Deep Dish Pizza!

I know.  I’m spoiled.  I have a husband who loves to cook.  And he usually voluntarily takes over meal preparations on the weekends.  And we always eat very well!  Today he decided he’d like to spend his day off learning how to make from-scratch sauce and crust …



for deep dish pizzas!  Wow.  Delicious!  And already gone! J

Run for Mukhanyo 2014

Today Luke, Emma, Ruth and Robyn (and Henry and Hazel to some extent!) participated in the Run for Mukhanyo.  Morgan Lewis, a young lady from our church, has organized this run for four consecutive years and this is our family’s third time to participate.  Morgan’s grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Rettig helped to found Mukhanoy Christian School for orphans and other underprivileged children in South Africa.  When Mrs. Rettig passed away on Columbus Day 2010, Morgan wanted to do something to honor her grandmother’s memory and to support her vision for Mukhanyo School.  She also wanted to find a way to use her passion for running to get local children involved in helping those across the world from them.  Here are just a couple of shots from today.  Click on any image to see the whole album (and some video!).

Ommmm ...

We were playing a board game with “amulet” tokens.

Ruth: Is it AM-ulet or OM-ulet?
Mama: AM-ulet.
Ruth:  Oh, right.  An OM-ulet is something you eat.

Growing Up

Robyn: I want to grow up because I want to have kids and pick the videos and have cupcakes.  But I don’t want to grow up because I don’t want to have kids and all that trouble.

Steppin' on Sticks

Henry (coming in from the back yard): I need to put some shoes on because my feet just keep steppin’ on sticks!

Later, trying to get Henry to repeat his comment to Daddy …
Mama: Hey, Henry, tell Daddy why you had to put shoes on.
Henry: Oh, yea.  Tennis shoes.
Mama: Right.  But why did you have to put on tennis shoes?
Henry: Because … I don’t have to wear socks with them.

Oh well.

Future Richard Scarry?

We started back to “Tuesday School” this week.  During the fall and spring, we have a women’s Bible study at church.  During this time our Pastor’s wife proctors a homeschool “study hall” so the older kids can get some of their school work done.  They love having her for a teacher!  When they finish, she has some fun free-time activities for them.  This is what Luke did with his free time on Tuesday.  Click on the image for more pictures including close-ups of individual sections of the scene.



Matt is in favor of using chalkboard paint to create a chalk wall in the school room.  Luke is now solidly on board (pun intended) with Daddy’s idea.  However, in the absence of that option at the moment, Luke taped a large piece of white paper to the wall yesterday and returned to it again and again to fill it up with all kinds of interesting happenings!

The True Telling of the Thing

Henry came running out of the bathroom closet and said, “Mommy, I was in the bathroom.  And then I was in the closet.  And then the door made me dark.  And then I could not see anything!”

Vowel Power

Robyn was working on a workbook page in which she needed to circle pictures that had the long “O” sound.  She had circled a picture of an elephant.  Over the years, I’ve learned my lesson – there’s often a very good reason for the way children answer, even if it would not appear so to the adult observer.  Sure enough ..

Mama (pointing to the elephant): What is this one?
Robyn (very matter-of-factly): An OH-va-lent.

The New David

Cousin David got his haircut at Miss Paige’s yesterday.  He looks so much different!

Today when Auntie Donna, David and Ellie stopped by, I overheard this conversation.

Henry: Are you David?
David: Yes, my name is David.
Henry: Oh.  Yea.  And now you have hair like me and like Lukey!

Ha ha.

Recent Funnies

Henry likes to add the phrase “…or something like that” (which actually sounds more like “… or some-sing yike dat”) to the end of his comments and requests.
Examples: “Please my I have a book … or something  like that?”
“Please may I get down from the table … or something like that?”

Matt showed Luke an old Laurel and Hardy episode on YouTube.  The next morning, Luke was describing it to the girls.
Luke (describing the setting): It wasn’t like Pride and Prejudice time, but it was like England time.

Riding in the van, we passed a UPS truck.
Robyn: Look!  A S-U-P truck!
Ruth (in a condescending tone): No, Robyn.  It’s a U-S-P truck.

We were learning about carnivores in science.  I was getting ready to read to the children about the special characteristics of this type of mammal, such as their sharp teeth, powerful jaws and claws.
Mama: If you were a carnivore what do you think it would be helpful to have?
Ruth: Some meat!

You can tell that the family has been immersed in van shopping for a while.  Today in the car, we were telling a fortunately/unfortunately story.
Mama: Once upon a time, a family bought a fifteen passenger van.  But unfortunately …
Emma: It didn’t have cruise control.  But fortunately …
Luke: They knew a shop that could add it on for them …