a sweet mix-up

Mike's in Haiti. That's far away. Jonah went to Nineveh. That's also far away.

Mae spotted Mike's water bottle here at home and asked me, "What if Daddy needs a drink in Nineveh? He will have to come home and get his water bottle.".

Oh, how I love to hear their little thoughts.

(I should say---we're learning a song about Jonah in church. Hence Mae's biblical knowledge of the prophet Jonah. It goes like this:

"Jonah was a prophet, tried to run away

But he later learned to listen and obey

If we really try the Lord won't let us fail

That's what Jonah learned deep down inside the whale")

New Words

The kids and I were sitting down to lunch when Quinn turns and looks at me. He gets a big smile on his face, opens his mouth and says happily,

"You're stupid Mama!".

Whoa. Thoughts race through my mind, "What was that?! I don't think so! Try that again, Mr.!".

I look at my 5 year old. He's beaming.

New thoughts enter my mind, "He's trying out a new word. He likes the way it sounds. He doesn't get how hurtful that word is.".

Deep breath. Teaching moment, here I go....

I smile. I ask him where he's heard that word. He doesn't know. I tell him that's not a nice word to say to someone. It's an ugly word, a mean word.

The twins are glued this exchange. The next few minutes made my head spin. But it was a funny spin. A new kind of conversation for me and my kids. It went something like this;

"How about stinky?"

"How about big puffy?"

"Hello Cow!" ouch.

Language. Nice words. Mean words.

My kids are growing up.

The conversation ended with us suggesting happy words to replace bad ones. The phrase that everyone liked best was one Quinn used on my Dad just a few weeks ago. "Hi Gorgeous!". Quinn came up with that one all on his own. I think he's going to turn out alright after all.

Mother's Day

I get to mother these three cuties:

After a wonderful morning of worship and a tasty pasta lunch by Mike (made right before he crashed on his pillow---he worked Saturday, Sat night & Sunday morning) the kids and I took a long nature walk Sunday afternoon to get out of the house while Daddy slept.

Spring, glorious Spring!

It is a joy to walk along the bike trail.

The kids were so cute about Mother's Day. I told them it was a day to give your Mom a gift and tell her you love her. Then I took them to Target (you see where this is going...) and they wanted to buy me everything! It was the cutest thing ever. If I stopped and lingered looking at something (for instance, sunglasses), the kids would say, "I'll get you some sunglasses for Mother's Day!". I laughed as Max held up a Go! Diego watch that he was going to buy for me. Bracelets, rings, shoes, headbands, the kids were ready to put anything I touched into the cart. I could have gone hog wild this Mother's Day! In the end, a nice new red wallet went into the cart, and Mama + kiddies were happy as could be.

Yeah, I'll keep my day job. My co-workers are pretty awesome (Daddy included!). :)

Egg-cellent!!!

Check out Mike's "devil"ed eggs.

You are too cool Honey!

The kindest and best of men........

Someone I love very much just turned 60.

We hopped in the van and drove 20 hours to surprise Dad on his birthday.

The next 2 1/2 weeks flew by. Time with dear Gran & Pa, hilarious Aunts and Uncles, darling cousins (contended sigh)......it was a great trip.

Dad, 60 looks great on you. Your heart grows bigger every year. I think you are really something special.

Recent Happenings

Mike & I threw Quinn a birthday party. It happened on March 22nd, in the a.m., and the theme was "vehicles". This was the first birthday party we've ever done (I took a migraine pill the night before just as a precautionary). I think the 11 kids (plus Mom & Dad) had a "wheel-y" good time.
Here you see the spectacular cake Mike made Quinn. Complete with rocks, pebbles and potholes, this cake was as tasty to eat as it was fantastic to look at.

The Twins celebrated their 3rd birthday on March 28th.

What a pair of cuties.

I adore age 3.

Mike had Friday off (hip hip hooray!) so we spent the day at the Children's Museum in St. Paul.

Our favorite galleries were; Earth World & Habitot. At Earth World, the kids scrambled through an anthill to find the queen ant and played make-believe wearing beaver, ant and turtle costumes. Habitot, was the place where Max & Mae (and too-big Quinn) enjoyed exploring Minnesota's "habitots"; prairie, cave, pond and forest. There were fabric flowers for plucking; mirrors for gazing; buttons for pushing; and peek-a-boo holes for exploring.

The special exhibit; Dinosaurs, Land of Fire and Ice was neat. We have an awesome CD at home called Here Comes Science (the group: They Might Be Giants) on which one track is called, I Am A Paleontologist. The kids LOVE this song so to see a life-size edmontosaurus was truly a treat.

Life is good in Minnesota. We had a wonderful Easter weekend. With the sweet knowledge of Christ's resurrection in our home, delicious holiday food and time spent with dear friends, our Easter holiday was a special one.

Thanks for visiting our blog!

The Big Day: March 9th

He's 5!

Quinn was crazy-excited about opening his birthday gifts. I mean, like no one I've ever seen before...SO excited.

Quinn has a serious sweet tooth. His birthday meals consisted of; Chocolate Marshmallow Mateys for breakfast, Twinkies for lunch, Chocolate marble cake with chocoate frosting for dinner, and his own bag of jelly beans for snacking throughout the day. This face is a classic Quinn face. He's such a cute, goofy kid!

We all had a great time celebrating Quinn last Tuesday. He LOVED being in the spotlight and having all the attention on him. Max & Mae are looking forward to their turn at the end of this month.

Side note--at the beginning of March, Mike built a snow cave in our backyard. He made this mound of snow by climbing on our roof and shoveling all the rooftop snow into a big pile just off our deck. Mike looked at me when it was done and said, "It's big enough for us to sleep in.". Had I given him any encouragement, I'm sure our family of five would have been sleeping Eskimo-style that very night. Luckily, I was able to maintain a dignified silence. :)