Out of the mouths of babes

E, F, G, H Where does the time go? Most of this went into the sad fact that we killed another camera. We'd had is for 3 years and don't know how long it was around before that.

We've had some funnies over the last month.
Elijah: We go to Ladies' Bible Study each Tuesday. It is Jessica and 9 retired ladies. Someone is responsible for bringing a tasty. All the kids love this. They know that they can't have any until the ladies are served. One morning they were out on the playground with their mother's helper and "missed" snack being served. They troop in, Elijah take in the situation and wanders over asking, "Have all the girls had snack?" I got a good giggle because no one else is under 50.



Caleb: CG has been learning the books of the Bible. At the time he was at "Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations, Ezekiel." At night we were desparately trying to finish the book of Jeremiah (the most WORDS in the Bible) so there was a lot of "of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah". One evening while studying for his test he was reciting the books for Chris and Chris got "Ecclesiates, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jehoiakim, Lamentations." Caleb did self correct right after that but still, it means he's listening each night while they color.


Rebekah: RE made her first joke. We stopped at Sheetz on the way home from Busch Gardens on Sunday, September 27. The treat this trip was Slushies. Chris was filling one, Jessica had the other. You know how you put the lid on and then fill it right up to the top? Chris didn't burp his and got a suction seal. He shattered the lid with a huge pop! The kids already fascinated with this concept of treat got to laughing and Rebekah asked, "Daddy, did you just make soda pop?"

E week had us with hard boiled eggs and elephants. We dyed eggs which Elijah was very distressed about until we actually did it. "Do we kill the eggs to make them die?" he asked. He liked it and there were 15 eggs for breakfast or snack. Our Bible verse was "Everything that has breath praise the LORD."

F week saw the camera start to fade. We went fishing and Rebekah caught the only fish, a nice perch type thing and it was big enough to cook so we had fish and tots for dinner. Jessica caught a frog the week before and we adopted Ribbit for the next three weeks. He's about the size of Jessica's fist. There's nothing like a boy and his frog.
We set a 12" fire pit in the back yard and roasted mini marshmallows on fondue skewers. I think that might be the highlight of the year so far. The week after we visited the firehouse for National Fire Safety week. Alas no camera! but the kids got to put on gear and climb in the pumper truck and the fire engine. Our Bible verse was "Forgive and you will be forgiven."

G week saw gingerbread. We had some "old" molasses. We made the recipe. The smell was powerful. Jessica was doubtful. We rolled and cut 3 men, 2 women and a fleet of boys and girls. The army came out splendidly! The picture is Chris and Jessica's woman and man. Elijah decorated his and then eventually licked all the decorations off leaving a soggy gingerbread man. Ew. We ate grapes, talked about God, there were giants and Goliath, gorillas and Elijah made a giraffe. We were also sick this week. Sad sad times. Chris then Elijah then Jess then finally Rebekah and Caleb. Fevers flared and coughs abounded with extreme exhaustion for 1 day. "God is love" was our verse.

H week brought hippos, hearts, hats, houses, hermit crabs, and hedgehogs to the forefront. Jessica resisted urges to acquire a hermit crab or hedgehog. Caleb finished memorizing the first 39 books of Scripture. We got a new camera. Elijah tried on various hats like Hedgie. He was very excited about this week. The upper picture of him, he is NOT giving a peace sign, that's his hedgehog sign, it's a Shullenbarger thing. Rebekah is two-thirds through the 23 Psalm. We wrote good-bye letters to Happy the Hippo who relocated to the Milwalkee Zoo earlier in the month. Caleb's pretty sad about it. Jessica did something she had avoided during the first 7 weeks of school. She declared a pajama day (note the shirtless wonder in his hat pictures) and still held school; unlike the sick day we had where we just didn't have school because everyone had a fever.

We also celebrated Legolas' 2nd birthday. He had carrots and basil and was given a rabbit sized plush toy because he's now a teenager. He got that figure out later in the evening after the kids had gone to bed.


It's always the toys you're contemplating putting away. The kids fell in love with the blocks and spent a Saturday building house for "the babies" (aka their stuffed animals).