2 year old humor, 4 year old thoughts and 8 month old milestones

The other day, as we were driving, we were talking about what people did for college and jobs. I described all of the different things people could learn about at college and then proceeded to ask the girls what they were going to be when they were all grown up.
Rhya thought for a while and then said, "A TEACHER!" Then she said, "Well, actually, a worker"
Then we talked about how God will tell you what he wants you to do if you remember to pray and read.
Then I asked Brielle what she was going to be. She looked out the window and said, "I want to be a STICK!" Ha. She obviously said the first thing she saw. :-) Then she said, "A MAN!" I have no idea where that came from but she chuckled a bit.

As we were tucking the kids in Rhya said, "Since I am almost five I am getting too big for my stuffed animal. But is it okay to still have it? Cuz I really like it. I want to keep it." We've been talking about how she'll be ready for certain things when she's five but never this! Kids sure assume things!

It's time to talk about Calden, at 8.5 months old. He's just the most charming little bug. His little nose scrunch still delights us, as does his huge nose snorts as he's excited or really happy that we're looking at him.
His motor skills continue to charge ahead as he's cruising furniture as well as balancing for 10 seconds at a time. A big huge rear thump follows the balance but then he just laughs (unless it's too major of a head bang)
He gets very excited about food and shovels it in as fast as he can. He thinks it's very fun to try to drink out of a cup we hold out for him.
Little C is starting to jabber. He likes to do the 'babababa' noises, and much to daddy's pleasure, 'dadadada'.
Sleep is out the window. He wakes up a good four times per night. Maybe it's the tooth that starting to poke through? Or all of the new things his brain is processing? Either way I'm a softie and put up with it cause he just goes right back down. No night time partying, just frequent middle of the night greetings and paci or nursing requests.

Now I can't look back on this blog and think that all was just peachy perfect so here's a story for ya. My perfect (in public) little daughter Rhya has inherited the lovely sassy, temper stricken spirit of her mama. Gets mad easily? check. Gets offended if she thinks I talked to her in the wrong tone of voice? check. In fact, if I'm getting after her she huffs and says, "DON'T talk to me in that tone of voice! You're HURTING my feelings!" Oh and the melt downs are fewer but the 'getting mad' stuff is pretty common.
Back to the story. The girls were FIGHTING LIKE MAD over the toy coupe that I brought in. No, it's not a house toy but it's been so cold outside we needed a little boost and it's been fun. However, they were having massive issues so I scooped them out of the one person seat, picked up the car, and announced that it was going out to the garage. Next thing I knew, I heard a schppt sound and then saw a string of spit come flying my way. Then Rhya stomped  away.. Yes, that's right. She SPIT at me. So there. She's not perfect. :-) I told Nate later and he got round eyes and then nodded and said, "Yeah, she's a GOOD spitter. She did just spend a week spitting into the sink when she had a chest cold so I suppose she was all practiced up.

The other week I was venting to Kayla about the girls fighting so bad. She had no sympathy but said, "So??? We did it too!" Oh yeah. Reality check. It's normal. Anyway, I think I need tips right now because they really do love each other and play awesome at times but when it's bad it's BAAAD. Hmm. Still normal, eh? They usually make up pretty quick and go off to take care of there dolls or 'get ready' to go on a trip to the waterpark, grandparents, cousins, conventions, etc. The bags are being packed constantly.

The days are getting longer. Our little house nestled in the pines and fields is bustling this year. What a wonderful stage of life!

Quiet Thoughts

Rhya recently spent a couple days sick in bed. Afterwards, she said, "Sometimes, when I was laying there I was awake. One time I prayed."

I replied, "Oh, that's really nice! What did you pray about?"

Long pause.

Then she replied, "God"

So simple and sweet. Somehow her little mind was turned to our Father. She just simply thought about him and it made her feel all safe and cozy in her bed. 

This big person can learn so much from my little people. Just think about God. It's enough. He will then guide our thoughts.

See that Girl?

She's going to become my sister in law! More importantly for her, she is going to become my brother's WIFE!!
Yee haw!! We couldn't be more excited! The rest of us have been impatiently waiting this announcement for a few months now. Yes, they've only been dating for 16 months or so but they seemed totally perfect for each other right from the 'get-go'.

The girls are totally smitten and will be thrilled to have Aunt Ashley only a few miles from us! We are foreseeing many horse rides, book snuggles, impromptu suppers, and good ole times in the future!

I tried to find a picture of them together, and this is the best I've got! Calden bombed it when they came to see us at the hospital last May. :-) I can assure you that they have plenty of pictures though, because that's how they announced it to us.
Travis and Ashley 'popped in' one evening and brought Nate a birthday present. Then Travis looked over and asked Ashley, "Do you think we still have that Shutterfly book in the car?" "I think so" she replied, and hustled out to retrieve it. Then Travis proceeded to ask me about the mural on our wall (totally trying to come up with small talk, HILARIOUS)
Sure enough, after we hurriedly flipped through the book (anticipating the end), we came to the last page that said, "SOON TO BE Mr. and Mrs. Boyd!!

Shutterfly is updated

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?