Christmas tree

Cuddle buddies

Our missional community group is reading this book right now:

The other day, Cora was studying the book, then went and got a piece of paper and a pencil, came back and copied the word "God" from the book onto her paper (3 letters on the right).  It was so cute.  I've been really surprised by her level of interest and desire to learn since I've started schooling Miriam a little bit.

Magic House Homeschool Day

We're really enjoying all that St Louis has to offer for homeschool families, including special days at The Magic House!

Walker looks like the grandson of a couple grain farmers!

Lest I forget...

I took all three kids to the pediatrician for their annual "well-child visits" a week and a half ago.  Good times.  I have to document the trip for my own sake, if not for anyone else's.  As soon as we arrived, two or three of us needed to go potty (of course), so I asked the nurse if we could go back and use the restroom before we sat down in the waiting room.  She informed me that they wanted urine specimens from the girls; Walker wasn't old enough for that yet (although he probably would have been the easiest one to get to pee in a cup).  We get to the bathroom and Miriam decides to go first because Cora is insisting that she will NOT go potty in the cup.  Miriam sits on the toilet for a L-O-N-G time... seemed like at least 5 minutes, and just could not go.  Like most public restrooms, this one has a door with the lever-type handle as opposed to a knob and those things are just fascinating for 2-year-olds.  Walker is trying to open the door and escape, so I have to put one foot in front of the door and basically do the splits (with my 27-week-pregnant belly to aid in my balancing) so that I can also reach across the bathroom to catch the girls' urine while they're sitting on the toilet.  Miriam finally gives up and decides to try again later and Cora has miraculously decided that she's willing to give it a go.  She sits up on the toilet and provides me with a generous sample immediately.  We wash up and exit the bathroom and of course by this time, there's no need for us to wait in the waiting room because we've killed PLENTY of time in the bathroom.  We go over to measure everyone's height and weight which was [relatively speaking] uneventful.  Then the nurse asks Miriam to do a basic sight test and she very definitively refuses.  We finally give up, go into our exam room, go through all the pediatrician's questions, he takes a look at everybody, we decide which shots they need, etc.  Other than the climbing all over everything (floor, table, chairs) and the girls not really being willing to answer the doctor's questions, this part went pretty well.  Then, once he went out to let the nurse know who needed which shots, Miriam decided that she was now ready to go potty.  We all head back to the bathroom and Mim is successful.  In the meantime, Walker completely loses it because he is the only one who has NOT gotten to pee in a cup.  Seriously...  We go back across the hall to wait for shots and the nasal mist flu vaccine and when the nurse comes in, Cora is beside herself because she's the only one who does NOT get a shot... and you know how it works - at the pediatrician's office, shots mean cool bandaids!  I finally sheepishly asked the nurse if we could just have a bandaid for Cora even though she didn't need one and the nurse graciously complied.  We get everyone appropriately vaccinated and they get their stickers and bandaids and all and on the way out, the kids go to make a routine stop at the candy bowl (this seems like a necessary evil to me... candy from the doctor...?!?).  Anyway, there was no candy that day.  That may have been our first visit ever where there was no candy, which I was actually quite pleased by, but again, Cora came unglued.  We managed to get out of there, got buckled into the car and came straight home.  Thank goodness we had stopped by the store on the way TO the doctor instead of needing to on the way FROM the doctor!
I love that their three birthdays are so close together that we can do all their checkups at once.  As challenging   as it is to take them all at the same time, I figure we're reducing our germ-exposure, right?!?  I'm so thankful to have three healthy, passionate, wonderful children and can't wait to see what #4 is like!

Walker's 2nd Birthday - November 5, 2011

Another note about cake... Walker's big sisters had decided that his cake should have red frosting and even though we used every drop of red food coloring we had in the house, we still couldn't really get it to be red.  The "W2" was their idea, too.  :)

Miriam's 5th birthday - October 13, 2011

(A little note about the cake... after I had added the requested elements to the frosting, Miriam decided that it also needed a flower, so she added that flower herself... in about 15 seconds.  Her artistic talent is just amazing to Joel and I - something that both of us lack.  The only reason there's a little extra glob on part of the flower is because of an air bubble in the tube of food coloring gel.  She's such a great artist - praise the Lord for His gifts!!!)