The Latest

Halle

She made it to 2 months old yesterday, and is already catching up to her cousin Ellie(at least in size). She weighs 11 lbs. and 14 oz. The thighs and cheeks are rolling. She is still cute as a button and we are enjoying her smiles, coos, and the beginnings of a laugh.

Davis

Aunt Abby sent us a package(mostly for Halle, but a treat for the boys too), Davis's present was a little wind up monkey that walks sideways when cranked, unfortunatly it only last about 15 seconds. But Davis thought it was great, soo.... As he sat on Daddy's lap we heard every 15 seconds for about 5 minutes, "Daddy, Monkey not wook'n!" Too cute!!! Thanks Aunt Abby!

Aidan

Totally into a new PBS show Super Why! So as we went to leave the house he exclaimed, "Time to go Super Mommy into our Super Van. Super Davis and Super Halle too!" I think everything is "Super" now.

Mommy, my head hurts!

Davis and I(Kate) were having a bowl of ice cream together this afternoon, when he exclaimed, "Mommy, my head hurts!" I thought for a minute if he had bumped his head, and then it dawned on me - Davis had his first Ice Cream Headache! It was soo cute I had to video it. Check it out!

Puedo usar al bano?

Before going to bed tonight, Kate asked Aidan if he needed to go to the bathroom. He told her he did, but he needed to ask his teacher first. When Kate asked him who his teacher was, he pointed at me. "Then go ask him, " Kate said.

He walks over to me and says, "Ah, teacher. Can I go to the bathroom?"

On his way up after his pitstop he yells, "Teacher! I'm coming back up!"

Brewers + Blame Shifting + Big Mammals

We took the kids to a Brewers game Friday night, it was Davis' first time ever at Miller Park. Today, Kate and the kids went to the zoo with my aunt and cousin and her kids. When I got home from work tonight I walked in the front door to find Davis sitting at the dinner table eating my sunflower seeds. I walked in and say, "Hey, Davis is eating my sunflower seeds." He just nods at me and says, "Aidan did it."

When Kate asked him what he saw today he replied, "Baseball game." "No Davis," Kate said, "Where did we go today?" "Go to baseball game." Apparently, they drove past Miller Park on their way to the zoo and he exclaimed, "Go to baseball game! Go to baseball game!"

Aidan, however was ready and willing to tell me all about the hippopotamuses AND the hippos that he saw.

The Davis Face

Ever since Davis was born the one thing everybody says when they meet him is, "He's so cute!" Davis's face is full of life or at least gives us a picture of what his life is full of. So, I thought I would put a myriad of his face photos for all to enjoy. To get the full experience of Davis's face you'll have to come visit us.

Aidan's Memory Verses

While I have been a bit slack since starting it, Aidan and I have started getting back into his verse memory work.

We started sometime last year when Kate and I realized that he had memorized an astonishing amount of songs and details from Thomas. So, we figured he was ready to begin putting eternal things into his little head.

Back when I was in Bible college I took a class called Bible for Teachers. In this class we read an article that talked about how most Evangelical churches' Sunday school classes are driven by the "immediacy of salvation". This means that typically when we get a child in our SS we think, "I/We have to teach them about Jesus immediately, I must take them to the Cross today." This is instead of thinking, "How great that we have this child in our church and, God willing, they will be here for years to come giving us all this time to begin to teach them the whole counsel of God!"

I think children should hear about Jesus (and grown-ups should too!), but I was really struck by this article and its perspective that rests (a tad bit) upon God sovereignly ruling over time and events, meaning I/we can take the time to teach the ways and Word of God in its/His totality believing God honors His truth and His Word will accomplish all that he desires for it to and will not return to Him void.

SO, when I started Aidan's memory verses I started with the beginning and we are moving through what I feel are the important points in God's Story. I am sure we will miss some important verses along the way, but I figure that we have a lot of years to fill in the gaps.

When I teach Aidan a new verse I start by saying the verse to him a couple times in short phrases. (For some of the verses I do take the liberty of paraphrasing slightly.)

For example, with Genesis 1:1, I say to Aidan, "In the beginning...God created...the heavens and the earth." Then I repeat it and then the third time I have him repeat each phrase after I have said it. We do this step once or thrice a night. It usually only takes him a couple nights before all he needs is "In the..."

Currently we are working through the Lord's Prayer. Then we will get back to Genesis. Kate thinks Davis is almost ready since he has been so close in his singing to actually phrases (he already speaks actual words). We'll see...