Olympic Inspiration

Evan: "Mom, I'm going to go to the Olympics and do gymnastics!"

Me: "That sounds awesome."

A few minutes pass.

Evan: "Actually, mom, I'm going to go to the Olympics and race bikes."

Me: "Really?" (Of all the sports this one seems the most doable for my kids.)

Evan: "Yup, motor bikes."  

Me: "Sweetheart that isn't an Olympic sport."

Evan: "I'll make it one."

Me: "Good luck with that."

Summer School

Evan and Seth have workbooks to go through this summer for school.  It's not mandatory but encouraged.  There's a surprise reward if they turn them in finished on the first day of school.  They really want that reward so it's not shocking to find them at the kitchen table working away.  

There are a few hands on experiments in the Science section of Evan's book that required my help.  We decided to tackle one last week.  It was on taste, specifically taste mapping the tongue.

I admit, I was kind of in auto pilot as we gathered the supplies needed and began the activity.

While Evan was writing what he discovered after tasting sugar, it dawned on me that taste mapping didn't seem legit.  In fact it screamed, "myth" so I did what anyone seeking the truth does, I googled it.   


According to Wikipedia, and all the other sites that came up on the search engine, my hunch was correct, taste mapping is the stuff of folklore.

Curriculum fail!

Oh well, we made the best of it, experimenting with mixing different flavors together.  We even had Seth and Kane join us in the fun!

Say cheese boys! Evan, photo bombs.  Kane, at the tail end a meltdown. Seth, forces smile.  Perfection.

Mixing cocoa and sugar in water to make "hot chocolate".

Lemon juice, sugar and water for some lemonade.

Messes were made, good times were had, and I conveniently disappeared when it came time to try their concoctions but I heard they were delish.  

Christmas in July

A very generous neighbor gave us all of her daughter's baby clothes!  

As I was going through it all I found an adorable Christmas outfit size 0-3 months.  It obviously wont fit Isla when Christmas rolls around so I'll be passing it on but first I had to try it on her!  And then of course take pictures. 

You know You Live in Central Florida When...

 you enjoy a Starbucks, mocha, coconut, iced, coffee and cajun boiled peanuts served in a grocery bag, in the same afternoon.

A Cupcake in the Mountains

Vacationing with Bocca Felice has some major benefits! 

The cookie dough cupcake is definitely one of them!  

Mmmm, so was the coconut.  Yum!

Thanks for baking for us Becky!

A Fordy Update

"Hi mama."

"Iiiiiiii, poop!" (He says this to let me know he has a dirty diaper.)  

"Hep!" (Help) 

"Hi bebe!"

"No way!"

"Ahh Ssss ma!" (Hulk Smash!) 

I wish I could share his little nasally voice and dead on inflections, its adorable. 

Ford still doesn't talk a whole lot.  However after sitting down with him on a few occasions, insisting he work with me on repeating sounds and words we're making progress. 

While Ford isn't much of a talker, he's big into imagination. Unlike his brothers he regularly escapes into the toy room to make believe.  I hear a lot of, "vrooms", "choo choos","bang, bangs" and of course giggles.  Today he found one of Isla's blankets, wrapped himself up in it and insisted we all treat him like a baby, including calling him, "Baby Fordster."  

Here he is impersonating the Hulk.  

  "Hulk Smash!"  

Firecracker

As usual when Jed walks in the door from work Kane shouts all the big events of the day at him.  

Kane: Dad today mom got us cookies from McDonalds because we made good choices at the firecracker!  Oh yeah! 

Jed: Wait where?

Kane: We got cookies from MCDONALDS! 

Jed: No where did you make good choices?

Kane: At mommy's firecracker.

Jed: (looks at me) I have no idea what he's trying to tell me.

Me: (laughing) Chiropractor.  

Kane: Yeah, the FIRECRACKER! Oh yeah! (Does celebratory dance.)

Jed: Good job buddy.  

Kane: Thanks.  

This was right up there with the time he told someone, "My mom didn't have baby Isla at the hospital, she had her at the burnin' center." 

Isla and the Girls

One afternoon, while the boys went on the slip and slide, the girls decided to sit out so they could take turns holding Isla.   

Too cute!

Back seat of the Van Convo

Evan: Kane why do you still suck your thumb, you're almost four!

Kane: I just like it Evan.

Evan: Well, you should stop, I stopped sucking my thumb before I turned three...

Seth: Evan, you never sucked your thumb.

Evan: Oh yeah.

Meet Regis

He's the second alligator to take up residence in our pond.  He's about a foot longer than Jasper. Speaking of Jasper he hasn't been seen since about the time Reeg showed up...

 Anyway, Jay took this picture of me holding Isla while taking a picture of our gator.  I love it! (Mom don't worry we were very far away!)

 Here is Regis sunning himself on the other side of the pond.  Jed walked over to him and he ran back into the water before Jed was even 50 feet away.  That's very good, that means he's afraid of people!  

We're still going to call animal control though.  Hopefully he's big enough to be removed. 

I'm sure our turtles hope he is too! 

3 Year Olds

Silas: "Kane when we're big we're going to be best buds!" 

Kane: "Yes we'll be best buds and we'll have big foreheads."

Saying Goodbye

Ben and Missy left this morning, on their whirlwind tour, visiting friends and family here in the States before they fly back to Papua New Guinea this fall. 

A little over a week ago we met up with them and the rest of Jed's side of the family in Franklin North Carolina for a reunion.  

All 30 of us stayed in a large 7 bedroom house in the mountains.  

We ate lots of yummy food, enjoyed mountain views from the wrap around porch, and perused the quaint local towns near the house.  However most of our time was spent entertaining the 14 children, 9 and under! 

After four fun filled days in NC we headed south with the Hattons in tow.  

Our first full day back we celebrated both our countries and Judah's birthdays!  We took the kids go carting, ate cheese cake, did the "paper slide", and enjoyed lots of fireworks.  

The rest of their trip was fairly low key.  It's hard to get out with an infant and 8 other little kids.  Thankfully though the kids didn't seem to mind hanging out around our house with their cousins, for some reason the "boring toys" become less "boring" when other kids are around to enjoy them with!  

We woke up early this morning to see the 6 of them off as they headed back to North Carolina to visit with Jessie before heading to Michigan.  We wont see them again for at least 2 years, maybe longer.  We're so thankful that they've chosen to serve the people of Papua New Guinea but there's still sadness as we miss them very much.  

The exciting part is that they've finished their language learning (as in the country's official language not a specific tribal language) and have been invited to live with a tribal group.  This means they'll begin house building possibly this fall and are going to need people to help, they've asked Jed to consider going over there to help for a week or two. Although I'd love it if he could go, there are a few obstacles to overcome before he'd say yes.  We're praying and seeking God's wisdom.  

Aunt Cici, Uncle Ben and Cousins

Blog Silence

I've been busy spending time with these two and their brothers!