A week ago, we got the kids their early Feast presents.  Jordan and Aubrey both like trains and wanted to build on to their Thomas & Friends set.  Last year, we got him a T & F wooden train set, and I like the wooden set a lot better we decided to keep and build on with the wooden train set.  Well, you all know that Thomas & Friends wooden trains are not cheap and if you buy the character trains and the wooden railways and accesories... it all adds up!  Here's a great deal we found and put together.  At Target, they also have the cheaper brand Circo for wooden train sets.  They have a 120-pc wooden train set w/ Drawbridge for only less than $50 (with all the tracks, trees, people, etc -- that would have cost maybe twice if more for the Thomas set).  We tried it with the Thomas wooden tracks and it fits perfect.  So, we decided to go buy the 120-pc set from Circo (the kids wouldn't know the difference) and just get the Thomas & Friends train character (that, they will notice) one at a time.

When we took it home and set it all up... the kids just loved it, they played with their train set for hours!  And they wouldn't have noticed the difference of the tracks and accesories being different from their other Thomas tracks.

School has started all around us, now that fall is approaching.  I am also amazed at how fast my kids are growing.  Jordan, my eldest is going to be 4 years old next month and for many 4-yr-olds... they would have started a form of pre-school or something.  This really made me think of how quickly time flies and that my once baby boy is going to start school.  However, we have decided that we'll wait until Jordan starts 1st grade.  Meanwhile, we'll just do some homeschool preschool curriculums.  I have found an amazing deal of preschool curriculum here.  I got this preschool package because I am saving tons of money while covering all the age groups from 2 thru 6 yrs old.  It is a downloadable PDF version where you just print the worksheets that you want to do.  I also have other preschool work sheets that I have found for free (there are tons for free downloadable preschool worksheets online) and downloaded that are all PDF that I can print out and combine with this ABC curriculum that are fun and educational for the kids.  My kids like doing them.

Also, today Jeb and I have been getting over a sinus infection and decided to stay home from church so we don't get other people sick.  Being the Sabbath, I have thought of some bible lessons for the kids at their age level.  The ABC curriculum that I mentioned above has some bible lessons as well.  However, I quickly remembered that the church we were in (WCG) produced Youth Bible Lessons from Level K through 9.  I loved doing these lessons when I was a kid.  I also have used this lessons in Sabbath school in our church when I was in the Philippines and also when I first arrived here in the US.  I have all the files for it... you can ask me if you want them :)  So, today I printed 2 copies of the the first Lesson on Level K for both Jordan and Aubrey.  I asked them to color all the pictures and after wards we talked about the lesson.  It was fun and simple enough for them to understand different lessons and bible stories in the Bible.  The first lesson was on Creation.  The plus side to this is I don't have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, they have all the lessons outlined already for all the different age groups and also talks about the Spring and Fall Holy Day seasons, especially since the Fall seasons are coming up.  They also have a special coloring workbook for Level K for the Feast of Tabernacles.

If you want to download the lessons, here are some links that provide these lessons to the public.

http://www.cogneo.org/ - Go to the Youth Bible Lessons link on the left navigation bar.

http://www.thercg.org/cbl.html - This is another branch off church from WCG that has a similar children's bible lessons.

It's funny sometimes to hear how the kids sing their nursery rhyme songs.  They hear us sing it, and then they copy us with their own words that sounds somewhat similar to the original. :)  Here are a few examples:

"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

Row, row, row your boat
Nicely down the street (Gently down the stream)
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

(Note:  I also like Sophia's version for this song... instead of "Life is but a dream," her's is "Life's a Jelly bean!")

"This Little Piggy"

This little piggy went to market
This little piggy stayed home
This little piggy had roast pig (This little piggy had roast beef)
This little piggy had none
And this little piggy cried,
Wee, wee, wee all the way home.

Under sub-category: Kids' Lines 

On our walk today to the park, we happened upon a dead baby bird on the sidewalk.

Jordan:  "Look, I found a bird!"

Jeb: "Oh yes, but don't touch it though, it is dirty.  The bird fell and died"

Jordan: "Can I wake up the bird, Daddy?"

Jeb:  "No, the bird is asleep forever.  Dead bird sleeps forever and never wakes up."

Jordan:  "Can you fix the bird, Daddy?"

Jeb:  "No... only God can fix the bird and wake it up"

Jordan spotting some black ants by the bird

Jordan:  "Daddy, daddy... look, the ants are fixing the bird!"

Jeb:  "Jordan, the ants are God's way taking care and cleaning up dead animals.  The ants are going to eat up the bird!"

Jordan:  (while chuckling a lil')  "The bird says... 'Don't eat me, ants... don't eat me!'"