Sweet Prayer of Thanks

Tonight as Mark was putting Victoria to bed, she said the most precious prayer of thanksgiving.

Mark and Victoria had just finished reading the bible story (Luke 17) about the lepers whom Jesus healed and all of them walked off and didn't come back after being healed. Only one comes back to thank Jesus for healing him.

Mark: Punkin, what are you thankful for?

Victoria: Jesus, dying for me.

Mark: What?

Victoria: Died for me.

Mark: Did you say Jesus died for you?

Victoria: Jesus died for me, Jesus.

Mark picked her up with so much excitement and looked at her and said "Daddy is so happy!" while smothering her with kisses. He asked her if she'd like to go share what she was thankful for with me (I was reading to Isabella), and she eagerly wiggled out of his arms and ran to Isabella's room saying proudly "Died for me! Died for me!" What a joyful moment for all of us!

Simple and Fun Favorites

Here are a couple of things that put a little more pep in your step during our day at home.

Having your afternoon snack upstairs on your "picnic blanket". This gives me time to get some things done upstairs like vacuum, put laundry away or clean the bathrooms.

Greeting Daddy on weekday evenings as he turns the corner to our street and you all jump in his truck and help him drive the remaining 50 yards or so.

Birthday Fun

Happy birthday to my hubby and best friend. I hope you had a great day with friends and family and felt a bit spoiled from morning until night. I have one more thing I love about you to add to the list...

37. how you trust in the Lord and His will even when it you may want to go another direction

Your birthday dinner place of choice - Home Slice

Our usual - large cheeseless with tomatoes, basil, and pepperoni...yum yum for my tum tum!

Christina, me and Jen

Kyle, the birthday boy (making his usual photo face), and Jose

Ready to eat your chocolate peanut-butter brownies

Little Longhorns

Off to a friend's house to watch the Texas vs. UCLA game. You all are soooo excited!! You'd never know that we won because the evening ended in tears. We had to make a fast getaway as Victoria was having a meltdown because we had to cut her off from the snacks and took the bowl of tortilla chips away.

Playdate Pics

Victoria's getting herself ready for the ball with her plastic lipstick.

Poor Colton has to put up with all these girlie girls. He's such a good sport.

Isabella goes straight to Sienna's closet to pull out her dress of choice.

Hairstylist Sienna is primping and blow-drying her client's hair.

Daily Devotionals

So our devotionals are still going well. Victoria begins asking for "bo-shin-oh" as breakfast is coming to an end. They run over to the playroom for some time of worship, and really, this turns into them running in circles around me while I sing to Him. Whatever, at least they are participating with smiles on their faces. Then they practice reciting their memory verse, listen to a story, try answering some questions and then their favorite part is the activity. I'm trying to keep our focus in line with what they are hearing in chapel at their preschool and it changes weekly. So we've had fun with Jonah, David and Goliath, Creation, and Adam and Eve.

Isabella's trying to breathe some life into these bubbles just as God breathed life into Adam.

Getting the tree ready for this week's lesson on sin.

Helping Mommy get some dirty laundry clean after hearing that He can cleanse our heart from dirty sin.

Bedtime Pals

Isabella and Victoria,

I thought I'd do a quick blog about who or what you enjoy taking to bed with you, so when you're older you can look back and smile. Because I have no idea if I slept with anything...maybe Rainbow Brite, my Cabbage Patch doll?

Isabella, you have been loyal to Baby and take her to bed with you since we bought her in February of 2010. She sleeps right beside you on her tummy and Lamby sleeps at the bottom of your bed. He has always enjoyed somewhere near your feet since you were six months old. Sometimes Paisley gets a special invitation to sleep with you. And today, you insisted that your black and white polka-dot headband (a.k.a. your "crown") sleep under your pillow for safe-keeping.

Victoria, you have a special place in your heart for Puppy. You are eager to see him and hold him each day at naptime and bedtime. Your face lights up with relief whenever he is in your arms and your thumb immediately goes into your mouth while your other hand strokes his floppy ear. He is always right by your side in your crib. Though you are loyal to him, you also have some other friends that you like to share your crib with: Miss Peggy (not Piggy), Froggy, Panda, Bunny, and occasionally Elmo. Yes, every corner of your crib is covered leaving just enough space for you to sleep the way you are most comfortable, cross-wise with your legs sticking out the slats.

Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings are usually routine. We get dressed, eat breakfast, go to church, and then stop at Lowe's to buy what we need for the weekend's honey-do's. And lately, the girls are more and more interested in helping make breakfast. Sometimes I'm okay with it, and sometimes I beg them to go play. Last Sunday was a day when Daddy wanted to make breakfast and needed some help. Pancakes with blueberries, almonds, and chocolate chips anyone?

Another Birthday, Another Year

So I'm now in my mid-thirties. I'm 35 and great with it. I don't feel 35, so that's all that matters. And I had a great day.

I woke up to a husband who was already in the kitchen making breakfast. My place at the table was set with flowers and even a balloon. How sweet! My birthday fell on a Tuesday, so the girls went to MDO which gave me a few hours to myself. I worked out, then rushed to Target to see if I could find anything cute from the freshly launched line of Missoni. (I got there at 10:30am, and there were already many women coming out empty-handed with frownie faces on. The racks were depleted leaving only a few of the larger sizes left. The item I did score was a winter hat for Isabella. I guess she will be the only one showing off her Missoni this fall.) In the evening, Mark and I went on a date to have a delicious meal at Garrido's. It was a relaxing day and God blessed me with two little girls that behaved extraordinarily well and a husband that wanted to spoil me.

Here are some pictures of the "cake" the girls made me. While I was getting ready for dinner, they asked their daddy where my cake was. Oops. He hadn't thought of getting me or making me one because we were going out to eat. But to the girls, a birthday is not complete without a cake. So with 10 minutes before our babysitter arrived, and no cake mix or candles, this is what they cooked up with peanut butter, pretzels, craisins, Dora cereal, and seasoned breadcrumbs. Yum!! Do you like the matches?

Conversations

The four of us got our fill of laughs last night at dinner. Isabella came home from MDO with the letter P stamped onto her hand.

Daddy: "What's that on your hand Sweet Pea?"
Isabella: "It's a J." And she keeps a serious face while she continues to eat her taco.
Daddy: (pause)
Isabella: "Nooooooooo silly! It's a P!"

This was such a silly moment for her and a proud moment for us because it was her first letter to confidently identify! And then she was excited to tell her Daddy that for Show n' Tell she took a princess purse filled with a plastic pickle, a penny, and a pillow to honor the letter P.


Victoria had been quietly listening to Isabella's conversation while munching down on her taco. She finished her dinner and patiently sat in her booster waiting for the rest of us to finish, and began mouthing "I love you" to her Daddy who was sitting across from her for the next few minutes. So sweet. Sometimes dinner can be such a priceless time.

Conversations

Mark was out of town, so it's just the three of us girls sitting down at the table with our dinners in from of us. We have just prayed and have begun to dig in. Isabella is picking at her food and then begins to whimper.

Mommy: "What's wrong?"
Isabella: "This is terrible."
Mommy: "What's terrible?"
Isabella: "My dinner."

This was the first time that she has used the word "terrible". I never thought it would be used to describe a meal, but my feelings weren't hurt at all. Actually I couldn't stop laughing. Thankfully, it wasn't a home-cooked meal. Since Daddy was out of town it was the perfect night for a couple toddler TV dinners. Note to self: Don't buy any more Gerber mac n' cheese box dinners.

First Week of MDO

Well, our first week of Mother's Day Out is over, and it went well. Both girls are going this year, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Isabella was excited about it and walked right into her classroom and made herself at home with some of last year's friends. Mark said that when he peeked in ten minutes later, she had already raided the Dress Up center and had a princess dress on. Victoria did surprising well too. I had been a little worried about how her first week would go. She had been muttering "No school!" all last week, and when I walked into her bedroom on Tuesday morning, she clearly said "I don't want to go to school" and rolled over. But she did great! Her daddy dropped her off. She was hesitant to walk into her classroom but with Daddy's encouragement, she walked in and also got comfortable with her surroundings fairly quickly. Her teachers said she didn't shed a tear and she was super all morning long. I'm so proud of both of them, and I pray they make some good friends and have some fun times singing, painting, snacking, drawing, listening to stories, playing, and learning about Jesus.