Quick Update

Please forgive the brevity of this blog posting--and especially the lack of photos. We took some at Thanksgiving with my Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Brian, but since we're in the midst of moving and will leave shortly for an overnight visit to my Gramma Pat (that's her name to us kids--no, it's not misspelled...), it just seemed too overwhelming to upload pictures.

We have purchased our appliances (stove, fridge, washer, dryer) and are excited about that. We must be grownups...what kid gets excited about a new washer/dryer? We've also made some other purchases in anticipation of having our own space again. Whoo hoo!

On Monday, the bank did an appraisal of the house we intend to purchase. We'll hear back on Friday if the property qualifies for our loan. However, because the appraisal was a tad late, we may end up homeless for a few days if the closing can't take place on December 14. We're looking into moving in early and renting for a few days.

We're getting ready and saying our goodbyes--always the hardest part of moving. Part of living on seminary, however, is the fluidity of the residents. If we didn't leave now, many more of our friends would be leaving us come spring so it helps with the melancholy of it a little.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving (we certainly have much to be thankful for!) and an early Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!

Dan's job update

The congregation at Fairmont Evangelical Covenant Church in Minnesota met Dan, heard him preach and then voted on whether to ask him to be their senior pastor. The majority voted yes, to offer Dan a call to pastor the church! He accepted and will begin during the first week or two in January! Whoo hoo!

We stayed an extra day in town to look at homes. My mom had picked up the girls and brought them back up to the city so Dan and I could get more done in Fairmont. We looked at five homes and put an offer in on one. It's a little smaller than we had wanted but is definitely in our price range and is move-in ready which is nice. There were some that were far from ready!

There is only one bathroom, but there is a second toilet in the basement (do NOT read that as a second bathroom--trust me--it's only a toilet, but it works in case of emergency!) and Dan is pretty handy. He may be able to put in a sink down there. With four young girls, two of whom still need to be pottytrained, you NEED a second toilet.

So we'll find out if our offer was accepted on the house in the next day or two. We will move from Chicago the weekend of December 12 and hopefully close on the house on Dec. 14 or 15.

No pics, but at least you're now in the know! Thank you so much for your prayers! We all made it through the two days of meeting people and being on good behavior--which is very exhausting! and we look forward to being part of that church. We enjoyed our time there with all the folks very much.

Family Update

Well, since last writing about our family, several big things are in the midst of occurring.

Annika started first grade at Peterson Elementary, about four city blocks from our home. She's loving her teacher, Mrs. Rivas, and has become a very fluent reader. She just bought her first chapter book from the Scholastic book program at school and is ecstatic! She now reads the Bible stories to Lauren at night.

Back in July, Dan interviewed via phone with a church in Fairmont, Minnesota. They asked him to come for an on-site interview over Labor Day weekend. A few weeks after that, the church notified us they had narrowed their search down to two people; Dan was one of them. So after a few more weeks of them checking references and such, they asked Dan to come and candidate!

This basically is a final interview with the whole congregation. Up until now, it's been interviews with a nine-member search committee. So, next weekend, November 14-15, we'll be heading to the church to meet as many of the church-folk as we can in about 30 hours. After a "pot providence" (not potluck!) lunch on Sunday, we'll begin heading back to Minneapolis to drop off the girls while the church votes on whether to ask Dan to be their lead pastor. If all goes well, Dan and I will head back to Fairmont to house-hunt. (Whew--that was a mouthful!)

If all doesn't go well, we'll still be moving out of student housing by December 15 and in with family somewhere in Minnesota. Aren't they lucky? All six of us!! For some, that would quadruple the number of people in their home...

So we've been packing boxes of things we won't miss too much over the next two months like CDs and DVDs (we've got mp3 files on the computer and a temporary membership to Netflix!) and perhaps a few family photos from the mantle this week.

We've also been trying to do some things we won't have the chance to do again--or not for quite some time anyway. So, we went to the China Day parade in Chinatown--got some authentic egg rolls (well, as authentic as we thought we could get), some Chinese paper umbrellas, and one toy drum.

We also got a great deal on a carriage ride through downtown--something Annika and Lauren have wanted to do for three years! Below are some pics of us in the carriage and walking down Michigan Avenue (the Garmin store with the golfing nutracker!).


I've been picking up some more jobs writing curriculum for a national newspaper. Between the different vendors I work for, I have such variety in what I'm writing. I really enjoy that part. Lately, I've learned a lot about Twitter, being cyber-savvy, homeless youth on the streets of New York and some unique ways to market a bank.

Lauren is enjoying her world of make-believe and drawing as much as ever. It's sometimes difficult to make her wear 21st century clothing...Cinderella dresses are way more fun.

Emily has now gotten into more of the dancing with her sisters when music is on one of their DVDs. She has also gotten into shushing us to be quiet so she can sing O Christmas Tree. My favorite action of hers is when she's holding my hand as we cross major streets like Michigan Avenue downtown. She gets nervous, so as we get into the crosswalk, she puts up her hand like a stop sign so oncoming cars stop before they run her over!

Megan was moved into a toddler bed two nights ago. Since we didn't plan to take the crib with us, we decided to move her a little early so she'd only have to adjust to a new house later instead of a new house and a new bed. We also knew the family who was getting the crib had a baby sleeping in a pack-n-play...but not sleeping well. Knowing how that goes, we took pity!


So we're doing well. We're praying for a bigger space to move into. We realize we've been so blessed with a large two-bedroom apartment here in Chicago, no student loans, very little personal credit card debt (not cafe)...wow! We stand in awe! And are looking forward to another part of the adventure.

Please pray for us this coming weekend--safe travel, Dan's peace as he preaches on Sunday, good sleep for the kids (i.e. good behavior, too!), etc.

By the way, to contact us via email, use LilNorthrn at hotmail dot com (spelled out so I don't get additional spam!) so we can keep you updated with our new address, contact info, etc--or ask me to be your friend on Facebook!

Ethan Davis Reports on What He Did This Summer

My sister Sara travelled to St. Louis, Mo., for some business a few weeks ago and was able to bring her nine-month-old son with because Gramma Pat and Kris had agreed to watch him during Sara's two-day absence. So Ethan is our guest blogger for this entry on how his stay with Great Gramma and Great Aunt went.

Mom and I got to spend a whole week at Gramma and Aunt Kris’ house in Illinois, which is very far away from my house. Gramma and Aunt Kris took great care of me while mom had to go and visit some colleges. They fed me yummy food, which I liked to share with Syndey (Sophie was afraid of me . . . I think because I’m small and crawl along the ground, and oh so unpredictable. Anyway, poor thing wouldn’t come near me! Probably best, you never know what I might do with a furry thing that’s just about my size!)

I crawled and crawled all over the place. Gramma and Aunt Kris bought several toys for me to play with. They bought me a Blues Clues Karaoke machine, which is how I learned the mail song, which Aunt Kris and Mom really like to sing together! Gramma and Aunt Kris also bought me a Sesame Street walker that was perfect for me, I used it on the porch in front of the house and on the patio out back – it is very versatile you know. But I still don’t know where Sesame Street is yet.

Aunt Kris took Mom and me to the YMCA where she works. I got to swim in her swimming pool! Aunt Kris got in and swam with me too! If Mom can figure out how to upload the video, I can show you a video of me swimming, well, almost swimming. I can’t leave out the best part, Gramma and Aunt Kris taught me how to do Patty-cake. I still don’t do it on command yet, but I definitely learned to clap my hands there. Mom is trying to see if we can come back out to visit in December. I’ll be MUCH older then.

Teaching Our Kids Well

Some cute moments from our house: A few weeks ago, I was putting Emily to bed in our bedroom (it just works better to have her and Megan separate!). She was sleeping with a weird-looking doll from some Cartoon Network show. Lauren had won this doll at Great American in one of the carnival games (ironically, Annika also won a prize--bunny ears. Mom got skunked.)and named him Bobo. I asked Emily if she wanted to pray. She said yes and prayed: "Please bless my food. Aaamen." She then turned to her right, put Bobo's hands together and Bobo prayed; "Please bless my food. Aaamen." **



We've had a few dish casualties in the last week. One of them was Emily. Our 32-month-old was busy clearing her cereal bowl from the table. Without being instructed, she took the bowl and began scraping the leftovers into the garbage. Apparently, holding a spoon and a bowl and scraping was too much for her. But she was very cute and helpful. **



Through some instruction and a lot of observing, Annika has really gotten the hang of the Food pyramid—and not Bart Simpson’s version. A couple weeks ago, she made lunch for her and Lauren. It was 12:03 (past lunchtime) and I was laying down with Emily in my room. So Annika made lunch on her own: Poptarts (one for her and one for Lauren), a slice of American cheese, some cuts of salami, champagne grapes and juice. And pudding for dessert—which was set waaay down the table so they could eat it when they were done. I was impressed! All food groups were represented if you count poptart as a grain... **



This morning, Lauren was telling me a story about something that happened yesterday...you know, "the next day backward." **



Annika and Lauren have officially been given chores. Lauren's job is to clear the extra dishes from the table after dinner. Annika's job is to fill and empty the dishwasher. She was much put out by this, declaring instantly that it was boooring. We began her training in three nights ago. The first night went very slowly as I explained the best way to fit each dish in the washer to maximize use of the space. The second night went better, but Annika was still much put out. Tonight, however, she convinced Lauren it would be a great idea if they shared chores. So she needed to now train Lauren in. We got some of it on video. Annika did a great job of explaining things step by step. When she got to the part about how the dishes got washed, she pointed to the water supply in the bottom of the dishwasher and said, "that is so cool" with enthusiasm. Apparently, on-the-job training creates more enthusiasm for those doing the job as well.

**





Here is some video of Megan praying. If you watch carefully, you'll notice she folds her hands, too. So fun!







We've been packing up boxes from time to time to put in storage in preparation for our move. Emily is our "little helper."

Annika entered a candy contest where you sing a song about candy to enter (see last blog entry for video). She didn't win, but the candy company sent her a goody basket which should arrive tomorrow. Anyway, the original idea was for Annika, Lauren and cousin Raegan to sing Good Ship Lollipop together. This video shows why that didn't happen..."Mommy, I need to...oh, look! a squirrel!"

Vacation!

Our last seven days was spent at Green Lake Conference Center in Green Lake, Wisconsin. I've spent time there throughout many of my summers and always enjoy the restful nature of the area. And the fact that there is little cell phone reception does add to the peace and quiet! My whole family was there--mom, all siblings with spouses and children. Makes for a large group. Altogether there were 13 adults (and one nanny) nine kids, all ages 6 and under (of course referring to the kids). And five dogs--surrogate grandkids, if you will. My brother just bought a golf cart so it was perfect for taking the kids around the grounds to look for deer (didn't see any but saw wild turkeys a lot), stop at the Country Store for penny candy, climb the towers (formerly used as water towers) and generally feel the wind in our hair. Of course we climbed the 81 steps to the top of Judson Tower to see the lake. Lauren didn't like that too much--she had to walk down backwards. We toured the old log cabin museum on the grounds with cousins Raegan and Brody. While there, the girls put some stitches in a quilt, put a few extra pieces on a loom rug, and Annika and Lauren made dipped candles which I think are pretty cute! We found out about a candy contest where you sing and post it on youtube...here's Annika's final rendition. Lauren, Raegan, Emily and Brody (cousin) wanted to do 12 Dancing Princesses instead so Annika soloed.



We're doing well. Dan will be going onsite for one church interview--encouraging! We'll know more details in a couple of weeks after vacations by the search committee members.

As for now, school is allowing us to stay until the end of the calendar year so Annika will be starting first grade here at Peterson Elementary and, Lord willing, we'll only have to move all of our stuff once.

Thank you all for your continued prayers! They really do sustain us.

Perhaps Summer Will Come in July?

Temps have been mild here in Chicago. The Fourth of July came with rain and thunder. July 5 finally, pretty much for the first time, brought nice weather to Chicago. For the 4th, we hung out with Uncle Brian's family and a surprise guest--my cousin Amanda who I haven't seen in a decade! It's crazy when you last saw someone when they're 10 and now she's 20, living on her own and going to Northeastern Wisconsin Technical College. I'll see if I can get some of the pics from cousin Judy to post. P.S. I also beat Cousin Judy at arm wrestling. I guess slinging kids around for six years did tone some muscle!

Our family has been sticking pretty close to home the last six weeks. Dan has had on-calls at the hospital almost every weekend, some weekends with two shifts. Makes for a tired set of parents.

Annika had gymnastics camp for two weeks. It's really affordable through the park district. She enjoyed that and loves showing off her sort-of splits and attempting hand stands. A friend picked her up on the way to camp and then I picked the girls up after camp. Worked well.

She has also lost her two front teeth on top and another one on the bottom.

Lauren is in ballet once a week for eight weeks and she's enjoying that as well. Fits in with the whole princess obsession.

Emily is obeying a little bit. Still trying and testing boundaries--testing--what a misnomer. She's blowing right through them.

Megan is teething again which makes for sleepless nights. We've had to refill her diabetes prescriptions once. But God is gracious! While being concerned about Megan being in the hospital, I didn’t have to worry about the bills that accompanied it. Matter of fact, beyond making sure the hospital took our insurance (state aid), I didn’t think about it during the rest of our five-day stay there. Nor did it even cross my mind to think about how we would have paid for just her diabetes supplies after.

A rough estimate of alcohol swabs, needles, lancets, blood sugar meter, two types of insulin, sugar injections (in case Meg is every dangerously low and we can’t wait for juice to take effect) and ketone strips would have cost us about $1000 if we had to pay out of pocket. Her insulins were $122.99 and $103.99, ketone strips were $11.99, test strips were $249.98 for 200 (we use at least five a day…), and lancets were $33.98…. That will be our typical order each month—the insulin, even if we won’t use it all, is only good for 28 days. So…it’s not exactly social medicine, but I’m grateful for it right now!

Dan has had one phone interview with a church in Minnesota. We won't know the results of that for a few more weeks as they also interview other potential pastors. We're still not too worried yet. We're also excited for friends of ours who did get a job this week--The timing is great because they have to be out of student housing in two weeks and now they have a destination.

I'm still just writing. Did stories on Twitter and Facebook (two online sites where you can interact with friends) for three publications--if you're going to learn something new, make the most of it! I'm also spending too much time on the games on Facebook. Right now, Becky and I are tied on Mahjong.

Cousin Raegan and Becky were with us this last weekend. Becky had some work in town and was able to bring Raegan to hang out with us. We went to a splash park, the Field Museum where we saw real pirate treasure from the Whydah (very cool) and ate some real Chicago-style hot dogs at Gene and Jude's.

Dan Graduates! Annika Graduates!

Yes, it's been a busy few weeks for us! The week Megan went into the hospital was also the week Dan graduated from North Park Theological Seminary with his graduate degree (Masters of Divinity) with honors! Pictured: Dan with his parents (I'm assuming you can figure out which one is his mom and which one is his dad...Dan's the one in the middle!) Annika graduated from kindergarten this morning. Dan was unable to attend due to his internship at a local hospital for his chaplaincy requirement for school--so I was photographer and videographer...Lauren was with to help with equipment. Here is Annika receiving her diploma from the principal, Mr. Lucas. And Annika dressing herself... Annika practicing her role as Bell Ringing Girl at Uncle John's wedding: Lauren finished preschool well and is looking forward to summer fun. She and Annika will be attending VBS next week at the Covenant church down the street where Lauren had preschool. She has her first friend birthday party to go to on Saturday at Jens' house. (He was the one she was going to marry until Jonas gave her flowers.) Emily is still defiant while being a great hugger. She is addicted to TV although she also likes books like Thomas (the Tank Engine) and Barbie. I have a pic very similar to this one of me... Megan is doing well. She wants to feed herself now so baths are a more frequent occurrence--like three times a day. We're still working on getting her sugars regulated, but she is doing fine. Thank you so much for your prayers!! As for me, I've just finished editing my fifth book. I'm becoming more comfortable at pushing back and I'm still learning about the subjectivity of the English language...rules from 15 years ago have changed... I picked up a new freelancing client through a coffeehouse magazine so now I'm going to become an expert on the candy business! Very cool! God is good--all the time! We still don't know where we are going to live come September, although Dan has a few leads on senior pastor positions. We're not too concerned. We just don't want to have to move all off our stuff twice!

Annika also had a birthday in-between--but those are all on Dan's computer. Feel free to email and harass him to get them on here!
The Wheeler Clan at Uncle John's Wedding, May 15, 2009.

Annika's Graduation: One of the songs her classmates sang recounts (literally) numbers in English, Spanish and Korean. She had a very ethnically diverse group of classmates.


This is proof that Megan can walk; she just refuses to do so.

Wow! A second blog posting in May!

Megan was released from Children's Memorial Hospital yesterday, Memorial Day, around 4 p.m. The doctors (we had four--one attending, one resident, and two others) were comfortable enough with her blood sugar results we were seeing with the new amounts of insulin Meg was getting so now we're home.

Megan seems to spike in the early afternoon and drop during the wee hours of the night. The drops at night now are not as drastic (one night her sugars were registering 60--incredibly low for her since we began measuring) but the midday highs require an additional shot of insulin.

She's in good spirits and doesn't whimper too much when we have to draw blood to measure the sugar levels or when she gets the shot.

The docs can't pinpoint when she got diabetes, but they're pretty sure she got it when she had a virus. The body's soldiers were sent out to fight the bad germs, but through a case of mistaken identity, attacked pancreatic cells. After a full onslaught, the pancreas could no longer produce insulin. So, I'm correcting myself a little here. Meg didn't necessarily have a weak pancreas--just confused lymphicites.

She is also walking like a marathoner at long last! She's had the coordination and muscle for it--but she doesn't have Emily's fearlessness. But today, she found the courage to leave her walls behind. She was busy walking up and down our long hallway by herself--with no bribes, which is good--since Grandma Barb really can't use Mountain Dew with her, anyway.

Lauren and Emily are in Minnesota with the grandparents this week. Emily misses Daddy. I'm hoping Meg will at least be a Momma's girl. The other three aren't unless they're extra-tired.

Besides Meg being in the hospital, it was a busy weekend at our house. Dan, at long last, graduated from seminary with honors no less! A great improvement over his undergrad years! We're very proud of him. All but Meg got a pic taken with the graduate. Now we just need to have him gainfully employed...not too much word on that front, yet.

This month also saw my brother John get married. So, at long last, I downloaded the pics to my computer. I'll try to get them formatted and attached, maybe even some video. Again, no quotes. I haven't had time to take notes...

News on Megan

Well, this wasn't the blog update I originally had intended. My plan was to put in some pics of my brother's wedding and Annika and Lauren as bell-ringing girl and flower girl. Maybe some other tidbits on Emily and Meg.

Well, that got changed about 15 minutes ago when I thought about the blog.

Yesterday I took 16-month-old Megan to the ER at Swedish Covenant Hospital because of a fever she had and seeming pain I couldn't treat at home. After several hours there, some chest x-rays and urine tests, the diagnosis was Type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 is insulin-dependent so Megan will have to have shots for the rest of her life. It wasn't brought on by anything we did or didn't do or feed her. This kind of thing can be hereditary (although we don't really have any type 1 running in either of our families) or an affect of the auto-immune fighting itself. If there was a weakness in the pancreas, diabetes can be brought on by a viral infection which might be our case. The infection didn't cause the diabetes--just kind of pushed the pancreas over the edge.

We seem to have caught it early. Megan didn't have diabetic ketoacidosis which is really bad. It's when the body can't use sugar for energy so it starts destroying the fat. One problem with that is destroying the fat in this way creates ketones, a harmful toxin. If you get DKA, it takes awhile for the toxin to get out of your system. So we didn't have go to through that.

Megan is at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. We're hoping she'll go home tomorrow after they figure out a good amount of insulin to give her each day to regulate her blood sugar levels.

We're praising God that this was caught early, that Megan has been such a trooper, and that it isn't something worse. Please pray for us as we regulate her sugars at home. This is new to us, obviously! But we're willing to tackle it!

By the way, our oh-so-amazing pediatrician, who I thought was supposed to be on vacation this week, showed up at the ER last night when the ER doc contacted him regarding Megan's history. Dr. Morse even talked to the endocrinology fellow here at Children's to find out next steps and see if there were any other med options for sky-high blood sugar other than diabetes (in someone Meg's age--not really). We're going to miss him in August when we move somewhere else!

Sorry--no pics. I'm writing this from the hospital and just don't have the camera handy! You'll just have to imagine cute saying like Lauren drawing a picture of a sad umbrella: "But he likes being sad." or Megan stripping to the buff and saying, "shake, shake, shake; shake, shake, shake; shake your booty" in two-year-old-ese. Or Megan walking, finally! or Annika informing us that she's past Cinderella. Jasmine is the princess for six-year-olds!

Trying to get a blog update in before it becomes May!


We had Easter at our Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Brian's house. Rather unexpected as they're reformed Jews. They also had an Easter egg hunt with 64 plastic eggs. That's a lot of hiding! But our girls and Rosalie's great-niece and nephew (Lily and Colin) and Cousin Judy helped. Lily, Colin and Judy left a little earlier than we did--they had more Easter parties to get to!

Emily's English is becoming more recognizable. She's also doing full sentences. No, we cannot translate everything she is saying. She still has her own bizarre fashion sense and shoe fettish, even if the shoes don't match or fit.

Megan finally got all four molars in completely. That was a trial for weeks. She still isn't walking on her own despite her 15 1/2 month status. Her hair is also getting in her eyes, but she pulls barrettes (and chunks of hair) out if we try to pull her hair back, although she left pony tails in her hair at Easter. She is ticklish and has a good laugh.

Annika is becoming more grown-up. She is starting to understand plays-on-words if you explain them slowly like the joke "April showers bring May flowers. What do May flowers bring? Pilgrims!" She, too, has her own fashion sense. Plaids go with plaids. 'Nuf said.

Lauren is getting better at picking up although none of the kids is all that fast at it. And, she has no sense of organization--it all just gets dumped in the toy corner. Why would she think puzzle pieces should go back in the box? She's also great at making up stories, definitions, words and songs on the spot. She is fascinated with sharks, too. I'm not sure how all these fill fit into her future careers. We're trying to see more of the sights here before we leave Chicago, so we have a few pics of me, Annika and Lauren at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park.

Dan has been contacted by a few churches. The process is a slow one, but we still have months left before we can move, so we are sort of patient. He's getting one of his sermons transferred now from VHS to DVD. We're not sure where we stored his copies of sermons from First Cov. One of the downsides of storage.

I just finished editing two books and laying out a newsletter and am tired after a gruelling two weeks. Looking forward to a slower-paced week, Lord willing.

Enjoy the pics!

Kid quotes (keep in mind, you can't tease the girls about these--they get self-conscious fast and will stop talking--then no more kid quotes!):

March 24 2009
Much is done dramatically by Lauren. We don’t walk somewhere—we saunter. Tonight, she was getting ready to sign her name in Annika’s journal. She did it as though she was putting on a show (so think announcer’s voice) as Lauren said about herself: “And now she pulls out the chair…And watch as she sits down. See her as she reads the book…”

Annika made up a song and put on a show for me. Here are some of the lyrics:
It doesn’t matter if you’re lovely as long as you care about people

Know that’s not true. Please bring hope to all the people for their words you can fly away. if you faint, don’t faint when you’re not supposed to faint. for the world I would take care of it for the rest of the city and I wouldn’t miss anything for the whole piece of advice. you never do anything when somebody loves you, you shall love them back even if you don’t like them but they like you…for you can see little things. You are seeing this when I was I will always love you too.

You must care for the people for you can see your family and you must love them the most. And you can see the world, you can see different places if you go on a plane. If you go to Disney, you do need a plane. So little lord jesus, he brings you there safely. And if it’s your birthday he will not make it rain. For the world to see your weirdness, but don’t do weirdness around people who are naked and you don’t know them and you can’t see naked people if your shades are open and their shades are open and the lights are on and you have windows there and you have shades there. So you must care for the world.

We will love to see your songs for your carols. You are beautiful.

March sometime:
Lauren was looking at a picture of her and Annika in their Easter dresses: “There’s us in our church costumes.”

Annika praying: “Even though I’m the beautifullest, I need to care about other people.”

4/1/09
Lauren to Dan: “I know why you have a headache. You watch too much TV, and you’re a vegetable!” (Hm. I wonder where she heard that…)

4/2/09
Annika: "I’m so smart. I always know everything now."

The Theology of Children

On our way to church one Sunday, we were talking about how many of the Jewish people in Chicago don't believe that Jesus was the Messiah. We discussed it for awhile. As we passed Kraft headquarters, Annika says,"No one wants to be the Messiah. It's too hard work." And then a pause. And then "But not for Jesus." And that, my friends, sums it up.

Then Lauren and I went for a special trip to Starbucks. While there, Lauren sagely informed me, "If you only had one daughter, you'd be bored." I realized that was probably true. But she had more wisdom. "If you only had two daughters, that'd be great." (Keep in mind, that would be only Annika and Lauren.) "If you had three daughters, that would be perfect; if you had four daughters, you'd be beautiful." So there.



Emily dresses herself frequently...Some of her fashions...



























The girls wearing Dan's shirts...For some reason that's fun.















Just stinkin' cute.
























Annika and Em playing ring around the rosie






Lauren as sleeping beauty.





Lauren as Santa Claus--she said so herself.











Great pic, eh?







Stylin'--Emily's now dressing Meg, too.