Let's go fly a kite...

Spring is here! In honor, I've decided to show a few of my favorite flower photographs that I've taken over the years.

Even though I enjoy the cold weather, I find Spring to be so rejuvenating. Our backyard is especially delightful with the cool breeze coming in off of the water. Last night when Jason got home, I asked him to grill some fish for dinner. While he was grilling, the girls decided that they wanted to fly their kites. We got these kites last year and didn't have much success with them. I think it's because we got them later in the Summer, and there wasn't as much wind. The kids spent most of their time running with the kites "flying" about 2-4 feet off the ground.

Needless to say, my hopes were not high that they would have any greater success this time around, so I left them with Jason to help them while I worked on things inside. I could hear them laughing and playing, and I figured they were having a good time. All of a sudden, Jason knocked on the back door to get my attention.

This scared me and made me think that something was wrong, and I got a sick feeling in my stomach as I remembered what happened last year. Because they couldn't get their kites too far off the ground last year, the strings were obviously down closer to their bodies. One of the older girls was running around with her kite, and the string caught around Sydney's neck. She had a cut around the front of her neck from one ear to the other. She was very fortunate that the cut was only surface. I don't even think it bled much if at all, but it still leaves you with the thought of what could have happened.

Anyway, when Jason knocked on the door, I ran to see what was wrong. With a big smile on his face, he pointed to the backyard. I looked out the window, and to my surprise, there were the girls FLYING their kites! As you can see from the video clips below, they were extremely thrilled and proud of themselves! Alyx could not control herself. Because she was so excited, she kept yelling everything she said. We kept having to tell her to quiet down a little bit, so she wouldn't disturb the neighbors. =) We're nice that way, I guess.

Alyx did not heed Jason's advice of not letting the kite go too high, and she ended up having her kite yanked out of her hands by the wind. Let me tell you...the way she cried and carried on, you would have thought someone just cut off her arm. Oh, to be that young again and to feel that your biggest crisis is losing a kite. =) "Daddy" came to the rescue and chased her kite down to where it was caught in a tree in front of our neighbor's house.

Oh, in case any one was wondering or even cared, the grilled fish was FANTASTIC!! Thanks, honey!

Easter Sunday

Easter morning started very early. Our church had a special sunrise service, so that meant we had to see the ungodly hour of 5am! Jason had the special "honor" of waking up the girls. He said he went in their room, sat on Alyx's bed and told her it was time to get up. She's our morning person, so she had no trouble getting up. Larissa looked over the edge of her top bunk and asked with a smile, "Is it time to get up?" How sickening! =) Sydney takes after me...she is NOT a morning person. Jason had to carry her out of the room, otherwise she would have gone back to sleep. =)

As you can see, they had no trouble perking up. They have been looking forward to wearing white shoes for months now. They really don't like having to wear black shoes. =)

Their dresses are compliments of Granny. Isn't she awesome?! I'm so glad she has the ability and desire to sew pretty dresses for her granddaughters. Of course, to them, the most important aspect of any dress is the "spin factor," and these dresses can definitely spin! =)

Side Note: Due to my recent health issues, I was unable to attend the services with the rest of the family. =( Your prayers would be greatly appreciated as I am being followed by a specialist. I'm currently on my 2nd prescription and have a test/procedure scheduled in May.

While I'm sure the girls missed my presence, they soon got over it when they saw the breakfast buffet after the sunrise service. =) Jason said they all pretty much ate like a bunch of pigs...eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, grits, fruit, yogurt...etc. When they finished stuffing their faces, Alyx informed Jason that she was still hungry. Jason said, "What?? You ate a lot more than you usually do for breakfast! You usually only have a bowl of cereal!" She smartly replied, "Yes, and I'm always hungry after that, too!" Yikes! She's insatiable! =)

Because of the sunrise service, the evening service was cancelled, so we were able to spend the afternoon and evening together as a family. The kids and I always enjoy having "Daddy" home.

After lunch, Jason was resting on the couch, and for our kids, that's an automatic invitation to play with (or pick at) Daddy. The girls have been addicted to "Anne of Green Gables" in the last few weeks, so they decided to recreate the scene where Anne plays "The Lady of Shalott."

Although I have promised not to show the pictures, I never said I wouldn't share the story. =) Sorry, Honey, but I think it's adorable! They placed some "flowers" in Daddy's hands and crossed his arms over his chest. Then they laid one of their blankets over his legs. They proceeded to dance around the couch saying, "Look! He's the Lady of Shalott! He's the Lady of Shalott!" I'm sure that he hears that phrase over and over in his worst dreams. I just hope it doesn't scar him for life. =) No, for real, he can't fool me...I know he loves all the attention he gets from his girls. He's a good sport when it comes to playing with them, and that's just one of the things that I love so much about him.

We hope that you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter Sunday! Praise God! The Lord is risen!

Memory Crutches

If any of you are like me, you relied greatly upon those wonderful memory crutches all through school. You remember them.... When we learned the planets, we were taught the sentence, "My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas." When we learned treble clef notes in music, we were taught that the spaces spell, "FACE," and for the lines we learned the sentence, "Every Good Boy Does Fine."

Those crutches (and many others) served me well all the way through college, and now that I'm homeschooling my girls, I find myself teaching them some ways to remember certain facts. For the past two days, both Alyx and Larissa have struggled with the words "were" and "where." They weren't sure which one was said or spelled which way. To help them out, I told them to think about what kind of words they are. "Where" is a question, just like "who," "what," "when" and "why." They all begin with "wh." Incidentally, that led into a discussion on using those questions when you are either reading, studying or writing to better understand all the surrounding details.

If you can think of other memory crutches that you remember from school, leave a comment and share it with us.

The picture I included is of Alyx reading the story she wrote today which included the word "where." =)

First Birthdays

Last month, some good friends of ours invited us to celebrate their first child's first birthday. While I watched him play with the balloons and rip at the streamers that were intended for decoration, attempt to open his presents, and then in ultimate exhaustion cry while trying to figure out what to do with his cake, I was reminded of my own experiences with my girls' first birthdays.

When you're first-time parents, everything that happens to your child is a big ordeal, and you want everything to be just perfect. I remember planning for months and picturing in my mind exactly how that special day would play out. Unfortunately, I forgot to give the itinerary to my kids, and they always had "plans" of their own. =)

One of the biggest things I've had to learn over the years is to relax...go with the flow....it's okay if everything doesn't go just like I imagined. While I look through all of my old pictures and videos, I remember times that I was frustrated because the kids wouldn't hold still for the picture or they wouldn't "say their verses" or "sing their songs" correctly when I knew they could. The little "glitches" that I was annoyed with back then are the cutest things to me now and the things that I laugh at the most.

The picture in this post is of Sydney's first birthday. She was perfectly happy until we put her cake in front of her. She did not want to get messy, so we had to feed her and eventually gave her a spoon to feed herself. My friend pointed out at her son's party that as parents we try and try to keep them from grabbing at their food with their hands and try to teach them good table manners, but then expect them to dig into their cake like it's perfectly normal and acceptable. C'est la vie!

Click here to see some more pictures of Sydney's first birthday.

Ode to Meemaw and Poopaw

As promised, I am taking you on a journey to the past. This post is dedicated to the kids' Meemaw and Poopaw (a.k.a. Jason's parents). The picture in the post is of my girls with their Meemaw, and it was taken in November of 2003 while we were visiting them for Thanksgiving. Alyx was almost 4, Larissa was 2 1/2 and Sydney was almost 1.

Click here to view the album that has some video clips of the girls saying Hi to their Meemaw and Poopaw. They are so young and adorable, I just want to kiss their cute little faces. =)

Enjoy!

Creation Critters Field Trip

A couple of weeks ago, we were able to go on a field trip with our homeschool group. We went over to Camp Gilead, and Mr. Yeater gave us a presentation on dinosaurs and fossils, did experiments with dry ice, took us on a nature tour, and let the kids see, pet and feed lots of different animals. We all had a great time and look forward to going back some day.

Click on the picture above to see more pictures from the trip.

Reminiscing...

This past week I was "forced" to take a walk down "Memory Lane." =) Since Jason gave me a new computer for Christmas, I had not even turned on my old computer (which, incidentally, is where most of my photos are stored). Some friends and family were asking for some pictures, so I asked Jason to pick up an external hard drive so I could transfer everything over to my new computer.

Okay, first of all, I have to say "thank you, thank you, thank you" to my wonderful husband for getting this new computer. I can not believe how ssssssllloooooooowwwwwwwwww my old computer runs compared to my new one. A thousand thanks to you, honey!

Second, I can not believe how fast my kiddos have grown up. As I looked through pictures and video clips dating back to 2003, I was shocked to find that they actually had the nerve to age without asking for my permission. =)

You'll have to indulge me for a little while. I'm going to be posting some old pictures of the kids in the coming weeks, so if you don't like it, too bad. =) Just kidding! I just figured that most of you would be interested in seeing some of them, and you might even see a picture of one of your kids, too. Then you'll have to reprimand them as well for growing up too fast. =)

The picture in this entry was taken near the end of 2003. Alyx was almost 4 years, Larissa was 2 1/2 years and Sydney was 11 months old. Just in case you don't feel like doing the math, I'll give you their current ages. Alyx turned 8 in January, Larissa will be 7 in June, and Sydney turned 5 in December.

Sydney has started K5!

Sydney is such a big girl! =) We got her K5 books last week, and she started working through them yesterday. She has already done the first 14 lessons in just 2 days! She's my little "over-achiever," and I'm going to take advantage of that as much as possible. =)

It's official...

I've given in to the peer pressure. As if I don't have enough on my plate, I'm attempting to start a blog.

I'm looking forward to sharing my family with you through pictures and stories, so stop by often and leave a comment to let me know you visited.