One Thing - 10/31/13

It was a busy afternoon/evening of Halloween festivities. We first went out to the hospital where we weaved through the building collecting treats from different businesses in town as well as from the residents of the long term care facility attached to the hospital. The kids came home with far more candy than we could ever need!! We ate a quick supper before the boys headed out for some trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. They just went around the block but came home with lots more treats. We are all wiped out tonight. Let's hope everyone sleeps in tomorrow!

For a few more pictures of our day visit:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100654295064880.1073741833.63911808&type=1&l=bc1524cc08

One Thing - 10/30/13

Our family at Boo at the Zoo in Lincoln last Saturday

One Thing - 10/29/13

This afternoon, we carved our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. Then, we ate some yummy loaded potato soup. Perfect things for this cold, drizzly day!

One Thing - 10/28/13

Grandma and Grandpa Nelson were here over the weekend. We celebrated Jonah's 5th birthday. Grandma made Jonah this cool guitar cake. And, he got his own kid sized guitar as a gift! Jonah has loved his guitar so far. He has made up a few songs and has done a fairly good job of taking care of his instrument. He is excited to learn how to play! 

One Thing - 10/27/13

I. Am. Exhausted. We have had a crazy week, and I am wiped out. That would be why there have been no posts for the past few days. Mike was out of town for four days last week. 1 mommy + 3 little ones + 4 days = exhaustion. I admire those single parents who live that way day in and day out. It is HARD. Then, Grandma and Grandpa Nelson came to visit for the weekend. They came to celebrate Jonah's upcoming 5th birthday. We spent Saturday evening at Boo at the Zoo at the Lincoln Children's Zoo. And, they were an amazing help to us! My mom cleaned the refrigerator and scrubbed the sink and helped me get ready for Trunk or Treat by cutting out and gluing paper pumpkins, making frosting, and gluing letters to posterboard. They left this afternoon. Then, tonight was Trunk or Treat at church. It was a Wonderful evening! The weather was perfect. Our church family was amazing. And, about 150 kids were loved on. Praise God for strength and energy to make it through a busy week. Praise God for rest. Praying for some more restful days ahead!

One Thing - 10/23/13

One story about each of my little ones this afternoon-

J - At lunch today, Jonah was talking about a girl from preschool that he frequently mentions. He said, "Mommy, I fell in love with her the first time I saw her. She is so pretty. And, she is nice. She plays with me. And, I always sit by her at circle time." I think we have a boy with a little crush on a girl!

Sy - I avoid sharing things that could be embarrassing later on in life, so I hope Silas won't mind me sharing this one. We all got a pretty good laugh out of it! Yesterday, I went to get Sy up from his nap. He usually sleeps in underwear and had only had 1 nap time accident...until yesterday. I walked over to his bed and Sy said, "My pants are a little wet." Me, "They are, huh?" Sy: "Yeah, Mommy, Jonah spilled his milk all over my pants. He said it was an accident." Me: "I think you wet your pants." Sy: (getting upset) "No, Mommy. Jonah spilled his milk. He didn't mean to do it!" It took me a moment to calm him down and then figured out that Sy was dreaming when he had his accident - he dreamed Jonah was pouring his milk on him.

Lydia - our little girl is finally walking!! She still prefers crawling but is taking more an more steps each day. Saturday morning, after not taking steps for about 2 weeks, she started taking 4-6 steps at a time. This morning, I watched her take 11 before tumbling down. Walking at just over 13 months is one month later than Jonah and one month earlier than Silas. It's amazing to watch them grow!!

One Thing - 10/22/13

     

 

The kids made pumpkins with our sitter today. I think I will enjoy seeing these pumpkins for the next week or so. :)

10/20/13

                                  

Jonah got a marble run for Christmas last year. The boys still love building runs. They each take a couple of marbles, call them "their" teams, and send them down the marble run cheering on their team and judging who wins. It's a loud, action-packed time of excitement!

One Thing - 10/19/13

Supper was a winner at our house tonight. Mealtimes are usually not too much of a problem at our house. All of our kids eat pretty well and aren't too picky. But, every once in awhile we have a winner. A meal that everyone wants seconds of. That makes me happy! Tonight's menu was slow cooker pork loin, twice-baked potatoes (I make a huge batch once or twice a year and freeze them), butternut squash from our garden (we have all been looking forward to our squash harvest since we planted our garden in the spring!), coleslaw (yes, a bit odd, but I have been wanting some recently and bakers had cabbage mix on managers special yesterday), and raspberries (also on sale yesterday!). Everyone thanked me for the meal. Silas even tried to write me a thank you note after supper! And, Jonah wanted to pray to me to thank me for the food...we quickly put an end to that one. I guess tonight makes up for all those nights when we have to keep encouraging our kids to keep eating or hold back their fruit until they have eaten most of their meal. 

One sweet moment from our meal - Mike was so kindly praising my cooking abilities. Silas said to him, "Daddy, you are good at cooking things in the kitchen, too." Mike disagreed with him saying that I was the better cook. Silas, being our thoughtful one as he always is, says, "But Daddy you are good at making food with bread and cheese." Yes, Mike does make good cheese sandwiches!

One Thing - 10/18/13

Our sitter sent this picture to me on my phone while I was working yesterday. It made my day! :)

One Thing - 10/16/13

                                      

Life hasn't been easy for Lydia this week as she is battling a can't-breathe-through-the-nose cold. It has made life difficult...can't suck on a pacifier in bed, can't nurse very well before bed, not napping well, not sleeping all that great, just an emotional mess! The first couple of days were rough, but I think Lydia is finally adjusting to this new temporary normal. We are praying this cold passes quickly!

One Thing - 10/15/13

                                    

On these cool, windy fall days we have started a new trend - watching Jeopardy together at 4:30. Yes, we are a geeky family! :)

       

One Thing - 10/12/13

         Little girl has discovered this rocking chair is perfect for her size. She loves to sit here and rock, read, or play!

One Thing - 10/11/13

I got to chaperone Jonah's preschool field trip to Morrill Hall (a natural history museum) in Lincoln this morning. Jonah's favorite part was seeing the dinosaur, elephant, and mammoth bones. 

One Thing - 10/10/13

I don't remember how this conversation started tonight, but Jonah blew me away and humbled me immensely. He said, "The baby grows in the Mommy's tummy. Then, she is born. The Mommy tells her about Jesus. Then, she grows into a nice, thoughtful lady. She tells people about Jesus and then they tell people about Jesus and they tell people and they tell people and they tell people. Then everyone knows about Jesus!" I said, "So one person changes the world." And he exclaimed, "And one person changes the world!" I don't know how or why this idea of spiritual multiplication was in his mind tonight. But, oh how I pray that he would understand that he could be like the person he described. That he would be the person who shares the gospel. That he would know that he could be the person who changes the world through the power of the Holy Spirit! And, how humbling it was for me to think about being that mommy who grows the babies in her tummy and that tells them about Jesus so that they can bring the gospel to the world.

One Thing - 10/9/13

Silas used letter stickers to spell his first word on paper today!

One Thing - 10/8/13

                                      

It's fire safety week at preschool. Yesterday, Jonah made a paper fire hat at school. When he got                 home, he made one just like it for Heezy. They are ready to fight fires!

One Thing - 10/7/13

The boys helped Daddy with a landscaping project

on this beautiful afternoon

One Thing - 10/6/13

                                       

                    We dug out the box of Halloween costumes this afternoon...I think the bunny

                                                                 Is a little too big

One Thing - 10/4/13

To make up for yesterday...

Sometimes outdoor toys become a drum set

One Thing - 10/4/13

Our copy of Five Little Pumpkins is getting lots of use again. Lydia has now discovered the book and wants it read to her many, many times a day. I think I already read it at least 8 times this morning! I am not sure what has drawn our children to this book, but I would guess that this is book in our collection that we have read the most times. Lydia particularly likes the cat on the last page. Jonah used to love the "oooooooo went the wind" line. And, Silas really liked when we whispered the last word "sight."

One Thing - 10/3/13

I haven't taken many pictures the past few days, but here are a few things about today...

1. Lydia took 2-3 shuffling, unbalanced baby steps tonight. We all clapped. She got REALLY excited. And, she wouldn't do it again.

2. Parenthood starts in 15 minutes. It is the one TV show we watch. It makes me cry every week. But, I really like it a lot.

3. I have been trying for 3 days to log in to the health insurance exchange. Up until a minute ago, I could get absolutely nowhere with it. Then, I was really happy because I got a screen saying I was ready to start filling out our application. And, I was disappointed again to receive yet another message saying that the system is down....hmmm, not such a great start.

One Thing 10/1/13

Tonight as we were taking turns praying for someone else in our family, Silas prayed for Jonah. He was repeating what Mike said, and this is how it went:

M: Dear God

S: Dear God

M: Thank you for my brother.

S: Thank you for my brudder.

M: Help him to be wise and love you.

S: Help him to love me.

M: Help Jonah be a kind and loving brother.

S: Yes.

M: In Jesus name

S: Amen