Oui, We Wii

We just bought a Wii. Just thought you'd like to know that.

God's Big Backyard! (VBS 2008)

This week we had a blast serving Jesus in God's Big Backyard-- it was Vacation Bible School week at Wesley Church! Here's some pics from the week in no particular order:

Gabi at the petting zoo during hte Friday evening block party:

Also from the block party- Gabi & Blake going down the inflatable slide:

Gabi making a Zacchaeus money bag in my art class with the help of one of our teenagers:

Micah & Gabi on Sunday afternoon after we decorated... we made the sanctuary into a backyard!

Micah spent some of the week going to the VBS program and some of the time hanging with Miss Sammi in the nursery. Miss Sammi is cool & fun!

Micah at the program:

Gabi knew all her moves and sang great at the Friday evening program. She even had a line to say in the microphone. (I'll try to update with some videos soon.)

Gabi & some of her friends

Batman has been Masked

When Daddy got home, Micah was willing to show him the bat mask. And Gabi is always ready to ham it up for the camera. (And see Miri back there?) Gramzy, warm up your sewing machine because we may need to minor fitting adjustments.

HGTV is Educational

Gabi: "Mom, wouldn't it be really functional if my wall had a handle on it and I could just pull it up and see some stairs to climb to a secret room? Handles are just so functional."
Mom: "Yeah, that would be neat. Where'd you hear the word 'functional' though?"
Gabi: "From Candace on Fine Design (Divine Design). She likes things that are functional."

Super Kids!

July at our house means it's time to start planning Halloween. And looky what came in the mail today:

We rented some DVDs from the 1970s of SuperFriends and the kids are loving it! We'll see how the costumes hold up for dress-up between now and Halloween. And maybe we'll convince Micah to put on the mask for the Batman head.

I just heard little voices from the living room saying, "To the Batjet!".... "I'll get my Invisible Jet!"... "Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice..."

Kittens are CUTE

Proof is in the Fairy Dust

Having had a couple of wiggly weeks to contemplate the Tooth Fairy, Gabi had decided that the whole money-for-tooth trading fairy might not be real. So she decided to test it. She put her tooth in the pocket of her "lost tooth" pillow and told me she thought I would switch the tooth with money. She planned to check for evidence in the morning. Well, morning came and not only was there money, but a teeny tiny note and a blue barbiesque fairy doll... and the true proof: fairy dust! everywhere! on her pillow, on the floor, in a trail out the back door, and all over the Secret Fairy Cottage. Gabi said she knows I'm not the Tooth Fairy now because I wouldn't want to vacuum up all that glittery mess .

"Look! It's on the back steps!"

Checking the fairy cottage at 6am in her High School Musical PJs.

Sparkle-covered fairy house:

a girl who can believe a little longer:

She lost her first tooth!

Art Camp!

Gabi had her third annual week with MiMi going to art camp. Since she is school-aged now, she went to the longer, themed class and they did safari art-- all animal themed. Here are some of her masterpieces:

In case she's waiting on a formal invitation...

This tooth can lay over perpendicular to her mouth, but hasn't made it out yet. What does the toothfairy pay these days?

Update on the 3M Kitties

Good news! The 3M kitties can all be in the same room now without too much hissing or fear of flying fur. Moses in particular has learned who the boss is, therefore, he is most tolerated by MacKenzie. (The cat who is triple his weight rules with an iron paw.) Miriam is still annoying her but a few hisses set her straight. The vet said the hissing is good and normal-- that's how Mack is teaching the babies how to be cats in a pack-- they have to learn who the dominant one is.

Apparently our efforts to find kittens who would grow into normal sized cats instead gargantuan felines didn't go so great, because the first thing the vet said at Miriam's check up was "Look at those paws! To grow into those she's going to be a big cat!"

Miriam is a super mischievous and lightning fast kitten and we haven't found anything that scares her yet.

Moses is more laid-back. Likes to look out the window. He's sweet and playful in a less manic way than Miri.And his doppleganger is this stuffed toy panther.

The Boss, Big Mack:

2 Kids, 3 Kats!

We adopted 2 littermate 4-month old kittens today. We've been worrying about Mack being lonely. And if she ever comes out from hiding, we think she'll enjoy these babies. We already are... we'd forgotten how fast kittens run, how high they jump, and all they get into.

Since they are a brother and sister, we decided to name them Moses & Miriam. We thought that goes well with MacKenzie, too. All "M" names. This is Moses. He is all black, short-medium hair, very fuzzy and playful. He asked me to take him home from PetsMart.

This is Miriam- a short haired tabby. She's very feisty and active. But they both purr when you pet them.


We'll update in a few days on what Mack thinks of her new pets.

Swim Lessons

The kids have been in swim lessons this week. Sadly, it seems they inherited my (pathetic) swim skills instead of Blake's gills. But they had a fun time this week and certainly learned some stuff.