For the love of pudding

I just let her go and figured we could take a bath afterwards. She scraped up every little bit she could, and if the spoon couldn't get it, her fingers could. She was in chocolate heaven, and I completely understand.

Mission accomplished

I'm one of the last of my blogging 365 friends to blog about it, but it still had to be done. I finally finished my Project 365, meaning I documented a picture a day for a whole year. I now have an amazing album of little and not so little moments, most of which I never would have recorded without doing this project. I am currently 2-3 years behind in my regular scrapbooking, and although I know I will eventually get those years done, I feel like there are a lot of little moments that I won't remember. I LOVE the every day memories, which is why I LOVE this album.
A few of us celebrated with a little finale last Saturday at Alice's house, and it was fun to look through what others had recorded. Although I am ready for a break from it this year, I think I may do another year sometime in the future. We'll see, but for now I am happy with the year that is DONE.

She found her shadow

A new discovery for Addison and it cracked her up. I found her laughing and pointing to her shadow on the ground, as she moved and watched it move too. I love catching these little moments!

He's a good Dad

He must be, to take on this new look that Symantha gave him. She always loves to do facepainting, and Daddy is her favorite customer. Today they are a dalmation and a tiger. At least she didn't turn him into a princess:)

Today is her day!

Issues of the day

Hailey 
It was my first experience with a kid cutting their hair. I discovered a pretty good size lock of hair lying on the ground, freaked out, and then went to discover which girl was the culprit. There was Hailey, minus a section of hair on the side of her head. In this picture, it looks sort of like layers, but trust me, it's not. I guess it could have been worse, and she assures me it will NEVER happen again!

 

Symantha 

I flipped on the tv and the news happened to be on, showing some pictures of the devastation in Haiti. Symantha saw about 10 seconds of it before I turned the channel, but that was all it took. My soft-hearted, sensitive firstborn was sobbing her eyes out, and it continued for 25 minutes at bed time. We had to have some deep discussions, as she asked how God could let such a thing happen and why she is so blessed with so many things when others aren't. Hard things to explain to a 7-year-old, but also opportunities for some great discussions and lessons in faith. We have been praying about it a lot and looking for opportunities to help in some way.

 

Addison

See all those teeth in that cheesy smile? Those chompers have been terrorizing her sisters the last week or so, as she is going on a biting spree. For a while, it was hardly leaving a mark, but today Hailey had a big, purple teethmarked wound on her arm. The biting issue was never that big with the other girls, but they didn't have two older sisters trying to tell them what to do all the time. Luckily, she hasn't done it to any other kid besides her sisters (yet!), and hopefully it will pass quickly as she learns this is NOT ok. Good thing she's cute:)

Go Upward Go!

The Upward Basketball/Cheerleading season has begun! Last year, we did not participate in this awesome program that our church runs, due to other activities the kids were doing. This year, Derek is coaching Hailey's basketball team (the Kangaroos) and Grandma Edwards is in charge of Symantha's Cheerleading squad (the Glitter Girls). Grandma Edwards has some help keeping up with the TWELVE first and second graders from a high school cheerleader named Alicia. They have been practicing for about a month and just had their first game on Saturday. This begins 9 weeks of us being at the church from 9:30-1:30 every Saturday - woohoo! It's a good thing I love this program and how positive every single part of it is, from memorizing scripture and having devotions at each practice, to not keeping score and just focusing on having fun and showing good sportsmanship.

So, here is Hailey in all her first game glory. She smiled the entire time, dancing and hopping down and around the court. She couldn't have looked more happy if she tried. She can't make a basket to save her life, but she'll tell you she's "gotten really close" and she's a good passer!

Then comes Symantha's cheerleading debut. She LOVES cheer this year and is always practicing her routines. She has 3 girls in her class that joined her squad after she told them about it, which is pretty cool. She got to be the one to call out the cheers this week, which she was ecstatic about.

And let's not forget the littlest Edwards girl and what she was doing during the Upward activity....

She's gotta get some attention somehow!

The Storm before the Calm

That is kind of how Derek thinks our life is going to be for a while. Remember that little bit in my last post about how he is resigning as youth pastor and going back to only ONE job instead of TWO? Well it was announced at church, along with describing what an amazing job he has done for the past two years as the youth pastor (yes, I'm patting my hardworking husband on the back, once again). Let's look again at the picture I had to sneak at church - Andrea was a witness to how I was holding my camera down on my chest in my seat, trying not to draw attention to myself snapping pictures in the middle of announcements!

The announcement was followed by much applause and a standing ovation at one of the services, and it totally brought tears to my eyes. Even though he hated the attention, I was so proud of him, as I have always been.

As I have said already, our lives are going to go through so much change this year! The search process for the new youth pastor has begun, and Derek is co-leading the process. We are in serious prayer that the right guy will be found for this job - please join us in that effort! However, the next few months as we go through that process and Derek continues on with both jobs and he does some really exciting curriculum with the youth and he coaches Hailey's upward basketball team (while always watching Symantha's cheerleading) and he goes on a couple of trips for work and he plans a 30 hour famine.... oh, I'll just stop there, as I'm sure you get the idea. It is the storm before the calm of somewhat normal life resuming. I'm gearing up, and doing my best to support him while looking forward to that CALM. I'm thankful that in the midst of all of this, he really does continue to be a caring, thoughtful husband. I couldn't survive this if he wasn't, and I wouldn't trade him for anything.

Ten on Ten: January

It was a very "real life" ten on ten for me this month. This morning at church, it was announced that Derek has decided that it is time for the church to hire a full time youth pastor and he will be stepping down once they find the right guy (more on that later!). And then it was just a crazy day - Addison had some seriously grumpy moments, and the big girls could NOT seem to get along all day. It didn't help that I was trying to get Addison's birthday invitations finished, so I may have been a LITTLE distracted:) Anyways, here goes...

The Library Drill

We are frequent visitors of the Black Diamond Library, and as Addison has gotten a little older it has become so much easier. Up until a couple of months ago, the library meant me trying to keep Addison in the stroller (which she hated) or let her out a bit but follow her around trying to get her not to pull every book off the shelf. It was crazy almost every time. But the girls have finally all settled into "the library drill", which looks exactly like this:

1. Split up the pile of return books so each girl gets to put some into the chute.

2. Argue over who gets to push the handicapped button to open the door to the library.

3. Run directly to children's section, while I remind everyone to be quiet. Hope that no one is already on the kids' computer because Addison goes directly there and puts the listening headphones on. If someone IS on the computer, prepare to abort the whole mission because Addison may have a complete breakdown. We are working on this part:)

4. Hailey picks a few picture books, Symantha picks a stack of chapter books, and I pick out some stories on cd for us to listen to in the car sometimes. By this time, Addison is done with the computer and grabs a book to look at. See the BEAUTIFUL sight below...

5. Of course, this only lasts a few minutes for Addi. She changes books generally every minute, unless I am sitting reading with her. So I sit with Addison and the big girls continue to read on their own.

6. Notice Hailey's library card on her arm and Symantha's around her neck? That leads us to the next part of the drill - taking the usually large pile of books and cds to check out. Symantha and Hailey each love doing their own pile on their own library card, and they are good about letting Addison have a "turn" as well.

7. Argue once again about who gets to push the button to open the door to leave.

8. Pile into the car and read all the way home, read as we are walking into the house, and continue to read once inside. It's always a good night for me after we get back from the library! Plus, the books I read to them are NEW to me and somewhat interesting (compared to all of the ones I can recite by heart).

Just hangin' out

Watching a little tv, Symantha and Hailey style. This is the tunnel Addison got for Christmas, which the big girls have been finding all sorts of other uses for. Glad this happened on December 31, so I was able to put it in my Project 365. Which I am almost done with and am now going through withdrawals about. All year, I have thought, "What is my picture of the day?" and now I am done! I know I can still take pictures, and I could use my new Project Life for some weeks, but it isn't the same mindset for me. Don't worry, I'll adjust:) I just may be posting a whole lot more randomness on my blog now!