Another Terrific Kid

P.K. and I know our kids are terrific, but it is nice to have a certificate to prove it. Rachel was selected to be recognized at the Terrific Kid ceremony at her school this month. It is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club.

Welcome Abigail Hannah...Fo-Shizzle

Allow me to introduce my dear friend Becizzle. I've probably mentioned her in blog posts before, but today she gets a special post just for her and her family.

Becky and I met when our husbands were stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes. I can remember the first morning we met at chapel. We bumped into each other again that afternoon at the movie theater and the rest is history.

Some time ago we did one of those silly "cut and paste and forward to all of your friends" emails. That particular email taught you how to come up with your name for different things such as soap operas and gangsta's. For some reason, Becky and I have clung to our gangsta' names. She is Becizzle and I am Jodizzle.

This past summer while the kids and I were traveling I received a phone call from Becizzle. I can still picture myself driving down the highway. You know how you have a memory as though you were seeing the whole thing from above or through a video camera. Becky said she was pregnant and I yelled so loudly that I almost scared Rachel to death. After all, "Mommy you always tell us it is dangerous to scream in the car." I was so happy to hear that my sweet friend was expecting.

This would be her second child. Allison is in first grade this year. Since Allison was in school, Becky had taken some online classes and was well on her way to becoming a pharmacy tech (I think that is the right term). She decided that if it were important enough to stay home with Allison during her preschool years, it was probably important enough to do for the new baby and career plans would be placed on hold. This eventually leads to Becky saying, "My baby is my whale." I am going to leave all of you blog readers hanging on this statement. It is part of Becky's testimony (her faith has grown during this pregnancy in many ways) and if she would like to guest post one day, I'll let her share it.

When Becky went for her ultrasound the baby was less than cooperative and Becky and Matt were left to guess if they would have a boy or a girl. Have you ever read those pregnancy books where the size of the baby is compared to something else? At one point, Becky's baby was the size of a bean so for a long time the baby was called, "The Bean." I thought the baby should be named Beanizzle, but thankfully Becky doesn't always take my advice. About two weeks ago sweet baby Abigail Hannah was born, Abby.

I asked Becky if it would be alright to post pictures of Abby on the blog so I could do a "welcome to the world" post for her. Becky said, "Sure" and even sent me a picture to post. I didn't ask permission to post pictures of her or Matt so don't tell them I put this next picture on here.

Becky, Matt and Baby Abby

Abby and her big sister Allison

This is a very sweet picture of Abby holding Allison's finger. It reminded me of a song called Hold On To Jesus by Erin O'Donnell.

You're a little piece o Heaven
You're a golden ray of light
And I wish I could protect you
From the worries of this life
But if there's one thing I could tell you
It's no matter what you do
Hold to Jesus
He's holding on to you.

The world will try to tell you
That might is more than right
And beauty's on the outside
And being good's a losing fight
But remember what I've told you
'Cause the world will make you choose
Hold to Jesus
He's holding onto you

Hold onto Jesus and cling to His love
Rest deep in His mercy whenever things get rough
Don't lose sight of His goodness
And don't ever doubt this truth
That when you hold onto Jesus
He's holding onto you

Hear me dear Jesus
Rock this little one to sleep
Keep her close whe she's scared
And give her grace when she is weak
I know she'll stumble
But I know she'll make it through
If you hold to her just like you said you'd do
Hold her Jesus
And she'll hold on tight to you

Becky and I have a Thursday morning phone date. We chat and work through Bible studies together. We often don't agree with the theology of whoever wrote the book we are studying at the time. As with this song, I don't agree with every word. Jesus is always holding onto us whether we let go or not. He is always there. My prayer for Abby is that she would never let go or lose sight of the one who knit her together in her mother's womb (Psalm 139:13) and has a plan for her (Jer 29:11).

Abizzle...you are loved by so many people who are anxiously waiting to travel with you on your journey of life. Hold on, baby girl! It is a crazy trip.

Valentine's Day

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Valentine's Day is Here

XOXOXO to You!

My Valentine just left for work and the little Valentine's are still sleeping. I have a place set for each of them at the breakfast bar.

I found these giant bouncy balls and knew they would love them. I think the big Valentine was a bit disappointed that he didn't get one. P.K. made each of us a little folded heart and had them waiting for us this morning. We will eat on the heart plates all day. It is an easy tradition to follow.

I'm really surprised that the kids are sleeping at all because they have had a steady diet of sugar since Friday. Rachel's class exchanged Valentines and made their own boxes at home.

She made it all by herself and I thought it was really cute. I love the patchwork idea. Hannah made her own too, but I don't have any pictures.

I decided it would be fun for the kids to make their own Valentines this year. It took more time than I had anticipated, but they had fun. It was especially worth it since this was Rachel's last year to exchange Valentines with her class.

Rachel made an ipod and Aaron and Hannah made robots.

Both crafts started with box of sweethearts. The robots had candy bars or peppermint patties for feet and lifesavers for eyes. The earbuds for the ipod were miniature recess cups wrapped in aluminum foil.

Aaron's class did not have a party but they were allowed to have a special snack and exchange Valentines. I baked and decorated heart shaped cookies and sent those in for the snack.

Hannah's class had a party and for the snack station they were able to decorate their own cookies. They made two to take home and ate one at school.

I must have baked a gazillion cookies! We didn't take many pictures at the party, but these are the cookies Hannah brought home.

They made I spy bottles for the craft. They were empty water bottles filled with rice that I dyed red. Each bottle then had different colored heart beads and letter beads that spelled out the child's name. These get mixed in the rice. There is a tag on the bottle that lists what the kids have to spy. The bottles are turned slowly to hunt for the items. The game was BINGO. The cards were printed on hearts and they used sweethearts candies as the markers. P.K. had fun running the game!

I hear the pitter patter of little feet so my time is up.