Visiting Memory Lane

Olivia and Sonya wore these around the house this afternoon, after a mid-afternoon bath....

...which reminded me of past pictures (please don't tell P and M that you saw these...shhh!)
***update....Miranda held me at gunpoint and made me take her picture off***(I was tired of hearing about it, in other words)

In looking through pictures, I found some old favorites, and since I didn't have a blog when Paul and Miranda were younger, most of you haven't seen these:
One of my favorites of Miranda. So sweet!

I remember her this way, too (not so sweet!). I now get this look from Sonya, just with darker hair.

Future fashion model?

Sometimes I can't believe the similarities between Sonya and Miranda...or is it just me who sees it?

Mr. Paul...my blue-eyed boy.

Tired or serious, not sure which.

He had some serious cheeks.

And some crazy hair!

Ah, the days of footie pajamas....matching ones, even.

With my parents, back when Paul and Miranda were the only grandkids.

Olivia saw this picture and asked if I could get her a shirt like the one Miranda is wearing...shucks...if only I'd kept it!

And, last but not least, in looking through the oldies, I ran across this one. It was taken in 1997, just a couple months before I got pregnant with Paul. What I love about it is how skinny I was! Sheesh! Did I even have hips?!? Those were the days. Oh well. I got some big mama hips as a "reward" for these 4 awesome kiddos!!

Makeover time in Ponyville

Olivia decided that these two ponies needed a fresh, new look. You know, long hair can really drag a girl, er, pony down. Before she could do makeovers on all the rest of her ponies (I think we have roughly 96 of them; I'm pretty sure they procreate), I did remind her that their hair won't grow back like ours does.

A Project and a cheesy grin

Miranda and Taylor have been working on a project for school on the Cheyenne Indian tribe. Part of it involves making an earth lodge and a teepee. They made their earth lodge out of salt dough, and the teepee out of a metal sheet.

The earth lodge in the process of being painted.

Sonya is taking after her sisters....she's wanting to pose for me whenever she sees the camera. I'm sure I'd better enjoy these days. Judging from what I've seen on my friend Charlie's blog, when they get to be 12 or so, they sometimes run and hide!

Talking politics with Livvy Lou

Olivia brought home a Weekly Reader today that had Barack Obama on its cover. She opened it up and showed me the pictures inside. She said, "Rock Bama is moving into that pretty white house." A little later, she asked me if he's the only president with brown skin. Then, quite a bit later, after we'd talked about various other topics, she said, "Can he come over and see our cat?" I said, "Who?" "Rock Bama," she answered. Obviously, "Rock Bama" was a hot topic at preschool today!

Tea party

Olivia went to a Princess tea party today, which was for her friend Kendra's 6th birthday. It was fun watching the girls as they sipped their "tea," ate their little heart-shaped sandwiches, and played games. Olivia didn't want to leave when it was over!

germs

This morning's conversation:
Olivia had found a sucker (probably from last Valentine's Day, I'm guessing, as it was a red and white heart).
Sonya: can I lick it?
Olivia: you have germs, so you can't lick it.
Sonya: I don't have germs.
Olivia: everybody has germs, even Grandma.

It made me smile!

MOPS craft

I was in charge of the MOPS activity for this month. Unfortunately, I wasn't even able to go this morning, as I was pretty sure Sonya had pinkeye (now I don't know for sure...long story), Paul was sick, and also the motor on our furnace went kaput! Great day! Thankfully, though, the craft went on just fine without me, as I knew it would.

Most of you know that I am avidly pro-life. Therefore, when I found this idea--to decorate onesies/burp cloths for donating to a crisis pregnancy center--I knew this was the craft I would choose. We are donating these to a center in Kearney. Hopefully, the ladies had fun decorating these. It looks like they did!

(be sure to click for a close-up)

A fairly typical week

Miranda brought home this art project today. I will say this--she has more artistic ability than her mother! (by far)

Olivia is learning about Daddy and Baby letters at preschool. The other day she asked me, "what happened to the Mommy letters?"

Miranda and Taylor decided that they wanted to learn how to Salsa dance, so they looked it up on youtube and learned some moves!

Sonya is her typical quirky self....this week she has been taking her shirts off this way--by pulling them down instead of up.

And Paul....he's lost in a land of Guitar Hero. If I ever needed to know all of the lyrics to "Sweet Home Alabama" or "We are the Champions," well, let's just say that I know them now....and I can't stop singing them, unfortunately.

Fun day in Callaway

We took a little day trip up to Callaway yeserday so we could celebrate Christmas with Paul's "big brother," Grant. It was a great day.

I took some pictures, but I'm actually stealing all of these from Diane. She is a much better photographer than I am.
A couple of silly Sonya shots.

Olivia has a little thing for Grant, I think :-).

All 5 kiddos, looking relatively calm and happy. This was a rare moment.

Diane wanted to take a family picture of us....not sure if Grant just sort of snuck in, or what. We don't mind, though.

One of the favorite games of the day....let's sit on Grant!

He's like a big, lovable teddy bear!