At the Fall Fun Fest

Tonight we went over to the Fall Fun Fest at our church.  There are tons of games to play and plenty of candy and prizes.  There are bounce houses, pizza by the slice, a cakewalk, a maze, and lots of friends.  The kids have been looking forward to this shabang for the entire month of October.  And it really is fun to watch them be so excited.  Christian had already eaten half his body weight in candy ten minutes after we arrived (not really, just in case someone was thinking I'm a stellar mother right about now), so that he literally couldn't stop moving.  He jumped from one foot to the other whenever he came over to ask me a question or tell me which game he was going to do next.  It was like watching a kangeroo on speed.  

Here are some pictures from this evening. 

Lessons

Some Most days it is so hard to stay on task.  We are all so easily distracted.  And it's not always something bad, but it's just not math when we're supposed to be doing math, or history when we're supposed to be doing history.  

Today, instead of doing her schoolwork, Michaela found a CD and stuck it in the player in our dining room floor (why is there a small CD player in your dining room floor, you ask; I don't really know, but it's been there so long, that it kind of goes there now.) and began to listen to it.  When I realized what it was I stopped in my tracks and tilted my head to the side and thought,"Now, where do I go with this one?"

She and Eliana were listening to Bible stories, and looking at the stories at the same time.  Well, Eliana was more interested in looking at the CD player and its buttons.  But Michaela was following along and finding the stories in the Bible that were playing on the CD.  I couldn't very well say,"Quit listening to the Bible stories!  Quit reading your Bible!"  My heart is full of joy that those are the things she wants to do with her time. 

And we did get back to our schoolwork shortly.  I took the chance to switch the laundry, or make a bed, or something else productive.  I believe in using my time efficiently.  Isn't it obvious? 

Schedules would come in very handy around here, I think.  Yes, I'll work on that...

"In Her Shoes"

 She loves to do whatever Michaela is doing, be wherever Michaela is, and she loves to put her shoes on. 

This made me think of the movie with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette; great movie, not a comedy, but poignant (and I don't even have a sister).  Hopefully our family won't be that dysfunctional. 

That has nothing to do with anything.  Back to Eliana...I love it when she tries to put on someone else's shoes.  It cracks me up.  It also runs in the family...

Of course, Michaela had no big sister to go to for shoes, so she chose her daddy's. 

Now, those are some big shoes to fill...

Thursday, Part II

Last Thursday, we captured most of our moments digitally.  Due to some issues that we had to sort out, I was not able to include this last week, but now we are a go...

Christian's class helped to lead chapel worship for his school Thursday.  I was able to go and be a part of that experience, which was precious.  They are learning to worship the Lord with praise, by studying and learning His word, and by praying with thanksgiving.  What an offering!  I wanted to share this worship with others; it is a few minutes long if you're interested.  It is a blessing to me to see my children lifting up their voices, and their talents, to their Savior. 

Yeast Infection

I've got a bug! It's a bread-making bug! This is what I did today (among many other productive things, of course)...

I don't want to toot my own horn, I really don't. But I think they turned out so pretty! So golden brown! So herby! So crusty on the outside and soft on the inside! I was impressed that the recipe actually worked, all I did was follow the instructions. I've never made a yeast bread from scratch before. At least that I can remember. I've done a ton of baking. My bottom knows that's true. But this was my first try with bread. Oh, I did do pizza dough and this definitely turned out better (see about that here). 

Christian said,"This is my favorite bread, ever!"  Michaela said,"It's so good.  It's like the bread from the store."  (I think that's a compliment.)  Mike said,"You made this?"  It was satisfying.  And to top it all off, even Eliana ate it.  That's saying something.