Of Baby Showers, Costumes, and Life

Last Wednesday, right after choir rehearsal, one of the ladies in the choir nudged me and whispered, "Do you know what's about to happen?" 

"No..." I replied, thoroughly mystified. 

She grinned. "There's a baby shower for your mom down in the basement." 

Papa made up an excuse to get Mom downstairs, and she was completely surprised. She hadn't suspected a thing! It was so sweet of the choir, and completely made her night. :) 

~*~*~*~

The Halloween parade was Sunday afternoon. Cecily, Gloria, Bjorn, and Rosemary were "Blond Indians": 

Knut was a knight, with sheet metal armor he's been working on for weeks:

Thor teamed up with the Claytons, who went as Union troops from the Civil War. 

They were quite authentic!

Johnathan in his beard

~*~*~*~

November will be a crazy month for our family! We have Bright Lights and His Lighthouse, Lyceum, choir, music lessons, drama rehearsals, tons of First Lego League meetings, the Lyceum choir concert, a concert in Okawville at which our family will be singing, two FLL conpetitions, Drama performance, and of course, school. Lots of fun!

Insanity and Randomness

Mommy, do you think I'm awesome because I put diapers in the drawer? -Bjorn

~During kitchen cleanup~
Thor: You squeak sharp.
Cecily: YOU squeak flat.

Sylvia: What!?
Knut: I wasn't talking to you; I was talking to Thor. He's squeaking.


Mom: I don't think the garbage has come yet, has it?
Knut: Well no, normally the garbage TRUCK comes and takes AWAY our garbage.


Mom: We need to clean up this level... put away the crutches... robots... legos... jumpers...

~During History~
Knut: What were the years of (Grant's) presidency?
Cecily: 1830-2013!
Sylvia: 1830?! He would have been eight!!

~During French~
Mom: (pointing to her nose) Qu'est-ce que c'est? (What is this?)
Knut: *coming out of la-la land* ...what?
Mom: *sighs* This is why I told you to sit up. *points to nose again* Qu'est-ce que c'est?
Knut: Oh, uh... *looks at book hurriedly* C'est mon chien. (That's my dog.)
Everyone else: *bursts out laughing*
Knut: WHAT?!?!?!?

~During Proverbs Study~
Mom: *reading about laziness* ...and poverty will descend upon you...
Knut: Like a glorpe!

~During family Bible time~

Papa: I like chocolate ice cream. Is that a conviction or a preference?
Sylvia, Cecily, and Thor: Preference.
Knut: CONVICTION!!!


~In the girls' room, which can be a crazy place sometimes...~

Cecily: Seriously! It's super bad!!
Sylvia: You amuse me.
Cecily: Well, you amuse ME! In a very weird way!

Sylvia: Okay, I only have a few more minutes before I start freaking out.
Cecily: Why?
Sylvia: BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION!! And if I can't find it, then I'll have to answer it AGAIN! And that would be tragic.
Cecily: O_o
Sylvia: Oh, here it is! ....I knew that. I totally knew that. Uh... I was just seeing how you'd react if I started freaking out.

Cecily: Ouch. ........That didn't hurt. Why did I say ouch?

Sylvia: I'm going to be noisy in here, so if that bothers you, uh... you can move!
Cecily: Huh?
Sylvia: I'm going to practice my speech. So if it bothers you, sorry. I have to do it. But you should be fine... after all; you're a homeschooler. You can focus when there's noise and chaos going around you, right?
Cecily: What?
Sylvia: It's part of your education to be able to block out noise.
Cecily: Sylvia, I'm practicing that right now. I only heard a few words of what you were saying.
Sylvia: *starts laughing*

~During dinner~

Gloria: I can’t wait to eat it!

Knut: Well then, I'll eat it for you, to save you from suffering, since you can’t wait.

Cecily: How do you make a strawberry shake?

Sylvia: Shake some strawberries.

Cecily: No; make it scared!

Sylvia: Uh… strawberries don’t have muscles.

Knut: Not with genetically altered strawberries!

~At Lyceum, in Speech class~ 

DVD: Why? What’s the purpose of telling a story?

(Boy in class): To have fun.

DVD: to teach a lesson, or a message, right? Now, I'm sure there’s someone in your group who says, “Oh, telling a story is just for fun!”

Everyone in the class: *looks at (Boy) and bursts out laughing*

(Boy): …He can hear us. 

Bjorn is now FIVE!!! 

Mascoutah's 1st annual Hero Run! 

(Thanks to Grandpa Davis for the last three pictures!)

Lyceum... with video, as promised.

Yes, this is the moment you've all been waiting for... 

THE VIDEO. 

Enjoy.