Introducing George and Gracie!

Warning, warning!!  Do NOT look directly at the following pictures.  Your heart will melt and it will end up in a massive puddle on the keyboard.  That's never a good thing. 

Ah-ha.  Brave, are you?  Well, don't say I didn't warn you.

I will get to our Christmas to-do soon, but I had to introduce you to the newest family members toot-sweet!

This is George and Gracie:

George, a boy's dog all the way

Gracie, with a smitten Gi-Gi 

We had decided last month that we wanted to get a dog for the kids for Christmas.  You know, because we're not crazy enough around here.  Somehow, someway, someone convinced my lovely, adorable, heretofore pet-resistant hubby that it's better to get two than one.  I never, ever in my wildest, craziest, hormone-inbalanced pregnancy-induced dreams did I think he would go for it.

Go for it he did.  Hence, George and Gracie.

George, again

Gracie, again

And now, we're all smitten.

Especially Daddy.

It was a good Christmas.

Catchin' Up

Oh, my poor little neglected, mistreated family blog.  I haven't meant to ignore you.

Honestly.

But, it seems I have done it again.  Six months is shamefully too long as I well realize.

Let's get caught up, shall we?  Last we spoke was June or July.  What's happened?

Let's see...

First of all, we now have three homeschoolers!  Gi-Gi entered fourth grade, while Bubba and Ya-Ya started kindergarten.

Meanwhile, Ju-Ju had been getting a lot of beauty rest.

Bubba has been experimenting with "cool" hair...never thought I'd see the day I'd have a son with a mohawk.

Speaking of experimenting, someone decided to see what it was like to be a beautician.  Ahem.

And Gi-Gi gave her first presentation at the History Fair.  She studied Amy Carmichael and did awesome!  We weren't even up until midnight the night before!

As for Daddy and Me, well, things are just about to get more interesting.

More soon.  I promise.

 

We LOVE Grandma!

My kids love, love, love their Grandma.

Want to know why?

Because, for one thing, she buys these:



She'll always be beautiful to me.



What can I say? He's one handsome boy!



Ya-Ya needs to grow a little more, don't you think?

Oh, and her big kid loves her, too!



That's definitely not the ONLY reason we love her. But it sure is one!

As for me, well, I already have to wear glasses and wax. Why draw attention to it?

Desert Beauties

Even though I'm a native "Zonie", there is no love lost between me and this desert place that I call home. There are some beautiful mountains in Arizona (they even have this white stuff called snow sometimes), but I've never considered the metro-Phoenix area breathtaking (except after a rain, but that happens so rarely).

However, we did get to travel down to Tucson on Memorial Day to visit the T'hono Chul (I'm almost certain that's misspelled) Desert Botanical Garden and it was gor-geous!



There was an abundance of butterflies as well as secret little havens for women without children with them to sit peacefully, drink tea and listen to the water fountain bubble up vigorously. I took a peek before they hastily shut the gate in my face when they saw the stroller. Totally kidding here.



Really, who wouldn't trust these sweet, innocent little angels?



I wish my camera could have done it justice, but alas, it could not. Some things must be seen in person!

Ya-Ya floating her little leaf-boat in the canal they have in the children's area.



Oops, looks like she got a little too close. It bugged her for the rest of the day, poor dear.



Thankfully, Daddy was there to save Bubba before his imminent head dunking.



Checking out the streams in the desert, just like the Bible says.



I know that I'm totally related to this guy some how. Check out his big mouth! Look familiar?



Although, I think I prefer to be related to her! She's pink, sassy and has fabulous taste in shoes. She should have come home with us. Everyone needs a souvenir, don't you think?



Better a pink chicken than a rattle snake!

Wanted: One Brave Dog

Wanted: One doggy to snuggle, lick and play with two little boys and two little girls. We can promise lots of hugs and squeezes, pulled tails, and food under the table.

And this is why we need a dog:



If we had a dog, the five-second rule would be non-existent at our house. Oh, who am I kidding? It doesn't exist now!

Unfortunately, the quality of this picture is not so good because he wouldn't stop inhaling the cheerios long enough for me to get a good picture. He's like a human vaccum cleaner, that boy!

Do you see this, Hubby? Are you convinced yet?

How Does This Keep Happening?

I still haven't figured out how this keeps happening.

Somehow, year after year, the kids just keep getting older. And they like it that way!

Gi-Gi is latest of the kiddos to grow in age and beauty.

I keep trying to put the books on her head, but she keeps knocking them off, proudly declaring that she's up to my shoulder.

Hmph!



Honestly, though, I'm enjoying having a nine-year-old. I love that I get to watch her grow and learn every day. I love that I get to teach her period. What an honor, what a privilege, what a responsibility.



And yet, there is still some little girl in there.

I'm loving that, too.

Happy birthday, sweet girl.

The Many Faces of Ju-Ju

In our family, we four children who we have discovered are all hams.

To the core.

We are genuinely amused by this. We laugh and then give each other the look that says, "That's your child."

The amazing thing is that they come out this way. There's no training here, no teaching about how to behave when you have a captive audience.

I swear it's in their DNA. The paternal side.

Here's one of the hams in action.



Scene One: Ju-Ju is eating like a horse, as usual. We're celebrating Gi-Gi's ninth birthday and so everyone is there. Yet no one is paying attention to him. Cue the tears.




Scene Two: He's got our attention, but he's still mad. Notice the evil eye being used on his Nonnie (my mom).




Scene Three: Immediate cessation of the tears because everyone is laughing at him. He's looking pretty pleased.




Scene Four: What you don't see is that in between shots, he's screaming. As soon as he here's my camera focus (it chimes when it focuses), he immediately stops and smiles. In fact, I was trying to get more of the mad faces, but he kept smiling when he heard it.



Scene Five: Repeat of scene four. Screams until the chime and then smile for the camera. How did he learn this?




Scene Six: Repeat yet again. By now we are all laughing hysterically.

Yup, we've got a comedian in the family.

This is going to be interesting.