Twinsies Time

The twins did not get to go in the mud puddle with the older kids, but had plenty of fun exploring on our front "porch"- a small strip of cement sidewalk. Well, Tirzah (in the orange) did do a face dive onto a rock at one point but recovered quickly. Berea (in the green) is a lot like Curious George: "...a good little monkey, but always very curious."

Captions are underneath the picture it corresponds to... Enjoy! :)

"I'm so happy, I could scream!" (which is what she was doing- she reaches amazing heights in her screeches)

"Hey, what am I missing?"

"Oooh- mud! Fun!"

"Hey, wait for me!"

I can never get them to sit still long enough to take a picture of them together smiling.

At least they're both smiling...

Time to explore!

"Hmm- I wonder what this is?"

"More importantly, what does it taste like?"

"A little grainy with a touch of worm, maybe..."

"Well, if Berea can do it..."

"Oh. No. That was nasty."

"Ooh! How about a pine cone?"

"Or these irises look interesting..."

P.S. Berea is now walking like a pro and picking up speed. Tirzah took four steps last night! Amazing progress. Neither one says anything yet- well, except just babbling. I hear twins can have language delay, so no worries. I have enough other kids to talk back to me. :)

Monsoon Mud Madness

 

Our neighborhood didn't get flooded with mud like another close by, but the kids do enjoy a good mud puddle. We were thrilled to have a storm that last at least an hour yesterday! We love monsoon season!

Oh, I could just kiss this face!!! I love this boy! Of course I love all my kids to pieces, but some kids can just push your emotions to extremes (when he was good, he was very, very good and when he was bad, he was horrid- that about sums up this kid). 

I just had to post the silly face- yes he was posing with this face.

A Few Videos (Finally got them to upload!)

Bouncing Berea

Silly Tirzah

Cannon Fire from the Pioneer Museum (it seemed a LOT louder in person!)

Anne, enjoying herself away from the crowd at the Army Band concert

Festivities!

We had a busy weekend! On the 3rd we helped friends move, went to a neighbor's birthday party, and had some folks over for a BBQ dinner! But no pictures. On the 4th after church and lunch we went out to our local Pioneer Museum where they had some Civil War Re-enactors with a live cannon demonstration, as well as the actual museum and adjoining old cabins that contained a lot of interesting local history.

Peter got to hold the swords as well as the pistols.

This soldier showed us all the different steps they had to take before even shooting the cannon.

Logging was a huge industry in Flagstaff for a long time. Yes, Elijah's shorts were unbuttoned the entire day.

These wheels were used to haul trees.

The museum has a room designated for kids to play in- definitely the highlight of the trip. :) Lots of dress up stuff and old fashioned toys.

The Vaughans joined us toward the end and we showed them the caboose, which also was very interesting (the inside still had seats, a bathroom, old telephone, etc.)

The girls seemed to enjoy their rides.

Today, the 5th, we hauled our family out to Fort Tuthill Military Museum where the 108th Army Band of the AZ National Guard treated us with some really great music, including Michael W. Smith's Freedom. For some reason this whole weekend, every time I tried to sing our Star Spangled Banner I would choke up, thinking about where we once were as a nation spiritually and where we are now. I feel God's patience to a much greater extent I think. Anyway, unfortunately the kids' interest lasted all of about 30 seconds. Elijah was more whiny than I have ever heard him, and that's saying a lot. The twins were also ticked off at being stuck in the stroller, so my amazing man took them for a stroll and the bigger kids took turns going with him. Oh yes, as soon as we got to the parking lot, Anne jumped out the back of the van and tripped, hitting her head on the stroller (I'm glad it wasn't the asphalt!), leaving her with a big knot on her forehead. Anyway, moral of the story...next time we'll find a babysitter and enjoy ourselves!

Shortly before leaving for aforementioned activity, I discovered the twins had found an ink pad and had properly inked themselves as well as the floor. Their new nickname...The Monsters Ink.

Tirzah says "Who, ME?"

You Could Have Heard a Pin Drop

In memory of our upcoming celebration of Independence Day, I thought I'd post this e-mail forwarded to me by my Grandmother-in-law, herself quite a patriot. You can check out her blog at http://libertybelle-usa.blogspot.com/. I hope you have a great weekend and remember the great cost of our freedom!

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for our country's prior actions, here's a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early-60s when
DeGaule decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaule said he wanted all US
military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"

DeGuale did not respond.

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When in England, at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the
Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of
'empire building' by George Bush.

He answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom
beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for
in return is enough to bury those that did not return."

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers
were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?"

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three
hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?"

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?"

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German."

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND
THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE....

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.
At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport
in his carry on.

"You have been to France before, Monsieur?" the customs officer asked
sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."

The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible. Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France!"

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he
quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in
1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen
to show a passport to."

You could have heard a pin drop.