Our first two

 Not sure why, but these two photos back to back on my phone sure make these two look old!

Owen's holding what's left of the front bumper of Baby Blue after an unfortunate incident with an erratic driver and Leah's showing off the flapper dress our neighbor's letting her borrow for her Oldies Dance at her new school.

Never a dull moment. :)

I keep finding selfies on my phone!

 

Cool photo by Leah

 She took many pretty ones this day, but this one was especially neat - taken with a thin circle of ice we found floating in the top of a bucket.

Hair cut!

 Mira got her hair cut today. We haven't really CUT cut it since she came home, and it's so long and pretty...and more than she really needs right now! Even though we've kept the bottom third of it trimmed right up to her head, she's got enough volume that there was more than enough to donate.

So this morning, we did it! Look in the mirror on these two to see the before, then the pony-tailed prep...

And the final result is VERY cute.

And look what we get to send off to share with a child who's lost their hair!

I think it's pretty neat that Mira, who has so little ability to actively contribute to the world around her, is able to share something really beautiful that she made.

Home School

 We've got a four year rotation through history (works pretty well, because you get exposed to all of it three times through your school career, with opportunities to go deeper each time through) and this year are back to ancient history! Doing school with *just* the three elementary age girls means we're doing pretty much everything together, and can do things like this:

It's a shaduf, and at Rinnah's impetus they began the job and did pretty much all of it on their own! It's not super useful, but it DOES work.

Then, the next week, discussing Egpyt, Gloria thought they could create their own pyramid. So they did. And after that one was complete, they made the queen's smaller pyramid, too, but we didn't get a photo of that one.

As a side note, it's a whole lot different home schooling with a three year old BOY than it is with little girls!!! It takes a little more effort to keep him engaged and not just floating on the fringes wishing he were at a playground. 😊

Meanwhile, Auto Mechanics is happening in the driveway as well. Both of Owen's vehicles are not currently working, so he's enjoying just playing around with them.

Yup. That's really the interior of his pickup truck these days! You can make some pretty good assumptions as well, then, about what the interior of his bedroom looks like!

Eben is more than tickled to get to sit out there and mess around with the truck. Can you imagine how much Owen would have been into this opportunity as a three year old??

And in this next one, he's just goofing around with me. :) See how nicely he wears his seatbelt! 😂

And he does have plans to make the thing driveable by winter, so he and Dad and doing a little strategizing. Owen's the one who knows more about how things work down there, but Dad's not too bad at logistical things.

First day of School!!!

 Not just first day of school for the year, but this is Leah's first day of school not at home ever!!!

 Down the driveway...

...to the car waiting at the bottom of the driveway. We are very grateful that she can hitch a ride with her good friend's big brother (who drives) and other big brother (who's in her grade and doesn't drive) and her friend herself.

And she's off!!!

Late anniversary photo

 Twenty-one years, photo taken ten days late.

Owen's friend Jonathan from South Dakota was in town, and got the honor of being our photographer, and I think he did quite well!

For reference, in this photo Mira is 15, Bobbi is 20, Gloria - 5.5, Ebenezer - 3, Krassimir - 17, Owen - 16 (note: he's looked this tall for the last few years in our family photos, but this year he's standing firmly on the ground, and not on the anti-tip devices of his sibling's wheelchair! He really is that tall!), Leah - 14, Evania - 7, Rinnah - 10, and Reuben is 12.