Dear friends

LYMTYCEK!

Little House in Oakland

The Ingalls Family:)

Taos, NM

Phew! What a beautiful place to get away with dear friends.

First Day of School

For my little friend, Kate, Happy birthday!

Kate,

I hope your birthday with Mickey and Minnie was as wonderful as mine!

I know it will be because you have such an amazing mommy (like me:)

Hugs from your CA Aunt Katie

Our Daddy is awesome!

So, Bart made this pact with himself that he would run a marathon a year in his 30's.

And, by golly, he has done it.

This year he ran half of the San Fran Marathon with our friend Sims and then attempted a trail marathon in a nearby park.

We were some of the few and faithful there to cheer him on at the half and end.

Following the likes of some very supportive Heiskells:)

Family Days

Squeezing in as many family days as possible before fall gets into full swing.

August and September are the California equivalent to summer.

Where we get highs in the 80-90's with no AC:)

That is where the Pacific Ocean comes in handy with is freezing cold water and fog!

We have been camping, taking trips into San Fran on the ferry, using our summer reading passes at museums and for free ice cream!

Summer Camp

So my oldest went to camp for the first time.

For some reason it made me feel VERY OLD.

Seems like just yesterday MY mom was writing me letters everyday at camp.

My big girl absolutely loved every minute of it.

Glad I am learning now to let her go...

little by little.

Summer time fun

Braves Game

Picking Peaches

Montgomery Zoo

Awesome memories with Dad

Pillowcase dresses for Africa

we stumbled upon this website

http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/

and were motivated to finally try making pillowcase dresses

for us

and for little girls in africa

summer verse

micah 6:8

:)

Haircuts!

Well...

we said goodbye to our long, long locks.

We all went to the hair salon today and Miss Virginia helped us create wonderful summer do's.

So, I went first and donated my 10 inches.

I think the other girls were a little scared off by my really short cut, so they went a little more moderate:)

Donating to Locks of Love anyway.

Fun story to tell.

And pictures to make

Will do before and after shots later.

Talent Shows

Caroline's School Chorus singing

YES WE CAN:)

and Clair's end of year ballet performance:)

Looth Tooth

Wedding Bells

Earrings!

Caroline said that she never wanted to get her ears pierced. She thought she would be like Meemaw and just wear clip on's her whole life. So when she changed her mind, we said SURE! Wow. If all our pre-teen decisions/battles could be that easy:)

Here she is....all grown up looking. It makes me cry!

Millie Caroline

My Girl.

She's half way there.

Half way to 18!

Bart and I cannot believe we have crossed the threshold from the "Front 9 of Parenting to the Back 9"

We were retelling the beginning of her story at breakfast over scones.

We went to the hospital several times only to wait 5 days past her due date.

We called Gigi early on May 17th to say we were in labor and she hopped on a plane to Florida.

By 3:41 pm she arrived.

Our baby girl ( and grandma Gigi:)

She had those big brillant eyes....with her long eyelashes.

We knew even then she would be tall like her Daddy.

She is named for my sweet Mom, but cannot be more of a Garrett!

Caroline teaches us something every day.

She is an avid reader and a curious observer.

She is extremely thoughtful and very giving.

We tell the girls often, how blessed they are to have such a wonderful big sister.

Happy BIRTHday, Baby Girl.

a wednesday afternoon

Birthday Girl

My Clair Bear turned 6 this week.

It is truly hard to believe.

She still has the brilliant blue eyes and radiant smile (although a little forced in this photo) that she had on her first day of life. Her rosy cheeks and contagious giggle bring a lot of joy to our family. Clair can impersonate anyone. When reading a book aloud she has more inflection and energy than most thespians I know. Sometimes her drama can be taken to an extreme, especially when there has been an act of injustice. We have loved watching our little Madelynn Clair blossom into her own in Kindergarten. She is learning what it looks like to be a good sister and friend, how to express her own creativity, how to have self control and when to just laugh:) Clair is an exceptional reader, tenacious monkey bar climber, prolific artist, magnificent storyteller, expressive ballerina, and cuddly middle daughter.

We love you, Clair.

Introducing...

Baby Nora...

Our new little 3 month old friend

who spends Tuesdays and Thursdays at our house. We look forward to our "Nora Days" as we are more quiet, low-key, at-home and cuddly!

Cammie and I have adjusted to having a baby in the house (again) with all her bottles, pacifiers, burp clothes, bouncy seats, diapers!

My days have to look a little more ordered and my rear must be in gear early in the morning to be prepared for longer days with 4 girls!

National Peach Cobbler Day

On Tuesday I heard on the radio that it was National Peach Cobbler Day.

I literally did a Uturn and drove straight to the store to get canned peaches (CA peaches are not as good as GA peaches, even in the summer!) And despite our crazy full day I made time to bake a peach cobbler. Of course no one really like it but me. And I ate almost the whole thing. But it took me back to my roots. Wednesday night church dinners. College BBQs. Summers at the lake. Yum. I thought of my family friend, Mr. Bob who indulges in pound cake for breakfast. I reasoned that he would tell me to eat cobbler for brfast. And I did:)

Is that so?

Well, this morning, we were moving slow.

Daddy gets up before the sun on the sabbath.

But the girls and I move more like snails.

Once we finally mastered the waffle maker and sat down to read from the gospel of John, one of my bright, honest daughters asked a question.

"Momma, do you read the Bible everyday?"

To that I responded, "I would like to."

Then another wonderfully honest child of mine said, "Daddy does! Daddy reads the bible everyday. He reads it like a good book."

Oh, my heart was so glad that these girls have their Daddy.

But it made me realize that the adage is true.

So much of what our kids learn from us is caught, not taught.

So with that I found a bible reading plan with bookmarks.

I hope to not only be a good example to my girls, but to have my heart changed.

Happy Easter!

We are still celebrating Easter around here.

Lots of bunnies, eggs, candy and baskets.

But more than that...we are just starting to celebrate the Easter season.

It took us all of lent to get over ourselves and what we were giving up to remember again the deep love of God through Jesus.

I have loved watching Caroline this Easter as she prepared to take communion.

She is my very thoughtful, planned child.

She really wanted to wait and take her first communion meal on Easter Sunday and make it very meaningful.

So we have been talking about her relationship with Jesus.

She has memorized the Apostles Creed and knows what she believes about God.

When I asked her what Jesus means to her, she looked at me blankly....

Like...Momma?

What kind of question is that?

Jesus loves me.

And I love him.

Period.

Isn't the childlike faith of an eight year old

what we all long for?

That all out pursuit....run...sprint towards the loving arms of Jesus.

We gave Caroline a Bible that belonged to my Mom (with her name on it).

She said, "Look how much she underlined in the middle part of the Bible, she must have really loved reading Psalms!"

Here is a bracelet that Grandma Gigi started for her.