Beau took these in the park, and I took the one of ahsh (which I threw in because it is so funny, I love that you can see his smile from the back of his head and his little "feather" blowing as he gallops).  We were working on some panning and stop action techniques for our photo class=)  Not my strong points, but it's fun learning!

Noah and I had this really peaceful lunch time, ahsh had gone down and Annica was at school.  Noah was in his "can I help" really sweet mood.  He wanted to make pizza with me, and was very proud of the job he did!  we used tomatoes and bell peppers from the garden..mmm

I've been meaning to write some Noah quotes on here and haven't gotten around, now I am forgetting the ones I wanted to post, so I will try here are some recent fave's:

-"When I grow up I'm going to marry you... so I can boss you around!  'cause daddy is the boss and he's married to you... but I don't want to have a wedding until I'm grown up because weddings are boring."  I relayed this and he corrected me..."no when grown-ups take their sons to weddings it's boring because they have to wait to eat, so I'm going to wait until I'm grown up."

-"Mom, I can't find my back pack for my Trader Joe!"  (He got some G.I. Joe's for his birthday)

-"What you threw these away??!!  Number one mom, I made this for daddy!  Number two, this is for my birthday!"  (I got caught)

-"How cool is that dad?"  (one of his new favorite phrases)

-"If I see an american owl again, I'm not going to say hi.  American owls have ships what shoot fire out of them."  (apparently something from a dream...????)

little sailor

Aaannnd, I love this one...(though the technicals of these shots are pretty horrible, I love these catches of him - he is really hard to capture because he doesn't like to sit still for anything, and looks away from the camera when it is on him)

some pic's of my little sailor for a day.  I love the one where he is squishing his face (he was mimicking sis who was making faces behind me)  I also love the one where he is sucking his thumb solemnly with his "choochoo"... it is so very ahshua when he actually winds down (because he's sleepy)

new little shoot

haven't had a chance to photoshop these but wanted to post anyway

king for a day

I posted pictures of the party, but they published all out of order...maybe there is a better way of doing it, but I just numbered them in order; good luck following!  The party was very fun.  It had a king's court theme.  Though you wouldn't be able to tell by his shy and avoid the spotlight behavior, Noah loved it - he had most of his friends, his cousin, aunt and uncle, and three of his grandparents there.. my mom successfully avoided any shots, but you can catch glimpses of my dad and Debbie=)  We crammed 35 people into our tiny place!!  Thankfully the weather held out just long enough to keep us dry during outdoor activities!  Very fun.

16. Thank you Al's for occupying Ahshua!

17. Happy Birthday big boy!

18. Annica leading some end of party calisthenics to burn off excess the sugar

11. Diving for candy, Where did all the dads come from?
12. Still scrambling...and Belle still unraveling her first piece

13. On to cupcake decorating!  Sprinkles and icing!

14. Lighting candle and singing (Micah's already got a mouth full)

15. Scarfing

6. Ready of pinata!  Annica coordinator, spinner and misleader;)

7. Caught Shana unaware

8. Annica attacking me, not amused about being steered towards the bush!

9. and 10. Noah swinging the final blows

1.  Quiet before mayhem....

2. Ahsh for the brief moment he kept his hat on

3. I count 12 showing in the photo, but we are missing (as in missing because the camera isn't wide enough) the twins, Judah, several adults who else?  Can my "cubical" be more crowded please?

4. Camera attempting to catch my dad

5. Finding names in the stack of crowns to pin on one of Noah's three heads (pictured in the background)... the  winner is... Anna and Jeremiah!  Good thing to, because Anna is seriously competitive!

back to school update

This image has nothing to do with the blog, I just wanted to add my hot husband!  (this pic is from a berry picking trip this summer at Kruger's Farm)

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So Annica has been going crazy at school.  Good crazy!  She is completing all of her homework, with ease - and she is in 7th grade math.  She is love love loving her classes, connecting with her teachers, volunteering and being the first involved in every imaginable thing to be involved in (including scraping wax off the school dragon and washing trays at lunch time!)  Beau was telling Debbie about some of this and she laughed that Annica will be class president some day.  It is so funny to me because her personality at school is just sooo different than mine was!  I'm so thankful for that.  We feel like if she is completely involved in the stuff that school is offering (and learning), then she wont have as much time for the jr high drama!  

Also I went to bring her something and caught her at lunch time, and she greeted me excitedly telling me to look for some kid in a tie-dyed shirt, and kissed me goodbye in front of the whole cafeteria!  Probably no one was noticing or cared anyway -but I did!

Oh, and by the way, Anni asked the potty mouth girl if she would try not to swear around her.  She asked Anni why she didn't swear and Annica responded because she was a Christian.  The other girl said "Oh."  and hasn't sworn in front of her since (and is still friends with her).

a poem for core class

"Where I'm From" by Annica Davis

I am from 100 year old books,

Scattered papers in

Every corner or nook,

I am from little brothers

And doggy doo doo

I am from cuts and bruises

And lots of boo boos

I am from juicy ripe tomatoes,

And dandelions that tickle your nose,

And that bright bright red rose.

I am from if 

You're bored your boring

You must wash out the chlorine.

I am from Gina and Beau

My mom and my dad

Ahshua and Noah my two

Little brothers, whom I love but oh I wish

For a sister!

I am from pizza and 

Macaroni and tortes 

And cake yummy cake of all sorts

I'm from apartment numbers apartment

Houses that always block our rainbows.

I'm from old fashioned bonnets and

Hop up and get on its and

Who knows what she'll do!

And that big white box

In our closet with irreplaceable

Slides of my mother's mother, father,

Brother sister who died in that terrible accident.

I am from many things

But best of all

I am from my Father above

And that is where I am from.

Annica wrote this week for her core class and we love it!  I wanted to add FYI, that the doggy doo doo is definitely not at our house!  and the papers are definitely in HER room.  OK, so I have "the pile" too!  Anyways, we thought it was beautiful and wanted to share.

back to school

I really thought this fall was going to be kick-back.  Beau and I are not teaching at the co-op.  Beau has a couple of days with no classes.  Annica is in school 5 days.  

Oddly enough I feel completely crazy busy.  My new wake time is 6am (translated to 6:15), and though this has been my goal for a while, I am not quite happy or adjusted yet.  Anni's commute is only about 10 min's which isn't bad.  Then I have this nice morning early afternoon time with the boys and sometimes Josiah.  Noah doesn't start preschool until the 16th.  As soon as school gets out however I find myself exhausted and up against a really tight schedule.  It's only been two days and I know that it will work itself out (partially when my body adjusts to getting up early and decides it can fall asleep before mid-night) in time.  But the most exhausting part is not the schedule so much as the switching gears from toddler/pre-school mom, to middle-schooler mom.  The emotional demands are crazy.  I was in complete despair the first evening.

Anni's first day she went to 3 classes before realizing we had misunderstood the order of her schedule!  I had a this dilemma discussion with her involving a current event on Obama's faith.  The dilemma wasn't so much about the topic, but rather how do I let her know that it would be offensive and the other kids wouldn't really understand, for her to say that she didn't believe Obama could be a real Christian and still be pro-abortion, and yet confirm her and encourage her to establish her identity in Christ.  Now I don't believe this is the way to establish that.  The Christian kids loudly objecting to all of the secular kid's ideals, yet her faith is offensive to some.  most really.  I don't believe in tolerance the way the world preaches it!  I believe in loving, without tolerance for sin.  But we are not called to look for a fight.  How is that testifying?  Anyways, later it seemed like such a simple conversation.  with only a little wisdom needed.  But in that moment, switching gears and at the same time serving and answering the little one's questions and trying to figure out dinner in a tight crunch all before church... overwhelming!

She also told me that she was really not prepared for how the kids talk- super sexual, dropping f-bombs continuously in-front of students, teachers and parents alike.   But she told me this.  And she doesn't like it.  And she's glad the new seating arrangement changed her seat from next to the girl with the REALLY bad potty mouth.  All and all God has already been confirming our decision (was it our decision?)  even when in a despairing moment I thought I would give up and go back to sweet loving Columbia Ridge, where I don't have to war, and I can sit back and relax.  In that moment, when I knew that for us, for Annica, that was not even an option, I was encouraged that we are doing Gods bidding, and that he will give us the wisdom we need.  I just have to war for it.  And I am not a fighter when it comes to my spiritual life.  I want it to just come to me - with special God joy gift-wrapping.  Not what He is demanding.  So here goes...