Last Day of Separation!

I am ecstatic to be leaving in an hour to pick up my man from the airport. We've had a wonderful time with Aunt Robin, Uncle Brian, and the cousins, Preston, Haley and Clayton. But we are so ready to be re-united with Daddy and go home again.! I hope they have only been taking a brief hiatus from their usually compliant ways (okay, mostly usually) in Jessie's absence. We'll find out soon enough, I suppose. I have to commemorate our survival of Jessie's first ever business trip (hopefully not the first of many, I am NOT a fan). So, here we go:

Sweet Cousin Haley; such a little mother

My 5-yr old nephew Clay-Clay, and his Mommy,

my sister Robin. Thanks to Robin who didn't have the

best week in homeschooling history thanks to the invasion

of three infant nieces.

My little gals (Ingrid is the beehive-like mound behind Eliza)

during our freezing trip to the orchard. This kid should drop the cider and head to the chiropractor!

My nephew Preston who is 12, obviously.

Theia's hair never ceases to amaze

Mostly for Grandma

Ingrid's Grandpa and Grandma in Pennsylvania still haven't seen their granddaughter so I thought I would post this video of Ingrid and this adorable little nephew of mine. Ethan was so delighted to have his very own little human to play with when he visited earlier this week.

This is a sad day because I am getting ready to say good-bye to my husband for three days. He's going down to scope out the territory we will be moving into in January. This will be the first time we've even spent one night apart. I will not stay at home alone with the girls. Us girls are all packing up and heading to Aunt Robin's after church tomorrow. Goody!

Cider Mills and Christmas Cards

We went to our favorite cider mill on Sunday with some church friends of ours so that we could exchange photography services for our 2008 Christmas cards. I'm gonna miss that cider mill next fall when we're in Florida. Oh, did I mention we're moving to Florida? Crazy! I've been a Michigan girl my whole life. I'm not sorry at all to leave winter behind. I have nothing for winter sports, and marvel especially at the poor deluded souls known as ice fishers. But its a pretty scary change, and a sad one since my whole dear, sweet family lives within 30 miles of us right now. Anyway, back to the business at hand! Its amazing that no matter how many pictures you take, it seems there is only ever one that passes muster. Its really hard to get one where the girls are both looking in the general direction of the camera and both have a pleasant facial expression. I would love to use this one:

but the girls' great smiles are the result of Jessie tickling them, and he looks a little rabid about it. Plus, Eliza is elbowing Ingrid out. This one was deemed the only acceptable entry by the panel of judges. It is suitably serene for a Christmas card, and is the only one that features no lip-biting, shoulder hunching, baby-crushing, finger pointing, or indecent exposure: We enjoyed the sights of the cider mill while we waited for our friends to show up. Are these the cutest farm animals you've ever seen? Theia thought it necessary to stick her head all the way out through the hole.

"Eliza! Eliza, look at Daddy! Eliza, over here! Peek-a-boo! Where's Daddy, Eliza?" It never works :).

We were mean and cheap parents who wouldn't let their children ride the ponies, but we did stand in front of them for a considerably long time.

Sounds like a plan!

This evening while Jessie and I were getting the girls dressed for bed Theia said to us "I'm gonna go Ny-night, an' den we gonna go to tsurch in da morning! Dat sound wike a p'yan?" She cracks us up constantly with her grown up phrases that she manages to work in to conversation. She always has a very satisfied look on her face too when she knows she sounds so grown up.

Eliza has discovered a new play area: the top of the dining room table. It just occurred to her yesterday and I've had to remove her many times since. Tonight she climbed up there after supper (while I was nursing and Jessie was working in the garage), planted her bum firmly in the center of the table, and got to work on the bowl of pork and beans I'd left out. Big mess. I don't know what to do! I am running out of places that are safe from Eliza! Not to mention safe for Eliza. She is the most accident prone kid I've come across and it does NOT excite me to see her sitting on anything that is more than 8 inches off the ground. But she sure is cute :).

I finally managed to get some pictures of all three girls together. I had some help from Jessie, who had to put on quite the show to get Eliza, who woke up on the wrong side of bed, to quit crying, and to keep Ingrid from getting head-banged. See results below:

Just Catching up on Pictures

Today, at the park

3 weeks ago

2 weeks ago

Eliza's hair is long enough for pigtails now!

Last time at the park without long sleeves...

What would you do with this head of hair?

Why is my daddy acting so wierd?