Baby Picasso

Well, I am on a roll... This is my 4th blog post tonight. David was supposed to get home from Haiti tonight, but he and his buddy missed the last plane and will not arrive until tomorrow morning. We were a little sad, but happy that they are safely back in the US and we will retrieve them at a much better time of day tomorrow morning. So instead of hearing all about David's trip, I am catching up on my blog. :)
So, what does that have to do with Picasso? Nothing! The real reason for this post is to show these pictures of Silas. Keenan was trying out Abby's new easel she received as a gift from grandparents, when Silas spied him. He is in the stage where he wants whatever anyone else has so of course he had to have a try. He sat right down, picked up the crayons, and made his first work of art. Maybe I should have kept it, but in light of our up-coming move (this week!!!), I trashed it. Hope you don't think I'm a terrible mom. At least I took a picture of it first!

My little ballerina and her party

Abby is now 9! She had a "Let's be creative" party on the 23rd, the day before her birthday. She invited several friends. She helped "designed" the party and the activities, which included Making pizza pockets for dinner, making chocolate lolipops, making stationary kits, and playing a homemade lifesize game. Unfortunately, the photographer was not very attentive to picture taking. It was a little crazy with all that making stuff!
I've also included a couple of pictures of Abby at ballet class this week. She posed (eyes close!!) for me and then I got her as she was trying on her costume for the Christmas dance. More about that later. Happy birthday to my sweet girl! I am so glad she is a part of our family and pray she continues to stay close the the Good Shepherd as she grows up!

Pumpkin Carving

I need to be a little more creative with my titles, don't you think? Crystal King, send me some of your pizazz! :) Here are some pictures of our family carving a pumpkin. David went with Keenan's kindergarten class to a pumpkin farm and they picked out this big guy. We gave him the happiest pumpkin face there ever was! The boys were really into the scooping of the goop. The girls were not into this part, but liked the design and cut part. Rachel spent most her time reading until she got the idea that we should roast the seeds. She pulled them out of the goop with some help from her siblings and we roasted them. "They taste like chips" was her reply after sampling the salted ones.

Not a baby anymore!

Well, as I looked through my latest pictures, I realized Silas is so BIG! He's a toddler now. Goodbye, baby. His personality is blossoming. He is determined but I still think he will be a little more mellow than the other two boys. Maybe its just wishful thinking. ;) Anyway, enjoy the pictures of our cutie!

Birthday Morning

We have a tradition at our house. Birthday boy or girl gets to choose his homemade breakfast... anything they want. In past years we have had chocolate waffles, oatmeal, cereal, pumpkin doughnuts, shaped pancakes, etc... This year Rachel wanted Daddy to make waffles. He was flattered and even put off his planned morning run to make birthday breakfast for his oldest little girl. We served the waffles with homemade berry topping, apples and cinnamon, yogurt, maple syrup and even chocolate syrup. Better than Denny's! What a great way to start the celebration! After breakfast the birthday girl got to open her gifts from mom and dad and from her grandparents. She was pleased with all of her gifts. The following video is of Rachel opening her gift from Melissa's parents. Since you guys couldn't be here, I thought you would enjoy seeing it on video.

My oldest girl turns 11!

Happy birthday to you...
Today is actually Rachel's birthday, but she had her campout slumber party last weekend so her closest friend could come. We had planned to campout near the woods at the Cornerstone mission base. However, rain forced us to improvise. We set up the tent in the newly built sunroom. We decorated the table and built a rock "fire ring" for our electric grill to be our camp fire. After the guests arrived, we sang happy birthday and ate the camping themed birthday cake. As a side note, the cake was a lot of fun to make. Other birthday events included gifts, roasting marshmallows over the "fire," watching a movie and playing wild horse. In the morning the girls made pancakes together, then went out in the chilly air to play. Rachel really enjoyed her party! Thanks to all who had a part in it!

Our newest pet

Meet the newest pet in the Trimble home: a praying mantis. We are enjoying this unique creature that God made. We caught it at Cornerstone after prayer one day. The girls have fittingly named it "warrior." A week before catching it, another prayer missionary found a mantis eating a baby snake. We thought it was a good prophetic picture of the "pray-er" or one who prays having victory over our enemy, Satan, symbolized by the snake. We don't know if we caught that same mantis or a different one. Anyway, we brought the mantis home and have been taking care of it for a week or so. We catch flies and put them into the cage live. Then the mantis hunts it, catches it and eats it. It is gross but fascinating. The following videos are rare footage of the actual hunt and eating of the prey. The first video is of the mantis hunting. He misses in this video but you can get the idea. I wasn't quite quick enough to film him actually catching the fly. The second one is him eating that same fly. The videos are not National Geographic quality cause I am still learning to use this crazy camera, but I know someone who reads our blog will like them.