Chatting with a 4 year old

A Sweet conversation I had this morning with Olivia.  I'm terrible I can't remember who we were talking about missing to lead to this conversation but she said she missed someone...

Olivia- You know who else I miss?
Me- Who?
Olivia- God and Jesus.
Me- Why do you miss them?
Olivia- Because I haven't been back to Heaven to see them.
Me- Well someday we will all go back to Heaven and we'll get to stay there forever!
Olivia- Forever?
Me- Yes! We'll never have to leave.
Olivia - Aw man, I want to go back to Disney World!
Me- Heaven will be so much better than Disney World!
Olivia- It will!? Will there be rides there? Like Dumbo!
Me- I'm sure there will be lots of rides there!
Olivia- Ok good!

Competitive Pumpkins

We are loving Awanas!! It is so much fun.  Olivia loves to go and she is doing wonderfully with her bible memorization.  This past week the kids took home pumpkins to decorate for next week.  Apparently they will be judged, so tonight we decided to decorate our little pumpkins!

They wouldn't touch the pumpkin guts, so we had to use spoons

Ben got a chunk out, and when I say out I mean it flew across the room!

Olivia drew the face and then I carved it out... one BIG eye and one tiny eye! 

Painting on glue so we can add GLITTER!! Everything is better with glitter

Ben painting his pumpkin

Ta-Dah! 

adding some finishing touches

Big Mess!

I've had a can of shaving cream in the cabinet for weeks, with good intentions of letting the kids go crazy and make a mess.  So today I decided it was time.  They loved it, and while it started out fairly clean it did end up in a mess.  The important thing is that it was easily cleaned up and they loved every second of it! 

Morning in New Harmony

Yesterday we spent the morning in New Harmony.  They had a very small craft fair with a petting zoo, inflatables and a few vendors set up for shopping.  It was a perfect morning to be outdoors!  The kids had a great time.  Fall is most definitely my favorite time of year!

Olivia riding in her new booster seat for the first time! Can't believe how big she looked sitting in that thing.

Ben checking out the donkey at the petting zoo.

Olivia taking her turn

Ben talking to the cow

This is my favorite picture! We drove around through the park after the fair and got out to walk up to the river. Ben was so excited to be able to run around.  Don't worry Grandmas! We made sure he didn't get to close to the water:!

Checking out the beautiful scenery 

Finally a picture of me and the kids! I didn't even have to ask Nate to take it!

Excited to be there!

Olivia's big Day!

Olivia is 4 years old. I can't believe it!  She is growing into such a smart, kind, sweet little girl. What a blessing she is to our family!! On Sunday we had a birthday party in Mt. Vernon with our family and friends.  My mother in law mentioned she couldn't believe the difference a year makes when it comes to birthday parties and opening gifts.  Olivia needed no help (except from Bryson and Mati to bring her all of the gifts).  She said thank you to people without being asked to.  She opened one gift and was genuinely thankful for that gift and she said "Thank you SO much!" It was fun to see her this way.  We had a great time! Then on monday, her actual birthday, we had a very small friend party.  We invited the girls she plays with the most and had a great time.  The older kids decorated cupcakes and of course made a huge mess, but it was great!  Thanks to everyone that shared in these days with us! We are so thankful for our friends and family!! 

Feeding a giraffe, and playing with a Jaguar!

When it's 80 degrees in October, why not spend a morning at the zoo! I realize I've had around 5 posts this year with us at the zoo but each time brings new and exciting things!  This time around Adi and Ben were brave enough to feed Mr. and Mrs. Giraffe all by themselves!  Adi was a little more brave then Ben but he did finally do it. Olivia wanted NO part of it... until the lettuce was all gone of course! 

Ben needed a little push from Adi's Grandma Marilyn because he didn't understand that the giraffe's tongue could only reach so far.  

Olivia hated the giraffe's but loved the Ghost. She even matched him in her cute new Halloween Skirt Marilyn made for her! Thanks Marilyn! Ben and Adi decided to steer clear of this guy, we even had to stand in front of it for Ben to walk past him! 

This was funny, and I WISH we would have had a video camera.  Ben could have been the next YouTube sensation!  This Jaguar is usually laying far away where you can barely see him, but today he was pacing back and forth right in front of the window. Ben was hilarious! He followed him back and forth laughing the entire time!  Thankfully that glass is super thick and Jaguar proof because I'm sure by the end he was a little annoyed with Ben! 

Before and After

This is mostly for my benefit... I found these old Disney pictures and couldn't believe the difference in me then and now.  I worked hard to lose weight and was very proud of myself for finally doing it! When I found these pictures I couldn't believe it.   I didn't feel that big when I was that size.  Lately I've had trouble not sliding back into some old eating habits so I wanted to post this to remind myself that I never want to get back there! 

At my biggest (size 14)

Now (size 8!)