Please keep the Westerfield family in your prayers...

You can go to their blog, "Journey to Ellison Brook" on the left. Long story short, they've been waiting to adopt a baby girl. They were all set with a birth mom about a month ago. That mom gave birth yesterday and has changed her mind about putting the little girl up for adoption. So, their waiting continues. While their hearts must be breaking, they are trusting in God's provision for their family!

Couldn't ya just listen to it all day?

Your kids laugh that is?! I just wish they would do it TOGETHER even more! I don't know about you guys or if it's partly due to being cooped up inside but ALL of my kids have been at each other's throats lately! I've been experiencing more Calgon moments than I care to share! But, there was a glimpse of time just after lunch where Dani was crackin' Tyler up today and I was able to catch it on video. The BEST of it had ended by the time I got my camera of course, but still, I just couldn't resist sharing!

Correction!

I feel I must correct Hannah's poor tadpole's name... it's about preserving his legacy really! He was Huck NOT Tuck! How could I forget? Truth be told, I can hardly keep my own kids' names straight let alone two tadpoles and a fish! What will become of me if we ever get a dog?

Anyhoo... I feel MUCH better now! ;)

Another one bites the dust... eh, um... two...

...tadpoles that is. I am sorry to report that Tom was found belly up on Monday morning and Tuck took his last tadpoley breath yesterday afternoon! Both are now at home in sewer heaven. Hannah was heartbroken by Tom's demise. She at first asked me to not flush him down the toilet... "What if he's not dead!?" "Oh, trust me honey, he's dead." She was fine after that. I had a feeling Tuck wasn't far behind so I warned her and she was not surprised by the news when she got home from school yesterday.

I ordered two more tadpoles this morning. Sure hope we can get them into the leg-growing phase at least. We did everything right, I promise! According to the site, it's not uncommon for bull frogs to live to 5 years or more. Well, we made it to like 4 weeks, does that count for anything? Anyone out there in cyberspace have any pointers for keeping tadpoles alive other than food and fresh water? This mommy will do almost anything to have a pet frog for my Hannah! ;)

I'll keep you posted!

New Memory Verses... Ah! I'm late!

I am TWO days behind on starting my new memory verses! Ah! I need to catch up! I first chose Ephesians 4:29 which says: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. But then I decided to check out the verse in context and decided that I needed to start with verse 25 and work my way toward the end of the chapter. I sure hope I can do it and that these verses will leave a permanent imprint on my heart. I am experiencing verse 25 in a round about way right now so it fits perfectly. And, I don't know about you guys but I have an issue with anger. It doesn't take much to irk me, namely with the members of my own family... you know... the ones INSIDE my own house! I TRY not to let it happen and try even harder not to just react but FAR too often I just spew words or, even worse, looks with little regard until it's too late. So, hopefully these verses will help! Anyone with me?

Bah Bah Black Sheep!

Keven and I took the kids to a sheep farm about an hour away on Saturday. Jamie who works in Keven's company office has a small sheep business with her husband as a hobby. The ewes were lambing and we got to see newborn lambs. Can you say ADORABLE? The kids had a great time. First we went into the "jug" where the new mamas are kept with the newborn lambs to make sure they bond. Then we went to another holding place where they were all a few days old and got the pet those ones. So cute! I am a sucker for baby animals of any kind anyway. I was going to try to take a video of one of the baaaaing (don't know the technical term - is it bleating?) but didn't. It was a beautiful day, minus the wind, and the kids had a blast running around, stepping in sheep poop, sticking their fingers in the sheep water and the licking it off (TYLER!), chasing ewes (TYLER!), poking at lambs' eyes (TYLER!)... Jamie and Mark were so sweet to let us interrupt their hard day's work! We had a wonderful time!

Dani feeding a baby a bottle

Marlie & Hannah feeding bottles

Tyler "petting" a lamb. He really was pretty darn sweet with them.

The chase begins

Isn't he/she a cutie?

1 of 3....

Father/Daughter dances that is! Keven took Marlie to her very first Father/Daughter dance Friday. She was so excited! And, being a dance, we had to get her all gussied up of course. First we started by putting her hair in those little foam curlers while her hair was wet in the morning. Remember those? tee hee! I have never curled her hair this way before so it was quite the experiment. Well, let's just say that I need much more practice and many more curlers. The girl has got TONS of hair... and I do mean tons! So, we took the curlers out and there were some tight curls, some barely curled and some not curled at all! But, we stuck it up in a pretty barrette (which was the plan anyway) and took an OLD spiral curling iron to it! Turned out really cute. She even had the treat of some blush (rouge as her daddy so LOVES to tease) and mascara! She looked gorgeous!

Marlie LOVES, LOVES, LOVES flowers! Fresh flowers, silk flowers... you name it! So, Keven and I thought it would be a great surprise to have a little corsage made for her. Well, as you can see by her face when Daddy presented it to her, she did not know what to think of the whole thing. She tried it on but said it was uncomfortable. She never did wear it but I think she just didn't quite know what it was all about. I wonder if maybe she thought she would be the only one wearing flowers on her wrist. Too funny!

Being silly in her curlers

What is this?

Next is Hannah's turn for a dance with Daddy on the 13th. Can't wait to get her all doodied up next! She is such a little tomboy that it's even more fun! Then there are no more "formal" dances but Daddy has promised a Father/Daughter time of some sort with Dani too... any ideas to shoot my way?