Thank You Mr. Luther

95 Theses


Sung to the tune of Father Abraham:

Martin Luther was a monk
And he wrote the 95 theses
He nailed them to the church door
In Wittenburg, Germany

1517 was the year did ya hear...




Today in school we had fun reviewing what Reformation Day is about, did our regular work, and even had time to play in the puddles left by last nights rain. In the yard our sunset maple was down to its last two leaves.






After the puddle we cleaned up (oh so glad Marli was in the kitchen when I took her boots off) She didn't have an accident that is water from the puddle which she was storing in her boots. At least we know they are water tight. :-p



Then we came up with 20 theses (more like facts) of our own.

HAPPY REFORMATION DAY!!!

Whew! I'm Beat

What an exhausting day! It wasn't any one thing in particular... just GO GO GO! So here I am to bore you with the details.

The day started out slow enough. Breakfast, get the kids dressed, short play time, school, Sesame Street. Clockwork right? After Sesame Street we have P.E. OK... ok... its usually just a walk but today we needed to work on winterizing the property because it is supposed to rain this weekend.

I started stacking some wood and asked the kids to pick up all the toys scattered about the property. They dispersed... then disappeared. I could hear them behind the house doing something I was sure I had told them not to. However, I was rockin' that woodpile so I let it go.

Forty minutes later it was time for lunch but first I had to asses the damage done by the kids. They had raked all the leaves away from the back porch which seems like it should be helpful but the backyard is pretty much the way God made it and under those leaves is dirt that when it rains will become mud.

I decided to not get bent out of shape over it and called them into lunch. Once finished It was back outside to complete our chores. Market umbrellas and chair pads were gathered and all the toys collected so I sent the kids in to letter, draw, and color while I blew off the patio with the leaf blower.

Yay! Nap time... not for me unfortunately but for Marli and Eden. With them all tucked away I was able to finish movig patio furniture and tucking away outdoor toys while Kiah and James continued to find litter and things around the yard.

Now on Wednesdays Kiah has ballet and in order to get there on time I need to have everyone up by 2:30 to get ready and be out the door by 3:00. Today that didn't happen because by the time I came into the house it was already 2:30 and I still had to shower, get Kiah ready (bun the hair), and dress up three others for a carnival.




I left the house at 3:30 with one ballerina, one spiderman, one ladybug, and one puppy, but no camera :-p sorry. I dropped kiah off dreadfully late at her lesson then stopped at the grocery store to get a snack for the kids (pears all around) and some cashola for the carnival. Then it was back to pick up Kiah and off to meet My Love for some dinner. Burger King... yeah, I know... the goal was quick and easy not nutritious.

















Finally we reached our final destination. It was the usual middle school fair with cheesy games and lame prizes but the kids had a blast and laughed and played and ate cupcakes. Oh, the memories...

We got home at bed time but of course the kids were too wound up too sleep (couldn't have possibly been the candy) so we let them play with all their new junk... er... toys at the table, gave them some water and sent them to bed. A few minutes later we hear James sobbing in his bed. My Love checked on him.

My Love: What's the matter, Bud?
James: (Blubbering) I WANNA GO BACK TO THE CARBINAL!!!

~sigh~

Watch Me Wednesday ~ More Fall Fun

It was a fine Fall day and since Daddy's use of the chainsaw made it impossible to enjoy the outdoors around the house I decided that instead of spending the day locked away that I would take the kids out to another pumpkin patch down the hill.




As soon as we saw all the jump houses from the road the kids began screeching (yes, literally) with excitement.

"MOMMY CAN WE GO IN THERE!?!"
"yes."
"MOMMY ARE WE GOING THERE!?!"
"yes."
"MOMMY DO WE GET TO GO THERE!?!"
~sigh~
"yeeeesssss."

James is the king of asking the same reworded question over and over again. I was excited for them because there were a lot of fun things to try. There were two jump castles, one with a fun house type interior, a long jumpy tunnel thing, and an enormous bouncy slide. There were also piles of hay to dig through to find free toys and tractor pulled hay rides.




Kiah was head over heels for the slide.
It was huge and so much fun.

Then it was on to the tunnel. To climb in you had to push hard against a rush of air. If you took too long the octopus would collapse on you. My three older kids got the hang of it pretty quickly but Marli refused to go unless I did. ~sigh~

Let me just warn all of you with small children that these bouncy, unstable, air filled contraptions are NOT made for mommys. Especially short, uncoordinated, top heavy ones... if you catch my drift. But I paid for Marli to use the bouncies and by golly she was going to use them all.



Upon entering the tunnel one must climb a ramp, slide down, make it through an obstacle course, then try to escape through a tiny slit in the plastic while twenty other children are causing the entire contraption to gyrate uncontrollably.

Marli made it through quite easily, however, for me it was rather like trudging through quicksand with a anvil strapped to my ankle.



Here is James trying to make his exit. A questionable entrance, a harrowing awkward trip through, and a difficult exit earned this bouncy tunnel the honor of being dubbed the birth canal. I apologized to the parents who saw me exit... it could not have been pretty. :-p



After that I was ready for something that didn't involve any ...well... any of that. The tractor hay rides looked more my speed.

Ahhh... yes, this was much better, and after bouncing around for forty minutes I think the kids were ready for a moment of peace as well.

The only thing left to do was the pony rides.

By the end of day, I was exhausted, the kids were getting cranky and I was ready to get them home.

"CAN WE HAVE ONE MORE BOUNCE, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!!!"
~sigh~
"yes."

Tagged

My friend Heidi at Moms, Ministry, and More gave me the Kreative Blogger award. Thank you Heidi. :-)

I had received it once before but this time it was accompanied by a different set of rules. A tag full of sevens.

Seven things I did before... Before what, I'm not sure :-p Before now?

1. I worked at McDonalds for two years.

2. I worked at Blockbuster video for two years.

3. I worked at Lucky/Ralph's grocery store for five years.

4. Before all that I worked as a dog groomer for four Summers in a row.

5. In high school and college I was crazy weird, earning me the nickname Supafreak.

6. I used to own a pony and a horse and spent most of my free time during my high school years riding one of them.

7. I helped My Love teach a junior high Sunday school class and helped with the youth group. Three of the best years of my life.

Seven things I do now... Brace yourself.

1. Change diapers.

2. Home school my four loverly kids.

3. Wait eagerly by the front door until My Love gets home so I can give him a big hug and kiss then leave. :-D

4. Watch Sesame Street, Word World, and Wonder pets.

5. I do all the wifey/mommy stuff with a lot of help from My Love.

6. I read the comics every night as I fall asleep. Occasionally I'll wake up with the paper laying across my face :-0

7. I get a tremendous amount of enjoyment out of blogging.

Seven things I would like to do...

1. Spend more time reading and studying the Bible (beyond what I do with the kids)

2. Take piano lessons for myself. We own a piano that never gets played. If I could learn then I could teach my kids.

3. Go to Europe and travel around for at least a month.

4. See my kids grow up to be genuinely good people with a deep understanding of and relationship with God.

5. Spend some time alone in my house during daylight hours.

6. Have a book published or have a column in a newspaper or magazine.

7. Add three more hours to each day. 27 is a nice number don't ya think?

Seven things that attract me to the opposite sex my husband... EVERYTHING! But I'll try to narrow it down.

1. His genuineness and great sense of humor (he gets me when few people do and we have SO MUCH FUN together)

2. His walk with the Lord.

3. His gallant, chivalrous nature.

4. If we can all be grown ups for a moment I need to say that he is an extremely good lover.

5. His rugged good looks. hubba hubba :-D (I'd take you over Spiderman or Mike Rowe any day, My Love)

6. He takes care of us in so many ways as a family unit. Keeps the kids happy yet inline, puts up with my mood swings with ease, provides for us financially, and keeps up on all the man chores (garbage, wood, property maintenance etc.)

7. I truly am the apple of his eye. Even when I am in bed with dragon breath and bedhead and haven't had a chance to shower in two days he still thinks I look beautiful and I smell great. And believe me I DON'T. :-p

Seven favorite foods...

1. Cold, leftover pizza straight from the fridge. My absolute fave! I could live on this.

2. Dibs... sort of an addiction right now... I'm sure I'll get tired of them soon... I hope.

3. Pepsi. I know I'm naughty. At least at home its only diet caffeine free pepsi. I call it my carbonated chemical water. :-p

4. Spinach dip on fresh cubed sourdough. A must have at every family buffet.

5. Steak, medium rare, ribeye or prime rib is my preference.

6. Chicken. Cook it all the time for dinner. Love it. You can put anything on it and it tastes good.

7. Ice cream. I will eat it any time any where any season. I will also occasionally use it as a meal replacement. :-D

I think I've finally found a diet I can stick to!

Oh yeah, baby!

Seven things I say most often...

1. No!

2. Stop it!

3. Don't touch!

4. Don't eat that!

5. Shhhhh!

6. 5...4...3...2...1... THATS IT!

7. I love you!

Since I have seen this tag floating around quite a bit I am not going to pass the tag to seven people, but if you have not done this one, and you need something to write about today then feel free to grab it an go. I am going to tweak it a little though so it fits into my Reformation week celebration. Here we go.

Seven things we did to celebrate Reformation week today...

1. Talked about how long ago 1517 was (491 years) and how people lived differently then today.

2. Found Germany on the map and the globe and talked about pretzels, leiderhosen, castles, and beer. Well, not so much that last one.

3. Counted to 95 about 95 different ways.

4. Read the first 17 theses, aka, ideas :-)

5. Looked at the flags from Germany and the USA then drew our own flags.

6. Planted pumpkin seeds to be sure we'd have more for reforming next year.

7. Talked about Martin Luther and what is a monk.

Me: "What was Martin Luther's job?"

James: "He's a hunk!"

Me: "Only in the movies, Bud"

Reforming Pumpkins

So in my efforts to make my posts look halfway intelligent I go looking for a precise definition of the word reformation.

ref-for-ma-tion [ref-er-mey-shuhn] 

–noun

1.	the act of reforming; state of being reformed.

um... thanks... that totally clears it up. :-/

::insert big fat eye roll here::

~sigh~ Let me try this again...

2. A change from worse to better; correction or amendment of life, manners, or of anything vicious or corrupt; as, the reformation of manners; reformation of the age; reformation of abuses.

Hmmm... Okay, lets pretend pumpkins are vicious and corrupt and are in desperate need of reformation. :-D

Here they are post reformation being held captive by a rambunctious group of reformers. Rachel (the one with shoes on) and her mom, Debbie at Wisteria and Roses, joined us.

And now... the close up.
The pipe cleaners and toothpicks were put to good use for this project.

Time for the awards!
We didn't have these in mind while carving but I believe they are due.

The award for best use of a half rotten, lopsided, miniature pumpkin goes to Eden. Seriously, the poor thing wouldn't even stand up, but Eden carved it into something truly unique... with arms. Your guess is as good as mine. :-p



The award for most impressive expression goes to Rachel for the pumpkin she carved for little Marli. I just LOVE those eyebrows, and the mouth... he looks like he knew what he had just gone through. Check out Rachel's kitty in the last photo too. So cute!




Kiah's creation earned her the award for most traditional pumpkin face. I was so proud of what she made. Pretty impressive for her first solo carving adventure. :-)




This frightening fellow actually had two faces and five nostrils between them. YIKES! James' angry pumpkin wins him the scariest of scary award. :-0




This one I carved for Eden who wanted a puppy. Hmmm... I give my own pumpkin the best use of pipe cleaners award. Note the puppy's ears. ;-)

Altogether they make quite a frightful bunch.

Oh, I almost forgot...

The award for the best silly photo face goes to Rachel, and Kiah has earned the coveted most wholey pants award.

Sunday Songbook ~ Happy Reformation Week

That's right. This Sunday is the first day of Reformation Week. Reformation Day falls on Friday and this entire week will be about the Reformation. A major figure of the Reformation is Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk who was responsible for the 95 Theses. These inspired the Protestant movement and deeply influenced Christian traditions.



A Mighty Fortress is Our God

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Martin Luther, 1529

Cyber Hymnal


I love how in this trying, uncertain time of economic failure and political upheaval that we as Christians can rely on our righteous, faithful, and loving God to carry us through to eternity. The battle is won my brothers and sisters. No matter what (or who) happens, when our security lies in Jesus Christ then its value is untouchable. His Kingdom is forever...AMEN!

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:30-31

Harvest Time at Donner Trail Fruit

Pumpkins and gourds of every texture and hue were found at the Donner Trail Fruit Fall Festival.



Princess Marli found a perch upon some perky pumpkins.



Kiah, forever spreading sunshine.





We were greeted by these handsome fellows,





some cute chicks...

the black...ish sheep of the family...




and how now freckled cow...er... bull?















Then there was the goats, Laurel and Hardy or Salt and Pepper or Charlie Brown and Snoopy... I didn't really catch their real names. :-p



The corn maze made me not want to do corn mazes again. I didn't freak out just waaaaaaay overpriced for the amount of entertainment it provided. Corn as high as My Love's eye and ...popcorn on the cob? Weird.




The pyramid of hay was much more fun and totally free. Now I know. Plus it was nice to see the kids moving up in the world.





James was having fun on the hay as well as in the hay.



Finally we were on to pick pumpkins in the patch. Everyone found one to their liking and we made our way back up the hill to get the hay out of our boots and hit the sack. All except for pooohr Cinda-relli.