One is never too young. . .

. . .to learn some carpentry skills. We are working on fixing up our third floor rooms to make one a guest room and the other a play room. The kids love to head up to the attic to help out. Maia has really learned the art of filling nail holes with spacel (or however you spell that word) and Caden doesn't like to part with Daddy's tape measurer.

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Just Passing Time

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Yep, this is the sort of thing Maia does to pass time during her afternoon rest time. She really does keep us entertained and laughing around here. Speaking of Maia, I'll just give a quick update on what all she has been up to, especially for those of you who check our blog and have moved away. She is 4.5 years old and for her, her 5th birthday can't get here soon enough. She just can't understand why so many of her friends are having their 5th birthday but yet it is not her turn. Maia is still really enjoying preschool and is excited to start kindergarden next August. We have yet to totally decide if she will attend full or 1/2 day kindergarden, but I'm definatly leaning towards 1/2 day. She is itching to read and is really making progress. She loves those "I Spy" books and currently is really into making paper jewelry (so if you see me wearing some paper necklaces and bracelets, you know what that is about!). We have definatly seen some maturing in her over the past couple months. Bedtimes have not been the battleground they once were and our difficult cycles have not been as difficult as they were several months ago. We certainly still have our trying times but they are definatly in cycles and not quite so trying. It has also been encouraging to see Maia taking Caden (her "little buddy") under her wing. There have been times when I've been preoccupied and I know Caden is fussing or needing something but just havn't addressed it and before I know it Maia is saying, "Come on little buddy, lets go play" as she ushers him into another room and engages with him. Of course, this is not all the time and we have plenty of "I had it first," and "Stop that Caden!" moments. But we are encouraged and we do thank the Lord for this precious little girl he has entrusted to us.

I'm almost finished reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to Maia for the first time. Last night as we were reading, I came to the part when Aslan comes back to life.

"Aslan's alive Maia!"

Maia-with a loud shriek of delight, "Aslan's ALIVE?! YAAAYY!!"

Halloween '09

So I wasn't sure how Halloween was going to turn out for us this year seeing that the H1N1 virus has decided to set up camp in our home. Maia had symptoms of it 2 weekends ago, but it was mild and short-lived. . .then last weekend I had symptoms that improved after a few days and then started to worsen mid-week, then on Wednesday Caden became pretty sick fairly quickly and he tested + for the H1N1 virus but thanks to Tamiflu his symptoms were improved the next day, not gone but DEFINATLY improved, and that night Matt came down with it and has pretty much been in bed or on the couch since then. I wasn't sure if I'd be up to taking Maia out tonight, so my super-sweet friend Katie offered to be on call to take Maia trick-or treating if I wasn't up to it. Thankfully I felt well enough to venture out with the kids and we had a great time. Our new neighborhood is just an awesome place to trick-or-treat with many neighbors sitting around fire-pits in their front yard as they hand out candy and others giving out hotdogs, chips, and hot cider. The second picture is Maia showing Daddy her loot from the night. It cracks me up that this girl will organize and reorganize her candy MANY times over the next several days. . .did I do that as a kid????

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Laumeier Sculpture Park

Recently I took the kids to Laumeier Sculpture Park an a gorgeous Fall Day. We weren't sure if there would be a place for Maia to bike but we threw her bike in just in case and we were glad we did. There is a long paved path just perfect for young bikers. The kids had a great time just running around and trying to figure out what these sometimes huge sculptures were. Maia and I loved coming up with names for the sculptures like, The Crazy Spaghettis. . .and. . .The Never Ending Caterpillar. (I can't figure out how to insert captions under pictures, except for the last picture, but I think its pretty easy to figure out what names go with which sculptures!) This is definatly a place we will be going back to quite frequently.

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Caden was so enamored by all the big "balls" that went on as far as his eyes could see into the woods. He just stood there and stared at them for the longest time.

Fun with the Cousins

So one last post about our trip back to Pennsylvania in September. It was great to spend time with my brother Ron, his wife Pam and their 2 boys Mitch and Jake. The kids had so much fun playing with the Fisher Price Garage that WE played with as kids. Unfortunately one day our picnic was rained out so we had to move it into the garage, but never fear, Pam was there with another great idea. . .A drive in movie for the kids while the adults enjoyed sitting around the table. All the kids got on or in something with wheels and pulled up to the portable DVD player and watched a movie! And meal time was always an adventure with so many kids so close in age. Thanks for spending time with us Ron and Pam, we love you!

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