A Season For Everything...

Happy Anniversary, Jesse!

 For this anniversary, I gave Jesse 4 framed pictures I took of our back yard in each season. Jesse loves living in a place with seasons. He enjoys not only the beauty of the yard, but also working in it. 

Below is the passage that I was thinking about as I did this project. There is a season for everything, and I'm thankful to be living each season alongside my best friend. I recognize that it's a gift from God to find satisfaction in our work, and to see the paradox in our work. It's never done! Do you ever feel frustrated that there's always one more weed to pull, more food under the kitchen table, or more laundry to be done? Well, let's praise God because what He does endures FOREVER. Why does He do this? So that people will praise and fear Him. I do praise Him for creating the seasons, making work for us, and bringing a man and woman together in marriage. Even more, I praise Him for preparing a place for those who love Him for all eternity. He's such a good God and so personal. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Luau Night!

Friday night we had a Luau party with our neighborhood friends that go to Immanuel. 

This group is super fun! So, we decided to give the evening a theme and have a Luau.

 Here's my helpers making water balloons. 

We had a water balloon toss, hula hoops, and the trampoline to play on.

The girls drew faces on their water balloons and named them. 

Savannah was quite sad when hers broke!

By the way, hers was Cyclops (can you see the one eye?!)

Some of the crew.

 

 Here's the kids. We had 11 kids and 17 adults for dinner.

 After a yummy Hawaiian meal, we had our neighborhood and a few other friends join for an outdoor movie night. 

 I love this guy!

We had popcorn and candy for all.

Here's the group of kids watching Finding Nemo.

 It got easier to watch as it got darker. What a fun late night for little ones! 

Eric Carle Art

This week we did a little Eric Carle lesson together. We first found all our Eric Carle books, read them, learned about how he made his illustrations, and then made our own!

 

Here we are painting in the garden. The girls painted sections of one color at a time.

 After they dried, we cut out and glued shapes together to make a picture. 

Maddie loves sunsets right now (and rainbows).

Savannah made a butterfly birthday card for her friend Brooke.

 

Geneva even played on an Eric Carle quilt that my sweet friend Linda made for me when Maddie was born.

So much fun to be creative together!

Day Out!

 What a special day! I was able to take Maddie out to the American Girl Place. 

Here's Maddie dressed like Saige. Madison is acting so grown up and I just love how appreciative she was on our outing. She even used her money to buy a gift for Savannah. What a thoughtful girl!

 We went with Reagan (these two graduated from kindergarten this week :) and her mom, Jen.

The girls had their doll's hair done!

 Maddie loved the tiara. 

 Then we had a super fun lunch together.

Yum!

Of course, we had to go play in the shoe section after!

I'm thankful for these two girls and their sweet friendship. 

Geneva is 8 Months...

  This baby is growing up way too fast! I'm glad she's moving slower than her sisters did at this age. She's not crawling yet, just rolling all over the place. She can sit up on her own, but hasn't tried to stand. She does love to eat baby food! She enjoys homemade sweet potatoes, butternut squash, zucchini, avocado, pears, bananas, peaches, etc.

I love her smile. She's such a happy baby. She really only fusses when she's teething (2 teeth now on the bottom) or when someone tries holding her, and she wants me! Hee Hee...I'm glad she likes Mommy! Neva is sleeping through the night (8pm-6:30am). So thankful. 

Today was our first day of summer vacation! The girls stayed in PJ's, late, did Bible time together,  painted, and played! Maddie also started Little Lazers swim team. I'm so thankful for this extra time we have together. 

Kindergarten is Done!

Kinda crazy that Maddie has finished Kindergarten. Here are some pictures from this last year...

First day of KA.

Here they are celebrating learning about apples.

  

Serve-a-thon class picture.

 Chapel.

Helping in the garden.

 

Thanksgiving.

Mrs. Reyes and Maddie girl.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Mother's Day Tea.

 Silly friends.

Dance time!

 

Last day of school- waterworks day!

 Mrs. Reyes gave each child their portfolios today!

 We are going to miss Mrs. Masson. Maddie had a couple tears because she's going to miss her teachers. But, I think she's pretty happy about SUMMER TIME!

I know I'm glad to have her home more. I'm so proud of her. She received the character award for being a joyful friend and learner.

In and Out of Our House

The girls love playing together...here they are pretending to be on a trip. They have a map, they're in a "boat" and have packed up "important" (that's debatable) items to take along with them!

Today they pretended to have a dog school- they found all the stuffed animal dogs in the house, and taught them using dry erase boards! 

 Our sweet friends gave us this amazing bird feeder this week! Jesse has recently taken an interest in learning about birds. We have enjoyed watching from our window all different species of birds come to the feeder today!

 The big sisters love helping me make baby food. Here they are pureeing butternut squash for Geneva, then they scoop it into ice trays to freeze.

Geneva is super grateful to her big sisters :)