Qualities of a Good Wife

After compiling the list of qualities they want in a husband Noelle and Sadie made a list of qualities they should possess to be a good wife to their future 'good husband'.  Many of them are the same as the husband qualities.

1.  Brush your own teeth
2.  Make your bed
3.  Clean the house
4.  No yelling
5.  No inappropriate sounds
6.  Good driver
7.  Responsible with money
8.  Give husband gifts
9.  Go to the grocery store
10.  Make good food.

A Quality Husband

Brad was working late and this is the supper conversation the girls and I had while he was out:

Noelle, who LOVES her daddy, asked "Mom, how did you get such a good husband?"  My answer, which is 100% true, is "By the grace of God."  Noelle went on to say that she wished Brad was still young so she could marry him before I got to him:)

I wanted to make a teaching moment out of it so I asked the girls what kind of qualities they saw in Daddy that they would look for in a husband.  I told them they should make a list of good characteristics so they wouldn't fall for someone just because he's cute and funny.  They decided we should do it now...so here's their list, based on what they value in their daddy.

Characteristics of a Good Husband by Noelle (age 7) and Sadie (age 4).

1.  Can change the oil and tires on a car
2.  Makes fires in the fire pit
3.  Is a good driver
4.  Good with money
5.  Works to get money
6.  Gives presents
7.  Goes to the grocery store for you
8.  Goes to church.  Make sure it's a good one.
9.  Doesn't make inappropriate sounds
10.  Uses kind words.  No yelling.

Then they came up with some characteristics that they should probably have if they're going to be good wives.  That's for another post.

New Beginnngs

Sadie started preschool today!  It was rainy so we didn't get a picture outside the preschool.

Sadie, and her friend Sadie

Since Sadie was starting something new today, I decided to try something I've been resisting for years...Facebook.  Yep, I'm tired of slow Blogger and I'm realizing that if you want to know the latest and greatest about your friends and family, you really have to be on Facebook.  I don't know what I'm doing but hopefully I'll learn and we can be friends :)

Family Charades

Yesterday was a grey, drizzly day so we laid around a lot.  By evening we were looking for something a little more active, so we thought we'd try playing Charades.  Everyone had to come up with their own ideas (we helped Sadie some times) and then as you act it out, anyone can yell out the answer.

It was a lot of fun.  We did grocery shopping, peeling and eating a banana, riding the bus to school, frying an egg, etc...  The one that stumped us most was when Sadie laid flat on the floor and didn't move.  After breaking the rules and asking some 'yes','no' questions we finally figured it out!  She was acting out 'carpet'.  I don't recommend that one for your family charades night :)

My narrow child and her friend Sadie

I love it when kids are learning new words and they get them all mixed up.  The other day Sadie came to me and said "Mommy, I am being very narrow."  I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but usually I don't associate 'Sadie' with 'narrow'.
Later on she surprised me by cleaning up her room very well without being asked.   After showing me her fine job she asked "Mommy, aren't I being narrow?"  After probing a little bit I realized what she meant to say was "Aren't I being thorough?"

 Sadie is super-duper, over-the-top excited about starting preschool next week.  On Monday we went to see her classroom and meet her teacher.  It all looks wonderful and very fun.  When we looked at all the name tags we were surprised to see another Sadie in the class.  (so much for trying to pick uncommon names).  The other Sadie was there meeting the teacher too, so we met her and the 2 Sadie's played together for a little while.  Now Sadie is even MORE excited about preschool because she has a friend...but she keeps forgetting her name.  Seriously.  She keeps calling her Grace.  She'll have to get more 'narrow' about that.

2nd Grade

Today is Noelle's first day of 2nd grade.  She was very excited to start and that makes it great for all of us.

Deep Creek Lake Vacation 2011

 The Spence Family on their annual lake vacation.  From Left to right:  'Great' Judy, Dave, Noah, Elizabeth, Ethan, Janelle, Sadie, Brad, Noelle, 'Grandma/Mom' and 'Grandpa/Dad'

 Sweet, sisterly moment (still working on some teeth for Noelle :)

 The 4 cousins (next year there will be another baby boy cousin!)

 fireworks one night

 water balloon fight one evening

 a flower picking walk one afternoon

 on the flower picking walk

 boating and tubing

Brad and Noelle

 Grandpa with Sadie and Noelle

 a little visitor for Sadie

 a trip up a chairlift to wonderful mountain views

 Grandma and Sadie

 The kids with their 'binoculars' made from toilet paper rolls

 cooling off in the lake

Cow Appreciation Day

Dress like a cow; get free food.  Sounds good to us! Friday, July 8th was Cow Appreciation Day.

Spence Happenings

Over the 4th of July Brad taught Noelle how to light a match and set off fireworks.  I guess now that she's 7, that's a normal thing.  So on Tuesday I taught Noelle the basics of sewing... a little blowing up...a little homemaking...it's all a balance.

We're making a patchwork 'quilt' (I use that term loosely) for her American Girl Doll (I use that term loosely too)

In other news, Sadie enjoyed one of her favorite pastimes, "Water on the Deck" today.  This includes various size containers, a few kitchen utensils and a hose.  During some point of this playtime the hose nozzle usually gets wedged between the frame and webbing of a patio chair so that the water can sprinkle down like a shower.  At one point Sadie came inside to "get something".  When she reappeared she was holding a bath scrubbie (that ball of webbing used to scrub yourself with body wash).  She said she was going to wash herself out on the deck.

I thought that was taking "water on the deck" a little too far so I asked her to put it back.  In the time it took her to return the said scrubbie I reevaluation my decision.  1)She's already wet 2) today is bath day and 3)there's an equivalent to a toddler shower spraying on our deck right now...maybe her idea isn't so bad.   So when she returned I sent her back to the bathroom to get the shampoo. 

Don't drive by our house too slow, you might see all 4 of us out there one day!

Sleep Talking

We've had a lot of 4th of July fun and it was evident by Noelle's sleep talking last night.  It's not too unusual for Noelle to sleep walk so when I heard her talking in a sad, slightly panicked voice last night, I got out of bed to check on her.  She was standing by her bed rubbing her torso.  She was saying "it's...um...it's stuck in me".  I asked her what was stuck in her to which she replied "the firework". 

After I reassured her that there were no fireworks stuck in her, she happily laid back down and went to sleep (fully asleep). 

At the Beach with the Sauder's

Some of our fun beach times included playing in the waves, digging holes in the sand, swimming at the pool, riding bikes, riding rides, playing the Wii, taking walks and just hanging out.

My mom made pillowcase tops for her 5 granddaughters. 

The Sauder Clan:  My parents, my 2 brothers with their families and us.

 An old lookout tower that we climbed

 Some Wii sword fighting

Sadie LOVED the water

Shoes and Crowns

We were on vacation last week with my family.  It is our annual trip to Rehoboth Beach, Deleware where we meet up with my parents, my 2 brothers and their families.  It's always a great time and when I get time, I'll upload the pictures to share.

In the meantime here's a funny tidbit from Sadie.
Sadie loves shoes and girlie things.  Today we were in one of my favorite stores - Goodwill - and Sadie found some gaudy lovely purple shoes with giant purple gems all over them.  She instantly slipped off her crocs to try them on.  Once she had them on, she eagerly looked at me and said "Do you think these will match my crown that I get in heaven?!"

2 immediate thoughts jumped in my head:
"Wow, were did that comment come from?"
"Ummm...let's hope not."

Day Trip to Dayton

Today the girls and I enjoyed a great trip to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton, KY.  I'd never heard of it before last month when my good friend, Kristen Hocz, invited us to join her and her 3 kids.  It's just perfect for little kids.
They have a ton of stuff, including tunnels to crawl through, a water table, indoor slides, a tidal pool with starfish, a mini zoo, a bird-watching area, lots of pretend play areas (grocery store, pet hospital, body shop, pizza shop, even a land fill!).  You can take in your own food, so we packed a lunch and had a full day of fun.

Kristen's 3rd child is an infant, so she wasn't playing with the other 4

Water Table (1/4th of it)

A rocket

Animal hospital

Poop At Its Best

Last week our good friends, the Nordine's, invited us over to share some very rare, gourmet coffee that  Lee's parents had brought with them from the Philippines.  We felt very honored to be chosen for this esteemed treat....well, sort of.

One must wonder..."what makes this coffee so rare and gourmet?"
Well it probably has something to do with where the coffee beans come from.   It's not because they're from some remote jungle filled with man-eating creatures.  It's not because they're from a mountain peak so high that only a small percentage of people can make it there an back alive.  No, it's because they come from cat poop.  Wild Civet poop to be exact.

If you want more details about the coffee beans, here's a brief summary.

All in all, the coffee was pretty average but, more importantly, it didn't smell like poop.  We feel still pretty honored to have shared in the poop-coffee, it's just not something I had high on my 'to-do' list.

Last Day of 1st Grade

 Today was Noelle's last day of 1st Grade.  She loved it and is sad that it is over.  We're glad she loves her school experience so much.

Noelle with her teacher, Ms. Withrow

Traditional first day/last day of school picture

And did you notice that 2 teeth are missing now?

Small Group Growth

Yesterday we got together with some families that were in our small group during our early years at Grace Fellowship.  Back in the years of 2000-2004 the greatest number of kids we ever had in a group were 3.  Yesterday with 7 families together, we had 20 kids (and one on the way).  Boy times have changed!
Still an amazing group of people to hang out with...just a little crazier now.

2010 Mazda 5

Here are some pictures of our new ride:

We asked Noelle to pose with the car

And then we asked Sadie to pose with the car

 

Introducing "The 5"

We made a large purchase today...a car.  Affectionately deemed "The 5" by us, it's otherwise known as a Mazda 5.
It's sort of like a mini-minivan.  It has sliding doors and a 3rd row of seats but it's smaller then our Highlander.  It's a downsize for us and an "upsize" on fuel economy.

More picture will come.  It's hard to tell what it looks like in this picture.