Sarah in pictures....

Hello, Sarah!



I'm not going to say too much in these pictures. I'm just going to tell you that Sarah is a clown. She lives to make people laugh. And she usually succeeds too, especially where her sisters are concerned. Here she is, in all her tongue wagging glory.









Even with her tongue out, I think she's absolutely beautiful.

Josie in pictures....

Here's our Josie.




She, like her sisters, loves the camera. She gets quite silly sometimes when she sees me take it out. I love to get pictures of them smiling, but I also love the serious pictures, often from when they don't know I've got a camera. So I told her not to smile and this is what I got:





Kinda creepy, don't you think? So I told her to relax and just look at me with a relaxed face.





Much better. She couldn't stop herself from smiling just a bit though.

I thanked her and told her she could do whatever she wanted now. First (and I'm sparing you the pictures) she stuck her nose at the camera so we could see what was up there. Then she did this:






And when I showed her the above picture, she burst into fits of giggles which I managed to capture as well.


And don't you love her hair do? She did it herself ;)

A quick Anna picture

I just love this picture.



Thanks for letting me share! :)

Not the most perfect picture....

On our way down to Surfside Beach two weeks ago, we stopped in Virginia to visit Sam's long lost Aunt and Uncle. Sweet people. Truly! We all felt easily welcomed into their home and the children were instant friends with their (second?) cousin, who is also named Anna! :) She's a darling little girl that we all fell in love with. (She's Sam's aunts granddaughter. So what does that make her to our daughters?)

While running about in their back yard, the cameras came out and I can only hope that the shot they got is better than this one. But here's the kids and I.




And here is a shot of the new family members we met... (Sam, of course, grew up with them, but hadn't seen or spoken with them in about 15 years!)



Sam's sister Shelly is in the pink shirt. Next to her is Uncle Scott with 'big' Anna (She called our Anna 'mini-me'). Next to them, in the green, is Kelly. She is Sam's cousin, daughter to Aunt Mary and Uncle Scott and mother to 'big' Anna. Last, but certainly not least, is Aunt Mary.

On our way back home, we stopped in on them again, because our visit on the way down was simply not enough time! Aunt Mary made sure she had out family pictures for Sam to see and many included his father. She also had some personal items for him from his father, which mean more to Sam than we can express. (Thank you SO much, Aunt Mary!)





We are looking forward to making a dedicated trip to visit with them a little longer (we only had a few hours each visit.)

Thank you, Aunt Mary and Uncle Scott, for your warm hospitality and for welcoming us into your home! We each enjoyed our visits with you and the kids are still telling stories about you. I hope we can see you all again soon!

Photo Of The Day: Nothing Like Family

Photo Of The Day: At The Farm

There is a farm near us that we love to go to for fresh eggs. To make the 15 minute ride even more worth while, they have a lovely area for the children to enjoy some barnyard animals including chickens and turkeys, goats and sheep, and sometimes even baby pigs! They have this display in the center which they change every few months. It's a lovely place.

Sarah

First, what on earth is this baby about to do? Doesn't she have such a devilish look about her? What is she planning? Or what has she already done that she thinks I won't figure out?

Second, look at that hair! If I don't do battle with it, this is it's natural state. Poofy and curly all at once, it gives her face a dark golden brown frame about a foot wide!

Yes, this picture does a great job of capturing Sarah's personality. Take a good long look at it and consider yourself well acquainted with her!

Photo Op: Katie Faces

Please ignore the big stripes of sauce on her face in some of these pictures. I can't help that she chose to get super silly right after she enjoyed some pasta. It's just not my fault. Of course I could have cleaned her before I started snapping pictures, but I felt lucky enough that I had the camera handy!

Enjoy!

A Day On The Farm

Farmer Julie is so sweet and patient with my three little ones. We visit her dairy in NY state and buy raw milk from her about every two weeks. Each time we go she devotes about and hour and a half to us, showing the girls different chores around the barn and letting them groom her cows, draw on her big chalk board and feed as much hay as they want to the appreciative calves. The kids know the drill. They know what is okay for them to touch and which chores they can do alone. And they know which chores require a little more help from dear farmer Julie.

Here's a video of my three little angels helping with some bedding clean up in the barn. I hope you enjoy the video as much as the kids enjoyed making it!

Take a Guess

OOPs. Seems I can't edit a post for later and have the other version still show on my blog. Sorry if you missed the chance to guess but here's the answer:



By way of answer, I will simply show you the only trick I know you can use to figure this out without doubt. Take a look.







Perhaps you need a bit of a closer look:









Still nothing? Lets get even closer to this adorable little girl, shall we?










Did you spot it yet?





Ah Ha! There's a beauty mark hiding out on this eyelid. Josie is the one with that tiny mark. That was a tough one, huh?!

Please Note: I did not use this method to figure it out for myself prior to posting. Nope. Honest. Really. But I did have to look through the whole series from that day and compare photos. Wanna see some? Here's Katie from the same day:





And, just so you can see I didn't plant a beauty mark via PhotoShop, here's a few pics of Josie from that day:









And here's another Katie (Isn't she sweet?)





And finally, A Sarah. I just love the look on her face here. (No children were harmed during the making of this post, but they were tickled to within an inch of their little lives.)





To be fair, I must warn you: This photo was taken several months ago. Sometime in early to mid September. So, after you are done admiring this beautiful little baby, captured in this moment of hysterical happiness . . . .







Take a guess: Katie or Josie?

Vacation Pictures

Lunch At The "Cation" House: We pretty much made ourselves right to home the moment we arrived at the house in Ocean Lakes. The kids loved eating at the breakfast bar area and lunch time ended up lasting twice as long as usual when they discovered that the chairs were 'spinnie!"




The Arcade: Ocean Lakes has an arcade where I took Katie and Josie one afternoon. There were a few games that were just their size and they had a ball. Their favorite was one where they had to press a button to make the lizard stick it's tongue out to catch the little crickets that kept moving by. And they really loved riding in the big truck!





Meanwhile, Back At Grandmas: Sarah stayed behind with Grandma because I didn't think she would have any fun at the arcade and I also couldn't hold onto three kids in the golf cart to get to the arcade. Turns out she was much happier sleeping on Grandma, anyway!





Swingin' Fun: For Great Grandma Kay's 72nd birthday, we had a party at another house where Aunt Tammy and Aunt Robin were staying (cousins to Ed, Sam's step-father). On the back screened-in deck, they had a big 'ol hammock that the kids just loved. They spent a good 20 minutes just trying to figure out how to lay down in it!

Sarah Chasing Birds on the Beach

This video was caught at the very end of her fun. She had been chasing a flock of birds off, one by one and these were the last two she could find.

Many Firsts

We went on vacation last week for about 10 days of fun in the sun, mixed with a few family visits. A whole week was spent in Myrtle Beach at a lovely home owned by, well, I guess they would be Sam's great Aunt and Uncle - in-law . . . or something like that. Sweet people!

It was the first time any of our children have seen the ocean and they loved every moment.





Sam and I each had a morning or two where one of us was up earlier than everyone else, so we took advantage of the quiet time to go for a quiet stroll. The early hours at the beach are the best, I think. The few people who are out there at that time of the morning are interested only in finding a little peace, no radios or portable TV's to ruin the natural beauty.

For now, I need to go and finish unpacking (just 2 more bags left!) and, of course, do a little more laundry before I run out of time to work today. More pictures and videos later.

Katie's Self Portriat

Pretty Flowers

These flowers were planted from seed by my three children and their cousin Angie, on early April day. They took a long time to grow, since I didn't really pay much attention to them, and I didn't think they were really going to flower.

A few days ago, my sister Beckie was visiting and she was admiring the plants that her daughter helped to create. Bunches of flowers had been open the previous day, but when she was here, they were all tightly closed. Then, later that afternoon, I took this picture.

They seem to only open for about 12 to 18 hours at a time and they prefer to open when the sun isn't shining right on them. I have no idea what kind of plant this is, but it's really beautiful and fun!

Angie

Photo Of The Day . . Er . . .Week: Sarah Outside

Go ahead. Double click on that picture. Your screen will fill up with this adorable face framed in curls. Don't you just love her?

Sarah Dancing: A Video

Baby Gourmet

Josie didn't want a plain dinner last night. Chicken nuggets just wouldn't cut it for her. She carefully worked at re-making the dinner I laid before her



After much consideration Josie settled on this arrangement:



Which she happily ate without complaint.

The Morning Sun