Games and games and games and games and games and games and games

The song is going down into DeJong folklore.  The "inlaws" wrote a song for Hilary when she joined the family to explain what she was getting into.  One of the verses is, "Games and games and games and games and games and games and games...."

Well, I'm hear to tell you that a new generation is joining in.  Jon who use to play with cars every other hour of the day is now obsessed with games.  Just walking around the house I found

Yamslam in the kitchen...


and Monopoly in the living room.


For the first year, he begged to write a Christmas list.  My kids have never been into this before, but Jon was so excited this year.  He got out pen and paper and sat down and carefully sounded out Ticket to Ride.  Then he paused.  and thought.  and called his brother and sister over to help him come up with more to add because he was stumped.

No Ice Cream Please

Well, we've all known Michael was a routine kid, but I never thought it would stretch this far.  Saturday we had a lazy afternoon that ended with Mom not wanting to cook dinner.  So at 6:00 I announced "Ice Cream for dinner tonight!"  (Note: We have never done this before and it sounded fun, but please don't think we do this on a regular basis.)  :)  Instant approval from Jon and Becca full of cheers.  Michael just laughed and insisted I was joking because ice cream is a treat NOT a meal.  We talked about how we thought it might be fun, but Michael was not budging.  So for dinner it was:
Jon - ice cream sundae
Becca - ice cream sundae
Michael - crackers, cheese, carrots, orange



However, before you think Michael is the strangest child ever, he did have a large ice cream sundae for dessert.

A New Girl

Becca has been asking to get her hair cut short for a couple of months now.  And then she remembers that she can't have braids with short hair and reconsiders the thought.  About a week ago she approached me one morning asking if she could have braids one last time before getting her hair cut.  So we did, and then last Thursday we headed out to the salon.

The stylist showed us some pictures from a book and after passing on one that was really short and way too grown up looking for me, I saw a cute cut with bangs.  The page showed 5 pictures of the same cut, all from different angles.  I showed it to Becca and asked her if she thought this was a good one.  She thought for a minute with her hand on her chin and then smiled, pointed to one of the pictures and said, "This one."







She is so proud of her new look.  Everywhere we go she keeps talking about how no one is going to recognize her since she looks so different.  :)

Jesus Is More Powerful Than...

The kids at church have been learning about Jesus' miracles and how that shows that he is God.  Last Sunday both Jon and Becca's classes did a "Jesus is more powerful" activity.

We had the letters spelled out on a large paper in painters tape.  Then the kids took turns covering the paper with paint and markers.  While they did this, they talked about the following:

Sometimes I get scared in the dark, but who is more powerful than the dark?  Jesus!

If my brother gets sick, who is more powerful than the sickness?  Jesus!

Sometimes I make bad choices, but who is more powerful than my bad choices and can forgive me?  Jesus!

When it is thundering and lightning outside, I can get scared, but who is more powerful than the storms?  Jesus!

In our story today, there was an evil spirit, but who is more powerful than evil?  Jesus!

If I fall down and get hurt, who is more powerful than my bruise?  Jesus!

When I have a bad dream, who is more powerful than my bad dreams?  Jesus!

Then, they removed the tape and hung up this sign.

The activity ended with the kids finishing the sentence, "Jesus is more powerful than..." as many different ways as they could.

I asked Jon and Becca today and they came up with:
a lion
an elephant
a thunderstorm
the sun
an ocean
a moose
evil
bad guys
sickness

Jesus sure is powerful!

A Whole Family of Pumpkins

Last weekend we had the Michigan contingent of the DeJong family over to our house for some pumpkin fun.  We had a great time eating and talking together and watching the kids fill every square inch of floor space with toys, but the main event was the carving of the pumpkins.

I think all of the kids' favorite part of the process was drawing faces on the pumpkins.  After that, most of the kids 6 and under kept wandering away from the actual carving process and were constantly called back to "help."







Jon was extremely weirded out by removing the insides of the pumpkin.  In fact, today when he saw me post this picture he commented on how he didn't like it when I made him use his hand.  I had him try his hand after a few minutes of removing one seed at a time with a spoon.


Becca was so excited for this day.  She was very insistent that she was going to carve her pumpkin with Grandpa because he knew how to make the right scary face.  I think they had read a jack-o-lantern book the week before together and she was planning for this day after that.


Michael went Mine Craft and wanted a creeper face on his pumpkin.  He did the whole thing by himself and was proudly working on it for a full hour I think.


And before the day was up, in an effort to top this great picture we took 3 years ago at a similar gathering...


We got a picture with all the cousins!

Chair Excersizing

Yesterday we hung out for a while at our gym while Michael had his tennis lesson.  Usually Jon and Becca either go to the kids play area or the pool for this time, but Jon had a sore throat so I kept them with me.  For part of the time we watched Michael and for part of the time we played some basketball.

It just so happens that the basketball court is in-between the weight machines and the treadmills, so it was no surprise when this morning I found these two "exercising."  They turned on their Psalty music and went to work.  Here is Becca showing off the chair treadmill and Jon the chair weight machine.  :)

So what does a little girl do with her brother's toys?