My baby falls asleep in my arms often. And, in the wee hours of the morning she joins me in bed where we sleep for about an hour before being woken by her older brothers.
Of course, I don't get pictures of these precious moments...but I have a few photos of her having similar moments with her dad.
I know this stage won't last...so I'm enjoying it.
There's nothing quite like cuddling with your sleeping baby.
The boys have recently begun assigning animals to each person in the family.
The first to "be" animals were...well, them of course. They are (in order of age) a lion and a dinosaur. (Roar!)
I'm a giraffe. Dad's a kangaroo. Their sister is a butterfly.
It doesn't stop there, though. They have also found it necessary to assign animal identifications with their extended family.
My brother is a tiger. One of my sisters is a white monkey. Her husband is a caterpillar. My other sister is a duck.
And, Grandpa is...a bear. :)
Here are the bear and the butterfly.
The animal assignments are seemingly random. But, the boys take them very seriously. They don't even like to be called by their real names most of the time. My oldest tells everyone (including strangers on the street), "My name is Lion!" Most people think he's saying, "My name is Ryan!"...so it goes over ok. :)
What animal are you? You should decide now, because when the boys see you next, they'll need to know.
My photography goes through stages. For instance, right now, I'm on a bit of a picture-taking spree, since the weather is nice and I can get outside in some natural light.
But, my photography subjects seem to change from season-to-season also. Lately, I've found that I don't have a lot of stunning photos of my oldest. Part of this is because...he's getting old. :( I don't often catch him with those sweet, innocent looks. Part of it is because I'm letting his hair grow out...and we're in an awkward stage. :)
Anyway...here are a couple of good, recent, illustrations of my super cute, handsome baby boy. (He'll always be my baby, right?)
This kid's faces crack me up! :)
What in the world??
I wanted to somehow capture the bright blue sky...and I think this photo does a pretty good job.
Can a kid be ANY more photogenic??
I love her hoodie and her pink shoes. She loves being outside. She's going to have a blast this summer!
That's all. Just wanted to share our day with you. Awana:
My oldest started attending a local Awana group about a month ago. They have a memory verse every week.
A couple weeks ago, I had him say his verses for me. He can say all of these verses much more smoothly today, but I love this "rendition", because, in the 3rd verse (Romans 5:8), he says "killed" instead of "died", and I think it's a good illustration of his understanding of "died".
"Ebotions":
I started doing devotions with the boys while my baby princess takes her morning nap. They are most often referred to as "ebotions". I get the boys a little snack, and we sit down to read from our Children's Bible.
I chose this particular book after I'd read some good reviews about it.
Here's one:
Not only is each story as vividly illustrated as it is portrayed, but also each tale is telling one Big Story--the Story of Jesus. Even the Old Testament stories of `The young hero and the horrible giant' and `Daniel and the scary sleepover' come full circle to Jesus, the greatest Hero, King, Lover and Rescuer the world has ever known. -- More to Life Magazine, May 2007
We made it through all 350 pages in a little over a month. The kids always want to read the next story during "ebotion" 'time. I plan to continue going through the book from beginning to end until the kids are older and ready for a different format for our "ebotions".
I highly recommend the book!
I took the kids down to a farm in Colorado a couple weeks ago. We had a blast! I'm hoping to plan a trip to the zoo soon! They would be beside themselves with excitement!
This picture is a good representation of the way the winter has been....windy. Can you see the snow blowing and the grass blowing?...
This poor guy was riding against the blowing snow..
But...wait.....
Look what I saw today in our front yard......GREEN! :)
We've actually had a couple nice days in the last week. My baby got to crawl around outside for the first time in her WHOLE life! She loved it, of course!
She also got to hang out in the garage while the boys played out front. She loved that too! She gets so excited to be outside. She breathes really heavily and kicks her cute, little pudgy legs. A thrill!
My oldest was able to display how much he's grown over the winter months. At the end of last summer he was struggling to figure out the coordination it took to make this bike thing work out....and this weekend he was showing off how fast he could ride up and down the sidewalk. I'm proud. :)
Then, today, the boys went out in the back yard and played catch.
This is the American Dream, right?
How fun it is to have two boys who are best friends!
So...I'm seeing some light at the end of the cold, windy tunnel. I can make it. I can.
She loves her brother.
They like being silly together.
My little bruiser of a boy is also the most gentle kid I've had the pleasure of knowing...
We girls like to be treated with the sweetness that my darling boy offers.
Some friends from our church have offered to watch our kids tomorrow night so that we can go out on a date.....alone.
What am I supposed to do??
I mean...we accepted, of course. But, from there...I'm at a loss. I'm maybe even scared. I'm saying this and laughing...but I'm not sure I really think it's funny.
This is sort of like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...and I don't want to blow it.
I'm nervous about my date.
Help, please... :)
Don't you think the church girls will have fun with my cuties?? :)
