A Rose By Any Other Name ...

Our littlest girl has a name at last!

Lauryn has been on our list for a long time - I've wanted an "L" initial because I love the way it sounds and looks and I love to write it in cursive ... we chose the "-yn" spelling because it echoes the spelling of my mom's name and of Kaitlyn's.

Elyse is a popular German name meaning "Pledged to God". It's very similar to another family name, Lois, without being the same name. A bonus is that it is the middle name of two lovely, godly women I know.

McKinney is Jeff's mom's maiden name. We have always liked it and wanted to use it but have been hesitant because it's also our nephew's name. Because Lauryn will have Elyse as her official middle name we wanted to honor Jeff's mom and their Irish heritage by using it here. 

A New Hair ... Don't.

Several weeks ago, our youngest little troublemaker got hold of a pair of scissors and cut a swatch of hair out of what would be bangs if she had them. I've been waiting for the hair to grow out enough to actually trim bangs all the way across in order to even out the look a little! That section is still a bit short, but I decided it was close enough to work.

Here she is, in all her banged and silly glory:

CHEESE!

You can see where she cut out a chunk, but I didn't want to go that short with her bangs. They'll even out eventually!

The Best Laid Plans ...

As Robert Burns famously said - "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley ..." which is most commonly translated, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry ..."

Joe vividly illustrated that for us today! We took the kiddos to Jeff's parents' house last night in anticipation of our departure to Tennessee to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. Thankfully we did not plan to leave until tomorrow since this afternoon I got an apologetic phone call from Cheryl letting me know that Joe had wrecked his bike and gashed his chin on the bike's handlebars. She thought it would probably need stitches. She was right! I drove out there and picked him up, taking him to the local urgent care facility.

He was pretty nervous, as he didn't remember the last time he needed stitches. Anyway, Joe is a brave soul and five stitches later he's doing much better!

Warning: Graphic-ish "before" shot to follow!

Bless his heart.

Nobody is a Secret Agent - Chapter 7, part 3

Nobody is a Secret Agent - Chapter 7, Part 3

By Kaity Pittard, Extraordinaire

Previously... "Do you know what's in that door over there?"

"No, I've never really wondered, want to find out?"

"Sure". She pulled out a key and handed it to Jessica. Jessica walked over and put the key in the lock and turned it. The door swung open...

Inside the door were some plastic bags and twist ties, like the ones used to package the ginger bread men in the stand above. In between the two piles of objects was a small roundish object wrapped in heavy brown paper. Jessica gasped, she slowly pulled it out. She pushed back the paper, the surface was glistening red, the missing ruby! Jessica had done it! The girl was curious, 

    "What's that?" Tara asked.

    "A stolen ruby, and I just found it!"

    "A stolen ruby?! Here? How?"

    "That's what I'm wondering", said Jessica. Tiger walked by, and through the glass front of the bakery, saw the scene inside. She rushed in.

    "What's going on?" said Tiger, in a slightly baffled yet inquiring tone.

    "I found it, I found the ruby!"

    "Really?, that's great! You'd better get home before your Mom realizes you're gone!"

    "You're right, bye!" They walked outside.

    "Here, hand me the ruby, I'll return it." Jessica gave her the brown parcel. As it exchanged hands, someone darted forward and grabbed it. Judging by the suddenness of his appearance, he had been waiting outside for her to leave so he could recover his treasure. It had to be the thief. Immediately, they ran after him. It had stopped raining, but it was hard not to slip. He was very fast, they rounded turn after turn but could never get him. Tiger made her go back down the tube to the Agency. With all the action, Jessica could hardy stand to leave, but she did what she was told. As she called Julie to open the tube, she heard the chase get farther ad farther away, finally fading as Jessica jumped in.

~

    "Where in the world were you?!"

    "I was looking for you!"

    "Don't yell at me, I told you to stay in one spot if you're lost!"

    "Yeah Jessica, Mom said-"

    "Knock it off Kyle!"

    "Calm down you two!" Jessica was trying to find an excuse for being missing. She had just found her Mom and brother in the store after getting back. She figured she would have to withstand her Mom's wrath.

    "I'm sorry Mom, I panicked."

    "Alright, don't let it happen again. Let's just finish up shopping and get home." Whew! Jessica was surprised she was let off so easily. It wouldn't happen again, she had to be more careful.

Chapter Eight Coming soon,

Something Surprising will be revealed about Alice!

Scripture Scraps

I saw this idea on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago and I knew I had to do it! It's a scripture memory book, made in scrapbook style. Since I've begun mine, Selah has already proven that she loves to look through it. The idea is to intersperse family and familiar pictures with relevant scripture that you want to memorize.

Kaity has enjoyed the project, too, and made a page of her own with her favorite verse, 1 Timothy 4:12. I'm really looking forward to adding more and more pages so that we can hide God's word in our hearts.

Like Father, Like Daughter

I guess she's seen her daddy in this position enough times that it just seemed like the thing to do!

She had all the necessary tools -  a set of dominoes, keys, and her "scooverdrive".