Amelia Bedelia moments

J has a fun personality - enthusiastic and cheerful about almost everything.  He can even make shopping entertaining.  Yesterday we went to the grocery store and stopped by to pick up some butter.  I commented  to myself (about the price), "Wow, butter really jumped up." J laughed and laughed.  "Mom, the butter not jump up.  It not do like this!" (His hand "jumps" up in the air to demonstrate).  Then, when we were leaving the store, we went by the Salvation Army bell ringer and he starts laughing again.  "Mom, that's not an ice cream truck.  It's not!"

Indian gift

My husband spent a week in India on a work trip. He is pictured on the far left wearing some of the gifts they gave him.

Picture

Back on the farm with Uncle Trent

Joshua's latest milestone

Joshua can now ride a trike by pedaling!  Thus far, he has gone very fast "flintstone" style, and I have been trying to get him to pedal, but to no avail.  We went to a play center this morning where there were trikes, and he did pretty well; I attributed it to the different design of the trike and the fact that he was riding on a smooth surface.  But when we got home, he hopped on his trike and just took off!

New number

My younger boys have come up with a new number: octeen.  They burst into giggles whenever they say it, they love to count to it (it can come after any number).  If they are counting on their fingers and get to octeen, they use their sign for it: the "ok" sign.  And, most recently, they have started to call other people octeen.  My latest example is when we were at Ace getting some stain for our picnic bench.  An older-than-middle-age worker helped mix up the stain since they didn't have any of the right color on hand.  As he was walking with me to the check out, the boys kept calling in a loud voice, "Thank you Mr. Octeen!  Good bye Mr. Octeen!"   After explaining to the worker that it was just a made-up number, he replied, "Does that mean I am old???"  I wasn't exactly sure how to answer that...

Our life in pictures

E's field trip to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch. You can see her princess backpack. The boys and I went along as well!

New dress up

What happens when I let them brush their teeth by themselves...

My big helper (making banana bread) The stool is the perfect height. 

Homecoming!  I made the banner, torch, and medal. 

My own Curious George.

Two peas in a pod

Building is always more fun with a puppy hat.

I started out with good intentions - a little shaving cream with food coloring on cookie sheets at the dining room table.  Just for fun and to help stimulate their sense of touch. Not long after we began, I moved them to the bathtub, and then... well, boys will be boys as you can see.  

Birthday!

We visited Oma over Labor Day weekend!