Pumpkin Night

Tonight was Pumpkin Night at Dutch Neck School. Mrs McGuinness's (and several other) kindergarten class met at the school cafeteria with their pumpkins to paint and decorate. Jaron was so excited.........

so was Jordy.......


This is Jaron and his teacher, Mrs. McGuinness. She is adorable, I really like her. I think Jaron is very, very happy in her class. It sounds like they have a wonderful time every single day. He said that when he goes to school tomorrow, he is going to tell Mrs. McGuinness he had alot of fun at Pumpkin Night!!!







A few weeks ago we were in the car, and to pass the time, I taught the kids a song I used to sing with my students around Halloween time. It's called "Rattlin Bog". We, of course, discussed what a bog was and they also wanted to know the meaning of rattlin. I gave them the definition I was given, and that was "haunted". So they just loved the fact that I was teaching them a song about something haunted. So the words for the song are:

Hi- ho, the rattlin' bog,
And the bog down in the valley-o,
Hi-ho, the rattlin' bog,
And the bog down in the valley-o.

And in this bog there was a tree,
A rare tree, and a rattlin' tree.
And the tree in the bog, and the bog down in the valley-o.

Hi-ho, the rattlin' bog,
Etc.

And on this tree there was a (you fill in the blank),
A rare (blank), and a rattlin' (blank).
And the (blank) on the tree, and the tree in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-o.......

Needless to say, this song can go on forever. You can improvise as many parts to this rattlin' bog as you want. So Jaron chose a bat, a spider, a witch and a ghost because those were the stickers he used on his pumpkin!

Francesca Battistelli's My Paper Heart Cd........GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

Click here to enter your chances to win a FREE CD from our cousin, Tonya Bohannon!!!!!!!!! She's a really cool gal, so check out her blog :)

We love you, Tonya (and Wes and Logan too!)

I Can't Sleep!!!!!!!

I took a nap this afternoon AND yesterday afternoon, and now I can't sleep and I have to make sure I wake up in the morning to get the kids ready for school, but instead I am sitting here listening to a song and playing around on the computer. I am listening to one of my new favorite songs that we sing at church...."Days of Elijah". I love it! And here is another "Eyewitness" video by Jaron. This time it is about the SHARK!!!!!

Pumpkin Pickin'

It's that time of year again.......bring on the pumpkins! Last week Jaron and I headed over to our favorite farm, Terhune Orchards, to pick a pumpkin. We had fun, but it was a windy day reminiscent of West Texas winds. We didn't stay long, but we did enjoy ourselves.

Out in the pumpkin patch.......


He didn't want any of the pumpkins that had dirt on them........well.....that was a bit of a problem! But he finally found one and he let me dust it off.

Then we took Mr. Pumpkin on a walk through the corn maze :)

He took this picture specifically for his grandparents.

The guinea hens were there to greet us. I figured they would turn and run as soon as they saw Jaron.....he tormented them the last time we were there!!!

And we cannot leave without an apple cider donut!

Or without sticking our heads through ALL of the cut out things!




Jaron took this one of me.....he did good, huh?!

A couple of days later we took Jordan to Stult's Farm so she could pick her pumpkin. The weather was much more cooperative!!!

She knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted her pumpkin to be bigger than Jaron's. Oh, the joys of a big sister :)


More pictures with the crazy Halloween characters.......


What 2nd grader can resist bunny ears?




What a couple of silly little boogers!!! It was fun, we always enjoy the farm. There is something so soothing and peaceful about it.


And on a final note, Wes has surgery later this week. This is their last hurdle. I know they are nervous and anxious and scared. I want to ask you all one more time to believe in prayer with us that God, our Creator, through Jesus, the Lover of our souls, by the power of the Holy Spirit will take them through this week. The Bible tells us that the beating Jesus took when He was being crucified was for our healing......by His stripes we are healed. I have believed in nothing more than God's healing power through all of this. I don't understand why it has happened, but I do know who I serve and that He is more than able and more than willing to heal Wes's body and the path of destruction that the cancer has tried to leave. Oh, but it has only TRIED, it has not been victorious, Jesus is victorious!!!!!!!! Thank you in advance for your prayers, and thank you, God, in advance for total healing and restoration in the lives of the McNutt family.

I Am Behind

I don't have alot of pictures right now, so I chose to post this video. The other day I walked in and Daddy had the camera out filming an "Eyewitness" video that Jaron wanted to make. This is a series of books and videos at the library that the kids like to get. They have an Eyewitness book for just about any subject you can imagine. Some of the kid's favorites include Whales, Sharks, Music, Dance, Skeleton, Mummies, Egypt.......... Anyway, Jaron made an Eyewitness video about Birds!!



Big apologies to all you grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends!!!! I haven't blogged in a while, and I know this how many of you keep up with us "Yankees".....and I use that term very, very loosely!

We have been busy with the start of school. People keep asking me if it's nice to have some time to myself during the day when the kids are both gone at the same time. Now, don't get me wrong....it is nice, but it is also not as much time as one would think. Jaron is only gone for a few hours in the afternoon, that time goes by very quickly, BUT it is nice. I have been able to spend that time with Chris and some other friends, which I haven't done in a long time. And I try really hard not to spend that time cleaning or doing laundry.

So anyway, here's how all of us are doing:

Chris: he hurt his leg a few weeks ago when he was starting rehearsals for his Carnegie Hall concert......he tore a muscle in his left leg. Ouch!!! And it caused his back to go out, too. So needless to say, he has been in a lot of pain lately. He needs LOTS of prayer for complete and total healing!!!

Me: I spend alot of my day getting children fed and dressed for school. Jordan is first in the morning. After I drop her off at the bus stop at 8:30 Jaron and I have a couple of hours until he has to eat lunch. I start feeding him at 11:15 so he will be done in time to catch the bus at 12:15....he eats like a bird. Then I am back at the bus stop at 3:15 to pick them up. I also went to Back-to-School night for both of them last week. I got to meet their teachers, sit in their desks and see their classrooms. It was fun.....I had been looking forward to it!

Jordan: She likes her class, sits next to a little girl named Feyi. They were in the same class together last year. Her family is from the UK, we all like them alot. Jordan's teacher's name is Mrs. Doby. She has been teaching for 17 years. She is very nice, and seems very organized. So far we like her too. Jordan is still playing the piano......at times it is like pulling teeth, I keep telling her she will be so thankful that she practiced when she is an adult. She auditioned for the Nutcracker Suite. It is being performed by our township dance studio, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Dance Company. They add some cute little numbers for some of the less experienced dancers, so she is in a tap number. I am a bit of a purist, so this kinda bugged me at first, but she is enjoying herself and it is a performance opportunity, so I got over it! And some of the biggest news in her world is that she is riding her bike without training wheels!!!!!!!!!!

Jaron: last but certainly not least! He is thoroughly enjoying kindergarten. In fact, he gets upset on Fridays because he is learning that he doesn't go to school for two days after that!! He loves his school days :) He is so cute when he gets on the bus....it is just kindergarteners and they are all so little! The bus seems so imposing......but he just smiles and waves at me, and I get a little teary-eyed every time. His teacher is Mrs. McGuinness and she has been teaching for 28 years!!! She is adorable.....I would love to be a student in her class. I think we are very fortunate that Jaron is in her class this year. Last week she introduced a new friend to the class.....Kermit the firebellied toad. It's a real toad. It's all I hear about at home. There are pictures of Kermit all over our apartment. We take a bath with a pretend Kermit. We sleep with a pretend Kermit. Kermit eats dinner with us. Kermit is Jaron's best friend, I think!! When I met Mrs. McGuinness last week she said that Jaron spends lots of time at Kermit's tank....there's a shock! Some of Jaron's human friends at school are Max, Bavan, and Nicholas. (At first I thought Nicholas's name was Necklace because that's how Jaron kept saying it.) Jaron is so grown-up now, but he is still such an absolute mess!!!!

First Day of School!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

09-09-09.................the date of the first day of school here in New Jersey. Jordan's first day as a second grader; Jaron's first day as a kindergartener. I am happy to say, we ALL survived!!!!

We started the day out with a tradition that I began last year. I put a candle in their breakfast and I sang "Happy First Day of School". Then they blew out the candle!!! Only there was a slight problem this morning. Jordan was putting on her new shoes, and I had already lit the candle. It took her FOREVER to get her shoes on, and by the time WE were done double knotting and all that, the candle melted down into her English muffin!!!! So I had to toast a new one.....it was silly :)


Yesterday Jordan informed me that she wanted to pick out her first day of school clothes. I said OK because I didn't want to argue about it, but I knew she wouldn't pick anything close to what I was wanting her to wear. I was right. She picked her school shirt and a striped skirt that ABSOLUTELY did not match. I asked her if it bothered her that it didn't match (afraid that maybe someone would make fun of her). She replied, "Nope, I am a mixed/matched girl!" And you know what, she still ended up looking pretty darn cute, don't ya think?

It was like a reunion at the bus stop! We saw Emma and her mom all summer at the pool, but she and Jordan still acted like they hadn't seen each other in months. Emma is in the 1st grade, what cuties!!

I LOVE this picture. You could probably label these three as the Three Musketteers......this is Ameera and Ananya, some of the first friends Jordan made when we moved here. They are so cute, too.....they didn't know which camera to look at! Jordan is looking at mine, Ameera is looking at her mom's, and Ananya is looking at her mom's!!!!!!

And here we all are petting the silly chihuahua that came to the bus stop. This one was nice and calm, it's brother sat under the bench and barked the whole time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All aboard!

Such a big, big girl.

Another problem I had to dissolve was concerning Jaron. He wanted to get on the bus with Jordan in the morning. I had to explain several times that he would go AFTER lunch. I talked him into watching his movie about skeletons from the library. Then we listened to a story and he played on the computer, and I looked at the clock every five seconds wishing it would slow down!!

But 12:30 came, and he was READY to go get on that bus. Doesn't he look big and grown-up in this picture?

Here we are, first ones at the stop.

So excited he can hardly stand it!

Then our friends arrived........Muskan and Anant. Anant is our neighbor. He and Jaron have played together in our backyard some. We met Muskan and her mom at the pool this summer. Very, very cute kids!

Jaron and Muskan jabbered the whole time!!!

There it is!! I was secretly hopping it would just turn around and leave.

Jaron was so ready and so excited to get to school that I didn't even get a chance to hug him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


After I cried for a little bit, I ran to the store for a while and stopped at Dunkin Donuts with my $3 coupon and got the kids a little after school treat. This time I was watching the clock every five seconds wishing it would hurry up! Thank goodness mom, dad and Chris were texting me for a while. It helped me feel better :)

FINALLY the bus arrived in the afternoon, and Jordy and Jaron came off the bus and I got to hug them again! My heart was so proud I thought it would burst!

Who wouldn't be proud of such wonderful children!

I left up the balloons from Jaron's birthday party, we lit another candle and I sang "Happy First Day of School" again.

Yummy donut with sprinkles :)

She's done......... with all the pictures!!!!!!!

I love my babies.....so does their daddy :) We are so tremendously proud of them. They are absolutely precious. And we serve a precious Savior. Thank Him for strength today, and such priceless possessions!

Summer '09

We had a very nice summer!! I am posting these pictures for several reasons.....
~1 So I can show the kids and they can have something to talk about tomorrow on their first day of school
~2 So I can remember and smile :)
~3 And so you can remember and smile :)

Besides participating in the library's summer reading program, and swimming each day, here's a look back at what we did over the last few months.

We took Mom and Jaden on a tour of Princeton, Philadelphia and NYC.

We celebrated Jordan's 7th birthday.

We watched 4th of July fireworks at Princeton University with friends.

We went canoeing!

We visited the Central Park Zoo.

Jordan started her very own business........a lemonade stand.

The kids both attended VBS.......CampEDGE.

Nana, Papa, Grandpa and Jeannette came to visit.

We took a day trip to the Jersey Shore.

And celebrated Jaron's 6th birthday!!

We had a wonderful time enjoying the summer months; we look forward to more good times with family and friends. Uncle B and Aunt K (Brandon and Kelly), Keats and Kemper are coming at Thanksgiving......we can't wait to see them again!!! And we, of course, are still praying for Uncle Wes and Aunt Candace as they have been facing the fight of their lives. We believe that it won't be long and we will be posting pictures of their visit with us :) We love you all dearly!!!!!!!!!