First Day of Second Grade

Sophie and Grace had their first day of 2nd Grade today. I have a better picture of Grace but I thought this was funny... she was not so excited for school this morning at all. Of course none of us were happy about the 6am wake up it required. The girls chose coordinating outfits and wore matching best friend necklaces. At the end of the day Sophie was really upset that she had not been able to talk to Grace all day. They had assigned areas (?) for recess, so even though they were out at the same time couldn't play together.

I have such mixed emotions about my kids growing up. Summer went by too quickly and was so fun...none of us were ready for it to be over. But here we go, ready or not...

Sophie's First Sewing Project

All summer Sophie has been asking to sew her own skirt. We used a skirt of Anna's for inspiration. Sophie completely designed this herself. I helped with some of the sewing. She did about 85% of it herself. I think it turned out adorable! The other kids all sewed pillows also. 4 straight seams, putting in stuffing ='s a pretty fun afternoon.

PS - Thank you mom for teaching me to sew myself as a little girl.

Florida Keys

I have blogged less this summer then ever before. It is sad to me because it has been an amazing few months and I have not recorded very many memories. I am going to try to catch up a bit. Jason and I just returned from diving in the Florida Keys. It was wonderful! We got some additional certifications that now make us able to dive deeper and longer. We are excited to be able to dive some wrecks in North Carolina on the coast now. Our underwater camera has a very limited depth limit, we could only bring it on one dive and the visibility was not great.





We were diving from Islamorada. We saw some things we had never seen...huge Goliath grouper, monster parrot fish, a bat fish, several enormous eels...lots of fun stuff. I am a bit surprised how much I enjoy diving, I really, really love it! Jason has wanted to dive for a long time. I just figured I would be brave and try it with him. Now I am a true convert. So much beauty under the ocean!

We found a bit of local history also.

This is Fort Taylor, Civil War fort in Key West. We had no idea it was there.

The very beginning of highway 1, southern end of the US. Key West was fun to see. I enjoyed driving past Ernest Hemingway's house and there are loads of beautiful old Victorian homes. I don't need to ever go back though. It is super crazy and very crowded. The sparsely populated, more wild keys are definitely more my style.

Happy Summer Adventures to all!

Odds, Ends and a Limerick

My favorite picture from 4th of July

 We had just gotten home from the library and I found Sophie reading on Molly's bed. The poor dog doesn't even get to have her own bed.

 Noah loves Molly to pieces. Sometimes she hides under my bed to get some peace from him and Anna.

This is Sophie's latest limerick:
There once was a fairy named Mary, who had a friend named Kerry. Every time Mary was on the roof, Kerry would hear a poof. It seemed kind of scary.

I have never written a limerick in my life. Makes me smile.

Happy Fourth of July!

 Happy Fourth of July!

Official Retraction

I am officially taking back my not so subtle suggestion that Luke or Noah was the culprit in the great gerbil episode. I got home today from running an errand to find our neighbors son IN MY HOUSE, door ajar, gerbil lid off again on the floor. Thankfully the gerbil was still in it's cage playing with a few marbles he added. I am glad my mom radar is working ok because I really thought both boys were telling me the truth the other day, there was just no other likely explanation. Moral of the story...sometimes life is weird and unlikely and your neighbors 5 year old is hanging out alone in your house. Also, always double check to make sure your garage door is locked.

Lost & Found

It seems that as soon as Jason leaves town lately things get really interesting around here. When we went to get ready for bed last night the lid to the gerbil cage was on the floor. Cutie Pie was dead in the cage and Sprinkles was no where to be found. Although the gerbil food and wheel were in the boys room they both swore NO ONE touched ANYTHING. The girls totally believed them and sadness turned into sobs of fear because either a robber or a ghost had to be responsible... mass hysteria ensued...

Thankfully Grace picked up her dead pet and put her in a box for our first backyard burial.

Sophie wrote the speech. The grave marker says, "The box under this tree has Cutie Pie Hardy in it. She has a joy in our heart." We went to bed all in my room with the door locked because the kids were so freaked out. I went to sleep convincing myself that there is NO WAY a gerbil could climb up into my bed.

This morning Grace was home from school with pink eye, Luke had a fever of 103 and I was desperately looking for the missing gerbil. I remembered my friend from church telling how their pet hamster got out and ruined the couch by chewing up the insides. Totally grossed out, I didn't know if I would rather find Sprinkles alive or dead. The silver lining was that rooms, closets and cupboards got completely cleaned... but no gerbil anywhere. Molly, our supposed terrier who was bred to find and kill rodents, decided it was a grand morning lay around napping and was no help at all.

After thoughts of exactly how stinky a dead rodent in my house would be, late in the afternoon I told the kids that I would pay $20 to anyone who could find the gerbil, dead or alive. Sophie promptly got a flashlight and looked under an overlooked piece of furniture. There was Sprinkles! Sophie cried the first tears of joy in her 7 year old life. While crying and laughing at the same time she told Grace that her gerbil would be both of theirs now.

After everything calmed down I asked the girls to say a prayer and thank Heavenly Father that they were able to find their pet. In unison then chimed that they already had. Together in their room these sweet girls had already offered a prayer of gratitude to a Father in Heaven they know loves them and is aware of their lives. Everything else today was suddenly so worth this one moment.