I just looked at the calender and realized I have less than four whole weeks left of having my Jillian girl at home! It definitely made me want to cry. I will miss having her here all day with Peter, Lucy and I. She has been so helpful lately and I love to see her little beaming smile when she makes a right choice. Several times I have overheard her trying to help Peter make a good choice to obey as well. "See, Peter, you have to listen, and do the jobs mom asks you to do, like this," etc. Sometimes he follows suit and sometimes he is bugged but always he is observing. I pray that on this journey she will find friends who will help her make more good choices.

Kevin signed us up for the St. Jude's Marathon today! Wish us luck! I think I always felt this goal looming but wanted it to stay in the future as a far-off-in-the-distance-type goal. Then Kevin talked to a friend who does super marathons, you know, 50 and 100 milers! He was inspired and caught the bug! His current work schedule has made it a little bit easier for him to exercise as well. When he proposed it to me, I got excited because I have been thinking that if I were ever to do a marathon, I would want it to be together with him. This time when people ask me, as they pass me during the race:), "are you running the half or the full?" I can answer strong "Full!" And, yes, I hope to get one of those 26.2 stickers, even if I only run one in my life!

Lucy is now a crawler! She is in love with exploring and can play on the floor, if I'm nearby, by "herself" for quite a while. She's pretty cautious and pretty quick at the same time. She reminds me of when Ariel gets her legs in The Little Mermaid. (can you tell I have little kids?) I can see her little mind concentrating on each move forward as she tucks her legs beneath her. Then she'll see something she wants and take off for it.

She is also quick to laugh. Today she was in the high chair while I was making some cookies for book club. She was crying for several minutes as she waited for me to finish mixing in the last few ingredients and come give her some more bread. I think I made a sudden move that startled her and all of a sudden, she started to belly laugh. I did it again and she laughed more. We kept at it for a while and she remained in high spirits after that, even though I wasn't able to grab her from the high chair right away. I was impressed that she went from so sad to so happy so suddenly. It really almost seemed like a choice, even though that would logically be a thought much too advanced for one so little. I tell ya, the sparkle in those eyes! If she could just verbalize how it feels to be so childlike! What must it feel like to take everything at face value, with no hard feelings, no guile, so humble, meek and forgiving?! So unable to hold a grudge. So curious and excited for each new thing she encounters! I want to be like that! And in that realization comes the thought that this is just one more reason why God's design of families is so perfect! Once we reach adulthood and start to think we've got things figured out, we get to turn around and "teach" our children, through which very humbling experience we learn again that we really know nothing!

Proof we live in the Amazon Rainforest

Okay, so that's maybe a little dramatic but we have some of the biggest, craziest bugs (and other creatures) here. This one was way bigger than humming birds that have gotten trapped in our garage before. This Luna moth was also found in our garage. We weren't sure if it was alive because it stayed in the same spot for at least 48 hours but then I guess it just decided it was time to move on with its life. It's pretty, really. If I have to have a moth that size in my garage, at least it was beautiful. We live in a neighbborhood but we have woods behind us and a retention pond across from us so we often find bright green frogs on our front windows and door. We also have lots of skinks, birds, and snakes, which is a story for another day. Oh, and we just caught a mouse in our garage. Just keeping things interesting I guess!

And how about this villianous spider? I was totally freaked out when I found this! (the picture really doesn't do it justice) Luckily all three kids were sleeping when I found this, also in the garage, so I could dispose of it without worrying about it jumping on them.

Lucy Lou and I having a grand old time swimming at Grandma's house!

I'm trying to recall where the other kids were, as no one is loving on Lucy and she was able to sit up unencumbered for quite a while. I love those quiet one-on-one moments I occasionally get with each of the children.

Busy, busy Boy!

Jillian and Grandma at one of Jill's favorite sections at the children's museum- the fashion center where you can design your own outfits for paper dolls. She also loved the letter writing center and would always come home with lots of notes, signed sealed and ready to deliver!

YUCK, Peas!