MMmmm....pasta!

The kids had pasta. Natalie REALLY liked it. It was funny because she had such a puzzled look on her face, trying to figure out why we were laughing at her. She is naked because they don't make bibs big enough to keep pasta sauce off her clothes.

I'm really glad her hair is finally growing on top. For a while now, she's looked like she has a mullet. Ugh!

We had a great week. The weather teased us with a few nice days, and we went to a couple of parks and had a good time. Then it got hot again, 105 today. But it should cool off soon. I hope.

Superheros are big around our house. Max spends most of his time doing something related to either Ironman, Batman or Spiderman. Occasionally Superman or the Green Lantern. Not to mention all the superheros they make up. So I thought it would be interesting to look up and read to them about David's mighty men. Here's what we found:

II Samuel 23:8

These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.

It goes on to talk about Eleazar who fought Philistines so long and hard his hand "clave unto the sword".

Shammah, who fought the Philistines when all the other troops ran away. There was a field of lentils, and he alone defended it, slaying them all, and "the Lord wrought a great victory."

And when David and his men were in the midst of a fierce battle, he said how he'd love a drink from the well of Bethlehem, and three of his men fought their way through the enemy lines all the way to well, and back again with a drink of water for David. He was so touched, he poured it out upon the ground unto the Lord. I wonder what those three men thought about that!

And more stories...the man who killed 300 with his spear, the man who killed two "lion like men of Moab" (I wonder what they looked like?). And the man who killed an Egyptian by taking the man's sword away from him and using it on him.

Wow, those were fierce and mighty men! Max was not as impressed as I was. His mind was wandering, or I just didn't explain it very well. But I impressed myself, so I'm glad we looked it up.

We had a big bunch of trash bag tie-thingies, the things you are supposed to tie trash bags closed with, but I always just tie the tops of the bag and never use them. So the kids spent a while making letters and numbers and little people out of them. Alexandra made a snail, and found out how to spell the word "snail". Does that count for a spelling activity?

So how do you have your kids get enough exercise when it's too hot to go out? First you make them play follow the leader, doing 10 laps around the couch in all sorts of ways, like a tall man, like a short man, like a bunny, fast, slow, etc...then watch them attempt 10 situps and 10 pushups, and then you make them sing "The Wise Man" while doing jumping jacks the whole time.

Tonight, the kids have their four friends over for a sleepover. It makes for an exciting evening! Paul took the older four to a magic show, and I kept the younger four here. Two boys, two girls, ages 4, 3, 2, and 1. They played outside for about 20 minutes. A lot can be done in 20 minutes: You can promptly throw two balls over the neighbor's fence, with slim hope of ever seeing those balls again. You can pull down the ball-on-a-string marker hanging in the garage that marks where to stop the van as you pull into the garage. Paul gets happy about that one. You can find the one spot where there is actually dirt instead of rocks and make "dirt angels" (like snow angels, but much messier). You can decide that the landlord really didn't want a border around the raised garden bed, and haphazardly unstack all the heavy border rocks. You can turn the outside water faucet off. And on. And off. And on. And off. And on...... And you can eat the hotdog out of the bun, and shred the bun, smearing ketchup all over you, the stepping stones, and the mat. I gave them chalk, but I guess that was just too boring.

So then they had a bath. All four of them.

Now they are all sleeping soundly together on two twin mattress pushed together on the floor of Paul's office. Six of them, some this way, some that way, but all sleeping soundly. They look cute (Anastasia and Natalie are sleeping in my bed) Paul went to a movie, and I'm relishing the peace and the quiet. I turned on some music, but turned it back off, deciding I need the silence for a while.

Since we all cannot fit into our van for a church visit, we will stay home and I plan to do a Sunday School class with them. They really seem to enjoy that and always ask for it. I think Daniel and the Lion's Den.

Tonight, the four little ones sat down at the table to eat pizza, and Anastasia prayed her usual 'thank you for the food' short and sweet prayer. The 4 year old friend asked if he could pray. He bowed his head, clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and said, "We pray to God. (pause) I'm so, so, so sorry for what I did. I promise I will NEVER EVER do that again." Then, eyes still closed, he unclasped his hands and slapped his cheeks with his palms and yelled, "OH WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!" Then he calmly straightened up, opened his eyes, and said, "amen". I tried not to laugh on the outside, but on the inside I was cracking up pretty good!