To the ZOO!

What are we, crazy? This is the crew we took to the zoo today. 21 kids I think. I lost count.

Joshua's "gentle" hug

Hey, how did Lily get two?

"Eh, it's all right. I don't mind."

"Want it back?" (now that I drooled all over it?)

"Ha, ha, just kidding!"

Do you think Joshua met his match?

Most of this week has been preparing for Saturday's wedding. Amy and I are the photographers. Yeah! We have been searching the web, reading books, helping each other learn how to use our new equipment, and driving our kids crazy by making them pose again and again until we get the settings right. On Wednesday, we took Court and Nina over to the church to model for us while we practiced. We wanted to get our settings right ahead of time. Their friend, Abby was there, to the girl's delight. So we not only found great spots for the wedding party to stand for their photos, but we also got some cute shots of these friends. These three are so much alike... it's scary!

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More posers... "Smile real cute, Gracie."

"Open your eyes."

"Don't forget to smile."

"Keep your eyes open. Um, yeah, that's good."

Boys, go get ready for church.

Doesn't he look handsome?

And doesn't Joe look... oh, Joseph.

The struggle between good and evil

Cant wait!

We're a little anxious to go camping. The boys ask every morning how many days we have left. I don't blame them. I'm anxious, too. Tony decided to set up a small campfire in the driveway. When I say small, I mean he broke up two sticks. But they loved it. I t was a special treat. We had a few marshmallows left that we quickly roasted and gobbled up.

Ah! Sticky, sticky, sticky!

Things I hear...

"Oh. I am sorry.   I watered him."

"Aren't snakes just tails?"

"I am not a baby. I am a giwrl."

"It's not nice to kill Indians.

                   ...especially nowadays."

While watching the basketball game, Joe asked why they all liked fish so much. What? Why would he say that? "They keep yelling 'Eat fish! Eat fish!"
Hmm, eat fish? A few moments later, the crowd began to cheer "De- fence!"

Oh! Yeah, it does sound like they are chanting "eat fish." So if you ever see us out somewhere watching a game, you wont wonder why our strange family is yelling "Eat fish!"

We love Math

"Jacob, did you get all your Math done?"

"Yeah...um...no...uh, I don't know where it is."

"What do you mean, you don't know where it is? Go find it.'

He looked and looked, but he never did find it. Later that day, look what I stumbled upon...

I got the privilege of babysitting my friend's little boy this week. My girls were thrilled. They adore him. It's hard not to, he's so very sweet.
So, since she doesn't have a blog, I will show off her boy here.

Found

Look what showed up in our yard. Aint she sweet? She was acting pretty hungry (she was eating alpha bits from the driveway) so I let Courtney give her a drink and a proper meal (cheerios- well, we don't have cat food) and sure enough, she was still here in the morning. I know that if you feed an animal, it will continue to come around, but I would think that if it had a home, it would wander back there eventually. She hasn't left our yard in five days. Our neighbor was good enough to give us a little cat food to hold her over until we could get to the store and buy a bag. The kids go out several times a day and kiss to her and she comes running. Gracie, as you can imagine, is in her glory. She calls her Tommy-O, after her cousin's late cat, even though we continually tell her that's not her name.

Joshua likes to yell at her. It's more like a loud growl.

"Shh, you'll scare the kitty."

A few more cute ones...

whistling blades of grass

Most people put a pencil behind their ear

Jacob is sharing his love for critters with his brother. He loves to put caterpillars on peoples heads. Joshua didn't mind at all.

Actually, he kept asking for more. This is his sign for "more." It's not quite right, but he's too cute to correct.