If you hear thunder,

head for Mom and Dad's room.

That's Emily's philosophy for when it storms. It doesn't even have to be a bad thunder storm. WheneverI hear thunder at night, I know it won't be long before Emily comes to Ray's side of the bed and says, "Daddy, I'm scared." He will then tell her to go get her stuff, and she makes herself a bed on the floor right beside our bed. She will sleep there all night.

Sometimes I am unaware that she is in our room, and I will find her in the morning. That is what happened Thursday morning. I waited until right before she was supposed to start getting ready for school to get some pictures of her sleeping.

I'm not sure why she constantly goes to Ray when she is scared at night. He makes her sleep on the floor. I, on the other hand, would invite her into our bed where we would cuddle up together. Maybe it's because I eventually make her go back to her room where Ray let's her stay all night...

But, I do enjoy watching her sleep just as I did when she was a baby. She looks so sweet and innocent while sleeping. As I admire her, I can't help but fall in love with my baby all over again!

"Houston, we have a problem."

That's what Ray said to me years ago, the first time he found this:

Both girls sleeping in Hannah's bed. For some reason, when Emily was like 2 or 3, she would regularly climb up into Hannah's bed (they shared a room then, sleeping in bunk beds). Now, she does it whenever she is scared (or when Hannah is scared and calls Emily into her room).

This night, they were scared about aliens. Lexi, a 9 year old who lives behind us, read to them from an X-Files book and told them that aliens were real and that abductions really happened. Minutes after putting them to bed, I found them together.

But they weren't really sleeping

so I took a picture to document this habit of theirs. I can't say I was mad. I just shut the door and let them fall asleep in each other's company.

One up, one to go

After leasing one of our houses recently, I had some lease-option money to spend. After much deliberation, I decided to spend some of that money on swing sets for the girls. We cleared out some brush and stuff in the back and built one of two swing sets (both sets will give us a total of 6 swings). When the girls came home from Maggie's house (2 houses down the street) and realized the swings were ready, they raced back there and have been back there now for over an hour.

Of course, it's kinda muddy right now because it rained most of the day. I will probably be buying some rain boots for them to wear on days like today.

We also bought a slide to add to the side of the treehouse.

Here's what the "playground" looks like from behind

I'm trying to decide what colors to paint the treehouse this summer. Some of the inside walls are going to get some chalkboard paint, but I need to think of a color scheme for the outside--the walls, floor, and rails...Any suggestions?

Happy Belated Birthday to the little guy!

Aaron turned one year old last Tuesday. It's hard to believe that he is already one! Vickie sent me some pictures of his birthday celebration:

Looks like Aaron had a great first birthday opening gifts, hanging out with family, and eating cake...

Happy Belated First Birthday Little Guy!

Funny Stuff #2

So, today we were shopping in Lowe's. Ray and I were pricing lumber for a swing set for the girls. Once we were done, the girls and I made our way to the Home and Garden center. As we passed by the cactus display, Emily (of all people) said, "Jo Jo's cat ate one of those."

"Well, don't touch them. They hurt."

"We won't."

A half hour later we were making our way to the checkout counter. Hannah and Emily were giggling behind me. All of a sudden, Emily let's out a blood-curddling scream, "AHHHHH! I have cactus in me! Hannah pushed me into the cactus! I have cactus in me!"

Sure enough, she did have cactus in her...a lot...but I couldn't help her because she just kept screaming. With everyone looking at us, I clamped my hand over her mouth and told her to be quiet. I'm sure that looked great to the people standing around. Then, while this was going on, Hannah is squawking in my other ear, "Mom, I didn't push her. She is just blaming me so I can get in trouble...." I mean non-stop. Finally I just grabbed her arms and said, "Shut up." I know, real motherly of me, but man, I just couldn't take any more of Hannah going on and on and on and Emily screaming and screaming and screaming.

It probably took over a half hour to pull out all those cactus spines from both her back and her shirt. Consequently, I had to pull them from my fingers as well. I have to admit that I did feel bad for her; that had to hurt.

But, I also just could't help but find this funny. I mean, of all the place for her to fall, she had to fall into the cactus display! I tell you, it's going to be a long and winding road as these two grow up!

Naturally

I finally caught Hannah with a natural smile. Lately, she gives me this cheesy smile and flashes the peace sign. Usually, that peace sign is right in front of her face so I can't even get a good picture of her. Well, yesterday, we were at Ray's mom and dad's house, and I saw her fall off the swing. I already had my camera in hand so I snapped a couple of pictures, you know to save for posterity, to remind her that even at 8 years old she couldn't stay on a swing. When I uploaded the pictures, I found this one, and adore it.

Finally I have a picture that shows what Hannah looks like when she smiles fo' real ;-), naturally.

Mother/Daughter Tea with Grandma Heckle

On Saturday Hannah and Emily's school hosted a mother/daughter tea. We brought Grandma Heckle. The chairs were decorated with tulle, the tables were covered in white, linen table cloths, and the tea cups and saucers were actual "china" filled with tea for moms and pink lemonade for girls.

We ate a nice buffet lunch and played lots of bingo.

They also pulled for door prizes. Emily won a little lipgloss bag and Hannah won the flower centerpiece from our table.

We had to rush to get there (Emily's game wasn't over until 12:15--it started at 12:00) and Emily showed up with her dress on backward (that's what happens when you change in the car on the way there), but we had a very enjoyable time drinking tea, eating food, and hanging out with Grandma.

Uncle Ed

Last Saturday Ed came to Hannah's soccer game, and when Hannah wasn't playing, Ed took Aaron and Emily to the playground. As they walked away, I snapped a couple of pictures. I absolutely adore this picture--Ed with his arm in a sling, Aaron taking his baby steps in the middle, and Emily playing "big cousin" to Aaron. It's such a sweet image!



Another time they walked away, Ed slung Aaron over his shoulder and Emily skipped along beside him. Emily looks so carefree and Aaron is smiling while Ed looks at him. Again, very sweet!

He finished Swine!

Ray decided to run the half marathon portion of the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. We all woke up at 4:30 a.m. to head out the door by 5:00. They closed the streets by 5:30, so we needed to get down there before that.

By 6:30 they sang the National Anthem,



fired the gun, and they were off!



We watched for Ray, but with so many people running, we didn't see him until he was already running by us.



During the race we walked all over downtown following the runners hoping to get a glimpse of Ray and to let him know we were rooting for him, but we only saw him once. He didn't see us.

When we came upon the Gatroade station, Emily was amazed by the amount of cups all over the ground. I tried to explain to her that they don't have time to throw the cups away since they are in a race, but she just couldn't get over the clean-up. "Who has to clean up all those cups?"

"Volunteers."

"Uh, does that mean us?"

"No."

With a huge sigh of relief, "Good." ;-)



Another cute conversation occured when Hannah told me that it felt like we were a part of The Amazing Race.

"Oh yeah?" I replied.

"Yeah, I think my dad is amazing because he is running this race." Now, how awesome is that?! (Not going to deny the twinge of jealousy I felt right then...)

We finally made our way to the finish line where we waited for over a half an hour for Ray to come in at 2 hours and nine minutes.







We cheered for him, but he didn't hear or see us. We then made our way to the "pick-up station" where Ray didn't wait for us. We spent the next hour trying to figure out how to reconnect. To make a long story short, he had gone to the car and had to come back to get us since I could not find our way to the car. We we finally saw him, I made him act like he had just finished the race so I could get a picture



And then I snapped a cuter one



Hannah, Emily, and I are proud of Ray for running a strong 13.2 mile half-marathon! Woo Hoo!

Heerrreee's Emily!

As promised, here are pictures from Emily's play. Both of my children are one-line wonders, but wonders they are!

Emily enjoyed jumping around like a rabbit and moving slowly like a turtle (their play was the Tortoise and the Hare)





She was so cute up there on the stage with her classmates. I so love this little girl's zest for life. She just grabs life by the horns and goes. And then, in a flash, she is a sweet-hearted, sentimental child. Just look at that innocent little face! Who knows what God has in store for this one. I just love her so much!

National Scrapbooking Day

Yes, they really have a holiday celebrating scrapbooking. Since I had to skip out on the Flying Pig 10k today (big, big bummer for me), I thought I would make a scrapbook page. I purchased a template I've had my eye on and some paper, and wala! I have a new scrapbook page:

I'm really dying to replicate this on paper...Anywhoo, later I will have pictures from Emily's play so stay tuned! ;-)

One more bee picture

I was thumbing through some of my pictures and I found this. I didn't realize how close I got to this bee. You can see him getting the pollen with his "things."

Just thought I'd share.

Enjoying the Spotlight

Isn't she just the cutest??!! She has been longing to have a singing part in a school play and she finally got her turn. She only got one line, but hey, let me tell you, she was the best one-liner of the night! :-)

She really got into the dancing as well. I just enjoyed watching her up on that stage!

I mean, look at her smile...she was enjoying the heck out of her spotlight!

And tomorrow, we go see Emily's play!