Coats come out

I've been verbally beaten up a few times for not updating my blog.  I know not a ton of people read it, but I guess for people that have moved away, it's a little helpful.  Our kids are growing up big time and they are REALLY fun.  

We went to a fund raiser at Ames Middle School, where Travis teaches now.  Savannah got to get her hair colored and since I happened to have a friend doing the face painting and she snuck us in, the lucky girl got that done too.  She will wait in line all day long for a balloon animal or to get her face painted.  Unfortunately for her, Grandma is usually the only one willing to wait with her.  

Do you like that glow-in-the-day pink coat?  It's from Target.  We initially got one from Walmart because Savannah liked it so much, but it broke after a few weeks.  Walmart Fallapart.  That's what Travis says. :) It's true.  Sorry. 

Savannah really really wanted to do the money bars when school started.  They have a small play ground and a few of her friends could do them.  When school started all she could do was hang on the first bar.  But she worked and worked at it and now she's a pro. She can swing across them over and over.  It's a huge accomplishment and something she's found a lot of pride in.  

Charlie baby is TEN months old now.  He is getting to be SO much fun.  He crawls and gets into everything.  But he's a little different than Savannah was in that he also likes to sit with me and just snuggle.  He may end up being a little less cray cray than his sister.  He is wearing size 18m shirts.  

Travis and I celebrated (sort of) our 11 year anniversary a couple weeks ago.  We had the honor of helping with some friends of ours wedding.  To young kids that we met when they were 14.  They both went on missions trips with us in high school and came to our small groups.  They were always meant for each other.  It was so much fun and kind of like a dream come true (for me and for the bride) to see them finally get married.  

Can you believe this kid?  Look at his head.  It's so big. 

Savannah is still enjoying school a lot.  I love that she loves it.  She has so many new friends and it makes for so many great conversations around our house.  Today she sat in the kitchen and told me about the "authors box" in her room and then she described to me a story that she wrote for it.  And how her friend (that sometimes she doesn't like because he is mean) helps her spell words out that she doesn't know for her stories.  So he's kind of a mean friend and kind of a good friend. 

I'll try to post again soon.  Especially for you, Charissa :) 

Recentness

It's been so long.  My kids are getting so huge! So here's some pictures of them and what we've been doing.  I tried to put some new ones that didn't appear in other social media, but those are some of the best ones anyway.  

Kindergarten is in full swing! Savannah had trying first few weeks, but now she loves it.  She starts her day there at 8:25, and gets to come home at 3:20.  They have a little rest time in the afternoon, but she's pretty busy all day.  We are loving how much she is learning.  Today I woke up at 6:25am and heard her practicing letter sounds in her dark room.  She gets to eat school lunch once a week (we let her choose which day from the school menu) and Travis packs her lunch the other days.  He always puts some candy or something in it, so she loves that.  Charlie and I went to eat lunch with her one day.  It was a lot of fun to interact with some of her new girl friends.   They all love Charlie! 

This picture is pretty blurry, but we got a bird!  Her name is Princess Pepperwood - a compromise on the name. You can guess which part Savannah contributed.  We really like having a bird and Savannah is working on learning to feed and water it herself.  Charlie loves watching the bird.  Sometimes I put it on the table so he can "interact" with it.  

Baby boy is getting big!  He'll be 10 months at the end of October, and I'm putting him in 12 months clothes already.  I have no idea how much he weighs now, but it's a lot.  He still isn't sleeping through the night, but we're going to work on that.  He's eating all kinds of things. He prefers food he can put in his mouth himself and the little stinker is already avoiding vegetables!  You wouldn't think by looking at him that he avoids any food.  He's also crawling everywhere.  Wont be too long before he works on walking.  

We keep reminding ourselves, when things get crazy and when both Savannah and Charlie are freaking out.  When we are so so so tired.  And when scheduling naps and play dates is ridiculous - this is a short short phase.   We are in a season.  Our kids are amazing.  We love them and even though it will be nice when they don't take so much out of us - we know we will miss having a baby and a five year old because they are such a joy!

Worry about yourself!

This video is probably cuter if you have little kids and have experienced the "joy" of trying to help them in their stubbornness.
I was recently able to attend a conference in Chicago through the Revive Our Hearts ministry.  I knew it was geared for woman in leadership, but not much else.  The theme of the who deal ended up being based around the idea of helping people see grace during times of trial.  Getting in the mess and really ministering to the most hurting people that need ministered too.  I don't know about you - but that's something I tend to want to run from!  The weekend was good for my soul, and my leadership, in that it helped me to have the confidence I sometimes lack in knowing the truth about what God says about trial.  Hopefully I'll get around to more of that later, but for today I was looking through my notes from the first session and remembered this video.  Here are some of the points that connect with it:

- God is our help.  Johovah Azer.  I AM help.
- Sometimes we would rather live in defeat than cry out to God for His help.  He wants to help us and He will wait for us to cry out.  He will wait for us to try getting help from other gods (people, quick fixes, programs) if that's what it takes.
- God does not help those who help themselves.  He helps those who cry out for help!
- Anything that makes you need God is a blessing.
- He would love for us to recognize - Why do I desperately need God today?  You do need him.

May God never allow me to get to the point where I think I can do what He has called me to do without His help.

Charlie is SEVEN months old

I realize that this place has been dead lately.  As usual in the summer, we are OUT!  But Charlie Baylor is changing quickly and just (actually two weeks ago) turned 7 months old.  Here's what's up with him these days: 

He had his 6 month check up in July and was in the 95th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference.  He's a big boy, but he is full of laughs, smiles, and so much joy.  

Although I tried some solids with him over the last couple months, it was just recently that Charlie started eating solids.  And boy is he eating them!  He actually much prefers mashed food on a spoon to his regular bottle.  His favorites are sweet potatoes, peaches, and yogurt.  Boy has a sweet tooth.  I've had to mix some of the less sweet foods (green beans for instance) with pears or peaches to get him to take them. I've noticed that he is a much less messy eater than Savannah was.  That's a little nice. 

Charlie had a ROUGH first few months.  But he really has become fairly easy going.  He lets us take him anywhere.  He goes with it when we force him to skip naps.  And he'll eat on the go if need be.  Isn't he pretty?

Other new things:  

Sleeping three naps a day, but unswaddled now.  

He's also able to roll from back to front, but only seems to do it in his crib when he's trying to not sleep. 

He stands up for long periods of time holding on to things.  And he can pull himself up sometimes. 

He loves to dig.  Cupboards, boxes, drawers, laundry baskets...get it all out boy!

We are so thankful and grateful for this guy.  Not that we wouldn't be anyway, but I think those really hard to take days have made all our good days with him so much sweeter.  

We be full swing

I realized that I haven't really posted anything about how fully into summer we are around here!  

So yes, we've been at the lake and on the boat.  And yes, we've been to the pool.  And yes, we put up the pool in our yard. And yes, We are so so so happy that it's HOT!

I was a little nervous about being able to enjoy summer with Charlie still being so tiny.  Savannah's first summer we didn't do much.  But she was born in May and much less drag aroundable. Charlie is catching on - even taking real length naps on the boat! No one really wants a caption for each picture, so just imagine - take it in - and know that we are LOVING IT!

Another great adventure in OK

We had another really good visit down in Oklahoma a couple weeks ago.  This was Charlie's first real vacation / long trip.  Weighing in at 6 months old - he did awesome.  He traveled well, slept okay, and was generally really enjoyable.  Savannah was, as always, a great trooper, a super helpful big sister, and we couldn't be more glad that she's ours!  

Travis' parents have some friends that were away for the week and they let us stay at their house...with a pool!!  Savannah was up by 6:30am every day and in the pool by 8am. She swam for at least 3 hours a day.  She is a fish! Charlie enjoyed pool side seating with the rest of the family. 

Here's the brothers working out together, pool side.  Like a resort or something. 

 Another great high light was getting to spend an evening at a friend's ranch.  We roasted hot dogs and s'mores, rode on horses, and played on their zip line!

And there was this. It was funny watching the girls learn how to use a gas pedal and a break for the first time. 

Savannah did not love the zip line at first.  I was lucky enough to get this picture of her scolding Travis for making her do it. She was pretty upset.  About an hour later she got over it and wanted to go again, with much more success.  

 Savannah's cousins, Lani and Maggie, are some of her favorite people to spend time with.  We are really blessed that we enjoy spending time with our family.  

Our last night there we went to a carnival.  I took Savannah on The Scrambler ride.  She was really excited and then suddenly buried her head in to me and begged for it to end.  Luckily those rides are really short, but it wasn't a great first experience on the big rides.  Whoops. 

 

Why did God do that? Babies.

Today (thursday) was our second day in a trip that Travis and I are getting lead in Minneapolis with some of our high schoolers.  The trip consists of us joining in with several local ministries to show and share the love of Christ with people in the city.  This morning we went to a place where they had a kids club going on at a near by park and also a ladies day happening at the center.  Our group was asked to play with and love the kids at the park.  We were ready to go when one of the staffers asked if one or two of us might stay back in the nursery to help with the ladie's small children and babies.  I immediately knew I should.  Maybe it was because I'm missing my own baby, or because I'm the only adult female or because the Holy Spirit prompted me ((likely all three), but this kinda thig is not in my big of tricks - or so I thought.  6 months ago, having to stay back and help with the smallest ones would have ruined my day, and possibly this trip for me.  Especially when it ended up being a small room with 20 small kids and 5 babies and 4 adults - of which I was the oldest, most confident, and most experienced with kids.  **enter long sigh and internal eye rolling **

So what's this post all about?  Was it the life shattering experience I had always known it to be? No!  God was SO faithful!  

As the day went on, one baby at a time would have an inconsolable fit.  No one else could do a thing to settle their poor souls. Each time I had not only the experience, but the patience and the intuition to take that child and calm them almost instantly - half the time just putting them to sleep.  What??  This is the power of James 1:1 at work. 

"Consider it PURE JOY when you face trials of many kinda because you know that the testing of your faith developes perserverance."   

I was prepared for such a day as this. 

I am so thankful for all those days and nights of working with Charlie, listening to Charlie, and mostly, praying that God would have purpose and use for those times.  In one new (but not complete way) he has again made me a new creation.