From Coast to Coast

We arrived safely in NC today, but with only 3 hours sleep last night we feel like this has been the longest day. We are hoping to do some catching up on sleep tonight. The girls did fairly well flying though Abs wasn't always very thrilled with it. As we were landing in Dallas this morning, Sarah Grace looked at Lon and said, "Are we crashing?" Ahm, no. No crashes, no problems, and all the luggage arrived in tact-always a blessing! So, now here we are in Carsolina and off to bed. Looking forward to some good visits with family and friends these next few days!

Lunch Box Envy: Don't Let It Happen To You

Well, I typed a blog entry last night, but evidently Blogger decided it wasn't worthy of being posted. I shall now try to recreate the magic of last night's post. =)

I am in the market for a lunch box for Lainey. I have looked all over Walmart, but as "back to school" is over, the plethora of lunch boxes is no more. Evidently, these lunch boxes that you buy in August last the entire school year and there is never any need to replace them. So, where do you go when Walmart fails you? That's right friends, E-bay. I perused the lunch boxes available for Laine and hit paydirt. A lovely insulated Disney Princess lunch box should be here when we arrive from NC or shortly thereafter. I figured I should probably find something for Sarah Grace as well as she and I will have to eat lunch in Lynden when Lainey has school so I began looking for something in the Strawberry Shortcake family. I found more than I could ever hope for-a 1980 Strawberry Shortcake tin lunch box just like I had in kindergarten! I wonder if I'd be the only mom to show up to school with her kids in tow carrying a lunch box of her own? I suspect there'd be lunch box envy. Not wanting to cause anyone to stumble, I shall resist.

Walking down memory lane tonight. . .

http://www.lunchboxes.com/strawberry1.html

And please note the price on this! And that they're out of stock! That means someone, quite possibly a lot of someones, has paid such a price! Lunch box envy does indeed come with quite the cost.


***Just an update for clarification purposes: I didn't actually buy the 1980 lunch box for Sarah Grace; I'll keep looking for something a little more modern and a little less retro. I was just so excited when I found the other one that I had to quit looking!

A Wedding? And a Trip To Carsolina

The girls and I made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies this evening. As I was making them and had gotten one pan out of the oven, Sarah Grace moved a stool over so she could stand on it and see a little better. She slipped off the stool and as she did, she said, "Oh, I'm married." I said, "What?" She said, "I'm married. No, I'm not." I have NO clue where that came from, but, oh, I laughed hard! I said, "I think I'll start using that when I do something I don't mean to do; 'Oh, I'm single.'" I thought I'd missed some sortof nuptial agreement in her life!

We're gearing up for our trip to NC next week. After nearly two years away, I can't wait to get there. This is the longest I've ever gone without setting foot in the Tarheel state. I'm longing for some blue skies, some cool fall breezes, and some legit Carolina BBQ! As James Taylor said it so well, "In my mind, I'm going to Carolina. . .

A Glad Heart

Something I meant to include in yesterday's blog, but didn't because I was so tired and my thoughts weren't coming together very quickly, was the fact that being in Children's Hospital and seeing children that were genuinely very sick made me very, very, very grateful for my own who are in extremely good health. While we were waiting I saw a little girl go by who couldn't have been much older than Abby who was obviously quite ill and had 2 IV's going along with her. I just had to stop and thank God that our girls are all well in spite of our having done nothing to deserve such. You know, there's no reason aside from God's grace that we don't have to face the trial of having a sick child. It just made me appreciate mine a little bit more. That's not to say they didn't drive me crazy today, particularly when Lainey and Sarah Grace were bickering back and forth over who had a certain horse first, but still I suppose I should be glad they're well enough to bicker (though I must say I'm not really in that "glad place" yet).

Is It Still Wednesday? (Alternate Title: The Longest Day Ever)

Today began at 3:40 and I hope it's going to end soon. All went well with Lainey's doctor's visit and we are quite glad of that and very thankful that it seems like the problem is an easy thing to treat. We are ever so glad that we didn't stay with our friends in Seattle who's son has shingles; when we arrived at the hospital, the first question they asked us when we checked in was "Has anyone in your family had or been exposed to chicken pox in the last 3 weeks?" I'm afraid if we'd said yes, they would have sent us home and that would not have been good.

We finished our doctor's appointment early in the morning and so decided just to enjoy being in the city for the day. Seattle holds a special place in our hearts so we enjoyed being there. We went to Gas Works Park and enjoyed the sunshine (YES, the sun WAS out for a while!) and the view of the city. The girls enjoyed walking and running there quite a bit. As Sarah Grace and I were making our way down to the water, we saw a man walking a HUGE black dog. As they were quite a distance away from us, we couldn't really see exactly what kind of dog the man was walking. Sarah Grace, however, didn't think it was a dog at all. She said, "Look at that bear!" I corrected her and thought, "We would not be quite so casual about a black bear sighting in downtown Seattle." We also took the girls to see the Freemont Troll. This wasn't a life changing event, but it made them smile so it made us happy. We ended our time with lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory. (Methinks I've gone link happy!) They loved that, especially the vanilla ice cream at the end. So it ended up being a fun day even though, as Lon and I figured, out of the 11 hours we were away from home, we only spent about 4 out of the car (making us all the more grateful for a roomy minivan). After we left lunch, we rode around town for a bit and we soon discovered that the girls weren't as "into" our looking as we were. We soon heard Lainey ask from the backseat, "Sarah Grace wants to know if there's anything funner we can do." (I seriously doubt Sarah Grace asked this question.) Lon said, "No, there is nothing any more fun than this that we can afford." Lainey quickly responded, "Boring!" We laughed, but didn't let her know we were! So, it's official, we bore our kids. It was bound to happen eventually I suppose though this is a bit earlier than I'd anticipated! Oh well, at least we had a good time.

Hopscotch Tuesday

As part of our next math lesson, the teacher's manual suggested playing hopscotch to help with teaching counting. As today was sunny and tomorrow will not be, we went outside today instead. I love this teaching when they don't know they're learning! Lainey had great fun and had it mastered after her first few tries.



Here are a couple of cute pictures we've taken over the last couple of days:

Lainey reading to Abs

Sarah Grace after church on Sunday

We're planning on pulling out at 5:30 tomorrow morning to head down to Seattle to take Lainey to her doctor's appointment. Our plans to stay with friends fell through as their son has shingles and we don't want to risk our girls getting that before we head to NC next week. So, it's off to bed now for a short night of rest!

Telling It Like It Is

I love to hear these girls pray. It brings joy to my heart to hear them talk to God. As much as I love it, however, I do sometimes get tickled at the things they come out with, particularly Sarah Grace. It seems that when she prays she just outlines for the Lord just what our day has been like. Tonight she prayed for "mama, and daddy isn't feeling well and Laine isn't feeling well and Lainey got a scrape outside and dad put some glue on it and then dad got the glue off. In Jesus' name we pray, amen." Now what she's telling there is that Lainey got a splinter in her hand and we tried to get it out by putting a little wood glue on it and then pulled the glue off when it had dried hoping that the splinter would come with it (it didn't). But I think it's great that she's just comfortable enough with talking to God that she wants to tell him what's happened in her life each day; she doesn't try to "dress up" her prayers with lots of big words or special voice inflections. She just talks to him; I think that's what prayer is supposed to be. More and more, I believe these little people are here to teach me a great deal.

Speaking of teaching, I think our first day of working with our new books went well. I've still got to figure out just what to do with Sarah Grace when I'm trying to work with Lainey. "Tying to a tree" is looking like a more viable option every day. No, no, I won't do that, but I do need something to do with her. She participates in our lessons as much as possible, but when she grows weary, she grows whiny and that makes teaching vowel sounds very difficult! I'm not worried; we're all new at this so we'll get it figured out sooner or later, hopefully sooner rather than later!

A Rainbow Kitty?

Sometimes our girls do things that make it impossible for me to maintain the "I'm a serious parent and I'm not going to laugh at the funny thing you just did/said" face. Tonight when Sarah Grace was praying, I was sitting on the edge of her bed and our cat Felix kept getting up on the bed. I put him down a couple of time while she was praying and then she started praying, "And Lord, please help Felix not to get on the bed because he's supposed to not and he's green and purple and white and all different colors. In Jesus name we pray, amen." I have no clue where any of the color stuff came from because last I checked we don't have a rainbow kitty, just your average tabby. Perhaps she was mixing up the horse of a different color with the cat of a different color? At any rate, I lost it. I could not hold it together. I completely blew the "prayer is a serious time and we don't need to play during it" lesson we were trying to teach because by the time she finished, I was shaking from laughing so hard.

We're all set to use our new homeschool books tomorrow and I think I'm probably the most excited of all. Here's hoping that it all goes well!

Upside Down World

Regarding my dream of my children becoming "globe masters" that I mentioned last night: it's already coming true. Lainey got the globe out this morning and then said she wanted to show me something. I came over to see what she was doing, she pointed and said, "Mongolia." I said, "Yes, that's right, how did you know that?" She said, "I just did. I sounded it out." We were pointing out different things on the globe and I showed her Antarctica; she said, "Don't the people fall off down there?" Good question, because in her mind, if it's upside down on the globe the people must be walking around upside down. It made me smile. I do love the mind of a five year old!

Dreams Do Come True

When I was a little girl, if anyone asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always "a teacher"(though I think I briefly harbored a dream of joining the army; I never went to the post office with my parents that I didn't come home with a tract from the army and the Army tent was one of my favorites at the state fair; I think that dream died when I learned about boot camp.). Somewhere along the way, I changed my mind and ended up with a degree in Christian ministries rather than education (though I seriously considered changing majors in the middle of school and even more seriously considered going back to school some years later to get certified to teach). Why do I tell you all this? Simply to say, "I think I am living my dream with home schooling!" I ordered some curriculum (I misspelled that word about 5 times) in reading and phonics as well as math. It came today and I am in nerd heaven. I have gone "total nerd" with it. Workbooks, and teacher's manuals, and readers, oh my! I'm getting everything organized and can't wait to start on Monday.

I was on a quest today to find a globe. I never had one (yes I was deprived and now I don't know geography) and thought it might be helpful. Little did I know when I set out with this goal in mind this morning, what an ordeal it was going to be to find one in Bellingham. We started at Target because Lon remembered having seen one there. Well, they were there no more and when I finally found someone in a red shirt and khaki pants who could help me, I asked, "Do you all have any globes?" A what? Thinking she might be confused and disoriented because of the lovely Southern accent, I spoke louder and slower. "A glo-be." Oh, like a "globe ball"? WHAT? Sure, a "globe ball" if that's what you want to call it. She directed me to toys; no globe there, on to Walmart. I abide by the philosophy "if Walmart doesn't have it, you don't need it" but today that failed me. Lon and Sarah Grace went looking for a globe while Lainey and I went looking for socks (an adventure in itself). When he tracked someone down who could help, he asked "Do you guys have any globes?" The response "You mean a globe map?" Lon said, while making shapes of a globe with his hand, "I mean a globe." Oh, no we don't have any of those. On to the teaching supply store in town and my dream of owning a globe was fulfilled. They had several to choose from including an actual "globe ball"-a beach ball-like creation that had all of our lovely earth on it. We opted out of the "globe ball" realizing that it would indeed be turned into something to throw around the house within minutes of blowing it up. No worries though, I am now the proud owner of the Globemaster globe and now I can only hope that my children will grow up to be "globemasters"!

A Tooth and a Glimmer of Hope!

Breaking news today: Abby cut her first tooth! Finally! She has been chewing on her hands for two months now so I'm glad we have something to show for it. As this is the first of many to come, she's still chewing and still not all that happy, but we're making progress. I have to say though, it always makes me a bit sad when they start getting teeth and that little toothless grin disappears forever. Oh well, there'll be other things that make me smile.

I often wonder if I'm getting through to Lainey and Sarah Grace when trying to teach them. Tonight at supper, I saw a glimmer of hope. I've been trying to teach Lainey a Scripture verse each week. I asked if she could remember the one from last week (Children obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord. Colossians 3:20). Lainey started it, but then Sarah Grace chimed in and finished right along with her. I've made no real effort to teach Sarah Grace (mistakenly thinking she might be too young) but she's just picked it up. Yes, there is hope! I do make a difference! Of course as I was trying to remind her of another verse we've learned, she started spitting out her chicken casserole. So, there is still a long way to go, but we ARE making progress!

Sneaky Learning and Sacrificial Offerings

Lainey got a belated birthday present in the mail today-some sidewalk chalk! Both she and Sarah Grace had a great time drawing with it on our sidewalk and driveway. Lainey wrote out all her ABC's and wrote her numbers from 1-20; I love it-she's learning and doesn't even know it! I love just sneaking education in on them! The three of us made some banana bread today and in the process worked on reading and math and had a pretty good snack to show for it in the end.

Sometimes we see some pretty strange and funny things in our house. We never know what we might find when we turn the corner to walk down the hall. This has to be one of the strangest and funniest things we've seen lately:

I think they might be offering Milky as a sacrifice. They've got their drink offering as well and have taken off their shoes because, well, I guess they think they're on holy ground. Who knows? I just know it made me laugh when I walked down the hall and discovered it!

Off We Go!

The girls and I went to see our good friend Jana and her three boys today. There was lots of running and playing and laughing and I think they all had a good time. When I told Lainey we were going this morning, she asked if she could take some of her dress up clothes; I tried to explain that little boys don't dress up like princesses like little girls do and that they could play with Legos or cars today. She seemed satisfied. She did get to dress up though; Josiah dressed up as a Power Ranger and Lainey was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle complete with shell! It wasn't Cinderella but she was still cute. We walked over to their neighbor's house to see some young kittens and as Sarah Grace said, "They're very very cute." She did try to hold one's face down into the water as he was trying to drink and also tried to pick another up by his head, but still she appreciated the cute factor. We'll add "How to Handle Baby Animals" to our list of skills we need to learn!

Maybe The Mamas And The Papas Were On To Something

Monday, Monday

Can't trust that day

Monday, Monday

It just turns out that way

Oh, Monday, Monday

Won't go away

Monday, Monday

It's here to stay

Oh, Monday, Monday

I sometimes wonder that my life wouldn't make a pretty funny sitcom. I think if there had been a laugh track involved today, it would have been a perfect episode. I was attempting to home school, but things were not going well. It wasn't that the material was too hard or that Lainey wasn't interested; it was just all of the other happenings going on all at the same time. I had Abby who wouldn't nap more than 20 minutes and Sarah Grace who would tell me that she needed to go use the potty only to get there and say that she didn't need to go which resulted in her wetting her pants twice and three changes of clothes before lunch time. The first time she wet her pants, she said, "Oh no, I spit up." Not exactly dear. The next time, I asked if she needed to go to the potty. She took that as a command to go right then. This time she said, "Oh no, I did it again." I still haven't had time to mop the floor from that one! Before bedtime I suppose! Then about ten minutes later, Lainey had to go to her room for back talking and I decided I would try to feed Abs and fix Sarah Grace's hair. In the midst of that, Lainey started hollering that she had to go to the bathroom. As we are having to collect "samples" to try and determine just what's wrong with her stomach, I had to be involved in that. I'll spare the details except to say "wow". Or in Lainey's words, "That was impressive." Let's just say I'm glad that little chore is all done! While trying to take care of all of that, I walked out of the bathroom only to find Sarah Grace trying to sit on Abby and bounce. NEVER A DULL MOMENT!!!! So, to those who think that stay at home moms only sit around watching soap operas and eating bon-bons, THINK AGAIN! I don't like soap operas, but I wouldn't mind a good bon-bon or twelve. Things did settle down this afternoon and I got some cute pictures of the girls. I think summer is having its last hurrah this week so we got the pool out one last time and let the girls play. I got some cute pictures of Abs on her tummy on the floor; I fear that crawling is in our near future!

Enjoying the Pool One Last Time

Stop, Tummy Time!

She's practicing for when she goes sky-diving!

Mom, could you give me a hand?

Lainey reading Green Eggs and Ham to Daddy

After These Messages. . .

We'll be right back!

Sorry to disappoint you faithful readers (ie. Grandparents) but there are no cute, fascinating stories to share from today. Life happened, but nothing blog-worthy. Perhaps tomorrow will hold more fodder! For tonight, I'm taking a Sabbath rest!

Precious Prayers

What a blessing it is to hear Lainey and Sarah Grace pray. Just now as we were listening to their bedtime prayers, Lainey prayed that her tummy would be healed and that the doctor down in Seattle (she's going to see him on the 24th) would believe in Jesus. I'm so grateful that the salvation of others is already a concern in her heart. I'm praying that the Lord would use our girls to lead others to salvation in Jesus and I'm glad to see that He's already placing these sorts of things in their hearts. Sarah Grace wanted to pray tonight and instead of her usual "Dear Lord. . . can't do it" we got a legit prayer. She prayed (in her own little way of course) for forgiveness for being disobedient and hitting Lainey and then she prayed "for Mama, and Abby, and Lainey, and Daddy, and Mama, in Jesus name we pray". What a gift to hear them talk to God. I never ever ever want to take that for granted.

Picnics in the Park and School Days

Today was a beautiful day. It was one of those days we have at the end of one season and the beginning of another where it's quite warm in the sunshine, but a little cool in the shade. We took a picnic lunch to the park in Lynden and enjoyed being outside. The girls loved playing and were lots of fun to watch. I had Abby in the Snuggli and was pushing Lainey on the swing for a time. Every time Lainey would come forward and then swing back, Abby would laugh and laugh. It was really quite funny and she was quite tickled. I could feel her body shaking against mine she was laughing so hard.

We are in the market for a new large suitcase as the last airline we used graciously tore ours so that we will no longer be able to use it on cross country trips. Since we have one of those coming up in just a couple of weeks, we need to find something soon. We stopped at the Second Chance store in Lynden hoping to find something there. No luck in the luggage department but we did stumble upon a treasure. We found an old school desk just perfect for us to use for Lainey. Best of all it was only $4! She loves it already and sat in it this afternoon with her writing tablet and practiced writing a few letters and numbers.

Here's a picture of our lovely find with our even lovelier student in it as well as a couple of pictures of Lainey reading to Abs this morning and one of Sarah Grace after her bath tonight that was just cute.

Lainey the Lawyer?

So, I'm pretty sure that Lainey's going to be a lawyer when she grows up. Or at least I think she's going to have some of the skill set necessary for being a lawyer. The other day she said, "Mom, that book I was reading had a frog in it and he was fat. You know, like you're fat." Ouch! Now there was absolutely no malice or ill will in her words, she just calls them as she sees them. I said, "Lainey, that's not nice to say that you think Mama is fat. Do you think I'm fat?" She paused and said, "Ahm, I think that I love you." Oh she makes me laugh. It's as though she's thinking, "Okay, how to get out of this one? Tell her I love her and she'll think I'm so cute, she'll forget about the fat comment." We talked about being careful about what we say so as not hurt others' feelings and she came to me later with much sincerity and a little sadness in her voice and said, "Mama, I'm sorry I said you were fat." All was forgiven. Besides I'm not fat, I'm big-boned . . .and I just had my third baby a few months ago. So there.

Sleep-Deprived, Science Teaching, Potty-Training Mom!

I think I need more sleep. Proof: Today I was reading the girls a story before we had our quiet time. I was on my third book with them and I was SO sleepy. I could feel my head nodding back and forth and my eyes just would not stay open, but I KEPT reading. I'm not really sure how I managed to do that, but I did. Maybe because we read the same stories and I'm just so familiar with them. Anyway, there we were reading Finding Nemo with me falling asleep as I read when I heard myself just making up words and suddenly realized that something was amiss. I looked at Lainey and she looked at me and I said, "Lainey, did I just say, 'Komo replied'?" She said, "Yep" and started laughing. I have no idea where that came from; we have a channel here with KOMO as the call letters but we didn't even have the TV on while we were reading. Needless to say I joined Sarah Grace in her nap today and was sound asleep long before she was.

Lainey and Sarah Grace and I did a little science "experiment" today. I borrowed a book that helps teach science to younger kids from the library of the school Lainey will be going to twice a week. So, today we looked at water and saw how it pours from a pitcher into a cup and how it takes the shape of the container it's in. We then put some in a small bowl and put it in the freezer to see how it would change in there. I think their favorite part was boiling some water and watching the steam and feeling the steam with their hands and then pouring the water back into the measuring cup and realizing that we didn't have as much as when we first started. Now all of this may sound sort of silly and simple and it's stuff that we take for granted, but Lainey really took it all in. I don't know how much of it she "got" but we'll come back to it again. It's just fun to see her little face light up when we try something new and she gets to do stuff and see how different things work. She just seems to soak it all in and it's exciting to be a part of it all.

The other day we did our monthly grocery shopping and had to buy some new diapers for Sarah Grace. As the price has gone up for the second time in about 4 months, I said, "Sarah Grace, we're not buying any more diapers after this month. This is your month to learn to use the potty." Now, I'm hoping I can make good on that promise because it's just getting too expensive to have 2 in diapers. In an effort to be true to my word, I've made her sit on the potty a couple of times the last couple of days. Yesterday was pretty easy, but was a fruitless effort. Today was a battle, but we hit paydirt! I'll leave it at that because one day she may be able to read this blog and I don't want her to be too embarrassed. Let's just hope that now that we've been one time, we can try, try again and get this milestone behind us!

Why We Homeschool: Complete With Giggles

We're still quite new to this home school thing and I must confess, I really have no idea what I'm doing. I suppose as long as Lainey doesn't know that and I figure out what I'm doing before she figures out that I don't know what I'm doing, we'll be okay. Today at one point, I'm certain that our home looked like the beginning of a commercial just before the mom says, "Calgon take me away!" and I thought, "Where do I sign her up for public schools because I CAN'T do this!!" It's not so much teaching Lainey that's the problem, though that does seem overwhelming at times; it's how to keep Sarah Grace occupied so that I CAN teach Lainey. But in the midst of all that, we did have a teachable moment that reminded me just why it is we want to homeschool and what we want it to look like. We have some friends who are expecting a baby; they recently miscarried a few months ago and received a phone call from their doctor yesterday saying that this might not be a "viable" pregnancy. We prayed for them this morning during our family worship time and prayed specifically that God would keep the baby safe and healthy. Well, just as we were about to get started with schoolwork, we received a phone call saying that they'd been to the doctor and that the baby had a strong heartbeat. I was able to tell Lainey and Sarah Grace about it and tell them that we were going to pray and thank God that He'd answered our prayers. We did and then we talked about Psalm 139:13 which talks about God knitting us together in our mother's womb. I explained to Lainey that God had put us all together just like He wanted us and that He had put her eyelashes on, one by one, and had put her elbows on just so, and that He had her tummy where He wanted it and had her heart just right. She was really taken by all of that and it totally reminded me why we're doing this in the first place. What a blessing to be able to share Scripture with them and explain just a little bit about how God works and see how He answers prayers and to pray and thank Him for doing so in the middle of our schoolwork! That's something we can't get if we send her to public schools (I don't think they're evil, by the way; I just don't want to miss out on such wonderful opportunities like this one!). It is something that requires lots of prayer because how does it all work out trying to teach them to read and write and what 2+3 is AND trying to train their little hearts in the right direction. As I told a friend this morning, I can't worry about their reading and writing if they're being disrespectful to me because they're hearts have to take priority. I don't care how smart they are if they're not going to be obedient to me and ultimately to God. So, all that to say, if I cross your mind during the day, I'd covet your prayers for wisdom for this little endeavor we have going on here!

I was trying to work on a little math with Lainey today and we were trying to figure out what number was 2 more than 3. She kept coming up with 4. I went over it in several different ways and she still kept coming out with 4. I finally said, "No Lainey, it's 5." She said, "No, it's 4." I said, "No, it isn't." (Do you see where this is going?) She then said, "Well certainly it is." I said, "No Lainey, I'm certain that it's 5." She said, "Well, how can that be?" Please remember that she's only 5. I think I finally explained it well enough that she believed me, but she may have only been humoring me. "Okay, Mom, it's 5. Whatever."

Tonight Sarah Grace and Lainey were "cleaning" their room a bit (that simply means they were moving the piles in the floor to the top of the toy box or in the closet, but hey, as long as a path for walking was cleared, I was fine with it). Sarah Grace found some goggles and said, "Look Mom, it's my giggles!" And giggle I did!

Dance Class, Excitement, and the Running Washington

Lainey's dance classes started back today and to quote her, she was so excited she "couldn't even hold her breath". I have no idea what that means except that, from the looks of her, she was extremely excited to be back. We traveled down to Bellingham before lunch today to get some new ballet shoes because her old ones wouldn't even go on her feet; it's amazing how quickly these little kids grow! Sarah Grace was really disappointed that she couldn't go to dance too and even more so that we couldn't stay and watch Laine dance.

Lon and I fear that Lainey is turning more and more into us day by day. Today I gave her a piece of cake I made the other night. She said, "This is good. I knew you put some of that Mama Lainey lovin' in it and that's why it tastes so good." I often don't know where she comes up with the things she says, but it makes for good blogging!

Tonight as the girls were getting ready for bed, Sarah Grace came to me and said, "Mom, the Washington is on. Can you turn it off?" I said, "What do we need to turn off?" She said, "The Washington, " as though I were an idiot not to have understood this immediately! Pausing for a moment and trying to figure out just what she was talking about, I heard the dishwasher running. OH! It's all so clear now! Washington=dishwasher; I'll add that to my lexicon!

Funny Little Lainey Stories

There's never much to tell on a Sunday evening so I thought I'd entertain you with a couple of stories from Lainey's world today.

Lainey got a book for her birthday that has activities in it for helping her learn Bible verses, but I don't think she quite understands the concept yet. She had it today and saw a picture of three crosses in it. She saw it and said, "Hey, it's like they know Jesus as their Savior." I said, "Yes, Lainey, they do. That's a book to help us learn Scripture together." At least her heart is geared towards thinking about such things and being hopeful that someone knows Jesus as their Savior.

Today during church, she was sitting beside me and was sprawled out all over the pew. I said, "Lainey, you have a dress on so you need to sit like a lady." She said, "But I'm wearing tights." I said, "Yes, I know that, but when you have a dress on, you need to sit with your legs together." She looked up at me and whispered, "Like magnets." I said, "Yes, like magnets." I'm not sure where she comes up with these things, but she does make me laugh.

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

Nothing delights Lainey and Sarah Grace more than holding Abby. Here are some pictures I got a couple of weeks ago of each of them with her. I think she enjoys it as well, though perhaps not quite as much as they do!

The Greatest Show On Earth!

Wow, am I tired. Sorry for the lack of post last night and today, but we have been quite the little go-getting family and there just wasn't room for the blog anywhere until now. As I was watching the news at lunch yesterday, I caught a brief story about the circus being in Everett and something about half price tickets. Never one to want to miss out on a deal, I asked Lon to check online to see when the tickets were half price. It turns out it was last night so we quickly decided that our schedule was free and that we should go. So, we left home around 5:00 yesterday evening and returned around midnight. (Now you see why there was no blog last night; I'm just not that dedicated!) The circus was great fun and the girls loved it. I think it really is "the greatest show on earth"! After every act, Lainey would turn to me and say, "Is it over? Is that it?" She was pleased to know that there was more to come. They loved the tigers and ephelants and horses! Of course during the intermission, they paraded out the cotton candy and popcorn, etc. so that all of the kids would then badger their parents to buy some. As the cotton candy was $12, and as that cost nearly as much as 2 of our tickets, we didn't get any. Lainey almost won me over when she pulled out the big doe eyes and the "please, Mommy, I'm really hungry," but my shrewd financial wisdom won out. I just couldn't hand over $12 for something that probably cost them $2-$3 to make. So, no, they don't have the memory of having cotton candy or anything else to eat at the circus, but they still had a good time and we still have the $12. The circus started at 7:30 and was over by 10:00, though we slipped out around 9:45. We still had a 2 hour drive ahead of us. Anyone who knows our children knows that they are creatures of the schedule we have created and that schedule includes bedtime at 8:00. So, while Lainey hung for the whole thing and only complained about being tired once or twice, Sarah Grace wilted after intermission. She never went to sleep, but she did lay down on Lon's lap a couple of times and was very obviously miserable. By the time we got out of the parking garage and onto the main road, they were out. Abby will have no memory of having been to the circus, but she did pretty good while we were there. She has become an unhappy traveler in the car and made for a pretty long trip there and most of the way home. There was talk of tying her to the roof; alas, there were no bungee cords in the van!

Today was the day of 1001 errands. I made my list and we struck out. We left home around 10:15 and got back about 5:00. Sarah Grace was especially glad to be back home. When we pulled into the driveway, she said, "We're home, we're home, we're home!" Banks, libraries, offices, Walmart, Costco, Albertson's, Safeway, oh my! We accomplished all but one thing on the list so I count it a success! We used some of Lainey's birthday money and got her a book bag and some school clothes. As she stood in line wearing her little book bag on her back just as proud as could be, I had to hold back a tear or two. Where does the time go, I wonder!? I fear that tomorrow I'll be holding back a tear or two as she tries on her cap and gown or, worse yet, her wedding gown (though she did tell Lon once that she wasn't ever going to get married to which Lon said, "A verbal contract is binding!"). Lord, please let me pause and enjoy each little moment with these girls and not take any of it for granted (even those moments when I only wish that bedtime would come sooner!).

Here are a few pictures of our circus trip!

Your Call Is Very Important to Us. . .

Or is it? Perhaps she's in training for a future career as a customer service representative?

Simple Pleasures and Lifetime Habits

We tried to get back into the swing of things with homeschooling today after taking last week off while grandparents visited. Abby wasn't really in the mood to make homeschooling easy today, but we did manage to get a few things done. As Abby is my third child, I am more prone to let her "cry it out" a little longer than I did with the others. I'm hoping that we can get back into a regular routine so that life will be easier for all of us. Lainey got some new paints for her birthday and both she and Sarah Grace got their own set of paintbrushes so we did some painting this morning. They had a super time. It was fun seeing how much they enjoyed it. I gave them each a pint sized mason jar filled with water to rinse their brushes in and I think they both delighted in seeing the water turn colors almost as much as they enjoyed painting. I caught Sarah Grace dipping her brush into the paint and then rinsing it off without ever having put paint to paper a few times. "Look Mommy, the water turned all brown!" It's the little things that delight us so!

I want to begin teaching Lainey a Scripture verse each week so today we worked on Psalm 56:3 which says, "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You." I chose that one because she came to me a little worried this morning about starting school soon. She memorized it quite quickly and we reviewed it several times throughout the day and one last time right before bed and she did a great job. What a joy and a blessing to hear her quoting Scriptures. I pray that this is a habit we can begin now and that she will maintain it all her life. What a benefit having the Word hidden in her heart will be!

Here are a few pictures from our painting adventures today! The last one is my favorite!

Labor Day Adventures: Shopping, Fishing, Falling, Riding

I decided to take the girls shopping today to take advantage of some of the Labor Day sales. Evidently, we were not the only ones in Whatcom County who had this idea. We didn't accomplish nearly all I'd hoped to, but we did enough. Shopping with 2 in the stroller and one walking is difficult, especially when the one walking is actually running about the children's department at J.C. Penney's exclaiming that she's found something in a 5T or a 2T AND when one of those in the stroller kicks her feet out to make getting through the oh-so-narrow-aisles all the more difficult AND the other one in the stroller is completely unhappy about being in said stroller AND you have to figure out how to push the stroller, look for clothes, keep up with the runner, carry the baby because somehow the Snuggli got removed from the car and didn't get put back in, keep the other one in the stroller from reaching out and grabbing clothes from the shelves or shaking the tables on which the clothes are neatly arranged in an attempt to make them all come tumbling down AND your stroller is about 3 inches wider than said aisles in store. It was an adventure to say the least, but, you know what, we still got some deals so I say it was worth it! What a disappointment it is to shop for clothes for your sweet innocent 5 year old when you realize that everything is skin tight or has slogans like "It's All About Me". It ISN'T all about them (not even a little bit) and I sure don't want them thinking it is! When did it become okay to be proud about being a self-centered selfish snot nosed brat? It's not okay in our house! That's not to say that those attitudes aren't there; they're just not okay!

This afternoon, we headed up to "the pond" to help celebrate Jim and Audrey's 55th anniversary. Jim and Audrey, for those unfamiliar, are friends from church who have taken us in as their own. They are so good to include us on all sorts of family things and it was an honor to help them celebrate 55 years of marriage. They didn't become believers until 20-some years ago and it's a blessing to see how the Lord has preserved them and raised them up to be a wonderful example of what a godly marriage should look like. They give me something to which to aspire.

While at the pond, Mr. Ken took Lainey fishing. She insisted we take her pole up there and Mr. Ken, always being game for 1) anything involving a rod and reel and 2)seemingly anything that brings delight to our girls, obliged her and tried to help her catch her a fish. They hunted for grasshoppers for a time, but unable to find anything that satisfied her desire to catch "The Big One", Lainey opted instead to use herself as bait. That's right, my dear readers, Lainey fell into the pond. Thankfully it wasn't deep where she fell, she didn't get hurt, Daddy was able to rescue her quickly, and Mom always has a change of clothes handy! All was well. Of course she had on her brand new WHITE shoes when she slipped in, but thank goodness for the power of a warm water wash and strong detergent; all is white again! She really didn't let the fall slow her down and they continued to have a great time. Mr. Ken even pushed them around in the wheel barrow for a while (This totally brought back memories of my Granddaddy Comer's green wheelbarrow that he kept propped up by the pump house. I used to get rides in it from time to time!). I'm not sure who's going to sleep better tonight, my girls or Mr. Ken!