Saturday Work Day

This is how the girls get their laundry ready to wash.

Shelby is VERY helpful!

The girls love doing trash together!

They did a great job taking it out to the garage.

Shelby was great at pointing out spots for Hailey to vacuum.

Signs of Spring

Pussy Willows budding

Snow drops

Moss on the Ponderosa Pine

Running so fast your feet don't even touch the ground

Wind whistling

Muddy Boots

Finally being able to be free

Crocuses

Wind blowing through my open bedroom window

Remorse

This morning was a sad morning in the Wallace house with a major hour-long tempter tantrum by one of the kids who's old enough to know better. It made me late for teaching Sunday School this morning, and it resulted in time outs and early bedtime (for more than one night). That's like totally the worst ever! Only mean mommies do that.

This afternoon the child in question decided to write me a note while I was lying down with the other child, and she taped it to my wall above my desk. The note on top says "Oka, I love u faerer and er. (translated Ok, I love you forever and ever)" The note underneath is especially meaningful, because this morning while I was being screamed at she said she wanted a different mommy. The note underneath says "Du you wunt to be mi mom mom? Yes i wunt to be ya mom."

I guess some of what I said this morning got through to her. It was actually an interesting conversation on the way to church when she still wasn't convinced that she was ready to obey when I described all the ways that God tells us we have to obey and how God promises that if we don't obey we'll have a very hard life.


Yes, I want to be your mommy. . . . even when it's really, really hard.

The first wonderful day of the year

It's 60 degrees out today and it was 70 yesterday! We could hardly wait to wake up today to go play outside. Getting to be in warm air with the wind blowing through our hair makes us feel alive and kind of like we just woke up from a very long winter nap. We are happy!

These girls are such comedians. Shelby is especially getting to be really funny! I'm convinced that there are days that she thinks of doing or saying something that she knows will crack us up just to see us laugh.

This is a totally natural Shelby pose. Sometimes I catch her sitting like this eating her snack or reading a book. What a little priss!

I was doing a rapid fire posing session with Hailey, who loves to be photographed as if she is a fashion model. In the middle of that rapid fire posing session she popped off this pose and I started laughing so hard I could hard hold the camera still enough to take the shot.

Hailey wears her emotions on her shirtsleeve, so we usually have to wonder very little what she thinks about stuff. But sometimes I catch her in a pose like the next one where you feel like you can see into her soul and it's very, very deep that makes me think that God is doing some big things in her little heart. I can't wait to see what amazing things she ends up doing with her life.

Family Fun

After grocery shopping tonight Brian surprised us with a trip to our favorite Japanese steak house where they cook at your table.

Shelby patiently waiting for her special supper.

Yummy soup!

When you're waiting to eat great Japanese food it's important your hair is out of the way!

Hailey's totally cheesy grin.

Amuzing ourselves while waiting for the chef.

Testing settings on a good subject

Don't you love the cookie crumbs on her little cheek?

Oh Happy Day!

What a happy day when I finally feel like I am at last able to express myself again. I feel as if I've been mute for the last year or two while I haven't had a good camera. Well last year when I was unexpectedly paid for speaking two different places for counseling conferences / womens retreats I decided I was going to start saving up every penny until I could get a good digital camera. I was able to save $400 and Brian let me have $240 loan until my next speaking engagement and was able to find a sweet deal on an awesome camera. I found $729 Nikon D60 for $539. The very first photo I took was of my receipt. With the enormous $40 of taxes and the storage card I have a total of $3.27 left in my savings envelope. It's a great investment.

And finally. . . finally being able to express myself again. If the mom~ster and I hooked up we could write an amazing book. She can express herself so well in very few words and I can make sense of my world through the lense of a camera with a picture that speaks a million words. We'd make a million dollars!

My very first test subjects - naptime shots of my two favorite people in the whole world.