Counting our blessings...

I found a great idea on FamilyFun.com and am very excited about it. I made a poster with a turkey on it and cut out several feathers. After dinner we each write down something that we are thankful for and put it on the turkey. The kids have loved it! Some of the answers we have gotten are: mommy and daddy :), Jesus living in my heart (from Connor on the first night), a house to live in, family, the gift of music, toys we have to play with, good hunting days (guess who wrote that one...), and food that fills our tummies. I look forward to each day and having the kids really think about all we are truly blessed with. We have so much to be thankful for!!!!

Fall thoughts.....

Fall back!!! Ah the sound of it is music to me ears... or at least it will be in about 5+ years. Carson seems to have a time clock in his body that just does not adjust well to the time changes. He has now been getting up at 5:30am. AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!! And they are off school this week!!! That makes for one long day!!! I'm trying to think of as many crafty, creative ideas to get us through the week as smoothly as possible. I think I've used a few too many exclamation points in this entry already :) Halloween night was a success again this year. Connor was an ice-fisherman (although he was mistaken quite a few times for a coal-miner). Carson was a cowboy, and Kaelynn was an Iowa State cheerleader. We have very generous neighbors who give out the "big" candy bars, so we now have 9 regular-sized candy bars in addition to all of the other candy we received. We still have candy from the last parade we went too as well. Sugar high anyone???????????

Silly moments

I'm trying to let my silly side out a little more during the day instead of focusing so much on keeping a clean house and children with wonderful manners. Don't get me wrong- those are very important and we focus on those most of the day and probably a little too much :) Anyways, this afternoon I told Kaelynn she could style my hair. Connor overheard and joined in the fun and this was the result. Connor even took the picture! I'm sure this picture will come back to haunt me at some point. Oh well!!!

Fall festival pics

Sunday was a much anticipated day in the Kvernen household as it was the day of the annual Fall Festival at church. I'm pretty sure I heard," when are we going to the fall festival?" about 30 times between 12:30pm and 4:15pm. It is a great event with Silly Sally the Clown doing balloon creations (pictured below). Kaelynn got a pink butterfly for her wrist, Connor got a hat with a fish on the end and Carson's first one was a sword. An accidental teeth popping the balloon incident put a damper on that one and he got a red elephant later. Andy won the cake walk his first time and the boys picked out a delicious plate of cookies. They played all kinds of carnival games and won many prizes (which are now mostly in the garbage since they have broken already). Gotta love the energy of boys!!! Connor bravely went up against boys 2x his age in the donut eating contest and perservered to the end!!

The big hit of the night though has always been the giant slide. Last year Kaelynn went down with us. This year she ventured out on her own. Yet another example of how fearless our little 2-year old is. Here is the video of all of them going down for the second time! A great time was had by all!!!!!

Too cute for words....

At least we think so!!!!!

It was bound to happen sometime.......

I was just not ready for it to happen yesterday!!! Yes, Carson is the first Kvernen child to get stitches. He tripped over something in the living room and fell into a corner of the coffee table. He got a pretty good sized gash between his lip and nose. It was pretty traumatic for him as was the process of putting the stitches in. He is not a laid back kind of guy, so it was a trying time for all. This is a picture of him when he got back from the doctors office and the next one is of him this morning when we took the bandage off to put some ointment on it. He got 4 stitches in all. The doctor said it was a pretty jagged cut so it will take some time to heal and he will have an interesting scar. Thanks to all who prayed. He is at school now and is doing pretty well. I prepped him for a lot of questions from his friends. Connor had a lot of trouble with it. He was very concerned for Carson when he was at the doctor and he wanted to go to bed early so he wouldn't have to see the cut when Carson got home. This morning we made him look at it to see that Carson is fine. Connor still wanted to eat breakfast in his room. We didn't let him and he is doing much better with it now that he has seen it. Again thanks for the prayers. They were encouraging to us!

A very special moment!!!

I realize I just posted a few minutes ago, but I have to post this one tonight! Connor accepted Jesus into his heart tonight!!!!!! I was putting the boys to bed and we got into a discussion about heaven and hell. Connor, before tonight has been pretty lukewarm to the idea of salvation and of heaven and hell. Tonight though I could see the wheels turning and I could tell the Spirit was moving in his little heart :) I explained that when we die there are two options, heaven and hell. If he didn't believe in Jesus and that He died on the cross for us and has forgiven us of our sins that he would go to hell. He was concerned that if he asked Jesus into his heart that he would die soon. I told him that it probably wouldn't happen soon, although we will all die and we don't know when that will be, but we need to trust in God for that timing and be ready when it does happen. Normally at this point the conversation ends with him, but I could tell he was still thinking. I talked a little more about forgiveness and what that meant and I told him it was a very important decision- one that would change his life. I then asked him if he wanted to make that decision now and he said "Mom, I want to ask Jesus into my heart." I write this with tears of joy. I prayed that I would be able to be with him at this moment, not knowing if God would grant me that or not. He answered my prayers in a big way and I give Him all the praise!!!! There is a party going on in Heaven!! Andy came home a few minutes after this happened and Connor was so excited to tell him. You may be wondering what Carson is thinking about all this. He normally is the one with the most questions. I always thought he would be the first one to make this decision. Tonight he wasn't ready. I told him that's okay and that I still loved him very much! We are continuing to pray for his heart to be open and trust that God knows when that time will be. We have so much to praise Him for!!