I'll Help You, Mommy!

Selah is so helpful when I'm doing Pilates.

Busy Baby

It's amazing how much one can get done around the house if you just give the baby a basket of stuff to empty. Selah kept herself busy for over half an hour the other day, picking things up out of her basket, inspecting them and tossing them behind her.

"Oh, hi, Mommy. You don't mind, do you?"

If I Could Save Time in A Bottle ...

Today we are going to spend the day with Jeff's family. His brother Joe and his family are here on a visit on their way to moving to Colorado. And in just over a month, Joe will be deployed for the third time. Our little Joe said, "Will we ever see him again?" Yikes! Jeff and I kind of laughed, nervously, over that because who wants to ask THAT? But little ones will say anything, we've learned. Anyway, I explained that we should cherish every moment with our loved ones, even the "everyday" of life should be appreciated because ... you never know. And yes, Uncle Joe is going to a dangerous place, but we'll pray for him just as we always have before. Back when little Joe (4 at the time) didn't quite understand why we were praying for Uncle Joe who was in "a wreck". I suppose we should have explained middle-eastern geography to him a little better!

Joe with Jackson (8 months) and Jeff with Selah (14 months).

Lacrosse-ish

The kids have been taking full advantage of the gorgeous weather we've been blessed with of late. I have no idea what game they are technically playing, and I'm guessing they just made up rules as they went along. They've been pretty strongly influenced by Calvinball, I'm sure. You'll get the idea from the theme song:

Other kids' games are all such a bore!
They've gotta have rules and they gotta keep score!
Calvinball is better by far!
It's never the same! It's always bizarre!
You don't need a team or a referee!
You know that it's great, 'cause it's named after me!

Stop the Presses!

Kaity and Joe decided to write their own newspapers this week. Kaity's had a really good article on an upcoming jewelry party and also included an extensive comics section and the standard classifieds.
Here they are, hard at work:

Also, this is what they were doing while they were "babysitting" for me.

A Sad Farewell

Poor Kaity's little lizard passed away this afternoon. She's very sad, but I wanted to leave you all with some happy memories. These pictures were all just taken today, before the unfortunate passing of Kaity's friend.

Here she is peeking out of Kaity's apron pocket.

This is room outline Kaity drew for her: complete with a Wii, a massage chair, a bed, "flys", water, and a bathroom.

Close-up of her playing with her Wii.

Babysitters For Hire

I usually try to get a shower while Selah is sleeping, but due to time constraints on Thursday, I had to get my little helpers to watch her. The following picture is what I found when I emerged from my bedroom:

She seemed happy enough, though! Maybe Kaity and Joe should patent the idea ...

Hymn Singin'

For a few years, we made it a habit to sing hymns at the start of each school day. For some reason, we just haven't done that this year though we still sing them around the house randomly. The other day Kaity pulled out the hymnal and sat down to sing with Selah.

We all love music, both to listen and to sing but there's one problem: not one of us can carry a tune in a bucket, so it's a little painful for Daddy to hear, though he bears it all with good grace. We're hoping Selah will inherit her father's abilities and be our musical child.

Hello!

"Hi, Mommy!"

"Whatcha doo-in'?

"Watching Lark Rise to Candleford again, sweetie. Now go take a nap."

Kaity's New Friend

Kaity has a new friend. His name is Lizzy Alligator Peter. She found him Thursday and they've been inseparable ever since.

She made him his very own little habitat complete with fresh greenery, rocks, sticks, and bugs.

Shoes!

Apparently our baby girl loves shoes. Since she's moved up a size she got new ones over the weekend and man, does she love them! She even added the word "shoes" to her vocabulary. It's pretty adorable!

And here she is all dolled up in her Sunday finest with her new Sunday shoes:

A Quest for Quelf

Tuesday night we had some friends over and we all wanted to play a game, yet were bored with the ones we already have. Jeff and I had been wanting to go ahead and buy a new game, so Hope and I went to "the Wal-Marts" to see what we could find. After some searching we found an interesting game called Quelf and our choice was made! At the checkout, though, the game refused to be "checked out". "Use other barcode" the register demanded. But a search for a different barcode proved to be futile. We offered to go to customer service and the cashier gratefully agreed. Except that customer service had the same problem. "Dan" told us that without a barcode he couldn't ring it up.

"If I know the exact price, could you do it then? I know I saw a tag on the shelf."

"Can you bring me the tag?"

"We'll do anything, Dan."

So, we made the long journey through Walmartown to fetch the tag. When we returned, hours later, I (half-heartedly) joked that for all that work we should get a discount. And Dan agreed. He rewarded our perseverance with a nearly 20% discount.

Here are some pictures of the fun that ensued:

Alan had to keep his head wrapped in toilet paper like a mummy until someone rolled a four.

Jeff had to wear a household item not normally considered jewelry as a necklace.

Hope had to stuff her fingers in her mouth and say, "Quick, someone take a picture of me!"

I had to snort like a pig every time I laughed, which happened A LOT. And which also happened to not be much of a stretch for me.

Anyway, we highly recommend this game! It was surprisingly fun and everyone enjoyed it. You can find Quelf on Amazon, but it was cheaper at "the Wal-Marts", even without the discount.

Five Hundred!

I just had to note that this is the 500th post! I find that so hard to believe, but here's the very first picture I posted:

That was before we had a digital camera, when I had to scan photos to upload them. Joe was about 20 months old, and Kaity was 5. Jeff was still in his twenties. Ha!

Anyway, now that THAT'S out of the way, I'm on to the very fun weekend Selah and I had with Grammie and Baba. You probably  know I'm a huge fan of The Pioneer Woman. When I read that she would be in Augusta for a book signing, I knew I had to go! She was every bit as charming and funny and dorky in person as she is on her blog and it was fun meeting her. We went to a library sponsored event where Ree talked about homeschooling her four kids.

Waiting to hear Ree speak ...

She was very nervous, but needn't have been. Her presentation was engaging and funny.

Please ignore me and focus on the fact that Selah is petting Ree's head. So cute!

My autographed cook book!

Playing peek-a-boo at The Pizza Joint.

Playing peek-a-boo with Grandma Fran.

New Ride

Selah got a new car seat today!

And Daddy got a new car!

He found a great deal on this 2001 Jetta, and he's been looking for a car to drive while he does some work to the bus. It'll be nice to have a back-up vehicle that will fit the whole family!