Art meets Home Ec

The other day Rachel and I wanted to help my mom pick green beans. After we were done with that, we took them inside, washed them, and then started cutting the green beans so my mom could can them. We had a great time together and had lots of fun spelling with our green beans!

A Modern Mozart

Last Saturday my mom took Si, Lil and me to see Emily Bear perform with the Champaign Symphony orchestra. If you have never seen or heard of Emily Bear you have to check out this YouTube of her. Emily is an amazing seven year old who has an extraordinary talent for playing the piano.
The most exciting thing about my evening was getting to meet her after the performance. We were able to get a picture of her with Rach and me.
To find out about Emily's story, paste this site into your browser address.
(We are currently having technical difficulty linking this site)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUx4t4W4eVY

Nine!

Happy birthday Sophie! We all hope you have a wonderful day on you're birthday- nine years old! We all love you so very much, sweet girl!
-Hanna and all of you're siblings

You Are Special!

The other night mommy had to go to a meeting, my dad was working in his garage and I had the girls and Sam in the house (the boys were still up at Grandpa and Grandma's house). Soph and I were put in charge of cleaning the kitchen up after supper and the little kids were watching a show in the living room. Soph was supposed to sweep the floor while I loaded up the dishwasher. When I turned around, there was Soph sitting in the living room with the kids - watching the show. I was frustrated that my only helper decided to 'take a break' (as she put it) and desert me to do all the work.
"Soph, you get up here right now and start sweeping the floor. Why is it that I am the only one up here?! Stop watching the show and come finish your job." I have to admit, I didn't talk to her in the best tone of voice but she came up looking pretty remorseful. I turned back to my job, satisfied that she would do hers.
"Hanna," Soph said in a quiet voice at my side. "Here. You are special." She handed me one of our refrigerator magnets that has a picture of a rose on it with the words "You Are Special" written below it. It was so funny that it was all I could do to not laugh out loud! Instead, I said while trying not to laugh, "Well, Soph, thanks alot! I love you, Soph. Now, let's get back to sweeping the floor." I reached out and hugged her. Little people can be so funny. Let's just say that with lots of kids around, life is NEVER boring!

Indian Teepee

I was outside playing with Rach the other day when we saw some nice long branches from our Magnolia tree that my dad had pruned. I thought that we could make a really neat teepee with the sticks. We had a lot of fun being Indians!

As a side note, big sister helped Soph type up this post. When looking up the word "teepee" in Wikipedia, she found that it can also be spelled "tepee" or "tipi." Neat, huh?

In Memory

We are sorry that there haven't been any new posts but this past month we have been very busy. I have been visiting my out-of-town grandparents and they have been visiting us. Of course we have also been busy with school but the most difficult thing of all is that our lovable puppy dog, Toby has died. On Monday, February 25th, our Toby was hit by a car and immediately died. The day that we got Toby was on August 25th and just the other day I realized that we had had him for exactly 6 months. For me, those 6 months were the best of my life. We all loved him very much and miss him very much. We are thankful that God brings us comfort even in the midst of heartbreaking circumstances.

We've Been Tagged!

We have been tagged by Miss Rebecca, one of our blogger friends. Part of the game is to give six random facts about ourselves. We thought we would give one for each of us.
No. 1 walks the dog while riding her bike in 6 inches of snow,
No. 2 taught himself how to knit with orange yarn and 2 pens,
No. 3 has seen President Bush in person,
No. 4 loves to sing boisterously,
No. 5 insists that the only way she will eat toast is if it is burnt,
and No. 6 prays every day that her hair will grow long!

My Hat

Last week mommy decided to dye her hat. It was bright yellow. We had some navy blue dye so we made up a mixture in a pot. I ran to get my white hat so that I could dye it blue, too. Hanna found a pair of socks and a pair of gloves that she wanted to dye blue. Lil got a pair of her socks, Chris got a pair of his gloves, and Si got a wash cloth that he wants to make into a flag. We had so much fun dyeing our things. These are pictures of my hat before it was dyed and after. I think the color is so much prettier.

We Miss You, Daddy!

Right now our daddy is in a warm tropical region attending a church conference. The weather on the tropical island is sunny and hot; about 85 degrees. Boy, does that ever sound nice! Some of us wish we were there with him because right here, it's like Antartica! The high today is 12 degrees and the low for this evening will be 0 degrees!

We love you, daddy and miss you very much. We are counting the days until you get back!

My Birthday Surprise

This morning when I went to get dressed, my mom told me to put on some nice clothes because she and daddy had a surprise for me. When it got close to lunch time, mommy curled my hair and had me get my coat on. Everyone wondered where I was going - including me! Soon daddy came home on his lunch break and off we went! The big surpise was that daddy took me out to eat! We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Daddy gave me my choice of dessert and I picked apple pie. I had such a nice time with my daddy!

Happy Birthday, Soph!

We want to wish Soph a very happy 8th birthday! We had a marvelous dinner with our family, grandma, and two uncles. In our family, whoever's birthday it is, they get to pick out what we have for dinner. For the past week or so, Soph has been telling us that she wanted hot dogs. We finally convinced her to have pizza instead! We love you, Soph and are so thankful that God gave you to our family!

Soph's Poem

Soph's English assignment today was to write a poem about her favorite month and set it to a nursery rhyme song. The following is her poem set to the tune of Row, row, row your boat.

Spring, spring, spring is here

It's the month of May

Robins chirping in their nest

On a sunny day

My Tooth!

The most exciting thing happened to me last night! My first tooth fell out! I have been waiting for this to happen a very long time. I am so happy! Soph

A Dream Come True!

Hello! Just to bring you up to date, our whole family is visiting our Grandpa and Grandma who live in Iowa. The main reason for our trip was to attend my mom’s cousin’s wedding. Our whole family went to the wedding last night, but after that we came back to Grandpa and Grandma’s house and Miss Susie and Miss Debbie watched us while the adults went to the reception. After dinner Miss Susie and Miss Debbie had a surprise for us! They had brought all the American Girl dolls that they and their sisters had while they were growing up, plus a whole box of outfits! We were all totally delighted as they have almost all the dolls in the series: Molly, Addy, Samantha, Felicity, Josephina, Kirsten, and my favorite, Kit. Soph and I have never seen all of the dolls before, except in the magazines, so this was a fun for us! It was like Soph's dream, to see all the American girls! When it was time for Miss Susie and Miss Debbie to go, they left us with Kit, Kirsten, Felicity, and Molly to play with until tomorrow. What fun! Soph and Hanna