Costumes!

Rite of Passage

I went crabbing this morning! It was cold and our catch was a catch of one, but the water was pretty and the fellowship rich. 

Happy birthday Kip!

Famous Cooker / Famous Race Car Driver

Can you guess who is the cooker and who is the driver? (We are both wearing one earring, "Because famous people only wear one earring.")

Investing

Confession time:

 I so often find myself putting true, investing-type parenting at the bottom of my never-ending to-do list. You know the list full of "good" things, like making real food, keeping clothes in the drawers, squeezing in exercise and healthful time outdoors, remembering to feed the cat and give him his medicine....even keeping up this blog.  Spending quality time with the kids becomes just one more to-do.  There, I said it.

I've felt really convicted about my "natural" tendency to make accomplishing things on the list all important, so I'm trying to be more mindful and purposeful in spending time with the kids, not trying to "do," just enjoying being together and living in their world. 

So here's some snapshots of our moments together these last couple weeks:

 Early morning Lego building

 

Last rites for fishes 

 County fair

 

Camp fires and marshmallow roasting at the farmhouse

I was introduced to a facebook page recently, called "Kids Were Here." It's all photos by great photographers of the "evidence" of their children in daily life.  It's awesome!

So, today I had my eye out for that sort of thing, and here's what I found:

Kind of a fun way to look at life, huh?

A Roof Over Our Heads

Thanks so much to Mom & Dad for making this possible!

Special Glasses

I tried a new afternoon schedule today.  No nap for Kip so that she and Gus can go to bed at the same time.  Usually she sleeps for so long in the afternoon that she is up 'til all hours of the night, while he is sacked out at 7 sharp.  Anyway, she was supposed to be looking at books quietly in her room.  After a few minutes, however, she popped out....looking like this:

When I asked what was going on, she replied, "I am wearing my special glasses so that I can check peoples' blood in their tummies."  

Where do they come up with this stuff??

Little Man...isn't so little anymore

 Wow. Just can't believe it.

We had Gus' 6th birthday party ON his actual birthday this year, with lots of cousins and his best friends from next door.  Lego craziness happened.

Our big purchase for him this year was a tag-along bike that attaches to Scott's bike to create a kind of tandem.  He is loving it...even working on pushing Scott along himself!

 

Gus is still my enthusiastic, passionate boy.  He is fascinated with all things tiny, mechanical or old-fashioned.  He loves to swim and drink anything through a straw.  He spends his days building lego cities, painting anything that needs a touch-up, and collecting rocks & insects.  He likes to tease his sister, but also loves to make her laugh.  Most of all, he is a keen observer and finder of all sorts of unusual things which will be forever preserved in his many collections.  

We love you, Gus-man.  Hope you have a wonderful time being 6!

Kindergarten!!

Yesterday was Gus' first day of kindergarten!

Teacher: Mrs. Mildenberger

Highlight: 2 recesses!!

Milestone