Make room for baby

This weekend has been designated as nursery weekend. We plan on doing whatever it takes to get some blue in this house by the end of the weekend! =) As of this morning, the former girls bedroom is now blue, the girls have a new room in their former playroom and other smaller projects are in process.

My favorite accessory so far for the new nursery are the amazing blankets my grandmother crocheted for his room. We already have quite a fabulous collection of these blankets as I have two gorgeous ones from my childhood and then the girls each have two. However, of all the blankets so far the ones for Ben are my most loved yet! I love the color and one of them has white stripes that are a really nice touch!

All of these blankets represent someone taking time to lovingly spend hours making something by hand for our children. Not only that but my grandmothers work is superb... each line is without flaw! I love knowing these blankets will be in our family for years and that my children can pass them down to their children with the story of their great-great grandmother who had this amazing skill.

(I am posting a few pictures I tried to take of the edges of the blankets so you could see detail but in reality none of these pictures come close to doing the blankets justice.)

Pics of the nursery and new girls room to follow!! =)

See Anna read

One of the joys of homeschooling is taking things as slow or fast as your child needs (or wants) to go. Anna has been wanting to read for a long time so as I have monitored her I began slowly using a book called "Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons." My mom handed it down to me from my brothers homeschool days and we began in the fall. We did maybe a lesson a week... sometimes no lessons a week. Just taking it slow. I did not want to overwhelm her in any way. I mean after-all last fall she was only 3.

She has been able to write all of her letters by herself since just before her 3 year old birthday which was all at her own initiative... She would ask me how to make a certain letter and I would use that as the opportunity to teach her the proper way to form the letter. She loved learning how to write and I knew the next step would be reading.

After laying a good ground work with only a few of the lessons from the "100 Easy Lessons" book, I did a little research and decided to purchase Sing, Spell, Read and Write. I found this was a very comprehensive (yet very fun) program for the beginning reader. She loves it and has thrived since starting it. It really starts at the basics assuming the learner doesn't even know the alphabet yet BUT, it is still a good review and has fun songs to learn the basics of phonics. I am a HUGE believer in learning phonics to read and not sight words. This program is totally phonics based!

So, I have said all that to say that Anna can read. Can she sit down and read a whole book? NO. But, she can sound out simple words and that is true reading. Now, we can't even sit down to breakfast without her trying to sound out every word on the cereal box. It is sooo much fun to watch her. She is so proud of herself when she gets words right. What a blessing to me to be so involved in such a big part of my childs life like learning to read!

There is nothing better than watching a little person grow and learn and thrive! I just love it!!

Baby Ben

I can't believe I am 31 weeks pregnant today. It seems like yesterday it was October 23rd at 5:00 AM when I got up and took the test and woke Jimmy up earlier than any week day to surprise him that Saturday morning! One of the first things we both said to each other when we were talking about it that morning was... "do you think it might be a boy?"

Now several months later I am still to some degree in shock that it is a boy but the reality is setting in more everyday that I will be holding a baby boy in June and not another little girl. At first I was so nervous about a boy but as time has gone by peace has filled my heart about it and I am overjoyed at the thought of a "little Jimmy" running around our house.

Of course since it is a boy we have been asked the question many times over the last few months if we are done having children since we will now have a boy to complete things. Just an honest answer here... we don't know when our family will be "complete". We are trusting the Lord to give us the children He wants to give us and in His perfect timing. We believe He is big enough and wise enough to plan our family far better than we ever could. I know I know... it doesn't make sense to a lot of people BUT, it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else... This is where God is taking us and we are at such peace trusting His perfect will.

Psalm 127:3
Behold,children are a BLESSING of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a REWARD.

"The Bible calls debt a curse, and children a blessing. In our society, we apply for a curse and reject the blessings."
Doug Phillips, Vision Forum Ministries

Easter Sunday

This year was a really nice Easter despite the heavy rain in the morning and the Masters golf tournament being on in the afternoon (love you Dad and Jimmy but still... )!!

We went to church and then spent the afternoon at mom and dads house having lunch, doing an indoor Easter egg hunt and of course watching the men watch the Masters! =)

This year I was particularly pleased with the girls Easter outfits. All in all I think I paid about $14 for both outfits, that includes dresses, shoes, tights, bows and sweaters. God has blessed us so abundantly I cannot justify spending what He has given us frivolously on things my children may only wear once or just a few times. We believe that it is VERY important to be good stewards of our resources and of course remain out of debt. I believe because of our commitment to do that God has really brought me some great deals our way. For instance, I found a local second hand children's store that has end of season sales on all their clothes but particularly on their dress clothes. I found Anna's Easter dress for $4 in PERFECT condition there last year after summer and saved it for this Easter. Just the other day I was in there and found Christmas dresses for the girls for this coming Christmas, both in black velvet for a total of $7. They are stunning dresses that were barely worn.

Ok, I am not trying to go on some bad economic times rant here. This is not about bad economic times.. this is about a lifelong commitment to honor God through our resources and spend little on ourselves so we can give generously to others! =)

Happy late Easter!! He is Risen!!

Easter cupcakes

When I was a young girl, my great-grandmother Essie would make us an Easter cake with coconut died green to look like grass and jelly beans in the coconut to look like little colored eggs. I always thought it was the neatest idea and I have tried to keep that tradition up with Anna (and now Serene). This year we did cupcakes. Anna really enjoyed icing them herself and Serene enjoyed eating a cupcake while coloring on a paper plate as she watched us.

Singing

Last night at dinner Jimmy started singing some silly song to Anna about eating her food and having good table manners since she was having neither at the moment. As soon as he started singing she put her hand over her ears and frowned. He laughed and said she had been doing that every time he started singing to her lately (he is always making up silly songs about her). He then asked her if she didn't like daddy singing to her? She took her hands from her ears and said... "Daddy it's not that I don't like to hear singing, I just like to hear it on the radio."

We laughed and laughed although she didn't laugh because apparently she was very serious! =)

Poor Daddy!