Little Artists

The girls are ready to go hear Papa preach at a church a couple Sundays ago.  I love this picture.
Therese is wearing the dress Greta wore for her first birthday...but Therese is a little too big for it--shortly after we got to church one of the straps broke!  She showed off her shoulder the rest of the morning :-)

 Playing the piano!

Matthew got Greta some smelly markers the other day...that's why she has a special mustache!  She couldn't quite smell them without touching them to her nose!

 Playing in the laundry basket is FUN!

Greta's maiden voyage with the smelly markers--some of you might remember this kind of marker?  They take me back to elementary school...

Matthew often paints with the girls in the afternoon when I'm at work.  Both girls LOVE to paint and color.

Both girls also love to get paint and marker on their bodies!  More than a few times we've had to remind Greta that paint and marker goes on PAPER, not her body.  Today, in fact, she still has the marker on her face that Therese gave her yesterday (she's had her face washed several times and a bath, so much for "washable" markers)...they both took turns coloring each other's faces yesterday morning!  People look at her rather strangely when we're outside!

Matthew Graduates!

 This is how happy we are about Matthew graduating!!!

Notice the pigtails and the adorable teeth...we're still waiting for that fourth top one to come down :-)

 Therese's first time on the potty--she wants to be like Greta! What a little chubba-bub!!

 This is the craziness that occurs in Greta's room during her playtime ("quiet time") in her room on a regular basis.  This girl has plenty of imagination and creativity!!!

 Last weekend when Matthew graduated there was a parade and some other (unrelated) activities in the neighborhood.  Since my dad was up for the graduation, we had a great time enjoying the festivities with him.  The girls love going for wagon rides!

 With Grandpa Dan...and balloons...and a lollipop!

 Watching the parade!  Greta is now old enough to realize she should be IN the parade and she kept trying to go out and join in! It didn't help that we saw a couple of her friends in it...maybe next year?

 Graduation night, Friday, April 27, with Hans and my dad.

 With Judy, a proud mom!

 Hooray!!!
(We had another cute family picture where I'm NOT closing my eyes, but I ruined it trying to get rid of the red-eye in Greta's eyes on our computer...oops.)

 A happy papa with his sweet girls!  They went to the childcare available at the ceremony and weren't too into it...but I am CERTAIN they would've had a harder time at the graduation! It was quite long.  After this photo shoot we enjoyed treats at the reception.  The girls didn't get to bed until nearly 11!

Me and my Master of Divinity!!!
This day was really one of the happiest of my life, and I'm pretty sure Matthew would agree for himself as well.  It was quite surreal for both of us, kind of like our wedding day.  Nearly 5 long years of full time studies, over, at last.  What a time it has been!  What will be ahead for us? The only certainty is that the days of one or the other of us being in school (8 out of 9 years of us being together) are DONE!
The moment he walked across the stage and got his hood and formal notice of graduation was AMAZING!!!  We did it!!!!!!!!!