Good stuff...

I got this video from John Piper's blog and thought it was such a breath of fresh air about the upcoming election. I use to be the BIGGEST Republican! Seriously I've gone door knocking for my guy the past two elections. Over the past year or so I've really felt burdened about the divisiveness of politics and believe me this could only be a burden from God because I WAS totally wrapped up in politics. Let me first say, I'm totally against abortion... BUT I don't want to be ANTI-anyone because they belong to a certain party. Not that I will vote for someone that is for abortion but I really am turned off by those that slander someone whom they really don't know. I mean, seriously how in the world is God glorified through our spreading slanderous gossip or lies about someone. I can't stand to get those political emails that are based on half truths about EITHER candidate. I love how John Piper reminds us that this is not our home and we should not invest our whole selves into things of this world. I'm not against people rooting for their candidate or informing others about them but I am turned off by who I use to be in this area. I was totally invested as though if my guy didn't win the world was coming to an end.... this place is not my home and God is sovereign and I trust Him!

Happy 6 months Piper Jane! *updated*

It's hard to believe Sissy will be 6 months old tomorrow. Our family just wouldn't be near as joyful without her. Mommy and Daddy LOVE holding and loving on her and Andrew and Parker love watching her learn new things. Parker literally can't keep his hands, or lips, off of her:). We love you Sissy!!


Update: Sissy got her first tooth today:)

Do you wanna Rebulution?

I used Cam's cell phone tonight to get a few videos of the wee ones. Sissy used her camera time to show off her spit bubble skills.

Andrew decided to sing a little K-Frank. He was singing this song all the way to school this morning:)

Parker sang a little bit of the song he learned in church this Sunday. It was so sweet.. when Cam went to get him he said, "I sang, I am excited to follow Jesus". He got it right for the video but I kinda wished he'd used his "wrong" words:).

Title of the book..

Cameron and I took Piper with us to Branson this weekend. We had a great time and bought almost all of our Christmas gifts. Piper was just perfect. We teased that she needed her own PR person because of all the people who were goo goo over her. She is usually all smiles and very friendly with strangers, as long as they don't try to take her from mommy:). She doesn't really do too great right now with strangers. It's odd because she rarely cries but almost always cries at church in the nursery. I've been keeping her out with me the past couple of Sundays.

This past week has been SUPER busy. I had Parent/Teacher conferences one evening and then Andrew's field trip at the Pumpkin Patch on Friday. I'm too lazy to upload pics from my camera (these are all from iPhone). Andrew's teacher said he's doing really well. His award ceremony was Thursday and he got the Hardest Worker award:)... I'm hoping they send me a bumper sticker soon... just kidding John Rosemond:). Andrew gets homework once a week and this past week his homework was dictation. I have to read a sentence and he has to write all the sounds he hears. He does really well at it. He doesn't have to spell the words correctly but has to try to write every sound. It's sweet:).

He's been making some books for people lately and the front cover of every book says Title of the Book, isn't that sweet?

Such a joy...

Piper is such a joy to be around. She is almost always happy and LOVES her mommy. She follows me around everywhere (with her eyes:). We just can't get enough of sweet Piper Jane.

Pumpkin Patch...

Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch. We had a great time. It was late afternoon so it was PERFECT weather and very few people were there. The boys enjoyed looking at all of the pumpkins. We picked out a big one and daddy helped them carve it. Sissy just kind of cruised around in the stroller.





Last night we went to one of Andrew's friends birthday party. Andrew has been excited about it for weeks. He's been asking me, "are we going to Hayes's party tonight?". There were tons of boys there and they had the best time. It was a costume party and it was all outdoors with lots of activities planned. Hayes is in Andrew's class and he is so sweet. He's called and left a few messages on our answering machine. His mom always apologizes because she doesn't even know he's got the phone. It's so sweet! By looking at the pic, you can tell what's on Andrew's mine....

Prayer Request...

A sweet family really needs our prayers. I've been reading the blog Confessions of a CF Husband for a while. Their story is such a reminder to me that this world is not our home. Tricia has been battling Cystic Fibrosis for years, she finally received a lung transplant only to find out months later that she has developed lung cancer. She has been receiving treatment for the past several months and just found out that the treatments are not working and it's not looking good. Her and her husband also have the cutest little baby, Gwyneth. She has had a tough little life, too. She was born VERY premature and has overcome so much! Please pray for God's comfort and peace to be with this family.

Wooster's Biggest Loser...

Code Blue.... it's the BIG one...
The boys and I just finished sweating to K-Frank. I've been wanting to start working out to lose excess baby flab so I joined our school's contest "Wooster's Biggest Loser". Today was the big weigh in:). I weighed in at a whopping 109.5 lbs. Some of the ladies were teasing me for getting in the contest and I'm sure I won't win but I would like to lose 3 or 4 lbs. so I thought it would be fun to do with some other ladies. SO... tonight the boys and I danced like CrAzY people to Kirk Franklin and a little DC Talk. We danced a total of 22 minutes. Sissy and daddy just kind of watched and laughed:P. It was fun. The boys LOVE to exercise! We weigh in weekly so I'll let you know my progress... oh and I don't plan to diet at all. I have horrible blood sugar and HAVE to eat constantly so I'm just hoping to trim off a couple of lbs by working out, AND by walking TONS at work. Our school is HUGE and I am walking ALL day long, seriously!!

Your eyes...

Last week I had the opportunity to speak to some future principals at UCA. One of my old Professors has asked me to come out the last few semesters and speak to her classes about bringing the world to my students. Although I get a little nervous about speaking, it's always the most amazing opportunity. I've been able to share with them how God used my trip to Rwanda to literally change my life and how, in turn, He's allowed me to use the story of the Invisible Children to change the lives of my students. I ended my talk with this video. It's such an amazing song about how we just walk around in a fog and seem to not even notice those around us. It's so easy to do, especially here in America. We're so consumed with me, me, me. What a wonderful prayer, "Give me Your eyes".

Whew.... I'm tired

I have tons I'd like to add to the old blogger-roo but am too tired to do it. This morning I went to Race for the Cure with one of my best buddies, Stephanie. I miss Stephanie. We taught together at the Jr. High for the past 3 years. We were VERY close and still are but just hardly ever get to see each other since I'm at the elementary. We had so much fun chatting and catching up during the walk. I think she likes hanging out with me because I make her look so nice and tall:). But then again, I'd make an inch worm look tall:).

We went to the pumpkin patch tonight. I'll have to upload pics later because... remember... I'm SO tired! Anyway, when we got home Andrew wrapped up a little baby pumpkin with a big mommy pumpkin and said, "This is how mommy wears the baby". He's seen me wearing Piper in some baby wraps. Isn't that sweet?:)

Gotta go catch up on all of my lost sleep....

Princess Piper

I'm home again today with poor Andrew:(. He seemed to be getting better but had a really bad night last night. He coughed for about 1 1/2 hours. At times he had a hard time catching his breath because he couldn't quit coughing. It was scary. I took him back this morning to the doc (of course a different doctor/the same one who thought it was croup:/. She gave him an inhaler. She said she would've given him a steroid but hated to because it was his first visit.. I'm like HELLO... we've been here 3 times in 1 week. Anywho, I'm hoping the inhaler works. She seems to be convinced he's going to have asthma. I'm hoping not. She said his lungs were really dark like an asthmatic but it could just be the pneumonia.
We sat outside some this morning and Andrew brought me some flowers for baby Piper:). I took some pics with my phone. She's such a little bundle of sunshine:).

I wish everyday was a weekend day...

I SO enjoy the weekends! I have so much fun hanging out with the kiddos and Cameron. We've pretty much stayed at home all weekend because Andrew was sick. He's feeling MUCH better but still has a terrible cough if he gets to moving around too much. He hasn't ran fever for about 3 days. I'm sending him to school but am making him hang out with me during recess because I don't think his little body can handle too much excitement.
Today I made sissy some baby food. I steamed some carrots and some sweet potatoes and pureed them. She's not eating veggies yet but will be pretty soon. I'm just keeping them in the deep freeze until she's ready. She was eyeing them awful hard though... don't think it will be too long:).

As a mom, I've always said every stage just gets better and better. All weekend Andrew has been writing little stories. Most of them have to do with Spiderman and getting the bad guys. It's so funny!! I was sweeping tonight and found this behind the clothes basket.

Also, today while we were changing Piper she started rolling around the floor before we could get a diaper on her and Andrew said, "Piper has 3 hinies, no wait a minute, she has 6, WOW... she has 7 hinies!!" Poor Sissy, she can't help it she has so many rolls.

Who knew they all needed glasses?

Last night we went to check out our new school. Classes will begin there October 13th. We're all so excited. It's been pretty difficult housing 2 elementary schools in 1 elementary school building. Andrew is SUPER excited about his new classroom. It's HUGE. The entire school is just breath taking! It's going to be a LEED school, which means it's a green school. Almost all of the classrooms have an entire wall that is just windows. They're set to let in a certain amount of light which will cause our indoor lights to dim.
Several teachers have several boxes outside their classrooms that have FREE stuff in them and we found some super cool glasses:). All the kids just had to try them on:).

* Also, Andrew is feeling a little better. He's not had fever for about 36 hours, so that's GREAT! I learned a valuable lesson, when your child has pneumonia, don't let them try out the new playground.... even if it is for just a couple of minutes!

Cooper pics:)

Today I took some pictures of Crystal and Chad's little boy:). He's such a cutie! He wasn't thrilled about sitting still for longer than a second because he had too much exploring to do. It was suppose to be pretty today but it was SO cloudy but the pics turned out okay anyway, with lots of iPhoto help to lighten them up:). Here are a couple of collages I made with Comic Life.

Still sick...

Poor Andrew has pneumonia. I had a feeling Monday when the doc said he had croup that she might be wrong. I knew I heard him wheezing last weekend and apparently you don't wheeze with croup. The doctor said I probably heard something while he was coughing but it probably wasn't wheezing... well, today we go BACK to the doc after he's missed a week of school (including the Kindergarten stick rodeo:(. After a different doctor listened to his chest, she ordered x-rays and said that he did have pneumonia. Poor thing, he's been coughing horribly and running fever all week. Please pray with us that it's better by Monday. She talked about the possibility of treating it in the hospital if this medicine doesn't work. Hopefully he'll get well soon and the rest of the kiddos won't get sick.