Saturday.

Check out that sweet canoe rack.....

This is her daddy's expression all the way.....
Ummm, no, not that one, though. :)Gravel has never ceased to lose its amazement for this girl....at least she stopped eating it.

Birthday donuts with my favorite girl.

Her letter!

We've been casually working with Quinn on writing her letter whenever she is interested. Matt had her sign her name on my birthday card and she did THIS all by herself! He said she wanted to write some more, but he took the marker away cause he knew she'd scribble all over it. :) I was so proud when I opened my birthday card yesterday and saw my girl had signed it herself! So sweet! This will be one card I'll keep forever!

from her mouth today......

Q was coloring with a big bowl of crayons in the studio while I was sewing. She brought over a crayon with no paper on it. "This crayon isn't dressed. It's a NAKEY crayon."

We were getting ready for church in my bathroom. She grabbed her toothbrush in her hand and said, "I'm taking this and going to i-oming."

Sunshine makes us happy!

Buh-bye cabin fever!

The remedy? Raincoat and boots!

Who needs a desk when you have a dog?

"On top of ole Alie,
All covered in orange pen...
She stayed very still
for some writing by Quinnnnnnn."

Quinnisms, of late

From the backseat of the truck: "I'm picking my nose back here."

While wrapping a piece of ribbon around her neck during church: "I'm making a bracelet for my neck."

In the car: (on two separate occasions....): "Mommy, did Jesus die on the cross for Baby Kai?" "Did Jesus die on the cross for Lindsey?"

When Matt and I were putting her to bed one night, in the sweetest little voice: "Daddy, I want to rip your ears off."

Our girl's first gecko

She held him gently and even let him go after a while with no fit! She wasn't too upset when he bit onto my finger and wouldn't let go. She's a keeper, this crawly-thing-holdin' kid of ours!

Some tumbling lessons from Grandbob.....

Our monkey is working on her sommersault skills!

Time to read the Bible, babies!

We've had glimpses of some substantial 15-20 minute slots of Quinn playing independently. I am trying not to get too excited yet, but to be honest, I don't miss my constant shadow for a little while every day. Today she set all her babies up in the living room (with lots of bossy commands) and then read the "Bible" (actually my little notebook) and sang Jesus Loves the Little Children to them. Then they went to Chick-fil-a in the kitchen. :)

The best part of cold winter nights?

Cuddling on the couch! Those are my legs under everyone!

Sometimes I feel like our house is being overtaken by two-covered, many-paged monsters!

But sweet moments like this make it all worth the stashes of books she keeps IN EVERY ROOM of our house.

Last week's accomplishments:

*FINALLY mastered climbing the ABC ramp by herself. Been working on that one for months!
*Might outweigh the dog? She puts up a pretty good fight at her end of the leash and Alie's having more trouble dragging her around.
*Found the biggest leaf we've ever owned before!
*Actually played on her own for 20 or so minutes at the park so Momma could get a good chunk of her Bible Study done...NICE!

Canoe Day

Canoe Day at Huntsville SP Saturday:
Daddy is the canoe-hauling hoss!

A playground all to ourselves:

Nature: spiders and squirrels

We voted it the perfect day.....still water, turtles, fish, birds, sunshine, snacks...

Click any collage for full-size.

We miss you, Oma!

Wow, Momma's having to step up her book reading without you here to supplement! She arrives at our bedroom each morning when she wakes up with her stack of pre-breakfast books....know you miss that. :)