His Little Feet

This was a very busy week for me and I honestly didn't know how I was going to make it through. In a moment of insanity, I volunteered to bring dinner to a non-profit organization, His Little Feet. The couple who started it are in our neighborhood and I have seen the kids at our park before. It is ministry that brings orphans living in Africa, Haiti, and India over here to join a choir. They travel the country performing songs of Christ and stay for a year. They start the adoption process while here, but it cannot be completely until they go back home. There are 20 kids and 9 adult leaders. I made a spaghetti dinner and even though that sounds easy, I'm not used to making food for that many people. Jeff was a HUGE blessings to me in helping. I don't even know what I would have done without him. Then we took the food over as a family. The kids came out to sing a thank you song to us and we just had the best feeling having served and having interacted with the kids and people in this organization. People who are serving Christ and doing His work just radiate light and are so good to be around. After we were done, Ryan said, "that was fun." Many of the kids wanted to give us hugs before we left, it was really sweet.

I had a doctor appointment and the kids wanted to go play at a park after. They did a great job at the appointment and I was happy to take them afterward. There are some hard, big kid things to do, but Max navigates it all really well. While I was watching him on a high part, Ryan wanted my help getting on this horse statue. It took a while for me to get to him, so he just figured out how to get on by himself. He said, "I'm so proud of myself!" And I was proud of him too.

The boys then discovered pinecones and how much fun it is to throw them at the tree. They could have done this for another hour, it was good practice for baseball. There's nothing better than being outside enjoying beautiful fall weather.

We went to Costco and Jeff is so good at getting the kids to help. On their own they got an assembly line going (they had done this once before) to get all the food in the house. The funny part is that Max has the longest walk. He takes the item from Jeff at the back of the car, to Ryan who is standing on the steps by the kitchen, then he gives it to Lily who places it in the kitchen. Although at first he just dropped it on the floor, and Lily kept asking him if he could just give it to her rather than dumping it on the floor. They all did a great job with their heavy items, and it all felt very easy for Jeff and me. I'm grateful for kids who want to help!

Lily was so happy to show Ryan her Abraham Lincoln hat she colored at school. On her own she cut holes on the side, found some elastic, had Jeff cut it to the length of her head, and made a headpiece. She is so proactive and independent, I was pretty impressed.

Lily had an ultrasound this week for a cyst behind her knee. It is 5cm long and full of fluid. We will need to go to a specialist to check it out more. Luckily it doesn't hurt her, it's just very strange it's there. I also volunteered in Lily's class and I always enjoy that. It's fun being helpful and having tasks that I can cross off a list of having gotten done. I have also been working on a photo book for my dad for his birthday so every spare moment I have I have been doing that. It's from the cruise and there were over 700 photos from everyone to sort through, so it was a very big job.

Because my friend was coming later in the week, we also had to clean up the house. The downstairs was pretty bad and because of my busy week. I had to do laundry, clean the bathroom, change sheets and other things and I honestly didn't have energy to do. I kept praying for strength to do it, but I was completely overwhelmed. But Jeff saved the day again! He got so much done in an hour and again I don't know what I would have done without his help. And now we have a clean house for the weekend. The kids are being really good about cleaning up after themselves now so we can all keep our house clean since it feels so much better. I HAVE to have a somewhat orderly house to feel sane I've learned, so this is important to me.

The rec center right by our house just opened up a new pool. We went one night and the kids LOVED it! There is a big waterslide the Ryan went down "a million times, or maybe 20," he said. Max was very disappointed to not be able to go down the big slide and had a big tantrum, but he made due with the baby waterslide. When I went out on Friday, Jeff took them by himself to the pool again. He set expectations and he said they did awesome and listened to him and left without crying. We are very lucky to have it so close!

The little red slide that Max likes to go down. 

Ryan went up these stairs so many times. I was amazed his legs could keep it up! Lily went on the slide a lot too, but she'd go to other things as well. Ryan was pretty much going on this all night. 

Mama Baer got Ryan an Avengers coloring book. Ryan learned how to use the tape so he has been avid about taping up his creations after he finishes coloring them, as well as some art from school. 

Ryan had to decorate a scarecrow for school. Lily REALLY wanted to help/do it for him, so we got her some supplies to do her own. We think in the future we are going to have to copy all of Ryan's homework so she can do it too. 

Ryan did this all by himself (Lily wrote his name). He put the glue on, used a brush to spread it around, and cut the stems off the leaves. He did such a great job!

Lily had crows, straw, and made her belt, eyes, ears, and nose out of flowers. She said she put some leaves on top to make her scarecrow modest. 

Lily does great castles!

A nice fall walk with Daddy. 

Since Lily is reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the kids decided to create a factory from their legos. Jeff is such a fun dad that he inspires this type of creation, and then Lily and Ryan go to town with their own fun additions. Ryan spends lots of time tinkering and building on to it. He loves doing this for mind, body, soul time. He told me he wants me to build, but every time I try and add a piece he tells me he has a better place to put it. I'm not quite the master builder like the rest of my family members.