More Pictures...

Two Birthdays!!!

Rachel is 5 (well, in 2 days...) and Mark is 2!!! Everyone says, "Enjoy them now, because they grow so quickly." If you have children, you know how very true that statement is! Time does go by very, very quickly.

We celebrated Rachel and Mark's birthdays last Sat. Rachel has been asking about her birthday since, well, Christmas!! She loved her gifts, the cake, and the attention. Mike and I got her some more art supllies and Pictionary Junior. Jonathan wanted to get both Mark and Rachel a gift this year. He picked out a Barbie and princess tatoos for Rachel and candy for Mark. Jonathan was sooo excited to give his gifts and Rachel genuinely was grateful (see the picture of her hugging Jonathan.)

Mark was excited, too. He kept eyeing up the DQ cake and even managed to get his little fingers in there before we sang. :) His big gift was a bike. That gift has been both loud (of course Dad chose one that makes sounds...) and fun! Our new home has lots of space for 3 young kids to ride the bike. Yeah, unfortunately, they ALL like the bike...

Random Pictures

Sick Kids

For the last two weeks, we have had sickness is our house. We have had fevers, colds, earaches, and coughs. Amazingly, I am the only one not to have gotten sick. Really, I nearly always get sick when the kids get sick. So to not get sick is truly a blessing from the Lord. Sometimes I take it for granted when we are all healthy. And when we are sick, I am reminded of how good God is to us. We are usually healthy and when we do get sick, He heals us. He is the Great Physician... no matter how big or small the sickness is. So, I choose to be grateful for all that the Lord has done and hope that the snotty noses will soon go away... :)

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I am putting up some cute pictures of the family... including the dog. Yes, Sammy is now part of our family. She is much better behaved and well-loved by the kids. Even Sarah likes Sammy AND Sammy's toys and bones. I looked over at Sarah the other day to find her happily chewing on Sammy's bone. When I took it away, she actually cried. And other days I find Sammy happily chewing on Sarah's toys! Do you not think that something is wrong with this picture!? :) So, I have finally moved on to say that Sammy is part of our family. The days are past when I would answer the kids, "I don't know if Sammy is staying or not. Depends on how she does..." Well, most days I say she is staying...

Joanthan's new gift...

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A few weeks ago we studied about Eli Whitney and the cotton gin. We read a story about young Eli Whitney and how he liked to whittle. So, Jonathan decided that he ,too, was going to take up whittling. He spent a very, very long time looking online for knives. Mike convinced him to get a swiss army knife instead of a jackknife. He even purchased the knife with his own money. After a long two weeks the beloved knife arrived! Unfortunately, on the day he got it, Jonathan did cut his finger ... only a little cut. :) He is doing much better and being very careful with his knife!