Update

A little while ago I went through pictures on my phone and there were a bunch that I wanted to remember. That morning I made a (long...sorry) post with them. It's several weeks old, but it does give an update on the kids and life around here:

Christina ("Goody"), one of my close friends from college, came to spend a day with us. At one point, Goody was sitting in the living room with the kids while I got dinner together. When I looked in and saw that the lamp next to her was off, I asked, "Did someone unplug or break that lamp?" She had a surprised look on her face and said, "Seriously Grams?" (my nickname in college).  "Your first two thoughts when you see a lamp off in your house is that someone either unplugged it or broke it?...I turned it off." Oh, she turned it off. The thought hadn't even entered my mind.

We had a nice evening view of the mountains on the Skyline Drive before she and her daughter Elsa headed back up to Maryland. I love this time of the day, when the sun is starting to set.

Dave!

Mac:

As Mac grows, the boundaries of destruction widen according to his growing creativity and physical abilities. The other day I heard sounds of him throwing toys at the ceiling fan in the living room. 

"Mac! What are you doing?!" 

"I am just trying to get the alligator down!"

"Oh, the alligator...wait, what?!"

I really can't trust Mac alone with Davey. Yesterday it was just too quiet. 

"Mac, where's Little D?"

"He's playing in his nest, Momma."

"Wait, his what?"

"His TOY nest!"

I went to get Mac from his nap one day, and he was sitting on a red rocking chair that he had pulled into his room. He had his feet on the floor and both arms calmly resting on the arms of the chair. Sort of like you would see an old man on his front porch. 

"Mac! What are you doing?"

"Oh momma I am just sitting and thinking in my thinking chair."

A little while ago, I heard the bathroom door slam closed. Mac came around the corner into the kitchen and said, "Mommy, don't go in the bathroom, Okay?"

I went into the bathroom to see my potted plant overflowing with soapy water. Dirt and soapy water was all over the counter and floor. 

"I am sorry I made a mess Momma, I just wanted to make an ocean in your plant." 

One morning I drew out some numbers for Mac to trace while he waited for the other kids to finish breakfast. He was quickly discouraged because his numbers did not match my outlines exactly. He said, in an exasperated voice, 

"Mommy! I am laughing at the IDEA of writing these numbers!"

Corrie and Mac:

Corrie and Mac continue to grow in their sweet relationship. They seem be enamored with each other and repulsed by each other at the same time. 

The are both in AWANA this year. A "Cubbie and a "Puggle!" So sweet.

One day I tried to get some rest. I put the kids on my bed and read my Bible while they colored. Mac quickly left the room and came back with his tool box. While Corrie colored, he "fixed" the book (hammering and drilling characters) with his various tools.

We went to Hobby Lobby and bought some materials to make necklaces. The kids have been loving it, and I have been trying to spend time crafting together with them more.

Instead of making necklaces, Corrie prefers sorting the beads and "decorating" with them. She uses the necklace string to "tangle" things up, and then she puts beads on top.

Both kids continue to demonstrate their pension for creating and using just about anything they can find around the house to "build" things. 

Mac made a "Star Wars ship" out of door stoppers and a keychain hook:

Corrie made me a birthday cake with hairbands and hair clips.

Mac got a nasty cut on his finger last week, and he showed me later that he created his own "bandaid." It was a ball of sticky, gooey, glue (the clear kind that is used to attach things like credit cards to paper when you get them in the mail) and a long string he pulled off of the afghan in the living room.

And here is Camo Dave. He was born in Front Royal, after all.

And lastly, the view from our front porch this Fall: