Much Overdue Post

I just realized I haven't posted to this blog for about 4 months now. Oops.
Here's a little sprinkling of our lives the past few months.
The other night Mike took the older 3 kids out to the store to pick out some rewards for doing their schoolwork. Noah was too sick to go so we had a little date night at home. You can tell this little man knows how to set himself up for comfort. He was pretty cool lounging with his recliner and popcorn.

I took the kids to Imagination Station to get some fresh air last week. A change of scenery was nice.

Here is a "glamour" shot of Joy a.k.a. "Dance of Desire." Joy is officially pregnant and due to have her litter early March. We do not get to keep her puppies, but will meet them when we pick her up from the breeder's house. I think she will have very cute puppies :)

Another Imagination Station pic.

It actually snowed here a few weeks ago. The kids had fun playing with the neighbor girls.

This is Elsie's special birthday date at Red Robin. Mike and Elsie both got a birthday song and ice cream sundaes for their January birthdays.

You can tell this girl is excited for ice cream. I think her Daddy is also!

Grace is doing so well in 1st grade!

Grace and Noah are dressed up as a king and queen here. You can tell Grace helped Noah with his costume choice. He's wearing tights, breeches, necklaces and rings. I'm thinking 18th century king of England or France? Weston was horrified, of course.

I went into the boys' room late last night and this is how I found Weston. Fast asleep and snoring with his finger on the trigger. I'm so glad we have him to protect us at night.

Daniel Boone

For about 6 months now Weston has loved everything Daniel Boone. He even used 20 dollars of his own money to buy the complete Season 1 with Fess Parker. It also happens to be in black and white, but Weston doesn't seem to mind :) Of course he HAD to dress up as Daniel Boone for Halloween.
After checking out frontiersmen costumes online I decided to try to make one using a brown turtleneck, a glue gun and some fringe. Little did I know that just the fringe was over $6 per yard and it would have taken several yards to do it right! Scratch that idea. On our way out of the store I noticed some brown suede-ish fabric that already had the fringe on the edge. I bought one yard and figured I could come up with something.
The shirt turned out surprisingly well considering I didn't have a pattern and I'm definitely not a perfectionist. I did figure out you can't just start sewing the sleeve on and go all the way around one direction. The sleeve ended up halfway down the back. I also did a fair amount of ripping out and re-sewing. It probably would have been smarter to buy a costume online, but Weston is thrilled and I gained some confidence to jump in and try new things. You never know....they might just turn out!

God's Valentine

This is how the jam happened to land in Elsie's yogurt one day. It thought it was so cute I had to take a picture. Life is full of reminders of God's love for us. I admit I'm often too busy and distracted to stop and take note, but I couldn't miss this little valentine!

Noah is 3!

I'm a little late posting for Noah's 3rd birthday. Mike and I are a little shocked that our "baby" is 3 years old now! For the first time in almost 9 years we're not buying any diapers!
So much has happened in these 3 years. Noah has turned out to be our most "spunky" of the 4 kids. His intensity is so much fun and definitely adds to the challenge of parenting. This boy is full of life!

Noah and his "brudder". Noah LOVES "Destin" (he can say Weston but calls his Destin out of habit). Most of their time together is spent playing Daniel Boone or soldier or some other fierce game. Although they're over 5 years apart in age, they really love and enjoy one another....well, most of the time.

It's hard to believe Elsie was only about 20 months old when Noah was born. They are now really starting to play well together and I frequently hear them giggling over some shared joke from another room. From the day he was born Grace has been Noah's biggest fan. She loved to help take care of him and hold him. She is such a nurturer. I look forward to seeing what their relationship will look like as they grow into adults.

Being a 4th-born child, Noah is definitely parented very differently than Weston was. He really didn't play with baby toys for very long, but started playing with the older kids as soon as he was able to toddle after them. He's definitely big for his britches sometimes. At about 2 years old he considered himself on the same level as his 7 year-old brother :) I love this picture! Noah was such a butterball baby!

Hard to believe our baby is 3! Notice his gun is tucked into his cowboy boot and he's holding his horse "Oosta".

My mom made an awesome "Bob the Builder" birthday cake for his party! Noah started planning his birthday party months in advance.

Mike and I took Noah out to dinner at Red Robin for his birthday. You can tell he was excited :)

Passport to the World!

I'm well aware I've got a lot of blog catching-up to do. :) Until then, I'll just post this picture from today. Weston and Grace are holding their passports to explore the world! We'll be "visiting" one country every few weeks over the course of our homeschool year. I issued the kids their official passports today before starting our study of Mexico. The kids had to apply for their passports by filling out applications and writing me fake checks.

We'll have to keep the blog updated on our adventures!

Grace colored this pic today. We bought Noah some Superman pajamas the other day, so I guess she had him on her mind. Other than the duck-like feet, I think this is a pretty good likeness. :)

Motherhood Is Application

Motherhood Is Application
Click on link above to read about applying the gospel while in the trenches of mothering little ones.

Finally!

We finally upgraded to a digital camcorder! I know...silly. The upgrade became inevitable when our old Hi8 camcorder wouldn't eject the tape. I finally got the tape out only to have a mysterious camcorder part fall out in my lap. It was definitely time!
I thought I'd post a few videos of Grace pulling out one of her teeth. Brace yourself....it's very dramatic. :) Our preferred method for pulling teeth is the floss-tied-to-tooth-tied-to-door method. No waiting around with dangling teeth here!

Weston is 8!

I can hardly believe we have an 8 year-old! Soon I will post a few "progression" photos from Weston's 8 years on earth, but for now I'll just post a few birthday photos.

I can't believe I pulled this one off. It was fun to make, but I'm not ready to take the cake-making reigns from Memaw Mary. Sorry Mom, you're not off the hook ;)

No more babyish birthdays for this boy! We're talkin' weapons and camo!

It was only after I frosted hundreds of tiny grass blades ONE AT A TIME that my mom happened to mention there was a special grass decorating tip. Gee....thanks mom.

Noah kept poking his finger into the frosting while I was trying to pose. He is very focused on sugar.

Mother's Day Cards

I had to post my Mother's Day cards from the kids. So cute and creative. Mike said Weston was totally peeved that Grace was copying his idea. She sat and copied with a little smile on her face while he loudly protested.
These cards were delivered to me in bed in bed on Sunday morning along with a yummy breakfast of eggs, toast, OJ and coffee. I think Joy got to me first and woke me up with a wet snout in my face. :) Pretty fun way to start Mother's Day (the cards and breakfast, not the snout)!

This is Mr. Noah's card. I'm sure it took him about 2 minutes, but he was very proud of it.

Grace's card. I guess I should have put Weston's first since she copied him. If you can't tell, it's a coffee mug with a flower growing in it.

Elsie's card is me in a tutu with roses all around. I was particularly impressed with her roses. Her picture is a little hard to see because she had folded it into a teeny-tiny little square and stuffed it into an envelope. It's a little wrinkled.

This is the original coffee mug with a flower. I love how coffee is splashing in the mug. Weston pays attention to detail in his drawings.