Now I look like I'm a professional!  Here are my two favorite shots from today.  I'm sure there will be more to follow when I have more time to edit. 

Back to post more!!!

We have instituted a new quiet-time procedure in our house.  After lunch (and handwashing, and pottying, etc.) each girl chooses several books to take with them to a bed.  Then they can sit and read quietly or rest during quiet time.  No one is made to take a nap.  But mama needs a little down time.    So anyway, every single day we've done this, Norah has fallen asleep.  Of course, she's used to napping, so I'm glad she chooses to keep doing it.

This afternoon I went in to see if she was still reading or had fallen asleep, and this is what I saw:

Appropriately, on the last page of Good Night Moon.

Our aunties and uncles came to visit us last weekend!  Sorry for the delay in posting.    We had lots of fun, and the girls loved having so many doting adults around them.  We especially enjoyed playing games at Rick and Lesy's house--some old favorites like cribbage and Rook, and even a new one called Canasta!  (Okay, technically Jon and I didn't learn this one, but it seemed like everyone was enjoying it!) 

The Stoesz family came to visit us last week!  ("But just not Tim..." as Norah says.)  We did lots of fun stuff, like celebrating Breanna's birthday, climbing a waterfall and hiking the Tanyard Creek trail, and we even went spelunking (well, sort of) at the Old Spanish Treasure Cave near Sulphur Springs!  Here is the photographic evidence:

(Lest you think this portrait was posed, the three of them just happened to be climbing over that rock in different directions, and Jenny said "Stop!" and we started taking pictures.  They must have done this before, LOL!)

This photo is Norah reading the "map" for us.  I asked her what it said, and she said, "We have to go to Minnesota!"

Looking down the old well outside the cave

Jenny turned around and almost ran into this bat.  Whooo!  He is full grown, but no bigger than Olivia's fist.

Jon, Jenny, Ben, and Gabe also went to a NWA Naturals baseball game, but as I was not along I don't have any photos of that. 

Lately I have been working on a photography portfolio, to try and gain some portrait business.  I had a photo shoot last weekend that turned out really great, and I have two family shoots coming up closer to the fall.  My next step is to get an external flash with a bounce card and a large piece of black velour.  Maybe also a large piece of cardboard.  When I get those things, I'll post some results!

Last night was the M'Pact 2008 Celebration at our church.  These are the Wednesday night programs like Rainbows (boys and girls 3-5 years), Daisies (kindergarten girls), Prims (girls in grades one and two), Stars (3rd-5th grade girls), etc.  I'm not sure when they do the boys regonition (Royal Rangers), but last night was the Rainbows and older girls.  Anyway, each group got to sing their song in front of the church, and they awarded badges and honors.  Here is a video of Liv's first ever performance.  She did great!

So I (Jon) had an idea for a cake and Chelsea took my vision and put it to work.....it was really cool!  Chelsea did awesome!

Here are some more pictures from the birthday party!

We took the birthday ribbon we got for Norah and put the word boy over the word girl, too bad it was still pink ; )

Cheesy Dad Smile:

We all know this look!

Make a wish! 

I think I may refuse to leave the house between the hours of 10am and 4pm.  Here are our high temps starting July 19th:

90, 91, 92, 94, 90, 90, 91, 92, 94, 96, 94, 94, 93, 92...

And of course that's just the actual temperature.  Almost every day the heat index has been over 100.  Today the heat index is 104.  So then you go inside, like say to a Dairy Queen like we did for lunch today, and it's so cold from the air conditioning that we get goosebumps and start shivering!  Then you get back in the car and you're dripping with sweat.

Forecast for the next 5 days, with heat index in parentheses:

97 (110), 98 (111), 103 (111), 101, (105), 99 (104)

Did I tell you that our air conditioning went out a couple days ago?  We turned the unit on fan and closed every window blind, turned on all or ceiling fans and laid around watching movies until the repairman came.  By the time he got it fixed it was 85 degrees inside.  I immediately put everyone in their swimsuits and headed for the pool, hoping it would cool off before we came back.

Hope the rest of you are staying cool!!!

The girls love helping me make dinner, and thanks to The Learning Tower (google that if you don't know what it is) that we got for free on FreeCycle, it's really easy for them to help!  Tonight we made pizza.

First the crust:

Livi didn't like helping with this part because it "felt funny."

Next we did the sauce.  Due to intense need for immediate adult supervision, there are no pictures of this step, lol.

Then the cheese.  Here Olivia demonstrates how NOT to put cheese on a pizza:

Norah (more thoroughly instructed by mama after the first cheese incident) shows a better way, as Olivia demonstrates removing extra cheese:

Last we put on the pepperoni--lots of it since this is Daddy's pizza!  (Ours was in the oven already.)

And of course we all got to eat it!

Happy Friday Pizza Night!

Norah woke up this morning and came to sit in my lap.  She said, "Mommy!" like I was a long lost beloved mother and she was surprised and elated to see me.  She hugged me and patted my back.  Then she said,

"Mommy, my tummy is hungry."

So I said, "Tummy, what do you want?  Oh Tummy, what would you like to eat?" while tapping her tummy.

She said, "Mommy, there's no guys in my tummy.  It's just me."

Ha!

So today the girls played homemade playdough for at least an hour--maybe an hour and a half.  They are girly-girls, that's for sure!  How do I know?  Because here's what they did:

Livi made houses.  See the rectangle, square, and triangle?  She also made pies and cakes.

Norah's favorite thing was to make "man-guys" and give them each pillows and blankets. (pictured here with pillows)

So funny!