Beth recently bought a scarf loom, but bought the wrong kind of yarn. I made the first scarf for her, and finished it for her today; she bought more yarn and has started a second scarf. It only took a few minutes and she had the process down. I expect this scarf to take her a few days since one step is hard for her, but I can't wait to see the final product.





Like so much of the rest of the country, we have gotten a lot of snow, and it just keeps coming. The girls aren't tired of it, but I am. I'm trying to have a good attitude about it, though, so the other day we made snow cream. The girls loved it, and I made it again yesterday.







Every year in Expeditions, there's a Grand Prix. The children get blocks of wood and carve them to look like whatever they can imagine. Jill is making a turtle, Beth a jet, Kate a rocket ship, and I'm making mine to look like one of my textbooks. The weigh-in is next week, and I always love seeing what all the children and leaders come up with.

This past Sunday was a good one. There's a couple in my church who joined a short while ago, and we had them over for lunch. Jon made chicken Parmesan, salad, and pasta. Jorie brought over brownies and ice cream, and all of us had a good time. We put the girls at the table I use for homeschooling, so we grownups got to talk and the kids enjoyed themselves.

After Jason and Jorie left, Jon took Jill out for fish (wow, all those j's sound like a tongue-twister!) for her aquarium. She had fun this past week cleaning her tank and filling it, and she picked out three pretty fish yesterday. She's been having bad luck with fish, though. First, she got a Betta which died the next day. Then, she got another Betta which died two days later. Now, she has an aquarium and one fish has already died. But at least the two she has left seem to be doing well!



Our kitties also seem very interested in the tank. It's a good thing there's a lid!



School is going well enough, though there have definitely been tears over new concepts this week. Sometimes, you just need to stop and go over the concept again and again until the fact is cemented in the little brain. Thankfully, Kate's finally getting how to put a whole word together without having to sound the whole thing out. She still mostly sounds out her words, but even that is progress. And she's still excited about reading, and I know how important that is.

School for me continues to go well. I have a strong A in British Lit, and I'm hanging on to my A in Astronomy, though I don't know how. I can definitely see God's hand in that class!

We have snow, like so many other parts of the country. I'm definitely a person who needs sun, so I'm thankful that we haven't had too many dark, cloudy days. I'll be glad when our snow is gone for good, though I know the girls will miss it. Jon and I played with them the other day and made a fort and took them on the sled in the yard.

This girl of mine, my firstborn.

As my oldest shoots toward her tenth birthday ("Two digits, Mom!" she likes to tell me with a huge grin on her face), I find myself looking back on her short life. This time ten years ago, I was in the final months of my pregnancy. I didn't know if I was having a boy or girl, I didn't realize quite how much having a new baby would change my life, and I had no idea the joys she would bring to my life.

She was a happy baby, a sweet (though headstrong) toddler, and she has always been a very independent person. She's changed from my chubby baby to a string bean (much like I was at that age). She's interested in bugs and mud and books when many girls her age are fascinated with dresses or boys or shopping. She's ready to grow up, but in so many ways, she's still very much a little girl. She wants to be an entomologist when she grows up and she plans to have a house filled with bugs, fish, and adopted children. Sometimes she wants to get married, but usually she doesn't.

She loves her sisters, but gets along better with Beth. Kate is still too much a baby for the two of them to get along for long periods of time. Jill's imagination is always running away with her; she daydreams and makes up stories, but she loves doing things with her hands, too. She painted and assembled a solar system model, has fallen in love with her weaving loom, and loves her science kit.

In school, her favorite subjects are science and history. She tolerates math, and almost hates grammar and writing(nooo!!). Though she's like me in many ways, she's also an enigma. I can't always predict what she'll like or say or do, but when I look at her, I know I love her. Though I love all my girls, Jill will always hold a special spot in my heart. She is my firstborn, the one I made (and continue to make) all my mistakes on, the one who frustrates and fascinates me by turns. She is truly herself, and she won't change for anyone.