A real smile!

Five-year-olds are just not very good at giving real smiles on demand, but I was lucky to catch this one of Nora.  She was super happy that her new pansy from a fall festival at a local garden center matched her shirt perfectly!

Cats

I walked outside to find two stray cats on our swing!  They hung around for most of the afternoon, but left when I said that only children can have popsicles, not cats.

Moviemaker

When we had seen all the Shaun the Sheep episodes on Amazon Prime, Elsa was inspired to make her own stop motion movie.  We pulled out the dollhouse furniture, a lamp, and my old camera for her to give it a try. 

Her first movie is in three acts.  (I made the middle one to show her how to do it, and she did the first and last on her own.)

Then we talked a bit more about how to make the motions smaller to make a better movie, and also about making an actual story line.  For her next movie, our conversation about the story line went something like this:

me:  What so you want the movie to be about?

Elsa:  I want it to be about the daddy falling on the breakfast table and making a huge mess!

me:  OK.  (!!! laughing inside!)  So you need to have a reason that he falls.

Elsa:  Well, he could trip over the dog, or slip on the dog bone like a banana peel.

me:  OK.  And is the breakfast table set before the movie starts or do we see the family set the table?... etc.

So here is the final product.  Elsa directed and manned the camera, Nora was "props manager" because she desperately wanted to help (she put all the sticky-tac on the pieces we used), and I actually did a lot of moving of the people and such this time because Elsa wanted me to do the project with her (and she enjoyed telling me what to do :)

First peach

We didn't get to pick peaches this year, but we did buy plenty from the farmers market.  Beatrice loved them,

even when they got too slippery to hold!

Best daddy in the world

Joel was on an early morning run at the seminary when he saw this HUGE caterpillar.  At first he ran past it, but then he realized that it would make him the best daddy in the world, so he ran back, coaxed it on a stick, drove it home to us, and then made it back to school just in time for class (still sweaty from his run)!  We all were thrilled to be brought such a gift, and quickly agreed that he is indeed the best daddy in the world.  When I told my friend that Joel had risked being late for class to bring us a caterpillar, she replied, "He knows your love language!"

It was bright green, and with familiar pattern and shape - another Imperial Moth caterpillar!  They can be brown (like the ones we raised last year) or bright green like this one.  

Joel found it crawling across the jogging/biking path - I'm glad it didn't get squished!  By afternoon it had changed color to a brownish green, so it seemed like it was ready to burrow and pupate.  Sure enough, when we gave it a bucket of dirt it started digging and eventually settled itself several inches under the soil.

I noticed that it had a few parasitic wasp eggs on it, but not very many, so I tried to gently pick them off.  Thankfully since the caterpillar is so big and there were only a few eggs the caterpillar will still survive.  This one is way bigger than the ones we've raised before.  And that reminds me - our moths from last year hatched!  I should go find those pictures...

Reading to Beatrice

Beatrice discovered books a few weeks ago when Nana (Joel mom) was visiting us.  She now will regularly bring us books and plop into our laps for a story.  

The big sisters think it is terribly cute and love to read to her.

The little rocker has become Beatrice's very own reading chair - it takes her a few moments to get situated, but then she is very proud of herself!

Daddy Date for a Princess

Turning 5-years-old is a big deal, and Joel wanted to celebrate it specially with Nora on a special Daddy Date.  He told her to get dressed up however she wanted.  So she did:

(Note the sparkly purple tennis shoes!)

He took her to the Cheesecake Factory for chocolate cake and told her all the reasons he loves her.  God has blessed us with a beautiful princess, from the inside out.