Thumb

This is mostly to have on record for myself so I can look back one day and show Anna Claire what she did to herself.  Her thumb is completely raw, cracking, and bleeding.  I called the makers of the Thumb Guard this morning to get some information and the guy told me they usually recommend it for 3 years and up.  He said that babies tend to just suck the other thumb or different fingers.  I put a band-aid on her thumb at about 9 this morning and it is 1:45 pm and it's still there.  I just laid her down for a nap with it on, while going to her room to check frequently to make sure she doesn't try and eat it.  However, she has been down for 20 minutes talking as loud as possible, so I'm not so sure she will be napping today.  I hope this will help her to quit, but if nothing else, at least let her thumb heal.

These pictures are not the best quality, but I think you can get the point!

School on the weekend

We had school on Saturday because we will not have it this up coming Friday, and I don't like to get behind.  Of course it's not the most fun way to spend a Saturday, but getting to hang out with family will more than make up for it.

I have to do much more one on one time with Abby than with Kyndal this year.  So when I'm working with Abby and Kyndal has finished an assignment, she just plays.  This kid can play anything all by herself and is as quiet as can be in the process.

And she just watches.  We put lots of toys in there with her, but she throws them all out on the floor.

This is not actually school work, but they were painting.

Color time, and AC joined in for a minute.

We are so looking forward to this upcoming weekend and seeing our family.

This and That

Craig cooks our breakfast about 5 days a week, and the girls love to help him.  I just love that he does it.  Every once in a while he likes to go in the kitchen and try new recipes, so the other day he made some doughnuts.  They were actually really good.  I only had a few bites, because I'm trying to do better and lose some weight.

We are under a tornado watch until 7 pm, and they let the kids out of school early today because of the weather.  I hope it doesn't get bad, I don't like bad weather.

So far I'm doing pretty good with eating less and exercising on a regular basis.  I have lost 7 lbs so far, and have MANY more to go. 

Speaking of food, I have made several new recipes lately with more fresh vegetables and just more healthy in general.  Some have been really good, some not so much.  However I have some of the best eaters here.  They will try anything and unless they just feel like they are going to be sick, they clean their plates.  It makes cooking so much easier and I am grateful.

Anna Claire in her cool shades and snowman shirt at the end of January in 75 degree weather.  A bit crazy!!!  O but she sure is cute.

When she thinks I'm getting frustrated with her, she goes, UGHHHH really loud, it's Hilarious.  Between pouring her milk on the floor, twisting her hair, about to break some bones bouncing around on the couch, crying while trying to do school, and kicking her feet on the wall while suppose to be going to sleep, I do get frustrated from time to time.

That's her newest thing, when you put her to bed for nap or night time she puts her legs through the rail and kicks the wall over and over again until you go in and pop her.  She even made something fall off the wall the other night.  Such a little stinker.

Laid back

We had a laid back weekend of just some cleaning, playing, and chilling out.

As I was cleaning the bathroom, Anna Claire came in!!!  This kid is too funny.  She always wants shoes on!

Wrestling!

Their daddy was trying to teach them wrestling moves.

AC loves this and when Kyndal tries to take a break, AC yells!!

Aunt Eron made Anna Claire's cute outfit and I tried to get a picture of her yesterday morning, but this is what she thought about that.....

Aunt Rikki came down this weekend so we enjoyed spending some time with her, and Trest!  They got engaged last weekend and have set a date for Aug. 4, 2012.  We are very excited for them.

Today I gave AC some chicken and banana for lunch and she ate a couple pieces of the banana, but she is so much like Abby in that she doesn't like to be wet or have anything yucky on her, so she didn't like picking up the bananas.  Abby fed her the rest of it and she dropped a piece, and AC was looking for it, but they couldn't find it.  When Craig got her down from the high chair, she was a bit frantic and Craig wiped her hands, but she was still upset, so I said Craig lift her shirt and see if that banana went in there.  When he pulled up her shirt, out dropped the banana, and she was fine!!!!  Hilarious.  Kyndal could care less about things like that, but Abby and Anna Claire can't stand it.  So funny how different they are.

We certainly need to keep the people affected by the tornado's in B'ham in our prayers.  So sad this has happened again, and so many people have damage, and so many have lost everything.  I've heard of two fatalities so far.

Please continue to remember Courtney, Tripp's mommy, as well.  She is really having a hard time with his loss.



Not much

going on around here this week other than school, church, and just everyday things.  It's raining today, and it suppose to through Monday. 

The girls had gymnastics last night and of course loved it.

We plan to go to a singing tonight after dinner.

Don't really have any plans for tomorrow except to clean and do clothes.

I am on a eating more healthy kick, which I hope isn't just a kick but life change.  I've been buying more healthy foods to cook.  I've actually lost 5.6 lbs in two weeks.  I have a lot more to go, but I determined.

I have a 19 month old who refuses to wear socks unless there are shoes on her feet.  I'm sure she will learn how to remove those sooner rather than later.  It is 11 am and I have put socks on her feet 5 times already and of course she has none on right now.  I give up, she can just have cold feet, little stinker.

She is still twisting her hair like crazy.  (this really drives me crazy if you couldn't tell)

She can now get on the couch without the assistance of her chair, so she thinks she is big stuff.

I've said this before, but teaching Abby and Kyndal with her is a challenge, but we are up for challenges.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Busy week



Last week it was time to get back to business.  We started back to school on Monday and it was so nice to be back in our routine, for me anyways.  I just feel things go smoother when we are on a schedule.  We actually had a really good week considering coming off a 3 week break of doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.  Of course we are in a season of life with a 19 month old who is not the least bit interested in staying calm or quiet for 3-4 hours of home schooling, but like every season, this to shall pass.

Friday after school I was in organize mode, so I got lots of needed organizing done, washing clothes, washing dishes, doing some exercising, and cooking some dinner after giving a bath to 3 little girls.

On Saturday, I was determined to get our house spotless, so as soon as we were done with breakfast, I did just that.  Of course everyone pitched in and helped which is always a nice bonus.  After cleaning, dishes, clothes, some bike riding, a trip to the grocery store, baths for 3 little girls, cooking dinner, I finally sat down on the couch at 8 pm.  When I went to bed that night I was thinking about the day and what all got accomplished and thinking about how tiring it all was, it immediately made me think of how thankful I am.  Very thankful to have food to cook, dishes to clean, a family to feed, clothes to wash, a house to clean, children to give baths too, a couch to rest on, and a bed to sleep in.  I continued to ponder on these thoughts and  I am also very thankful to be a stay at home mom, and have the ability and provision to home school our girls, thankful for a husband who works very hard and who loves his family unconditionally.  I know I take things for granted and I don't always appear or act or talk like I'm thankful, but I'm thankful the Lord made me so very aware of my many blessings that night.  May I never take them for granted.  Thank you Jesus!

Here are some pics of the weekend excitement:

Pretend like Anna Claire is our dress up doll because we can!!!



Went to church



Wonder what is on my head?



Snuggled

Laid under mommy's feet while she washed dishes

Played dress up

Went on a bike ride

Ate some snacks

Read some books

Played with baby dolls

Abby entertaining Anna Claire while watching iCarly

My pics got all out of order and I can't figure out how to put them like I want them, but it's okay, you get the picture!!!

A couple of requests

I have a couple of prayer requests that I would ask you to remember to pray for please.  I love to follow blogs and I do pray for these people (I try to everyday, but I would be lying if I said I never forget a day or two).

Tripp Roth is a precious baby boy who was born with the worst form of EB (a skin disease).  I have been following his story for several months now, and it is extremely heartbreaking to the core.  His precious, yet very tired, 2 year and 8 month old body was healed completely on Saturday when Jesus welcomed him into His arms.  Please remember his mother, Courtney, and grandmother who took care of him every moment of everyday.  He passed while in his mothers arms (just how she wanted it).  I will post the link to her blog where you can go and read and see pics of Tripp, but keep in mind the pictures are graphic.
http://randycourtneytripproth.blogspot.com

There is another blog I have followed for several months now, Holly is a young woman who found out exactly a year ago that her unborn baby would not live outside the womb.  She was about 20 weeks pregnant and they found out there baby boy had anencephaly.  He was born at full-term and only lived for hours.  She is expecting again and with much excitement, you can imagine the bundle of nerves she must have as well.  Please remember her and pray for a healthy pregnancy, healthy delivery, and healthy baby, and that she and her husband will have peace that only Jesus can give during this pregnancy.  You can also pray that the Lord would continue to heal their broken hearts over the loss of precious Thomas.
http://thelittlejourneyofbabythomas.blogspot.com

Thank you for praying for these precious families, I know they are grateful.

Abby

I asked both girls a few questions to just have on record for fun.  So her are Abby's (8 years old) answers....

Favorite color:  Aqua 
Favorite food:  Steak
Favorite snack:  Oreos and milk
Favorite subject:  math
Favorite thing to play with:  guitar
Favorite place to go for fun:  football game with mom and dad
Favorite thing to do outside:  ride bikes and jump on trampoline
Favorite Bible verse:  Gen. 1:1 and Rom. 3:23
Favorite T.V. show:  icarly
Favorite movie:  High School Musical (all 3 of them)
Favorite sport:  cheerleading
What do you want to be when you grow up:  hair stylist

Kyndal

I asked the girls some questions to have to look back at one day, here are Kyndals (6 years old).....

Favorite color:  Pink
Favorite food:  spaghetti
Favorite snack:  vanilla ice cream
Favorite subject:  Reading
Favorite thing to play with:  Ipod
Favorite thing to do for fun:  go to Chuck E Cheese and go have nails done
Favorite thing to do outside:  ride bikes and jump on trampoline
Favorite Bible verse:  John 3:16, and the one where God decorated the Earth in Genesis (her words)
Favorite T.V. show:  iCarly
Favorite movie:  Barbie (all of them)
Favorite sport:  gymnastics
What do you want to be when you grow up:  gymnastics teacher and hair stylist

I asked them all these questions seperately to really get individual answers!!

She's a mess!!!

Our little Anna Claire is an absolute mess.  She loves to climb, get into things, take things out of everyone's drawers, eat things off the ground, try to do everything her big sisters do, throws fits, pours milk out of her cup (when I'm not looking), and always takes her socks off and throws all of the blankets out of her bed.

She definitely keeps me on my toes and we LOVE her to pieces, couldn't imagine life without her, she is an absolute added blessing to the "Little" family.

We've noticed that her personality resembles Abby's thus far.  She looks more like Kyndal did as a baby though.  The kid LOVES to eat, anything.

We all know she loves to suck her thumb and twist her hair.  I am ready to end this habit, so the other day I put a band-aid on her thumb and she didn't know what to think.  It stayed on for about 3 hours before she was able to rip it off.  As soon as she got it off, she was thrilled and her thumb went right in her mouth and her fingers twisting that hair.  Now when I put a band-aid on she gets mad, but it only works for a couple of hours before she is able to get it off.  I won't put her to bed with it, because I'm afraid she may swallow it.  They have a thumb guard I can buy, but it's rather expensive, to not know if it will work.  We shall see, I don't want her to be 2 still sucking her thumb, not to mention she is going bald on one side of her head due to all the twisting and knots (I'm not exaggerating either).

The other day she pulled her princess chair up to the couch and climb up.  She then crawled over to me laughing, like ha look what I did.  She then turned to sit and her bottom missed the couch and to the floor she went.  It didn't hurt her, and since it didn't, I just looked at her and said that's why you don't get on the couch.  Uh, she still does though!!!

Now that she can get up there, she does it all the time!!  I have to keep that door shut!

School

Last night at dinner I was telling the girls that we start back to school on Monday.  And here is the rest of the conversation....

K:  Can't we just take one more week off.
Me & C:  Uh no.
K:  Aww man.
A:  Are we going to home school forever?
Me & C:  I don't know, do you want to?
A:  Yes.
K:  No, I want to go back to real school.
C:  Home school is real school. (We did know what she meant though)  Why do you want to go back?
K:  It's more fun, because we go outside on the playground.
A:  School isn't about fun Kyndal, it's about learning.
Me:  Abby why do you want to home school forever?
A:  Because we can have play dates whenever.
Me:  Laughing out loud!!!  I thought you said school was about learning and you are talking about play dates.

O they are funny funny girls.

I wanted to remember this convo for when we are all older and my memory doesn't work well anymore!!

Play dates & a great article

Wednesday afternoon, one of the girls sweet friends, Kennede, came to play before we went to church that evening.  They had lots of fun together.

Yesterday we had several errands to run, grocery shopping to do, and gymnastics began back from Christmas break.  Abby and Kyndal got to wear their new leotards and were very excited about it.

Today one of their sweet friends, Blaire, came for a play date and they are having a blast as I type. 

I also wanted to note that yesterday I read an article in the Alabama Baptist.  I actually never see or read that paper, but Craig had put it in my car because he was reading something and while he was making a hospital visit, I picked it up and read this particular article.  I recommend that you read it too.  It is about being an encouragement to your pastor.  Some may think well you are biased because you are a preacher's wife.  Maybe so, but I know what it's like to live this life, where many others do not.  I'm not putting it on here for his benefit, because we are encouraged by several sweet members of our congregation on a regular basis, but for whoever may read this, that it would encourage you to be a better encouragement to your pastor/pastors.

I didn't know this, but it said that 1500 ministers exit the ministry each month.  Wow, that is a huge number, because of stress, pressures, and conflicts.  If things don't go well in any way, shape, or form.... guess who is to blame?  MOST of the time, the pastor.  I'm not saying that pastors don't make mistakes, because by all means they are human just like everyone else, but they are not the blame all the time, nor 80% of the time, and alot of times not even 20%.  The church calls their pastor to undershepherd their flock and they SHOULD let him do his job.

Again, my point in this is to greatly encourage you, to love on, encourage, follow, and pray for your ministers and their families.  Read the article for yourself, it's a good one.

Since being home

We had a 5 hour study of Survey of the Old Testament on New Year's Eve night at church by David Platt.  We also had a special singer come in.  It really was a great night.  I had some sweet twin sisters come and sit with the girls, because it was from 5-10 pm.  We didn't have evening service on Sunday, so we did lots of relaxing, and some fun playing.  Monday, Aunt Rikki took the girls to lunch and when they were done, they came back home with Haley and Holly (the sweet twin sisters).  They stayed here for the afternoon and played with the girls.  They spent the night too and played all day yesterday.  Abby and Kyndal just love them and I think it's so sweet that they play non-stop with A & K.  We made a trip to Dothan yesterday for a hospital visit and a Sam's run and some Chick-fil-A.

Anna Claire of course still twist her hair while sucking her thumb and on Sat. she got another awful rat in her hair.  When Rikki saw it, she was even shocked.  So, Sunday afternoon Rikki put cute pig tails in her hair and then later cut it off.  It's really short, but it's the only way she won't twist it all up.  The right side where she twists it is missing so much more hair than the left side.  Oh well, what do you do?!?!

I've enjoyed the 3 weeks off, but I'm ready for more regular routine.  I'm a routine kind of gal. 

(Befor haircut)

(After haircut)

She was so excited to see that the seat lifted up and she could stand in it!  The girl is a climber, unlike my other two!

Haley, Holly, Abby, and Kyndal

a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.