studying the map

Katie loves maps! She drew this map (in her hand) today and was showing all the kids where our house is, as well as our neighbors, hospital, library & school. I walked out and saw them...ran back in to grab the camera and they were still positioned the same when I ran back out! There aren't many times when all 4 of my kids cooperate with each other and actually enjoy the same thing...glad I got a picture to prove to myself that it DOES happen occasionally!

Lucky Duck

We picked up her new bike at school today - to see the proud smile on her face as we walked the bike to the van was priceless!! Unfortunately, she tried the bike when we got home and it was too big for her (without the training wheels)...she fell a few times (getting extremely frustrated in her after school tireds!). So, the bike will be put in a safe place until next summer - hopefully she will have grown a bit by then!!
The Lord has showered His blessings on our little Alex (I love this picture...it shows how little she truly is!!). Roosevelt school (where the girls attend) held a safety fair last Wednesday. When the girls got in the van that afternoon, Katie was the first to inform me that "Alex won a bike"..."What?"..."they pulled her name and she won a bike!"..."are you sure it was a bike and not a helmet?"..."no Mom, they said 6 people would win a bike and they said Alex Hart". I still wasn't sure that I wanted to believe it, but we received this picture and a letter from the school today. Evidently Alex DID win a brand new bike and a bike helmet! I have to contact the school about picking up the bike next week, so I will post another picture at that point in time.

As a side note, Alex has won PZ Kut, a birdhouse (with chocolate candy inside), a $40 gift card for Chuck E Cheese and now a bike & helmet...all in the past 1 1/2 years! Please excuse us while we take her to buy some lotto tickets!

Feeding the Squirrels

A month or so ago, Alex found a "baby acorn" while hiking. She had placed this baby acorn in her treasure box and had taken good care of it. Fast forward to this past weekend. The kids were all playing outside - Alex came running through the kitchen, heading downstairs. I followed her to make sure everything was okay. She grabbed her treasure box and looked for the acorn. As she ran back upstairs she was telling me that she found a squirrel that needed to eat her acorn! She was so willing to give up her treasure for a SQUIRREL!! That is Alex for you - our middle child - the one who is always giving, rarely receiving (see bike post!!). Even though the squirrel was long gone, she placed the acorn by the fence...knowing that he would be back to get it!

Spending Time with Great Grandma

We did lots of fun things with Great Grandma Hart this weekend. Here are some pictures to prove that!!

We took Grandma to the John Deere Pavilion...

We also enjoyed a ride on the Channel Cat...Ate yummy Chick-Fil-A after church...and again on Labor Day with the kids team jerseys (thanks Grandma!) Whiteys & Whiteys again (a good way to start & end our weekend!)!! We had a great time with you Great Grandma! Thanks for coming all the way from Oregon to visit us.

Off to Preschool

Maddie & Will started preschool today. Will was up early enough to go with Matt to drop the girls off at Roosevelt. He was so excited and grabbed his backpack while running out the door. Alex gave him a pep talk about preschool on the drive to their school - "Will, you will have so much fun at preschool", "Will, are you going to go potty on the toilet? Good, because you need to if you are in preschool". To say that Will was heartbroken when Matt wouldn't let him get out at Roosevelt would be an understatement. He evidently thought that was his school too. Will was still pretty upset with Matt when they got home.

We left for the "real" preschool about an hour later and everything went extremely well...They were thrilled to see me when I picked them up later, but they seemed to enjoy their time there.