MY LITTLE HOUSE GIRLS AND BOILED PEANUTS

Today, Hannah did a book report on "Little House in the Big Woods". She was dressed as Laura, and Emily was dressed as little sister Carrie. Aren't they the cutest little prarie girls ever? I made these costumes about six years ago originally for Kirsten and Hannah. I can't believe how time flies. Emily doesn't look thrilled in these pictures, but she was counting down the hours until she could go help Hannah "do her report" at school. And for some reason, Hannah would NOT put her bonnet on her head. She is still just as cute though!

We received a very mysterious package today, with no return address. I was so delighted to open it up and discover FOUR bags of raw peanuts.....hmmmm...... somebody knows how much I LOVE boiled peanuts, and that they are not to be found anywhere in these northern parts. Most people around here have never even HEARD of a boiled peanut. We can't even find (very easily) raw peanuts that I can boil at home. So, the girls and I were thrilled to throw those peanuts in a pot and set them on the stove to boil!! I was so excited that I didn't think to take a picture of them until after the two bags had been opened!! Now the house is full of that wonderful summer time smell of boiled peanuts!! (Sorry, Beth, but it really does smell good). And thank you to that mystery person who sent us the peanuts - you know who you are, and I have a feeling she lives in Ohio!!!

HANNAH'S BAPTISM

Today was an amazing day!! Hannah has been asking to get baptized for about two years now. She has taken a Children's Baptism class and has a complete understanding of what it means. She has been SOOO nervous about getting up in front of the congregation and speaking those all important words - "I believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and I accept Him, as my Lord and my Savior". She has said those words for so long, but just couldn't bring herself to make that public confession. Well, today was the DAY!! We had an unbelievable service today, what we call at our church a "Baptism Splash". Typically, it is a day each year that many people get baptized on the same day, sometimes at a local river or lake. But today, we broke all tradiational rules of baptism!! (are there really any?) Our pastor gave a great sermon on exactly what baptism is, and gave a call for ANYONE to come and be baptized today. We disregarded our formal baptistry, and they set up an entire POOL on the stage of our church. Hannah had planned on getting baptized today, but there were literally HUNDREDS of people baptized today, that did not plan on it!! People were baptized in the only set of clothes they had! It was an amazing sight to see - people lined up around the church, many new-believers, waiting their turn to be baptized. I was fortunate to be able to capture most of them with my camera, and it has been so moving to review these pictures. There are some amazing stories already surfacing today - stories of a men's bible study that meets at Panerra every Saturday morning. For over a year, this group of men have invited the "Panerra guy" (who works there) to attend church. He came last week for the first time, and again today - and even HE was baptized today! There were even couples that were baptized, together, at the same time. I have so many pictures to share - but for today I will just share my precious baby girl getting baptized by her own Daddy while our pastor looks on........

KYLIE

I had the pleasure of taking Kylie's senior graduation pictures today. She is another homeschool graduate from our area. Every senior I have done this year has been a homschooler (OKAY God, I get it, I get it!!!) She is such a sweet girl and so photogenic! Doesn't she have the most gorgeous blue eyes?? Here are a just a few sneak peeks for you Kylie..

ACSI SPEECH MEET!

I am SOOO PROUD of my Hannah-Banana!! She competed today in the Association for Christian Schools International Regional Speech Meet. She scored the HIGHEST score possible for her division!! She received a "Superior" rating. She was amazing!! She recited a passage of scriptures from Colossians, and then explained in her own words what it meant to her. She has worked very hard on preparing for today. I have shared before how she is not fond of public speaking, but she is becoming quite proficient at it! She is learning a skill I wish I had learned as a child. I am so proud of her for overcoming her fears and facing her challenge head on and overcoming her obstacles! Way to go Hannah!! We love you and are so very proud of you!

Here she is with two of her friends who also competed and received "Excellent" ribbons.

FUN ON THE STREETS!

This fun couple from Russia are getting married in August!!

ALL MY GIRLS

Last week - ALL my girls were here for bible study. It's so hard this time of year to get everyone together at the same time because of all the sports, etc going on, but everyone made it this time!! And I LOVE how they all fit on my new couch!!

BABY A

I am so honored to be allowed to capture sweet baby "A" every month of his first year! This is my favorite little guy at two months. His mommy's pregnant pictures were posted here on my blog too! I could just eat him up!

Happy baby.....

NOT happy baby.

He likes it much better in Mommy's arms. Don't you love his little hat?

All tuckered out.

A cozy rainy day at the Inner Harbor (they have the most AMAZING new townhome right on the water at the harbor).

SPRING BREAK BEACH TRIP 2009

All of you Floridians will get a giggle seeing us in our coats on the beach!!

This time of year you can find some great sea shells!

We had a great girls only trip to the beach with our good friends the Webbs!

We even found a sand dollar! We learned while we were in Jamaica that the reason it is this color is because it is either still alive, or has been alive recently. They don't turn white until they die and completely dry out.

Sweet Julia at dinner one evening.

We even met up with our friends the Vogels who have a beach house in Ocean City.

For some reason, Miss Boo thought that if you go to the beach, then you get cotton candy. I have no clue how she made this connection, but she NEVER stopped talking about finding cotton candy. It was much more difficult than one might think to find cotton candy during off-season at the beach. BUT, we finally managed to find some, and her trip to the beach was then complete!

Walking down the historic Rehobeth Beach boardwalk!

Soaking up some sun (yes, in our coats).

Whoa Maddie!! How did you get so tall?

We found a sweet little make-up boutique and had some girly fun in there!! All the girls had a little make-over. Emily chose purple eye shadow AND purple lip gloss. Now that's my diva!

And to finish off our trip, I hopped into the driver's seat after loading up the van to find this lovely little visitor on the steering wheel. (It was a recently acquired toy snake). I just about jumped out of my pants, which was followed by six giggling girls - you would have thought I had BOYS back there instead of girls!!