Brotherly Love

Chris catches Emily by surprise with the spray of the sprinkler - heehee.

But then he makes up for it by snuggling in the recliner. : )

This is for Davey!

Easter Pictures

Before church on Saturday evening.

Emily's black shoes grew too tight - ooops! Silver will have to do. :)

Sunday was over at the BIL/SIL house.

(Again, I'd show pictures of the cousins, but hesitate to without permission)

On the hunt...

Ta Da!

Happy Easter! Jesus is Risen Indeed!

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here!... He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned... After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Mark 16 : 6,15-16,19-20

Big Red Furry Friends

Emily loves Elmo and Chris loves music.

So, we HAD to go see an Elmo Makes Music show!

Grandma, Brandie and little Bobby went with us, but I don't want to post pictures without permission. I may need to go to a private blog, so that I don't have to worry about stuff like this.

(We missed you Capps girls!)

Boo!

Emily's into hiding these days. She is great at it too. She sits as still as a statue for minutes at a time. Pretty incredible for a little one who's not quite 2!

The other day, we were leaving the bathroom and she said to me,

"Mom, I hide."

I just did my usual, "Oh, yeah? OK," not really paying close attention.

Well, a minute later I realized that she wasn't in the living room with us. So I went back into the bathroom to look for her and this is what I saw.

Here's a closer look.

And then we said "BOO!"

Guitar Love

I am SOOOOO frustrated at Blogger right now. I had 2 more pictures that I'd scanned to show you all, but they won't post to the blog. Just ignore the screaming and continue on. I'll be okay, I didn't need that chunk of hair anyhow.

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a couple of weeks now.

Chris has a long running love of music, with guitars being the primary instrument (pun intended!) of his music making. He got his first guitar from his Grandma when he was only 1 year old. It was an old plastic one, perfect for a baby to abuse. It sounded like some sort of Chinese musical instrument, so great was the "twang" factor! Well, he played that thing to death. He also had amazing technique for a baby - strumming with basically correct form and moving his fingers over the frets to make "chords".

For Christmas 2003 we gave him a brand new "real" guitar. He was 22 months old and I'd say it's been his most precious item that's he's owned. Like any kid, his interests change according to his moods, but the guitar is one thing that has been a constant love in his life.

When we ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he usually says "A Rockstar". Cute, huh? So after much suggesting and begging and mentioning and asking and reminding and nagging, he convinced us that he needed an electric guitar for Christmas. Remember?

Well, Emily has been inspired. Since we now have enough guitars to go around, she's picking up on the rockstar vibe. She doesn't have the natural talent that Chris has, (she "picks" at the strings rather than strum.) but she's right there picking and singing with the best of them!

So, if you can see in the above picture, the acoustic (brown) guitar is totally beat up. This is the one that Chris got just before he turned 2. He has played the life out of it. See the scratches near Emily's left hand? Those are from Chris' pick and his fingers - he's actually drawn blood from playing so hard. Also, the body has split open along the bottom edge.

We decided that we'd use some of Chris' birthday money and go get ANOTHER guitar. So we trooped off to Walmart. Look what Chris picked out. Oh dear.

It took all the strength I had to let him buy this thing. Oh well, he's the one who has to live with it. Wait a minute..... so do I. : ) Maybe I should save this picture for when he's a ROCKSTAR and use it as blackmail!

Snow!

So, in case you haven't noticed, I've gotten very blog-lazy. Posts are either comprised of memes or are picture heavy. I still blame the weather. We are solidly in the ugly stages of winter here - it's all brown mud and grass with an occasional patch of gray slush/ice thrown in for good measure.

Anyway, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. We'll see if I'm lying or not come spring.

We got another sprinkling of snow yesterday, so after school we played a little before heading inside. Here's proof:

Do you see the look of intense concentration on his face??

He made the world's tiniest snowball! (Look in his hand.)

Oh, and the girls aren't the only chocoholics in this family..... :)

Family and friends: Go check out Kristie's blog ! She has new pictures up of her girls - beauties! Kristie, I'm stopping by to comment, I promise! I've been thinking about you all week!

Thanksgiving Feast

Well, today was the Thanksgiving Feast at "school". It was really nice - cute kids and great food. Each class put on a little presentation -- a song or poem or whatever. Neither of my kids uttered a word when their class was up. Oh, well.

The pastor if the church said a few words before we prayed over the food. He said that he was watching the parents during the presentations and that we were all grinning like idiots (my word, not his!) and waving our arms, trying to get the kids to look at us, and taking pictures with multiple cameras. He mentioned that it was great how proud we are of our kids and how much we love them.

Then he said that that is exactly how God feel about us, His children. He loves us even more than that. Wow. What a neat illustration. There are times that I forget that. God loves me. And you. I know that in my head, but sometimes I don't feel it so clearly. When the pastor said what he did, I felt it to the tips of my toes. How awesome. And how much we have to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

October Fun

Pumpkin Patch --- Carving "Bob the Tomato" Pumkin ---

Cute Cat and (10 minutes before he gets sick all over the living room) "The Thing"

Chris Has Done a Bad Bad Thing

I'm just now getting on to share some very bad news with you. Elmo lovers should avert their gaze....

The other night, I looked up from the computer to see Chris carrying Elmo around like this:

Horrifying, yes? Well, the brutality just gets worse. Chris begins to delight in the awful display of torture and swings poor Elmo, mercilessly, around the living room. Be sure to notice the loud "clink" before the wailing and weeping begins. I'll tell you what happened after you view the evidence.

The clink? Elmo's eyeballs hitting the fireplace door. Terrifying.

WARNING!! Our house is NOT Elmo friendly. Sob.

"Little Sprouts"

I hate, hate, HATE leaving my babies with people who don't know them or care about them. They're just another "kid" in the crowd. Sob.

I'll just torture myself with a couple of pictures. :)

Moms for Modesty

I'm joining in with a group of "mommy bloggers", organized by Everyday Mommy, who are petitioning for more modest clothing for girls. There are bloggers who (unlike me) are on the radar of local media and who have been able to be a voice for the stay at home mom. So, the thought behind the petition is to have every concerned mom "sign" the petition by commenting on the central post at Everyday Mommy's site and then spread the word through linking to it from posts about the same subject, if they choose.

Moms for Modesty Mission Statement
As a Mom for Modesty I believe in common-sense modesty for girls and young women.
I believe in refraining from sexualizing our girls and young women.
I believe that it is unwise and unfair to taunt boys and young men by permitting my daughter(s) to dress in an immodest manner.
I believe that true beauty comes from within and I strive to teach my daughter(s) this truth.
I will loyally shop at retailers that provide girls' and young womens clothing that is modest, affordable and stylish.

This petition is so timely for me. I just mentioned to Bobby the other day, after I'd been in Target, that I'm not looking forward to the days of shopping for Chris and Em for school. Even already with Emily we've run into sizing issues. At 12/18/24 mo. the shorts are cut low on the hips and with very short inseams. They're essentially Daisy Dukes for babies! Even some of the tees are beginning with an "attitude" message: It's Hard Being a Princess, Diva in Training, Spoil Me, etc. And they just get worse as they get bigger. The issue originally was sparked by a question about some tees that Jules had posted. They said things like Bite Me and Man Eater. These were sized for little girls ages 6-8 or so.

I want my kids to look stylish and "cool" just as much as the next mom, but some of the clothes out there is just plain scary. I want my little girl to look cute and modest. She doesn't need to let her belly button show or have messages on her rear to look stylish. I know that I have a long road ahead of me.

Several women made some suggestions for places that do carry cute clothing that's appropriate for small kids. Among them were: Land's End, Gymboree, Old Navy (most of the time), Children's Place, Hannah Andersson. I didn't link to them because I'm lazy. Maybe we can send more business to these types of retailers to thank them for maintaining their standards.

Feel free to join in on the petition. You don't have to have a blog to do so. Let's keep our little girls innocent!

Big Trash Treasure

We found this on the curb of the house, 2 doors up from us, the night before last.

It was dark and we were heading home from swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We were coming down the hill toward home when I spotted it. Chris and I went for the initial inspection and when it passed, I came back and reported to Bobby. Bless his heart, he humored me and headed out to check it himself. We still have a chair in our attic that I found on a curb, 5 years ago.

After a couple of minutes, Emily and I went outside to see what his verdict was and saw him struggling down the street, carrying this thing, in a big bear hug. We ran to help him and after a little sweating, grunting and bruising, it's now residing, proudly, in our front living room. After I get it fixed up, it'll go in Chris' room.

I think it's perfect for a preschooler. I showed Chris how it has a special spot just for his backpack. He, on the other hand, thinks it makes a great house. He's claimed the section with the door as his hideout.

I'd like to remove the stickers and possibly paint it. I was really inspired by how turkey feathers transformed her microwave cart.

Roll your mouse over the picture to see the before and after. Cool, huh?

Any ideas on how to remove the stickers easily?

Kid Pics

Heard today:

Emily: "Gaaah, Maah, Doc!"

Chris: "She said 'I want popcorn!'"

He knows better than I do. :)

Just some extraneous kid pics. Enjoy, Grammy and Pop!

We love you!