Fall in Review

Before I post about Christmas, I better blog about our busy fall. First let's start with school. My baby started Kindergarten in August. Unlike preschool, she was very enthusiastic about the prospect. I, on the other hand, spent half the summer dreading the start of the school year. She made the transition very well and four months later, she is still having fun. There have been a few minor bumps in the road. It's always a little rough learning to navigate the ins and outs of the 5-year-old social scene, but I think she's doing pretty well. She still prefers to hang out with the guys being more of a horse girl than a Barbie girl. It always cracks me up when we're out around town and I see a little boy tugging on his mom's arm saying, "There's Riley! That's the girl I told you about." We might have to send her to a convent when she's a teenager for her own protection. :-)

Colin started his first full year of preschool. He has the same teachers and many of the same children as last year. He loves school and has been very excited the few nights he's had "homework." It makes him feel so grown up to have such a responsibility. He picks up on concepts pretty quickly. The minute I pick him up from school, he begins a detailed description of the past 2 1/2 hours that usually lasts until after lunch. Of course, he always leaves out the part where he gets in trouble for talking or showing off, but we're working on that.

Nothing marks the start of the school year like the Wayne County Fair. Jeff entered some photographs and won second place for individual portrait! If you look to the right of Colin, you'll see his photo. You might also notice the band-aid on Colin's chin. We took a little detour to the emergency room on the way to the fair. I didn't see the incident but Jeff said Colin, "rode the chair all the way down." We're not sure if his chin hit the table or the edge of the chair. A little glue on the cut and we were good to go.

In September, we made our yearly trek to Bauman Orchards for some apple picking. Yes, I made applesauce again, but we picked fewer apples. I ONLY spent two days in the kitchen making applesauce. The kids and I picked and froze a lot of strawberries back in June. Those were added to the applesauce. We should have enough strawberry applesauce to last most of the winter.

In October, the kids and I went to a festival at Hale Farm with my parents and brother's family. Beside the buildings to tour, they also had some additional activities for children. The first thing the kids wanted to do was play in the straw pit. There was a circular area lined with bales of straw with a bunch of loose straw in the middle. So simple, but the kids thought it was awesome. They were picking straw out of their underwear the rest of the day.

I don't know that I've ever taken a bad picture of my niece Maya. This kid just melts my heart. It doesn't hurt that she really likes her , "An Key-ee." (Aunt Kelly)There were several hands-on demonstrations for the kids to try. Here the kids are grinding corn. Colin found this completely fascinating. Even though he was a little too small to turn the wheel, he gave it all he had. I need to get one of these at home and send him to grind some corn when he needs to burn some excess energy.

The kids also got to stir some apple butter. While this was considered a tedious chore back in the day, I probably could have left Colin there for several hours. Can you tell I have a kinesthetic learner?

Here's my spunky niece, Maria. I can't remember if she was reciting scripture or preaching a sermon, but she was doing it rather passionately.

Colin had a field trip with his preschool to Ramseyer Farm. I was lucky enough to get to go along. Watching a group of three and four-year-olds trying to sit still and listen to educational explanations when there are so many fun things to do is always a trip. I was really surprised by the amount of information Colin picked up. When we got home, he explained to me what causes popcorn to pop.

We took a hayride out to the fields where each child got to pick a pumpkin and a potato. Then they divided into groups and worked through some activities. Colin's favorites were the hand pump duck race, the potato box maze and cow milking where you could see what it's like to milk a plywood cow with rubber glove udders.
Now on to Halloween. This year's costumes were all about thriftiness. While hitting the Smithville garage sales this spring, I found the Children's Place dinosaur/dragon costume (there was some debate as to which one it was) with the tags still on it. Score! I bought it with the thought that Colin could wear it in a couple years, but Riley jumped right on it and wanted to wear it this year. The best part of the costume was the way the tail swayed from side to side as she walked. Colin found his own costume while being subjected to a morning of thrift shopping. He spotted this raincoat on a rack and promptly declared that he wanted to be a fireman for Halloween. He already had the hat from a dress up set. Besides trick-or-treating, the costumes came in handy when they needed a fireman to put out the damage done by a fire-breathing-dragon.

Finally, there was spirit week at school to mark the big Orrville vs. Wooster football game. Growing up a Wooster General, it was a little hard to swallow when my daughter came home chanting Orrville's praises. I put on a brave face and carried on. Riley went with one of her friends to the big bonfire the night before the game. She came home wide-eyed recounting

her many exciting adventures. It was really hard to look serious when she told me, "There was this guys, I think he was a bad guy because everyone said 'Booooo!' and they made him on fire, but don't worry because he wasn't a real guy." That's her description of the burning of the Wooster General effigy. There was a theme for each day of spirit week. In this picture, Riley is all decked out for "crazy hair day."

Now it's time to put up the Christmas tree and break out the hot chocolate.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

No, it's not Christmas, it's VBS. We recently had SonLand Rainforest VBS at Grace. The kids had been looking forward to this for a long time. Every time we climbed in the car, they would request a Mr. Randy CD so they could "practice" their songs. Well the big week has come and gone. Here are some of the highlights.

Colin did a great job learning his memory verses. He learned motions to go with them and was eager to show me at the end of the morning. When I asked the kids to tell me their verses, Riley would often say, "I don't think we had one." Then Colin would jump in and say, "Yes, we did!" and proceed to recite it. Of course Riley then had to correct any words he might have omitted.

The most exciting thing that happened this week was my little girl giving her heart to Jesus. We were talking in bed one night about the story of the Good Samaritan. It had been the Bible story at VBS that morning. Riley, who has a strong sense of justice, wanted to know if the police caught the guys who beat the man up so Pop-pop could put them in jail. We talked about how that wasn't really the point Jesus was making. She told me that what the men had done was sin, and they were very bad. This led to a discussion of how everyone sins. Before I knew it, Riley was sobbing about her own sin and asking me to help her tell God she was sorry. We talked about how Jesus loves us so much, he paid for our sins by dying on the cross and he conquered death when he rose from the dead so we can be with him. All the pieces came together and Riley gave her heart to Jesus. I can't begin to describe to you the joy of knowing that your child's name is written in the Book of Life and the privilege of praying with her. Amen!!!

I was going to post some video of the closing program on Friday, but I'm experiencing some technical difficulty. I will have to try again later, but I will leave you with some VBS quotes from the kids.

Colin: When I grow up, I want to be Mr. Randy!

Note: Mr. Randy is our Pastor of Worship Ministries and he, along with Mr. Steve, lead the kids in worship and perform some hilarious skits. Colin is still talking about Mr. Randy smashing a watermelon.

Riley: Colin, you need to ask Jesus to forgive your sins . . .cuz you sin ALOT!

I guess we still need to work on fine tuning those evangelism techniques.

Let Summer Begin

I can't believe my little girl is starting kindergarten in the fall! Didn't we just bring a sweet 9-month-old home from Russia last week? Can she really be going off to school all day, five days a week? I'm really not ready for this but I know it's an important step for her in learning to be more independent.

I'm the kind of person who likes to do things on the fly, so I love the unstructured nature of summer. I know these months can fly by so fast though, and I want to be deliberate in this time with my kids. I'm keenly feeling just how fleeting these precious early years are. That's why I'm planning some special activities every week to do with the kids. One activity Riley has been eager to try is camping. I loved camping as a kid, so I was excited to share this experience with her. Before heading out to a campground, I thought we'd try it out and see how she liked it in the backyard. School was not quite out yet, but I dug a two-person tent out of the basement and pitched it in the side garden.

Jeff predicted that we wouldn't last until midnight, but I'm happy to report we made it the whole night. We started our camp-out with a late night snack of s'mores. (Note: Those giant marshmallows they're carrying at Buehler's make for some seriously messy treats.) Riley turned in around 9:00 while I sat outside the tent with a magazine and provided nourishment for the mosquitos until I decided to turn in too. Roo was pretty wound up about sleeping in a tent, so she didn't actually fall asleep until 10:30. Even then, she frequently woke up long enough to give me a big squeeze around the neck (thus waking me as well) and exclaim, "I love camping." Despite a lack of sleep. I'd call the outing a success. We're looking forward to doing some real camping this summer.

Riley is prepared for our backyard camping. Do you notice that the tent is bulging a bit?

Here's the reason for the bulge - a large inflatable mattress. The ground is not as comfortable as it used to be when I was a kid (or perhaps I've just become a wimp) . I guess we're going to need a bigger tent.

Antique iPods

This week my dad gave me a bag of miscellaneous items he was getting rid of and thought the kids might enjoy playing with or breaking. (Those two things often go hand in hand in our house.) Well, the kids were absolutely delighted with the goodies including the "antique iPods." A couple batteries later, and the kids were rocking out to Rich Mullins and Steve Taylor. Not having listened to a cassette for a while, I couldn't believe how awful they sounded. I also forgot about listening to six songs and then flipping the tape over, and the ever annoying "Walkman eating the cassette" experience. What a trip down memory lane.
When Dad bought these glasses, Tom Cruise was cool and went by the name "Maverick." That tells you how old they are.

Riley found a talking personal organizer in the bag. She declared this to be her computer or "pooter" as she is fond of saying. Paired with some 3-D glasses with the lenses punched out, I'd say she looks rather scholarly.

Riley and I figured out how to make the talking organizer say, "fart." Hehehe
Colin decided to get his nerd on with a Jerry Lewis impersonation. I find it very amusing that my kids have more fun with grown-up junk than they do with new toys. I see no reason to buy them anything new ever again. (That resolve will only last until my next trip to Toyrifics.)
In other news, Colin is exploring new avenues of independence. Lately he has been taking on more morning tasks like getting himself dressed, which is really nice when I'm trying to get two kids out the door to two different schools in two different towns. As you can see by the photo, he is not always successful in his endeavors. The funny thing is, he had no idea his shirt was on upside down until I said something. This is not the first time this has happened either. If you see us out and about, and the neck of my son's shirt is all misshapen and stretched out, this is why.

I haven't posted any quotes in a while, so here are a few.

Riley: I think I want to marry David, I'll ask him on Monday. If he says, "no," then I'll try Ethan.

Riley: I want a sword for my next birthday, but I want a girl sword.

Me: How is a girl sword different from a boy sword?

Riley: It's pink and it sparkles when you stab things.

Riley: (pretending that a Happy Meal toy is a gun) Colin, let's shoot people with our shooters.

Me: First of all, it's called a gun, not a shooter, and second, I don't want to hear you talking about shooting anything you don't intend to eat.

(five minutes later)

Riley: I'm going to shoot that guy with my shooter.

Me: What did I just say?

Riley: Oh, sorry . . . I'm going to shoot that guy with my GUN.

Me: That's not what I meant.

50 Random Things About Me

This is my 50th post! A friend of mine listed 100 things about herself for her hundredth post. I thought that was a good idea, but since it's taken me this long to get to the 50th post, you're just going to have to settle for half as many little known facts. So here's my list:

1. I am a completely random thinker so this little exercise should be easy.

2. I'm pretty sure I'm ADD.

3. I love to collect antiques, especially crocks.

4. I'm a thrift store junkie.

5. My husband thinks I'm a crazy cat lady, but I don't think three cats is too unreasonable.

6. I don't like the taste of coffee, but I love the smell of it.

7. I love plants but I have a tendency to kill them.

8. I've crossed the Atlantic sixteen times.

9. I love to sing.

10. You don't want to listen to me sing.

11. I wanted to be an archeologist when I was a kid.

12. I'm an introvert.

13. I once sang in a plaza in Rome to get some money for gelato.

14. I would like to be fluent in Spanish, Irish Gaelic, Hebrew and Koine Greek before I die.

15. Sometimes my kids say things that crack me up so much I have to go in another room so they don't feel bad that I'm laughing at what they just said.

16. I like to watch old movies from the 30's and 40's.

17. I have naturally curly hair.

18. Most days I wish I had straight hair.

19. Jeff once described my new haircut as "Shirley Temple on Crack."

20. I love to craft (penny rugs, cross stitch, felting, soap making, scrapbooking, you name it.)

21. Kelly is to Pat Catan's as alcoholic is to liquor store.

22. Sometimes I eat shredded parmesan right out of the can.

23. I watch too much TV, but I usually have to be doing something else at the same time.

24. When I was 21, I used public transportation to travel from Galilee to Ramallah by myself.

25. I've never owned a new car. I'm not sure I ever will.

26. I think my husband is hot!

27. I've broken six toes, one at a time.

28. I'm pretty proud of my Irish heritage.

29. I even gave my Russian kids Irish names.

30. My favorite children's book is "Sarah, Plain and Tall."

31. When Jeff and I were doing out premarital counseling, Pastor Bob looked at my personality test and said, "Hmmmmmmm . . . still waters run deep." I think this was his way of telling Jeff, "Good luck."

32. I'm a nerd. I've never gotten below a B in a class.

33. I did however manage to get a D on a Greek midterm.

34. I don't know how to drive a stick shift.

35. I thank God for the blessing of infertility.

36. Someday I want to live in the country, in a historic home, on a lot of acreage.

37. I don't like alcoholic beverages.

38. I really like rum cake, and beer cheese soup, and Jack Daniel's sauce, ect..

39. I once said something funny and made my friend shoot milk out her nose.

40. You can keep your veggies. I'm a meat and potato gal.

41. I have a few friends who I felt like I'd known them forever the first time I met them.

42. I love to read missionary biographies.

43. I was four-years-old when I accepted Christ. I remember praying with Roxanne Fetterhoff and she gave me a plastic glove with a color on each finger for the wordless book.

44. I get choked up hearing a children's choir singing praises to God.

45. I'm not good at math.

46. The first time I saw my husband, I thought he looked like Stewart Finlay-McLennan.

47. I'm afraid I don't show my family and friends how much I love and appreciate them.

48. I am not above using reverse psychology and potty humor to get my kids to do what I want. Example:

Riley: I don't like the beans in this soup.

Me: That's good. Beans make you fart. You don't want to eat those.

Riley: I'm going to eat them all!

49. I can't spell worth beans.

50. I am a work in progress.

Game Plan

This Sunday Riley was in her first musical. She is in Little Praisers, the choir for younger children at church. They, along with the big kids in COOL Choir, performed the musical "Game Plan." The Little Praisers have sung on Sunday morning before, but Riley has been a little reluctant to sing. On Sunday she was confident and having fun.Before the main event, the Little Praisers sang a song complete with costumes. Riley was apparently a little perturbed with her costume and did not want to be a tiger lily. She complained to me that she wanted to be a raindrop like the boys. She seems to have gotten over it by the performance.
We've been practicing the lyrics to all the songs in the car. (Truth be told, I was getting a little tired of them after two months.) We've listened to the songs so often, Colin has them all memorized. Riley is still working with him to get all the motions right.

The musical was about trusting God's plan for your life. It was set around a group of children on a soccer team. Riley was pretty excited about her soccer shirt until she saw that everyone had the same one. She thought everyone was going to laugh at her for wearing the same shirt as everyone else. (I think she's practicing for Jr. high.) I finally convinced her it would be fine. She decided later that the shirts were pretty cool.

Riley and were driving to church one morning listening to her music when she started crying. When I asked what was wrong, she said, "Daddy isn't going to live with us anymore." I had no idea where she would get such an idea and why it would come up now. I asked her why she thought that, and her response was, "Because you and Daddy drive different cars to church." Then the light bulb went off. The CD we'd been listening to had dialogue as well as the songs on it. At one point, one boy asks another why his parents drove two separate cars to the soccer practice. The other boy replies that his father isn't living with them anymore. I tried to keep a straight face as I assured her that Daddy was not moving out and that we drove separately because I had to be to church early and stay later.

Birthday Marathon

With two birthdays only five days apart, we have a crazy time around here. The celebrations lasted almost two weeks this year. Colin's birthday was first. We've started a tradition of going out for lunch with the birthday child choosing the location. I know Colin's first choice is always Cici's, but we were in the middle of "Snowmageddon II" (snicker) so he had to settle for the Heartland Point Cafe right next to his school. He didn't mind though. He still got some pizza, and when the woman at the cafe noticed the sticker on his shirt declaring that it was his birthday, she threw in some great big iced cookies for both the kids.Colin's birthday just happened to fall on the same day as his Valentine's party at preschool. There was some confusion on his part as to the point of the party. He came home and told me that they had a big celebration for his birthday and everyone gave him birthday cards. I tried explaining that the cards were for Valentine's Day, but Colin would have none of it. He'll figure it out eventually. Here's Colin proudly displaying his birthday crown from school and his balloon. I've been trying to get the kids to think about the feelings of others and not be so focused on themselves. This is never an easy task when it's just sin nature to think of ourselves first. I took Riley to the grocery store while Colin was at school and asked her to pick out a balloon for her brother. At first, she just wanted to get one for herself, but with a little coaxing she selected a "Cars" balloon for Colin. He was thrilled with her choice. When Jeff got home from work, Colin was allowed to open his presents. Now that he's a big boy, we figured it was time to get him his first firearm - of the Nerf variety. It's a little difficult for him to fire, but he'll figure it out soon enough and be terrorizing the cats in no time. Here's one more picture of Colin's day. He loves all things related to the movie "Cars." The weekend between the kids' birthdays, we had a family party. Here's Colin and Pop-pop checking out some photos together. Can you guess who picked out the farm complete with horses for Riley? (If you said Memaw, you're right.) The kids and I have a lot of fun playing with that one.

Being a girl, Riley actually looks at her cards and wants to know who gave them to her. Colin, on the other hand, usually checks for money or stickers. Do you see the bubble wrap in the background? When my family asked what the kids wanted for their birthdays, I replied, "Oh, they just like eating M&Ms and playing with bubble wrap." (Really, the kids have plenty of toys.) Well, that what they got, along with some other nice gifts. Everyone was amused that the kids were truly thrilled with the bubble wrap. Some has been popped and some has been used for a craft project. Maria and Riley paused long enough for Daddy to get a picture. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with Jeff's photography skills. It helps to have such cute subjects too.
I couldn't leave out Maya. Can you say, "Don't hate be because I'm cute as a button." Here's the alligator cupcake cake for the party. Does anyone else hate slicing and serving cake? Perhaps I'm just weird about that. Cupcakes are the perfect solution.
The following week was Riley's birthday. Again, we had a lot of snow and icy roads, so for her birthday lunch we went through the drive-thru at McDonanlds. This would have bummed me out a little had it been my birthday lunch, but for a three and five-year-old, chicken nuggets and a surprise toy are way better than a boring old restaurant where you have to sit down and wait for your food. Again there was great anticipation while we waited for Daddy to get home from work so the presents could be opened. It seems that once again, one of the cats has to get in on the action. Riley can't wait for a shower now with her new princess umbrella. The ballon was picked out by Colin. Riley loves all things Disney Princesses, although she's cried through both Sleeping Beauty and the Little Mermaid, and when given a choice of toys, she'll pick a truck any day of the week.Riley had been asking for a scooter "just like Ethan's." She was a little disappointed that several feet of snow were preventing her from riding outside. This was the first year Riley had an honest-to-goodness-birthday-party-with-just-her-friends. She invited six of her friends from school and church. She wanted to invite three times as much but unfortunately out little house can only hold so many.

Riley decided she wanted a Sleeping Beauty theme for the party and then promptly named several boys she wanted to come. I knew just how thrilled the boys would be with princesses so I had to be a little creative. The girls were given crowns as favors and the boys got glow-in-the-dark swords. Riley asked me to make a pinata that looked like Sleeping Beauty, but I pointed out that beating a princess with a stick until she spilled her innards was a little morbid. She then decided that we should have a dragon pinata. I readily agreed to this without considering the logistics of making a pinata shaped like a dragon. At one point in the construction, it was described as a "chicken vomiting tissue paper," but in the end I think it was recognizable as the evil Maleficent. The girls had Sleeping Beauty cupcakes and the boys got Prince Phillip. Prince Phillip is wide awake because he can hear the dragon coming. (He looks a little like Mr. Bill's Medieval cousin.) I gave Phillip a shield with his initial on it. I was going to put "PP" for Prince Phillip, but then I had visions of the boys yelling, "I have pee-pee on my cupcake!" and thought better of it.Riley had a great time at her party. I think the other kids did too. Poor Colin was supposed to be a part of the action but was sick and quarantined upstairs the whole time. (You know a kids sick when he naps with seven screaming children right downstairs.) Riley is already planning her sixth birthday party. At least I have a whole year to recover before the next one.

Merry . . . February

I was getting ready to post birthday pictures and realized that I haven't posted anything about Christmas yet. It just didn't seem right to skip Christmas so here's some of the highlights.Here's our official "posing in front of the tree" picture. They both look happy and there was minimal arguing about who was going to wear the Santa hat and who was going to wear the antlers.

This is Riley's first year in choir at church. The Little Praisers sang in service one Sunday. We practiced her song over and over and she had most of it by the performance.

I love the look these two are giving each other. They look like they're thinking. "What on Earth are we doing up here in front of everyone?"

I could tell Riley was nervous but she sang. I was so proud. The highlight for her was getting a bag of M&Ms for leaning the lyrics.

The kids decorated some cookies for Santa (and themselves). On one of our runs to Buehlers we ran into Santa, who was handing out candy and asking the kids what they wanted for Christmas. Before we left, he reminded them to leave him some cookies. The kids were shocked to see Santa at the grocery store but were eager to comply with the cookie request.

Riley and Jeff were putting Santa's cookies on a plate when Riley thought of the reindeer. Jeff got out some carrots and Riley made up another plate for them. She was ready to set everything out when she counted the carrots and realized there were only six. She insisted on adding two more because there were "eight donkeys." She sometimes gets Santa's reindeer mixed up with the donkeys in Bethlehem.

Colin was more excited about eating his cookies than giving them to Santa. He was pretty excited to see him at the store though. Now every time it snows, he asks if Santa will be at Buehlers.

We had a great time with my family (which I apparently did not document with photos.) The Saturday before Christmas was spent at my Aunt and Uncles house with my extended family. Christmas morning the kids opening presents and played with all their loot. My parents, brother and his family came over for lunch then. We had our traditional Coccia House Christmas pizza. It's so fun to watch the cousins play together. Riley loves her cousin Maria so much.

My favorite thing about Christmas this year was watching the kids' understanding of Christmas grow. Colin liked to use our Little People nativity to tell the story of Jesus' birth, usually with some humorous additions. Riley asked a lot of questions about why Jesus was born. She's starting to make the connection between the baby in the manger and the risen Savior.

Now onto the February birthday madness.