Big Boy Bed

My baby is growing up. He has officially moved into a big boy bed.  He is doing well withtbe adjustment, although the first night was rough with some crying.  The second night, he tried to talk me out of bedtime by informing me that he is "afraid of heights".  But he went to bed anyway and slept well.  I think he is adjusting well and loves being a big boy!

Victory!

At the kids' school, they have a program called Fact Masters which is a timed test that encourages kiddos to master their math facts.  When Maddie was at the elementary school, this test was a huge thing to her because she is so extremely competitive.  So as Micah has entered first grade and started taking the test, he remembered what a big deal she made of it so it somewhat became a big deal to him.  The kids have to pass the test in the classroom and then they graduate to the "Big Test" which is in the cafeteria.  He has been passing the test in the classroom for a while, but when he gets to the cafeteria, he is so stimulated by all that is going on around him, he isn't able to complete the test.  But thankfully, he finally managed to finish and got them all right.  We like to reward our kids for their achievements when possible so Micah got to choose a pint of ice cream that is all his to eat when he chooses.  Here he is, enjoying his chocolate ice cream!

A boy and his puppy

So ever since Mason was about 10 months old (maybe even younger), he has had an attachment to a lovie, which is a dog head and arms (paws?) sewn onto a small blanket.  This sweet little blue guy is affectionately known as "Puppy".  Puppy is like a member of our family.  Sometimes Puppy goes with us when we go places.  Sometimes Mason requests that we kiss Puppy or share a bite of our food with Puppy.  Puppy has also had to have various surgeries, as his ear nearly fell off and other various ailments!  Puppy has been washed many, many times as he has been vomitted on, peed on, snotted on and who knows what else. I don't mind this attachment because he generally is willing to leave Puppy behind anytime I ask him to; he doesn't take Puppy into school or a store.  However, Mason absolutely must sleep with Puppy.  This is non-negotiable in the world of a 3 year old.  So occasionally at bedtime, Puppy will be missing and we may have to go on a Puppy hunt before Mason can go to bed.  So far, we have been able to find him every time and move along to a successful bedtime.  Sometimes he is in some odd places- the tunnel underneath Micah's bed, stuffed inside a backpack, wrapped up in blankets, etc.  I know that one of these days, Mason will be completely over his blue friend and be more concerned with friends and sports and whatever other interests he may have.  So in the meantime, I will embrace Puppy as one of the family, because Mason loves him so I do too.  

So Pretty

Maddie is always painting her nails.  She got a nail kit for Christmas and she has been trying lots of new designs.  She has done some cute ones but this past weekend she did a really cute design that I was so impressed with!  This girl is so very creative and I love that about her!

Grandparents Day #10

If my calculations are correct, this marks the 10th grandparents day that Mimi and Papa have attended with just my kids alone.  I do think Papa may have missed one along the way because he was recovering from a surgery, but Mimi was there for sure.  Today was Micah's turn.

Lightning

While putting Mason to bed tonight, he started complaining and protesting that he didn't want to go to bed.  He is usually pretty easy to put to bed and goes down without any problems.  I asked him why he didn't want to go to bed and he told me it was because he didn't like it when his pillow and blankets had the lightning.  I was completely confused as to what he could possibly be talking about, but Maddie was there also and she figured it out.  His bedding had static electricity and it kept shocking him, thus making "lightning".  Love the way he didn't have the words, but he still found a way to communicate his concern with us!  Such a sweet little guy.

This picture was taken last week.  We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and even though the windchill was around 5 degrees, silly boy still wanted to trade in his toy for ice cream.

Funck Family Christmas 2014

Family Pics

We try to do some family pictures every year, but unfortunately last year it didn't work out.  We had them scheduled and then it snowed on the day we were supposed to do them.  Then we rescheduled them only to be rained out the second time.  And by then, it was too late to do them before Christmas so we just scrapped them.  So this year I knew I wanted to do some for sure.  So I got an early start.  My nephew Drew has a very sweet girlfriend (we wish she was his wife LOL!) and she is attempting to start a photography business so we decided to have her take the pictures.  I couldn't have been more pleased with how they turned out - they are awesome!  Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Halloween 2014

Halloween 2014 is in the books!

We had a very nice Halloween.  It fell on a Friday this year, which was nice because there was no pressure to hurry up and get the kids home and ready for bed!

We had some friends come over and trick or treat with us.  They live way in the country so they don't have many places to trick or treat.  We hit the hood and of course, loaded up on candy!  Afterwards, Maddie had Sydney (one of the friends that we trick or treated with) spend the night.  It was really a fun night.

However, whenever you have three children there is bound to be some kind of unexpected wrench thrown in your plans. And ours happened the day before Halloween, on Thursday.  Mason goes to school that day.  And they were encouraged to wear their costumes to school.  So Mason dressed up like Buzz Lightyear, looked cute as can be, and off to school we went!  When I went to pick him up, he was dressed in the extra outfit that I have packed in his backpack, so I knew that he must have had some type of accident.  His teacher explained that he had wet himself early in the day.  Now, he has been well potty trained since July. He stays dry all night and just doesn't have accidents.  But of course, his first accident has to happen while he is wearing his costume.  The worst part is that store bought costumes are just not that well made.  They are cheap, flimsy material that looks like it could fall apart any time.  So I was very hesitant to wash it.  But when I got home and smelled the disgusting stench coming from the costume, I decided to risk washing it.  I put in on the gentle cycle and then hung it to dry and was pleasantly surprised that it did okay.  So I was stressed for a bit, but all ended up okay!

Brothers

Just a couple of pictures of my sweet boys, all ready for church.

This was my first effort.

And here is a better picture:

Grandparents Day

Today was Grandparents Day at Maddie's school, one of her last ones to participate in because she just keeps growing up.

First Day of School

We now have a 5th grader, a 1st grader, and a Preschooler.

My kids are growing up, and way too quickly.  Makes me sad, but also proud because they are all such great kids.

This is what a 5th grader looks like.  Note the large amount of Vera Bradley in this picture.  Apparently all 5th grade girls have Vera Bradley.  Not sure if that was true or not, but somehow she ended up with the backpack and the lunch box.

And here is our 1st grader.

You can't see his backpack in this picture, but it is Star Wars, which is his latest obsession.

Mason started school too, but not on the same day as the big kids.  He is going to go 2 days each week and here is his first day picture.  He was the most excited about his new lunch pail.

All three kids had a great start to school.  Maddie gets to change classes this year which is a new thing for her, but she is enjoying the change of pace so far.  Micah likes his teacher and he has a few friends in his class.  In typical Micah fashion, he is struggling a bit with behavior issues, but he is excelling academically because he is one smart little guy.  And Mason absolutely loves school so far.  When I picked him up after his first day, he was full of details and talked a blue streak about school and all they did.  After he told me everything, he promptly stated "But I'm never going back!!".  After I explained to him that he got to stay home with me for a day before he goes back, he decided that he did indeed want to go back and has been eager to go every day since then.  All in all, I say that our school experience is off to a good start for all 3 kids.  I was kind of sad for summer to end, but the routine of school is actually a welcome change for me.

UFO's?

Well, I learned an important lesson this summer.  Never turn Micah loose in the library, without supervision.  He didn't get in trouble or mess anything up, thankfully, but while I was helping Maddie locate a specific book, I allowed him to go choose some of his own books.  He was in the non-fiction animal section when I left him, so I thought he would choose his usual favorite, which is dinosaur books.  We went and checked out our books.  We use the self checkout and the kids can do it themselves, so yet again I wasn't really paying attention to what he had selected.  When we got home, they took their books to their rooms like we always do.  As the days went along, he started telling me that he wanted to take a trip to Roswell, NM sometime soon.  I kind of ignored it the first time, because lots of crazy things come out of his mouth.  But he kept persisting his talk of Roswell and when I pried a little, he told me that he had read all about it in his book from the library, the one about UFO's.  Sheesh.  I need to pay more attention.  I listened to what he had to say and went on to tell him that I don't personally believe in UFO's because I believe what God says about creation, etc.  He seemed to listen and even buy my argument but then his smart little mind took over.  He came back with his own argument, which was pretty rock solid for a 7 year old.  He said that he had learned that non-fiction books were true stories and he got his UFO book from the non-fiction section so therefore it must be truth.  Sometimes it is just impossible to argue with such logic!  So I just let him think whatever he wanted to think, and promptly returned the UFO book to the library as soon as I could get it there.  And determined that from that day forward, I will most certainly preview his selections before taking them home.

Korea Camp

This year the kids went to a Korean heritage camp.  It was our first year to go, although we have planned on going for a while but haven't ever made it a priority.  This year we did, and Micah loved it.  Maddie did too, but obviously these type of experiences are more important for Micah since he is of Korean heritage.

Here is one picture of them on one day of camp:

And here is Maddie with her sweet friend Adysen, who is also a Korean adoptee.  Adysen has a brother who is a 6th grader and could be an exact clone for Micah in a few years, both in looks and behavior.  It has been a wonderful experience to get to know another family with Korean adoptees.

These are all pictures of Micah in his class.  Sometimes when I look at him, he is so stinking cute that I just stare at him and it is hard to imagine that he could be anything but perfect.  But then I see him in real life and remember that he is definitely a little stinker.  But he is ours and most definitely belongs in our family!

Kids Camp

Mark and I went to Kids Camp again this year as sponsors.  It is a few days filled with action, extreme dirtiness, and lots of fun.

I just wanted to include this video of Maddie doing "human bowling".  She couldn't work up the courage to do it last year but was ready for it this time!

Here are some other pictures from our week at Kids Camp.  There was a HUGE amount of pictures posted on facebook but I chose a few that had my girl in them to show here.