FYI -if you haven't taken your number off the list yet...

To prevent telemarketing companies from calling you phone, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.

~Rose

Dinner with the neighbors...

Our neighbors had us over for dinner Sunday night. It was fun to get together with them...we've been wanting to for awhile...but you know how busy we all are. Tanko and Nafisa are from Gahana (Africa) so she made authentic food from Gahana for us. YUM! Lamb, some sort of soup with salmon over rice and foo foo (I am sure that's not spelled right).
Nafisa's daughter was born about 3 weeks prior to Levi's birth. She's already crawling and pulling up. What a cutie...I just had to take some pics.



Emma pulled out her clip and I laughed...she looked like she had soccer mom hair or something. What a funny girl.

~Rose

More Kiddo Pics

I was laying on the floor trying to get Levi to crawl...grabbed the camera and got some fun shots...

Wiffle balls...good cheap fun!

I like this one...for some reason Levi loves my camera strap...

Emma really wanted some hot coco yesterday. I told her just a little and this espresso cup was just the right size!
Before "espresso"

After "espresso"

Owen was trying to do this USA puzzle yesterday and Levi kept scooting closer trying to get the puzzle peices...it was pretty funny to see Owen get "scared" that Levi was gonna get him...Owen just kept moving.

math with pretzles...yum!

if only math was always this tasty...

~Rose

What a waste...

This truck may look harmless...

FYI: This is a bit of a rant…which I tend to steer clear of. Yesterday the kids and I went outside to ride bikes before lunch. I soon noticed three street sweepers coming down the street. The kids waved as the machines cleaned our dirty gutters. It’s nice to have clean gutters. Along came a large dump truck (U.S. Department of Transportation). I watched as it parked about a block away. A few minutes later it moved around the corner and parked again. Soon it made it’s way to our block and parked across the street. It was rather noisy. I noted the time (figuring how long till lunch)…about 11:45. The kids kept riding and after awhile I realized this truck wasn’t doing anything. The driver kept it on which was really annoying. Now, I don’t know if he had anything to do with the street sweepers, but to me it looked like he was on his cell, smoking and reading some sort of papers. He ended up being there so long I took a picture. He was there for over 20 minutes wasting gas and sending some sort of emissions into the air…not to mention disturbing the peace. Maybe there was a good reason, but it seemed like a big waste of taxpayer dollars. How dumb.
~Rose

A girl and her tricycle, another girl and her cat...

Like I said in my previous post, with all the warm weather we've been riding bikes a LOT more. Emma got this tricycle last year for her second birthday and just this week learned how to pedal it herself. It's so cute to see her get it and ride up and down the sidewalk. Now we just need to get new inner tubes for Hope's bike.

Hope has finally discovered the secret...be nice to Bedhead and he'll be nice to you! What a good kitty he is.

~Rose
P.S. I'm still recovering from one of the worst nights last night. I finally let Levi cry it out last Sunday, which wasn't fun, but now he's sleeping through the night and since then, Emma has been waking up every night at least once. I go to her and she asks for daddy...only daddy will do at 4am. Last night she was up for hours-HOURS- all crying and whining. We went into her at least 6 times...I lost count. I was so mad that I couldn't get back to sleep for awhile. Needless to say, last night was one of those nights that I really envied single people ;) I know some day I'll enjoy more peaceful sleep! Time to get the kids to bed...and enjoy a little peace and quiet.

Worm...

This past week it has warmed up and since our back yard is still quite icy and snowy, we've gone out front to ride bikes and run around. Owen and Emma found this extremely long worm yesterday and were all excited about it. I had to take a few pics. Once we were done I asked them to put him in our garden...good for the soil you know.

Hope-no problem holding it.

Owen-a little hesitant, but did fine.

Emma-wanted real bad to hold it, but couldn't..."it's gonna poop on me!"

~Rose

The Elephant Song

Grab a kid and enjoy together!
~Rose

Confessing Sins

I have been thinking about confessing sins lately. As you all know I have 4 kiddos and am with them most of the time when they sin. We have been praying with them at night as long as they have been alive. Lately I have been asking God to forgive our sins of the day...those we know of and those we don't. I read Spurgeon's devotional tonight and it really made sense and made clear what I had been thinking about. I look forward to explaining it to the kids this way. Hope and I have been having great spiritual discussions lately (6 year olds are fun) and I know she'll understand and have some thoughts on this subject.
What do you think?
~Rose

This was Spurgeon's evening devotional tonight:
"Father, I have sinned."-Luke 15:18

It is quite certain that those whom Christ has washed in His precious blood need not make a confession of sin, as culprits or criminals, before God the Judge, for Christ has for ever taken away all their sins in a legal sense, so that they no longer stand where they can be condemned, but are once for all accepted in the Beloved; but having become children, and offending as children, ought they not every day to go before their heavenly Father and confess their sin, and acknowledge their iniquity in that character? Nature teaches that it is the duty of erring children to make a confession to their earthly father, and the grace of God in the heart teaches us that we, as Christians, owe the same duty to our heavenly father. We daily offend, and ought not to rest without daily pardon. For, supposing that my trespasses against my Father are not at once taken to Him to be washed away by the cleansing power of the Lord Jesus, what will be the consequence? If I have not sought forgiveness and been washed from these offences against my Father, I shall feel at a distance from Him; I shall doubt His love to me; I shall tremble at Him; I shall be afraid to pray to Him: I shall grow like the prodigal, who, although still a child, was yet far off from his father. But if, with a child's sorrow at offending so gracious and loving a Parent, I go to Him and tell Him all, and rest not till I realize that I am forgiven, then I shall feel a holy love to my Father, and shall go through my Christian career, not only as saved, but as one enjoying present peace in God through Jesus Christ my Lord. There is a wide distinction between confessing sin as a culprit, and confessing sin as a child. The Father's bosom is the place for penitent confessions. We have been cleansed once for all, but our feet still need to be washed from the defilement of our daily walk as children of God.

OUCH!

Desi and I each had "a fall" this week. Monday morning as I was taking Levi down stairs I slipped and fell down about 4 steps...landing on my buns. It was completely terrifying. Thank You God that I was holding Levi in front of me (he was facing me) and not on my hip where I could have broken his leg. He was fine (just scared). Desi was gone and I yelled to Hope to come help me. She held Levi while I recovered (I was more scared than hurt, but it did hurt really bad). I'll spare you any pictures, but I have a really colorful (was dark purple, now is red) bruise on my rear end and a few on my right wrist and hand. Today is the first day I don't feel sore from it. Lesson learned: no socks without Crocks (my favorite house shoes) on the stairs!

Desi fell today on his scooter a block from Bruce's house. He was making a turn and ended up on some dirt and sand and the bike just slipped out from under him. I got this message (he borrowed someone's cell) that he had fallen and an ambulence had been called and to please get ahold of Bruce and "I think I'm ok". The paramedic checked Desi out, but he refused being taken to the hospital. When Bruce got to Desi, there was a fire engine, police car and paramedic there! He thought "Oh no...it's really bad!" Thankfully he is ok...but he's gonna have a nice colorful bruise on his hip/upper leg and he got a little road rash on his arm (see pics below). The scooter and his helmet got a few scratches and he'll need a new cell phone, but not too much damage. This really shook Desi up and he's just so thankful that it wasn't any worse. Needless to say, I am relieved as well!


Our brother from another mother -Micah also had "a fall" this week. Yesterday at work (parking attendant) he was running to get a car and slipped and cut up his hand. Since he doesn't have insurance and the company paid for it he went to the hospital to get it cleaned out. They glued it up and sent him home. He was laughing at going in for such a small injury and it reminded me of when Josh cut his hand back in CA and I had just given birth to Hope or Owen (can't remember). Once he got his hand bandaged, he came to see the new baby. Do you remember Josh?

Please pray for our safety and that we'd all recover quickly. Thanks!
~Rose

Bible Times Food

Hope's curriculum called for a "Tasting Bible Times Food Party" today. We sampled (with much excitment I might add) dates, figs, almonds, olives, goat cheese, bread and pomegrante juice. Dates aren't that bad, but I prefer Fig Newtons to figs. The kids loved the goat cheese, bread, olives (they fit so nice on fingers) and the juice.

Hope is doing so well and working so hard in school. Here she is hard at work illustrating sentences in her writing workbook.

Emma likes to "do school" too. I have 5 write on/wipe off books which the kids really love. I couldn't believe my eyes today. Emma was tracing letters and doing a really good job of it. If Emma follows in her sister's footsteps, I may end up doing Kindergarten with Owen and Emma together in the fall of '08. Owen's hand eye cordination is not as good as Emma's (but don't tell him that!)

~Rose

This One's For You Josh

Josh gave us this beautiful framed black and white signed picture awhile ago. Well, I finally found a place to hang it. This is the view from our kitchen to the back room, which leads to our basement and the back yard. I like how Josh is watching out for us. (For those of you who remember, this is the room that I stepped into, only to see the intruder coming up from the basement stairs).

Here's an up close shot...what a great hair style Josh, too bad you shaved it all off.

~Rose

Thanks for the cards!

We had a nice Valentine's dinner Wednesday night. The girls helped me set the table all pretty, complete with sparkling cranberry cider. We enjoyed heart shaped pizza, Reeces peanut butter cup and decorated cupcakes. Micah joined us and the kids had a blast opening cards. Thanks to family and friends for sending the cute cards. I had a little $1 gift for each child and a silly mustache and beard for Desi (Micah and Levi are modeling them). Desi brought home a beautiful flower arrangment with a sweet card for me. It was such a nice evening.
~Rose

Happy Hearts Day

Happy Valentine's Day from our family to you!
John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." May you know the greatest love of all today. See John 3:16!





Thanks to Micah for stealing our camera and taking these great shots. I know Levi looks drunk, but I love the picture anyway. It's funny!
~Rose

Colorado Weather

This picture was taken last Sunday. We had church at our house and as everyone was leaving we realized it was pretty warm outside. We ended up spending all afternoon out front with my brother Jason, Micah and Amanda. We celebrated Owen's 4 1/2 birthday (a new tradition) with cupcakes and a song. The kids rode bikes, colored the sidewalk and played with Hotwheel cars. It got so warm with the sun on us that Hope changed into shorts and I put my flip flops on!

2 days later...

Just 2 days later it dropped down to what I like to call "WAY COLD" and we awoke to snow. It snowed again today, the sun came out for a few hours and it's currently snowing now. I LOVE the snow. It's so peaceful to see it falling and turning everything white (nice change from dirty old muddy snow that just won't melt). So, here's a picture I took this morning. Needless to say, the weather changes often here and some changes are quite dramatic! Do you like the two tone look to our van? I doubt it's ever been this dirty :)
~Rose

Scary...what are they doing to those kids?

This is a fifteen minute video on math for 4th & 5th grades. If you have a child in public school you should watch this!
I just think it's scary how much power and control the government has in our public schools. Those poor kids. I would have been so lost as a 4th grader at that school. My mom teaches 3rd grade in Jefferson County (Golden, CO) and had to introduce new math curriculum this year that seems pretty similar. She hates it!
~Rose

VESPA

Well, it’s been a long time coming and it finally came. Desi found his scooter. It’s a Vespa and Desi’s in love. It’s actually really fun to ride and is in excellent shape. We’ll have it for a long time and once it warms up we’ll both be riding it! It’s too cold for me…but Desi is a die hard. Jan, he bought a helmet, so he’s relatively safe out there! He wanted me to post some pictures so here they are. Enjoy.




~Rose

Sun Day!

Last Tuesday it finally warmed up so the kids and I hopped in the van and went to City Park. There was a ton of snow still, but it was pretty warm (note Owen’s shirt). We had a lot of fun and it was just so great to GET OUT!

Too bright to look...

I had to hide Owen's summer clothes. He keeps putting on shorts and sleeveless tops...not the right attire when it's 30 degrees outside!

Cutie Pie!

Free elephant rides in the snow :)

~Rose

Silly Boys

I got all sorts of nice comments from other moms on my previous post (Little Gamers). However, I got all sorts of silly posts from the guys. To answer Josh or Tim, or whoever else was trying to make fun of me....Desi and I came up with more rewards for collecting tickets. The kids pooled their tickets today in order to rent a movie for tonight. Owen has been pumped to do extra jobs or "reading" to earn extra tickets. Here's the list we came up with to trade in tickets. Since we have 4 kids, it's hard for a child to get alone with a parent, so a lot of these involve one on one time with mommy or daddy. Silly boys, eat your heart out. Ladies, perhaps this will be helpful to another family out there!

Turn in 5 tickets for:
Walk alone with mom or dad
Half hour play time alone with mom or dad
Treat or small candy

Turn in 10 tickets for:
McDonald’s movie rental
Play a game alone with mom or dad
Bike ride alone with mom or dad
Trade in for $1

Turn in 15 tickets for:
Library trip alone with mom or dad
Friend spend the night
Donut trip
Ice cream trip
Stay up 30 minutes past bedtime

~Rose

Little Gamers

So, our kids love, I mean LOVE to play games on our computer. It's the first thing Owen does each morning and all three take turns throughout the day. Desi had to get on this morning and it caused such a ruckus with Hope and Owen, that it got us thinking. Do these kids feel entitled to just be able to play whenever they want, and how much time are they really spending on this? We talked about it and came up with a system that may work for other parents in our predicament.

I printed up "Computer Game Tickets" worth 10 minutes each. We told the kids that we'd be awarding tickets for various accomplishments throughout the day that they could save and or turn in for computer play. They each have an envelope on the fridge with their name to store their tickets. They get tickets 3 times a day for brushing teeth after each meal. For each hour of school Hope does (about 2 a day) she gets a ticket. They can do various extra jobs for tickets. Owen and Emma get a ticket for staying dry through the night. Hope can earn tickets by reading aloud to her siblings or us.

Hope used her first ticket right away and boy did those 10 minutes go by fast! She was so upset and felt like that was not any time at all! I talked to her about earning more tickets and the idea of saving till she had 3 or 4 so she could play for 30 or 40 minutes at a time. She liked the idea and currently has 4 tickets in her envelope. Thank God for good ideas!
~Rose

Make a few bucks?

Well, I have been praying about ways to earn a little extra income. You know, some extra dough to buy new books, or a DVD, something for homeschool, ect...
I joined Amazon associates and am in the process of creating a special store just for you, my friends and family to browse through. Be patient as I add books and movies that we recommend...this could take awhile! Check out the link to the right. If you're gonna buy through Amazon, why not buy through me? Thanks for looking!
~Rose

Google Reader

I just signed up for Google Reader and I love it. While adding my friend's blogs I saw that Aaron had just posted. I can finally go to one site and see if any of my fellow bloggers have a new post. It's like an inbox for your favorite websites. Check it out at
www.google.com/reader
sorry I don't know how to add links to my posts yet!
~Rose

Scrape?

I was brushing our large fluffy cat today. Emma came up and asked me if she could "scrape Bedhead" too? How cute. I love the way two year olds talk.
~Rose

My Hero

Our kitchen sink has been clogged since Tuesday night. Desi got liquid drano...didn't work. We have this gun thing that we have used in the past to unclog it...but we couldn't find it till this afternoon. I prayed, took Levi down to the basement and actually found it! Well, it didn't work of course, so we had to take the pipes apart. YUCK. Plummers have got to have one of the dirtest jobs around. Desi crammed himself under the sink and proceeded to pull out all sorts of caked on grime. We used a make-shift snake and got as much of the pipe cleard as possible. Desi put everything back together and viola...we're back in business. What a MAN! I am so blessed :) Desi takes such good care of us.
~Rose