Alumni Band

Daniel took the time off from work this week, so I get to go to my Alumni band reunion! We are heading out today after he takes a nap and should arrive at his parents' house sometime tomorrow. Tomorrow night my high school is having it's homecoming football game. I'm not sure if we get to play at that or not. The next morning we get to join the Old Settler's Day parade. I've been practising playing my trombone this week, but I'm still not sure how well I'll do playing actual sheet music. I'm mostly just excited to see my old friends and my band director, Mr. Taylor. My girls think it's great when I play the trombone and have each taken a turn blowing it. They haven't gotten to do that since I brought my t-bone to Danya's Sunday school class a couple of years ago.

First Foods

I know, it seems crazy. My three month old (okay 12 weeks), is eating baby food. It's my fault. I gave him some applesauce I was eating the other day and he loved it. So Daniel bought him some bananas and sweet potato. He's eating the bananas in this photo.

We've got a video I took on the camera that shows him laughing and cooing and snatching at the food. These last few days he only drinks a little milk first thing in the morning and then ignores me until I give him some baby food. We didn't start our other two kids out on 'solids' until their fourth month, but Kevin seems determined to do everything early.

The New Library

We finally found the local library here in Westminster! It's really big and has a giant playground beside it. The librarian helped Danya find an entire section of "Cam Jansen" mysteries that she hadn't read before. She's been reading them non-stop since we got home.

Gloria got a few beginner reader books. We got Kevin some Usborne books that he can feel, like "That's not my puppy!" (in Spanish). The dogs have fur and paws and ears that you can feel with different textures.

You can see the books I checked out in this photo. I love reading books about homeschooling. I think you can always learn something new. Their section on homeschooling in this library was great, much bigger than the one in Owasso, but the librarian apologized to me for the small selection and said that their sister library at a college a few blocks away has a much larger selection. Whoo hoo!

Daniel found the new Terrby Brooks book. I've read some of his other books and liked them. This one sounds kind of 'dark', but I'm going to try to read it this weekend.

Work Hazzard

I've been reveling in 'girl power' lately and decided to borrow Daniel's tools and take over some of the construction of the new modular shelving, drawers, and cabinets. I've had a lot of fun doing it and was surprised at how easy it all was to assemble. Daniel and I even had a race on one set of shelves that were identical.

Unfortunately, certain hazzards come with the job. You might notice that I am barefoot in this picture. Shortly after this photo was taken I was unpacking boxes of scrapbooking supplies into my newly built storage units when I accidentally knocked a hammer off a desk and onto my foot. Daniel heard the screaming, rushed down the basement stairs, stepped over me (gasping and crying on the floor), started a load of laundry, and then came to help me up. No, he will never live that down.

Big Blue Eyes!

WHAT?! What did you say?! I KNOW you didn't just make fun of these cool glasses my big sister Gloria let me wear.

Admit it! I look like one cool guy. Yes, even in Little Mermaid glasses from McDonald's I am STILL a ladies' man! Why, just the other night in the women's restroom at Woody's Pizza I was flirting with a waitress. I smiled and batted my long eyelashes at her then babbled in smooth cool guy baby talk to her. Yeah, she couldn't get enough. But hey, that's just the way it is. It's not easy being this suave.

Gloria the Locksmith!

Daniel was holding Kevin and I was busy down in the basement, so Gloria got to single handedly replace the doorknob to our room.

Daniel gave her instructions, but she did it all by herself. She removed the old one using Daniel's screwdriver, then put in the new doorknob (that has a lock, yippee!).

She's quite the handy little girl! She and Danya have also gotten to help assemble some furniture. Daniel was so proud of her, he was about to bust! That's why I thought it was so funny when he got annoyed with her the next day for repeatedly breaking and fixing a pair of cheap glasses she got in a Happy Meal. Before she can fix something it has to be broken, right?

Getting Settled

There is so much involved in a move, it feels like we'll never get it all done! This week we finished assembling the new storage cabinets and book shelves. We also found a good bank. We spent a few hours (yes, hours!) getting paper work filled out and setting things up to get debit cards, checks, direct deposit, and making the girls' godmother our beneficiary. What an awful thought, to have to decide who will claim our money, insurance, and property if we should both die at the same time. I'm so glad that we have friends that we can trust to handle everything and take care of our kids. This week we plan to go buy some software to make our will, since we've been neglecting that important step.

We also need to change our insurance to a local State Farm and get new driver's licences and plates for the van. We have to forward our subscriptions and change doctors. The list goes on. Where does it end?!?

James and the Giant Peach

This is what I am reading out loud to the girls right now. We started it just yesterday and they asked me first thing this morning to keep reading. The beginning is a little harsh as the author talks about how horrible James' two aunts are, but the girls are riveted to the story already. I made sure that the first reading time together we read up to the part where James meets the mysterious man and receives the magic bag. That kept them interested to read the rest of James and the Giant Peach.

I plan to have them write about the book, the characters, and what they think will happen next. I'll also have them draw pictures about what we've read and maybe even memorize one of the silly poems in the book. Gloria only has to write one small sentence when we do this, and I help her spell whatever she wants to say. I expect a little bit more from Danya, usually two or three sentences. I want them to practice their handwriting, but I don't want to make them hate writing since it's still hard for them at this age. It may take a while to finish this book since we may only be able to read it when I'm feeding Kevin.

Three Little Monkeys

When I saw the girls being sweet and snuggling Kevin trying to make him laugh in his room the other morning I just had to grab my camera! They were so cute! Kevin just kept smiling away!

Today Daniel held Kevin in front of him, with Kevin sort of sitting on Daniel's belly. Then Daniel would go up and down really fast, bending his knees. Kevin kept chuckling and yelling happily! It was great! We've never gotten him to laugh that many times in a row before. The girls and I were having breakfast and I almost spit milk it was so funny!

Kevin sure does love his daddy! I have to agree. He's a funny guy!

First Day at the Charter School

Danya went to her first day at the homeschool program provided by the Woodrow Wilson Academy charter school last Tuesday. She really liked it and has been counting down the days until next Tuesday. She was excited to get to pack a lunch. Gloria was feeling left out so we got her a lunchbox, too. They are on sale at Target right now for about $2 each. I took Gloria to the apartment playground and we had lunch there. We called it recess so she would feel like she was doing something special just like Danya.

Danya liked the music class. She said she got to sing them her favorite song. She asked me if it was okay that she sang a song about God since public schools aren't allowed to do that. I told her that the students can sing any song they like, it's just the teachers that can't.

She also learned part of the Spanish alphabet which is something I hadn't planned to introduce to the girls yet, so that was good. I'm really hoping that this school covers things that we don't at home. She brought home leaves glued to a piece of paper for science class, which is something she's done plenty of times before, so I hope that class gets a little more interesting for her. Danya also said she was embarrassed in drama class because she had to say her name and then do a motion. I told her that she was learning to be confidant in public and that it was just like the way we practice reciting poems at home. When reciting she has to stand up in front of her Dad or me, look us in the eye, and speak the words clearly and confidantly without fidgeting. Hopefully she'll be so used to this by the end of her school years that she will be an excellent public speaker.

Closet Homeschoolers

Okay, so it's not a closet, but it still feels a little strange that all our homeschool things are in the basement. It sure looks good, though!

We haven't finished it all yet, but it's coming along nicely. Daniel and his dad built the new white storage cabinet and shelves along the back wall. We got them from Lowe's for a good price. The colorful collapsible fabric drawers were only six dollars as opposed to the eight dollar ones at the local scrapbook store, Archiver's. I got the posters, border strip, and dry-erase calendar from Target in the dollar spot. Daniel's parents gave us the desks. We still need to find chairs the right height for them. The wooden drawer unit on the left came from Big Lots.

The girls have been playing down there daily since Grandpa and Daniel installed fluorescent lights in the ceiling. We will officially be starting homeschooling down there tomorrow. We're all looking forward to it. We still need to hang our dry erase boards and we're going to store scraps of construction paper and scrapbooking paper in Gloria's old desk and let them cut and paste to their heart's content.

PT Cruisin' Home

Daniel rented a PT Cruiser from Thrifty to take his parents home in this weekend. He drove down with them on Friday and drove back on Saturday. We found out while calling around trying to rent a car that rental places require you to return it to the same location you rented it from. It's not like a U-Haul truck that you can drop off in another state once you get there.

I'm glad that Daniel and his parents got the opportunity to spend some time together since I know they will miss each other so much now that we live 10-12 hours away. Daniel really liked the car and drove us around in it today. We drove it to the new church we were checking out this morning. It was a nice church, good music, good sermon, okay children's church. We want to try some others though and wait for God to tell us where He wants us.

Visiting the Rockies

Daniel and his parents got the bug this week to get up close and personal with the Colorado Rockies. So Nancy packed sandwich supplies and we headed towards Black Hawk, CO.

It was absolutely beautiful! The mountains were all shades of blue in the distance and covered in changing fall leaves. Our ears popped as we went up and down the twisting mountain roads, taking pictures of the gorgeous scenery. Wayne particularly liked all the little mining areas we passed.

The girls enjoyed a walk collecting colorful leaves and exploring through all the different kinds of trees. We even saw a stooping hawk and buffalo! I took this picture on our way home. Colorado is so pretty in the fall. I think we came in the perfect season despite the rain that comes almost every afternoon.

Woodrow Wilson Academy

We found out about the homeschooling program offered by The Woodrow Wilson Academy when we were researching homeschooling groups online before the move. It's a charter school that offers a one day a week program for homeschoolers practically free. It's $30 for the whole year!

On Wednesday we signed Danya up. Every Tuesday she will go to the Family in Christ church (which hosts the WWA homeschool program) about five miles from our home. She'll be taking Art, Music, Science Lab, Spanish, Creative Writing, and Drama classes. This picture is of Danya in front of the actual charter school, not the church.

The program is for 1st through 6th graders. The sad thing is that even if Danya really likes the program and we like it, too, Gloria misses the age cut off by 27 days. So she wouldn't be old enough to enroll until the year after next. Who knows if we will be here that long. I'm looking forward, though, to spending time with her homeschooling together while Danya is at her extracurricular classes. I think she'll like being the center of attention.

Checking Out the Cuisine

Since we have almost no food in the house and have been to busy to do the grocery shopping we've been exploring all the local restaurants. I finally have a Perkins restaurant near me! We used to only eat there when we got a chance to visit Stillwater.

There are two McDonald's with indoor play lands within about a mile of our home. The girls got to play at each of them already. We also found a Chinese restaurant and a Mexican restaurant that have free delivery! We tried the Chinese place and their food was great! There is a big mall and all the accompanying places to eat right near our house. We're going to have so much fun trying them all out. There is even a Chicago's pizza like the one we went to in Kansas for our anniversary trip!

Making New Friends

I thought that when we moved here we might have to hang out at the playground for the girls to make new friends. HA! We met Rachel (in the blue shirt) the first day we arrived. That day lots of neighborhood kids close to the girls' ages just showed up and started sharing chalk with the girls and riding bikes and scooters with them on the square of sidewalk in front of our house.

So far we've met two brothers; Sean age 6 and Garreth age 10 and their sister Brittany. Also a 4 year old girl named Anna lives across from us and comes over to play almost every day. We have to tell her no after 7:30 pm because our girls are getting ready for bed while she stays up until close to midnight. Then we met Zoe (in the pink shirt in the back of the photo) at the playground.

It's actually a little overwhelming how many kids have already been stopping by almost daily! The girls are loving it! In one week they have more friends than they had in our whole neighborhood before! Grandma Nancy says that these kids might just be our mission field. I think God is definitely giving us an opportunity to be a positive influence in these kids' lives.

Mattress Trouble

We decided to say goodbye to our old mattress and buy a new one when we got to Denver. We got a new mattress and box spring and a new mattress for the new bed we bought Gloria. Hers is the kind with the drawers built in, so it didn't need a boxspring.

The problem began after the guys got the mattress upstairs to our new bedroom. They couldn't get the box spring up the stairs. It was just too awkward of an angle. They tried everything they could think of. I finally asked for help at the office. The manager brought her son over to help us. He couldn't figure it out either, but by now there were gouges in two walls and one had a big hole punched in it, all caused by trying to shove the box spring upstairs.

I suggested they flip the thing over and try it that way, but the guys said that wouldn't work...until the maintenance man came in and said the same thing. Sure enough, that fixed it and it went right up there. At least we had a bed finally! (and I get to tease Daniel mercilessly!)

Unpacking

We got everything unloaded and moved into the house on Monday after filling out all the paper work to make this place ours. Everything you see (of the house) in this picture is ours!

It was raining Monday afternoon so we got everything in as fast as we could. We even had unexpected help from our new neighbor, an 11 year old girl named Rachel. She climbed into our truck, grabbed some stuff and took it into our house. We were a bit surprised.

We've been doing our best to get unpacked while taking lots and lots of little trips to various stores to purchase the myriad things we need for the house. It turns out that this house doesn't have overhead lighting in the bedrooms or living room, so we had to buy lamps among other things. We also got the girls new Disney princess and Tinkerbell bedding. Then we got curtains for all the rooms. We bought and hung our first ever living room drapes!

Wayne and Daniel were amazing. They hung curtain rods, carried the washer and dryer down to the basement, assembled furniture, all in record time! It was really great having Wayne and Nancy here all week. Daniel and I would leave for a couple of hours to buy more house stuff and when we returned a whole room would be put together. Nancy pretty much single handedly unpacked the kitchen and the girls' room! They just made the whole moving process easier and less stressful. Thanks, guys!

Cowboy Kevin!

Kevin got to Cowboy up the other day. This is one of his adorable little outfits that he has pretty much outgrown before he even gets to wear it more than once. He sure has dealt with all these changes well. He didn't even mind letting Grandma and Grandpa sleep in his room all this week. Next week we are going to try to convince him that he'd really much rather sleep in his crib instead of in the little swing in our room. Like his clothes, he is quickly outgrowing his swing.

The Elliotts in 3D!

We're here! Our apartment number is 3D, a fact which Daniel just loves. We hadn't actually seen our house until we arrived. It's a three bedroom, one and a half bath, townhome with a basement. I really like it. It feels like a home, not an apartment. Outside is a different story, though.

The sidewalk makes a square around some bushes right in front of our house. All the neighbors' homes face toward the square and they all like to sit out on their porches. So everyone just sits and looks at each other. Also, they let their kids play out there til all hours of the night. Worst of all, they chain their dogs out front on long chains so that you can't go down the sidwalk without having to go around their dogs.

The house is great, though. I love having an upstairs room. All the bedrooms are upstairs. My room faces the front of the house which has a view all the way down to the pool. The dining area is bigger than our old one. The basement is fantastic. Once I get it finished I'll take a photo and blog about it. We are calling it the "Activity Room". Danya named it. The 21 x 25 square foot basement will be used for homeschooling, a play area, scrapbooking, and of course laundry and storage. It really is a neat home!

Blogging Along the Way

Stopping along the way to Colorado we were able to get hotels that offered free wireless internet access. It became a family affair.

I got to update my blog, the girls got to play games online, and grandpa finally got to use the laptop for a few minutes while I was busy nursing Kevin. Okay, the truth is that I sort of hogged the laptop most of the way. I edited my photos in paint because I haven't gotten around to loading the better photo editing software onto the laptop yet. Then I read a disturbing article about homeschooling from an Indiana newspaper. That particular article (Courier Press) and the responses it got had me up reading the screen way past bedtime.

Truckers!

Wayne took the tough job of driving the 26 foot truck all the way to Hays, Kansas. We took a brief stop in Wichita to visit the girls' godmother, Christina. She and her mom were running a booth at a scrapbooking craft sale. I got there as it was closing, so I only got to look at their booth and one other.

Afterwards everyone played at a school playground that was next door while I fed Kevin in the van. Danya and Gloria have just loved taking turns riding in the big truck. Grandma has lots of things for them to play with and they get to be so high above everyone. Daniel is hoping to take a turn driving the truck for a while today. We should be in Denver this afternoon, but we just found out that the Broncos have a home game today so traffic and finding a hotel may be harder than we thought. Tomorrow we get the keys to our new home!

Goodbye, Oklahoma!

Here's a picture of the last day we lived in Oklahoma. Along with the help of Glenda, Eric, Daniel's parents and their church home group, we loaded up the Penske truck.

We got a good deal on the truck; four days and unlimited mileage. I was worried that the Penske seemed to have less space than the U-haul, but since it was flat inside and didn't have bumps over the wheel weels it actually worked out better. I still can't believe my entire life fit inside one 26 foot truck..with a little room to spare.

Park and Pizza

We went out to lunch with Glenda and Eric's family today. First we picked up pizza at Little Caesar's and then took it to the park. The kids scarfed their food and then ran off to play.

The dads sat and talked politics and current events while Glenda and I ran around corraling the kids. They had so much fun, including the under 2 year olds who would run to the top of the slide and scare us by looking like they were about to tumble down.

Little Lilliana just sat on her blanket and stuffed Crazy Bread by the fistfull into her tiny mouth. She is happy as a clam as long as she has food. You wouldn't think it to look at her. I got this cute picture of her just before we had to leave.

Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch!

Aunt Kathy, my mom, and my sister Toni all came over just after Gloria's party. We had a blast looking at photos and talking about what was new for everyone. We commiserated with Toni over her love life and caught up on the news of distant family.

I can't remember the last time we had such a good talk. We decided to keep it going by having dinner together. I really enjoyed getting to spend some time with my family. Meanwhile Daniel made dinner for the kids in Ripley.

Glory's Early Birthday

Since Gloria will turn five in October and we will be much too far away to have a party with friends and family, we decided to celebrate early.

So the Maxwell cousins came down to spend the night Wednesday night and then we had the party on Thursday right after lunch. Glenda's kids and their cousins also got to come. Gloria got a giant cookie instead of a cake and had a princess party. She really loved the big Strawberry Shortcake doll she got from her cousins!

Great Grandparents

We got to say good bye to the great grandparents this week. Grandma Arlene tried to hold Kevin but he's just getting way too chunky.

When we went to the doctor for his 2 month checkup this week, the doc said he was 15 1/2 pounds and in the 95th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference! That's one big baby!

Dinner with Friends

Since the Haleys (minus Steven who will be home soon from Iraq) were in town we went out for dinner with them and Glenda's family Sunday night after we got the truck unloaded.

That was ALOT of kids in one restaurant. They were devouring endless bags of crackers, bonking their heads on the tables (that they were playing under) and generally running amok. Except Kevin who was just loud. In between all that we actually got to enjoy talking with our friends.

Moving in with Mom

Poor Daniel, turning 30, having his third child, celebrating his 10 year anniversary...and moving back in with his momma.

Six big guys from our Sunday school class came over after church on Sunday to help us load the truck. They got the whole thing done in an hour and a half. We got the last few little things out on Monday and discovered that the water in the bathroom had been left running for a whole day. Oh well.

Homeless

We're finally at Daniel's parents' house in Ripley. Sunday morning we packed like crazy until the guys from our Sunday school class came over after church and helped us load the truck. I'll add a photo later when I have access to a faster internet connection. Daniel got injured almost immediately. His hands got smashed between the dolly and the computer cabinet. The scraped and gouged skin looked awful and bled alot, but he just washed it off frequently and kept on loading the truck.

They had the whole house packed in an hour and a half! Then we drove to Ripley and Daniel and his dad unloaded everything into the den. Our friend, Eric, came over and helped, too. Since the girls' godmother, Christina, was in town with her two kids, we went out to eat at IHOP with them and Eric and Glenda and their three kids. Daniel's folks came, too, so we had 7 adults and 8 kids. Yes, it was a madhouse.

On Monday Daniel and I drove back home and got the last few things out of the house and cleaned it up. Today we put a hold on our mail and transferred our subscriptions to Ripley temporarily. Tomorrow we close on the house and take Kevin for his 2 month check up. Thursday we are having an early birthday party for Gloria so that family and friends can attend. Saturday we are packing up another truck and heading to Denver. Monday we get the keys and move in. I'll update when I can and will hopefully get internet service hooked up quickly once we get to our new place. Stay tuned! (same 'bat time', same 'bat channel')

Jennie Junior

For some reason this picture of Danya makes me think of her Aunt Jennie, Daniel's little sister. I've scrapbooked alot, though by no means all, of Daniel's childhood photos and Jennie always looks stylish in the pictures that include her. Jennie is my beautiful sister-in-law who has been known to make her own camo dresses to wear to church and invent original purse designs and even was part of the movement that experimented with leg warmers over stretch pants (Aaaahhh!!!)

I think she missed her calling in the fashion industry. She is the only person I know who can wear cargo pants and actually make them look good. Danya is clearly cut from the same cloth. She always asks me if her outfit matches. She loves to accessorize. When I couldn't find a hairbow for her yesterday because we had packed all her things already, she dug through her dress up clothes and came out wearing a white bow attached to elastic that was part of a puppy dog costume. She wore it like a headband and looked adorable.

Her absolute favorite place to go is the mall. Whenever we say we're going to Tulsa she jumps up and down asking if we're going to the mall. She must just love the atmosphere because we almost never buy her anything there other than an occasional meal in the food court. Yes, Danya is my fashion diva, and she's training her sister to follow in her footsteps. It's funny now to remember asking God when I was pregnant with Danya, "Lord, how can I raise a girl?! You know I don't like to wear dresses or makeup. Who will teach her to be feminine?" Clearly, Danya arrived with no instructions necessary!

Kevin at 2 months

Kevin is 8 weeks old and weighs 16 pounds! I call him my "Chunky Monkey". Lifting him in his car seat is a workout in itself! His hair seems to have stopped falling out. Now he has just a fine fuzz like a soft buzz cut all over. I think his eyes may stay dark blue after all.

He can push with his toes and slide himself when he's on his back on the changing table. He can push up with his hands some. He can thrust himself backwards out of my arms. He will smile back at me when I smile at him, although sometimes it's just a warning that he is about to puke. He can also whack his toys that dangle above him on his swing seat and the one that I clip to the handle of his car seat. He likes it when we applaud and say, "Yeah, Kevin! You got it!" He'll also lay for a long time in his bassinet and coo up at his mobile while it spins and plays classical music.

He's a good baby and sleeps fairly well at night. He likes to sleep on Daniel during the day. He'll lay draped over Daniel's chest and stuff his face into Daniel's armpit. I don't know how he breathes like that! He babbles all day long. I love it when he makes a noise that sounds like "ma ma". I always say, "See! I'm finally going to have a child that says 'mama' before 'dada'!" Daniel thinks he might get teeth early, too. He's always drooling and sucking on everything in sight. I need to hurry up and make a two month sign to have him hold.

Painting the House

This is the painter, David. He's been working on our house for about a week now in between bouts of rain. He replaced all the wood rot with new wood and has been painting with the new colors we picked out. He couldn't match the old color because it was a weird 80's peach that would have looked worse if it was new. Does that make sense?

Now it's off white with a tan trim. He still hasn't painted the back patio lattice, and we're a little worried that he might not think he's supposed to. He's saying now that he won't get done until next week. We close on Wednesday so he better hurry!

Some hispanic people in a pickup truck were in our driveway when I came home today. They said hi and then left. I wonder, were they just turning around in our driveway, or are they the buyers? The buyers for our house got loan approval today! That's a giant relief! We also were notified today that our first choice of apartments, "Willow Run" doesn't have any openings. So we put our application in with our second choice, "Sunset Ridge", and they have an available 3 bedroom that we can move into on Sept. 11th. Okay, so it's not an auspicious day, but at least we don't have to wait a whole month!

Poetry Princess

She's awesome. This girl has an amazing memory. She memorized the poems I expected to spend a week working on...in a day. She even memorized her sister's poem and helped her learn it, too. She can now confidently and accurately recite: the first stanza of My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Caterpillar by Christina G. Rossetti, and

"Work" by anonymous

Work while you work,
Play while you play;
This is the way
To be happy each day.
All that you do,
Do with your might;
Things done by halves
are never done right.

When she can say the poem without mistakes to me and then to her dad she gets a big Lisa Frank sticker. She gets so excited and wants to memorize the poem instantly. We make her review the previous poems before learning a new one, to make sure they stay in her long term memory.

School sporadically

School has been sort of unplanned and hit and miss this week. We've actually done alot, but in no particular order. This week Danya learned about Ancient China, Ancient Africa, regrouping in double digit addition, proper and common nouns, and the Earth's core. She also memorized three poems, painted pictures of a Chinese emperor and a rice farmer, read a few Henry and Mudge books, and watched the new "Signing Time" videos that arrived in the mail. Among other things, lol.

I'm hoping to get more accomplished once we settle in at Grandma's house. (That just sounds funny now that I've thought about everything we studied this week.)

The Price of Beauty

Gloria and Danya got perms at the Beauty College this week! We had promised to take them to get their hair curled pretty, and when the time came they asked if they could get perms like mine. We figured, "why not?" their young and it will grow out.

The beauty college students said they had never done a perm on such young girls before and that our girls were incredibly well behaved. We were impressed, too, that they handled it so well.

We gave them each a coloring book and that kept them occupied through the whole process. I kept myself occupied by feeding Kevin and taking tons of pictures. They look so adorable with their curly hair! I'll post some pictures of their new curls soon!

Tales From the Dark Side

We left our Sunday school class pool party when we saw lightening striking in the distance. When we got home we discovered that the power was out on our side of the street. Daniel hurriedly went out and bought flash lights while it was still somewhat light outside. The girls loved having their own flashlights to take to bed.

The power was back on by Kevin's last feeding of the night. I liked reading by flashlight so much, that I just kept on using the flashlight that night every time I had to feed him. I've gotten a lot of books read lately by reading during his meal times. Then again, what else is there to do? On the nights that Daniel works I call him and talk to him while Kevin's nursing. It keeps me awake and helps the time to pass quickly. Also, Daniel is good about reminding me to hang up and switch sides at the half way point. I wonder if I should put things like that in Kevin's scrapbook? Or is that TMI?

Lucky in Love

10 years and going strong! Ten years and I still would rather spend my day with you than anyone else. Ten years and I still love to see your smile. Ten years and I'm gladder than ever that I married you. Ten years and I'm still just as proud if not more to be your wife. Ten years and you still surprise me with your thoughts and feelings. Ten years and I still don't know all your stories. Ten years and you still greet me with "Hey, Beautiful" in the mornings. Ten years and three kids and I can't wait to have more "little Daniels." Ten years and you are looking cuter than ever!

Next to salvation, you are the greatest gift God ever gave me. I'm so thankful that I get to be the Mrs. to your Mr.!

I love you, Sweetie!

Gifted

Daniel really pulled out all the stops this year for my 10 year anniversary gift! He wrote me a "Top 10 Reasons I Love You" list, got me a Mary Engelbreit tin of adorable cards and envelopes, and then went around town picking up gift cards and certicificates.

There was a card for dinner at Applebee's, movie rentals from Hollywood Video, and THEN he went to two local scrapbook stores. He took my punch cards and gave me gift certificates in exactly the right amounts to finish punching the cards so that I would also get $15 free from each store. Altogether it came to $95 worth of scrapbooking money, woohoo!

The day of our anniversary, August 26th, was a busy day. We went to our Sunday school class pool party so that the girls could swim. It was a chance for us to spend one more fun day with our class. We're going to miss them. They are coming to help us load the U-Haul truck tomorrow after our last day at First Baptist Owasso.

Daniel's anniversary gift from me was finally ready for pickup on Thursday, the 31st. I got him a personalized deck of cards that has a photo for each different suite. Like his Dad is on the diamonds and his mom is on the clubs (I can't actually remember which is which). It came out great and only cost $7.00! I told Daniel the price because I knew his frugal little heart would go pitter pat, lol. It's hilarious to me that the spender in our marriage(me) went cheap because I knew he'd appreciate it, and the saver (Daniel) went extravagant because he knew I'd love it. See, these are the little things that make a happy marriage!