Merry Christmas

I hope your family had a wonderful Christmas.  We sure did!  I was the first one to wake up this morning....before 7am.   I had some time to myself before the kids began to stir.  Once everyone was up we started in on our traditions.  The girls wanted to play their new Mario game.   James asked them if they planned on opening their presents.  It was a nice scenery. 

We do not do the Santa thing at our house.  Christmas is about Christ.  The presents and festivities are part of celebrating Christ for us.  So the girls were obviously excited once they started opening them, but the presents are not the focus for them either.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, James read the birth story from the Bible, we prayed and then the girls began.  They have been playing, sewing and crafting ever since.  In a little while we will do another one of our Christmas day traditions.....go to Waffle House. 

So another Christmas is basically past.  I hope you have taken time today to thank Jesus for the blessings in your life.  Without Christ there really is no Christmas.  He is what Christmas is all about, whether our culture wants to admit it or not!

Happy Birthday Lulu

Lulu is 8 today!!!   Where have the years gone?  I can still remember the nervousness I felt on the way to the hospital.  She was my first baby and even though I knew what to expect...I had no idea what to expect.  When she was born she was breathing three times faster than normal.  She was moved to NICU and spent her first seven days there.  On Christmas day she had two seizures and was put on medication.  James and I were scared as all parents would be, but I never felt out of control fear.  God's peace was with us from the very beginning.  I knew God would heal her and He did.  She is perfect!

Lulu is my sensitive girl.  She wears her emotions on her sleeve.  She loves books, animals (especially horses), drawing and swimming.  She is always eager to help others, not so much when it comes to her room though.  Her sisters adore her even though they do not always act like they do.  She is a great friend.  Lulu loves the Lord and her church.  I am so thankful to have her as my daughter.

Lord, I thank you for Lulu.  Thank you for her sensitive spirit.  Use her to show your love and compassion to hurting people.  Help us to raise her to know and love You.  Help me to teach her to be a woman of God.  Thank you for her health.  Keep her close to you.  Guard her heart and her mind from the things of this world.  May she remain innocent in Your eyes.  Lord she is Yours and only lent to us so that we can help guide her to Your will. Bless her Lord.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

She did it!

Lulu took 1st place in her individual score this month for JBQ!!!!!!

We are so proud of her.  She has really come a long way from last year.  She not only got 1st, but she had a perfect day as well.  That means she answered all questions that she was able to in every match.  She did great.  You can tell by that smile that she was pretty proud of herself too!

Two Afternoons Free...In My House?

I cannot believe it but we have experienced two afternoons free!  Today and yesterday the girls were up, fed, clothed and ready to go.  We were able to get all work done by lunchtime.  That is huge for us.  And Lil only flushed one pair of panties and two pieces of chalk down the toilet

She came in the school room and told me her pink panties were gone.  I didn't think too much of it since she had purple panties on.  Then I remembered a pink pair in the bathroom.  I figured she threw them away.  When I took her to use the potty a little later she pointed in the potty and told me again that her pink panties were gone.  She never really put things in the potty as an young toddler....when I would have expected her too.  Now that she is almost three she does.  Sometimes I wonder how she comes up with the things she does.  Thank the Lord that our toilet still flushes fine.  They must have gone on through. 

Anyway, back to getting school done around lunchtime.  The girls were even excited to be done earlier.  And their attitudes were so much better.  That doesn't mean there was no complaining, but not like when it's 3:30 and we're still at the table.  I just hope having a couple weeks off for Christmas does not monkey wrench us.

Christmas Time Already

Oh how I wish I had everything ready...  

It is so hard to believe that we are this close to Christmas.  We have lots of birthdays this time of year as well as all the Christmas things.  So life here is busy.  The girls had their Christmas program at church last week.  Tonight and Sunday night they are singing in the Adult program too.  Next weekend we have a Christmas party in Louisville, then Christmas weekend at home and the last weekend of December will be Christmas in Ohio.  Add a few birthdays in there and two the first week of January and we are pretty wiped out.  I was able to get a pretty decent picture of them last week after their program.

They all three did such a good job during their programs.  The older girls sang and played bells.  Lil sang, did lots of little motions and then had to make a dramatic exit to the bathroom !  I was just glad she did not pee on the stage. 

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.....