Lord of the Rings Art

We recently finished reading The Hobbit at bedtime.  Isaiah made a play-dough model of Smaug (the dragon).

Isaiah wants to make sure you can make one for youself if you're interested. Here are his instructions:

1) The tail -- get some play-dough (a small amount) and just roll it back and forth til it makes kinda like a tube but with no hole inside it

2) The end of the tail -- cut a little triangle out of the play-dough and stick it onto the end of the tube (make sure it looks like a point)

3) The body -- you make kind of a circle and kind of medium-sized with how big or how small you want it. Use a pencil or pen or chop stick or whatever and poke lots of holes in it. Make one kind of bigger hole -- this is the spot where the arrow went when Smaug died (you will only know this if you have ever read the book -- that is where Smaug was invented).

4) The mouth -- cut a circle out of the play-dough. Poke (2) holes for the eyes, or put (2) dots of play-dough for eyes. Then get a really small amount of play-dough and roll it back and forth five or six times and if it doesn't work you can roll it more. Then, curve it like a smile and put it on the head so it looks like he's smiling.

5) The wings -- get (2) pieces of play-dough (try to make it the same amount) and cut the wings however you want them to look. Then, put them kind of on the edge of the body, then get (2) amounts of play-dough and make them short like the smile but longer and put them onto the middle of the wings.

6) The legs -- make them just like you put the amounts onto the wings, but make them as legs. Then, you can add any other accessories however you want them.

Phoebe Walking

Happy Birthday John Deere!

We had a blast at the 175th birthday celebration for Deere today. We saw tons of friends, ate junk food, bounced, and toured the factory. The factory tour is a big deal, considering that on any other day you have to be 14 to take the tour and the kids have already been asking to go for some time now. It was such a fun day!

Good morning!

These are my early risers. Even though I can hear them chatting at 5:45am, (yawn) I can hardly bring myself to be irritated considering their absolute adorableness.

Happy Wednesday!

Phoebe's Dedication

Miss Phoebe

So...I know that I have not exactly said anything about our transition home with Miss P and the other kiddos. It has gone so great.  Phoebe is such an easy baby and the other kids have adjusted wonderfully to having a new baby sister to love on.  In fact, Phoebe is quite smothered all day long between the endless smooches from Mom and Dad and the way that she is carried around by the kids like a sack of beans.  :)

Some other things about her and us:

-She just moved to her crib in the room that she and Naomi share and is sleeping through the night and taking good naps.

- She eats anything that I will puree for her in addition to cheerios.  She isn't much on anything else yet.

- She is a happy girl and very easy going.

- She sticks everything in her mouth that will fit.

- She stands alone and took her first steps last weekend!  We were so happy to have witnessed them.  :)

- She lets others hold her but prefers Mom and is quite fond of Dad too.  Woohoo!!

- She laughs when tickled or tossed up in the air, but overall she is quiet and does not babble much.  She yells      

when she wants to be fed and cries when she wants to be held.  There are 5 people who are happy to oblige.

- The other kids are great about entertaining her so that I can get some chores done and she loves to have their company.

- We are in awe of God's grace, both in looking back to our difficult journey with Levi, and in our not so difficult one with P.  How amazing to know that He never lets us go, and that His grace is enough, no matter the circumstance.

Both Levi and Phoebe went to Iowa City Children's Hospital two weeks ago for their Cleft Clinic appointments.  We go every 6 months for a checkup with the entire cleft team which includes audiology, speech, dentistry/orthodontics, and then wrap up with the head surgeon.  Let me just say that I am so thankful for such a specialized team so close to home.  They are wonderful!  Anyhow, we had noticed that Miss P had an interesting odor when we met and since she puts everything in her mouth we put two and two together and soon realized that she may have some foreign objects lodged in her unrepaired palate.  Last week in the OR at the hospital she received ear tubes to relieve significant fluid and had several pieces of, ahem, *debris* removed from her mouth.  It was an interesting day.  And I am sure that she feels like a million bucks since that stuff has been removed!  So we watch her like a hawk- even the kids know to start hollering if they see her stick something small in her mouth.  We are hoping to have her palate repair in September.   

A couple of favorite pics:

That's all I have time for now.  Baby P is screaming at me to get her out of the crib.  Happy Wednesday!

A love letter