handsful

our resident duck whisperer strikes again.

Two homeschool moms in our area must love to dance, because they’ve devoted a lot of their time to arrange fun dances for homeschooled kids in our area.  Abbey has enjoyed two of these so far, and tonight was Marley, Payton, and Ethan’s turn.  The Cherry Blossom Ball is their first dance.  They were excited, but a bit nervous too.  Randy is out picking them up right now.  I can’t wait to hear how it went!

Don’t they look nice?!  And, so grown up.

** Update:  They had a BLAST.  Marley’s comment:  “When is the next one?!?”  And, our boys were two of only FOUR boys.  They quickly realized that being nearly the only boys in a whole room full of girls isn’t such a bad thing ;)

While walking through our little downtown around Christmas time last year, we found out the the local artist’s guild was having a youth art exhibit in March.  Three of our kids decided to get artsy and turn a project in.  Lainey and Dylan weren’t quite old enough, and Ethan…well, he told me when he was 4 that he hated arts and crafts at preschool.  That’s not changed.

Last night was the reception for the artists.

Abbey poses with the beautiful photo she took of a flower in our yard last spring.  A bee is contentedly drinking right on top.

Marley decided to do a colored pencil drawing of her latest passion…birds.  Specifically, a blue crowned conure.

Payton is our cartoonist and he’s good (if we do say so ourselves).  His favorite character is “Harry the Stick Dude” and here he’s drawn Harry in 9 of his favorite personas.   I like the gangster one the best.

Our kids didn’t win any ribbons, but it’s okay.  They got to see some amazing art by other kids like them and hopefully it will inspire them to keep creating, if they so choose.  We’re glad they wanted to have the experience, and we loved seeing their art on display!

I was able to take Marley to her horse riding lesson the other day and actually STAY to watch.  That, unfortunately, rarely happens.  It’s a busy, and sometimes overwhelming, season for me – but that might be another post.  Anyway, I got some great shots of Marley and her God-given love…

Marley’s first task is to go get Jack from the pasture and bring him into the barn. 

The dirty work.  Horses are high maintenance!

Stool, please. 

I think Jack loves her, too.

Like the title? I spent seconds coming up with it.

So, our kids are really enjoying our new church. The mid-week youth program is called NextGen – next generation. It involves a time of awesome praise music with a jr/sr high band – then some group time with one of the pastors – and, then they usually split up into same gender/grade groups for some group time with a leader.

Another facet of the youth program is called Go M.A.D. Stands for Go Make A Difference, and it consists of ministry teams like photography, worship, art, etc. These teams work together to serve the church and/or the community, using their God-given talents and gifts.

Payton is on the art ministry team. Their leader gives them a theme each week, and they draw something to fit that theme…the pictures are displayed during NextGen on Wednesday nights.

Abbey took this picture of him presenting his drawing to the team (she’s on the photography team, and part of her responsbility is to document the other team’s activities with pictures).

Ethan is on the worship team, and will be paired with a more seasoned guitar player until the time comes when he can join in. He can’t wait.

The theme this week was “everlasting worship” – meaning we can worship God in everything we do. Payton came up with this…

He’s the player helping his opponent up…having a good attitude in sports is a hard thing to do, but when you do, God wins. I loved it, and was very proud of his creation.

One activity that Ethan and Marley have really gotten into since we moved onto the lake is fishing – they love it. Marley was very happy that she caught this big catfish this week! The catfish was less than thrilled…but, he got to re-join his catfish friends soon after this shot was taken.

Now, the cookies…Payton promised Lainey that they could make something the other day and thankfully I had an easy cookie mix in the pantry. With only a little help from me in the stirring department, they did it all themselves.

Lainey, learning the ever-crucial part of making peanut butter cookies. The criss-cross. Check out that technique!

The first bite – success! And, since Marley won’t go near a peanut butter cookie (can you imagine NOT liking peanut butter?!?), we had lots to go around. In fact, I think there are still a few in the kitchen.

Time to wrap this post up, mama needs a cookie.

Marley was in the mood for something different…here’s the BEFORE.

She wanted long bangs, and had deeper layers cut in back. She loves it! Makes her look too mature, don’t you think? She’s getting WAY to close to the teenage years for me!

Marley, Payton, and Ethan…my preemie triplets who each weighed in around 3 1/2lbs…are now 12 years old.  Officially pre-teens – 1 year till teenagers – 4 years from driving.  (yikes)

Their birthday was actually fairly laid back…as pretty much all of our summer days have been.  They slept in, and then requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Well, I had none in the fridge and didn’t have all the ingredients for homemade.  I did have a roll of biscuit dough, so after some imagination on my part, I presented them with cinnamon rolls.  They were good, if I do say so.

That night, they opened Abbey’s presents to them.

purple and pink camo sleeping bag

always suspicious of his sister, he’s listening for ticking.  Or, breathing.  Turns out it was an Xbox game.

Earlier in the week, Marley found just the comforter she’d been looking for, so that became her birthday present from us.  The boys were wishy-washy about what they wanted until it was too late.  We think we’ve hit on a couple of things, so we’ll do some internet surfing.

Then, we headed out to dinner…

Yummy dinner, followed by the usual birthday ice cream.  This time, there were no birthday singers – we were fine with that!

Now that they are 12, I decided to do a “who they are now” kind of post.  Listing things that really define them.  Afterall, I’m seeing glimpses of them as young adults these days (gulp), and I want to remember this season in their lives.

Marley –

Loves all things horses – dreams of owning her own horse farm with lots of other animals scattered about.

Hates all things related to thunder storms.  And splinters.  And peanut butter.

Loves to read – chapter books about animals are favorites.  Currently reading The Percy Jackson series.

Prefers to wear double-layered tank tops and jeans.  Isn’t fond of anything remotely “cute”.

She’s creative – loves to draw, color, cook, and write stories.

Loves to make other people happy, but can still flash a mean temper.

Payton –

Loves his brother intensely…can be just as intensely mad at him, too.

Hates injustice, soda, and wearing anything other than his favorite black shorts.

Orders lemonade at every restaurant.  Everytime.

Has a gift in drawing, especially cartooning.  Which fits his personality perfectly.

Little kids are drawn to him, and he loves that.

Prefers friends to call him “Tater”, and has a knack of making us laugh.

Ethan –

Hates reading, talking on the phone, and hearing his baby sister cry.

Loves soda, sugary cereal, and junk food.  Too much.

Has decided that baseball is not his thing.

Has decided that guitar is his thing, and he does it very well.   That and video games.

Always has arms full of silly bands and a rope anklet on his ankle.

Is a bit of a daredevil and loves a thrill.  Skateboarding, wakeboarding, skiing, roller-coasters…you name it.

I couldn’t be prouder of my triplets…who they are now, and who they are becoming.  Happy 12th M, P, and E!