Pictures from Michelle

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My Baby is 2....

Just born

Oct. 30, 2007

Happy First Birthday!

Oct. 2009

His 2 year pictures will be coming soon!

I love you Baby Seth...I love that you are always smiling, always open for hugs and cuddles, I love that you adore your brother and sister, I love that after 2 kids I now have a 'mamas boy' (somedays I love that more then others!!), I am learning to love that because of you I have grown in patience and humility, I love that you can make anyone smile and everywhere we go people stop to talk to you because you always say "Hi!" whether you know them or not...I'm certain that you have brightened the days of many people that we've seen. Thank you for being my baby boy...I look forward to seeing what God has in store for you (and for your dad and I as your parents).

I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby Seth you'll be.

Love, mom

Commandment 5

Commandment 5 -- Honor Your Father and Mother

Last year during our Alphabet Verses when we did letter 'O' we talked about, Obey your parents for this is right. Eph. 6:1 Now talking about the 5th Commandment we decided to demonstrate to the kids how this is an everyday choice whether it's with big actions or even simple jobs around the house. Honor is also more then just obedience, it is also respect.

Seth's birthday is coming up on Friday and we are having a party on Sunday for him. Needless to say there are a few things that need to get done before that....we could have put some of these jobs off for a couple days, or chosen for Dan and I to do them at night when the kids are in bed, but instead we asked them to work with us to help get jobs done.

The word Honor we talked about meaning more then just obeying as we talked about in Ephesians...the 5th commandment is also referring to respecting your father and mother. The combination of respect and obeying is pretty huge. Not only do we pray that they obey what we say, we also pray that they would obey God's call on their life....along with that obedience we pray that they respect what we tell them...that they realize we have their best interest in mind.

Last night we had a lot of fun in the kitchen talking as a family about the 5th Commandment as well as just talking in general. After washing their hands, the kids helped me pull green grapes and purple grapes off the stems. They helped cut celery and strawberries as well. Dan cut the broccoli and califlower while I was making a HUGE batch of chili. Once they finished their projects they helped me make chili. Doing all these projects together was a lot of fun. Even Seth got in on all the fun....he LOVES helping and he LOVES cooking, so this was a great family time for him!! :)

Back to life....Back to reality....

Dan and I had a great weekend of relaxing, sleeping in, going out whenever we wanted to, talking, talking, talking (with no interruptions)....yep, it was GREAT!!!

I have to say though...I missed my kids...even the little rascal!! :) Since picking them up though whenever they bicker or if Seth is being rascally...I sing "Back to life...Back to reality"...the 'honeymoon' is over -- we're parents! :)

Remember the Sabbath

Family time last Sunday focused on the fourth commandment, which says we are to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. We took this opportunity to help our children understand one of the unique things we do to keep the Sabbath day holy. Communion is unique to Christianity. It was modeled and commanded by Jesus to his followers in the Upper Room. We tried our best to explain what Jesus said and why he said it. So, we got out a piece of bread and some juice and tried to explain it.

Jesus said, "This is my body." He did not mean it was his actual body but that it represented his body. He broke it in front of them to represent what would be happening to his actual body. Josiah and Alayna already knew about Jesus on the cross but did not know as much about the beating he was given before going to the cross. Even though this beating was brutal it does not make Jesus unique. Others face similar deaths during the Roman Empire.

Jesus also said, "This is my blood." He did not mean that it was his actual blood. Alayna agreed and added, "If it was real blood we would get sick!" This is where Jesus' death becomes unique. Since the beginning of sin in this world God has always connected sin and death. After Adam and Eve sinned God killed an animal and clothed them. All the old testament sacrifices were incomplete. Jesus' blood was a perfect covering for all our sins because He was perfect. His blood did what animal blood could not.

Jesus wants us to reflect on His perfect sacrifice because we need to remember that we are not perfect and have a need for Him. This is one of the ways that we can remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.

Sneak Peak!!!

In August a friend of mine...who is also a blog friend (you can read about her life here http://erhardts.blogspot.com/) had a photo session giveaway and I WON! Ok, that NEVER happens to me, but it did and I was PUMPED! Knowing that Seth's 2nd birthday was coming up I chose to use it to get his 2 year pictures taken. Here is a link to his sneak peek...they are super cute -- even amidst whacking his chin the day before and making a HUGE scab and getting air freshner in his eye the day of his pictures...with some angle magic they turned out GREAT! Check them out -- http://www.kbphotostudio.blogspot.com/

A Great Week!

**a Family Time post will be coming soon...we talked about remembering the Sabbath**

There are always weeks that you have more things to look forward to then others....some weeks you can't wait to have them over and others you see on the calendar and you look forward to them...this is a week I've been looking forward to....

- Seth's 2 year pictures

- Going out to eat with girlfriends to celebrate a birthday

- Chatting on Skype with dear friends (that wasn't on the calendar..it was just an extra bonus!!!)

- Going with Alayna's preschool to the pumpkin patch

- A much needed hair cut appt.

- A lunch meeting for more possible work

and of course...the icing on the cake....

- My mom is taking the kids for a few days (it's NDEA) and so I get to spend quality time with a quality husband...I can't wait! Thanks MOM!!!

Scary Moment!

Who me??? I'm innocent!!!

Last week Seth gave his dad and I a BIG scare!

I was upstairs getting ready for the day and Dan was downstairs getting his stuff together for the day. I knew Seth was downstairs and so I assumed Dan was watching him....Dan thought he had gone upstairs and figured I knew what our little rascal was up to....when it was time for Dan to leave he was calling for all of us to come say good-bye together as a family and as he was calling for Seth I told him he was downstairs with him. Dan thought he was upstairs and needless to say we went on a search for Seth.

Dan went to see if Seth was playing in the garage (a fun thing for him) the garage door was opened. We learned that he can climb up on the trash can and open the garage door. Needless to say...he escaped out of our house, out of the garage and he ran into our backyard where it meets up with our neighbors who have a fence and a dog named Hunter that the kids like to play with. Dan spotted his pajama foot prints in the frosted grass and then saw Seth talking to Hunter through the fence. After that little heart stopping episode our house is now like Fort Knox on the inside. Kid proof door knob covers and the sliding door has board at the top so that Seth can't move that either. One more story to add to the collection of Seth moments!

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Yesterday the kids were all playing in the basement together. We heard a cry...not a whine...a cry of pain. We aren't sure what happened...Alayna and Josiah were playing not totally paying attention to Seth, but what we can piece together is that he decided to climb from the bed onto the window ledge and somehow he fell and bumped his chin on the ledge and scraped his chin and bit his tongue. The poor guy has a big bruise and a cut on his chin as well as a bump on his tongue...and yep, we have his 2 year pictures tonight!! Perfect timing buddy!

Family Time....

Tonight we were supposed to talk about Commandment 4 - Remember the Sabbath....what better day to talk about and reflect on what the sabbath means then Sunday. Needless to say, we are pushing our Family Time back a few days so that we can talk about it all day while we're living it.

However, that being said....we did enjoy some family time tonight just relaxing and having a 'pizza picnic' as we call it in our house. We spread out a blanket and eat pizza on the blanket while we hang out and watch a movie together. It's a lot of fun!! I (Michelle) had a migraine earlier today and felt pretty miserable most of the day...I'm much better now, but a relaxed night of cuddling with the kiddos was great 'medicine'.

In case you're wondering, tonight's movie was 'Kung Fu Panda'. :)

Commandment 3

Obviously we're a bit behind in posting what our Family Time consisted of this week. We are still talking about the 10 Commandments. It's been fun to see the kids really enjoy memorizing them and reciting them at random moments throughout the day. Their excitement for the commandments is a great picture of how I think God would like us to see them. Not as a 'shame on you, point my finger in condemnation', but as a 'loving, safety net, showing us that He cares for us'. They each have them completely memorized and can recite them forwards, backwards and put in random order.

This week we talked about Commandment number 3: Don't say God in a bad way.

Obviously our kids haven't been around this too much b/c when we asked for examples on how people might do this...their only example was someone saying, "I really don't like God"...they had other examples, but this was the general idea for each of their examples. We went around the circle of people and thought of words associated with that person. Alayna was pretty, funny, smiley, happy, and fun. Josiah was strong, funny, a good brother, and good at math. We did this for mom and dad too but you get the idea. Then we asked the kids how they would feel if their name was used every time someone thought angry thoughts or whenever a person thought something was really dumb. Both Josiah and Alayna were bothered by the idea that their names would be used in this way. These negative associations would not be true to who they really are. It is the same with God. We should only use His name when we are speaking the truth about who He is. It's not just about following a rule it's about loving Him...God Almighty.

Biblical Womanhood

There are 8 parts to this series....I will only post the links after I have actually heard the messages. Each message is about 10 minutes long....I pray you find these messages encouraging not condemning. They are great reminders and encouragement especially for those of us raising girls. Enjoy!

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6uNj7lauhA

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYvJ7UE8FEc

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD6LL9vslYE

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JlN6z2ItQY

Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qljgjT2Q4-g

"We-O-We-O"

I love when kids really start trying to say new words...it's ADORABLE to hear how they practice saying it. This is one of my favorites right now...it's just one of those adorable things I want to remember....

Another one of my favorites right now it him saying 'Josiah'...it comes out...'Yie-Yah'