Our uncles

We are not able to get together with Mike's brothers as often as we'd like. Here are some shots from the last time they were here...

Going fishing

Smiling Mary

Bow I made for Carmen

Luke and Mary

Creative Carmen

What do you do with these?

Make jewelry, of course!

**By the way, these are the biodegradable packing peanuts. When they get wet, they dissolve. So, if you get the ends wet, they stick together. :0)

Carmen gets her ears pierced!

I promised Carmen she could get her ears pierced for her fifth birthday. Well, that was LAST week, and she's been begging me everyday every since. So, we went today. She did very, very well. I'm very proud of her! Actually, I think it hurt me more. My hands were shaking afterwards, and I felt faint. The sales lady had to take all of my stuff to let me calm down.

Afterwards, there was this other girl that had watched Carmen get her ears done. She was atleast 7, maybe 8. Anyway, she put her arm around Carmen and told her how well she had done, and that it would only hurt for a little bit, and that she was very brave. She tucked Carmen's hair behind her ears, and told her how pretty she looked with her new earings. It was so, so sweet. I think this girl did more to ease Carmen's pain than I could have done. :0)

Before: Excited!
Still excited!
Getting a little nervous:
After: OUCH! It hurt!
Not anymore!!
She is so proud of her earings! I'm so proud of her! She knew it was going to hurt, but she knew that she really wanted them. She's such a big girl!