Schooled

David John is doing great in kindergarten this year. We were a little nervous (read scared out of our minds) that things weren't going to go well since, ya know, he was expelled from preschool last year. However, there have only been a couple of small instances of poor behavior and a lot of really great days. He loves his teacher and is very serious about his homework. He got very frustrated the other day when his brothers were sitting at the same table he was trying to work at. I cracked up when I saw what he had written on the picture he was supposed to color for his teacher.

It says, "Mrs. Stier my little brothers keeep messing up my homwork by distracting me and bumping me." Then in yellow marker it says "Mesy Windows"

I think he's talking about the fact that the small windows on the door have blue from the door frame bleeding onto them. I actually think the front steps are the messiest part but I just love that he wants to really impress his teacher.

David John is big into writing stories and drawing comics. His stories are full of surprises and I wanted to share one of them to illustrate this point. The story starts out:

"One day it was windy and a baby was born when he grew up he went on a mission and his name was Theodore..."

Now, being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this story made a lot of sense. Many of the men in our church grow up and then serve a proselytizing mission. This part of the story is accompanied by an adorable baby wrapped in a blanket in a bassinet next to a cozy fireplace.

Then things take a sudden turn.

"...and his mission was to kill animals..."

Wait, what? This story just became violent? Also, he isn't big on sentence structure. Or periods.

"...and he found something in the woods it was a car he thought and went in and took the wheel. (A period!) The time machine bumped and moved..."

Now the story is also science fiction. Sweet! That's all we have of the story so far, but I'm intrigued. Aren't you? I'm so grateful he has a teacher and school that encourage him in his creative endeavors. He's not your average kindergartener but he's fitting in just fine.

Falling for Flinders

The Flinders paid us a visit this month which is always a treat. It was even more awesome because Camden brought a "friend" with him this time and they brought their two adorable dogs Jet and Storm.
They boys immediately took to Kyley and she was super kind and patient with them. Camden was also a hero. He slept in the basement which means that whatever little boy woke up first went down and jumped on him.
We mostly just enjoyed hanging out and eating amazing food cooked by Marcus but we also did a few activities.
Some people ran in the Zombie Run 5K and some of us were zombies scaring the runners. Rebecca was the first woman to finish. She is super speedy.
We all went to Papas Pumpkin Patch and did the ziplines and watched pumpkins being launched with a trebuchet and being shot out of a cannon. We took a train ride, walked around and played tag in the hay bale maze.

A few funny stories from their weekend with us.
At one point, my boys figured out that Kyley always carried gum with her and apparently they were less than gentlemanly about it because at one point she exclaimed, "It's worse than high school! They take all your gum!"
When we were walking around Papas Pumpkin Patch we said we were going to see the cornstalk horses. Benjamin asked if we could feed the horses or ride the horses. I said, "No, they aren't literal horses." Benjamin then replied, "Oh, they're donkeys?"

Marcus and I went shopping to get ingredients for an fabulous dinner and when we returned we heard that Tobias had pulled an escape act again. He's been in this phase lately where he will just leave the house and wander the neighborhood. One time I found him at a next door neighbor's house on the couch watching football and eating potato chips. On two occasions, our very kind neighbor Dan has brought Tobias home after seeing him beating the streets alone. Anyway, when we got back Marc told me that Dan had once again brought Tobias back home after finding him in the park behind our house. This made me feel better because there were two adults and three teenagers in the house so if he could escape them then no wonder he got out when I was the only adult at home. A few minutes after he brought Tobias back, Dan rang the doorbell again. This time he had Jet and Storm. Apparently, Tobias had set the dogs free too.

We love the Flinders and we love that they love our boys despite the level of crazy that it brings to our house. Come back guys! We miss you already.

Papa's Pumpkin Patch

I'm not sure there is anything more adorable than Papa's Pumpkin Patch. We've heard about it since we moved here but it took me a while to get up the courage to make the trip to Bismarck with five boys on my own. So this year, we finally went. We did the whole thing. The big bouncy thing, buying gourds, playing at the huge hay bale playground, swimming around in the corn pit, taking pictures with the cut outs, climbing the giant chair and, of course, picking out pumpkins. We even had the famous fifty cent pumpkin cookies on our way out. We're hooked. Fans. We'll be back.

The boys would have run on this thing all day if Mom hadn't gotten bored and insisted we go check out the rest of the place.

I think David John looks like an adorable boy version of little red riding hood.

Our two little look-alikes on the slides.

Jumping off the bales was pretty much the best.

Classic action movie shot. I should really photshop an explosion in the background.

Yeah, he's cool.

Elijah liked making it rain corn by filling up a bucket and dumping it on his head.

Sometimes your phone camera has a really great day.

Okay, maybe a fabulous day. I'm kind of obsessed with this picture that makes Elijah's face look like a giant corn magnet.

Tobias developed super powers while we were there. He can move things with his mind.

Oh, and he can fly.

Of course, David John wanted to be buried in corn. Who doesn't?

Benjamin is doing the butterfly I think.

These tires were super fun and a little scary. 

I decided to take a selfie in my ongoing campaign to prove that I do exist when I go places with my boys but Gabe decided to photobomb.

And there he is again.

Benjamin, you are the sunshine of my life and Tobias, you are a nut. I mean a squirrel. I mean, you're cute.

Have you ever seen such a cute sunflower?

Wow, Jami, farming has really given you a tan. Also, you're hair seems to have gotten wildly out of control.

Everyone say, "Giant chair!"

The photobomber strikes for the third time. At least David John still looks cute sitting up there by the barn.

These boys sure are silly. We had so much fun.