Movies, Picnics, and Babies, Oh My!

We have made it a tradition in our familiy to have a movie outing just before a new baby is born into our family. Before Sarah Grace was born, Lon and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia; before Abby was born, we took the girls to see Horton Hears a Who; before Lainey was born was too long past and I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure we saw something. So, in keeping with tradition, we took all of the girls out to see Up today. In hindsight, it would have been better to have let Abby sit this little tradition out because she was not up for sitting, walking, rocking, standing, or being quiet throughout the show and Lon ended up just walking around the mall with her. At any rate, and in spite of a few scary parts for the girls, Lainey, Sarah Grace, and I did enjoy the movie. Given that this is likely the last baby born in the Graham family (never say never, I suppose) and given that it cost us all over $30 to go to a matinee (!), this will likely be the last movie we see in the theatre ever. Okay, maybe not, but given the price to get us all there, it's definitely a rare occurrence. The movie was quite cute and I hate that Lon missed most of it because now I can't share funny lines from it without having to explain too much. During one scence, the two main characters, an old man named Carl and a little boy named Russell, are walking along and Russell is talking non-stop. Carl says, "I've got an idea; let's play the quiet game to see who can be quiet the longest." Lainey leaned over to me and said, "I'd bet you'd love that game, Mom. Especially when you're on the phone!" I think she knows her mother well!

We also went to a picnic today for Lainey's school. The weather was fabulous, the park was beautiful and the girls had a great time playing. Lainey got to be in a sack race and while she didn't win, she still had a good time. Sometime later, the lady who organized it came to Lainey and said, "You know, I think you left too early; I think if you had stayed, you would have won this medal." She then gave Lainey a little medal to wear around her neck. That was great, but the biggest prize for me was the ten mile wide grin Lainey wore on her face. I told Lon, "Oh, I'd do anything to see that smile."

So, we're now down to the single digits before little boy Graham makes his appearnce in the world. I'm ready to be unpregnant and just a have a baby to hold. My heart is very full as I ponder the blessings the Lord has given me and I am very grateful. Grandparents begin their travels today and will be arriving next week. We are anxious to see everyone and are grateful that they are able to be a part of this time in our lives. What a blessing that we live in a day and age when travel is so easy and families can be so quickly connected! I am very grateful for the help they offer and couldn't imagine doing this without them!

Busy Bees

We enjoy seeing how different our girls' personalities are. They're all very busy, but it's becoming evident, especially in Lainey and Sarah Grace, what they enjoy doing. Lainey LOVES to read. I went to the library this afternoon around 5:30 and checked out 4 chapter books for her. By the time they went to bed at 8:30, she had started her 3rd one. She loves to hunker down on the couch or in a chair and lose herself in a book. She is often oblivious to the world around her. What a blessing that at 5 (!) she has already developed this habit. I pray that it will be a lifelong one.

Sarah Grace, on the other hand, likes to be in the kitchen helping. She delights in washing dishes and being a part of any kind of baking project. Tonight, Lon made a cake (awesome by the way!) and for the better part of an hour, Sarah Grace stood on a chair playing in the sink. She moved water from cup to cup, played with the measuring spoons, etc. Her recipe was quite interesting. She said, "I need butter, sugar, cinnamon and soil." I'm not sure what she was making or that I'd want any part of it once she finished, but she was determined. I think she'll enjoy reading as well, but at this stage, she's very content to "help". Abby is too young to have shown much interest in any one thing, but she had a great time standing in the chair with Sarah Grace playing in the sink as well. Here are some pictures Lon got of them engaged in their various activities!

We have had fabulous weather here this week and have really enjoyed being outside some each day. A dear friend from church came on Wednesday and weeded my flower bed for me (this is the same friend who did most of the painting in our house; I'm going to hang on to her for a long while!). The girls enjoyed being outside with us and were quite taken with every worm and slug that we found in the dirt. Every one was "huge" and elicited a "wow!" from Lainey.

We are busy getting ready for the arrival of the Graham boy in just 17 days! The cradle is together and little blue clothes are beginning to appear in the laundry. I'm definitely nesting these days and find myself cleaning random things. The girls are excited about the arrival of Joey and talk of him often. I pray that they're as taken with him once he gets here. I'm certain that Lainey and Sarah will be, but I wonder just what Abby's reaction will be.

I've written here a few times about how Sarah Grace makes up words that just make us chuckle. Today, she was looking at something that was evidently messy and said to me, "This is a torrible mess." I said, "Oh, it's torrible?" She said, "Yes, torrible." Yesterday I took a nap with her. As I am not sleeping well at night these days, I find that these afternoon naps are great times of refreshing. When we woke up, I said to her, "That was a good nap." She said, "Well at least we did get a big one." She then stretched her arms out and said, "It was this huge." I stretched my arms across her face and said, "Oh, mine was this huge!" She said, "Ow, you poked me in the eye." I apologized and she said, "Well, it didn't hurt my feelings or anything." Okay, good to know!

Abs is beginning to talk more and more. She will whisper "hi", yell bye-bye, say pup-pup for most any animal, but especially for dogs, say mama, dada, and Nay-nay (Lainey). She has said Sarah Grace once or twice but that one isn't quite as easy. It's exciting to see the many changes she's made just in the last month. She walks like a champ now and is initiating games of peek-a-boo. She wants to do whatever she can to keep up with Lainey and Sarah Grace and can often be found playing near them. She's developed a fond affection for one particular baby doll and is really quite cute carrying her around everywhere she goes.

It is indeed an adventure; somedays are great, somedays leave me longing for bedtime to come early, and somedays I hope I can remember forever. We are very rarely bored!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Children are indeed a blessing from the Lord. What an amazing gift God has given us in each of these three girls. As we are on the eve of Mother's Day, I am in awe of what a blessing it is to be a mother. It is extremely hard work; I can't say that I've ever done anything more exhausting than pour my heart and soul and time and energy into these little lives, but what an amazing blessing it is!!! They make me crazy sometimes and drive me to the point of tears at others, but I praise God that I have each of them and pray that He will grant me many more Mother's Days with them!

Lainey has been working on Mother's Day presents for the last couple of weeks at school and has been very excited to give them to me. She got up on Tuesday morning and said, "I'm so excited about giving you my surprise today!" But evidently her teacher reminded them they needed to wait until Saturday or Sunday. So this morning after breakfast, she could wait no longer. She gave me her little brown paper sack with her hand print that she had traced and cut out and told me I could open it. Inside, was a little card she had made with flowers on it as well as several little magnets that had some of her artwork on the inside. But I think the most precious thing of all was a note she wrote me that said, "Dear Mom, Happy Mother's Day! I love you because you take me to McDonald's. Love, Lainey". I have to confess, it made me cry. I tear up even now thinking about it. It's just the little things you do for them that makes them think you're special. That's one of those notes that will be kept forever and ever. Lon took the girls out this afternoon so they could pick out a present for me. They came back with a beautiful hanging basket of red geraniums. Both of the girls were so proud as they told me that they picked it out. I love this phase of life (even in its most exhausting moments)!

A Day in the Park and a Little Bit of "Guarding"

We took the girls to the park in Lynden today after school so that Lainey could play with her special friend, Abby, from school. Today was the first day since last Saturday that it hasn't rained, so they all enjoyed being outside again. Lainey and Abby had a great time running and playing and Sarah Grace and our Abby enjoyed the park as well. Here are some photos from our time there:

We have quite the space for flower beds in our front yard and a number of flowers have come up already, but we've also been overtaken by weeds. Lainey and Sarah Grace and I went out this afternoon to try our hand at taming some of them. There is much work yet to be done, but with me being this pregnant, I can only squat so much! We're supposed to have sun again tomorrow so we'll be out again then. The girls enjoyed "helping". This basically amounted to them fighting over my trowel and then digging in the dirt. Lainey ended up with a book on the front steps for a time, but as Sarah Grace was helping me, I heard her say (to no one in particular), "This is guarding. I'm gard'ning with my mom." She then proceeded to call all of the bees in the neighborhood in for dinner. "Come on bees. Come and get your dinner!" Someone in the neighborhood was working outside with a saw and everytime she heard it, she would say, "Do you hear that? That's a bee." Here are a couple of pictures of us "guarding".

Number 12, Bully and Thief OR A Theological Discussion with a Three Year Old

This morning as I was working with Lainey on her math lessons, she came out with a story that made me think, "Oh, I've got to write some of this one down." We were working on numbers before and after a certain number and her book was calling them "next door neighbors". She liked this idea a lot as their examples had little houses drawn around the numbers. The book would give the number in the middle and she had to figure out which number went on either side. I started asking her what number lived next door. We got to the number 11 and I asked, "Who lives next to 11?" She said, "12. Who bullies him." I said, "Oh, 12 bullies 11? Why does he bully 11?" She said, "Because 11 is rich." I said, "Oh, is 12 jealous of 11's money?" She said, "Yes, and one night 12 came in and robbed 11, but 11 was only pretending to be asleep so he could really see 12. There was a really big fight. And then the next night, 11 went over and robbed 12 and got his money back." I asked her who lived on the other side of 11 and she said, "10. Sometimes 11 bullies him because he's smaller than 11 and 12 are." Where does she come up with this stuff? A little while later as she was doing a word problem involving subtraction, she looked at me and said, "My brain works like a computer!" She does make me laugh!

One of Sarah Grace's favorite possessions is a Gideon Bible Lainey got at the fair a couple of years ago. She had it last night and was looking through it and said, "The wonderful things God can do." What a blessing to hear God's praise coming from such little ones. She continued reading and at one point told me that she was on chapter N and later chapter T. She said, "Is this where Daddy preaches?" I told her it was. She said, "Can you find me the place where he preaches?" I told her that he preaches from the whole thing. She said, "Oh, the whole thing? That's a really long way!" She then said, "Is this all about God? Yes. "Is this all about Jesus?" Yes. "Is it all God's fault?" Translated: Did God do everything? I said, "Well, God made everything." She said, "Did God make Pull-ups?" I said, "Well, God made the people who made Pull-ups and He helped them to know how to make Pull-ups." "How do they make Pull-ups?" Theological discussion over. Oh well, baby steps I suppose!