This year we had a great turnout for VBS!  It started on a Sunday evening and went through Wednesday evening.  Our theme for the week was The Incredible Race!  We averaged over 40 kids in attendance each night and almost that many volunteers!! Aaron and I had the special privilege this year to be able to sit back a little and just enjoy it!  There was a great team of leaders that did all the planning, prep work, decorating, and leading of Bible School this year.  Our personal involvement was probably the least it has ever been (on the planning end of it).  It was such a blessing to see the church body work together like it is supposed to and we had a wonderful VBS as a result!!  One child came to accept the Lord for the first time and five re-committed their lives to Christ.   It was a fruitful VBS and a joy to attend.  We had a nursery for the volunteer’s kids and so I was able to go around and take pictures all week and then help Aaron two nights while he did the lesson time.  Out mission project this year was the Race to End Hunger.  The four teams (red, blue, green, and yellow) collected can goods for our local food pantry all week for a total of over 820 cans!! 

  We had a great team of volunteers that worked in the snack area.  Loved the race cars made out of swiss cake rolls!!

One of our storytime volunteers.  (This is Jonah ;)  The kids learned about courage with David, obedience with Jonah, forgiveness with Onesimus’s story,  and being faithful to run the race with Jesus.

And of course my kiddos had a great time as well.  Here they are doing one of their favorite activities . . .snack time!!  (These were little jell-o cups with gummy fish at the bottom for the day we learned about Jonah.)

If you will notice the orange cones in the top left corner of this picture. . . ALL WEEK!  Isaac would go over there and say “clean up!” and he would stack the cones one on top of the other.  I would tell him he didn’t have to clean these up and put them back around the tree.  I wouldn’t even have them spread back out again and he would say “clean up!” and start stacking again! . . . I guess I should be thankful ;-)

It was one year ago today when you woke me up at 3 am to let me know you were ready to meet me face to face.  I had looked forward to this day for months, my baby girl was on her way.  Things happened quickly. Within an hour of waking up my contractions were a strong and steady 5 minutes apart.  We arrived at the hospital and admitted by 6 am.  You seemed to be coming quickly and I was thankful!  By 8 am I decided I was not going to try and be Superwoman, I would really like an epidural to help with all the pain your arrival was bringing me.  Everything was progressing normally and safely, but by 2 pm my doctor said that I had not progressed in over 6 hours and you were not far enough down.  He recommended another C-Section.  The surgery was not a pleasant experience, but hearing your first beautiful cry was breathtaking.  I was so glad you had arrived safely and I couldn’t wait to hold you in my arms.  You were born at 2:07 pm, weighing 8 lbs and 15 oz.  and 20 3/4 inches long.  The hospital was extremely busy that day, there were other young babes coming to meet their moms and dads, so we did not get the special recovery room where you could be with me.  I had to wait a couple of hours to hold you the first time but it was so worth the wait.  Our hospital stay was pleasant, the food edible, and the nurses were wonderful.  We had a favorite nurse that worked the night shift that took especially good care of us and made sure we got as much rest as possible.   Your grandparents, Aunt Hollie, and brother all came to see you at the hospital along with some of our church family.  We brought you home just a few short days after you were born. 

You were so wide awake and alert, even from those first few days.  Here you are in your car seat for the first time and ready to go home!

This is your first time in your own bed.  (wearing your “I’m the little sister onsie =)

Here you are at 2 months old with your amazing dark eyes and kissable cheeks! (Your other nick-name is “Sweetcheeks” ;)

You have the most beautiful smile in the world and it makes my day brighter!  Here you are at about 4 months. 

You absolutely LOVE to play!  All the toys we had from your brother were “boy” colors.  I was so excited to buy you a few “girlie” toys, including your favorite pink blocks.

You were crawling by 8 months and pulling up soon after.  I had to take your mobile down soon after this picture was taken to keep you from tearing it up! You were trying to use it to pull yourself up.

You are absolutely precious to us.  You are a beautiful gift and I pray that we will raise you to love God with all your heart and seek after Him.  Some days I whisper in your ear that you are precious and loved.  That you are God’s treasure and that He rejoices over you with singing.  I pray that these truths take deep root in your heart and that you will grow up to become a strong woman that knows you are loved by your Heavenly Father and your earthly family.

Your joy and smiles are contagious.  When I walk into your room in the morning I am greeted by your beautiful smile and amazing hugs.  You are such a snuggler!!  I love how you wrap your arms around me neck and lay your head down on my shoulder and squeeze.  I love your giggles when I hug you back.  It’s one of my favorite parts of the day :-)

You are becoming such a ham!  Your personality is really beginning to come out.  

I am amazed at how much you have grown in just one short year.  You are becoming so independent.  You have eight teeth, are learning how to walk, and putting EVERYTHING in your mouth.  You have already moved on to a sippy cup and eating all table foods now.  You had your first sandwich yesterday!! You are saying Mama and Dada when your daddy or I walk into the room.  You are waving and saying Bye-Bye.  You have an adorable giggle that makes my heart feel like it is going to burst each time I hear it. 

You brother absolutely adores you and can’t go to sleep until he has given you a hug and kiss.  I pray you two will always be close.  You love to wrestle with each other and I wouldn’t be surprised if you win a round or two.  You make our family complete.  I love baby girl and I thank God everyday that He has give you to us to raise.

Happy 1st Birthday Snugglebug!

Isaac is 29 months

Miriam is 11.75 ;) months

This past week (like normal) has been quite a crazy week.  We had VBS at church Sunday evening through Wednesday evening, and then my parents also came in on Friday evening to celebrate Miriam’s first birthday a little early.  We worked on the letter “A” this week, and even though we didn’t get through all the activities I had planned, I can confidently say that Isaac can recognize and and say the sounds of the letter “A”.  I had debated whether to work another week on this letter and at first had decided against it because I knew he had caught on.  As I am now in the middle of another crazy week, where our mornings have been busy doing other things, we will do a few more activities for “A” and start on “B” next week.  (All my printables are ready to go!! Hooray! )  As my husband says, Repetition is learning. . . so we will be doing a little repeat this week ;-)

Foam Bath Letters

We use these weekly, normally a few times a week!  The kids love them! We sort by color, put them in alphabetical order, call out the names of the letters, etc.  When they get a little older, I can call out the name of the letter and they can search for it.  So many things we can do with these!

We Love Magnets!!

Isaac and I worked on using the magnets to form the letter “A”.  I also showed him that the black side was the magnet and it went down on the paper.  He was too cute . . .After that, he would turn the magnet around until he found the black side and then put that side down!  He’s a quick learner!

All printables this week were from Erica’s Letter of the Week Curriculum!

Playing with Pom-Pom’s

Isaac discovered that there were much more fun ways to use the magnetic Pom-poms than mom had planned on. ;-)

It is a lot more fun to dump them all out, look at the pretty fluffy colors, and use the plastic container as a hat. 

They also make especially good ear-plugs.   

And then if you really want to, you can put them on the page to make a Letter “A”.

Let’s Color 

Coins in a Jar

I got this idea from Nicole, another Tot School mom. I cut a slit in a plastic container lid and we brought out the coin jar I keep on the kitchen counter. 

After a while Isaac decided it was easier to just put them back in the glass jar ;-)

Differing Opinions

I brought out our pocket chart and some matching shape cards. I had made the cards out of a bulletin board border that I got at the Dollar Tree.  The idea was to have Isaac match them up, but he wasn’t real interested in doing that.  I would talk through it with him as I matched them up and he would take them back out of the pocket chart :-P

I had pulled out this “A” sorting game where you sort the capital letter from the lowercase letter.  As you can tell from the pic, we got through it, but Isaac was wanting to play with the magnets that were sitting on the table ;-)

Have I mentioned how much he loves magnets?

Here he is with his magnets again.  On this particular occasion he preferred the block magnets to the pom-poms.  So we were putting the “squares” inside the “circles” to make the letter “A”.

Even with our crazy schedule this past week I really felt that Isaac learned a lot and we had fun doing it.  My mom, not knowing we had been working on the letter A, asked Isaac on Friday to find the letter A among our fridge magnets.  He immediately found the A and handed it to her.  Love it!

To see what other moms are doing in Tot School this week, check out the official Tot School site!

We  found this Bob The Builder sheet set the other weekend at a flea market.  “Bob” is his new favorite “oovie”.  (*movie* but he still leaves the “m” off, so it comes out “oovie” ;-)

Isaac reading the paper ;-)

Miriam watching Isaac reading the paper in her big girl seat!!

Isaac is very popular with the ladies ;-)

Here he is helping me, and was actually a help! (If that makes sense)  I had bought two laundry hampers to go in my laundry room and I was putting them together.

He helped by pulling all the paper off the rods and then tried to put it together for me.

She’s growing up WAY too fast!  She likes to crawl up in our mini rocking chair now!

She looks like she knows what she’s doing, doesn’t she!?

Getting into the toy box and dragging everything out ;-)