Being Busy

I am going to attempt to post a full month's happenings in 1 entry. Life the last several weeks has kept us very busy in a very fun sort of way. Abbigail and Phoebe had their birthday on May 5. We celebrated Phoebe's 5th birthday with a tea party at a cute little coffee shop, Cuppies and Joe. We drank pink lemonade "tea", enjoyed yummy cupcakes and listened to tea party stories. For Abbigail's birthday-the big 10!- we went to Frontier City-a local amusement park. The kids all rode on their first roller coaster. They all loved it-It looks like Forest is crying here, but he is actually having a great time. Just don't ask him about the Pirate Ship-not a good experience there. :/
We are enjoying life with a baby in the house again. Josiah has been such a wonderfully content baby. He sleeps great and seems to always have a sweet smile in exchange for a good conversation. He's 2 months old now and I just can't picture life without him!
This is a photo of Josiah in one of his favorite contraptions- his bouncy seat. And here he is in another favorite contraption- his swaddle, with one of his favorite people- Daddy.
Another big event this month was the outstanding performance of Forest and Phoebe as ring-bearer and flower girl in a good friend's wedding. Kenny preformed the ceremony for Adam and Maria. He did such a great job. Here is Forest and Phoebe at the rehearsal.

We have also had a lot of fun just for the sake of having fun.

We celebrated the coming of summer with watermelon and a pool party...

Playing at the Paseo Art Festival...Silly faces..
And tearing down the shed in the backyard!

Forest's Funnies

I recently remembered a cute story about Forest when he was about 4 years old...His big sister Abbigail, who was about 7 at the time, had hit him in the arm(unknown to me), so he hit her back. When I heard Abbigail cry, I started to correct Forest when he quickly blurted out, in his defense, "Well, the Bible says to do to others what they do to you. She hit me so I hit her back!!" He felt so justified. His disappointment was apparent when I explained that Jesus taught us to treat people how we want to be treated, not how they treat us. Now that he's nearly 7, he understands what Jesus taught, but he's still learning how to apply this concept to his life. I would have to be honest and say, so am I...

Funny Face and Sammy the Sad Snail

School is in full swing for the year. For Pre-K, Phoebe and I have had lots of fun playing different games- all while she is learning to count and learning more colors and shapes. We have these great toys from Lauri that are made from a soft foam. I bought about 4 or 5 different sets, but they can all work together. There are several pieces that can be laced together or put together like a puzzle and there are pegs that can be stacked or the shapes can be stacked on the pegs. They've been great for counting, learning patterns and just for having fun. I was surprised to find that Phoebe can already count to 26 before getting off track. I hadn't worked with her with numbers higher than 10, so I asked her how she learned to count that high, and she said, "I practice in bed every night." I think her big sisters have been working behind the scenes and I didn't realize it. :D

Today we are playing with play dough. Forest joined in and made this sad snail. I'm not really sure what inspired it but its cute. Forest is in 1st grade this year and is continuing to learn to read- something he has definitely approached differently than his sisters. He learned all the letter sounds from last year and can sound words out but doesn't take any initiative to try to read on his own- only if I ask him too. Yet, he still remembers the letter sounds from last year. As far as I can tell, he is right on track for his age, so I think he will still pick up reading by the end of this year; it's just interesting to see how different he is learning from how the girls learned. I'm no expert, but I am convinced boys, in general, learn differently than girls. I am using curriculum from My Father's World for all the kids. This year Forest will learn about different Jewish customs and practices from the Old Testament. His reader for the year is full of Bible stories that he can read himself and he will have drawing lessons, as well as learning about God's creation in science and learning Bible verses. I expect it to be a fun year.

I'll post soon about what my big girls are learning along with some pictures of them hard at work.

Birthdays

Here are some pictures from the kids birthdays. Forest turned 6 in April. We went to Lake Hefner to fly kites. It got to windy and then started raining so we went for pizza instead.

Abbigail and Phoebe share a birthday. Theirs was back in May. Abbigail turned 9 and Phoebe turned 4. As you can see, Abbigail was more than a little excited to get an mp3 player.

The Wisdom of Forest...

We are finishing up our last few days of school this week. Forest has a new subject every week that all his lessons for that week are based on. This week it is "Colors". We were discussing how God made the world so colorful and I asked him, "Why do you think that God made the world such a colorful place?" Forest's answer came quickly... "So that we wouldn't be like, "Uhh, I just want to die 'cause its so ugly here." Should I worry? :/

Also, tonight, my big girls went bowling with the kids from church. Forest and I were waiting for them to get off the bus and Forest took off running down the hall as soon as all the kids came in the building. When I caught up with him I asked him why he ran away like that. He answered, "'Cause there was a girl there that always hugs me when she sees me and I HATE it!" I know it wasn't anything personal against the girl but there's no doubt that boys are different than girls!

Here's another one...

Forest: I'll be right back. Phoebe, don't touch my toy.
Phoebe: O.K.
Forest:(as he is returning back to Phoebe and the toy, and sees that Phoebe is indeed touching it) Phoebe, Do you know what it means to not touch my toy?
Phoebe: Nope.

Another great contemplation from Forest...

Forest: I don't think I'm ever going to get married.
Me: Why? Because you don't want to?
Forest: Yes, 'cause most likely you'll have to have a lot of girly stuff in your house.

It's All in the Clothes, Mom!

A recent conversation between Forest and I...
Forest: Mom, if the power Rangers were real, would they be powerful?
Me: Forest, the power Rangers aren't real.
Forest: But, if they were real, would they be powerful?
Me: But Forest, they're not real, so...
Forest: I'm just saying, if they were, would they be powerful?
Me: Yes.
Forest: No, they aren't powerful, Mom. Their clothes are.
Me: *sigh*

I'm finally getting my Christmas pics posted. We had a great Christmas. Most of the day our family was home by ourselves, enjoying the day. In the afternoon, my sister and her family came over. Then my mom and my dad. My aunt and uncle came as well with their grand daughter. We had a great meal together and had fun opening gifts. The first pic is of my girls with their cousins and the second is of Kenny and the kids Christmas morning. The best part of the day was just before we opened our gifts. Forest shared with everyone that the night before while he had been laying in bed, he started to pray and was asking Jesus to be a part of his life and then started thanking Him for different things and also prayed for different people. There is nothing like seeing your children begin to fall in love with Jesus!