Panties on the up and up

Lil has been in panties for three days now!!!  I am beyond excited.  She is doing great with the pee-pee part; not so great with the poopy part.  But I can deal with that.  She does that a lot less during the day.  I am still putting her in a pull-up for naps and bedtime.  She usually goes poopy in her pull-up after nap.  I am hoping that the more she uses the potty on a regular basis she will start pooping there too.


This may not be what you were hoping to read about......but this is grand news in our house!

Past Few Weeks

I have been meaning to post some pictures of the last few weeks.  Here is a slide show of some things the girls have done.

Last month we went on a field trip to the Post Office and the Newspaper Office.  The girls had a lot of fun.  I forgot to take pictures at the Post Office.  At the Newspaper Office they were able to see the press running and a coloring book printing.  Each child got to take one home with them. 

We also went to a Fall Festival at a church in town.  They had tons of fun.  There were several blow up games, pony rides, a petting zoo, popcorn, hot dogs, candy.... the works.  This church really did it right. 

We do not celebrate Halloween.  Thankfully, this year our church hosted a Family Fun Night.  The girls were able to dress up and go to church for a night of games and candy.  Lulu was a princess, Monkey was Miriam (Moses' sister) and Lil was Elmo!  The girls had a great time playing with their friends.  We also had a chili cook-off to raise money for BGMC.   BGMC is a missionary outreach within the Assemblies in which the children of our churches raise all the money.  They have little "Buddy Barrels" that we put spare change into each month.  The money goes to help missionaries buy material to use with children.  It is a great program and really teaches kids the importance of supporting missions.

Next up was Monkey's birthday.  Monkey, Lulu, and I made her birthday banner.  The girls drew pictures on it too.  It was really cute.  Lulu wants one for her birthday too.  She made her cake and it was delicious.  Very rich, but delicious!  

So that gives you an idea of what we have been up to the past few weeks.  Of course we had school in there too.  Lulu started multiplication this week.  Just an intro.  She is getting really good at cursive writing.  Most people that see her handwriting say it is better than theirs.  That makes her feel good.  Monkey is really improving in her reading.  I'm so proud of her.  She is also doing much better with narration.  In Science we have studied Mercury the past two weeks.  The girls know a lot about Mercury....ask them next time you see them.  They got to make a model of Mercury out of flour, salt, water and a few other items.  That was fun.  This week we have moved on to Venus.

This Saturday is going to be their combined birthday party with their friends.  We have rented a blow up jumping castle with a slide.  It should be lots of fun.  The girls cannot wait.  I'll try to get the pictures up a little faster this time.....

Six Today!!!

Happy Birthday Monkey!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe she is already six.  I know we, as parents, say that every year.  But time passes by so quickly when you add children to your family.  It seemed like my first nine months of being pregnant with Lulu took forever.  Now my 'middler' is six.  She was my longest labor...36 1/2 hours.  I would do it all over again to have her sweet spirit in our home. 

For those of you that know her personally, you know that Monkey is very determined.  She has a mind of her own.  Sometimes this is good for her and other times not so good.  But when I look at her I see a strong lady for God developing.  She knows what she believes, what she wants and often times how she is going to get it.  I can see God using her in mighty ways as she grows older and more mature.  She fears very few things.  She does not give up easily.  She is also a protector.  I remember a year ago when a girl bigger than her that she did not know took something away from Lil.  Monkey put her hands on her hips and in her best mother tone said, "You don't take things from my baby sister!".   She even told her twice....

Monkey is also my child that you can find strolling around the house singing praise songs to her Lord that she herself has made up for Him.  I know that Jesus smiles every time Monkey sings to Him.  She loves her family, loves her church and is quick to let us know.

So today is her day.  She woke up this morning and sang, "Yeah...no school today, no school today!"  Lulu and I even did her chores for her.  She was very excited about that too.  In a little while we will start her cake.  She wants to make it.  Tonight our family is coming over to celebrate with her.  In a couple weeks her and Lulu are having a big party with their friends to celebrate both of their birthdays.  I will put some pictures up of that.  We are renting a jumping castle with a slide.  It should be lots of fun!

Lord I thank you for every day you have given me with Monkey.  I thank you that when she was born she was healthy.  You have always provided for her and I know you always will.  Thank you for choosing me to be her mother.  Even on the hard days I give you thanks.  She is yours and you have only lent her to me.  Help me to raise her for you.  Help me to know how to teach her, what and when.  Help me Lord to model for her a godly wife and mother.  Help me to love her with unconditional love.  She is a blessing and help me to treat her as such.  In Jesus' name,  Amen.

This One's For You...Stacy

Well it's 1:00am and I can't sleep.  I have not blogged in awhile so I thought I would at least say hi to Stacy.  I just finished typing out some notes for our second round of JBQ matches this Saturday.  I get more nervous than the girls do.  They have studied hard and know the next set of questions well.  This time they will have 142 possible questions to pull from.  Each individual match is 20 questions - 15 questions from the new set and 5 questions from the old set.  There are four sets of 72 questions.  So by the end of the season there will be 288 questions about the Bible that my girls will know.  This is just B league.  In A league they have the 288 10-point questions plus 20-point and 30-point questions.

Anyway it is pretty amazing to watch these young kids recite details from the Bible at the speed of light sometimes.  Sometimes I can't even hear what they say they buzz in and answer so quickly.  For example one of the questions for this set is:
       "As described in Hebrews, what was the ark of the                         covenant?"  The answer is:  "The sacred box which contained         the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, the gold jar of             manna, and Aaron's rod that budded"
The kids know this entire thing at the word "As".  Pretty amazing huh?

After the quiz match on Saturday our hectic schedule begins.  We have three birthdays in November.  My Monkey will be 6 on Tuesday.  Where did the years go?   I cannot believe how much she has grown and learned in the past few years.  We are having a combined birthday party for Monkey and Lulu this year in the middle of November.  It should be lots of fun with lots of friends!  Then Thanksgiving and then December.  We have four birthdays in December.  Lulu will be 8.  I will be 31.  Of course Christmas is right there in between Lulu's birthday(23rd) and mine(28th).  Then James and Lil have their birthday on January 6th.  Needless to say the next two month span about wipes us out.....physically and financially !  Lil will be 3 by the way.  I am hoping that she matures greatly when she turns 3......

So there is somewhat of an update on us.  The girls are chugging along with their studies.  We just finished learning about Mercury, the Vikings, a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, etc.   Lulu will be starting multiplication next week.  It should make for an exciting week...