retreat

this past weekend the ladies of calvary middleton had our very first and very awesome retreat. it was only an overnighter, but such a great time of fellowship. our cabin was in snowy garden valley, only an hour away from boise.

the view from the front room...

the cabin was just beautiful...

the ladies!

i'm already looking forward to next year...

confused

lyla was telling grandma how she was a tiny baby in mommy's tummy...and how eli was in daddy's tummy. grandma told her that only mommy's have babies...lyla shot back, "yeah, daddy's buy them."

albertsons

our playgroup took a field trip to albertsons last week. i think the dairy refrigerator was one of the highlights....

at the end of the trip they got to check out their own string cheese. eli helped with lyla...a friend told me that before they went up to the register, eli was prepping her in his best "mommy" voice. she's a lucky girl.

trying to homeschool a 5 year old boy...

...is like trying to catch a fish with your bare hands. but the difference between 5-year-old boys and fish ~ 5-year-old boys can be bribed with video games.

we started Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons a week or so ago. he really loves learning the sound each letter makes, but really detests the repetition to help it "sink in." by the second lesson he was able to read "am" without prompting...this is just amazing. eli has never shown any interest in letters or numbers, so the fact that he's even doing this book is stunning. but that he's actually learning something!?! you can imagine my excitement.

i love his arm around her

as i've mentioned before, eli loves sunggin lyla while watching tv. i finally got a picture of it:)

arrr matey

the cousins

eli and lyla are blessed with many cousins. they had gobs of fun playing with them. there is just something special about cousins. in honor of that, here they are, youngest to oldest...

francis

bailey

lyla

hailey

eli

clark

jake

julia

ben

zion

shane

isabelle

yogi

eli and lyla have talked often of these kiddos since we left. just tonight lyla saw a picture of grandma hobbs house and said, "can we go there and play?!?" i wish we could. looking forward to our next trip already.

the family

i thought it fitting to have our 500th post be filled with people i love. this is my mom's side of the family on Christmas day. we were all together for the first time in years.