What I Learn at BSF

Heidi started attending BSF with me last year after she turned 2. Part of their morning routine is saying the Pledge of Allegiance and then singing "My Country Tis of Thee." So at home she'll bring me one of the little flags we have floating around the house - require me to hold it in my left hand and put my right hand over my heart. Then she says the pledge and breaks in to song. She's missing a few words, but it's still pretty cute. Here's a recent video of this:

(OK, so I need to learn about uploading video clips. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.)



Rachel also now attends BSF with us too. BSF started an under-2 program in January. It's a wonderful opportunity for mothers of young children to be able to participate in BSF. You may think - what do they do with a 5 month old??? Well, they read a bible story to her, sing a hymn, and pray for her every week. Pretty cool, hunh! I'm not sure Rachel has much of an opinion of it yet - she slept completely through the first two weeks she went.

Heidi and Her Dolls

Heidi really likes playing with her baby dolls. She has 6 and they ALL have to be in her bed for naps and bedtime. She also takes advantage of all of Rachel's things and uses them for her babies.

Then there was the day she thought Rachel needed some company...

Where's Waldo - I mean Rachel?

6 Yrs, 3 Yrs, and 3 months

We finally got around to taking the girls for portraits a couple weeks before Christmas. We all went on a Friday afternoon. I was really hoping to get a nice Christmas photo of the three girls, then an individual of Emma. That was the goal - knowing I could go back with Heidi and Rachel another time while Emma was at school. However everyone did really well and we were able to get some great pictures.

Snow & Cold

We received our first snow of 2010 on January 14. Honestly - it wasn't much snow around here. Not even enough to build a snowman - not even a really little one - much to Heidi's disappointment. But the light dusting of snow was pretty.

Because it was cold going in to this snow and continued cold for several days after, it got really icy around here. Emma was out of school on Friday and there were car crashes a plenty around the city. Speaking of cold - I read in the paper that it was actually colder here than it was in Anchorage, Alaska!!! Our low that day was 19 and theirs was 29! Crazy.

Even though it was rather cold, the girls spent a little bit of time outside - mostly sliding on ice. And this of course was Rachel's first snow - so we needed some token pictures.
Hoping for some more snow this winter - some we can actually play in!!!

"Hi!" from Rachel

Rachel is now 4+ months old. She has found her voice and enjoys using it at all sound levels. She also smiles a lot - which is just beautiful. She is grabbing on to toys and trying very had to sit up. When I lay her down across my lap, she starts trying to do a tummy crunch. I'm guessing she'll be sitting up on her own before too much longer.

Merry Christmas!!!

Ok, so I'm a little behind - alright - a lot behind! I've got lots of catching up to do on our blog but here's a start!
We celebrated Christmas with Laura's family the Saturday before Christmas up at Grammy & Papa's house in Dahlonega. It was a fun, special time together. Part of the fun was the kids decorating gingerbread houses.Grammy said she'd put the houses out for the deer to eat. Hopefully they didn't get sick from all the sugar!!! They were VERY WELL decorated gingerbread houses (that is, total area covered with some form of sugar - frosting, sugar, candies, etc).
Rachel taking it all in.
Emma and her pile of presents.

Heidi and her pile of presents.

Emma and Heidi enjoyed the opportunity to help open Rachel's presents. She got lots of diapers.

Rachel did get a few new toys - not just diapers. :-)

Heidi with cousin Lindsay.

Rachel with Aunt Michele.

We went to the family Christmas Eve service at church. Which is code for lots of kids and it's ok if they aren't quiet. It's very much geared to the children which is neat. Emma's choir sang a couple songs, but I didn't get any good pictures.

Heidi and Emma always enjoy their time with Grammy & Papa! Here's Heidi lovin' on Grammy.

This was actually taken a couple weeks before Christmas, but one day when I picked up Heidi from preschool, all of them were dressed as little Rudolphs - complete with antlers and red noses. Here she is with her Rudolph.

Stay tuned for the next post. This was only the beginning of Christmas!

Heidi Quotes

Recent conversations with Heidi:

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Heidi: "Are we going to baby Jesus' birthday party tonight?"
Mom: "No, we went to a birthday party for him at your school last week. But we celebrate Jesus' birthday on Christmas Day this week."
Heidi: "Will Mary, Joseph and the animals be there?"
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(We have had a roof leak - Jason recently sealed where he thought the leak was. Jason went up in the attic to check the status of the leak.)
Heidi: "What are you doing Daddy?"
Daddy: "I'm looking for water."
Heidi: "It's in the sink."
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(One of Heidi's favorite places to go is Home Depot. And recently, when we've been, we've looked at their Christmas decorations they have for sale. We were about to go drive around looking at Christmas lights and go to a local light display.)
Heidi: "Where are we going?"
Daddy: "We're going to go look at lots of Christmas lights!"
Heidi: "At Home Depot?"