Friday, June 20, 2008

Puppy Love...


A long time ago, when Faith was probably about 8-9 months old, I took her along when I went to a thrift store one day to look for something. About 5 seconds after I carried her through the door, she was pointing at a stuffed dog and saying ‘Doggy! Doggy!’ which was one of her first words which she had been saying a lot lately at that age. I let her hold this doggy and she hugged it so lovingly. For such a small price, I wasn’t going to pass it up. I didn’t find the thing I was looking for at the store, so that dog was the only thing I bought there that day. She has slept with ‘Doggy’ ever since and she carries it around all over!

~The REAL thing~
Faith also loves real dogs of course… Short story: One day not too long ago, Matt took Faith to a pet store after running errands in another town and he called to tell me Faith absolutely adored a puppy that was there, and asked if it might be alright with me if they brought it home. I didn’t feel like the time was right for a puppy because we don’t even have a fence and I would probably end up having to do most of the work. (It's kinda like taking care of another kid! Although, I do hope to get a dog someday after we can afford a fence and a dog door.) A little while later, Matt was sending me pictures over the phone of Faith with this little puppy. (GUILT TRIP!) ...A couple days later, we saw our next door neighbors outside with a new puppy on a leash… I looked at the pictures from the phone and asked them where they got the dog and sure enough it was the very same puppy! I thought it must have been meant to be!


We go over several times a week to the neighbors' to let their dogs out while they are gone at work all day, so Faith gets to play with that puppy right next door! It worked out just right! His name is Peyton.


And, since we can’t get our own REAL dog yet, the other day we bought this huge stuffed dog for $2.50, brand new with tags at another thrift store. (In case some of you don’t know by now, I am a longtime fan of thrift stores!) It's that really soft, squishy, huggable kind of stuffed animal, and they love it!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Metamorphosis

Last fall, WesLee found several caterpillars and we decided to keep them. We poked holes in plastic jars and put grass and sticks and milkweed in the jars with them. He named them. This particular jar had 2 caterpillars and you can see he wrote their names on the lid: SPECKLY & ANA.


The caterpillars would eat SO much in their jars and then make their cocoons usually overnight. We kept them in the garage, but after such a cold winter, I was afraid none of them might ever come out. I would check on them every other day or so once the weather started to warm up. Finally, recently, each one came out all within a matter of days! Speckly was the first one. We weren't sure if it was a butterfly or a moth, but the kids were all very amazed at the metamorphasis!

Wes is so interested in nature and critters! Here he's holding the jar after Speckly came out. He went out and picked some pretty flowers to put in the jar with a little bit of water & after Ana came out, he freed them.
Good job Wes!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Father's Day!


Happy Father's Day to a dad who didn't sleep in this morning long enough to let anyone bring him breakfast in bed, but who instead decided to treat his whole family by making some delicious Danish Apple Oven Pancakes! .....and who even shared his huge King size Snickers bar with his 3 kids (and his wife) after treats were passed out at church to all the Dads .....and who also insisted on making dinner for us outside on the grill AND who even wanted to do the dishes after! Matt has been so cheerful and helpful lately. Thanks for all the good things you do for our family Matt! This T-shirt we gave him in the above photo says it all!
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WesLee made a very simple, sweet card for his Dad. He did this without any suggestion from me. I think it makes it so special when kids think to do things like this on their own! Matt showed it to me after WesLee gave it to him. Wes is such a thoughful kid!


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Here is "Daddy's Cup Cake"! I thought it was perfect for Faith to wear this shirt today! She really is such a little love muffin!

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Jacob was feeling kinda lousy after church today, because his ear was hurting...Well, he told us he had stuck a shoelace in his ear during primary. I'm not sure if his ear was buggin him already and maybe that's why he thought to stick something in there, which he's never done before (as far as I know) or if his ear started hurting only after he had poked the shoelace in it? Either way, it's not a good thing. I really hope it improves by tomorrow, or I'll have to take him to a doctor. He did get some good cuddle time on the couch later with Daddy though.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Having fun together!


Jacob is such a sweetie to his little sis!

Wes loves to catch bugs and frogs (notice his jar)!




Faith on top of the world! (on Daddy's shoulders)



Our first blog

I thought it would be a fun to have a family blog so all of our family and friends out there can get a little peek as to what we are up to now and then, and hopefully to get back in touch with people that we have lost touch with over the years. After we were married, we lived in AZ for about 6 years, and just last year we moved to Indiana. We have been awful at keeping in touch with everybody, and we want to try somehow to get back in touch and let you all know how much we love and miss you!
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I hope I can figure this blogging thing out alright!
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For any of you who we haven't been in touch with for a very long time, I should tell you that we (Glenda and Matthew) have 3 beautiful children: Jacob (6), WesLee (5), and Faith (3). We are so blessed to have these kids in our lives, they probably teach us more than we teach them. I have learned so much from being their mom. What great kids!
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There are so many things about Indiana that we love! It is so beautiful here with the 4 seasons. After living in the desert most of my life, we were probably the only ones in our town who wished our snowy Indiana winter would last longer...but, each season has been so amazing. Seeing the leaves turn bright orange, yellow or red in the fall, seeing SO much green and so many beautiful flowers in the spring and summer. We live in a small town a little north of Indianapolis, sort of 'out in the country'.
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I still get homesick for AZ after living there for more than 20 years, but there are lots of great people here too, and if we ever move again, I will miss these people too!
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We've had our share of trials in life, but my hope is that our trials will only make us stronger in the long run. The other day when we were planting sunflower seeds, the wind became super strong and Jacob started to say he wanted to go inside because he didn't want to get blown over. It was really that strong! We were in the middle of planting the seeds, and I told him that if he can withstand the wind this time, he would get stronger and it would be easier for him to face the wind the next time. And that we would get beautiful flowers for facing the wind this time. He decided to stay and now we're waiting for our sunflowers to come up!