The Farm

On Saturday, we went down to Brainerd, to a place called The Farm on St. Mathias(it's on St. Mathias road). They had a big corn maze that we wandered around in for quite awhile. In the middle of it there was a big slide with potato sacks to ride down on. Throughout the maze there were scissors that cut different patterns. The kids each had a piece of paper to cut to show how many of the scissors we found. They all got a sucker as a prize. We rode on a wagon pulled by a tractor down to the pumpkin patch. Isaiah and Olivia both picked out pumpkins. The kids had a lot of fun. I'm sure we'll have to do this again next year.

Isaiah's First Day of School

Randy and I brought Isaiah into the elementary school on Tuesday to get him registered for kindergarten. We went and looked at his classroom and met his teacher. Isaiah wanted to keep looking around the school and wanted to stay there the rest of the day. Wednesday morning he got up just before 6:00 to go to the bathroom and asked me if it was almost morning. He got up just after 7:00 and came into the kitchen and asked if he had missed the bus. He was very excited to go! He went and got dressed right away, which he usually doesn't do without being asked.



When the bus came, he just got right on and I don't think he even looked back. After the bus left Olivia and Micah both kind of started to cry. Micah said, "I want to go Isaiah, Daddy." Awhile later in the house Olivia got teared up again and said, "I want to play with Isaiah." The rest of the day Micah and Olivia fought or took turns being naughty. I didn't really miss Isaiah to be honest...the other two were plenty.



Isaiah had a fun day. I had to keep asking him questions to find out what he did. They have a garden at school and yesterday they had a pumpkin sale, so I sent some money with Isaiah and he brought home two little pumpkins. He made some friends but couldn't remember too many names. About 20 minutes after he was home he said he wanted to go back to school. He was just as excited this morning as he was yesterday. I hope that doesn't wear off to soon. I feel really good about our decision. I asked God for peace about it and he answered my prayer.

Yesterday, before Isaiah was up, Micah put on Isaiah's shoes and wanted to wear his backpack. Later in the morning when we were leaving to go to a friend's house, Micah wanted to follow the bus. I tried to tell him Isaiah was at school already, but he said it a few more times.



Olivia has been waiting to jump in the leaves for a couple of weeks. Yesterday I raked up the few that had fallen from our maple tree for her.

Family Day

Yesterday was a family day for us. We're usually all together on Saturdays, but often run to Brainerd for groceries and diapers. We were home all day yesterday. I did some cleaning in the morning, but the rest of the day was very relaxing. I read on my sister's blog that they were going to play games this weekend and I thought that sounded fun. We ended playing a few games ourselves. I guess Candy Land, Pretty Pretty Princess and Guess Who are our options in this stage in life. Randy, Micah and I took a nap while Isaiah and Olivia watched a movie. We cooked hot dogs over the campfire for supper and later for dessert we made apple pies over the fire.




My mom and Dad were here visiting last weekend and my mom was talking to Isaiah about school. She said to Micah, "Maybe you can go to pre-school." He looked at her a moment and said, "I probably go to baby school", then busted out laughing.

Our kids often(need to work on that consistently) get vinegar for lying. The kids and I were at the grocery store and I said, "Oh, I need to get some more vinegar." Olivia said, "But I won't lie anymore, Mom." I told her I needed it for other things too.

Micah was interested in taking a nap the other day and I wasn't real interested in fighting with him. I had put him down for a nap and was outside for a few minutes. When I came back in he was on the couch watching a movie with Isaiah. I said, "Micah, you're supposed to in bed." "No. I supposed to watch a movie!" I went in the kitchen for less than two minutes and when I looked back in the living room Micah was asleep on the couch!

The last few days Micah has been saying everything tastes like root beer. Today he said sauerkraut tasted like root beer and the other night his bubble gum toothpaste tasted like root beer. Randy was making pancakes with the kids this week and they thought the almond extract smelled like root beer...so I guess that's where Micah got it from.

Out of the blue this week, Isaiah said, "When you die there's a golden path and a black path. If you want to be in heaven you go on the golden path. If you go on the black path you go to hell and can never get out." I asked him if they had talked about that in Sunday School, but he said no.

Micah is 2!

Isaiah and Olivia were pretty excited to help decorate Micah's cake. They ate so much frosting, m&m's, gummy bears, malted milk balls and licorice I thought they were going to be ill. They loved it, especially Olivia, who is going to the dentist next week to get two fillings!




Here's what Micah was doing while we were decorating his cake. He climbed out of his crib, but couldn't get the door open, so he took his nap on Isaiah's bed. Looks like he might need to see the chiropractor!






The finished product. We thought it turned out pretty cute. Micah kept wanting to look at it after he woke up.




The birthday boy enjoying his cake.


One quick funny story. This morning, Micah was upset with Olivia about something. He was pretending to scoop something off the couch as he said, "I will throw some dirt at you!"

Cheap Vacation

This past weekend we went to the cities with are friends Brent and Sarah. Saturday we went to Como Zoo(which is free) and then camped over night in Brent's brother's backyard(free). Sunday morning we went to the children's museum(which is free on the third Sunday of the month). We had a good time. The kids really love going to the children's museum. We could easily spend the whole day there.

We had just been looking at the tortoise and walked away and saw a statue of a turtle that kids were sitting on and Olivia said, "One of the turtles out got."




When we were getting into the tent Saturday night the crickets were really loud. Isaiah said, "Don't the crickets know we're trying to get some sleep?" "No," I said laughing. "Would you?" he asked me. "If I were a cricket?" I clarified. "Yes." "No. I would be just as clue less as them," I said. After a short pause he said, "Then I wouldn't have a mom."

A few pictures from the weekend.













On the weekend, Randy has been outside with the kids in the morning. A couple of times he found Micah here.



Playing in the sandbox with the tarp still on!

Mama, you should look in the mirror

We were using the bathroom(outhouse) at the beach recently. Isaiah had a few minutes to make some observations while going to the bathroom. "This floor looks really old. They should put in a nice shiny rock floor. They should paint these walls and doors too. Don't you think that would look nice? Why can't they think of that?!" Isaiah is really into coloring, drawing, colors, decorating etc.

When we were driving home and the sun was setting, Isaiah says, "When the sun goes down it looks like it goes behind the grass. What really happens to it? Does God take it up to heaven?"

I have thought about trying to sale my wedding dress a hand full of times over the last 11 years. Just before our garage sale I was thinking about it again. So, I got it out and decided to try it on. I got into it, but couldn't zip it up all the way in the back. (Olivia offered to help and when I told her no she said she could stand on her bed and do it. I had to tell her the problem wasn't that I couldn't reach, but that it just didn't fit.) When the kids saw me they were excited and wanted to know where I got the dress and what I was doing in it. Micah said, "Mama, you should look in the mirror." Isaiah didn't want me to sell it. He said, "I think you should save this stuff so Maren can wear it when we get married."

The kids were talking about what they wanted to be on the way to the beach. My neighbor was with and said she wanted to be a race car driver, so everyone wanted to be that too, except Isaiah. I said maybe he could work on the cars. He wasn't interested in that and said, "I don't know what I want to be." "You could be a pizza eater," Olivia suggested. Isaiah didn't like that idea either, "Olivia! That's not a job."

Olivia and I were out shopping at Kohl's and I decided to try on some bras. Not something I really wanted to do with a child along, but I really wanted a new one. She seemed to be in her own world in the fitting room until she said to me, "What are those things on your..stomach." "Breasts," I said hoping that would be the end of it, but knowing I wouldn't get off that easy. "But...well..how come they don't stay up?"

On this same shopping trip, Olivia said out of the blue, "I'm Curious George. No, I'm Curious George's sister." When I asked what her name was I was surprised when she said, "Georgia."

We got a picture of another babe while we were picnicing in Crosslake. This is Babe the Bluegill.

Yes, I'm alive!

I'm not sure where to begin. Randy has been back from Alaska for 2 1/2 weeks already. The ten days he was gone went surprisingly well and quite quickly. The worst time was 7pm-8pm each night. I hate getting the kids ready for bed even when Randy is here. I really HATE getting them to bed by myself. Everyone is tired and I get impatient because I can sense the freedom that's coming as soon as they are in bed. Randy had a good time and his team got a lot done.

The kids have said some pretty funny things over the last few weeks. I tried to scribble them done so when I got a chance I could blog them. We had a garage sale last Thursday and Friday, so I've been busy getting ready for that. We had a great sale..just over $460 for us and about $1020 for everyone together.

When Olivia was going potty I was waiting for her to be done so I could wipe her. She says to me, "Mommy, when you hear a splash that's my poop."

My brother's little girl Elle said that Micah was cute. I asked Micah, "Are you cute?" "No. You're cute Momma."

Isaiah was asking what our clothes were made of and said a lot of them were made of cotton. He mentioned wool and Olivia said, "Well, my blanket is made out of fuzz." This is probably funnier if you know a couple of things about Olivia and her blanket. She sits and picks fuzz from her knitted blanket all the time. She hurt her thumb one day and Randy asked if it was the thumb she sucked on and she said, "No, it's my fuzz thumb." There are little purple fuzz balls all over my house ALL the time. She also says fuzz more like puzz.

Isaiah was sitting on my lap and Micah came over and tired to push him off and said, "Get off of my mommy!"

Micah is constantly telling us which way to go when we're driving. He'll say, "I want to go that way! Go that way momma!"


I typed this up a few days ago. I was going to add more but didn't get a chance yet. Maybe later today.