12 is a Very Glam Number

Happy Birthday, Sweet Alyssa!

12!


Wowie! Wow! WOW! {Alyssa ~ do you know who said this?}


I know I say this each time one of you celebrate a birthday, but really, where has the time gone?

You are at this very fun age of definitely not being a little kid, but also not being quite grown up either. You have some new found freedom this year with starting middle school and experiencing so much more independence than previous years, and I think you are handling it beautifully!

To our sweet birthday girl ~

and dreamer...

a creative, careful and gentle spirit...


a wonderful firstborn daughter, and big sister...


our resident drama queen extraordinaire...


and super star ~

Keep dreaming your big dreams! We love you so much and are very proud of you!!

Have a beautiful 12th Birthday!! I hope 12 is glamorous enough for all the cheetah print you have in store for it!

A Photo Explosion...

I was trying to figure out how to add a few words of text to a collage of four pictures I was putting together when I click, click, clicked and this happened...

I have no idea how it happened and it looks like just about every photo in my November folder. Now, I know you can't see any of them all that well, but to me, because I know what's going on, it was a rather fun, although overwhelming summary of our month thus far. The photos that I was playing around with were from this past weekend, and I'll try to post them later in the week. Right now, I'm trying to get everything ready for a special birthday we are celebrating tomorrow :-)

Es Schneite!

Yesterday afternoon in Rebekah's classroom, the kids suddenly ran to the window, their tiny voices calling out, "Es schneite, es schneite!" as they marveled at the first snowfall of the year. Rebekah marched out to the hallway where I was helping kids paint a turkey handprint, and as if I needed a translator, she said, "Es scheite! Mommy, it's snowing." Now usually the translation is very helpful, but it was pretty clear what the kids were so excited about in this case. It only lasted a few minutes, but check out what is going on right outside my window as I type this...

Hopefully like yesterday this will be just a short little flurry. I'm not sure that I'm ready for all the cold quite yet! Missing hats and soggy boots, mittens and scarves all over the place ~ yuck.


Some very welcomed visitors in our yard:

During Fall and Winter we often have a family, or a few families of deer that make their way through our neighborhood. We were happy to see them return a couple of weekends ago.



Rebekah promptly scared them off into the bushes on the side of our yard trying to alert Dave of their presence. But we're so glad they're back and hope they stick around for the Winter. It's a very peaceful thing to sit and enjoy a morning cup of coffee while watching the deer in the yard!

Our Growing Gecko

Last weekend, Dave and his sister were talking on the phone about our gecko, Banana Lemon Mulch Big Bad Bob, so I thought I would try to get some better pictures of him. We keep referring to the gecko as a "he" but we won't actually know for a few more months whether it is a girl or a boy. Dave is excited that it seems to be growing, which suggests he is adjusting to his new habitat nicely.

Isn't he cute?! The girls love that they chose the name Banana for him and he likes eating banana baby food off a toothpick!! It's kinda funny and cute to see the little guy lick his entire eyeball with one swoop of his tongue, and he likes my hair ~ he's taken a flying leap into it twice.

We have been trying really hard not to frighten Banana as we pick him up, because when crested geckos feel threatened, they are known to snap off their tails as a defense mechanism, and if this happens it won't grow back. We are trying to avoid that, so the girls are learning valuable lessons in the care of a delicate pet. Banana has been cooperating with letting the girls hold him more and more, but he does get a little jumpy after a few minutes. He seems to be shedding his skin some too, which is a good indication that Dave is right, and he is growing.

Anyway, this is unrelated, but I was so proud of Emma the other day. After school, she and Rebekah were playing tag with four boys in Emma's grade, and Rebekah was IT. She was in ambitious pursuit of two of the boys when they ran under the tot lot bridge and split up, going opposite directions. Rebekah froze under the bridge as if she didn't know which boy to run after. Just as she looked like she was done with the game, Emma ran to the stairs of the bridge, stuck her foot through the railing and called out, "Here, Rebekah, I'll get 'em!"

Rebekah tagged Emma and the game was on again.

I've thought about the brief scene several times since I was watching them play that day last week. I can't get over the feeling of hoping that things will always be that way between them. When one needs help, the other will jump in and eagerly offer it. Now I'm not trying to read too much into a simple exchange, in all honesty, it wasn't really that sacrificial on Emma's part. The boys didn't stand a chance against her. She knows it, and they know it too, which is why they invite her to play with them :-) But it sure blessed my heart to see her run to Rebekah's defense!

Apple Orchard

I love going on school field trips with the girls! It's sometimes exhausting, as this day at the apple orchard was, but always worth it!



Maybe it's just the excitement of being out of the classroom, but I always see a wilder, crazier bunch of kids when we leave school. It's fun!

Today at the apple orchard, we learned about apples, Johnny Appleseed, honey bees, pumpkins, and we were able to pick several different kinds of apples to bring home. Yum!



Peeking at me through the tree as she picks out the best apples! She was so excited.



So proud of her beautiful apples, we baked cinnamon apples for dessert that night and Rebekah was so happy with her contribution to the meal.



A happy group of victorious apple pickers.

Choosing her tiny pumpkin from the garden. The smile Rebekah is showing here she inherited from my mom's side of the family. Pencil thin lips that all but disappear when we smile big is completely a Currie trait.



These chilly little faces don't look like they are up to trouble, do they? Well about five minutes later I discovered they had the idea up their sleeves about how they might lose their chaperone for the day.



It all started with me taking this photo above, thinking they looked so cute with the corn towering high over head...

Which led to this ~ all four girls giggling and running away from me in the corn maze. I loved this picture because Rebekah is airborne as she happily leaps and runs after Sophie. And if you've never chased four little kids frantically through a corn maze ~ you should give it a try. It's a good time, and an even better workout (especially if you happen to be carrying loads of apples and a very heavy camera around your neck).

A cute little daisy at the end of a long, but fruitful day.