Joy and Pain

Last night I attended a memorial service for Jeff's dear great-aunt, who was really more like a grandmother. Today, I got to see a video of my new baby. The life cycle complete. There is always life, and there is always death. Always joy and always pain. And what a strange and wonderful creature it is who can feel both the joy and the pain so deeply and almost simultaneously. It is a privilege to have been created with this capacity. In the coming days and months, we will continue to grieve and to rejoice, and we will marvel at the fact that we can do both and be thankful that we, of all the animals, were created in just this way.

Five

My Sweet Weston,

You turned five --not without notice--but in the midst of a busy time, and I just haven't had a chance to put my thoughts down for you yet. You're five--a whole handful! Wow! How did that happen?! It has been an amazing year, and I have had a blast being a part of all your growing and changing and learning.

A year ago, you couldn't hear. You had your tonsils removed and tubes put in your ears in February, and you have been a different child ever since. We have seen you blossom in so many ways. Your speech has improved, and you have become much more interactive. You have always been a happy guy, but your enthusiasm for just about everything has really grown, and you are generally so full of joy.

Besides your hunger for life, you also have an insatiable hunger for food. You have a particular fondness for Honey Buns, cheese enchiladas, lasagna and shrimp. But, the truth is, you will pretty much eat anything that doesn't eat you first! It's obvious that you are a growing boy.

You completed a year of preschool in May and started Kindergarten in August. You LOVE school and are always excited to learn new things. In fact, one of your favorite activities is to "go around the table and tell what everyone learned today." You can write all your letters, both upper and lower case, and you are an excellent reader. You also continually amaze us with your math skills. You do seem a little indifferent when it comes to reporting the weather, and you have often been known to report that it is cloudy and cold when it is actually sunny and warm. (Now that I think about it, it may not be indifference. Maybe you are actually on a path to become a weatherman). You have really enjoyed being involved in CC since September, and though you are the youngest kid in your class, you often impress your teachers and the other parents with your abilities and your tenderheartedness.

We see this tenderheartedness at home as well. You are always giving us physical and verbal confirmations of your love. My favorite is when you tell me you love me "too much." You are so thoughtful and are always giving little gifts, as well. You look for opportunities to help out around the house and almost always work joyfully and with all your heart. When you turned 5, we decided you were ready for a weekly paid job around the house (which you have been asking for for a while), and you became the bathroom man. You are doing a great job of it, and we are so proud of you!

You are fascinated by tools and have decided you want to be a builder when you grow up. You are hoping your first professional building project will be a vet clinic for Ruth, and you are anticipating having lots of opportunities to learn about the business as we build our new house next year.

Weston, you are such a special little boy, and it is a true blessing to know you! You make me smile every day and fill my heart with love. Daddy and I are so proud of you, and we love you so very much! You are our favorite five-year-old in the whole world!!

Love,
Mom

Progeso y Cozumel

Aboard the Ecstasy

Dickens on the Strand

Kemah Boardwalk and Galveston

Back Among the "Landlubbers"

Well, despite not packing all the essentials (like pjs, underwear and swimsuits), a little seasickness, some chillier-than-expected weather and a cancelled shore excursion, we had a wonderful vacation! (Thank goodness for big-box stores, ginger pills, sweaters and refunds)!

We spent Saturday afternoon and evening at the Kemah Boardwalk, where we rode rides and ate seafood and took in all the sights. Sunday morning dawned chilly, but that didn't keep us from playing on the beach after breakfast and then spending most of the rest of the day at Dickens on the Strand, where we saw Victorian England come alive before our very eyes. When the festival was over, we made our way to one of the historic neighborhoods, where many beautiful, old trees were destroyed during Hurricane Ike. In an effort to preserve something of the beauty and majesty of these trees, many of the homeowners hired chainsaw artists to carve the remaining trunks into beautiful sculptures. The results are absolutely amazing! When it got too dark to see the sculptures, we found another seafood restaurant on the beach, where we enjoyed the food, the view and celebrating the anniversary of when we got engaged 13 years ago to the day, on that very beach.

Monday morning found us back on the beach, under slightly warmer conditions, where we played for a while before boarding the Carnival Ecstasy. The cruise was absolutely wonderful, and we would highly recommend it to anyone considering this type of vacation! The kids, undaunted by the chill in the air and the water, spent most of their time aboard the boat swimming in the pool, lounging in the hot tub and zipping down the three water slides--while Jeff and I, huddled under towels and jackets, relaxed and read on the deck. There were many other things to do aboard the ship as well, and each day was packed with fun from early in the morning until late at night. On Wednesday, we arrived in Progresso, Mexico, where we saw ancient Mayan ruins, ate at an authentic Mexican buffet and took in a horse and dance show. Thursday brought us to Cozumel, where our sub-ocean boat tour was cancelled, due to high winds and unsafe conditions. Instead, we did some shopping and then spent the rest of the day aboard the boat, enjoying all the Ecstasy had to offer. As we made our way back to Galveston on Friday, we learned how to make towel animals and witnessed the carving of an ice sculpture aboard the ship. It was a fabulous vacation, and we are all looking forward to another opportunity like this in the future!

My plan is to select a *few* of the 500+ pictures I took and dole them out in batches during the upcoming week. If you aren't a picture person, we certainly won't be offended if you skip the forthcoming slideshows. But, if you'd like to have a visual of our trip, we welcome you to join us here over the next few days.

Sail Away With Me

The tickets have been purchased, the documents printed out and the bags packed (except for Jeff, who prefers to throw things in the bag as we are walking out the door, just to drive me crazy). Tomorrow, we are headed to Galveston, where we will enjoy the Kemah boardwalk, some fresh seafood and Dickens On The Strand, before boarding our cruise ship on Monday. We are so, so excited! I may not have a chance to update the blog while we're on the boat, but you can bet I'll have lots of pictures and some tales to tell when we get back next week.

Happenings

Breaking the Silence

This blog has been pretty silent for a while now, and it certainly isn't because we haven't been doing anything or don't have anything to report. It's because we have been in an Internet Black Hole for the last few days. I don't have time now to go into all the details, but here are some of the highlights:

• Weston completed his "13 Poster" and celebrated with a couple of games of pool and dinner at the local bowling alley.
• The kids finished up their CC semester and another month of school.
• We attended an amazing live performance of "The Miracle Worker" at the local community theater.
• We had a rockin' tamale-making party, complete with costumes, Latino music and our beloved Florez (a painting which, unfortunately, cannot be described). 
• I had a baby check-up, in which everything looked and sounded good.
• Ruth more than accomplished another AR reading goal by reading the unabridged version of "The Three Musketeers," which, by itself, is worth 42 AR points! 
• We made the trek out to the family ranch, where my father-in-law killed an enormous bull elk and Ruth shot her first deer--a beautiful 8-point black tail!
• We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in a rustic environment.
• Weston turned 5!
• We made another road trip to visit my side of the family. Here, we had another birthday party for Weston, read a family history (which includes Daniel Boone's brother and a lady named Elvira), and devoured another Thanksgiving dinner.
• Max is pretty much wearing underwear full-time now, with only a few accidents here and there.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and enjoyed all the time spent with family! We truly have so much to be thankful for, as you can see just from this short list! I hope that I will be able to add pictures of all our adventures at some point, but I'm not making any promises.

5th Birthday Party

Progress

Well, I did get a good surprise today, as it turns out. The most recent draft of our house plan came back from the draftsman today, and it is the closest to what we actually want of any of the plans we have received so far. It still needs to be tweaked a bit, but we feel like we are moving in the right direction. We still have no idea when any actual building will take place, but this certainly has to be taken care of first--and has to be right--before we can move on. A couple of weeks ago, we felt like we were moving backward, so forward progress is definitely a good thing. Stay tuned in the coming months for the rest of the story.

Surprises

Consider this a continuation of yesterday's post.

I generally love surprises, but tonight at 9:00, when we finally managed to get the children moving in the direction of bed, I received two surprises that I wasn't the least bit fond of. The first was the announcement from a certain little boy that his sheets were all wet from an accident LAST night. This is never one of my favorite surprises, but when I'm hearing about it for the first time all day at bedtime, and I have to scramble around to get new bedding, I like it much less. 

After dealing with this crisis, I walked into the boys' bathroom to turn off the light and noticed that the toilet had not been flushed, as per usual. I reached over and flicked the flusher, and nothing happened. A closer look showed that someone (and I know who, because I could hear him banging around upstairs while he was supposed to be napping) had unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet, sufficiently clogging it. Short on patience and equipment, I reached in with my bare hand to handle the situation (which certainly could have been worse), and then spent the next 10 minutes washing and re-washing my hands "just to be sure." Again, this is never a fun surprise, but it is considerably less fun at 9:00 pm, when all you want is for your kids to go to bed so you can prop your feet up. 

Such is life, I guess. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring a few good surprises. 

Boys

Being raised by a single-mom and having only a sister did not prepare me for the ways of boys. So, I'm getting my boy-training now. And I can tell you, the wiring is really different. There is a crazy obsession with bodily functions and parts. And critters. My boys capture new "pets" everyday, and today, I heard Max say he had caterpillar juice on his hand! Pockets are a prerequisite for dressing. And, not only are our jeans "stone-washed," but most of our other laundry is as well. Because all these little pockets hold a myriad of gravelly treasures. Hitting is a form of affection. And apparently, dropping something on a hard surface to see if it will break is a form of admiration. Boys don't get off of a piece of furniture; they jump off. Or roll off. Or slither. Or bounce. Sound effects are built in. Boys come preprogrammed with truck sounds, monster sounds, all the animal sounds (extinct, living and as yet undiscovered), train sounds, gun sounds, and tons of others sounds--some of which are not identifiable except by boys under a certain age. All are loud. Things are taken apart just to see if they can be put back together. And gravity is defied on a regular basis. It is certainly a different world than the one I grew up in, but it definitely keeps a mom on her toes. And I have to say, if you've never received a monster kiss or hug, you are missing out. 

Who says chivalry is dead?

In an effort to explore the new world around us, we headed over to Llano for dinner tonight. After a yummy meal at The Burger Bar, we made a stop at the grocery store for a few staples. I came up to the check-out line just seconds after a group of hunters with a full cart. They quickly realized what a light load I had compared to theirs and insisted I go ahead of them. As I thanked them and sat my two gallons of milk and carton of eggs on the counter, one of these kind gentlemen found his voice. "You look like a pretty good cook," he boomed. "We ought to just take you along with us!" I'm still not sure if it was my girth or my gender that led him to that conclusion, but my favorite (tongue-in-cheek) comment came from the female checker: "I have no idea what you can make with just eggs and milk, but you sure look like you could do it well!" I almost laughed out loud because Jeff and I had just been talking and laughing over dinner about a ridiculous man-on-the-street interview in The Onion (a spoof newspaper) where an old man was asked what he thought about the first woman to be elected president of Brazil. He answered that he'd be perfectly fine with it if the number was changed to "millionth" and the place was changed to "the kitchen." I wish I had had the wherewithal to tell Mr. Hunter that if he really wanted to have a fine meal prepared for him, he should go out to the van and talk to my husband.

Weekend at the ranch

Field Trip Pictures

Waiting for the show to begin

Posing with Mariposa

Guitar Man

Pickin' and Grinnin'

Shake it up, Baby 

Making Music

One Wild and Crazy Day

Or: How the Lord Taught Me Thankfulness

Our day began dark and early yesterday, when Ruth came into the bedroom reporting that she had thrown up, and Jeff was struck with a nauseousness of his own. Jeff was supposed to have a meeting in Austin, and the kids and I had a field trip planned to the same city. As it was still VERY early, we decided to sleep on it a while and decide whether to cancel these outings at a more reasonable hour. Jeff got up around 7:00 and decided that, while he wasn't feeling 100%, he would be able to make his meeting. And, he left for Austin around 7:30. Ruth hopped up around 7:15, not exactly hungry for breakfast, but swearing she felt worlds better. We decided we could still make our field trip, and we left the house around 9:00. (Much scheming had gone into trying to get us all to Austin in one vehicle, but alas, we just couldn't make it work). Ruth slept most of the way into Austin, and just as we pulled into a heavily trafficked construction zone on the edge of town, Ruth woke up reporting that she felt much better. Two minutes later, she knew with certainty that she did not and begged me to pull over. I managed to find a break in the orange construction barriers just in time, but I knew for sure that I couldn't expose the other kids on the field trip to her icky germs. I called Jeff around 10:30, just as his meeting was ending, and asked if he could possibly come get Ruth, so the boys could still enjoy the day. It turned out that he was only about 15 minutes away and was able to pick her up.

The boys and I enjoyed a performance at the Zach Scott Theatre about monarch butterfly migration, had a picnic lunch with our friends, and then headed over to the Texas Music Museum for an interactive program. We had a blast!

And, then, around 3:30, as we got ready to leave the museum, I realized that my keys were nowhere to be found. A quick trip to the parking lot revealed the keys sitting nicely on the console of my very locked vehicle.  Jeff (and his spare key) had long since left Austin, heading for my parents' house in Belton, and, of course, I have no spare key hidden outside the van like I should. I ran back inside to report my situation to the other moms on the field trip, and we all put our heads together to come up with a plan. One of the moms claimed to have a lot of experience with this sort of thing, and recommended that I call Yellow Cab, because they are cheapest. I think she means for me to catch a cab, but then she explains that they have a locksmith service. I decided to call Jeff to see if he might have any words of wisdom for me. That's when I realized that my phone was seriously low on battery. Several precious minutes of battery life later, I reached Jeff and the Yellow Cab Company. The Yellow Cab people promised to send someone but didn't give any indication of how long it would be before that someone arrived. In the meantime, my boys and the other kids were getting a bit stir crazy in the parking lot. The other mommies happened to know that IHOP was serving free pancakes, and they offered to take all the kids over there while I waited for the locksmith.

About 30 minutes later, the locksmith arrived and got to work. He tried the driver's door first and was unsuccessful after several attempts. Then, he tried the back sliding door and was able to get it open. Immediately, the alarm started blaring. I asked if it would shut off, and he assured me it would. I then asked if it would come back on in increments until it was reset or something. He assured me it would shut off after a few minutes, and that would be the end of it. I paid the man, and then off he went to rescue some other damsel in distress. The alarm had gone off like he said, but when I put the key in the ignition, it started up all over again (with the locksmith nowhere in sight), and I began to freak out, thinking this was what was in store for me all the way to Belton (along with an arrest for an obviously stolen vehicle). Well, the alarm stopped after a few minutes and I was able to make it to IHOP to collect the boys. When I put the van in "Park," though, the alarm started up again, to my mortification. I left it unlocked and screaming in the parking lot and just went inside. The boys sat happily covered in syrup, and my friends insisted that I eat something as well. And, that's when I realized that I had tummy problems of my own. I choked down a few bites to be polite, but pleaded the need to get on the road in order to make it to Belton at any reasonable hour, as it was already 5:20 and Austin traffic is TERRIBLE at that time of day. One look at I35 confirmed this, and one of the moms suggested heading east toward the 130 toll road to avoid the intensity of rush hour on 35.

I was sure that my van would go berserk when we got close to it but was pleasantly surprised to find that the alarm problem had worked itself out. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that my friend's advice about getting out of town was golden.

So, around 6:40, I arrived at my parents' house, where my tummy troubles manifested themselves in earnest.  And I put myself to bed around 9:00. I'll spare you the gory details, but will tell you it was a very short night. If I wasn't up taking care of my own needs, I was attending to Ruth, who still had a few lingering issues, and Weston, who was screaming bloody murder because of an obviously very real nightmare.

But in all my ups and downs, as I thought back over the day, I couldn't muster up any anger or resentment about the crazy day. I was only able to see all the things I had to be thankful for:

• A break in the construction at just the right time, and getting Ruth out of the van before she threw up.
• Our best laid plans to be in Austin in one vehicle not working out.
• Me needing Jeff just as his meeting was over, and his being so close to where we were. And, his being able to come and get Ruth and take her with him.
• A fun day with my boys.
• Having enough charge on my phone to make the phone calls I needed to make. 
• A locksmith who could take a credit card.
• Not being seriously financially burdened by having to pay someone to open the van.
• Friends who helped out by watching my kids for me--and even making this little set back seem like a fun part of the day for my boys.
• Free pancakes at IHOP.
• The alarm taking care of itself.
• An easier way out of Austin.
• Making it safely to Belton before my tummy problems got serious.
• A sweet husband.
• Parents who pampered my kids and me.
• Unlimited access to a washer and dryer, even in the middle of the night.
• The psychological benefits of a small dose of children's Tylenol.

I'll be the first to admit that this is not my normal reaction to days like this, but I could just feel the Lord wrapping thankfulness around my heart and reminding me of all these little blessings throughout the crazy day (and night). And, for that, I am truly tankful indeed.

Mrs. March's Mothering Class

I recently read the unabridged version of Little Women. Of course, I read some version of this classic as a girl, as has every other American girl who has ever lived, I suppose. And, I have seen a sampling of movies depicting this beautiful story. Ah, but to read it as an adult, and as a mother! It is so different and all the more wonderful!

It is my understanding that Louisa May Alcott was never married and never had children of her own, but it is clear from this somewhat autobiographical story that she had the most excellent of examples of parenthood and family life modeled to her in her growing up. I was awed and inspired and challenged by Mrs. March's mothering of her blossoming daughters. I loved how she let each child make her own way, but how she was always there, loving and caring and ever-so-carefully steering her girls in the right direction. She was a woman who truly understood the unique position the Lord had given her within her family. She worked hard, she carried her burdens gracefully, she managed her household firmly but gently, she respected her husband, and most importantly, she recognized her inability to do any of this on her own. She pointed her children always to the Lord and encouraged them to seek His counsel even above hers. My heart was stirred within me as I read of Mrs. March's interactions with her girls, and as I really began to understand the character behind the character. This is the kind of mother I want to be.

Moms, I want to encourage you to read (or re-read) this book, if you get the chance. Yes, it is a coming-of-age story and a wonderful read for any young lady who is beginning to make her way in the the world. But, it is also an amazing and inspiring parenting resource.

I will leave you with just one of Mrs. March's golden nuggets of wisdom:

"My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning and may be many, but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength. Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, hopes, sins, and sorrows, as freely and confidently as you come to your mother."

In case you haven't heard...

...We are going to have a new baby!! I am just shy of the twelve-week mark, which means Baby #4 should be joining us sometime around the end of April or early in May. We are super-excited about this little addition (which currently happens to be about the size of a plum, in case you were wondering). Ruth and Weston immediately polarized on the boy/girl issue in favor of their own sides, and Max promptly suggested the name "Sassafrass," regardless of sex. We will not be finding out the sex before the big day this time around, so, sorry if you aren't one for the suspense. And whether you like the suspense or not, we hope you'll join us for the journey!

(Weston) Wayne's World

On Tuesday, in Math class:

Jeff: Weston, what is the last day of the year?

Weston: December 1st.

Jeff: No, that is the first day of December, which is the last month of the year. What is the last day of December?

Weston: December Last.
__________________________________________________________
Again, during Tuesday's Math class:

Jeff: If today were December 31, what would tomorrow be?

Weston: Wednesday
______________________________________________________________
A story problem made up by Weston:
"If a fish had one finger, and the fish got another finger, how many fingers would the fish have?
--I'm saying "the fish" because I don't know if the fish is a boy or a girl--"
______________________________________________________________
Another story problem by Weston:
"If Daddy had nine tigers, and he got nine more tigers, how many tigers would he have?
He would have 18 tigers. Wow, Dad, that is really a lot of tigers!"
______________________________________________________________
Weston's favorite game:
"Build-A-Bed-Out-Of-Pillows." Seriously. He spends a lot of time building different configurations of beds and trying them out.

Pumpkin Patch

The Slab

We have found a new favorite place to hang out in the Highland Lakes area. Not far from us, just outside of Kingsland, is a place known simply as "The Slab." It is a natural rock outcropping surrounded by mostly shallow water and a lovely little beach. The water is just right for the kids to wade and play in, and we had a wonderful time there on this beautiful day! (Max is missing from the pictures, because he is spending the week in Pecos with his grandparents). I have a feeling this is a place we will be frequenting.

Two Months of School

I cannot believe that two months of school have already flown by. We have accomplished so much and have had such a good time!

Weston loves his new position as a student! He works hard every day and is so proud of himself. In these last two months, he has finished his 10 and 11 reading posters, and is half-way through his 12 poster. He has worked through the entire upper case alphabet and is currently working through the lower case letters. And he impresses us every day with his math skills. He can count to 100 by ones, twos, fives and tens, and he can get pretty far counting by threes and fours. He is also working on adding and subtracting, and he often asks when he can move on to multiplication!

Ruth is studying Chemistry this year and has really enjoyed all the science experiments. She also loves studying Latin and has quite an impressive vocabulary. She is writing longer and harder papers for Writing class--sometimes creative writing, in preparation for her PSIA competition in the spring, and sometimes factual report papers, following the MLA format. Ruth is studying Early Modern Times in History and has covered such topics as The Holy Roman Empire, The Protestant Rebellions, King James and the establishment of Jamestown in the New World, The Northwest Passage, Henry Hudson, Warlords of Japan, Colonies of the New World, The Pilgrims and Thanksgiving, The Spread of Slavery and the Tobacco Industry, and The Middle East. We have done some fun cooking projects, as well as some other neat projects. She is also rocking right along in Music, Math, Grammar and Spelling.

And, both kids are thoroughly enjoying their CC classes and are learning so much there. Plus, we've even gotten to go on a filed trip to the National Fish Hatchery at Inks Lake.

Scroll over the pictures to pause the slideshow and see the captions.

Weekend Review

We had a very fun weekend around here. On Friday night, we attended a small-town football game and had a blast. The kids were mainly interested in getting snacks from the concession stand, but also loved the mascot, cheerleaders and band. I'm not sure if they actually knew a football game was going on out on the field, but they did have a good time up in the stands.

We spent the day in Marble Falls on Saturday, with the main objective of celebrating Weston's completion of another reading poster. He chose to play miniature golf for his reward. Everyone definitely had their own style, but we had so much fun and can't wait to do it again soon!

This afternoon, it was Ruth's turn. She has been working on a reading goal of 50 AR points, which she met this week. She chose to go see the new movie Secretariat for her reading reward. But, since we didn't feel that our whole group was equal to the task of sitting still and quiet for two hours, we split up. Ruth and I enjoyed our girl time at the movie, while the boys played at the park and bought new cowboy boots.

Jeff and I are so proud of all our kiddos and were thankful to have this weekend to spend together!

This Child Will Self-Destruct

(And will certainly inflict much heartache on his mother as he does).

This morning, while I lazily and stubbornly remained in my bed, before I was fully aware of the going-ons of the world, I heard a sound: "Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!" My sleepy little mind tried to process the sound, but gained little traction on the mystery. Then I heard it again: "Thwack!" "Hmm," I thought, "that sounds sort of odd...Hold on a second. I think I know that sound. It sounds like a knife on a glass cutting board. I should probably get up and investigate." Assuming Ruth, who has a passable set of knife and cooking skills, was putting together a fancy breakfast, I groggily made my made my way to the kitchen. Suddenly, I was wide awake. For who did I find happily hacking up a banana with a small chef's knife but my crazy, completely unchaperoned youngest child. Since this child has been able to talk, he has started his day with this sentence: "I want my beckbis." I guess this morning he just decided to get it himself. Fortunately, no fingers were lost in the making of this breakfast.

The morning progressed, and this child went outside to play, while Weston and I made our way through reading class. We were lying on my bed, reading "Baby Bunny," when a small, whining figure appeared at the door. Based on the sound of his cry, I expected he had stumped his toe or bumped his head and just wanted some acknowledgement of his suffering before skipping off to resume his play. However, when I looked up from the book, I was greeted with a bloody hand and arm. My heart did a flip-flop before I scooped the child up and rushed him into the bathroom for further examination. I found that he had sliced almost half-way down his pinky finger with an obviously sharp object. When I finally got the bleeding slowed down and the wound bandaged up, I asked him to show me the knife, thinking back to my first image of the morning. A trail of blood began just outside my bedroom door, but in my haste I failed to follow it strictly and veered off tot he kitchen, where I could find no evidence of a recently used knife of any kind. That's when Max told me the knife was outside. Sure enough, the blood trail led right out the back door and across the patio to a chair which held a box cutter. What?! Technically, it wasn't a knife, so perhaps my lecture from the morning had hit its mark and this was just something else to be examined. The cut was not severe, though the bleeding was impressive.

And if that weren't enough, after lunch, while I was administering a Spelling test to Ruth, the boys were playing in the living room, where I was sure no sharp objects lurked. But when I finished the test and started gathering up boys for naps, I found that Max had a bloody cut on his little toe. No explanation was offered for this little mishap, though I did ask several times. He simply didn't know what happened, and he didn't seem to understand what I was so fired up about. But, he was thrilled with the addition of yet another bandage.

I better see if I can get an appointment with a stylist soon, because the gray hairs are definitely multiplying. I'm afraid this child will be the death of me (and of himself)!

Day Out with Thomas

Twisted Oak Campout

The Theology of Weston

" Joseph was sold to The 'Potamus as a slave."


"When Joseph was in prison, he met The Cup Man."


"Moses helped the Satellites escape from Egypt."


"Dear Lord, please give us a microscope!" 

CC Field Trip--National Fish Hatchery

Looking for birds

Do you see what I see?

Overlook Trail

Inks Lake Dam

Hatchery ponds

Taking a break

Fishy fishy

Run, fishies, run!

Don't get caught by the fisherman!

picnic time