Scripture at a Young Age

A few weeks ago in Sunday School we were learning about how to live our lives and lead our children on a path that honors God and hopefully guide our children to the decision of salvation.  Until this lesson I had always thought Emma was too young to really teach her any Biblical truths but my perspective has totally changed!  The pastor of family life encouraged that we start sharing Scripture with our kids even at Emma's age.  He recommended nightly Bible time, praying together, and just making Emma a part of our conversations about God.  Well, Trey and I have since tried to be more intentional with this and it is AMAZING what Emma can understand and absorb despite being 21 months.

Emma now says prayers with us at night and before meals.  In fact, she holds us accountable.  While fixing our plates for dinner one night she was already in her high chair with her food.  But, she just kept fussing and finally we turned around to see that she had her "pray hands" ready and was wanting us to pray with her since she had her food.  Even after making Bible story time part of our nightly routine for about 2 weeks she now asks for "Bible" every night.  She participates in the stories by doing the crazy, off the wall movements I make up and finishing each night by saying (with mommy and daddy assistance) "God loves Emmy. God loves Mommy.  God loves Daddy. God loves Abby. God loves Titus."

It is so sweet to see that she even has her favorite stories already.  Daniel and the lions' den scares her but Jonah is her favorite.  She wants to hear about it every night and points to Jonah and says "obey". 

We also realize that there is so much more to teaching Emmy about God's love than reading the Bible, taking her to church, and praying with her.  We know that Emma watches everything that Mommy and Daddy do so therefore the most powerful witness of God's love that we can show our children is how we respect each other and honor each other in marriage. 

Below I listed some books and bibles that are great for babies, toddlers, pre-school, and school-age kids.  I thought having one for Emma was enough but at church we talked about how they may get tired of reading the same 20 stories with the same pictures over and over again.  Also, each children's Bible chooses different stories to focus on and the ones that re-appear help your kids realize that these stories have more significance than Peter Rabbit or Cat in the Hat.  When I am studying the Word I use more than one translation to help me and this is similar to kids getting to read multiple versions of childrens' Bibles.

The Toddler Bible
The Baby Bible
The Beginner Bible
God's Story for Me
The Family Reading Bible
Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers

Enjoying Daylight Savings Time

Although it is extremely hard for me to get out of bed because it is so dark outside, there have been some major perks to the time change.  First, Emma is back to sleeping late (at least until she gets used to it) so I am not having to get out of bed in the dark.  Second, we are getting some outdoor play time with Daddy since it is still light when he comes home.  This has been such a pleasure that we are not used to having on a daily basis... usually we try to cram all of our Daddy outdoor play into Saturday and Sunday. 

We have been going to the park in the evening, working in the yard, digging up worms (trying to teach Emma that worms, and some bugs can actually be fun to play with and we don't have to be scared of everything; but she is SO girly!), and last night we did some outdoor sidewalk painting.  Snapped a few pictures last night as she painted and played...

Easiest paint to make ever! 1 cup of water and 1 cup of cornstarch.  Mix together. Then divide in muffin pan and add food coloring to make colors.  Be sure to mix food coloring to get more colors!  Then we just let Emma go to town with sponges and brushes.  It also just washed right off of her with a bath.  However, I am not going to promise it will come out of clothes.  She was in play clothes and I have not washed them yet so if you try this you may want to make sure you don't care if the clothes stain or just let play in their diaper!

So easily entertained... just going up and down the step.  When do we lose the simplicity of life that our kids live by?!

50 Ways to Show Your Husband you Love Him

I think any woman that is a mom can testify that sometimes we get wrapped up in being Mommy and forgot or neglect our very important job of being a Wife.  I have been feeling like this lately.  I absolutely love every aspect of my Mommy duties... loving on my lil girl, teaching her, entertaining her, cooking for her, even disciplining her.  However, when I see myself just as a Mom my relationship with Trey is not near as passionate or romantic as I think God intended or designed it to be.  Trey knows that I love him VERY much and we tell each other that many times throughout the day but there is more to showing him my love than these 3 words.  I came across the following blog post and have been so encouraged how simple the little things can turn me from Mommy to Wife and make him feel the love that he so deserves.  Check it out and let me know any other ways you show your man love amidst the busyness of life with kids.

50 Ways to Show Your Husband You Love Him

21 Months Already!

So this past week Emma turned 21 months and I can not believe that she has already grown up so much!  While getting prepared for welcoming Baby Sister Abby in May I realized that I have forgotten completely what it is like to have a newborn because my sweet little Emmy is no longer a baby but is now a big girl!  Here are the happenings of this past week:

On Saturday last week the weather was absolutely beautiful so we took a family trip to the zoo.  It was Emma's first time and I was very surprised that she was not scared of any of the animals but just kept asking to see "more", "more", "more" even as we were walking out and getting in the car.  Trey took her in to the petting zoo and said that she insisted on brushing EVERY goat and hugging them before they could leave.  It was a wonderful family day out!!!

Emma absolutely loves to go outside.  In fact about 90% of her tantrums are related to either wanting to go outside or refusing to come in.  When outside she drags this statue to the middle of the front yard and talks to it.  So precious!!! I only wish I knew what she was saying.

To celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday we went to the library for family story time.  Emma was so excited to go and talked about it the whole way there and for days after.  However, while there you can see she was not near as excited... TERRIFIED!

While outside Emma also created a Nature Collage using shelf paper... definitely will use this in the future for other collages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 21 months apparently Emma thinks God messed up when he made Titus... she constantly points at his peepee saying "uh-oh"

We can only hope that she gets at least a smidge of her Daddy's talent!

Just had to post this since she is so dang cute!  And, this is her choice of play so much of the day... babies, purses, and stroller

This is a happy 21 month old little girl!

This weekend we topped off a very rainy weekend with Emmy's first trip to DQ... she was definitely a fan!

Emma, you are my sweet little thing and I have been so blessed these past 21 months!  You put a smile on my face every morning and bring joy to each day! I love you Emmy

Stamps

Emma loves to use stamps when she colors but we only had a couple of stamps.  Most of the time she just made fingerprints with the stamp pad.  Then I saw this great idea (definitely not taking credit for this creative, innovative idea) and decided to try it.  Save bottle tops from anything and then stick foam stickers on top of them.  They work great and you can get a huge assortment of foam adhesive stickers at any craft store for a good price.  Below are just a few that we have made for Emma... she will definitely have a large assortment of stamps once I save some more bottle caps.

Banana Pudding

I absolutely love bananas and anything that has bananas in it!  About 4 months into this pregnancy Trey asked me if I craved bananas.  I was curious as to why he thought this and he pointed out that every time I go to the grocery store I buy not one but two bundles of bananas (the biggest bundles there) and almost every pin on my pinterest recipe board was related in some way to bananas.  So, I guess I have craved bananas this pregnancy and banana pudding is by far top on the list! 

As a kid I remember my grandmother making the best banana pudding.  I seriously have never found any in my life that come close to comparing to hers.  I think this is why I have always been scared to even attempt making one.  That is until Trey told me that he had never had a home made banana pudding.  This is just sad to me that he thought all banana pudding was the instant Jello box so I had to introduce him to the real world of banana pudding!  I am by no means saying that I have met the bar that my grandmother set but I am pretty pleased with the result.  Be sure and follow the "cook slowly" step exactly... I usually don't set my stove top about the lowest heat while stirring and it takes me about 18 - 20 minutes to stir it to a thickness perfect for the pudding.  This is SO easy and only takes a few ingredients. Check out the recipe below and tell me what you think.

Banana Pudding

I never want to forget...

Emmy is at such a fun stage right now with a personality that just shines.  She has some goofy, silly quirks as well as some habits that make me smile every day.  I want to remember all of these fun things about this time of her life so that when she gets older and has kids I can show her how she was as a toddler.  I don't want to every say "one of my kids did this or that" but instead I want to be able to remember each of my kids individually as much as possible.  So here is a list of some of the things to remember about Emma at 1 1/2.

• Every night you run naked through the house squealing after bath time as daddy chases you with a towel
•  You have some of the silliest faces that you do randomly or on command... some of them include your thinking face, laughing, yawning, smiling, crying, and pouting
• You recently hurt Daddy while wrestling with him and you got very sad that you hurt his nose... your lip quivered until you realized that he was okay
•  anytime it is time for a diaper change or Daddy comes home for lunch you run and hide - you think as long as you can't see us, we can't see you
• your favorite spots to hide are any corner, by Mommy's legs, and in your tree tent

• anytime you ask for Gigi, you also ask for Poppy, Shu, and Kee - you think they should never be separated but always a group of 4
• you have to have all of your "sleepies" when you get in your crib (this is anywhere from 6 to 8 stuffed animals)
• because you can't say "bunny" when you want your special bunny you go around blinking your eyes... this is supposed to be a wiggling nose face for a bunny but you can't figure out your nose
• you have learned 12 letters in the alphabet and you point them out on signs and stores as we drive down the road (what will it be like when you learn to read?!)
• anytime we pull into the library or park parking lot you kick, clap, and scream with excitment
• you are the cleanest baby I have every seen!!!! you pick up all of your toys and put them exactly where you got them and you bring me any leaves or crumbs that you find on our floor.  Needless to say I know when I need to vacuum
• I love that when you get in trouble and I ask you to "find my eyes" you point to them, look at me, calm down and then we talk about the situation.  We always finish these talks with a hug and a kiss!
• One of the first things you ask Daddy to do when he comes home from work is lift you up high so you can touch the ceiling... oh how you find such fun in the simple things!
• You are discovering differences between boys and girls and you point and laugh at Daddy's parts.... you have reached an age where he now showers and dresses in private
• your favorite movie is Fox and The Hound... in fact it is the only movie that you will even watch 10 minutes of
• Food is an instant energy source for you... you run around and are so hyper anytime you have anything to eat
• Your absolute favorite thing to do is read... you are now starting to read by yourself and will read literally for an hour alone
• You love to walk around the house carrying a purse and your baby doll in the stroller waving and saying "bye bye"
• When you play with your jewelry you put ALL of your bracelets on one wrist... and you literally have about 25!

I hope that I will also have pictures to document many of these but Emma I want you to know that you are one cool kid!  I love you so much and can't wait to see the things I get to add to this list in the upcoming months!