Grandpa (Ted's Dad) recently finished this awesome bookshelf for the girls. It is soooo beautiful and we all love it! It was fashioned after a pottery barn kids bookshelf, but Gramps added a few of his own embellishments and made it a bit larger. Now all the books fit on the shelf and there are even some secret compartments for the girls treasures. Can you tell where they are?
Thanks Grandpa! We love you! You are an awesome woodworker!
We went to my parents cabin in Wisconsin for Memorial Day Weekend. Of course I took a ton of pics, too many to post all of them, but these two favorites caught my eye and I had to share them with you. This is one of our adorable nieces with her new shades and summer hat! Isn't she just a cupcake? I especially love the drool hanging from her chin! Kisses to you from Auntie, sweet "Clairs-Clairs"!
I just love this whole process of Emelia learning to read... there is something magical about first grade and unlocking the world of reading. And I love phonics! Emelia is doing such a great job learning to read and spell. Here is a taste of some of the wonderful papers she has created and brought to me recently. The first one is a recipe for Blueberry Pie... mmm! good! My favorite part is "put it in the "uvin" (oven):)
And this next one just touches a mother's heart. This is her call to all of you out there to help the poor. The magazine she is referring to is the World Vision magazine that is sent out a couple times a year with tons of choices of things you can do to help the needy, such as purchasing a goat for a family or paying for young girls who are victims of abuse to have counseling and help. My sweet girl, whose love language is part "Words of Affirmation" starts out with kindness for you... "I love everyone (including you!)" and then her plea.... I look forward to seeing what God has in store for her loving heart!
Great job reading and writing my cowgirl... keep it up!
Hannah and I (Angela) were asked to be in a wedding of a friend from church in March. Hannah had the privilege of being the Flower Girl! Mommy sang two songs during the wedding. Here is Hannah at her "fitting" for the beautiful dress the bride chose for her to wear. She was so excited to have such a pretty dress to wear:) She did not want to take it off!
Well, it appears that I am very behind in blogging... two months to be exact! If you remember, Hannah could not go to preschool in the fall because she was refusing to potty train. Then about two weeks after I told the lady that Hannah would not be coming, she decided to potty train:) Well, I called the preschool at the beginning of March to see about signing her up for next years preschool, I found out they had an opening for her to start coming right away! Hannah was sooo excited to go. Look at Little Miss Confident on her way in to her first day of preschool...
And here she is all excited about her new "cubby" for her papers. Of course she had to wear a dress for her first day.
And here she is a week later once we got around to finding her a new backpack... Dora (of course). Although she just informed me today that she wants a princess backpack for next year. I think we are hitting a new phase for her... the last few weeks have been all about PRINCESS!
When I went to pick her up after her first day the first thing out of her mouth was, "I'm so glad... you came back!" So much for little miss confident. I thought it was funny because I was expecting her to say something like, "I'm so glad you let me come to preschool!" But it is true, she is kind of a home-body and Mama's girl. She is usually so happy when I pick her up. Just a bit of freedom, but not too much:) It's almost fun to go away and come back just for the anticipation of her excitement to see me. Actually, my two hours of freedom twice a week have been very nice. Except I usually end up doing fun things like errands or other home-chores. The quiet is nice and I am grateful, as we will be starting home school next year and I may not have a free hour to myself for the next 20 years or more if we have more kids! Yikes! Yep, I did say we are going to be homeschooling... at least giving it a try. But that's a topic for another blog!
Yep, that's right. Only 9 days until Emelia gets to saddle up and hit the dusty trail! Here's just a sampling from last year that ended up in Nana's yearly calendar of the girls. You can't tell that she enjoys being on a horse just a little bit... You know, just seeing her on the horse gives me a glimpse of what God must feel when we are actively doing whatever it is that He has gifted us to do. When we surrender to the gifts He has given us and do them to the fullest, I know He is glorified. I know to the depths of my being that God has something special planned for Emelia and horses. When I see the thrill and joy on her face, I just want to run to God and give Him a big squeeze and thank Him for having so many unique gifts for all of us humans down here. So, what is your gift? Are you using it for Him? For me, I think I am still discovering it. Or, maybe trying to embrace what it is. I love to create. Especially (lately) in sewing. I crave to do it, have little time to actually engage in it, and often feel guilty when I do get the chance to sew. Why is that? To feel guilty to do that which God has gifted me to do? How silly is that? I think it has something to do with the Enemy not wanting us to fulfill God's purposes for our lives. Well, I guess it's fine time I throw that silly lie out of my head and turn on the old hummer! So whether it be "riding like the wind" or sewing, let all that you do be done for the Glory of God! 
Emelia was in a musical at her school a few weeks back called Faithful Moses. She was very excited to be chosen to be in the "choreography" part. She loves to be on stage and did a great job with her tambourine! 
