Fair day ’13

We are now the proud owner of a lemur. And a 3 1/2 foot long snake. (Both of which received a solid coat of Lysol before enter bedrooms, and one of which already needs back surgery to stitch him up.) We also came home from the fair with 3 sacks of candy, 2 plastic trumpets, and one pink ball (and likely many creepy carnival germs).

It was a fun day, and one that we look forward to in the months leading up to the Richardson County Fair. I’ve been to the Arkansas State Fair growing up, and what I’ve come to learn is that I like the small town fair much better. I loved growing up and getting to go to Nokomis, IL for the Homecoming Fair each year. I have incredible memories of those weekend, and I’m glad that my kids get the same small town fair experience each year.

We sit near the tail end of the parade route, and even though most have run out of candy to toss by the time they hit our spot, we still come home with enough tootsie rolls to last us the next several months. This was the first year since I started going that Brad’s sister brought her family down on Friday. It’s always fun to watch the kids get to enjoy their cousins.

After the parade wrapped up it was time to find some lunch and gear up for an afternoon of riding the rides. Nate is kind of in an in between stage with rides. He’s too big for the little kid stuff, and none of the other kids are really big enough to enjoy the big kid rides with him. Lucky for him his little sister is in the 91% for height, and she was able to go with him on some of the bigger stuff as long as she had a adult with her.

And, this is pretty much how we all felt as we drove home:

Thank you Humboldt, NE and Richardson County fair for an amazing day at the fair!

Game Time!

This past Saturday was a first for Nate.  He had his first opportunity to attend a Husker game with Brad, and he was super excited.  He loves to watch the Husker on tv, and we decided that age 7 seemed like a good time to start getting to go to a game.  The only down side was that I didn’t get to tag along to see him experience it all for the first time.  Brad said he did really well, and asked a ton of questions.  Luckily we remembered to pull out the binoculars which allowed him to get a better view of things.  Our biggest fear was that the game didn’t start until 7pm – when your dad is a pastor there is no option to skip worship to sleep in the next morning!  🙂

What was most impressive to Nate about the whole experience???  “Mom we set a record, and I was there!”  (With the new stadium expansion, it was a record number of people in Memorial Stadium.)  Adorable!

We signed Nate up for Cub Scouts a few months ago, and it has seemed very random so far.  Although I’ve not been to one, Nate seems to enjoy both the Pack and Den meetings.  I do wish the Den meetings were more regular than the sporadic two they have had so far.  We’ve sold popcorn, learned the motto and law of the pack, and now that this weekend is done we have our first space derby and cake contest under our belt.

Now, if only his patches would sew themselves onto his shirt – we’d be great!!!

Our Favorite!

 

 

 

October brings birthday cards and gifts for Laurel and I as we both celebrate our birthdays, but there are always a few cards and such in the mix for Brad.  October is Pastor Appreciation Month, which some people actually remember and acknowledge.  😉  The kids and I decided that it was wrong of us to not acknowledge our family’s favorite pastor.

They colored signs (Laurel’s says “Best”, but she refused to hold it up. (And Jilly refused to make a normal face.)), and I wrapped up a Flintstones DVD.  The kids have been really into old cartoons lately (classic Mickey, Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes, etc.), and Brad has been enjoying it and mentioned wanting to introduce them to The Flintstones.

It was a fun way to turn an ordinary day into a fun celebration – which the kids are always up for!

sword fight!

Brad mentioned he had to run as soon as service was over in the Haven yesterday to the main worship center for a prayer thing.  Okay.  I headed out to pick up the girls from class and nursery.  By the time we made it back to the Haven, Brad had returned and was now in possession of a sword.  Not the foam kind we like to sword fight around the house with, but a real sword.  Ummm, uncomfortable.  Kids of various sizes and ages gathered around as Brad and Trevor checked it out.  My protective mommy mode kicked in, and I watched every kid surrounding them like a hawk.

Turns out they were a gift from past and present Board members for Pastor Appreciation/KoK’s Year of Jubilee.  The swords represent the Sword of the Spirit found in Ephesians 6.  (Pretty cool, but I still told Brad I’d rather he keep it at work.)

Here are a couple of pictures Brad emailed me earlier (thankfully, for the safety of my son, it has it’s cover on in all of these photos):

Not sure if it will work or not for those who don’t “like” them on Facebook, but here is a link to several more pictures:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.527423637286679.127161.196872390341807&type=1

A Getaway!

Brad and I were super blessed at the end of September to travel with the other pastors and wives from KoK to take a few days to retreat together in Hilton Head Island, SC.  It was an incredible place to take a few days break from the norms of daily life.  The house we stayed in was beyond amazing, the beach was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and NO KIDS came along!!!!  (Thanks again to Dave and Kay!!!)

{the view from our bedroom}

{this made me a little nervous}

{a couple days later Brad and I spotted this across the street from the house}

{It’s always nice to get away together!}

{The amount of creatures we saw was amazing – and made us miss the kids since we knew they would love it all.}

{After our all the quick time in Hilton Head was done, Brad and I drove to Atlanta to take advantage of a couple of extra days away and visited several different Atlanta spots.}

Keep on coloring kids!

I recently had to take an emotional look at what it looks like when my kids sit in worship with me.  Very rarely, since Brad is often the one preaching, do I have help with the kids in worship.  In fact, by the time the kids get up on Sunday morning, Brad is already out the door and off to the office.  Sunday mornings are tough.  It’s a lot of work to get everyone up, fed, pottied, dressed, brushed, shoed, coated, buckled, driven, and across the mammoth parking lot on my own week after week.  Often times I’m frustrated and exhausted before I ever even walk in the door.  Sadly, I honestly dread the Sunday mornings when one or both of the biggers say that want to go to worship with me rather than Sunday School.  Sad, but honestly true.  I want worship time to recharge, refuel, and honestly provide a break from an already busy morning.  It has become more and more regular lately for the biggers to want to join me though.  For quite a while, I would grab a Children’s Bulletin for each of them, and let them work on that during the sermon.  Unfortunately though, I was fielding questions about “what do I do on this part now Mommy?” and “Mommy, is this right?”  It’s really hard to catch much of the sermon while this is happening!

I knew something had to change, but what?
I have worked with kids for years, I have study child development as I obtained an elementary education degree, I taught elementary school, I have been a parent for 6 1/2 years – I have a pretty good understanding of kids and what is and isn’t age appropriate at different ages.  Sermons (even those preached by their father) are not geared towards kids.  Many kids are able to focus better when actually doing something rather than just sitting like a lump on a log.  Also the learning style of a teen or adult is different than that of a 4 or 6  year old.  In my opinion kids coloring in worship IS GOOD!  There had to be something better than the Children’s Bulletin though.  Within days of my emotional mess of a day over this, the Lord provided me with a new way of allowing the kids to color which would be much more beneficial to them and myself!

I could not be more excited to pull out the Crayola Twistable Colored Pencils each week now – they actually join me more frequently now, and I actually mind less than I use to.  I know that many blessings will result from my kids being allowed to color during the sermon each week.

Here is a glimpse at what Nate (age, 6) has done over the past few weeks:

{during a sermon on Acts 18:24-28}

{during a sermon about “God is Vast”}

{during a sermon about God is perfect}

{while at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City this weekend}

(on  the right, all of the people are thinking about being with Jesus – I had to ask what all the black circles where – thought bubbles of course!)

It is such an incredible blessing to ask Nate after service to explain his picture.  It’s even more of a blessing to know that by allowing him to color, he is able to express the truths that God is teaching him.  Adults take notes (and doodle) during sermons, he takes notes with pictures.

How does it work?  I went to Target and bought both Nate and Jilly a sketch pad book along with a pack of Twistables.  Neither the books or the Twistables are allowed to be used outside of a worship setting.  They are to listen to what is being talked about during the sermon, and draw a picture that relates to what they hear.  I always date the page, and they are limited to the front and back of one page to help teach self control.  Obviously, Nate has a better grasp on this than Jilly does.  Most of Jilly’s colorings are completely random and abstract at this point.  I know though, that she will grow in this as she gets a little older.  My expectations for her vary from what I expect from Nate – as they should.  Seriously though, this often time frazzled each Sunday morning momma is just a little more at peace now, and lot more blessed!
LET THEM COLOR!!!

 

chapel singing

Jilly’s class sang in chapel for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  Jilly loves the stage, so there was no shyness to be found in her.  She was extra excited since it was also Brad who was going to be doing the talk a few minutes after they sang.  She sang, she did motions, she beamed.  I am sure that she can’t wait for it to be their turn to go back up again!  (I am so far behind on posts, that I am skipping fixing the red eye in the pics.)

fishing and fun

A dreary, rainy morning has left me unable to go on my morning walk and not desiring to drag the girls out in it to get the grocery shopping done.  Instead I’ll plow ahead in getting caught up on my blogging and picture sharing.

Then entire Knorr clan was invited out to Glen and Verna’s place a few weeks ago, and about half of the family made it out for the day.  It was a lot of fun, and the kids had a great time.  It had been a long time since they had since some of their extended cousins which led to many new fun things to play together.

The highlight of the day though was the kids getting to go fishing for the first time.  They talked about it for the week leading up to us going out, and even with pouring rain, it lived up to all they dreamed it would be.  They were so cute when the actually caught a couple.  Jilly reached the point where patience waiting for a fish was not worth her time, but she got really good at casting!

 

breaking hibernation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After what has seemed like forever, we’ve loved breaking our hibernation and being back outdoors the past few days.  With windows open and the breezes blowing, it’s hard not to want to be out enjoying every last moment of niceness.

{this is the same box of sidewalk chalk Nate got when he turned one – we apparently don’t sidewalk chalk too often}

{with his bike still not being his favorite, nate has a peaked interest in his scooter lately}

{attitude?  jilly?  no way!}

{jilly got 5 new-to-her bathing suits in the mail yesterday from aunt ginny.  she has worn all of them at one time or another, some multiple times, from the time they came yesterday until bath tonight.  yes, she even wore one to sleep in last night.  it was a battle not worth fighting.}

{even brad got into the sidewalk chalk – i think this was a porcupine creation}