Big Kids

We went to the  prince and princess birthday party of a sweet friend this summer... Here are the kids in their party-favor get-ups! (The girls wore "fancy" dresses since it was a princess party... we took these just after we returned home.)

tiny highlights... 2011

Oh my goodness... how did I manage to let ELEVEN months pass by without updating our family blog??? We started this blog a few years ago to help far away family and friends to stay connected to what's happening: to allow them to watch our "little arrows" grow. Please forgive me for not posting even a single picture in the last year (ok, 11 months, but it might as well have been a year).

I think to post something on the blog soooo often but it doesn't make the priority cut-off by the end of most days when it comes down to the last load of dishes to wash, a chance to hit that last bit of ministry work, spending a few more minutes with my super sweet husband, oh and trying to go to SLEEP!

Still, I am going to give it one more try before I give up altogether. So, to that end, here's a quick few pics taken throughout 2011 and a few precious moments pulled from my mommy journal so you can see the kids grow.

some SPRING 2011 PICS:

Here are the kids playing in the backyard. There's a funny story in this pic and I don't mean N with the toy dump truck bed on his head... I had the brilliant idea to write the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) on the back fence with sidewalk chalk, assuming that at the first rain it would wash away. It didn't. It rained several times. But, that sidewalk chalk didn't budge. Then I tried to just brush it away with a broom. Nope. It was set in for sure. FINALLY I had to get a bucket, a stiff brush, AND soap and scrub the words off of the fence. If I had written them more neatly, I would have left them up there, but it wasn't my neatest. The chalk did wash off but so did several years of fence dirt. So, even a full year later, the "clean" spots on the fence remain visible. Lol! Oh well! I do NOT intend to scrub the entire fence!

Easter Sunday 2011

The annual battle on the living room floor. We move the couch off the blank wall, spread a white sheet on the floor, open all the blinds, position the camera, and then I hit that 10 second timer button and the fun begins. An hour and half later we usually find one pic on the camera that we're satisfied with 'cause the kids are all out of sit and smile power!

J (4 years old)

J with PT's parents a.k.a. Grandmother and Papa!

Mommy and her four on the first 76 degree day of the spring... Daddy was behind the camera. (Pardon my house-shoes... it was after church and I had already shed the less comfy shoes and the little white shrug that covered my shoulders that day.)

J dancing in her beloved boots! We had to buy new boots for her bday 2012 because she outgrew this pair in November of 2011 and what a sad few months those were. She actually had to wear other shoes! :0)

Judah sweet Judah!

Esther outside on a mat.

Esther outside on the exercise mat.

The boys working on their "collection." It's a bucket on the back porch full of leaves, sticks, acorns and rocks. Yep. It makes them happy and the bucket has a lid, so nothing else gets in there, which makes this anti-bug momma happy.

Esther throws her head back when she laughs. It's not so bad when she's sitting, but when she's standing she sometimes throws it back so hard that she knocks herself off balance and tips over. This, of course, leads to more laughing!

Esther loves to pull containers out of the recycling trash. Oh well, cheap fun, and it's all washed out before it goes in there anyway.

some Summer and Fall 2011 pics:

Nana and Esther on Nehemiah's 6th bday. No party, just us and nana for this one. We made party hats though!

N's bday gift: a bike his legs fit... we waited way too long to move him up bike sizes. Oops.. he's so much more comfy and much faster on his bigger bike.

The kids took 12 weeks of swim lessons from our dear friend Jordan this summer. Even Esther learned survival skills in case she falls into water. YAY! (She had fallen on the sidewalk the day before this pic was taken... even with scratches, isn't she CUTE! :0)

B leaping in to take a lap with Jordan, world's best swim teacher, right there to help!

A playday with the cousins (my sister's kiddos and their doggie, Star).

Another swim lesson day. Judah learning to dive in!

N and J practicing kicking.

A day at the park. (This pic was taken at the end of our day... hence the sleeping Esther!)

At the park.

Fall... and our first trip to the State Fair of Texas! Who knew they'd like it sooooo much! This was at an exhibit that taught how produce is grown on farms and then arrives in a store. 30 minutes to go through, and lots of steps and teaching activities... they learned a LOT!

Flying at the fair!

SWEET MOMENTS of our 2011 (praise the Lord for my mommy journal or I'd have no idea):

• (March 2011) Nehemiah asking for manilla paper to draw on: "Can I have some vanilla paper?"
• (May 2011) Esther took her first steps on May 5 and was a fully independent walker by May 15! What a cutie! I love those early steps (even if it takes til you're 13 months old to see them)!
• (June 2011) Judah says, matter of factly, "I think Gypsy (the cat) is in her glitter box." (I loved that one so much that I didn't even correct it til the third time it came up!)
• (June 2011) Benjamin is "all boy" so much so that he wipes kisses off with his hand most of the time. So, he crawled up in my lap on the couch one night and kissed my cheek. He looked up at me for a minute, then said, "I like it when you kiss my cheeky. I won't wipe it off. Really, I won't." What a sweet way for him to say he loves me!

ARGUABLY THE BEST TWO MOMENTS OF OUR 2011!!!

• (August 2011) Judah and Benjamin both prayed the prayer of salvation, just one week apart! On a drizzly Saturday morning, (Aug 13, 2011) Benjamin rode with me to a Christian charter school closing sale to look at the available curriculum they had available. On the way, he asked me about Jesus and the cross so we discussed the topic as we had countless times before. At the end of our talk, as always, I asked him if he'd like to pray to ask Jesus to be his forever friend, his Lord and Savior, so that he could spend his forever in heaven with Jesus. And this time he said, "Yes, I would like to pray that." So when I parked the car, we stepped out, squatted in a drizzly parking lot, held hands and prayed a prayer of salvation!
• Judah prayed a prayer of salvation a week later on August 19, 2011. Benjamin and Nehemiah had spent the week talking with her about asking Jesus to be their forever friend. She had questions all week about it and asked to pray with me one afternoon following our school time. What an amazing and JOYFUL thing it is to watch your children change from lost and condemned to eternal separation from God, to FOUND in Christ and eternity with King Jesus!

Love and JOY,

t

it's about time...

Somewhere between family time, caring for the kids, being a wife, ministry work, and the energy drain of pregnancy; I've managed to neglect updating the blog since the end of November. Sad, sad, sad. So, today I set aside some time between other things to fill in the last two months of life in our family! Here are some pics just for fun and by way of updating you on our cuties' latest looks, ideas, and antics.

J' said she was helping PT work the other day. She was definitely making it harder for him to type, but her happy giggles were bound to make it worth the awkward reach :0)


J' has recently developed an interest in all things "beautiful." She likes dresses, bows and flowers in her hair, and comments on anything she thinks is "just beautiful." Yesterday as I was sipping some herbal tea she said, "Mommy, your tea cup is just beautiful." It is a pretty tea cup with pink roses set on a yellow background. Don't go overboard with girly ideas about her though, her other current favorites are puzzles and dinosaurs! My little lady loves to roar with her claws up and her nose crinkled!
Isn't this sweater dress the CUTEST! A sweet friend at church passed this one down when her little lady outgrew it recently. Adorable!

Here ya go... a recent pregnant pic. We're 8 months along as of this week, but I took this a couple of weeks ago. I've never been this big, this soon, EVER! I understand that I carry pretty small, but I still don't know where that belly is going to expand to in the next few weeks???!!! Praise the Lord for His sweetness in that the vomiting is over finally and I'm only nauseous on the occasional day now. (No, I didn't suddenly whack all my hair off. It's all natural and curly in this pic and piled on top of my head in an afro-puff. I didn't feel like pressing it straight that day... lots of days lately.)

N' and J' said they were building a fort. It looked more like the contents of the playroom being dumped out onto the family room floor, but they were happy and working so industriously that I just joined in the fun!
The next day they built a truck out of the kitchen table chairs. N' was the driver (he used the chair in front of him for a steering wheel). All three made engine noises while they made their way down the road.

Here are N' and J' after a wedding we attended two weeks ago. They were looking too cute not to snap a pic! B' refused to stand still for the picture and kept coming out as a little boy blur, so I gave up and just captured the bigs. It was a casual wedding with a cowboy theme, hence the choice of N's western wear shirt for that day.

There's nothing thrilling to report. Church continues to be a blessing and we love serving in ministry! Family life is so sweet (though it would be neat if all three kids would sleep all night, in their own beds, every night). Now, just a few tasks and projects I need to complete before babynew #4 arrives. One such task: now I've caught up on the missing time according to the blog. Sorry so very slow with postings... it really was about time :0)

playtime

Here are some pics of our little arrows at play! I never do seem to manage a really good shot of all three of them together, but here are a few good attempts! :0)

N. and J. love playing in the tent in the living room. It was sunny but cold outside that day, so the closest they could get to a run in the sun was to open the blinds nice and wide and bring out the play-tent for some extra fun. B. was on the floor, just in front of their feet, but he wouldn't cooperate for the shot (kept turning his bottom toward the camera to watch "the bigs" say "cheese").




Here we are outside on a warmer day in February. We had just come in from church and the kiddos were playing in the backyard while I finished getting some lunch together. They like the "crunchy" winter grass just as much as the soft summer grass... mostly because it flies through the air so well! :0) B. likes to eat it.

B. has three teeth already and a fourth one coming in now. That's a blessing for him since he is all about eating!
Grass, paper, leaves, crayons, anything he can get his hands on when I'm not looking will be happily munched until mommy comes along to do the finger swipe and take it away :0) Oh - food too! J. loves to give him things from her plate, so we have to keep a close eye when they're eating, lest she share something that he can't handle just yet. She frequently reports that, "Benjamin wants some too."


Ah sweet Judah! What a cutie she is! I love this super loud outfit! In the summer, we'll roll those pant legs into capris and wear a tee under the pinafore-style top. :0) J. is ALL personality with really great diction and enunciation! Yesterday she said "No, I don't want that one either." Who knew she could use the word "either?" YAY little miss ma'am!

This is mommy and Judah on her 2nd b-day. I made a blueberry muffin cake (muffin recipe baked in a loaf pan) and we sang happy birthday over lunch at home. It was a sweet time; just the 5 of us. I put this pic in here for those who say they never get to see me when I email photos - I'm usually doing all the picture snapping!

oatmeal and chicken???

Normally, PT gets up with the kids, gets them to the table and makes their breakfast while I finish my ever- interrupted attempt at a full night's sleep. But today's schedule was a little different and I made their breakfast - our usual fare - oatmeal "seasoned" with a little Brown Cow Yogurt! Super yummy. Now, we had lime and herb baked chicken last night and much to my surprise, N. was very aware that there were leftovers. So, he asked if we could have chicken with our oatmeal and proceeded to take the leftover chicken out of the fridge and set it on the table for me.

I started to explain that we don't eat baked chicken for breakfast, but stopped when I couldn't think of a compelling reason why not. So, N. and J. clapped their hands as I pulled out two saucers, cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, and served baked chicken along with bowls of oatmeal for breakfast today! Are we rule breakers or what!??? :0) hee hee!

(No, the chicken isn't in the picture...this is actually a pic from a couple of months ago, but it was so cute and she is eating oatmeal. Besides, it went with today's story!)