our block party

fall is our very favorite time of year. the weather is cooler, the leaves are gorgeous, the tourists are gone, and the block parties are abundant. this is a new york tradition in which we close down our block (wreaking havoc on the traffic around us) and the entire block comes out to play. this year we had a steel drum orchestra, we played limbo, we talked, and we ate a lot of great food. we have been blessed to live on a diverse block where those who have lived here 70 years mingle with young families who have just moved in and people of every race and color are welcome.
welcome to sterling street...

first day of school....

the summer passed all too quickly and we are off to school again.
jessica is a 6th grader this year (please pray that we will survive the middle school years :)), hailey is a 4th grader, and madison is in 3rd grade.

the company of friends...

after our cruise we were able to stay an extra day in orlando to visit our friends jason and tara and their daughters, eden and selah.
thanks for entertaining us, andersons!

sail away, sail away...

we were fortunate enough to take a cruise to the bahamas to celebrate the close of a very busy summer. we all had a great time tanning in the sun, swimming with dolphins, eating great food, relaxing, and laughing together.



the girls won a high school musical competition



is this not the cutest pre-teen you've ever seen?

we celebrated maddy's birthday a little early on pirate night.

argh!

they kinda look like a special ops team, huh? the girls snorkeled for hours. at the end of the day, their backs were a lot browner/redder than their fronts.










hailey couldn't remember having seen a palm tree before. anyone who knows hailey knows she has to touch everything. when she saw a palm tree on the beach she said, "i just have to touch that, dad. are we allowed to touch them?". i've never seen anyone so excited over such a simple thing.





that is not a smile, it's sheer terror on my face. the dolphins totally gave me the creeps.

my much braver daughters







4 princesses






one of the great things about cruises is that the food is all-inclusive, which means you can try things you normally wouldn't pay for. our last night on the ship escargo was on the menu. we told the girls we would give them $6 (the price was lower to start, but they have become savy negotiators) if they tried it. hailey and madison were takers. here's how it turned out...

six flags

this past friday, we took the girls to six flags in new jersey. it was supposed to rain all day, so the park was almost empty, which means we (okay, maybe just clay and the girls) rode a lot of rides with no lines to slow us down. i have to admit that i spent most of the day with my feet firmly on the ground doing a search for amusement park injuries on my iphone, while clay and the girls had no trouble at all trusting a teenager to strap them into roller coasters that went 80 mph. my family called it overreacting, i call it a healthy love of life. i'm glad they had a good time, though.

i can see clearly now....

since the speakman girls do everything together, it would only make sense that their eyesight would go bad simultaneously as well. the girls went for a routine eye exam this week and they all needed glasses. that trip to the eye doctor led to a visit to the dentist...only maddy could chip a tooth in an opthamologist's waiting room. anyway, they all like their new glasses and so do we.

hailey's art exhibit

several of the kids at the ymca day camp took art lessons as a part of their program. the art teacher selected 5 students whom she felt did the best work and put them in a show at a local federal credit union. hailey was one of the students chosen. her teacher said that she rarely comes across students who so easily grasp artistic concepts and have such a good understanding of color. she made me promise to keep hailey in some kind of lessons. i don't think we could stop this girl from drawing if we tried. she's always at it. my only question is...if she's so great with color, why can't she choose an outfit that matches on her own?