Sorry for the long absence. Crazy summer!! The kids have sprouted the last couple of months. Jonah is 50 inches tall, which means he can ride the tube water slides by himself! Nate is not the minimum 48 inches, so he has to ride with me. That is good because he needs pretty heavy supervision. Emily was taking him to the washroom (Ladies) on the weekend and he peeled off at the last second and disappeared into the Men's. Emily tried to get him but the washroom was full of men, so it didn't work out. He had to reach UP to the 'toilet' but he did his business. Apparently at least one man helped him activate the water tap and start the hand dryer. I arrived on the scene to 4 men all laughing and staring at a small blond boy, singing, drying his hands. One guy figured he did pretty good, quote "just mostly messed around in the sink". I told him never to do it again but I have a feeling this scenario may repeat itself...

this will always make you smile

Nate is a deep thinker.
Nate: Hey guys, did you know? Did you KNOW that the beach is bigger than a small POOL??
Me: seriously?
Nate: Yep. it is, cause the beach is the whole ocean.

Running over to me this summer, almost out of breath.
Nate: Dad, did you know? Did you KNOW that nanny is your mother and you are her son?

ELLA - one of Nate's 'gurls'. great buddies.

Jonah is now a Grade 1-er. They have a higher social standing than the Kindergarten kids. They are older, faster, stronger and of course, much smarter... Sometimes, they look down on K kids because, well, they just do not have the life's experience of a 1-er. Just imagine what it will be like to be a 6-er. Yes, contemplating this great achievement produces far away looks and whispers. We tell him God made him strong so he can help the K kids (and Nate). Sometimes the temptation to use his strength for his own purposes does get the better of him, and he practices his profoundly expanding vocabulary at home, calling Nate things like idiot and moron. Nate has no idea what these new, zingy sounding words mean but he knows they are not intended to compliment him.  He is not accepting his role as doormat, so he makes up words too, and sticks out his tongue. He did not get the memo that 1-ers don't think that's cool.

Last night, Nate was ahead of Jonah on the way upstairs, and Jonah was in hot pursuit.
J: IS IT A RACE NATE?????
N: NO, no race Jonah, no race....
Jonah eases off, and lets Nate continue to the top of the stairs. As soon as he hits the second last step
N: JONAH, it IS a race. (raising his hand in the air) Wa-hoo, I win, I win, I just beat Jonah.

They are working it out, Nate beams when Jonah pays attention to him and says 'please' and 'thank you' to him. He was sad when J went back to school, but is pretty pumped about his own school.

Just some pics for you folks.

pasta anyone

Beauty and the Beast

praying or preying (shark attack!!)

what exactly is happening here??

Giving Thanks

At meal time, Jonah takes a turn giving thanks before we eat. Once I asked Nate if he would like to thank God for our blessings, and he looked at me terrified, very quickly said no, plopped his head down on the table and started fake snoring. we'll wait until he is ready...

Sitting down for supper tonight, Jonah slowed himself down and started to pray.
J: Heavenly Father, thank You for making everything for us and thank You for sending Your Son to die on the cross for our sins and washing them all away. Ummm, thank You for the Lord Jesus, in Jesus name, amen.
Me: great, thanks.
*indistinct chatter* Jonah's eye's get big
J: wait, wait, I forgot something.
we all hold hands again.
J: Heavenly Father, thank You for the Lord Jesus, and for the food. In Jesus name, amen.
J: ok.
He often includes things we often don't think of, like bees and honey, blackberries, rainbows

Overheard: Jonah to cousin Brianna (7 yrs)
J: I am going to live to be 100.
B: Jonah! you will be dead by then.
J: No I won't. the bible says if you obey your parents, you will live long on the earth.

A couple of Quinn

A couple of the baby. Making lots of noises and smiling a lot. I'll post a video here soon too. The pics will have to do for now. Great kid so far.

Brotherly Love

It happened one evening while I was in the shower.  Leah was nursing Quinn. I could hear Nate screeching and crying. Leah yelled, "Jonah pushed Nate, he cut his head, and he is bleeding" and ran out the door and down the road. (jk, that was Leanne... remember, falling with my bike, knocking pieces off my teeth and getting the nice furrow in my head from the bedrock I fell on. When Leanne saw the cut, she ran out of the house, all the way down to Uncle Freddy's house. Dad used that a lot to remind her that she actually did like me.). Out of the shower, down the stairs, this is what I found. Panic all around. Been there, done that. Way to carry on, Son.

After getting the story, Nate getting pushed and hitting his head on the coffee table, we went to Emergency. Nate was letting me know on the drive to the hospital that no one would be looking at the cut. NO ONE. Everyone I explained the story to, rolled their eyes and said "boys, huh". No issues, put a little crazy glue in there, good to go.

He was watching Dora yesterday.
TV: Hi, I'm Dora. What's your name?
N: umm, NATE!
TV: my favorite snack is a banana! What's your favorite snack?
N: umm, umm, umm, schrlub.

better to say something, I guess, than nothing at all.

Here he is 'preparing' one of the kittens for its adoptive home.  They have passed a very rigorous 8 week program designed to carry them through every conceivable situation they will ever face, and then some.  It certainly would not be described as "Kitten Whispering". Probably the most stressful situation was the wall walk but they have proven to be mentally sound and resilient. Yes, they do land on their feet. The kitten pictured here graduated the program today. Sensei was not impressed with losing one of his prized pupils and directed all his negative energy he could to the new owner with an intimidating mean mug and a snort.

The Ghost

Jonah's first attempt at writing. He is fortunate as he has someone to transcribe for him. The following short (very) story was composed, dictated, illustrated and published by Jonah Macdonald.  He has decided that he will not adopt a pen name.

Be careful, the story involves sinister characters... Do not read late at night.

Front Cover

Story & Illustrations

Another quick update for you all.  Jonah likes holding Quinn for a few minutes here and there. Quinn takes it all in stride, no problem. He just wonders at which moment Jonah's thought's will wander from him to the "extremely urgent" issue that needs to be handled right this second... 

Not all of them are sleeping. Can you guess who is faking?

Remember the 'kitten in the box' story. Today there was a 'kitten in the bag' story. I had a bag of nuts mixed with reese's pieces (very yummy) sitting on the coffee table. Nate dumped the whole bag, ate all the reese's pieces and went away with the bag.  A few minutes later he arrived back singing quite merrily, "Mommy, I have a delivery for you..." there was a lucky kitten in the bag, very obviously not a willing participant. We're just lucky his attention is diverted from Quinn for now. At least he won't be putting lipstick on him, dressing him like a girl and leaving him in the room when company arrived unexpectantly. (Leanne)

I'll throw a pic of Nate in here too. He messes up a room in seconds, takes stuff all over the house and cannot remember where he puts a single item. Not one! typical conversation while hunting for something.
M - NATE! where is the remote control?
N - i don't know.
M- but you had it, where did you put it? (I am never agitated)
N - oooooooh. Dad, my tuuummmmy huuuurtss... (rubbing his belly)
M - huh? your tummy hurts again does it? why?
N - yee-ah (sensing he might be getting away with this). I ate too much. I can't go find it.
M - Ok Nate, maybe we should go to bed?
Jonah - Nate, how many times do I have to tell you... (using his parent voice)
N - cue cry.

Vermont MTB Trip

Quick video of our trip to Vermont this summer. We left the kids at home and went biking for two days at a really nice spot in East Burke, Vermont.  Allen put the video together.

Left here Thursday after work, stayed in Waterville, Mn and then to the trails Friday afternoon, where we hit the trails until 6:30. Next morning, the girls went shopping and we totally wore ourselves out riding the whole day. The two days were full of highlights and we had to force ourselves to stop to take pictures and videos because the trails were so fast and addicting. Dave's good bike was being repaired so he had his old one, I wrecked my back tire on the berm trail the first day and Allen's crank arm kept falling off but we had a BLAST! Stayed at a beautiful house on the mountain and had meals there and also ate at some spots in the village. We each wiped out once, and we caught two of us on tape.  The Sidewinder was the most fun I've had on a bike, although you can't appreciate the speed on the video. Uriah, we missed you.

We left Sunday morning early and made it to Augusta for meeting and then travel back home by 8 pm. Benn thinking about the trip ever since. 

Enjoy the video.

Kingdom Trails, East Burke, Vt.