Big Day For Emma!

Emma got her ears pierced today!

Here she is very carefully choosing her first earrings:Decisions like these take alot of time, but she finally settled on her birthstone:

Emma goofed around while I signed a waiver acknowledging that her ears might fall off - and if they should fall off, I am not to hold the store responsible.

She is still blissfully unaware that we're watching her ears for signs of coming loose:Now that she's in the chair, I think the nerves are setting in:

Gulp:
They pierce both ears at the same time now - everyone but me probably already knew that.

One . . . Two . . . Three!

She didn't cry, but her sweet little face turned bright red and I could tell she was fighting off the tears with a mighty effort. Right after it was done, one of the girls asked Emma if she wanted to see them.

Emma's response was "NO!" She then collected herself and explained, "That hurt alot more than I thought it would", and accepted a mirror after all. I think she was happy with the result:

She looks like such a big girl:

I got a little teary watching my daughter go through this little rite of passage. I know that might seem silly! I was about her age when my Mom took me to get my ears pierced, and I remember well the excitement and the nerves and how I couldn't stop examining my new earrings in the mirror all day long.

Hannah is now, of course, begging to get her ears pierced. I told her we'd talk about it again in about three years.

~ Jen

Hiking With Daddy

Wild Child:

This is Emma's new best friend, Pepper - he enjoyed the hike too:

Eli's New Picture Face (Ugh):

Hannah Gets Centered:

New Camera!

Hey Strangers!
Sorry it's been so long since my last update! Joel has been setting up our new computer all week, and this is the first time I've actually been able to pawn the puppy off on him and blog a little. Maggie is growing like a weed and finally housebroken and sleeping through the night!
Good dog Maggie!
We are also the very proud owners of a brand new camera, which we are super excited about. I actually haven't taken any pictures with it yet (again, puppy training is much more time consuming than I remembered), but Joel's having a ball playing with it. I think he's discovered his inner artiste. Here are some of the first photos with the new camera - they haven't been touched up yet so you're not seeing them at their best, but they are still so much better than what our old camera could capture:

Josh racing to get to the front seat first after school. I'll bet Emma is close behind yelling things like "No Fair!", and "Stop Josh!" - he doesn't look a bit remorseful, does he?:Eli is working very hard to become the world's least photogenic person. This picture was much better than his usual picture face, so this is the one and only photo of him in this update. I'm going to have to find a way to bribe him:
Josh and his number one lady, Jane. These two are so cute together, she goes berserk whenever he walks into a room:

Maggie, keeping watch over her puppy food and dreaming of kibble:

Hannah just being silly!

I love this one, she looks like someone just tried to explain algebra to her. Actually, I guess it's more accurate to say this is the face I make when someone tries to explain it to me:These shots of Emma are so sweet, I think they'll be lovely when we lighten them up a bit:

Joel was directing Emma, trying to get her to lift her hair out of her face and pose. She said, "What do you think this is? A fashion show?"

You didn't really think you were getting out of here without another dog picture, did you?? If so, you must be very new to this blog. This is how Rugby looks at me when I'm blowing bubbles with my gum. I wonder what he thinks is happening?

My Sister, The Celebrity

I just had to share this -

Today while picking up Hannah from school, one of the other kindergarten Mommies told me that after following a link to my blog and seeing photos of me, she realized she's been following my sister's blog for quite some time now!
Jen, you are so cool that even people in MY life know you before they know me, lol!
Seriously though, I think one of the things that is so awesome about the blogger world is having the opportunity to connect with people walking a similar road, or people praying over our families through our joys and struggles - even while we are unaware they are doing so. I know it warms my heart to think that as my sister was in China, someone here in Colorado Springs was praying for her. And I am very thankful for all of the people I've "met" via blogland that I would otherwise never have had the opportunity to know.
So - Joel and all of you other confused husbands out there, that's why we blog.

~ Jen
(Must now rescue howling Maggie from her crate . . . Oy.)

Maggie Mae

Maggie Mae

"Don't wake up, Maggie, cause we got nothin' to say to you . . . "

Joel's rendition of the classic Rod Stewart song, which he sang to her last night before bed.

No, it didn't work - she still had something to say. Sleeping at night isn't really her thing.

Yawn.

Honestly, I'd forgotten how much work a puppy this young is! We got Chili and Rugby when they were about 13 weeks old, and mostly housebroken. Running her outside every half hour and several times at night is really kicking my can! Ah well, it's all worth it in the end. And the truth is, she has me completely smitten with her sweet eyes, and all of other puptastic things.

Of course, I know she'll look much cuter with a full night's sleep behind me - somewhere in the next month or so!