Babe Hunt

The other day, Randy and I decided to look for the 23 "Babes" that are located in Brainerd, Pequot Lakes and surrounding other little towns. We saw a couple of the Babes on display at the Governor's Fishing Opener...there are some pretty cool ones out there. If you write down the codes that are on the base of each ox you can mail them in and be entered into a drawing for an "exciting Brainerd Lakes vacation package." Today after church we planned to have a picnic at the dam in Pine River. Before our picnic we checked out one of the two ox in Pine River and after our picnic we looked at the other one. I had the camera along to get pictures of the kids by the river, so we thought it would be fun to take a picture of each ox we find. So here are the first two of the 23. Each ox has a different artist and sponsor.



"Windy"




"Babe the Green Ox"

"Sunset"

Wow! I knew I hadn't blogged in a while but I didn't think it had been this long. These couple of weeks have been kind of busy. We got the boys' room painted(finally),scraped windows and gable ends, and painted the house. Randy's parents helped us scrape some and my parents came for an extended weekend and helped and my brother and his family came and helped for a couple of days too. I should say we helped, it felt like they did most of the work. It's hard to paint and take care of three little kids. Randy and I really appreciated all the help. Thank you again! Here are a couple pictures of the finished project.




After all our company left I did a ton of laundry. As I was pulling more clothes out of the dryer Isaiah saw my overflowing basket and said, "I think you need a couple of your friends to help you!"

The kids and I have been to lots of garage sales, although these last two weeks we've taken a break. The last time we were out Olivia bought a big box of Barbie stuff(furniture, pool, jet ski, campfire...) for $5. In the box there was a little hair drier, not for the Barbies but little girls. It didn't work and so I told Olivia we could try putting in some new batteries. We didn't have any new ones, so I took some out of another toy. The hair drier still didn't work, so I told Olivia it was broken. "No it's not. Can you find the right batteries for it?" I explained those were the right ones but the thing was just broke. She wouldn't except it. She told me a few more times it wasn't broke and she wanted me to buy new batteries. That night before bed she said, "While I'm sleeping can you look for some batteries?" When I told her again it was broken, she said "I told you ten times it's not broken!" Later when we checked on her before we went to bed, she was sleeping on her floor with the hair drier tucked under her arm! When I went to get the camera she turned on her side, but you can still it.



We've spent most of this past week outside. We were at the park three mornings and most afternoons were spent playing in our yard with the neighbors. Our next door neighbor is watching two of her cousins this summer. An 8 year old and a 3 year old(both boys). Our neighbors across the street have two boys also, a almost 5 year old and a 2 year old. The kids really enjoy having someone to play with(I don't mind it myself). Micah likes playing in the little pool. I think we might need a bigger pool though. He had a couple of big trucks in there, his lawn mower and some small sandbox toys.

Some park pictures




The kids found a baby turtle at the park last week and Isaiah really wanted to take it home. I let him. I'm feeling sorry for it now. It's been living in an ice cream bucket and I'm not sure if it's really eating anything(we've given it carrot, lettuce,grape halves). Today Randy and I told them we thought it was time to let "Sunset"(Isaiah named him Louie at first then changed his name the next day to sunset)go. They both fell apart. We'll have to talk about it again. Isaiah wants to get a little aquarium and keep him in his room. Early this week we saw a bigger turtle outside our fence digging holes looking for a place to lay eggs. Olivia said, "We should show it Sunset. It could be his mom because he doesn't have one. It wouldn't have to lay eggs."

Yesterday at the park on of the kids' friends was saying he wished it was winter. His mom told the kids he liked winter because that's when Christmas was. So, in the van today Isaiah and Olivia were saying, "I like snow. I like presents." Micah of course started copying them, but after a few rounds he decided to be his own person and said, "I like Toby Mac."

Do You Need A Hug?

On the way to the park recently,Isaiah says,"I just had an idea. We should have a clean up the world party. We could ask everyone we know. We could drive all over and pick up garbage. I got that idea because I just saw some garbage back there. Do you think that's a good idea?"

Last week when I was mowing I was perspiring quite a bit. When I stopped for a water break Isaiah said, "You have water on your face." "That's not water, it's sweat," I said kind of laughing. "It is? I didn't know you could sweat that much!"

Olivia loves playing with her Barbies and dollies. She'll often ask me if I'll be her baby's Grandma. She'll then come to my house to visit. Sometimes she'll ask me to watch the baby while she goes somewhere that's just for mommies. The other day she asked me, "Can you watch my baby?" "Sure." "If she cries can you feed her? "Do you have a bottle for her?" I asked. "Do you have milk in your body?" she asked. "No." "Okay I'll get her a bottle."

She wanted me to play Barbies with her tonight. She named the Barbies Sarah and Faith after two of my friends. It was cute to hear her pretending to be them.

I brought Olivia in to get her haircut last week. Her hair is always a wreck. Sometimes she'll ask me to fix it, but then she takes it out a little while later. After the lady cut it she straightened it. On the way home I told Olivia that when we washed it it would curl up again. She said, "I don't want to take a bath." "You don't have to take one tonight, but you have to take baths." "I don't want to wash it."



Micah hit his head the other day when he was getting down from a chair in the kitchen. He was kind of fussing and rubbing his head. I was sitting right there and rubbed his head asked if he hit it on the chair. "Yeah, bonk head chair." I asked, "Do you need a hug?" "Yeah." Then he turned and gave the chair a hug!

Micah is in the independent stage. We often hear him say, "I WILL!" with a lot of attitude. I think (hope) that he is getting in his molars. He's usually pretty easy going, but the last couple of weeks he's been pretty crabby and naughty. Thankfully he still makes us laugh.

Mommy, motorcycle!

A couple of weeks ago (already) we were headed somewhere and Randy pointed out a green truck with green flames on it to Isaiah. Isaiah said, "That made my eyes light up."

Micah is infatuated with motorcycles. He's been saying motorcycle whenever he sees one, but this past weekend we went to Rochester he was really excited about them. He'd say, "Mommy, look motorcycle! Mommy, motorcycle!" He even copied Randy and made a vroom vroom sound. When we came out of church there was a motorcycle in the parking lot. "Daddy, motorcycle! Daddy, ride motorcycle!" He was pretty upset when I was trying to buckle him up in his car seat. He started shaking his head back and forth and was yelling, "Ride motorcycle." Randy and I were wondering if we let him have a ride on one if he'd get it out of his system or if he'd love them even more. I remembered this morning I had bought a motorcycle t-shirt for him last summer. I dug it out and showed it to him. He was excited to put it on. I'll have to try to get a picture of him in it when he wakes up.

Thank goodness Mackenzie and Isaak told Isaiah a couple of knock knock jokes this past weekend. At least now he can tell two funny ones mixed in with the ones he makes up. Q.Who's there? A.Who Q.Who who A.what are you an owl or something Q.Who's there A. Boo Q. Boo who A. Why are you crying.

No More Jokes Please!

I found a knock knock joke book today at a garage sale. This afternoon I read some of the ones I thought Isaiah might get. I'm not sure that he got very many and the ones he did get I kind of explained. After I read some he wanted to tell some. Here are some of his. Knock Knock. Who's there? Jenna. Jenna who? Jenna monkey. Knock Knock. Who's there? Freddy. Freddy who? Freddy frog. Knock Knock. Who's there? Freddy bonked me on the nose. We have a long way to go!!

Olivia said to me this afternoon, "Mommy, I want to show you my new trick. First I need to give you some of my money to watch me." She kicks her leg out to the side and then says, "Can I have my money back now?"

Tonight I was reading Olivia a Dora the Explorer book. Dora asks, "Who do we ask for help when we don't know which way to go?" Olivia said, "God(I thought good she's getting it) or a nice eagle could pick us up with it's feet (then again, maybe she isn't)."

We met some friends at the park this morning. Kind of chilly for a park play date but the kids were determined to go. I think Micah was making the other mom's nervous. He thinks he can do anything. He was able to do most of it(fell once)but it was scary to watch sometimes. Olivia gave him a little push down one slide. When he got to the bottom he yelled,"Hey!" up at her and then spit at her.

Signs of Spring

This morning Isaiah was excited to show me something he found in the yard. A dandelion. The first flower in our yard. Later I pointed out the buds on a tree in our yard to him. He then wanted to look around for other changes (signs of spring). We walked around the whole yard and looked at every tree, bush, and some birds. Isaiah spotted another dandelion and said, "Oh, thank heavens!"



A few different times now Isaiah and Olivia have wanted to tell jokes. The only problem is, they don't know any. Tonight at supper Isaiah says, "I want to tell a joke. When do mommy people eat crocodiles?" "I don't know. When?" Randy asked. "That's the joke," was all Isaiah said. I think tomorrow when we go to the library I should look for a kids joke book.

This morning Olivia was playing with a couple of her barbies in the kitchen. I heard her say, "Who's the boss?" "You are momma." Randy has been saying that to the kids quite a bit lately. He heard it on some program on the radio. "Who's the boss?" followed by, "When do you obey?" The correct answers are, "You are" and "Right away". Olivia can be kind of stubborn. One day she got spanked three times before she would tell Randy he was the boss!

Micah makes us laugh every day. Something he says or the way he says it is just so cute. Hard to put into writing though.

Saturday my friend Faith and I had a good laugh. We ordered some coffee and were looking around the coffee shop waiting for our orders. Faith's was done first and the lady called out, "Triple mocha something (I can't remember what she ordered). A minute later she called out my order, "Single white cow". I just looked at Faith and said, "I'm not sure I want to go get that!"

Miracle

In case you didn't hear, we had a snow storm this last Saturday. I think we got about 8 inches of snow. The kids are starting to get confused about which season we're in (me too). We were out running around on Saturday and didn't get home until about 7:00pm. We had to go stand in the driveway to get a better look at the snow hanging in mid air(picture above). Isaiah thought it was pretty cool. Later, after we had been home awhile Isaiah and I were looking out the window and he said, "How does it do that, anyway?" "I don't know," I said. "It's probably a miracle. Jesus must have done that," he said. I think he is right.

I was pretty irritated that it snowed. Not only because it should be spring and raining, but also because I had just washed and put away the kid's coats, snow pants and boots. I had to dig those all out again Saturday morning. Last night Randy and our friend Brent built the kids a snowman. At least some ones enjoying the snow.





Isaiah and Olivia have been pretending a lot lately that they are having babies. They stuff dolls or stuffed animals up their shirts and then go to the hospital to have their babies. Today Isaiah said, "Oh, my baby has the hiccups. Put your hand right here." So I got to feel the babies hiccups. Later he said the same thing and then, "Put our head down here(touching his belly), listen. Burp. The baby just burped."

Olivia really seems to enjoy having her own room. I thought she might get lonely or scared being by herself, but she's not at all. I was going to wait until we had the curtain up to post pictures but I don't know when that will be. I need to paint the rod white and for some reason we can't seem to get anything done around here!