Friday Show and Tell - and Twin Update

A few weeks ago I showed you the grandfather clock that DC created rom at when we were first married. Tonight I want to share two of his other creative projects.

It was the summer after his graduation from college (it would be another 8 years before we would meet). DC was going into the National Guard in the fall. He spent the summer at his folks' place in Beloit, Wisconsin during this interim period in his life. He bought this kit of the Cutty Sark, spending 3-4 hours a day for 4 months to complete it. It amazes me that he had the patience to create such a masterpiece. It has a place of honor in his den.

It was years later, after we were married and had children, that he decided to tackle another ship model, this time The Bounty of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. He spent many hours for several months in the evenings working in our basement creating this smaller wooden model.

Kate and Emma are growing and thriving. They have begun to coo and smile. I haven't been able to catch the fleeting smiles yet on camera, but I'll definitely keep trying! They're not much for posing for me yet! But notice how they are in the exact same position - it is uncanny. Nobody can tell me they're not identical - same sounds, same motions, same features. Adorable. It is such fun to take them out - we meet so many nice people who "Ooh and Aah." They are quite the attraction. And the phrase Kristen and I get all.the.time - "Wow, you sure have your hands full!" Yes, we do - full of little blessings. And most people are kind and perceptive enough to acknowledge the big sisters, too.

We weighed Emma this week and she's up to 7 lbs. 4 oz. We didn't get Kate weighed that day, but I suspect she's about 8 lbs. 4-5 oz. Emma eats and eats, desperately trying to catch up with her big, one-minute-older sister! You can see that she isn't quite filling out her outfit as well as Kate yet, but she's working on it!



Now I have a bit of housekeeping I need to do. I want to thank Butler's Wife for the gift of one of her American Idol dish cloths (she makes them while she "watches" Idol.) I put my camera on to charge before I realized I had one more picture to take, so I went over and borrowed Becky's picture - mine is the lovely bright pink one. It is really too lovely to wash dirty dishes with!

I told Becky the story about when I was in 6th grade and the Hong Kong flu hit our school. Our teacher didn't want all the sick kids to get so far behind in math, so she decided to teach us to knit. A dishcloth was my first knittingproject ever. I have to say, though, that our pattern wasn't nearly as fancy! Thank you so much, Becky!


Midlife Mom tagged me for this meme:


1) Write your own six-word memoir about yourself.
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you'd like.
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible, so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.

I have seen this one around blogland, and I have seen some wonderful memoirs, very lovely, and meaningful. I have thought and thought, and I could not think of anything very cerebral. Here it is - the truth, and the best I can do!

She is tired - all the time!

Finally -- a few weeks ago, I shared my DIL's story about the horrendous situation in Kenya that her parents and other family members were living through. Today I asked he permission to copy a piece of her last post for an update for those of you who have been praying for them, and even contributed money for them to be able to buy very scarce food. She no sooner wrote the good news when something really sad happened to her brother's family.

"My parents are doing so much better. Actually the entire country is doing a lot better. Infrastructure is finally working again, people are back to their normal ways and the economy is slowly picking up again. For those who don't know, Kenya now has a prime minister. This is the solution that most Kenyans agreed to. We still have a president, but the runner-up president was given the title Prime minister. His duties are specific to his position but he also gets to share power with the president. So the two allies are now friends and are actually working together in a unified manner. PTL!! So, this new government has settled the squabbles and ethnic violence that had been stirred up after the elections on December 27. I was planning on going to Kenya this summer to visit my family, but the plan fell through. I will now be hopefully going to Kenya in December-God willing."

Please go over to Sema's spot and read today's post, if you have a minute. It will shock you and send you to your knees, if you are a praying person.

For more Friday Show and Tell stories, stop by Kelli's blog, There Is No Place Like Home.