I Eat It Up

One of the little joys in my day is watching the little kids go to school. Most children start school here at 2. Not just playing the sand and eating paste, but school. . . backpacks, learning, homework, and my favorite part- uniforms. I get asked all the time why Josiah is not in school. While I don't think that a structured environment would benefit him at the moment, I would love to get him a little uniform. I shamelessly (with permission) took a picture of these twins in their bow ties going to school yesterday.

This song JJ Heller wrote for her baby girl, When I'm With You, expresses my heart. Enjoy these 7 month moments with Annette.

Introducing. . .

. . . Annette's two front teeth! She has four total now and has been the happiest baby since they made their appearance.

(This is for you Gerry :)

Hunkering Down

Well it has been an interesting week for me. Wednesday morning I kissed Jason goodbye as he took off for a five day trip to Guam with the Cross Country team. On that same day the buzz began about "severe Typhoon Megi" in route from the Philippines threatening to directly hit Hong Kong. In case you are not as well acquainted with Megi, here is an introduction. She:
- killed 27 people in the Philippines this week
- sent 25 ft wave surges crashing into villages.
- has winds up to 260 kph
- is larger than Hurricane Katrina
- looked like the worst typhoon to hit HK since 1974

Normally I am up for a good typhoon, viewing it as the tropical equivalent to a snow day. But this is three times bigger than any typhoon I've experienced. The last three days I've been typhoon tracker. I am happy to tell you Megi has headed east and will be missing Hong Kong. Thank you Jesus! Please pray for Fujian and the coastal areas of Southeast China as they are bracing for this typhoon.

All of the windows were taped in expectation of the wind. . . can you guess what letter Josiah learned today?
Jason got to fly OVER the "super typhoon" not once, but twice on his way to Guam.

Do I have something on my face?

Learning Around Home

The teacher in me LOVES the stage that Josiah is at. His insatiable curiosity ("whats dis called?" all day long) and explorer personality are opening up the world before his eyes. Josiah is not into toys so much, but loves "working". . . using tools, washing dishes, juicing carrots, scrubbing the bathtub, shaving his legs (just kidding). . . anything he sees me doing. With this is mind, my creativity is always being stretched to think of news ways to have him "help" me.

Last week we made an apple pie together. It began so fun, but as the process progressed the kitchen and my one square foot of counter space starting shrinking. An hour and a half later by the time we were finished and had cleaned up the flour (everywhere!) I was about to pull my hair out. Here is a random compilation of some of our play pictures (again sorry for the nudity, he really does wear clothes sometimes!)

home- made puppet theater

playing the guitar

finger painting

counting Cheerios

Going on a "red hunt"
sorting buttons, beans, shells, pasta. .. .

Josiah's favorite: nuts and bolts

shaving cream- this got out of control

sink or float game

we turned his tool bench into a play kitchen for hours of fun

Please leave a comment to share ideas of fun games you play around your house.

This year I've been taking the kids to a lot of school functions (cross country meets, middle school camp etc). The kids seem to draw a crowd like magnets. Josiah is such a ham, he usually adores the attention while Annette smiles oblivious to it all.
Josiah is caught sucking pool water in this photo. Nice.