Banana baby

My aunt Judith went out to lunch a couple days ago with all three kids in tow... not really a relaxing meal, but we made it work ;)

It was close to Meg's naptime and she was getting grumpy and kind of inconsolable. I tried nursing her but she was too interested in her surroundings. As her fussing became more intense, I became more desperate. And then, I noticed a banana chunk on Lauren's pancakes.

Aha!

So I let her taste it, thinking it'd be at least a little distracting to her, and the girl ATTACKED it! Seriously, every time I went to take the banana away, she lunged at it and began to cry! By the time we were done with lunch, she sucked the banana 'til it was almost gone.

We have yet to try 'real solids' (rice cereal will be this week when she's officially 6 months) but here's my girl with her first non-breastmilk food... bananas in her mesh feeder :)

I think she likes it :)

Summer fun; Fort time!

This was the scene of the greastest thing ever!, according to Jake and Lauren. They played, they giggled, they made funny faces... the fort was a HIT!

And then later that night, we had Tereneh and the Carothers family over where the fort was utilized again :)

Fun times :)

Ballet class... part two

Ever since Lauren's best friend Grace told her about ballet and tap class a few weeks ago, Lauren has been talking about. Last time she wasn't very interested, but now that she was four, we were pretty sure she'd enjoy it. So once again, we bought a tutu, tights, ballet shoes and tap shoes, and off she went to class.

Seriously, there is nothing more adorable than a bunch of little girls dressed up in their tutu's!! Lauren and the rest of the group went into the studio and danced away. We could see through the window, and man, Lauren was intently watching the ballet instructor's every move. That girl was precise! Justin and I looked at each other at one point and smiled because not only was she good (esp. for her first try), it looked like she was really having fun!

And then...

The class ends and out comes Lauren. I'm expecting her to be all excited about her newfound love, and she says, 'mom, I don't really like ballet. I just like to dance at home.'

UGH.

We've mentioned class again and she's adamant that she didn't really like it and that she liked gymnastics better. Sigh...

So yeah, after two failed attempts at creating a ballerina, I think she's just not that into it :) Gymnastics class here we come (one day)!

Summer Fun; Making a garden stepping stone!

Our summer fun project in pictures:

I love the little footprints from my three little loves :)

Ivory soap experiment

The kiddos and I did a SUPER easy, fun 'esperiment' a few days ago and it provided lots of fun in the shower afterwards!

First, unwrap a bar of Ivory soap (it must be Ivory because of it's air pockets):

Place on a cutting board and let 'em cut it up into a bunch of smaller chunks:

Place the bar of soap on a paper towel or microwave-safe dish and stick it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes:

(Depending on microwave power, your soap will reach its maximum volume within 90 second to 2 minutes. If you microwave the soap longer (I went up to 6 minutes) nothing bad will happen, but the soap won't continue to grow).

Watch the soap closely to see what happens:

Allow the soap to cool for a minute or two before touching it (the soap will feel brittle and flaky, but it's still soap, with the same cleaning power as before. Go ahead and get it wet and you'll see it lathers the same as ever.)  

Once your soap has tripled in size, stick the kiddos in the shower or tub and let them have a blast :)

PS- for more experiments, click on the little tab below that says 'experiments'. There are not many on there yet, but I some new ones to post about in the next few weeks because we love experiments around here :)

Summer Fun; Hesperia Lake!

Monday morning we woke up with no plans, which is rare for us lately. So I asked the kids what they wanted to do today and they chose to go to the duck park, so off we went!

First things first, we fed the ducks. Actually, the ducks didn't get very much because the geese were ALL over the place! So we ended up feeding them leftover hamburger buns and sourdough bread.

The kids even let them take bread out of their hands..

After about 10 minutes of being there, it became uncomfortably hot. So, I let the kids play in the pond with the other kids that happened to be there too. To be honest, it weirded me out a bit but I figured that 1) kids just wanna be kids and have fun and 2) we can shower as soon as we got home. So, I bit my lip and let them have a grand ole' time in the water.

And to be honest, I'm glad I did. It was a fun summer memory for my kiddos :)

And then of course, we had a picnic lunch ;)

Another activity to check off our summer list!

Junior University Cinderella play!

I've gone to the Junior University plays since I was a little girl and I've always loved them. Okay, well, I loved them until I was a teenager, which at that point, I became too cool to be seen there. Ahh, teenage angst...

Anyway, when I found out they were playing Cinderella this year, I knew we had to attend. And I knew who we had to go with :)

So Sarah, Princess Grace, Princess Lauren and I went on a girls date. First we went out to dinner, and then drove down together for the play. Sarah and I chatted while the girls talked each others ears off :)

The girls loved going, and were still interested when the play ended at 11:15 PM!!! My hope is that we can make this an annual tradition since these two are best friends and enjoy being together :)

Thanks Sar and Grace for being our dates... we love you girls!

Dedication

Justin and I decided to have our family dedicated at our church this past weekend. For those unfamiliar with this, Parent-child dedication isn't a "christening' or child Baptism... it's about us parents publicly dedicating ourselves to raising Godly, Jesus-lovin' children.

So on Sunday morning, we had our awesome Pastor JB do the dedication, and we chose this verse:

⁴ “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.^{[a] 5} And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. ⁶ And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. ⁷ Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. -Deuteronomy 6; 4-7 NLT

I make a lot of mistakes. A LOT. I still struggle, lose my temper and sin... I am no where near perfect. But my prayer is that we raise Godly children, and strive to love them the way Christ loves us. I pray that those around our family see that our lives are dedicated to Him, and that we may be an example to our oikos. Above all, we want to glorify Him with our hearts and our words and our actions!

 Heavenly Father, I am SO grateful for the children you have given me. There are times that raising them is

challenging and stressful. Please give me the right words for both correcting and encouraging them, the strength and composure to be firm yet loving, and the wisdom to guide them in every situation.

~Amen

Me and my bathing beauty :)

Can.not.get.enough.of.this.girl!