guess who??

Guess who???

Simple yet powerful

Every night for the past two months I've been praying Psalm 89:1 for my kids. 
The actual verse says; "I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations."
But at bedtime they hear me say; "Dear Jesus, I pray that McKenna will sing of your great love forever. I pray that she will make known your faithfulness through all generations."

Simple words...powerful message.

By praying that your kids will make known God's faithfulness through all generations you are praying that:

• they will be saved
• they will walk with the Lord for the rest of their lives
• the Lord will give them a long life
• that your children's children will hear the truth about having a relationship with Jesus 
• that a Christian heritage will be established in your family

 Put this verse on an index card by your child's bed. You'll have it memorized in just a few nights and before you know it your kids will have it memorized too. One day when they're grown I am certain that they will still remember their mom praying God's word for them and I pray that they will be blessed by it.

Missing them...

 Emma has grown up so much. Every time I see her she's changed even more. She's gorgeous and sweet and totally acts like a teenager ((sigh)). I should clarify...she acts like a "good" teenager :) McKenna told me that she likes to play with Abby better because Abby is a kid and Emma is a grown up.  She still loves Emma tons and tons, but she's right...Emma's grown up.

 And then there's this little character named Nate.

 Right when they were getting ready to leave he came up with a "plan." He decided that if he got himself stuck in this little car, then he wouldn't be able to leave because he would be stuck. It was a genius plan until he realized that he could easily get out of the car. Oh well.

I told Nate that next time to think of a better plan so maybe he wouldn't have to leave and he decided that when he's nine he's going to come and stay with Christian for a whole month. And they're going to live in the bonus room and I can buy him a flat screen 3D tv. I didn't know they even made those and I don't think I'll be buying one if they do, but it's a cute plan.

*sPLasH*

 McKenna has this little friend who basically has NO FEAR when it comes to water. The girl just jumps in full throttle.

 Then there's McKenna who fusses at people when they splash her in the pool. She pretty much likes to keep her entire face and head dry. But that little friend of hers was showing her up and she's not about to be out done.

 So she abandon her puddle jumper and switched to arm floaties.

 And she actually let Emma hold her hands while she jumped in, even though water would go over her mouth.

Before long she was jumping in while holding onto just one finger.

That's big progress for his little peanut!

William: 15 Months

He's 15 months old now. It happened a few weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting about it.

Stats:

Wears18 month or 24 month clothes

Size 4 diaper

Sleeps through the night most of the time.

Finally drinks milk if it's warm

Is starting to form an attachment to his blanket
Can say "momma" but doesn't attach it to me yet.
Loves to read books with animals in them
Makes lots of animal sounds: cow, horse, dog
Runs, jumps, dances
kicks a ball
tries to hit a ball with a bat
Signs: more & all done
he can pretty much communicate whatever he wants to; he points to things or brings you things (like a diaper if he needs to be changed)
he LOVES to be outside
he throws a huge fit every single time we come inside from playing outside

  We only have one little concern about this precious guy. The last time we were at the pediatrician he was worried about all the moles that Will has all over his body. You can see some on his upper forehead and his hairline in this picture. He's pretty much covered with them behind his ears, on his scalp and all over his back. It's unusual for someone Will's age to have so many large moles. So we're getting it check out in July. Honestly I'm not overly concerned about it. I wish he didn't have them, because they will probably grow with him and be huge by the time he's older and I know it's silly, but that makes me sad. But I don't think there is anything "wrong" with him. I think we just have a cautious pediatrician who wants to just be sure and I appreciate that!! I'll keep you posted.

Favorite Cousin Memory

My favorite memory from our time with our cousins:

It was around 9pm. Everyone was in their pjs and had just had a bedtime snack. 

It was our last night together so I was in no hurry to send everyone to bed. 

They suggested a movie, but there's no memory making in that.

So we opted to play charades instead.

It was hilarious. Seriously so much fun.

I found myself sitting there laughing wondering when on earth everyone grew up and became so enjoyable instead of just a lot of work :)

Taming Back Talk

People...we have a problem. It's called back talk. There is nothing on earth that gets me more fired up than back talk and Christian is a real pro. 

We've got a few other behavior issues too and I have learned that it's sometimes best not to "engage" the behavior, just to firmly put an end to it.

Enter.... the green bucket.

It's working....and that's why I'm sharing, just in case some of you might need a green bucket too :)

Each morning Christian gets 7 clips (clothes pins) on this green bucket. Anytime I catch him doing something good that goes above and beyond what is expected, I put a clip in the bucket. At the end of the day if all the clips are in the bucket, he can stay up an hour late (until 9pm).

The clips can also come out of the bucket if he back talks, disrespects me or has an issue with his little sister.

I have been known to move all the clips back to the outside....it just depends on the severity of the behavior infraction.

Christian hates to go to bed early, so this is working because it is tied to something he daily cares about.

Tonight there are still 2 clips on the outside of the bucket. Looks like someone is going to bed early :)

New Home Owner

I bought this little house 5 years ago at a yard sale for $35.

The house in 2009 with it's original owner.

A new guy has taken up residence in this play house this summer.

Welcome to Will's place!

It's one of his favorite places to hang out. He basically likes to just open and close the door over and over again. That's cool...whatever keeps you busy little man.

McKenna's Amelia Bedelia Moment

Christian's going to a ball game tonight and I asked him what he was looking forward to the most and he said he hoped that he got to see one of the players steal a base. McKenna's was listening and her eyes got really big and she said, "What? You mean they pick up the bases and take them home? That's not nice, then on one else can play."

Later, we were loading our shopping bags into the car and the man in the car next to us was sitting there smoking a cigarette with his window rolled down. McKenna said (plenty loud enough for him to hear clearly) "Hey look at that guy. He has that smoking thing in his mouth that makes you die. Is he going to die soon?" Time to teach her a little discretion.

evening swim

whirlpool!!!

Please take note of the fact that the top of her head is wet. This is huge!

Emma taught Abby how to dive (not in our little pool don't worry) in under 2 minutes. The girl is now a pro!

Things are getting a little crazy around here...we're going to let Christian's hair grow this summer. It's always been super short, but we're just going to see what happens. Just to clarify...I think all the grandparents are about to panic right now...our idea of "long" means a little shaggy....no pony tails...I promise!

McKenna with the two people on the face of the planet she adores the most.

Nate

Is he not one of the cutest things you've ever seen? Thankfully that cuteness is alive and well on the inside of him too. He was just precious with McKenna and Will. But Chrish is his favorite and boy oh boy those two are wild together!

Summer Baby

Summertime just wears my little guy out! But I just love those sweet little skinned up knees.

Teaching lowercase b and d

I was just talking to someone about how their child is struggling with lowercase b and d confusion and I wanted to send them this info, but it was easier to put it in a blog post. This will only apply to you if you've got young kids or you teach young kids. The rest of you can carry on with your lives :)

The two sayings "Bat before the ball" and "door knob before the door" are probably the most effective way of teaching this concept.  There's a youtube video found HERE that explains how to teach it. The "teacher" on there is goofy so skip to the 1min 15 sec marker to get to actually how to teach it.

I love this way of teaching it because they always have their hands with them and they can use their hands to "check" and see if it's a b or a d if they forget. Go HERE to see another video clip (it's lame, but you get the point...maybe I should start making you tube teaching videos. I couldn't find anything decent).  Go HERE to print a free post of the "bed" teaching concept.

Wrapping up the season

 This picture cracks me up....he is such a serious ball player!

 It took me all season, but I finally figured out a system to corral Will so I could actually watch the game. The games are long, usually around 2 hours or more. Will does great in his stroller for about an hour, but then he's done. I don't blame him, why would he want to sit there for 2 hours???

 So this system was a pain to drag out to the field, but so worth it!!!

 Baseball is over now. 

It was great! So great!

 Christian grew so much as a player and learned to deal with some tough stuff. There was a bully on Christian's team this year. Like the kid literally punched other kids and said some awful stuff to Christian. But Chrish handled it well. One time this kid was out in the outfield yelling at his own team about how dumb they were and Christian told him to stop being a bully and to be quiet if he couldn't be nice.

 Love this picture!

Please notice the kid in the background catching bugs! ha!

 McKenna loves to run the bases after the games. She always talks about "when I play baseball...."

 Shaking hands with his coaches.

 The whole team!

 I'm so thankful for the two dads who stepped up and coached Christian's team this year! They were both encouragers who helped build the boys confidence and were more interested in giving them an opportunity to try different positions and grow as well rounded players than winning. Although we all liked winning too!

 Coach Kevin with Christian, Carter and Hudson.

 One proud dad.

Good thing Grandmom loves baseball, she's got many, many years of grand-stand cheering in her future.

We've been counting down to this moment

Nate and Chrish = the best of friends

the giggling does not stop when they're together

they sneak around and spy on the rest of us constantly

they are downright wild together

and there is no scarcity of hugs between these 2 either...which is saying something since Chrish doesn't hug people.

when I look at this picture I see:

more than cousins

best friends

a brotherhood

genuine joy on their faces

Amy & I have plans for a special mother son date with them. It might end up being the best day of their lives. I sure hope it is!

Her Stage

 My music girl.....There's a constant song playing in her head. Her feet are always dancing, her lips are always moving to the tune of that song.

"All the world's a stage...." William Shakespeare