Ben's Artwork

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What happened this week...

The week started off with Jakob under the weather and missing school on Monday. Then I started this morning... I ache all over! Late this afternoon Rachel spiked a fever and said she hurts all over. I just gave Sam some medicine because he is coughing and has a runny nose...who knows if he aches all over...I am sure he does...poor little guy. I hope we are all better by the time my Dad arrives on Sunday!

So Jakob missed his Cub Scout meeting on Monday and he did not have Hebrew on Wednesday because it is the High Holidays. This week for Rachel was exciting though. Her first Brownie meeting of this school year was on Tuesday and I made brownies to share since it was her birthday today. Then on Thursday she started back to her ballet class. We took the summer off since the 3 were playing soccer 4 nights a week. And then last but not least today I took in treats for her to share with her class for her birthday. Since I was not feeling well at all this morning I did not want to risk getting anyone sick by making anything homemade so the class got pre-made rice crispy treats. And you know what...they enjoyed them just as much as if I had made them...kids really don't care! So, this summer was very cold and rainy which made for a beautiful showing of fall leave which I will blog about later with the new computer...so many pictures to share. But, now the leaves are falling quickly and the snow is coming done the mountains all around us. It even was sleeting today! When I took Ben to the doctor today to get out his stitches he said, "Mommy, it is snowing in the van!" There were little snow like pellets in his car seat!!! Grandpa Litton, are you ready to see snow!?

Well, I better go take some medicine and then get to bed!

Saying the pledge.
Sharing her Birthday brownies

Jakob's art project. As you can see...he loves to read. I lost track years ago on how many 100's of books he has read! He has read the complete Harry Potter series in order at least 6 or 7 times and then many, many more times he has randomly grabbed book 1 or book 4, etc. He read the complete Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings books...I am sorry but I never read books that big when I was his age...heck you all know me...I STILL haven't read books like that! And of course when he was younger he read all the Magic Tree House, Judy Bloom, Series Of Unfortunate Events, Ready Freddy, etc, etc. The lists are countless. Give him any book and he is happy! He has his own personal library as he likes to call it. He has been inviting Rachel in there lately so she can read all the books he read when he was in first grade. She loves his old Junie B. Jones, Nate the Great, and Magic Tree House series of books. I also found a new one Katie Kazoo Switcheroo...really cute series. Since it is not a school night they are staying up late...not watching a movie...they have both been reading the past 2 hours! Rachel begs to stay up late every night to read but I can't let her or she would be late for school everyday! So, I try to start the bedtime routine pretty early so she still gets about an hour in. I love that they both really do LOVE to read! Since Paul is gone some nights it gets chaotic...no really...trying to get them all to bed at the same time by myself. So, Rachel and Jakob take turns reading stories to Ben while I put Sam down for bed. Then I come in and finish off. They are such big helpers!!
Rachel's first day back to ballet.
Like her 5 missing teeth!?

Here comes the snow! Our driveway is the one with Paul's red Tacoma.
This is the mountain in our back yard. I love how you have the Autumn trees with the fresh new snow! I thought this was a cool shot with this very low lying cloud...I felt like I could grab it!


The kids do not care that it is 40* out! Jakob's first indoor practice is Sunday morning at 7! Ugh! Paul did all the early practices last season! Too early for my blood. I guess I better get used to it though!

Sam enjoying Rachel's school party.
A picture with Ben smiling...this is hard...not that he doesn't smile...he does...all the time & he has a wonderful, contagious smile. However, when I get out the camera he hams it up like the crazy little monkey that he...like this one...
Or this one when I said, "I want to get a picture of your head before they take out the stitches." And then he looked up at his head :-)!

Rachel and Ben handing out the treats.

Have a good weekend everyone. We head off to the airport to pick up my Dad on Sunday and we are all very excited to have him here and to take him to all the kid's activities!
See the rest of the pictures in the Sept. 29 album.

Sam turned one and Rachel will be 7 on Friday...

Here are some pictures of some of the wonderful artwork from last week!
Rachel knows how much I love the fall leaves and could not wait to show me her own fall leaves! She ran into the house and pulled this out of her backpack so excitedly! Click to enlarge so you can see her pretty leaves!
Rachel told me a story for about fifteen minutes about this picture of her compass. There are fish, the water, a box that a bird is trapped in...

red & blue make purple...I love it!

This is a story about ice cream Jakob had to write. As you can see Jakob has only been to Cold Stone Creamery. I think they should pay us for free advertising :-)!

OK, so I have to brag how incredibly sweet my kids are! All the time they are doing the sweetest, kindest things for each other that make me so proud! For example, anytime they have money they will tell me they want to buy...fill in the blank...for...fill in name of sibling. I NEVER did that as a child! They take their own quarters and buy each other candy from the little machines. They will take their own allowance and buy the other certain things they know the other wants! If I would have had allowance I would not have done that! And then when they are playing fantasy world and talk about what they would do if they had a million dollars they always say that they would give Mom and Dad x amount of money and they name each sibling and give them money too! And I am not talking small percentages of the million...they are very generous! They are so NOT selfish! Paul and I must be do something right? Yeah for us!

So, a few MONTHS ago our neighbors were having a yard sale. Jakob comes running inside. Runs up the stairs. Comes down the stairs with his wallet. I of course am very curious, "What are you doing?" He replies, "Mom, there is a stuffed puppy I want to get Rachel for her birthday and a bag of homemade cookies for Ben and me." (Rachel was at a friend's house or I am sure he would have shared the cookies and he knows how much Rachel LOVES puppies and could never have enough of them). I was kinda worried though what shape a stuffed animal would be in from a yard sale. I have been to yard sales and usually the stuffed animals are pretty gross! However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a brand new, extremely soft puppy...the girl is a teenager and obviously never touched it :-). I just hugged Jakob so tightly and told him how proud I was of him to use HIS allowance on his sister's birthday present! He did this last year as well! I will share pics at another time. So, he promptly hid the puppy in a nice spot under Ben's bed, way in the back behind storage containers. I don't know how Jakob crawled under there! He has been anxiously awaiting her birthday to arrive these past few months holding onto the secret has been driving him crazy! Last week when Rachel went to a friend's house he says, "Mom, now would be a good time to wrap her present." So, I gave him a bag and tissue paper. He wrapped it up. Added in a dollar!!! And wrote the sweetest note!!! ALL of this HIS idea!!! You know just because he doesn't say the words to Rachel, "I love you." He said it in the way he gave this present! I am so proud! He could not stand it any longer and wanted to give it to her early...her birthday is this Friday, 3 October.

Look at Jakob's face...he is so happy for Rachel to open her present.

"To Rachel From Jakob To The Best Little Sister A Boy Could Have!"

How sweet is that!?!

A big thank you hug!

A big hug for "Cuddles"

Look, money!!!

Then Sam and Rachel got birthday cards in the mail from Daddy... "Thank you Daddy!"

Sam's birthday was Saturday...yes, Ben had to get stitches on Sam's birthday! We are going to celebrate while my Dad is here so he can see Sam make a mess with the cake! But, we did let him go ahead and open his present from Grandma and Grandpa Darling.

Everyone helping Sam. "What could be in there?"
"Yeah, look at these cute clothes, Mom."

Rachel is doing a slumber party next week. But she wanted to go ahead and open her present from Grandma and Grandpa Darling as well.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the cute clothes and beautiful doll.

I can not believe that Samuel is now one! I will do something special with pictures after I get the new computer. And, Rachel will be 7 on Friday...my how time flies!!!! She is no longer my "little girl!"

See all the pictures in the 25 Sept. album. http://picasaweb.google.com/momtomyfour