Heard Recently

watching a Princess movie:  That stepmother is a spoiled rat!

 wanting to get a butterfly garden:  I want to get some calla-pitters for it.

watching the end of Star Wars IV, commenting on Princess Leia's hair-do change:

Look!  She took off her cinnamon buns!

Dress Up

Luci dresses up in different outfits all the time, asking if she looks "real."  She might be a tiger, a teacher, a princess. 

Last week she came to me, asking, "Do I look like a real Mommy?"

Of course, dear.  Especially since I wear my glass slippers around the house all the time.  You got all the details right!

Two More Luci-isms

Luci got her first pair of cowboy boots a few days ago.  They are pinky/purple, of course.

Luci asked yesterday, 

Why are they cowboys when they don't ride cows?

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And tonight:

At supper every night it has gotten to be tradition for me to say to John the, well, traditional:

How was your day, Dear?

Tonight, Luci says, in an exasperated voice:

M-o-m, he's not a deer!  He is a human!  I told you that already!

Luci-isms

Heard this morning:

Mommy, what is that stuff coming out of my eyes?



Is it oil?



Because then it would keep my eyes from going squeak squeak.

Funny Girl

Luci made a costume for herself at the Friendship Center today. It was lots of fun watching her toddle around in this "Robot" outfit. It was not so much fun shooing her out of the way. I ended up banishing her to the entry area. Bryan captured this 20 second video.

Our Thursdays

We have added working in our church's Friendship Center to our schedule.  It's a way to serve in our church, and serve our community.  It's a wonderful place.  All we had to do was step in and help--the incredible work to get it going was started about four years ago, and it is a well-run labor of love.  The ladies and gentlemen there today knew exactly what our kids (and myself) could do to help.  There was no "Hmmm....let me see.  What could a 14 year old boy or a 5 year old girl do here?"  (Bryan was seen as man-sized and therefore he could do heavy lifting. :)  )

Luci was put to work "stomping boxes."  She helped break down empty boxes from the pantry.  She also played with some of the extras.

JT was put to work loading up bags of groceries.  Today he filled half of the 70 bags that were prepared for Friday morning.

Bryan worked measuring men's slacks, sorting bags, unloading donations and foodstuffs, and hanging clothes.

I am so impressed that all three children worked well and did not complain.  We look forward to Thursdays this year, working with this wonderful ministry.

Field Trip!

Thursday, John came home from work excited about taking us all on a field trip to Cathedral Caverns.  He was so animated, ready to go exploring with all of us.  He's really taken to heart his "Principal-ship" of our homeschool, leading more than ever.  I love that.

Except that on Thursday, right before John got home, all I could think of was how I wanted some time all by myself.  Even if that meant sitting in the van in the driveway, with the doors locked.  As John told us his plan for Saturday, my eyes began to glaze over.  So, seeing Mommy retreating into herself, he revised the plan--it would now be a "Dad takes the kids on a Really! Fun! Trip!" but we couldn't tell Luci about it before arriving there or she'd freeze up and be scared ("Are there monsters there?  What about BATS?!" which is precisely what she said once she found out about the CAVE, about 30 minutes before arriving there).

Turns out part of my reluctance was not just a difficult time this week with my high school kids, but that I was coming down with a sinus infection.  Oh Joy.  At least I didn't have to feel guilty about staying home and missing all the fun. 

There were too many shots that were my favorites, so here are a bunch! 

So glad that John-Daddy-Principal took this shot before going into Cathedral Caverns:  not just to commemorate the occasion but to use as a "my kid's in there lost, here's what he looks like" photo.  Notice I didn't say "she" because I know that Luci would be stuck on John like a limpet.  Which she was.  John said he carried her nearly the entire time.  Good thing she's light.

Enjoy!

10:00 a.m. on a school day...

Math lesson...complete with breakfast.  In his pajamas.

And this kid is also doing his math!  Watching the Math-U-See DVD, also still in his pajamas.



This little one is all done with her schoolwork and is tooling around the house in her sunglasses and glass slippers.

Fun Evening

Yesterday, Heath and Shanna came over with their girls.  John and Heath took the kids to Shoals Creek for a couple of hours for some good ol' water play.  Our three plus Heath and Shanna's two had a blast.  Afterward they came back here for supper and more play.

Sara and Papa

three Princesses eating dinner

This was a play put on by the girls, but it looked more like a parade to the audience.


Cutey-pie

John channeling his inner princess??

Sophia and her daddy...she did not want to quit playing!

Shanna and Sara.  Sara became shy with her mama.

It's been so H-O-T

Really brutal weather.  High 90s and humidity that rivals Guangzhou in August.

Saturday John wanted to do the weed-eating on our yard.  Which does not sound so bad, but it's a whole acre.  I begged him to not do it, since spending the afternoon in the E.R. with him suffering from heat stroke  is not on my bucket list.

John lived through it, though, with quite a few breaks and lots of water.  Afterwards he took Luci down to the creek and cooled off.  The picture above shows Luci on the way home, sopping wet and content.

Beezus and Ramona

We are so excited about this movie! 

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Well, Luci and I are, anyway.  The boys don't care.  I've read two of the Ramona books to Luci and we're ready.

Luci even has her Ramona hair-do all set to go:

First Day of School

Early this morning... not that early, but if you ask Bryan, it was too early.

Last year...JT and Luci have really grown.  I think Bryan has slowed down some.




Bryan's first year--Kindergarten.  Ever since his Kindergarten year, we've measured the kids next to the hutch.

And the teacher.

De-Cluttering

I know, I am about 3 years behind in de-cluttering the kitchen counters.  And my purse.  And the van.  And...well, you get the idea.

I found a few scraps of paper with things written on them, stuff from our trip and some Luci-isms, that I don't remember if I shared before.  So here they are (maybe again):

Luci's newest song:

Rain, rain

Go away.

Come again some other time.

What she asked John about his trip to Afghanistan.  She finally got up her courage to ask him this:

Did they shoot you in the engineer?

print-zel:   pretzel to you and me.

4,346.9 miles:  The length of our entire trip from here to there (Boise) and back, and mommy did not go crazy!  (we are not counting that 50-mile stretch in Kansas)

Two:  the number of throwed rolls that JT caught at Lambert's.

Two-and-a-half:  the number of Ramona books that we've read so far, getting ready for the Beezus and Ramona movie opening on Friday. 

Three: how many kids in this world are my absolute favorites.

The View from the Swing

Catching Up

We had lightning hit our lines last Friday, and was not attended to by ATT until Wednesday.  So I am behind on posting.  

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Luci lost her first tooth!   Aww, my baby is growing up.  There's no stopping her progress now.

 And this Luci-ism:

You can tell we talk politics at our house.  Luci told me about this actress, "Angelina JoeLieberman."

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This comes under the heading of

Ewww!

a bail bondsman's vehicle here in town:

If you can't read what's on the window, here's what it says:

Don't let the soap drop.  Call us first.

Like I said, "EWWWW!"

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Happy Birthday, Bryan!!

Happy Birthday, Bryan!

You are one funny guy.

We are proud of you!!

Guess what Bryan did first thing on his birthday?

Happy Birthday, JT!

We love you!  

We are proud of you!

You are one funny young man.

Here is JT's birthday cake.  He requested an "Eskimo Pie" cake.  No ice cream involved!  But it tastes soooo good!

Rooster

That's my new nick-name for Luci.  She has woken me up between five and six a.m. every day for the past week.  She gets settled back down and goes back to sleep, but I end up wide-awake.

Like now.  She woke up at four a.m. today.  She's asleep.  I'm not.

YAWN.

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Some recent shots:

Luci's Simply Modest swimsuit finally wore out.   While we were in Idaho.  Since we had pools at every hotel, I had to replace the suit.  I found a cute little rash-guard type suit at the mall, but it had a skimpy bottom.  Just wearing it (and it was the correct size) showed too much backside.  I have a wedge, Mama! was the cry.

So, when we got home, I bought some pink (is there any other color, really?) swimsuit material and added the leggings (I made capri pants and sewed them inside the suit's bottom) and Luci wanted a skirt, which her other Simply Modest suits had.  Here are the results.  Please notice she is modeling the suit with her multiplication flash cards.  Too funny!

Here is the little jumper I made for the Fourth of July. 

And the Harding Swing, all complete!  I  love this.  What a great husband.

The Boys' Canoe Trip

John took the boys out on Shoals Creek Friday. It was a gorgeous day! There were very few people on the creek that day, as you can see from this video. You could be at just about any time in history--from early 1800's to 2010. They had lunch on this sand bar. There are houses all along the creek, but this is a lonely stretch. (John said he didn't know his hair looked so goofy, so apologies for that.)

Free Speech

This is just outside of Salina, Kansas, along I-70.    The billboard is next to an "adult superstore." 

The other side of the billboard.