Daddy Daughter Moment

It's not often that I get an endearing picture of Brock with one of the kids. I thought this was such a sweet picture of Brock and Lauren. I would love to have a picture like this of me with my dad! I think Lauren will someday treasure this. What a beautiful moment in time! I'm so glad that they let me capture it in this picture.

The Circus

We went to the circus with the scouts last Friday night. It was so much fun! I had never been to a circus before. There were tigers, elephants, and clowns. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the animals though. I think wild animals were meant to live in the jungle and be "wild." They shouldn't be performing in a cage, submitting to a man with a whip! The most exciting event was watching seven crazy guys riding motorcycles in a very small sphere. Here's a picture of the elephants. I wish you could see the zebra outfits that the girls are wearing. Brock wants to get me one.

Mystery Pictures!!!

And another one's gone...

The drama continues as Benjamin loses his baby teeth! Last week he had been in bed for a miserable hour before he finally got up and said, "Mom, please get this tooth out of here!" So I brought him into my bathroom and tried to help him out. I wiggled and tugged and that little tooth just wanted to stay put. Ben was nearly out of his mind. Finally, the tooth was just hanging there and Ben pulled it out himself. That tooth had the longest root I have ever seen on a baby tooth!

Birthday Parties Galore

We have three birthdays in the month of September! Brock and Lauren were born on the 20th, and Benjamin was born on the 23rd. It's so hard to make all of them feel special at the same time. I do my best to give them each individual celebrations.


Lauren invited six friends to sleep over. She had a lot of fun and a lot of frustrations. Lauren said that she would never invite all of them over at the same time again. It was too much for her to manage. It was too much for me to manage too! The girls started doing make-overs at about 1 a.m. and I was getting a little grouchy inside. When I had to tell them all to get in their sleeping bags and go to sleep at 3 a.m. my grouchiness was coming out. I guess I'm not the sleep-over-kind-of-mom. I don't think the girls' ever planned on sleeping! All this in the name of making Lauren happy for her 12th birthday. Lauren finally got her ears pierced! She is counting down the days until she can wear all of the earrings she has been making for the last two years.

Brock is probably the one who gets the short end of the stick at birthday time. I made him his favorite carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. He got a couple of really exciting gifts like shirts and pants. Waa Hoo! He would much rather have some kind of new technical gadget. Some day Brock...

Benjamin requested Chinese stir-fry for dinner and a chocolate cake. He is nuts about star wars! So guess what he got for his birthday---galactic heroes from star wars. He was a very happy six year old.

Benjamin loses his first tooth!

Finally, Ben was able to lose that first tooth! The tooth was barely hanging on to anything for about a week before Ben decided it was time. He stood in front of the mirror, nearly in tears, and just popped it out. He was so surprised! He loves to smile and show everyone his gap. Now his other bottom tooth is loose...

Flashback Friday

This photo was taken back in 2000. Jessica was turning 5 and Lauren was nearly 2 years old. We were living in an apartment in Klamath Falls, Oregon. I snapped this picture on a Sunday after church. The girls were running around in their slips! I thought they were so cute. Notice how Lauren is standing on one tippie toe.

Some of you may remember that Jessica cut her own hair. It was so short. She cut it almost to the scalp in some places. She looked like a european punk rocker. The crazy part is that some people actually thought I cut Jessica's hair in that style. I didn't think I would survive that ordeal!

My girls are young women now. It's amazing how the time has gone by so quickly. I love the song that you probably hear playing right now. "Slipping Through My Fingers." Sometimes I feel just like the words to this song. Before I know it, my girls will be leaving home. It makes me so sad to think that their childhood is nearly gone.