Family Snapshot

Here are some family pictures that Berk took for us this weekend ...

My beautiful babies!

Silly picture!

"Back When I Was A Kid ...

... we didn't have any fancy dishwashers like you whippersnappers have today!" Actually, they had been invented, we just never had one. And now that ours broke, we don't have one, either. When I was a kid, my big brother Stuart and I would take turns washing and rinsing. We hated the chore, but were determined to make the time pass more quickly by having fun at it. More often than not, one would read aloud while the other worked, trading off back and forth. Or we'd play word games, like the Alphabet Game. We'd pick a category like cars or animals and take turns, each naming items in alphabetical order. We also played a game called "Stadt, Land, Fluß" - where we'd have to name a city, country, and body of water that started with a particular letter. Another favorite was where we'd say a word and the other person had to come up with a song that contained that word. We'd also do a similar game with a phrase from a song, and the other one had to sing the song.

And now my children are beginning to know the joy of a life spent standing at the sink, elbow-deep in sudsy water.

Waiting for Joe to come rinse ...

Even Selah likes to get in on the action when we let her!

I just realized that these pictures make it seem like Kaity is always washing, but they do take turns!

The Three Amigos

My three little lovelies certainly have their moments! Just the other day they were wrestling around on the couch being silly. I don't know where they get that!

Joe's pretending to be asleep, and Selah is pretending to bite Kaity.

They have so much fun together!

A Visit With Granny

I have an incredible backlog of pictures to share! I really should post more often so this doesn't happen ... Anyway, today I'm sharing the pictures from our visit to Granny's a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get snapshots of everyone we saw, but we were blessed to be able to see a lot of our family on "the Hill", including Uncle Donnie, Aunt Cindy, Eric, Aunt Belinda, Uncle Linwood, Uncle Ray, Aunt Glenda ...

Selah with her cousin Jarrett, my cousin Jessica's son. (Jarrett is a few months older than Selah.) Despite being toddlers, they got along immediately! This picture was taken just moments after their meeting.

Joe got a haircut from Uncle Ray! He desperately needed it. Joe is also in that stage where he will not just act naturally for pictures. I plan to mark these for use in future blackmail.

Selah and Jarrett, again! They had been separated and were SO glad to see each other.

Jessica with her younger daughter, Abby.

Abby and Jarrett's big sister, Kiley Joe. (She a few months older than Joe.)

Granny and Selah!

Hugs with Granny and her namesake.

Kaity, Joe, Granny, and Ali-cat.

Daddy's Little Helper

"Whatcha doooin'?"

"No, Daddy, you need the floozle to attach the whatsit to the thingamajigger."

"Here, I'll take 'er for a spin to test it out."

"Woo-hoo! I can't believe Daddy let me drive!"

"Um, Mommy, you're kind of in my way."

Three Cute Things - Selah Edition

1. Selah has learned to roar. It's indescribably adorable. She leans over, squinches up her face and says, "Rawr!" with her mouth wide open. Then she giggles and shrieks because she amuses herself so much. You are required to roar back, which also makes her giggle.

2. Selah did Pilates with me today. SO. CUTE. The kids were squealing and admiring her, so she really hammed it up.

3. At lunch, I asked Kaity to ask the blessing. Just as we bowed our heads and got still and quiet, Selah hollered, "Cake-oo!" which is how she says, "Thank you!" We knew it was a coincidence, but it was precious nonetheless.