!!?!! Cooler Weather !!?!!

D-D loves to pick out her own clothes to wear as well as change her clothes many times during the day. She had overheard Dana and I talking about how we are enjoying the cooler weather. For a few days we even turned off the air conditioner, put a few of the screens up and opened up our windows to the fresh and much cooler air. D-D thought that since the temperature was not rising above 89* it was time to get out the winter coats!!! She wore this coat around the house for a little over an hour. She looked so pretty ( and a little hot and stuffy)---our little pink Eskimo!

Baby pictures

I tried to get several pictures of Z today. I did not do a very good job...the lighting was not great, and our flash was too bright. So many of the pictures I took were either too dark, or Z's face looked like a ball of light! Here are a few of the better ones. I tweaked some of them to have a hazy edge...that soft edge seems to make the rest of the picture not appear quite as blurry. I am also putting two color pictures at the end of this. I had to work on the contrast and brightness levels of those pictures, so they really seem blurry. I guess we will try again on another day.

I love his face in these...if only the lighting...!!! You can see he is giving us some really good smiles now. He is precious!

Here is a cute story to go along with the pictures. The blanket that Z has is made of a material called "minky dots." I have seen D-D trying several times to "pop" the dots...I believe she thinks Z's blanket is a sheet of bubble wrap!

Aaaaah...a relaxing Sunday

Here are the girls yesterday morning, ready for church. D-D picked out her outfit herself. She actually wore the hat all during worship services and Bible class. I have tried several times this summer to get her to wear the entire ensemble, but---and can you believe this?---she would refuse and cry and essentially throw a little fit. I am thankful we got at least one cheerful wearing of the dress and hat rather than ONLY having several mopey wearings.


These are some of the kids in our home Bible study group. Four and a half of the children are not in the picture. Two of the missing kiddies are babies, one is a very active toddler, her brother a very active crawler and the half child not pictured is still being "knit together." Our children are loving having other people their size running through the house with them. They went out in the backyard after supper last night and proceeded to make a mud pit. Not stopping at getting themselves muddy, they decided it would be fun to throw clods of mud at the house. This attempt at creating a mud hut was discovered as we went to put the kids to bed and noticed mud all over E's bedroom window.Dana was not happy, but I was thankful that what was thrown could be washed off----mud is so much better than paint!!! :) Dana, bless his heart, went out last night and washed off the windows and the bricks. What a guy!!!! He is such a good, diligent, non-procrastinating worker. I was planning on having our two eldest help wash it after school, but the work is done!!!

M-G and E now know not to EVER throw mud and dirt (or anything else) at a house. :)

Dancing in the Rain

We had a good bit of rain Friday afternoon. D-D had a great time playing in it. It was fun to watch her.

When Pigs Fly

E dreaming of the game between the Hogs and the Tide. I think he is dreaming that the Hogs won. Is it possible to be a fan of both?!!?---maybe...when pigs fly! Of course E's "hog" he is holding does fly quite often with E's help. Does that count?

Dana and Z are watching reruns of the Arkansas vs. 'Bama game. Dana was blessed with the opportunity to actually go to the game and sit in a box near one of the end zones. A friend from church had an extra ticket and thought Dana would like to go. We all missed Dana while he was gone---E especially---but we were very excited for him. E really wanted to go to the game and had a hard time understanding why he couldn't go. The game was a good one and pretty exciting...I'm sorry that the Hogs lost, but am so glad that they gave the Tide a good workout!!!! Those last 20 seconds of the game were something else!!!! The girls and I do not have any 'Bama shirts---but the boys are enjoying wearing their Tide paraphernalia. I think that Dana wore this t-shirt and his Arkansas baseball hat to the game. At least he intended to do that. I kinda wish we had one of those fun (and somewhat obnoxious) Hog shaped hats for him to have worn. Wouldn't that have been something?!!?

Do you think that Z knows he iS wearing Alabama clothes
rather than Arkansas?---it
sure seems like it!!!

Funny, Funny Kids

Each of our children go through those times where everything they do and say is thought of as extremely cute and funny. They can say something as simple as "Hey" and we nearly fall over giggling at their clever wit---wondering why on earth no one else is laughing out loud or sharing any of those humorous, twinkling glances with others.

M-G, through the years, has supplied us with many a knee-slap. One of my favorites being the time she was in the Pre-K class at church. She had wonderful and fun teachers who we all loved. One day after church services, we asked her what Mr. James and Mrs. Angel taught in class. M-G replied, "We learned about Hannah today and how she prayed for a bad baby and God gave her Samuel." We had her repeat this several times, trying to figure out how she could understand that SAMUEL was bad!! Finally we realized that the teacher telling the story must have said something like..."Hannah wanted a child really bad, so she prayed to God. God answered her prayer and gave her Samuel."

E is, quite often, our clever little clown. Over a year ago he figured out what Spiderman must sound like when he talks. E had never seen a show or a cartoon with that character and often wondered what he sounded like. One day, after playing a while in his room with his super heroes, he ran out to the living room and said, "I know how Spiderman talks!!!" He then proceeded to shut his lips together really tight and tell me "mmrr brm mmm bmbm fmmmprmfrgm." I asked him to repeat what he said.

Then, I asked him to repeat it again...
...and again.
"Sorry, buddy." I said. "I can't understand you...you'll have to open your---ooooooh!!!!"

Yes...Spiderman mumbles!!! Did you know that? He mumbles!!! His mask won't let him move his mouth very well.

There is probably no need to tell you, bu-u-u-u-t...we think E is a genius!!! :)

And just today, our D-D cracked me up. I had finished giving Z his first half of his lunch (milk) and was burping him before he got his second half (more milk) when he filled his diaper. Actually, he OVER filled it and a little got on the back of his clothes. "Uh-oh daisies!!!" said D-D. "What did Z do? He went splat, right? Did bebby Z go splat? Right, mommy?" Then she began singing, "Splat, splat!! Z went splat! Yes, Z went splat." I find that I like that terminology better than saying the baby had an explosion. :)

D-D also loves to flush the toilet. She will stand in the bathroom and giggle and laugh while watching the water go round and round. While the water is flushing she will yell, "Ring around the Rosy...Ring around the Rosy...oooooh!!! All fall down!!! Right, mommy? look!!! It's all fall downing!!!"

"All I Want For Christmas..."

I look at this sweet child and I cannot help but hear that Christmas song about wanting "my two front teeth." Dana took M-G and E swimming today and while there, E accidentally popped M-G's mouth with his head. The very loose tooth became even more loose and after bath time tonight Dana talked M-G into letting him pull her tooth. He used a numbing medicine and she did not feel him pull at all---so she did not even cry.

I t appears to me that if your child has a tooth that needs to come out, then the thing to do is to let him/her hang out with E(see other tooth adventure in August). Yes... when our little man is around, loose teeth do not stay in the mouth for long.

Pictures of Z

I love these pictures of Z. I especially love the one of he and M-G looking at each other. He is beginning to smile more when he sees someone familiar. It may still be contentment after a full tummy---or gas---but I like to think that he is recognizing us.

Our Little Bison. Wishing we could be with the other Bison fans to watch and enjoy the football games. We will definitely miss the Rhodes Rowdies during basketball season. However, I think that Z will grow up knowing all about HU and the wonderful people there.