Our Busy Little World

Oct. 1, 2008 - Little Baby Lucy Goose

I'm such a blog slacker! But at the risk of forgetting all sorts of stories I'd rather remember, I'm determined to press on, however rarely I seem to have the chance to write. Here are some thoughts on babies.

I've said before how much I love babies. However, that doesn't mean that I always find them to be easy! Alyssa in particular is a bit of a spit-fire. A very cute spit-fire, I might add, but rather strong-willed nonetheless. Along the way we've come up with some little gimmicks which make our days run more smoothly. She's the first baby I've given regular bottles to. I don't know if she was hungry or merely appreciated the distraction (I tend to think it started with the former as her happiness greatly increased with the bottles), but she has a bottle each time I give her playpen time. At this point, they're mostly water (3/4 water, 1/4 milk or formula), but she still loves them. The best part was accidental - on our trip I picked up a few cheap bottles for her, and didn't realize I had grabbed the slow-flow infant nipples. I was so worried that it would irritate her, but it had the opposite effect - she doesn't mind at all and one bottle keeps her happy for a loooong time thanks to that slow flow!

I've also switched her naps around to help with school. Instead of a long afternoon nap, I put her down after we finish circle time, and she sleeps through the entire rest of our school time - SOOOOO much easier! Then she takes a shorter nap in the afternoon, but all the girls still rest for one hour in common, so I get a bit of quiet.

Lately I've grown weary of our rather loud and squawky (on her end, not mine!) wrestling matches in church, and have realized I often spend more time out in the hallway with her than in church. Things like this always creep up on me until I realize that I could attempt to fix them at home (takes my brain awhile to catch up sometimes!) Anyway, I decided I'd had enough of this, and spent the whole of last week making sure I took twenty minutes each day to have her sit in my lap. I decided to keep her awake during school circle time, even if it meant we didn't get much done for a week except church practice. She got a little swat each time she squawked or squirmed, and amazingly enough it only took a day or two for her to get it. Sometimes I think little ones are just waiting and hoping we will teach them some self control, as they seem so much happier afterward! She loves sitting in my lap now, and I love holding her in my lap. The real test was this past Sunday at church. Matt's been enjoying sitting in the front row, so I was really hoping she'd remember our practice times. Weeeellll, she did, and she was an angel sitting in my lap. However, just to make sure that her mommy stays humble, or simply because God has a sense of humor, she decided to take the "lawful" route to making sure I didn't have it too easy. That girl pooped FIVE times while we were at church on Sunday! These were the diaper-filling, too-smelly-to-ignore sorts of poops - I've no idea what I fed that baby! So not only did I have to troop in and out of church each time, I also had to beg a diaper off of four friends, since I always bring one diaper and wipes to church - she's never needed more than that! Trying to be subtle while carting around an odiferous baby and hunting for friends with diapers was not quite the peaceful church picture I'd had in mind . . . .ah well, there's always next week! Incidentally, to any of the afore-mentioned diaper-loaning friends who might be reading . . . THANK YOU!!!!!

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Sep. 24, 2008 - Computer Woes

Ok, so this is really random, and not at all what I usually post on my blog, but I couldn't resist. My mom sent me this tonight, and being a person who both loves and despises her computer I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Hope it gives you a chuckle!

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, 

'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.' 

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: 

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash........ 
Twice a day. 

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car. 

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this. 

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine. 

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads. 

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light. 

7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying. 

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna. 

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none o f the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car. 

10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off. 

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Sep. 14, 2008 - What A Week!

This past week was very busy! In it we celebrated Isabelle's sixth birthday, and thus I am no longer the mother of five children five and under. Isabelle is a delight, and as a fresh six year old is reading as much as I could imagine. She's turned into a book worm like mommy, and is currently loving Bobbsey Twins books and the like. Hence I am facing a new dilemna. I once had this grand theory that I would pre-read the books my girls read, making sure they were reading good things. But this child goes through a full size book every two days, and I certainly can't keep ahead of that. Soooo, if anyone would care to recommend their favorite books for little ones to read alone, which they don't have any objections to, please feel free to do so! 

Daddy took Isabelle to have her ears pierced, which she is quite thrilled about, even though they're still a bit sensitive. And she is (as are we) also thrilled with the gifts she was given, in particular a special one we got for her. She had asked for over a year for a real bow and arrow, and we decided to get her this little archery set along with a set of extra arrows. Since it's not a suction cup toy set, we have to make sure she's shooting only in the proper area (we set up a little range with stacked straw bales for a great target), and only with supervision, or if her little sisters aren't outside at the time, but we're so glad we chose this one. We have been VERY impressed with the quality of this bow and arrows, especially considering the price. It's made by Bear Archery, which is a very respectable archery company, not a toy company, and is made for 3-7 year olds, so the draw weight and length are perfect for her.  We must admit, we enjoy it as much as her, and sometimes want to sneak out for some archery practice. It's definitely a sport we enjoy together!

Other exciting news this week is that our horse, Farah has arrived. We couldn't be more pleased with her! She is adorable, but even more than that, her temperment is amazing! This is a yearling Arabian we're talking about, and they can tend to be on the "hotter" side. Not Farah - she is the most level-headed, calm and sweet horse I could have hoped for. She's not dull by any means - she enjoys exploring her new surroundings and such - but she is so very calm that it continues to amaze me. She also seems to be pretty happy with us. Even without a lead, she'll just follow us around the arena if we're in there. I think she will be the perfect family horse as she grows, and we are quite taken with her. I'll get some pictures up when I get a chance!

I need to get some sleep, so I shall close for tonight with a very random quote. It is from the movie Sleeping Beauty, and it makes me laugh every time the girls watch that movie.  We women can be fickle, even in our cartoon princess version!

Aurora: "Goodbye!"

Prince: "But . . . when will I see you again?"

Aurora, in all her princess-like drama: "Oh, never, never!"

Prince, shocked and disappointed: "Never?"

Aurora: "Well, maybe someday. . . "

Prince: "When, tomorrow?"

Aurora: "Oh no! This evening!"

There you have it, folks: goofy quotes that make Melissa laugh, especially when she's tired!

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Sep. 8, 2008 - Last Vacation Pictures

In answer to a question about my schedule post below, EOW means every other week, SOTW means Story of The World, by Bauer (it's world history in story form. Eventually I would love to get Mystery Of History, but this is a nice overview for us as long as I *discuss* certain things as I read aloud). Rod and Staff refers (this year) to their first grade workbooks. Isabelle and Hannah love workbooks, color pages and the like, so we have Rod & Staff workbook pages for math, penmanship, and music - very simple, good practice for them, and they enjoy it. Milly Molly Mandy rerfers to a group of wonderful little stories we love to read, and a neat little study guide to go with them published by Veritas press, which is just at Isabelle's level. I'll try to make a better post with all of our school books later. But here are the last of our vacation photograph for now.

  Isabelle, having made her own "camp fire"

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Sep. 4, 2008 - Autumn Schedule

Now that we're getting ready to start school again, I've made my new *written routine* for this autumn. I try to say that rather than schedule, since I rarely use it as a schedule. These are the things I generally do, but I don't stress if I miss one or more of them on a given day. And some days I switch the whole thing around (like yesterday, for speech therapy). It's just a way to get my thoughts onto paper, and show me what I have time for so I won't try to add a bunch of other projects or activities, and likewise so I won't go through a week feeling like I don't have time to do any projects at all! Writing my routine down always helps me to feel a bit less scattered.

 

 Our days (except Sunday) together In Autumn, Year  Of Our Lord 2008

             600 I wake, read Bible, Pilates, dress, computer time, school prep,breakfast

820 Wake girls, dress/hair/teeth, morning chores, baby bottle, girls breakfast. While they eat, review calendar & weekly ladylike habit. Tidy and set up school after breakfast. Alyssa back to bed. 

1000 School Time: run, hop, dance, etc. between sections to get energy out. Can vary order: One hour table time for phonics, writing, speech therapy (Nao and Juli can sit at table with school games or play quietly in living when not their turn); 30 minutes circle time for Bible & memory verse, church liturgy practice, catechism, prayer, & Bible story; 50 min couch time read alouds for Science stories, picture books, longer story books and History stories if time. *Crafts if time.

*Monday at ranch; Saturday: make bread and cookies/arts and crafts with girls, they choose fun books to read. EOW read SOTW on Saturday so I can grocery shop Thursday at 4.

1230 Wake Alyssa, tidy together with girls while baby plays.

100 Make lunch.  Isabelle may play Bella Sara, Hannah Rod&Staff, Baby playpen with bottle, movie or school game/playmobil for Juli and Naomi.  Girls help to set table, then may color.

130 Eat lunch, girls clear their dishes, Belle vaccuums,then Rod&Staff or Milly Molly Mandy paper,  Hannah may play Bella Sara, little three free play if happy together. Girls may color, too.

200 Juli down for nap, baby plays on floor, laundry and sing with the big three girls.

230 Naomi quiet play/rest on couch, Belle and Hannah school: Math 2 days, French 1 day, Music or drawing 1 day  Baby plays on floor or playpen till ready for nap.

 300 Everyone to nap/reading rest. Belle reads Bible first. Me: 30 min project or read/ 30 minutes rest

400 Big girls up, tea time, read SOTW, defrost meat, finish laundry or school if needed.  Shop EO Thu.

430 Juli up, all play outside, mommy practice guitar, Isabelle empty garbage cans at end of play time.

520 Start dinner, girls’ chair time except dinner helper, Belle/Hannah may do school papers; after dinner prep play outside till dinner.

630 Dinner (manners/dinner games), then girls with Matt for baths, pjs and play while I finish dinner dishes/Matt’s lunch & coffee.

800 Family time: Bible, story, pray, sing. Then four girls to bed; dinner helper stays up late for special time (each girl has a day for this each week).

900 All girls in bed; my time with Matt. We have nights we try to read, play a game, practice guitar, watch a movie, or get to bed early, among other evening things

Bed by 10:30 (in theory - I usually mess up this part of the schedule!)

*Dinner ideas: Saturday tacos; Sunday Rotisserie & mashed potatoes; Monday: chicken & rice (soy sauce chicken, pinto bean, or mushroom); Tuesday Spanish rice; Wednesday chicken,potatoes&carrots, Thursday enchiladas, Friday pork&rice.

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Sep. 2, 2008 - More Holiday Pictures

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Aug. 28, 2008 - For Deanna

This week I turned 29, so I am officially enjoying the last year of my twenties. I promised my mother-in-law that I would show her pictures of my lovely gifts. She, my mother, and my grandma got me a beautiful new quilt set - I think it's the first time I've had new bedding for this bed since we've been married! It's fun- makes the whole room look a bit different, even more quaint and cozy. The girls all picked out very pretty candles for their mommy! And Matt gave me the pillow shams for our bed, as well as a wonderful little pocket knife (I had asked him for one, believe it or not), and the biggest surprise of all (remember, I mentioned we might have horsey news soon). . . . Matt decided to get a horse!!!!!!! I am so very excited - her name is Farah (which is Arabic for joy), and she is a sweet little Egyptian Arabian yearling filly. She comes home to us in two weeks, and we can't wait! We are so looking forward to having a young horse to raise and enjoy, and hopefully in a few years, also breed her to this gorgeous fella! Fun new adventures for our family!

  

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Aug. 21, 2008 - We're Back!

This time I have a good reason for not having posted lately. We've been on holiday - and a lovely one at that! We just spent two weeks driving, playing at the ocean, visiting our dear family and friends and enjoying some time away together. We all loved our trip, and have come home with many wonderful memories (along with four hundred pictures!) It was a TON of driving - we drove the whole way to the California coast and back, and also quite a bit throughout, but I think the girls did great for so many hours in the car! We spent our first week together at a lovely little Bed & Biscuit in Pescadero, CA - the very first time the girls have seen the ocean! In reading Milly Molly Mandy Goes To The Sea so many times, we often remember how land-locked we are, yet we desire our girls to share our love of the ocean. It was a chilly 57 degrees all week, but we loved it nonetheless. We waded, played in the sand, and explored tide pools together - it really was quite refreshing, as we've never officially taken a family vacation before.

After our seaside week, we spent a bit over another week visiting different friends and family here and there, a couple days at a time. It was such a wonderful experience to share in our friends' homes for a little while - there is something special I have learned from each of them. The girls enjoyed sleeping in everything from "princess beds" in the B & B, to sleeping bags, shared bunks with friends, sisters, or mom and dad, car seats, even big couch cushions! It was a great way to learn some fun flexibility and have different adventures every night! I think we've come home with a more mellow baby, as the trip seemed to help Alyssa learn to "go with the flow" a bit more. We also got to celebrate her first birthday in California, and we did so by taking the girls to our old favorite Ice Cream spot (Leatherby's), and letting them all have banana splits for dinner! They were pretty bouncy that night!  

It was also wonderful to return and realize how much we love our little home. We're all settled back in now, and getting ready to start school quite soon. Here are some of the many, many, many California pictures we came home with:

I'll try to post more from the trip when I get a chance . . . .

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Aug. 1, 2008 - Observation

Tonight I find myself amused at the pronunciation differences of my three smallest girls. They can say the same thing in such different little ways:

Example: Mommy asks, "Would you like a drink?"

Alyssa: "bla, maa maa mi, bla, goo, goo" (or some variation of this - you get the idea)

Naomi: "Yah, I nee a wink of my wawer"

Juliette: "Ooh, yet (how she says yes), I need a beek of my beek!"

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Jul. 31, 2008 - Idiosyncrasies

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Jul. 25, 2008 - Contest Winner and Random little pictures

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Jul. 23, 2008 - Belle's Hair

Isabelle loves to have me do pretty things with her hair! I was gone the other morning, and daddy is admittedly not the expert in doing little girls' hair. Yet Isabelle decided she wanted a Gibson tuck, so she looked it up in the hairstyle book. After gaining daddy's help for a high ponytail (step one of the Gibson Tuck), she set up her own little hair station, read the instructions in the Klutz Hair book, and managed to create her own lovely style!

 PS: Don't forget to enter the contest to win some lovely bath and household goodies from Young Living Oils!

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Jul. 18, 2008 - Contest Time

I'm in the mood to host a fun contest, and tell you about my new venture, so I thought I'd share some products with you that I have come to love! A few months ago, some friends of ours' introduced us to Young Living Essential Oils. I have to admit, we weren't too sure what to think about them at first, having never used essential oils before, but in a moment I shall tell you why we've come to love them so much!

 

So, here's the contest: The winner will receive a goody-bag of Young Living products - such as a bottle of one of our favorite oils, as well as some fun personal care products like lovely smelling shampoos, baby diaper ointment, toothpaste, mouthwash, foaming hand cleaner, hand sanitizer, home cleaning solution, and more! Just leave me a comment if you'd like to be entered, and I will randomly choose a winner in one week.

If you aren't the winner, you can still enjoy some Young Living products by visiting my new little website, Honeybee Garden  - the link is on the button to the right. I am SO thankful for these oils (read on to see why) that I decided to help make them available to others! I hope they are a blessing to your family as they have been to ours. While we love using the personal care products when we’re able to, we feel the best treasures from Young Living are their pure therapeutic grade essential oils. We have been amazed to see the results of using some of these oils – particularly by using a diffuser. Our favorite example is that of RC and Raven oils. Our daughter has struggled for years with a whooping-type cough nearly every time she gets sick. It keeps her and us up all night, and makes it very difficult for her to breathe when she has it. We’ve tried just about every over-the-counter or doctor-given medicine we could, when our friends loaned us a diffuser with some RC and Raven oil. Though we were a bit skeptical at first, we were very pleasantly surprised! Literally ten minutes after we started diffusing the oil, her cough stopped – it didn’t just get better, it stopped completely! She has yet to struggle with it again when she’s been sick (we keep that diffuser on!), for which we are so very thankful! We have some other favorite oils which we’d love to share with you, but this is what got us hooked! We wanted to let our friends know about Young Living Essential Oils, and invite you to peruse our website or get in touch with us if you have any questions or you’d like to try out some of the lovely oils!

Again, all you have to do is leave a comment if you'd like to be entered to win some Young Living Essential Oils goodies!

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Jul. 11, 2008 - Some July Pictures

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Jul. 9, 2008 - Quotes Of The Day

From Isabelle, who was simultaneously eating Winnie The Pooh animal crackers and practicing memory verses:

"Once upon a time, in the land of Uz, there lived a man named Tigger."

From Hannah, who was attempting to dress herself in a unicorn costume which is far too small for her. It should be noted this was frantically shrieked at the top of her lungs, in between cries of fright, and of course in utter panic:

"AAAAAhhhhhh, mommy, mommy!!! I couldn't find you, mommy, I didn't know where you were (I was in the next room) - I was afraid because this unicorn is so tight on my neck that it will cut off my head and I will die!"

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Jul. 3, 2008 - Summer Of The Horses

This has been quite the horsey summer for us! Thanks to a generous riding instructor, some wonderful friends who own and breed lovely Arabians, and visiting family who had never ridden but wanted to try, we've been able to spend quite a bit of time on the back of a horse. Given the fact that I've always been a lover of horses, this is quite a nice thing indeed! Here are some pictures of our past month on horseback (they're a bit smaller than they used to be - still getting used to picasa).  Give us a few weeks and we may have a little horsey surprise to share! Oh, and I have to say my favorite pictures are at the bottom for a very special reason . . . you'll just have to scroll down to see why!

I got to ride with Hannah for this one- probably one of my favorite hours spent with that girl! We got to snuggle, ride a horse, and have uninterrupted conversation together (a rare thing indeed!)

Matt's mom, sister and nephew getting ready for some good trail riding! 

Don't know why, but I just like this picture of our little trail group

I had to get a good shot "for the record" of my sweet mother-in-law riding!

Horses, donkeys, any hoofed animal who will lend Isabelle his back makes her happy! Here's her cousin Teddy leading her around on Jezebel the donkey (perhaps aptly named, Jezebel did bite Miss Isabelle by accident whilst receiving a treat - no worries, though, you should have seen how thrilled Isabelle was with all the sympathy!)

I am riding Safar, the fabulous (no exaggeration!) Arabian Stallion owned by our good friends.

More on Safar

 

And Miss Hannah enjoying a ride on Safar - did I say Stallion? Well, yes, but you'd never know it when the little ones are on him - he's so very sweet!

A favorite horse trip this summer: we took a rode trip to watch Miss Bryony in her first show with this stallion - they were lovely and won 2nd place! And the road trip was wonderful as well - nice long, beautiful drive with a good friend- I came home that day refreshed and ready for the next day's work!

Miss Isabelle enjoying Safar after the horse show

Matt joined in the fun, too. This picture reminds me of a line from one of our favorite stories: "She looked up at St. George, sitting there on his horse, straight and tall and beautiful. 'Oh, Sir Knight!' she cried . . . ."

 

And here's everyone else getting in a little ride on Safar - no one could resist! For the record, my mother in law rode TWO horses the week she was here!

 

Teddy riding Safar, with Nancy kindly leading.

Teri, Matt's sister enjoying a ride.

A breathtaking view of the area!

And now for my favorite pictures: The first is a "Before" shot from a few months ago. Remember how terrified Naomi is of animals?

 

Well, she is still cautious, but one day up at the ranch she decided to find out what she was missing. Completely of her own volition she came up and asked if she could ride the donkey. So I took her, thinking she'd want right off, but no - just look at that smile! We were all SO very proud of her!

Then a bit later in the day, she surprised us again by asking if she could ride the horse. I put her up thinking she'd want right down, but she amazed me again - look, another smile! We're so proud of you, Naomi! 

What a big girl!

 

PS. if you didn't get a chance to read it, take a peek at the post below - my girls sure make me laugh! The post was a bit lost in bloggyland for some reason for a short time!

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Jun. 28, 2008 - Giggles

I know it seems forever (again) since I've written anything here! We're sort of having a 'vacation' in our own home. We've had just over two wonderful weeks of different family visiting, and spent such sweet times together! In the process we've discovered many great things to do in our own hometown - we've been enjoying horseback riding, swimming, a kids' horse museum, shooting, cooking and eating, playing tennis, and all manner of other fun things! I have so many photos to post, but I have to warn you all I might eventually look at switching over to google blogger or something else, as apparently shutterfly is not wanting me to post my pictures on the blog. We'll see - as I get it figured out, there will be plenty of pictures - I'm only a few hundred behind now! But today I had to try and preserve some funny memories by posting a couple more stories from my little ones. I'm sure they won't do justice to the actual funniness involved, but it's worth a try! (as always, I type the words as best I remember them!)

Hannah was wearing a *new* dress which a friend passed onto us. It is the sort that buttons up and has many pockets - front and back pockets like jeans, as well as two pockets on the bodice. My girls tend to enjoy pockets, so as I was telling Hannah how pretty she looked, I asked her if she had seen all of her pockets. She eagerly let me show her each one, and had to put her little hands in them as we found them. A pocket here for your right hand, one here for your left. Then a pocket in the back for this hand, and one for that hand. As we finished the lower pockets she put her hand into one of the bodice pockets, and a look of wonder crossed her face. Pulling her hand out with a giddy smile, as if she'd found some secret treasure, she excitedly showed me a dried, orange noodle and said, "look mommy, there's a macaroni in my pocket!" "Oh," I said, "we'd better throw that away, since it's old and hard and yucky." At that, she looked at me with the deer-in-the-headlights look, and sheepishly said, "Oh, heh, heh, I already ate it."

The other night we had let all of the older girls skip their nap to go swimming and play tennis (or whatever variation of tennis my three little ones managed to create!) with mommy and Grandma Karen. In the evening they were pretty exhausted, so they all went to bed when baby Alyssa did, leaving Miss Juliette to stay up late with us. After a good forty minutes, we put her to bed also - all of her big sisters were completely out! Sometimes little "Jooey" can be a stinker in bed, so we weren't overly surprised when we heard her little talkings and whisperings. I went in and told her to lay quietly and go to sleep.  A bit later I heard Hannah mumbling something in a stressed voice, and crying, apparently in her sleep. I opened the door to investigate, and saw little miss Juli turn and run at full speed from Hannah's bed back to her own. I went in to, ahem, rebuke her, for not being in her bed when I noticed a tiny object in her hand which explained the whole scenario. She had managed to find a bobby-pin in or around her bed. I suppose in her little mental gymnastics she remembered that Hannah had been wearing "Victorian twists" in her hair that day, secured by bobby pins. Apparently she felt the need to replace Hannah's bobby pin while she was peacefully sleeping, so she toddled over and began her work on Hannah's hair. I must have walked in just in time to save Hannah from being mercilessly stabbed by a two year old with a bobby pin! And of course, with the combination of Juli's little body flying across the room to her own bed, and figuring all of this out, I was trying so hard not to laugh that I'm pretty sure I didn't discipline her very effectively. After telling her in no uncertain terms to stay in bed and go to sleep, she indignantly grabbed her blanket, grabbed her horsey, and grabbed her book, all the while pinning me with a rather perturbed look which I'm pretty sure meant: "how dare you interrupt me from styling Hannah's hair?!"

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Jun. 27, 2008 - Fun With Mom And Photo Test

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Jun. 6, 2008 - More Funnies And Pictures

Isabelle was having a conversation with her grandma about a movie. I had rented one while Matt was out of town, and it was definitely more of a girl movie (hence why I rented it while he was away - didn't want to subject him to it!)  Anyway, Grandma Karen was trying to tell Isabelle the slang for a girly movie, and I thought it was pretty funny how it translated to my Belle. She came up to me giggling and asked if I had enjoyed my Chicken Flick!

And in other silly stories:

I was enjoying watching the girls play some prince/princess thing yesterday. Apparently Hannah (who was styling herself as Prince Stephan, since we have no boys to fill the role) had been facing some grave dangers which, sadly, overcame her (rather, Prince Stephan). She dramatically flopped to the floor and announced that she was dead. Isabelle, also quite dramatically, attempted to come to the rescue of her "Prince". After trying various and sundry remedies - such as lifting Hannah's arms and wailing a lot, the "dead prince" moaned, and then muttered: "Ugh, stop it, you're making me more dead!"

And here are a few more pictures of such fabulous things as Matt's birthday and the one summerish day we've had (seriously, today it was about 42F degrees when we went out to play!)

We borrowed a dog for a day, and the older girls had a blas dressing her up as the Queen of the couch.

Daddy had a birthday and the girls each got him a gift. Since I tend to spend more than I should on his birthday, and the girls are so little, we've made it a tradition to let them shop for him at the dollar tree with their piggy bank money. They did great this year - Isabelle found him a celtic cross box to keep his guitar pics in, Naomi and Juliette got him a nice candle and wrought iron-looking candle holder, and Hannah proudly found him an etched wine goblet (made by Libby glassware, no less). Fun, fun!

Having a little hill in the backyard is so handy for toddlers who like to sled in the winter and slip n slide in the summer.

Julie "training" a little dog from our dog class.

Matthew with his traditional birthday crepes.

My little Lucy-Goose

Isabelle's freshly cut bangs.

As our "prize" to her for finishing the Veritas Press Reading Contest, we presented her with a porcelain doll which I found in an antique store. She has named her Susan.

This lady was so sweet with Naomi, and really helped her face her doggy fears far more than I thought was possible!

One more slip n slide shot -I couldn't resist the facial expression!

 

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Jun. 1, 2008 - More Spring Pictures

Here are some of our recent pictures - like I said, I still have tons more I haven't posted! Most of these are pictures I took at our house during a going away party for some dear friends of ours. It was rousing good time of feasting, psalm singing, and millions of children all over the place! At one point we let fifteen or twenty of the little ones hang out on the floor of the tea room and watch old Pink Panther cartoons!

Juliette and Naomi can have their bickerings, but they're awfully cute when they play together!

Farewell, dear friends, we will miss you!

Good times singing . ..

Still singing . . .

and yet more singing . ..

the afore-mentioned Pink Panther room

Little Mona sharing mommy's food

Isn't she such a cutie?

Hannah is becoming quite the four year old tree climber:

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