"Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I want some sauce,
but now am found.
Was blind,
but now I see."

-Marie Meehan

HAVING FUN AT HOME...

This is Marie saying "CHEESE!"



Playing in the back of the van.





HAVING FUN WITH FRIENDS...
Lucy has three tutus (maybe 4?) so it works out nicely when all the girls are over to play. They each get to wear a tutu and it's darling.

A Mom's got to entertain herself somehow. At least Renee looks slightly amused. I'm pretending to be a lion, in case there was any confusion.


Looking at a lizard in the drain pipe. He was trying to run up it and making quite a bit of noise. Then Katy poked him and he jumped on Marie's face and she started running around the front yard screaming. Well, no, that didn't really happen, but it would have been funny. Katy poked him and he scurried away. All the girls got a good look at him and had a good ole' time, even without the made-up lizard attack.



I just love this picture of mini-Joel...er...Marie. I think a 2 year old little girl is about the sweetest thing that God can give you. Well, maybe a well-rested, well-fed 2 year old little girl. A tired and hungry 2 year old little girl is an entirely different story.

Thanks for the photos Katy and Amy!

A family tradition was born today: Make ridiculous (ridiculously fun!) hat/crown for birthday boy/girl. Here's Joel in our masterpiece...

I love my kids. I want more. But not yet :-)

Mary Lou Retton, you've met your match.

Meet MARIE Lou Retton!

Joel is grooming her to be the next Olympian. Well, maybe not, but they are having fun together at gymnastics on Saturday mornings!

This (above) was a class that we tried last week, but we decided to attend somewhere else instead.




Lucy and Mr. Sargeant are attending, too! Here's Lucy in her funky Babylegs. She is by far the best little gymnast in the class. Marie hasn't quite figured out how to jump yet :-)

Bragging alert:

I'd just like to let you all know that I (not Joel) picked Kansas and Memphis on my NCAA bracket to play in the National Championship. Maggie, not Joel. Just had to clarify that again.

Also, we just downloaded iTunes, which I'm very excited about, but I'd love some music recommendations. I prefer Christian music, but I'm open. I have not bought a CD in ages, so I really don't know who the "cool" new artists are. If you know of any good children's artists (other than Raffi, Go Fish and Cedarmont Kids), please pass those along as well. Marie LOVES to sing. She literally sings all day. Her life is like a musical.

MMM. Oh, and I picked Memphis and Kansas into the finals. Did I mention that already?

Okay, this morning I had a bit too much fun with the camera. Marie started getting a little annoyed with me, at which time I decided to call it quits and return to normal parenting duties. We can take better video on the camcorder, but the mini DVD's are expensive so I try not to use them too often, hence the poor quality. Alright, I'm going to post these and then go be productive (make baked potato soup).

1. Marie's loud and lovely renditions of "The B-I-B-L-E" and "Jesus Loves Me". Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to rotate it.






2. Forgiveness. I'm still not quite sure what happened here.

3. Renee learning to express herself. Marie seems to have no trouble with this.

4. Everybody does it. Even 2 year olds.

5. "I want to sing." Alrighty then.

6. And one more, just for kicks. If you've watched all of these it can only mean one of two things: You are either really bored, or you're my mom. Or both. Are you bored, Mom? Oh, and this one is an oldie of Marie and Mrs. Moozie.

Just checking to see if this works! We got a new laptop this weekend and I can finally upload video directly onto our computer. You'll have to forgive me for not putting any pants on my daughter. She had just finished an unsuccessful trip to the potty.