Friday, August 30, 2013 at 4:55AM 
"You're killin' me, Smalls."
I mean, seriously. Two teeth. In a matter of days.
On top of that, Michaela plucked one of her molars out tonight too.
I haven't heard any tooth-related news from Christian in a while, but I can't imagine he'll be thrilled with all the tooth fairy action the girls are seeing. He was asking about a wrench today...
Wednesday, August 28, 2013 at 10:11PM A river flows, and without winding
Leaves its spring, comes west of Eden,
Streaming, splashing, sweeping, swelling,
Coursing down the nave to weaken
Strongholds which have now been conquered!
Blast the trumpets, light the beacons,
Brandish banners far and wide,
As the river surges, deepens,
And the shout of victory's heard!
Far and wide the enemy's beaten!
Gather for triumphal feasting
In the new and brilliant Eden!
Warrior Shepherd Gardener sweetens
All the fruit which can be eaten!
poetry Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 12:03AM 
I'm ankle-deep in school books as I try to plan the first weeks of our fall semester. Soon I will be knee-deep; I am still waiting for some things to arrive. I ordered a new history spine, the National Geographic Almanac of World History, and I am pleased with how it looks, as well as its size. We are also excited about an art project book which I will be able to use with everyone. Don't tell, but planning it out is kind of fun. Now to stick with the plan...
Christian is also two days into his school year, and so far, so good. Ha!
Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 11:13PM Late this afternoon I left to take Michaela to choir. Christian and Eliana wanted to stay home with Mike. I dropped Michaela off, and then just had to wait.
As I was waiting, my phone rang. I answered it and heard a little voice on the other end. There was giggling. I said,"Hello?"
The little voice said,"Hi, Mommy."
I was trying to figure out if it was Christian or Eliana; sometimes on the phone they sound alike. I heard Mike in the background say that Eliana had something to tell me.
She had lost her first tooth!
I'm pretty sure she can't possibly be old enough for her baby teeth to be falling out! That means her big girl teeth are on the way! That means she's not a baby?!
Well. Deep breath. I think I can handle it. She's getting bigger, that's a fact. And how cute is that face? Just wait till the one right next to it pops out too...because it's loose also!
Saturday, August 24, 2013 at 10:37PM I had big plans for today: I was going to put away a lot of laundry, get the dishes caught up, work on rearranging our books and other things on all the shelves, maybe work on the girls' school schedules. Instead I spent about seven hours straight walking around the house, picking up ants with paper towels and tissues, and squishing them.
Do you know how many ants one can pick up in seven hours? I'll tell you: A LOT. If I saw ten ants, I saw a hundred. They were everywhere, in almost every room, on every surface in those rooms, and even falling out of the light fixtures. Scooting quickly, fighting with one another, crawling erratically, dropping unexpectedly, they were driving me surely and steadily to Crazytown.
Mike and I were baffled. He did some research and didn't come up with any satisfying answers as to why there were ants coming into the house in droves and battling each other as though it were a turf war.
Hello! It is not even your turf, ants!
Suddenly Mike realized that before he sealed up the cabinet the other day (the one in the bathroom upstairs), he had put some roach poison behind the wall. He remembered reading in the reviews that people commented on how it killed ants too.
Apparently we have ants. And they were in the process of dying all over our house today. I am trying hard not to think about all of the ant who-knows-what that they leave behind while they are dying, because I am not kidding when I say that just about every surface in our house was covered by an ailing ant.
*SHUDDER*
I am sure I sound like such a baby, because THEY ARE JUST ANTS! But y'all. There were so many of them. SO MANY! And I squished them all.
AAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!
So yucky.
And then? As I was typing this post? AN ANT CRAWLED ON MY LEFT HAND!
It scared me and I almost threw my computer. I gasped and freaked everyone out in the kitchen. And then I squished that ant too!
I did get a few things done today, in between all the catching and squeezing. However, the dishes remain, and I need to get church clothes ready. I also need to transition from my inner-Rambo to Sunday School teacher before 9:15am tomorrow. I don't want to scare the children in Eliana's class in the morning.
The ants, however? Ought to be afraid. Very afraid. (Somehow I feel that it is the ants who are not afraid...)