You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November 2007.
Well, here we go!
We are all very excited, of course. The girls are the MOST excited though…the giggles increased the longer Asher practiced walking.
Hope everyone had a peaceful, restful Thanksgiving holiday. Ours was all that and more, but we’re home now, and that’s peaceful and restful too.
Coming attractions: Pictures From Our Trip. As soon as I can get to the store for film development.
Sweet Charlotte turns 3 next week. We will be elsewhere, so I thought I would go ahead and wish her a happy birthday.
Such a sweet baby girl, and turning 3 already! For many reason your first 2 years have gone by very quickly, but you have been a joy to us.
We love you, pretty Charlotte. You have always had the most delicious of smiles. We have so enjoyed seeing your personality come through, especially in the past several months.
It’s hard to believe that you went from just learning to walk,
to such a big girl, helping mommy and daddy, learning new things, carrying out your role as big sister with such enthusiasm and sweetness. You so often ask if there is anything you can do for others, and wanting to serve mommy and your siblings whenever you can. You add such a unique personality to our family, with all the darling and hilarious things that you do and say.
We love you Charlotte. Happy Birthday, big 3-year-old girl. You are precious to us.
Love, Mommy
Happy Birthday, sweet boy.
The past year has gone so fast in many ways, but very slowly in other ways.
Asher went from a little tiny baby boy,
to this
and then this
and this
to this, a toddler. Toddler! I can’t believe it.
Does anyone else think he looks like his Uncle Chad? Or am I alone in this?
We thought for sure he’d be walking by his 1st birthday. He has until 8pm tonight to learn if he wants to make the cut.
We love you Asher. Having a son has been infinitely better than we imagined.
More pictures here.
I just got done with this wonderful book, and I was so excited to get it and read it because it was recommended very highly by some women I greatly admire. (thanks for getting this for me, honey!) It’s by Ginger Plowman, who also wrote, among other wonderful things, Don’t Make me Count to Three. Also a very excellent, encouraging, challenging book.
This paragraph was rather convicting for me. The context is on the importance of keeping a home neat and orderly, with an emphasis on Christ-centeredness at the same time we’re doing all that cleaning. Emphasis mine.
“Self-reliance presents a great danger. Having a clean, organized home does not make for a more righteous or godlier woman. To think that it does is to glorify in oneself and one’s own ability rather than in Christ alone. It’s to suggest that somehow our barometer of holiness and perhaps even our salvation are measured by our own achievements. It’s tempting for those of us who feel we stay on top of things to place our value and worth in our daily accomplishments, but this misconception substitutes self-reliance for God’s grace. A good indicator that our happiness and satisfaction are wrapped up in self-reliance is how we feel when self-performance fluctuates. In other words, when we have a productive day, our confidence soars; when we do not have a productive day, it dwindles and brings us down emotionally. Our confidence should not be staked in who we are and what we have done, but in who Christ is and what he has done. To place our own abilities and accomplishments as the determinant of our worth is to place an idol between us and God. It’s to base our salvation on ourselves and our own performances, rather than on the redemptive power of the gospel and the blood of Jesus Christ. … [But] to proclaim oneself a failure by lack of achievement is to [also] assume that achievement is our means of approval. … [Our acceptance before God] has nothing to do with the work we do or don’t do, but the work that Jesus did and continues to do in and through us.” -p 209
Ivy has been into telling us all about her dreams lately. I don’t know how much of what she tells us really happened in her dream, or if she makes it up as she goes along, but it’s all very sweet just the same. She goes on for quite some time, telling us intricate details and chattering on about this and that, whatever happened in her dreams. I think that most of what she says really happened, because a lot of the details are the same if she tells us multiple times.
Today she has mentioned several times that she was the mermaid from this movie, and she was on a ship watching mommy play hide and seek with Mr. McFeely.
We went to the HollyFest last weekend, and had a really good time. HollyFest is just a little craft fair they have over at a park in downtown Holly Springs, and they have music, food, and rides for the children.
Right after we took this picture, we reminded Charlotte to be a good big sister and make sure Asher didn’t climb out of the seat.
She hung on the entire ride just like this. Asher didn’t seem to mind a bit.
Ivy visited a ballet class with friend last weekend, also, and she had a really great time! Pictures were hard to get, but this one captures most of her time there pretty well: she was so busy watching everyone else that she hardly had time for anything else.
She’s very observant, always picking up on moods and atmospheres in a room, and she is always, always watching people. When she was very young, I think around 3 years old, I took her to the mall and we were eating lunch together in the food court. She was looking around, and I asked her what she was thinking about. She sighed and said, “Mommy? Sometimes I just like to sit and watch people.” Mommy’s girl.
Last weekend we also went to a friend’s house for an evening with many good friends. It was great!
The girls had dinner with some of their friends.
Meg pulled Ivy around in the wagon while Ivy “read” books.
Asher has been learning to play on a blanket we set up in the living room, and it took a few days to learn to stay put and not crawl all over the house, but he’s got the hang of it now (most of the time). He is also pushing cars around and making motor sounds with his mouth, and it’s all really cute. I find it very sweet that he just loves to play with cars, even though there are other things to play with around him. He has been so very different from the girls, not only in what he plays with, but different in strength (strong and wiry) and how he plays (always tumbling around, not really caring if he bumps his head or falls).
The girls were playing a little rhyme game in the car the other day.
“Is there an Ivy in da house?”
“Yes! Yes!”
“Is there a Charlotte in da house?”
“Yes! Yes!”
“Is there a Mommy in da house?”
“Yes! Yes!”
I promise, no rap music stations on the minivan radio.
A weekend ahead with very few social engagements and planned activities! Wheee!! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
