4 months

Ansley is officially the size of the bear now. She also is a fidgety little thing. She had a hard time holding still for her portraits.

And she loves to chew on everything she can get her mouth on...even a bear leg.It seems like I was just posting her 3 month pictures. I can't believe a whole month has already gone by...and at the same time I can't believe we survived another month. :o) This is what she is up to these days:

-chewing on her hands...my shoulder, her dress, a toy, etc.

-squealing at the top of her lungs...sometimes happy, sometimes mad

-she had her first solid food today and loved it...she gave me big smiles

-she takes a bottle when mommy needs to get out...woo-hoo

-she started giggling when we play peek-a-boo or tickle her...otherwise she has a very serious look

-goes to sleep on her own without needing to be rocked...thank goodness for thumbs

-she's finally on a predictable schedule so we can plan our days accordingly

-she loves to flip over in the middle of the night and waits for us to come flip her back so she can go back to sleep...we have our "flipping back over" practices every day to remedy this problem but we have yet to master that skill

-she's my slowest gainer but as you can see by the rolls, she loves her food...my favorite is the wrist roll

hospitality

Just saw this on the John Piper website. Thought it was challenging. Who should we have over next?

"In Romans 12:13 Paul points out that one effect of God’s mercy on his people is that they “seek to show hospitality.”

Seek. Pursue. Chase after.

They are not merely willing to be hospitable when someone comes to the door or asks for a favor. But they seek to show hospitality. They’re looking for and creating opportunities to be hospitable, not just answering the doorbell.
That Paul would point to seeking, not merely being willing to be hospitable, makes sense. After all, it’s an implication he’s drawing from the gospel—a gospel that says God was not merely hospitable to us when we asked him, but he sought to show hospitality.
He took initiative toward us before we showed up at his door or asked for any favors.
I’m thinking who we should have over next."

lil' girl

This is my lil' monkey....not sure why I call all my kids monkey's but it is meant to be endearing. I get comments all the time on how petite Ansley is. I'm not used to having a baby that actually wears the size clothes of the age they are at. It's a good thing she is so cute because there are days where she can keep us guessing. It's amazing how such a little thing can be so much work. But I think we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel...I actually took a trip to Target (it's new to the island) yesterday all by myself with all 3 kiddo's. That is about a 50 minute (round trip) drive. All did well. We ate at the snack bar (I love Target's snack bar), Ansley slept in the sling wrap and the boys got a new train.

lil' froggy

We've discovered that Ansley is part frog...

rainy day

Today it rained and poured and of course we had to venture out and go puddle jumping...even though it was a cool 68 degrees (as you can see by Jude's "mommy I'm cold" face). Hopefully tomorrow the sun will come back out and dry up the lake that was created in our yard.

baptism

play dough

We just made some fresh orange and yellow play dough...and this is how all of their toy cars and trains end up with play dough stuck in the wheels. Here's the recipe if anyone is interested:

1 3/4 cup water
3 T oil
Food coloring (about 15-20 drops)
2 cups flour
2 T cream of tartar
1 cup salt

Boil water, oil and food coloring. Add to dry mixture.Knead to remove lumps (be careful it's pretty hot). Keep in air tight container.

shoo fly

Yesterday Jude, Ansley and I took a little walk to the beach to look at the waves (it was too cold to go swimming) and as we were walking down the beach path I realized Jude had stopped a few feet behind me. I turned around to see what he was doing and he stood frozen starring at his arm and flinging his hand as a little fly would land, fly off and land again on Jude. So I asked:

"Jude what are you doing?"

With a terrified look Jude replied, "The fly is chasing me."

This kid cracks me up. I could post a Jude saying everyday.

gardenia

I have decided this is my favorite flower. Our neighbor brought these flowers over and our whole room smells like gardenia's....ahhh, a natural air freshener.

what's your middle name?

Ethan has learned the books of the New Testament by learning the Books of the New Testament song. And he has also commented on the fact that Jude is one of the books of the Bible. Every once in a while I will hear Jude singing songs to himself that he hears Ethan singing...sometimes in his own Jude way of singing. So it made me laugh when I had this conversation in the car with Jude.

me: (talking to Ansley) Ansley Leilani (in a sing-song voice)

Jude: way-wani?

me: Leilani. That is Ansley's middle name. What is your middle name?

Jude: Jude

me: that is your first name. Do you know what your middle name is?

Jude: Jude....the Revelation.

Happy Easter!

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

how to chew on a toy 101

This is Ansley demonstrating the best way to chew on a toy:

Step 1: First pick out a really bright colored toy that looks really tasty.
Step 2: Bring it up to your mouth...oh wait...your cheek...Step 3: No definitely the mouth.Step 4: Then open your mouth and chew on it...sometimes it helps to use your tongue like a frog if your hand isn't quite cooperating.Step 5: Sometimes if you smile a little it will make everyone around you smile back...that's really fun. Step 6: Then chew on the tasty, plastic toy...blech... Step 7: ...actually that doesn't really taste that good.
Step 8: I thought that was going to taste a lot different than that. Man, all that work and it tastes really gross. I think I will just leave it right here for now.
Next demonstration is going to be "how to spit-up on a freshly laundered shirt that your mommy just dressed you in"...I'm really good at that one.

big brothers

Some snuggle time with their little sis.

chocolate chip cookies

My mom got the boys this book recently called Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons. It's a really cute book but what's really great about it is that it has a Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe in the back. So we had to try it out and, let me just say, it's the best homemade chocolate chip cookies I've ever had....we've already made two separate batches.

my 'mato eater

This little boy cracks me up. Jude loves tomatoes (or as he says 'mato's). He eats grape tomatoes as if they were candy. Yesterday he asked if he could have a 'mato and I told him that we only had big tomatoes...but that didn't seem to matter. He ate it as if it were an apple. I think we have a future gardener on our hands because he loves his fresh fruits and veggies.

100 days of school

We have been back to school for about a month now after our "baby break". Ethan has done really well with his Kindergarten year. So today we celebrated our 100th day of school by having activities that had to do with counting to 100. We counted out 100 pieces of cereal for breakfast, put 100 stickers on a piece of paper, downloaded a coloring sheet off of a website with 100 quarters on it, read the book 100 School Days by Anne Rockwell, and counted out 60 peanuts + 40 chocolate chips for our snack. Ethan thought it was great but I'm a little tired of counting to 100.

The Courage to Be Protestant

I started reading a book a few months ago called The Courage to Be Protestant by David Wells. I haven't finished it yet because of a particular little newborn that has occupied my time but I am left still digesting the few chapters I got to read when I had a little more "free" time. I would recommend this book to every Christian out there. It is such a good and eye-opening book....at times a lot to digest but so challenging. I know the importance of a Biblical worldview/framework and how easily we as the church are looking through a secular/non-Christian worldview without even realizing it. The reason is lack of doctrine (lack of knowledge of Scripture).

"The erosion in biblical ways of thinking at first passed almost unnoticed...no doubt there were many specific causes...as serious biblical preaching in the churches diminished, ignorance of biblical truth became commonplace...Christianity became increasingly reduced simply to private, internal, therapeutic experience." (p.8)

The result of this is Christians (including myself) who justify their actions based on the cultural norms and not Scripture. We then end up with Christians who leave a church because they don't enjoy the music not because of false teaching...Christians who complain that the sermons aren't entertaining enough and are too deep, rather than rejoicing that the Truth of Scripture is preached...Christians who skip church quite regularly because any event that arises trumps attending church, including sleep...Christians who don't want to be told that they are a sinner but want to feel good about themselves when they leave...Christians who voted for a president who fights for the rights to kill babies (Freedom of Choice Act) and those voters saying that there are other issues to vote on besides abortion...Christian fathers/husbands who live in sin and don't see the need to repent or change...Christian teenagers who live lives no different than the culture and don't see what they're doing as sin...Christian parents that give into cultural norms or legalism for their children rather than seeing what Scripture says about raising children...Christians who show up at church - consume - and leave...Christians that demand they are put first above anyone or anything else - even God...Christians who sacrifice everything for material possessions and believing that it will fulfill them.........

"...in Scripture alone is God's authoritative truth found, in Christ alone is salvation found, it is by grace alone that we are saved, and this salvation is received through faith alone...This is what gives us a place to stand in the world from which to understand who we are, what the purposes of God are, and what future lies before us." p.21

I do see a danger in the direction the church as a whole is going and it pushes me to seek after God and Scripture as I raise my children in this culture. It also makes me thankful that we attend a church that isn't afraid to preach the truth...even when it causes people to leave. Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."