Puddle Jumpers - the best part of fall...

His & Hers Birthdays

As you probably know, birthdays are more of a 'season' than a particular day in our house. We don't have lots of fanfare, but thought I should at least give credit to my Mom for the scrumptious peppermint ice-cream pie (pictured above). I think it's technical name is "Fudge Ribbon Pie" and originally included meringue, but Mom has perfected it over the years and blessed us with a taste on our last-minute trip north. YUM! Thank you! You may see all three children standing around me like vultures over fresh meat... =)


I so seldom take pictures of Kent, but here is his shining face holding up some of his birthday presents (which included, of course, a Beavers hat). The kids all needed to take turns wearing it, and for some reason also wanted to be in a picture holding up some of Dad's presents...

Welcome to our family. This is SO typical (no, there are no ethereal beings in our house: James and Anna smile cheesy smiles and Joel jumps and jives in one place. My camera wasn't set right and it made Joel into a blur, but it's so fitting for a little guy who's always loved to be on the move! Voila, the birthday summary!

A singular holiday

Here is James as 'Superman' (homemade edition), Anna as a ballerina (saying 'soff dess!' 'pitty dess!' - soft, pretty dress), and Joel as 'Super Police Joel'. The kids have never had any exposure to costumes for Halloween as it is not a holiday overseas. Last year they were more or less oblivious, but this year they liked the idea of dressing up. We took them to a local mall to gather a bit of candy and visited a few friend's houses. We are usually busy celebrating Mom's birthday or Reformation Day, but this year we squeezed in a taste of trick-or-treating, as they will not have the opportunity for the next few years.

We have a family tradition of carefully savoring piles of candy for months on end, and one family member who shall remain nameless is often seen digging out candy 5 months later... So I feel somewhat accomplished ot say we finished off our little sandwich bags of candy this year already! =) No Halloween candy in February for us!

In case you like candy as much as I do, M&M's and Sweetarts seemed to be the valued favorites due to the fact that there are many brightly colored candies in a one-serving package! Melts in your mouth...

Art

"Man" (with hat) by Joel, age 4

I just have to comment here that I'm very impressed with Joel so far this year in 'preschool' (at home). Up until September 1 he was not interested in drawing or coloring at all and just scribbled violently. He's a boy, so fine-motor skills are not naturally easy at this age, and he's on the kinesthetic side and drawing just means sitting or standing in one place for him. But after we did the 'mat man' unit in Handwriting Without Tears (HWT), which involves building the shapes with wooden pieces and singing a song (musical boy loves that!), he got very interested in drawing people. We haven't moved on too much and are focusing on writing numbers for a while.

"The City" by James, age 5 1/2

James painted this city including lights that are on and off in the big office buildings like he's seen so often in downtown Seattle.

Our walls were pretty empty in this rental, so I had the kids paint their own. Can you guess who painted which one?We did't have warm blankets for the winter because we've always rented furnished places or lived in warm climates, so when we settled in here I was buying tons of stuff at estate sales and second hand stores. I picked up two of these crocheted blankets for $4! I don't know if the lady who made them was using up the ends of lots of her yarn, or intended them to have every color imaginable, but it works for a kids room. And everyone stays warm! It is these small ways that I see God providing for us even for temporary needs. He is so good to us.

Sleepyhead