Summer 2014 (June - August)

What a great summer we had! It wasn’t as busy as last year, just because we have a baby around this year that needed to be home for naps and things like that. But we have had a great time visiting the zoo, the pool, the splash pad, and even going on a little vacation to Kansas City! August was an especially big month for you. You turned FOUR, you got SAVED, and you started SCHOOL. Wow!

June 3 - You called sunscreen “sunscream.”

June 9 - You were talking to Daddy about Ariani and said, “Daddy, I loved when she got born that time!”

June 14 - You have an invisible friend named Macy. She stayed with us ALL summer long.

Here is a picture of you at Bell's Kiddie Park in West Tulsa. It wasn't very big or fun, but you did enjoy the three rides they had.

June 16 - You love to entertain your baby sister!

June 18 - Our first swim of the summer!


June 20

June 22 - You still call Quik Trip “Quip Trip.” I love that! Also, after church we were planning to take Jordan home so she said to you, “Penny, can you drive me to my house?” And you said, “I can’t because I’m too little! But my mommy can.”

June 23 - Jordan and Tatum came for a sleepover and you played Old Maid together. You kept them up until after 2:00 in the morning! Yikes! You don't know how to stop talking when they are around. :)

June 26 - We have lots of conversations about Jesus and Satan right now. You call hell “Hale” and Satan “Sitan.” (You pronounce it SIGH-tan.) Today you also said your very first bad word - although you had no idea it was a bad word and thought you had made it up for something else.

June 30 - You said, “Florida is kind of like a museum, but it’s not a museum.”

July 2 - Tonight was our Independence Day celebration at church. You were talking about fireworks and said, “They feel good on my eyebrows.” Um… okay.

Grandpa took this photo of you with Grams & Tatum at church. Cute!

July 3 - We were going on vacation, which you called “they-cation.” Our vacation was just a two-day trip to Kansas City where we stayed at a place called CoCo Key Resort. It was an indoor water park and was so fun! Of course, you are not very adventurous at all when it comes to the water, so you pretty much just stayed in the smallest kid pool. You didn’t even like the slide because it made your eyes get wet! While we were there we also went to the Kansas City Zoo which was huge and very fun!

July 9 - Pictures with the cousins taken by Uncle Jacob!

July 10 - I cannot get over how beautiful you are. (Even with that crazy hair!)

July 22 - Great Grandma Dorothy (or "Great Dorothy," as you called her) came to visit!

July 27 - I straightened your hair for church and it made you look SO very old! And gorgeous! You got lots of compliments on it.

July 28 - Play day with Jenna!

July 30 - These are three of your "babies." They are Emma, Daphne, and Issa.

August 1 - Grandpa and Nana took you on a special trip for your birthday! They took you and Jase to Dallas overnight and took you to the American Girl store to buy you a Bitty Baby. What an extravagant and fun surprise! (These photos were, of course, all taken by your Grandpa.)

August 3 - With your new Bitty Baby, "Zarina." And you even have matching pajamas with her!

August 4 - Happy 4th birthday sweet girl! I can't believe you are four years old already!

Mommy and Daddy gave you Doc McStuffins pajamas, a Frozen blanket, a tutu, and some other things I have already forgotten. Grams & Pops gave you a jewelry making kit and a scooter!

August 5 - Your current obsession is the latest Tinkerbell movie, The Pirate Fairy. You even named your new doll Zarina after the main character.

August 9 - You had a princess birthday party! Your friends were able to get their hair fixed, have their picture taken, decorate princess wands and cupcakes, and even have their nails painted! It was a crazy and wild party with LOTS of friends! Here are the gifts you received:

Jordan & Tatum - Elsa dress

Zuri - a coloring set and a boa

Natalie & Savannah - a Target gift card

Kayla - a Frozen bag with a jewelry making kit

Addison & Zoey - a Sofia the First ballerina dress

Jenna - a princess fan and mirror, and outfit with accessories, nail polish

Eva - a Sofia the First doll

Sophie & Katie - candy, bracelet, lip gloss, stickers, and coloring book

August 10 - Grandpa was setting up for the church directory photos and took this picture of you. I love it!

August 14 - You got SAVED today! I am so happy to know that you now have Jesus in your heart.

August 17 - Today you got BAPTIZED! You asked me about it right after you got saved a few days earlier and you wanted to do it right away because you wanted to obey Jesus. You asked me if Jordan had been baptized before and when I told you she hadn’t you asked me to ask her to do it with you. And so she did! And so did Alex and Tatum! It was a very special night to watch the four of you all being baptized together.

August 19 - You met your very first school teacher today! Her name is Mrs. Henley and she is very nice. You were a bit shy, but did great!

August 20 - You had your ECAT assessment today with your teacher before starting school in a few days. You scored a 57/60 - great job! I am proud that you were able to answer her questions and didn’t clam up. You were super nervous to go into the classroom without me, especially since there weren’t any other kids there. But your teacher said that as soon as she got started you opened up and did great!

August 26 - Today was your first day of school! I can’t believe you are in preschool! You go to school in the mornings from 7:45 until 10:45 and you did GREAT today! You were pretty emotional this evening and for several evenings afterwards. But I think that was mostly because you were so tired. You have never been an early riser, so getting up at 6:45 has been new for you. And you still haven’t been sleeping during your naptime. So that just makes for a weepy girl! But I have been surprised at how well you have gotten up and out of bed quickly for school since any other time you have had a hard time getting up earlier than 8:00.

All in all, it has been a great summer! I can't wait to see what autumn has in store for us! I sure love you sweet girl! I'm so thankful I get to be your mommy!

Your Spiritual Birthday - August 14, 2014

Who would have thought that as I sat on the living room floor amidst a pile of laundry next to a fussy baby Ariani I would experience one of the most special moments of my life as a mom?

As I folded laundry, you were finishing your lunch in the kitchen. A peanut butter sandwich, some baby carrots, and a banana. And I heard your little voice say, “Mommy, I’m ready now. I’m ready to get saved.”

It came out of nowhere. We hadn’t been talking about it this morning at all. It came from your heart.

We have had so many conversations over the last six months, maybe longer. You have been so interested in learning about God - in class at church, at home during our family devotions, and during regular conversations when we talk about Him and how we want to live for Him. You have had all the pieces for some time, but it needed to be your choice.

So you told me you were ready and I held my breath. Is this really it? I thought. And I asked you what it means to be saved. You knew exactly what it meant. “It means I ask Jesus to forgive me for my sins and live in my heart,” you told me.

So we went through it all, one more time. You are a sinner. You know that. Your sin keeps you from God; it keeps you from heaven. You know that too. Jesus died to make a way for us to be with God eternally. You know that. You knew all of it. That you must place your trust in Christ to save you. That you must ask Him to “be the boss of your life” and “live in your heart.” We read the scriptures. You knew you were lost. You wanted to be saved.

So we prayed. A simple but earnest prayer. And you meant it. And you smiled. I asked you how you felt afterwards and you said you felt so happy. I asked you how your heart felt and you told me that it was happy and that it’s “not broken anymore.”

And I rejoiced. And cried just a little bit. And thanked God for my sweet girl and for the way He has forgiven you.

I can’t wait to worship Him with you for all of eternity!

Spring 2014 (March - May)

Spring 2014 (March-May)

What a great spring we have had! It started with snow and ended with swimming. You keep getting bigger and bigger and smarter and smarter. You are so funny, especially when you don’t even mean to be. You have become a fantastic big sister. You adore Ariani and are very helpful by keeping her company, singing to her, bring her toys, and talking to her. She loves you too and always smiles great big when you walk into the room.

You are still in the middle of your “WHY?” phase. You ask “why” about a million times a day!

Here are some of your “funnies” from this spring:

3/1 - “Kipper is on Amazon now; he’s not on Neck-flix anymore.” (I knew you meant Netflix!)

3/3 - Snow day!

3/4 - When daddy puts you in bed at night he always says, “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” And you always respond with, “Don’t let the bugs bit bite!”

The silliest Snow White I've ever seen!

Practicing writing your name

3/6 - You feed the dog every day. Today was a special treat, however, as you fed her in your Snow White dress. It was difficult for you, but you managed.

3/7  -

Penny: “When you get old, Daddy won’t be your prince anymore.”

Mommy: “Why?”

Penny: “Because he’ll be my prince!”

Mommy: “Why is that?”

Penny: “Because when you get old you’ll die! I think you’re gonna die before him. And then he’ll be MY prince.”

3/10 - It was Ariani's first time to come to the zoo with us!


3/11

3/12 -

Penny: “Why did the fairy want to change Aurora’s dress to pink?”

Mommy: “I don’t know.”

Penny: “Why don’t you know why?”

Mommy: “I don’t know.”

Penny: “Why?”

3/13 - Daddy talked to you the other day about being a good steward. You had broken off pieces of your window blinds and he had explained why it’s important to take good care of our things. So today, when you spilled your popcorn, you picked it all up and told me that you were being “a good studor.”

Talking to Daddy on the phone

3/14 - Today you went to Jenna's birthday party! She invited you and Zuri to a salon to have manicures and hair cuts. It was so fun and it was your first time to have a hair cut by a real stylist! You loved it!

3/15 - “But Mom, stinky farts happen sometimes.”

3/18 - You were telling Ariani a story and it went like this: “One day there was a goose in my backyard. But his heart was dead.”

3/23 - This morning you told me that your morning breath (which you call your “stinky breath”) tastes like chocolate.

You love to sing “Let It Go” from Frozen but instead of singing “to test the limits and break through” you sing, “to test the lemons and make fruit.”

3/27 - A sweet sister moment...

...and a goofy girl.

4/1 - Yet another sister photo

4/5 - Your cousins came for a sleepover and you had a blast, of course! Here you are getting ready for a race.

4/5

4/8

4/9 - We went to the zoo with the Hefners and Burgetts (Tracy, Natalie, Savannah, Austin, Ai, and Kayla) and I took this photo which is now one of my favorites!

4/11 - You called a bluebonnet flower a “blueberry bonnet.”

Here you are with a "special drink" from QuikTrip

We went for a walk tonight and you got to bring your baby in her stroller. :)

4/12 - You just had to have a picture with your baby sister in your jammers.

4/13 - I Love My Church Sunday! Where else do you get to play the kazoo during church?

4/15

4/16 - Tonight was your first time to be in church during the Lord’s Supper. You were so interested in what was going on. When they passed the grape juice around and Daddy got one, you asked him if you could taste his wine. :)

Some photos from today:

Your cousins, Jordan, Alex, & Tatum left a surprise Easter egg hunt in our yard today. It was so fun! Here you are with some of your stuff.

4/17 - I can tell you are learning a lot about Easter. You talk a lot about “Jesus’ empty tube.” (I know you mean His tomb!)

4/19 - You call the theater the “movie theadador.” Also today you made up this story: “ ‘I just farted,’ said Grandpa. ‘You just farted!’ said Grandma.”

You pushed your baby while we passed out tracts today.

You also convinced Daddy to plant a garden with you.

Getting ready for naptime.

And later hanging out with your baby sister

Then this evening we went to Grams' & Pops' house for some Easter fun! Here you are getting ready for the egg hunt.

4/20 - Easter!

4/22 - You are a bit confused about the word “mistaken” and you use it like a verb. So you often say, “I mistaked a little bit,” or “I was mistaking.”

4/23 - Today when I was chopping onions for dinner you looked at them and said, “Mom, what’s that called? Is that called worm?”

4/25 - Today you ordered coffee with your breakfast. Seriously. And you drank it! (I got you decaf of course.)

4/26 - We love Josh's Sno Shack!

4/27 - You had a lot of questions about Jordan’s “piano recycle.” Haha!

5/1 - We were watching TV and someone on the show was milking a cow, so naturally you said, “That cow is peeing milk!”

Girl, you are CRAZY.

5/5 - Kayla came over to play today!

5/11 - Mother's Day! Daddy took you to Target to buy my gift and he let you pick it out all by yourself. You bought me Strawberry Ice Cream Oreos, fuzzy pink slippers, margarita glasses, and a card that said "Happy 3rd Birthday." (You don't know that I don't like Oreos and don't drink margaritas - haha!) You were very excited to show me what you got for me! It was so sweet.

5/13 - You keep walking around saying, “We need to have a compersation.”

Today was parents day at your gymnastics class. Daddy and I got to watch you and see how much you have learned! It was fun.

5/16 - You get the word “Pre-K” mixed up with “capris.” So you asked me this morning if you could wear your “Pre-K leggings.”

5/19 - When talking about the temperature you use the word “disease” instead of “degrees.” For example, “I think it will be 58 disease outside.”

5/20 - Just swinging in your pajamas and cowgirl boots :)

5/21 - Your first "swim" of the season!

You told me you like to play beach. :)

5/22 - We just bought the card game Uno to play. You call it “Oh-no.”

AWANA Recognition Night - You're the cutest little Cubby!

5/23 - First visit to Krispy Kreme

5/25 - I was trying to explain Memorial Day to you. I told you that it is a day to remember people who have died. But being so young, you don’t really know about anyone who has died. Then you remembered that the sea lion from the zoo died last year so you said that you would just remember Briney the sea lion.

5/26 - I love when you say the phrase “each others.” You always make it plural like that.

5/28 - “My tummy just hurts so I need a blankie to rub it.”

5/29 - First splash pad visit of the season

5/31