End of May

We finished up May with a bit more school for Gabe...since he was a year ahead of where he needs to be, I freely skipped school days for him more than just a few times.  We'll be working for at least another month to finish up, but since he takes about a half hour for his school each day, it's not so bad.

Here he was on the time chapter in math and we made a cookie clock...not too bad for having to do school while his brothers were done with their school year!

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The kids all finished up with Awana this month also.  Unfortunately their Daddy was still overseas, so he missed the ceremony.  The kids were all so excited to get their awards.

Anna loves when she is big enough to do the things her big brothers and big sister do.

Leah and Gabriel both were so excited that they ran up to the stage to get their awards!

Matthew finished his final Sparks book and gets to move on to the T&T (Truth & Training) group next year, which is the group Christopher will still be in also.

Christopher had a couple more challenges left in his T&T book from last year, so he had to finish that up this year, and then he worked super hard so he could finish the book for this year as well.  There are so many long Bible verses to memorize in T&T, but he did great and I'm so glad that they have all of these verses in their hearts now.

Psalm 119:11  I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

I am so appreciative for the wonderful volunteers who give their time and love to run this program for children.  I highly recommend an Awana program if you have one nearby.

Here's several videos of the singing portion of the ceremony...so cute!  (I apologize for the sometimes blurry video taping.)

"Love thy neighbor."

Gabe picked a long verse and although he knew it, he ended up reading it straight from his paper instead of from his heart.  Silly boy.

Have a great week!

And Now She's Four

So two days ago, we threw a sweet party for my little girl who was almost four years old.

Today, she is four years old.  As of 6 o'clock on the dot this morning.

We started the day with our tradition of birthday donuts.

We are so happy to have Chris' mom, step-dad, and brother visiting us for the weekend.  It kind of took away the bummed-out-ness of not having Leah's daddy here to celebrate her birthday.

Since Leah's birthday falls on a Sunday this year, she was so excited that she got to see her friends at church in the morning and her friends at Awana in the evening.  She was sure to wear her "birthday girl" pin so that everyone knew.  She got a lot of "Happy Birthdays" today.

And instead of another birthday cake, we celebrated with yummy strawberry shortcake, using the strawberries we had left from our strawberry picking adventure a few days ago.

And Grandma Johnson also had a birthday this month, so she got to celebrate with a candle in her strawberry shortcake as well.

She opened a few more presents from family...

A pink snake?  Yes.  She's been asking for one every since she first saw one a friend has at her house.  She finds it every time we go there so I figured one would get use at our house too.

She loved this Disney Princess story player also.  Now she can sit there and listen to it on the headphones while her brothers are going crazy around her.  :o)

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The kids also had a great time in the pool with Grandpa during their visit.  They love when he comes because he throws them in the pool so many times.  I know his arms must be sore after lifting these guys a few dozen times.

Leah was happy to watch from the side of the pool.

We love when family comes to visit, and especially when it's for a special day like Leah's birthday.

A Sweet Fairy Birthday Party

I think I say this every time that one of my kids has a birthday..."I can't believe he/she is already ____ years old."

It really is going by so fast.  And the saying "The days are long but the years are short," is proving to be even more true with Chris deployed this month.  But we are being the tough-it-out-military-family and still doing fun things, still making memories, still living life.

For instance, my almost-four-year-old's fourth birthday party.  I tried to tone it down.  I really did try.  And there are things that I saw ideas for that I didn't do.  But a fairy party is so much fun to plan.  And Leah loves all things arts-and-crafty and pink and fairy, so to throw a party for her that she would love, was just so easy.

There are so many cute ideas floating around party websites and blogs and I found so many ways to give her such a sweet fairy party.

Leah, like many three and four year olds, absolutely loves crafts.  I tried to keep everything hidden in my room so they weren't "sampled" before the party, so it was all sort of a big surprise to Leah as we set up for the party.  She just couldn't want to make little art projects with all of her little friends.

Speaking of setting up, my sons were amazing with the amount of help they did.  Not having my hubby here to help made throwing a party at our home a bit (okay, a lot) daunting, but my boys really stepped up.  And they were really into it too.  They made some more signs to go along with the ones I painted...

Matthew also made a list of rules for the little bounce house.  I reminded him that most of the kids at the party wouldn't know how to read, so I guess he didn't post them.

We did have a few big kids come, and they enjoyed the crafts just as much as the little ones.

Christopher said that it was "doom dust" instead of "fairy dust" though.

I think the biggest hit of all the crafts was the "Paint a Fairy House" table.  I'm sure the parents loved that one.  hehehe  But the kids really did.

And while Chris is usually the one who decorates the cakes for our children, I had to step up this time and I think it turned out pretty cute.  Right away it didn't look quite as perfect as the ones I'd try to copy off of the internet, but by the next day, I was happy with it.

And of course, Leah adored it, which is what really matters anyways.

(I ran out of yellow frosting and didn't feel like mixing more...shhh!)

And Matthew, who comes up with the funniest things to do and say, started fanning Leah and saying she was the queen.  What a great big brother.  

Leah was so happy during her party and that makes me so happy.  I love this little girl so much and thank God so much that she's in our family.  And that we can celebrate that with her little friends.