Swimming, grilling, swinging, jam making, reading...  We've been doing it all! 

My parents drove my Grandma from Ohio for a visit last weekend.  The girls enjoyed visiting with her.

Abby enjoying "Holly's bike." 

Playing in the sand while waiting for fireworks. 

Someone will need to thank me for posting this!

Oh, the pain of new fangled maternity wear!!!!! 

Dan's contribution to my emotional needs.  Apparently, baby girl needs a rocking lamb. 

Holly's class had a change of teacher, several new to ballet students, and seven snow days this term.   They were not prepared at parent observation night, but an alert to the head of school took care of that.  She ran their last class for them and helped clean up their piece.  Phew! 

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v218/fourjewels/?action=view&current=MVI_0258.flv

daily tennis lessons in June that makes me thrill at the thought of getting to *do this* again?

Our end of the school year celebration - banana splits for all after a trip to the pool.   

There's a secret to getting smiles like these.  Make it family policy to share treats on all but the happiest of days.  In the last few years our girls have experienced their first whole donut and their first whole sundae.  Last week afforded them this first whole banana split.  We initially did this because serving sizes were out of control, but we've discovered it teaches contentment and joy too! 

Wrapping up math for the year.  Yeah for long division!!!

Muffin maker extraordinaire!

Otherwise known as my last chance to travel before baby...

At Greenfield Village with my parents

Eating dinner at Buca's (thaks Dad!)

The girls had a lot of sharing to do!

On the steps of the church where we were married just shy of our thirteenth anniversary with four (five!) girls of our own.  (We had four flower girls in our wedding).  :)

Holly's our thoughtful girl! 

Somehow, sleeping in curlers makes everyone happy! 

We have lots of creatures about as our backyard is adjacent to 10-20 acres of woods that include large gulleys and a creek.  This woodpecker favors our property.  It's huge! 

These two received lots of attention from the local media.

This one did not! 

We've tried not to *baby* our baby-of-five-years, but it's a challenge at times.  Unfortunately, this time it turned out she was a bit sick.  A rash developed on her cheeks by the end of worship on Sunday and a visit to the Dr. confirmed Fifth's Disease yesterday.  I've begun testing to determine if baby might be affected.  Holly has it as well. 

The girls came to my ultrasound this morning and baby's cooperation gave us opportunity to do some shopping.  We gave Dan a *shower* over his lunch. 

White Socks

Oh, the suspense...

A healthy baby...

A gift from Sarah for...

her newest little sister!

The rest of us had fun too. 

I've been waiting to see if I should keep this blog name and, from what we could tell, Polishing Gems still fits!

We're also rejoicing because Builder Dan is done with every last detail on the inside.  I won't put it past My Dan to find one or two more things, but as of this moment the inside of the house is MINE.  The girls are celebrating with permission to dress up and have free reign of the house.  I'm a happy, blessed Mama! 

Decompression has begun in earnest.  We've had a peaceful, quiet afternoon working on projects. 

I bought a bobbin maker a few weeks ago and found that it is a huge help.  I made this skirt for Sarah with way less than my usual trouble.  I'm happy to report that it's not been relegated to the dress up pile! 

Hannah put her new sewing kit to good use making doll clothes with her sisters. 

Flowers from an adoring *fan.*

Hannah excels in having fun and bringing joy.  She celebrated her April 28th birthday a few days early. 

Always ready to laugh and bring others along for the ride, Hannah was hardly able to contain herself while opening this *gift.*  It turns out that she wrapped a bar of soap for herself as a joke on the rest of us - good girl! 

Now this is my kind of game.

If you can't make it out, they're shooting arrows and catching them with a pond net. 

When your children are young, you never hear that twelve year olds are delightful.  You should!  They're positively wonderful!!! 

Sarah's been a trooper this week - getting ready for tech. rehearsals in the van several days in a row.  She made a somewhat stressful situation fun!

Swinging time, mud cakes, and crocuses - a wonderful way to welcome spring! 

Nevermind the bruised toe.  She's a ballerina, you know...

My girls have the best friends.  Sarah's friend gave her knitting lessons at a downtown shop for her birthday.  Both girls knew how to knit, but didn't know how to follow a pattern.  Sarah had four needles going at once for awhile with this project! 

We had a big day with piano Achievement Testing and a birthday celebration, but it was a good day.  Here's our birthday girl with flowers from Abby and Dad. 

The requested meal with special sub sauce.

Excited to be celebrating sisters

Pineapple Pudding Cake - a favorite of Sarah's for years!

almost!

Abby squinting in the *desert.*

Sweltering Sarah

Needing our shades!

We're trying to smile, Mom, really!

A miniature orange tree

Oh, look what we found!

Beautiful!!!

Misty waterfall

A slightly better picture of the girls. 

Proof of how foolish a person looks when they smell flowers for the first time in a long while.  Dan insisted Sarah take a picture of me smelling the flowers.  Of course, I quickly got out of range of the camera!  I gather the humidity of the greenhouse made my smeller work temporarily.  I think I'm in the market for a personal humidifier.  Okay, posting this isn't my idea.

Just for fun - sharing Abby's joy over "someone littler than her."

There's nothing like the sound of wee baby's heart and I was blessed with that joy this morning.  To our great surprise and delight we are expecting a baby in mid-September.  After, five years of waiting, wondering, and loss this is wonderful news for our family!  That is especially so now that we have a functioning kitchen!  I don't recommend experiencing the first trimester of pregnancy during a kitchen remodel.  Our Builder did find a way to get our counter three weeks early though, so that was a blessing.  I don't know if he was motivated by compassion or fear.  LOL! 

I'll be less scarce as I continue feeling better. 

A picture of Abby with her scarf!

She wants yarn for her birthday, by the way!

Enjoying fondu together on New Year's Eve

Sledding on New Year's Day

Fun, fun, fun! 

Our power came back on after about 30 hours.  Of course, it took another 8 for the house to recover.  Our fireplace helped, but we wondered if it was sucking out more air than it was heating.  This was a most excellent purchase.  We slept without it and mainly used it to warm one room.  It was a huge help.

Working on a failed gingerbread house on Christmas Eve

Holly in her holly-smocked-dress before Christmas Eve worship

Sweet Sarah

Happy Hannah and Abby

This one turned out well.  I should probably crop out the peeking toes, huh?

Why is my chin shining?  Okay, nevermind.  I'll use the lack of power as an excuse. 

Since we were too lazy to find a tripod (and never thought to take the camera to church). 

Productivity is reigning over our extended break from school.  The girls made a chocolate cake for Dan this morning.  His birthday tends to get lost after Christmas.

Who knew I could draw?  (Does this count as drawing?)

Holly and Sarah built this fun fellow.

Sarah is 5'3" or 4" to give you an idea of his stature.

Hannah and Abby built this fort in between trips on the sled.

My fun, busy girls!

Gifts from adoring sisters

Enjoying the moment

Sweet Friends

All of the Juniors

Abby had her first turn at knitting with Grandma this weekend.  Hopefully, I can figure out how to finish it with her!

I can't believe I'm posting pictures of our garage on-line.  Okay, I can't believe I post any pictures on-line, but this is an extremely handy form of scrapbooking.  The girls love it and I hope they'll treasure these day by day memories one day.  Speaking of daily activity, the garage is where you're likely to find them these days. 

You see, Dan finally asked for a Christmas present as well.   He has always wanted a game table and found a cheap one.  Given that the rooms in our home are small and the larger new rooms will serve other purposes for the next decade or so, he put his gift in our first-house-would-only-fill-half-of-this-space garage.  The girls are having a blast and they're getting fresh air without having to do the snowsuit thing. 

And then there's the ever fun game of "fishing for cats." 

Otherwise known as Jax and Tipper.  Tipper didn't like the flash and Jax was too busy playing and being pet to get a good picture, but here he is.

I think this guy could win anyone over.  He's a ham.

My elves had fun decorating last week.

Our little family Thanksgiving - simple version.  See Dawn, we aren't always cute.  Oh, and nevermind the guy in the hat.  We certainly don't. 

Christmas crafts... Foamies gingerbread houses are excellent for families with food coloring issues!  Hmmm....  Does it look like I need to pay bills and clean the kitchen or what?!?! 

Dan and I caught this little one on the stairs sleeping last week - too sweet!

Seeing the plastic over the stairs reminds me how happy I am that it's gone - for now. 

The girls have had grand success finding frongs in our torn up yard.  This one has been found several times over the summer.  It is easily recognizable with it's stump leg. 

*Training* it to jump over a stick.  "Good frog, good frog..." 

Our new tradition for lost teeth.  Actually, I think she chose hot chocolate this time.

Abby went to music class without an older sister and stayed for her first piano lesson this afternoon.  She was beyond thrilled and definitely "big." 

The weather has changed.  We're hoping the cooler temps. last. 

The girls "work while they work."  Afternoons are for play.  Sarah was at ballet wearing out a pair of pointe shoes while we were home playing. 

Anyone else have a multitude of pictures of kiddos with frogs?  We found a few beauties in Wisconsin and I'm working on getting those pictures from Dan's camera to my computer. 

This one, found in our yard, was quite small.  Hannah and Abby were enthralled and kept him as their "pet" for a couple of hours. 

Here's a link to a piece she coreographed for the student showcase portion of her week at dance intensives.  She's in the front surrounded by the best of  friends. 

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v218/fourjewels/?action=view&current=a289bfaa.flv

The girls made this wonderful coffee cake for my birthday breakfast last week.  We had a good day complete with dinner out for the parents! 

Abby wanted a picture with Mom.  Don't mind the wind or the effects of five rounds of steroids (staph is nasty!).  ;)  She's really growing - more than half an inch since April!

Um, you're welcome to scrub at home too, sweet girls. 

All Aboard!

One of many pictures of Sarah at the pump.  She'd love one in our yard for watering. 

I just love an old outhouse, especially when you're able to open the door.  They must have been a great mystery of my childhood. 

Where time moves too quickly.

Dan and the girls being Indians and...

blessed to find their own arrowhead.  What a Dad!

I'll have to post a picture of the arrowhead soon. 

I can't believe I've had a blog long enough to post about a second Fourth of July celebration.  It's turned into a wonderful, easy way to record memories and favorite pictures. 

I love these pictures of the girls walking ahead of us.  We hike at least once a week and this is a common, much loved sight.

Our annual summer picture by "Big Red."  I think we got a couple of shots worthy of framing.  This probably isn't one of them!  It's amazing how challenging it can be to get a good picture of four beautiful, imo, children.

Yet another photo in need of photoshop.  (Jenn, are you reading this?). 

Another common sight - the girls strike a pose and we pay a "toll" by taking their picture.  This picture captures "double trouble" mode.  That's code for H. and H. are scheming. 

Another...

That one captures a bit of our little Abby doll's personality.  Sarah usually plays too, but she was cold.  It was a strange morning at the lake...

as evidenced by the surfing and the dunes encased in fog.

Dad let a chipmunk go in the parking lot.  We have WAY too many of them in our yard!

Grilling brats from the local market later in the day when the sun came out from hiding. 

The girls decided we needed an updated family croc picture now that they have grown into new pairs.

Alas, Dan and I pass for plain once again. 

After a trip to a park and the pool we went to view the fireworks.  Here are H. and H. enjoying their books and seemingly ignoring the burping contest taking place behind our row of chairs.  I wish I had their concentration!

Gotcha!

Abby "reading" and Sarah with her bounce putty.

A bit of entertainment before the fireworks (a nap on Dad in Abby's case) begin.

Sarah's spinning lesson...

Colonial Dancing, imagine that!

Enjoying life on a Colonial Farm...

Keeping up. 

Enjoying the dandelions...

A morning carriage ride...

A spinning lesson...

Ready for Jamestown...

Our precious Patriot!

Waiting for a carriage ride...

Spinning lesson...

A glass fiddle...

Enjoying new friends.

Playing peekaboo with her cap during Colonial Games on the green.

Always ready for a cuddle...

Our "Colonial Doll" with a sister and a new friend...

Enjoying coloring in our apartment...

Sarah in the garden...

Hannah...

Holly...

Abby (can't get this one to turn around...)

Enjoying their new caps. 

Much to the delight of my family, I forgot to make corned beef and cabbage.  We did, however, get a bit of fiddling in this afternoon.  The girls had a mini-parade with their violin group.  They played for an appreciative audience at a nursing home before a performance in the rotunda at City Hall for our Irish mayor. 

Here, Hannah and Holly play Irish Washerwoman

Here's Sarah in a picture taken by Abby!

This is how I caught Sarah doing school one day last week.

Here's Hannah at work in her school room.

Sweet Sarah turns 10 years old today.

Here she is with the pinata she made after reading Mitch and Amy. 

Here she is with her cake.