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Nov, Dec, and Jan are all new.

Prophets Spank

We were hanging out in the living room the other night when Rhya asked if we could sing the 'spank' song. 

I said, "HUH? We have a song that talks about spanking??" 

She said, "YES!" 

I asked her if she remembered any other words so she said, "The prophets SPANK!" It's that hymn that we sing sometimes.

Nate looked up the word 'prophet' in his hymn concordance and figured out it was, "We have found the Christ, of whom the prophets SPAKE, we have found Him, King of Kings" 

HAHA!! We got a good chuckle and then Rhya was a bit embarrassed so kept insisting that her way was correct.

Every now and then we introduce a new table grace. The past few weeks it's been 'To Thee who Doth the Ravens Feed'

We started hearing their little voices ring out with the words after a few mealtimes of singing the grace.

Guess what we heard? Two wholehearted voices singing, "To Thee who doth the RAISINS feed" 

We then spent the next few minutes explaining what a RAVEN was. :-)

Our Excitement of the Month

Calden is crawling! He decided to move his wheels at 6.5 months old. We're hoping he'll just crawl for a while before getting his walking shoes on but he's already pulling himself up and only hanging on with one hand.

Our hens have started laying eggs! We didn't expect them to start until Jan or Feb so we didn't get the nesting boxes up in time. So far we've found eggs by the round bale, up on a beam in the haymow, on straw next to the drop down hole for hay, around the corner in the barn, and a few in the actual nesting box that we staged after the fact. :-) The girls enjoy the egg hunts! Can you tell which egg is store bought?

We got two Holstein bull calves. They get half milk replacer, half Clydette's milk. They are cute little things and have cozy little pens in the barn. Here's one at the initial weigh in:

Kylie spent two nights with us! Rhya stayed with Karena, and Kylie came to stay with the rest of us. We had loads of fun: black friday shopping at Menards, sledding, bday brownies for Dad (which Kylie made), cheesemaking, and more! Kylie willingly read Brielle countless books. Some pictures make me chuckle, and this is one of them. Maybe it's the eyeballs poking out. Here they are, all snuggled in:

We started giving Calden food. He wasn't too impressed at first but is turning into a little chow hound. He started to get constipated so I've started limiting it a bit which has helped tremendously. Breast milk can be his sole source of nourishment for quite some time yet!

We have new daycare kiddos at the house! A one year old and two year old started coming the early part of December. We've enjoyed getting to know the sweet little siblings. They are very active and good natured and are transitioning well to life at our place. :-) We now have 5 kids in our little house, age 4 and under. Wanna come visit? :-) The days FLY BY!

Rhya's 4YK class performed their Christmas concert. There were many chuckle worthy moments, and tons of 'oh that's ADORABLE' moments! Little Rhya looked quite nervous and was sure swinging back and forth and grabbing her dress, but SANG her heart out!

Happy 2015! What will the new year bring?

3 Kids Oblivious to Each Other

What's better, crawling, washing a horse, or hiding in a box?

Come check on me

I laid Brielle in bed with a pile of books and said that she could rest a while and I'd come check on her.

5 minutes later she yells, "MOMMY!!"

 I mosey in and look at her and she exclaims, "CHECK on me!"

Brielle informed me that I needed to buy her a ring because she was going to marry Gpa and Nama.

I told Rhya that I hoped a certain couple would get married and she exclaimed, "Yeah, but you can't marry your GIRLFRIEND!!"

Brielle said, "Does Gpa have a carseat?" I said, "Yep, why?" She said, "I go wif him to da restrant in da twuk, Yaiya go wif Nama in da Jetta!" I said, " Oh, well, who's going to pay for it?" She looks at me and says in an obvious voice, "Gpa!"

Rhya started rubbing my belly and then said "I'm making soup!" Guess who has a wiggly belly? How humbling.

Every time something annoying or maddening happens to Brielle she says, "I tell Gpa that!!"

The other day I got after her for spilling her milk (carelessness). The next meal I dribbled while pouring her milk. She IMMEDIATELY announced, "I tell Gpa that you spilled mine milk!"

6 Months Already

Calden is now SIX months. Half a year!! He still feels very much like a little baby. Maybe it's because this is our third time around and we know how fast it goes.

He's trying to keep up with (within reason) his sisters and is sitting very well now with a few topples here and there.

He can get somewhere if he really wants to. A few rolls and scoots usually does the trick.

Food is a priority. He gets all squirmy when he's being held by Mommy and wants to nurse. He can be tricky to hold when he's got something else on his mind. He's also VERY aware that food goes in our mouths at the table and squawks for it. 

The newborn baby days of him sitting snugly on our lap are gone. He's not a huge cuddler but would rather explore. I'm banking on more cuddle days once he hits the 'I am not happy with anyone but Mommy' stage. :-) 

Anything within grabbing distance goes STRAIGHT in his mouth. He also loves to slobber up our faces and giggle up a storm!

Calden is SUCH a happy fellow. Such a small being has snuck right into our hearts and we wouldn't have it any other way!

ps- shutterfly is updated :-)

Just Imagine

Imagine you were young again. Would you be hiding from queens and monsters and bears?

How about playing 'funeral' and walking past your wooden toy box 15 times in a row, pretending it's a casket? Then mournfully sitting on the couch, hand clasped, while the "mommy' plays the piano (who knew night time piano music would turn into a funeral?)

What about holding sermons where the congregation gets to partake of the bread and wine over and over? Then, no limit to how many times you can say 'someone have a hymn?'

Oh what fun it is to enter into this world of endless mind-wanderings. The girls play pretend at least half of their play time. There are babies, kitchen creations, and all sorts of other mock happenings.

Right now the queen is a very big offender. Every single moveable item in the living room is shoved behind the lazy boy because the queen can't see it there. The queen has been known to bite hind ends and chase kids. The girls have to run away very fast, yelling "The QUEEN is coming!!! Hurry!" I have no idea how they decided to have a problem with the poor queen. I hope it doesn't cause bad dreams! :-)

Now, just imagine you have a smiley 5 month old in the house. How does this mom not melt at the sight of him? He is SO INCREDIBLY' happy. Just ask anyone who sits behind us in meeting. They will get BUSTED if they make eye contact because he WILL smile and make happy noises.
I can't believe how much stuff he thinks is just hilarious that the girls do to him. I am about to get after them for pulling his leg to hard but then he starts delightfully laughing.
Calden is at that hilarious stage where he FRANTICALLY tries to grab anything in site. Even as we're walking down the hall and in and out of rooms, he's huffing and puffing, lunging at anything he thinks is even remotely close to his little stretched out, flailing arms.
I was looking forward to the stage of being able to hold him on my hip while he supported himself, but he's too busy lunging at things for that to work.

We are at such a busy, chaotic stage right now, but it's kind of sad to stop and think..."Just Imagine. What will life be like when the kids are grown?" 

Everyone tells us that it goes SO FAST. 

Yep. It does. Everything else can just chill out for a few years while we enjoy our kids to the fullest!