Fall Fun

A couple weeks ago, I saw on Food Network one of the chefs making donuts! I thought, "Hm, we've never done that before, let's try it!" So, last Saturday, we made donuts as a family. The recipe was for "Copycat Krispe Kreme Donuts". Well, they weren't Krispe Kreme, but they were pretty yummy...the first day. They didn't store very well. But, the girls had a good time, and that's what matters.






Savannah cutting the big hole with a cup!


Emily cutting the small hole with the lid from a water bottle. :) Hey, you do what you have to do.






The finished product

Sisters

It is so nice that Emily can pick up a book and read to Savannah, now. They are laying on the floor in the playroom closet just reading before bed. Vannah had to bring everything from her bed to the closet, of course. Notice also, that the play lizard had to be on the pillow and covered with her blanket. So silly.

Swine '09

We bought a T-shirt for Emily when we went to the Razorback game in September that said, "I don't have Swine Flu, I have Hog Fever!!" At the time, it was funny! Ok, it's still kinda funny, but not as funny when you see your child with Swine Flu.

Yep, on Saturday I took Emily to an urgent care clinic where they tested her, and it was positive. I actually started laughing! Last April, was when we got the first scare of Swine Flu. We stayed home for a couple days, took disinfectant wipes with us everywhere, and talked about how horrible it would be if that happened to us! That all became reality! I just couldn't believe it. Thankfully, by God's grace, Emily (so far) has had a mild case of it. I'm still watching the respiratory part, but she seems ok. We are being very cautious about returning to the land of the living, so it'll be a while before we're out and about, but she seems to be recovering.

At this point, 12 people (mostly kids) in our church have caught this flu. That's just crazy! Pray for our church as we recover. Pray that this will be stopped, and no one else will get it!

Savannah is fine. She has some sort of virus that attacked her tonsils, but seems completely fine. I have a little cough, and a mild case of laryngitis (which doesn't bother the kids at all). Brian feels fine, thank the Lord.

So, that's an update on what's going on here. Pray that Emily won't develop any complications to this nasty flu! Also, pray for Melanie's husband, Matthew, as he is on his way HOME from Iraq.

Home Again, Home Again

As I sit here, clothes and other various and sundry items are spilling forth out of suit cases, but the house is quiet (the time change coming home is glorious), and I have a certain set of grandparents that are dying to see pictures, so I am going to blog before I attack the house.

We had an incredible time in Washington with Melanie and her kids. Emma (5) and Emily get along SO well! The only "discussion" they had the entire time we were there regarded Emily wanting to play cars and Emma wanting to play princesses. They are two very different little girls (oh the stories I could tell), but they get along so well, and had such a good time. Savannah and Callie (2) on the other hand......no, they did ok......we'll give them a few years to figure out how much they like each other. :) Noah is the most pleasant baby that anyone could ask for. I enjoyed him so much! Melanie and I talked, and laughed, and watched movies, and laughed, and read books....and laughed some more. We had an amazing time. Thank you Melanie for having us in your home for 10 whole days, for putting up with the smell of my coffee every morning (which, by the way, she equating to "holding my nose like I do when I change a dirty diaper" ha ha), putting up with my daughter who would eat nothing you cooked, and refreshing this mom for the next surge in life. We had a great time, and can't wait until next year when we'll be SO much closer!

Now, without further ado...pictures....and lots of them. People are just going to have to bear with me.

Emily and Emma twirling. Emma was displaying her new twirly skirt. Emily, well...Emily just likes to move.

At the International Fountain in Seattle.

Sitting in some sort of footprint at the Pacific Science Center

At Pikes Place Market. SUCH a fun place...a little hard with strollers, but still fun.

The first ever Starbucks.

All our kiddos on Sunday morning.

At Melanie's church's carnival.

They rode this slide several times.

Yeah, they loved each other. ha ha

Noah being his smiley self

They spent lots of time in Melanie's backyard.

Thankfully, they couldn't point the guns at each other. ha ha

Petting a bunny...well, standing next to a bunny

At the Puyallup Fair

The next couple shots are for comparison...just cause I like that kind of thing.

March 2008

Present

March 2007

Present....I should comment however, that they were not the same dresses. :)

Lead Me in Thy Truth......

Emily started her 4th year in Truth Trackers last night. She moved up to the next group called Scripture Spies. She now has daily devotions and verses that accumulate week to week.

Savannah also started the Tiny Tracker program. I can't believe she isn't in the nursery anymore. It blows my mind!! Here is a picture of Emily's first year as a Tiny Tracker, and the girls last night.

My Baby Turns 3!

Three years ago at this moment, I had a baby that was less than 1 hour old. We worried, "How will we love another like we love our first?" Within 30 seconds of her being in my arms, I knew I had worried for nothing. Savannah is my long awaited child. We had suffered 2 miscarriages and over a year of waiting for her. She was SO worth the wait. Even though she is by far my most difficult child, she makes up for it in personality and beauty. She has endured more suffering in her 3 years than any child should, and still wakes up every morning with a smile on her face and a sparkle in her beautiful blue eyes. Dear God, thank YOU for my beautiful, blond haired, blue eyed baby girl....she was worth the wait.

She had two parties this year....more pictures of those to follow this week.

First Day of School!

Yesterday, Emily started the 1st grade. She was so excited (which made mommy happy). This year, we decided that I was going to teach her instead of doing videos like we did last year, and boy, is it better! She's happier, I'm happier, and it's a lot faster! We started around 9:30 (there's a reason why we got such a late start) and we were done by 11:00! I know that later in the year, it will take longer, but we're easing our way in. Here are some pictures from her first day.

She had a weird start to her year. I loaded her up and carted her off to Sarah's house at 8 in the morning. Sarah, being the great friend and ingenious homeschooler that she is, had a desk all ready for her and plans to include her in her school day. Thanks, Sarah!! Savannah had a Dr's appointment yesterday morning, so that's why we got such a late start. I can't give the details about Savannah's appointment here, because that post title needs to be something like, "Nurses at pediatrics that don't know what they're doing" or something like that....it's for another time. :)