The election according to Alaina

Our little smartie has been paying far too close attention to the commercials....I guess you know who she will be voting for!  You may think she has been prompted, but honestly, she pays pretty close attention and asks LOTS of questions.  Her answers are her answers.

Remember, we serve a faithful and sovereign God and the winner of this election will not be a surprise to him.  We need to pray for our country and its leaders daily no matter who they are.....

Almighty God,
We make our earnest prayer
- that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection,
- that thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government;
- and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States of America at large.
And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all
- to do justice,
- to love mercy and
- to demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of The Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.
Grant our supplication, we beseech thee, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Amen

George Washington, April 30th, 1789

An enchilada spotting!

So sorry, no pictures again, but I wanted to share this and add it to our memories.

Mark took the girls fishing this evening and I joined them for supper on the banks.  While we were eating, Paige spied up a spider web.

Paige: "Oh, I see a spider web with a huge spider.  It looks like an enchilada!"
Me: "You mean a tarantula?" (I then glance at Mark who about chokes on his burger.)
Paige:  "Oh...yeah."

Lainey's future

Today Lainey was running some errands with me.  As we were leaving Walmart she says, "Mom, I want to be a bird when I grow up.........(pause).......and a mailman."

I asked her, "Why do you want to be a bird when you grow up?"  I thought she would say so she could fly.  Nope!  "Because I like the sounds they make!"

Night Terrors - an update

Well, the fact that I have to give an update means that we are still dealing with Paige's Night Terrors.  I think we are at 3ish years of her having them.

It seems that we go through spurts of her having them a few times a week and her having them every night for weeks.

Usually she starts crying with a terror at around 10:00pm and then again at 11:30pm.  Sometimes she even has a third "episode" around 12:30am.  It takes us an average of 10 minutes to get her calmed down and sleeping peacefully.  Most of the time now we don't have to actually wake her up, but just comfort her until they stop.  Sometimes they are so bad and she is so hysterical that we do turn on lights and try to wake her up out of them.

Typically she starts fussing in her bed, gets up, and comes to find us.  Crying the whole time and calling for us.  The other night, we were in bed already and she made her all the way to the back of the basement bedroom......in the pitch black, before we found her.  If you are unfamiliar with our house, she had to go down 2 full flights of stairs and  through 2 living rooms to get to the guest room.  We don't leave lights on, so there was no light.  Scary!

Mark found her one night in Lainey's room saying something, but totally asleep.

We are putting chains on all the doors.  Apparently night terrors and sleep walking go hand in hand.  I do not want to worry about not hearing her and her getting outside.  So far it just seems that she comes looking for Mark and I, but its not worth the risk.

She still has no recollection of them, ever.  In fact, when I pray for her at night, I intentionally do not call them by name.  But I wasn't thinking a couple nights ago and prayed that she wouldn't have any night terrors.  She asked me what those were.  I pretty much told her they were bad dreams.

Please continue to lift her up in the evening with us.  I want to be able to let her go to sleepovers someday without having to worry about her having them.  But also for her (and us) to have peaceful nights of sleep.

Lainey's Signature Dance Move

To Preface this video.  We sometimes do inpromto dance parties.  Yes, we look ridiculous, but we have fun and its good exercise!  Well, this morning, Lainey started doing this move, and then says, "Mom, I'm rocking the baby!"  So here is Alaina doing her signature move....Rock the Baby!

Kindergarten Graduation

So we went from the first day of 1st grade back to kindergarten graduation.  But I had to get it in!

Paige walking in with her class.

Her teacher, Ms B., giving some introduction.

Paige receiving her character quality....Gentleness!

Here she is receiving her diploma from Mr. Annis.

So excited to become a 1st Grader!

Paige and Ms. B with her diploma.

Grandpa and Grandma came to watch.

Nana and Papa drove up just for the graduation and had to drive home the same night.  The wouldn't have missed it!

Starting to ham it up.  It just went downhill from here!

I wanted to include some pics of her in her new graduation dress.  She LOVED it and we thought she was the most beautiful graduate!

We are so proud of her and all that she learned this year!

Paige on the last day of Kindergarten.

Paige on the first day of kindergarten!

First Day of 1st Grade!

I can't believe that summer vacation is over and I sent my first baby off to 1st grade this morning.  She has been uber excited to go, so that made it so much easier. 

She is still at Heritage Christian School and Miss Franje is her teacher this year.

I'm only a little concerned about how much Lainey is going to miss her this year, now that she is going to be gone every day.  I think the little miss may get a wee bit spoiled.

Here is Paige by her locker.  This morning she told me I could just drop her off.  Umm, I don't think so baby girl.  Mommy was coming in.  Even Daddy went to work late so he could walk her in this morning.

I'm so glad she isn't too old to blow us kisses when we leave.  She has such a sweet spirit and I will definitely miss having her at home. 

Lemonade Stand

The girls have been asking to have a lemonade stand.  We don't exactly live in a prime location to have one on a random day, so when I decided to have a garage sale, it was the perfect opportunity.

Paige sounded like a little "carney".  When she saw someone pull up, it went a little like this.

To herself:  "Wait for it.  Wait for it."

As soon as they were 4 feet from their car:  "Lemonade and Cookies!  A quarter and 25 ce-ents!"  (Yes, with voice influction.)

It was fun to watch them and on Sunday, they both wanted to give $1 in offering at church, so it was a great learning tool for them about working and giving back to God.  Although when we were telling Lainey about giving our money to God, she got a litte confused because she didn't know where God would be to give her money to Him.  It was pretty cute!

Great Grandma

My grandma was here for a month from her home in Florida.  The girls and I got to spend a few days with her while she was here.  It was great to get to make some memories and see the girls really get to know their Great Grandma G.

And they got to see their 2nd cousin, Naomi, too, which is always a bonus!  I think I could claim her.  She looks a lot like my girls!

Dance Class

Paige and Lainey got to take a little dance class in July.  This was Alaina's first class ever.  I think they had a great time.  The last class, she let the parents come in and observe.  It was interesting to see the two of them together and how much they actually chose to be together for things.

I know its blurry, but it is the only one I have of her leaping!

All She wants for Christmas....

is her two front teeth!

The 4th!

Well, we decided to brave the ungodly heat and went to the parade again this year. 

We went down pretty early so we could at least get a spot in the shade.  Paige hi-jacked the camera!