Family Worship

 I haven't posted in awhile about our family worship. Jason bought me 2 new devotionals this past Christmas to use with the girls in the mornings. We finished 'My ABC bible verses from the Psalms' and my girls and I loved it. I loved memorizing the different Psalms with the girls and all of them enjoy listening to the sweet stories that go with each verse. Claire gets excited now when she hears verses that she has memorized. In church she will look at me and smile when Pastor reads one of the verses we have been working on. I love that she recognizes the precious word of God and I am privileged to spend the time every day helping her 'write it on her heart' .

The other devotional we just started going through is 'Big Truths for Little Kids'. It is by the same authors and this one focuses more on catechism questions. It has been a great review for the girls since we haven't really done catechism for a some time. Gracie is now able to answer at least 5 of the catechism questions and I love hearing that sweet 2 year old talk about theology. She loves to answer the question, 'Are there more gods than one?' She immediately says, 'NO, there is only one God'. Some of the catechism questions are getting a little advanced as we progress through this book so I have just been modifying as we go along. Either way it is a great way to expose the girls to biblical truths and teach them how to answer/explain some very significant biblical truths about original sin, the trinity, the sovereignty of God, and so much more.

Finally, my mom picked up the 'Sweetest Story Bible' for the girls and that is what I have been using for their bedtime devotionals. It is very girlie and they love it. We have been through it already and are going through it again. I just read them one bible story a night and each story ends with 'sweet thoughts' and 'sweet words'. I love the routines we have set up to teach our children about Christ, and I love how the girls enjoy it. They hate when we miss an evening bible story time or when we don't do our family worship singing after dinner.

I posted a picture of Jason and the girls during family worship last night. They are in the habit of climbing into Daddy's lap after he is finished reading from the bible. Jason leads us in singing a church hymn after dinner and the girls love to sit with him and sing. Lately, their number one request has been to sing, 'Great is thy Faithfulness', and now Gracie knows most of the words to this great hymn.

Showers

My girls and I traveled to Plano this past weekend to celebrate with my cousin's wife Barbara. She is expecting their first baby (boy) in May. While we were there my aunts couldn't help themselves and showered baby Luke with gifts too. So Barb and I were showered with gifts for our soon to be little men. 

Burp cloth and blanket with Luke's name from my Aunt Olivia

My aunts and cousins

Hannah

Cute little boy shoes from my Aunt Gloria

Gracie looked like this by the end of the shower

Barb and I showing off our bumps (Caleb and Luke)

Claire picked out this dress to wear to the shower

Our new gate

As a gift to me, Jason built a gate for our backyard. We have a wrap around driveway to the back of our home and I have often hinted at wanting a gate so I can let the kids run free and not have to worry about them heading to the street. We were going through our house to-do list and he asked what my top priority was, so of course I said I would love a gate. So my sweet hubby built it for me. The girls had a great time watching him build the gate and fence over the course of a week. Now I can send my girls out to the backyard by themselves; it has been so nice and freeing :)

The finished gate

Look at Claire's pose in this picture :)

The girls loved watching him build the fence and gate.

Some cute pictures

Sweetest picture yet of Hannie and her daddy!

Love the way Gracie put her socks on to complete this ensemble.

Hannie decided it was time to use her spoon this week and refuses to let me help her.

Staying warm by the fire (it was 19 degrees today!!)

Claire is 4

I still can't believe my Claire is 4 years old. She requested a Frozen theme birthday party this year so I had fun decorating for her. We did just a family party this time and played 'Pin the nose on Olaf', ate a snowflake birthday cake, and opened gifts. Claire had a great time and played all day with her new toys. Both Claire and Grace insisted on fancy party dresses because they love any excuse to get dressed up. 

Posing before the party

Opening her gifts

Mommy and Claire

 9

What a pose

After the game (which Aunt Julia won)

The snowflake decorated party area

The snowflake cake

All the girls posing with Olaf (my dad drew the Olaf)

Spending time together

We are just enjoying our time together as a growing family. I can't believe I have only 2 months left before our little man joins all the fun. I love our life, our sweet little girls, and my wonderful hubby. We are so blessed! Hannah is walking and running and keeping up with her big sisters. She is saying new words all the time and loves to shout the word, 'bible' after we sing the B-I-B-L-E song and she loves to dance. Gracie is my independent girl and loves to play outside, color with her sister, and dress up. She loves using my lip gloss and having her fingernails painted. She has also been joining Claire and me when we do school and its so fun to hear everything she picks up, she is even starting to write her letters. Claire is learning to read and doing a great job. She can write her name without any help and is learning to spell out simple words on her own. She is still doing a great job memorizing scripture and I love hearing her say her bible verses. I'm growing bigger everyday and am grateful that Claire and Grace can pick up their toys and put their things away, bending down to the floor can be so challenging for me. I'm feeling good and just getting excited to hold my little Luke when he comes. Jason is busy at work and loves his job. He just finished teaching his first 6 week sunday school study on spiritual gifts. He loved all the prep and research he had to do to teach adult sunday school. He also just started his Masters of Biblical Studies degree at Master's College and is currently taking Greek 101. So crazy that he is back in school but he really is enjoying it. Overall, we are blessed to be busy and excited to see what our gracious Lord has in store for us this year.

Daddy with his girls

Our hands are full of good things

The girls love to perform and of course they clap for themselves when they are done.

A week of Valentine's Day

We started our week decorating Valentine's Day cupcakes with some friends. The girls loved decorating and of course eating the cupcakes. Then we went to a Vday craft time at the local mall where the girls made little Valentine mailboxes. Then on Friday morning I decided to surprise the girls with a Valentine tea party. They have been really into using my fancy tea cups lately, so whenever we have a chance we get all the fancy tea stuff out and enjoy hot tea together. The girls are really good about sipping their hot tea and they love adding in their own cream and sugar. Finally, we attended a party where the girls passed out Valentines to lots of their friends. Claire signed all her Valentines and most of them she did all by herself without any help. I can't believe she can already spell and write her own name. My big girl!

Valentine's Boxes 

Happy about her punch at the party

Enjoying the swing

Grace J. helping my Gracie decorate her cupcake

Claire taking a bite of her creation

Hannie didn't decorate, she just ate

   

Claire decorating her mailbox at the mall

The girls at their breakfast tea party

Sipping her hot tea like a big girl

                                               

      my sweet Gracie