All My Boys

I just had to take advantage of all the boys sitting so still and in one spot ... we always try for a picture like this and never get it! Finally! And, even with one extra (Cruz). But, he is just like part of the family. The trick: put on a video!

Weekend Camping Trip

On Saturday afternoon we embarked on an overnight canoeing and camping trip. We stopped along the river so the boys could get out and play on sandbars and climb sandy cliffs. They love to play in the sand. We snacked on trail mix along the way. Emmett was fearfull of falling out of the canoe, so he sat between my legs for a long time on the first day. Around 4:00pm we stopped at a sandbar to set up camp for the night. After Aaron built the tent, the windy conditions caused it to blow around. Thankfully, the wind gradually died down as evening approached. After gathering firewood, we started a fire and roasted hotdogs. Aaron gave the kids a bath in the river with biodegradable shampoo. Soon the sun fell behind the trees and darkness descended on our camp. At 8:30pm, we exhausted our remaining firewood supply and headed for the tent for a game of Pass the Pigs. We had a rough night of sleeping. It started out okay, but then discomfort set in. Then the temperature dropped to 45 degrees. In an effort to be minimalists, we brougt only 2 blankets and 2 pillows. At 2:30am we frantically tried to make a fire. Aaron and I trudged across cold, wet sand to gather dew covered branches. Ethan and Emmett woke immediately and joined us. We had a fire going for about 2 or 3 minutes and then we were cold again. The wet wood was impossible to ignite. We returned to the tent disheartened and frigid. We cuddled closely and slept for an hour and a half. Then we tossed for a while and just waited for the sun to rise. As the sun peeked over the trees, the temperature inside the tent rose quickly. Our spirits warmed. We ate breakfast and headed back on the water. By noon we were finished canoeing. Overall, the trip was a great family adventure. We can't wait to do it again...with more firewood and bedding.

I Cor. 10:13

It has happened once again. This morning I was reading from a few different books--I am great at starting books but rarely finish them--and I came upon the same verse in both books.

Last week, as I was reading from Teach Them Diligently the author referenced a scripture verse that could be used in many disciplining situations:
I Cor. 10:13. I jotted it down but forgot about it.

This morning I was reading from Be Angry, but Don't Blow It!. The author quoted a Bible verse: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." I Cor. 10:13. I thought to myself, "This is a verse I need to put on a notecard and place in my house." (The number of notecards I have posted around the house is growing, and Aaron jokes with me about this. So, I am sure he'll be happy to know I have found another). I finished the chapter I was reading and grabbed Teach them Diligently. I remembered I had a verse to look up from the last time I was reading it. I opened my Bible to the passage and discovered it was the same verse I had just read!

This is always so exciting to me and initially so hard for me comprehend. But, then I remember it is God who is revealing this to me and ask myself WHY I am so amazed ... he is God, afterall.

Here I am reading one book about how to work on an area in my life that needs correcting, and at the same time trying to figure out how to use God's word to bring correction to my kids, never thinking the two paths would cross. I just found it amazing this morning that God revealed this truth to me to use in my own life and the lives of my children.

Transferring Activity

I tried a transferring activity with Ethan the other day during nap time. He enjoyed this. I gave him tweezers and put marshmallows in a medicine cup and an empty one for transferring. I thought we'd start with something soft so it would be easier to grasp. He did great! As you can see, he transferring some to his mouth. We did it, too, with chocolate chips.

Today, I gave Emmett and Ethan the opportunity to try transferring water in small metal creamers. They loved this, too, but they fought over it. So, I pulled out the medicine cups again. We tried rice, too, but I had to run the phone out to Aaron and when I came back they were transferring it to the floor! So, that was the end of our educational activities for the day. I thought I should probably have them clean it up, but rice on a hard floor and kids sweeping ... no thanks, I'll just let it be a lost opportunity for teaching them with natural consequences.

Fort Fun

Tonight we are watching my brother's kids so they can go on a date. As soon as I walked away to dry my hair after my first shower of the day (at 5:30 pm) I heard loud dumping noises. I came back downstairs to discover what they call a "barn" being built. This is when they take all the toys and make a big pile. So, I nipped that in the bud. To focus their energy, we made this fort. I just kept looking around for more things to add on to it. We have the papasan frame, a Step 2 slide, 2 folding chairs, a beanbag toss and a coffee table. They are loving it. It is keeping them occupied and it should be a quick clean up! Right now Aaron, a.k.a. the monster, is attacking them.

Ethan peeking out.

My attempt at snapping a picture inside the fort. Here is Brayden and Emmett.

Sweet Corn

Sunday night my parents called to say that my Uncle Bob had an over-abundance of sweet corn to be picked if we wanted some. I mentioned it to Aaron and he seemed interested. Monday morning my dad called again to let us know my mom would help us boil and bag it to freeze it. So, I called my sister-in-law, April, to see if they were going to do sweet corn, too. She was undecided; we decided we could all work together and tag-team with the kids.

At 10:00 I left my house to ride my bike to her house so the kids could play a while. We decided to pick corn with the kids. They had a blast! Unfortunately, we couldn't get any pictures. My Grandma was there and the boys helped her. They were picking corn, knocking down stalks, playing hide n seek, and just exploring the corn field. Now, for those of you who are stressed about kids playing in a corn field ... it was a very small corn field, we couldn't have lost them.

What started as a 1 hour play date, ended as a 12 hour Freezer Corn Fest. We went back to April's, dumped the trailer load of corn, ate lunch, went back and picked another trailer load. Came back and started husking the corn!!! As we started, my dad brought another trailer load over for us to husk. We husked corn for close to 4 hours!! Aaron came right after work to help.

My parents brought over burgers and we ate burgers and sweet corn, what else? Then, we got to work boiling, cutting, and bagging. My mom and Brad watched the kids. My dad manned the kettles, April, Aaron and I cut and bagged (I think we had the most fun). My mom and Brad bathed the kids and put them to bed. My mom took our kids home and put them to bed and folded all my laundry and put bedding on the beds. (I forgot I stripped the beds ... I didn't plan to be gone all day). What an angel my mom is.

We really did have a blast doing the corn. It was a lot of work. Our backs hurt from husking and standing and our wrists hurt from cutting, but we had a great time joking around and sharing in each other's company.

Thanks Uncle Bob and Mom!

From My Devotional

This morning as I was reading from my book, Be Angry But Don't Blow It, by Lisa Bevere I came upon something she wrote that I wanted to share with all who read my blog.

"Though this present world may be filled with depravity and perverseness, darkness cannot shroud or overcome our light. Look up at the stars of this universe--they punctuate a sky of darkness with such beauty that on a clear and starry night it is never the darkness we notice but the small beacons of hope that pierce it. When God looks down at this creation of darkness, it is the light of His children that He notices. Hold high for the lamp of His Word and shine it forth as a beacon of hope and truth for generations to follow."

The Canoe Trip that Wasn't

Aaron just recently sold his kayak so we could spend time on the water together as a family.

Last night Aaron and I went to buy a canoe. My brother and sister-in-law kept our kids for us and even had them spend the night. It was a very relaxing time for Aaron and I. We (well, I) talked a lot on the way there and back; we browsed Scheels at a leisurely pace, and ate at Texas Roadhouse.

A little after noon we headed out to try out our new canoe. About 10 minutes into our drive, something fell out of the Explorer! We pulled over and Aaron said, "That's my power steering!" He searched the road for the pieces. We backed into a nearby farm and played outside and waiting for his dad to come get us. While we waited we tried out the timer on our camera to get a family picture. Ethan discovered a dead butterfly in the grill of the Explorer. He studied it for a while and then ripped it up like only a little boy would. Emmett was content to carry around the thermos and try to pick the corn growing in the field. Hopefully we can try out our new canoe soon!

Down on the Farm

Last night we went to a farm experience put on by Family Resources. The boys got to see and touch rabbits, goats, a donkey, and chickens. They also got to feed hay to the goats and donkey. Emmett was not interested in touching or feeding the animals. But, he did like getting the hay for us. They also got to go in the chicken coop and touch a chicken, and there was one egg that a chicken had laid.



After seeing the barn and animals, we walked through the garden and looked at what was growing. We saw a lot of pumpkins and apple trees. Here are my boys by an apple tree.



There was a sandbox, merry-go-round, refreshments and a little chick craft. Here they are eating watermelon; the first time they have eaten it like this! A cute idea they did was put corn pops and candy corn in bags and called it chicken feed. They also make paper frogs with a hole where their mouths would be and stuck a paper party blower in it to look like its tongue. Let me tell you, that was our saving grace for the first 20 minutes in Kohl's. We went there after the farm and after the blowers ripped from too much spit being forced through them, it was all downhill!



Here is the little chick craft they had for the kids. This was such an easy and cute craft. They took baby powder mixed with yellow powdered tempra paint and put it in a paper bag. The kids got to drop in 2 cottonballs and shake. Then, they took the cotton balls out and dipped them in glue on a paper plate. They stuck one in the bottom of an egg carton cup and then dipped the other and stuck it on top. They had felt triangles and circles cut out that the kids also dipped in glue and stuck on the cotton balls. So cute!




They had a great time! Emmett is sitting on my lap while I do this and he keeps asking me if we can go to the farm today!

Rosie's Walk

This morning we extended our activities from yesterday with more about the book Rosie's Walk. We reread the story, talked about it and then talked about predators and prey. After completing this the boys and I made the story setting with Legos. Here is a picture of it. We made the hen house, the milk cans, the rake, the barn, the pond, the haystack, the windmill, the fence and the beehives. Then, we walked a farmer around the farm. I wanted to show them that the story started and ended in the same place. While I did this post I had them clean up the Legos with the promise of M&Ms. It timed out perfectly, so I need to go hand out those rewards.

Concert in the Park

Tonight we met Jake, Tabitha and the girls at the Concert in the Park. First, Yogi Bear and Cindy Bear came out to sing and dance. Ethan liked them, but wouldn't go dance on the dance floor. Emmett was very unsure of the whole thing and cowered on Aaron's lap. Then, the Apple Annies performed. Ethan and Emmett suddenly wanted to go out and dance. That was great. What wasn't great is HOW they were dancing! They both ran out there with their shirts in their mouths exposing their bellies. Quite embarrassing I must admit. Think about if that was your child out there running around like that for about 5 minutes. Then, I realized most people didn't know who their parents were ... that is until we had to go get them for being a bit too rough around some other kids ... again, embarrassing. They had a great time and actually didn't want to leave. When I kissed Emmett goodnight he asked me to sing the "scarf song." That was a song they sang tonight to the tune of "Bingo" about Cindy the Bear. Thanks Tabitha for the picture so I can remember this moment for the rest of my life!

What we Did this Morning

We've been quite busy this morning. I asked the boys as I was pouring their milk where we get milk. Emmett said, "cows!" Ethan said, "We can make butter from milk!" He knows this from a recent Thomas episode where Thomas drove the milk too fast and the shaking turned it to butter. So, I called my mom and asked if all we had to do was shake up some cream; she checked online and confirmed. So, we tried it in a baby food jar. We took turns shaking while we were eating and we sang a song while each child shook ... ABC's, Days of the Weeks, The Continents and The Oceans. Here is Ethan shaking and Cruz showing off our final product.




We then went into Emmett's room for our Circle Time. I found a great book at the library last night, Peak with Books: An Early Child Resource for Balanced Literacy. This contains units for many, many children's books. So, I checked out Rosie's Walk and we did some of the activities from this book this morning. After reading and discussing the book, we acted it out. First, we had to find objects to represent things in the story. The dresser was the hen house, the papasan mattress was the pond, the beanbag was the haystack, a pillow was the mill, the chairs were the fence and the table was the beehives. This activity allowed them to act out the story as well as work on their directional words: around, over, past, through, under etc. They had a blast doing this. Here's the boys waiting to hear the story and acting out the story.





Next, we did did our Tape Activity from the blog contest we won on Merranda's blog. Contrary to her experience, this was not a wonderful time for us. It started out that way, but it quickly deteriorated. Ethan and Brayden had a great time stringing the tape ... Brayden really did a great job. Emmett, Cruz and Zach, though got quite discouraged when they would get stuck in the tape. Emmett also got angry when the tape he put up would fall down. I had to step in to make it "really cool". As Merranda said, though, they LOVED to make it into a ball and then we played catch with that for a while.



The last thing we did, also inspired from a book I found last night, was some craft stick activities. We had sticks that we had to match the colors, we had sticks that had patterns to match and sticks that made little puzzles. The kids loved the new materials to manipulate. Brayden and Ethan of course wanted to use them as swords! But, they all did want to complete the task set before them. Here is Ethan with his pairs, all of them working so well together, and Cruz and Emmett with their finished puzzles (that, honestly, I pretty much did).






After all that stimulation I thought they could afford to play alone a while while I posted this so their parents could see what we did today. Now, I will bid you farewell and go clean up a crazy mess which I would show a picture of, but that would just take longer!

Sleepover at Grandma's

Last night Grandma Treu decided on a whim to have the 4 oldest grand boys spend the night at her house. So, around 8:30, Ethan, Emmett, Carson and Brayden arrived to spend the night. They snacked on popcorn, Skittles, licorice, and fruit snacks. They finally fell asleep around 11:30 and woke a little after 6:00 this morning!

After breakfast, Grandma took them down to the ponds to pick blackberries for her mom, Great Grandma Geier. She enjoys fresh blackberry pie made with 7 Minute Frosting. I rode my bike to the ponds, too, to help and take pictures. How unusual to ride a bike without an extra 80 lbs. behind!




Grandma said Emmett was the most diligent picker, but it looks to me like he ate most of what he picked. But, by the look on his face, they weren't the sweetest berries on the bush.





I went home to shower and get my car while Grandma bathed the boys. When I arrived back to my mom's the boys were making sugar cookies. Ethan, Emmett and Brayden helped stir up the dough, but Carson watched TV and asked to be told when it was into dough (so he could eat some, of course).





Usually a recipe calls for the pan to be floured ... this time it was Emmett who was floured! While they made cookies, my mom had me go into town and buy each child a happy meal. I stopped at Ginny's and got Tomato Bisque soup for my mom and I, too. (I figured she deserved it after all her hard work.)




After lunch, the boys played with their McDonald's toys. They were starting to show the signs of lack of sleep: little brawls, whiny voices, impatience etc. We quickly loaded them into the cars with the cookies and berries and headed to Great Grandma's house. Emmett was the only one not too shy to give Great Grandma her cookies and berries. They were just little balls of energy, there, too. So, we quickly scooted them outside. Great Grandma was very thankful for the berries. I had to add both these pictures, because Great Grandma isn't looking in the first one but the boys all look so cute, and in the second one they all look like such stinkers but Great Grandma is looking! The endless challenge of getting a good picture with multiple children!





On the car ride home both my boys fell asleep, and are sleeping still now.

Thanks Grandma for all the fun!

Funny Little Story

My parents own land with many a blackberry bush. So, every year about this time Aaron and I and the boys go picking. Today my mom and my nephew Carson picked. She said there are a lot of berries in the woods, but it would be poky picking. So, she offered to keep our boys while we picked. I asked if she had any food we could eat for supper, too ... presumptuous I know. She said she did. As I was cleaning up my kitchen I found that I had a bag of green beans I had received from my in-laws that I had not eaten yet as well as some cucumbers. So, I peeled the cucumbers and made the cucumber salad I grew up with. In the process I almost added a zucchini to the salad but realized it wasn't a cucumber right as I was ready to peel it. I also washed the beans and snapped the ends and called her to ask if I should bring the beans for supper, forgetting I had made the cucumber salad. She said that I could bring the beans, but didn't need to since she had made cucumbers already. I said, "I did too!" She said, "I only did because I had to use them up." I said, "me too!" I said, "yeah, I almost added a zucchini too and realized it at the last minute." She said, "Me too!" We got a kick out of it and I thought maybe someone else might think a little garden humor was funny, too.

Cute Kid Creating

Here are some pictures too cute to not share. April and the boys stopped by one night on a bike ride and the boys tore off to the trail. Here's a cute picture of Zach, the only one not moving too fast for me to capture a picture.



We tried to make stepping stones with misc. materials and quick crete. They didn't turn out, though, I think I added too much water. They were really cute too. But, here is Emmett making a silly face.




One of the first things the boys do when we go outside is dig in the sand where we one day hope to have a deck. I even bought sand to put in their turtle sandbox, and they took most of it shovelfull by shovelfull to this area instead. Here's just a great picture of two cute little boys, Ethan and Brayden.




I have found that painting outside is much less stressful than painting in the house. Yesterday we did it the easy way ... with the paint with water paintbooks, which turned out to not be easy with the wind blowing and Zachary spilling our water bowl numerous times. What I love about this picture is Emmett's little body ... I know it won't be like this for long.




And, here is Zach at the beach today. We made a little pond and Zach sat down in it. We caught him even trying to drink that murky, muddy water!

Beach Day

Today we went to the beach at Ft. McCoy. Along with my two boys, Ethan and Emmett, I took Cruz, a little boy I watch 3 days a week. We met my cousin, Monica, and her daughter, Celia, there, who loves Cruz. April, my sister-in-law, and her boys, Brayden and Zach, came along as well as my other sister-in-law, Amber,and her two kids, Jonas and Kennedy. If you click on this picture you will see chocolate on all of their faces! Pretty cute.





If you're going to see a naked child at a beach or anywhere for that matter, you can about bet it will be one of mine. Sure enough, as soon as we got there Emmett ran off naked to the water to, you guessed it, go pee. Later again, he stripped down to pee. We'll have to teach him about discretion.





I read in a magazine recently to take a sled along to pull your stuff down to the beach and back to the car again. We did that today and it worked wonderfully. I tried to give the kids rides on the sled in the water. It just sank down, but they still had fun riding the sled. When they were done in the water, the kids found the small playground above the beach and played for about 10 minutes. Then, it was off to the showers to wash all that sand off their bodies before they crashed on the car ride home.