Lego creation

Here's a picture of Austin's latest creation. He's put aside knitting to create with legos for a while. The downstairs is usually noisy with him clanging through all the tiny plastic pieces to find just the right one. Why this is so fun I have no idea. It's a guy thing apparently because my husband, brother, and all my nephews loved doing it at this age too. He's proud of his accomplishment. Taylor and I lament the times we step on them with bare feet but then again they step on my sewing pins occasionally too. I guess it all works out in the end.

Brotherly love.

Dylan loves his brother and Liam loves him too. They enjoy torturing each other. Liam is wearing Dylan's advent wreath that he made in Kids Club, a ministry to refugees. They are both fun-loving which explains why Liam laughs at just about everything Dylan does. One day he even laughed at Dylan dropping a plastic lid...doesn't take much to amuse him! I've enjoyed watching Dylan grow and mature now that he's not the baby of the family. He takes more responsibility for things and offers to help more...especially with Liam. I can't say no to that! I hope that they will continue their friendship even when he starts getting into his stuff. The verdict's still out on that one.

Getting the family to eat vegetables!

I was raised to love a variety of foods. I love plain spinach with a little butter, seafood, cauliflower, salad, and pumpkin. Unfortunately my children all inherited Bill's distaste for anything healthy so I've had to resort to creative measures to get my children to eat healthy. Most of them haven't gone over well. The invariable groan anytime the crockpot is on or the salad is being chopped and my kids know they will be tortured that evening.

Great news and hallelujah...my kids have liked the last two veggie dishes I made. The first one was for breakfast. My friend, Shannon, told me about it. She adds pumpkin to french toast. Th way I did it was to take 1/2 can of pumpkin and 1/2 a can of evaporated milk and whisked them with three eggs. I dipped 7 pieces of wheat bread in the mixture and fried them in a skillet with vegetable oil spray. My kids loved it!

The second is a broccoli- cauliflower cassarole. You blend flour and butter with milk (or 1/2 and 1/2 as the recipe calls for) and pour that over the veggies and top with cheese and bake it. There aren't any leftovers and the kids even ask for seconds! Cool! I'm shocked.

If you want the exact measurements for either recipe you can email me. Let me know how your family liked them.

Bathtime fun

It's hard to believe this was once a failure to thrive baby! He's now pushing over 22 lbs. I've had to move him to a different carseat as the infant one no longer fits him or is safe. He wants so desperately to move around but hasn't figured out how to move his body to go. It's so cute to watch him rake at a toy and he just can't figure out why it won't cooperate.

He's such a good baby too. We went to a refugee house after dinner and he just smiled and charmed the Afghans we were visiting. He went all around today to physical education class for his siblings and the grocery store. He's used to go, go, go.

This is his favorite time when we're in the bathtub. He loves to feel the warm water and splash around. Sometimes he bends to get a good toe sucking in! Now he is trying to roll out of his infant tub into the big tub I have. Uh, oh! Now I have to be really careful! Head bonkings are just around the corner. Why do they have to grow up and get boo boos?

Fourth Grade Basketball

Basketball is an awesome sport. I used to coach it when I was a teacher. Before that I had never seen a game. When Austin decided to play I was thrilled. He plays for the Salvation Army and really likes it. Since it's a homeschool team, most of the players haven't ever played before. They tend to be too nice too. Many of them watch the ball go down the court as it's being stolen by the other team.

It's been fun to watch them grow as a team. John is their coach and is very encouraging to all the boys and plays them all evenly, regardless of ability. Austin was all over them today defensively and he took the initiative to get the ball a few times. His teammates Jordan and Noah are getting very aggressive and would not give up the ball today. Caleb, a new player, actually scored a three point shot. The final score was 7-20 but the good news is that the other team had to fight for every point. They are really starting to gel as a team and running plays. It's my hope that some day they'll take these lessons with them for their lives: teamwork, perseverence, focus, and hard work.

Christmas spirit

Everyone's getting excited about Christmas here. They are busy making lists both for what they want and what they want to get other people. They are also crafting so that they have some homemade gift too. Liam's in the spirit with Christmas pajamas.

ALthough we do enjoy all the lights, baking, and gift giving the one thing we are sure to emphasize is that this is a holiday to celebrate God's gift to us...Jesus. What an extraordinary wonder that is. We're planning to have a family movie night to watch the NAtivity Story again. If you haven't seen it, rent it soon.

Gingerbread house day

What was Liam doing? Hiding under a table!

This is, of course, why they want to make one. They can't wait to eat it.

At one point Bill had a large exhale. I think it was when all of the kids were talking at once, Liam was fussing and I pulled out the camera and said, "I need more pictures for my blog!"

Applying the candy is hard work.

The icing can be tricky to apply. Taylor's doing her best to be careful.

Every year we have a tradition at Christmas time to make a gingerbread house together. Mom buys us the kit and then Bill purchases extra icing and candy to sweeten the deal. As you can see they are very serious about their gingerbread house. Bill has to explain the rules, "Go slow, take your time."

This was Liam's favorite part of the day...bouncing with a metal spoon! YEah! Everyone ended on a happy note and it didn't take long for the gingerbread house to disappear.