Full Circle

Carrie has come full circle today...back to her starting point.
Well, sort of.

Take a look at this, and you'll see what I mean.

On December 4, 2007, I drove Carrie to the orthodontist to begin her journey as "The Wearer of Braces."

Look at that bright, optimistic smile!



A few hours later, reality began sinking in.
And so did the pain of braces.
I think you will notice that her smile isn't as bright in this second picture.



And now here we are, almost 22 months later.
Again, we start with that bright, optimistic smile.



A few hours later, we have a...
What's that?!
Look at those pearly whites!
Look how straight they are!

Look how old she looks!
How beautiful!



Wow.
What's her Daddy going to say?
If he shakes his head when she gets a new pair of girly shoes or a new lip gloss, what's he going to say when he sees "Baby Girl" tonight?

Full circle.
Well, sort of.
And I think it was worth it.

The Insightfulness of a Four-Year Old

This summer, my dad and Gilda and our family got web cams.

Here's a picture that Josh took of himself with the web cam...

 

What a blessing those little cameras have been for our family...especially the youngest members, Joshua and Matthew. I knew it would be fun for Dad to be able to see the kids whenever he wanted, but there was no way for me to foresee how meaningful it would be for the little boys...the ones who can't quite understand why they don't get to see Papa B and Grandma Gilda without driving for three to four hours.

But in the past few months, we have been able to watch Papa B eat one of the first ears of corn out of his sweet corn patch...butter and all. Josh has shown him cars, trucks, and light savers (sabers). :) Matthew has sat waving his little hand and blowing kisses. One afternoon, Josh was talking to Papa B and thought of something that he wanted to show him, so he took off running to his Lucky Drawer. On his way there, he hollered back over his shoulder, "Hey, Mommy! Leave Papa B right there!"

And there's nothing for me like seeing my dad sit and belly laugh over something that the kids have said to him. You just can't get all that from a telephone call.

Today, I realized how much a part of his life that web cam is for Josh.

He was sitting there on the arm of the couch while I was reading a book to William. Suddenly, he said, "Hey, Mom! Wouldn't it be neat if God had a web cam?! Then I could talk to Duke!" Duke is the dog that we had before Josh was born. We talk very fondly of Duke and have several pictures of him that Josh likes to look at.

Then he added, "And you could talk to your mom."

On a day when I am silently thinking of those who are already waiting for me in Heaven...Grandpa Bellman would have been 91 today, and he and Grandma would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary...I get teary.

What else is going on in that little head of his?

Where Do the Sticks Come From?

Joshua, Matthew, and I decided to take a quick trip to the local apple orchard this afternoon while William was at his robotics meeting and Carrie was at basketball practice.

The reason for the trip was to buy some of their big, beautiful mums and to pick up another bag of Jonathan apples...my favorite pie apples.

Of course, we ended up with a few other things...some apple cider, a pumpkin roll, and a caramel apple-making kit. That last item was Josh's pick.

When we got home, Josh could hardly wait to open the box for the caramel apples.

After checking out the tub of caramel, he pulled out the sticks and said, "Hey! I know where the orchard gets their sticks! They sneak into the doctor's office at night and get them!"



"Yep! These are the ones! They taste like the ones at the doctor's office!"



This is Matthew, enjoying his apple cider and pretzel stick.



This picture was taken before Josh decided to play doctor with Matthew.
"Open up and say 'AHHHHH!'"

No, Josh!

Money Trouble

Josh bought a Penny Gumball Machine with his birthday money. This week, he got a dime stuck in it, and we all thought that the Penny Gumball Machine was done-for.

Daddy to the rescue! Paul got the dime out and gave Josh instructions to use pennies only.

This morning, Josh asked me if I would get a gumball out of his gumball machine for him.

He said, "Remember...only use the grayish, reddish, greenish monies."

Joshua's description of a penny.

A Camping We Will Go!

I think in my last blog post I said something like..."Tomorrow, I'll share the first part of our camping trip."

I should have added, "Lord a-willin' and the creek don't rise."
I should know better than to put a deadline on my blogging. It just doesn't work out for me.

That was two...or maybe three... weeks ago.

Since then, we've celebrated Joshua's 4th birthday.

I'm getting behind!

But, as promised, here is the first part of our camping trip...

The little boys do pretty well on car trips now.
I've never been very good about packing wonderful travel packs to keep the kids occupied. Usually we just throw a few things in a bag and go.

Here are a couple of those things...a noisy steering wheel activity board and an equally noisy walky talky...PSSHHHHT! That's the noise it makes. PSSHHHHT!
I am also not very good, I guess, at packing appropriate toys. :)



Noisy toys were traded in for fun food.
When looking for fun food, Pringles is one of the best.

Duck bills!





About four hours later, we arrived at the campground.
Paul unrolled the awning, and look what he found! A little green tree frog...from our house.
Four hours misplaced.
He was in a state of shock. He just sat on the picnic table for a very long time before suddenly disappearing.
I hope he enjoys the Jellystone Park as much as Joshua did. :)



Finally unpacked and set up, we were all able to relax a little bit.



Tomorrow we would be off to Papa B and Grandma Gilda's house!

Where To Begin...

We've had a couple of pretty busy weeks around here...followed by a week of doing "a whole lot of nuthin'."

I want to be able to share what we've done, so I think I'll go at it little-by-little...with bite-sized chunks.

Joshua took his first-ever swim lessons this summer. He started off by telling me that he was "angry" about swim lessons. He really didn't think he wanted to take them.

With several pep-talks from Carrie and William and matching swim trunks, flip-flops and shirt, he changed his mind.



In fact, he went with only slight hesitation on the first day. That was huge, I thought. No tears or clinging!




I absolutely love the last day of swimming lessons. It's a kind of show-and-tell day for the kids. Family is able to go back to the pool with them and watch, while their instructor leads them in the skills that they have learned.

Paul took a vacation day and we were joined by his mom and dad...Grandma and Grandpa.
And Matthew...



And a proud sister...



and brother!


Here's Josh showing us how he enters the pool safely.



And the safe exit.



Josh had some pretty "sweet skills," as he called them, including a back float and front float.





After swim lessons, Grandma and Grandpa treated Josh to McDonalds.



And here's Matty, showing off his new skill...dunking french fries in ketchup.
I don't think I've shared his first "dunking" pictures. I'll have to remember to share those later.
He has found that he likes dunking just about any food in any kind of dunking sauce you give him.
And believe me, he is much more of a "dunker" than a "dipper!" Don't let that sweet little pinky finger fool you!



Look!
Play stuff!



Grandma watched Josh play on the play equipment.



Some time spent running around and burning some extra energy was a good thing, because we were about to go home and finish loading the camper so that we could go out on our first camping trip of the season! We camped close to where my dad lives, so that meant several hours on the road.

Tomorrow, I'll share the first part of our camping trip!

Soundless Saturday..."Croquet Ends With a Meltdown"

Free of Noise Friday..."Lovin' Those Lips...and Teeth!"

Tongue-Tied Thursday..."Shelve 'Em"

Wordless Wednesday..."Why We Homeschool"

Tight-Lipped Tuesday..."The Master of Disguise"

Mute Monday..."Ice Cube Antics"