Yooper Accent?

For those of you who have been around Kristen for any length of time, you know she has a different accent or pronunciation for certain words--especially those beginning with r's. Occasionally we will repeat what she says like she says it back to her. She usually says, "That's not what I said!" And then we say it correctly and she says, "That's what I said!" She gets pretty defensive about it and we aren't making fun of her. We just think it is cute!

Anyways, yesterday she was making a "coloring and activity book" to play with and this was one of the pages. She asked me to spell a couple of things, but sounded out others. This is the result!


Mach the Wiming Words

And this is how she talks! It is wiming (not rhyming) with her speech, but when repeated back to her she knows which one is right! Strange. Aaron and I have chalked it up to her being born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and thus inheriting the "Yooper Accent!"

By the way, I am not making fun of her! I love how she says these words and I know she will be saying them correctly soon enough and I will miss it! So I documented it here to someday reminisce over!

First Day of School

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Luke--5th grade

Cailin--3rd grade

Kristen--1st grade

Haley--with Grandpa helping open the door for everyone

The kids were all excited about starting school this year--even Haley. She didn't quite understand that they were staying at school and she was going with mommy, but she has done quite well. Cailin and Kristen are in the new building. Luke was a little disappointed that he was in the "old" building, but excited see his friends. The Lord has blessed with another great start to a new year!

Happy Birthday, Kristen!

Kristen's 6th birthday was Sunday. She had a party with a friend over and family on Saturday. We are thankful that Grandpa and Grandma YooHoo were able to come! The huge blessing from that is Grandma made and brought the cake! I have had a rib out for about a week now and I was not feeling up to decorating a cake. Grandma's was much prettier! Kristen is saving her money to buy an American Girl Doll. She finally has enough and she and Cailin will be picking out their dolls soon! They are so excited!

Kristen has been telling everyone for days that it was her birthday soon. On Sunday, she was asked during church when her birthday was and she said, "Today!" When asked how old she was, she proudly held up 5 fingers and said, "Five--I mean six!" (as she added another finger)! She hadn't quite gotten used to being six!

Kristen is enjoying K-5 and has really caught onto reading! She loves her teacher and enjoys reading, spelling, and TALKING! No, she hasn't gotten in trouble, but she can sure talk! We are looking forward to seeing how the Lord will use Kristen as she gets older! This is the cookie cake I made for her school class. I forgot to get a picture before I served it, so it is missing a few pieces!

Hero Day/Patriotic Day

Tuesday was community hero day/patriotic day. Because we live near Fort Leonard Wood, many of the students came dressed in camo or like their heroes--the soldiers. Luke was no exception. He loves to dress in his camo. I found it at a yard sale last summer. Cailin wore red, white, and blue all the way down to her shoes. (Although, she didn't wear them for the picture.) Aaron took these pictures because I forgot and was tied up at the doctor with Haley. What a good idea to use the flag! Aaron also dressed in red, white, and blue but I wasn't there to man the camera. Oh, well!

Haley's doctor appointment went well. Her tubes look really good. The doctor was pleased. Now we are trying to tackle Haley being sick more often than not. We are starting her on allergy medicine and we will see how that works for her. I am excited about the possibilities of her being well more than sick! What a blessing to have doctors that are trained to help. Sometimes I wonder if I missed my calling--should I have been a pediatrician? ;-) Haley loves to sit on Kristen's lap when it is her own idea! Kristen has been a good big sister. We will miss her when she goes to school.

French Toast Sticks

Cailin received a cookbook from Grandma YooHoo for Christmas. She has been begging me to help her make something so we decided on the French Toast Sticks. Kristen and Cailin both got in on the action and mommy supervised. They were so excited to eat them when they were finished. They both said they were "yummy."

The Pumpkin Patch

For a school field trip, Luke and Cailin got to go to the pumpkin patch. We girls tagged along with Cailin. Luke's trip had to be rescheduled so we didn't get to go with him. We all had a great time though. The weather was beautiful!


Cailin, Kristen, and Haley posing for a picture.














Cailin enjoying time with her friends Jaime and Ashleigh.





Kristen petting the goat.










Luke enjoying time with his friends Camron, Josh, and Marshall.




Haley trying her best to lift a pumpkin.






Haley enjoyed feeding the goat. She saw several of the kids picking up dropped food on the ground so she tried that too...only the goat got mostly dirt and rocks!

The Un-slumber Party

Kristen has a little friend from church named Millie. Last night, Millie was supposed to stay the night. Well, we got almost home and she started to cry for her mommy. After talking to mommy, Millie decided she still wanted to go home. Now Kristen was the one in tears. We drove Millie back home with Millie promising to come stay for the day and play really soon.

In this picture, Millie is all smiles knowing she will be home shortly; I had to ask Kristen to smile. The picture turned out really cute!
We are thankful for godly families in the church and the fun times our children get to spend with them!