These are a few of my favorite things....

I love fall!!! I would have to say that it's my favorite season. I love the colors of the leaves, the smell of cinnamon anything baking in the oven, carving pumpkins, cool crisp air (although not too cold!), jumping in piles of leaves, and hot apple cider. We have been busy the past few days with fall activities. We carved pumpkins and roasted the seeds. Carson liked them the most. I have been eating most of them!! We finally have trees in our yard and we were able to rake up a pretty good pile of leaves to jump in. We made pumpkin shaped rice krispie treats. We shopped for Halloween costumes. The past couple of years we have put together things we had around the house, but I wasn't getting many brilliant ideas. Then I saw that K-Mart had all of their costumes for a really great price. Honestly I couldn't have made the ones we were thinking about for cheaper than the ones we bought!! Here are some pictures of our recent fall frolicking:

I don't know why the background of this picture is pink. I'm pretty sure that our camera is dying!!!

This activity was fun for a while, and by a while I mean about 5 minutes :) As soon as they got a whiff of that lovely pumpkin smell and felt the slimy pulp, they had had enough, as evidenced by Connor's frown. So I sat for 45 minutes by myself carving pumpkins. Good thing it's one of my favorite things!!!

Happy fall to you all!!!

A little different...

This is a post from Connor and Kaelynn. Carson is hunting with dad right now. They wanted to update you on our life. I will type word for word... Connor-I um have learned sight words in school. They are the, I, my, and, a. I have been having Phy Ed. I've been playing animal games. We've been able to play running games. We went to Sparks on Wednesday and I said 2 verses. I got a firefighter costume for Halloween yesterday, so it's very, very new. I have a stuffed doggie named Maggie. I have had 2 days off of school. I've gotten to sleep in for 2 days. I've got a friend named Jaden. He's one of my best friends and he sits on the bus with me. And I've got a friend named Jacob. My teacher is Mrs. Kensok and I am good for her. Kaelynn- I have a teacher named Miss Tara and Miss Emily. I have a friend named Cassie and she loves to play with me. I have a baby named Kaylee. I went to kids choir this week and I did jumping and played with sticks. I watched The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I'm a good dancer and a good singer. I cleaned my room yesterday for mommy. So there you have it!!

Seriously???

I have had to ask that question too many times this week! The first time went a little something like this, "Does he (Carson) seriously have a fever because this is the second time and second child in 3 days." The second time went a little something like this: We were in the doctor's office on Thursday when the doctor said to Carson, "Well Carson it looks like you need to trade in that T-shirt for one that says 'I participated in the pandemic of 2009.' ". Me- "Seriously, he has swine flu?" UUHHH!!! The third time went a little something like this: As our three darling children are lined up in front of the window in the living room, "Is it seriously snowing on October 9th?" Them- "Yeah mom, we live in North Dakota now." Double UUUHHHH!!!!! Yep that's the snow!!!

Andy, James, and Gene went hunting this weekend and got quite a few ducks thanks to the snow :) I guess there's a silver lining to everything.

Hopefully we won't have any more "Seriously" moments this weekend!!!

Pumpkins, ducks, and dishes....

I think this is just how our blog is going to have to be for this season of life. I'm not very good at updating every event right now as I just don't have the time to do this very often. I'm deciding that my updates will have to include everything that happens in a week or so... So in this past week and a half we went to the Fargo Park Districts Fall festival. It was hot as evidenced by Kaelynn's sundress. They had a lot of activities- we participated in a few. I had forgotten that if you want your kids to have a fun time there you pretty much need to take out your life savings. It's amazing what they will charge money for these days and how much they will charge for it. Anyways, I tried to really hype up the two free things and the wonderful picture opportunities. We did splurge on some pumpkins.

It's duck season and Andy is fired up!!!! He got the boys up at 5:00am on Saturday morning to go sit in the blind. The trip was not all fun and games as the battery on his truck died before they could even get the decoys or boat in the water. But two hours later they got that situation taken care of and got to shoot at some ducks. They got one!!!

I have finally found a solution to my dishwasher problem. The problem- my dishwasher was placed in a way that makes it virtually impossible to reach up into the dishes cupboard to put them away. I was having to take the dishes out and put them on the counter and then once they were all out, I would close the dishwasher and put the dishes in the cupboard. So, my solution- get a helper. Kaelynn loves to put the dishes away. Please don't call child protection services- that counter is so wide the only way she could fall off would be if she passed out. And since she has no fear I don't think she will pass out from the height!!!

Some have asked me how subbing is going. I am having a blast! I have loved the classes I've been in. I have done everything from English as a learning language to Phy ed to general ed classes. I am loving the excitement each job brings and am really loving teaching in general. I don't know if I will ever have my own classroom, but then again I never thought I would be back in the classroom at all. God does funny things sometimes!

Well, you're up to date on the last couple of weeks. We hope and pray you are all doing well!

Uff Dah!!!

That word sums up how I feel with all that is going on. Being a working outside the home mom is not easy. I never really thought that it was- in fact I wondered how working mom's kept their house clean since they were gone all day. Now I know how they do it. They stay up until all hours of the night doing it. I'm tired!!!!! Yesterday I had a little break down. God is providing for our every need- I just wish it could be in a much simpler quicker way. Yes, I would love to open the mailbox and find an anonymous check for the amount we need to pay this darn thing off!!!! But I have been reminded every time there is a job for me that God is providing for us in this way and that I need to be satisfied with that and praise Him for it. Believe me I am praising Him for how He is providing, but I'm still praying for another way. Pastor Matthew gave a sermon a couple of weeks ago on suffering that was so good. I don't think I have ever taken away so much from a sermon! He reminded us that when we ask " Why do bad things happen to good people?", we need to remember that there are no "good" people. We are sinners and we deserve so much worse than we are getting on this earth. We don't even deserve the breath that comes from Him let alone the many, many blessings that He bestows on us!! We are truly blessed and these reminders have been so encouraging to me when my mind wanders off and asks "Why??" I don't mean this to be a sob story. God is teaching us and is really bringing Him closer to Him through this. Isn't that what it's all about? So for now, I will clean the bathrooms at 9:00pm and I will run on the treadmill when I can, and I will try to make the most of every opportunity with my children, because God is good!!!

Heels, Bikes, Teeth, and New Beginnings...

What do all of these things have in common? They have all been topics of interest this week in the Kvernen household. The most exciting news is that Connor has lost his first tooth!!! It pretty much just fell out of his mouth because he didn't want to pull it out. He and Carson are very different in many ways and when to start yanking on the loose tooth is one way they differ. He was pretty excited that it hardly bled. Carson tries to yank his out the minute he discovers that it's loose so naturally there is a lot of blood involved. Carson has lost his second one by the way. He claims there are more loose, but I'm not convinced yet :) The other big news is that Kaelynn started daycare this morning. Once she was reminded that today was the day, her energy level picked up and she was ready to scoot out the door. Here she is holding her tote of extra clothes and blanket for rest time. I wasn't quite sure how the whole rest thing would go since she stopped taking an afternoon nap before the age of 2 (not my choice by the way).

When we got to the center, there were three girls in the classroom who were playing Barbies- Kaelynn jumped right in. She hardly noticed us leave.

When I asked her how her day was, she said it was good. They were getting ready to go outside to the playground for the second time and she was pretty bummed that she couldn't go. Sounds like she's ready to go back on Wednesday!!!

I so enjoy my days with her. Last week we went to a park in town that has great bike paths. Kaelynn loves to bike! When I say loves- I mean loves. I bet we rode a mile and a half that day and she never once complained. She just wanted to keep going.

We stopped at this water fountain to have our snack. I love the sound of water fountains!!

Her latest craze are high heels. She has always been a fan of them, but she has become kind of obsessed lately. If she is at home she has her heels on. She even plays tennis in them.

What I love about this video is that two minutes before I took this, I gave her a lecture of what could happen if she continued to play tennis in her heels. At the end it seems she learned her lesson, but don't be fooled. She put them right back on!!! She's one tough cookie!

Changes ahead

The boys have been in school for a week now and we are pretty well adjusted to the new schedule. They are still getting up with enthusiasm and getting off the bus with smiles. It sounds like Connor's class is a little rowdy this year. His teacher has already sent home a note asking the parents to talk with our kids about classroom rules. Unfortunately Connor did contribute to the rowdyness one day this week, but we had a good talk and he has had better days since. I have loved being at home with Kaelynn. She loves to ride her bike and has quite the endurance for it. We have taken several long bike rides and enjoyed several parks around town. We have certainly done our share of errand running, which is so much easier with one than three. We have played house and "pay" (also known as "store"), and have read many a book! We have baked cookies and banana streusel muffins and danced and laughed and even wrestled a few times :) It's a bummer that these days are going to be fewer as the weeks roll on. I will be substitute teaching in the West Fargo School District very soon- maybe even tomorrow :) I was hoping to just sub on Friday's which are Andy's days off, but a recent financial hardship has forced me to teach more often. We will be sending Kaelynn to a full day preschool/daycare two days a week. In the midst of the struggle though, we still feel very blessed. The preschool we are sending her to is run by a woman at our church and most of the teachers there attend our church. They usually only take kids five days a week/full-time, but are ministering to us and letting her be there just two. I actually think it will be really good for her and I pray that she will thrive. So as much as the situation sucks (sorry), I know that God is good and will provide for our every need. He has proven that to us over and over in our lives!!!! We are praying that the changes ahead bring glory to His name! P.S.- I am excited and nervous about teaching. It's been a long time since I've been in the classroom, but I think it will come back pretty quickly!