Noah: "She will love getting splashed! This will be fun!"

Acadia: "NOAH!!!!" Noah: "?"

Acadia: "You are so immature." Noah: "..."

Noah: "I will never understand girls." Acadia: "He is nonexistent to me."

Some liberty has been taken in the dialogue.

Friends of ours are going through a challenging situation right now. One of their kids was diagnosed with leukemia this week and has begun what might be a long treatment plan. I didn’t ask them for permission to share identifying information, but God knows who they are. So if you want to pray for them, God has it all under control.

Thanks.

*NOTE: If Courtney S. reads this (you know who you are!), please leave a comment so I know you’ve found the blog. Thanks!)

**ANOTHER NOTE: For some reason I never published this post till now, even though I wrote it days ago. Sorry. Thanks for reminding me, Fran!

I’m just going to toss these photos up here and not bother with captioning them, just because I am tired of sitting at this computer. My kids are tired of me sitting at this computer, too!

We also have lots of pictures of the kids with their friends from camp, old and new, but I didn’t feel right about putting pics of other people’s kids on the internet without their permission. Not everyone is as comfortable with having an internet presence as I am. So yeah.

And look what you get. My apologies to those of you on a slow connection. My blog is image-heavy these days because it hurts to type. And because I like images.

Anthills in the driveway. Important and interesting stuff if you’re a kid. Or me.

Enchiladas. We all need to remember this meal, so we took this picture. Yeah.

The view under Gannon’s bed. Those are his swim trunks. That he couldn’t find. Not sure what the other stuff is. Let’s not think about it.

Breakfast.

Bling.

Here’s Daddy, from an Acadia’s Eye View.

Not to be left out, here’s Mommy. And James, Jared, and Brian. But you really have to look hard to see them.

Metal waiting for the trash guy’s metal day. Glad we have this moment preserved.

We have a sword on the garage roof. What? Don’t you?

This is a radish we are growing. Gannon needed a photo.

Here’s the neighbor kid, Noah. This is usually the first view of him we see each day, when someone from our house bangs on his door, or vice versa. “Can you come out and play?”

I do not know this man. He appears at periodic intervals to mow a neighbor’s lawn. He cheesed for Gannon’s camera. We digitally captured his photons.

And my favorite so far, taken by one or both of the kids, is this picture. They love each other.

I’ve been away for a couple of weeks, the first time without Brian and the kids, the second time without Brian. I’m tired. I missed my family! And I missed sleeping in my own bed (made me think perhaps my bed is a bit of an idol for me…hmm…).

I thought I’d toss up a few pictures of my travels for you.

My Nikon D80 arrived yesterday. As soon as I opened the box, the camera jumped up and snapped this shot.

Then I took a few [hundred] photos, just to get the feel of it. How does it feel?

It feels good.

Except now you can really see how messy I let my kids’ faces get.

And their skinned knees.

My buddy Lisa and I are just giggling over this new toy.

I pretty much agree with what this guy has to say on the subject. The link there is to the first of a series of posts on the topic of why he’s a photographer. Bill Walsh is director of international outreach at Desiring God Ministries, and the view through his lens is inspiring (and I don’t use that word much).

The above photos were taken by Bill Walsh.

I like to look at good photos.  I don’t have a succinct answer for “what makes a good photo”, except to say it’s one that makes me want to get out my camera and shoot, all the while praising God for His amazing creation.  Here are some blogs I read that frequently have such photos as that:

• barebaby
• Blue Candy Photography
• The Pioneer Woman
• Lena Hyde Photography
• The Sweet Life - Sugar Photography
• Trust and Believe - Lisa’s blog

Toothpicks were inserted into all the fruit and veggies, so that “the mothers won’t have to do it.”

Little nametags were a must. And little cakes.

The little girls didn’t want tea, so we poured apple juice. And they spooned sugar into it.

Mmmm…little cakes. And tiaras. And beads.

Don’t you wish you were a four year-old girl?

We had some sunny days recently, enough to clear off the roadways of ice and snow, revealing the debris and sand that have been lying there for months. This drying out enabled the kids to ride their bicycles, finally! They both have new ones this year, and are pleased as punch (what does that MEAN, anyway?). Here’s a peek.

You will no doubt notice the massive piles of snow, evidence of the rather low temperatures, necessitating the winter coat and mittens. But how could a mother deny the obvious delight on the face of her beloved daughter?

And here’s The Bike and His Boy. He loves everything about this bicycle. It came from a boy he looks up to. It has handle brakes. It has gears. And, most impressively according to Gannon, it has a kickstand. Be still, my heart. His old bike is in the background, leaning up against the van because it has no kickstand. What will be the ultimate fate of this bike from a bygone era? Gannon suggested that we give it to one of the kids whose house burned this winter. I love this guy.

You can estimate your fuel costs for a driving trip using this tool. To do a certain trip I have been dying to make, I will have to shell out over $100 just for gasoline. *sigh* I need to do more mystery shops.