Even While Sleeping

Last night I went to check on Adam. The evenings have gotten cooler, so he had an extra blanket that he could pull up. But he was, also, wearing warmer pajamas (he has been asking for these since summer! He was excited when I got them out, there was no question what he was wearing to bed). I just wanted to make sure that he was comfortable.

When I walked in his room, he sat up. So I knelt by his bed and told him it was still night time and he could go back to sleep. He laid down and said,

"Dear Lord,

Thank you for this day.

Thank you for a wonderful family

and 2 beautiful boys

and a loving Mommy.

Amen"

I said, "Yes, Adam, you are right. Now you can sleep. I got to my bed and giggled a little. I thought. "He really takes this "praying without ceasing" seriously! He even prays in his sleep!

Sure enough, he did not know a thing about it this morning when I mentioned it!

Our Pumpkin Saga For Today

Last fall the boys decided they wanted to plant pumpkins. I thought that would be a great learning experience for them, and for me. I washed some seeds, and stored them for use this spring.

In May I planted the seeds. I have watched, watered, learned about, and asked questions about pumpkins. The pumpkins are getting ripe now. I have baked 4 and have about 15 cups of pumpkin in the freezer.

One thing I still need to learn is: how to tell if they are truly ripe!

Today I was out looking at my pumpkins and found one that was orange and when I moved it, it came off the vine very easily. My thought was, "Oh! I have a ripe pumpkin!"

Side note: I do not have a good record with knives. 2 years ago I used a large knife at my sisters house and had to go to the ER to have my finger glued.

Lana has, luckily, been here to cut the other pumpkins open for me. But, she was not here today. I decided to give it a whirl. The knife I chose did nothing! So, I got a BIGGER knife! It did nothing. I called Lana and asked how she did this. She replied, "determination!" Okay, Mike will have the determination.

When Mike came home I asked him to cut it open. He saw the pumpkin and said, "let the boys make a face in it first." Mike just recently bought some "Mr. Potato Head" type of facial features that you put in pumpkins. The boys enjoy them!

He tried to start a hole for the face, but couldn't. Then he said, "I'll just cut it open" He tried my bread knife. That didn't do anything. He said, "maybe a saw..." (huh???), but then decided to bust it on the carport. However, when he got outside he said, "maybe I'll crack it with the car!" When I heard this I grabbed the camera!

He place the pumpkin under the wheel. At first it rolled away so he propped it with a piece of wood.

And.....CRACK!

It worked! But, now I know the reason it was so hard. It wasn't ripe!!

I still have some learning to do about pumpkins, even so, Mike and the boys keep things interesting!

I do wonder, though, how would they do the Christmas turkey?

He Loves Doing This...

Our church is collecting coins for Penny Power. This is part of the Relief Sale that will be coming in October.

Someone at our church is a GENIUS! They decided to let the children get coffee mugs and carry the mugs around to collect coins from people as the ushers are collecting the offering. Who can resist giving these cute children a few coins for a good cause? I know I can't resist, and Adam LOVES this!!

Today the worship leader said, "we will have the children come up to collect Penny Power" I think Adam was out of our row before she was done talking! They prayed and the children got their mugs. I can never keep track of Adam because he tends to go all over the church.

It was almost over when he finally got to our section. His mug was 3/4 full of coins, PLUS he had a plastic grocery bag that had quite a number of coins as well. I made my donation to his mug, and he proceeded to try to go the front of the church again. I had to go out and tell him that he was done and he needed to turn in his money.

As I was getting back to my seat I passed a friend from Sunday School, who had seen what Adam was doing. I said, "He was going to go around for seconds!" She smiled and said, "Hit everyone until they don't have anymore!"

After Adam came back to his seat, he had to excitedly report how much he got!

I'm glad he enjoys this, and I'm glad that it is going to good cause!

It Makes Sense To Me

We have been having cool mornings. This afternoon I asked Austin if he wanted to wear shorts or long pants to school. His rely was, "I want to wear longs."

Well, if you can wear shorts why can't you wear longs? It makes sense to me.

Off To A Good Start!

The school year has started and we are 2 weeks into it. It is off to a good start. The boys like their teachers. They have friends in their classes. They are learning and having fun at the same time!

I started back to work about 1 1/2 weeks ago. The boys have said a few things since then that I thought I would blog about, but never got around to it.

~One night before bed, Adam seemed a bothered by something. I started to talk to him about it and discovered that he was upset because...he was not a twin! I told him that I really did not have any say in that! However, it thought--God knew I couldn't handle it!!

~A few nights later Austin was asking very deep questions before bed. He was wondering :

If you don't believe in God do you still get to go to heaven?

I replied, "no, you need to be a follower of God in order to get to heaven"

What if you don't believe in God, then go with the devil and then change your mind?

I replied, "you have to make that choice while you are living here on earth. Once you have died, it is too late."

Then I asked him what he thought of that. He told me, "I'm going to heaven!"

Somehow these deep questions or discussions always come up right before bed. I wonder if they plan that in order to stay up later??

A town near us was celebrating 175 years. They had carnival type activities out this weekend. We went to check it out!

Saturday they had a rock climbing wall. Austin was able to do this, but sadly Adam did not weigh enough. He was about 8 pound shy. The attendant jokingly said, "go make some round and eat some chicken" Little did he know that Adam is my self proclaimed vegetarian!

However, Adam was able to do the fun house. Austin was too tall!

We rode the Ferris Wheel. Mike had some fun with the camera. He actually got me on the other side of it!

Fun family picture.

Sunday we went back. Austin's friend Isaac came along with us. Here are all 3 boys coming down the Super Slide.



Isaac and Austin on the Merry-go-Round.

And Adam on the Merry-go -Round.

The 3 boys on the swings.

It started to get really busy. We had rode most of the rides, had funnel cake and pink lemonade. We decided to head out. It was still early, so we went to my parents and...

did some sparklers.

Adam started taking piano lessons this week. He is really enjoying them. He loves that he now has real songs to play.

Austin is starting violin next month. I would love to see if there would be a song they could play together. Maybe we can come up with something by the time the school has their talent show in February.

1st Day of School

Yesterday the boys started back to school.

I think everyone was ready!

I left the house the same time they did so I could go to the store. I stopped at school and got a quick picture of them as they were about to enter the school.


I found it interesting, Adam had all summer to sleep in, yet most days he was up by 6:15. The 1st day of school however, I have to wake him at 7:10!

All of my boys came home yesterday, and seemed to have had a great day. Adam had stories about his teacher. Austin didn't say much (never really does), but from what I could get from him, it sounded like a good day.

We are all very excited about this year!

Quick Weekend Trip

We had one last trip for the summer this weekend, before school starts.

Friday we headed to PA and stayed with Mike's friend from High School. They have boys that are about our boys ages, they love to go there and play. This is the first time they got to have a sleep over. The boys laughed and giggled and talked way past their bed time!

After the boys were in bed, but not asleep, we were able to play game with Troy and Delise. Usually we visit, the boys play and we leave. It was nice to have time with just the adults to play a game and be a bit goofy!

Saturday morning we went out to see the zip line that Troy installed.

Austin had a turn.....

Adam had a turn.....

Mike took a turn.....

and even I had a turn. I'm not usually on this side of the camera!

Then the boys thought it might be fun to go on it together!

We had a great time! (Adam's sad face is due to the fact that he wanted to Mike to push him on the zip line, but it was pushed a little too fast, and he got scared!) Thank you Dylan and Micah for letting us play!

Then we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa's for lunch and more play time.

As soon as Austin got out of the car he saw this mushroom, he thought it was pretty neat. I'm always glad when they find an interest in science.

Adam rode the Gator...

Austin rode the bike...

Then they would switch. So much fun!

After lunch we went for a ride in the golf cart around the block.

We had gotten to the first turn when Austin saw...

this beautiful deer.

Their block is about a 2 mile ride. It was a nice relaxing time.

One of the boys favorite things to do at Grandma and Grandpa's is to get a hammer and....


hit dead tree stumps. They do this about every time we are up there!


Then the boys got the walkie-talkies. They were going to play walkie-talkie hide and seek. But found it to be just as fun to talk on them. We had to laugh because the were within talking distance, but would use the walkie talkies. Then to top it off, they were both riding in the Gator, and talking to each other over the walkie talkies. At least they were having fun!

They rode the see-saw!

On the way home we often stop in Carlisle, PA at a military place. They have tanks, helicopters, and trenches are built. They even have buildings like the mess hall, chapel, and offices, but they were locked up this time.

This is the first time that we have seen the simulated people in the trenches.

Austin enjoyed acting out what they were suppose to be doing.

This is the helicopter that we saw from the road, how we knew this was there and decided to visit the first time.

This one is a newer display.

In the trenches.

This was a quick trip, but lots of fun!