The way she does the things she does...

So last week as I was visiting with Marens teacher at Parent Teacher Conferences, I was laughing through almost the whole thing. I was so pleased to see that not only does Maren make me laugh, but her teacher as well. She told me this one story of Maren sitting in the hall with her class when a large moth was flying around. She said all the kids were rather distressed by the thing (they grow big bugs around here), but Maren just watched it curiously...then it landed on her back, and she didn't quite know what to do about it. So she got down on all fours and was shaking her bottom back and fourth trying to remove it. I can just picture her shaking her little hiney to get that moth to fly away. One other funny story...Maren has a very stubborn streak. If things aren't how she thinks they should be, she doesn't budge. This has been an issue with getting dressed for school. As my kids wear uniforms here, she has to wear certain things, so when she decides she is tired of it she will try to talk me into letting her wear pink socks (only white is allowed). Or if her red shirts are dirty and she doesn't want to wear white, she will try to wear a red one without a collar (also not allowed). When I tell her "Maren, the rules say you have to wear white socks" or "Maren you have to wear a shirt with a collar, because that is a school rule". This is what she tells me...

translation is....

rule 1:follow directions quickly

rule 2:make smart choices

rule 3:respect your school, respect your teacher, respect yourself

rule 4: make your dear teacher happy

So as you can see there is no rule for uniforms...so therefore I have to explain that those are the rules, but not the only rules....yada yada yada. And then we try to get dressed and to school on time.

Jacob and Spencer have been enjoying their new wheels.

Spencer calls it his race car, and Jacob loves that he can look around while we go for walks now. His smiles and laughs lately are so cute with the little tongue sticking out all the time, I think he looks a lot like his daddy...

We had a talent show at church last night and I forgot about to tell the kids or plan anything, until about 2 pm yesterday. So Amanda decided she would play hot cross buns on her recorder last minute...I was proud of her for just being brave enough to get up there.

The weather has been cooler these last few days...it has been nice to be outside and not sweating. I have loved to pull out the sweaters and hats for a change.

And we were finally able to talk with Dave this week on the webcam. His satelite has been down, so it has been hard on the kids (and me) to not be able to see dad for several weeks (actually since he left from R&R). the kids respond so much better to a "live" dad, than a voice on the phone. Even Jake got in on the action this week, smiling at dads voice. Love modern technology, it is such a blessing (when it is working). Six or seven more weeks until he is home!