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I can't believe that next week is November already!  I also can't believe that I - more-or-less - kept up with a picture a week.  The best part will be looking at them all again to see how much they've grown!

  They are getting so big!  And I love how much they enjoy each other.  Most of the time, anyway.

Birthday Girl

Stella turned 4 on the tenth.  Oh. My. Word.  Where did that time go?!  Anyway.  She wanted Barbies, with a horse and a house.  She wanted a crown.  And she wanted rainbow cupcakes.  Thanks to Pinterest.  So, I hopped online and found some rainbow cupcakes.  These are the ones she wanted:
 These are what mine looked like.


Psychedelic, rainbow cupcakes.  But she was a happy camper!  I actually really liked the way they turned out.  It wasn't exactly what I was going for but they sure were fun!  I even took a picture of the inside of one.  Cool, right?

  She also got barbies, and a Barbie horse, and a crown, and fabric of her very own.  Along with some big embroidery needles.  She loves those too!  That makes me a happy Momma!

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Look at me staying up on top of things!  These two keep me busy.  I love it though.  And I wouldn't give up being home with them for anything!

"Dual Citizenship?"

Last week I read an article that talked about how we are raising our kids, as a society.  The author asked what your mission statement was for raising your kids.  Uhhh, mission statement?  For my kids?  Yeah, haven't thought about it.  He suggested that most modern parents would respond with some variation of "I want them to be happy and successful adults."  Then he pointed out that until sometime in the 1960's the answer would have been more along the lines of "Good Citizen."  He suggested that this was a better answer. 

I can see his point.  I want my kids to be good citizens, that pretty much includes happy and successful.  But you can't be happy or successful if you're you know, in jail, or constantly in trouble with people because you were never taught how to properly interact with society. 

All that to say that I have been mulling over that thought all week.  I think that as a Christian we have an even more daunting task when raising our kids.  We need to help them, and teach them how to become good citizens of two nations.  This temporal earthly one we live in, but also the kingdom of Heaven.  That one is even more important. 

So this morning, faced with the reality that I have to teach my kids a sort of "dual citizenship" my prayer became "Lord, give me strength, grace, and wisdom as I teach my children what it is to be a citizen of heaven here, on earth."

Kristin came to visit me!

And we got really cute pictures of the kids in an apple orchard.  Made 4.75 pints of Apple sauce and 7 1/2 pints of apple butter AND and apple pie, including a from-scratch crust!  It was fun.  And busy.  We also went shopping at the outlets in Lancaster and just had an overall good time hanging out.  Here are some pictures!

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This makes me all caught up!   Bruce is a little over-exposed in this pic, and those are Kristin's kids in the van with mine!  Yay for friends!  More on that later!

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Do all children like to play in closets?  or is it just mine?

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To Stella, On your 4th Birthday

Stella,

First and foremost, I love you.  So does Daddy.  You are a joy and a delight.  I love to watch you learn and play and imagine and make friends.  I love to listen to your stories. And you can tell some stories.  Just like Uncle Henry.  He could tell some stories too. Still can.  I hope you never lose your love of words.  Speaking of words you have a great vocabulary.  Keep making me read to you.  Even after you know how to read for yourself. 

Let me tell you a little about you at 4.  Your favorite color is purple.  When I asked you what you wanted for your birthday dinner you wanted chicken "with breadcrumbs."  We're having home made chicken nuggets for dinner!  You have the most infectious laugh and smile.  You're beautiful.

I love the way you love your friends, and your brother.  I love the way you are learning to love God. It makes me smile in my heart, and sometimes on my face, to hear you pray and ask God to help you be "obenient and respeckful." 

You are always surprising me with the things you say.  Just today you said "sure enough" to Daddy.  He loved it.  You can, and do, also use assumed, realized, option, adorable, and actually in sentences.  It's quite amusing to hear.

You make my life fuller and better.  I can't imagine my life without you.  You are my first baby, and you are a baby no longer.  I'm not ready for you to grow up, but I love to watch you grow.  Keep on loving, Baby Girl.
Love, Mommy 

Things I never played

as a child.  Not counting electronic gadgets, naturally.  Today, Stella built a church with her blocks.  Not the outside "look I built a house/castle/church" kind of building. Nope. Not this kid.  She built the inside. 

"This is the stage and the piano, and the Bible. And these are the benches."

5 minutes later when she overheard me telling my mom about it, she added that she had a pastor, and there were now people on the benches.  It. was. wonderful. 

 The picture above was already missing the piano, bible, and pastor.  I moved too slowly!

Look, it's People.  On benches!

I love that my kid plays church.  We went to church when I was young, but it was not a big part of our lives.  We were Sunday church people.  So, to me, it's so exciting to see my kids embracing church as a part not only of our lives, but in some ways as who we are. 

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More Book photos!

52-37 - The We LOVE Books Edition!

 We really do love books around here!  I love that my kids are readers, and that they like to just find books and flip through them. 

Week 36

I am alive, well, and taking pictures.  I love the way their names are in these.  Bruce's was an accident, Stella's, obviously, is staged!

Project 52 week 35

Hard to believe that August is over, September is here and School is started!  We finished up Bb Week, and are preparing for Cc!  These are last weeks photos (I know, right, I'm actually on time with them!).

I couldn't pick just 2 this week!  We had some fun, and my kids are super photogenic!

More Little Things Bring Smiles

So, another list of things that make me smile, August edition:

My kids laughing, yeah, I know that was on my last list, but it's still true.
coffee in the morning
sweet tea
cooler days and almost cold nights
snuggling with my kids
teaching Stella
watching Bruce learn
cuddling with Sid.

To see Katie's list  head over to Little Things Bring Smiles.

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Typical morning scenes!

New Blog

Well, with the start  of our homeschooling adventure, I started a new blog.  I'm blogging at Starting with Aa, with my Partner in Crime Homeschooling, Kristin.  She's getting both of her kids in on the action!  They're pretty close in age.  We're doing a letter of the week theme, and started this week!  So far it's been lots of fun.  We even had the girls chatting on Skype last night!  Way fun. You should check it Out!

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Project 52-32

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The first week of August.  So I'm a little late, but my word, August already!