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!

It Was the Worstest Day Ever and the Bestest Day Ever

Today was the first day of Champs Camp for Abbigail, Abbiyah and Forest. Champs Camp is a day camp that our church hosts over Spring Break,where kids get a chance to play several different sports. They all had a blast and can't wait to go back tomorrow. Phoebe and I had big big plans since it was just her and I and because this will be our last chance to spend some time alone together before the baby comes. We went to the grocery store(not a part of the big big plans, but a necessary part of the day)and got locked out of my van when the alarm malfunctioned. To this Phoebe said, "This is the worstest day of my life," with a sigh. But, she got to ride on the toy truck outside the grocery store twice and have a juice pack while we waited for my heroine friend, Annie, to come rescue us. I got the alarm turned off after some extra effort and we got ourselves and the van home safely. After lunch we went to a yummy cupcake place, Sara Sara Cupcakes, and enjoyed wonderful strawberry cupcakes and chocolate milk. Phoebe then decided the day wasn't so bad after all. I thought it turned out pretty good, as well.

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.

A Prayer of Phoebe

Jesus, you are the most wonderful man in the world. And I am not as pretty as you because you are the handsomest man in world.

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.

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.

Phoebe says...

Yesterday, during a thunder storm, Phoebe was speaking of the lightning outside when she said, "There is frightening out there!"

Phoebeisms, cont....

Phoebe lost her cookie. She thinks she put it on her plate, when she walked into the kitchen. I asked her what she thinks happened to it, and she said, "I think it melted into my plate."

Phoebeisms...

Quote by Phoebe..."I'm just thinking about how Jesus made me so pretty."