Matt turns the big 4-0!

We had a lot of fun this week with Matt having a big birthday! Thanks to everyone that turned up at the Vogan Fish Fry to help Matt crest the hill. We also had parent teacher conference with Mrs. B on Wednesday. Brenner is doing excellent and is at the top of his class in writing and reading skills. Way to go buddy! We saw a picture that he had done with bats and noted that they "ecolokation" (yes - we are raising a little science nerd like his parents!!!!). His teacher was a bit afraid that he didn't like school because he doesn't joke with her and is very serious. We stopped and asked her if she was talking about Brenner! He has a very different demeanour at school. We assured her that Brenner talks about her all of the time and loves talking about his day - you could see the look of relief on her face :)

 Here is the big guy....with a loose tooth! Brenner's first one (lower left front)...he got upset at school and actually had to go see the nurse. The nurse told him that it would be a while before it came, but we can see the new tooth coming in behind it.

 Nola likes her days at home while Brenner is at school. Here she is showing Emi pictures from the scrapbook.

 She loves to draw...but also loves to tell stories (which is one thing Mrs. B told us we could do with Brenner to help him read and write better). Nola told a story the other night about a wolf. She scrunched her nose, put her hands up as claws and said "There was this mean old wolf. He was big and mean and wore eye shadow and who put stuff on his face to protect himself from the sun." Wow - quite the storyteller :)

 The kids wanted to make a scarecrow and this was the best I could do five minutes before dinner was ready! Pretty handsome! It has turned chilly but Nola doesn't like wearing a coat...she also doesn't like to wear socks in any of her shoes. This is a battle I am willing not to take on (and just pack socks if she changes her mind), but Matt fears she will develop "Parker feet"!

Our little fashionista! She picks out her own clothes.....here Nola even struck a pose for papa!

 Matt and his friend Jim Crawford. Matt fine tuned his gunsmithing skills on a rifle for Jim. Jim was very pleased with it :)

 Batgirl also helped Matt celebrate his birthday at Grammy Vo's house. Didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked but I can't turn back time. It was a gorgeous day and we all spent a lot of time outdoors. And I did make Matt's favorite - carrot cake - which was all gone (lucky Matt got the first big slab!).

 Dream big Brenner! Brenner taking on Uncle Shawn and Papa at football.

The pure joy of a touchdown!

 

Science is Fun!

We had the opportunity to talk to students about science this week - first with Brenner's kindergarten class and then I traveled to Bethel College in Newton Kansas to talk with college students. My friend Itati is a professor at Bethel and I was glad to accept her invitation! And you won't believe this but it snowed on campus while I was there! We ended the weekend with dinner that included 3 other couples...the occassion? Well to celebrate Matt cresting the hill! Thank you, Grandma Val, for babysitting while we had some adult time!



 Papa, Nola, and I went to Brenner's class on Monday to show the students two experiments - making our own lava lamps and liquid kaleidoscopes. They had a good time and so did we! Nola kind of did her own thing in the classroom while we were there. Later Brenner told me some of the kids said "Your mom and dad are cool." Wonder how long that will last!?

 Nola picked out her own outfit....she is very fashion forward! And she is also showing off the pet rock she painted.

 Brenner cruising on his scooter!

 How steady is your aim, Papa?!

 Nola is so loving to Emi and Emi is very patient with Nola!

 Nola hanging out in the shop while Papa works.

 Her head is healing but I am a little concerned about the middle area that still has a large scab - thinking it will cause a large gap and wider scarring. But Nola isn't bothered by it!

 After school on Friday, Papa took the kids to the grocery store and park. They had a ball.....

 ....Not even the rain (and wet pants) could slow them down!

 Brenner is loving these color by number worksheets!

Brenner's drawing saying "It was a sunny day with me and my mom." Sweet kiddo. We have parent teacher conferences this week - can't wait to talk with the teacher!

Petition for girl doctors!!!!!

As many of you already know, we had quite the week. I was still furloughed with the government shutdown so I had plenty of time with the kids. Nola is my new appendage :) Brenner was very glad to be back at school after last week battling his ear infection! He is learning many things....some which we could do without. For example, the other night Brenner inquired "Is the middle finger a bad word?" I responded "Why do you ask?", he said "just tell me, mom!" I said that it is bad and God doesn't want us to use it or say it. He then proceeded to start singing "Where is thumbkin?" Smart little booger. He is also reading alot of letter and words as well. On the way home today he was in the back saying "XXX, XXX". Thank you I-70 for so many adult stores. Thank goodness he didn't ask what it meant!!!! We also some special guests on Wednesday - Grammy Vo and PawPaw Floyd. The weather was fantastic while we had lunch on the patio at Les Bourgeois - thanks for coming down!!!

 Sweet picture of our children. Would they every turn on one another? (Ah - enter a bit of foreshadowing)

 Nola and I had plenty of time together this week. Love how she will sit and "read" her books! Nola decided one morning "I am going to call Emi 'Deborah'!" Interesting!

 On another day we made "scottie" (biscotti). Later I vacuumed so I asked Nola to clean up her room. I heard her singing "I can do it, I can do it - everyday! I can do it, I can do it - everyday!" Very cool!

 Later that same day we did some glitter glue pictures. Pink was her favorite! Later we looked for pink flower girl dresses for an upcoming wedding. Nola said "I am going to be a princess! Where is my king?". I laughed thinking she was skipping the prince and going straight to the king!

 Brenner created this jack-o-lantern picture and writing all by himself!

 Little "fishing" in Brenner's room. Papa caught a big one!

 So - we had a first this....a trip to the ER on Wednesday. The kids were playing outside...as I was walking down the deck stairs, I heard Brenner holler which caught my attention. He was holding his eye and threw a stick up on top of the fort where Nola was sitting. It was a pretty big stick.....she started screaming so I went down and her face was covered with blood and I saw a 3/4 inch gash on her forehead. I got her in the house and Brenner was screaming "Nola - don't die! Oh - she is going to die!" over and over. I told him that he needed to calm down and run to Meagan's house (next door) to get some butterfly bandages as I wasn't convinced we needed to go to the ER. Well, Meagan got her other neighbor whom is a nurse and he said I should take her in. So - Brenner went with Meagan and Nola and I headed to the hospital. She did great...until she saw that the doctor was male and she didn't want him in the room at all! I got her calm, we played tic tac toe, talked about the other kids in the ER (it was a women's and children's hospital), and waited for treatment. They flushed out the wound which had stick debris so I am really glad I brought her in. Nola charmed the entire staff and was an excellent patient while getting her 10 stitches! She told me afterwards "I was very brave." Yes you were sweetie!

 She earned a purple popsicle which she asked the doctor for before he even had his gloves off! She did great and we were out of there in less than 2 hours!!!! The doctor came up as we were leaving and asked if boy doctors were okay now...Nola refused that reasoning saying "No - girl doctors only. No boy doctors!". Brenner was really worried about her and was glad to see her when we got back home.

 One day after her incident - she is one strong little girl! But she does like telling everyone that asks that "Brenner threw a stick at me."

 Our version of Friday night lights! Brenner beat Papa 21-14!

 On Saturday we headed to a nearby Heritage Craft Festival - it was a gorgeous day!

 Papa and Brenner seemed most excited about the caramel apples!

 There was a huge model train on display. Brenner thought it was super cool!

 The kids were getting tired - but it was a great day. Nola especially liked riding the shuttle from the parking area - it was a school bus like the one Brenner rides. So she thought she was big stuff!

 On Sunday we headed to a local corn maze with our church friends! The weather again was fantastic!

 Nola and Morgan having some fun in the corn pool. Later at home I found a ton of corn in Nola's pants....that had to be uncomfortable!

 Good friends ready to enter the corn maze! So calm......

 Then you have Brenner and his buddies Cooper and Xander. They are not so calm!

 While the other kids ran along the hay pit....Nola decided to lounge and pose for a picture!

 Emerging from the corn maze! Many little legs got tired - thank goodness for mommies!

The fun ended with a hay ride - what a wonderful day!

Furlough and ear ache = grumpy times

Yes- I hate to admit it but this wasn't the brightest week at our house. I was furloughed on Tuesday and Brenner battled an ear ache all week that kept him up in the night. Now many, many folks have it worse than me during the furlough, and I reminded myself all week that we can't get wrapped up in "Thingdom".  But with one income now there was some stress! To Congress I would say - do your job so I can do mine. With Brenner's ear ache has come major tantrums, mean looks, hurtful words, and plenty of time outs......praying this passes soon for the little guy. He will be going to school tomorrow which he is excited about. I also got a text from his teacher Mrs. Bishop this morning. She apologized for texting on a Sunday morning but wanted to check in on Brenner. I think he has already found a special place with her :) Nola took everything in stride being her typical laid back self. She did tell me the other night during her bath "Time to wash the undercarriage!" Nice, Papa :)

 Brenner only made it to school on Monday and Wednesday this week because of his sickness. On Wednesday, Nola and I decided to do a pompom craft that Aunt Lynnie gave Brenner years ago (bright side of being furloughed is I have time to clean around the house).

 We made a mouse, duck, and pig! I don't care what Martha Stewart said on the package - these were not "easy" - especially getting the ears to stay on!

 Brenner was very excited to show me this picture from school. He had the "J" backwards but did really well. The red sky meant it was hot out!

 Nola lounging with Emi. Note the two packs of gum behind her head. She got a 3-pack and insisted on carrying the other two around with her all week.

 Ah - a lesson to be learned from the three year old. Life is too short so just laugh and roll with the punches! Nola had her well child check on Friday - she was 40th percentile on her height (37 inches) and weight (29.4 lbs). Dr. S said her skill matched up with a kindergartner - way to go Nola (and Brenner for teaching her good and bad skills!). Nola chatted up Evonne the nurse and Dr. S as well - she is too perfect!

 We had pumpkin pancakes and orange juice a couple time this week. You can see the big guy just isn't his normal self quite yet.

 On Saturday, we visited with Grandma Val and PawPaw Hinckle. Brenner and Papa spent some time in the 60 degree weather (early in the week it had been mid-80s - fall is here!).

Nola, Grandma, Brenner, and PawPaw being silly. Grandma Val has found a new part time job - substitute teaching at local school districts. So far it has been fun she said! We were going to head home as it was getting close to dinner. Grandma said she could make bacon which led Brenner to beg us to say. He is one bacon-eating boy!