Mmmmmm...hot dogs and s'mores! Nutritious and delicious!

"Do me a favor. Go buy a Labrador."

"But I want it like a skateboarder!"

A Note from Mommy: OK. His hair has taken the folk in the road. The one with the sign pointing, 'to Mullet-ville". I guess it's time for a cut.

Much better. His brown locks are back on the road leading out of the red neck part of town. They even kept it "skateboard-ish". It just looks like someone cares about him now. Happy Mommy, happy boy. All is right in the universe again.

Piece of Peace

I'm part of blogging group who is remembering what we were doing this morning 5 years ago. I was newly pregnant with my first born. I was so sick that morning. Micah came home from his night shift and turned on the TV in our bedroom. I saw this. The sky was falling. I thought of my Grandpa who woke up onboard his infamous Navy ship on his 21st birthday, that morning of December 7th, 1941. He was stationed in Pearl Harbor. He saw the sky fall that day. Bombs fell on his ship. On his friends. Comrades were killed. I had always marveled at the fact that he had witnessed history in the making that day. He was there. Now, I was there. Ahh the blessings of live feed television.
Thoughts assaulted my mind lightning quick:" Who did this? Surely the American people won't stand for it. So, a war then? Yes. Very likely. Will Micah be drafted? Will he miss the birth of his first child? Will he return at all? Will we win? Who did this?!? Ohmygosh. Is that another plane? Oh, no. How many did they send? Who are they?"
It seemed the world flipped up-side-down that morning. That things would never be right again. The uncertainty and all the loss, it got to me. More thoughts came: "What in the world am I doing, bringing a baby into all this? What kind of business do I have putting him here? In this world so violent and errant. I know he's a boy. I can feel it. An innocent little boy. My boy. What if I can't protect him? Oh, God, I need peace!"
God provided. He gave me a symbol of perfection. Reminded me that He's in charge. He's the great orchestrater and the universal healer: The next March my husband delivered my son into the world. We looked at him and called him Solomon. It means "peaceful". And we still are. By grace. No matter what goes on down here on this crazy planet. We are His and He gives peace. He had our piece of peace in the works for us before we even knew we needed it. If that makes any sense to you. It does to us.

Getting ready for Camping...

We rented a campground with our homeschool co-op for this weekend and they have a paintball field over there. Daddy's real excited and is giving us a few pointers, even though we're too little to play with all the Daddies. Don't worry, though - we won't feel left out with all the hiking, the lake and waterfall and all of our friends! They even have play structures, volley ball and bike trails! It should be a lot of fun and Mom and Dad reserved a tee pee for our family to sleep in. Pics to come...

Oh, yeah. Something about this just feels so right!

First Day of School 2006

Here's Malachi on his first day of school as a Pre-schooler! Nana bought us binders that we could decorate ourselves which was a lot of fun. We ended up going to Joann's for ideas and both found the perfect fabrics to cut out and use.

Yay! I'm a kindergartener now! I picked out a Star Wars theme for my binder and I put my completed work in it everyday.

Happy Birthday Auntie Ruby!

Just before the start of the new school year, our family trekked out to the Dalles to wish our favorite Great-Great-Auntie a happy birthday. We rented a hotel room with Nana so we could have some extra time to play and visit. It was a very relaxing time for us all and a wonderful close to our summer.

We went out to eat and visited with some of our relatives who we rarely get to see. The restaurant was beautiful and had lots of artwork. After lunch they brought Aunt Ruby a cake with candles and we all sang the Happy Birthday song for her!

After our tummies were full, we headed back to our hotel which had lots of neat animals sitting all over the place. They also had a pool!

I liked the pig!

We love you Auntie Ruby! Happy birthday!!

Snacks for "wabbit".

There was a Little Girl with a Little Curl...

Here's Rayna, as beautiful as ever. Funny how pictures can be deceiving. If you ask Mommy about the morning this particular picture was taken, she would say that Ray temporarily had her "ratios" reversed. See, her ratio is usually 95% angel, 5% not. This day was a 95% not day, as most 2-year-olds occasionally experience. She's definitely 2. And definitely a girl.