Hardy's Baptism!

Last year in August Hardy accepted Jesus as his Savior and the past few months has been talking about baptism. We finally set the date for April 19th, and it was perfect because his grandma, grandpa, and uncles could come up and be there for the ceremony. I took this picture of him with his sisters on Sunday morning before church.  

The last week Hardy was nervous about the baptism. He left junior church class to get dressed and said, "Mama, can you pray for me to not be nervous?"

After I prayed with him, I took this picture of us. By this time, everyone was waiting for him to arrive outside.

This is  a picture of my family ready to watch the baptism. From the back left-my brother Jonathan, Dad, brother Stephen, then from the front-Selah, Mom, Tirzah, and Acarith. It was nice we could all be together as a family. My mom has been having health issues and my older brother has been flying out of state for job interviews, so it was amazing we could all be together for the baptism.

Tim had the privilege of baptizing Hardy. The water was nice and warm from the baptismal heater, and later Hardy said he wished he could have "gone swimming in it."

This was really exciting for Hardy. He later told Tim, "I had a wonderful day today!"

Hardy has really grown spiritually this last year; he has consistently wanted to be a missionary. Last week I heard him ask one of our teenager guys at church, "Do you want to be a missionary with me?" Then he asked another older boy the same question a few days later. Just last Saturday at a party he asked his friend LJ, "How about we be missionaries together when we grow up?" :) I love his sweet spirit towards the mission field and would be thrilled if he did become a missionary one day.

Making Culottes for the Girls

Last year at this time, I made Tirzah and Acarith some culottes. A friend of mine named Kristen drew out a simple pattern for me, and the girls have really enjoyed wearing them. Although most of the culottes have survived, they were getting small so I knew it was time to make another batch. The girls and I went to Wal-Mart and they had fun picking out material for their new culottes. I began the project Tuesday afternoon and by last Tuesday night, I had the three pairs in this picture made (the ones they are holding plus what Tirzah is wearing).

I like my sewing system. We have an entertainment center in the dining room, and instead of a TV in the big opening, I have all my sewing stuff in it. I even sew inside it, which is so convenient; I can set aside a project anytime and finish it later.

Here's my confession: I am NOT a sewer. I don't know very much, but thanks to youtube I have been able to learn. No joke-just this last week I had to watch a refresher on making a bobbin because it had been awhile since I sewed! 

By Thursday afternoon I finished the project--yay! I had made 12 pairs, with each one taking anywhere from 45 min. to an hour to make. Since Acarith's favorite color is purple, she loves her purple ones. Tirzah's favorite are the pink leopard ones.

Last year, I made a friend named Kristen. Her girls were wearing culottes, and, of course, Kristen and I talked all about making them; I made sure she understood I didn't know much about sewing! :) She said, "I have an easy pattern. I'll draw one up for you and I'm sure you'll be able to make them." I did need her to walk me through the process over the phone a couple times (thanks Kristen!), but eventually I did catch on and they really were easy to make. Now we're all ready for the warmer weather to come!  

Our Easter!

We have a tradition of doing our Easter egg hunt the Saturday evening before Easter Sunday. I love this tradition because we can really enjoy it without feeling rushed, and we have noticed the kids really focus on the resurrection of Jesus for church on Sunday. For this year's hunt, the kids got their baskets filled with stuffed animals and little toys and then headed to our front yard for their hunting. 

Acarith is so funny--she had on Friday night picked out this outfit to wear specifically for the hunt. She is definitely the fashionista of the family!

Hardy did NOT want his picture taken during the hunt. He said, "Mama, I'm hunting. I don't have time to stop for a picture!" :) He felt better when I assured him I would be taking pictures of the others as well!

I love this picture of Tim and the kids. It was taken right after the hunt.  They were so excited with their full baskets!

The kids were all smiles! We really had a good time. Afterwards they just enjoyed opening their eggs and eating their candies while Tim and I relaxed on our patio chairs. It was such a fun night!

Easter morning we got to church early to get pictures (and also prepare for the services), but then something horrible happened--my camera battery went dead! I was thankful that I at least got two pictures taken of the kids before that happened.

Yesterday I went to Wal-Mart to get Tirzah a dress and found nothing--and I mean nothing. In our town there is only one other option for dresses her age--JC Penneys. As I was heading there, I said out loud, "Lord, please let there be a dress for no more than $25 (last year the cheapest ones there were for $40 but we found one for her at WalMart for $15). I really was on a time crunch, and as I was pulling up to the parking lot I said, "Okay, Lord, I'll settle for $33." I ran in (literally) and discovered their dresses were 60% off, and found a cute dress in her (new) favorite color for--with tax included--$25.12. As I ran back to the van, I thanked the Lord for the dress and confessed my lack of faith! :) Seriously though, it's easy to get dresses for the little girls (theirs were both birthday presents by our friends), but it's getting harder to find modest, pretty dresses for Tirzah. One good thing--I'm inspired to pull my sewing machine out for making culottes and skirts this spring.

Ahhh...it's busy being a mother of four, but I love it!

I hope you all have enjoyed your Easter like our family did! Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Selah Turns 2!

 

Two years ago today, little Selah Joy was born at 9:29 am. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and was 19" long. Hardy had a hard time accepting the fact the new baby was a girl, but when he saw her that night at the hospital, he loved and loved on her. After he left the room and reached the far end of the hallway he yelled, "Mama, I changed my mind! I love my new baby sister!" Awww...that was so precious to me! Everyone adjusted so well to her arrival, it was amazing. I am so thankful for all the Lord has done for our family.

Selah loves butterflies, so I thought a butterfly cake would be fun. Tirzah and Acarith did a great job putting the candies all over the cake, and we really had a fun time. Since we had done the hard part the night before, all we had to do was frost and decorate it for the party which was at noon today.

 

Selah looked adorable in her little butterfly outfit! Complete with new birthday shoes and hairbows. Gotta love being a girl sometimes!

I thought you might want to see the rainbow-layered cake in its natural state. This is actually thee baked 9x13 cakes from a white cake mix with added orange gelatin powder to one, lime for the second, and strawberry for the third. After I split each cake in half, I stacked the three kinds with lemon frosting in between. I then put the two stacks side-by-side and cut the cake to look like a butterfly and then re-froze it. In the morning I just pulled it out and it was all ready to decorate!

One problem occurred during the decorating of the cake: Selah got into my bottle of red food coloring dye! I washed her face three times with Dawn soap (you can imagine how she felt about that!), but it would not come off. Tim saved the day by getting some "stuff" from his workshop to put on her face, and I was so relieved that worked!

We had a great party, and it's hard to explain, but Selah somehow knew that party was all about her! Gotta love that girl!

 

 

 

Acarith's 4th Birthday!

Tim surprised Acarith with news first thing in the morning that he was going to take her to her birthday breakfast at Denny's. She was totally surprised! Denny's is her favorite restaurant (because kids eat free on Tuesdays and Thursdays) so that made it so fun for her!

Since Acarith wanted a princess party, she picked her birthday cake to be a princess doll birthday cake. Normally, when I make birthday cakes I cheat and buy the frosting in the cans with the different tips to write and decorate, but this time I knew I needed to learn how to use cake decorating tools. Thanks to watching youtube videos, I was able to pull this off. It was harder than I thought, but it all worked out. Yay! 

 

Acarith loved her cake! It was fun to have our friends over to celebrate her birthday with us! (If you look closely you will see the #4 candle in between the doll's arms.) When Acarith also wanted grape punch, Hardy said, "The whole party is girly--even the punch! Can't the punch atleast be blue?" :)

Acarith loved the light-up Minnie Mouse shoes and the Sofia the doll set from Grandma and Grandpa!

Acarith and Selah looked so cute in their little party hats! It's amazing how time has flown--especially this last year; Acarith has really grown up. She informed me that since she is now four that she needs to go to pre-school. I told her we'll order the books, and she said, "Make sure you order me my teacher, too!" Too cute!

Hardy Starts Piano Lessons!

Last week Hardy had his first piano lesson. Since he really wants to play the trumpet, Tim and I decided to have him take at least one year of piano lessons to help him get a good musical foundation. For this post, I have decided to enclose in quotations what Hardy says about the pictures and piano.

Me: "Hardy, do you like the piano?"

Hardy: "Yes. It is fun."

Hardy enjoyed Miss Julie tracing his hands and going over the finger numbers.

Me: "Tell me about Miss Julie tracing your hands and fingers."

Hardy: "My hands have five fingers, I mean ten fingers.  That was fun! And I'm six."

Hardy and I watched youtube videos about people who can play the piano backwards and with feet. It made quite an impression on him and of course, he wanted to see if he could do it too.

Hardy: "I want to tell you I can play any version you can imagine."

Lol--I don't think he's there yet, but I'm glad he's confident about his capabilities. :)

The kids love Miss Julie, who has been Tirzah's piano teacher for a little over two years.

Hardy: "Miss Julie is the nicest teacher I ever had."

I am very thankful for Julie--she helps instill in the kids a love for playing.

A Visit with Some Dear Friends

This past week two of our dear friends came to visit us! They live in Alaska but are taking time off to travel around the country. I have known Steve and Kathy Dean for 15 years, and I can't tell you how thrilling it was to have them visit us. Kathy taught first grade when I taught kindergarten at Westgate Christian School in Oregon, and that is how we really got to know each other. It was the Deans who let Tim stay with them every time he visited me up in Oregon.

Mrs. Dean and I chuckle at a fun memory of when I first flew to Oregon to interview for a teaching job my senior year of college: The Deans, always hospitable, had me stay in their home for a few days. While there, Mr. Dean and I would cut up with each other. A few days later, to my horror, I found out he was on the school board! In shock, I said to her, "Do you think I'll still get the job?" I did get the job, but I was kind of sweating that one out!

On Wednesday morning, the Deans invited us to their "little home" for hot chocolate during the kids mid-morning school break. That hot chocolate was all the bonding experience my kids needed with them!

We took school off on Thursday so we could take Mrs. Dean sightseeing in Sedona. (Mr. Dean stayed behind and helped Tim do some trim work on a new rental.) It was chilly, but the sun was out and the red rocks looked beautiful!

While in Sedona, we went to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is a beautiful cross structure that is built into the red rocks. We all had a good time--this picture was taken inside the building. I know it doesn't show the inside of the chapel, but I just thought it was too cute to not post. :)

I told the kids the visit to the chapel was a "field trip," and Mrs. Dean got a kick out of that! Seriously, though, when you have such dear friends and have no idea when you'll get to see them again, it's good to enjoy a day together. I'm so thankful for all the dear friends the Lord has blessed me with.