More silly sayings...and some sentimental

I don't remember how this conversation got started, but we ended up talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (not sure about the spelling, but this isn't English class). I told Hannah that I had heard on the news that morning about a lady from South Africa who was a missionary in Afghanistan working to help people with disabilities. I explained that there is a group of people called the Taliban who were mean to her because she was "spreading Christianity." They don't know God and they don't understand that His son Jesus is the only way to heaven, and they got mad at her. You can read it here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,440841,00.html
Anyway, Hannah was listening carefully then said very seriously, "Mom, I know what we need to do. We need to get a Bible--maybe a bunch of them. And send it to the guys who don't know about God. And we need to get a piece of paper and write down all the important stuff for them to know about and put that on top of the Bible. That way they will know about God and won't be mean to people anymore." She thought a minute more and said, "Mom, can I change my mind about something? Can I change my roller skate bank to be for Bibles instead?" (Ever since she went to a friend's house and played with their roller skates it has been all she can think about. She started a piggy bank and will do all kinds of jobs to earn money, and even though we never told her this, she says that if she isn't nice and kind then she won't get paid! But when she first started saving for it she wanted to take the money she had been saving for two years to send to Haiti and use it for skates. We explained that the Haiti money is for the kids in Haiti and she can't take that away from them to use on herself. So in this instance she was asking if it would be ok to use skate money to to toward Bibles, and of course, the answer is yes. And just for that, I think she'll see skates under the tree at Christmas!) Then she thought a little bit and asked, "Mom, would it be ok if I went over to that place and helped them learn about God?" I told her that if God wanted her to that she would go no matter what, but she needs to listen to what God wants her to do. I hope he wants her in a safer place, but wherever he leads...

On a lighter note!... Some funny things Alli has said:
"My tongue is like a napkin." (When I asked her to use her napkin to wipe her face.)

Yesterday there were a lot of jet trails in the sky, and the girls were pointing them out. Alli argued, "That's not a real plane, that's just a toy one. See the rope on the back of it?"

This past weekend the girls' cousin, Joy, got bapized so we went to celebrate with them. When it was time to leave their house to come home Alli got close to Mark and said quietly, "I like your children."

Hannah has been giving "re-useable hugs and kisses." Sometimes I'll ask her for just one more kiss after she has already given one and she'll say, "No, that last one was a re-useable." Or, at bedtime I'll kiss her and she'll ask, "Is that a re-useable?" She even asked Gramma Kathy this past weekend (they were here for the baptism as well)!

Silly sayings

A recent conversation with Hannah and I went like this:
Hannah: "Mom, I don't want to go to outer space."
Me: "Why not?"
Hannah: "Because...I wouldn't be able to find America without the words on there."
Me: (Just to be sure) "What words?"
Hannah: "You know--the words on the globe!"

There is a boy in Hannah's class in Preschool that Hannah says "acts mean to everyone." We were explaining to her that she still needs to be his friend anyway, and Michael said, "Sometimes if a boy bothers you, it's just because he likes you." I interjected, "--As a friend!" The next day Hannah came home from school and said, " I know (this boy) loves me 'cause he treats me bad. And I'm gonna go back and tell my other friends that he treats us bad because he loves us!" I had to kinda straighten that out a little.

When Alli is thirsty she says, "I'm stirsty."

Alli doesn't like people to laugh at her, but that's really hard because she's sooooo funny! If she thinks we're laughing at her for something she gets really serious and says, "Don't LAUGH at me!" Which makes it even harder to keep a straight face!

An update...

Here's an update on what we've been up to recently. Last week we went to IA/IL so Mike could help his parents get ready for his grandparents' auction. Mike and Gene (his dad) stayed at the farm in Bloomfield, IA to get things ready while the girls and I stayed in Keokuk with Kathy (his mom) for the first half of the week. We visited Grandma Weede each day which was fun. We got to see her new apartment in Keokuk. It's beautiful! There is a pond with a sidewalk around it just outside her apartment building, so we let the girls feed the ducks. When the ducks saw us coming toward them, they quacked and waddled toward us and wouldn't leave us alone until every last speck of bread crumb was thrown out. The girls thought that was fun! The next day, we had a picnic lunch with Grandma Weede and Kathy at Rand Park in Keokuk. It was a gorgeous day! The girls played on the playground equipment and swings for a long time, then we walked over to look at the river. It's such a pretty river. We had a great time with the Grandmas in Keokuk. The girls with Great-grandma Weede on her front porch.


The second half of the week the girls and I went to LaHarpe to stay with my folks. It's always good to be home when the weather isn't cold, so we went to town to play at the same parks I played at when I was a kid. We had fun talking to the cows and feeding them, and Hannah got to see the calf she named "Night Sky." On Saturday, Hannah and Grandpa went on a long ride together to go to Bloomfield for the auction (about 2 hours away). She had a great time, and came back with lots of stories of the things she got to see. The bridge in Ft. Madison was open for a boat to go through, and although that's annoying to wait for that as an adult, it's something I remember enjoying when I was a kid, and Hannah didn't seem to care that she was waiting on a bridge. She just had fun picking up all the rocks by the side of the road. She loves those kinds of days where she doesn't have to share the day with her sisters, it's good for a change. And Alli, Carrie, Grandma and I had a great day in LaHarpe. We went to the reservoir to try out their teeter-totter. Alli liked the one at the other park and wanted to try a different one, so we did. They both were missing a handle! Welcome to small town. At least they still have teeter-totters! Anyway, we had a great week, and wish we could have more fun grandparent days like these.

Here is the town reservoir where we went to play on the teeter-totters while Hannah and Grandpa went to the auction.

This is a huge rock that my sisters and I used to play on when we were kids and while it still lived in its home in the woods on a friend's property. It was recently moved to this spot in LaHarpe, which took some hard work and a massive wrecker truck--it weighed 4 1/2 tons!

Grandpa and the girls on a walk down the lane to see the cows.

Some funny things I need to write down before I forget:
Alli had to go potty while we were driving. Hannah thought she needed to announce it and said, "Alli needs to go potty real bad." Alli replied, "NOT BAD, Hannah, I got to go GOOD!"

She doesn't like to be called "silly, goofy, funny" or anything like that. When someone says "you're silly" she crinkles up her eyebrows and says, "I'm NOT silly, I'm Alli Kate!"

Carrie is our comforter in this family. Whenever one of her sisters starts to cry, she drops whatever she's doing--even if it's eating (one of her favorite things)--says, "Oh No!", runs to them and gives them a big hug until they stop crying. Now Alli has started to call for Carrie when she gets sad.

Hannah is having a great time in school. Yesterday we all got to go along on a field trip to our church's children's minister's farm. She has llamas, goats, chickens, a horse, cat, dog, etc. We fed the goats then went on a walk to collect things from the woods. Then we had a snack and games in the back yard. She has a beautiful property, and the kids had a great time.

Mrs. Caudill had fun games for the kids while were were on the field trip, since all the little siblings were playing too, it made for some interesting "rules" to the games! Under the parachute!

Here is Hannah and her friend Makayla at the Children's minister's house on her class field trip.