Halloween Pics

Dash...
Super Turtle
and superman showing off his massive chest muscles.

Happy Halloween!

Yes, Isaiah is wearing two costumes. He couldn't decide between a Ninja Turtle or Superman, but her finally did commit to the turtle suit for the evening.




Costume pics of our super heroes.

Wild West Fall Fest

Elijah has been looking forward to our church's Wild West Fall Fest since they started talking about it a month ago. He was not disappointed. The kids had all kinds of fun playing games, winning candy, riding horses and eating s'mores. This was the first "horsey ride" for all of the boys, so it's a day to remember.

Ladies Retreat

Our annual seminary wives' women's retreat was last weekend, and as always we had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect, and we had much needed opportunities to spend quiet time with the Lord and quality time with each other. I met a courageous friend from Korea who knows very little English, has a 10 month old baby, and jumped into an environment completely foreign to her. Her name is Hye-Seong (Hay-sung kind of) and we spent quite a bit of time together, learning about each other. She amazes me because she has only been in the US for a few months, she knows almost no one, and her limited English makes it difficult to get to know anyone, yet she is smiling and taking risks to follow God's call on her family's life.

The other lovely lady in the picture is Angela, a good friend and fellow babysitting co-op member. Her daughter Mackenzie rides the bus with Elijah and she has a beautiful red-headed baby boy.
Retreat center pictures. A nice place to spend time with the Creator.
Look mom, the leaves are starting to change color... finally. :)

Pumpkin Patch and Carving

The only way to get a decent picture of Elijah... make him sit down and be ready!
The boys in the giant chair at the pumpkin patch.
Daddy carving our pumpkin.
Papa doing the detail work. Check Papa's blog later for some pictures of the boys pulling out pumpkin goo.
This is Elijah making the face that he wanted us to carve on the pumpkin. He's been showing Eric and I this same face all week saying, "I want our pumpkin to look like this!" How did we do? Is it close?

Pumpkin Patch Days

Oddly enough, Isaiah wanted to be carried or held all afternoon. Usually he is Mr. Independent.
"Hmmm, I wonder how long it would take me to completely disappear if I jumped out of this wagon right now."
Micah helping Nana look for the perfect pumpkin. Our child most concerned with perfection was in his element. Elijah and Isaiah tend to pick the first pumpkin they see.
According to the mathematically precise giant orchard apple, Micah is 3ft. 4 inches tall. We'll have to find last year's picture to compare. Isaiah wouldn't stand next to it. He was a little freaked out by the giant smiling apple for some reason.
Nana lovin on the boys. I'm going to have to look for a picture of Elijah. I'm telling you, that kid is a master at avoiding the camera. Every time you're about to snap is picture, he bolts away to do something new so all you get is the back of his head or the blur of his arms and legs moving away at light speed. Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch was made even more special this year since Nana and Papa could join us.

Summer 2006

Just a little reminiscing... these pics are all from last summer. It's fun to see how they've changed. This year I don't feel like they've changed as much as years past. I think we're mostly past the exponential growth phases.

Elijah Reads!

This video has sound but it's really low because I just used the digital camera to record it. We wanted to capture the momentous event of Elijah's first book- the first book he has been able to read all by himself. After some help the first couple of times through, he read it to both of his brothers several times. It is a library book called This Car, and all three of the boys loved it. Elijah is so proud of himself for reading. He often says, "Mommy, I'm reading my first words" when he sounds something out on his own. He is learning and changing so quickly right now. He points out his sight words (aka popcorn words) everywhere we go. :)

On Being Boy

What is it about boys that makes them want to take risks? When we have little girls over to our house, they rarely play on the playset in the same ways the boys do. To the boys, the treehouse is a mountain to be explored, climbed and conquered in every way. To girls, it is a house, a fort, a home, a cave, a shelter, a car, a space to be tamed and domesticated with chalk drawings, but rarely the source of risk. I thought about trying to keep the boys from climbing up onto the rails for a while, but I knew it would be a long, painful battle for both of us that would probably result in them not wanting to play in the thing at all, so here they are, doing what they do best, taking risks to conquer the world.