Payback

Poor Ava:

But I'm thinking maybe Ava took the ball away from Gracie in this picture:

July 2009

It's All About Me

=)

I am excited about:

*Cooler weather!  

We had 73 days (that equals 2.5 months!) this summer where the temperature was 100+ and it feels so refreshing to be able to walk from the house to the van and not feel like I'm suffocating.  And being able to buckle the girls in without breaking into a sweat is a nice bonus.

*Getting to see my friend Barb this Friday!

We're going to meet at the Children's Museum again and spend a fun day together with our 5 kiddos!  Last time we went it was 115 degrees so we weren't able to do the outside things.

*Getting to see my friend Barb on October 8th!

We're meeting at the Zoo while Jeremy and Joel golf.

*Revival!!!!

I'm SO looking forward to the 3-day revival our church is having this weekend.  I can't wait to see what God has in store for us!

*Ladies Conference!

November 11-12...a night away in a hotel with church ladies and spending all day Friday and half the day Saturday surrounded by godly women and the presence of God!

I am thankful for:

*Being able to stay home with my children

I am so, SO thankful for this.

*My husband

For working hard to provide for us and letting me stay home.

*My children

They are my life, a constant source of joy and laughter, and being their mother is helping me to become a better person overall.

*My parents

For doing all they did to raise me, for enduring all the headaches I gave them, and for serving God, in spirit and in truth.

*My church

A recent sermon that impacted me was 'The Message DOES Matter'.

(2 Samuel 18:19-33)

Ahimaaz was a good man, he was a good runner, he had a passion for what he did.  But he had the wrong message.  The message matters.  I've thought about this story quite a bit since.  Thank you, Pastor!  =)   

I have recently read:

*The Great Awakenings series (fiction)

by Bill Bright & Jack Cavanaugh

*Our God is One 

by Talmadge French

*In Defense of Truth

by Timothy Duffy

I finished this book today and I enjoyed it so much.  Practically every other page is folded down because I was constantly reading things that really stood out to me and I wanted to remember.  One of the many quotes that impacted me was: 

"When you hear something repeatedly and never challenge it with the Word of God, you will begin to believe it as the truth.  We allow many lies to go unchecked because they are sandwiched in truth or come from someone we trust to tell us the truth."

I also liked, "Great public speaking is not the hallmark of truth."  

This book pointed out the many, many scriptures in the New Testament where the writers gave strong, clear warnings against believing false teaching and straying from what the apostles originally preached.  My goal is to challenge everything I hear and believe with the Word of God.  To measure everything against it.  

It IS the instruction manual, after all!  =)

I am currently reading:

*Organized Simplicity

by Tsh Oxenreider

I'm making my way very slowly through this book and taking notes.  It has several quotes in it that I like, such as: 

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do."

*Siblings Without Rivalry 

by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish

I am about a third of the way through this book and I really like it so far.

*The Ministry of Motherhood

by Sally Clarkson

I am about a fourth of the way through this book and it has been excellent.  The author encourages mothers to follow the pattern Jesus set with His disciples in training our own 'followers'.  

*The Bible

One verse I've been thinking about a lot is:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

I'm planning to read:

*Whose Child is This?

by Bill Wilson

*Educating the Wholehearted Child

by Clay & Sally Clarkson

*Doctrine Does Matter

by O.C. Marler

*In the Name of Jesus

by David K. Bernard

But enough about me.  What about you? 

=)

New Dresses

Speechless Sunday

This Week

We officially ended our painting strike and started slapping primer on the brown doors and trim.

!!!

I have also spent many hours this week sorting through the girls' clothes. 

We are so, SO blessed to be given all of Amelia and Gabrielle's clothes.  They're are 2 1/2 years older so it works out perfectly for us!  We are so thankful!  

(They have cute clothes, too!)

So I've been washing everything since they've been in storage and sorting it all out to see what we have.  Can't believe my babies are going to be wearing 4T!  

What happened to the little preemie clothes?! 

Ava and Gracie have been beside themselves with excitement over 'new clothes'.  They want to try on everything.   

Ava LOVES to wear dresses.  

Oh, I like that dress!

That's a pretty dress!

Oooh, can I wear that one?

This one is cute, too!

That's a fancy dress!  

The Royal Wedding

At least in Ava's mind.

Jamie and Josh are getting married October 22nd and Ava and Gracie are going to be flower girls.  Many months ago, Jody showed them a YouTube video about being flower girls and Ava was SO into it.  I was afraid it would be all she would talk about for the next 4 months but it only lasted about a week and then just an occasional reference to 'the wedding'.  

Until this week, that is.  She is obsessed with it!  It is on her mind constantly.  

ALL. DAY. LONG. she is saying things like:

Is it the wedding time now?

Is the wedding ready yet?

I will wear these shoes in the wedding.

Will the wedding be at our church?

Mom, is it the wedding now?

When we wake up in the morning, will it be the wedding?

I think Josh will come here in an airplane.  And then he might drive Jamie's car.

Is the wedding ready now?

I will be excited for the wedding!

I will wear a fancy dress for the wedding.

I will throw flowers on the floor and Jamie will throw flowers too.

After we sing (song service at church), then will it be the wedding?

Jody tell me the wedding is at our church but its a long time.

Is it time now?

And on, and on, and oooooooooooon.  These, and more, are sprinkled throughout the day and worked into most conversations.

What a girl!  =)

Laptops

We have 2 old, broken down laptops.  I pulled them out awhile back and the girls had so much fun playing with them, pretending to watch things, setting up their babies to watch something, etc.  =) 

Ava's Cat

These are from May, I believe.  Ava put this cat inside her shirt...and kept it there most of the day.

We had several errands to run, including the Health Department: 

And Wal-Mart: 

=)

Daddy's Girl

Fairly often, Joel walks up and down this side aisle at church during altar call, praying.  The second Gracie sees him doing it, she joins him.

Its very sweet.  =)

Summer Fun

On our first day back at the library story hour Miss Shawn asked if anyone had done anything fun that summer.  Gracie said no (HA!) and Ava said, "Yes.  I went shwimming at my friends' house."  =)

(She has a slight lisp and really does say 'shwimming'.  Its so sweet!)

Chatting on the Phone

Talking to Grandma for real.

Pretending

Pretending.

Pretending.

=)

The Zoo

We went to the zoo with Matt and Amanda in June.  It was unbearably hot!  The van said 108 that day.  Here's Uncle Matt pulling the girls:

Ahhh...this is the life!  

We rented a second wagon to pull the cooler of water in.  Not sure we would have survived without the water we brought!! 

We got to see a baby elephant!  Cutest thing ever.

We went to an exotic animal park in May.  This lion was one of the first things we saw and the guys were making it growl, which terrified Ava...

So she looked like this most of the time.  It was SO hot and unusually humid that day, and she was crying most of the time.  Poor girl.  The park is probably 80% lions and tigers and she hated it all.

She was also scared of this goose that was following us around.  Joel had taken the girls to the lake shortly before this to feed the fish and ducks and the Canadian geese really did try to attack them so even though this cute guy was just casually following us, she was beside herself.   

Time to leave!  Happy now!

Yummy food and A/C! 

We took the scenic route home. 

Hh is for Hippo

We did a few activities for Hh week, although not nearly all that I had planned, then we've taken a few weeks off.  Hopefully we'll get back on track this week with Ii for inchworm and igloo!

We got some books from the library:

Built lots of houses: 

Painted some worksheets: 

Letter Hunt:

Did a hippo craft: 

Made Hh's on the geoboard: 

Worked on some counting skills with this very cool, and inexpensive, game from ROSS! 

And a homemade counting game: