My Babies

It was a beautiful afternoon. Joseph went to work on some painting projects and the kids & I took a walk around the loop. The lighting was too perfect to not take some pictures in the field across the street from our house!

They always get so goofy when taking pictures. I take 100 to get a couple print worthy ones!

Blake is 9. He's about to finish the 4th grade (and start 5th in June because we do year round schooling). In a couple weeks he will get his first phase of braces! He still loves to read and run around the yard with his guns. Very often he has a few guns tucked into his waistband and extra sticks for muskets or AR-15's, depending on which war he is reenacting. He enjoys setting up the ranks of army men and keeps close tabs on his casualties. Usually, the battles are close and no one knows who will win until he does the math to add up the numbers of fallen men.

Blaire will be 7 this summer. She keeps asking, "How many days til my birthday!?" She is learning to read and has finally started progressing quickly! She loves to "read" the Tintin comic books. Every so often she will actually read the text and ask me what words mean. Her love of horses and being a cowgirl has overtaken just about everything else, but when music is played, every time she will disappear and come back in a fancy dress so she can dance.

Trying to get her to smile for photos is a little ridiculous. Either she can smile weirdly and stand still, or she can smile a true smile and be in a weird pose with blurry hands or something because she didn't stand still! She is a goofy girl who runs around with Blake playing war, while toting her porcelain dolls in a front or back pack. She goes to war and won't leave her babies behind.

Here is looking east out my kitchen window at sunset. I thought those rays were pretty strange! The sun is on the opposite side of the valley and had already passed under the mountain!

With the fading light, I got a picture of the west side where the sun had set, too! Blake likes to walk on the ties up and down the driveway. If he does, his feet (sock footed or not) will stay clean and he doesn't need shoes!