Welcome to the Family!!!

So, this morning while cleaning downstairs I found a...........FROG!  The kids think its awesome and has now become a member of the family.  He even has a name.  Hopper Jack Holloway.  I never thought I would have a frog for a relative, but that is life for you:)  The kids are catching crickets for him and Scott is catching flies.  The excitement around here over the frog certainly rivaled having visitors:) 
  Today is also the day for harvesting some of the garden.  We are going to have to find something to do with the pumpkins.
  School was quite fun today.  Garrison is on F, Fox.  He also did quite a bit of matching and fine handwriting.  Amazing what they can do at this age. Elyssia has her first Geography test, but Scott is going to administer it, so I will post how she did another time.  Sounds so formal! All in all, it is a very busy day and the youngest calls and REQUIRES an answer:)))

Kiersten's Catching Up!

Where to begin...  Kiersten has been an incredible blessing as our 4th child.  When we found out that I was pregnant I wasn't sure how I would do with 4 so close in age.  The Lord formed her in my womb and has given her one of the sweetest personalities ever. She is full of smiles and giggles.  Mostly content to just observe the busyness of our home.  She has had the hardest time with teething, but has been amazingly sweet in spite of it.  She is walking and starting to chat a bit.  She says Mum Mum and Dada. She tries to sing along in church and is addicted to ice cream:)  Totally my fault.  She already knows what I'm talking about when she hears me say it!  She gets over to me as quickly as possible and squeals for her share, quickly rewarding me with smiles when it enters her mouth.  The Lord has truly blessed us with growth in many areas this year.  Allowing us to enjoy all her stages and appreciating all the time that we get to spend with the kids.  Even those late night snugglers that find their way into our bed.  We joke about getting another queen size bed and having a wall to wall bed.  We put them to bed in their own rooms and they sleep well most nights, but at least twice a week we end up with several warm bodies pulling the covers their way:)  The one that brings the most discomfort is often Caleb.  If there's already another child in the middle of the bed he lays across me legs and goes back to sleep.  I should just get up and move him, but he really seems to like it:) It won't last forever and I know that I will miss it when they grow past the stage where they want to be snuggled.  We're trying to live life in such a way that we don't have regrets for time ill spent, words of love and apology not said and making as many memories as possible.  Loving the way that the Lord is opening up so many opportunities to teach them about Himself.  They are like little sponges and I look forward to hearing what Kiersten's little girl and big girl voice will sound like.  When I call home and Elyssia answers the phone I still hear a babyish voice, but she is growing up really fast and is such a blessing as a big sister.  Yes, there are days where she is a negative influence on the others, but her helpfulness far outweighs the other.  The other little girls at church finally started to notice Kiersten. Before she only got glances, but now that she can walk with them she's become a little playmate in their eyes.  I love the sparkle in Kiersten's eyes when they come to play with her.  It's like she's saying "I'm a big girl now, they want to play with me, I have friends!"  Fall has started and Winter always comes on its' heels around here.  We had lots of rain this summer so it's kinda felt like Spring all summer.  Now it's Fall and I'm more in the mood for baking and fixing things to warm us up. I'm sooo thankful that we have the kids, their homeschooling and the church to keep up busy during the long, cold winters here.  I'm hoping that the winter passes as quickly as the summer did though.  Maybe even faster, because with Spring we're hoping to take a trip to Georgia.  One thing at a time though and I'm kinda stealing Kiersten's post to talk about it:)  Well, it's about that time.  It's getting late and Elyssia is playing a game of Checkers with Daddy before bed.  Til next time....

Humor Compliments of CaLeB...

  Teaching two year olds Bible stories can be quite humorous at times.  They either don't hear what we say clearly or their childhood thoughts figure it means something else:)  I've been trying to explain to Caleb about getting saved, why we need to, what sin is, etc...  He tells me that he's going to Heaven, Unca Peston is going to Heaven, Daddy, Garrison, Mommy and Leesie are going to Heaven.  Garrison tells him that he's not going to Heaven and it usually starts one of those "are not" , "are too" arguments.  So, the other night I was talking to Caleb about the garden on Eden.  What he took away from it was, "I not eat the fruit, it makes God sad.  Mommy and Daddy too".  So, we haven't really been able to move past that.  Then one night at prayer meeting Scott was talking about Uzzah touching the Ark of the Covenant and that there were consequences for his disobedience even though he thought he was helping.  What Caleb heard was, "Don't touch the (markers) Uzzah!  So, the whole evening Caleb was saying, "I gotta tell you somepin Daddy, Uzzah touched the Marker! God said don't touch the marker, shaking his head."  We couldn't help laughing and I figured that it was blogworthy:). 
  His latest obsession is puzzles and coloring.  He could do them for most of the day.  The only thing with coloring is that he likes to hear me praise his coloring so much that he usually ends up coloring 6- 10 pics in ONE sitting!  We're going to have A LOT of artwork on display:)))
  He's been sitting on the potty off and on over the last month.  Sometimes taking himself.  I don't think he's quite recognized the feeling yet before he has to go, so I'm not pushing for it full time yet.  He's about 29 months right now, not yet 2 and a half and I'm quite sure he'll be potty trained by 3.  Garrison is very advanced, but he was 3 before it became a "success story".  The Lord provided a while back for the diapers, and it's not really any more trouble to change his diaper since I'm doing Kiersten's around the same time.  What would be funny is if Kiersten potty trained at 18 months like Elyssia and they both finished at the same time, thus eliminating the need to do any diaper changes for who knows how long:).  Not pushing for it though.  Kiersten saw him sit on the potty and was actually trying to push him over:) 
  Caleb loves to sing and was quite vocal on Sunday. The thing is there aren't that many words making sense.  When we sing O Canada or the ABC song I can at least understand the majority. He figures he should sing loud like Daddy, not understanding that Daddy is the song leader:)  We sound like we have a large congregation though:)  A couple months ago Scott took Garrison and Elyssia with him the the rest home.  Apparently Garrison was singing quite loud because the lady next to him asked him to sing quieter.  He does seem to pick up on the words faster though. I think that's all for Caleb right now.  He is still climbing, falling, sitting on my table and countertops, no matter how many times I correct him.  He even says, "I put my bum on my chair!"  He is a big helper when it comes to cleaning up or cooking though.  He likes to be in the middle of the action.  He's still a HUGE meat eater, but always has a good variety and doesn't seem to be too picky.  He's not big on certain pastas, but his grandad, whom he seems to resemble in features, expressions, etc, is also not overly fond of pasta.  Time will tell, but right now he's definitely a Holloway.