We had a nice lunch there, and never lacked for something to do. And, there were so many adult volunteers there, that I only had Caleb and one other girl in my group. We had such a great time!















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It's Daddy!

The boys and I were reading a book a few nights ago, and they couldn't get over this picture. "It's Daddy!", they all excited exclaimed. I'll admit, the similarities are a little uncanny. :)

"My dad is preaching."

"I love my guinea pig"

Lately, Caleb has loved writing "sentences" and trying his hand at inventive spelling.

Recently, Weston preached at 'big church', and Caleb got to come to service with me to experience it. I brought a notebook to help keep him busy, and this is the first thing he wrote. (He did ask me how to spell some words, but the thoughts were entirely his own.)

"My dad is preaching. God's word is bery powerful."

How incredibly sweet is that?

Jack and Annie

When Caleb turned 4, we decided that one of his new 'privileges' would be staying up a little bit later and having mommy and daddy read a chapter book aloud to him. It also gives us some dedicated time to work a little on sight words and phonics. We weren't sure just how well he would listen, but we shouldn't ever have underestimated our auditory learner. He LOVES listening to his chapter books, and we quickly discovered he especially loves the Magic Tree House series. We've checked out the audio versions from the library also and he just loves to have his 'rest time' listening to these. And comprehension? It's there. He's taken several quizzes on the "Book Adventure" website, and he has excelled He even remembers details of books he's went through months ago. This boy of ours with the big imagination loves Jack and Annie's time travelling adventures. He even comments to me, at least once a week, "Mom, I wish Jack and Annie were real." He loves to carry a notebook around like Jack and 'take notes', which has been great for his writing/spelling skills. Very fun.

I took him to his school book fair a few weeks ago, and even over all the glossy attractive Star Wars books, he went right for a Magic Tree House one. The school librarian greeted us as we checked out, and he showed her his selection and she knew right who he was. "You must be the boy in Mrs. Seibert's class. Mrs. Seibert had to come and ask me who Jack and Annie were because she couldn't place them, and you apparently talk about them often."

Backyard Campout

A few weekends ago we held our annual backyard campout and had a blast with the boys. It was extra special that Molly and Ari got to join us for part of it as well!













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A basketball team it is...

Just realized I never officially reported on here that we found out in August that we are having another boy! We are thrilled that God is choosing to use us to raise up so many men for His kingdom, and are all the more convinced he wants us to adopt someday as well! :)

Thanks God.

Psalm 95:6 "Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."

Regular Prayer Journal Prompt: Lord, I pray that Caleb will worship and bow down before You. May he love and fear You, honoring You as the King of his life. May he acknowledge you as his Maker and recognize that Your love will never fail.

Recent conversation:
Caleb: Mommy, what is your favorite thing to do?
Mommy: I dunno, probably spend time with you and our family. Read, shop... Why Caleb, what's your favorite thing to do?
Caleb: Worship God.

Caleb's First Soccer Game

At the beginning of last summer, we sat Caleb down and let him choose one sport to be involved in (in addition to tee-ball). He chose basketball, and was looking forward to it all summer. It was scheduled for mid-August, but a few days before the 'camp' started, we got a call saying that they had to cancel it because not enough kids signed up. He was very disappointed, but we got him enrolled in a 6 game soccer league through the YMCA to make up for it.

They've had a few practices, and then their first game was this morning. He is one of the youngest on the team of Kinder and First Graders, but is doing a little better than we'd expected. He had no sense of the game going into it, and it's amazing how well some of those little kids do already! He just kind of chases the pack, and zones out here and there, but is keeping a good attitude and learning. Today he chose to ineffectively slide tackle every chance he got, but at least he was being a little assertive.







Sweet Kellan