Today marks the 11th year we have been married. It's hard to believe that time has flown by so fast, but we wouldn't change a single thing. Our ups and downs together have been surrounded by the Lord's grace and we continue to grow in Christ's love each year. As much as we enjoy our time together, this year we are overjoyed to welcome our third little one into the world. As parents we can think of no sweeter gift, outside of our personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, than to see our family grow and embrace one another in love. Our heart is to commit these little ones to the Lord and continue to see their lives impacted by beholding Christ through His Word.

Now may the Lord direct your hearts toward
the love of God and the endurance of Christ ~ 2 Thess. 3:5

We thank the Lord for the healthy and safe delivery of

December 13, 2011 @ 12:40MST

Weight 7.7lbs, Height 20in

Strawberry Blonde Hair

Well, it looks as though Sweet Pea will be coming a day sooner than expected. I found out this afternoon that due to a scheduling conflict my c-section has been moved to tomorrow (the 13th) at noon. Oh wow! We're scrambling a bit around here, but we're super excited. Thank you in advance for all your prayers and check back soon for an update!

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With an older sister, it goes without saying that Ayden is quite used to playing girly-type things. He knows how to play dolls. He's great at playing kitchen. He even finds ways to be a part of Addie's dress up plans.

But lately the tables have been turned. Both kiddos have taken a great interest in AJ's car collection. And by great interest, I'm talking about hours and hours of rolling cars all over our wooden floors.

It's been encouraging to see Addie willing to play with whatever AJ is interested in. She has certainly managed to add a girly touch to things though. For instance, all the cars have names. Often the storyline sounds a bit like they are playing house. And the cars even take the time to stop for meals!

But what JD and I have found most entertaining is Addie's effort to accessorize the "female" cars.

Take a look at the pic below. Notice the color coordinating bows and "headbands". How funny is that?

Last month we ventured out one afternoon to capture a few maternity shots before the beautiful fall colors faded. I love how they turned out. We are so anxious to meet our little Sweet Pea! Unless she decides to make an early appearance, she's scheduled to arrive via c-section just a few weeks from now on Dec 14th!

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We have so much to be thankful for. Namely our lives in Christ, the rock of our salvation. In Him, we have been redeemed. In Him, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. In Him, we have an incomparable inheritance. Thank you God!

We are also grateful beyond words for our lovely little family. Addison and Ayden are amazing gifts from the Lord, and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Sweet Pea next month.

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"O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with THANKSGIVING, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker." ~ Psalm 95:1-6

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"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting."

~ Psalm 107:1

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Last month we had a fun weekend with Jim's parents. In addition to just hanging out and once again celebrating Addie's 5th birthday, we also ventured out to Anderson Farms over in Erie for a little fall festival fun. Good times for sure!

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Addison had a fantastic time at her birthday party this year. Both of her uncles, GG & PaPa, and some of her closest friends and their families joined us for her celebration. We are extremely grateful for all these folks (and others) that the Lord has brought into Addie's life to walk alongside her, encourage her, teach her, and be Godly examples. She and her sweet little girlfriends make quite the gang. Thankfully they all welcome AJ as a buddy as well ~ lucky guy!

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Our unit on leaves was really interesting. I was amazed at how much the kids learned and retained. Thankfully these lessons came about at the perfect time for us here in Colorado; the reality of fall and the beautiful variety of colored leaves were evident all around us. Even now, a month later, AJ will point out evergreens while we are driving and proceed to remind us that those type of trees won't lose their needles. And Addie is able to explain why leaves are initially green and why the other colors show up during fall. As for using leaves to expand their Biblical understanding, we were reminded that we live and grow in Jesus.

"He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." ~1 John 5:12

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." ~Jeremiah 17:7-8

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Here Addie was drawing the tree in our front yard.

Our library had hundreds of felt leaves scattered around the kids' play area ~ very fun!

After drying the leaves they gathered with JD, A&A used them to practice sorting, counting, classifying, etc.

We read Leaf Man then made our own leaf people.

I tried to get creative with lunch one day (an alternative to ham and cheese sandwiches). I think Addie was impressed, but you can't tell by the pic ~ the poor thing had fever.

And for the letter L, we made lemon squares ~ a family fav!

Our second unit study was all about the Moon and the Letter M. We discussed where the moon's light comes from, the meaning of the word "reflect", and why the moon changes shape. We also talked about about how we can be a light to the world by reflecting Christ.

Using Google Earth, we were able to travel to the moon and do some exploring ~ very cool. We also watched original footage from Apollo 11's 1969 moon landing. The kids found all this to be quite fascinating. They've since flown to the moon using a spaceship they made out of cardboard boxes. JD & I heard them talking about putting on their space helmets and riding around in their moon buggy. It was great to see what they learned spark their imaginations!

Here are a few of the projects we did over the course of the week:

I used Oreos to help the kids identify the basic phases of the moon. Teaching with food is awesome; thanks Danaly for sending me that fun idea! Then following a moon phase calendar for our area, we watched the moon change over the course of October. The kids pretty well remembered to take a look every night.

A&A did a letter M hunt around the house. I think it helped cement the /m/ sound for Ayden, and it also gave them a chance to tackle something as a team.

Addie is progressing well with her handwriting.

Taking letter M into the kitchen, we made both monster cookies and chocolate-covered coconut macaroons. What can I say? We like sweets around here. And the kids love helping me bake.

Talk about opposites. Yesterday I posted a blog about our first snow and had pics of A&A all bundled up, playing in a winter wonderland. This post is clearly a few months overdue. Here we have A&A in swimsuits, thoroughly enjoying a day in the sun. Though summer has come and gone, I wanted to preserve the fun memories online!

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