Special Snack!

We got to take in a special snack to share with M's class...Rice Krispy Treats with Ms (store bought with homemade icing to take another thing off my plate! :)) and apple slices...It was a big deal to her that Daddy was dropping her off at school....she has been looking fwd to it for forever... :)

Holding up her 4s before heading out with Daddy!!! And then at school getting ready to be "crowned"...

Cheese-y to the 4th power!!! Love the special BDay cape...

Eating the special snack with Daddy...

We are grateful for her wonderful teachers and classmates and it was fun to celebrate with them!

(Turkey handprint card made by M that was sent home on Fri)

Birthday Morning....

We decorated the family room after we put the kids to sleep...she woke up at 6:30 and came into our room and said, "what did yall do down here?!!?" We told her we decorated for her and she needed to go back up til the sun came out or it was 7am...(She now has a clock in her room....we are trying to teach her time and when rest time and bedtime are over...) Thought she would be too excited to obey, but she did it! Then it was down stairs when the sun came up and we all tooted our horns....a nice wake up call for the little man I'm sure!

She saw her gifts on her chair, but was more interested in the horns and balloons! And having her Daddy home...so exciting! So nice that he got to take a personal day to be with us! It was nice to have some special time with just her before Carter came down and the B&As arrived...

The moose gets in on the balloon action! And the B&As had fun blowing up even more!

Then Mike brought back Dunkin Doughnuts for a breakfast treat to share with the B&As...Mike said when I took them down to the bus one of the kids said, "this has been the best morning ever at Miss Sarah's! Balloons and doughnuts!" We are blessed to know the B&As and for our kids to have sort of a sibling relationship with some of our neighbors.... :) And yes the BDay girl changed jammies before breakfast....she often has worn 3 things before heading to school....she loves dressing up!

She's 4!!!!!

Can't believe our little muffin is 4 (!!!) today! Can't wait to celebrate! :)

God is Alive!

Had a wonderful morning at MOPS and came back to these bright colors! Seemed to have changed colors again over night!

I love this time of year and how God seems to be screaming at us through His creation...Slow down and look at me!!!!! :)

Makes me think of a song from Solomon's Wish that we put on our wedding CD...God is Alive...

In the dark side of my mind
Questions are like dust in the windy place
Whenever I think they've all settled down
Another breeze kicks up and blows them back in my face

And sometimes I question the reasons
What if my faith is in vain
I get so confused
I have to stop, take a look around and listen...

To the trees give a testimony
Listen to the mountains sing
That only one God could make all of this
And keep it all in place
Even the sky is a celebration
And I am a declaration
That God is alive, God is alive, and working

Current Forget-me-nots

Mal:
She loves to teach school as in the above pic...sometimes C is game to be a student... :)
Words she mispronounces....
Cin-na-nin-a-min (cinnamon)...her fav breakfast is cin-na-nin-a-min toast
hos-ti-pul (hospital)...always talking about when she and Carter were born at the hos-ti-pul
Joe-fuss (Joseph) in the Bible
when she is looking far off and you ask..."what are you thinking about?"...and she often answers "you and Daddy getting married"
Daddy asked her the other night if she knew the meaning of "filibuster"....hehehe....she is a Chatty Patty!

Carter:
"NO!!!!" (Favorite word right now...) and then he will say, "Yes, mom!" or "Yes, M'am!"
"I uvvvvv ewwww!" (I love you)...he began saying this at the beach this summer...melts your heart! :)
Carter what do you need to say? "Sabeee" (sorry) automatic response...so sad...when often he just needs to say "thank you!"
Here he is playing football with the B&As...what in the world!??! :)

Their new fav. activity is going upstairs and playing in Carter's room together...some "sibling alone time"....gives me some free time and some fun time listening to the monitor...here is one such time Mike was overhearing and wanted me to catch on film...(try to upload again later)

Thankful...

We have been hanging around the house the last 2 weeks for the most part...resting and working on things...parenting is tedious...some days more than others... :)

Mallory took these 2 pics of me and my boy.... :)

We are enjoying Kingston in the evenings...he comes in more now that it is colder...he really is our "garden cat" and stays in the front flower boarder near our stairs...but with the colder nights he comes inside which is nice...also might be that the noise level goes down in the evenings too...

Lots and lots of playing and dressing up...

We enjoyed having Mike home in the morning on Conference Day! He got to go in late and come home late...loved having him here around the house and our kids and the B&As did too... :)

Forts are still all the rage and there is often one built by 745 am in our house on school mornings...the B&As usually take them down before school, but I sometimes let them leave them up for our kids to enjoy during the day...it was one of those days here...

Daddy found some dino hats at the dollar store...good times!

The devo was on obedience yesterday...check it out...

Why does God want moment-by-moment,
day-by-day obedience?
Because He wants us to trust Him

I need help with this as I try to teach obedience to my children...I'm so grateful God is patient with me in my obedience as I try to teach my kids to obey...we are all works in progress! :) We are trying (key word....trying! :)) to teach them this little motto that one of our friends learned from a book she read (not sure which book):

"ALL the way
RIGHT away
And with a HAPPY heart..."

Mr. Fix-it is 64!

PaPa turned 64 today! We enjoyed having him over for dinner tonight! Thanks for bringing all the food MiMi! After dinner and cake and ice cream and presents he fixed belts (made new holes) for Aunt Susan and Mike (I'm so proud of Mike's weight loss!) and fixed our dryer....all in a days work for Mr. Handy! We love you!