It's Not a Black Eye. It's a Beauty Mark.

She plays hard. She plays rough. She gets dirty. She falls down -- just another day in the life of our sweet little Annabelle. Last weekend, she fell face first into a coffee table and her cheek instantly turned purple. "Well, she may have a bruised cheek, but at least she doesn't have a black eye," I thought. So much for that. By Tuesday morning, the bruise on the side of her face had crept up to her eye, giving her a splendid shiner. She didn't mind. Actually, given her personality, she was probably quite proud. Her first black eye. For some reason, I'm thinking this won't be the last. I think from here on out, I'll just refer to them as Annabelle's beauty marks. It's been a week now and we've watched the bruise under her eye slowly fade from black to purple to gray to yellow. Another couple days and this little beauty mark should be gone.

This picture was taken Monday morning, before her eye got bad. It was just starting to turn purple. I should have taken a picture of her Tuesday morning, but didn't think of it.

Her hair is finally long enough for pigtails and this makes me very happy. They are just so cute! So what if they look like little plants sprouting from the sides of her head. I think they are adorable! Besides, they draw attention away from her black eye. :)

Did you catch the concert going on in the background? Jacob was giving a piano concert while Annabelle played. He had been on the piano for quite a while before he finally ended with, "Thank you. Goodnight!"

I had nursery duty last Tuesday morning during Jacob's Classical Conversations class. Jacob did just fine without me being in the classroom with him. I understand his presentation went very well. The topic was "a favorite joke." I asked Jacob what joke he wanted to tell for his presentation. This is what he chose:

Knock knock. Who's there? Cargo. Cargo who? Car go BEEP BEEP!!

He said none of the kids laughed, but all the mommies did. Well, at least someone got it. :)

Now, back to my original story....nursery duty. There were 13 children in the nursery, ranging from 16 months to three years old. Whoa. Talk about exhausting. For three hours, all I did was wipe runny noses, change dirty diapers and try to keep my own child from playing in the toilet. No, I wasn't the sole caretaker. The girl who usually stays in the nursery was out that day, so one of the dads helped out. Thank goodness. I don't think I could have handled 13 kids on my own.

One of the little girls in the nursery is about the same age as Annabelle. In fact, I think they are only a couple weeks apart. Yet, they couldn't be more different. There was Annabelle (with the lovely beauty mark around her eye) splashing her hands around in the toilet and clogging it up with paper towels, while the other little girl sat quietly on the floor playing with a toy...the ENTIRE time. Later that afternoon, I told Heath about this to which he responded, "Hmmm...so it's NOT just her age. It IS possible to have calm, quiet children." Yes, I guess it is possible. Obviously, God had other plans for us. Hey, our children may be crazy (I mean that in a good way, of course), but they are so much fun and there is definitely NEVER a dull moment around our house. :)

Heath took the kids to the playground Saturday afternoon and when they walked in the house, Annabelle was a mess. Her hands were black and she had dirt all over her face. "Do you know why we came back?" Heath said, sounding a little exasperated. "Annabelle kept eating dirt. She was EATING dirt!" That's our Annabelle!