All Smiles

We spent part of last Saturday at a parade in Birch Bay. Here are a few (really great) pictures we got of the girls. I love these smiles and the light in their eyes!

WARNING:Sweetness Overload Below!

Here's one of our more precious moments from this morning!

What My Children Teach Me About God

I think we've entered a stage with Lainey and Sarah Grace where they feel they must constantly be arguing about something. They really do play quite well together most of the time, but recently, they've only been interested in arguing. Today in the car as we drove to Bellingham, we heard a funny conversation between the two of them. Sarah Grace provided the following instructions to Lainey, "You say, 'Yes we are' and I'll say, 'No we're not'." Lon looked at me and said, "Great, Sarah Grace is trying to organize an argument." I guess they'd run out of natural things to argue about! As I sat in the car with the girls while waiting on Lon to complete an errand, I heard Lainey say, "I don't like anything," to which Sarah Grace say (quite indignantly) "You have to like something. Don't you like toys?" As I was trying to negotiate the hostile takeover of a doll this morning and provide some discipline to one who needed it, I thought, "Why must everything be a power struggle? Why can't they just accept that I know what I'm talking about and have their best interest at heart?" I immediately was convicted and thought, "Isn't that how we are with God? He shows us the best way and we (like my children) say, ' I'll do it my way. I'll do it when I'm ready. I don't want to do what You say.'" I do believe that the Lord give us these little people to teach us more about our relationship with Him. It's hard work, but I hope I'm learning what I need to and passing it on so these precious little folks can grow up to be wise, God-fearing, Christ-loving, teens, adults, parents,spouses, and friends. My shoulders feel heavy with that burden; I am grateful not to have to rely on my own strength!

In Need of a Nap

Abby missed her morning nap yesterday, but decided to make up for it on her own time. She often goes down into Lainey's and Sarah Grace's room to play, but after a while yesterday, I could no longer hear her. I went down to check on her and this is what I found curled up beside the toy box. It didn't last too long as I needed to vacuum upstairs and once it started, she came staggering upstairs.

Nine Whole Years!

Today Lon and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's already been nine years, but in some ways, it seems that we've always been "Lon and Amy". It's hard to remember a time when he was just "Lon" and I was just "Amy". I'm very grateful for all that we've shared through these nine years and pray that the Lord will give us many, many more years together. It was a low key anniversary, but a good one none the less. We have plans for a dinner out tomorrow night and are looking forward to that. Joey will be accompanying us on our dinner date because at 3 1/2 weeks old, he's just a little too small to leave behind. He doesn't talk much so I don't think he'll interrupt our conversation too often!

The kiddos are doing well and have been enjoying lots of sunshine and time outside the last few days. I'm discovering that adjusting to having 4 is a process. We're getting there, but it's definitely taking time. It seems that at least 3-4 times a day, I have 2-3 crying about something. It seems that Joey wants to eat, Abby has fallen and hit something (I'm sure she looks like a battered child to outsiders), or Sarah Grace has gotten her feelings hurt about something all at the same time. Imagine being a fire fighter with 2-3 small fires going at once. They all need to be put out, but you have to prioritize and decide which one has potential to become the biggest blaze without attention and which one will likely burn out on its own. Sometimes two are large blazes, but they're on opposite ends of the house. Those are REALLY exciting. Add into this a sleep deprived mother, 8 loads of laundry, a sink full of dirty dishes, a dishwasher needing to be unloaded, cats needing to be fed, and 2 sorely neglected house plants and you'll understand why stay at home moms, at least this one, completely RESENT the question, "Do you work or do you just stay at home?" Let me tell you, I'd love to "just " stay at home. I do cherish the time I have with them and see it slipping by all too quickly. I look at Lainey and think, "Didn't I just bring her home from the hospital?" "Wasn't I just trying to figure out how to nurse her and get her to stop crying so much?" Where has that time gone? I look at this blog and realize that I started it a year ago tomorrow and that I talked about how Lainey had just read her first book to me. Now, at the end of one year of schooling, she's reading at a 3rd grade level. One of my friends on Facebook commented today that she needed the super human ability to slow down time. I agree completely!

Lainey and Sarah Grace wanted to get out and ride their bikes today and, while there were 49 chores needing my attention, I decided going out with them was much more important. It takes longer to put on helmets and pads than they actually spend riding, but they had a good time. Sarah Grace was obsessed with the trash truck coming down the other side of the street and had to park on the sidewalk until it had passed and was several house down the street before she would ride again.

We're looking foward to our town's annual Fourth of July celebration this weekend. The girls are very excited about the parade and Lainey has already formulated a plan for collecting any candy that the parade folks might throw her way. Lainey told me on Sunday, "I think we should take a paper sack with us so that when they throw candy, we can put it in there instead of in our pockets." Sarah Grace asked yesterday if it was parade day and if they would throw Hershey bars. Lainey is also planning when they can eat their candy and how they should eat a little after lunch and a little after supper. She's quite the planner! As she would say, "I've got it all planned out."