My Cup Overflows!

There are only a few things in life that can bring more joy than playing chase with a one-year-old!

OY!!

The other day, one of our children (who shall remain nameless)


did this to the door of our van (the deep scratches are very difficult to do justice to in a photo) with a ski pole! By accident, of course!

Why a ski pole in August, you may ask. That was a part of the adventure.

I guess fire-breathing dragons can sometimes be blue with a Toyota emblem on the front!

Check Out My Cans!

Here's a photo of some of the can lights our electricians have installed as a part of our rewire. They are in the living room and have really brightened things up. Unfortunately, they've also illuminated all the dust incurred during their installation. The guys have been working for three solid weeks now, and they think they're down to just one more day. We've put off the start of school for them, but I think we're going to go ahead with that on Tuesday. The house is still a bit topsy-turvy from the construction, but it'll come around...

Pretty in Pink

My aunt just sent me an article on how all this pink, princess-y stuff is giving our girls very little to aspire to, and I have to say, I agree. After all, what does a princess do all day? Keep her hair neat and tidy while waiting for Prince Charming to come kiss her?! Matt and I have tried to create a balance between girly and tough, with God's Word being our guide of what makes a good woman. Anyway, I read the article the day after I got this picture of Erin. Yes, she's wearing pink pajamas and pink slippers, but with the cape, she's "Super Erin" with about five exclamation marks! I love it!


And their favorite colors are turquoise (Ellie) and "rainbow" (Erin - she likes them all), so I'm encouraged that, by God's grace, we seem to be doing something right.

"Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future." Proverbs 31:25

Walking

Daniel is walking pretty well now, if a little slowly. He's finally discovered the great benefit of walking - having your hands free to carry things. Today it was this little dish with the orange block inside it. He was really doing a great job of keeping the block inside the dish and would very patiently stop and replace it when it fell out. I'm thinking there may be a future for him as a professional relay racer.

Getting Wired

Again, we are discovering all the charm of our old house. We had called

an electrician to install some ceiling fans for us, (They had been sitting in their boxes for six years, and we decided, hey, it's time.) but when they came they found old wire that they could not reinstall a fixture on. Now, we had put new fixtures on some of this wire, not realizing that WE WERE TAKING OUR LIFE IN OUR HANDS! Anyway, they rewired the ceiling fixtures for the fans, and, in the process, found places where live wires had been stuffed down inside our plaster walls, where they smoldered by the highly-flammable lath. Praise the Lord we had not burned down! Our electrician highly recommended a complete rewire, and now we're in the midst of it. It's been interesting having my new friends Ryan, Kevin, and Darrell home with me and the kids every day for the past week and a half. We've also had fun figuring out which outlets and appliances are going to work on a given evening. It's an exercise in flexibility, so I guess that's good for me. I guess it's probably a little bit like living in a place like Africa where power is optional at almost any time. Today Ryan assured me they would probably be done by Friday, so I'll be able to show you all my new outlets, not to mention some new lights in convenient places. Yea for Edison!

Soccer Practice

We're going to soccer practice these days. This is the first time we've ever done the soccer thing, and it's turning out to be pretty fun. All three of the older kids practice at the same time but on different teams. Isn't that beautiful?! So Matt and I have some time to watch and hang out with each other. I love watching them all, but my favorite would be Erin's 4 and under team where the highlight of every practice is a game where they try to kick the ball into their coach while she acts like an animal (of the kids' choosing). Big fun! I just love people who go all out like that to make an experience good for kids.

Here are some other shots from the other night...

Kids in the Kitchen

Joe and Ellie have had some kitchen time over the past couple weeks. We got a kids' cookbook called Honest Pretzels by Mollie Katzen as a gift from my aunt. It's supposed to be for kids ages 8 and up to use independently, but I've helped just a smidge. The recipes that we've tried have been fun for the kids to make and have been things that we've all enjoyed eating. Ellie made some spaghetti pie, for starters...
and has also made "Carrots in a Gentle Sauce" and "Fruit Shakes". She's sort of into cooking, so I'm trying to let her be independent (as you can see from the mess on the counter behind her). Notice her sparkly house slippers, which are only outshone by her smile of satisfaction.

Joe made "Peanut Butter Doodads", which was super quick and rewarding (a good place for him to start.) The secret ingredient here would be the "everyday cape".

The Everyday Cape

For a couple weeks this summer Joe got really into wearing this cape. He told my sister it was his "everyday cape" because it was so comfortable. He just makes me laugh.

Kiddy Coaster

Matt and the three older kids rode the kiddy coaster last week at the fair. Here's the first time around...

and here's the last time around. (Notice that the looks of sheer terror have subsided!)

Joe and Ellie rode it twice, but I don't know if we'll ever get Erin near one again.

Tea with Erin

"Tea is a time in which we were perfectly contented with ourselves and one another."
Charles Dickens

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Daniel turned one this past Saturday, and we partied. Everyone got into the act. The older three kids helped frost cupcakes...

Matt was on decorations...

and Daniel showed up to look cute! He really approved our choice of a "Baby Einstein" theme! He kept talking to and pointing at the animals on the tablecloth.

Gifts were fun...

but he like the cards just as much.
He thought it was a little strange that all these people were standing around singing together and looking at him... but the cake was a big hit.It was all that could be desired in a first birthday. Our little guy is officially one and still delighting us everyday. We are so thankful for each of the past 370 days and praise the Lord for the hope we have for the days yet to come.

12 Months?

Here are the pictures I took on all of Daniel's "month birthdays" (the 2nd of every month).

I didn't do a 12 month shot as I'll post his birthday party pictures sometime soon. If you count closely you'll see I'm missing a month. I have no idea what happened in April. I thought I had taken the picture. Actually, that's a pretty good way to describe my year...I think I lost a month somewhere...

As you can see, though, Daniel is thriving and impressing us with new accomplishments each day. What amazing bodies. We truly are "fearfully and wonderfully made"!

1st Birthday Eve

A year ago, this very minute, our little "Doodlebug" was getting ready to make his debut. It seems ages ago, and it seems like yesterday all at the same time. Tomorrow I'll show you the pictures of his growth over the past 12 months, but tonight, I want to share a passage that has meant so much to me over the past year. It's from the book Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss and is a journal entry written by the author soon after the birth of her third child. (It's an old book, so bear with the old-fashioned jargon.)

"[My sister-in-law] takes a most prosaic view of
this proceeding, in which she detects malice prepense on my part. She says I
shall now have one mouth the more to fill and two feet the more to shoe, more
disturbed nights, more laborious days, and less leisure for visiting, reading,
music, and drawing. Well! This is one side of the story, to be sure, but I look
at the other. Here is a sweet, fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to
make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for
God; and the body in which it dwells is worthy all it will cost, since it is the
abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one
dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ's name, I make a
willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings
had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother's heart,
welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her
lifelong prayers! Oh, how rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!"