Pinkalicious!

It is 7:05 and my kids have been in bed for about 45 minutes and asleep for 20.  We are all exhausted from our unusually busy and fun weekend!  This afternoon, Mom and I took the girls to Pinkalicious at the Actor's Playhouse in Pearl!  It was so cute and well done!  As you can imagine this has been a favorite book around our house for years.  Both girls had it fully memorized before they were three! And both girls still love to read it regularly!

During intermission they had pink cupcakes for sale!

The cast

This is Pinkalicious!  The girls were SOO excited to get their picture with her!  She was Annie at New Stage last year--no doubt she will be famous one day! 

SB

SB has been our busiest kiddo!  Being 6 is fun!  She has had to adjust to no napping during the week, school all day, a little bit of homework, soccer, and just having some downtime at home!

She is LOVING school!  She has the sweetest teacher and is learning a lot!  This week has been Johnny Appleseed week.  They ended the week with apple bobbing!  

Her sweet class

Olivia, Sarah, and Sara Beth

She has really enjoyed soccer.  I am surprised.  Not sure why I am, but I am, nonetheless!  As the season has progressed we have seen her get better and better!  Last night she had quite a fan club!  Both sets of grandparents, two cousins, and Kate!  

I absolutely love this pic!  What on earth are Sam and Kate talking about?  

Behind

I honestly can not believe that September is over!  I am so far behind!  I have been taking pictures so I will do a post on each child.  First off is Sam! I have the most pictures of him over this last month because he and I just hang out all day!  We are having so much fun.  I am so glad he isn't in school yet!

Lea and Sam  

Sam and Jake

My sweet mom took care of both boys one morning because we each had something to do and couldn't watch each other's kiddo!

About 3 hours after that picture was taken above Sam got really sick!  When he woke up from his nap he was screaming at the top of his lungs and hiding from me!  This was a Monday afternoon!  I took him straight to dr and he had strep!  Actually on Friday I put him to bed and I woke him after 20 hours of sleep on Saturday afternoon at 3:30!  Sunday and Monday morning he seemed fine, then it went all downhill!  I sure hated making that call to Bec and telling her Jake had played with a sick boy all morning.  Thankfully he didn't get sick!

This is what he looked like several hours after the doctor.  Not like what he looked like that morning for sure!

Thanks to a shot it didn't take long for him to bounce back!  Love the helmet is backwards!

This car is in my kitchen more than it is outside!

Sam doing Insanity with me!  He looks like he could be on a commercial for a kid who needs food!

a plank

We have been going to story time at the library on Mondays!

And lots of hard naps in the car since he is the third child!

Kristen and Ryder came into town!  

Jake was at school!

stealing homemade croutons

Praying for your Husband from Head to Toe

Praying for Your Husband from Head to Toe

                                                                                  By Renee Swope

Head

Father, I ask that You would continually renew my husband’s mind, resulting in a transformed life. Help him bring every thought to Christ and make it obedient to You. Give him a greater understanding of Your Word. Help him to think on things that are pure and right and worthy of praise.” (Psalm 119:15, Rom 12:2, 2 Cor.10:5)

Eyes

Lord, keep open my husband’s eyes to spiritual truths that You have for him. Help him to see things as You see them. Please guard his eyes from things that make his heart wander away from you and me. (Psalm 119:18, Psalm 119:37)

Ears

Father, help my husband to hear Your voice clearly. Give him wisdom to recognize your voice with certainty. Protect him from listening to those who aren’t seeking or walking with You. Guard him from negativity of what others say, and help him discern between good and evil. Thank you for giving him the ability to determine what is of You and what is not. (Is 30:21, 1 Kings 3:9, 1 John 4:1)

Mouth

Jesus, help my husband to speak the truth in love. Your desire is for him to be quick to listen and slow to speak – so I pray that you would make that his desire too. Give him courage to lovingly confront when necessary. Let the words he speaks be Yours, not his own. Help him speak words that bring grace and truth to the hearers. Thank you that You want to help him grow in his ability and desire to communicate with you and others. (Psalm 19:14, 119:13, 41:3; Eph 4:15, 4:29; James 1:19)

Heart

Lord, instill in my husband’s heart a desire to seek passionately after You. Teach him to guard his heart with diligence and wisdom. Help him deal with anything in his heart that is not pleasing to You or that separates him from You. Create in him a pure heart, O Lord. Thank you that You are enabling him to lead our family with integrity and honor. (Psalm 78:72, 119:10-11; Prov 4:23; 1 Thes 3:13)

Hands

Lord, I pray everything my husband does would be done with his whole heart, serving You rather than man. Seeking to please You alone. I pray You will increase his skills and his abilities so that he might bring honor and glory to you – and feel like a good provider for our family. Thank You for blessing everything he puts his hands to. (Psalm 24:3-4, Col 3:23)

Feet

Jesus, I pray my husband would love Your Words and walk in Your ways. Help him walk in a manner that is worthy of You, bearing fruit in every good work. I pray You’d show him how to creatively share your truth with our kids as he does life with them each day. Father, when he walks through the valley of the shadow of doubt and difficulties, I pray he would fear no evil because He knows that you are with him. Thank you for loving and leading Him. (Deut 6:7, 8:6, Col 1:10, Psalm 23:4)

Renee Swope is Executive Director of Proverbs 31 Ministries' Devotions and Radio as well as Senior Editor of our Encouragement for Today devotions. She's also the best-selling and award-winning author of A Confident Heart, co-host of Proverbs 31 Ministries’ radio show and a national conference speaker. Renee’s passion is to help women live confidently in Christ by showing them how to rely on and live in the security of God’s promises in their everyday lives. Connect with Renee at www.ReneeSwope.com and on Twitter @reneeswope.

Because of Zeb's work schedule he was only able to be there on Saturday.  Although it did limit our (or at least my) fun, it didn't stop it!

This little guy ran and played so hard.  Anytime we had singing or a lesson he got real quiet in someones arms.

Mr. Nick, Sara Beth, and a walking stick

Our second family activity was a scavenger hunt!  Needless to say the kids had a blast!

Always looking for a ride!

While the littles were napping, we went horse back riding!

After naps we went and did a suspended swing!  I was so proud of Sara Beth.  She was SOOO nervous!  You can see it in her sweet face.  She has conquered so many fears this summer.  She ended up doing it twice!

Katie

My crew...about 8:30 the third night of staying up late!

run to your local newstand

okay...so i am kidding about running to your local newstand, but if you happen to pass one around town, pick up a copy of parent's and kids.  they interviewed zeb a few months ago.  it was a quick interview, but nonetheless there are a few quotes in there.  oh, and you may just learn something!

Family Camp

This weekend we went to family camp at Lake Forest Ranch.  We did this regularly while I was growing up, but we haven't gone since I was a junior in college.  But I think we did it 12 or 13 straight years.  I had forgotten how much fun it was!  It is so laid back and the kids were just free to go!  Our meals were all cooked for us and our cabin was in a great location.  We had a large cabin with 4 rooms.  It worked out great for my family of 5 because we had a jack and jill bathroom shared with my parents and sara and then another bathroom where we were able to put Sam's pack n play.  

Saturday after breakfast we started with a family devotion.  If we go again, I have a feeling we will be bringing our own.  This was a little (or a lot) much for the kiddos!

Then we had a family activity.  These, of course, are always a little cheesy, but they were lots of fun!  We laughed a lot!

 We had to build a free standing tower of balloons with character qualities of each person written on the balloons. We didn't win--actually we didn't even come close!

After lunch was craft time!

This absolutely melts my heart!  During the singing Sam had just had enough!  There was a great speaker.  His name was Dan Hayden and he is really smart!  He spoke each session no Revelations 2 and I really learned a lot!

The rest of the afternoon was just free time!  While the kids were sleeping, Dad, Sara and I did the zip line!  Oh, my!!!  It was high, hard, and scary!  You can't really appreciate the height, but these are tall pine trees!

The kids all rode horses!

And then played by the lake before dinner!