Wordless Wednesday: The one in which Bono turns bird watching in an Olympic event

Bono spotted some birds in the tree just over our neighbor's fence...

One year old Bono the Bouvier

I think they spotted him, too, and were teasing him

...not that he minded.

Photos are from April 2013.

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday

It's not so much an identity crisis as an identity carnival

Grace has a healthy imagination.  She has, at one time or another, pretended to be a grandmother, a dog named Sweet Dog (and, since then, Baby), a bride, a lion, a princess, a brand new mother, and Laura Ingalls Wilder at various ages.  She also dressed like Cyndi Lauper, but not on purpose.  Plus, there were the days of the Wish Piggy, a piggy bank that Grace deposited coins into to get Josiah to turn into a wide variety of creatures.  (Each of those links will take you to the corresponding blog post.)

More recently, she has pretended to be an Indian named Indiana (I think it's because it sounded feminine and...um...Indian at the same time) as well as a ninja.  This has been going on for at least a year, but has recently been an every day thing again.

When she was dressing herself to go to her best friend's house for her older sister's graduation party and said, "I know exactly what I'll wear," I could hear it in her voice that she was up to something...

Like this.

Grace (7) the petite ninja.  That's our puppy Bono in the corner behind her--she was trying to blend in with her surroundings.

Posing

I managed to get her changed into something a little less...black, seeing as it's late May.  But she still signed the graduation card as "Indiana."  

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

It's been a while since I participated in Scavenger Hunt Sunday, but I decided to jump back in this week.  This week's items were

• Vacation
• Food(s)
• Sound
• Texture
• Anything

Vacation

...Vacation Bible School, that is!  How great are these decorations?!

Food

A graduation party...

Sound

This sweet girl giggles nearly all day long...

Grace (7) playing at the park

Texture

Anything

Hmmm...How about a petite, seven year old ninja?

That's our puppy Bono in the corner behind Grace.  She was trying to blend in with her surroundings.

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in on the fun!  Next week, it's Photographer's Choice.

Play time

Our homeschool group went to the park for the last time now that the school year is ending. (We have two more days left next week.)

Grace (7) indulged me with a little photography session...

She also came over to me and whispered in my ear, "Call me Indiana!"  (Indiana is the Indian name that she came up with last year, and it is still in use.  You can click on the link to see a photo of Grace as Indiana, complete with a feather.) She had told a little girl she was playing with that her name was Indiana.  I can imagine the conversation she had with her family later on...

As an aside, we never had signs like this when I was growing up...

We knew to test the slide with our hand first, and then have the kid with jeans on go down the slide several times before the rest of us did.  :)

The kids had fun playing together until they were muddy

Josiah (10), with his less muddy side showing

and pleasantly tired (and a little spacey)

and still not ready to stop playing.

Just a swingin'

This is my beautiful Grace (7) swinging in the front yard.  She got the swing for her birthday and plays on it every day.

Since nearly everything is better with a story, Grace "named" the way I swing her "High Tide in Hawaii."  Those of you who have/had elementary school-age readers may catch the reference--it's a title in the Magic Tree House series.

Small town

Last Thursday, we took a little trip to a nearby small town...just because.  These are some of my shots from that trip.

An Episcopal church

Interesting sidewalk and stoop downtown

Downtown intersection

Johnny's Pizza is the best!

Wordless Wednesday: Snuggle Time

January 2013:  Grace (6) snuggling with Bono the Bouvier des Flandres (nearly one year old).  Bono's head is resting on Grace's legs...since it's a little hard to tell in this shot.

The difference in size between big Bono and pint-sized Grace is exaggerated in this photo; still, Bono outweighs her by about 20 pounds.

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday, and to Ashley Sisk  for Wittle People Wednesday.

The Cow Whisperer

When we visited Henry and Wanda earlier this year, we discovered something we didn't know about Josiah.

More cow bell

He is a cow whisperer.

Henry took all of us out to see some of his cows

and Josiah (10) got it in his head that he was going to touch one.

She said, "No way."

Still, ever-so-slowly

with more patience I have ever witnessed in this child

he carefully gained her trust

and she let him walk towards her.

And...

she let him touch her nose (which I was not able to get a picture of, unfortunately).

Hopefully, another trip to visit Henry and Wanda is in the near future...

"What happens at Myrtle Beach stays at Myrtle Beach"

...except for the photos.

We had a great time at the Women of Joy conference in Myrtle Beach earlier this month, and I am so thankful for having the opportunity to go...

especially since we had a surprise guest:  Kim, who moved with her family back to Pennsylvania earlier this year!  She flew down to meet us at the conference.

We had, for the most part, rainy, dreary weather

 

but it was still a wonderful weekend of refreshment with godly (and wonderfully goofy) friends...

godly teaching at the Women of Joy conference...

Disclaimer:  Photo taken in 2011; hence, the beautiful sky

Disclaimer:  Photo taken in 2011

good food...

Bimini's was a great local seafood restaurant

Another great local restaurant:  River City Cafe
(And another disclaimer:  Photo taken in 2011)

and good music.

The guitarist with "the hair"

Wordless Wednesday

Since I have been "wordless" for so long here on my blog, I thought it would be fitting to jump back in with a Wordless Wednesday post.  

Grace (7) and Josiah (10)

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom for Wordless Wednesday.