Already thinking about my birthday?

We went walking around some upscale shops in Carmel just for the fun of it and Gabriel found a birthday present for me. It was just about all the kids could talk about to each other was "the present" and saving up money for it. They have talked and talked and talked about it. I don't need expensive gifts, I'd be thrilled with a hand-made card but the fact that they get excited about saving their money for a present for their Mommy and that they "can't wait to see my face" does bring me much joy! They love their Mommy.

If My Children were Literary Characters What Characters Would They Be?

Well, with this entry you can see some of the meanderings of my mind . . . if I were to pick a literary character to describe my kids what characters would I pick?

Gabriel-I was having a hard time coming up with his but I felt quite sure it would be a historical character. My mom helped me and hit the nail on the head BENJAMIN WEST (of course he is not a made up character but one of the greatest painters in history). . . respectful to authority, extremely kind to both humans and animals, gets absorbed into things he is passionate about and forgets what is going on around him.

Annalina-If I were to pick one it would be SARAH CREW out of the book A Little Princess. She is strong willed, extremely high level of imagination, kindness to all, inner fortitude to do what is hard and seemingly impossible. A quote when Sarah is going to be left at a boarding school in England far from her father in India (Annalina has experienced simialar with her daddy gone for a school year over seas and she went through some very rough things so I know her attitude it is one of a soldier and not a complainer: "I don't like it, papa," she said. "But then I dare say soldiers - even brave ones - don't really like going into battle."

— Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)

Ross-I would pick DON QUIXOTE! (If I was to pick a children's character than Obadiah the Bold) This quote I posted before but fits Ross to a tee . . . "he was spurred on by the conviction that the world needed his immediate presence."--Cervantes in Don Quixote

Carson-It's just to early to figure out. It will be interesting to see though!

Mommy, I'm Sorry I was a Hypocrite

Ross has memorized James 3:13-18. Actually, Gabriel and Annalina did too. I love those verses and wanted the kids to memorize them. Well, now that Ross has them memorized and hidden in his heart they can speak to him!

One night Ross came to me and kept saying "I'm sorry Mommy I was a hypocrite!" I thought what on earth is he talking about? So I asked him. He said "I told Gabriel not to hit me and then I hit him." I'm thankful that he is already able to compare himself to God's Word and see where he needs to improve! :-)

Annalina's Baptism

As many of you know, Annalina's journey to this day began years ago when she asked Jesus to be her Saviour. She recognized her sin and her need of Jesus as her Saviour from that sin. Annalina has grown both physically and spiritually since her salvation. She is strong minded :-) but desires to do what is right and tries hard to do it. Weeks ago I noticed Annalina seemed like something was on her mind but wasn't sure what it was, if really anything, it was just a Mommy hunch. Finally, one night she came to me and told me she wanted to be baptized and that she had been thinking about it and now just wanted to let me know. She knew it was what the Bible said was her next step but also understood that her salvation was complete but that the baptism was just in obedience and also to show others her trust in Him.

Pastor Grant came over one day and questioned Annalina concerning her faith and her understanding of baptism and came to the same conclusion Brian and I had that she was ready. Pastor Grant (our church's youth pastor) is an amazing pastor, while taking the matter very seriously and verifying her belief and understanding he showed such a calmness and love and excitement for her and her decision.

This morning just before it was her turn I saw the whole situation hit her and read it on her face but she assured me "I am still excited". I held her and said it is ok to be nervous that being brave meant doing what is right anyway and with that she was just that brave despite fear. When asked this morning why she wanted to be baptized she said "because Jesus loves me and I want people to know I love Him."

Watching her made me think back to when she was a really little tyke and Brian was deployed and Grandpa and I took her to a mall around Christmas time. A lady at the mall said something like "What do you want from Santa Claus?" Annalina said very kindly but unabashedly "I don't believe in Santa Claus I believe in God!" The same little girl was again today willing to brave going in front of people to say Hey, I am His and He is mine!!! As we know, the Christian walk is day by day and Annalina, as all of us, will daily have to make decisions as to her walk with her Lord but Brian and I are thrilled to see her desire to today identify with and obey Christ. We are so excited to see how God will use her if she stays surrendered to Him and that is our prayer. Thank you for those of you that pray for our children that they will grow to know and love Christ. I just wanted to share our special day with you.

Don't Lose Your Marbles

I got this idea from Family Fun magazine. This is a rewards system for doing jobs around the house whether given as permanent jobs or jobs they just need to be done. They get marbles when they do jobs that they are NOT reminded to do or have NOT been asked to do. The point of the reward system is that when the jar is filled or the predetermined line is reached than a special thing is gotten (slumber party, ice cream treat, etc.). We use money with the kids which also gives us the opportunity to teach about tithe, savings, and spending. A friend of mine started this and she uses Play Mobile figures for her boys which I think is brilliant and I am thinking of switching to that for Ross' incentive since he gets money for reading. I decorated a jar for each kid so they knew which jar was theirs. It is great hearing marbles clanking in the jars! We have done this for quite a few months now and yes I do still have to remind some for jobs but this has definitely become an incentive to remember and look for jobs to be done.

Ross's 4th Birthday--September 19th

A happy little boy with his fire engine 4th birthday cake! He was

so excited for his birthday! He wanted me to tell him his presents on the

way home from church so I told him what he was getting saying the words backward!

Ross likes the birthday card Annalina made for him.

Ross with some of his birthday presents. Ross loves cooking and

is taking cooking classes every Friday, which he really enjoys, and we

really enjoy eating what he cooks!

Ross with the apron that his Auntie Theo made just for him! It is just perfect!

She also sent a wooden spoon and towel! To GREAT!

Never such a thing as to many guns! More to add to our toy weapons box!!

Babe's War College Graduation in September

Babe with the kids outside after the ceremony.

Babe graduated with honors which was nice because he

worked so hard!

Another picture after the ceremony. The building is just beautiful in an old way.

The kids are waiting for the ceremony to start. Carson was

an absolute gem during the ceremony. I was NOT expecting him to

sit that long and be that quiet!!

Carson's First Haircut!

Babe took Carson over to the Naval Postgraduate School to

get his first haircut! He looks sooooo much different

and older!

His head felt like a peach when it was shaved. He looks

incredibly cute!!!

Carson at Home

Carson with Rosser Boy.

Carson with Gabers. He didn't last long here but he enjoyed

it while he decided to be there!

Carson with Daddy. When Daddy is studying in the kids room

he loves to run in and sit next to Daddy like a big boy.

My Goodwill Dress Up Finds

Annalina's dress up Nutcracker Snowflake dress.

Ross's Knight outfit.

Gabriel's brass breastplate. We are going to shine it up and use it as a

wall decoration in his room.

Unfortunately, Halloween is right around the corner but fortunately I found some GREAT dress up clothes for the kids at Goodwill. I bought the REAL brass breast plate for Gabriel for only $3.25!!! For Ross I got the knight shirt with the pretend chain mail armor and the pirate hat. For Annalina I got a real dance dress that reminded me of the snow flakes in the Nutcracker Ballet which she would talk about. I had to get her that dress so she could be a Nutcracker Snowflake! She LOVES it!!

Monterey Bay Aquarium--Otter Night

The kids get a kick out of this room with fish swimming around the ceiling! Since we are aquarium members we were able to attend their "otter night" at the museum but we took the opportunity to look at other things too!

This is one of my favorite parts of the aquarium the jellyfish exhibits,

so beautiful and relaxing!

Gabriel and Annalina got to go with Daddy on a Behind the Scenes tour of the aquarium and they all really enjoyed that! Ross, Carson, and Mommy went to check out the Flamingo exhibit which I hadn't seen yet.

Monterey Fair

We had a great time at the fair. The kids LOVED seeing all the farm animals. That was

a highlight. I actually saw a beautiful cow!!!!! Annalina enjoyed getting her face painted like a puppy dog! We walked to the fair from our house which was part of the adventure of it all. When we were on our way home it was dark and that was quite the experience and the kids found that interesting! It was a great family fun night out especially after Brian had recently finished an insanely busy quarter of school.

The boys got these guns at the fair and were excited about that. Gabriel's eye looks goofy in the picture because I have a new photo editing thing and I didn't know how to use the new red eye so now Gabriel has a black eye! Stink. :-)

"Just Bead It"

Annalina and I went to old town Monterey and went to the "Just Bead it" store to sit and

make our own necklaces. We had a SUPER time! Annalina sat beading her necklace and I

heard her say "This is the life!" My little girl is growing up so fast. It is fun to be able to

go out and do things with her and sit and talk as girls!! We're going to have to do that

again before me move next summer! After our necklace making we went and sipped some fabulous cold lemonade at a restaurant over looking the bay!

Annalina made a super cute red, white, and blue cross necklace!

I made this maroon, pearly, gray necklace.

Double Rainbow

I thought it was fitting that the last pictures I took on our road trip were of this double rainbow. God was so faithful and gracious to us on our trip and we are thankful we were able to go and make the memories we did . When I think of a rainbow I often think of prayer and God's goodness to us. Years ago when Gabriel was just a little tike we lived in an area that didn't rain much during the summer and Gabriel wanted to see a rainbow!! Gabriel prayed for a rainbow and I thought it was sweet but didn't think it would happen!! Guess what? God provided!! One day I looked out the window and got so excited I called Gabriel over and he was SO HAPPY God had given him a beautiful rainbow!! He STILL TO THIS DAY remembers that God did that for him!