Our Surprise Adventure ...

Today I had some errands to run and I took Emma and Robyn along with me.  We went to the bank, made a returns at Lowe’s and dropped a box off at the UPS store.  At Kohl’s, we needed to get Luke a new pair of church pants, but with returns, minus the 50% off price and my 30% off coupon, we ended up spending $0.81 for $34.00 pants and a $36.00 dress for Emma!  In my opinion the day was already a win, but for the girls, it was still pretty average.  We needed to run by Wal-Mart, and I recalled that we had some gift cards to the SweetFrog in the same shopping center, so we grabbed a free treat.

While in the SweetFrog, a lady dressed as a clown came in handing out flyers to announce a store opening which was in the next parking lot, so we decided to check it out.  After free hot dogs and chips, free snow cones, face painting and balloon animals, the girls spun the Lite98 prize wheel and didn’t win anything, but were given a board game as a consolation prize!  I’m not quite sure how that worked out, but maybe it was just because they were both super cute rabbit sisters.  We stopped by Nana and Papa’s on the way home where they took a few pictures of the girls.  The only thing not quite in tact by this photo are the “teeth” on the girls chin.  It’s also not obvious, but everything pink was full of glitter, too.  In their opinion, this was a banner day!

What's Bugging You?

Ruth: Mama, is a luna-tic the bug, or the person who has the bug on them?

Tim and Megan's Wedding

My cousin Megan asked Emma and Ruth to be flower girls in her wedding, so last Sunday we got to drive up to a lovely part of Maryland for an outdoor wedding at a gorgeous venue.  The ceremony was on a hilltop in front of a little pond (complete with frog chirping!) which one reached by going up a little flight of stone steps and across a wooden bridge over a little creek.  The reception was in a nearby barn, behind which was a huge field, perfect for antsy little folks to run free!  I didn’t get many pictures with my camera, so I’m anxiously awaiting the official wedding photographer’s shots, but here are just a few of ours.

Matt likes the artsy/nature/candid shots, so he got lots of the non-wedding-party kids while I was with the girls for the after-ceremony pictures.



Here’s Emma joining in the wedding party dance with the gentlemanly ring bearer.  I sure hope the photographer’s pics of this moment are better than mine!



This is our family table.  In Matt’s opinion, having enough children that your family takes up a whole table and you don’t have to be seated with strangers at a wedding is just another blessing of having a big family. J



And finally, here’s a family shot my Dad got for us outside the barn.  All in all, a lovely day!



Click on any image to see the full album.

Metro Richmond Zoo!

Today we joined some other home schooling families from church on a “field trip” to the zoo!  As you can imagine, there are loads of pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Click on any image to see the whole album.  (A very special thanks to Mrs. Baird for organizing the trip and to Nana, Papa, Cousin Lauren and Cousin Kendall who joined us an were an invaluable help!)

Emma's Joke

Emma came up with this on her own last Sunday while Matt was cooking breakfast.

Q: What is a griddle?
A: A French Toaster

Competition

For a long time, Robyn has made it clear that she really prefers her Daddy.  I’m totally fine with that.  Girls need a good strong Daddy, and Matt is such a wonderful father to his girls.  But I didn’t realize just how fierce the competition was until this morning.

Matt always takes off his wedding ring when he goes to the gym.  Yesterday he forgot and left it at home during the day.  This morning while he was getting ready for work, I handed it to Emma and asked her to take it up to her Daddy and say, “Mommy wants to know if you still want to be married to her.”  She laughed and left the room.  After she headed out, Robyn said, “Well, if he doesn’t, I’ll be married to him!”

She then asked “Does the Bible say Daddies can marry their grown-ups?”  I think she meant “Can Daddy marry me when I grow up?” because of course then she wouldn’t be his child, she’d be his grown-up.  And she asked because she already knows that she’s not allowed to marry Luke. J

Henry Talk

Henny = Henry
Dat-doo = Thank You
Dat-doo hoo mutz = Thank You So Much!
Foo-tail = Fruit Cocktail
Ah nee up you = I need you to pick me up
Ah nee sit on you yap = I need to sit on your lap
I dun know = I don’t know
Dus … I dun know = I just don’t know

Gospel Vegetables

We’ve been studying Galatians.  I gave the kids some questions to answer based on the first five verses.

Q: What does Paul ask for God to give to the churches in Galatia?
A: Grase and Peas

Bombastic

Matt was playing some music for the children on his nice speakers and he was especially picking pieces with impressive range in volume.  He said, “Let’s listen to something else bombastic!”  The kids started laughing and saying, “BOMB-TASTIC!  BOMB-TASTIC!  That’s great!  It’s like fantastic, except with bombs!”  We tried to explain that it wasn’t “bomb-tastic” but “bom-bastic”.  In the end, they were joyfully proclaiming “BOM-BASKET!  BOM-BASKET!!”  Oh well.  I think this one may be a lost cause for now.  Just like “punk-min” and “nack-min”.

Guess Who's at Our House Today?

Well, what did you think would happen when Luke got the boots he’s been hoping for for months?!?

(Now he wants a green pointed hat.)