More Birthday Pictures

Because you just can't see too many pictures of a precious 5 year old........

Happt Birthday Sweet Madelyn!

Our self-proclaimed "baby princess" is 5 today! She is a precious, funny, dress-up loving, beautiful bundle of joy. I often look at her in wonder and know that God loves me dearly to give me such a precious girl. Such a tiny little malnourished baby has grown into a healthy, rambunctious, fun-loving sweetie. She blesses our home and makes my heart happy everyday.

Madelyn Grace, I love you more than my arms can reach!

My First Knitted Sweater - Finished!!!

Well, it won't win any awards at the fair, but my first knitted sweater for Madelyn is finished. Several mistakes (all hidden by the fuzzy yarn) and a lot of knitting lessons learned. Now to start on Molly Anne's. Hers will be the same pattern but done in blue fuzzy yarn. Thank goodness for Hobby Lobby's clearance yarn. I can easily make a cute sweater for less than $5 - woo-hoo!!!!!

Now, on to hats, mittens and socks.......maybe :)

New Day - New Do

Today was a day of firsts for us. Mason started public school, we began a new semester of homeschooling and the girls have cute new hair-dos. Mason's teacher seems soooo sweet, and he had a good day. He was all smiles as he left the house with his dad this morning, but the smiles changed to a very worried look by the time he arrived at school. His sweet dad stayed and walked him to his room, and Randy didn't leave until Mason was settled.

Our day seemed a little long without that boy, but the girls and I stayed busy with new curriculum, new library books, and working on preschool crafts for church. I don't what I would do without the girls to make all my samples for church! :)

I had a hard week last week as I anticipated sending Mason off to school. I think he and I are both relieved to have this first day behind us. Tomorrow is a new day, and we are all excited about the school year to come. Keep praying for my sweet Mason!!!

Cowabunga!

Regardless of what you think of the four green guys, my three little ones LOVE them! Saturday mornings around our house feature donuts and 30 minutes of Ninja Turtles. Today, Mason's room became a sewer and some new costumes were made :) How I love being a mom!

A Beautiful New Season

We are having the most glorious August with sunny days and rainy nights. I haven't had to water our grass or garden for days. Gotta love it! We are enjoying our precious last few days of summer just relaxing, knitting, reading and cleaning out closets for the fall. The little ones have rediscovered the "dress-up" box, and have put on several fabulous productions (all of them about beautiful princesses in distress).

Our wonderful garden is giving us tasty veggies for dinner every day. I thought I would have enough cucumbers to make several jars of pickles, but Mason and I keep eating them all! He starts public school in just 13 days :( He is excited, and I now have a peace about sending him off for a few months to try the new hearing aids. We have heard wonderful, wonderful things about his new teacher, and we are expecting a great school year!

Our family is entering a new season as well. Randy and I have known for a long time that we might do long-term mission work in the future. We always assumed it would be in China because of Mason, Molly and Madelyn and our love for the Chinese people. God has changed our focus recently to Africa, and He seems to be opening doors for a work there maybe in the next year or two. Please be praying for us to hear His voice clearly, and for us not to stand in the way of a great work He has planned for our family. We will keep you posted!

I finished Madelyn's shawl this week, and she will hardly take it off (even when it is 100 degrees outside) - lol! I have started Molly's and should finish it in the next day or two. Molly has developed such a love for reading the Bible we bought her for her birthday. It makes my heart sing to walk by her room and find her reading and signing God's Word to Madelyn and Mason. What a destiny God has for this precious one.

New seasons come with great expectations. I pray that God is revealing a new season to each of you!

We're Back!!!

We are back from our blogging hiatus after a whirlwind month of family, weddings, extra pets, and everything else that we normally do :) This summer is zooming by, and quite frankly, I have been a frumpy-grump for most of it. We have been in a dilemma all summer about what to do about Mason's very expensive hearing aids, and I think it has robbed me of most of my joy. Now we have made a decision to place him in public school for one semester to try their hearing aids for FREE. It is a loooooong story about how we came to that decision, but I know that God worked so many things for good to make my "mommy heart" feel better about sending him off to school for a few months. The girls and I will still homeschool, and it has been fun to watch all of their kindergarten and second grade curriculum come in the mail :)

Our garden is overtaking the neighborhood, and we are having a cucumber and zucchini explosion. Last night we grilled chicken, fish and several veggies from our garden - so good! Our Mason still LOVES our garden. Even if I hated vegetables (which I don't), I would still have a garden just for that boy.

We just finished our version of vacation Bible school at out church, and the three M's came home fully equipped with Outback wear. Madelyn puts on her hat, sunglasses, bandana, water bottle holder, and tooth necklace before she goes into the "wild" backyard. She also wants her picture taken with her "cool" look. Pretty cute!

I am still working on bridesmaid dresses, hostess aprons and the wedding quilt, but I am also knitting Molly and Madelyn shawls to snuggle in this winter. The way this summer has flown by, I better get busy - winter will be here next week!