Birthday parties = dress-up

Jared was invited to a Nintendo costume party. He is sporting Fireball Mario. He had a lot of fun and it had the added bonus of getting him out of having to attend Krystal's Cinderella birthday party.

Here are the princesses playing "who stole my glass slipper."

Krystal, sitting in the throne and so excited about Princess Polly's.

Krystal has been saving her breathe for this moment for a whole year. Every time she would tell us that her dinner was hot, we would tell her to blow it. She would respond that she couldn't blow it because she had to save her breathe for her candles. She started saying this after her last birthday. I'm sad to report that after all that preparation it still took two blows to get all four candles out, but I think that had something to do with the towers of the castle being in the way of the candles. Happy Birthday Cinderella!!!

Our beauties

Amber wore a new dress for church this Sunday and she was so beautiful that I just had to get the camera out. Of course the other girls wanted their pictures taken too and I lucked out with some pretty good pictures. As a matter of fact, it was really hard to choose which ones to post. I tried to choose the ones that show their personalities the best.

Sleeping like a log

As we get ready to celebrate Krystal's 4th birthday on the 27th, I was looking back at pics of her and couldn't resist this series of pictures of her asleep. Krystal has always had a difficult time sleeping at night and the result is that she falls asleep in the darndest places. Or maybe it's just a product of being the third child and Mom not putting her down for naps on time. Either way, we enjoy these pictures and the memory of the many other times we've found her asleep in strange places, but don't have the pics to show. In this one, we found her asleep outside our bedroom door after we got out of the shower.

Asleep in her highchair, our children have all had the habit of falling asleep while eating.

Asleep in Jared's bucket chair, I wouldn't think that was very comfortable.

On the floor at our friends house, too tired after all that talking on the phone I guess.

Sacked out after a long day of visiting friends during one of our visits to El Paso, after we moved.

Asleep at her birthday party at Cici's. At least the rest of us enjoyed the pizza.

We like to call this one "tired Mommy." How many times have I felt this way?

This one was taken just a couple weeks ago, she fell asleep in Amber's swing in the backyard.

All I can say is, enjoy it while you can Krystal, one of these days you won't have the luxury.

All decked out

First day of school The kids were so excited to use their school supplies that we started bright and early. They were slightly disappointed when I didn't have anything prepared for them to use their rulers, calculators, and protractors on.

Amber, all dressed up for church.

Krystal was so excited for the Primary Program at church now that she's a Sunbeam. She memorized her part and presented it perfectly. She saved this new dress just for the occasion.

What a ham! Clarissa did a very good job reading her part for the Primary Program and sang all the songs very loudly. Isn't she beautiful?

The kids are all decked out and ready for church.

Here is an updated family photo. It's always difficult to get everyone smiling at the same time.

First full week of school

This week we are learning about: the letter A, Natural Law (see Principles of Freedom at left), Elizabethan and Shakespearean times, how to make applesauce, riding horses (Clarissa), playing the piano (Jared and Clarissa), our arms, doing math with acorns, reading "Sarah Bishop" and watching the daily habits of our garden spider. Oh, and anything else that comes up in the curious questions of inquiring children. I love learning!

Reality hits

Jared has finally come to the conclusion that he is not going to get a brother. In effort to make lemonade out of lemons and face reality, he decided to take the matter into his own hands. Meet Jared's brother, Rocky. Rocky was designed and created by Jared entirely out of K'nex (and Dad's clothes). He named him Rocky so that he could help him defend himself against his sisters.

The reality of living in Virginia: it rains a lot! We made this fort one rainy day last week and the kids spent their time in the fort with snacks and drinks while Mom read "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" for our history book club. It was an excellent book about Colonial times, math, and the man who wrote the 'Sailor's bible'. We recommend it to children and adults alike.

Tomorrow is our first day of school. The reality...Summer's over. In effort to celebrate (and not mourn) I made this cake. I don't have cake decorating tips or anything so it's nothing fancy, but it was fun.