SERENITY ROLLED OVER!

Hurray! Last night I put on her tummy on the bed next to me and she pushed herself up with her leg and rolled over onto her side and then onto her back. The best thing was that Asher was here to see it also.

Here are some random pictures that I have taken recently.

This was family fun night at co-op. In the top picture Natalie just won a race so she is sharing her spoils.

This is Chelsea. She is our family babysitter. She comes weekly so that I can go to appointments without all my children with me.

Whew, this weekend was so awesome. I went on a retreat with the ladies at co-op. God was definitely working. I don't feel like I have time to explain all that happened because I hear my little ones stirring in their beds, but I will try until they wake up.
First of all, as much as I didn't like it I am glad that co-op decided to suspend activities for this year. Basically what happened is that all the people who tend to complain and cause problems decided they didn't like the direction that co-op was taking and left. So all the people who remain are people who love co-op and want to be there for themselves, not just their kids. There really hasn't been any disunity this year. We just hang out and have a good time. It has been great.
Bethany just got up so I put her in the high chair with breakfast.
So the trip out to the lake house was supposed to take 3 hours but it ended up taking 6 because we stopped over at Amanda's to pick her up and see her ranch and got a little lost. (Her family has a ministry called Camp David which puts abused horses and troubled teens together.) Also I had to feed Serenity which nobody had a problem with. There was also many potty breaks. It was a long trip but we really didn't mind because we were able to chat and get to know each other on our trip.
After we got there, there was a situation where someone took offense to something said and she shared her hurt with the group. So the first couple of hours we were there were spent talking about it and how it was a trigger for another much deeper hurt. We really got to see each other's hearts in those hours. We shared with each other and comforted. It actually turned out to be a bonding time for everyone. Satan was trying to ruin our time together at the beginning but because the person that was hurt did not keep her pain inside and let it grow and fester, God used it to bring us closer.
Later on that evening we did foot scrubs. We all sat around and scrubbed our own feet and chatted together. It was very relaxing and peaceful.
I could not stay the whole time because I had to get back to the city for Caylee's dance recital. She did great. I am glad that I was able to go to that for her.
Then on Sunday my Aunt Linda came and visited from California. She happened to be passing through this part of the country and stopped in El Reno for a visit. We had a good time and she said that she is going to come back for Asher's graduation next year.
I did not get very many pictures. I have noticed that I do not take nearly as many pictures as I used to because I am always so busy with the babies, usually nursing. That is okay though. This is just a season and I will have plenty of time to take pictures. Right now I can just take a few and I am happy with that.

I had two great things happen yesterday. As everyone here knows I have been much more intensive on toilet training Macy. I still have not been too overly concerned about it because we have been busy and I went on the retreat so I was not really home all weekend. Well, yesterday I pretty much did the same thing that I used to do with Caylee and Natalie. I gave Macy a full sippy cup of juice so that she would drink it all at once (juice is a treat around here). Then I let her run around the house without a diaper. About an hour later she came up to me and said, "Poo-poo." I was thinking she probably went number one, but sure enough it was number two. I know this is pretty gross to talk about, but I am so excited because potty training is going so much easier than I thought it would.

The other great thing is that is Natalie is starting to read. I told Caylee yesterday that she needed to spend some time reading to me and Natalie volunteered to read her, "Hot Dog" book. It is just a very simple book that I got from Wally World. It has phrases like, dog is hot, cat is not. She needed some help but she was very good at sounding the words out. We tried reading together a few months ago and she really was not ready. She had a difficult time connecting the sounds. She knew each individual letter sounds but could not change c-a-t into cat. So I just waited awhile because I did not want to frustrate her and now she has it. She was so excited that she read the whole book even though it took about 45 minutes.