David

"Mommy, do you think we can make room in our family for a hippopotamus?"

Lady A

Poor little lady has been pretty sick lately, and I am happy to see her getting a bit of an appetite back!

Leaf Dodge

Corrie and Mac's favorite game of Fall: Leaf Dodge!

(Best played on the windiest of days)

Corrie's day of blessings

Yesterday afternoon Corrie and I were surprised and amazed to discover a huge carrot growing in our garden. Mostly, we were surprised because we didn't plant any carrots, but also, when we have actually tried to plant carrots, they have never grown very big!

Mac pulled it up for us, and we went inside for snacks. Corrie was so excited (carrots are her favorite veggie). The carrot was big enough to fill up her entire snack cup. We could not believe its bright orange color and incredible flavor!

Later while the boys were downstairs watching TV, Corrie came up and asked if she could have some graham crackers. As she ate them, she asked if there was any way we could make a ginger bread house. I said, "Well, we need frosting to stick the grahams together, and we don't have any." 

Corrie wondered if there was anything else we could use, and then I remembered that we had a tub of Nutella in the cupboard! We decided to test it out - and it worked perfectly. We had such a good time making a mini gingerbread house, and we decided that we will surprise Mac and Davey with our ginger bread house idea for Christmas. 

Then we started talking about all of the wonderful surprises that God had given to Corrie that day. She talked about getting to share her favorite stuffed owl "Swoops" (see below) at school, finding the carrot, making the gingerbread house, getting to eat her gingerbread house at the counter with her fish...and other cute things that I sadly can't remember now.

What a sweet girl you are, Corrie. You have such a fun, creative, and witty personality. I would like to thank God for the blessing of YOU being in our family!

Love, 

Mom

(Swoops sitting in the special nest Corrie made and duct-taped to her door)

Abigail's First Noodles

Mac

One of Mac's many talents: catching flies with his bare hands. I can't count the number of times he's done it!

Lego Cage

Cutezilla

Today the kids were playing a game with Abigail. They pretended to build houses and cities out of foam blocks as fast as they could before "cute" Zilla (Abigail) could destroy them.

Not Funny. Not Funny at All.

C'ville Nest Realty Fair

Toothpaste Unicorn

They will do anything but actually brush their teeth 😭

David

The kids and I started doing morning devotionals together this past summer. Overall, we enjoyed it! David, however, was sometimes a little disinterested in using his journal like Mac and Corrie did.

I would read aloud while the older two would draw/write in their journals, and David would often find his own activity while he listened.

I saw this picture of him making a craft during our devotionals, and I smiled when I remembered what he said before I took it:

"When Jesus comes back, I am going to ask him if he can help me with my perler beads."

Tea and Company

Since school started for Corrie, there has been less time to converse with each other each day. On a whim, we started an evening tradition before bedtime that we call "Tea and Company." 

For a while Corrie could not remember the name, so she called it "This and That," because, "you know, we talk about this and that."

Sometimes we read a book, sometimes we just ask each other questions about our day/lives, and a lot of times we have "tea," (milk in a teacup) and snacks (apple slices pictured below). 

Abigail loves sitting with us and crawling/squaking/trying to eat the apple slices, etc. 

First Day of School!

Corrie is so excited for Kindergarten 😀

Sahara Desert Soufle

About once a year I decide to go on a smoothie kick. And by "smoothie kick," I mean that I last about 2-3 days. This summer my smoothie kick drew much attention from David and Corrie. I decided to freeze a concoction of yogurt, spinach, carrots, and other ingredients that I can't remember, and they loved eating it in mugs as a type of cold summer treat. 

Mac, like most normal people, looked at the disgusting color and decided against trying to eat much of it. (In fact, Corrie spilled a bunch of it on the sidewalk at pool and it looked exactly like some poor child had been sick. Poor lifeguards!)

Corrie, however, has affectionately named it, "Sahara Desert Soufle," and she can't get enough of it!

That's Corrie!

The Fly Whisperer

If there was a summer television competition for capturing various bugs and small animals/reptiles, Mac would be a sure bet. I can't count the number of baby lizards he caught last summer (something I tried for years and years as a kid and only managed to do once or twice).

A couple days ago, there was a fly near our window that was bothering all of us. Mac just reached over and grabbed it, like it was nothing at all. How does he do that?

That's Mac!

A Girl and Her Yo-Yo

Several days ago, Corrie came into the possession of a very cheap little toy yo-yo. Who would have thought it would become her favorite entertainment for hours on end? Not me. I can actually yo-yo, and it was nearly impossible with the tiny toy. 

Amazingly, after only three or four days, she was actually successful with her new yo-yo...once. She's been pretty excited about it. 

Earlier this morning, I was nursing Abigail in her room when I heard Corrie yell, "oh no!"

My first thought was, "oh, no, David peed on the floor again." Thankfully, Corrie was simply alerting me that we had run out of toilet paper in the bathroom. "Okay!," I said, "I'll get you some as soon as I am done with Abigail. Just sit tight for a few minutes!" 

Then I heard her say, "Okay! I'll wait!" And then a little later I heard her say to herself, matter-of-factly, "Good thing I've got my yo-yo."

I don't know why that made me laugh so much, but it did.

Since then, she's been pretending to be a cheetah named spot. She has been entertaining herself immensely by acting out what a yo-yoing cheetah would look like!   

 

That's Corrie!

"Let's Play Dinosaurs"

We started off our summer vacation with some mild colds for the kids. Unfortunately, the cold was not so mild for me. I ended up being sidelined for a few weeks with a sinus infection and severe ear infection. 

Needless to say, the kids had their run of the house for days, and it was quite obvious. I literally had dreams of Lord of Flies as I lay in bed. 

One sweet note of those memorable weeks was how much David and Corrie enjoyed playing together. They played "dinosaur" for hours each day. 

At some point in the day, usually after swim lessons, one of the two would say, "let's play dinosaurs!" After happily agreeing, they would begin building houses from blocks and make a dinosaur family. Corrie would be the mom, and David would be the dad. They would take their family on walks, put the babies in time out, etc. 

It was so funny hearing their conversations (when I could hear), and so surprising that they could spend so many hours enjoying their imaginations together. I started sitting Abigail next to them to watch for as long as she would stand it before crying. 

Would they have come up with their game if I had been healthy and kept them busy with other things? I am not sure. And I am so thankful for such a sweet memory of them.

Our Little Paleontologist

If there's one thing David loves these days, it's dinosaurs. In particular, he's always had a special interest in fossils/dinosaur bones. When he saw the ultrasound image of Abigail, his reaction was, "What? BONES?!!! The baby has BONES?!!"

For the past several weeks, he has requested almost every day to watch a national geographic documentary of the discovery of a Spinosaurus skeleton. Mac and Corrie are bored out of their minds, but Davey is glued to the screen.  

The other day I saw him playing at the kitchen table with the Little People Farm set. When I looked closer, I saw that he had found Mac's shark tooth collection, too. 

I wish you could have heard the conversations his "paleontologists" were having. Apparently they had made quite a discovery!

Abigail

Just Another Day in Paradise

For David, that is.

Saturday Morning, 9:30am

Two pretty special views!

A Very Hungry Caterpillar

There is one day each year at our preschool when the kids in the oldest class get to dress up as one of their favorite characters from a book. I am sorry to say that last year I forgot character day for Mac, and this year I was determined to remember Character Day for Corrie...which I did...as I was tucking her into bed the night before...when she said, "Oh, mom, tomorrow is Character Day." 

D'oh! O well. I asked her what she would like to be, and she said, "the very hungry caterpillar!" 

"Okay! Tomorrow we will wake up and make the costume together!"

Corrie seemed pretty happy about that idea. The next morning, which was yesterday, we found a picture of the very hungry caterpillar and recreated it using a little construction paper and duct tape. 

My favorite part was how Corrie made most of it herself. She cut out the yellow "hairs" for the caterpillar's back, and exactly six brown feet (as we observed from the picture from the book). We used duct tape to apply the hair, feet, and two antennae to her red caterpillar head (my old red winter hat). 

She was as proud and as happy as could be, and all day she excitedly greeted everyone with a loud, "Hey I'm a very hungry caterpillar!!!!!" 

One of our friends drove her to school, and they apparently sang caterpillar songs the whole way there. Corrie said, "I'm really good at singing." 

When I picked Corrie up from school that afternoon, she was still bright-eyed and all smiles. It turns out that her class had a parade through the whole school, and she made sure to "caterpillar walk" the whole way (imagine her trying to impersonate an inch worm). 

Wish I could have been a fly on the wall in her school that day! What a fun, sweet and imaginative personality God has given you, Corrie! You truly have a gift of bringing joy to others, starting with me!

Ants in Paradise

We have got a horrible ant problem right now in our house. I can think of a few reasons why!

The other day I was nursing Abigail in our bedroom, and I thought Davey was napping. Next thing I knew, he was happily standing at the foot of our bed, chomping down in quite a crumbly way on a piece of "jelly bread," as he called it. 

He said, "Mommy I made it myself! Jelly bread! I didn't use a sharp thing! I just grabbed jelly with my hand and put it on the bread!" 

Then he ran away. 

I finished feeding abigail and tried to find David. It wasn't hard to follow his trail. You can't see in the picture that there were blobs of jelly all over the counter and floor.

I turned the corner to the living room, and though I wasn't sure what to expect, I certainly did NOT expect to find him trying DRINK jelly out of one of my most fragile china cups!!!!!!!! Looks like the the ants will have another day in paradise. 

Poor #4

We managed to find a play yard in the attic for Abigail, but sadly, no objects to hang on it. She seems to be taking it all in stride. 

David in Paradise

Typical Day for a Johns

Abigail

Abigail loves hanging out on our changing table. Corrie made some artwork for her to look at, and Abigail really loves it. As as soon as I put her down to change her diaper, she looks over at Corrie's pictures and starts smiling and talking to them and kicking her legs. 

I love seeing Abigail coming alive to the world around her. I have even heard a couple giggles already! Right now she mainly communicates through raspy gurgles when she is happy. Corrie thinks Abigail's "baby language" is hilarious. :-)

Big Brother

Mac loves Abigail so much! There are many times that he asks if he can sit next to her, "just to spend some time with her." 

The other day he practiced his reading homework with her. It was pretty precious. 

Yesterday I found this in Mac's backpack when he got home from school. I asked him about his award, but he seemed to have no clue about it. Pretty funny.

We are proud of you Mac! God is growing you into a kind big brother, and a good leader at school.