More Pix

For Halloween, we had a Ballerina, a Butterfly, Raggedy Ann, and a Clown... (this photo was taken AFTER the Fall Festival at church. It was about 9:30 at night! Where did those smiles come from?) (Yes, we forgot to bring the camera to church) Somehow details like that seem to slip through the cracks more and more lately. I wonder why.

Hailey just LOVES her big sisters. She smiles almost every time she sees them...

Emily and Hailey are two peas in a pod: our "even" girls (#2 & #4). (I guess that makes Katelynn & Beth the odd ones, although I'm not so sure...

Just when you think they're figuring things out

It's been too long since I've posted anything. I think I psyched myself out, thinking I had to write masterpieces with every entry. Perfectionism-induced writers block. I'm sorry for the gap in updates. I'll fill in details on the past month later. For now, I had to share a little about this mornings' events, as recounted to me by Janell. I was on my way home from Janell's grandfather's house in Buena Park, about an hour and a half away. Janell and the girls were getting ready for church. Because of my long drive in the morning, we were planning to attend the late service, at 10:30. I figured Janell would have plenty of time to get everyone ready for church, and I was planning to be home by 9:30, anyway. Well, I didn't leave Granpa's until after 8:30 and the drive was a little longer than an hour and a half, so I strolled in the door at 10:15, honestly expecting to see everyone waiting for me to load up and head to church. Sure enough, three cute little angels greeted me at the front door with cries of "Daddy!", all dressed in Sunday outfits, hair done, and everything. Katelynn even looked like she had makeup on--sort of. I found Janell upstairs, curling her hair, and clearly not ready to go. Hmmm. All she said was "I'm giving you two weeks notice." Uh oh. With a smile, she recounted having to discipline Beth (for a reason I didn't catch), leaving her on her bed (naked for some reason that I didn't catch), resulting in a pee-soaked mattress cover (for reasons that were obvious at that point). And then she found Katelynn with white goop all over her mouth. When asked what she was doing, she said that she couldn't find her lipstick, so she was using her pink gel toothpaste to "darken her lips". Of course the pink gel dries to a white crust. Janell explained this to her, instructed her to clean it off, then went back to getting other girls ready. A few minutes later, Janell smelled nail polish. Uh oh. She returned to Katelynn's bathroom and found the nail polish open, and a small paper cup with nail polish in it. Katelynn had mixed the polish and some water together to make a rouge with which to darken her cheeks and eyelids, and had already applied a liberal amount to her face. Where do they get these ideas?! Janell was able to help get most of the goop off Katelynn's face, along with a lecture including something about "No more makeup until you're a teenager". I still owe Katelynn a lecture about this one. The rest of the day went better, but we were definitely reminded this morning that we must always be vigilant and never assume that we've figured out the trouble our kids are capable of creating.