And So Are The Days Of Our Lives

Ahhh! So much to say and so little time. Life with three little ones for us is all about maintaining right now. I love doing things well, so I'm not loving this season, but I know there is purpose in these mundane, training days...our Father is training us, we're training the children He's entrusted to us...aaaand we're exhausted. Yes. Christmas is still up in our house. One of these days...maybe.

To catch up, not only has Natalie been writing her name and other words for a while, but she is READING! Like REAL READING. It started about a month ago as she started sounding out three letter words like bam!, cat, dog, and pig. Last week she started sounding out four letter words (and longer, as long as the words "follow the rules") like frog, moon, best and others. The girl doesn't start Kindergarten for two more years, what am I going to do with her?? She has also learned her phone number this past week and loves getting my cell phone to call the house...which she does 20 times an hour. I explained to her today that she needs to calm down or pay the bill at the end of the month. And the prayers Natalie prays...she brings us to tears on a weekly basis. This little girl is also a big dreamer and comes in almost every morning telling us about the adventures she's been on throughout the night. She gets married a lot in her dreams, which always prompts great discussions about her future husband. She knows God has someone special for her so she's decided she wants to take a trip to Heaven and ask God to tell her who it is:) She does have a sassy streak, like any 4 year old little girl, but nothing a little "sassy sauce" doesn't take care of. On a side note, I'm glad we didn't have liquid soap when I was growing up. At least the bar of soap was somewhat contained in the mouth. I digress.

Now let me just tell you how absolutely in love I am with our little man, Rhett. Honestly, it's like falling in love all over again. He makes my heart drop into my stomach with one smile. He's 6 months old now, rolling over as of a few of weeks ago and is eating cereal and baby food. He rolls himself over in the middle of the night and can't figure out how to get back to his tummy...so he talks to himself and plays for an hour or two every night right now...then he'll start crying when he's ready to go back to sleep. We then go in and roll him back to his tummy, he finds his thumb, and sucks his way back to sleep. He's about 20 lbs now, wearing a size 4 diaper (what??? when did this happen??) and such a happy, happy baby. Thank God for the 3rd baby (usually) being a good sleeper and so laid back.

And Lainey...I am so tired right now I can hardly muster up energy to talk about this ball of energy. She is a gem! She keeps everyone laughing hard and keeps Mommy and Daddy in shape, for sure. Our once immune-deficient kid (who is doing GREAT this RSV season so far!) is the most affectionate, hands-on little girl I have ever seen and insists on kissing every person (and dog) on the mouth...ugh, this kills the nurse/germ freak mother that I am and have had to be! She needs a warning label for sure but she will soften the hardest of hearts and refresh the driest of souls (no, she's not Jesus, or Obama..and Obama is not Jesus by the way...again, I digress). She can dance a pretty good jig if the beat hits her right...she really gets going to the song on Madagascar, "I Like To Move It, Move It!". She loves to sing her "ABCs", "Shout to the Lord", and "The Best of Both Worlds". Lainey also always feels the need to help me when I am disciplining Natalie. She adds, "OVER OVER OVER!" (with emphasis on the last "over") and it never fails to make Natalie mad. Of course, this is why she does it. Plus, it just makes sense. She's wonderful but I won't lie; she's tough for me right now. She's definitely making me better. Thankfully, I can see that even in the midst of it all...or I'd have to be committed. Purpose makes it worth it. In Him we have that.

I know, I know. Words are so over-rated so on to the pictures...

Nat with Uncle Justin and cool cuz, Alex, at Christmas #32:)

Check out the hair!

After his intro to carrots...not a fan yet.

Killer Eyes

SIGH! He's so dreamy.

My Baby...sniff sniff.

This is what sisters will do to ya...yes, it's their babies' stroller!

Oh my gosh, kill me now...I'm so in love.

She is such a mama!

I have no idea how this happened and I don't want to know.

Always the poser

Getting ready to jump into the leaves, Thanksgiving Day

Brushing her teeth with her Hannah Montana toothbrush. She really gets to dancing as she's brushing!

YEA! Post completezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Happy Birthday, Jesus

What fun we had this year with all three kiddos! For the first time, Santa was a part of our Christmas and I have to say he was a hit. Natalie started asking questions about him this year so we had to decide how to handle it...we read her the story of the real St. Nicolas and left the rest to her wonderful imagination. When the girls found their stockings full of goodies Christmas morning, Natalie jumped with joy that Santa had come afterall. She was skeptical at first since she didn't hear him come in but the full stockings sealed the deal. Lainey thinks Elmo filled her stocking...to each his own.

It was a big year for board games and Natalie LOVES her Hungry Hippos, Hi-Ho Cherry-o and Old Maid games. She also thinks her remote-control car is super fun...yep, it was what she wanted:)

Lainey is so into all things animal and especially loves it when they move or make sounds. The other thing she obsesses about is drawing so everyone hooked the girl up! From big floor pads to washable markers, the little artist is set.

Their favorite gift this year was the bounce house! I think it's our favorite too! When the weather doesn't cooperate, we can put that sucker in the middle of the living room (oh yes, we've already done it) and they can wear themselves out! HOOORAY!

Rhett, well, he makes out with his hands all day every day so that's what he did this Christmas..and he managed to sleep a little too. No big gifts for him this year...well, besides the gift of life. Hey, we do what we can for our kids;)

We've been "doing church" our whole lives and have loved the Lord a long time but this year...this Christmas has been different. Emmanuel, "God With Us"...when God changes your world like He has ours this last year, the thought of the Creator of everything lowering himself to become a man just to connect with us, "just" to save us from our nastiness and filth...the Christmas story is more powerful than ever now.

Celebrating our Savior, Christmas 2008...

Elf Yourself

Name That Tune

What's up with this girl? She's freaking us out a little bit right now.

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She started this business about 6 months ago when we started playing Guitar Hero. We had no idea she was taking it all in. Then one day she heard the famous Barracuda guitar riff playing on TV in a commercial..."CUUUUDA!!"

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We're especially careful now with what's playing in the house!

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Here are a few songs off Lainey and Nat's playlist...see if YOU can name that tune before Lainey does:) Turn the volume UP!

This Is How We Roll

Really. How else can you contain the Texas Tornado when out in public??

We're learning...

(man, it sure is nice to be OUT IN PUBLIC with her again! Really!! Thank you God!)