Daddy

You work hard to provide for our family

You are good to us

You spend time making our house fit our growing family

You teach the kids teamwork

You include the kids in things you do even if it slows the process down

You are making the kids into little Cubs fans

You make characters for each child on your favorite computer game

You play that game listening to them tell you how to play it

You do funny things to make the kids laugh

You are patient

You love them back as much as they love you

You are a great Daddy

Dishes

I sat here pondering for a little bit if I should do the dishes or not. I don't really like to do the dishes and have tried to find joy in it, but I just can't. But, they need to be done or there are no more spoons for the morning if they are still dirty on the counter. As I am running the water and putting the first batch in my sweet little Max peeps his head out his door while rubbing his eyes and says "Mommy, will you leave some dishes for me to dry?" I hear this from his little mouth after I was upset with him for not having his room cleaned up as he said it would be before he went to bed. I guess it just reminds me that we are teaching our kids to pitch in and help around the house. I just think they enjoy it more when it is the new jobs laid out in front of them. This is just the reminder for me to give the kids a little grace when things are not as I would like to have them. God is so willing to give me plenty of grace for the places in my heart where I need it and just have to remember to pass that on to the little ones He has given to me. I don't know why dishes teach me this but God has a funny way of putting in front of me what I need to be working on. While I may not like the act of washing the dishes it gives me great pleasure to have a clean counter and an empty kitchen sink to wake up to in the morning. All these little things add up to make doing the dishes worth it. Gotta love these reminders :)

Of course this wouldn't be complete without a picture of my wild man Max!

...and so it rained

It came down with a furry and left us with a great big puddle. They jumped and got filthy dirty and I loved watching every minute of 'happyness' on their little faces.

The End....of Second Grade

Here is to the last day of second grade for my sweet boy Noah. He has had such a fun year with a great perky teacher and many new friends. Noah joined Cub Scouts this year and the exciting thing about that was most of the boys in his den were in his class. He had to opportunity to develop friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime. Noah has been reading lots of Baily School Kids and Star Wars books this year. He loves to read with me as I do with him. We get very expressive with the characters and Noah is very sure to let me know if I don't sound them out the right way. I am smiling so big on the inside to see the fine young little man our Noah is becoming.

The End...of Kindergarten

Today is the last day of Kindergarten for my twin babies. I am so proud of how this year has gone for Max and Naomi. We had a little graduation for them at school yesterday afternoon. Naomi won the acting out the best troll in their Billy Goats Gruff play award. She did such a great job jumping out at the billy goats in their play that some of the kids jumped back and were really scared because Naomi growled at them so loud and scarey! Max won the best snowman award for the day daddy went to school with them to help the class. He was so proud of daddy being there. They also had to make a paper and picture and tell the audience what they wanted to be when they grow up. Max wants to be a teacher and Naomi wants to be a massager like mommy. That was just way to sweet. I am proud of how the two of them have done this year. They have grown up so much and are such great little people.

One more BOY!

We were so blessed last week to have an ultrasound of the new baby with all of the older kids with us to find out that our #5 is a boy! He had his hands crossed over his head a lot so we couldn't get a good 3-D image or see his hands good. There was no problem telling he was a boy if you know what I mean:) It was fun to watch him move around which made it more real for the kids. I am fascinated with all the little bones and how they are so defined especially his hands and feet. Max was jumping for joy and saying "Yes" while Noah and Naomi were very upset that it wasn't a girl. I knew what each one wanted but didn't expect those reactions. A few days later though and Naomi is now praying at night for her new baby brother or the boy baby. I think she is just going to love having a little baby around again. Noah hasn't said much else but I think he is ok with it now. We have been very focused on building the boys a bedroom downstairs. Over the weekend the kids helped dig a hole for their new window so the builder can come on Thursday to install it. We have much painting and moving around of other rooms upstairs to make everyone fit. But, the progress is moving forward and that is exciting! Now we just have to pray Marlee will sleep in a big girl bed really soon so we don't need another crib. She is such a stinker that I think I may be dreaming. One can always hope.

On one other thought, Daddy is excited because now we have our own starting lineup and our own soccer team! Yeah for us!