twin girls, a curly top, and gentle giant jude

I bet 50 people have told me how much Jada looks like Cami...Grammy even calls her Cami #2. And I was delighted to find this similarly-posed picture of them at the same age. The lighting doesn't do justice to Jada's pink complexion...but it's pretty clear they are sisters.

And the girls are now sharing a room..since Jada sleeps till 8 or later. Cami loves her roommate and is good about sneaking out instead of waking/playing with her...and her discovery of the week: "Hey, Mom--this toy was made in China!"

Other notables: Calvin is drawing more (finally)...most of his pictures to start with were of "a guy" ..but he has recently expanded his repertoire to include self-portraiture:

And his lispy quotable: "Mom, I touch-ded your legs, and I felt that they were kind of scratchy." We are working on our vocabulary, because after I lectured him on how delicate Jada was, a minute later he was telling Cami "this is how I make my hair delicate" ..while messing with his hair. And while he often asks to 'pet' his baby sister, Jude asks if he can nurse her....I've corrected him a dozen times to use the word FEED, but so far it's not sticking.

We are (I hope) tapering down on his little rebellious streak...for the past month or so, 90% of his vocabulary was "NO!" ..the rest was "A.K." (okay) on a rare agreeable moment, and "Monsters," which was his other favorite word. He is learning gentleness, but is only allowed to work on this when I'm nearby, for obvious reasons. . .

That kiss wasn't quite right. He's going in for another...

It's been an eventful summer so far, and we're still trying to work some things into our schedule. This was my summer-homeschool-inspired plan as of a few weeks ago (I've lowered my expectations after a trial run): Monday morning music (piano lesson for Cami, also teaching the kids some hymns); Tuesday crafternoon (crafts, baking, science experiements); Workbook Wednesday (do workbook pages, Calvin learn to write letters); Thursday--playdate/fun outing like the zoo; Library Friday

...I forgot to account for the 4 hours of nursing daily (although that's tapering down a bit), and every weekday morning interrupted with swim lessons for a few weeks...so we've been focusing on piano, the library reading program, and lots and lots of spontaneous crafts...the other stuff we're trying fit in whenever we're all in the mood for it. One thing I really want to incorporate better is a theme Bible verse of the week (Be kind to one another, love one another, etc), and a weekly hymn, although the kids aren't ever in the mood for singing. It's all just a goal to work towards to develop fruitful habits. And to not waste the summer 'just getting by.' It's a huge blessing to be able to be home full time to watch them learn & grow...these are precious years.