Our Kids Said..

 I love having boys in the house.   Look at my sweet boys.  

Often partners in crime, often frienemies.. at the least, they are entertaining.

Waiting for the bus together. Two years ago.  They are growing up way too fast! In our house we have a funny book that I jot down things that kids have said.  It is usually our kids who say something worthy of the book, but there are also some great things in there from the children who have spent time here at Henle House. We got the book out this morning and had a laugh!

Aiden, age 5, "Guess what mom?  I'm gonna be your friend forever."

Aiden used to just make up words. 

Age 5, "Mom, I have a side crack." (Side ache.)

"Mom, Stephanie wangled my ear!" (Tattling.) 

"My hands are shunky." (Crumbly, from fish sticks.)

While playing 'CLUE' as a family, " Well then, who's the murgaler?"  (Murderer..) 

Aiden age 6 told me that his cousin Alexis asked the 'Magic Meat Ball'  (Magic 8 Ball) the best question- 

"Will Aiden and me get married?"  It said yes.  I told him that cousins cannot get married.

 "What a liar that magic meat ball is!" He spouted. 

At dinner, "Mom, this dinner tastes like dead chicken."  It was hamburger quiche.. LOL!!!

Ethan at age 8 said, "When I grow up I'm going to be an awesome dad, like mine." ♥

Aiden age 6 responded, "When I grow up I'm going to be a VERY hairy man."

☺

Ethan age 7, when he asked me why I purchased a different orange juice than usual and I let him know that this one was better for him, replied," Well this bean is gonna sprout and move out!" (Bean is his nick name.)

Age 7, was watching Discovery channel before bedtime.  I told him it was time for bed and he whined, "Aaaw, come on mom!  Tonight at ten they FIND Bigfoot!"

At age 6. "Mom, you are too remembery." 

At the dinner table we had been discussing what age was too old for Stephanie to go trick or treating. 

Trying to stifle his elation, Ethan said, "When will her last Christmas be?" 

One of the funniest things that our kids have ever said came out of my sweet Stephanies mouth when she was four.  It was published in Parents Magazine that year.  While working at a daycare as a teacher of 4 year olds, Stephanie was in my class.  It was clean up time.  She was usually a great cleaner.  I noticed that while all of the kids were busy cleaning up toys, Stephanie was wandering around from station to station with a kitchen utensil toy in her hand.  I asked her."Stephanie, why are you not helping? It's clean up time!" She replied, "I KNOW! I'm the DAD and I don't know where this goes."  LOL!!

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Ten Purple Fingers

We began with a paper plate, purple paint, and a purple piece of construction paper.

When it comes to hand prints, we choose one of two options.  One is for me to paint their hand, the other is to paint the paper plate and have the kids stick their hand in it and then print the paper.

We then added numbers at the tip of each digit to see the numbers as we counted. 

Ten purple fingers!

I like the purple on the art wall.  It's so dreary outside!  Our kids haven't been outside to play for two whole days.  We are going outside no matter what today.

Smudge, on the other hand, loves to hunt in the rain.  He was so happy when he came in this morning, soaking wet, with a bird. 

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Straw Streamers/Bathroom Update

It was raining so hard yesterday that we forfeited our outside time.  (Nooooooo!!)  That's nothing that some straws and crepe streamers can't fix.  We've got this handled.

Simply staple some crepe paper streamers to a straw and you have instant madness fun!

Swish..swish..wave, wave, wave...

Wiggle..stomp, wave.. (getting louder..)

Reaching..reaching...

And FASTER! 

A colorful game of Ring Around The Rosie to catch our breaths..

We all fall DOWN!

This folder is my sidekick.  It's loaded with art and play ideas that have all been used before that were a hit.  When my mind goes blank and the worksheet doesn't look fun, out comes the folder and I flip until I find something to do.

I love having lots of resources.  It's good to always have something to do for the kids, 

especially on a rainy day.

 Meanwhile in the bathroom, Adam photo bombed my photo of his dad helping out with the sub flooring.

We have tub, surround and sub floor installed!  Today Adam is working on finishing up the drywall and sealing the floor. It's coming along!!

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

The Library

We took a little trip to the library on Friday.  If you have not ever been to the Snohomish library, you should try to make a trip sometime.  They have the best children's book section!  My goal at the library is to fill my book bag up with stories for group time.  The kids usually look at books.  

This time, however, was very special.  The library was very empty when we arrived.  That meant that for the first time, we were able to let the kids explore the computers!  

Look at the funny headphones.  These are great for the kids to play with.  The games are very easy and prompt the kids to use the mouse and keyboards.

Even our youngest one was entertained! 

Here is a photo of the children's book section.  I love the small couches and table.  The kids enjoy just getting into and off of the seats.  

Next to the book section is this large rug area that is used for library story times among other activities that are scheduled throughout the week.  We have not made it to a story time in quite a while because it coincides with our lunch preparation time.

These kids LOVE stories.  I love to read them stories.  They can all recognize and spell their names now, and I am so proud of them!

♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥

What Do You See?

(Laughing..) This photo makes me smile!

For story exploring Thursday, we read 'I Went Walking' by Sue Williams.  In the story, the kids are prompted to guess what the boy sees on his walk.  We thought it would be fun to create some binoculars.

Adam got out some real binoculars so the kids could see the lake up close. 

To prepare, I stapled two toilet paper tubes together.  Easy!  This time the kids used markers.  

Binoculars are so much fun for any age!  I love that the kids get excited when they can see people through the binoculars.  "Nicole, I SEE you!"  

The best thing about this project is that we added string so the kids can wear them around their necks.  Nobody lost their binoculars.  We make these at least once each year, and this group had not ever made them with me before, so that was even more exciting!

Meanwhile, there is a TUB in the bathroom!!  Two of us managed to get a bath last night.  Hooray!!  Today, subfloor is going in and the toilet will be hooked back up.  The toilet came out yesterday, so we have been doing the bathroom waiting game.  NOT easy!

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Jj Is For Jesus

On to the letter Jj!  I found this worksheet online and we decided to make it into a sign.  

First the kids colored their picture of Jesus.  It was funny because they couldn't believe that baby Jesus grew up so fast!  (Wasn't he just born in December? LOL)   The kids found it interesting that the baby Jesus did not remain a baby forever. 

While the kids colored, I prepared some construction paper and lengths of yarn.  I cut the paper down to a size that the picture could fit onto and then hole punched two holes into the top.  

The kids glued their completed pictures onto the construction paper and I helped with the yarn.

This is how it looked completed!  

Jj is for Jesus!♥

It was raining outside and Adam was outside using the saw, so we stayed inside and did some Jamming and Jumping for Jesus!  These boys can really bust a move.

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Our tub is being installed today.

This Is Where I Am Supposed To Be

   We spent an amazing weekend up in Mazama at winter camp with the youth group.  It was SO COLD!  I know I was built for a warmer climate.  It was so great to see so much snow, the kids all had so much fun.  Adam loved the sledding activities as well- they had a blast. Especially sledding at night. :)

Here is the sign on the road for the camp.  It is located at Mazama Community Church. 

On the way to the sledding trail for the first time, we couldn't help but just stop and jump around in the snow.  It was several feet deep, and without warning a leg would sink down and surprise us.

At the top of the sledding hill!  It was very hard work just climbing up to the top!  Not only was it maybe 10 degrees, but the snow was so deep on the hill and very powdery.  One step up, two steps back..

 HARD WORK!

Here we all are during one of the evening  bible study sessions.  I always think to myself  "I can't believe this is where I am supposed to be right now."  That God plucked me from a horrible place and plopped me in the middle of something important, changing my heart along the way with a swipe of His hand just amazes me!  Look at all of these kids- each of them hearing about God.  One day I hope that God will pluck them up and turn them around the way I was. 

Meanwhile, last week before we left, Petra helped this little guy with his puzzle.  The kids have really been into the puzzles lately- and the youngest of our group has learned not to destroy them as they are being built.  Hooray!!

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥