Pony World Song

Joey has a new auto-tune app on his iPhone. Hannah made up a song and recorded it using the auto-tune app. This was the adorable result:

(I haven't figured out how to share audio files on the blog, so I had to create a movie with the audio as background. The picture is one I took of her this afternoon when she dressed herself.)

The End.

UPDATE:

Just for kicks, I sent this audio to My Little Pony (since she was singing about her pony she got in a McDonalds Happy Meal). I got an email back the next morning that said they were "thrilled" that I took the time to send them the clip and they were forwarding it on the the marketing department AND... sending Hannah a free My Little Pony in the mail! How cool is that? Sounds like they got a "tickle" out of it just as much as we did. :)

Our Maple Leaf

As many of you know, every year for all of Kelly's life and the past thirteen-ish years of my life, on the third full weekend of October, our family has makes a pilgrimage to the tiny college town of Baldwin City, Kansas. For a quick recap, click here. Now that you're up to speed...

I'm not sure why, and I don't remember when, but at some point, I instituted a personal ritual of hunting a single maple leaf - the brightest and the most beautiful I could find - the one leaf that shone out among thousands as the quintessence of the Maple Leaf Festival - the "One Leaf to Rule Them All" - from Granny and Grandpa's driveway, and then take it home, and proudly nail it to my garage wall.

Hey, you have your traditions and I have mine.

Anyway, this year's Leaf is not like years' past. It didn't feel right picking a traditional leaf this year as there was a striking difference this Maple Leaf Festival: Grandpa.

So, this year's Leaf is very beautiful in a very different way.

Please don't be mislead, we had a wonderful time, as usual. We got to see lots of family, had front-row seats for the parade, had a turkey leg and funnel cake, perused kitsch and art alike, and attended the service at the Baldwin Gospel Chapel.

Besides those staples, this year was unique in that our family and Travis were the only delegation from Tulsa, as there was a mission conference and illness that kept the rest of the clan at home. As Granny has moved into her new diggs, the ol' homestead is steadily being renovated and rejuvenated under the tireless efforts of Aunt Ruthie, et al. Uncle Paul and his family were busy all weekend painting several rooms and shampooing carpets, which was quite an accomplishment, considering the constant oblivious juvenile traffic through the home, not to mention the 42 foot-tall Great Dane that Caleb and Sabrina brought with them (which incidentally, is now my favorite dog of all time).

But the elephant that was not in the room was Grandpa. Though he is still with us at the time of this posting, our visit to him in the nursing home was difficult to say the least. He could meet your eyes and smile and sort of wink at you, and then you would begin to wonder if he was still looking at your eyes and smiling at you, as if his thoughts had suddenly been put on pause. He couldn't speak, nor could he mouth words, though it looked sometimes as if he were trying. Frankly, I felt awkward speaking to the other family in the room without feeling like I was excluding or ignoring him. Leaving was the worst part in that we had to tell him we were going but having to simply hope that he would understand, or could understand, while not receiving any feedback.

Before, from the moment we walked in the door at Granny and Grandpa's house, to watching him wave goodbye in our rear view mirror, Grandpa's warm presence was consistent throughout any visit to Baldwin. His speech (which was plentiful) was always full of grace and seasoned with salt. I never remember a single conversation with him where he did not turn it back to the Lord and people's need of Him. But this year, his state caused a vacuum that was palpable to everyone. That void caused me to think of what a great heritage we have and what great big black, shiny shoes we have to fill.

The maple leaf I chose this year at first glance is not very attractive - especially when surrounded by so many other bright and colorful leaves. But more careful examination reveals a leaf once green and full of life, strong, and vibrant. A leaf that thrived on the end of a branch that fed it life-giving nutrients while it stood up to strong winds and storms. A leaf that slowly but gloriously aged to reveal its true colors of bright yellow, red and orange. A leaf that remained firmly anchored to that branch long after others blew away in the wind.

And in fact, that is where this leaf remains.

Money and the Mouth

Jonah's teacher informed me last night at parent teacher conferences that we may want to work with him at home a little more in the area of money. He knows his coins and what they mean, but when he is challenged to add different combinations of coins, he gets all goofed up. Since Jonah had a fever and threw up yesterday, I kept him home from school today. When lunchtime came, I had this grand idea of making the kids use coins to "pay" for their lunches. This is what I did:

Hannah is still learning coin values, so her side (the left) was a bit simple, but Jonah's required him to mix and add different coins. He LOVED it. Both Jonah and Hannah ATE IT UP. Success!

Anybody have any other good ideas for teaching kids how to add different combinations of coins?

Stay tuned people...Joey is working on another blog post and it is a good one. One of those sentimental tear-jerkers. Of course, I am a bit of a sap. Anyway, I'll try to get him to post it tonight or tomorrow.

Tickle Me Tuesday

A random assortment of "tickle" moments from our household on this Tuesday...

Mimi gave Jonah and Hannah some card games. They love playing them. Right now the favorite is "Old Maid," but they always forget and call it "Old Fashion." I keep hearing Jonah say, "Hey Hannah, you want to play 'Old Fashion?" I don't know why, but that tickles.

Cousins Micah and Ezra spent the night at our house this past Friday. They complained that they were hot when we put them to bed. I think they stripped down to keep from being too hot. But apparently, it got really cold overnight. At 6:30 am I woke up to Ezra shouting "I'm going downstairs, I'm cold." Joey went to check on him and he was buck naked and it was 62 degrees upstairs. Poor guy.

Joey gave Hannah a piece of candy and I mentioned to Hannah that she has the best daddy in the world. She responded to me (not him), "Yes, mommy. You did a good job picking out a daddy. Good job!" Then she gave me a big thumbs up. I think Joey took it as a thank you.

Joey took the plunge and bought Crossway's ESV Study Bible. It's rockin' awesome. We might be on our way to becoming an ESV household. On his way out of the store, he picked up a mini ESV Bible too. I laughed and called it his "impulse Bible."

Jonah often starts sentences with this phrase "Mom, I didn't want to tell you this, but..." Usually this beginning means 1) he has done something wrong or 2) he and I are about to have a really cool mother-son conversation about something deep like God, sin or...farts. It's one of those total open door kind of conversations, you know. This time, he started with "Mom, I didn't want to tell you this, but..." and finished with "...I hate K-I-S-S" (he spelled out kiss because he didn't want to say it). Then he kind of half-grinned. Apparently there is a group of third grade girls who are stalking him at recess and talking about the "kiss." (Come any closer girls and you are going to encounter one Jonah momma going postal.) Seriously though, it tickled me that he "hates K-I-S-S" and feels the freedom to share that with me. It led to a good conversation.

Speaking of recess, Jonah also told me that he spent one entire recess crying but trying not to let anyone see. Apparently one of his best buddies didn't want to play with him that day. BROKE MY HEART. That, my friends, did NOT tickle.

Hannah is on a blue kick. I offered to help her pick out something to wear yesterday and her response was, "okay, as long as it is blue or beautiful."

Our toilet started leaking so Joey had to figure out the problem. He took the entire toilet out and carried it to the backyard. I wanted nothing to do with any of that. Turns out it just needed a new wax seal. Joey had it all fixed and put back together within a few hours. I am tickled pink to have a husband who can handle all those icky jobs around the house. Thanks honey! Good job. ;)

I slept in this morning because we don't have Bible Study due to fall break. I woke up at 7:00 and found both kids UNDER my bed. I must have been really tired. Totally didn't hear them come downstairs OR crawl under the bed. They thought it was hilarious. Little boogers. I love them though.

Stinky Feet

Hannah is all girl. Everything about Hannah screams G-I-R-L from head to toe. And it's that toe part that I want to talk about today. Oh, the toes! Here we go...

Toes go inside shoes. And shoes are an important part of being a girl. I've never been amazing at the whole shoe thing, but I like to pretend that I at least know a little bit about the topic.

I know I am opinionated about ridiculous things, but I can't think of many more times when we women need to wear big white tennis shoes unless we are doing one of two things: 1) exercising or 2) cleaning house. Hannah doesn't understand this yet, of course. So when her dad gave her some tennis shoes, she didn't have a clue why I didn't want her to wear them with (for example) this:

(Excuse the poor picture quality, she wouldn't stop moving - another unfortunate side effect of the tennis shoes) Case and point. Four year-olds cannot be trusted to make good fashion judgements when it comes to shoes, so my motto has always been to NOT buy tennis shoes for my girl. My husband missed this memo, unfortunately. I might forgive him when she outgrows those shoes. (Love ya, honey. You know I'm kidding. But next time, let me do the shoe shopping.)

So. We have Hannah's first pair of tennis shoes out of the way. Now we move on to her first pair of heels. A sweet lady from Joey's work gave these shoes to Hannah:

Like a true girly-girl, Hannah LOVES her "heels." She wants to wear them all the time nowadays. She even dealt with blisters the first two days that she wore them, but she persevered and now wears her "heels" like a pro. (In fact, she is better than me. I never learned how to properly wear or walk in heels, so kudos to Hannah for being so awesome at it at such an early age.)

Now to the old standby shoes. Simple brown flats have been a standby for Hannah since she was old enough to wear shoes. Brown goes with most anything in her closet, so these shoes get a lot of use right now:

Cute, yet simple. Nothing much. But here is the horrible catch: these shoes make Hannah's feet stink. And I'm not talking about any kind of cute little girly stink. I'm talking STINK. Seriously. Because she sits behind me in the car and she has this wonderful habit of taking her shoes off the moment we get in the car, I have to smell these stinky feet. Stink City! There was one day I even had to drive home with my head out of the window so I could breath. (Joey tells me that I have the most sensitive nose on the planet and I am a bit of a drama queen, but whatever.) Stinky feet make me want to gag.

Then I smelled a TEACH moment approaching.

People, I have stinky feet too. I'm not talking literally anymore. My stinky feet might be my anger, my apathy, my laziness, my selfishness, my bad habits, my attitude, my tongue, whatever. I can keep my "shoes" on most the time and keep these stinks hidden. But no doubt, my heavenly father smells my "stink" as we ride along in the car of life sometimes. Sometimes the shoes come off. Sometimes I smell it too. Sometimes it makes me want to gag. I'm sure it makes God want to gag too.

But you know what? God doesn't drive home with the window rolled down as if he is about to gag at my "stink." Nope. He takes me home. He graciously offers to wash my feet. To wash the stink away. I let him. And it humbles me. Every time.

Thank you, Lord, for washing my stinky feet.