One More of Annah

And Mel, this one is for you. Annah entertains us everyday with her musicals.

Baby Giggles

Here's a cute video of West laughing.

Annah or Annie?

Ruby Girls

Since West was born life has slowed down a little and we've been enjoying long afternoons playing and reading together. We usually finish up our school work in the mornings and in the afternoons we enjoy taking walks or bike rides around Silverton, visiting friends, baking and reading. We recently canceled our TV service since we all choose to read when we have free time. I've been teaching Annah to read with The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and Mira still devours at least two (more if we let her) chapter books a day. We try to stick to classics (she recently read A Midnight Summer's Dream, The Canterbury Tales, Les Miserables and Moby Dick) or Christian fiction like the Mandie series or the Trailblazer historical fiction series. She also enjoys the American Girl books and the Ramona books. Shane often spends his time on his Bible Study Fellowship, reading a novel or watching a Netflix movie. I enjoy non-fiction and recently read Parenting From the Heart, Managers of Their Chores (to help implement a chore system in our home) and Hands on Character Building. We are almost through with school for the year and are looking forward to another year using Sonlight and The Well Trained Mind curriculum.

This year the girls and I have really enjoyed our Rubies girls club that we attend with other mothers and daughters at our friends, the Rawie's, house. At Rubies we do a devotional, a craft or home ec activity like baking, have a snack and fellowship together. Rubies is by far Annah's favorite activity and she counts the days until Rubies night. Here are a few pictures from our last Rubies club. We had a pajama party and we decorated pillow cases with phrases we've learned about God's Little Girl taken from Proverbs 31. Mira choose God's little girl is cheerful for her pillowcase and Annah choose God's little girl is careful for hers. The phrases they choose couldn't have fit their personalities better!

The Ruby Girls

Sweet Life

We recently enjoyed a visit from my good friends Melinda and Olivia. They spent a weekend with us and Melinda took these photos. I've know Melinda and Olivia for about 20 years and although I only get to see them about once a year, I always enjoy our visits. Melinda documented our sweet life in Silverton with these photos. Enjoy!

The Girls and West, ready for church.

I LOVE my Moby wrap and so does West! Thanks Nikki!

So far cloth diapering has been easy. I just have to remember to trow them in the wash every three days. When the sun shines I dry them on the line in our backyard.

We live about a five minute walk to the ice cream shop in Silverton. Here are the girls on a walk into town with Melinda and Olivia.

My mom lives next door and we spend many sunny afternoons in her beautiful backyard.

Weston is smiling lots and starting to coo and "talk" to us. He is such a joy!

Our cat Skelly likes to be where we are and usually hangs out with us in the yard.

There's little the girls love more than having company. They especially loved all the attention they got from Melinda and Olivia while they stayed the weekend with us.

I still make all our bread, usually baking on Sundays for the week ahead. Here I am kneading the dough with West in his Moby. He loves to be close to me and I love carrying him.