I'm not a loser

We were sitting at the dinner table eating meatloaf, green beans and mashed potatoes. For anybody who knows Kelsea very well you know she does not like potatoes in any form (other than french frys of course). Kelsea tells us that to make good potatoes you need to put milk and broccoli (which she hates) with them and fold them like a pancake. She says, "I know this because God made me so smart." We told her to try a bite because the potatoes have milk in them, which she did gagging it down. She said, "I am not going to eat anymore potatoes because I don't want to be a loser, only losers eat potatoes." I asked her where she learned that word. She explained that Violet the girl in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory calls Charlie Bucket a loser as she grabs an apple off the tree in front of him. I had to then have a talk with her about using loving words but listening to her explanation of why she wouldn't eat potatoes was funny.

Balls Balls Banana's

Rusty started his class through the parks and recreation called Balls Balls Balls Bonanza which he refers to as Balls Balls Banana's. He loves it, he is running around the whole time and sweaty when it's time to go. The class is not structured, they call roll and stretch when we get there then it's free play. Rusty runs from activity to activity playing basketball, tee-ball, lacrosse, hula a hoop, hockey and much more!!

Rusty strikes again!!

This is so bad but I was laughing so hard I started crying!! We just finished dinner and Scott was playing catch with Rusty and Kelsea wanted to join in being the monkey in the middle. Scott said "sit down" and made sure she did my giving her a little push. Rusty thought that was a good idea and grabbed handfuls of Kelsea's hair and yanked her back and forth by her hair. She was screaming and Scott and I were saying "stop it Rusty." Then as I had the look of her face flashing through my mind I started cracking up, I couldn't stop, Scott also was laughing. Kelsea is balling and looking at us completely heart broken, because of our laughing saying, "It's not funny!!" I held her on my lap laughing so hard I was crying and trying to talk to her, she saw Rusty's bread and forgot what she was so upset about and said, "I'm sick and somebody told me that when I'm sick I need to eat alot, so can I eat Rusty's food?" Here are some dramatic reenactments we did after everybody was feeling better. Rusty even wanted to have a picture with his hair being pulled.

Gymnastics

Kelsea started gymnastics today. She was very excited to get her exercise and she got a lot of it!! They ran around the gym finding different colors to touch, she walked the balance beam, learned cart wheels and lots of other fun stuff. They even did an exercise in which the teacher shook the mat and the kids had to try to stay standing, which they all thought was hilarious. Next week they get to do the "big trampoline." Rusty was pretty disappointed that he didn't get to participate in the class. But he did try out the balance beam.

Cubbies

Kelsea started Awanas a few weeks ago. She is in the Cubbies class (3-4 year olds). It's kinda like a co-ed girl/boy scout thing. They meet weekly, memorize bible verses, make a craft, sing songs, have snack, all the things kids love. Kelsea especially loves it, when we are on our way there she says, " I am going to be the best cubbie ever." During the week as we are learning her new memory verse I usually have to give her a hint with the first word then she waves her hand in front of me and says "Don't say it, don't say it, I know it now." She was very excited tonight because she got her first "real" patch last week which I put on her vest and she now thinks she is "the coolest cubbie." As you can imagine she doesn't really have a self-esteem issue at this point!

Needles

I went to the womens retreat with our church this weekend. It was nice to have a chance to get away. I missed my family so much though. I haven't had the opportunity to leave the kids much so it was hard to think that they would be ok without me. It was wonderful to be around other christian women even though I was the youngest by 15 years. We worshipped, had messages, ate together, and played games, I was kind of disappointed that it was raining so we didn't get to have a camp fire, but such is life in Oregon. I had a chance to build some realtionships with the women and get to know them a little better.
The other day Scott had our little sewing box out fixing his camera bag. The kids were interested in what he was doing so he decided to show them a "magic trick." He stuck a needle through a callouse on his hand showing the kids the needle could stay without him holding it. Rusty was really excited by this, holding his hand up he said "my hand daddy, my hand." Scott proceeded to to poke him trying to find a callouse, he didn't have any but he finally got it under a single layer of skin and Rusty was beside himself, only to be disappointed when it fell out a second later because it was barely in his hand at all. Scott said "no more" and continued fixing his bag. A minute later we hear Rusty saying "ouch, ouch, ouch," He had a needle and was sticking himself all over his chest he kept saying "my skin." Later, (while I was at the women's retreat) he somehow got ahold of another needle and stuck it repeatedly in Kelsea's head, she said "ouch, Rusty is stabing me with a sword."

Holy Kelsea

Tonight as we were getting ready to go to church for our young adult Bible study, Kelsea asked if she could bring her Bible so that the kids could have Bible study. She ran upstairs and got her Bible out of her room (which lead Rusty to want his Bible also).

On the way to church Kelsea was "reading" her Bible to her brother. We heard her telling him something about Mary and Joseph and that they were disciples. I attempted to correct her about Joseph and God both being Jesus' dad but Kelsea must have had no idea what she was talking about and responded "God is always with us, but he is not always with the wicked." After our laughter ended I asked her where she was taught that. Her response was, "It's in the Bible."