Blue Man Group Auditions

The kids were doing sidewalk paintings and Peanut decided to paint her face, hands and belly instead. Together with unmatched force they also decorated the house, grill, steps, and my terra cotta planters for that special kids-live-here look. She really was adorable!

Aunt Leanna

My wonderful Aunt Lea is here visiting Mom for her birthday and I had the pleasure of her company for a bit of the time. Thankfully, she decended the stairs to the dungeon and helped me scrapbook some of her mom's (my grandma's) photos from the 1950s. She was superb help especially because I don't know any of the people in the photos besides immediate family. And, as you can see, she spent loads of time holding Kiki!

Battle Wounds

My sweet 4-year-old boy, Bug, just took the training wheels off of his bike. This was a gigantic step for him but the day finally came when he wanted them off. He spent most of the day yesterday (between church services) figuring out how to balance and take off on the bike at the same time. Being only a little biased as they boy's mother, I must say that he learned quickly. The funny thing is that he just took off right away...even though he did crash a few times.

And this photo shows the ugly result of one of those times. He "apple cored" himself with his bike handle and it was pretty nasty. He has since fallen a few more times (you should see the kid's legs!) but he gets right back on that horse and rides. I'm pretty impressed!

Homeschooling Stuff...

For this used-to-be-teacher, there aren't too many things more fun than pouring over curricula and product cataloges. Now, that may sound tedious and dull for those of you out there who don't just love books and teaching, but it's a thrill for me. I just bought a curriculum guide from Logos School (for those of you who know and love Douglass Wilson, this is his school in Moscow) and I can't wait to get it in the mail. On Saturday I spent quite a while at various websites looking for new and used books to buy. Amazon.com and eBay.com were horridly disapointing!

I've mostly organized my thoughts about what to teach and when and can't wait to implement it in the fall (I'm going to wait so I can be as ready as possible). My Bug is going to memorize, memorize, memorize and start his Spanish lessons. He will also get to go to a charter school one day a week with his good friends. Granted, the most fun aspect of the charter school will be walking home from school with "the gang." And maybe the crafting projects because I hate making messes of things with crafts and I can't figure out any good ideas! Hey, I was secondary ed for a reason!

4 Month Old Kiki

Even the casual observer of this blog could not miss the fact that we are wilderness lovers. Don't make us go to the big cities unless you want to see sure signs of claustrophobia. What did we do in L.A.? We headed for the hills. For all vacations we search for the remote outdoors--even in the dead of winter. Did you see those great New Year's photos? We love it even when it's freezing outside. No, we love it especially when it's freezing outside.

But for this mama there is something worth more than all the vibrant sounds nature lends our ears: the sound of a baby laughing. Why? Because it isn't full of pretense or poise. There's no sarcasm or falsehood to it. Is is a pure laugh that permeates even the ugliest of moods. A child's laugh is wonderful, but it's the babies that make me thankful God gave us children as infants first.

A baby ensures that we love her for her own sake. What even moderately good parent could refuse a helpless little human whatever she desires? We primp them and make sure they're better dressed than we are on most days. We coo at them and make other unintelligible noises at them just to see them give us even the briefest of smiles. We play peek-a-boo with them because it just might entertain them for 2 seconds. And we kiss their necks to smell them and then see the joy in their eyes.

Even Bug and Peanut have mimi-competitions to see who can make her smile or giggle. Sometimes I'm afraid they're going to break little Kiki's neck trying to get her to look at them so they can "win" their game. And they're cute as they peer over at Kiki and say "I love you" repeatedly to her just in case she ever forgets.

Happy 4 months old, Kiki!

The First Worm of Spring

We have a rule in our house: the kids must spend as much time as possible outside. Within that, I only allow biking when it's 40 degrees out there or warmer only because I don't want them sliding on the ice on colder days. Today is no exception. Except for breakfast, the kids have been enjoying the great outdoors for the whole day. But today is special--Peanut found the first worm of Spring. Of course, she wants to keep it in a box or a pen of some kind but sadly, the little worm has to find a home in the soil. That is, if they don't kill it first. They'll probably kill it. I'm sorry for your troubles, Little Worm.