giving thanks

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. Psalm 100:4

We worked on a Thanksgiving unit the past two weeks. We learned about the Mayflower, the Wampanoag Natives, the Pilgrims; and the thanksgiving event of 1621. The bigs didn't like the idea of eating muscles or duck and N' was really concerned about why the native men didn't wear shirts everyday :0) The best part of our studies was learning about giving thanks to God for all of the wonderful blessings He bestows upon us, for who He is, and for His daily care of us.

The kids LOVE collecting fallen leaves in the backyard. They'll move them into piles, sort them into buckets and baskets, gather them in their plastic shopping cart... and then pour them out and do it all over again. So, we made a pile of leaves out of construction paper and wrote whatever they wanted to thank God for. Then we took out the tape (wow do they love tape) and hung them on the back window so they would look like the falling leaves outside. So many precious ways to complete the sentence: Dear Lord, thank you for...


Both N' and J' thanked God for our family, for "leaves that fall down from the trees" and for "mommy and daddy's friends" (which is what they call the praise team singers and band at church).

..........

N' thanked God for "corn that grows" and "[his] toy computer with the counting game on it."
J' was thankful for "[our] crayons." :0) B' enjoyed sticking blank paper leaves to the window, pulling them off, and sticking them on again.

PT and I have a long list of thanks this autumn season, not the least of which includes little B' getting in a good long nap today. He's teething again - two merciless molars on the top - and the discomfort is interrupting his overnight sleep. Is there anything sweeter than watching babies sleep?

Thank you Lord for fall. It's beautiful outside and we're so beautifully blessed in the wonder of Your love for us and the warmth of our love for one another.

above all that we could ask or think

Welcome to our new home-sweet-home. Please join us in praising the Lord for His provision. It is such a blessing to have a little more space to move around in! The Lord really worked things out for us in amazing ways throughout the whole process. It doesn't seem real yet, but we really get to live here ;0) What a sweet and humble privilege. All honor and praise unto the Lord for His willingness to show us favor. My heart is heavy for the previous owner's having to go through foreclosure, but the pricing miracle we needed was a result of that situation -- so even in that we are thankful.



The bigs love their new bunkbeds! (Another sweet pricing miracle from the Lord!) N' normally sleeps on the top, but he and J' wanted to trade tonight. B' is doing a great job learning to sleep in the toddler bed. This is his second week and we're so very proud of him. When we announce it's bedtime, he typically climbs in, pops a thumb in his mouth, and waits to be covered up :0) Now if we can just get him to stay in there instead of tiptoeing into our room when he wakes up at 4 or 5 am and realizes everyone's asleep.



They really like having a dedicated play space! (So does mommy -- I don't absolutely have to reorganize the toys at day's end if I don't want to. It's so different from having the family room and the play space in the same spot!)


There's just one room upstairs - the grown-up's office space - but the kids think the stairs themselves are a blast to climb up and down. We are so grateful unto God for the joy of moving into this space for however long He has us here. It's a beautiful answer to prayer and a manifestation of so many of our heart's desires for a living space... an exceeding abundant blessing.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

baby belly 4

Here's a pic I took this morning for those who have asked to see our baby bump ;0)
This week we'll reach 20 weeks pregnant with sweet babynew number 4! Praise report: today is the fourth day in a row without vomiting or waves of nausea! Praise the Lord! Please pray with us that this means the daily, ongoing vomiting and nausea are over for this pregnancy. Please join us in prayer for a healthy baby and a smooth, speedy, natural delivery also!

we made a sunny day

The three weeks before we moved went on endlessly, rainy day after rainy, muddy, overcast day. The kids were soooo tired of the rain and they were stir-crazy from being trapped in the house for so many days in a row. One morning N' said that we needed a sunshine in the window. I explained that I couldn't make it sunny out, but suggested that we make our own sunny day inside. N' and J' thought it was a fabulous idea and a few minutes later the floor was covered in construction paper, the scotch tape was out, and mommy was in serious demand cutting whatever shape they thought to add next. We spent a fun-filled hour cutting out shapes and taping them in the window in various spots until N' and J' were pleased with the result. They couldn't wait to show daddy their very own sunny day when he returned home from work that day! "Look Daddy, we made a sunny day!"

We spent the next week (yes, it kept raining) of overcast, rainy days pulling the blinds up every morning instead of just turning them open so that they could smile at their sunny day. We didn't take it down until a couple of days before we moved. I thought about keeping it, but thought it would be more fun to start over fresh and see what they come up with the next time!

Isn't it amazing how creative you can be at only 4 and 2 years old! N' was particularly pleased with his lake and sailboat idea. J' loved the three birds flying under the clouds (she loves birds -- they're hard to see in the pics). B' was happy to tear-up and attempt to eat the scraps of construction paper that littered the floor while we worked :0)

our hat lover

N', J', and B' all enjoy any opportunity to toss on a hat. But, B' is especially crazy about hats! It's rare for a whole day to go by without him putting on a hat... any hat! Here are some sweet pics of him in his current favorite, N's cowboy hat. We took these about a month ago, but he's still running around in this one. Isn't he sweet! I wish you could hear him say "hat?" when he's looking for it! I love it!

skipping it

I try not to air controversial opinions often, but I have such a heart for this every October. So, please indulge me as I share my heart about halloween. I know many of my Christian friends choose to enjoy celebrating the day in full or in alternative celebrations of various kinds. You certainly have liberty to make your own decision for you and your family. However, I contend that as followers of the Most High God, it is important that we flee anything that is rooted in our enemy, Satan.

There are several who argue that our children are missing out on something by not participating in dressing up and candy collecting from door-to-door. However, I don't see my children missing anything. There is nothing wrong with playing dress-up or holding a fun costume party. If you are ok with sugar consumption in young children, there is nothing wrong with the occasional candy munch either. Both of these activities can be enjoyed any time of year. There is no reason why we need to participate in a halloween event in order to allow the kids to put on a hero costume or taste M&M's. We can save this fun for a sunny afternoon with the dress-up box out or for a themed birthday party.

There are also those who hold that it's an important community opportunity to greet neighborhood trick-or-treaters at our doors on what may be the only day that they actually knock. But, it has been my experience that this actually creates confusion for non-believers who assume, rightly, that Christians would not want a part in celebrating a holiday that originated in pagan practices and ideas. We are called as Christians to stand as light in darkness, not to walk alongside darkness and allow ignorance to be bliss for our children. With a little effort, we can establish healthy relationships with those neighbors who are willing, without the risk of putting our witness and walk with the Lord into question.

"Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them." Ephesians 5:11

"You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons."
1 Corinthians 10:21

So forgive me those who disagree, as I turn out the porch light and wait until November 1st to celebrate the fall with whole pumpkins and gourds on my porch. Autumn is my favorite season and I can't wait to jump knee deep into leaves and brush and wrap myself in fabulous fall jewel tones... but first, I have a day to spend in warfare-prayer for the hearts of those lost in occult practices. They will be celebrating in horrifying ways in secret places halloween night while innocent children blindly walk the streets thinking of nothing more than candy and the greatness of this year's costume. It is my prayer that as my children grow, they will join me in prayer and spend halloween thinking of the greatness of walking in relationship with King Jesus -- there is nothing better than that. No costume, no amount of candy, no number of halloween games could ever compare to the greatness of His love.

If you are interested in more information, the best objective, concise read I've found this year is on the History.com website (http://www.history.com/content/halloween). Be warned: their site is secular in nature and may have images along the side page that you would prefer not to see (i.e. skull and crossbones artwork). The purely fact-based information is useful for understanding the origins of today's halloween celebrations in the United States without any addition of opinions on the matter.

1. origins of halloween http://www.history.com/content/halloween/real-story-of-halloween
2. origins of pumpkin carving http://www.history.com/content/halloween/the-jack-o-lantern/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern
3. origins of trick-or-treating http://www.history.com/content/halloween/real-story-of-halloween/today-s-traditions

You could also refer to an article I agree with from christiananswers.net. (I don't agree with everything this site puts out but I liked this article. Again, be warned in advance as they have pics along the side page that you may prefer not to see (i.e. a woman with a bloody bandage across her face).) http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/halloween.html#harvestparties

There are many books and sites with clear, objective information. If you are unaware of the origins of halloween or if you're on the fence about whether or not your family should participate; I encourage you to do some research. Don't take my word for it, seek information, seek out scripture, and make your own informed decision.

bum genius contest

After much deliberation and way too much hesitation, I've finally decided to enter the wonderful world of cloth diapering. Some of you will say I've lost my mind, but there are honestly so many pros as compared to disposables. It's better for the environment, saves money over time, eliminates exposing your baby to the chemicals in disposables, helps potty training to happen faster (as babies feel natural wetness when they potty), and they are CUTE! These are just a few of the pros.

The hardest part of this decision is to decide which brand, style, and type of cloth diapering to go with. I am really interested in two options: "bum genius one-size" cloth diapers and "bummis" cotton prefold diapers with "super whisper wrap" covers. These represent two TOTALLY different types of cloth diapering: prefolds (updated version of what our moms had before the disposable was invented - lots of flexibility in fit since you choose the fold that works best for your baby) and all-in-ones (AOI's) which are a newer take on cloth diapering and combine the style and ease of a disposable (they go right on with no folding, pinning, etc.) and all the wonderful benefits of cloth. A decision must be made ;0)

To this end, I've been researching endlessly online and found a contest offering 6 free bum genius one-size diapers to the winner! Well I couldn't pass that up!

To learn more about bum genius diapers, cloth diapering in general, and to enter the contest, follow the link below to clothdiapertips.com!

http://clothdiapertips.com/contest-six-bumgenius-3-0-one-size-cloth-diapers/

Oh yes... some of you may wonder why I'm researching cloth diapering when B is 16 months old and almost ready to potty train. So, here's to sharing fun news for those of you we haven't had a chance to tell yet: we're expecting baby number 4! Another sweet surprise from the Lord and a promise of much more diapering to come!

summer in review

Welcome to our summer in review! Tomorrow is the first day of September and we are soooo anxious for the summer's heat to end that my heart is moving on to fall! Big apologies are due for the incredibly LONG absence of blog updates. You'd think we went on an extended vacation or something... we didn't. I've just been running as usual and trying to keep the kids entertained indoors as much as possible. Ten minutes in this southern heat and cheeks are all pink, clothes are all sweaty, and everyone smells like wet puppies. Here's a list of pics and details, caption style, to show some of our summer highlights. Hope you enjoy!

B and "Shirley the Great" (my grandmother) at a church concert in Waco.

N pretending he's a painter. (I love that plastic bowl "painter's hat"!) His paint palette is the plastic lid from an empty cardboard oatmeal container.


J in a new dress! It was handed down from a dear friend of mine who has two girls and a baby boy. I wish you could see all the sweet little lady clothes she gifted to us when she visited! It was such a blessing to recieve, but an even greater blessing to spend a few precious hours with an out-of-town friend while our little ones played. Doesn't she look absolutely adorable?! Of course, I may be slightly biased ;0).

B trying to put himself down for a nap in N's toddler bed with the padded letter "T" for company.
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In June we went to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science for a friend's 3rd birthday party. The kids had never been before. They have a children's museum there with small versions of places in the world for them to explore. Our three loved the firetruck, kiddie kitchen, and farm best.

J driving the firetruck with friends from church, Eliana and Gideon.

N, J, and B riding rocking horses at the miniature farm.

Posing with the life-size mammoth statue outside the animal and dinosaur building of the museum of nature and science.
J was not impressed with the dinosaur bones, but she LOVED the taxidermy animal displays. Sadly, the two pics of her with the black bears refused to upload. N thought it was all fabulous! Sweet B had fallen asleep in the stroller by the time we reached the animal building. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fun at home with daddy. The kids LOVE to pile on PT's lap when he sits down in this chair. It's hilarious because they barely fit all together, but they are determined even if they have to sit on each other's arms and legs to make it work.

N and J morning fresh and looking cute! B refused to stay in the picture. He prefers to try his best to get a closer look at the camera when I try to get a cute, posed group shot.
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Friends invited us to their parents' cabin in east Texas for Independence Day weekend. We left early Friday morning and followed them there and drove back just in time for sound check before service Sunday morning. We had the best time getting to know their family better and spending the weekend in a gorgeous place away from the city! We rode four wheelers (kids too! - they rode in front of us, one kid with one adult, slow, but they thought it was great). We shared meals. We played ping pong. We walked along the trail. We looked at the stars without city lights in the way. It was wonderful! We loved getting away!

The view of the "piney woods" from the upstairs deck of the cabin on the top of the hill.

J and Daddy laughing.

Sparklers!
On Saturday night we went to the pond for sparklers and fireworks (a set of 9 canister fireworks that our host was brave enough to light the fuse for out on the edge of the dock and then run so we could all enjoy!) Most of the time the grownups helped the kids hold the sparklers steady, but N and friends Ethan and Adelaide went solo when the sticks were first lit (and nice and long) which made for good pics. You can't see N's friend Ethan, but that's his sparkler on the left. J and B were too short and too unpredictable to handle sparklers.
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"Now I'm number 4?"

N turned four early in August. When did four years go by??? He was so tickled to actually have a cake. It was the only thing he asked to have for his birthday. We don't do complex sugar very often, so cake is pretty rare at our house. It was a strawberry cake with brown sugar and butter drizzle on top. He thought it was fabulous! Funny birthday moment: N asked, "so will I be number 5 tomorrow?" ;0) He was sad to learn that he has to wait a whole year to turn 5.
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Well, that's our summer in review. Hope your summer has been filled with moments of great JOY and many reminders of God's greatness!

"The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives."
Psalm 37:23 NLT

lye soap love

My mom brought me a bar of Grandma's Lye Soap about a month ago. I use basic bar soap as a stain remover (works really well on biological stains like food and poops) and she thought a bar of lye soap would work even better than my random bar of zest soap. So, I opened the bar of lye soap and promptly fell in love! The ingredients include lard, water, and lye. That's it! I started out just using it to help remove poop stains from all these training pants. (Oh how I lament the decision not to try elimination communication in lieu of traditional potty training -- the extra effort when they were tiny would have been WELL worth the effort!) The lye soap not only removes the discoloration quickly, but zaps the not-so-sweet smell of fresh toddler poo in seconds! YAY!

Well, I didn't stop there. I had some onions to slice one day and wondered if it would remove the onion smell from my fingers faster than lemon juice and baking soda. It does!

Next I tried peeling a little into the wash with a cheese grater, some white vinegar, and a little Borax (simple, homemade laundry detergent). That worked too. The clothes were clean, fresh smelling, and soft without fabric softner; but it does take two rinse cycles to get the soap all out.

All of this was great! But the best happened when I decided to try it in the bathtub. Our kiddos all have excema (patches of severe dry skin) that comes and goes based on their allergies (ah the joys of living in the pollen-rich south!). As I researched lye soap I read a few threads on some sites that declared the wonder of lye soap as body wash, especially for sensitive skin and excema. The results: the two stubborn patches of excema on J's sweet little cheeks are almost clear! N's sandpaper back is becoming smoother and softer! And they all smell fabulous without any fragrance added!

Hooray for old-fashioned lye soap!

triplets

I know it's kind-of corny, but we found these matching shirts in an 18 mo., a 2T, and a 4T all on SALE and couldn't pass them up! Aren't they super duper cute!

We took these pics to update the framed picture of the kids that PT keeps on his office desk for Father's Day. Of course, after the fact, it occurred to me that he has the kids pics on his work computer wallpaper and it rotates through different pics and everything... so we could have skipped the 30 minutes of begging to try to get a good shot ;0) Oh well, he'll add the shot to the rotation! Now if I can just get B' to understand that they only sat on the table to take a cute picture and it's not a chair :0)

our superstar

"Mommy, are you soooo proud?"

"Yes, I am soooo proud!"

We keep having this conversation over and over again - every time N' finishes using the potty. Yes, N' is successfully using the potty. He's great at "tinkles" and even wakes in the night to potty. He's been dry overnight since he was 18 months old, but since potty training he occasionally needs to go around 4 am. That's fine though, he finishes and goes right back to sleep! What a fun blessing!

We're still working on consistently releasing poops into the potty. The first poop in the potty happened at church, just after service. Once a month we have a meet-the-leadership lunch right after church called the BBQ&A. The BBQ&A was just getting started and Patrick had just gone into the room when N' had his first poop-success and he REALLY wanted to tell daddy. Since N'always whispers when a lot of people are around I walked him down the hall, opened the door a crack, and let him slip in so he could share his news with Patrick. Well, that's the end of "always" with N'. He flew through the door, spotted his daddy, turned up a huge smile and announced full volume, "Daddy, I made a poop in the potty. It was a big snakey, stinky poop!" Yep. Mommy was soooooo embarrassed, but thankfully daddy didn't miss a beat he stuck his hand up for a high five and gave huge congratulations to our little pooper then looked at the folks gathered in the room and said simply, "we're potty training." Everyone laughed and then they applauded and shouted "good job" and "alright" -- talk about great reinforcement. Nehemiah was a superstar for a moment! Or at least you'd have thought so from the sound of things! ;0)

He chose these underwear himself. He chose from a whole display of underwear in the store and decided based on the fact that this package was all green-based and there was a dinosaur pair AND an alligator pair in the package. Our boy couldn't resist such a fabulous combination. Even red undies with puppies and firetrucks lost out. He's very excited about using the potty, but much more excited about the coolness of underwear! (He's making muscles in this pic... mmm hmm... well, at least he said he was making "really strong muscles." hee hee!)

outside

The kids all love to be outside. Here are some pics from a recent morning outside. It's too hot to go out in the afternoons now, but the mornings are bearable if we get out early. N' pretended to mow the lawn with a push-ride toy, B' pushed the shopping cart around, and J' practiced on the tricycle. We played outside for almost two hours before we had to go in for lunch. Ah such simple fun!

A Dress-up Day

My Aunt Necia and Uncle Joey sent this gorgeous, lemon-yellow, fluffy wonder for Judah's birthday. When we tried it on her the other day, the only way I could get her to take it off was to promise that she could wear it on "church day." She said, "I want to put it on my body." Hee hee! It's a 2T and she turned two in February, so you'd think it would fit just right by now, but it's still a smidgen big for our petite little lady.

Still, I promised, so I pulled out the sewing machine and made a quick pair of capri-style pantaloons for her to wear under it. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm all about pantaloons, long patty-pants, and knee-bloomers. It's ladylike and sweet and we want to teach her appropriate modesty at an early age. I am so tickled with how they came out. This is my first attempt at making capri pants for Judah. Her Nana (my mom) bought her a pair of summer sandals that she found on sale and they were a great match. This will be a favorite outfit all summer!

We took a couple of pics after church before we changed into play clothes. The standing pic is her idea of posing for the camera-- hee hee! She said, "Mommy, Judah is pretty." And I quite agree!

(click on the pics to enlarge for a close-up view!)

happy helpers

READY, SET, GO!











The "bigs" love to help! We bought a giant package of toilet paper at Sam's Wholesale Club. Nehemiah asked what we were going to do with it. I explained that I needed to move the individual rolls into the hall closet and my happy helpers launched into action.

Nehemiah announced that he would bring the rolls to the closet and Judah said, "I want to help too!" Suddenly a race was on! Judah only dared to hold one roll at a time as she ran down the hall. Nehemiah tried two and three rolls at a time, even though several attempts at three resulted in dropping all of them and having to start over. It was hilarious and oddly, actually helpful. If you look closely at each pic, you'll see in the background that "the competition" is working hard to pull more rolls out of the package at the end of the hall as the kiddo in the forefront of the pic is running. I couldn't have finished any faster by bringing the package to the closet and unloading the rolls into stacks on the shelf by myself. Besides, they had the best time with their invented toilet paper race!

I love how everything has the potential to be fun and exciting to a child! YAY! Left up to me, that giant package of toilet paper may well have sat on the floor behind the couch til the end of the day, but my cuties made it a great game to put it away as soon as we got home. I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pics to share -- even though Nehemiah shouted for me to hurry so I could "catch" those two rolls he was racing down the hallway with!

We Love to EAT

Sorry it's been so long between blogs. My camera is full of cute pics of things to tell everyone about :0) Here's one fun happening: B' enjoyed his very first peanut butter sandwich this week. Look at that smile! He thought it was great. I'm not sure which pleased him more, the brand new flavor and texture of peanut butter and pureed strawberries, or the fact that he could eat his whole lunch unassisted just like "the bigs." I had the best time watching him grab, giggle, and stuff bite after bite.


















Since I was sharing about food I thought I'd include a handy spaghetti-night help: the "bib shirt."

The bigs LOVE spaghetti (which they both pronounce "spagebsie"). I'm a stain-chaser: the kind who can't stand to let a stain linger on those sweet kid clothes. To get tomato-based stains out of fabric completely without chemical assistance, even if you strip it off and toss it in the wash minutes after they eat, can be a real challenge.

Now, N' doesn't like to wear a napkin draped under his chin, a bib, or a towel because he says, "I'm a big boy. A bib is for Benjamin because he's a baby boy." That means J' won't wear a bib either. So, I invented the "bib shirt." When we eat spaghetti we grab two of daddy's plain white undershirt-tees, pull them on, and clip them in the back with clothes pins (to hold the t-shirt collars close enough to protect even the collars on their little shirts beneath). The fun of wearing daddy's shirts works every time and the clothes pins release with a gentle pull so there's no risk of stangulation. Best of all, the t-shirts are long enough to cover them to the ankles so shirts, bottoms and all stay nice and clean! When we're done I just toss the two t-shirts in the wash with some bleach. Simple, easy, and no stain removal parties in my kitchen sink!

(Bib shirts are great for arts and crafts coverage too!)

Laundry Baskets

"The Bigs," a.k.a. the big brother and big sister in our house, love to play in their toy-storage baskets. We have two laundry baskets that hold the kids' toys: one in the kids' room and one in the living room. These two laundry baskets are more popular than bikes in our house! Sometimes they use them as cars, sometimes as boats, pretend bathtubs, as caves to hide in; I'm so impressed by their imaginations at 2 and 3 years old! In this picture, they had just announced that they were getting ready for bed and proceeded to pretend to sleep; making snore noises and laughing the whole time!

It puts the neat-nik in me to the test to smile and say nothing when they jump up and dump the baskets out. But, their sweet little giggles make it well worth overlooking the messy pile of toys on the floor... at least for a little while :0)

One in Houston

(B' with PaPa) (B with Grandmother)


We went to Houston this past weekend for a celebration. PT's parents' 48th wedding anniversary and his Aunt Larrie's 74th birthday are on the same day each year and the family hosted a banquet to honor them. Patrick has a big family and it was great to see everyone.

Sunday was B's first birthday! I can't believe a whole year has gone by already! He is such a little wonder! He can walk, wave hello and goodbye, laugh infectiously, and does his best to mimic everything "the bigs" do! And he loves to talk... lots of babytalk accompanied by a few "real" words: daddy, mama, kitty cat, bye, and "cheeyoh" (cheerio). AND he just learned to shake his head "no" and nod "yes" though he uses them interchangably :0)

N' and J' think he's wonderful and all theirs. They try to drag him everywhere they go so he's learning to run fast! The three of them look for one another constantly. They do NOT like to be separated! I love their love for one another!

Happy Birthday little beloved!

Measuring Cups

When we married we received 4 sets of measuring cups as parts of wedding gifts. I thought to return three sets; who needs more than one? But at two and three dollars apiece and with no gift receipts, the hassle of returning them far outweighed the need. Almost seven years later, I am so glad we kept them all. The kids love measuring cups!

The last thing PT and I do before bed is make a sweep of the house to pick up toys, books, random shoes; anything that's not where it belongs. At least when we go to bed and wake up, the house is all neat and tidy - with most everything in its place. The last couple of weeks this sweep has resulted in a sink full of measuring cups to wash. Our cuties keep asking for them during the day and I keep handing them out. I love the creative ideas they have for them!

Things our measuring cups have recently been:

• boats, airplanes, beds, and cars for toy animals and little people figurines
• pots and pans (J' and N' both like to pretend to cook with me. The 1 cup measuring cups apparently make great pots and the 1 tbsp. measuring spoons become "cooking spoons.")
• telephones and microphones (if you talk into the cup, it has an amplified effect)
• a magnifying glass (N' uses the round hook holes on the end of the green plastic set as a magnifying glass)
• percussion instruments (bang them together, use them like drumsticks, slide them on different surfaces for a scratchy sound)
• chew toys (B' always makes sure he gets in on the action)
• rain makers (In the bathtub, the "bigs" like to stand up and pour water on each other declaring that "it's raining on you," while the other laughs like crazy! Funny how they love this but have fits about having shampoo rinsed out of their hair.)
• hats (for various toys)
• oh, and every once in a while they loan me one to measure something as I cook ;0)

Easter Best

We had a fabulous Resurrection Day celebration this year. PT organized and directed a choir again this year and we had a blast praising the Lord together. The message included a live lamb! He was soooo cute and tiny. The kids were in for service today (no children's church pull-out mid service) so they were all there to see the little lambie -- oh their faces! Our pastor used him as an illustration right at the start of the service. The best part was the closing song: "He's Alive" (by DeAndre Patterson). The band, the praise team, the choir, a Christian rapper who is a member of our church wrote a rap to go in one of the instrumental breaks, AND the children; we all performed together. The kids were in the front and had choreography, the lights were just right, it was a HUGE work and came together beautifully to the glory of God!

N' should have been on stage, but he heard some feedback at a church building we went to for a service last summer and since then he refuses, terror stricken, to go on the stage at all. So, even though he knows the whole song, had his drumsticks in hand, and danced like crazy in rehearsals; he simply would not calm down enough to go on stage with the other 3 year olds. Oh well, maybe next year.

Everyone was pressed and pretty for the day... sadly I didn't think to try to snap any pics til after church and after lunch. They just weren't interested in standing together and looking cute. J' insisted on making her "sqwunchie" face (above) and singing "He's Alive" loudly for the camera (below), N' had an accident by then which required trading his khakis for jeans, and B' just came running for cuddles every time we tried to get a pic. We "shopped" in the backs of our closets and drawers this year and created some adorable outfits -- if I do say so myself ;0)! Here's as close as I could get to sharing their Easter Best in pictures.