The 4-Legged

K, here's Lexx after eating an especially large breakfast. He waddled his overindulgent, poofy self over to the kids' easy chair and (after only 3 tries) managed to jump onto it.

I swear my husband has this exact look after Thanksgiving dinner.

Here's Honeysuckle the Pigmy Goat. I took care of her (and Scott & Lori's other ankle-biters) while they had the ultrasound for the new baby. Ms. Honeysuckle's Mommy died giving birth 3 weeks ago. Baby is subsequently bottle fed and very, very tame. This chair is quite the favorite with the furry population.

And here's our view of Kitty-One as we were watching Bridge to Terabithia the other night. It looks like he got ran over by the coffee table.

Oh, and about the movie - the first 3 quarters had me twiddling my thumbs in relative boredom and the last quarter had me crying like a stuck pig. Not a fun combination for me personally. I kept thinking, "Aren't these kids a bit old to be playing this way? C'mon! They're 7th graders!"

PS - Nana had knee surgery yesterday. She's holding up well, but any prayers on her behalf for less pain and complete healing would be appreciated.

They Graduated!!

Solomon is now in 1st grade and Malachi is a Kindergartner! While double-checking the Elementary Education Learning Objectives, making sure Sol had indeed met them all and was done with Kindergarten I noticed a graduation requirement I had somehow overlooked: Shoe tying. I Knitted my eyebrows together and zoomed in for a closer look, re-checking that I'd read correctly. I had. The kid had 6 hours to learn to tie his shoes. He surprised me by loving the whole, "the bunny hops around the tree and digs underneath, then, 'POP!' he comes out again..." spiel and was tying the shoes in no time. Whew. Daddy told him that that was good practice for college - cramming at the last minute!Solly getting his certificate! (That's Sol's friend, Libby, on the floor. Don't worry, she didn't fall, we're just a laid-back group and she wanted to relax while viewing the proceedings)
The Salem Home Educators graduates - way to go, guys!

Malachi's best friend, Cayman, and his sissy Ava Lily. Their Mommy is due with baby #6 this winter. You go, girl!

It occurred to me that Blogdom usually doesn't get to see Solomon looking all scholarly in his reading glasses. He wears them during school time and to watch television (when he remembers). Doesn't he look so grown-up?

He Wears a Lot of Hats...

This is Kai wearing all of his hats.

The kid just isn't good at making decisions.

Picture me in camo gear holding binoculars...

Solomon on his first day of camp (Oregon Garden's Junior Master Gardener Camp).

Long time, no blog. Sorry 'bout that. You see, this last week was my eldest's first time at day camp. This had me sneaking around a rowdy bunch of Kindergartners and their counselor 8 hours a day.
See, I want my son to be a confidant, self-sufficient guy and all, but the world being as sick as it happens to be, well....I'm just not ready to relinquish my 5-year-old to it. So, I spent the better part of last week giving the illusion of independence but covertly tailing his group. I was "one of those moms". One of those moms who are "over-protective" and "stifling". I was the mom peeking out from behind the shrubbery during craft time or sneaking parallel to the hiking trail through nature walks. As Solomon reveled in the novelty of his brown bag lunch and ate with his new friends, I munched mine discretely behind the big oak tree, returning polite hellos from the camp personnel or smiling weakly at their raised eyebrows.
Solomon had a great time and I gained confidence in his self-reliance. We were both surprised at our maturity when he fell down and didn't cry for his Mommy but limped to his counselor, asking for a band-aid for his bloody knee, and I didn't bolt out from my den to his rescue but trusted that he could handle the situation by himself. We're really growing up. I'm proud of us.

Good, Clean Family Fun...

From Mommy: So, we took Solomon and Malachi fishing and Papa came along! It was a good ol' time and the winner in the "Biggest Fish" department this time was Solomon. One of his fish came in at 21 inches! This time we stayed around and seasoned and BBQed our captives as we enjoyed the scenery, relaxing until evening.

The highlight of our trip? When Malachi had to use the "HoneyBucket" (could there possibly be a less appropriate word for those disgusting things?). I stood just outside of the closed door and called, "When you're done, come out and Mommy will give you some hand sanitizer!", in response I heard, "Oh, it's OK, Mom - there's soap in here." Puzzled, I opened the door to see my littlest son scrubbing his hands and arms vigorously with a urinal cake.

"@?#$!%#?@!&^"...... Shutter.

And as much sanitizer as I slathered on the poor kid, I still couldn't bring myself to hold his hand as we walked the trail back to our van. Blah.

This Dog Belongs To:

So, here's a pic of our darling pup covered in a roll of address labels which he pulled down from above the desk. The little guy is tons of fun but needs trained up a bit. So, off to Borders I went to buy this:

Anybody with a dog should seriously consider buying it. This guy's been dubbed The Dog Whisperer and he's got a show on the Discovery Chanel. We don't have cable, however, so we invested in his manual.

As I perused the book I could be heard every few minutes, "Whoops. I do that................Ooooo. I do that a lot..........Oh, I didn't know I was supposed to be doing that..........................D'Oh! I'm doing that right now!" But, as I've initiated some new habits and trashed others, Lexx has made great progress in potty training, not nibbling toes and fingers and has been gentler and less antagonistic with his big sister. Even Nana noticed a difference in our little guy when she stopped by last night.

See? Sitting together with no quarreling! Thanks, Cesar!

The Word becomes alive in the presence of a child...

1 John 3:1

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!"

James 1:17

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows."

Congratuations to the Lunde Family!

Introducing : Josiah Alexander Lunde!

Born: June 1st 2007 @9:04am

Weight: 9 pounds, 11 ounces

Length: 21 inches

We thank God for this new life. His name means, "Jehovah has healed". Indeed He has and He is good. Congrats to Joel, Lisa, Joscelyn and Laurelai, too (because I bet she's all smiles about this little guy!).