A Case of the Grumps

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~Melody Beattie

I woke up a bit grumpy today.

Lord, help me to be grateful. Help me cast down the lies that swirl around me. I believe in You, help my unbelief! Be my vision today as I minister to the most important people in my world: Desi and our kids. May they encounter Your Spirit in me as they see my smile and hear my kind words.

~Rose

Counting My Blessings Hour by Hour

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
~Henry Ward Beecher

More Kitty Love

While doing school last week the kids and I noticed some kitties loving on each other:

It's so sweet how these two like each other so much.

~Rose

52 Lego Birds

The kids made a bunch of Lego birds recently. 52 to be exact. Owen was broken hearted when I said we needed to clean them up before our house guests arrived. We ended up putting them on his desk for the weekend and then keeping a handful on a shelf when we started the school week.

~Rose

Hope's 9th Birthday Photo

This was my favorite shot from our day at the park.
I still can't believe she's 9.

~Rose

Urban Playground

While Desi was gone last week I took the kids out on the town Friday afternoon. There is this park I've seen while driving Hope home from Annie rehearsals. It's across from the Pepsi Center between Speer Blvd. and Cherry Creek, right downtown. We figured out how to get there and were excited to find a great playground with this huge rope jungle gym:

Levi was so cute on this rocking thing. He was talking in his make believe voice and saying that he was on a rocket ship.

Emma found some fuzzy leaves.

I took some 9 yr old birthday pics of Hope at the park. This was near the end of our photo shoot and she was saying something like "Just one more!"

I climbed to the top of the large play structure to take some pics. Levi was upset with me for leaving him on the ground. Apparently his legs did not work properly to use the stairs.

We look forward to bringing Daddy to this playground with us some time!

~Rose

Starr Academy Week 9

Todd Jr. found Hope's new fish tank.

Thankfully she can't get to the fish!

My Egypt plaque. These were fun to make.

Hope's finished plaque and dinosaur (she made the dino a long time ago and just painted it at the same time as the plaque).

Owen has begun his bible reader. The first few days he read half to a whole page. Thursday he read two and a half pages. He was overwhelmed when he first saw it. I told him he could take breaks but once he got started, he read straight through. His reading is improving all the time. He even colored the picture which is a rare thing for him.

He has begun his bible notebook as well. It's a joint effort between Owen and I. As we go through his bible reader, we will be making notebook pages with titles, drawings and later summaries of the stories.

Owen loves flash cards! I made these to work with Owen the last two weeks. I did not want him to go on to the next Math U See lesson until he had these addition facts down. He learned them in this order: 2s, 9s, 8s and doubles. Hope HATES flash cards so we don't use em. We do other things. I think flash cards are a great learning tool and it's wonderful to have a child who is eager to use them. Thanks Owen :)

It was another great week of schoolin' at home.

~Rose

Emma's Big Bicycle Day Pics

Here are the pics I took as Emma learned how to ride without training wheels!

Emma gave her rocket ship bike to Levi a few months ago.
He loves it.

I admire Emma's quiet confidence. She just knew she could do it.
No fear.
Amazing, beautiful, wonderful girl.

So this bike used to be Hope's and it's the one Hope learned to ride without training wheels on as well. Emma and I found the training wheels in the backyard on Sunday, Desi installed them, and 4 days later they were off the bike again!

Emma did not want to go home for dinner. It was dark and she was still riding! Desi even took her out for a short night ride after dinner! I love that we have a huge parking lot across the street for the kids to play safely.

~Rose