Happy Reformation Day!

Ah, yes, Reformation Day, when Martin Luther dressed up as a monk and went knocking on neighborhood doors hoping to score some good chocolate... Just kidding!

We don't always dress up to do Halloween, but we did this year:

It's Upside Down Joe!

Lauryn was a sort-of kitty cat.

I went as a housewife. Ha!

Can you guess what Kaity is? An Iron Chef!

Selah, our little stinker.

I told her to turn around and spray me. She thought that was hilarious.

Sleepy kitty ...

Mnozil Brass

Not long ago, our friend Chad introduced Jeff to Mnozil Brass, a virtuoso ensemble that is "probably the strangest brass septet ever to emerge from Vienna."* They are a group which could be described as seven Victor Borges or Mr. Bean crossed with Monty Python, plus brass instruments.

Last week, Jeff discovered that Mnozil would be performing a mere six hours away in Gainesville, Florida at the University of Florida. He immediately called Chad, and after a few hiccups, they decided they HAD to make the trip! It was a one day, 800-mile round trip that Jeff says was totally worth it. Mnozil Brass plays with "an open mind, typical Viennese 'Schmäh' (almost impossible to find an English equivalent, but best rendered as a kind of sarcastic charm), along with immense technical skills."* But you can see for yourself here:

And here:

I'm completely jealous that I didn't get to go, but it was just impossible this time. Next time, though ...

*Quotes are from the University of Florida Performing Arts 2013-2014 season program

Highly Illogical

I'm pretty sure Leonard Nimoy is feeling a disturbance in the Force ...

Mother's Helper

Since Lauryn was born, Kaity has wanted to get out the baby carrier. As you can see, her dream finally came true! She carried her around quite a bit the other day, while doing her schoolwork at the same time.

Lauryn think it's delicious!

Selah wanted to get in the picture!

After she'd been in there a while, it was soaked! So gross ...

Kids Say the Darndest Things

You just can't make this stuff up ...

**I called the kids "guys" while trying to get their attention and Selah said, ""I not 'guy', I Selah-Bella. We not guys anymore, that's Joe!"

**Kaity, noticing the bleach splotches on Selah's jeans (long story!): "What happened to your pants?"
Selah, confused: "I don't know. They're all strange!"
Moments later, Selah calmly explains why she can't find her flip-flop: "Kaity, the monster taked my flip-flop."

**Jeff and Joe were playing a card game the other night. Joe made a move that showed he didn't understand the rules. Jeff said, "I thought we already taught you how to play this game." Joe responded, "What? You can't expect a man to remember everything!" 

**And speaking of being a man, I let Joe fix the piano bench last week! The bottom that forms the storage portion of the bench had come off. I showed him how to hammer the nails in and then let him have at it! He did a great job. 

**Selah has a funny little obsession with houseflies. She seems to think they are all the same fly. Every time she sees one, no matter where, she squeals, "It's my best friend fly! My best friend fly is back!" Today she saw one buzzing around and she came over to me with a petulant look and complained in a disappointed tone, "The fly won't come to me! I want to hug him."

Kaity's 13th Birthday Party!

For Kaity's birthday this year, she wanted to have an Operation Christmas Child packing party. If you're not familiar with OCC, a brief synopsis is that shoeboxes are packed with a variety of items like candy, toys and toiletry items. The boxes are distributed all over the world with this purpose: "The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ."

Kaity invited a few friends to come and asked them to bring money to shop for items to fill shoeboxes instead of a gift for herself.

When the girls arrived, we headed out to our local dollar store to find everything we needed.

The girls decided to do 3 boxes - one for an older girl, one for a younger girl, and one for a boy in the middle.

They really enjoyed choosing different items for each box, carefully considering what each child would like and what would be appropriate no matter what country the box ended up in.

After shopping, we went back home and the girls wanted to open presents.

While I prepared the girls' pizzas, they took over the kitchen table to pack their boxes. They carefully divided out items we'd bought to match each child.

This is the older girl's box: candy, T-shirt, socks, bouncy balls, ponytail holders, deodorant, hairbrush, toothbrush/paste, soap, washcloth, chapstick, crayons, notebook and stickers.

For her birthday "cake", Kaity opted to have mini cheesecakes. I served them plain along with toppings like caramel sauce, oreo bits, mini chocolate chips and strawberries.

A Portrait of Her Mommy as a "Young" Woman

When I got Lauryn's 3-6 month clothes out, I was excited to see she had a pair of yellow footed pajamas just like Selah! I probably don't need to tell you that my excitement paled in comparison to Selah's!

Lauryn was not so enthusiastic.

Late this morning, Selah decided to draw a picture of me. I LOVE this stage in my kids' lives. It is hilarious to see their perception of what the world around them looks like. It's like a psychology experiment. In this first picture, Selah wanted to see my hand so she could draw it more accurately.

Here's a close-up of her drawing. My head is on the left, legs on the right. If you've ever seen my feet, it will no doubt greatly amuse you to know she spent a lot of time on them! Those objects all the way to the right are my toes. The things floating in the air next to my head are my hands and fingers. And apparently I've gotten my hair cut like Calvin recently.

She added my name to the picture, in the top right corner. Then she drew herself next to me. She had me trace her hands at the top, and she put the rest of her self-portrait at the bottom.

Here's the finished product!

My Little Sous Chef

Last night I made fried rice and egg rolls - with the help of a cute little sous chef! She helped me seal the chicken, carrot, and cabbage-stuffed rolls with water and line them up on the tray. Then she brushed them with the oil/butter mixture.

(The laptop is there so Pandora could keep us company. It was a good run tonight of The Temptations, Eric Clapton, Dr. Hook, James Taylor, Elton John and more!)

Pouring the eggs into the fried rice ...

... letting it cook ...

...  adding in the soy sauce.

Lauryn ~ Three Months!

Three months and thirteen years!

This next picture is a snap of Kaity's scrapbook. She was 3-1/2 months, rolling over for the first time!

Here's Joe at 3-1/2 months:

Here's Selah at 3 months:

Thirteen Going on Thirty

I never would have thought I'd have two daughters celebrating thirteen years and three months on the same day, but that's just what's happening today! Thirteen years ago Jeff and I were blessed with our sweet Kaitlyn Grace! I had just a year and a few months left of college when we learned we were expecting. Knowing my dream and calling was to be a stay-at-home mom, we simply shifted the timeline up and began this crazy adventure of parenting! I've been living the dream ever since. Kaity is a joy to us and we are blessed to call her our own. Last night we had her birthday dinner (roast beef sandwiches, macaroni & cheese, green beans, coleslaw and black eyed peas - with Toffee-Apple Stuff for dessert). Ken and Cheryl came for dinner to celebrate with us.

Luggage from Grammie and Bobba!

Teasing, I asked her what she was looking for, and she said, "Well, you hid presents in Joe's!"

Kaity's expression when the smaller bag started ringing!

Her brand new cell phone!

Joe chose the bag she's holding, and he got her a pair of fuzzy socks and a huge toy grasshopper.

Opening her other big present - (gulp) Make-up!

I think we'll be seeing this pose a lot ...

 I'll be posting again later today with Lauryn's three month pictures, so stay tuned!