Hello and Good-bye

A couple of Sundays ago we drove down to the Ripley/Stillwater area to see friends. The happy part was getting to see my friend Claire, her husband Raymond, and their new baby boy, Drew. They live in south Texas and we are lucky if we get to see them once a year. Drew was so tiny and perfect. He made me long for Kevin to hurry up and get here!

The sad part was saying good-bye to Steven who is heading off to Iraq very soon. He's in the Navy and is seizing an opportunity to make combat pay and not have to pay taxes for several months. I wish we had some idea of how long he'll be gone. We will be praying for him constantly. I think his wife, Christina, is incredibly strong and brave to be willing to become a single parent to their two kids for the whole time while worrying about her husband's safety. But then, we knew they were amazing people when we asked them to be our girls' godparents.

Silhouettes

We've been "rowing" Cranberry Thanksgiving as part of the "Five in a Row" reading program that we're experimenting with. It's a really good book and the girls asked me to read it to them again and again, which is a good sign.

One of the "FIAR" lesson suggestions was to study the silhouettes in the story book and then make our own. So each girl shined a flashlight on the wall with her sister casting a shadow against a piece of paper, and I traced their silhouttes. Then they colored them, I cut them out, and they glued them to a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock. I told them that they could color them any way they wanted, but they could not draw actual facial features likes eyes, nose, and mouth.

Park Party

Our Sunday school class had their monthly fellowship at the park. We had quite a turn out! The kids headed almost immediately for the toys, their favorite being the tire swings if they could get a dad to push them fast and high. I can't imagine how they avoid getting queasy on that thing. Daniel pushed me while I took a ride on the tire swing, but I about lost my lunch after only a couple of minutes. Then again, I was 8 months pregnant.

We got a chance to get to know one of the newer couples in our class, Dani and Daniel. They have a daughter close to Gloria's age. She's the one in the purple shirt in this picture. They also have a little boy who is incredibly cute! Little Nathan always dresses in exactly the kind of outfits I want Kevin to wear when he gets here. It's the semi-prep look for boys.

May Fest Memories

We went to May Fest in Tulsa to see all the different varieties of art. We really enjoyed seeing the student artwork in the Performing Arts Center. The girls were able to see work done by kids their age and get some neat ideas for projects we could try at home.

One exhibit done by high schoolers had several full sized molds of people in different positions made out of saran wrap! There was also a five foot silver dragon made out of scrap metal found in a junk yard with a scrapbook showing how they did it step by step.

The girls enjoyed some of the 3-D artwork by various artists selling their work. They also liked the ornate metal wind chimes, the "brain teaser" kind of ink drawings, and anything with pictures of children in it. They got to try out several different types of art from foam painting to candle making. Although it was awfully hot, it was a great field trip!

Homeschoolers Get Together

The Millers hosted last months homeschool group fellowship at their home. We had hotdogs and chili, yum!

It was a nice evening and we all sat outside and watched the kids jump on the trampoline and play on the swingset. We had a couple of families in attendance who were there to ask questions about homeschooling to help them make the decision about whether to try it out. It was also unusual that we had so many younger children there. Many times the monthly group consists of a wide range of ages including lots of older kids. The average age this night was around 4 or 5.

One thing that I especially like about these monthly fellowships is seeing how many dads are happy to be a part of their children's homeschooling. They really understand how important it is to do this as a family and be involved in every aspect.

Awanas Grads

Gloria and Danya graduated from the Awanas program at our church on May 17th. They looked so cute, and we were very proud of them! Gloria was very mature this time and didn't act silly on stage. Daniel had gotten the last few patches sewed onto her vest just in time for the ceremony!

Danya received extra recognition as one of the few Sparks who not only completed the main book but also the entire review of every verse in the book and an additional book with harder verses.

The girls did an amazing job especially considering that Daniel and I were erratic at best in helping them to memorize the verses. On a few occasions we just read over the verses on the way TO their Wednesday night classes. Yet the girls still managed to excel! Next year we will try to be more diligent and prepared.

: )

Cold Water!

Since we decided to have Danya's 6th birthday at Lake Oologah, we just HAD to go test out the water and make sure it was a good location for the party. Unfortunately, in mid-May the water was still pretty cold. Too cold for me in fact. Daniel and the girls braved it for about 15 minutes, but in the end we all just played on the shore.

There was a huge pile of sand dumped at one end of the swimming area. So, of course, we had to climb to the top and dig down the sides so that we could make waterfalls. Danya seemed to enjoy this the most. Gloria preferred to dig a big hole close to the water's edge and fill it with lake water. We tried to make a castle, but that didn't go well. Daniel submitted to having his feet buried after setting me up nearby with a blanket on the sand hill to sit on and keep the spiders away.

The scary part of the experience was when a heavily tatooed man arrived with his very large Rottweiler not on a leash. The girls were scared. The man said, "Don't worry, he's friendly!" Uh huh. That made me feel SO much safer. We left shortly after that.

A Day with Emma

Danya's best friend, Emma, came for a playdate on May 16th. The girls had a great day, especially playing at the giant playground.

The only downside is that when Danya has a friend over, Gloria loses her best friend...her sister. Emma and Danya instantly become glued at the hip and Gloria becomes the annoying little sister doing everything possible to get attention including using "bathroom humor" to try to get a laugh out of the bigger girls.

Poor Gloria, really needs a friend her age to come visit. We've made a few trips to a friend of ours' house. Her son, Alex, is in Gloria's sunday school class. What Gloria really needs is a girl friend to play with. Another Sunday school friend, Ally Grace, may become more available this summer. We're hoping to plan some play dates for the two of them.

I'm realizing how difficult it is to keep up with Danya's social schedule, and now Gloria is moving into the "social arena". What on Earth will I do when Kevin gets to be that age??

Flying Ants!

We're being invaded! They are all over the living room. We've been spraying insecticide liberally outside, but I'm not sure how effective it is. There's a whole trail of them running back and forth along the edge of our back patio. We mostly see them at night.

They fly through the living room, cling to walls, drop from the sky, crawl across our new carpet. It's disgusting! I think they might be getting in through the bottom edge of the window along the sill in our living room. Today we are going to try to find a cheap exterminator. Ick! The sooner the better!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all our moms and mom friends "Happy Mom's Day!" I hope yours was as nice as mine! The girls brought me breakfast in bed. They made bagels with creamcheese and bacon, and orange juice to drink. They also gave me new hair clips including some very pretty silver ones with daisies all over them.

Today after church Daniel took us out to eat at Red Robin to celebrate my special day. I got to have a giant strawberry shake, my favorite! Then he gave me a sweet letter he wrote for me saying how much he appreciates me. (I think I'll keep him!) Then I got to have a nap and spend the afternoon scrapbooking while Daniel and the girls helped clean up the whole house and the yard! All in all, a pretty sweet day!

Home Grown

Thankfully, two of the tomato plants that Betsy gave the girls survived. We planted them outside this week and even got them each one of those cage things from Wal-mart. They seem to be thriving.

The girls have been outside checking on them every day. They are a little disappointed that we aren't letting them water them constantly, but I felt bad for the poor plants when they were sitting in a two inch deep swamp.

Digging holes to plant them seems to have inspired the girls. They spent today outside playing icecream truck. They dug holes all over the yard and scooped the dirt into the back of a plastic ride-on car they have out there. Then Danya pushed Gloria around the yard in it while singing and pretending they were selling chocolate ice cream.

Drew's Dedication!

My friend Claire sent me this great picture of her and her sweeties today. Drew was dedicated to the Lord the same day this picture was taken.

Little Drew is the cutest thing ever and is making me desperately wish that Kevin were already here. I wish Claire lived closer to us so that we could raise our little boys together. Drew looks like such a little man in that outfit! I've been collecting a few baby boy outfits here and there over the past few months. It hit me just the other day that I haven't bought any onesies, or for that matter any other baby essentials like pacifiers or bottles.

Daniel and I went out and got a box of wipes, because we figured it'd be best to have a few just in case. I feel so clueless. Like we've forgotten exactly what babies require. It's been about 4 years, so I guess we're out of practice. They should offer 'refresher' courses for parents who haven't had new babies recently. I wonder if it's strange for Claire, who never had a brother, to be raising a son? Well, anyway, I hope she passes on his adorable clothes to us when he outgrows them. That boy certainly is well dressed!

8 Months Pregnant

Here is my eight months picture. Kevin is getting so big! I go in for my next checkup tomorrow afternoon. He has been kicking me so hard it hurts. Daniel has been keeping his hand on my belly at night, and he says that he really understands now why it's so hard for me to sleep.

This weekend I had been walking around the convention for about two and a half hours when suddenly I felt a horrible painful feeling in my belly. I hurried to the bathroom with so much pain and pressure in my lower belly that I seriously thought I might be about to have a premature delivery! I was scared and told Daniel we might need to call my doctor. But instead I just sat down for about 45 minutes while Daniel got me something to eat, and soon I was feeling better. The pain was less intense. Later I realized that my belly seemed lower down. I think maybe the baby might have "dropped" into position. I'm going to ask my doctor tomorrow and see what she says. I have about 7 more weeks until Kevin is due.

Toothless!

Danya lost her first tooth today! It's been loose for about a week, and she has patiently been waiting for it to fall out. This morning she woke up and felt it sitting on her tongue! She was so excited and ran right in to show us.

We had a talk about the tooth fairy the other day. Grandma had told her the other day about sneaking into Judah's room to exchange his tooth for money, and getting caught. So we explained to her that it was a just for fun thing to pretend that there is a tooth fairy. We promised to give her a dollar for her tooth when it fell out and keep the tooth in my jewery box in a little plastic baggy, where I keep some of my own baby teeth. She's been walking around sticking her tongue out of the hole and practicing spitting through it. She is so proud to finally be a big kid like her cousins. She called her cousin Rhema and they discussed their missing teeth. Rhema said she had to try not to let her most recent loose tooth fall out before the beauty pageant this weekend. I guess it worked, since she won!

Renaissance Fair

Wow! That sums up the renaissance fair at the castle in Muskogee this year. We went on Sunday for the first time in 6 years and they have improved it sooo much. We took Daniel's parents with us as a birthday gift for his dad and a mother's day gift for his mom. His dad was fascinated by the blacksmith shop, the real catapult, and all the other craftsmen scattered around the fair.

The girls enjoyed learning to dance like gypsies, watching the acrobats, seeing a real joust, and solving clues to find the Queen's lost ribbons throughout the fair. After the joust had been won by good Sir Henry (who we cheered loudly for), he won a garland of flowers from the queen. She put it on the end of his lance, and he bestowed it upon the most beautiful girl in the land...GLORIA! She wore it all day and people kept recognizing her and saying how pretty she looked. Danya and Gloria wore their purple renaissance dress up outfits to the fair. You can see them in the photo waiting to meet Queen Margaret. They gave her the ribbons they found and she made them true ladies in the name of love, beauty, and joy. Then she put a ring on their finger and they got a certificate saying they were now Lady Danya and Lady Gloria.

OCHEC Homeschool Convention

The homeschool convention in OKC was a great experience! This was our first full scale homeschooling convention. The main speaker, Ken Ham, from Answers in Genesis was wonderful. He is very funny and explains complex topics like creation vs. evolution in a way that is very easy to understand and remember. Actually, most of the speakers in the classes we took were very good. Daniel and I learned alot!

One interesting idea presented, was that there is no need to teach cursive, because everything these days is written in print and they won't ever need to use it. Another was that if your child can't spell accurately, then they aren't truly literate even if they can read. Literacy is about communicating both ways, not just reading.

We found alot of great products including getting a very good price on some educational computer games. We got the 2005 edition of Elementary School Success for only $15! It has 23 subjects on 13 CDs, and the girls really like playing the games. We also got some neat workbooks that are filled with logic problems to develop their critical thinking...but we got them because Daniel and I like doing logic problems and we thought it would be fun to do them together. Another good find was a bunch of level 3 and 4 Step Into Reading books about history for Danya to read that were only $3 a piece. We also picked up a copy of "The Indian in the Cupboard". I've been reading it out loud to the girls and Daniel (who has never read it before) in the car. I wasn't sure if the girls could follow it, since it has alot of British terminology in it, but they've been enjoying it immensely. After we finish the book I'd like to do a unit study on the Iroquois Indians and learn what they were really like, since I know the book isn't an accurate representation. We learned so much, and got such great resources at the convention. I can't wait to go back next year!

Their First Car

On Friday the girls spent the day with Aunt Toni while Daniel and I went to the first day of the homeschool convention in OKC. She surprised them with a brand new Cinderella car! It's battery powered and has an AM radio. They were shocked when they finally understood that they get to actually KEEP this awesome gift!

They also had fun playing on Aunt Toni's trampoline and visiting their cousin Reagan. We got to see Toni and Clayton's house for the first time, too. They've done an incredible amount of work to it!

Later that night when we got back to Daniel's parents' house, where we were spending the night, the girls drove around and showed off their new car to their grandparents. Toni had pointed out that now Danya and Gloria can always say that Aunt Toni bought them their first car. This was perfect timing, really, since Gloria has been asking Daniel to teach her to drive. Now she doesn't have to keep hearing, "Not until you're older."

Artistic Pride

On Wednesday we took the girls to the Tulsa zoo. We gave them each one of my art pads and let them try out different mediums, like charcoal pencils. They drew pictures of Alaskan natives in an igloo and a beautiful rock waterfall.

Gloria really liked experimenting with smudging the charcoal, although she doesn't understand the idea of "shading" just yet. The drawing she's holding in this picture started out as a drawing of the Alaskan man, but she decided to turn it into the woman instead. They were both so cute sitting cross-legged on the floor inside the igloo intently working on their drawings. I gave them an art gum eraser to use on their pictures and showed them how to use it to clean the charcoal off their hands, too. We plan to take more "art field trips" in the future.

Riverside Ride

Last week we packed up the girls bikes and went for a ride down Riverside drive in Tulsa. There is an extremely long biking/walking trail there that Daniel and I hadn't been to in a very long time. The girls really enjoyed riding along with Daniel running after them. He hadn't brought his bike because he was planning to take off Danya's training wheels and help her learn to ride without them, but we didn't end up doing that. There were just too many people there for her to safely try going solo for the first time.

I walked all the way to the big fountains next to the bridge that leads across the river to the PSO power plant. It took me about 30 minutes to get there. Then Daniel and the girls rode across the bridge to go see the PSO plant while I stayed behind and read my book. After walking back to the park next to where we'd left the van, the girls played for a while before we headed home.

It was a really gorgeous day, although maybe walking an hour in 80 degree weather while being 8 months pregnant wasn't the wisest idea, lol. I was SO glad to lay down when we got home!

Vacuuming the Van

While I was preparing some papers and activities for a Five In A Row lesson plan about the book we are "rowing" this week, "Madeline", Daniel and the girls prepared a little surprise for me.

I knew they were outside, but when Danya came back in she excitedly announced that they were cleaning out the van. I thought they might be cleaning up the trash and bringing in a few things. What they actually did was an entire detail job. They pulled out all the back seats, wiped out all the cup holders and dash board, and vacuumed the entire interior. You can see Gloria using the vacuum extension in this photo.

We'll definitely have a nice clean van for our big trip this weekend. Thursday we are driving down to Daniel's parents' house to spend time with the girls' godparents, the Haleys. Friday we are going to visit my sister, Toni, in OKC. She will take care of them while Daniel and I go to the OCHEC homeschooling convention. Then Saturday Daniel's parents will watch the girls while we spend another day at the convention. On Sunday we will take the girls and Daniel's parents to the Castle in Muskogee for the Renaissance Fair. Monday, I'm sure I will collapse and refuse to move another step.

Baasler Boys and Babies

While illegal immigrants across our country were out demanding special priviledges, rights, and status in spite of breaking our laws, we chose to spend the day at the park and visiting friends.

We took lunch to the YMCA park and played on the playground after completing our homeschool work for the day and briefly visiting the library on Monday, May 1st.

Then we went over to the Baasler's house and played with their kids. Their oldest boy, Jarod (2nd from the left) is Danya's age. Their next oldest, Alex (far right) is Gloria's age. They are in the same classes at church. They have another boy, Logan, who is 2 or 3, I'm not sure. They also have a new baby girl, Katie, who is 6 months. I absolutely love to watch Katie crawl around on the floor and play with anything she can get her hands on! She is so cute and just babbles away. I actually heard her say "Ga-Ga", which I thought was a baby cliche, but apparently not!

Their mom is in my and Daniel's Sunday school class at church. She invited us over to give us some baby things like a changing pad, a bouncy seat, and some other little things. The changing pad has two washable red covers that make the pad soft and look really cute in our Dr. Seuss themed room. It's starting to actually look like we will have a baby in the house in about 8 more weeks!

Pretty Hair

I got my hair permed (which is a long painful story I don't think I'll share) at a friend's house on Saturday. The girls like it, although Gloria says I look like a stranger, lol. Since my hair looked pretty and new, I thought I'd dress up and wear a skirt to church on Sunday.

Danya and Gloria LOVE it when I dress up. That is their cue to rush to their rooms to find their prettiest dresses. Then they beg me to make their hair beautiful, too. So they got piggy tails with a twist. They said they felt like the little China girl pictured in a book we read recently who had tiny little pig tails. (I didn't mention to them that it was the boy who had pig tails, not the girl)

This picture is so cute. We took it right before heading off to church. The girls have developed a habit of always posing hugging my belly lately. It's their way of including Kevin in the photo, I guess.

Gloria is READING!

(Danya spelled Kevin's name with phonics tiles)
Gloria is officially reading! She is sounding out small words and can read beginning phonics books! Below is a post I wrote for a homeschooling message board that mentions Gloria's latest accomplishment:


I've only got a year's perspective so far on homeschooling, but here's my advice to a new homeschooler, for what it's worth:

1. When starting out, don't overdo. The first few weeks of homeschooling we covered most of what I had planned for the whole year, and I subjected my children to much too much book work.

2. Use real books as much as possible. My kids get bored almost immediately listening to textbooks read out loud, but can listen and really pay attention much longer to real books. And they can understand books read out loud that are above their reading level.

3. In a kid's eyes, games and projects using math and writing trump a workbook page every time. Just because you bought the workbook, doesn't mean they have to do every page in it..or any if you realize that it's not having a positive effect.

4. It's not worth the tears or stress. If they don't want to do "just 3 more" of whatever, let it go and come back to it later. It's a good sign they need a break when it ceases to be fun.

You can probably tell from my advice that our homeschool started out a lot more boring and rigid at the beginning of the year. We are now enjoying the whole experience a lot more, and still learning at a good pace. We spent months having my 4 year old DD trace letters in a workbook. She did it, and now has very nice handwriting. But she wasn't learning the letters. We gave her a Dr. Seuss ABC book and promised to stop and read it any time she wanted us to, and she knew all her letters in about a week and a half. We wanted her to learn letter sounds and worked in a book for weeks with no result. We bought her the Leap Frog Letter Factory video a few days ago along with the Talking Words Factory video and she picked up her first beginner phonics book yesterday and read it! So my last thing I wish I knew when I started is:

5. If it feels like work, it won't work. If it's fun, they'll learn.

Egyptian Princess

Gloria had fun dressing up as an Egyptian princess on Tuesday night. It was her "special time" when she got to stay up an hour past bedtime. She wanted to play dress up, but her dress up clothes were in Danya's room, were Danya was sleeping.

When I suggested she dress up in MY clothes and costume jewelry, she was ecstatic! She's wearing one of my nightgowns, headband, and some old jewelry that was passed down from my Dad's side of the family. I used to play dress up with my sister with the same jewelry when we were little. Gloria was so cute dancing around the house and posing for pictures! I have the feeling this may become a favorite request for "special time".

Monumentally Fun

This past week while reading about Egypt and the Pharaoh's, we learned about Ramses II, who had statues of himself built all over Egypt.

Working on that idea, Danya and Gloria each made a statue out of white playdough. Last Christmas we stocked up on playdough, getting about 4 cans of each basic color (red, blue, yellow, green, white). We give them only one color to use at a time. That way they don't mix the colors together creating a dark swirly lump of no particular color. We got the idea from our church nursery.

Anyway, they had fun experimenting to figure out how to get the statues to stand up, and how long the arms could be before they fell over or fell off. I think they both did pretty good.

Hail Storm!

Yesterday was a wild day. Daniel was working overtime during the day. Since he got a ride to work, the girls and I had the van. So we went to McAlister's for lunch. Before heading out I checked weatherbug and it said it would be warm but extremely windy. When we stepped outside there wasn't a breath of wind, though. While we were in the restaurant we saw the wind pick up and start bending the trees outside the big windows. Then we watched a wall of dark clouds move in. We hurried up and left and the sky rolled blackness above our heads like a blanket covering us up as we got into the van. The wind was so strong it yanked the driver's door out of my hands. We got home just as a fierce storm hit. It was 2pm but looked like night outside. It was all over in about an hour.

Later that day we picked Daniel up from work and hurried home. Our neighbor stopped by to tell us that the weatherman was predicting a bad storm. So we turned on the news and watched the predictions for tornadoes all around our area. The storm shook the house and scared the girls with the loud thunder. We all snuggled in bed and watched footage of a tornado that had touched down in OKC tearing up an airplane hanger. Then when we heard what sounded like bullets hitting our house we looked out onto the back patio and saw quarter sized hail falling all over the backyard and bouncing off the patio stones. The girls were relieved that the storm passed over us right before bedtime, so they felt safe enough to go to sleep.

Double Park-ing!

Daniel and the girls surprised me today. Daniel got home an hour early, and didn't wake me up. Instead, he and the girls got all their homeschooling done for the day by the time I woke up at 9 a.m.!!

So I got ready quickly, and we drove to Tulsa. We stopped at several garage sales on our way to a scrapbook store. I got some pretty new dresses for the girls for $3 total! While I looked around in Scrapbooks Galore N' More Daniel took the girls over to a little art shop next door. They brought me over to take a look, because the girls were pretty excited about it. They offer art classes for kids, including special classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays just for homeschoolers! The classes are $10 per kid for an hour and a half. We've been looking for an art class for Danya for some time now, and this one would let Gloria participate, too!

They also offer a week long summer camp. We've been considering a $200 two week drawing class at the Philbrook Museum for just Danya. This one is half the cost, and both girls can go! They would paint self portraits, make masks and pottery from clay on a real potter's wheel, paint a landscape with water colors, and more! It's from 1 to 4:30 pm, and it starts the week before Danya's birthday. She said, "I could show my cousins what I made when they come for my birthday party!" How can we argue with that?

After we left the art shop we had lunch and took the girls to LaFortune Park. Then later today, for dinner, the girls and I had a pizza and Pepsi picnic at a local park. The girls thought it was great that they got to go to two parks in one day!

She's Thinking...

What am I doing? It's over 90 degrees out here, and I'm wearing a black checked shirt and blue jeans. I'm sweltering!! At around 7 months pregnant, I should be at home with the air conditioner on, sipping something cold and looking at the new "scrapbooking babies" magazines Daniel bought me today.

He seriously wants to take a picture of me right now? When I'm dripping sweat, my hair is wind blown, and I don't particularly like my outfit? Doesn't he realize we only have a few minutes to play with the girls here? If he were asleep at this very moment he would still only get a little under 7 hours of sleep before going to work tonight. And we still have a 20 minute drive back home! It's all his fault. He's the one that promised them we'd go to a park today.

Teddy Bear Day

We had Teddy Bear Day at the Millers on Thursday. The girls each brought a teddy bear and they weighed and measured their bears. Then they compared the measurements to see who had the longest, shortest, heaviest, lightest, etc. The girls got to color pictures of a teddy bear and cut them out, too. Megan absolutely loved using the "knifes" as she called them (scissors). She must have cut that teddy bear picture into a hundred tiny shreds!

We also sat outside and solved teddy bear math problems with teddy grahams, interspersed with doing the teddy bear song/dance:

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground,
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, reach up high
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, wink one eye
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, slap your knees
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, sit down please.

After they were done, they all jumped on the trampoline. I even jumped on it gently with Gloria for a few minutes, but I was making Betsy worried so I climbed out.

Kevin's Crib

Wednesday night we pulled the crib out of the garage. It was disgusting! When looking at the bed you want to put your sweet newborn into, you do NOT want to see cobwebs and spider egg sacs hanging off of it!!!

So Daniel washed it off and we used some cleaners on it, and then he spent the night assembling it. He pretty much had to guess how it all went back together because of course we lost the directions two babies ago, but I think he did a good job.

We also moved some more furniture in, like the bookshelf at the foot of Gloria's bed in this picture, and we hung up the Dr. Suess poster that Jennie sent us. It's starting to look like we are ready for a baby to get here! Before he comes, we still need to put a changing pad on top of the blue desk, and buy a new diaper genie. The old one got broken in our garage somehow.

Home Sweet...Birdhouse?

This is the corner of our garage. This is the bird that is building a nest under the broken trim along the top of our garage.

We can't actually see inside there, but sometimes strange things fall out of the hole and we can hear fluttering inside. We can see the bird going in and out. Two days ago we found a cigarette pack wrapper hanging out of the hole. Apparently they like crunchy noises in their nest.

Neither of us has the heart to try and kick the bird out, even though it may be doing some sort of damage in there. We've been thinking about having siding put on the upper half of our house (the lower half is brick), but maybe the birds will be done using the garage before we get around to that. In the meantime we'll just keep our ears open for baby bird sounds above our heads.

Contrary Nature

We mow less than anyone in the neighborhood, and yet our grass insists on staying beautiful and green while other better cared for lawns look parched and neglected.

We mow down every year the tulips the previous owners planted 5 years ago, and yet they multiply and continue to bloom.

We neglect and mistreat the poor Mother-in-Law plant that our friend Claire gave us 10 years ago, but if we give it the slightest bit of water when it is yellowish brown and almost completely dead, it perks right back up.

I let the rose bushes get overgrown until they start ripping the screens in our windows, and then I butcher them with pruning sheers until there is hardly a stick remaining...and they suddenly bloom beautifully.

Nature at our house insists on surviving despite our indifference, inability, and general black thumb. I think there is a spiritual message in there somewhere.

7 Months and Growing

Kevin is growing just fine. He continues to kick me like he's trying to learn every dance there is. I wonder when he'll run out of room? I remember the doctor saying when I was pregnant with Gloria that towards the end of pregnancy they don't seem to move as much because they are getting too big for such cramped quarters. I wonder how my belly decides it's expanded far enough and should stop?

My stomach certainly thinks it's running out of room! I thought that pregnant women were supposed to eat voraciously, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Instead, I feel full after only a small amount of food. I can't finish a whole sandwich or a whole bowl of soup. I'm getting back into the habit of needing to eat every 3 hours like I did at the beginning of this pregnancy.

Besides having to pee about every 15 minutes, I'd have to say the weirdest thing about pregnancy is the dreams. I've always had dreams that are like watching a movie with an interesting plot line. Since I've been pregnant though, they come every night. And they are always either a horror flick or something that seems to require bad music, shag carpeting, and a lava lamp....enough said. Last night I had a terrible dream about fighting an evil villain on a small yacht in Venice. He kept attacking me with hooks that looked like croquet wickets. What would Freud say? Hmmm... Luckily, whenever I wake up in the middle of the night, I can call Daniel at work and ask him how his night is going. Within minutes I'm falling asleep on the phone, lol.

Movie Deprivation

Since we moved the t.v. out of the house about a week and a half ago, Daniel and I haven't missed it all that much. Once the carpet installation was done we decided not to move the entertainment center back in. The girls are feeling deprived.

We finally moved the t.v. in, but put it in Daniel's and my room. Since most days he sleeps in there, the girls and I can't watch t.v. or movies (which of course is part of our nefarious plot).

We hadn't actually been using it since it moved in, but last night that changed. We were going to go to a drive-in movie, but changed our minds because it started so late and we didn't want the kids up that far past their bedtime. So instead they got to rent a Strawberry Shortcake video and snuggle in bed with Daddy to watch it. I enjoyed the opportunity to have uninterrupted scrapbooking time to work on Kevin's baby album. We just got all my scrapbook stuff moved in yesterday afternoon.

I think making t.v./movie watching a special once-in-a-while treat is working out well. We get alot more accomplished during the day and I don't feel like my girls are becoming t.v. junkies.

Paint like an Egyptian!

This week we are learning about Egypt. It's a topic we've brushed in passing before, but this time we are devoting the week to studying it because it's part of our "What Your First Grader Needs to Know" textbook which we are using as a spring board for lesson planning. Monday we learned about the fertile Nile and the girls painted pictures of it.

Today we read about prideful Pharaohs and heiroglyphs. Then the girls made their own stories using only pictures. We also found a website that is an online sticker book game about Egypt. The girls liked that alot!

Danya is a little bit scared of the idea of mummies, so I thought I'd cover that topic tomorrow in a not-very-detailed way. We might wrap a doll in toilet paper or something, but not get into the nitty gritty about the process. We also might sculpt some statues out of playdough.

Easter Hunt Pals

Gloria has been Jason's special girl since she was born. He's always loved being older than her, and is always happy to see her. Their relationship seems to be going strong still. On Easter they held hands and helped each other find eggs all around Grandma Nancy's back yard.

It was a little gross that the boiled eggs had ants on them and the plastic eggs' chocolate was starting to melt a bit by the time they were all found, but the kids didn't seem to mind. After the hunt the kids swapped eggs so that everyone got some with jelly beans in them and had sandwiches and home made strawberry shortcake for dessert.

That morning before church the girls woke up at our house and discovered plastic eggs full of candy hidden all over the living room. They also helped Daniel the next day to shell the boiled decorated eggs and make egg salad sandwiches (which they thought tasted terrible, but Daniel and I liked them).

Our Loving Family

We've been collecting these dolls and furniture since Danya turned one. For fun tonight, the girls and I divided up their many many dolls into individual families and then took a family photo for each of them. The girls picked out furniture and pets for the families and arranged them on Danya's bookshelf.

This particular group they put together and said it was our family. When Danya was little the girl in the pink shirt was her "Danya doll". Now that girl is Gloria and the bigger doll is Danya. They said the little boy on "my" lap is Kevin. Grandma and Grandpa Elliott are behind the couch. We may print these out and make a little mini album for them. We have Granny Jo to thank for starting this collection, since she was the one who gave Danya the dollhouse for her first birthday that sparked the whole obsession.

Painting the Furniture

Danya and Gloria painted all over our furniture!! Oh wait, we told them they could. I have an old desk and bookshelf that I painted with my mom years ago and they were looking pretty beat up.

So we let Gloria paint the desk to match the walls in her and Kevin's room. When he gets here we'll put a changing pad on the top and some diapers in the drawers. Gloria found out that while it's fun to paint, it's also alot of work. She really liked sitting underneath the desk and painting the hard to reach parts.

Danya got to paint the little bookshelf to match her room. She painted most of it purple, and the shelves pink. I told her that if I can find some cute Disney princess rub-ons we'll eventually add those to the sides. We also ordered pizza and had it delivered so we could sit outside and eat it while we were painting. Despite the bugs and the wind, the girls had a lot of fun painting on the furniture. I was just happy that we didn't get any paint on the driveway! It really improved the look of those two old pieces of furniture.

Gloria's Desk and Danya's Bookshelf
The finished master pieces!
Kevin's crib will eventually go where the big bear is right now.

Carpet and Crud

The carpet guys came Tuesday morning and ripped out our nasty old blue carpet. Underneath it was stuck to the concrete in places from the ancient dog poo and pee from the previous owners' pets. The carpet itself was so old that it had partially disintegrated into a tan colored powder.

The carpet guy said that it was the original carpet and padding that had been installed with the house. He said that when building new housing additions, builders use the absolute cheapest carpet pad possible with an ugly color of carpet in the hope that the eventual owners will hate it and put something better in. Clearly we, and the previous owners, were too lazy to do that until now. So we scraped up the chunks, swept away the dirt with huge clouds of it flying through the air, and then sat back to watch the new thick padding and pretty tan carpet get installed. It completely transformed the look of our home! In the process, however, we did discover that there is a big crack running through our foundation. It doesn't seem to have affected the house, so I'll hope that it doesn't become a problem in the future.

Painting and Preparing for Baby

While we were painting the kids' rooms on Monday Daniel and I realized that we had never actually decorated a nursery for any of our kids before. We had decided to paint on the spur of the moment the day before. The new carpet was going to be installed on Tuesday and all our friends at church were telling us that we should hurry up and paint because we wouldn't have to worry about messing up the old carpet.

We've never painted any of our homes before. Mainly because this is our first real home that we actually own. So Monday morning we went out and bought the paint that everyone recommended. It's called Kilz paint and it goes on with just one coat, doesn't have noxious fumes, and dries quickly. Kevin's room got two shades of blue, which it already had but it was old and scuffed up. Danya's room got light purple and pink with a Disney princess border.

We did the living room in "white chocolate". But by the time we were ready to start on the living room it was 7pm and we hadn't even eaten dinner yet. So we called our friend, Mike Miller, and begged him to come help us. He came over and helped us get most of it done by around 10pm. Daniel was finishing the edges and corners until almost midnight, though. Then he had to wash out all the painting equipment and we wound up not getting to bed until around one. We were exhausted when the carpet installers arrived the next morning. It was all worth it, though, because the house looks amazing.

Playing with the Elliotts

We drove down to visit Daniel's parents on Sunday afternoon. We had a pizza picnic at the park. (Say that 5 times fast! lol) His folks had kindly agreed to let the girls stay with them for a few days while we finished moving furniture, painting the house, and having carpet installed.

It was very hot outside, but the girls really enjoyed playing at Strickland park. Daniel and Gloria climbed up opposite sides of this rock wall and gave each other a kiss at the top. When Danya made it to the top I reached up and shook her hand from the other side. Both girls were so proud of themselves for getting up there all by themselves. Daniel was pretty proud of himself too, maybe because this time last year he may have been too out of shape to make it up there so fast.

It really was a beautiful day. The girls stayed Sunday night through Wednesday afternoon with their grandparents. They made marble paintings, took walks, played on the tire swing, and made crafts. They are really looking forward to going back to Grandma's house this coming Sunday for an Easter egg hunt with the Maxwell cousins.

BOK and PAC visit

We had ALOT of change after last weekend's garage sale. So we brought the entire box of coins to Tulsa to the downtown branch of our bank, located in the BOK tower. That tower is connected to the building that Daniel works in.

The girls enjoyed the revolving doors, riding the escalators, tossing pennies into the fountain, and getting their hands stamped and free suckers at the bank. They took our coins and sent them to the underground vault where they would be counted and then the total would be credited to our checking account. It wound up being about $35 in change.

We also walked out across the bridge that connects the second floor of the tower to the parking garage across the street. The top of the garage has been turned into a little park that butts up against the Performing Arts Center (PAC). We walked around the park and took this picture of Gloria under a giant statue of a ballerina. Last of all, we went to a Borders book store and got each of us a new book. Altogether it was a fun little outing!

Extreme Bear Makeover!

Gloria was in tears Thursday night because her favorite bear, Brownie, was coming apart at the seams. Brownie belonged to Daniel's dad when he was little. He's getting pretty old and threadbare. So we did some repair work on him this weekend.

I stitched his ear back on, since it was hanging by a thread. Then, since he only had one button eye left, I removed it and put new matching button eyes on that Gloria got to choose herself. We decided to leave his nose for now until we find a good replacement.

In an odd coincidence, when we were cleaning out the garage on Tuesday we came across a box of Daniel's chilhood photos including an old postcard that has a picture of a bear that looks identical to Brownie on it (minus the clothes, since those were added by Daniel's mom years ago). Hopefully we can keep Brownie holding together so that one day he can be passed on to one of our grandkids.

Hiding the Baby

Do I look 6 1/2 months pregnant in this picture? I tried to stand in such a way as to hide my pregnancy a little when we would get onto rides so that they wouldn't kick me off. Since every ride including the little kid rides had those signs that suggest you don't ride if you're pregnant, I decided that it was mostly to prevent law suits.

So I rode the giant boat that swings back and forth about 5 times because the girls liked it so much and also the Wild Cat roller coaster twice since it's fairly tame and didn't hurt my belly at all. The one mistake I made was wearing a sleeveless maternity shirt. I went home with a mildly painful sunburn on my shoulders and chest. Thankfully, the girls didn't get burned at all.

One of the highlights of the day was when Daniel got chosen to assist in the magic show! He had to verify the restraints and the female assistant were all real. I think the best thing of all though, was that the girls had grown just enough that they could both ride some of the bigger rides. We bought the souvenir photo of the girls riding on a real grown-up size roller coaster with us for the first time ever. They loved it so much they immediately said, "Let's go again!"

Yard Sale and Frontier City!

We had a garage sale last weekend that went extraordinarily well. Over the course of two days we made about $350! Most of that was from selling kid's clothing and scrapbook supplies. We sold all but a couple of items for just a quarter a piece.

Saturday night Danya asked if we had made enough money to go to Frontier City. We had planned earlier this year to try to go to Disney World..but that didn't happen. Then we thought maybe Frontier City, but decided to use the money to replace our carpet and tile instead. Friday night Daniel's work informed him that his schedule has changed and he suddenly had Sunday off. So we decided to go on the spur of the moment.

We didn't realize it was opening weekend, but it worked out fine. There were almost no lines at all and we got to ride everything we wanted to except the swings which were temporarily closed. We all had a great weekend!

The Cleaning Crew

We recently hired a wonderful new cleaning crew to scrub down the play structure in our back yard. They swept and washed every inch of it from the slides, to the rock walls, to the stools and other accessories.

They don't do windows, but fortunately the only actual window in the structure is the plastic sky light.

Both girls were very professional and even dressed in matching "uniforms" before beginning work. The best part was that the entire cleaning job was their idea in the first place!

The play structure looked great for about a week before a bad storm blew it over and it got covered in mud and bugs. I guess we'll just have to see if they are available to come clean it again for us on the next sunny day!

The Apprentice

Danya got to help Grandpa Wayne and Daniel lay the new tiles in the entry hall and the kitchen. She was fascinated by all the different tools they used. The tools were on loan courtesy of our friendly neighborhood supply store...A.K.A. our neighbor, Shane.

Wayne has laid a lot of tile over the years since he is the head of maintenance at my old high school. He was installing those tiles so fast, it was a thing of beauty to watch! He made it look so easy. But then Daniel, attempting to lay tile for the first time ever, showed how hard it really is if you aren't experienced at it. Together, though, they made a good team. I'm glad that the girls got to participate, since it's not a typical "girl job". I want them to feel confident and capable at any task.

Memory Makers

Grandma Nancy helped Danya make her memory box as part of the projects required to complete her workbook from church. In the box she is supposed to put little things like a letter to herself saying what becoming a Christian means to her and a photo of her getting baptized. She's also memorizing scripture and basically getting prepared to make that big decision. She's been saying that she wants to ask Jesus into her heart and get baptized for a long time now, and this is our way of making sure she fully understands how important the decision is before she makes it. She really got a kick out of having Grandma there to help her make her memory box.