Photos from Film

Michael has been taking photos with his old film cameras and developing the film in our basement lately. It's so nice to have the ol' Rollei and Hasselblad out. They have a warm, familiar feel, like family members who have been somehow missing for far too long. When we were dating, Michael and I never went anywhere without the "Blad." It seems right that now it takes photos of our growing family. Here are a few of his recent photos:

Zane Loves Broccoli

Zane Loves Meat

That pork loin never stood a chance!

Bad Weather

Indiana is cruel, because whenever the winter weather turns beautiful, you know you're gonna pay for it later.  And Tuesday was blindingly, blue-skyed, roll-in-the-grass gorgeous. We loved it.  But it has been so long since we had bad weather (2011 was a good, good year for us!) that I didn't take much notice of the weather forecast that night.

I woke at 5:30 Wednesday morning because, naturally, that was the time my subconscious had appointed to remind me that I forgot to return my 18 library books the day before. (Sure wish I could reset that reminder to before midnight...) I sleepily saw a flash of lightning and wondered if I could convince Michael to run the books over before work... then the librarians would be fooled into thinking I'd returned them the night before...  I drifted off to sleep just a little bit when the alarm rang.  Wait, no, that wasn't the alarm.  A phone call?  Michael fumbled at the phone keys and listened for a moment.  Then he threw the covers off and jumped out of bed.  "Into the basement." he said, dead serious.  "Get the kids.  NOW."

I fell out of bed and grabbed a shirt (yes, I still remember my BYU freshman training - "always wear a shirt to bed in case there's an emergency."  Except I never wear a shirt because I'm so burning hot at night, but see, I remembered to grab one!  I can't remember if that's smart or stupid.  Anyway.) I grabbed the baby, ran him downstairs, plopped him in the bassinet and ran back up to help Michael shepherd the little ones down the stairs.

We tried to snuggle the little ones into our big basement bed, but by then they were both wide awake and bouncing (yes, that is redundant, our kids bounce 13 hours a day.)  Zane went down for another half hour but Jed and Zoe insisted on cuddling under blankets in the big green chairs to watch TV with Dad.  Outside, very little seemed to be happening.  We called our neighbor Jackie down the street and she hoofed it over to join us just a few moments before the tornado was supposed to hit. We all sat and rocked and chatted.  Have I ever told you how much I love my basement?  Because I REALLY love my basement.  Peace of mind is worth a million beautifully decorated main floors.

Thankfully, OH SO THANKFULLY, the tornado skipped right over us before touching down just to the east and taking out several houses.  To our relief, no one was even injured in our town, though the same could not be said for many, many people to the south and east. Waking up in terror, grabbing your children, and running for safety isn't exactly the most lovely way to start the day off before 6 AM, but it's so much better than the horror that other families felt yesterday. We all hugged our kids a little tighter that day and thanked the Lord for modern technology (the"Thunder Call" that woke us with the warning), a basement to give us some security, and the protective hand of our God watching over us this week.

Over the course of the next hour or so, we made and received many phone calls and texts, as members of the community checked in on each other to make sure everybody was safe and no damage done.  I sure love our neighbors and church friends around here.

The weather was indescribably gorgeous again today.

I'm wearing a shirt to bed. Just in case.

March Photo

Thanks to Zoe, who flatly refuses to let me take a picture of her, this is as good as we get for the March Kid Photo.  But hey, Zane's a cutie pie!

Asleep

Michael was home sick.  Zane was tired.  This is what I found.

Mom and Baby

2 1/2

Zoe at 2 and 1/2 years old.

She has finally learned to talk, and apparently the whole world likes her... and she likes them, too!  "Look, Mommy, is a cow!  (giggles) I like dat cow. Dat cow LIKES me!"

Also, every child is her friend.  As is every adult relative.  "Dey mah 'rends. Yup. Dees mah  'rends!"

*exasperated sigh*  "Ah WIGHT, Mom!"

Hearing Zoe talk amazes me.  Since she was non-verbal, I assumed she didn't understand much.  But to my surprise she can count to twenty with only small errors, knows all of her shapes, can sing the alphabet, and has a large repertoire of songs that she sings to herself all the day long.

Her fine motor skills have developed to the point that often she can do a craft more carefully and thoroughly than even her older brother.

She draws beautiful spirals (and has since she could pick up a crayon, I love them.)  Sheets and sheets of spirals all about the house.

She has been potty trained for several months now.

Zoe idolizes Jed to the point of irritation.  If I ask "Who wants a sandwich!?!" she unfailingly jumps up with a huge smile and shouts "ME!"  But then if Jed says "I don't want one," then immediately Zoe sits down, pouts, and says "No want either."  But they are SUCH good buddies, playing and laughing all day every day, I can't be angry at their wholly encompassing unity.

Often exclaims "I have TWO papas!" at random intervals -- because she loves her Grandpas above all others.

Every day we take a nap together and play the "My pillow!" game.  I love snuggling with her soft arms around meband she loves it, too.  It's our special mother-daughter time and we've been doing it for over a year now.

Zoe doesn't take orders well, though she's often a willing helper.  Honey goes a lot farther than force with her.  Stubborn storms wear off quickly, and her sweet little fat pouty lip is a miracle of nature.  You could put a plate on that sucker.

Bath time for Zany

Monster Truck Party!

(Preamble: I am a little hesitant to post these photos, since this year I was a mean ol' Mom and didn't let Jed invite very many friends to his party. And he has a LOT of friends that he loves. So if you are reading this and suddenly realize "Hey! Why wasn't my child invited to the party?!" please don't be upset. Last year's party was too big and very not fun for Mom, so this year I told him three friends and that was it. The choice was hard for him. We somehow ended up with five friends. But that was really it! :) We will be sure to have ALL our friends over for fun stuff this year, I promise.)

Jed turned FIVE YEARS OLD, can you believe it!  I somehow got suckered into a "friend" party, which I swore I would never do again.  But this time we made it fun for mom AND kids!

Jed is obsessed with Monster Trucks, so that was our theme.  Since we had already consumed more birthday cake than should be legal over the last month, I decided that instead of a traditional party we would have a pancake breakfast party.  Michael drew monster trucks on the paper plates and we cooked sourdough pancakes for the wheels.  Everyone got syrup, whippy, and a candle on top.  We sang and each kid got to blow out a candle (which everyone knows is the best part of the birthday party. Surely I am not the only one who has gotten so excited singing the song that I enthusiastically blew the candles out along with the birthday kid and then felt slightly embarrassed for it :)

Then we opened presents.  That's right, first birthday cakes for everyone, then immediately presents. I am throwing the birthday party of my dreams.  (Doesn't everyone just want to open the presents right away!?!)  Lots of good gifts.  Thanks, everyone!

Then playtime for everybody while I set up the craft table! I got out every medium I could think of and spread it out over the whole big table.  There were gasps of joy as the kids came in the room.  So fun!  Ostensibly we were making big monster truck pictures but whatever.  We ended up with an impressive variety of creativity.

Zoe insisted on wearing her party dress.  But she has decided she does NOT like having her photo taken.

Sophia

Thomas

Savannah

After craft time we just goofed around a bit.  Which is what Jed's buddies do best.

Mylee leads the goofballs in a little camera silliness.

I love how many of the girls came dressed up in their own personal party style.

Happy Birthday, Jed!

New Sewing Machine!

My beloved old sewing machine that I've been using since my youth started to struggle last year and eventually I could hardly even sew a straight seam. So for Christmas, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) pooled their Christmas money and bought me an awesome new sewing machine. So excited! I made myself a shirt for my birthday, I'm crazy quilting some pillow covers for my couch pillows, and I want to make a little outfit for Zoe Ann.

February Kids

I'd like to start taking a picture of all the kids together the first day of every month.

....but we always need an extra baby photo.