Cecily's Birthday and JoAnn Visits

The birthday breakfast, all dressed for church. 

One of the children took this picture after church.  It kind of cracks me up so I thought I'd throw it on here.

 

The birthday girl is getting some beauty sleep.

 

She is taking in a little snack to help her wake up again.  Always helps.

Now down to business:  getting her toenails painted by Aunt JoAnn for the birthday party. 

It was such a huge help to have JoAnn here on this day.  While I was busy getting the presents out for wrapping, making frosting and cooking dinner, JoAnn spent some quality time with the girls that I wasn't able to. 

AND she decorated the cake!

She did a seriously amazing job.  I thought it was so cute.

This is, admittedly, my favorite picture of the night.  Happy family birthday dinner!  Thank you to JoAnn for making the whole thing more special and memorable.  It means a lot to me.





A yarn flower from her sister.  JoAnn helped Amelia to make it.

Her first Pre-school books.

Stuffed horse from William.

Pizza playset from Grammy and Papa.

A whole pack of play horses.

The pink horse she's been asking for.

Giddy-up!

Random picture of Eli checking out the gifts.

Making pizza and you can see her new sleeping bag in the background.

Blowing...



Happy 3 birthday, little girl.  :)

And goodnight!

Prayers Answered

 Elijah is so much better today!  I certainly felt the effects of prayer for him last night. 

 We borrowed a humidifier and it made all the difference in the world.  He slept peacefully without a single coughing fit last night.  What a relief to me.  The effect of the good night's rest is a happier, healthier baby today. 

I feel so thankful that his misery was shortlived.  When baby is acting more like himself, his mother is at ease as well.  :)

Elijah-boy is Sick

It's Sunday night.  If anyone happens to be checking my blog, I thought I'd share that Elijah has Croup.  He's sad and miserable and it's hard, of course, to watch him be sad and miserable.  Poor baby.  Hopefully he'll be improved by tomorrow.  If you feel the desire to say a prayer on his behalf, then bless you!  :)

Sneak Peek

My sister, JoAnn has been visiting.  I'll be catching up with photos from Cecily's birthday and her visit here soon...

Dresses, Little Girls, and Picture Taking

 I love these dresses and I love these girls.  I sure have a hard time getting a good picture of them though.  :)

 This one is pretty cute.

 Nice lighting and a good shot of the dresses at least...

 Just for fun, I'm including a series of the others that were pretty much a comedy of errors.

 Too much light in their eyes, clearly.

 More shade made little difference...

 Sad about something now.

I did finally evoke some truly happy smiles.  Too bad Millie tipped her head back too.  It's all part of the kidness.  Love these gals.  :)

Miscellaneous Kids Photos

 These are a couple of pictures that one of the kids took.

 She has style.  :) The gun completes the special accessories.

 Front porch web.

 Two cute brothers.

 Cuddling on Ben's shoulder, just about to put his two fingers in his mouth.

 A sleepy princess.  The dress is on loan from a friend.  She took her nap in it and woke up looking lovely.  :)

 Still trying to wake up, it takes awhile.

 There she is!  Smiles again.

 Fun with a mirror.

 I thought those pictures were sweet.  Elijah is trying to figure out what's going on with the reflections.

 Peter took the kids out to a state park a couple of weeks ago to give me a few hours at home to get some things done. 

 They took some pictures so I could see what they did and what fun they had while I was gone.

 The park is called Valley Falls.  There are some beautiful waterfalls along the river there.

 :)

 A lovely park.

 What's the bundle?

 Peek...

A happy, watch-chewing baby brother.  He thought that blanket sling was great fun.

Starting School Again

Yesterday was our first day of school.  It sure did feel good.  Last year I posted our schedule.  It was very complicated.  We never functioned on that schedule.  Not even for one whole day.  I did create a schedule this year, but I was nervous about it truly working because of last year.  So far, it's looking totally do-able and I'm so excited that we're getting everything in that is essential and I feel like everyone's needs are being met by it.  Yeah.  And I think it will work long-term.  I guess we'll see.  :)

I adjusted the basement to fit in this table and school shelf.  I set it up last week and have been astounded at how much it's been used, and how helpful it has been.  Another very encouraging sign for our school year.  We've been doing a lot more together here, instead of splitting off to individual desks.  It helps me more effectively oversee their work.  Going good so far...

Family Schedule 2011

6:30-7:15 - Shower & Bible Reading

7:15-7:45 - Family Worship

7:45-8:30 - Breakfast and clean up

8:30-9:30 - Chores

9:30-10:15 - Sam and Will do History and Bible - Younger ones play

10:15-11:00 - Sam and Will do Greek and Logic - Younger ones do group activity (geography, literature & art)

11:00-11:15 - Exercise Break for all

11:15-12:00 - Whole group activity (MWF-Science, Tu-Art, Thurs-Music)

12:00-12:45 - Math

12:45-1:45 - Lunch and clean up

1:45-2:30 - Grammar/English

2:30-3:15 - Literature reading and homework, Calvin-phonics, Millie-preschool books

3:15-3:45 - Read aloud

4:00-5:30 - Free time/break

5:45-6:30 - Dinner and clean up

6:30-8:00 - Reading/spending time with Dad, piano practice

8:00-9:00 - Quiet activities for all who aren't in bed already  :)