CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!

Thy nativity, O Christ our God hath shone upon the world the light of wisdom.  

For by it, those who worshipped the stars were taught by a star to adore Thee,

The Sun of Righteousness, and to know thee, the Orient from on high.

O Lord, glory to Thee!

-Nativity Troparion

What a glorious week we've had with our family and friends!  I'll share some of our festivities with pics over the next week.  May we continue to bask in the joy of the birth of our Lord!

CHRIST IS BORN!  GLORIFY HIM!

My three girls

Dinner conversations...

I was having dinner with my girls last night and Zoe was nursing while I was eating. Thea, who had just taken her shirt off because she doesn't wear dirty clothes-under any circumstances, was finishing up her meal. Typically I don't let the girls hang out without clothes on, but we were moments away from taking baths.

Thea, who was watching Zoe nurse, pointed to her breast and said "Is this where my milk is?"

M: "That is where your milk will be when you have a baby."
T: "Is the milk inside here, or do you put seeds in here and grow the milk?"

Do you love kids or what?

Major Score!

So, I started Christmas shopping today-finally. I hit my favorite thrift store and it paid off.

I got the three wee ones several wooden toys and a cool educational game for less than $15.00.

HOWEVER, the biggest score was for...me. :)

I have been looking for new curtains for my living room for years. Yes, years. But because we have such high ceilings they are always so expensive. So, I've just kept looking for the right curtains at the right price. I warned my husband long ago that when I found the right ones and the right length I was going to get them.

Well, I found eight panels of beautiful shear curtains with embroidered leaves (made by Pottery Barn) for $15.00 bucks a set! And they were the right color-natural!! Cool! I am so excited. I came home dancing for joy.

I love thrift stores.

Bath time discussion with the resident Dr.

For some reason bath time discussion is always interesting with my girls. Perhaps it's because it is the end of the day and they have all these questions from the happenings of their day. Who can say?

A few weeks ago Katya, Thea and I watched the Nativity Story that came out a couple of years ago. Thea faded out toward the end, but Katya really loved the story. She especially loved the childbirth scenes of Mary and Elizabeth. Both scenes were not graphic, just a little intense due to the pain of childbirth. As you can imagine, Katya has had many, many questions about childbirth since then.

For example, when Mary and Elizabeth cried during childbirth, Katherine wanted to know why they were crying. I said they were tears of joy.

I will say that Katherine is really interested in things medical-and always has been. Just today she asked if there were homeschooling books that taught about the inside of our body. "Like blood and stuff".

When I was pregnant with Zoe, Katya would go to the Dr. with me and would always beg them to give me a shot or do some procedure so that she could watch.

She has also asked for a microscope. A MICROSCOPE! How about a Polly Pocket!!

I said that Papa was the Science teacher and she should talk with him...

OK, back to bath time: So, Katherine says: "Mom, when you deliver a baby, does it hurt?"

M: "Yes, it hurts"
K: "A little bit or a whole bunch?"
M: "Well, some of the times both"
K: "So, what are you saying? What does it feel like?"
M: "Umm, well sort of like you are pooping"
K: "Oh. Well, does it feel like are really big poop like (and she yells) yeeeoowww!!!! Or, does it feel like a poop like, oh, that kind of hurt."
M: "Well, some of the times both"

I am thinking that Katherine may be headed to medical school. I pray not.

I am also thinking that should God give us anymore children I will let Katherine watch the delivery. Both Fr. and I think she would love it.

The Fiery Chariot

Today the girls and I read about the Prophet Elijah and the fiery chariot. I forget what an awesome story it is. I even got very excited when the chariot took him away, leaving Elisha as the new Prophet.

Anyhow, Thea looked at me with her sweet big brown eyes and said, very solemnly, "Mommy, I don't want to die, I want to go up to God in a fiery chariot with you, Papa, Katya and Zoe".

Me too, Thea, Me too...

ZZZZZZZZ

Forgive the absence!

I know all of you don't want to hear me ramble on, but rather want to see more adorable pics of the babes. Well, you'll have to wait. I am suffering from a serious case of sleep deprivation.

Seems my little Zoe Marie, now 14 months old, has decided to become a night owl in her second year of life. At least she comes by it honestly. No, I'm not talking about me. That would be her Papa...

Anyhow, Zoe was sleeping pretty well after her newborn days were over and then a few months ago she began the dreaded middle of the night wakings. Uuugghhh... Katya was pretty bad, Thea was awesome (sleeping through the night from almost day one), however, Zoe is really bad. Last week, at the peak of all her sleeplessness, she was waking up every two hours-almost every night.

Since I thought I was a pro at sleeping children (that thought alone is a recipe for getting put in my place-huh?), I gave away my copy of "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". So, I rushed out to the used book store and grabbed a new one. Pronto. Read it-double pronto. It is an excellent book.

It's pretty amazing how much sleep little kids need. We forget that they are little and require so much more sleep than we do. After reading the book, I put Zoe on a new sleep routine: Asleep by 6:30, instead of 8:30 and one long nap at 12:30 or 1:00, instead of two. I did have to let her cry out her first night of waking up at 3:00a.m. for an hour. That was absolutely horrible. I will tell you though, she is a different child.

Now that most of you are yawning either from the boring story or from getting sleepy, I'll see if I can come up with some cute pics for my next entry.

Until then, happy sleeping! :)

On making Barbie a better girl...

I remember when Fr. Justin and I first had Katherine, we decided then and there that we would not allow Barbies into her toy box. We both agreed that Barbie and her friends were no example for our daughter and future children. The shape of her body-unnatural. The cut of her clothes-to skimpy. Too much makeup!

Well, it's a good thing Katya doesn't keep them in her toy box...

In all fairness, we have not purchased a single Barbie. They have all been gifts from various people. I will never forget Katya's first Barbie. A parishoner's little girl gave it to Katya for her second birthday. As Katherine opened the big pink box and saw her first Barbie all glittery and smiley, I knew we were toast. She didn't even know what a Barbie was until that moment, but it was love at first sight.

At first I was wondering how I was going to give Barbie the slip without Katya noticing. Yes, there have been toys that have secretly disappeared in the night. One toy that stands out is the screaming, I mean screaming baby that cried very loud. Anytime she tilted one way or the other she screamed. She has joyfully been adopted and now lives someplace out of earshot. Anyhow, as you already know the end to this story, Barbie stayed.

So, as time passed and the Barbie collection grew, I decided that since we were clearly not going to give Barbie the boot, I would have to teach my daughters about proper dress, modesty and ladylike behaviour using Barbie as our example. I conveyed this thought to my husband and he just glanced up from his computer and sort of grummbled. "Look, all they do is dress and undress them constantly," I said. "They treat them like their babies."

My husband sat looking doubtful, kept typing and didn't utter a word.

So, I continued: "If Barbie came to our church, we wouldn't turn her away would we?" "I mean, just because she doesn't know how to dress modestly doesn't mean we can't teach her-and the rest of her sorority (because at this point we have about ten Barbies)...right?" "Further, maybe she (and all her sisters) regret having plastic surgery to augment their bodies!"

(You can just read the line above the above paragraph again for my husband's response.)

Realistically speaking, I never want my daughters judging anyone, for any reason, period. I saw an opportunity here to teach my daughters some valuable lessons.

Well, he just raised his eyebrows, and said "I see." I think he felt outnumbered.

Three years later, we work hard to keep Barbie and her friends well covered. I explain why Barbie has to wear pants under her short skirts, a sweater over her crop tops, and why stiletto heals are impractical-but on rare occasions are o.k., especially when Barbie is going to the ball.

I think Barbie and her girls are softening up a bit. Just today the girls and I were playing with the Barbies and someone suggested that they be baptized and chrismated. Why, Thea even thought we should make them little crosses to wear around their necks! My heart leaped! My mind began to race! For a moment, I (silently) thought that we could make them all little black cassocks and tonsure them monastics! Now we're getting somewhere! :)

I was a little nervous about trying to talk my husband into keeping Barbie and her friends. But, I have to admit they have brought my girls many hours of fun. And they have enabled me to talk about many important topics to my little ladies.

Would I recommend Barbies for little girls? Not necessarily. But sometimes you work with what you've got.

Eis polla eti despota!!

Our beloved Archbishop Dmitri came to visit our parish yesterday. As always, it was a wonderful day. I wish everyone could know this man. He is a blessing in my life and in so many other's, I'm sure.

He came to us at 9:00a.m. and stayed until 2:30. We had a beautiful hierarchical liturgy with a glorious feast afterward. Everyone enjoyed his visit. He is a true Texan with great southern hospitality and charm. He simply doesn't know a stranger and makes everyone feel welcome and at home.

Katya did present him flowers (after changing her mind about four times before he got here). :)

I tried to use my camera, but my one year old was extremely busy. Other parishoners tooks photos that I will try to share, but I did get a couple.

The two pics here are of our much loved priest (who also happens to be my husband) receiving the Kamilavka. This is an award given to priests for dedication and hard work, among other reasons. He is completely deserving of such an award, in my very biased opinion. He works tirelessly for our parish, as well as the Russian community in Dallas. For those of you who want to know more about this award, you can visit orthodoxwiki.org. The other photo is of Vladyka and Fr. Justin while Vladyka was talking with our parish.

Many years to Fr. Justin! I love you! Your Wife.

If you want to see other photos, you can go to our the Diocese of the South website: www.dosoca.org

Only the child of an Orthodox Priest...

Our Bishop is coming to visit this Sunday and Katya is going to present him with flowers. (In the Orthodox Church, it is customary for a young girl to greet the Bishop and present him with flowers upon arrival.) This will be a first for Katherine, as she has always been too shy.

Anyhow, I asked Katherine if she was sure she wanted to present the flowers, since last time she was shy. She said yes and then asked what it meant to be shy. I gave her a definition and then added, "you know when you hide behind my skirt when you don't know people, well that's being shy". Katherine quickly added "or when you hide behind your papa's skirt".

After I had a good laugh, I said "yes, or behind your papa's CASSOCK".

For those of you who are thinking "huh?" In the Orthodox tradition, the priests wear cassocks, which are long black robes-or according to some little five year olds a "skirt". :)

OCTPOB (The Island)

Last week Fr. Justin and I watched a film call "(The) Island". It is a Russian film about a holy man living in a monastery who receives people from 'the world' and gives them advice.

This movie is probably my favorite movie of all time. It is not only beautiful to watch, but it is spiritually beautiful and profound as well. I was sad to see the film come to an end.

Please take the time to rent and watch this film.

One little, two little, three little indians...

We made Indian vests and headbands in arts and crafts this Tuesday. The girls loved making them.

Of course number two from the left beats to her very own tribal drum.

Anyone for a jazzersize class? :)

September 14th a very, very special day!

Last Friday was a very special day here at our house.

Our day started with a 6:00a.m. Divine Liturgy for the Elevation of the Precious Cross of our Lord. It is one of the Great Feasts celebrated by the Orthodox Church. Go to this web site for a wonderful description of the feast and an excellent commentary on the icon of the Elevation of the Cross. www.goarch.org/en/special/listen_learn_share/exaltholycross/learn/

The picture is of the cross at our Church. When there is a Great Feast, our Church decorates the icon, or in this case the cross, with flowers.

We also remembered another very special day in our household: The birth of Zoe Marie.

It is so hard to believe that one year has passed! Alas, she is walking and right in the middle of the two older ones.

Friday afternoon, Katya, Thea and I went shopping for some things for little Zoe to tear into. We went over to the thrift store to see what we could find, and they were having a 50% off sale!!! We were in thrift heaven. All three girls got new dresses-very cheap! Yahoo!

Katherine is my thrift store buddy. We usually sneak out when the two little ones go out for a nap. Since it was Zoe's birthday, Thea wanted to help pick something out, so off we three went. We then went over to the other thrift store (there are several in our town) and that's where we found a stack of board books (in near perfect condition) for Zoe and some big plastic blocks that are mushy. They are really cute. The books were .25 each and the blocks were $1.00 for six. Another score.

We came home, got out the clorox wipes and cleaned up Zoe's goodies. We got them wrapped and waited for her to rip them all back open. We skipped a cake, since September 14th is a strict fast day, and because her godmother told me she was baking a cake for Sunday coffee hour - perfect.

As you can see in the pics, Zoe loved opening the gifts, the girls loved helping her, and I think she liked what she got.

All in all I think we spent about $10.00 and came home with great stuff!

Happy Birthday Zoe, we love you and thank God for you!

Consecration of St. Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church in Denison, TX.

On August 25th we went up to St. Paul's to witness the consecration of their Church. The service was one of the most beautiful services I have ever seen. The consecration prayers with the step by step of putting the altar together by the Bishop and the priests, then the placing of Holy Relics into the altar, followed by a procession around the Church while the priest blesses, was all most profound and beautiful. The service was followed by the Divine Liturgy. It was all just perfect.

I was at the consecration of St. Seraphim in Dallas, but there were hundreds of people and I couldn't see and hear everything. At St. Paul's there were only about fifty people and the Church is relatively small, so I was able to enter more fully into this service. Even my kids were somewhat subdued at this service. It was a very long service, at least three hours, and all three of them watched and listened, with very few interruptions. They seemed to be aware of the Holiness of this service. I was amazed-and thankful.

All of the prayers I found to be beautiful, but I can't type them all here. So, I'll just share this one. If any of you want to read the whole service, I'd be happy to mail it to you.

This prayer is said after the procession around the Church and the blessing of the Church with holy water. The Bishop, priests and faithful are standing outside the front doors of the Church with The Holy Gospel, the cross, the icons and the Holy Relics. Before they enter into the church, the Bishop prays this prayer:

"O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who art blessed forever, who through the veil of His flesh hath renewed for us an entrance into the Church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, where is the abode of them that rejoice, and the voice of gladness: Do thou thyself; O Master who lovest mankind, look upon us, thy sinful and unworthy servants, celebrating the renewal of the honorable Temple of the holy Apostle Paul according to the pattern of the most-holy Church, that is, of our own body, which thou has vouchsafed us, by the all-praised Apostle Paul, to call thy Church and members of thy Christ; and do thou estblish it immovable unto the end of the age, and glorified in thee. And count us worthy that, without reproach, we may offer herein praises and doxologies unto thy glory, and unto the Holy Spirit, with understanding, and with all emotion; and that those who worship thee in the fear of thee may show themselves worthy of thy divine compassions; and that these prayers offered up by us and by all thy people unto thine ineffable deep compassion, may be acceptable unto thy goodness: Through the prayers of our holy, Most-pure Sovereign Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary."

The pictures are of the procession and the prayers outside the church. Katya and Thea sit on the steps listening to Vladyka pray.

What a blessing is was to be a part of that event!

Labor Day picnic

On Labor Day we had another great picnic at our Church. We have two picnics a year, one on Memorial Day and the other on Labor Day. It's amazing how we seem to have different people at every picnic. This year we had a large number of people come over from St. Sava's in Plano. It was great to meet new people and visit with the one's we already know.

Anyhow, the food was great and there were so many kids. We did face painting, egg toss and water balloon toss, plus we had a bounce house. Too fun!

To top it off, we had Fr. Basil and his three daughters up from Houston. Unfortunately, his Matushka couldn't come (something about school stuff), but we'll take no excuses next time ;). My girls loved having three more girls in the house for a night. Of course their only complaint was that they didn't stay long enough!

"The corn series"

Do you enjoy eating corn this much?

"Of all the Holy works, the education of children is the most Holy." -St. theophan the Recluse

Yesterday was the first day of our St. Theophan the Recluse homeschool. We have chosen Him as our school's patron saint because of his great love for children and wisdom for both young and old. If you've never read his works, do so soon! You will be blessed.

Our schedule will look something like this:

Mon. - Thurs.: Poetry, Reading and Religion (Lives of Saints, Feast days, Bible, etc.)
Mon. & Wed.: Math
Tues. & Thurs. : Arts & Crafts

In addition we will participate in the following activities:

Tuesdays: I will host a group of women and children from our Church to do crafts.
Tuesday afternoons: Katya will join fellow homeschoolers at the roller rink to skate.
Thursday afternoons: Katya and Thea have swim lessons
Friday: Park day with fellow homeschoolers
Friday afternoons story time at the library. We'll also use this time to check out books.

We had a great first day of school. Fr. Justin started the class off with the story of The Prophet Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth, the parents of St. John the Baptist. (The Orthodox church commemorates them on September 5th.) After our discussion, I had the girls draw a picture of the story. We'll do this everyday and I'll save them in a binder. We will begin each class with the girls retelling of the story they heard the day before. My kids love hearing Bible stories from Papa, so he will start our school days with our faith.

We then got out our wooden blocks. I worked with Thea on colors, numbers and letters and Katya worked on creating words. The girls worked really well together. Thea was thrilled to be doing school with big sister.

After blocks was poetry. I got a great book of poetry at the used book store for $2.00 called "An Arkful of Animals" by W. Cole. Katya was sad there were no poems about snakes...Nonetheless, the girls LOVED poetry. We will work to memorize one poem a week.

Katya then moved on to Math and I read books to Thea. We worked closely together so that I could stop and work with Katherine when she needed me.

We are following a classical cirriculum, so the main focus at this point is reading. In the afternoons when the wee ones sleep, Katya and I will work on her reading skills. This will give us quiet, uninterrupted time together. We will continue reading aloud at every opportunity as well as working individually with the girls.

All in all it was a good day.

I am so thankful to be able to homeschool the girls. There are many great reasons for doing so, but for us the most important reason is so that we can make Christ and His Church the center of our lives. Homeschooling will allow us the flexibility we need to attend weekday services and study the Holy traditions to the degree that we want and need.

I ask that God grant me the wisdom, patience and love that I will need to be a good teacher for my girls!

North Texas Fair and Rodeo

On Thursday night we hopped in the van and headed over to the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo. Last year was our first year to go and it was mighty hot. Not to mention the fact that I was 8-1/2 months pregnant. Anyhow, this year the temp was much cooler and my little 'heater' is now in a stroller.

It's pretty much your typical local fair with rides, local crafts, food booths and , our favorite, the rodeo. I love rodeo's. As a kid we looked forward to the local rodeos. We would always beg my parents to sit as close to the shoots as possible. Well, my kids aren't quite as excited as I was to go to the rodeo. They are more interested in the rides. (In all fairness, there were no rides connected with my hometown rodeo.) Anyhow, we settled in and watched the bull riding. Since Katya has voiced interest in being a cowgirl when she grows up, we asked her how she liked the bull riding. She said "not too terribly". Thank you...

Then came something new to us all. It's called "Mutton Bustin'". I hope you all get to see this sporting event at least once in your life. It is for young boys and girls 5-7 years old and under 55lbs. They get on a sheep and see how long they can stay on as the sheep comes barreling out of the shoot-really fast. There ain't nothin' cuter than a mini cowboy tryin' to ride a mutton'. It is too cute. Katya says this is the kind of cowgirl she wants to be. We may need to skip the fair from now on...

Here are a couple of pics: (Make sure you click on the last photo to check out the little cowboy straddling the fence while sizing up the competition in his 'flamed' chaps.)

From my three year old:

"Mom, is jelly made from jelly fish?"

Oh yeah, and today when we were swimming in the pool, Thea looked closely into my eyes with her big brown eyes and with all the love she could gush forth she said: "Mom, your a weally good dwiver".

Ahhh, I'm so glad that she really doesn't think that I'm a bad driver (see August 8 post), that she was just driven by toddler anger when she told me I WASN'T a good driver.

I can sleep at night again.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Ocean!

There is nothing like getting a package in the mail. I still enjoy opening mail myself, except the kind that has a due date.

The girls got a package from Grandma and Grandpa Ocean on Wednesday. It included one very cool super woman-type costume, which Katherine, being the oldest, quickly put on; one very frilly ballet costume, which Thea being the "the frillier the better" kind of girl, quickly put on and one simple ballet suit, which Thea added to her costume, because according to Thea whoever coined the phrase "less is more" had no idea what they were talking about.

The box also included some new horses to add to their collection. The girls LOVE playing with horses. Their horses wear barbie clothes, jewelry, barbie shoes, the works. They bathe with them, take them on trips to the store, play outside with them, sleep with them. Occasionally they are just plain old farm horses, but not very often.

Luckily for the horses, the box also included some new barbie clothes. Fashion straight from the Northwest.

The girls do love their barbies-especially Thea, but their horses do enjoy their new outfits. (Must be city horses.)

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the great box of goodies! We love you!
Katherine, Thea and Zoe

P.S. Zoe says the horse hooves taste great! :)

The truth hurts

"Mom, your a weally bad dwiver!"(driver)

This is what my three year old told me yesterday when she was mad at me.

My response? "Worse than Papa?" Her response: "Yes!"

Ouch.

Rain

We were on the coast during hurricane season. Fortunately, there were no hurricanes during our visit, but it did storm all around us. Every night we would watch the lightning and hear the thunder off in the distance. The lightning was beautiful on the ocean. We didn't get any rain, except for one day when it stormed. Most of the people retreated to their houses, but a few just sat on the beach and waited out the storm under their umbrellas.

Sure enough, after a few hours of rain, the sun came back out and people slowly returned to the water--including us!

Sunset on Cape San Blas

O gladsome Light of the holy glory of the Immortal Father, heavenly, holy, blessed, O Jesus Christ.
having come to sunset and beholding the evening light, we hymn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: God.
Meet it is at all times that Thou art hymned with fitting voices, O Son of God, thou Giver of Life;
where for the world doth gorify Thee.

-Hymn from Orthodox Vespers

Babysitting

Fr. J. and I found a new babysitter while we were on the cape...

We are having a truck load of sand delivered first thing Monday morning.

Sleep

We all loved the beach, it was so relaxing. The salt air and the constant crashing of the waves was mesmerizing. Zoe, however, was the queen of relaxation. It seemed as though once we stepped foot on the beach she would play hard for a few minutes and then pass out. Oh to be a baby again...

Vacation, Summer 2007

We just returned from a vacation to Florida and I have to say it was one of my favorite vacations to date.

We left July 16th at 4:00a.m. heading to Miami, Florida for the DOS Assembly. We stopped in DeFuniak Springs, FL. on Monday evening and got up early Tuesday morning for our final leg to Miami. We traveled across Texas, Lousiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It was a beautiful drive, for the most part. From east Texas to a few hours north of Miami the drive was green and hilly. We really enjoyed the scenery.

We arrived in Miami on Tuesday, checked into our beautiful hotel, Don Schula Resort, and headed to the Cathedral to register for the assembly. The assembly went from Tuesday through Friday. It was a great week of seeing priests and their wives and children. Unfortunately, not very many children came this year. However, there were enough for the girls to have a great time.

Fr. Justin spent most of his time in meetings with the Bishop and other priests. I spent most of my time in the pool with my kids. :) Katya did go to the Seaquariam with a group of kids one day. On Wednesday, I had lunch with Vladyka Dmitri and the other Matushki (wives of priests).

Thursday evening the assembly came to a close with a banquet. The food was cuban and very good.

Friday morning we headed to our vacation destination, Cape San Blas Florida. We went west through the Everglades, saw a bunch of gators, and then North up the Florida coast. We took a breather in Tampa while the 5:00 traffic unwinded. Tampa has a beautiful downtown area. It is very vibrant and is super clean. We stopped downtown, grabbed some dinner and listened to live music.

We jumped back in the van and traveled for another hour or so and stopped for the night. The next day, Saturday, we arrived at our condo on the Cape. We had no idea what to expect, so when we got there and saw the beach we were so excited. While Fr. unloaded the van, I took the girls to the beach (which was only a few feet away).

For the next five days we played, relaxed and watched the dolphins swim and jump up an down the coast. The beach was beautiful, the water perfect and the sunsets amazing.

Attached to our condo were two other condos. The one upstairs was not rented, but the one next to ours was rented to two families from Tennessee. They had six children all together, so Katya and Thea had a great time playing with them.

We had plans to go to visit some near by towns and go to St. Josesph's State park, but we ended up just hanging out and relaxing. We had one day of hard rain for a few hours, but it was nice to sit inside and watch the storm on the ocean. The storm was short lived and by the end of the day we were back on the beach.

The girls were troopers on the trip. They watched a few movies, did some beading, colored, talked, sang and had a few fights, but overall, they were awesome. I dare say we have 'road tripping' down!

Over the next few days I'll share some photos of our trip.

Birthday Bash

Our little Thea Michelle turned three yesterday. We had a great day: Liturgy, cake and ice cream, nap, Chuck E Cheese, chips and cheese (mexican food) and bed. Whew!!!

The pics are of Thea and Katya after the frenzy of opening gifts and Thea at Chuck E Cheese.

Light reading

We are planning our summer vacation and just received some AAA books in the mail. Thea decided that she was going to help plan the trip with us. So she crawled in her 'nest' and started studying.

Serious situation

This looks pretty serious...

Plum good!

Our co-op this time around was full of awesome fruit. Zoe tasted her first plum. I think she liked it. :)

Puppet Show

The girls are giving Zoe her own private puppet show.