Recital time!

Sarah and David just played in our fall violin recital in Vermillion last Friday. Sarah played The Flower Song, and David played Lightly Row. They both did a great job!

After the recital, we all enjoyed a reception with cookies and lemonade.

On Friday morning, Sarah, Michael, and I cut out flowers, stars, and violins for our cookies. David and Sarah frosted them with chocolate buttercream and yellow almond frosting in the afternoon. One of the other moms brought delicious brownie mix truffle-like treats. We made some of our own yesterday!

The Politeness Plan

David has developed a new code of laws in our house to encourage politeness. Rather than just yelling at people, he now has assigned a helpful task as a fine for each infraction. The three main categories he thought needed to be addressed were "Being Destructive" (Sweep the floor), "Not Sharing" (Dust something), and "Snatching Something Away" (Vaccuum the floor). He wrote them down as the picture shows and keeps it handy where everyone can see.
Last night the kids were playing in the basement, and I heard David shouting at Michael and come stomping upstairs. I asked what was going on, and David stormed over to the closet, grabbed a broom, and shouted, "Michael destroyed my truck, and now he must pay the penalty!" I had forgotten about the politeness plan, so I followed David downstairs to make sure that the penalty wasn't a broom upside Michael's head. David thrust the broom toward Michael and shouted, "You have been destructive, now you must sweep!"
I guess it's far more productive than temper tantrums and hitting!

Our own Lolcat

Here is our very own lolcat (funny cat picture with silly caption, like on icanhascheezburger.com). He is a silly cat who likes to sleep on the stairs where he can guard everyone's rooms as we sleep.
David wanted me to take this picture and then make a caption for it so that Hello could be a lolcat, too.

Reformation Pumpkin

Here is the prize-winning Redhage family entry for the 2008 Community Library Pumpkin contest! Our entry won "Most Creative" in the group category, with a cash prize that paid for the tools Dan bought to make it.

Dan used a woodburning tool to put Luther's Seal on the front of the pumpkin and the Roman numerals for the 95 Theses on the back. He thought it would be a fun way to commemorate the 491st anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation.

There were a lot of good entries, so we were happy and surprised at the results!

Michael

Michael is quite a boy. Tonight, after going to bed pretty nicely, he and Sarah tiptoed downstairs. Sarah said that she needed to use the bathroom, and Michael whispered, "My bed is all wet." Quickly, I reached for the soaked jammies, only to find that they were dry. I asked how the bed had gotten wet. Michael answered, "I tooked some water out of my sippy cup and put it there."
Later, he appeared at the top of the stairs and silently stood there with something that looked like a white beanie. He whispered, "There a bowl on my head. Can I have-a a snack?" I tried to control my laughter, and got some Marshmallow Mateys for him to munch.
Finally, after a stern talking-to from Daddy, he had been staying upstairs for a while when we heard crying. Assuming he was still upset that he could have no more than 3 snacks in one night, we waited for him to settle down. Between cries, though, he was saying something. When I got closer, it seemed like he was saying, "There a yucky in my throat." When I got to to the stairs, I could hear him say, "There a penny in my throat." I quickly checked to see that he was breating all right, and then he forlornly said, "Oh. Now there a penny in my tummy." He said that it only hurt a little, but we will keep an eye on him and his piggy bank. That boy.

Easy Bake Oven

Sarah wanted to bake some cakes for our lunch today, so we got out the Easy Bake oven. She and Michael did a great job of mixing, scraping, and putting the pans into the oven! Sarah even set the timer herself so she could check on the cake at the right time. She ate one cake for a snack, then shared the other one for our lunch dessert. It was delicious!
Here is her Cherry Cake Mix recipe (makes about 12 mix bags)
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cherry Kool-Aid (one packet)
1/3 c. vegetable shortening

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Spoon 1/4 c. mix into each snack bag, zip up and store for up to 6 months on shelf.
To prepare: Mix 1 bag of mix with 1 T water. Stir until smooth. Bake in greased pan in preheated Easy Bake oven for 12-15 min.

Mount Rushmore

First, thank you to Grandma and Alicia for figuring out what our Mystery Bird is! (You both came up with the same answer, so we'll assume that it is a yellow-shafted flicker.)

It turns out that the Mystery Bird Sound was not being made by that bird, though. The sound that woke Dan up and startled me was an Eastern screech owl! The eerie sound we were hearing was the "B song" on that page.

As you can see, we went to Mount Rushmore last week! The fall pastors' conference was in Rapid City, and Dan had Tuesday afternoon off, so we took the kids to see the big presidents. It was a lot of fun, and now Michael can say "George Washington." If you click on George's picture, you can see the workers inspecting and filling cracks in the granite.