Slide show of the Levi's 2nd birthday party

All worn out and the party's not even started

The Birthday boy after Breakfast at 9:30
A family tradition A"Happy plate"

Levi singing

Levi has started this thing recently where he loves to lead the singing. Driving down the road he is singing from his car seat, or he will stand on the stairs with a book and "microphone" ( he uses his imagination), or here he actually has an audience. There were 3 of us sitting around, apparently just for him, so he took advantage and gave us this lovely little special....

Lela's tower

Lela built this all by herself the other day...oops, ok, I think Ed helped with some finishing touches, but mostly by herself. We were pretty impressed!

Sawhorses, bookworms, and blessings

Well, it has been a productive start to a new week. We had made a list last night of all the things we wanted to do today, and one was that Ed wanted to make a couple of sawhorses. Even though the weather turned chilly overnight, we were all outside (even Ky) with Ed when he started his project. The kids have never heard of sawhorses before so they are having a little difficulty with the concept of it's not being a real horse. It was funny, when Ed was measuring one of the studs he noticed that it was bowed and was trying to see if it could still be used....well, Aaron's suggestion was that "it could be one of the running legs of the horse". That really cracked me up. And then Lela continues to refer to it as the "horsie" and keeps wondering where the head is going to be. lol. We finally gave up trying to explain that it is not a real horse and it's only going to be used in the workshop.
Anyway, we didn't get them completely finished but we did make alot of progress and hopefully Ed will get them finished up when he gets off of work on Thurs.
On a different topic...Alyssa is our latest bookworm, and she seems to have learned to read almost overnight. I went from just doing flashcards with her to telling her we would start reading the next week. Well, I don't think I had to teach her anything. She basically picked up the book and started reading. I started her off with Dick and Jane, and at first I thought maybe she had heard it so many times she had it memorized, but it's not that. She is just a natural. She barely ever stumbles and only occasionally asks me what a sound is. And, don't tell, but she honestly reads better than Aaron and Lela. I'll be getting her a harder book to see if what she has is too easy but I'm pretty sure we underestimated her. And you never see her without that book in her hand anymore.
While I'm on the subject of Alyssa, I saved the best for last. Saturday morning Alyssa told us that she has been saved. It came about like this....
We had devotions and, as so often happens, the discussion turned specifically to salvation. I asked lots of questions in regards to salvation and Jesus Christ and why we need to be saved, etc. Even though I directed most of them at the girls, Aaron answered alot (as most of you know he has already been saved and baptised) but I still felt it was good discussion. I think it's important to refresh this in their little minds even if most of them are so young. Anyway, we finished up and each of the kids took turns praying, and when it came Alyssa's turn she prayed that Jesus " would save everyone and... take care of their sins". It caught my attention so after I dismissed everyone else I called her over to me. She was openly crying and said to me " Mama sometimes when I pray it makes me cry because God is so good to us". So I asked her " have you been saved?" She said " yes ma'am" So I asked her when and she said " one time Aaron and I were in the tree house and he told me that I didn't have to wait until Papa and Mama were around or we were already praying I could pray and ask Jesus to come in my heart. And I DID!" I hugged her and we cried together and I asked her if Jesus had saved her and she answered that "He DID!" So then I asked her when this had happened and she said " It was before you had Kyla". That confirmed something that Aaron had shared with me several weeks earlier. He told me pretty much the same thing, that Alyssa had been asking him questions ( same time frame, before Ky) and he had prayed with her. It is such a humbling experience to see the joy on their little faces and to realize that Christ can work in the hearts of the most young and tender and to know that it was nothing I did. The words of the hymn come to mind as so fitting, " I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene".

Pedicures (or whatever word includes my leg from the knee down)

The kids have gotten into this thing where they love to "do my feet". They fill a small tub (too small) with warm water and soap and have me put my feet in it (lots of spilling and wet towels here). I'm supposed to "soak" them for awhile. So they wait about 30 seconds and then start scrubbing my feet and legs with little brushes (i.e. fingernail brushes and the like). This is where everyone starts trying to find anything they can to stick in the overflowing tub and swish around and slosh over me. It's gets really fun.
They scrub and rub, and when all the skin is pretty much gone and my feet are nice and raw, I mean relaxed, then they dry me off and slather me with tons (and tons) of lotion. The more the merrier. And they do this for awhile, smearing it on and rubbing it around and then wiping it off and adding more....and then progressing to lotioning themselves... and the chair... and the couch... and the floor...and each other. Then, finally, after the biggest possible mess is made, and everyone is totally satisfied that I enjoyed it and I'm relaxed, we can dump out the water and mop it all up. (During this time of R&R, I have been feeding Ky, keeping Levi from drinking the water, trying to make sure Isaac doesn't lotion too much stuff, etc.)
Surprisingly, after all is said and done, I find it has been relaxing... and at least it kept everyone in the same place for a little while . =)