Goodbye...Hello

We had to say goodbye to our wonderful babysitter on Wednesday. She is going off to college, and we are so sad to see her go, although we're happy for her. She's the kind of babysitter who is responsible, fun for the kids to be with, and happy to be with your kids. She's invaluable! I don't know what I'm going to do now.

We said hello to Karne and Patrick and baby William, who stayed overnight at our house last night on their way to visit family. Karne is a dear friend from high school. Her little guy William is two months old. We had a great time catching up with them.
How cute is this?

Girls' Day!

Tuesdays and Thursdays have become "girls' day" in our family because the boys go to work and school and the girls get to bond. Today we met up with some friends at the local zoo for a quick tour of the animals.

This camel struck a pose for Liv.

Chloe was impressed with this groundhog doing tricks with a metal plate.
"Look, Mom, a bench just my size!"
"Look, Mom, no hands!"
Olivia has had a lot to say today -

On the way to the zoo -

Olivia: "Mom, I want to marry Noah. That way he'll have to be nice to me."

While cleaning the bathroom with mommy-

Olivia: "We have a cute toilet!"

While helping mommy give Chloe a bath-

Mommy: "I'm trying to teach Chloe how to say ball."

Olivia: "I'm trying to teach Chloe how to say princess."

Noah

The other evening at dinner we were teaching the game 20 Questions to Noah and Olivia. We were asking Noah questions to figure out what he was thinking about.

Paul says "Is it in the house?"

Noah: "Yes".

Paul: "Can we see it right now?"

Noah: "Well, can you see the vacuum?"

Here's a video of some fun on the trampoline.

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And So It Begins

Today was the first day of school! I feel a little sentimental. We had such a great summer, and now it's at an end. But I am very grateful to God that we have a wonderful Christian school to send the kids to, and they have fantastic teachers this year.

Noah is entering kindergarten.

Olivia is in Pre-K.
Noah enjoyed the playground before school started.
Olivia knew where to hang her backpack.
We celebrated at Logan's afterwards.

Livi is content to eat only peanuts for lunch.

(But Mommy doesn't agree!)

Dunked!

Noah proves he has good aim when it comes to dunking Daddy!(This was at the VBS Carnival a few weeks ago).
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Chloe's Piggies

Yay! Her hair is long enough now!

Digging a Little Deeper

This is an interesting blog post by John Piper on the topic of the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. As usual, he brings his unique perspective to help me see things in a new way. I've sat mesmerized the past two days watching CNN and hearing testimony of those who witnessed the collapse or were even involved in it. My heart and prayers go out to the many hurting people.

Psalm 71:20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again.