Clare’s 8th birthday party–oh, I love 8 year olds!  They are so sweet and confident at the same time. Here are 12 giggling girls, laughing at the wind blowing out the birthday candles: So precious!  I pray that Clare has a blessed year!  God be with her!

    I bought this unfinished china cabinet 13 years ago–when I was pregnant with Jacob.  It has taken me all this time to paint it!  But finally, this was my chance.  So the girls and I grabbed it!  Four colors later, it turned out–it is more turquoise than this picture shows.  I love it!…

Here are four masterpieces in the works!     A Renoir. . .     A Manet. . .    A Van Gogh. . . .    And a Mickey Mouse!

   Here is Leigh’s first attempt ever at loading a dishwasher:      I’d hate to see all the broken pottery if she had actually run it like that!     And this is the sink, after she announced that the kitchen was “clean.”   She really is trying, though!  She has a great attitude!

    Leigh is growing up.  A year ago, I was remorseful that she would–she was so darned cute.     But I am entirely surprised–she is all the more delightful as she gets older.    Yesterday the girls and I pained for hours.  At the end of it, I announced that I was done…

     Satellite phones, or SAT phones, can place a call from any spot, no matter how remote, on the earth.     My dear husband needs one of those–give him five minutes, and he has hit a wilderness trail!  He is off with Jake, taking him on a “coming of age” 12th birthday trek through…

   Sisters are so important!!   So good to see Kimmy today!   Ken went on a run with Ken this morning–which promptly put Ron back in bed! 🙂  They are training for a marathon together.    What a blessing they are in our lives!  Boy, I love ALL my sisters and brothers.  Goodness, how important they…

    The real reason we went to France was to go on pilgrimage to Lisieux.  We got to go to the monastery in which St. Therese of Lisieux spent her years as a nun.  We spent the day there, praying and talking with the kids about her.     We named Annie “Anne Therese”…

Notre Dame–“Our Lady” at the center of the rose window, and at the center of the city! St. Andre des Arts, my favorite street. St. Chapelle–my very favorite!  It would be worth buying a new camera lenses just to photograph this chapel! Ron included street art in his art/literature class this summer–and we saw Space…

    We were there on Bastille Day–what a birthday for Clare, to be there on that day!!    I took her and Mary to the parade on the Champs Elysees–what we mothers do for our children (I loathe parades)! 🙂     The fireworks at the Eiffel Tower were truly amazing to watch, since…