Pictures

Yesterday I took Brynna and Ashlynn to have their pictures taken. I'm only a month behind - their birthdays were in April! Here are some of our favorites:

Thus sayeth the pre-schooler

This is what you get when you mix an imaginative 4 year old, a tall box, and a book. Yes, you guessed it, she's PREACHING. The box is her podium, and the book (which is a board book about fairies) is evidently the Bible.
And just to set the record straight, no we do not attend a church where there are women preachers. Our church is reformed Presbyterian, and very conservative. So I have no idea where she got this idea. I do have a feeling it was aimed at her older sisters, though.

Preach it, sistah!

I post this merely to make you smile...

This is what you get when you mix one bored older sister, a cute baby sister, and a couple of cloth diaper/burp rags.

OK, enough of this.

Flappin' in the Breeze

I've been having a lot of trouble getting my dryer to dry my towels and such in a decent amount of time. The dryer seems to be working fine, but because it vents out the roof, there are several bends in the duct work. We believe this is causing my dryer to tale about three hours to dry a full load of towels.

Kelly bought a fancy attachment for his drill to clean out the ducts, but we also bought something else I've been wanting for a while: two retractable clothes lines. I've been wanting clotheslines for a while but our yard is so small that I didn't want permanent poles taking up valuable play space. But a few months ago I saw these. They come in various lengths, but I purchased the 40 foot option because of the distance between out porch columns and the back fence. I purchased mine off Walmart.com but Amazon carries them as well.

Today Kelly installed them for me.

The line winds back up inside the housing when not in use. Cool, huh?

To hang clothes, you just pull out the cord and attach it to a hook - ours is screwed into our fence.

And then the girls helped me hang up a small load or towels to test one of the lines out.

Right now, I don't see myself hanging our underwear up out there. Mainly I want it for towels and sheets - those are the loads that take up so much dryer time to dry and heat up the house while they are at it. I've been told that in our summer heat that they dry much faster outdoors than they do in. Of course, I plan on cheating just a bit. I don't like stiff towels anymore than the next person, so I plan on putting them in the dryer on "fluff" (no heat) for about 15 minutes after bringing them inside. I'm curious to see whether it helps out our electric bill this summer.

Kora's recital

Sunday evening was Kora's recital. When we got to the church, we saw the program for the first time. Kora was FIRST of the students after a professional guest pianist opened the recital. At first I thought "Oh, no!" But then I realized that at least it would be over sooner so the nerves could settle down. Hopefully, Kora felt the same. :-)

Kora in her dress and jewelry borrowed from me.

Kora performed Fur Elise.

After she performed, her teacher got up to present an award to her. We knew she was getting an award, but I assumed it was the same type as Aubrey had received, "Most Improved" for her age group. She actually received a trophy for "Best in Studio." Each of the teachers in the conservatory had a "Best in Studio" award to hand out, and Kora received Ms. Penny's! We were very proud and surprised.

Kora with Ms. Penny.

A study in concentration. She's very serious when she's nervous. And boy was she nervous. But she did a fantastic job and were are so proud of her and Aubrey both!

Aubrey's Recital

I apologize for the lengthy absences on my blog. I have been both busy and not feeling very well. However, we need to catch up!

One of the biggest events of the year for my two oldest girls is the spring recital, which took place this last weekend. Both sets of grandparents come in and spend the weekend. Saturday morning was Aubrey's recital. She played the "Sleeping Beauty Waltz." Her teacher told her to dress like a princess, which is why she's wearing a tiara in some of the pictures. I asked her teacher if she was joking, and she told me, "I never joke about accessories."

Here's Aubrey receiving "The Most Improved Student" award for her age category.
She wore that medal for the rest of the day and to Kora's recital on the next day. My guess is that she probably slept in it!

She did a marvelous job. She was one of the few students in that recital who had their piece memorized. We are very proud of her!

Take a Deep Breath

You ever have one of those weeks, when you look at the calendar and think, "There is no way!" One of those weeks when everything you need to do insists on being done at once?

That's my week this week. If we have any kind of commitment or appointment, etc., it is happening this week. Next week, I may not move off the sofa.

I foresee many a Dr. Pepper this week. Man, I wish I drank coffee. Or that Dr. Pepper had no calories.

Show and Tell

Last Saturday, the three oldest girls took part in our homeschool group's "Show and Tell Day." This is a time for our kids to showcase some of the things they've been working on throughout the year. There were static displays as well as oral presentations. We had everything from a harp recital, sign language demonstration, oral reports, and a wonderful skit from The Princess Bride.

Kora and Aubrey both recited verses in Greek and then translated into English. But somehow I didn't get any good pictures of that. They also both played the pieces they have been preparing for the big recital next week.

Brynna recited a poem called "The Year." This was the first year she had participated in this event, and she did a great job!
They all did well, and it was a fun way to conclude the school year.

Ashlynn's First Birthday

Last weekend, we finally celebrated Ashlynn's 1st birthday. We were waiting for my parents to come down and be with us - after all, Ashlynn didn't know it was 13 days after her birthday!

Here's the birthday girl now!
Since Ashlynn couldn't tell me what she wanted for her birthday cake, we went with my favorite: chocolate cake with homemade chocolate icing. Yum! My older girls call this recipe "Mama's best icing."
Daddy has to help blow out the candle.
What am I supposed to do with this, exactly?
Are you sure it's ok to touch it?
Ewwwwww! It's sticky! Get it off!
Wait... this tastes gooooooood!
Ashlynn, where'd your cake go? She didn't even make that big of a mess! I feel gypped - I was supposed to get a good picture of a chocolate smeared baby-face.
On to presents. Her favorite was probably the gear toy.
In fact, it had the whole family enthralled.
Happy birthday, sweet girl!

And the verdict is...

Remember the dress dilemma? To recap: I wasn't sure whether to go ahead and start looking for a formal for Kora's recital or not, because I wasn't sure which recital she would perform in. If she was is the same one as last year, it is Sunday dressy. If she was put in the most advanced of the recitals the conservatory hosts each spring, it would be formal.

In this post, I told how God provided a dress for her in such an amazing way. But we wouldn't know until today if she needed it or not.

Today both Kora and Aubrey performed their pieces before all the piano teachers at the conservatory. Their critique is meant not only prepare the students for recital, but also to place them in the appropriate recital.

Aubrey did very well. She was quite nervous at her first jury, but did very well. Kora was also nervous, but the teachers were very complementary. And...

we are going to need the dress after all! She made it into the "Grand Piano recital." Now I just need to do a slight alteration to the dress. I also love God's timing! I am so thankful not to have to go dress shopping right now, as the next two weeks are quite hectic.