Crazy Hair

Tonight was crazy hair night at AWANA. I'm such a terrible mom with this stuff. I don't know why, but I always forget about the themes! Thankfully Abigail is a great sport and doesn't get too bent out of shape when we come unprepared. Tonight, however, the Lord graciously helped me to remember. John got home from work early, so he was home to help us get ready for AWANA. I was cleaning up dishes when he and Abigail went up to her room to concoct a crazy hairdo. They came down with this - so great! :) She looked so cute!

Jackson is a little Puggle at AWANA. They don't usually do the themes with his little age group, but I was so inspired after seeing Abigail's hair. I decided to try for a little mohawk, spike do. 

He loved it. :)

He is so hard to take pictures of! I have to take them so fast. He is so impatient and has to see the picture right away! In this picture he was already running towards me to see the picture. 

Baptism

One of the privileges I have of teaching Abigail's SS class is that I get to see first hand how she remembers and learns God's Word. Her understanding blows me away. God is really blessing her. Anyway, several Sundays ago I taught the kids about how Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. I demonstrated baptism by taking this tupperware container, filling it with water and "baptized" Abigail's doll from her doll house. Well, ever since this story, Abigail does the same thing when she is playing "school." This is her favorite thing to pretend - being teacher. Especially days when she has school she will come home and play school for hours - not kidding. 

This can be a bit trying for me because it always leads to spilled water throughout the kitchen/house - on the clothes, etc. Jackson always has to join in and get his own "baptismal tank"...and as you can see in this picture - he usually gets the award for most water spilled. Note how wet his clothes are. :)

Look at the water around the refrigerator where they get their water. I have to remind myself - it's just water! Actually as I wipe it up each time I remind myself that it actually helps to keep my floor clean! ;)

Sunny Florida

We had the awesome privilege of visiting my parents this past week/weekend in sunny Florida. It was sooooo nice to get away! The weather was unbelievably perfect the entire time - sunny, hot (but not too hot). It was awesome. We all had an awesome time. It's a bit of a bummer to be home, but that's ok. We are blessed here as well. :)

Our flight took off at 7 a.m. So needless to say we had to get the kids up EARLY, still in their pjs. We are waiting for John to park the car and meet us at the terminal. So excited! :)

We flew out the day of Abigail's birthday. For a special birthday gift Grandma took Abigail to the Build A Bear workshop for her own special bear. Abigail chose a princess bear and named her Cupcake. 

Here she is filling the bear.

She's giving the bear a shower. 

Driving home with Cupcake. We went during nap time. She was very tired. I tried to have her take some quiet time, but she didn't fall asleep. So we went ahead and went, but on the way home she appears to be getting pretty sleepy.

Birthday cupcakes and ice cream after dinner. When we got home from Build A Bear we went to the pool for some more swimming before bed. We ate dinner at the pool, came home got into our pjs and had some birthday cupcakes and ice cream (before bed - normally this would not seem to be a very good idea, but we were all so exhausted a little sugar didn't budge our sleepiness). :)

Jackson had a couple rough nights of sleep which meant that John and I took turns sleeping with him and Abigail. He's not the best partner to sleep with - he insists on having his legs on you. I don't know what it is but no matter which way he lays - his legs always have to be on top of yours. This doesn't provide the most fitful sleep...This is the morning after sleeping with yours truly. :)

Morning cartoons with Grandma!

Dinner at Pinchers. So much fun! :)

Patiently waiting...

We went to the beach one day. Neal and Jessica Beer and their family were in FL at the same time. So we met them at the beach. It was super fun!

All the boys.

Our last night - getting ready for bed with Grandpa. All good things must come to an end...

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Since we are going to be in FL on Abigail's birthday (woohoo!) we decided it would be best to have her party the weekend before. I can't believe this girl is 5! It sounds so old! 

She wanted it to be a princess party (again). :)

Abigail with her two favorite guests...

Grandpa kept Jackson entertained for quite some time walking around like this.

Grandpa and Grandma Sprunger's gift to Abigail. She loves it of course!

Thank you, Tucker! This picture cracks me up. :)

Thank you Braylyn and Morgan!

Happy 5th Birthday, Abigail!

Valentines Week Con't

My hubbie is the best - I have been wanting a new lense for my camera for a while now - one with a bigger zoom, and he surprised me with it for Valentines Day! I was so excited. I am practicing on him here. :)

My handsome boys!

Abigail is taking a kids Zumba class at her preschool. One of the teachers at her school started it. It is the highlight of Abigail's week. She just loves it! Check out her moves! :)

"Zumba, Zumba!"

Valentines Week

This has been an interesting week...frankly John and I have both been so sick with colds, coughs, bronchial stuff, skin stuff.... What's been crazier though is the grace God poured out over our home this week (at least over me). I don't know what it is, but the peace and grace of God has been so powerful this week. Sometimes when I am under the weather my already short temper becomes even shorter. And I'm always amazed at how my kids totally pick up on my mood and act accordingly. In other words, if I'm in a good mood - patient, loving, kind - my kids act the same. However, if I'm feeling short, impatient, grumpy (no matter how well I think I might be hiding it) my kids act the same way! Seems like this would be obvious to me - but I'm amazed at how much power I hold over the mood and temperament of my home. ANYWAY, all that to say, I was nervous Monday morning wondering how the day was going to be, given the fact I was not feeling well and John was still very sick. But oh how gracious our Lord is. Apparently He knew I couldn't handle much because our kids were sooooo good and well-behaved all day! In fact, John, knowing that it could be a tough day, told the kids that if they didn't have to be disciplined for misbehaving all day he would bring home a treat. (Yes - we occasionally resort to bribery. We are definitely not perfect parents).  

At one point during the day, as the kids were playing by themselves - so well by the way, I see that my rug is missing from my kitchen. I looked around a bit and found Jackson with it on the living room floor playing "carpenter" with it. Yes - I guess it does look a bit like wood. :) And yes - he is wearing a straw hat (pink - poor guy) because apparently it's the closest thing we have to a hard hat. :)

And these are the gifts John rewarded the kids with - both for good behavior and early Valentines. :)

Boiler up!

Valentines Morning

Grandma G sent the kiddos valentines to open. Jackson kept saying, "Thank you Grandma!" as I took these pictures.

Yes - Abigail is still wearing her Christmas pjs. :) But they're pink right!?

Jackson's new obsession is Purdue Pete. He LOVES him. He has this hammer that he carries around, pretending to be Pete. He even does the PU Pete walk - it's so funny! :)

January

Abigail got an easel for Christmas. This was the first time we got out the paints. Oh my goodness what a mess! Literally I looked over not 2 minutes after they started painting, and Jackson had a huge streak of blue going across his face. It bought us about 5 minutes of entertainment, but hey - the kids enjoyed it. :) How cute does Jackson look in my t-shirt!? LOL

We had the Gudeman kids over for a sleepover. While the girls watched a movie before bed, the boys played on our iphones. :)

While I was making dinner this is what the kids did to occupy themselves. They sat at my computer for at least 30 minutes just looking at pictures and watching videos of themselves. :) Cracks me up how much they love looking at and watching themselves. :)