Togetherness

A Tropical Watercolor

Ellie was using the watercolor paints at the table the other day, then she brought me this picture. She said it's her dad in the Solomon Islands.
I was one impressed mommy.

Getting into Mischief

Babies in Highchairs

A Failed Attempt

I saw a very cute idea for Father's Day on Facebook. Well, it's cute with my North American eyes... in cultures where showing the bottom of the feet is an insult, this idea may not be cute. Anyways, the idea is that you write on the feet some Father's Day greeting, then take a picture focused on the feet where you can see the faces in the background, even if they are blurred. So, my chosen greeting was, "Happy Father's Day, Daddy" with 2012 written underneath. Then, next year, I could do something similar with 2013 underneath. Here's my attempt.

 

Haha! Clearly this was not meant to be done with a three year old and a baby and a camera that takes forever to focus. Not usually one to give up too easily, I decided to go another route. I could take pictures of the feet individually.

 

Now, all I need to do is figure out how to combine these into one photo. I looked online (for way too long, way too late one night) and found out I either need to download a program like Picasa or something else. Anyone have any good ideas? I got it to be one image on Publisher, but what I want is one jpeg.
In the meantime, I'll just wait another year and see if the kids can sit still while I try to get my camera to focus.

Happy Father's Day, Franky!

We started Father's Day with what would have been breakfast in bed if Franklin had not gotten up to sit on the couch. :)

He got a letter from Ellie. It's my handwriting, but Ellie's words.

Ku liothau ani oe means I love you in To'abaita.

The more excited Ellie is when she writes her name, the more lines the E gets. :)

Happy Father's Day to a great Daddy who shares his faith with his kids, apologizes when he's wrong, tells stories from his childhood, plays and plays, reads books at night, changes dirty diapers, kisses owies, wipes away tears, disciplines when necessary, and loves, loves, loves! Ellie and Abraham are very blessed to have you as their daddy.

Wheels on the Roof

 Ellie has a bike! Some of our dear friends left, and we bought their son's bike for Ellie. She practices on our tiny roof and sometimes rides the bike to our friends' house who live close by, but mostly she just practices on the roof.

With such a small space, and two little ones with wheels, occasional run ins occur.

Abraham thinks that the bike is as much for his enjoyment as Ellie's. You can see how impressed Ellie is by this line of thinking.

Shoes

When we go on the roof, and Abraham rides around in his roly-poly, he needs to wear shoes because otherwise his little toes get scraped up. He loves to undo the velcro.

And, of course, if I'm taking a pic of Abraham, Ellie'd like to be part of the fun. Abe doesn't care as long as he can still play with his shoes. :)

Sweeping Services

If you need any help with sweeping around your house, call Abraham.
You can see below that he also can sweep furniture if you are interested. Unfortunately, as you can also see below, picking up is not included.

Signs of Ellie

I was walking through my house one day and realized that all over were signs that Ellie had been around... and it made me smile.

A craft left on the table.

A stool that had been used as a horse to ride on still in the middle of the living room floor.

A stool used for acrobatics that were deemed to dangerous for a three year old still in position.

And, my favorite, the fan that she decided need some clothes.

Storms Welcome

Storms often bring much desired cooler weather. After a string of nights going to sleep with our house in the low 90s, it's quite a treat to go to sleep with our house in the high 70s. Storms welcome!

Behind The Wall

Behind the wall of our little roof our some beautiful plants belonging to our landlord.

Below is my favorite plant.
Do you ever feel like a pink flower in a plant with all white flowers? Cause I do.

What You Need on the Roof

 A little girl.

A little boy in his roly-poly, so he doesn't need to be held.

Sidewalk chalk.

Bubbles. Ours are made with a simple shampoo and water mix.

A place to rest.

And you can't go wrong with a bit of love. Can you see it? Ellie wrote "love" while we were on the roof the other day.

Indiana Jones, Look No Further

I don't do all of the activities in our Sonlight homeschool curriculum, but some of them I do, and I'm really glad I do them with Ellie. This was one of those activities. Ellie and I made an Ark of the Covenant. Do you know what was in the Ark of the Covenant?

First, we put in a twig to represent Aaron's budding staff.

Then we put in some bread to represent the manna.

And, of course, then there were the ten commandments.

We put them all in our gold covered Tang box. :)

And, voila! I present to you the Ark of the Covenant.

A New Sleeping Position

Ellie's Alone Time

I love when I catch Ellie just sitting and reading her Bible. She doesn't like to be disturbed, either. If I say something to her, she'll reply, "Mom, I don't want to be disturbed. I want my privacy."

A Wardrobe Malfunction

Abraham has learned to undo the velcro on his diapers. :)

You've got to move fast if you want to catch this little guy when he's on the move.

Mommy's solution to the undoing of the velcro...Thanks, Auntie Susie for the shorts.

Thankful Ellie

After reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, I have been trying to put into practice fighting my bad attitudes with thankfulness. Even though I haven't mastered this fine art, I am trying to help Ellie do the same. One day we made thankful lists together all day. Another day I let Ellie take the camera around the house to take pictures of things she's thankful for. Here are most of her shots. I couldn't figure them all out, so I had to ask her for help. Ellie is thankful for:

her book. 

her clothes.

her lava lava.

Abraham's roly-poly.

the tree in front of our veranda.

and Abraham.

 

I'm thankful for Ellie and Abraham. And I'm very thankful that you don't have to be perfect to be a mommy.