Category Archives: family

Dear me…it seems that everything that could have gone wrong today did go wrong.  I even locked myself (and Grammie, and Elijah, Zeke and Ellie) out of our van on a trip to a second hand clothing store.  This trip was absolutely mandatory since all of Elijah’s pants are about an inch too short and unbuttonable.  We did find him some pants, but we needed to be rescued by a man in a borrowed car.  But… oh well.

Here, at least, was a quiet, happy moment…

Yes, school has started up again, and this year Elijah and Zeke are doing a French language course.  It put a smile on my face to see these four sitting around the computer listening to and repeating French pronunciations.   I hope to always include Phoebe and Noah in the French lessons.  They’re easy, really fun and they’re taught by a little, online, cartoon tutor.  Sounds kinda strange, I know, but it’s pretty cool.  And a lot of our homeschool curriculum is taught by yours truly, so it’s nice to have 45 minutes to myself!

Oh!  And guess who’s going to Jr. youth group this year…

Elijah and his two campus friends, Grant (his parents are missionaries from the Philippines) and Gabe (his father pastors a Brazilian church here).  This hardly seems possible, does it?  Crazy.

Grammie’s here!  Fun, fun!

Eight kids!  From left to right.  Grace – 11, Elijah – 10, Duncan – 9, Zeke – 8, Noah – 5, Ruthie – 3, Phoebe – 3, Ellie – 11 months

Ellie couldn’t get enough of the water.

What a sweetie, eh?

3, 2, 1…Jump!

They were playing make believe here…”Ahhh…we’ve washed up on a deserted island!”

Just so you know, they did not want to go on this “Keep Off” lifeguards chair.  I made them.  I thought It’d make a cute picture.

I love this on of Elijah and his good friend Navinah Riley.  Chivalrous, that Elijah is.

This might just be my favorite picture ever!

Noah, running from mischief, probably.

Elijah’s foot.  In case you’re wondering, this is also the size of one of my feet.

Awww…Elliekins.   Wow, can you believe she’s almost 11 months old?

The Fam.  Five out of seven are actually looking at the camera.  Not bad.

We’ve had a phenomenal April.  Beautiful sunny days and cool mosquito-less evenings.  It’s been lovely.   I brought the camera along to the park the other night…

Elijah…10 and 1/2.  Can you believe I have a 10 and 1/2 year old?  He’s getting so grown up and distinguished looking.

Noah already has a tan and bleached hair.  And a dirty face as this photo reveals.    In a family of five kids a face or two may occasionally go unwashed.

Our Ellie Pearl loves to be outside.  LOVES it.  The sand, the grass, the invigorating breeze…   Ah, I love how babies make these old things seem new again.

De plane, de plane!  (Oh, how we’d love to be able to fly to the land of our birth on a plane soon.)

Zeke is at my favorite stage of tooth loss.  I think this looks so cute, the gaps on either side of the two front teeth.  He scored big with those two teeth, they fell out within minutes of each other.  Zeke has now surpassed Elijah in tooth-loss, and therefore also in tooth-loss earnings.  Elijah is so not impressed.

We’re on the last day of a marvelous spring break.  Such fun we had!  We had spectacular weather, a birthday to celebrate (my 33rd!)  an Easter picnic, on which we discovered a bunny trail that lead to Easter loot!  We also got to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, had a free day at the amusment park at The Mall of America (courtesy of an oil spill from one of their roller coasters onto Dave’s head a few weeks ago) and just enjoyed being lazy.

Here are a few more photos that I’ll throw in…

April Fools!  “Cupcakes.”   Mini meatloaves topped with whipped potatoes.  Elijah and Zeke weren’t fooled for a second.  Noah was mildly amused.  Phoebe was…ummm, well, was pretty ticked off that we weren’t really having cupcakes for supper.

The afore mentioned picnic.  Note Noah’s rollerblades and helmet.  We recently got some Noah-sized rollerblades handed down to us and since Elijah and Zeke had been wanting some, we bought a secondhand pair for each of them as well.  All three boys had skating lessons this spring and they totally rock on rollerblades now!

Well besides drawing and coloring and painting and photographing – I just noticed that my last four posts would make you think that is all we do around here! – here are some other things that have been happening…

Some serious games of Chess…

This one during a short break from school.  Don’t bother asking why they’re shirtless.  I have.  As long as they’re clothed for mealtimes.

Speaking of breaks from school, Elijah and Zeke (and I) enjoyed a much needed break yesterday with a downhill skiing field trip.  We live just minutes from a ski hill and I stumbled upon a super-duper deal for homeschoolers online a few weeks ago.  It allowed them to have a short lesson, ski rental and an all day lift ticket for a quarter of what it would usually cost.  They loved it!  But now they have a dilemma:  What Olympic sport will they compete in the 2018 Olympics in?  Hockey, speed skating or downhill skiing?  So hard to choose.  At least they’re sure of one thing…they’re gonna compete for Canada. 

Noah, though, is pretty sure he wants to compete for the US.  He he. 

What has Noah been up to?  Well, he loves preschool.  He’s reading three letter words on his own now, coloring beautifully, and is spoiled by all the time that big brother Zeke spends reading to him.   Right now they’re reading a favorite together, “The Little Engine That Could.”   

He also loves to sneak his way into Elijah’s room (Elijah has his own room now), in typical little brother fashion, and stealthily play with the Lego Star Wars within.  Oh dear.  It’s an ongoing battle, to be sure.

I love this picture of him with the face that Elijah and Zeke call his “Cutie Noah Face.”  They’re convinced that he uses this face to get whatever he wants.

And then there’s “the girls,”  which is a fun, new phrase around here. 

They’re both growing like weeds.  Both had Dr.’s appointments recently.  Phoebe is topping the growth charts by being in the 98th percentile for height and weight.  A very generous lady at church wanted to loan Phoebe some of her four-year-old daughter’s cloths but they were mostly too small for her!  Ellie continues to be our “small” baby and stays right around the 50th percentile. 

I kind of feel like I’m just now emerging form the fog of pregnancy, childbirth and having a newborn around to be able to marvel at the fact that I have two daughters.  Isn’t it amazing?  I’m very grateful.  For some reason I felt a certain amount of anxiety about raising a daughter “all alone,”…with no other female around.  A strange sentiment, I know.   I truly believe, though, that the Lord knew that Phoebe needed a sister… and also that He knew that I needed Phoebe to have a sister.  God is good.