A Beautiful Day for Swingin'!

Saturday after Josie's soccer game, we went over to Nana and Papa's house. It was a great day. My brother and his family came out with their new puppy. It was warm for about an hour, and the kids had a great time playing outside. :)

Cayden, Josie and Addie on the slide. :)

She takes swinging VERY seriously.

There's a smile! :)

No need to push her!

"You can fly, you can fly, you can fly" sung in your best peter pan voice. :)

A Visit From Lizzy

We were SO blessed to have our dear friend Liz to come stay with us for a week. We got to know Lizzy well when she was a student at the Bible Institute here. She is Emma's closest friend, and like a sister to me. She was able to fly out from CO because her mom wanted her to be able to see us. (Thanks Mrs. Hess!)

We had such a great time talking, watching movies, she gave me an hour massage!( did I say that she was studying to be a massage therapist? Well, she is WONDERFUL!!!)

We already miss her so much, and can't wait to see her again in June!

Did I also mention she is teeny? She is wearing my kindergartner's shirt here!

Liz used to volunteer at Emma's ballet school, so she went with Emma for a visit there too.

Snuggling with Jo.

New Things Happening, and Deep Thoughts

A few exciting things have happened at our house lately.

Josie decided she wanted to get her ears pierced. We always said that when they ask, we will let them. (I had to wait until I was 18, and that was a little long I think). So, here are her cute little ears. What a big girl she is becoming!

Emma also lost a tooth. That brings the tooth count up to four now, and all on the bottom! Her top ones have been wiggly for a while, so she may lose them soon too.

I told her to smile like that. :)

On to the deep thought of the day. :) I told Josie at lunch that she needed a napkin. She said "I don't need a napkin. My tongue is my napkin". Um, no.

I can't say that I'm surprised.

Sugar is Sweet and so is Maple Surple

This past Tuesday I was able to chaperone Emma's class field trip to see how maple syrup was made. I was so glad to be able to go with her. For one thing, I didn't really know much about the process, and was eager to see it. I also wanted to see what Emma was like in her school environment. Mostly, I just wanted to spend time with her.

I felt like the paparazzi with all the pictures I snapped. At least I didn't embarrass Emma. Well, with the camera that is. I'm sure something I said or did was embarrassing. That's just part of being a mom, right? I know she didn't want to sit with me on the bus, but I was allowed to sit in the next seat over. Thanks, Emma.

Craft time! Making wooden name badges with "thumb-print" animals.

Emma learned all about the children's job in making syrup during the pioneer days. You can bet she loved this, but if there is any doubt, see this post. :)

Learning how to tap a tree. It was all very hands on. Well, for the kids. I could only watch. And take a ba-zillion pictures.

Here we are at "Bryan's sugar shack" watching the cooking process for the syrup. This is not Bryan. This is Bob. I don't know that there really is a Bryan.

One taste? That's it? No little sample bottles? No maple sugar candy? No pancake breakfast? You TEASE!

Springtime Cheer!

Look what came in the mail today! A box of springtime cheer from my dear friend Lindsey.

Pretty cheery, huh? I thought it could not get any better, but then I opened it.

I know, even cheerier, right? I had to restrain myself from ripping into the chocolates before I took a picture. They are delectable by the way.

Oh, I almost forgot. One of my favorite parts...

You see, it just wouldn't be Lindsey without magazine scraps. She has quite a talent of crafting with magazine pictures, so when I saw this in the bottom of the box, my heart ached. I miss my dear friend so much. Not for long though. She is coming to visit in a couple of weeks, flying from all the way out in Oregon. I can't wait! But, until then, looks like I'll be sipping coffee with Josh, reading some new books, and writing notes about how cute my girls are in their spring shirts dancing to all sorts of new music.

THANKS SO MUCH, LINDSEY!!!

Winning Weekend!

This past weekend Josh and I, along with a hundred other students and staff from the Jackson New Tribes Bible Institute campus traveled about 360 miles to our other Bible Institute campus in Waukesha, WI.

Why the trip you ask? Well, for a little healthy competition. We went for our field day, to take home the tribal cup that has been in their possession for the last TEN years!

The students practiced so much! Josh was one of the coaches for the volleyball team, so we were there to support them. I am really proud of all of them!

It was a lot of fun! I did miss the girls, even though they were in good hands. A weekend away from my cuties is a long time!

Oh, and before I forget. We won. That's right, baby. We have the trophy now! Woohoo!

Riding out to Waukesha. We had such a great time!

Waukesha was so hospitable and welcoming! :)

I think this picture of coach Josh and coach Clint is SO funny. :)

All of the teams did so great! Check out Ryan flying through the air!

They were a little excited to finally have the trophy again after a decade!

Can't forget our "JaXoN" mascot! :)

Waukesha is so beautiful!

Just for Laughs...

...No time to write. We are busy packing for our trip to Wisconsin. I am so excited!

I thought I would leave you with this. Jo Jo is a girl after my own heart. :)

Larry, Mo and Curly

I live with a couple of knuckle-heads. Here is photographic documentation. They started out this way, and it is in no way a result of my parenting.

Or, at least, that is what I tell myself so I can sleep at night.

A Little of Her Father in Her

Josie is often referred to as a little Tamara. She looks a lot like me when I was little. She likes Sonny the most out of all the girls, and I LOVED dogs when I was a girl. She also loves to be cuddled (me too!), and hugs just about everyone she has the slightest feelings for (guilty of that as well! What can I say? I am a hugger. I realize there are those of you who are not, and I apologize for getting you before you had a chance to duck out of the way!).

Although she is a lot like me, there are some glaringly obvious Josh-isms too. Besides her innate desire to stick out her tongue when the camera is out just like Josh , and her deep love of the oreo like Josh, she now also is an indoor soccer player (something you will probably never see me do, as I lack the coordination to walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone kick a ball while running!).

Josie started playing on an indoor soccer team at the YMCA. Josh is the assistant coach. After a couple of practices, Saturday was her first game. Her team, also known as the Smurfs, won!!! It was so much fun to watch.

Josie taking some warm up shots. She did score a goal during this game, but for the other team! I guess she really is more like her mother! :)

Look at her kicking! She is the fastest on her team. That girl can run! This is not just proud Mama talking. She is FAST!

She is getting to be such a big girl!

A Little Bit of Prairie Life...

Last week at Emma's school they had a dress up day. It is reading month, and in honor of that, students were asked to dress up as their favorite book character. Emma picked, you guessed it, Laura Ingles.

When Emma was three, the love affair started with prairie life. We were living on Berry Rd. at a missionary house that had the whole Little House series. I read them all to Emma (except Farmer Boy, b/c who wants to read a story about a boy? I know, I know, it's every one's FAVORITE. I'll read it one day!). Ever since then we have played pretend prairie girl a whole lot, and every time we eat maple syrup Emma suggests we pour it on snow.

I wish you could have seen the day she learned there was a tv show. She was so excited she cried. :)

So, it was no surprise she picked to dress as Laura. My only problem is we had nothing to wear! Luckily our neighbor girl has an affinity for prairie girl culture as well.

Such a pioneer. I don't even mind when she calls me "Ma". :)

Spring is in the Air!

Friday afternoon I walked home from work with the girls from school, and I just couldn't make them go inside! It was GORGEOUS! The yard was still a little soggy, and had a couple of puppy land mines (if you catch my drift) left from when it was snowy and Sonny just ran out, went where ever, and then ran back in. So, with that in mind, we stuck to the sidewalks. Luckily our yard is 90% cement anyhow (never thought I'd LIKE that fact) so we played with chalk. Addie eventually tired, so she napped. Emma and Josie, in their few years on this earth, have learned that when you have a warm day in March, you make the most of it! Although the rest of the weekend was rainy and cool, Friday is how I choose to remember the weekend. :)

Please read this! 78 degrees baby! That's it FORTY degrees warmer than today!!!

Taking advantage of sunlight, I did a little photo shoot of the girls.


Oh, they melt my heart! So sweet!

Tulips already! Okay, these are potted and usually indoors, but they were begging me to go outside too.

We even opened the windows! :)

Ah, The Life of a Dog...

...Just laying around. No laundry to do, no carpool to drive, no worries or cares. I wonder if I could do it...

...naaah. I would get bored too easily. Besides, laying on the floor is not that great anyhow.