This is why they call me "Trouble"

Let me start by saying how very much I love this little ray of sunshine! She brings so much laughter into our house. Though we lovingly call her "Trouble," we wouldn't have it any other way! She keeps us on our toes & requires almost constant supervision. If it's quiet for a few minutes while she's awake, someone usually says, "Where is Caroline & what is she doing?" So without further delay, here is her most recent adventure:

This morning I gave the kids purple grape juice with their breakfast. Andrew put his cup on the counter, out of Caroline's reach. I went upstairs to change Emma Grace's diaper. While I was up there, Andrew starts screaming, "Mommy, Caroline got into the grape juice and it's EVERYWHERE!!" "Great," I think to myself. I run downstairs to find this:

"That is NOT grape juice," I replied. Our little lady, who has quite the affinity for eating strange things, had eaten a black Crayola marker!!! Her clothes are ruined, but we've got most of it off of her body (thanks to Grandma!). As you can tell by the pictures, she was pretty proud of herself.

My Cookie Girls!

Lily, Caroline & I made chocolate chip cookies this afternoon while the boys were golfing. They both love sampling the chocolate chips & the dough. Lily usually takes a good 5 minutes to get every last bit off of the beater. After getting a batch out of the oven & placing them on the cooling rack, I went upstairs to put Lily down for her nap. I was literally upstairs all of about two minutes. When I came back down, Caroline was sitting at their little table with a big cookie placed neatly on a napkin. I imagine that she must have taken her little chair over to the cookies the moment I went upstairs, grabbed a napkin off of the dining room table & was just sitting down to enjoy her cookie when I caught her! Now you know why we affectionately call her "Trouble."

Love this little face!!

Andrew's First Day of School

I never imagined that I would be so excited to start homeschooling! As I've looked over Andrew's curriculum for the year, I find myself eagerly anticipating all that we will do together. Since I look for every opportunity to celebrate the special "little things" of life, I wanted to be sure that he knew how significant this day was to our family. The day began, as it usually does, with all of the kids snuggling in my bed. I was thankful for the opportunity to take it easy in the morning, so I said to Andrew, "Do you know one of the best things about homeschooling? (jokingly referring to not getting up quite as early) and he replied, "spending time with my mom." He melts my heart & his answer was much better than mine. Still hoping to get my little joke in, I asked, "Do you know another great thing about homeschooling?" to which he replied, "learning about God." At this point, I gave up on the joke & realized that maybe he should be teaching me. :o)

I gave him a pirate backpack with his name on it; he was SO excited. Then I took his picture next to an antique school desk that we have. I plan to do this with all of the kids at the beginning of each school year. My parents agreed to keep the girls while he & I went out for breakfast. He chose Bob Evans & it just happened to be their grand opening. We had some fun pictures taken in a photo booth, met Biscuit & Gravy and received some neat prizes. After breakfast, we went to Walmart to buy school supplies. He was especially excited about his Spiderman notebook, Transformers folder & blue clipboard. Our first full day of school went extremely well. I look forward to seeing his knowledge increase over the coming years. He said, "This is the best day of my whole life!" This little guy is a greater joy than I could have ever anticipated. We love you, Andrew!!

My First Blog

I've fought against blogging for awhile now. It's never been something that interested me; however, now that they can be printed, I think this may be a great thing for our family. My goal is to record all of the "everyday" events that I fear I will forget in time. Our days are filled with funny quips by the children, beautiful moments of poignancy, and lots of silliness! I want to record many of these for my children and hope that they will add a little joy or laughter to the lives of anyone else who reads it. So, here we go....