Halloween

So, the Halloween finally came and can I just say "is it over yet?" :)  If it was one night and is done with, but we've been having Halloween for a few days now because each class at school does their little dress-up party on a different day. So I've been dressing up Kason and Ani into their costumes like 5 times and Kason probably 5-10 times a day. :) I can't complain, they really loved it. We had a very fun get-together at Kjell and Jessica's house with friends from church on Saturday. We had a bon fire, hay ride, some kids wore their costumes and everyone had such a good time. It was a great turn out too and I think we had around 50 people there. It was so nice to just stand by the fire and enjoy some adult conversations while the kids were squealing and running around the huge yard.  Somehow, I enjoyed it too much to take some pictures but I hope to see someone else's pictures online.  And finally, today came and time for the real "trick-or treating".

Anika is discovering more about the Halloween world this year probably because of being in school and has asked me the other day how come we don't have any scary things in front of our house. So I tried to answer as simply as I could saying that God doesn't like scary things and doesn't want us to be scared. So now when she sees scary things in front of someone's house she points it out to me and says "mom, they don't know about God either." :) It just makes me smile.

Now we are finally done but I have to say, it is our first Halloween "way up North" when we didn't have to bundle up and we didn't even need hats or mittens.  That's probably my favorite part about tonight. :)  Our first stop was a church in town that hosted a Harvest festival and the kids had a lot of fun there.  Kason just spent most of his time in the bouncy houses, Anika took her time decorating a big cookie with all kinds of candy and then ate it all, and Kade went around the whole place and played every single game you could play to win candy/trinkets.  After that we went to see Ehren's great aunt Judith at the nursing home and we did some runs in a popular neighborhood.  Finally, we made our way to nana and papa's house and were ready to be done.  Kids' buckets were full, they had a lot of fun and all pretty much crashed a few minutes after we got home.  It may be a different story tomorrow when Kason will be begging for his bucket of candy all day. :)  Well, another Halloween behind us and it was good.  It is a nice family outing for us, especially now that all 3 kids understand what it is about.  Despite a few creepy costumes and decorations we came across, we had a good time.  And Ehren and I are both beyond exhausted. :)  Good night to all!  

At the ECFE last week

Lots of activities to do

my 2 babies having fun with their outfits

kitty, superman and waluigi

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I know, the title looks like a kid held the "R" key down or something but it is the perfect title for my thought for the day. Our little Kason has been making these funny sounds once in a while, almost like he's stuttering but he's doing it for fun, on purpose. Ehren asked about it the other day but I guess I got so used to hearing it I don't even notice it anymore. Until, this past week Kason mastered his little tongue game and discovered how to roll his Rs perfectly. I could not be more proud when I heard him over and over going "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" with the perfect sound - like a true Slovak. :) Trying to teach different phrases and words in Slovak to Kade and Anika, seems like the letter "r" is the hardest for them to get right, or as they say to "roll their Rs" so then the whole word sounds American when they say it. So when Kason did that I couldn't believe it. Ehren can't learn it still and I don't know if some people just never learn it or what. So of course, I've been coaching Kason now to repeat all the Slovak words with "r" in it because I don't want him to forget this skill. He is pretty proud of his "rrrrrrrrrrrrr" sound though and is doing it quite a bit during the day. I think it is a tiny reminder to me that now is my time to pour my all into our kids, no matter how hard and tiring it is and no matter how reluctant they are about it. They will soon be gone but they are here now, ready to learn what I have to teach them.

Anika

Anika had a big day today.  First she had preschool and she couldn't stop talking about all the things they did there.  In the afternoon I had to take her to the doctor for her 5th year check up, a long-time dreaded appointment because she was getting all the shots that are required for Kindergarten next Fall.  I have been preparing her about the shots for months now and she knew that after her birthday she was going to get them.  I finally scheduled the appointment for today and she was so great.  It seems like she is growing up so much in every way.  To make it a fun day for her instead of a scary one, I told her that when she is brave at the doctor we will go to Dairy Queen for a treat.  She was so excited about the DQ that I don't think anything else mattered at all.  I was trying to remember when the last time was we took our kids there for a treat and I couldn't even remember because it is such a huge treat at our house.  Well, I think it is mostly due to my thinking that it is just an overpriced ice cream place (which it is :)) but I guess once in a great while it's ok.  Especially when I see Ani's bright blue eyes just light up with excitement when she talks about it.  The doctor's appointment went great and Anika did really well even though she was a bit shy with the doctor.  It was a bit long too but the 3 shots at the end finally came.  Ani was so brave and I know it was hard for her because sometimes just the thought of getting hurt makes her cry. :)  So the first 2 shots she just made a little face but didn't even peep which shocked me.  The last shot was something that I guess hurts as it shoots into the body so she did let out a little cry but I was so surprised that was it.  I was really expecting fighting with her, or even having to hold her tiny body down but she did awesome.  My brave little girl.  We sat down at DQ and enjoyed our treat and I told her how proud I was of her.  But I think she's taking after her dad with the ice cream because I barely started mine when she was all done with hers. :)  Afterwards we ran some errands and just took our time while Ehren was with the boys plus 3 extra kids at home.  Anika was just in Heaven and she wouldn't stop talking from all the excitement.  I think it's so important to spend one on one time with our kids once in a while, which is not easy to do in the midst of all the commitments, schedules, etc.  But kids sure love the time with mom or dad alone, not having to fight for their attention and just feeling special for that one moment.  I am really thankful I had this moment with Ani today, thankful for a husband that made sure we had all the time we wanted and I hope I have many more moments like these with her and my boys.

Kade

I am so proud of our Kade.  He is very smart, sometimes too smart for his own good. :)  It is funny, he is only 8 but it sure feels like he's in early teens some days.  Just very opinionated, thinks he knows everything best and it is becoming a whole new level of parenting for us.  It is not "do this because I said so" anymore, or at least not most of the times.  We have to actually discuss things, attitude, and why we do it and so on. :)  Sometimes I miss the days when he would just love to help me with anything, I would tell him to get some small chore done and he would be all excited to do it for me. Now, not so much.  Although the chore chart works wonders and we let him earn money for completing them which we put in his savings account.  He knows exactly how much money is in there at all times and he likes to save up for some toys or things so that's great.  He always used to love Math at school, it was his favorite but this year he decided he likes reading the most.  It makes me so happy because I am not a reader.  I think I read really slow in comparison to other people but it's been also hard for me to read because I hate putting a book down when I'm in the middle of it and would stay up until 2, 3 am reading it.  So then I just don't read because I feel like what's the point when I can't finish them for a month.  Anyway, I've always read to our kids a lot, ever since they were babies and I feel like it's paying off now because they all like reading a lot.  If I had the time they would love it if I read books to them for hours.  It is still our naptime routine to sit on the bed or couch, all cuddled together and we read books.  It helps Kason now because he hates taking naps and almost doesn't need them anymore but reading books first eases him into it and he knows once we're done it's time for the nap.  Kade is getting bored with the little kids' books though and loves reading chapter books.  I'm glad our library has a lot of them and he went through so many books from there over the summer.  Just this week, Kade's precious journal came that he ordered online.  He paid for it with his own money and he just wanted a diary so bad, but it had to have a lock so we had to get it online.  I'm not sure why it had to have a lock because he doesn't care if I read it and Kason and Anika couldn't read it even if they wanted to. :) But, I was glad because his handwriting can use any practice it can get.  This year, in the 3rd grade they focus a lot on handwriting which is Kade's biggest struggle and he hates it too.  But it was funny to me, looking for diaries everywhere, they sell them only for girls.  Or I should say like 98% I found were all for girls and that is sad.  It would be great to encourage boys to write and they would love it if they made some cool ones for them.  Ones that don't show skeletons or pirates, which is the only thing I was able to find.

We just had our parent-teacher conference tonight.  Kade's teacher this year is very different from the one last year and Kade has missed her so much.  The 2nd grade teacher was young, very sweet all the time and promised to never yell at them which was the most important thing to Kade.  After the first 2 or 3 weeks of the 3rd grade Kade would come home and tell me he doesn't like his teacher now because she yells a lot.  I said "well, I yell a lot too" but he's more scared of her I think. :)  I think it has gotten a lot better though, she told us tonight she never yells but she is just a louder person (I'm not sure I believe her "never yelling" part though :)).  Anyway, it went really well and he's doing great with everything.  It is great to see him having good friends in his class, even though they get in trouble together.  It is funny how every little thing is a competition to these boys.  Whether it's a Math test or standing in line to go to the next room, they have to be first and so the teacher is having a little hard time with that but it's nothing bad.  They're just boys and it's good to see Kade coming out of his shell a bit more this year.  He sure is growing up, getting more brave and is learning about who he is and who he wants to be.  It makes me a bit scared about being a good parent because it gets so much harder each year.  There are so many more issues to wrestle with than when they are toddlers or preschoolers.  I will have to write soon about the book I am almost done with - "a Grace-based Parenting".  It is teaching me so much about the way I approach our kids every day and mostly about how it's ok to let them go out into the world because that is how God designed it.  He made us a part of this world, not a part of our little Christian world behind a huge gate so we can stay safe and harmless.  But more about that some other time.  It's time for bed.

thank you for coming

I think I'm going to have to take the number of views out of my blog because I am feeling a bit self conscious about so many people reading what I write.  I am kind of hoping that my parents are just clicking on the same page over and over so it counts for more people than it is. :)  No, it is great and I'm thankful for everyone that comes here but at the same time I worry if I am offending someone because I can be pretty high strong on some things at the moment, when in fact it's not like I am dwelling on those things or I am upset about them.  I just like writing random things down that I've been thinking about so I apologize if it's dumb or insensitive or just plain boring some days.  It is crazy that once you start blogging you do tend to think about oh, I bet nobody cares about these stupid little thoughts I have but then I have to think back to why I started this.  It is a bit of a therapy for me, to see the light at the end of my tiny tunnels and to appreciate all the small and boring things in my life. :)

presents

I've been thinking about Christmas presents already because it will come before we know it and it seems like it is always a bit stressful to find the right gifts for our kids or someone special.  Especially when it comes to the kids, you don't want them to get too many presents that they just expect getting more and more each year.  It can be hard as the kids get older and they watch what their friends have, especially in this day of tech toys and video games.  On one hand it is good for them to learn about computers and tech gadgets when the whole world is going that way but on the other hand how much do they need.  The big thing for younger kids like our Kade is to have a cell phone.  Really?  Who are they going to call?  Ehren and I don't even have normal cell phones and I don't see any reason for our kids to have one until they drive.  Anyway, Christmas can get a bit carried away in some families where aunts and uncles buy gifts for everyone.  We are just a very materialistic society and I don't think it will change.  If it changed we would have a huge economy crisis. :)  But talking to some friends and family, our kids really don't need anything.  They have plenty of toys and plenty of things to do.  With our family, we used to do the cousin exchange for Christmas but it came up to be cheaper gifts that kids didn't really need anyway so we decided to just do Operations Christmas Child instead.  I usually show our kids youtube videos of different countries around the world where the children are getting the shoe boxes and it is so fun for our kids to see that.  When you see those kids getting so excited about their first present in their whole life, it just makes sense and it makes you feel like why do we think we deserve all these things in our lives.  We also buy gifts at Samaritan's Purse where you can buy goats, chickens or cows for families in third world countries in the name of someone.  I really enjoy doing that versus trying to find the right gift that the person will like.  We do get some special gifts for our kids though because birthdays and Christmas is about the only time they get new toys and they get so excited for it.  It just doesn't have to be anything huge because really, they are happy about a lot of little things but I am more conscious now about buying them toys that are good quality and have some educational value in it.  I can see though that it is tougher with teenagers and older kids that want a lot more expensive gifts and seeing some families I know I don't know how they're able to afford gifts that they get unless they use credit cards or loans.  It is just good to remember the real reason for Christmas and talk about it often with our children so we can help them move away from what I am getting and towards what I am giving to others around me.  

girls

It is Friday and I was excited for the weekend to start until a couple bad news came a little while ago.  First, it looks like Ehren has to work the day after Thanksgiving which is when we love going to the Cities for a long weekend and then my good friend called and she can't make our little getaway tomorrow either.  Bummer!  It's so easy to just get all mad and dwell in the self pity but I can make the best of it too.  It's my choice.  But that's not what I was going to write about.  I just had to complain to the world a little. :)

I have to say this friend I was excited to hang out with is a big answer to a prayer for a good friend in my life, ever since we moved up here 5 years ago.  I can't believe it's been that long because it feels like we're still so new to the community and even our church.  I do have good friends, the problem is most of them are either too busy for me or we don't have that much in common and at this point in my life it is hard to find good friends who aren't already taken. :)  I know, it's silly but that's the truth as far as women go.  I am not sure if a small town makes it worse, sometimes it feels that way.  And very likely I may seem that way to other women so I'm not trying to slam others here.  Us girls are very funny creatures.  Of course, there are a lot of exceptions to the rule, but it is interesting to me how many women around me are still in their adulthood very insecure in so many aspects of life and are constantly comparing themselves to that prettier or trendier or more of a "Martha Stewart" woman next to her.  I am no exception, I'll do that more times than I would want or even admit but at the same time I am surprised to find out I am not in a minority and a lot of women around me struggle with those things daily.  In some ways guys are spared of so much drama in their life. :)  My absolute biggest pet peeve when it comes to women friends (and really to be fair I don't know too many women who do this) is when someone is "bragging" about doing this or that with their Best friend.  It is very middleschool-ish to me, but I am finding how so many women don't change since high school and it is still about who is your best friend and who you're "playing with" and "not playing with".  Seriously (something my 8 yr old would say)?  But I try to just ignore it when I see it and be very careful not to ever brag about my friendships and even say the word best friend because really, you don't know who could be the biggest blessing to you today or tomorrow.  And you don't know if the person that is listening isn't wishing she did that with you instead and was called someone's best friend.  If we don't reach out and invite new people in we will never know if they can be our new "best" friends.  I just joined a new Bible study with about 7 women of all different ages and it is so good to be able to share struggles/challenges/life with them.  I especially like listening to and talking with the older women who have been where I am, who have had their shares of hurt, disappointment and joy.  Women need each other whether they like it or not and I hope I don't close the door on any woman who is lonely and can't fit in with anyone.  It is so easy to do when we don't purposely look for them but they're out there, at every social gathering I can think of.