This morning the girls were playing in the living room with their dress up on. I noticed that the light in their was casting a soft beautiful glow on Bethany's hair and I thought she looked like an angel. So I whipped out my camera, a sheet and blanket and snapped some quick pictures of the girls. Bethany's seemed to turn out the best. Macy had her little super girl costume and we figured out a pose that looked really cute but the sheet was not quite big enough to fit it all in. I am going to do more later after I re-wash a bigger sheet to get the creases out. Serenity had a little bit of attitude so I had a hard time getting her to cooperate, but overall I like these pictures.

Macy is FIVE!

Today is Macy's birthday. So I went to school with some cupcakes and balloons for the kids in her class. I bought one of those helium tanks for Wal-Mart becuase I was worried about strings getting tangled. It worked out great. They sang Happy Birthday and ate their little cupcakes. So cute!

The little boy sitting at the far right with the green and white shirt is Donovon, the boy Macy wants to marry. Sigh... Couldn't we wait a few more years before dealing with this?

I got these cupcakes from Publix. There is one across the street from Macy's school so I walked in there to see what they had. I figured Wal-Mart would have cupcakes if they didn't. They had some cupcakes but not a very good selection so I asked the lady behind the counter if they were hiding some in the back. She said they weren't but she could make whatever I wanted right then. That was great. I got exactly what I wanted in about 15 minutes and it was so fresh and good. The best part was that it cost the same as Wal-Mart so I think I will be going back there for other birthdays. There is a big sign outside of Publix claiming they are first in customer sastisfaction and I believe it.

This was our

attempt at going to the fair this year. As soon as we got there it started pouring rain and lightening. They kept the fair open but closed the rides so we decided to go on Sunday since Aaron and Jennifer had decided to get unlimited rides with armbands. Macy was not too happy and would not smile at us. Then Sunday the girls could not get along for some reason. I told them if they weren't nice to each other we would stay home but they continued to argue over every small thing. It was a hard decision for us but we know that discipline is sometimes inconvenient. We have had other times where we had grace on them and you can't do that too often or your kids will not take you seriously. Aaron and Jennifer were dissapointed too but I know they had a good time without us.

A couple of weeks ago the Natalie and Macy got to post for the pledges. This was the first time because they had to wear their vests to do it. It has taken them awhile because we moved here after the start of Awanas. Then it took us a few weeks to find a church so they were a little behind when they started. It will be wonderful to not have to start behind in everything for the next few years. Asher's move cycle falls just after school starts so maybe I will have to move ahead of Asher the next time. We'll see.

One of the things I wanted to do after buying a house was to plant a garden. This is not the right time of year to do what I want so I have settled on planting a herb garden. We were planting Sage, parsley and Basil. Basil is the tall one. The process was very fun but messy as you can imagine with five children clamoring to have a turn. I like doing activities like this because it teaches my children to take turns and be patient when it is not there turn.






Cheese!


This is basil.

Serenity was dancing for us while we worked.

Ewww! Dirty hands.

Here is the completed product. The girls were proud of what they had accomplished.

You ladies are so sweet. I honestly thought that nobody read my blog anymore and if I ever wanted anybody to read it again I would have to email everybody and let them know I had posted something. I love you all so much! Since you have been such a loyal readership I feel you deserve an honest answer as to why I have not been blogging. I cannot seem to keep a camera to save my life. I had one camera and it fell off of the stroller while the family was on a walk. And then another was in my purse that got stolen out of my van in OKC. With that one we were living in Wichita Falls but we were getting ready to move to GA so we went around visiting some old friends. We had plans to go to the pool with my friend Tegan but she had a new baby and it was taking her a long time to get ready so we decided to drop in on friends and old neighbors. We went back to our old street and visited different people. The girls got visit some of their best friends in the whole world, Katy and Anna and we spent some time with Grandma Ann. She could hardly remember us, but that is okay. I hope she can continue to live in her house alone but I suspect she will not be able to much longer. I really think it would be good for her to move because she seems so lonely. We went to see a few other people and then we dropped in at the Siddiquis. We only intended to stay there a few minutes but ended up staying a few hours. It was good to see them again. I thought I had taken my purse in with me but I had left if in the van and it got stolen while I was in the house. I am pretty mad at myself for leaving it there. But needless to say, Asher has not wanted to run out and spend another $200 each time to get a camera. Now I have another one and both Asher and I have been keeping an eagle eye on it. I have been taking lots of pictures.

Tonight when Asher came home from work he played a new game with the girls. They love Uno so I decided to try this Uno Attack. I was in the kitchen cooking up some dinner while they were playing. I love the sound of my children laughing and it was great because everytime it was Daddy's turn they would all let a loud peel of laughter because the machine kept unloading cards on him. I decided it was just one of those simple everyday moments that I needed to capture.

Sery was doing great with potty training in TX but now not so much. This is about as far as she wants to sit on the potty.

1 Corinthians 10:13

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

This is our current memory verse. We usually take a verse that we want the girls to have ready in their hearts as they get older and recite it before bed almost every night. All the children love it. The older girls know that they are obeying God by hiding his Word in their hearts and the little children love to copy their sisters. Last time they memorized Psalm 23. The littles had a hard time with that one because it is so long, but they have this one down almost perfectly. Even Sery insists on saying it every night. There a few words that are easier for her like, eat and drink. I think I will try to get them on video. I think that will be something they will like to remember when they get older.

Other verses they have memorized are Eclesiastes 7:9 "Do not let you spirit rush to anger, for anger abides in the heart of fools." There was another one but obviously we did not memorize it too well because I can't remember what it is.

Field Day is a highlight of the year for public school kids. It is pretty much like the Homeschool Olympics that Diane Taylor does in OK. I love the PE teacher, Mrs. Wiersma. She is a sweetheart of a lady and does a great job with the kids. She was struggling for volunteers but everything went smoothly and without a hitch.



Macy and Bethany were so excited to come to Field Day. They love hanging out with their cool older sisters.











You can hardly see Natalie. She is just poking out behind Macy and Bethany.

The girls wanted to do a picture by themselves. But Keelan couldn't help himself, those are his arms sticking out behind Grace.

This is a little girl that I have been mentoring since the first of the year. Awhile back my church let us know about a need for volunteers to make a commitment to take on a child and be their friend through a mentor program. That is how I met Destiny. She is such a sweet little girl. She is very bubbly and outgoing. Most of the kids at Scotland Park are from poverty stricken homes but she seems to be better off than most of the kids. Some ladies in our church actually pack meals for many kids at the school otherwise they would not have anything to eat over the weekend. Destiny has a mom and dad, siblings and a large extended family. Last week was the first time that she really opened up to me. She told me that she was having a hard time with some of the other kids in her class being mean to her. Kids in third grade don't always have the best social skills and sometimes the process of developing them can be difficult. She shared about in incident involving a girl who was her friend's friend. This other friend was doing something annoying and Destiny told her it was annoying and now both of those girls are mad at her. There were a couple of other girls that she did not get along with also. I really never had to deal with that silly girl stuff since I was homeschooled. I had friends but they just didn't pull that. Is there anyone out there who has been through this and has some advice? I just told her to not take it personally, as hard as that is. Girl's feelings can change on a dime.



That was last week. Today the girls and I went to go have lunch with her and the other kids in the lunchroom told me that she had changed schools. Apparently last Friday her mom got her hair up her navel about something and decided that Destiny needed to change schools. I told the mentor coordinator about it and she said that was not the issue. She did not share the reason and I did not ask. She seemed pretty upset about it and said that Destiny did not want to go. I am going to follow Destiny to her other school and still be her mentor. Hopefully she will have an easier time making friends at her new school.

It looks like I need new running shoes.

I have been really trying to get into running for a while. I have been training myself to do a 5k but when I run my knees really bother me. I have a lot of motivation but knee pain really puts a kink my pipes. I don't care about the pain so much but I don't want to destroy me knees for future use.

I few weeks ago I was getting to run a 5k and I went to the gym and ran 2.5 miles. The next day I really felt what I had done in my knee. I think it was probably good that I got the flu and couldn't run in the race.

I have been wondering what to do about this problem when I asked for prayer about it during my Read through the Bible class. It seemed like a silly prayer request but they asked. Today I was talking to a lady at the gym and we were talking about running marathons. I mentioned that I was trying to but my knees where bothering me. She told me that she used to have the same problem but she went and got custom fitted for shoes. I have fancy shoes right now but they were certainly not custom fitted. I did some research on the internet and if you go to a speciality athletic shoe store they will put you on a treadmill and watch you run to see what type of shoe you need. Apparently many people are pronators which means they don't use their feet correctly while running. The right running shoes will correct the particular way that you run and align you and you should be. Very interesting. I am excited and I want to go this weekend to get new shoes. Oh, that would be wonderful to be able to just run and not worry about damaging myself.

The thing is that Wichita Falls does not have an athletic shoe store so I guess we will be visiting OKC soon. I would like Asher to go and get some new shoes also because he has a tendancy to get shin splints.

Cute moment I want to remember.

Tonight Sery was saying, "Mommy, pobby (potty)." She says it often and I usually ignore her because it usually does not get anyone anywhere. She just likes to sit on the toilet and pretend. But tonight I responded by asking her if she wanted to go potty. She said, "Yeah, mon (c'mon)." So I tagged along. We got to the bathroom and she surprised me by grabbing the stepstool and seating herself. That was no small feat mind you because the stepstool was halfway under the toilet and she gave me a small heart attack because she almost went topsy-turvy during her ascent. My arms were held out protectively but it was still unsettling to watch. Here is the funny part. She was sitting on the toilet and told me that she wanted to wipe. I told her that she could not do that until she went pee. (My proverbial carrot.) I was helping Bethany into the bath and I realized I was hearing a shhhh, shhhh, shhhh sound. Ha, ha, ha. She was pretending to pee to get her "carrot."

Sery just turned two a couple of days ago and she is our baby. I will always treasure sweet moments like this one because they go by so quickly. So here is one that is idelibly written in the ink of my blog. Good times, good times.

Hey, I just wanted to post this new audio Bible that I found. It is so easy to listen to. I found it on half.com for $15. What a great deal. I ordered it for the girls to listen to. They like to listen to cds while they are going to sleep and while they are cleaning their rooms. What a great time to instill scripture in their hearts! I think Asher will be relieved that they will not be playing that Johnny Cash cd over and over and over...

http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/ProductDetail.htm?ProdID=com.zondervan.9780310926313&QueryStringSite=Zondervan

I tried to put a picture up but I can't seem to find any that will copy over.

I have been looking for healthy snack recipes and I found these wonderfully delicious cookies.

They taste so yummy you might expect them to be bad for you. They are naturally sweet on their own but just a little bland so last time I added 1/2 cup of brown sugar to help the taste and it seemed to do the trick. These really are very good. I got this from allrecipes.com. If you bake these make sure that you cook them long enough. When they are properly done the bottoms carmalize into a thicker texture. Make them small too. They do not spread out so you have to press them down flat.

Healthy Banana Cookies


INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
3 ripe bananas
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Stir in oats, dates, oil, and vanilla. Mix well, and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown.



Here is another recipe from quakeroats.com. I haven't actually tried these yet but I have made a similar granola recipe and these look like they would be a lot better. It was hard to get the other ones to stick together. I am going to see if I can make them with the girls this week.

snackin' granola bars
ingredients
3-1/2 cups Quaker® Oatmeal, toasted
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts
2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup honey, corn syrup, or molasses
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
preparation
1. Combine all the ingredients; mix well. Press firmly into well greased 15-1/2x10-1/2-inch jelly roll pan. Bake in preheated moderate oven (350° F) about 20 minutes. Cool; cut into bars. Store in tightly covered container in cool dry place or in refrigerator.

notes and cook tips
To bake in 13x9-inch baking pan, bake in preheated oven (325 degrees F), 30 to 35 minutes. To bake in 13x9-inch glass baking dish, bake in preheated oven (300 degrees F), 30-35 minutes.

variations
Add 1/2 cup flaked or shredded coconut. Substitute one 6-oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate pieces for 1/2 cup raisins.
Substitute 1/2 cup sunflower seed for 1/2 cup nuts.