The girls have been playing dress-up here at Nona’s house.  Mom saved our First Communion dresses, and pulled them out for the girls to wear.  Now to compare T and I, I really need to scan a photo from my First Communion, but this is her in my dress.

And here’s M in my sister’s dress.

Ok, so I played dress-up, too, and tried on my wedding dress.  It still fits!  Granted, some places are rounder than before…but the zipper still went all the way up and I could breathe, just as well as I did 7 years ago.  And if you ask my mom, I was having a hard time breathing, then, too. 

In the scrapping world, there are “calls” for publications and contests.  All the time.  For dozens of websites and magazines.  Sometimes they are for books.  Two years ago, I submitted a layout for a publication call, for a new book that was meant to be published within 12 or so months of the call.

They liked my layout.  I was not allowed to say anything other than “I’m being published!” until the release of the book, nor could I show anyone my layout.  Well, I showed Fence.    Then I had to mail it off for publication.  The publishers like to take their own photos, you know. 

Well, the magazine behind the book went under, and publication was put on hold.  Finally, two years after submitting my layout, the book and layout are back to me!  Hurray!  Too bad I don’t use paper and scissors much anymore…but it’s fun to show off anyway!  The book is called “Remember This: Fresh Page Ideas to Scrapbook the Year.”  My layout was of the first parade Fence marched in while stationed at Rome Labs.

A week ago, the kids and I said farewell to Missouri, after 3 great weeks with family there.  My sister-in-law and my niece were there, too, and we loved all our time with them!  I’m so glad our military paths crossed this summer; just as soon as we are moving West (they used to be in CA), they are headed East to Rhode Island!  We’re all sad to be so far away after this summer.  Before we left, we tried taking pictures with all 5 kids.  My sister-in-law has those photos on her camera so when I have some copies, I’ll share!  It was tricky to get H to take a picture with me, but when I got down in the grass, she thought it was the coolest idea!  And eating grass didn’t hurt to bring out the smiles, either. 

Grandpa blew lots of bubbles to help entertain the kids while we tortured them with photos.    S was delighted!

We had a wonderful time with family.  Can’t wait for visits in CA!  And my in-laws should feel right at home once we move; in fact, their town in MO is bigger than where Fence and I found a house for us.  Good thing I had some time to live in a small town to get me accustomed to it!    Actually, small-town life is fun and cozy.  After moving from Denver to ABQ to Dayton to Syracuse, I think I’ve gotten pretty good at adapting to wherever we live, city or small town!  Or even farm behind our backyard…

We’ve been in the middle of America for just over two weeks now.  As I mentioned before, T really loves nature.  Even though she balked at the idea of going to the river the first time, she’s been won over.  Right now, we have 4 fish in a jar on the dining room that she caught herself!  We picked up fish nets from the pet section of Wal-Mart for each of the kids, but T is the only one interested.  Little Man would rather scoop up rocks in the net, or pick up large rocks and dump them in the jar on top of any fish already there.  M prefers her feet to be out of the river.  Mr Mellow, is, well, mellow.    He likes to try and eat the rocks.

With cousin H, taken by my sister-in-law.

This is what it looks like when taking a photo of 5 children 5 years old and under, when at a river on a hot day in MO…good times.

It’s been great to be out in the “country” and enjoy the woods and river nearby. The bugs may be big and loud, but we’ve had few bites and lots of fun. The kids are enjoying long walks (when we get out early enough to beat the heat!), and cooling off in the water.

Last week the girls were busy with a Catholic vacation Bible school, learning about the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. M especially enjoyed it and was always excited to tell us how much fun she had there. The older three have also been enjoying gymnastics classes each week.

Now it’s late and time for bed…more updates probably next week, from Colorado!