First Day of School!

The kids and I had our first day of school today, and it went great! Here are some pics of the cuties this morning.



A Post of Pictures

Finally, some pictures! And a lot of them...maybe enough to last until Miller's birthday week-after-next. (Nah...)

Can't believe how grown-y that little girl is looking!

Starting ballet for the year...

Jeff asked her to do a ballet pose.

According to Mags, this is also a ballet pose. :-)

This was two years ago when she first took ballet. Crazy how fast they grow!

Events leading up to this picture: Daddy gets Miller dressed. Mommy decides Miller's pants need to be ironed. Miller puts bucket on his head and calls himself "bucket head." Bucket head chases Maggie around and then poses for a picture.

Our nephew Camden had his 1st birthday, and all the cousins got to play together and celebrate! It's very hard to get a picture of 11 cousins all smiling and looking at the camera. (There is one extra child. He's an only child and was probably stunned and confused!)

Miller loved playing with his cousins!

The birthday boy and his cute little curls!

Not a good picture of Mommy, but this is one of my favorite smiles of Miller's.



Good Night Snack

A tradition that I had growing up was always having a "bedtime snack." I was always a good eater (still am!), and I guess my mom didn't see the harm in my having a little snack just before brushing my teeth and going to bed every night. That tradition has pretty much stuck with me (along with a few extra pounds!). As a result, the kids always want a bedtime snack.

Only...the tradition has morphed into something a little different and pretty hilarious. Instead of asking for a bedtime snack, Maggie asks for a "midnight snack." Miller asks for a "good night snack." They also ask for a "midnight show" or a "good night show" before every nap time and bedtime. It has gotten to the point now where Miller calls breakfast a "wake-up snack" and lunch a "good night snack." Silly kids!

Since we still can't find our camera and posts without pictures tend to get pretty boring, here are a couple of previously unposted pics from the past few weeks.

Maggie's Prayers

I wanted to write down Maggie’s prayers tonight because I don’t want to forget them…
 

“We love you for giving us the things we want and we love you when you give us the things we don’t want.”

“Thank you for making a store where we can shop.”

“Thank you for making our names and showing us how to spell them.”

“Thank you for the fun night that we had.”

“Thank you for the friends you ‘have gaven’ us.”

“Thank you for loving me when I’m bad.” (Broke my heart)

I love that sweet girl’s prayers and the discussions we have at bedtime. (Bedtime is when she chooses to ask deep questions.) I love that she’s getting old enough to really think about things. She’s a thinker like her Mama and Daddy.

She had a hard time falling asleep tonight (took a three-hour afternoon nap), so we talked a while, sang each other every song we know, counted to 100, named all of our cousins, and I finally, in a poor parenting moment, made her a playlist of preschool songs on the ipod to listen to for a few minutes while she gets sleepy. Whew! I surely could fall asleep! J

Chuckles

For the past day, I’ve been writing down some of the things M&M have said that have made me chuckle. Here goes…

Maggie:

“Let me drive the four-wheeler. Miller’s pretty much a bad driver.”

Said during snack time: “Mama, why do you keep eating more cookies?”

Said while playing with Miller, head bowed and all: “Dear Jesus, please help stop this bad day I’m having. Please help Miller stop snatching from me. Amen.”

Miller:

“Mr. Jeff needs to fix the TV.” (He corrected himself. He started off saying “Daddy” and changed it to “Mr. Jeff.”)

“That was the goodest pizza I ever had.”

Said while pushing Maggie around on the ottoman (a favorite activity around here):  “You are getting heavy, Maggie.”

Also…Jeff was awakened in the middle of the night by Miller sitting happy as a clam in the middle of the couch flipping through a book and talking about it. (I was awakened by the subsequent crying when Jeff put Miller back to bed. What a mean Daddy to make him go back to bed instead of reading all night!) Poor kid is so tired now he’s struggling with nap time. Here’s to a good night’s sleep! :-)

Luke 6:31

"Do to others as you would have them do to you."

A simple, clear command. So important for all of us at every age and in every walk of life. And sometimes such a struggle. And very, very applicable to life with my two-year-old and four-year-old right now.

I LOVE having them just two years apart. It is so rewarding to hear them playing and being sweet to each other. Just this morning they were walking down the sidewalk holding hands.

But the BICKERING…argh! Lately, nearly every time one of them has a toy or a book, the other wants it. Sometimes they will ask nicely for it and the other one will refuse to share it. Then a fight ensues. Sometimes they will choose to snatch instead of asking nicely. Then a fight ensues. Sometimes they will share with conditions (“You can play with it for ONE minute”—i.e. one second.) Then the conditions expire and a fight ensues. You get it.

SO, today we memorized Luke 6:31. Do I expect Miller to “get it” right away? Nope. But I surely do want our kids to start understanding this at a young age.

I don’t want to make it sound like life is “so hard” around here or like I don’t enjoy it. I love these children more than I think they could ever understand (maybe one day when they have little ones of their own, or maybe not even then!), and I love staying home with them. I wouldn’t trade this time with them for anything. The bickering is just a struggle. I’m trying to view it as a chance for GROWTH and LEARNING. (Right?)

On a funny note, Maggie told me this morning that Miller was “not obeying the Bible” because he took two books from her. Oh, dear! J

College Town

For six years, we've been talking about visiting Tuscaloosa on a weekday so we could eat at our favorite restaurant from 2001 to 2005--City Cafe (only the best "country cookin'" place EVER). Well, Friday was Jeff's last day of summer before school starts Monday, and we finally decided to make the trip.

We were excited about showing Maggie and Miller where Mommy and Daddy went to college, and I just KNEW they would like City Cafe as much as we do. I was totally right. In the middle of lunch, Maggie said, "We need to move here to your college town." Ha!

After lunch we took the kids to the "big field" (the quad) to play and look around. They got to run around playing hide-and-go-seek and tag, look around inside the library, and hear Denny Chimes chime. Sounds simple, but they had a great time, and so did we.

Here are some pictures from our "college town" trip.

 Can't even believe how big my "baby girl" is

 Miller's "happy face"

 Miller's "surprise face"

Prissy little lady!

Thought for the day

Over the past few years, we've had some friends and family go through some really tough times. When I pray for them, the words "comfort" and "peace" always flow, but honestly, sometimes I have to pray that God give them the things only HE knows they need.

I always have a song stuck in my head, and I'm always humming or singing (much to my family's dismay, I'm sure. I know they get tired of it!).

One song that has been on my heart big time lately, as evidenced by my humming it constantly, is this one...

I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

Isn't this so true?

Sometimes, "Lord, I need you," is the only prayer I can offer. Sometimes "Lord, they need you," is the only prayer I can offer. And I am so joyful to know that He DOES answer prayers.