Scarlet Fever and Furry Rodents

Yeah, it sounded like a downer, but it's really not!

Since Jonathan had to work this afternoon at his "third" job, the kids and I settled in for a movie afternoon. Every year when the weather begins to get colder, I pull out Little Women. It never fails to put me into the mood of fall cleaning and thinking ahead to preparing for the holidays. It also never fails to make me blubber like a baby... throughout the whole movie, in fact. But the worst part for me is during Beth's initial bout with scarlet fever, where Jo wakes up and rushes in to check on her. There is that split second where I see the empty bed, and even though I know the outcome, I hold my breath every time until I see Beth sitting up, and then the waterworks begin.

The older kids were already prepared for this yearly phenomenon, but it came as a bit of a surprise to Kate. She saw me crying and climbed up in my lap, asking, "Mommy, why are you crying?" I answered, "because Beth was sick, but now I'm happy because she's better."

Kate looked at me matter-of-factly and said, "Oh...she was sick and had a beaver."

I must say that she totally ruined the rest of the sad scenes for me. Anytime I started to cry I would think of that and begin giggling instead. But at least if I go back to the blubbering next year I'll know that there's a beaver to dam up all my tears.

The Louisville Slugger Museum/ Old Spaghetti Factory

Wednesday we traveled to Louisville with our homeschool group. It was an absolutely perfect fall morning! We were so excited to get our jackets out, even though we found that Ben has outgrown his!

First we toured the Louisville Slugger Museum and watched them make the baseball bats. They described the different ones they made, as well as the processes for each of them. The kids' favorite "exhibit," though, was this ball glove made out of limestone. It was better than a jungle gym!



I'm not sure what Lily was pointing at, but she said she felt like she was hiding in a cave.

Kate was not feeling her best that day, but she still managed a quick smile for her mama!

A rare shot of Ben actually using the bat as it was intended before deciding it worked wonderfully as a sword.

After the tour, we walked a few blocks over to the Spaghetti Factory. I love walking in downtowns, especially with the weather being as cool as it was. We walked over with another family that has a son around Ben's age. Their conversations were just too precious! Here's a snippet...

Wow! What's that?
Hmm...I think that looks like abstract art.
Well, I don't think it looks like art at all.
Oh, well, it's not supposed to.

LOL! Then they spent most of lunch dreaming up their own company, which included coordinating their "schedules". I just love boys!

We didn't have time to go home before church that night, but I am so glad we went on anyway...we had five new boys show up for our Wednesday night service. Two of them were brand new Christians that had attended Bible school last week. They were all very well-behaved for me.

It was a pretty exhausting day, but it hasn't taken us too long to recuperate! We're in full "fall mode" now, cleaning and switching out our seasonal clothes. We also have company coming this weekend and a special dinner to celebrate Kate's birthday from last week. Now that I think about it all...I better hop to it!

Joyful Milestones

After such a long couple of weeks fighting illness, we really needed a good day. And boy, did we get it!

Yesterday was Kate's 3rd birthday. It's hard to believe that our youngest is already three! Her birthday party won't be until next weekend, but we made cupcakes to take along to VBS last night to celebrate. I know, it might sound odd to some of you that we are doing VBS in October, but the public schools are out on fall break, so we thought this would be a great chance to do something different.

VBS this year for me has been a whole different experience! One of my helpers is a fairly new Christian, and it has been wonderful to see her learning the Bible stories along with the children. Everything is so fresh and new to her, and she's so eager to learn. During the ending ceremony last night, Kate started acting up so I left the class with my helper and took Kate outside. Little did I know what was going to happen inside! As soon as we were on our way home, Jonathan told me that four children had come forward to receive Jesus, and that our Lily was one of them!

Two momentous milestones on the same day...my mama's heart is awfully proud!

Where did the term "under the weather" come from?

I've always wondered that....

Wherever it originated, we have definitely all been through The Crud this week. And yes, I meant to capitalize that. Lily and Kate were both at the doctor's office for bronchitis last week, and the rest of us are toughing it out. I never realized how hard it would be to keep three kids under control with very little voice.

We have Vacation Bible School this week at church, since the local schools are out on fall break, and I am hoping to sound like a normal person by tonight!