Author: Joyce

Brotherly Love

I have trouble carrying Adrian for his “midnight bathroom break”, so Allan has been taking him.  But Allan is away for a few days.

On Sunday night, Mark was having trouble sleeping because Daddy was gone.  He crawled out of bed and took Adrian for me.  Mark could not figure out how to get Adrian back into bed, so just plopped over and Adrian crawled over him to a comfortable place.

Last night, I had given Mark permission to read in bed for a little bit.  He is reading Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. It is a collection of Tolkein’s work that his son put together after Tolkien died.  Mark is enjoying the book, but wishes it had more details in it. (I have not read the book, but it was recommended to Mark. I think his response about details is funny because it is a thick book!  He says the battle scenes are only a sentence or two long.)

When I went to get Adrian, Mark was waiting for me and jumped out of bed and helped his little brother for me!

A Boy and His Toad

The kids were helping me clean out the garden for winter.  We did not have a very good garden, except for all the mystery squash that grew out of the compost pile, on our fence and around the yard.

While they were helping, the girls found this huge toad that Adrian really liked.  He played with it for a long time!

9 on 9/9

Happy to Birthday to Andrea.  She is nine years old today! Andrea loves pretty things, getting flowers from her boyfriends (she has a few very special ones), kittens, helping others, playing with her siblings and riding her bike.

Andrea is a hard worker. She loves to do things around the house.  She is learning to bake and makes wonderful cookies.

She likes school most of the time.  Reading is hard for Andrea, but she is improving a lot! She loves math.

Andrea loves to be outside.  She enjoys riding her bike and exploring the woods with her brother.  Right now they are making a fort in the woods together. Yes, they know what poison ivy looks like!

I am so thankful that God gave Andrea to our family!

Today’s Smile

I never know what to expect with my children.  Adrian came upstairs after playing by himself for awhile.  I had to laugh!  He had stuffed his shirt with two blankets!  After seeing me he decided that was not good –I think he thought “not big enough”, so he exchanged it for his Tigger stuffed animal. Looks pretty close to me!

What Do you do with a (Lost) Hungry Kitten?

My girls love kittens, especially Andrea!  She would love to own a kitten.  She knows that Daddy and Mommy do not want one so she collects stuffed animal cats and has a very nice sized collection of them.

So, what do you do when you hear a small kitten meowing pitifully outside your window for a long time?  Do you ignore it?  Or do you let your children feed it, hoping that it just needs a little more food to get home?

My children were so excited when I gave them permission to feed it some milk (two bowls full!) and then some water.  They watched the kitten all afternoon. He was not mean to the children, but he was extremely shy of them at first.  He would run away whenever they came near.  After the third bowl they took out to him, he would start coming to them, but never let them near.

We then decided to make a sign saying that we found a kitten, hoping that someone would come and pick up their lost pet.  I had each child draw a picture of the kitten so that people driving by would know what he looked like. The kids prayed that the kitten would find his way home and we left for the evening.

Next morning, I thought I heard the kitten a few times, but we have not seen him since.  For one short day, Andrea was able to pretend that she had a kitten for a pet!

Kidnapped!

This weekend I was kidnapped and held very willingly in this cute little cottage!

Allan surprised me by arranging for Oma to watch the kids for two days while we celebrated our anniversary! It was a very peaceful and relaxing two days.

Thursday we went for pizza in Goshen and shared a coconut almond ice cream Sunday from the “Chief”. We were told about a nice bakery in Michigan so we went there for lunch yesterday. It was a nice ride and great lunch.

Our “weekend” was great! Now to celebrate with the kids. The girls are making our special dessert tonight-Rice Crispy Treats.

Mini Vacation

We took a quick trip to visit some friends in Michigan this weekend. It was so nice seeing the Sellers and just being able to relax and talk to them again.

We got to enjoy a few hours at the beach and then a cookout. The kids really enjoyed being able to play in Lake Michigan.  There were some nice waves! Adrian did not like the water at first, but soon enjoyed it as much as everyone else.

It stormed on Saturday night! The boys slept in a cabin while the girls, Adrian and I slept in a tent.  Most everyone slept very well.

After church Sunday, it was time to head home, and the car was quiet as everyone fell asleep soon after saying goodbye!

Keeping Cool

After working hard today in the garden and helping clean house for Daddy, the kids needed a break! They really wanted to go swimming, so they asked to set up our pool.

They decided that I needed to get wet too, so they attacked me with the hose! It was COLD!

Elephants and Beaver’s Tails

Today my daddy spoiled us at the fair. Before leaving, we got to see the elephant show. We enjoyed it very much.

When we got home, my kids wanted to eat some more! Not sure why, they ate a lot with Grandpa. So we made Beaver’s Tails. Adrian decided he wanted an elephant instead of a beaver’s tail.

If you want to know what Beaver’s tails are, check out Andrea’s recipe for them!