Madeline the Secretary

Mr. Garfield, the superintendent at Logos, told me that last Friday, he walked into the main office at Logos, and instead of finding my mom there, he saw Madeline sitting at the desk, completely unattended. For the past couple years, Ashlynn has occasionally filled in for my mom at the desk at Logos, but he definitely felt like this was going to far. He was about to ask Madeline where her Nana was, when Madeline handed him the phone and said, "It's for you."

Apparently, Madeline was sitting at the desk while Mom ran out for a minute. When the phone rang, she did what any reasonable person would have done. According to Madeline, this is how that conversation went:

"Hello, this is Madeline."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I must have the wrong number. I was calling Logos."

"This is Logos."

"Oh... Can I talk to Mr. Garfield?"

"Sure. Hold on."

Fortunately, Mr. Garfield walked in at that moment, and she dutifully passed the woman on. I told Madeline that I appreciated her willingness to help out, but that she probably shouldn't make a habit of answering the phone at places outside our home.

Playing Hard

Learning to play is a lot of fun, but very tiring when you are just learning to use your hands. Fiona conked out at her playing.


Rainy days means a lot of playing games together inside.

Madeline is encouraging dress up with her little sister. Fiona just wanted to eat it, but Madeline still approved at Fiona's progress toward being her new playmate.

Windows!!

I never thought I would be so amazed at what new windows can do for a house. Uncle Rex and his company put them in and did a wonderful job. I just can't stop staring at them. I am considering rearranging furniture so that I can just sit on the couch and look at it.

A New Yard

We got some free sod!! So, our garden removal project has moved up on the list of things to do. Now we have a much bigger yard!

And the finished project. Thankfully, it is still alive 2 weeks later!

Little Lamb

Perhaps the best use of Lamb's Ear that I have seen in a long time. She is all ready for Halloween!

Fiona Grace and Tovia Ann together with Aunt Jenny. Fiona still wins the race in weight gain, but Tovia is not too far behind. I am sure they won't be competing for weight gain all their lives.

A Night at the Fair

Deacon's New Look

In the midst of a normal Saturday full of work, Deacon acquired this shiner. Nothing too interesting, just Deacon and the rototiller.

Fiona's Progress

Helping daddy with some late night work! Already a big helper.

Fiona fell asleep on Grandad's shoulder at the Church picnic.He's still got the touch!

Fiona is 3 1/2 months. She is about 15 lbs. and the smallest of the James kids at 3 1/2 months. She likes her mobile. She is interested in toys. I think her favorite color is red. She laughs at tickles and when looking at her own feet. She takes two 3+ hour naps a day and cat naps in between. She loves her big brother and sister. The things that Fiona loves the most in her life are her chewy and her thumb (I'm pretty sure I fit in there somewhere too).

Fiona's First Pretties

Well I did it. I got Fiona's ears pierced. Deacon and I had decided a few years back that if we had another girl we would get her some earrings as an infant. I am sure some people would object and others just wouldn't do it to their own daughter that young. I had my ears pierced at three and so did Madeline. Here on the second day, I would say it is much easier when they are babies and pretty darn cute.

Raging Disease

On Friday I ran from destination to destination of both obligations and unexpected events. Sometimes I feel like I am spinning! One of the unexpected was a trip to see Dr. Grauke. I thought Ivan might have chicken pox, but it ended up being Impetigo. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about this that might help us. I have since learned that, "It is very contagious, " is somewhat of an understatement. I immediately instituted a DON'T TOUCH THE BABY rule. Shortly after that it had to change to DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING rule. Madeline showed up with four spots that mostly went away after 2 antibiotic treatments and Fiona Grace has two spots. Unfortunately for her, one on her face and one on her thumb-sucking hand. So...the baby is wearing little baby mittens and searching for alternatives to thumb sucking (like mitten covered fist sucking). Bodies are completely covered and we are doing the rotating of antibacterial baths and benedryl with 5 doses of antibiotic in between to the older kids. I tend to be overboard in the area of germs, so I am not sure how this snuck in, but I think it is on its way out again. Thank the Lord for doctors, washers, and bleach.

Ivan is the most cheerful sick kid in the world and pretty much refuses to be told he is sick. Notice his gloved hand. I like to call him the Rogue Master. He just wishes he were called Spiderman.

We all stayed home from church this morning. To make the atmosphere cheery we had Madeline make some special Menus. We had a 4-course breakfast including carrot-apple juice, fruit platter, fancy eggs and sausage, blueberry scones and tea or coffee. Deacon and I cooked together, which is always fun to me. He is the better breakfast cook (he made some awesome scones). After breakfast, we read some Narnia and headed back to bed. Even sick days can be good times to remember.

The Only Critter Left

Deacon's project lately has been to demolish the massive overgrown gardens in our yard. It started as my ambition, but ended quickly. I quit! I am not a fan of spiders, but have learned to breathe a little less heavy at their sight and put them in their place since I have little ones watching. However, I have not mastered the self composure that I would like to have someday at thousands of spiders. That is literally what we had in our yard. To add to the problem, they were Hobo Spiders that were mating. I am happy to say that my wonderful husband relieved me of this bother and has removed all of their homes, poisoned them to oblivion, and then fogged the crawl space and garage just to catch any stragglers. I think it is safe to say that we are well on our way to starting over in the area of gardens. There is little place to hide now in our dirt. We did find one little critter left.

If you look to the left of Deacon, you will notice no plants. Hallelujah! By the way, Ivan was not really as scared as he looks. He even touched it.

A Transformed Hallway

Here is an update on how things are moving along in the house. I never thought I could stare down a hallway in such delight. All the white paint makes me so happy.

The Biggest Show

For Labor day we trucked the kiddos up to St. Maries to see the biggest and best fireworks show ever. Deacon's uncle Russ is the one that heads up the show, so we always hear just how much bigger it will be every year. Last year we drove the hour and a half trip to the fair and arrived just before the fireworks. We ended up staying about 1 minute into the show. The kids lost it. This year, we prepared and had a fantastic time. We cuddled under some blankets with bellies full of funnel cake and greasy fries. I guess that is what the fair is all about. Somehow, Madeline and Ivan convinced Uncle Skyler to get them glow necklaces and even a snow cone. This year was a good memory!