Happy Birthday, Harper Lee!!!!

We really outdid ourselves this year. For Harper Lee's birthday we planned a nice little snow storm!

I just took these pictures about a half an hour ago, and already the ground has changed dramatically. Everything is covered in white now. I will definitely post more pictures later today. I love the picture of Harper Lee tasting the snow. The best part is that it wasn't staged at all -- just pure joy on her face at finally seeing snow!

Happy Birthday, baby girl! You are so old that we didn't even have digital cameras when you were born, so I don't have any pictures I can post of the day you were born :).

For Those of You Playing Along at Home . . .

The Soileau home renovations took two steps forward and one step back this week. I don't have pictures of the repaired fence, but I will soon. Jeremy is almost done with it and it looks spectacular! I am SOOOOO excited!

The project that I posted about a while back that I thought would be simple but has turned out to be quite the headache for Jeremy was the stairs. We have had many setbacks on this one, including Jeremy having to pull down all the sheet rock surrounding the stairs and put up crown molding. Now, you might be tempted to think that after we painstakingly selected the perfect red for the stairs, and got the expert advice of the helpful guys at Benjamin Moore, and Jeremy primed the stairs according to direction, and Jeremy painted the stairs Friday afternoon, and the entire family camped out downstairs all weekend, and one coat of paint covered the stairs perfectly, that we are just about to say we are done with this particular project. But, if you thought that, you would be leaving out one simple thing: oil-based paint on stairs is about the slickest surface you could think of! When we walked on the stairs for the first time last night, we found out very quickly that they were not for the faint of heart. Trust me, if you hit the first step in sock feet and you would find yourself in a world of hurt. So, for poor Jeremy, this project goes on. He has to add a floor additive to the paint and . . . paint them again!!! Sorry, sweetheart. Thanks for all you do - you are the best!

Play-doh Factory

Jeremy and I despise Play-doh. Actually, we have good reason to despise it. We have a really bad track record with the stuff. It has been ground into our carpets and our girls' clothes many times. Anyway, my mom had mercy on her grandchildren and bought a big set for them to play with at her house. These are just a few pics of Olivia and her cousin Matthew playing on Sunday.

Spotted at Leeds Elementary School

I am sailing out to Jupiter to see the big red storm.


I just love that. Is it just me or is this anonymous kid a poet in the making?

Plagiarized Blog Entry

I was going to re-write the story of this picture, but then I thought, "Hey, my sister sent me this photo, and she worded the story behind it so well, why not rip the whole thing off instead of just the pic?"

So, here you are . . .



"My little brother, William, has a "friend"(right now, this is all he refers to her as) that taught him how to knit. He didn't have any knitting needles so he found some scrap dowels in Dad's workshop and used Dad's grinder to make him to knitting needles. He then took his money and went to our local craft store and bought yarn. He knitted Harper Lee, Olivia, Avery, and me each a scarf for Christmas. I had no idea. He somehow managed to do all of this without me knowing and I was so surprised on Christmas when I opened the present from him that he even wrapped himself. He even made each of the scarves size appropriate with Avery's being no more then 2 feet long. I have attached a picture of all of us with our scarves. It's a little dark... sorry, but I think you can at least see some of them. He used this fury yarn material and so I think they kind of resemble caterpillars. Anyway, I love it. One of my most favorite Christmas presents to date."

I do have to add to Jana's story that William also got me my favorite Christmas present this year. He found an edition of Many Waters by Madeline L'Engle that I had been looking for, but had been unable to find. What made it such a cool gift was that it wasn't even on my list. He just heard me talking about it and took it upon himself to find. Really I think my favorite present last year, too, was from William - a book light that, again, I hadn't thought to ask for, and yet I have used innumerable times. The funny thing is, we always tease him about being spoiled because he is so much younger than the rest of us siblings, but he is the sweetest little brother imaginable. Thanks for being such an awesome guy, William. I am so proud of how you are growing up.


(yes, his shirt does read "I fart in your general direction." I said growing up, not grown up.

My Girls

I began to trust the world again, not to give me what I wanted, for I saw that it could not be trusted to do that, but to give unforeseen goods and pleasures that I had not thought to want.
----------- from Wendell Berry's Hannah Coulter