Just the Little Ones

On Mondays and Thursdays Joanna goes to school, so it’s just James and Natalie (and sometimes Ray) at home.

I sure miss her, but it’s enjoyable to be around the little brother and sister all by themselves.

I could just eat this face up!

I love the cowgirl shirt, ballerina tutu, and Thomas flip-flops.  This girl has style.  And she looks so old here!

These next two were from this weekend – I just love my Jamesie faces!

I was taking pictures, and James gave me this ADORABLE eye-fluttery look.  This blurry picture does not capture it, but it was just so cute!

Then he gave me a fishie kiss.  LOVE HIM.

This was today while Joanna was at school.  They were (mostly) SO SWEET in the chair together!

I asked Natalie to give James a kiss.  He made a kiss face too.  Sooooooo cute!

And tomorrow they all go to school.  :)

At the beginning of the year, Natalie was pretty oblivious to how many days she went to school or that Joanna went a lot more and what-not.  Though she accepts that she only goes one day a week very well, she asks to go all the time now and is so happy when it’s a school day for her.  She’s going to love going two days in the fall!  She’ll probably want to go every day like her sister though!

Auntie Krathyn

My sister drove in Thursday for the weekend!  Yay!

We had lunch with mom and my kiddos on Friday, and got to visit again a bit on Sunday and this morning.  She has many adoring fans requiring her attention when she’s in town.  :)

The kiddos LOVED for her to read books.

Awwwww!

It was too short a visit, but soooo nice to see her!

Ray’s 2nd Birthday!

Ray turned two on Saturday, and we got to go over and celebrate in the afternoon.

The birthday boy:

James loved the balloons!

Ray got a helmet, and he wore it for like 20 minutes before it bugged him.  :)

He also got a tunnel and a tent – fun!

Mmmmmm… cookie!

And birthday cupcakes!

Martha (his mom) is due next month with baby Laura – I’m excited!

Happy birthday sweet Ray!

Photos

Well… it isn’t perfect, but I say it’s far better than having no pictures on the wall.  :)

I really wanted to get some of the old pictures I’d scanned up on the wall to enjoy (and due to some furniture arranging, I had a patch of empty wall).  I laid out the frames in the basic pattern I wanted, then started adding old pictures from the photo box.  I hadn’t originally intended it, but I ended up using all black and white shots.  I’ll have to sprinkle some of the color ones elsewhere in the house.

I bought eight 4x6 frames at IKEA on Saturday, and I didn’t really realize it until I got home that the matte was about a 3x4 – PERFECT for so many of those old pictures!!

The lady on the right below is my great-great grandmother, Lucy Jane (Vowell) Sturman.  At least according to my information.  I love old pictures!!

If I don’t have a matte all ready to go, I’m very lazy about it.  I just put white cardstock behind these photos:

The little girl is my mom.

I think my next photo project is to move all the children’s “school pictures” to one spot and put them in matching frames.  That will free up some wall space in the dining room for some recent pictures of the kids.  I still haven’t really printed anything I’ve taken with my new camera.  Looking forward to it!

Moses and the Freedom Fanatics

You may not know this, but this musical about Moses is really about a little slave girl named Joanna.  :)

Or at least that’s how it will appear in this blog post.

Joanna and I went over to the sanctuary before the performance… for legitimate choir directorial work…

but also so I could scope out the best seat for Matt to take pictures.

Ahem.

She has the bug.  She feels the need to be dramatic when presented with an empty stage.

I have no idea where she gets this.

In the music suite before the show – watching the big kids.

All lined up!

Almost ready to start!

In the first song the slaves are chanting for freedom.  And they’re angry!

I remember seeing her do this, but I can’t remember why.  She feels the drama.

Getting ready to be a plague of frogs:

Great jumping shot!

Ummm… the directors were in the show too.  We were divas (in case you couldn’t tell).

Matt says it looks like Joanna was balancing herself here.

Marching to the promised land!

Shalom.

The curtain call was a bit loud I guess.  :)

After the performance we headed to the gym to eat cookies and give the children certificates.

Have I taught this girl to pose or what?!!

The stars of the show!

The kids did soooo well – I’m so proud of them!

There are our names in the program!

I’m going to take better pictures of it in the light tomorrow.

I’ve been waking up early with my mind racing the past few days.  I’m hoping now that the musical is over I’ll be able to sleep!

I don’t know what I’m going to do with my Wednesday evenings for the next few months though.

Kindergarten Round-Up

We’re one step closer to Kindergarten!

Joanna said “I don’t like this place.”

She got over it though.  :)  The parents all watched a power point presentation and they invited the kiddos to go down to a kindergarten classroom to play.  Joanna didn’t balk for a second!  She just got off my lap, waved good-bye, and was off!

I did not let her know how much that made me want to cry.  :)

After the presentation, the principal took us on a little tour where we got to see a computer lab, the library, and a couple of kindergarten classrooms.

Joanna was very interested in looking around the classroom.

So much to see and pay attention to!

I know she is going to be just fine.  Sniff sniff!

I love how close we are to the school – that’s how I’m planning to get my exercise in the fall!

I had to pick Joanna up early from school for the round-up or we would have walked today.

Joanna has been wanting to try out this piece of equipment for a while!

She is telling me how if she was bigger she could climb higher.  I love her.  :)

See?  I was there too!

The teachers seem very nice.  I think she is really going to thrive.  I do not know what I am going to do without her every day though.