So, What IS Important?

Grandma-Great-Great ( my grandma) read a story to Libby this morning that was about a race car that loses the race because he keeps stopping to help all of these people. After the story was over gramdma asked Libby why the race car was so happy. Libby answered, "Because he won?" Grandma told her that he had lost the race. Libby gave her a confused look then. I told her that the story was telling us that winning isn't the greatest thing, but helping others was. She gave me a funny look then and said, "I'd rather win!" I was a little disappointed, but then I thought of how important it was that we teach our children this lesson. I know many adults who have the attitude of Libby. I hope that someday Libby will change her mind, and through my actions and attitudes be able to see the real importance in life.

ESP

I can't sleep and something funny just happened...so I thought I would share. Chris and I are sleeping in the basement bedroom since his parents are here and we heard foot steps upstairs. So, Chris said he was thirsty and he would go check it out. As he was walking up the stairs he saw Libby standing on the couch looking over at him. He asked what she was doing and she said, "I knew you were thirsty and I was too so I waited on you."

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas. This year has been a truly wonderful year for our family. We were able to watch Grace grow through her first year of life and just celebrated her birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Tucker today. Libby has grown physically and in knowledge quite a bit this year. She has impressed me so! She is also getting more inquisitive on the spiritual level which has been fun. We were able to move into our new house at the end of June and have enjoyed making it a home. Our neighbors out in this neck of the woods are WONDERFUL! In addition to the move, I have picked up a babysitting job that we are settling into nicely now that we have been going at it for a few months. We are also overjoyed that we have found a church that we have decided to make our home. We left our previous church almost five months ago and have been on the hunt ever since. Early in December we landed a church that is just what we need at this point in our life. Once again, God has truly blessed us this year! I hope each and every one of you has a blessed, merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Grace!

Ok, I didn't forget my daughter's first birthday. Things have just been crazy so I haven't had time to blog about it. None the less, Grace turned one a few days ago. I will post more pictures later, but they REALLY turned out well this time around. I was very happy!

The day wasn't exactly Grace's best day of her short, little life. She woke up with a fever and she was feeling pretty ill most of the day. With some tylenol down her, though, we had a great set of pictures. Then, the medicine wore off and we went out to eat. OOPS! She cried and cried and cried almost the ENTIRE time we were at the restaurant. There was an 8-top sitting close to us and the youngest of the boys (probably 10 or 11) kept turning around and looking at her. Then, right before we were getting ready to leave he walked over and gave us the stuffed toy one of his brothers had one from a claw machine. I couldn't believe it! Grace was being so annoying and he gave her his toy. I felt really blessed that in today's age someone would have such a kind heart.

The rest of the day we kind of lounged around, kind of worked on getting some stuff done around the house. Then, in the evening we did something we will probably NEVER do again. We had Christmas. I don't want Grace to be one of those people that hates having her birthday so close to Christmas, but this year she doesn't know any better so we just did it. :) The girls had fun and I'll post a few pictures from that a little later as well. In the meantime, my in-laws are upstairs and I am being rude by blogging downstairs. So, I had better get back to the party. :)

Thankful Thursday

Today, I am thankful:

1.) that Grace has really been fussy for a reason. I assumed it was teeth, but I wasn't really sure because she wouldn't let me look, but the other day I caught sight of four nice teeth up top where previously there had only been two. Tooth count: 6.

2.) that all the Christmas presents are wrapped and that when my friend comes over tonight, I can devote the time to finishing mom and dad's present. I'm not a procrastinator or anything. Right, mom? :) (She knows what I'm thinking about...a house for GATE?)

3.) for the drop in the interest rates. We called to refinance and God is blessing us very nicely for doing so.

4.) for a good sermon last Sunday. It REALLY challenged me in several areas of my life. I think it will be staying with me for awhile.

5.) for our small group. We have really been enjoying getting to know all of the couples in our small group the past couple of months. I am excited about diving into our Bible study now and getting to share Grace's first birthday (December 20) with them.

Brains

I got ALL of my present wrapping done today. Ok, I lied, I have two birthday presents left to wrap. I need birthday wrapping paper though. Anyway, I had one more present to wrap for Libby tonight, so I took Grace in the bedroom with me and made Libby stay OUT! I didn't see any harm in that. I had to help Libby unwrap all of her 1st birthday presents, so Grace wasn't going to bother anything. Yeah, you can tell where this is going! Sure enough, as I was finishing up wrapping Libby's present, I heard rrrrrriiipppppp. Grace ripped right into one of the presents...it was hers even. Smart little girl! She doesn't need anyone to show her what to do with things that are hidden.

500th Post

Wow! Am I really on post 500? I never keep up with ANYTHING this long. :) Anyway! Here are some winter pictures to warm your hearts.

So angry with myself! I forgot to put the flash up since everything was so WHITE! She's still a darn cute girl, my Libby.

I thought this picture was just straight up adorable. I love this picture of Grace. She kind of thought that the snow was cool...until the coldness penetrated her little body. Then she was COMPLETELY done!

Can you find a little sneaky sneak in the tree?

Last, but not least, here is Grace doing what babies do best! Trying to pull a bulb down. Don't worry, we have a fence around it now!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that:

1.) I have had a GREAT week with the kids. This is the first full "good" week.
2.) we had a steering meeting today. It just keeps me focused on why we are doing what we do for MOPS...to serve all of these wonderful mothers.
3.) I have a wonderful mommy. I can't wait to go home and see her for Christmas.
4.) I got to spend a few days with my sister. I miss her lotses. :)
5.) it was only bad timing for why NOBODY came to my Pampered Chef party and it wasn't because they didn't like me. :)

MORE!

More chocolate, please!

More food, please!

More pacifiers, please!

More kids, please!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

1.) The ways in which I have seen God working in my life lately.
2.) The fact that we have carpet in the basement bedrooms and should be able to get the beds in before our company comes on Friday.
3.) Good friends and family. We had some friends to supper last night. We have some friends coming to stay Friday night whom we haven't seen in a couple of years. AND Stephanie, my sister, is coming to spend a few days with us on Sunday.
4.) The chance to get some scrapbooking done...I'm on a deadline here.
5.) A handy husband who can take care of all sorts of problems. I don't know if I have permission to divulge any more information than that. :)

My Pretty Girls

Libby normally won't wear a dress unless it is a jumper with a shirt under it. She claims that they itch too much. So, I didn't expect much from her when she got this play dress from grandma and grandpa. She surprised me! She wanted to be a princess so I told her I thought the dress looked like a Snow White dress. She went around the rest of the evening telling her daddy, Grace and me that her new name was Princess Snowy. She had a blast!

Once again, she blew me away when she said that she wanted to wear this beautiful dress to church on Sunday. I made SURE to get a picture of it. I was holding my breath while I was putting the dress on because I didn't think it would last more than a minute. She wore it to church and didn't complain about the "itchies" until we were on the way home. I'm scared!

Here is beautiful Grace, still wearing 6-9 month clothes. I just talked about her eating so much in the last post, yet she is still so tiny. I don't think we are even moving on to 12 month clothes for awhile. I do love this dress though, so that could be a good thing. :)

And, last but not least, my beautiful babies together!

Thanksgiving

Ok, so I'm late. Between babysitting and freezer cooking this weekend...what can I say? :) Anyway, we had a great trip to Indiana for some family time. Libby and Grace both enjoyed their time with grandma and grandpa and Aunt Judy. I was really glad that we got to have it with Aunt Grace's family again. I enjoy getting together with them.

Here is Grace doing what she does best...eating. She is going to catch up to her sister in weight quickly as she eats MORE than her sister on most occasions.

Libby has made a new best friend already. This is Chris's cousin's daughter, Emily Grace. She is one or two weeks younger than Libby. The last time they were able to see each other they were both itty bitty babies, so it was kind of fun to watch them play together.

Libby decided that she should just join the family. They were taking pictures of Aunt Grace and Uncle Raymond with the different families and wanted one with the grand kids. The funny thing is, Emily has a younger brother (5 months old) who isn't in the picture...they must have just replaced him with Libby. :)

And these are Grace's new friends. They thought she was kind of fun to play with and Grace enjoyed all of the attention she got.