So This is Christmas

Joy to you on Christmas

Christmas Pictures

Thought I'd post these Christmas pics of the kids before Christmas is OVER. I'm so behind this year!! I just now sent out cards out and never even put up all my decorations. We did put out the nativity and tree, but that's about it. Oh, and Aaron put lights on the house this year-that's something we've never done before and they look really great.

But really, all that Christmas "stuff" sitting in boxes doesn't bother me at all. This is such a blessed time of year to me regardless of the decorations. Singing with the choir, doing special things with family, and telling my children about the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior is all what makes this such a special time of year to me.

Here's some pic of the kids. We try to get at least ONE good one to send in cards, but this year it was quite a challenge! We pretty much had to chase Ava all over the yard to get a picture of her.

All but one child behaving/looking at the camera here.

This is pretty much how the entire photo session went.

I even made it into a few shots!

Ava was quite the escape artist!

Finally! One good one!

Now some individual pics.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

"God has sent His oly begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him."

1 John 4:10

Dancing Elves

This is too funny not to share!

Click here or on the image above to see our dancing elves!

Make your own and leave the link in the comments! I would love to see some of you dancing! (I need a good laugh today ;)

Sadness is...

If ever I were a superstitious person it would be now.

My last post was about my three year old and her blankie (a.k.a. the love of her life right now). Well, that was posted on Wednesday night, and then, THE VERY NEXT MORNING we lost the blanket. Now, blankie has been lost before, but always somewhere right under our noses. You know, stuck in a hiding place somewhere, outside on the swing set or wrapped around a baby doll, but always in a place where we knew it would eventually be found. But not this time. After retracing all of our steps on that day, I've concluded that it is in the great black hole of Wal-Mart.

Gone. Forever.

It is heart wrenching to see your child hurting over the loss of something that seems so unnecessary to us grown-ups, but very precious to them. So in my weakness, I produced ANOTHER blankie to try to substitute in. It was reluctantly received at first, thrown on the floor a few times in an attempt to go to sleep that night, but I think it has finally been accepted.

She knows the one she loved is gone. And this, I guess, is the first of many heartaches to come. But isn't it good to know that this world is not our home. I pray that I can use these moments, even at three years old, to teach my children the truth in Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

And no, I'm not superstitious.

Love is

A blankie of your very own to wrap around your neck or to wear on your head.

She has it worn out and smelling just right, so that no other blankie will do.

Online Shoppping for a Cause

Just some Christmas shopping info to pass on to you.

If you or any of your friends/family members plan to shop online this holiday season, please encourage them to start their shopping from www.capmin.org/Donate/Shop.aspx.

At no extra cost to them, a portion of their purchase will benefit Capitol Ministries—and the spreading of the Gospel!

Participating retailers include, but are not limited to, the following:
Amazon.com
Best Buy
Dell
eBay
Expedia
Gap
Home Depot
HP
Kohls
Macys
Nordstrom
Office Depot
Overstock.com
Sears
Staples
Target
Travelocity
Walmart

Ava's Top Seven

7. You have the most infectious smile EVER. Even when you're tap dancing on the coffee table, or using my roll of wallpaper as a plunger, it's so hard not to laugh at you on the inside, because you do it all with such joy and enthusiasm.

6. You like to try new things. Especially when it comes to eating. Whether it's cucumbers or the paint you just stuck your hand in, you like to taste everything to see if it's edible.

5. You are low maintenance. You have no hair. Which means there's one less ponytail, bow, barrette, and tangle that I have to worry about.

4. You love books. You go for the big stuff too, like the one's on Daddy's shelf. You are especially fond of John Piper, John Macarthur, and any others that have attractive dust covers.

3. I know you love me, even though you call me "Da-Da." Because when anyone else tries to hold you, you cling to me as if you wish you could crawl back inside.

2. I love your baby words. You have the sweetest little voice when you say "ha-doe" (hello), or "pit-a-boo" (peek-a-boo), and "a-morming" (good morning).

and...

1. You bless my heart. Your personality is pure sunshine and it always makes me smile.

The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad. Psalm126:3

Call off the dogs!!

After a not-so-subtle hint from my friend :), and some others, I've finally decided to update my blog! ARE YOU PEOPLE HAPPY NOW?!! BUT, in my defense, although we moved to our new house almost two months ago, we are just now getting our Internet up and going. So, even IF I had the time to post, I wouldn't have been able to! Seriously though, I am happy and humbled that you've continued to check in on me.

I can't believe it's been five months since we've packed up our belongings TWICE and moved four children with us (yes, they all got to come!) We're finally settling in (somewhat) and getting our new house into a livable state. Things are going unbelievably slow though. We still have boxes to unpack and many house projects to finish up. I hope to one day show you all some "before and after" pics of the house. It was a "fixer-upper" and we really had our work cut out for us this time. Some of the things we did before moving in was painting in EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM., pulling up old flooring and replacing it in the kitchen, den, entry hall, half bath and laundry. We did some remodeling in the kitchen- new counter tops, and appliances, redoing and moving some of the cabinets, and knocking out a wall. I say "we" like I was doing all the work, but honestly, Aaron and many kind and gracious friends helping us, did most everything. My main job was keeping kids out of the way and keeping the food for the workers stocked!

Some projects still left to do are painting kitchen cabinets and trim :(, putting up baseboards, replacing the bathroom floors and a lot of touchup painting; just to name a few things. The outside needs some paint and getting the yard looking nice will come next year.

I am really loving our house though, despite the mess it's in right now. The Lord was so kind to us, in giving us such a wonderful place to live. Our house is at the end of a dead end street, we have a huge fenced in back yard, and the our neighbors have all been so kind to us. There are many sweet children on our street and it's not uncommon on a nice night, to see 8-10 kids out playing and riding their bikes.

The kids are all doing well and growing up so much. I will update more on them next time. And I promise some pictures next time! You'll also have to check out my son's blog. There are some funny pictures there.

And last but not least:
Moving tip #1: NEVER, EVER attempt to pack and unpack boxes with an 18 month old. The things that you have unpacked and strategically placed around you home, will be instantly moved, thrown onto the floor, into the trash, or back into the box that it just came out of.
Just sayin'.

Movin' on up!

...well, really we're moving out. We have sold our house-Praise the Lord! There will be an inspection done on Monday, and then after that, if all goes well, we can breath a little sigh of relief -for about half a second- after that we will have one week to move, yikes!! Our buyers want to close by the end of the month!

Now our next major hurdle is finding a new house. Yes, you read that right-we haven't found another house yet! We will be moving in with my parents until we find something. So you all could really be praying for them!! This will be quite a change for them to go from two people in one house to eight! They have three extra bedrooms and two bathrooms we can use, so we won't be terribly crowded, but we still don't want to drag this out any longer than we have to. Aaron will have almost an hour commute to work, so between that, and church on Sundays, these will be long days.

Also, I don't think we will be able to have our internet there, so if I don't have my usual monthly posts :) in July or August, you'll know why! I'm going to feel a little bit detatched from the world, (not that that's a bad thing!) but I will miss keeping up with my blog friends!

I'll update you all as soon as I can!

This is my two-year-old unloading the washer and loading the dryer!
They could totally sell more of these front-loaders if the people in advertising would take this approach!

Happy Birthday To Mommy!!

WHOO HOO!

GUESS WHO'S THIRTY-TWO??!!

Please join her husband & children

in wishing Anita a Happy Birthday!!

May 17, 2007

A card from Abby (4 yrs)

And another from Abby
This one's from Anna (2 yrs)

And this one is from Aaron Job (6yrs)

A special song for Mommy!!

Feelings

Two quotes from Abby after beeing in a particularly grouchy mood and not getting to ride in the buggy at the grocery store.

One was said about five seconds BEFORE she burst into tears...

"I think my feelings are coming!!"

The second was said about five seconds AFTER she burst into tears...

"My feelings are HERE!!"

It didn't help her mood one bit when I started to giggle at her drama.

Happy Birthday to you!

My sweet little Ava turns one today! It's so hard to believe that a year ago she was this tiny little five pound baby.

Now she is this chubby happy baby! She is such a joy!

Happy Birthday Ava!

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! Psalm 127:3-5

We Will Rock You!

So on with my story from our weekend trip. It actually happened before leaving town, while we were on our way to drop off Aaron Job with the family he was staying with. Now, this was a nice family, a really nice family. You know the kind whose children never misbehave-that kind of nice family. So we're driving along in a fun car that we rented for the weekend, and I hear a fun song playing lowly on the radio, and I'm all about having fun right now because I going away for the weekend with no diaper bag attached to me!! So I crank up the radio and we hear:

"YOU GOT MUD ON YOUR FACE, BIG DISGRACE, SOMEBODY BETTA PUT YOU BACK INTO YOUR PLACE!!"

Now, Aaron is by no means stuffy and uptight, but he quickly, but quietly, said "Turn that down! We don't want him walking into these people's house singing that song!" And you have to admit, once you get to the chorus, it is a pretty catchy song. You're probably singing it right now just from reading my post title! Aaron tried to say this casually and quietly, but the keen ears in the back seat heard him anyway. So our son says "Why don't you want me to sing that? Will they think they have mud on their faces?"

All we could do at that moment was just go along with him like "Yeah, that's right! We don't want to embarrass them!"

My sweet son! Always thinking of others first! But his parents? NOOOO, we're thinking about the mud on our own face!

Stayin' Alive

Well I guess it's time for a quick update from us all!

One random thought first though. I wonder if you can tell what kind of day you're going to have by what song is going through your head when you get up in the morning? For example, I woke up this morning singing Still Crazy After All These Years. I have a feeling it's going to be one of those days!

And another thought: I wonder if I can title all my posts with song titles! I'll give it a try, I mean, surly I can think of one song title a month for ALL my posts! I was one of those people growing up that my friends would HATE riding in the car with me. As we would flip through radio stations they would say "You know EVERY word to EVERY song!!

Well, Aaron and I just got back from a weekend trip to Dallas. All by ourselves!! It was just enough time to relax and to miss the kids enough to want to be back. I thought that I was all charged and ready to be a better mom on Monday, but it seems it seems as though I may need another weekend already!! :)

We went to a FamilyLife Weekend to Remember, did some shopping, and got to eat out at restaurants without having to pull out high chairs and sippy cups! Ahh, so nice!! I REALLY missed my kids though. In fact, the first night, one of my girls had A LOT of trouble going to bed for the sitters. She was so upset that we weren't there, that she couldn't get control of herself for almost an hour. So then I was upset! Apparently, I was so obviously shaken, that after our dinner that night, our waitress brought us this HUGE piece of chocolate cake "just because"! This cake was just like "The Great Wall of Chocolate" from P.F. Chang's-raspberry sauce and all!! So, then Aaron commented that I should cry everytime we go out to dinner! Isn't he so caring and sensitive! :P

(btw, there's 89 grams of FAT in this piece of cake!! I just found that out while looking up this picture! This is good to know AFTER I've eaten it! But it wasn't all in one sitting, and we shared it!)

Seriously though, we had a great time. It was a great reminder of why I married Aaron. He really is my best friend. We had so much fun this weekend. He likes to shop a little more than most guys, and I like to shop a little less than most girls, and we just enjoyed not having to act all grown up and all for a little while!

I have one more story that I'll share later. Oh, that means I'll have to think of another song title!

Sing it Sista'!

Abby seems to be providing me with all my blog fodder lately! Here she is "swinging for the Lord!"

Still Alive

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything! I don't know what to blog about-I have Blogger's Block! I guess you could sum it up best with something our four year old, Abby, said the other day.

"My thinkable just can't think of anything."

Works for me Wednesday

I've been lurking around for awhile over at Rock in my Dryer and I have finally decided to add my own "Works for me Wednesday" tip. Go check it out for more great tips!

I was thinking the other day about how much I hated changing the crib sheets, because it kills my back, and wrestling with the bumper pad is a real pain. Trivial, I know, when you put it into perspective, but none the less, it's like I'm fighting with something that has no arms, and it's beating me.

So, what I have done, ever since the 6 year old was a baby, is to put a sheet on the crib, and then I put the baby quilt or a crib-sized blanket on top of that. I then tuck the sides in and that is what the child actually sleeps on. Then all I have to do when I'm ready to wash sheets is pull up the blanket. It's so much easier!

I still do pull up the bottom sheet occasionally and wash it, but not on the weekly basis as the other sheets. The only thing I recommend is that you DO NOT do this with very young infants. Only do this with older babies who can lift their heads, roll over, sit up, etc.

So, maybe this will save your back-works for me!

To my two-year-old: 10 Things I Love About You

10. I love your cute little two-year-old words, like oh-tay (okay), ah yah you (I love you), and day-doo (thank you).

9. Your a faithful companion. You will go to the bathroom with me EVERY TIME I go, because you know I don't want to be alone. You sit on the little step stool in there and say "Done?" over and over again, and even clap your hands and cheer for me sometimes.

8. You can sing songs now. You sing with confidence; and even though I can't understand a single word you said, I can recognize the tune.

7. You love to help. You're always willing to go and get things for me, and pick up what that I've dropped, and even take things to the trash. You don't mind at all that I'm being too lazy to do it myself.

6. Reading books to you is still fun. I don't even mind if you pick out the longest book on the shelf, because you never correct me or notice when I've skipped a couple of pageswords.

5. We can still cuddle. You're still young enough for me to hold you and rock you at night before you go to bed; yet, you're old enough to not wake up in the middle of the night with the need to be fed.

4. You're still sleeping in your crib. Even though you can climb out of it, you still like the safety of the bars surrounding you, and for that, I am grateful.

3. You're learning to take care of your baby dolls. I love watching you attempt to bounce, shush, and even nurse your babies :). It tells me that you have compassion and gentleness for little ones.

2. You can eat by yourself (when you want to!)and even get dressed sometimes. You readily let me know you can by saying "I DO IT!" or "NO, ME DO IT!"

And the number one thing I love about you:

1. You are genuinely happy to see me, quick to forgive, and give me the biggest hugs and kisses, no matter how terrible of a mother I've been that day. You bless my heart.

Worship services with children

I borrowing a post today from Aaron's blog. He wrote it a few days ago on what to do with children during church services, so I thought I'd post it over here to give my "mom" readers some ideas.

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I thought I'd share a simple idea we use with our 6 year old to make the most of his time during the preaching service of our church. I've designed a sheet in MS Excel with blanks for the sermon notes - things such as Sermon Title, Preacher, Date, etc. (most of this info is found in our church bulletin). Then, I list 20 blanks for 20 words or phrases that he is to write down during the sermon.

Here's a sample:

The notes above are for a sermon that our pastor preached from Romans 12:4-8 (listen here, search by date or text). We try to discourage him from writing words like "the" or "he" or "God" - you know, frequent words; but rather to listen for key words or phrases. He's still not catching all the "key" words just yet, but this is a start.

Speaking of starts...we didn't start with 20 words. Here's how it progressed for us: at the age of 4, our church no longer offers child care during the evening service. So, at least twice a month, Aaron Job would sit with us during the evening service (on 2nd & 4th Sundays, we meet in small groups around our city). This is a good & gradual adjustment to "big church". We have our 4 year old daughter coming in on Sunday evenings now as well. For Sunday morning worship, five years is the transition age from children's worship to "big church". So when he turned five, he began attending the main worship service with us each week. We also will bring some of our children in during special services - missions, choir concerts, etc. as another way of slowly getting them accustomed to sitting with adults (our children's worship is also designed to prepare the children for this transition).

Once Aaron Job began to learn to write (I think it was when he was five...that's something my wife would remember) I would make a simple list of just five blanks for him to write words. Soon it grew to 10 words, then 15, and finally 20 (you should've seen the faces he made each time I'd increase the number of words!). Gradually, I hope to train him to listen for outline points and other key words & phrases.

Here's a list of 18 characteristics of a godly man found in Proverbs 16:16-33. The list was easy to follow, so I had Aaron Job listen for the 18 characteristics. He got them all (with a little help from mom & dad) and even included two extra at the end.



Of course, in his mind, the goal is to finish as soon as he can, so he can work on what he hopes will become blog fodder.

To get you started, you can download my form here for your own use. Of course you can customize your list to meet the needs of your children.

Ta-Da!

I have to show you all my first major sewing project (for me, it's major!) I made some curtains for my dining room, and WOW! What a huge difference they made in that room! I just like to sit there and stare at them sometimes and say, "I made those!" :)






We have lived in this house for two years, and I bought the material over one year ago. I was tired of looking at bare windows, so finally I asked my sweet friend Hannah to come and H-E-L-P M-E. She graciously did, and we knocked them out in one day-well almost. She stayed and helped me as long as she could, and we had all but one done. So, after the kids went to bed, I picked it back up, and got to my LAST row of stitches and ran out of thread! Anyway, I finished them a few days later, and I think they turned out pretty good!


Stay tuned for another year and I may have a new project to show you!

Testimonial from a baby

For all you moms with babies- there's a conspiracy going on between them! This was too funny!

Sleep Training...

OK, here's my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7 months. The first few months were great--I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened. Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months.

Here's the thing: these Mommies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep--they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle. It goes like this: Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good. Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you get fed. Night 3--every hour. Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights.

Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD! But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with. My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn't eaten pears since lunch, what's up with that? The cat said "meow". I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL. Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room. Too hot, too cold, just right--doesn't matter! Keep crying!! It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies' internal clocks.


P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me.

SASS-SAY

Abby recently had her hair in braids for a few days, so when we took them out, her hair was all wavy. Aaron Job kept staring at her and quietly giggling to himself at her poofy hair. So, finally he couldn't stand it anymore, he said "Abby, you...look...kinda...um...different!" She looked at him, and with her hand on her hip, in her sassiest sass, she declared, "Well I'm STILL in this family!!"

New Addition Announcement!

Did I get your attention? No, it's not that kind of addition announcement. We have a new addition to our blog family! Aaron Job has started a new blog.

Okay, really it was started by Aaron, but the six year old is the contirbutor. It's called Aaron Job Draws, Original Drawings and Stories by Aaron Job. To get the whole story you'll have to visit my husband's blog. Check it out!

Favorite Pics of 2006

...yes, I meant for that to rhyme:) Instead of posting anything with real content, which is way too time consuming for my brain right now, I thought I would just post some of my favorite pictures. They're mostly from the holidays

Aaron Job is growing up so fast. He loves to read, draw, and play with Legos. He really has made homeschooling a joy for me. He loves to learn and is very bright.

Abby is such a happy girl. There is never a dull (or quiet) moment when she's around! She loves to talk, and is the social coordinator of every event! She always makes us laugh.

Then there's Anna! With her beautiful blue eyes, she's normally the serious child. She's not easily amused, but loves to be tickled and has the cutest laugh. She also loves making messes! She really only has three needs in life: her thumb, her blankie, and her mommy!

Sweet baby Ava. She is pure sunshine, and is almost always smiling! She just turned 8 months old, and about a week before Christmas, she sprouted two teeth, began sitting up, and started crawling!



Here we are in Hot Springs on a trip to Mid America Museum. Aaron Job took this picture, and it turned out really well, considering the subjects he had to work with!

From our whole family, we hope you have a blessed and happy new year!