Another House Update

Yesterday my sister and my mom took the girls to look for dresses for the girls to wear to Jana's wedding. Jeremy and I had a hard time deciding what project on our to-do list would be the best one to work on during our "kid-free" time. We finally decided to cut a hole in the living room wall just to see if it would be possible to remove the fireplace wall sheet rock and leave it the tongue and groove board exposed. We were afraid there might have been too much repair to be done for this to work. We were going to move on to some outside work after that, but we should have known, once you start something like that, you just have to finish it. (Or, rather, your husband has to finish it.) :)









I was really excited about the results. Jeremy was, too, and especially excited that there is zero repair work to be done. Now, all "we" have to do is remove the remnants of wallpaper and decide whether or not "we" want to paint it!

Storm Victims

I have started calling myself a storm victim, partially as a joke, but also because I have been overwhelmed with the number of friends and family who have offered to help us after we were affected by a "small" tornado in the wee hours of last Tuesday morning.

I am so thankful for God's protection. I don't think I have ever realized so clearly that I have zero control over most of what happens to me and my family. Sometimes it's easy for me to convince myself that I am the one in charge of my life and that I can protect the girls from danger. The tornado was definitely a loud and clear reminder that I am not the one in control!!! The fact that God saw fit to bring us through the storm with relatively little damage to our home and no injuries was definite cause to stop and give thanks. Now that I say that, it sounds like an understatement. I don't know how else to put it, though. We truly are thankful for God's mercy. In fact, that's really all I could think about during the storm, was to ask God for mercy. And, I am so thankful that He chose to answer that prayer.

I think most of you have seen our pictures, but just in case you haven't, here are a few. (I also added a few new pictures.)

The Soileaus' Excellent Adventure

Karen's post the a while back reminded me that I had promised myself last spring that we would try our hand at letterboxing with the girls. If you are unfamiliar with this hobby, basically you find clues on the internet to boxes hidden in your area with a stamp and booklet inside. You find the box and stamp the hidden stamp in your book and stamp your personal stamp in the booklet in the box. I don't know if that explanation made sense, but at any rate, we decided to give it a try today. We took the girls to Michael's and let them pick out the stamp they liked the best and I bought them each a notebook to record their finds. And, it actually turned out to be more fun than we thought it was going to be. We found one box and the girls, especially Harper Lee, were really excited by the idea of it being a secret that not everyone knew was there.

We decided to try right away to find another box, but as often happens with two girls ages 8 and 5, the situation quickly deteriorated and we decided to head home. BUT, we had a blast and we will definitely try it again as soon as weather and schedule permit!

Dance All Night

My name is Christa, and I am addicted to DDR (otherwise known as Dance Dance Revolution).

I was looking for a fun way to get exercise and I found it! This game is SO much fun. We have a blast as a family playing together. Come on over and we can challenge you to dance-off! (har, har) Here is a sample of Liv's moves. I will post some of Harper's soon. Their "styles" are completely different. I will even try to sneak and post some of Jeremy's dancing skills, but I wil NEVER, NEVER post any of my dancing, so don't ask!!!

Wisdom from Harper and Liv-o

We have had a lot going on lately. Mostly, we have been sick. But, sprinkled in amongst all the snot and sick days there have been some really funny and sweet moments.

Liv came up with a new swear word. She likes to exclaim "Holy Mercy!" when she is impressed with something.

I often think that stories about Harper Lee are lost in translation because her facial expressions are so hard to explain. The first night that we had the Wii game "Dance Dance Revolution" in our house (much, much more on that later) the narrating voice all the game sang out "dance all night," and Harper said almost reverently, "I sure wish I could." Liv, on the other hand, gets extremely, and I do mean, extremely, irate at the narrator for insulting her and especially her dad's dancing ability. She screams at Jeremy, "He doesn't even know you!! He doesn't know anything about you!"

The other day Liv was sitting in the living room and told Jeremy, "The living room looks different." And then, in a voice of wonder, "It's clean or something."

Harper made us an "anivshery" card. She illustrated the poem, "Jeremy and Christa, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." She "mailed" it to us by putting it in the mailbox.

Liv expressed our desire for spring the other day when she found some scraggly dandelions in the yard. She picked them and exclaimed, "Welcome to the earth!"

Wiily Tired

Have you ever asked yourself what would a kid look like who checked out of school sick with a bad cold, was begged by her father to take a nap, but kept insisting she wanted to play Wii and that she was NOT tired and did not need a nap? A little something like this . . .







Don't worry, she's alive, I promise. :)

Harper's Birthday

It's been weeks since Harper Lee's birthday and I still haven't had her "real" party. In the meantime, here is a video of her opening her present from Jeremy's parents at the bowling alley when we got together when my family.