Bethany Chases Jacob (and Falls)

We Have A New Piano!

A good friend had an extra piano and asked us if we wanted it for our house! Yeah! We did and it's now the focus of our living room. The kids are very excited about it of course, and Nate and I both agree that our house now feels like a real home!

Bethany especially took command of the piano at once. She sometimes will fuss at anyone else who tries to play it!

Homeschool Cabinet

I just posted a few pics of our homeschool cabinet on Of Such is the Kingdom. Check it out!

What Jacob's Up To

At least five times a day, Jacob comes up to me beaming with pride, and hands me something like what you see here. He is wonderfully happy shaping out letters for a lot longer than I would imagine a four-year-old sitting still! And the biggest surprise about home schooling Naomi has been how much Jacob wants to participate. He has his own bucket of activities, and he does them right at the table with us so as not to miss anything. If we're doing anything that he deems fun (like M&M Math, for instance) he can slide right over and be a part. Today while Naomi was filling out the numbers in her calendar, he ran and got a piece of paper and a crayon so that he could write his numbers too. He wrote them all the way up to ten with very little help! It's always surprising to me how much he's learning by just being around while I'm working with Naomi (or directly from the little Naomi teacher herself!)

Cinderella at the Tivoli

Saturday night a friend and I took Naomi to the Tivoli to see Cinderella!

(You have to take a picture by the pumpkin, of course!)

Naomi was, to put it mildly, enchanted!

Naomi with the Fairy Godmother

Cinderella is my friend's sister, so after the show, we waited to get a quick picture with her. She was excellent for the part, and Naomi loved her evening at the theater!

Grandaddy's 80th Birthday Party

My dad's family threw a big birthday bash for his dad this past Saturday.

Pretty much everyone in the family was there, and though the weather was very wet, it was a great party. I think the kids would have been quite bored if there had been no mud to play in!

Naomi with baby Penni and Aaron

My dad and his guitar

Of course where the Pugh family gathers, there will be music! This is my sister-in-law Fish (Patricia), my cousin-in-law (is that a real thing?) Regan, and my cousin John. Anybody who wanted to could get up and sing, and before we left, Naomi even sang a song she'd been working on. No one could hear her really, but she was behind the microphone singing just the same!

Jacob the Joyful Giraffe

Happy Anniversary!

Summer 2000 (Engagement)

Summer 2009 (Eighth Anniversary!)

Happy Anniversary to my Beloved!

Vacation #7

Riding the big ferris wheel in Orange Beach

Grandad and Daddy took Jacob and Naomi on the big go-carts.

riding the little train

riding the little ferris wheel and swings

riding the carousel

Gulf Shores shirts

eating together

picture with new shirts (in front of the coming storm!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!!

pizza and chocolate-chocolate chip cupcakes (What more could a 4 year old ask for?)

Vacation #6 Sunrises

Sunday Morning

Monday morning (when I got back from my run)

Tuesday morning (almost missed it--slept in!)

Wednesday (Nate took this one)

Thursday

Friday (Mom took the one above; Nate took the one below.)

Vacation #5

Bethany at the beach

Jacob at Ft. Morgan with some of the fam

Baby Penni

On Wednesday a guy from a few houses down brought us this walrus that someone had left at his house. He was just going to deflate it and throw it away; instead, he brought it to us! The kids really enjoyed it--in the water and on the beach.