Have a Blessed Resurrection Sunday!

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received , how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried , and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: ~1 Corinthians 3&4

No Greater Joy

I went in to get Bethi up from her nap the other day and saw that she had fallen asleep "reading" her Bible that Bri gave her for Christmas. Before that she had had to borrow her sister's Bibles for family devotions so she thought that was a pretty wonderful gift. 

 
Andrew is really starting to talk well! Several weeks ago he said "Jesus" for the very first time during our family devotions, it was so sweet! And he knew he had melted mama's heart cause he kept saying it over and over with a huge grin on his face ;). 

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. ~3 John 1:4

Bath Time?

Andrew loves bath time! He comes running any time he hears the water start in the children's bathroom, even if it isn't for him. I was running the water for Tori's bath the other day and Andrew came up and leaned over the tub watching the water as usual, the next thing I knew he just climbed in, fully clothed and uninvited! Haha :).



Doesn't he look content...?


I was telling my sister about it on the phone a couple of days later and after we had hung up I told the girls to start getting ready for bed and went to vacuum. Guess where I found Andrew when I was done???


He had climbed into the bathtub, *with* a bowl of potpourri. I guess he wanted a scented bath this time ;).
I need some water mom...


It was so funny after the conversation I had just had with my sister so I ran for my camera to take some pictures to email her.

  
Incidentally, out of four children this is the fourth child that has consistently enjoyed making huge messes with my potpourri. I should scan in the pictures I have of all of them with their favorite potpourri messes sometime, it could make for an amusing post. I am happy to say that after four children I have finally gotten smart. After I cleaned the potpourri out of the bathtub I threw it away and all of the rest of it too, I am through with the stuff until I run out of toddlers! Our poor new baby will be deprived of the potpourri experience...


Isn't he cute though...?

My Least Favorite Part of Couponing...

Filing the coupons :P...


I dislike it so badly that I often have a few weeks to file at a time which is a big mess!
Believe it or not, by the time I was done they all fit nice and neatly into my little black couponing box. I file them in several categories (dairy, baby products, paper products, etc) with one envelope per category and I file them by expiration date in the envelopes. It is kind of tedious to do (though it wouldn't be nearly as bad if I would just do it every week!) but it makes them super easy to find and every week as I file the new ones the expired/ing ones are right at the front of each envelope to throw away or as a reminder to use them very soon if the are good enough to use even without a sale.
But it is worth it :).
Here is what we got on our shopping trip a few weeks ago...
(especially note all of the "free" chocolate!)


Total value of all of the product: $343.17
Total we spent in Extra Care bucks(not including the many we simply rolled over), register rewards, and cash out-of-pocket: $23.63!
And the Extra Care Bucks we earned...


The next week we bought  several packages of diapers, sippy cups, and much more for a total of about five dollars spent and last week we were paid $6.00 to buy 10 bags of M&M's! We are set for popcorn and M&M nights for months!
Not bad...

Our New Year

Waiting in eager anticipation for Daddy's annual New Years Eve firework display to begin...



Lee helping Andrew with his sparkler...



Andrew "helping" Daddy start a fire in the fireplace...


Andrew's first participation in the annual New Year's Eve s'mores night...




Andrew wearing his s'more plate...



Haha :).

Obviously baths were necessary afterwards ;)...

After everyone was all cleaned up we waited patiently (and sleepily!) for the new year to arrive and Lee ushered it in with a prayer of blessing over our family, the sweetest time of all the year. We had a grape juice toast and I was feeling so "blech" that I forgot to take an official "first of the year" picture of the children :(. But we had a lovely time together that night remembering God's goodness to us over the last year as we gathered around the fireplace with our fun treats and we are looking forward to a wonderful year that holds, among other things, a new baby for our family!!!

I pray you all have a blessed year!!!

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. ~Psalm 65:11

Our Christmas

I realize these are really, really late but I know there are family and friends who read my blog that will love seeing the pictures so I decided to post them anyway.

Making gifts...

 

 

Andrew thought it was really odd of me to be painting his finger ;). We made picture frames for grandparents, each of the children put their fingerprints on a different side of the frame. On the back of the frame I put the date and what color each child's fingerprints were, and of course we included a picture! We had four children to make them this year, perfect :)! 

 

 Homemade goodies...

 

 I procrastinated on the candy making because I was so exhausted! At this point I was pregnant and still nursing which really wears me out. I greatly regretted that later because on Christmas Eve, when I finally decided that I needed to get this stuff done, morning sickness hit hard! Bri had already made all of the pretzels with her sisters and she is the one who arranged everything so pretty. I got the rest done by Christmas Eve night but I never would have without Bri and the fact that Lee got to come home early! Every year we have passed out goodie plates to the neighbors but I just couldn't get it together this year. We're hoping to do something for Resurrection Sunday instead.
We started out our Christmas morning with stockings and our special news. Then we put a candle in our cinnamon rolls and sang happy birthday to Jesus. While we ate we watched The True Christmas Story, a documentary type video set in Bethlehem that contrasts the past kingdom of Herod with the eternal Kingdom of Jesus. We have done this every year for several years and it has been a great way to start out Christmas Day with the right focus.
The new wagon was Bethi and Andrew's "big gift", they were adequately thrilled ;). This will really come in handy in the next months as we walk, walk, walk...

 

The big girls got books (links here and here if you're interested, the little ones got some books too.) and we purchased a set of documentaries from Franklin Springs Family Media for a family gift.

 

 The girls have been busy little readers for the last month! I think they are about out of new reading material already though!

 

Lee and I enjoy playing Scrabble a couple of times a week after the little ones have gone to bed. After store sales, a coupon, and a rebate I was able to get Lee the Deluxe Scrabble game for a great price! Bethi thought it was a bit heavy ;)...

 

 

Lee also got a few DVD's. I was blessed with a beautiful new calendar, a snowman teapot (very cute!) and new pieces to my nativity set.
I love buying little boy toys! But, I didn't go crazy, this is the toy Andrew got...

 

God's little warrior :).

It was a very nice day and the constant waves of nausea I felt that day (and every one since!) were actually welcome reminders of the best Christmas present ever. I hope you all had a blessed Christmas season as well!


Not in that poor lowly stable,
with the oxen standing round,
we shall see him; but in heaven,
set at God's right hand on high;
when like stars his children crowned,
all in white shall wait around.
~Cecil Frances Alexander
From Once In Royal David's City 1848

What Andrew Got For Christmas...

   
A big brother T-shirt! We got it in size 4 so that it would fit next fall when our new baby arrives!!!! It doesn't really look that big on him right now though, does it?

We hadn't told the girls yet, we put the T-shirt in Andrew's stocking and let them figure it out :). We are all super excited!!! Well, I don't think Andrew and Bethi quite get it, but the rest of us are thrilled :). 

The baby is due August 25th, another fall birthday! Unless Baby is early (which I'm not counting on this time!) that will be six out of seven birthdays within a space of six weeks! August 25th is my mom and dad's anniversary and the day before Lee's and my birthday, that would be a neat birthday gift!

Lee has given his blessing on planning our first home birth.  More research to eat up my computer time :). Things seem to be going really well so far this time. I love going into a new year knowing it will bring a new baby!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. ~James 1:17