Quotes: Paint

We're painting the girls' room upstairs.  It was originally blue and we're painting it pink.  After the first coat Caleb had his doubts.  He said to Amanda,

You can still see blue under the pink.  You should have painted one coat of white and the then two coats of pink.

It's so much fun to see how each of the kids different giftednesses show themselves.  I don't know many six-year-olds who notice things like that and then even have words to articulate it.  Caleb is definitely an artist on the inside.  

Molly

Some of my favorite pics of Molly from the last few months

Quotes: Amish

Amanda and the kids were picking Uncle Gregg up at the airport this afternoon. When Ben saw an Amish girl he said,

"For Heaven's sake, what's she doing on an airplane?"

Breakfast with Molly

Molly and I got to have our first birthday breakfast out this morning. It's pure joy. I look forward to many, many more.

Ben

(Insert 9000 words)

To Alpena and Back Again

My mom came to our house at the end of June and then took the boys back to her house for a few days by themselves.  They had a great time with just Gigi.  We followed the weekend of the Fourth.  We pulled the PUP (which added two hours to our already 11 hour trip).  We were glad though once we got there that we had it.  The boys slept in it by themselves every night.  Alpena is a great place for boy adventures.  We had lots of fun there playing with cousins, hanging with Tricia and Alex and my mom and just being together as a family.

From July

From July

From July

From July

On the way home, we hit Mackinac Island and stopped by Sault Ste. Marie to meet up with Amanda's dad, his wife and her grandma and grandpa.  It's been too long since we saw her grandparents.  They hadn't met Molly and Lucy.  It was great to see them, ride the Rhino and watch the big ships go through the river.  Our time was too brief.

From July

From July

It was a great vacation and other great celebration of the first ten years of our family.  You can see all of the pictures here.

Happy Birthday, Molly Pearl

Today, our little girl turns three-years-old. Amanda said last night that it was amazing how time has flown. Molly is an amazingly sweet little girl who everyone seems to love to be around. We love her as our first little girl and uniquely as our Molly Pearl. Happy Birthday, pearl girl.