First Day of School

OK, I'll admit... I was one of those moms that was at Walmart last night at 9:30 p.m. doing last minute looking around. It was insane! This school (MDO) thing kind of snuck up on me because I won't start working till next week. Going to Walmart for bread for lunch, I ventured to the school aisle and found a special Princess backpack and outfit for Claire. She has been SOOOO excited all weekend and told me Saturday, "Mom, I can't wait to go to school everyday!" Only 2 more years that I want to cherish with my big girl and it hit me hard when she said that. Anyway, here are the pictures from this morning. As soon as I surprised her with the backpack, she wouldn't take it off for anything - hence the first pic feeding Rollo WITH the backpack on. She looks SO big to me and gets more beautiful everyday! Her teacher's name is Ms. Robin and is new to the program. She's really young and looked so nervous but she had a veteran helping her out for her first day - that made mommy feel a lot better! There are only 5 kids in the class so it won't be too hard to handle. She will go once a week so I can go to work and my sweet, amazing friend Stef will be watching Eden again for us.

Well, Eden's stirring so gotta run. Hoping to take Claire somewhere for a special after school treat for her first day. Probably Starbuck's so I can get myself a treat too!

What we've been up to....

Well, we've been keeping busy around here! Still can't wait for the cooler weather so we can get outside more. It's amazing how you can tell the difference between 98 and 101! So in my style, what we've been up to in pictures....

Trying new things! Eden's getting the hang of a sippie cup and doing some finger gerber puff snacks!




Finger painting! Bought this a month or so ago for "rainy" day activity or in our case, cabin fever day. She loved it!


The finished product along with our "Reading God's Word" sticker chart. It helps remind us to get to it as early as we can in the morning!
Playgroup swimming at Kamryn and Amy's pool and munchin' on some lunch. We love our weekly group and our other play dates.
Claire's been interested in taking pics by herself lately so here is one she took of me! Yes, I'm as exhausted as I look!
Posing and playing with sister

Hangin with Unlce Billy
Finding halloween costumes! Yes, this early! We've learned in years past that if you don't get them early you might miss out on a really cute one. So I found this one on Craig's List and couldn't resist. I also couldn't choose what picture to post so here's a lot of Eden the cutest Pink Bunny you'll ever see! Claire will be Sleeping Beauty and already has her dress from her birthday party. Thanks Mike and Heather! She already wears it all the time and STILL wants to wear it for Halloween.

Pure joy!
Claire loving her sister so much it looks like it hurts!

Eden's finding her knees and loving Grandpa's showlaces. Grandpa helped her get to her knees so she didn't do this on her own but gosh, she looks like a big girl! This would keep her entertained forever =)

And of course, we are always up to being silly!
Eden's really scooting her knees up under her these days and even rocked on them a little (of course, not for me but for daddy!). Oh, our lives are about to change all over again when she gets to be mobile!

Eden's fast approaching 9 months and I wouldn't be surprised if she is crawling by then. Stay tuned for some funny Claire quotes.... you won't want to miss them!

The girl's giggle

I've finally found that if you do videos through YouTube it is a lot easier! So here is one I wanted to post awhile ago - probably a month or so. My friend Marie is the one who taped it for us. Gotta love little girl giggles!

More videos to come!

Patience

Funny how when you are praying for things like patience and anger management, you get many opportunities to use them! Thank God He's giving me just the right lifegroup study about anger, sermon about what stresses you out and scriptures to encourage me:

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Proverbs 15:1

It's been a tough week with Claire being especially fussy and Eden still waking up so much but in my wavering day I hold onto my unwavering God! There are times in my day that I think "How can I be so angry at someone I love SO much?" and then later that day "How can I love someone SO much?" Parenting is such a rollercoaster of a ride even when you are trying to be consistant! Anyway, asking for prayers to be successful with practicing my patience and for wisdom in growing up my sweet girly girls.... couldn't imagine my life without them. There's nothing like the unprompted hug and "I love you Mommy", the wet open kiss from my sweet baby girl, the smiles I get when I see them first in the morning, the innocent giggles from a tickle session, listening to my big girl sing praise songs.... it makes it all worth it.

Priorities

So.... over the past few weeks I've been convicted about how I've been spending my time. After kids are finally in bed, I would find myself just wiped out and wanting to watch TV or be on the computer. Believe me, I still do this but I'm certainly trying to re prioritize!! In doing so, I'm spending more time reading God's word (Proverbs), becoming more focused on my job at home and REALLY enjoying a book called "A Mom After God's Own Heart". As many know, I'm not much of a reader so the fact that I'm on pg. 167 and more than half way through says a lot about how great of a book it is! It is reminding me of the blessings I have as a mom and the number one job I have is to teach my girls about Jesus. We've been spending time everyday reading God's word together, praying at every opportunity and talking about God every chance we get. It's made my last few weeks so much more productive and fulfilling! It's humbling. I'm not always very diligent or consistent. It's also prepared me in some changes that have happened in our lives the past couple weeks. God has truly blessed me with my job here at home and I pray that I'm aware and open to how He wants to use me the way He intended every mom to be used.

Along with Proverbs 31:10-31 (The Wife of Noble Character), here is the main scripture that comes back over and over again in the book. I love it! It has really made me rethink how I'm showing the girls what is most important.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Staycation

This summer we were blessed to spread out Neil's vacation so he would have Fridays off. It was so great! Last weekend he took 2 extra days to make it a 5 day weekend so we could go to the beach. That trip got postponed so we just made the best of it here in town on our staycation. We did manage to take 2 day trips to visit Neil's grandmothers which was WAY overdue! So here it goes...

Friday we decided to do something new and fun - bowling!! Claire had a blast and she didn't do too shabby. On a side note, anytime she is pretending to "do her work" or we are pretending to buy something, etc. she almost ALWAYS uses the number 49 and which lane did we get? #49!! Neil and I just had to laugh! So we all three bowled with the bumpers and even Eden enjoyed it!

Getting everything set up with Daddy
Eden was just an angel in her bumbo! Don't worry! One of us was always sitting next to her so she wouldn't fall off the seat
The ball s-l-o-w-l-y rolling down the lane! She did well and stayed very excited for 8 of the 10 frames

I tried about 4 or 5 times to get a good pic of these two but Neil kept closing his eyes and this picture says it all!! Claire was tired of keeping her smile and was checking on daddy to make sure his eyes were staying open - it's one of my favorite pictures =) I can just hear her now " Daaaaaaaaad!"

Pushing with all her might!

My girl - what joy!

Isn't this cute? Claire, you're such a sweetheart

Had to get a good shot of the bowling shoes! Before we got there I explained the shoe borrowing to her and she said "I want Princess ones" and was a wee bit disappointed with the news that they probably didn't have any but I would check!

So Saturday we just hung out at home and later that evening we stopped in to say hello to Grandma and Grandpa and then we ate pizza with Mimi and Poppa. We are so blessed to have our parents here and our girls get to have a relationship with them!

Sunday it was singing at church and then a great life group at the Zimmer's. We talked about slowing down and getting distractions out of our lives so we can focus on our Lord! It was just what I needed as you can tell from this post....

Monday we took a day trip to George West to visit Neil's grandma and Aunt Mary Ellen. They hadn't met Eden yet so it was about time! We had a great visit over a lasagna lunch that we took with us. We had a nice time visiting, chasing the kittens back outside and popping bubbles in the living room.

I couldn't decide which one to post so I posted all three of Maw Maw Lewis and Eden. So cute!

Claire and Mary Ellen

Bubble FUN!

Eden being cute in the car

Tuesday they were showing a free movie at a near by theater and after talking to my friend Lauren, she convinced me that Claire might do well with a movie! She LOVED it and wouldn't stop talking about the "Curious George" movie for a couple days. Afterwards it was a Mexican lunch at Taco Cabana. It was her first movie and lunch date =) Her date was a good looking man who I know will teach her how she should be loved, cherished and treated!

The next pics are a couple of us just playing around at home...

So that was the bulk of it but yesterday (Friday) we went to visit Maw Maw Springer in Kerrville for dinner. We intended to go in the morning but we ended up taking Claire to the dr. about a sore on her tongue that had been there since Tuesday. She hadn't eaten in three days and was sleeping TERRIBLY waking up a few times every hour because her tongue hurt. He called it an a-something ulcer (a canker sore when we googled it) and it is caused by a virus. They don't know how they get it but now she will be more prone to getting them which isn't great news but at least it wasn't something more serious. It was on the bottom on her tongue and the size of a dime so it looked very painful.

Anyway, we got to Kerrville for dinner and spent about 3 hours there visiting. We were planning on taking her out but she was so sweet to make us sides and dessert to go with some brisket she picked up. Yummy potato salad, coleslaw, homemade pickles, bread, homemade chocolate cake... we got spoiled and it was so nice to let the girls play instead of having to stay seated at a restaurant.

No pics with Claire but here is Eden and Maw Maw

wow - I'm tired again! It's been fun but I'm ready for an easy going week!

Drama Club

If these pictures indicate our household in about 10 years it means two things:

1). Neil will be embarassing our girls endlessly in front of their friends (and loving it!)

and

2). Claire will be president of the drama club. You all are invited to all of her plays or you can see pics or video clips posted on this very blog!

(HA!! What hams!! Isn't he the most fun daddy? Can you believe Claire's expressions?!)