Whew!

I'm officially tired. But, surprisingly, my energy level is sky-high right now. Because, as of 2:00 today, we are done with preschool!! It is amazing that I feel like blogging....because I should be in bed while my kids are. But, I am literally GIDDY, knowing that summer is upon us!

I'm already looking forward to all the things that summer means for us. It will still have its own "busyness", but it has a whole different feel about it. Let it BEGIN!

I have alot of cute pictures that I haven't posted yet. But, I don't feel like dealing with Blogger right now. So, a picture blog is to come....for now, here are some of the latest stories around our house.

* Carlie has started singing constantly around our house (although she stops every time we get the video camera ready). She even makes up songs to say whatever she is thinking. This morning on the way to school, she sang "I'm so glad to go to school" and then "Where are the birds? Where are the birds? Where'd they go? Where'd they go?" It's so fun to listen to her sing what her mind is thinking. One of her favorites right now is The New Testament, which is hillarious. She actually knows most of the song, but I kind of love the books she says wrong....like, "First and Second Tipasy" (Timothy) or "Lashan and Allegiance" (Galatians and Ephesians).

* Carlie also loves to read to Abby Kate. It is the most precious thing to see and listen to. She even shows AK the pictures and asks her "Can you see dat?" (pictures to follow in the picture blog!) All day long, she wants to be near AK. This sometimes results in a two month old screaming, but Carlie really doesn't mean to hurt her with her squeezes and kisses. The girl just loves her baby sister TOO much. :) We keep trying to explain what "gentle" means. She's just not getting it....

* Speaking of gentle, Kendyll has had quite a few bible verses added to her disciplining lately. The most frequently used verse right now is "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." You can probably guess why this one has been popular. We are really trying to work on speaking gently to each other (unfortunately, I need the verse more than anyone else!), so she has had to recite it multiple times (and so have I!). The other day, she was really doing a great job of speaking gently to Carlie. Of course, Carlie's response was yelling "NO KENDYLL". Kendyll said "Mom, I gave her a gentle answer, but it still stirred up her anger!" It was pretty funny. A couple of other verses she's remembering VERY well these days: "Do everything without complaining or arguing" (sound familiar, sisters?) and "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry". Can you tell what the theme is here? Whining, crying, complaining, and arguing. That is the fun we're having around here way too often. :)

* Kendyll has already made her first Santa list. Wow. It's only May and she's already thinking of Christmas. Should I also add that the list is 5 pages long?? Of course, it's written in her 5 year old large print and includes things for Carlie and Abby Kate....but still.

* Abby Kate has officially found her voice. And, it is the cutest thing to hear her talk and even sometimes "yell" in her sweet way. I told her the other day, she's gonna have to learn to use that voice in this household. It's the only way she'll survive. Today, she used her scream to let me know I had completely forgotten her at school. Another teacher brought her to me because she was screaming and hungry. Oops! I had completely forgotten she was even THERE, much less that it was time for her to eat. Luckily, I still got huge smiles from her as soon as I said I was sorry. I mean, what kind of mom completely forgets her child? I have done it more than once...

* Kendyll is very into sharing God with others right now. One night, her Bible story was about being "the salt and light" in the world. Now, that was a challenge to explain completely! But, she did get the whole idea of showing God to others. She decided that the next day she wanted to go around our neighborhood and tell everyone that God loves them. Now, all of a sudden, I realized how "cowardly" I am about doing that very thing. I distracted her enough to not have to follow through on it. (Isn't that awful of me?!) But, she did make a card for all of our neighbors that says God Loves You. Then, she made a note for our niece Sophie (who is a year old) and said "Sofie, Love the Lord with all of your heart. I love you, Kendyll". It was precious.I really do hope she does better than her parents on feeling a burden for the lost and sharing her faith without hesitation.

* Along with telling others about God, she is also very curious about baptism and heaven. She has watched a baptism the last two Sundays, and one was a 13 year old boy. I prayed for him that night with the girls and that sparked an entire conversation. She's scared of baptism, and especially of having to go under the water. After this baptism, she said "Why did his daddy grab his face with a towel and push him in?" She's got a point there, ya know. I told her he was just helping him not get his face wet. Then, she loved the idea. :) I told her that baptism is so exciting and that the angels throw a party in heaven every time someone becomes a Christian. This led to a conversation about heaven. She asked if everyone in the whole world will be in heaven. So, I told her that only the people who believe in God and live their lives for Him will be there. This was the conversation:

K: "You mean there are people who don't even believe in God?"
Me: "Yes, there are. Isn't that sad? They don't even know that they are His children!"
K: "Well, don't they want to be walking in the light?"
Me: Totally laughing...."I know! It's so much better to know about how much God loves us."
K: "Don't they know they're gonna be constroyed? Just like all the people with Noah? Only Noah and his family were not constroyed!"
Me: Laughing again...."You're right Kendyll. That's why we have to tell everyone we know about God."

Constroyed. Walking in the light. Where does she get this stuff???

* We have begun a budget at our house. Yes, we should have been on one all along. But, we haven't been. We've recommitted to that, and it's making such a difference. "Financial Peace" with Dave Ramsey ROCKS. So far, we've paid for everything from our little envelopes (if you've done this series, you know what I'm talking about) and we're eating at home, leaving our air up high (hard for me to do!), and only getting necessities when we're shopping (also hard for me). This has really thrown Kendyll. Yesterday we were in Wal-Mart picking up necessities. She saw a few different food items that we would have probably bought "in the old days", as I'm calling them. So, after hearing the same line from me a hundred times of "That's too expensive, and we don't need it." She finally said, "Mommy, WHY do we only buy the stuff that's cheap?!" It was a great teachable moment about money. And, I took full advantage of it. :)

* We're bobbing hair for the summer! Both Kendyll and Carlie want to get their hair cut off for summer, and I can't wait. I'm hoping my mom will cut it for me this weekend while we're visiting. She's really good at getting your hair really short....even when you weren't planning on cutting it that short. Ha ha. Love you, Mom. (She was the chief hairstylist when we were growing up, and we got many cuts that were inches shorter than they were intended to be, as she tried to make it 'even'.)

Okay, I'll stop there. Unfortunately, this is what happens when I don't blog for weeks. I have way too much to fit into an update. :)