Hitting the Lanes!

On February 16, our Home School Support Group (HSSG) planned a Social for Valentine's at Strike and Spare Bowling Alley. 
The timing of this social was perfect.  Lily had been back to visit her class at Brickey-McCloud Elementary on the 14th to celebrate Valentine's with them and left there very happy.  But soon after she had come home, I found her sobbing in the living room complaining of a headache.  My body froze...had what I feared come true?  After much prompting, since Lily is a people pleaser, Lily admitted that she missed her friends. I know this is a completely normal feeling for someone who had been pulled out of school.  She and I hugged and shed many tears together.  I cried out to the LORD asking, "What have I done?  Did I make a huge mistake letting her go back?"  I believe it was one of those life lessons that I needed to not only draw Lily and I closer, but to draw us both closer to HIM!  Thank you, LORD for your mercy and grace!
So the day of the HSSG social, Lily was excited to go bowling for the first time, but mostly to spend time with friends:

Maddy had been bowling once before so she was ready!  She tried bowling left handed!

Katy, my fearless one, wanted no help at all.  The bowling ball was almost as big as her!

I caught her jumping up and down in mid-air!

Parker had fun cheering his sisters on!

Lily's turn...

She definitely is "all girl" when it comes to bowling! 

Thomas came along with us of course!  Parker did very well considering we bowled for 2 hours right during nap time!

At the end, Parker decided he wanted to try, so Sissy helped him.

Besides bowling, we exchanged Valentine's and had yummy treats.  We had LOTS of fun and are looking forward to more socials and field trips with our HSSG! 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14:27

Tangled!

My sweet husband took all of us to the movies as a special treat on Valentine's Day.  We saw Tangled for the second time and I have to say that we loved it even more than the first time!  We went to a matinee showing and were the only ones in the movie theatre!  We pigged out on butter popcorn and had the best time together.  Thank you, Jonathan for our treat and for loving us like you do! 

Dear Friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1John4:11-12

God's Little Princesses

For Valentine's Day this year, I really wanted to focus on God's amazing and neverending love for us.  The girls and I have been spending time every night before bed reading "Sweet Dreams Princess Bedtime Bible Stories, Devotions, & Prayers" by Sheila Walsh.  Most of you know that I was raised Catholic and never knew what it meant to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  I want so badly for my children to know how precious they are not only to me and Jonathan, but to their Father God who created them.  I love watching the girls' faces light up when I tell them that they are God's Little Princesses.  What girl doesn't want to be considered a princess to the King, especially the greatest King who created and rules over everything?  I wanted to design a shirt for the girls to wear for Valentine's Day that went along with what we have been learning at home.  Katy asks me all the time, "Mommy, Jesus loves me?" so I wanted to make sure to include that in my design.  Here is the front of the shirt: 

And the back: 

The girls were so excited to put them on and wear them to their favorite place, God's house!

I am praying that they will continue to learn just how special they are, that they are a gift to be treasured forever, and that they will learn to trust in the One who will never leave them.  I love you Lily, Maddy, and Katy, but there is One who loves you even more than I!  

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  

John 3:16 

Melt My Heart

We were so busy at home last week doing lots of fun things for Valentine's Day like crafts, baking, and studying Bible lessons on love.  I wanted to share a craft that I found in Family Fun magazine that I did with Maddy and Katy this week.  It is a favorite of mine and we did this same craft 2 years ago for Lily's Valentine's.  You don't need to buy anything special for this craft so it can be done anytime.  Maddy and Katy were so excited to get started: 

I preheated the oven to 250 degrees and got the girls busy looking through our crayon boxes for broken crayons and peeling the paper off:

Then they placed all of the broken pieces in the heart shaped muffin pan.  (You can use any shape pan and make sure to pile it high.):

Then place the muffin pan on a baking sheet to catch any spills.  Put the pan in the oven for about 15 minutes or until all of the crayons have completely melted.  Here is what it should look like about halfway through:

Then this is what it looks like when the crayons have finished melting:

Be careful taking it out of the oven because the wax is very runny, almost like water.  Let it cool completely and then pop the new crayons out of the muffin pan: 

Then we cut out heart shapes from paper and I wrote "You melt my heart." across the top. 

You could also write "You color my world," which is what Lily chose.  You can use double sided tape to attach the crayon to the paper heart, or we decided to have Maddy sign the heart with her name and used a ziploc bag and placed both in there for her to pass out to all of her friends.

Thanks for taking a peek at what we've been doing at home.  I love craft time with my girls! 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 

Mark 12:30

A Bouncin' Valentine's Day!

Jonathan and I wanted to do something special with the kids on Valentine's Day, so we took them to the Bounce House for some bouncing fun! This was Katy and Parker's first time at the Bounce House, and they loved it! Katy has no fear at all and loved going down the big slide all by herself:She also had fun bouncing: She had to stop and take a big drink of water: Parker loved watching all the action and had fun being bounced around inside of the bounce house:

He also had fun rolling over:

Lily and Maddy were so excited to be together. They miss each other so much during the week while Lily is in school all five days. They were inseparable! They climbed together,bounced together,and even went down the big slide together while holding hands:Whoops! Maddy got a little too excited and flipped over! We had such a fun time and loved spending Valentine's Day together as a family! We love you Lily, Maddy, Katy, and Parker!

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Will You Be Mine?

Thursday, February 12th, Maddy's Preschool class had their Valentine's party. Maddy had fun playing Valentine Bingoand decorating a heart shaped cookie: But her most favorite part was having her baby brother visit her in her classroom. She asked Parker, "Little Buddy, will you be my Valentine?" She is madly in love with him and I love seeing them together!I love you, Maddy Faith! You are such a sweet big sister!


Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18