Church Steeple Contest Finalists

Wow, two postings in a row by Mark... that’s pretty scary.

We hope we’re not showing off our kids too much with this, but we are very excited and proud that both Ruthie and Lily have made it to the finals of the church's "New Church Steeples Contest for Kids".

As you probably already know, the church’s new chapels are being built with a new/different-shaped steeple. The church has invited all children around the world to send in their ideas for steeple shapes, the winner will be awarded $1,000 toward their mission fund and their winning steeple shape will be used in all future chapel buildings.

Unfortunately, Hyrum's submission was turned down, "Too short," they wrote back. "We want our new chapels' steeples to give a feeling of heaven-bound and upward gaze. While we appreciate your son’s submission, his short spiky hair looks like an upside down football cleat—definitely not the look we are searching for. So sorry, but keep growing that hair and resubmit." We hope Hyrum's birthday gift, Rogaine, will arrive by the 28th of August.

Anyone interested in submitting their own child's idea can go to http://www.steeples4kids.org/. It’s a great opportunity to enhance your child’s creativity, while supporting the construction of new chapels—and it leaves your child's hair smelling heavenly.

Hyrum's Frog

Written by

Hyrum and Daddy:

------
"There once was a frog
Who lived on a log."
-
"He got swept away
By a boy one day."
-
"Catch and release
was the phrase of the day."
-
"And within minutes
the frog hopped away."

Living in the South presents the wonderful opportunity to learn first-hand about many new and exciting varmints and creatures including lizards, toads, geckos, and snakes...but this week we experienced hyla cinerea, AKA "the green tree frog" and "Georgia's official state amphibian".

Tagged

Amanda tagged Hyrum and Ruthie. This was fun! I cut out the
"I don't knows" and the completely irrelevant responses; the edited version follows. If your kids haven't done this yet, please have them do it and either email me your answers or let me know so I can read your post.

1. What is something mom always says to you?
H: I love you
R: I love you
They were gracious to omit: “If you don’t put that toy away, I’m gonna throw it in the trash.” Not to mention all the other things I reserve the right not to publish.

2. What makes mom happy?
H: hugs (he says as he hugs me)
R: cleaning up with me
H: "Cleaning up with me," I’m gonna go with that, too.

3. What makes mom sad?
H: when she gets mad at us
R: when I hit mom

4. How does mom make you laugh?
R: play with me hide and seek

5. How old is your mom?
H: 35
R: 35?

6. How tall is your mom?
H: pretty tall
R: same tall as my brother

7. What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
H: You are making me think! Cook.
Not my favorite thing, but if someone else cleans up, then, yes, I like it.
R: read to me

8. What does your mom do when you’re not around?
H: I don’t know ‘cuz I’m not there.

9. What is your mom really good at?
H: cooking
R: playing with me

10. What is your mom not very good at?
H: hunting
Everyone else is Louisiana is, you see. And no, I’ve never tried it.

11. What does your mom do for a job?
H: take care of us
R: clean with us and help us

12. What is your mom's favorite food?
H: blueberry pie
Prefer apple. With ice cream.

13. What do you and your mom do together?
H: play
R: clean
Reading these answers might give you the false notion that I have a clean house.

14. How are you and your mom alike?
H: We like to read

15. How are you and your mom different?
H: Mama girl, Me boy

16. How do you know your mom loves you?
H: You give me hugs.
R: You give me hugs.

Guess Which Holiday . . .

You would never know this picture was taken in December at a Christmas parade. As Hyrum & Ruthie were rushing out the door, we realized they needed something to hold all their loot, and the jack-o-lanterns were handy. The hats were thrown from one of the floats. The snow in the picture below is fake, of course. It never snows in LA.

Something's Missing . . .

Hyrum was so excited to post this shot. Time to email the tooth fairy and put in a work order . . .

Celebrating With Friends

One of the blessings of living in Louisiana has been the chance to reconnect with old friends. Shortly after we found out we were coming here, someone told us that Dain and Staci Brooks were also being assigned to Fort Polk. We were so excited! We became friends with Dain and Staci in 1998 when Mark and Dain began med school together. Here's an old picture of both families at the Brooks' place in Reston, Virginia.
We have so enjoyed sharing Louisiana adventures with the Brooks fam. We wish them well as the Army moves them to San Antonio.

Here are some more pictures of our 4th of July celebrations . . .

Noelle, Ruthie, Hyrum and Eleise pause their
trampoline fun long enough to be photographed.Colette and Hyrum ride high on the swings.
The blurry line is the kitchen window blind. : )
Lily is going to try really hard to eat all these watermelonies.

Blueberries!

Blueberries are on in Louisiana.
We had lots of fun on our blueberry picking adventure.
And, yes, I know Lily needs her bangs trimmed. : )

We brought home almost three gallons of berries and have enjoyed blueberry cupcakes and muffins. While looking for a recipe for low-fat muffins, I found several that called for whole wheat flour. Sounds like we can use some of our FedEx wheat.

After the trip, Ruthie especially enjoyed reading Jamberry. Thanks to Heather Martinez for giving us this book when Hyrum was born. We loved reading it in Washington after picking strawberries and blueberries. Now we need to find some raspberries . . .