Kid Quotes of the Day - Caleb

This morning as we were about ready to leave for church, Caleb was the first to head towards the car. Discovering that the door to the garage was still locked, he immediately cried out "Jesus, help me! Jesus, help me!" His prayer was immediately answered in the form of Mommy, so pleased that he knows who to cry out to when he's really stuck.

Then after dinner Caleb announced he was still hungry. I handed him a banana as I started to clear the dishes, and overheard him say "I love you banana!" before devouring it. Priceless moments with our 3 year old...

Abby's Big Day

Today was a big day for the littlest one! She said her first word - with meaning - and I have witnesses. My heart is melting. It was "Mama." She kept looking at me and saying it over and over. I can't believe my 6 month old is talking.

71

The 71 items on this table are what I found today hidden underneath or behind the furniture when I decided to vaccuum. Let it be known that vaccuuming is a regular occurrence at this home. But we have a Caleb, and he hides everything. At least I have an idea of where to look for things next time.

Score: - Raccoon: 2 - Peter: 0

By the time I got back, the 'coon was gone. He was apparently able to lift a quite hefty side door. I had heard of the crafty nature of coons and was a little leery of leaving him there while I got a thunder stick. Next time, I am just going to get my knife out and whittle a sharp stick.

Vengeance is mine!

So last night spomething killed two of our chickens. We thought it got in through a loose door, so we fixed that. Lo and behold, while eating dinner tonight he came back for more. I trapped him in the hen house and am on my way to the store to buy something to kill it. TNT might be a little too destructive and I am sure there is a waiting period, so I think we are looking at a pellet gun. - Peter
Sent from my Blackberry

Breakfast Conversation

During breakfast this morning Daniel had a few questions:

Daniel: "Mommy, what does 'stubborn and rebellious' mean?"

Mommy: "Well, rebellious means that if I tell you to go to the bathroom and wash your hands, and you say 'NO! I will not!,' you are being rebellious. Stubborn means to get your mind set on something and then refuse to change your mind."

Daniel: Pauses..."Mommy, what does 'temporal values' mean?"

Mommy: (Wondering where he heard that term and how to explain it to a 4 year old...) "Well, it means to be concerned only with something that is not going to last, something temporary."

Daniel: "Oooooh. I don't want that. I want to have NOCTURNAL values!"

So cute. I love that he wants to have "eternal" values, but still doesn't know that right word for it. His heart is in the right place.

A Tale of Two Noses

This morning during our family devotions both the boys both had runny noses.

Finally, Daniel springs up off the couch announcing that he getting a tissue. He grabs a kleenex and promptly wipes his nose over and over in a downward motion making a complete mess. Then he triumphantly puts the tissue back in the box. Yuck!

As if to not be outdone, Caleb grabs his bare foot and promptly wipes his nose with his big toe. Yuck!

Can you reach your nose with your toes? It's not easy! Go on, try it!

Daniel's Dream

This morning Daniel wandered in and announced that he had had a dream:

"Daddy! Last night I had a dream!"

Peter responded "What was it Buddy? Do you want to tell me?"

"Yes. It was about Jesus and idols."

By way of backround information, our pastor preached about idols several months ago, and Daniel was really listening. For months now he has spontaneously reminded us that 'we don't bow down to idols!' at various random moments.

Peter continued to probe, so Daniel went on:

"A lot of people were bowing down and worshipping idols!"

"Oh, that's not good. Were you in the dream?"

"Yes."

"What did you do?"

"I did NOT bow down to the idols!"

"That's good. Did you do anything in your dream?"

"Yes. I did not bow down to the idols. Instead, I went over and sat by Jesus - and He LOVED me."

(Smiles shared by Mommy and Daddy...)

"That's right Buddy. Jesus does love you. Thanks for sharing your dream with me."

It is so special to see my little 4 year old learning to know and love Jesus. He has a sweet and open heart. Beneath all that loud, blustery, tough boy exterior is a very sensitive heart. Of all things for him to remember about the dream, I'm glad it was that Jesus loved him.

Letting Imaginations Fly

One thing that I love about home educating our children is that they have lots of time to develop their creative side. Sometimes they amaze me with a hidden talent or interest, and sometimes they just make me laugh with some crazy idea.


Their most recent past-time has had a lot of role-playing. Daniel has a knight costume, complete with shield and sword (a la leftover bargains after Halloween!) and his recent mission in life has been to protect "his lady" (Hannah) and the children (Caleb and Abby), from the bad bad giant (a very large weed) in the backyard. He hacks away at the giant, and trims him down to size, and then grabs Hannah's hand and races her away from the bad giant and up to their castle - the play structure that Peter built. Hannah, always up for a good pretend, plays along with all kinds of fainting and flowery words, while attired in big cherry printed rainboots, muddy clothes and a delicate flower crown. It is worth the price of admission!!!


Early (as in 6:30) this morning they were emperor penguins, taking turns with their egg (a small travel alarm clock), alternately standing very still with the egg on their feet (penguins keep the egg on their feet tucked under their "brood pouch"), and racing to the ocean (Mommy and Daddy's shower) to eat up all the fish and krill they could, then "tobagganing" back (on their tummies) to the other one to trade places.


Sometimes Daniel is a soldier and Hannah is a military nurse. Here she gives him "CPR," while he waits patiently


then she writes him a prescription.


In case you can't read it, it says:

Daniel's Prescription: Daniel is going to spend most of his life in bed, so by the time he is 60 years old, he will be able to go back to war. The bad news is, that when he is 70 years old his scars can kill him.

So with all that drama in mind, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised this morning when I discovered that Hannah LOVES - opera. It is sooooo dramatic!!! Yesterday we studied the composer Richard Wagner, so I asked my dad if he had any Wagner recordings to supplement our study. (Most people think to teach art from a classical method - studying the masters, but I am not artistic. However, I do LOVE music, so we study music in the classical way - studying the masters.) So far, I've had lots of recordings to share, but I'm not that much into the heavy orchestral mode of Wagner, although I did grow up hearing a good amount of it, as my dad was a devoted opera fan for many years.

This morning I popped "Lohengrin" into the VHS after Peter left so I could nurse without distraction. Hannah was glued. So was Daniel. I could not pry them away - even for breakfast almost an hour later! They can hardly wait to watch more!


All this seems very providential because Peter and I have always joked that Daniel was destined for opera because he has the most amazing projection ability while still carrying a tune. Unfortunately for him, he is only allowed to be an attorney or rocket scientist - according to Hannah.


Oh well. Maybe I should teach them to multi-task their make-believe. ???

Hannah's Explanation of Her Photographic Memory

I was driving Hannah to ballet the other day, when we had this interchange:

Hannah: "Mommy, do you know how I remember things?"

Mommy: Eager to understand (!) "No, please tell me!"

Hannah: "My eyes take a picture of everything I see. So signs that we pass, stores that we pass, books that I read - I take a picture with my eyes. Then I put the picture in my brain. When I want to remember it, I take out the picture and look at it again."

Mommy: Wishing she had such a memory..."Oh! That makes sense." Now testing her as we pass a sign for an accountancy corporation "So, what did the sign in front of that brown building we just passed say?"

Hannah: "Hmmm. We went kind of fast. That picture is blurry."

Spring Cleaning Peter's Office

Yesterday, being a holiday, seemed the perfect time for our annual cleaning of Peter's office.

Peter (I love him!), is never going to be in danger of being called a "neat freak." He has a unique ability (that I unfortunately do not share) to be able to focus so completely on whatever task is at hand, that he can entirely block out EVERYTHING around him. That can mean that if he's working on his laptop at home, and kids are falling off the coffee table and landing all around him crying, he is completely unfazed until I come running from another room to help said children. In the case of his office, that means he is all but completely unaware of the stacks surrounding him.

Granted that he's got a lot in front of him. I like to tease him that he is secretly running some kind of security company because he isn't content with one, or even two monitors. He's got three of them lined up in a row on his credenza and he just moves from one end to the other - literally. It cracks me up! Now he's even got his office manager and his associate using two monitors. But I digress...

So we cleaned up the office. What that means is that I clean up as much junk as I can first. If there are new books, I shelve them and toss out prior editions if needed. Then we just sit there while I hold up things in front of him and he tells me where to put it.

In the process, I took 3 loads of trash to the dumpster, removed 13 rotten apples, 4 very sad oranges, and a stinky slab of string cheese in separate lunch bags under his desk, recovered 14 legal pads with only the front page used, and retrieved one of Hannah's paper dolls peeking out from a limb on an artificial plant.

I also found multiple brochures, texts, and materials that referenced or cited him as a contributor, author or speaker. While I hear what he does on an daily basis, it was so good for me to step back and see how he is involved in the community by speaking, organizing, writing and leading, all "on the side." Those things aren't even part of his every day job description of helping people at the end of their financial rope, running a law practice, administrating a law school, and leading our growing family. Wow. It gave me a new respect and appreciation for my busy husband. He's always doing something!

All that to say, that if he piles up junk in the process, I'm OK with it. That's what I'm good at - cleaning up after people. I'm just proud of my husband, and I'm glad to help in my little small ways. He's worth it, and I love him.

A Secret Revealed

After being married for almost 7 years, Peter told me something this morning that I never would have imagined about him:

"If I weren't a lawyer, I would want to be an earth mover. I think I'd like to drive a bulldozer."

Now we know where the boys get it...