Happy Halloween?

So we decided that we wouldn't take the boys out for Halloween this year. Instead we went out for supper and to a friend's place for the evening. Our friend/neighbor Kyle asked if we would bring the boys by to get some candy before bed, so when we went to their door, Pete told Zack to say Happy Halloween. Zack got to the door and said, "Hi Kyle! Happy.... Birthday!"

Zack the reader

Zack has decided that he wants to read. He knows how to read every individual upper case letter by itself, spelling everything he can see in books and on signs, and he knows how to spell his and Nathan's names without seeing the letters. He's getting close! Zack loves to guess what things spell, and it's easy for him to read things like stop signs because the symbols are easy to guess. I love that he has his own name for certain places. We have a Lafrentz memo cube, and he knows the big orange "L" on it is the symbol for daddy's company. He calls the company "Daddy's Big Truck" and fully believing that it's the name of Pete's work. Pete was trying to get him to spell the name of it and say "Lafrentz" but instead he said, "L-a-f-r-e-n-t-z spells Daddy's Big Truck!" Zack relates the names or symbols of places we go to what he sees or does there. Whenever we pass a Wendy's, he sees the symbol and relates it to what he eats there. So we hear from the back seat, "Look! Cheeseburgerandfriesandketchup!"

A Family Moment

On Monday, we were all at my parents' place for my birthday. Pete and I and the boys were there with Josh and Jenny and Forest and my parents. It was so fun to see all three boys hang out and play. My favorite part was when Forest and Zack sang the ABC song together, and then Nathan joined in with the very last word "Meeee!!" I just loved it!

Friends

Zack is learning that the people we love are our friends, so now every time he's pretending to talk on the phone or if he's talking to a real person they are his friend. I'll ask Zack,
"Who are you on the phone with?"
"My friend Great Grandma!"
He loves to pretend to talk to his friend Great Grandma (Doell) or his friend Auntie 'Manda or his friend Grandma. It's so very cute!

Zack is also learning about the bible from Beulah on Saturday nights when he goes to sunday school. If you ask him,
"Zack, what did you learn about the bible?"
"The bible is TRUE. The bible tells us about God! The bible says Jesus loves us."

Cars and Trucks and Things that Go!

One of Zack and Nathan's favorite books right now is Richard Scarry's "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go". It's all about different vehicles and they both love it. The first page is one of their favorites because it has a mail van on it. Zack opens the book and says, "Look, Mommy! It's a JoshandJennyandForest van! Wow!" Zack knows that uncle Josh is a mailman, and he also knows that Josh and Jenny and Forest all go together. I just love it. So every time he sees a mail truck, he says the same thing. Nathan's favorite part of the book is the road building and earth moving equipment. He points at every thing and says "Sheeeeeeen" (for "machine") and gets so excited. Nathan was thrilled when our friend Kyle brought home a mini track-hoe and let him sit in it. I couldn't have bribed him out of the cab!

It was so cute - the boys were at their friend Emma's house yesterday, and she did the cutest thing. Some might think of it as a little strange, but I thought it was very sincere. She was taking a few of her animals on a picnic, and one of them was a dinosaur. As she was packing the fake food up for the rest of the animals, she added an animal to the picnic basket. I asked why she had that one in the basket, and she said that it was lunch for the dinosaur. Apparently they went to a dinosaur exhibit and Emma saw a video where one of them ate an animal.

So so sad

Just as predicted, Pete got called out of town last weekend for a job in BC. I wasn't sure how well the boys would deal with it, but they started to act up on Thursday. Pete had been gone for 5 days, and I had to stop by his work to drop stuff off (I work there too, just from home). We drove into the parking lot, and there was Pete's truck. The boys were so excited - until we left without seeing daddy... I explained that daddy's truck was there but he was gone on a long trip and would be back soon. It was a sad drive. Amanda, aka "Auntie 'Manda", came over on Friday and Zack was sad. He looked up at her with tears in his eyes and said, "I lost my daddy". I cried. I told Pete on the phone and he cried. :( It was so so sad.

Like a little child...

I never thought I could love my children even more every day! After church on saturday night, Zack and I were talking in the car. I asked him what he did in sunday school, and he said that he sang songs for Jesus. I said, "how do you sing to Jesus, Zack?" And I never want to forget what he said. "It's like a flower, you just open your heart and sing." I asked my mom about what they sang and where he got these words from, and she said that a lady sang a song for the kids about opening your heart to Jesus and there were flower puppets singing in the background. So there we go. I wanted to make sure to write down exactly what Zack said before I forgot it... I just love how he said it.

The Star of the Show!

My Zack is such a performer - he just loves to sing songs and make speeches to everyone! We were playing outside yesterday in our backyard, and we have a manhole cover in our yard (which is really not nice to have, by the way). Zack thought it would be a great stage. So Pete and I sat on the grass and Nathan and Zack took turns doing little performances for us - Nathan went first and did the actions to the Itsy-Bitsy Spider. Then Nathan came off the "stage" and sat with us and all of a sudden Zack says, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, Zack will sing Jesus Loves Me!" Pete and I clapped and smiled. Then, after he was done singing, we all clapped and said yay and Zack took a bow and said "Thank you, thank you!" We have no idea where he got it from, but it was hilarious and sooo cute. Zack's favorite songs to sing are Jesus Loves Me, the ABCs, the Itsy-Bitsy Spider, and Twinkle, Twinkle. I wish I could just have a video camera implanted into my head where I could just tap the side of my head and it would tape what I'm watching the boys do. They act so differently in front of a camera, so it's hard to get their true personality on tape. I really wish I could - Zack would have hours of footage for his wedding!