Sunglasses!

Sarah here...

We have a couple pairs of sunglasses floating around, and the littles, esp the boys, like to put them on and wear them. Good times! ;)

I am noticing that a lot my posts with pictures or videos of the boys happen to be in their chairs. Hmm... Maybe that's because they are restrained somewhat so the pictures aren't blurry, and because we often have the camera or iPad handy (Grandma, it has the ability to take pictures, pretty neat what technology can do, huh? hehe).

Emotion Signs with Elijah

Sarah here...

Tonight we were practicing emotion signs with Elijah at supper. I'd say he has all the dramatics for them pretty much down. ;)
*For those of you viewing this in your email, you need to click "My God is Lord" below this post to be taken to the blog, then you can watch the video from the blog. The video does not come through emails.

And THANK YOU soo much to every who bought books!!! We raised nearly $100 for Lilly and Owen! :)

"Countdown to Christmas"

Create new memories that your family will cherish for years!

Do you long to make this holiday season the best ever? Do you wish to escape from the commercialism that hounds us from every corner? Do you want to slow down this Christmas and enjoy the holiday as they did in the good old days?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I would like to offer you a wonderful book that will brighten your family's Christmas. Countdown to Christmas has family friendly stories and activities for every day from December 1st to the 25th. Imagine your family reading a Christmas story each day and then participating in a fun activity together. This will be made simple for you with Countdown to Christmas! The book is broken up into daily sections. Each day has a story and an activity that will take about 30 to 45 minutes. (Scroll down to find out more about the book and how you can order it. But please hurry, orders are due this Friday, November 16th!)

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Our family (among others) was offered the opportunity to sell this special book as a fundraiser.  I have a copy of the book here and we're really looking forward to starting it on December 1st.  We will make $10 on every book we sell...BUT we will be donating that $10 to Lilly and Owen's Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree account. Sarah and Rachel are Owen and Lilly's Angel Tree Warriors. We thought this would be a fun way to help them out.

This is Lilly!

This is Owen!

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More about the Countdown to Christmas book...

You can find out more about the book HERE and view the Contents and a sample chapter. This video below is very helpful too. (Do NOT order the book from her website though.) Many of the stories are from the 1800s, so the language may be a bit different than what you are used to, but I think that adds to the charm. We have used the "Countdown to Easter" book in the past and have enjoyed it as well.

To order, you will need to send me $25 as a personal gift at deut4.9@gmail.com through Paypal (or give me check/cash if you are local). If you need help doing that, please let me know. Also, be SURE to put your mailing address in the comments, so I can pass that on to the publisher. She will then mail your book out in time to begin your "countdown" on December 1st. That's it! Lilly and Owen will each receive $5 in their grant funds for each book sold and you will have a wonderful book to celebrate the Christmas holiday. Remember, I need to have the orders by this Friday, November 16th. Thanks so much for your support!

Eating Elijah's Toes!!

Elijah started doing this today - sticking his toes in tiger's mouth, and acting like it hurt.

I (Sarah) was prompting him to do it again on video, but originally, he did it all by himself.

He cracks me up!

*For those of you viewing this in your email, you need to click "My God is Lord" below this post to be taken to the blog, then you can watch the video from the blog. The video does not come through emails.

Rachel says...

Sarah writing...

Rachel (while looking out the window) - "I found a big blue turtle under the hamper!!"

The garbage can lid under the camper :)

The other day, when Isaac was pretending to beat her up (he didn't actually touch her), she says - "Isaac, did you break me?"

And a couple weeks ago she asked me to butter her toothbrush with toothpaste.

Just now she was looking through a magazine and asked:
"Rebekah, what do you want for Christmas?"
"Dad to grow a beard!"
"What beard? I don't see any in here!"

Love this girl!

Taken Aug 2012... wish it was still warm enough to wear that!

Signing "Signing"

Unless you have a child that loves Signing Time (ST), this makes no sense to you.  But, as you saw yesterday from Sarah's post here, Jonathan is now enthralled with watching Baby ST. This is NEW!  I'm so happy.  No, not because it is a free babysitter. I'm happy because I'm hoping it will help him start signing, and much more importantly, communicating, 

So, today, he walked up to the tv and signed "signing" by rolling his hands around in a circle. YAY! Go Jonathan!  Now, granted, I'm not looking forward to when he asks for ST all.day.long like his big brother, but hey, at least he will be expressing his desires, right? ST was/is a HUGE help for Elijah to communicate with us and I'm hoping it will help Jonathan too. Jonathan is now signing "milk" more regularly now too. :-)

Chunky Monkey: Officially Addicted

Sarah here..

The Chunky Monkey is addicted to Signing Time.

Today he was woken up early from his nap by an unnamed-whistle-blowing-sibling, and was in a cranky mood. I turned on Baby Signing Time, and he sat there quietly for the whole thing (30 min), and half-way through when it started over! Then he came to find me with a smile on his face. Nothing like a little Signing to Time to cheer you up!

I have to say - Rachel Coleman is the boy's favorite baby sitter! And, after the initial fee, she babysits for free on short notice!

Jonathan's New Sign

Mr. Monkey has a new sign! Watch the video to find out what it is!

*For those of you viewing this in your email, you need to click "My God is Lord" below this post to be taken to the blog, then you can watch the video from the blog. The video does not come through emails.

Please pray for this family...

I can't even imagine... :-(

http://www.abcactionnews.com//dpp/news/region_south_hillsborough/riverview/body-of-missing-10-year-old-girl-found-in-pond-near-riverview-school

Happy Birthday R & R!!!

(Has it really been a week since I blogged? Oops! A huge thank you to Sarah for uploading this photos for me, even starting the blog post for me. Without her, you would probably never see pictures of my kids! Thanks Sarah!)

My beautiful two youngest daughters celebrate their birthdays just two days apart. Rachel came home from the hospital on Rebekah's 3rd birthday. She still believes it's the best birthday present she'll ever have. :-)

We invited family and a few friends over on Sunday for cake. Sarah and her BFF, Rachel, made the awesome birthday cake on Saturday afternoon. It was FOUR layers with homemade butter cream frosting. Yum!!!

Rachel is 3 and Rebekah is 6!

We lit half of the cake first and sang to Rebekah, then did the other half for Rachel.
I love Elijah's reaction when we sign "Happy Birthday". As soon as we are done, he claps and  blows as hard as he can, whether he is near any candles or not! :-)

The beautiful 4 layer cake!!! It almost didn't fit on the plates.

 The girls' brothers got in on the fun too of course!

Rebekah was very excited to have her own duct tape so she can make creations just like her big sister, Anna.

$6 for 6 years old from Gma and Gpa

A new bike! She learned to ride w/o training wheels this summer. She's very excited! 

After the guests left, the training wheels came off and the kick stand went on - outside of course.

Rebekah G and Rebekah B

Rachel G and Rachel B

Nana (friend from church) and Rachel

The birthday girls with their grandparents

with Mom and Dad