photos from april & may.

Marissa getting her braces adjusted. Her teeth are straightening out nicely! :)

Marissa got an industrial piercing on her left ear (see below). She's been wanting one for a while. :)

See? The little hoop on her ear?  I think it looks pretty nice!

Easter dinner, minus the ham, which wasn't on the island yet. Yum!

Naomi reading one of her schoolbooks to me.

Rain!! :)

Matt & me in church. Gotta love the YouVersion Bible app on our phones. :)

Just a fun pic of the top of one of our bookcases, with its vintage-ness and pics of Matt's parents.

May is brain tumor awareness month, so here's a little collage from our brain tumor adventure in 2004. I am so blessed & thankful that they were able to remove my whole tumor, my vision was fully restored and my pituitary gland was uninjured. It could have been a very different outcome indeed.

Marissa sings & plays her ukulele in the worship team at church.

Our anniversary was on May 5... we were going to get away, just the two of us, to go camping the weekend before.  But Matt came down with the flu & I was sick on our actual anniversary, too, so we laid low.  We still enjoyed reminiscing together. :)

Matt brought me these beautiful flowers on our anniversary! And a dark chocolate/almond bar. Yum! :)

Crazy dog!

I thought this looked really cool, how the camera darkened the interior of the house & made a silhouette of Rue in the doorway.

Naomi & I have been reading about important inventions this term. :)  Also, I still love looking at my wedding rings.

I've been somewhat lacking in inspiration for painting lately. This one has been sitting on my easel longer than I care to say. But the good news is that I began reworking it (this shot is from the early part of that), and it will be done soon. Hopefully this week.

A peaceful Friday.

The girls put Naomi's glasses on Rue. Too funny!

We have been consuming large quantities of grapefruit lately! People have been giving dozens & dozens to us. So delicious. :)

Naomi had a filling come out of a baby molar, and was in a lot of pain. The dentist said the options were either a baby root canal or an extraction. And since it would be falling out within a year anyway, out it came.

Niiice, right? I'm a little weird to take a photo, perhaps, but they washed it off & let us take it home. :)

Naomi was very nervous but the dentist & his assistant were very patient & gentle, and she did great. That tooth is crazy huge!!  She enjoyed a lot of popsicles since her mouth was pretty sore. She's doing quite well now. :)