Heard in Our House | 7 year old style.

The boys like to join for parts of cardio P90X, the yoga and kenpo mostly:-)

I had some time just me and Holden in the car today, he said a couple things that made me smile:

He had received/picked a prize for homework today, and had chosen an art thing.

H says: "Ages 4 to 104"

Me: "That's funny"

H: "I guess when I am 105 I won't be able to do this"

When we got to the place of our errand I said, "Come on in we won't be that long"

H: "How many minutes"

Me: "5"

H: "I have learned that sometimes 5 minutes feels like a long time."

Me: "what do you mean?"

H: "well when you are having fun it goes by quick, and when you are not it seems like a LONG time"

:-)  Love that kid!

Jedi Craze

Here's where my lack of Star Wars knowledge will become apparent.  We went to a Jedi birthday party, all the kids got jedi costumes. In between Jedi training stations, my friend caught Holden doing this.  He's "meditating" I believe Luke did this in one of the movies?  Anyway, it was so funny as kids are running around crazy, Holden was really getting into the "jedi" aspect of the party:-)

A couple things I want to get down for Daniel:

 - Since moving to the country we are encountering a lot of flies, I was probably complaining about them getting into the house.  Daniel says, "don't worry mom if they get in we can just get them with the swy flopper!" I almost died laughing:-)

 - After reading the story of David and Goliath, Daniel was talking about what happened and he said, "David was little and he killed the giant Goliath...BUT he probably couldn't kill God!" I love the beginnings of trying to figure it all out, how it goes together and relates in their minds:-)

One last thing for Holden:

 - Holden has a shirt that says RADICAL on it.  The other day he asked me what radical meant, so instead of just telling him, we looked it up.  After talking about what it meant we wer giving examples.  And he said, "I want to be radical in my faith, radical for God", of course I said ME TOO! and we talked through some ways God might use us to be radical for Him.  I pray this is always His heart, even when he learns the cost of what this truly means.

I love my boys:-)

Heard in our House | Grandparent Edition

Today was my birthday, we are at my folks house, and Tom is at home...I jokingly asked my kiddos if they had made me cards;-P  They both then drew me beautiful cards, and Holden said, "I'll be back in a minute"

He came back a couple minutes later with this:

He said, "This is your present, not only is it reusable, but you can freeze it and use it for an ice pack, or as ice in the cooler for camping and then when it melts you can drink it! And you NEVER have to throw it away because you can just refill it!"  :-)  Love this kid, creative present giver!:-)  I should also probably note, he had already drank half of it, SO he refilled it before giving it to me:-)

By the way he told me later that Peter told him about the many ways to use the water bottle:-)  Thanks P family!

Heard in Our House

I haven't done one of these in a while, but somethings I want to remember:-)

We were having dinner with our friend Joe, he lived with us for a little over a month, so he became part of our family, we still try to have dinner regularly.  Anyway, Joe LOVES movies, he's always asking about movies, if we've seen them.  Unfortunately we always say no, who has time?

This time he asked Holden and Daniel if they had seen any movies, and Holden says, we just got a new Veggie Tales movie.  So Joe said, "Oh yeah, what was the story?  What lesson did it have in it?"

Holden: "Well, it was like the three little pigs, only there was no brick house, only a wood house.  But it was about how you have to build on a strong foundation.  And that strong foundation is God and His word, and how your life needs to be built on God's truth, so you can be strong."  It was something like that.  Our friend Joe was speechless (which NEVER happens:-))  And then he laughed and said, "OK then, well I guess you got it!"  

Holden definitely gets it...well a lot of it, and his faith comes so easily its really fun to watch and talk to him about God and what he reads in his bible.

The other day Tom started asking Holden questions like, "Long is to Short as Wide is to ______" and Holden was getting them WITHOUT even missing a beat!  Tom quickly ran out of questions, and Holden kept begging for more, he STILL asks if we've found anymore of those questions!  I need to remember what they are called and look some up.  

Holden LOVES riddles, He loves when we ask them of him and lately he has been coming up with some on his own.  A few nights ago he stumped Tom, well he finally got it but he needed A LOT of clues!  

SO he says, "What is small and Yellow and has curves"

Tom didn't know so he asked for another clue.

Holden says, "It's has divots all over it" (this is actually a BAD clue)

Tom still didn't know

Holden said "you can hold it in your hand and you play games with it"
Tom still didn't know
Then Holden said, "It's fuzzy"

This is where Tom got it, this is also where I got it when Tom relayed the story to me:-)

DO you know what it is?

Maybe I'll make you wait:-)

One thing is for sure...We have a SMART boy on our hands who loves LEARNING...I wonder WHERE he gets that!?!?!

Heard in Our House

I must remember this:

We were picking up Holden, talking to one of our friends and Daniel says:

"When I grow up I want to be a Dinosaur, a TRICERATOPS, because they beat up all the other dinosaurs:-)"

He also enjoyed telling everyone about how his daddy shaved his head using the thing that shaves off your beard:-)

Zoo Break

Today we went to the ZOO.  In the middle of the week, for simply an afternoon.  It was PERFECT.  I have trouble unplugging, and right now we are SUPER busy.  Involved in a lot of good stuff, but still very busy, the brain is ALWAYS on.

So, I had a GROUPON that was about to expire (seriously me and Groupon do NOT agree, I hate the expiration dates!, mostly because I can't remember to use them before said dates!)  So we went. its been awhile.

I LOVED hearing the boys, "MOM look at this!  DAD I want to show you!"

It's so fun to experience it through their eyes!  They loved the monkeys, were fascinating when they do that thing they do that I won't mention!  Yes they did it right in front of the boys, who thought it gross yet hilarious!  BOYS!

A favorite thing was feeding the giraffe.  For a small fee they call the giraffe over and give you several leaves to feed them.  This was so fun!  The boys LOVED it!

Look at that ENORMOUS tongue!

Funny things we heard Daniel say, he is certainly a comedian, but somethings are just kids being honest.

While looking at a tortoise, a young boy comes up and says, "HELLO!!!!" to said tortoise, and Daniel promptly says, "He can't talk to you, you know!"

A bird was saying "hello" to people who walked by, so we went up to it, at which point it started just making a LOUD constant noise...we watched for a little while seeing if it would stop, it didn't...we walked away, only to turn back to see Daniel leaning over the railing saying, "Hey!  That's a little LOUD you know!"  Oy!  Where has he heard THAT before:-)

I LOVED hanging out with the boys, without an agenda and just seeing THEM in this place:-)  Holden is at this really neat age where he reads and wants to read everything...Graffiti on the park bench (not so good), every sign and animal info board (good).  He also wants to DO everything, so like feeding the animals, or while we are at a show or teaching point, he VOLUNTEERS to help!  I LOVE that!

Because of his eagerness to volunteer he got to help train the sea otters, or at least he got to be part pf the exhibit:-)

Daniel spotted this jeep and HAD to drive it!  Nevermind that it was out of order...

I am not sure what is so fascinating about sticking your head through a hole in a board, BUT now you have two cute tarantulas:-)

And a butterfly

And here they drove the tractor, together because mom only had 3 quarters and it took 2 per ride!  So dad had the great idea to ride together!  Look how tired Daniel is!  NO nap, and he was yawning at 10 AM, hope he sleeps well tonight!

We attempted some pictures together, NEVER give your kids gum BEFORE a photo!  Argh!  Oh well!

We ended the day with a carousel ride!  What a fun day!

God is teaching me to slow down and be...I've never been good at it, but it's days like today when I can relax, and enjoy the moment that I am SO thankful for His whispers and nudges to doing something that is great for me and our family.  I love these little gifts He has given me, and I don't want this time to pass without these precious days of just being together and enjoying each other!

I hope my boys remember these days always:-)

Daniel Prays

Today for the first time I heard Daniel say a prayer that I understood.  He prayed for our meal, and he said, "Dear God, tank you for dis good food we get.  Amen"  SO sweet, and at bed time he prayed that EXACT same prayer again:-)

I pray my boys know and LOVE God, remaining close to him and child-like in their unwavering belief in who He is.

12.18 DPP 2011

It beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!  Vacation has started, baking is taking place, cooking, planning, wrapping, sending:-)  I LOVE this season!  The sweetest thing is having my boys talk about  St. Nick, and  hearing Daniel say, "Baby Jeshus was bon in a manger, my doggie wasn't bon in a manger!"  Holden likes to tell all about the entire story of Christmas and Easter all together.  But mostly he talks about Narnia, as Tom is reading him the books, they are on Prince Caspian right now.  Daniel is soaking up reading as well, he knows a lot of his books, and a surprising amount of our Christmas books.  When he sees an angel in a book, he whispers , "Do not be afraid"  It is fun to watch the boys experience Christmas and just life through their little eyes and their BIG hearts:-)

Yay!

Tigger Treasure

When we picked up Holden from kindergarten today, he was beaming and holding this little guy in his hand.  I asked him where he got it and this is what he said,

"The teacher picked me because she didn't have to talk to me at all, so I got to pick something from the treasure chest, and I picked this!"

Me:  "Oh did everyone get to pick something?"

Holden: "No she picked one girl and one boy, and I was the boy!" "If there had been a tigger with his tail down who was bouncing I would have picked him, but there wasn't so I got this one"

You would think his sweet teacher had given him the moon, he showed Daddy-O right away, he slept with him at nap time, and as I write now he is asleep with him too!  He didn't take him to gymnastics because, "He seems to be made of rubber and he might melt in the hot car, right mom"

Me:  "hmm, I don't think he would melt, but I don't think so!"

H:  "Well I didn't want to find out!  So I left him at home!"

Ahhh such a sweet boy, and I am so glad he is doing well in kindergarten!  I am glad he loves his teacher, so far he has won big time on teachers, I mean first Ms. Wendy and now Mrs. DB!  God is good, I am so thankful for how He watches over us and our children.

Holden and Jonah and the Whale

I found this in my email. It's old but too cute to pass up.

I remembered what I wanted to share with you.  This afternoon when Holden and I were doing flannel graph stories, I would tell the story and then Holden was enjoying retelling the story to me.  As he was telling Jonah and the Whale, he came to the part where the wind came up….”and when the wind came up, it blew air conditioning right into that whale for Jonah.”  I had all I could do to keep from choking with laughter!  I just want to know if that idea would have come from you, Anna, or Tom.  Love, Pam/Mom

Heard Recently...

A conversation with Holden...

Me: "What books do you want to get at the library"

Holden: "Lots! Maybe something like the Washington boy...who was that boy? The Washington boy with the curly hair?"

Me: "I don't know what else can you tell me about him?" I am thinking at this point he's talking about a friend from Washington? Not sure though...

Holden: "Oh I know, GEORGE WASHINGTON...yeah he was a president."

Me: "Oh yes, did you learn about him in preschool?"

Holden: "Yes, but he's not the president anymore, now Barack Obama is president"

Me: "yep you are right"

Holden: "Mom where is the lighthouse?"

Me: "what lighthouse?"

Holden: "you know the one where the president lives..."

Me: "Oh you mean the WHITE HOUSE...it's in Washington DC"

Holden: "no I know where it is...it's in the United States of America!"

He's 3 people! I guess our preschool money is going to good use:-) BTW at the library we picked up a book on America:-) BUT he is more interested in our Reptile book.

Heard in Our House tonight....

I was reading a devotion with Holden tonight...it was on a parents love...after a short story it asked the question,

"who loves you more than daddy and mommy?"

Holden: "Grandpa Rick!"

Too fun!

Heard Recently - 09

As anticipation builds about the baby's arrival we have had some fun conversations, and some fun happenings...

Aunt Paula got Holden a book called "Hello Baby", in it it talks about feeling the baby move, visiting the Dr. hearing the heart beat, and waiting for the birth, and the first few days baby comes home...Holden loves it we have read it a million times in the last few weeks...and with perfect timing, the week we got it happened to be a week when the grands and Beth and Josh were out of town, so Holden was all set to go to the Dr with me...He LOVED hearing the heartbeat...but he expected the baby would come out of me at that appointment...so when anyone asked him about the appointment his answer was, "I heard the heartbeat, but the baby didn't come out" always with a disappointed look on his face...he was actually REALLY fascinated with the fact that I had to pee in a cup, and still thinks he should be able to try that!

Just this week, Holden, who I don't think had really actually felt the baby yet, mostly because his patience is that that he kisses the baby or lays his ear on my tummy for all of 5 seconds before he's done...actually felt the baby kick him...he put his ear to my belly and immediately the baby kicked! It was fun! Since then he has loved to watch the baby move, which it does quite often, creating the alien like movement of the belly...and he loves to pat it's butt when it pokes it out...since baby is head down we know where most of the parts we feel are:-)

Holden also loves babies, and while he seems to lack the understanding of being careful to my belly he is always so gentle and loving to any baby he meets, he loves to hold their hands, lets them pull his hair, and wants to just sit and watch them...He is going to be an awesome big brother!

And today, Holden looked at me and said, "Mommy I am SO cuscited to meet the baby!" Melts my heart this boy does!

Just fun happenings around here...and yes I am approximately 2 weeks away from my due date...I don't have my bag packed, and I don't have some things finished, and Tom is going away all day on Saturday, where he will be floating down the river, completely out of communication for 12 hours...I hope we are right that this baby is staying put till it's due date! I am experiencing increasing braxton hicks...but that is about it...I am really hoping baby waits until my folks get here next Friday!

Heard Recently - 08

Holden told me today the baby is a girl...the conversation went like this...
Me: Who's my favorite Boy?
Holden: Holden!
Me: Who's my favorite man?
Holden: Daddy!
Me: Who's my favorite baby?
Holden: A Girl!
Me: You think the baby's a girl? What if it's a boy?
Holden: Then we would have too many boys!, we already have me and daddy...
Me: So you want a little sister...
Holden: Yes, I want a sister and I want her to be just like MJ!

Tom and I looked at each other and laughed...he's so funny...

But he LOVES his cousin, and so do we!

For the record later he said he wanted a brother...so you never know...but he has always called the baby she...maybe he knows something?

Heard Recently - 07

Most of you know we have a hard time getting Holden to eat what we eat...I know full well this is my fault, and he eats healthy food, its just that it would be easier if he joined us in dinner instead of having to make him something else...

So on the way home from Trader's we were talking about dinner, I was making chicken burgers, Holden who has eaten and liked chicken declared he wouldn't eat that and that he didn't like chicken...we talked about it awhile and finally he decided he would try ONE bite...Mostly because I told him Mr Jim (Tom's folks contractor and now a family friend and a favorite of the kiddos) ate chicken burgers, and Holden wants to grow big and tall like Mr Jim.

So at the dinner table, I asked him to try a bite, he refused...so after a bit of trying we gave up...

Holden started playing with something at the table...
Holden: "this is pretend cake, I'm going to eat it all up!"
Me: " You sure do like your pretend food...maybe you should eat some real food...How will you become big like Mr. Jim? Or are you just going to be a pretend big man"
Holden: "No I'm a WEAL(real) MAN! A WEAL MAN!"
to which we laughed hysterically...

too funny!

Heard Recently - 05

Holden is convinced the baby is a girl...he always calls he/she a her...we will see if he's right in July...

He loves to "listen" to the baby, i.e. putting his ear to my growing belly...
Sometimes he talks to "her"
H: "I love you baby..."
H: "Why doesn't she answer me?"
M: "Babies can't talk in the tummy..."
H: "When she comes out will she talk like me?"
M: "Not right away...babies don't talk till they are bigger...you didn't talk right away..."
H: "hmmm..."

H: "When she comes out I will give her this...if she wants it..."
Holding his "Find It" bag
M: "Oh that's very nice of you..."
H: "Then will she give it back when she is done with it?"
M: "Maybe..."
H: "hmmm..."

H: "When she comes out of your tummy, I will let her chew on Sophie..."
M: "Oh you will? That's so nice..."
I tried putting Sophie away a few months ago, it's a teething toy...but Holden requested her back so I figured we will need a new one for the baby...she is well loved:-)
H: "And then I will get a new Sophie..."
M: "well Sophie is your toy, so if you still need her than the baby will get a new one..."
H: "Okay I will keep her..."
hmm...maybe Holden should get a new non-chewable giraffe as a gift from the new baby:-)

H: "Where's daddy's ladder?"
M: "He put it away in the garage, he was done working on the ceiling."
H: "But there is no space for it out there!"
M: "Yeah Dan came and bought the jeep, so now there is a lot of room!"
H: "But now we only have TWO cars!"
M: "Don't you think that's enough?"
H: "No we NEED three!"
M: "hmmm"

Heard Recently - 03

Today...well today I should have napped when Holden napped but I didn't...so about 4pm I layed down in his room and told him I needed a nap could he tuck me in...he brought me a pillow, blanket, and a "friend"(his baby doll buddy) Then he set up another bed and put Corduroy, and a monkey to bed...saying, "oh, its time for sleep...oh your not tired, well its time to nap so go to sleep"
then he comes to me and says, "we better pay (pray)..."
Me: "Do you want to or should I?"
H: "you"
Me: "No you are putting me to sleep so you should pray"
H after a brief pause: "heaveny father, Amen!"
:-)

For some reason Holden likes to sleep with gloves on now that its gotten colder...I don't know people really...it started up covering everything he said was cold and one night his hands were cold...and since then gloves...
So tonight, we forgot them...and after I left Holden's room I heard him talking...so I venture to his door, just to listen:-) I hear him say, "loves, loves"
Then I hear him rustling around...Minutes later he's crying...
Tom goes in there and he is trying to put the gloves on himself and can't get his fingers situated...When Tom helps him he says,
"These are tricky!"
Tom leaves and he falls asleep...crazy kid!