Quotes: This is not funny.

When Lucy was a baby we always said, "She is going to have a lot to say when she learns how to talk."  We were right.  It is great to learn what is going on in her sweet little head.

We were talking about a pretty serious topic today at lunch and Lucy said the following in all seriousness and completely unrelated:

"And if you get lost the police will come."

The kids all started laughing (and I tried to hide my laughter.)  She replied,

"You guys,  this is not funny."

Quotes: I helped.

When Amanda got back from the grocery store, she was impressed to find that the kitchen was spotless, everyone was dressed and that the dishwasher was even running.  Caleb was put in charge and did great.  Amanda said, "He's so much like your brother!"  Uncle Joe likes a clean kitchen too.  Caleb comes from a line of men who know how to help in the kitchen.

When I got home we were hanging out in the kitchen with Ben and I asked him if he helped at all.  He said,

"I helped.  I cleared my place and got dressed."

Ben is a little bit more like his dad.

Quotes: My not helping

Yesterday Amanda went to the grocery store and left the kids home alone.  Shube was right next door so don't freak.  Amanda said the kids could do whatever they wanted, they just needed to clean up the kitchen from breakfast and get dressed.  Sitting her highchair, Lucy replied,

"My not helping. My a baby."

5 Years of Molly Pearl

Last week Molly turned 5-years-old.  I am so thankful to God for who she is.  She is a sweet, kind and lovely little girl.  We got to do our annual birthday breakfast on Saturday.  It was a lot of fun to spend some time with just her. She is currently very interested in Winnie the Pooh.  For her birthday we got her stuffed animals of Pooh, Eeyore, and Piglet.  On the packages we put that they were each from one of her brothers. After the party I asked her if she liked her new stuffed animals.  She said,

"Yes, I love them, because I love my brothers."

I told the boys that story as I was putting them to bed.  I said when you're looking for a wife, if you can't find one that loves you and thinks you're as great as your sister does, keep looking.  They thought that was pretty funny.

We look forward to many more years of Molly in our life.  She brings us daily joy unlike any of her siblings.  We love you Moll Doll.

Quotes: Lucy

We stopped in Sault Ste. Marie at Joni's dad's place for the night on our trip.  It was a great and free stopping point in the U.P.  When we were setting up the PUP and getting ready for bed, we heard Lucy say, "Boys, my comin' in yo' bed."  She's something else!

Christmas '11

What happened to us this past Christmas.  I just looked back in the blog and I guess I just didn't post much.  So here's a few pics and comments.

Santa (Shube's builder) came to our house for Christmas. Lucy talked about how scared she was of him for weeks. "Santa.  SCAWEE!"

Ben decided it would be a good idea to make this face in most of his Christmas pictures.  A good time was had with the Nagel family this year at Christmas.

Fourth graders at our church get help in lighting the advent candles at Christmas time.  Ben did the midnight Christmas Eve service.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  He did great, but by the end he was pretty tired.

Our little Lucy Ruth turned 2 after this Christmas as well.  We are thankful for all of God's Christmas blessings.  

Quotes: Rights

This just transpired.

Ben comes up stairs.
"Can we have a snack?"

Amanda replied, "No. "

Ben, "We got rights!"

The proletariat revolt. 

Quotes: Why didn't they sing?

Last night we were lying in bed watching the president do his State of the Union address.  Molly was in between Amanda and me.  When the president had made his way to the podium and began speaking, Molly said,

"Why didn't they sing?"

Amanda's reply was, "because this isn't church."

Molly shot back, "Then what is it?"

Huffington Post/AP

Quotes: Hypocrite

Is it okay for me to put quotes here that aren't my from my kids? I think so. Hey, it's my blog.

Last night at church I was talking about a passage in Matthew where Jesus refers to a hypocrite. I asked if anyone knew what a hypocrite was. One of the girls raised her hand.

"My mom is sometimes a hypocrite. Because she asks me to make my bed but doesn't make her own."

AWESOME! That's why I like teaching second grade.

Quotes: Like Brett Favre

Today is Tricia's birthday!  Happy birthday, Tric.  38!  When Ben found out this morning he said,

Whoa!  That's like Brett Favre!

MATTHEW LUDTKE / AP

Family Worship

Matthew Henry:

If therefore our houses be houses of the Lord, we shall for that reason love home, reckoning our daily devotion the sweetest of our daily delights; and our family-worship the most valuable of our family-comforts...A church in the house will be a good legacy, nay, it will be a good inheritance, to be left to your children after you.

From Donald Whitney's book Family Worship.

ht: TheResurgence Blog

Quotes: Short Day

Because of a storm rolling in this morning, the skies got really dark.  Matt's response:

It's gettin' night.  That was a pretty short day.

Quotes: Paint

We're painting the girls' room upstairs.  It was originally blue and we're painting it pink.  After the first coat Caleb had his doubts.  He said to Amanda,

You can still see blue under the pink.  You should have painted one coat of white and the then two coats of pink.

It's so much fun to see how each of the kids different giftednesses show themselves.  I don't know many six-year-olds who notice things like that and then even have words to articulate it.  Caleb is definitely an artist on the inside.  

Quotes: Amish

Amanda and the kids were picking Uncle Gregg up at the airport this afternoon. When Ben saw an Amish girl he said,

"For Heaven's sake, what's she doing on an airplane?"

Quotes: My sunglasses

Molly is a movie star in the making.

"I need to wear my sunglasses so no one sees my eyes" 

Quotes: Uncle Carrie

Molly really loved hanging out with her Tante Carrie when we were in Florida.  I think Tante Carrie especially liked having a girl to fuss over.  A few days ago, Molly asked the following question.

"Is Uncle Carrie your dad?"

Hilarious, but unfortunately wrong on so many levels.

Give me back my filet of fish

Matthew is one of the funniest members of our family.  Unfortunately, over the past year his brothers have not been the most supportive lot in his humor pursuits.  Being the youngest (he has lots of youngest traits as the youngest boy) isn't always easy.  We are working to protect his heart and to encourage him to be himself.  If you get to know Matthew, you'll love him like we do.

Here's an inside look.  Last year at Lent, McDonald's came out with a commercial of a singing fish.  Matt loved it and we loved him singing it.  It took a candy bribe, but we got it done.  The video is just a shadow of his best work.

Quotes: I'm a tiger

From January

Reported by Amanda this morning.  When Molly's pulling her shirt over her head she says,

"I'm like a tiger (meaning Lion-her shirt being the mane)."

We're getting a lot of great Molly quotes these days because she is actually able to say all of the crazy things that are going on in her head.  When the boys were her age, they were months away from being able to articulate their thoughts.

Quotes: What are you funny about?

Whenever Amanda and I are laughing at something, Molly asks us,

"What are you funny about?"

Quotes: Yes! I got it right.

Caleb is a great little character.  This might sound familiar to some of you syllable tappers and stair counters.

Caleb makes "contests" for himself.  For instance yesterday at lunch, I was getting something out of the refrigerator and he said, "Yes!  I got it right."  He obviously guessed right the thing that I was getting out.  This happens a lot throughout the day.  Sometimes it will be "Agggh.  I got it wrong."  There's a lot going on in the little minds of these kids we love.