Family picture

Why do the best pictures often turn out blurry? It's a law of amateur photography I think, although my sister would just say 'enough of the perfectionist!' - but really, I love this blurry photo anyway!

Sleep

To watch a child sleep is to let go of everything exhausting that has just preceded their sleep....You need two dolls...

------------------------

and a feather... what a great piece of entertainment. It's a sling, a sword (most often), and apparently a great companion because it stayed in his hand through an entire night's sleep.

"Big Dan"

Just said goodbye to our friend Daniel from Australia - little Daniel's godparent. Both kids were taken with him, it was a blast. We missed the rest of his family though... He and Andrew ducked out to Vegas for 24 hours, too, so everyone was happy. :) We went to the city on Monday - what a yucky yucky day (although 'big' Daniel kept saying there was a certain atmosphere to that kind of weather). You judge for yourself from the photos... Actually it was quite fun - for the memory at the very least!

-------------------------------------

boys in Vegas after very little sleep...

-------------------------------

wet, wet, wet

---------------------------------
look who braved the weather...

--------------------------------------

and who didn't!

Apparently it's mushroom day!!

He just makes me laugh, this 3-year old. I feel like I'm writing down a few things every day!
--
D: "I put stuff in this bag"
M: "What was it?"
D: "When we get married I can tell you"






--
"When I grow up I want to be the stopper guy!"







--
D: "Mom, lean down, I have to tell you a secret... It's mushroom day!"
[smile/choke/laugh at the randomness of this] M: "What made you say that it was mushroom day?"
D: "Because I just thought of saying it and I thought it would make you laugh!"

**He wanted to make me laugh. Love it.**

10 minus 1

Well I surely didn't have these wrinkles 9 years ago, but whatever! Life is full, and I am thankful for what we are learning together - about each other, about God, about parenting... about life.
Bring on the annual anniversary questionnaire! :)
Happy 108 months Andrew!

Things they say

The quote of the week yesterday from Daniel: "No, it's okay, I left my bad attitude in the sky!", in response to a comment from me that if he had a bad attitude we would leave the library without checking out books.

Laura's newest word, among many, is "enough!" - letting us know when to stop pouring cereal or yogurt into her bowl. She really pays so much attention to everything that Daniel says and does...

Love them so much.

Oh, and she loves hats!

Mary

I have very much enjoyed this friend of mine, Mary. What started as a volunteer position has become a friendship. I was kind of challenging myself to do something outside my comfort zone, since I would have naturally gravitated towards doing something with kids... But we clicked quickly, and although she went into hospital at one point with a blood clot in her lung, and very nearly died, she fought back and is now living at home again, with 24-hour care. And she's 96. She has an email address (that she really checks!), subscribes to Netflix, and told the doctors in hospital that although she didn't want to be revived or put on life support, she was really curious what was going to happen in the world and who was going to be the next U.S. President. Wow. I'm so glad to know her.

Christmas Day

Before opening presents on Christ-
mas day, we prayed
toge-ther.
I thought
this was
a sweet
photo of my Dad with 3 of his grandsons.
-----
And then 8 grand-kids opened gifts! One opens a present while another changes clothes (proba-bly to wear something he got), presents are everywhere... and then there is Daniel, sucking his finger in the middle of it all. Classic really.

We like to be just grownups sometimes too!

Q: How do 7 adults get away from 7 kids for a whole day in the middle of the holiday season?
A: Mom and Dad gave us this for our Christmas present! We were away for 11 hours, saw an excellent movie [The Great Debaters], browsed Borders, had coffee, and ended the night with a superb fondue meal in the city. Thanks M&D - this time together was therapy for the soul.

Lord help me

And I do mean God. Really. This is a full body-to-the-floor tantrum. Laura has gotten some idea that this is the most appropriate way to react to something as simple as "Laura don't touch". If this was a video, the audio [by Laura] would go something like "No. No. NO. NO!!' - and so on and so forth. My parents are reading this with smug little smiles right now, but I also hope they're praying...