Christmas in March

We sang a couple Christmas songs in church a couple weeks ago- one was Hark, the Herald Angels Sing- as he was preaching in John 1 (the Word became flesh and dwelt among us). And since the twins just haven't stopped singing Christmas songs anyway...

Miscallaneous

Some catch-up...

Back when I was pregnant with Peter (just about 11 years ago!), Faith and I took a picture very similar to this, except Faith was the one with a soccer ball under her shirt! Unfortunately that was before we had a digital camera and it didn't manage to get scanned in. Kinda makes me feel old. :)

Christian hired Mark the Amazing Excavator Man (my title) to dig his plot for the upcoming garden tunnel. This guy was seriously amazing. He didn't smush a single one of my saplings.

 I've been getting to watch my nephews once a week (Grace and I do a kid swap)- the smiles make me happy. :)

 

The boys' room before I re-painted it the other day.

I don't think I trust Kale'a with a gun...

Then again, if she holds it this way, I think we're safe!

Baby chickies! We got 8 Black Australorps. The chicks were selling out super fast! Calling just 2 hours after they got in, they were already completely out of the Speckled Sussex that I also wanted to get. And there were only 10 of these left! Sooooo soft and fluffy...loving the little peeps!

And the basic gist of the boys' room post-painting. Not quite finished- still have to finish the window and hang their cool bamboo shades...and then Elijah gets his new "Zoo Bamboo" bed this weekend! The organ was given to us from some friends- kinda gives it a Swiss Family Robinson feel! Except the computer...and the medieval shields...

Happy Spring!

Oregon

We just returned yesterday from our trip to Oregon for my grandpa's memorial service and visiting my dad's side of the family. This'll be a long post, just warning you...

 Going for a walk!

 Soooo much moss everywhere!

 The neighbors were having their very tall tree cut down. 

I'm glad that's not my job.

 And since the sun was out, everyone pulled out the lawn chairs and enjoyed the show. Almost as good as fireworks! But not quite. :)

 Down by the creek

 We found a couple Ents

 Tree climbing

 Pizza eating

 Lots of visiting, lots of talking

Dad and his sisters...

They had lots of practice sitting like this on Sunday afternoons at their grandparents' house...

Christian came along (I'm so glad he did!) to meet the family, so he got roped into playing some soccer with the kids.

 Waiting for the service to start

 Jodi's good at keeping things serious...

Her son apparently takes after her... :)

Laura was missing Titus, so she was happy to hold Sammi.

 Grandpa was in the army, so he was honored with a military service.

 They unfold, then re-fold the flag...

...then present it to my dad with thanks from the president.

 Then they present him with the casings from the shots fired before playing Taps. 

It was very somber, very respect-inducing.

  Uncle Steve and Gabe read some Scripture and led us in some songs.

I guess a couple months ago, their (Grandpa's, A.Ginny and U.Steve's) Bible study was talking about what songs they wanted played/sung at their funerals. Normally very quiet, Grandpa piped up that he wanted Blessed Assurance sung at his funeral. So, we did! It was so sweet hearing the kids' voices singing loudly!

 Micah

 "Aunt Bunny" with Riley

 Kari kept me laughing the whole time we were there!

 Lela too. Ok, all the cousins just make me laugh. It was good to reconnect. :)

24 years ago, the last time we were all together, we took a picture of all of us cousins, lined up in height order (more or less)

 Here we are in the exact same order...things have changed!

 Here we are in age-order.

 For those of you reading this who are on this side of the family, I'll be putting our pictures on CD's and mailing them to Aunt Ginny and Aunt Shirley. It was so good to see everybody!

Progress

 Finished the new blankets!

 These 2 sillies are fighting coughs/colds....again.

Anne's front teeth are slowly growing in...crooked, of course. :) Good thing we like our orthodontist.

Seedlings have started! Hopefully excavating ground tomorrow for the high tunnel!