Our Pretty Picasso

Lily's Daisy Troop went to the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, TN on Saturday, January 23rd.  They had a special event just for the Girl Scouts called "My Place in the Arts."  I was so happy to spend the day with Lily doing her favorite thing, arts & crafts!  We had a wonderful time with her sweet troop: 

There were three sessions for them in which they learned about art and got to experience it hands on.  The first one included collages, crayon resistance painting and weaving: 

Then Lily had fun sculpting with real clay:

She started off wanting to make a bowl,

but then ended up making her favorite fairy tale animal, a unicorn:

We had a picnic lunch, and then the final session was tie dye, stamping, and painting with water colors.  The Children's Museum is so earth friendly and they taught the girls the importance of recycling and using household items.  Here is Lily in her garbage bag smock:

They were taught how to tie dye using food coloring and paper towels:

Lily enjoyed stamping:

and painting with water colors:

What an exciting day getting creative and making masterpieces with beautiful colors!

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:  I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.  Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

Genesis 9:12-16

Beaming!

My Katybug had her first gymnastics class on Wednesday, January 13th, and she was beaming! 

She has waited for this day for a long time, and she was beside herself when the time finally arrived!  She was so proud of the "favorite blue" leotard that Maddy let her borrow:

Katy told everyone we saw that she was going to "nastics!"  That is one thing I love about Katy, she is not shy!  She will talk to anyone that smiles at her!

Katy's teacher is Mrs. Lisa, and she is wonderful!  She has been teaching for years and years and is so good with the little ones.  Here she is helping Katy on the beam:

And then Katy was on her own:

Mrs. Lisa brought them all in together for a pep talk:

Katy and the girls running across the gym to get their body warmed up:

They did lots of stretching and I was amazed at Katy's focus.  Here she is touching her toes:

Then Mrs. Lisa helped show Katy the correct position for a headstand:

Katy's favorite part was jumping on the trampoline:

Lisa taking the time to talk to Katy and explain the rules:

I love how she got down on her level to speak to her. Mrs. Lisa is so patient and I am thankful that Katy has her as a teacher not only to teach her gymnastics, but to help her grow as a person!  We were able to make it out of the gym with only one meltdown and thankfully the class was over.  Those of you that know Katy, know that she is fearless, has a great deal of energy, and likes to be in control of situations (it's her way or No way!)  Although it is a daily struggle, I am thankful because it has drawn me closer to the Lord.  It is by God's grace that I get through each day being a stay at home mommy to four little ones.  And I realize that I can not change my child's heart.  Only God can!  Please by in prayer with me for all of my babies and that they will come to know the Lord and seek His will.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;

I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

Oh Brother!

The girls absolutely adore their baby brother.  Of course, who could resist this face?

Yes, he just enjoyed his first white powdered donut (or "nut" as Parker calls them) that I left for the kids while I went away to the Children's Pastors Conference in Nashville.  Little P turned 18 months on January 4th and he had his well check this Tuesday.  We got a healthy report!  Praise the Lord!  He weighed 27 lbs. and is 34 in. tall.  He has such a sweet disposition and is already "teasing" the girls!  I want to share something with you that happened recently. I've got all of the girls' hair accessories neatly organized in their bathroom:

Parker is always standing in the bathroom watching me fix the girls' hair.  Well, the other night while I was fixing supper, he managed to get into the bathroom, climb on the stool, and dump all 3 of the drawers onto the floor!:

OH BROTHER!!!

I guess he felt left out and wanted to take matters into his own hands! 

We are so thankful for him and don't know what we would do without our sweet baby boy!

I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

Matthew25:40

A Winter Wonderland

School was closed on Friday, January 8 because of snow covered roads, and kids and adults of all ages came out for some sledding fun down Cider Lane!

The girls were begging to join in the fun, so after some sweet talking, my awesome hubby left work early in search of a sled, and he will tell you that it was the best $14 he has spent!  It was hard getting good pictures because I was laughing at their squeals and laughters and because they were going so fast down the hill!  Here are my snow angels enjoying their first sledding experience:

Here comes Maddy!:

And Katybugs!:

Parker watching and waiting patiently for his turn:

 Maddy being a sweet big sister and holding on tight to Little P:

Love this one!

Lily and her sweet friend, Elayna:

Lily's turn!:

3 Giggly Girls!:

Going back up for more!:

Not sure who had the most fun!: 

This will be something that our whole family will always remember!  Thank you, dear Lord for giving us winter, the beautiful white snow and fellowship with my family!  I am praying we will get to enjoy it again soon!

The day is yours, and yours also the night;

you established the sun and moon.

It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;

you made both summer and winter.

Psalm 74:16-17

Sunny Days...

...sweepin the clouds away!

On Saturday, January 2nd, I took Maddy and Parker to see Sesame Street Live!  We were so excited that they finally came to Knoxville. Over the last several years we have had to travel to Chattanooga or Johnson City to see the Sesame Street Live shows.  Maddy's first word besides mama and dada was Elmo, and her love for Sesame Street grew again when Parker became interested in it and fell in love with Elmo.  Maddy is such a great big sister to Parker and I thought they would enjoy the show the most.  Here is Maddy showing Parker the big Elmo sign: 

The show was called, "Elmo's Green Thumb" and all of the Sesame Street friends joined together on an adventure to help ELMO find a new home for his sunflower friend, "Sunny." 

Parker was mesmerized when the show first started:

Then he wanted to stand up to see better and clap a little bit:

Parker wanted some "po-pern" (popcorn) so we snuck out during the first half to get some.  He insisted that Maddy share with him!

At the end they shot out streamers and confetti and the three of us jumped a mile! 

What a great show and it enabled me to teach them a good lesson on sowing seeds, taking care of God's creation, having patience and letting God grow plants in His own time.  Of course, the best part was spending time with Maddy and Parker! 

Then he (Jesus) told them many things in parables, saying:  "A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 13:3-9

The Old Has Gone...

The new has come!
I have been out of touch with my blog for almost 2 weeks, but the Lord has been busy doing a lot of work in my life and I am so excited about 2010! 
I wanted to share with you how we spent the rest of our Christmas break, and hopefully I will get caught up over the next few days. 
I love Road Trips especially when they are spontaneous!  It was so hard not being with my mom and dad at Christmas and the kids were missing their grandparents terribly.  So when I realized that we had absolutely nothing scheduled the week of December 28th, I packed us up and headed 430 miles North to Stephens City, VA to spend the week with my mom and dad.  The four kids did wonderful for me on our long car ride.  We only had to stop twice and made it there safely in a little over 7 hours on Monday.  My mom and dad were thrilled that we wanted to make the trip again after just being there at Thanksgiving, so we got spoiled with lots of love and relaxation!  Parker made himself right at home in Grandpa's chair watching his favorite movies:

My Dad was extra excited that we would be ringing in the new year with them, so he got all kinds of party supplies for me and the kids.  He blew up a ton of balloons to throw over the balcony:

As you can see we started celebrating early.  The clock reads a little after 7:15! Parker and Maddy loved the noisemakers:

Katy's favorite was the cookies and ice cream (isn't that what grandparents are for?): 

The kids had fun dancing with each other:

Parker's 1 year molars decided to come through while we were away, so he was drooling all over the place! 

And then he became worn out from all of the partying!:

The kids made it till about 11:00 and then they were ready for bed (and so was their mommy!)

I can't begin to thank the Lord enough for all of His blessings, not just in 2009, but in my entire life.  I am so thankful for my family and the time that the Lord has allowed me to spend with them.  He has given me the best job in the world--being a Stay at Home Mommy to HIS princesses and prince:

I am praying that my children will continue to learn from Jonathan and I all they can about our Lord and Savior, and to Him be the glory!  Happy New Year to you and your family!  May God continue to bless you in 2010!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;

the old has gone, the new has come!

2Corinthians5:17