Josie and I

So, lately people have been asking me who Josie looks like. I have never thought she looked that much like me, but maybe she is starting to more (?) because a lady told me the other day that J and I looked exactly alike. Then, Seth's teacher told me that she thought it was so cute how Seth and Josie have the same exact face but much different hair color...and Seth looks JUST like my brother did as a kid. My mom has seen similarities b/t J and I, but she thinks J looks a lot like Nile's sisters. Anyway, I was organizing the other day and found a bunch of baby pics of myself and it was kind of fun to compare:) I think Josie is a good mix of everyone, which works out well since Gabe is COMPLETELY Nile (I seriously have had people say, "He must look like his dad" when it is just Gabe and I out together) and Seth looks more like my side of the family. Sometime I'll put on some pics of Nile as a kid to show how much Gabe resembles him. I am the chubby one in the blue dress, by the way.

Just wanted to show her chunky arms that resemble my chunky

arms in the above pics.

Persections?

Yesterday on the way home from church, Josie was talking about what costume she wanted to wear. She said she wanted to be a bunny again, but that it was too small for her now. Then she said, "I have two persections. We could give Cayla my bunny costume or we could give her my snow princess costume! Is that a great idea?" I think she meant she had two suggestions, not persections:) After that, she went on to tell Seth (who didn't want to go to Walmart with the rest of us) , "You have two choices, Sethy. You can come in with us and be joyful or you can stay in the van all by yourself". I promise I don't offer the latter one as a choice, but thought it was funny she said it. Still had to talk about worrying about yourself and not others, and the fact that she is not the parent, though. She loves to get involved in her brothers' business:)

Botanical Garden...God's Glory Displayed

This Saturday we went to the Botanical Garden and it was magnificent. My favorite was the Japenese Garden, as was Nile's. The kids loved the Childrens' Garden, which had treehouses, a big slide, rope climbing stuff, rock climbing, forts, an old boat, etc. They also loved feeding the fish, so you will see a pic of loads of fish with big open mouths. Gabe liked the maze, and if you look closely, you can see him in the maze picture. Sorry in advance for the ENORMOUS amount of pictures on this post, but I just couldn't leave many out-everything was so beautiful. Feel free to just scroll down quickly and not look at every single picture:) It did our hearts good (Nile and I especially) to be in the midst of God's glorious creation. Seminary is difficult and stretching in many ways-well, more so for Nile, but also for me:)-and it was a much needed boost for us. Our God is so good!

Above: Our first picture of the day
Below: Our last picture of the day

Seth's Kindergarten Field Trip

Josie and I were able to go on Seth's field trip to a pumpkin farm on Wednesday. It was really fun, and especially fun to meet Seth's friends and see him interact with them. One highlight...during snack time, S was sitting at a table with about 6 other boys in his class, and Josie wanted to sit by him. When she went to join him, one boy started saying, "No girls allowed" and then started chanting, "Boy table, boy table!" All the other boys except S joined in, and poor Josie was heartbroken. I picked her up and sat her by S anyway, thinking they would stop. Instead, they all left the table (except Seth), and found a new table. Seth was torn, not knowing what he should do, so I told him this was his special day with his class and that he could go sit with his friends and I would keep Josie with me. He started to go over to them, then changed his mind and came back to sit with Josie. She was very thankful, and I seriously think she has been nicer to S ever since Wednesday. Thankfully, another little guy in Seth's class who also had a little sister with him, wanted to sit with us at the cool table:) I wouldn't have minded a bit if Seth had wanted to sit with his friends, but I sure thought it was sweet that he was looking out for his little sister.


Mrs. Williams' kindergarten class, 2009

Not good of Seth, but I wanted to show how tall

he looks. I didn't realize it until I saw him with the

rest of his class.

The famous Seth pose, right before I snapped, as usual

A little fort at the pumpkin farm

Playing on an old fire truck

We thought Papa Tim might like the old-fashioned

truck.