Brothers anyone?

This all started with "Charli, let me get a picture of you in the jumper.." That was followed by a James running for the camera. He is a wirey fellow when you're wrestling with him. He just likes to do silly moves so its easy to overpower him! hehe.

She's still looking for him...

He's back!
Finally, Charli in the jumper I made for her yesterday. I'm working on a set of matching jumpers today. I'll be SO glad to be through with this stash of fabric! hehe. It is giving me a lot of nice scraps to use in the Quilting Bee quilt blocks!

Please send chickens..

The deal in our home is if a chicken wanders onto our property we can keep it. We can hear roosters crowing in the morning, so somewhere nearby someone has chickens. Yet, seven years later, no chickens have wandered here.

What do we get instead? Puppies. This latest duo arrived on Friday. We came home to yipping and barking as they came out from their hiding spot. I posted on a group to see if someone wanted them (no takers) and we just hoped they'd wander -back- home on their own. Saturday morning they're still there and my oldest is starting to fall in love with them. However, God provides!, on Jim's way to town he came across animal control. They were looking for some other dogs that have been in the area. Jim asked him to stop by and pick up the puppies - and he did.

I'm sure they'll find a new home soon. They were friendly and cute, which is about all you need in a puppy!

Now to wait on chickens...

Lumberjack James

This is why we do not live in a subdivision - or next to Al Gore. :) When we lived in Colorado Springs our home had a gorgeous view, but only a small backyard and one little tree in the front yard. That tree could have never survived my crew today! James and Joseph worked together to get a branch from one of the sweet gum trees. James came running to the door saying "Look what WE did!" and was quite proud -- as you can see in the picture with the big thumbs up. The cat is just wondering where the tree came from.. hehe.

These are not all of the moms, just simply the moms who were at the table at the time. We could probably fit 6 sewing machines if I pulled out the table and had moms at each end. I believe we're up to 9 blocks now.. BUT.. everyone plans to sew, sew, sew before we get together again in August.

These are not all of the children, but in the red is a missing mom. lol. They're all holding still because we just started Peter Pan.


Before everyone arrives Bethany sneaks in a cello session with one of her friends.



They played a short duet together.

Yesterday's sewing project

Bethany in the jumper we made yesterday. This is actually the pinafore pattern from The King's Daughters. How I wish either my lovely mother or darling grandmother would make the DRESS for me from that site.. I have the pattern. (hint, hint). I used the simple jumper pattern (right) to sew the bodice and did an easy gathered skirt for the bottom. Bethany prefers the gathered skirts so she can *R*U*N*.



The spin test... it passed! She's sewing a kerchief out of the leftover fabric to match the jumper.

Pictures by Bethany.. and Charlotte

Bethany hard at work, voluntarily!, at Learn to Write the Novel Way.

Bethany took the pictures of Naomi, below, and Charlotte took the pictures of Noah. You know you're living a sheltered life when CHEERIOS are the hit of the week. We generally steer the children towards oatmeal or other stick-to-the-ribs breakfast stuff, but usually get one large box of cheerios per week. The day the box gets opened is a big deal. I'm starting to think we could buy cold cereal as Christmas presents.

Snoedels (the funny doll wiht the hat) are good for snuggling and for eating! :)

Bread

Man cannot live by bread alone, but this one sure goes nice with dinner! I made the European bread recipe in the Encyclopedia of Country Living. It turned out beautifully. It has a chewy/crunchy crust and a soft dense inside. It'd be perfect with lentil stew. Yum. The sour dough starter has been declared a flop, so we're starting it again. Trying another method.

Happy Monday!

Here is a group picture of the quilting bee blocks I have at my home. They're turning out very nice and look so bright and cheery!

This block has.. fabric from Anne's house.. two pieces of fabric from jumpers made for Charli.. and even a piece of fabric from Naomi's dress. Along with that are some 30s reproduction fabrics that I adore.
Another quilt square, complete with a piece of leftover fabric from Naomi's snoedel's hat (the bright orange flower). 7 blocks done, part of #8 is done. I'm not sure how the other ladies are doing.. we'll find out on Thursday.


James wanted in on the action when I was taking a picture of Naomi. She's in the bumbo chair in the middle of the dining room table. You can see my sewing machine over James's shoulder.

After her bath on Sunday the cutest little puff of hair stood up in the back. We're all so proud of her for growing hair. hehe. Below: picture by Charlotte. Naomi loves her snoedel with one hand and holds onto a white kerchief (it's a silky fabric) in the other. All of our quilting mess can be seen in the background. We keep baskets and bins to store it in for when we want to use the table for other purposes.. like dinner!

The quilt blocks are on the left.. sewing machine on the right.. and baby in the best seat! See the fingers? James again! :)
Noah with his glowing halo of pretty curls. As soon as he realized it was picture time he zipped down the hallway, followed by Charlotte. I think this is the only time he has sat still today!
Put a camera in front of a Joseph and who knows WHAT you get.. today.. this is what we got ;)

I hope everyone is having a great Monday. Ours is zipping along nicely.

The children are memorizing a verse this week for church (they do this weekly at the church we're visiting). It is from Psalm 119.

King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain
Psalm 119
1Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
2Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
3They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
4Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
5O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
6Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.
7I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
8I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
9Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
10With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
11Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Or (sometimes it is interesting to see the modern versions, but I admit I prefer the KJV or NASB).

Psalm 119
In Praise of the Law of the LORD 1Our LORD, you bless everyone
who lives right
and obeys your Law.
2You bless all of those
who follow your commands
from deep in their hearts
3and who never do wrong
or turn from you.
4You have ordered us always
to obey your teachings;
5I don't ever want to stray
from your laws.
6Thinking about your commands
will keep me from doing
some foolish thing.
7I will do right and praise you
by learning to respect
your perfect laws.
8I will obey all of them!
Don't turn your back on me.
9Young people can live
a clean life
by obeying your word.
10I worship you
with all my heart.
Don't let me walk away
from your commands.
11I treasure your word
above all else;
it keeps me from sinning
against you.

Church and more

The cat has great Christian wisdom - she knows she can't open the door herself. She doesn't have hands, or the know-how. She *does* know the door will be opened. It's her job to sit there, patiently, staring up, until -tada- the door is opened and out she goes. After a few minutes outside she then repeats the process on the OTHER side of the door. I wish I had Sugar's patience and faith when it comes to the doors in my life that God will open them - it's my job to pray and trust.

On our visiting churches quest we visited a smalltown church around 10 minutes away (taking 55mph back country roads, not another vehicle to be seen!). I found the church through http://www.founders.org/ and emailed briefly with the Pastor. We're in a strange spot for seeking a church. We want a conservative church that still encourages studies in Hebrew/Greek and not just the King James Version of the Bible. Plus, we want to be able to worship with our children. Many people say young kids can't sit for an hour or more in a service. Personally, I think that's selling ourselves short. Shouldn't parents be able to teach their children to sit for at least one hour per week? We've found the perfect arrangement for us is this:

Mommy with Naomi, James, Charlotte, Joseph, Bethany, Noah and Daddy.

Basically.. Parent,girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, Parent. James is usually helpful near me with holding the hymnal or smiling at Naomi. The older girls are generally not a problem at all. Joseph and Noah need a sister between them or else they get the wiggles, pokes, and googly-eyed faces at each other. hehe. Noah fell asleep on Jim and Naomi slept through the service on me. She look so sweet in her frilly pink dress, shiny black church shoes, and frilly white bonnet. The original outfit I picked didn't pass Charlotte's inspection, so she changed her!

The sermon was wonderful. The Pastor was speaking from Judges and mentioned how one defeated 600 men with an ox-poke. He brought in a huge stick he had whittled sharp on one end to demonstrate. That caught the boys' attention. He also spoke of Daniel and later Goliath, two stories that James enjoys. A decent amount of history was added in, along with some examples of how the Hebrew was done (which is right up Jim's ally).

The church has a small congregation, but there were other families with their babies and little ones there. A lot of grandparents sitting with young families. It was really nice to see the diversity. Plus, it was nice to sit in an old-fashioned church, sing some hymns, and worship the Lord as a family. We hit a few roadblocks on the way up there.. mapquest's directions included, literally, a dead end. Not sure if that's where we were supposed to get out on foot and HIKE! I even used google maps and watched the roads go up.. Oh, well, we did make it even though we were a few minutes late.

They have a children's time during the service where kids are encouraged to do scripture memorization. James and Bethany are racing to memorize theirs.. hopefully Joseph will too!

Some things for this week..

Park day (at a small local park) on Monday.. Craft/Sewing time on Thursday.. Park day (at a large downtown park) on Friday. That'll be the end of our busy stuff til after vacation. Speaking of which, I made oodles of bags to use with the http://www.cornhole-game.org/ my Dad made :) THAT should be a lot of fun with all of the kiddoes.

If I get my camera battery charged I will take pictures of our quilts in progress. I have 7 of the Quilting Bee squares done. Bethany is making a 9-patch quilt and I think she has 3 done so far. Tomorrow will be a sewing day here as we try to get things done before vacation.

Talk I enjoyed this weekend: "Southern Baptists At Sardis" - its all about honesty in church membership, what a church SHOULD be about, and so on. Its on the right hand side of the page under Features.

Pictures by Charlotte

Is this a white oak? We checked a variety of sites and it appears white oak comes in a lot of different leaf shapes. The other option was red oak. Charlotte is planning to carve a bow.. and arrows.. and is sad we don't appear to have a yew tree in our yard.

This is a picture Charlotte took of the sky. It looked plain grey. We use picasa's photo fix and this is what appeared. We thought it was worth sharing. Very pretty!

Naomi loves a bath. She prefers deep water to the shallow infant tub, so we use the sink. How I wish we'd bought the deep tummy tub for her! Her favorite thing is to keep scrunching down til the water is right below her chin. She coos and chats the entire time. Plus she likes to kick her legs. She hasn't figured out splashing yet.

Definitely not a picture of an unhappy baby!! hehe.

Hmm..

I can't get blogger to upload pics. I have some great pictures to share and hope I can figure out the issue soon!

Children or cars?

I read this article today and feel others might enjoy reading it as well.

A few snippets..


A funny thing happened to me the other day when my wife and I had, thank God, another baby (a boy). Many of my friends didn't seem all that happy for me. Sure, they went through the motions of smiles and congratulations. But it was evident that many thought me insane. Why would a young man and his wife ruin their lives with eight children?

I don't mind that the world doesn't really love babies, just that it pretends to. It's time we got honest about our priorities. Most people get a new car every two or three years, but one or two babies through the life of their marriage is plenty. You can get drunk on an airplane, laugh hysterically with your mates, and still not really anger people. But if you dare bring a crying baby on board you will be given malicious looks as if the little thing is a package that ticks. If you walk your dog along the street, people will stop you to tell you how cute he is. If you walk down the street with a baby, you might find a woman or two who coos, but for the most part, you'll be utterly ignored.

By just looking at my children, I become more innocent. By loving them, I become more noble. By spending my money on them rather than myself, I find transcendence. And by being a father and liberating all of the love in my heart, my spirit soars free. I work hard to support a large family and I give up no pleasures in doing so because my children are my foremost pleasure.

Click on the link above to read the whole article.

Last night I was blessed, SO blessed, to be with gracious ladies who love babies. Naomi goes with me to Mom's Night Out. Instead of the moms being upset about a baby visiting, they coo.. they babble.. and they make comments on her cutesy outfits. Even better? They celebrate being moms themselves by sharing baby stories. Some even asked for prayer for MORE babies. On the way home I simply praised God for his encouragement. For allowing me to be filled by these ladies who truly love their families and enjoy their children. One mom asked if we were open to more and I answered "most definitely" and I "most definitely" meant it.

While we live in a modest home, continue to go though vehicle struggles, and have started a seperate budget category for "kids sports" we're still so blessed and I "most definitely" wish to be blessed more by the Lord. Even if He doesn't give us another child, I feel we at least have the security of knowing we're not 'missing' anyone.. that He decided our family for us and we can rest secure in that knowledge.

On a lighter note..

Moving a 75 gallon aquarium across a living room floor is THE most exciting thing for kids to witness. Not sure what made it so fascinating, but I had a cheering audience. Thankfully the aquarium has a lizard in it, not water. We 'flylady'd' the living room and rearranged the furniture. I can't wait to paint that room once we get home. We're also looking at furniture from www.homereserve.com because we need to have 2 couches in there.

Pictures!

This is part of our campsite at the state park in WV. Our site opened into this beautiful field and included two nice shade trees. The little one walking is Noah.

This is the tram ride UP and DOWN the mountain. The bucket hangs from those dinky wires (lol) and up up up you go! It is the -only- way to reach the lodge where the grandparents stayed. There is a nice creek - the brown in the picture - that I know the kids would enjoy, just not sure if we're up to the hike since 2 family members refuse to ride the tram.

This was taken at the lodge a the bottom. Bethany, my only brave child, rode down with me. This is me, Bethany, and my Dad.

Here is our tent. It is a Eureka Blue Mesa, easy to set up and fits 2 adults, 5 children (one in a playpen) and 2 dogs (one in a crate). This year we'll have 2 adults, 6 children, and 1 dog - need to get her a new crate. Instead of the playpen we'll use the amby bed.

Picture from last summer.. Noah, PapPap, Grandma Marilyn in back. James, Charlotte, and Bethany in middle, Joseph in front. The gorgeous mountains of WV as the backdrop.

We're hoping to return there later this month. My sister is joining us with her six children (also 3 girls & 3 boys!).

Sunday Night Stuff

I have read so many terrific blogs lately. It is inspiring to read about other families and how they function. I'm also very encouraged by ladies who are willing to show warts and all on their blogs. I remember when I first considered homeschooling that I thought homeschoolers had it 'so together'. I'd never met a homeschooling family and had really only discussed it with my close friend here in SC. I had the oldest child between us so I couldn't really follow in her footsteps.

During that time I was part of a Friday playgroup that met at the zoo. We would see a LOT of school field trips and, quite honestly, some were depressing. We witnessed teachers yelling at students, children crying because they wanted to stay longer at an exhibit, and other children going hungry during lunch because they forgot their lunch money (fast food place at the zoo). We also witnessed children who were obvious outcasts from the cliques that sat alone during lunch and walked alone while touring the zoo. It really made an impression upon me as Charli was due to start school the next year. Due to her Oct bday we had some extra breathing room before she'd begin. One Friday our other friends left early, so the four of us (Charli 4, Bethany 2, & baby James!) toured the zoo ourselves. While waiting on the tram we met up with another mom with two children. On a whim I asked if she was a homeschooler and she filled me in on All Things Homeschool in my area. What a blessing!!

I encourage all ladies to have patience to answer the 'newbies' whether it be about homeschooling, homemaking, or even the Christian faith. That mom, on that day, changed my life for the better and impacted my family for generations to come. It was through deciding to homeschool that I joined a certain homeschooling yahoogroup. It was through that yahoogroup that I was SO challenged in my ideas of Christianity. It was through rethinking this 'Christian stuff' that my husband and I resumed going to church.. and my husband accepted Christ. It was through this that God really started working on us and we started truly seeking him. We'd never known anything but the typical "one hour on sunday" version of Churchianity vs. Christianity. Eventually we ended up with our 4th child and second son. It was through that pregnancy that God reached into Jim's heart and led us to being quiverful. And due to Joseph (which means "Jehovah Increases" a name we *knew* we'd use b/c its my Dad's name).. due to Joseph's pregnancy we were then blessed with Noah, our precious guy we couldn't do without.. and Naomi our sweet pink bundle that everyone adores. Numerous people encouraged us to be 'done' after James was born since we 'had our boy'. It takes my breath away to realize if we'd done that we would not have Joseph, Noah, or Naomi. That is so unbelievably sad to me! I can't even think about it that long or else it makes me cry.

Looking back I can so clearly see God's awesome hand in our lives. I'm so thankful and grateful that He led us here.

Okay, enough of that. Here is a rundown of our current events with children.

Charlotte: Our family is going to be shocked when they see her next. She's turned into such a delightful young lady and seems so tall for an 11yo! She has a sweet demeanor and is a wonderful helper. She's joined a girl's group (www.blessedmaidens.com) that is for encouraging young Christian women and has met some very nice friends. Its fun to hear her tell me about this girl who is the oldest of 8.. or another girl that has a mom expecting soon. The girls also share how they help out at home and take pride in being responsible young ladies.

Bethany: She is no longer the very quiet one. She is definitely Queen Bee with the boys and they love it! She and James have caught on to inventing some fun games together. They have a "Shoomers" (sp?) club and they're figuring out ways to spend their club money (allowance) on interesting things. Today she was writing down scripture she wants to use as an online signature. Plus, she and Charli both helped me make a nice quilt square (will share more on that tomorrow). Her major interest is softball and she's counting down the days.. Plus she's helping James learn more about catching/throwing as he attempts baseball this year.

James: Oh, my .. he's turned into all boy! I love it! I may have blogged this once, but don't remember. lol. (skip if you've heard it). The other day he came to me while I was washing dishes and said "When I think about people squeezing lizards it makes me sad". I concurred, it'd make me sad too, and then asked why he was thinking that? He has two anole (green lizards) in his room and he takes excellent care of them. He said he wasn't sure, it was just on his mind. A while later he comes back and tells me he knows something "ooey" and that I won't want to hear it. The children *know* I have major issues with dead, dying, or gross things. They know to NOT tell me and to tell Daddy only. Well, I figured if it was truly bad I should listen to him because he seemed kinda sad about it. He tells me his lizard is growing a new tail, the other one is almost off. (At this point I'm guessing earlier he tried to catch the lizard and the tail released). I kinda shrugged and said "lizards will do that.." (relieved that was the story!) and away he went again. A few minutes later Charlotte lets out a SCREAM! James had brought the tail out, wiggling, and held it a few inches from her face we all yelled at him to take it BACK to his room. Later, Daddy made him throw it away. hehe. In the morning he races out to the backyard to catch crickets for his lizards.

Joseph: He's turned into a nose crinkly, eyes twinkling, mischievous little boy. He loves to tell nutty stories just to hear you laugh. The other day he recited a poem to me and I was amazed! His major quirk right now? He's scared to bits of Cliff Hanger. (Pictures of Cliff Hanger here) He's afraid the cartoon guy is going to fall off the cartoon cliff to his death. We've tried and tried to explain that Cliff Hanger is not real. He cannot die. And no amount of SCREAMING through the house "Cliff Hanger is on!!!!" is going to help matters. He won't even turn on the television during the day for fear that it will be Cliff Hanger. Now the interesting thing is when he was younger he was terrified of the Lions on the show. He'd actually shake with fear if he saw them. So we nixed the show. One day he saw it and decided he liked it. Then he caught site of Cliff and that was the end.

Noah: He is finally starting to talk more. He's definitely a late talker like Bethany. Generally we catch the "mood" of what he is saying and figure it out. For instance, we were checking the rash on his hand a lot. (I'll need to post updated pics, it is still healing). He got to the point where he'd turn his hand over, look at you very pointedly and say "Mess! No push!". Basically meaning there was something off on his hand and don't touch it. "Mess!" is one of his favorite things to say. He uses his best 2yo disgusted tone to do so. He is trying to string together sentences and I figure within the next 6 months he will have made major strides. He still says "no" to everything. James says we should have named him Yes-ah instead of No-ah ;-)

Naomi: She's being called NaeNae by her sisters, we're trying to cut it out. lol. Wow has she spoiled us rotten. She's now nursing at 8:30pm and asleep by 9pm for the night. She's taking looooong snoozes during the day and is a great baby. We haven't been able to do much tummy or floor time with her, we need to start doing so and train the littlest boys to be careful. Whenever she's on the floor she ends up with them just inches away. Joseph is absolutely fascinated by Naomi and loves every thing she does. Because Joseph is fascinated it means his shadow, Noah, is also fascinated and must be right there too. They haven't figured out their noses don't need to touch hers for her to see them. She probably thinks she lives in a land of giant boy heads!

Whew, that's the update. I won't update the pets ;-) Although if Bethany's cat, Peppermint, bites my ankle one more time I am selling him. He doesn't bite other people.. just me.. and only when I'm in the kitchen near the stove. It has made making dinner an interesting experience!

A stormy saturday

Old picture of Bethany's baptism by Daddy. The church's carpet is that bright green, the water, while not green.. was FREEZING because they didn't have time to heat it. The Pastor graciously allowed us to borrow his church (there is no congregation there) for our baptisms. A few others decided to be baptized that day as well!

It's funny how it goes from sunny to very dark so fast. Joseph is somewhat scared of thunder which means that Noah is now scared of thunder. Noah and Joseph may not be twins in age, but Noah sure tries to act like Joseph's twin in behavior! The trickle-down-effect is alive and well in our household.





Last night Jim and I were babbling away at Naomi (you'd think she was our first baby...). We were doing all the typical parent babbles and I reminded her, for the millionth time, that she is a gorgeous baby. Jim said that one day a young lady is going to fall head over heels in love with Noah's blue eyes. God has given us only one blue-eyed child so far.. and we've figured out WHY He made Noah so amazingly cute -- because he *loves* to exasperate his siblings. If he wasn't so cute they'd make us give him away. (Joseph has already asked if we could trade Noah for Elias, my best friend's baby boy hehe). Now we're looking at Naomi who appears to headed towards blue eyes herself... I wonder what kind of 2 yr old she will be?





Speaking of children in trouble.. we have an interesting trend going on. Every time I talk to my father (named Joseph) I end up having to correct my Joseph. We're hoping to vacation with Dad later this month and I'm wondering what antics Joseph will have up his sleeve with Pap Pap watching!





Good news: we're actively car hunting right now. Jim has a few to look at tomorrow. We're praying a reliable vehicle is available. Hoping for a car instead of a truck because of the savings on our insurance, but at this point we'll take what runs! :)





Other good news: We've been church searching for a while. We have found a couple churches that would work, yet, we've had no peace about settling there. I was looking around the internet and ran across a mapquest ad for "find a local church". Well, duh, that's something I hadn't tried! I went to http://www.mapquest.com/ and typed in "church" for the place and my address. It pulled up churches only 5-10 miles away in a town we'd never explored. A few I couldn't find current phone numbers for and others I jotted down.





I happened to find a church that I recognized from a national website (a conservative Baptist site) and so I emailed the pastor. He actually stopped by today with a nice packet of information for us! The church is small, around 50 members, but it is an established church and seems to have a lot in common with what we're seeking. It's in the town I -wanted- to live in, which is funny because I never realized how close we are to that town! I discovered, while mapquesting, that we live around 3/4 mile from 2 towns, so our home really is on the outskirts.





Other info..





-Its hard to find jobs in New Zealand and you need a special permit to work there. Jim offered to move if I could find a job, I've given up. (He also claims that while they have no snakes they have oodles of spiders.. we have enough spiders here).





- Charli would like to live in Texas.. which is simply hotter than SC with more fire ants, snakes, and bugs. We might as well stay here!





- Jim is qualified for jobs in Imany states, but not a single one in Idaho. (This is what happens when 2 adults have free time and play on monster.com!)





- We think we are where God wants us, so we'll stay put. We just need to start a campaign to get some family members to move south to help with lugging around children to sporting events!! I'm hoping that WV gets the coldest, longest, icy winter on record. lol.

Painting..

This paint is from www.glidden.com and is called "Pinwheel". The picture by the bed is pretty accurate (this is Bethany's bed, complete with crochet baby blanket that is falling apart).

James is looking at "Kelly's Island" for their room.

Painting was a bit more hectic than we thought because we -really- need a stepladder. lol. Jim stood on the craft table to reach the high parts of the wall. It turned out quite nice and the girls are thrilled with the results.

Other pictures - including paper piecing

This is the back of the quilt block, the colored part is obviously the front. This method is called paper piecing and is a fantastic way to learn quilting. Charli is working on a pineapple pattern. I've made one wall hanging using this method. I'd like to do more now that the girls are old enough to stitch along with me. We're hosting a quilting day next week and I plan to teach other moms how to paper piece.





Other views of our afternoon..







James and Bethany share a game on the computer. Its some kind of online lego game. Joseph gives me a smile.. a few minutes later he's snoring on the loveseat next to me.




Naomi napping in the amby bed. The bed literally hangs from a spring and has a soft mattress inside. She always lays in the position she is in currently. When she moves the bed bounces up and down, which is usually how I wake up in the morning - to the sound of the spring while she is looking around.

Noah is napping so no pictures of him. He turns into a bear of a boy if someone wakes him up early! Tomorrow his crib will be moving, it'll be interesting to see how he adjusts to a new bedroom. The good news is that room doesn't get the early sun.. maybe he'll start sleeping later than 6:30..