NEW Pictures

Matthew and I both contributed photos for this one!  Hope you enjoy a little glimpse of what we have been doing these last few months. 



Some of our newest photos.  I don't have all of the Easter pictures because they are on my other camera.  Hopefully I can do those next.  Hope you all had a blessed celebration of the resurrection of our Lord.  Enjoy the pictures!

Lilli's our table princess



yum yum

Matthew's beautiful knife

His first two creations!

This story is making me sleepy

So sweet!

Evelyn got the camera and took a few pictures!

Fun outdoor walks with Daddy!

Lilli isn't going to let go of Isabel

Hmmm. Do I look good with a spaghetti beard?

It was tasty anyway :)

Lillian put this bucket on her head.  She then had fun trying to get it off.

Colorful Mexican dresses

Thanks Michelle for taking pictures of the hikers!  I appreciate you doing that.

Matthew tooks these close ups of the kids

I caught Lilli in the middle of trying to stand up.  She mainly likes to sit there on her knees and bob up and down.

Gonna get you!

 

We could see this fire from our house last night. 

No Time to BLOG :)

Sorry that it has been months since my last post.  Life is pretty busy around here.  Many things have happened since I wrote last. 

I lost a dear college friend, Brie Gomez.  She died in a car wreck the day after Christmas.  It has been a very sad time for her family and friends.  It has been amazing how God has continually been glorified through her death.  People from her town have reached out to her family and ministered to them in so many ways.  I praise God for Brie's life and for the love she gave to all her friends and family.  She was a very special young lady.  I am thankful that I had the chance to be her friend!  I miss reading her blog posts and miss her posting on my blog.  She was always faithful to post a comment any time I updated.  I will miss those comments!

I recently found out that two of my college roommates are expecting their 3rd babies! Congratulations Ginny and Carrie. I am thrilled for you and your families! Babies are wonderful!

Our sweet little Lillian has gotten her first tooth, began crawling, is pulling up and has started solid foods.  She is a precious part of our family.   Life is even sweeter with her! 

Katie and Isabel love taking care of Lilli.  They are now allowed to carry her around.  Even though Katie doesn't technically have a curvy hip, she knows how to hold a baby on it!  She loves being a little momma.  Isabel enjoys sitting on the couch with Lilli and telling stories to her.  They are both doing well in school. It's hard to believe we are almost finished with our 3rd year of homeschooling.  Next year we will have 3 doing full time school!  We are doing Spanish lessons and learning a lot.  It has been fun for all of us to use Spanish in our everyday conversations.  I try to incorporate every word we have learned. 


Evelyn wants to start Kindergarten.  Every day she wants to do school work.  She went through her pre-k book in about a week.  She amazes me all the time.  Today she told me very seriously that she thought my grandma, Mema Toby, was my sister!  HA HA.  She climbs into the fridge to get food.  She is the messiest one in the girls bedroom.  Her clothes and things are always on the floor but she can do any other chore in the house as well as her big sisters.  She anticipates needs.  She will bring a glass of water before you even ask for one.  She also loves to cook.  She is always ready to help prepare food. She loves going with her Daddy and Grandpa.  She also wants to go to art and sewing lessons like her big sisters. She is a really neat little girl!

Josephine and John have both recently had bike wrecks.  They both sported scabby foreheads.  Josephine loves pretend play and when she is playing she does it out loud.  It makes me smile to listen to her play!
She also loves wearing rings and bracelets and any other jewelry.  She is the best dish drier I have, and she loves wearing dresses that fluff when she twirls.  She also does not like getting her hair messed up : )

John recently acquired a collection of cars that he is very proud of.  He takes them everywhere he goes.  They ride in the car with us, and sit at the table when we eat.  He will even share with his sisters occasionally.  He has learned so many new words and can say all sorts of things now.  He loves looking at the moon when it comes up, and can tell a motorcycle by its sound.  He also loves going with Matthew and doing everything he is doing.

Matthew has been busy with various projects lately.  As a hobby he is making knives.  They are beautiful.  I am really proud of his fine craftsmanship.  I knew that he could make nice quality knives!  He is a really talented guy.  He is also an amazing photographer.  He does really good work! 
He also fabricated a metal bunkbed for the girls.  It turned out well.  Maybe I can post a picture.  It's a work or art!

I have been cooking up a storm.  I have baked sour dough bread and tried a few other new recipes.  We do lots of reading and studying.  We are trying to start a garden and keep our fruit trees watered.  Taking care of our wonderful family keeps me pretty busy.  I am happy and blessed!  I hope that I can update from time to time. I am a face-book addict now.  I guess I should spend a little more time on my blog : )

I hope to post some pictures in the next few days.  It's about time for some new ones.  Everyone changes quickly. 

Have a blessed day.  Enjoy spring time.  Pray for rain!  We need it.

All Creatures Great and Small

The Lord God Made Them All!

We have had an interesting few days.  Yesterday we came home from town and saw a goat.  This goat followed us home and spent part of the afternoon eating our weeds and looking in our windows.  She even wanted to come into our house.  Josephine wanted Daddy to shoot that goat.  She didn't like it being here.  The goat followed Matthew down to his parents house where he was working on a project.  She stayed with him the rest of the afternoon! Not sure where she is now, but she isn't here.  She may be a worldly traveler. Today on our way home from visiting friends we saw a coyote crossing the road.  Then we went to see a porcupine that Matthew was supposed to get out of a hog trap.  We all stopped to see this very interesting creature!  It was really cute.  I would have taken it home for a pet, except for obvious reasons.  The porcupine went up under Matthew's truck and didn't want to come out.  It climbed up into the undercarriage and onto a tire.  It was really neat to get such a close up view of this unusual creature.  After leaving there Matthew stopped to kill a rattlesnake.  He caught it in his grabbers and showed us all through closed windows.  That's how I got such close-up pictures.  Hope yyou enjoy seeing some of what we've been up to this weekend.

I should add that porcupines do not throw their quills.  They only stand there and if something attacks them, that's when they get a mouthfull/handfull of quills.  They seem like very shy and peaceful animals.  I am also including a few pictures of our friendly visiting goat, and the Tricorn hats we made while studying George Washington this week.  For Thanksgiving week we will be making pies, playing Indian games, measuring pumpkins and learning more about the First Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims. 

 The cats were pretty curious about our visiting goat.  This old goat was standing on a chair looking in the window at us.  We are probably better off since she journeyed on down the road!

 Isn't that a cute little face!  They have orange teeth.  God has an amazing imagination!

 Pheeny didn't want Daddy to let it out of the trap.  I must admit I squealled when Matthew threw a dirt clod at me and startled me!

 A VERY CONSERVATIVE PORCUPINE :)

Rattlesnakes! Yucky!