Starting to get it

Ok, so I know I could never come close to understanding Christ's love for us, but I'm starting to get it. An hour ago, I was so frustrated with Claire, I had to walk away from her for fear of handling the situation with her very badly. Now, as I look at pictures I took yesterday, I am smiling thinking about her. That has to be something like what God feels for us, I would imagine. We break his heart everyday with sin and our stupid choices. But at the end of the day, he's still smiling down on us with more love than I can fathom. Pretty darn cool. Lord, please grant me the patience to deal with my blessings.

Down and Dirty

Prrof positive that he's all boy...he LOVES dirt. If I can't find him for more than a couple minutes when we're outside, I know he's up to his elbows in it. This morning when I dropped him off at school, I looked down and his right hand was mysteriously covered in dirt. I thin kit's coming out of his pores now. Oh well, the girls like to be clean. Two out of three ain't bad!

Give those noses a break...let's pick apples!

Ok, picking apples in 80 degree burning sunshine was not ideal, but the cider slushies that followed were. They were enjoying themselves for about an hour, then we hit a wall. Ian especially enjoyed pulling the wagon himself. If fact, he wouldn't let anyone else even try! So, we took our 15 pounds of apples and headed home. The baking has been fierce and steady.

What a handy little man!

Ian loves jobs around the house. His favorite is sweeping and/or vacuuming. Hand him a broom and he's happy for hours. He also likes to water my plants. Unfortunately, we had about a week recently when the pots on the front porch were empty. That did not stop him from getting his work done.

Ian's First FIRST day of school

Yes, you read that right. 19 month old Ian James has followed in his sisters' proud tradition and is attending God's Kids pre-school. He goes Tuesdays from 9-2, which is just enough time for Mommy to remember how fun he is to be around. He loved his first day. His teacher said he even made a friend, Brendan. His favorite part of the day, however, was the fire drill. Apparantly he thought the alarms and organized chaos were quite hilarious. I'm so in for it.

Dancing Queens

We have entered year two of dance class. They have moved up from "Creative Movement" to "Pre-Ballet". I think Claire could have used another year of Creative Movement, but they both are very happy to get suited up and go every Tuesday.

Trip to Great Grandpa Strauss's

A favorite tradition we look forward to each year is all the Strauss's heading south to Fairfield Glade, TN, to spend Labor day weekend with Great Grandpa Strauss. He's 81 this year and still golfs almost every day of the week. He always has new jokes for us (though not always for the younger Strauss's) and we all love seeing him each year. Alonf with that, we get to see lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles. Our kids travel pretty easily (thank you, God, for in car DVD) so it's a fun trip for all. The girls really got the hang of putt-putt this year and got some holes in one!

Claire's "1st day"

Claire had two days at Heritage before the "change", so I thought I'd go ahead and show how cute and happy she was that day!

Blogger of the Year

Ok, I forgot I set this up. We've had a crazy last month and this fell low in the totem pole. For those of you who don't know, Heritage did not work out for us. I'm sure they're doing lots of good things there, but we did not experience that. Megan, as many of you know, needs a little extra help communicating and staying focused, and that was not something they were willing to help her with. Let me make clear that we are not Heritage haters. They just weren't right for our family's needs. God has protected sweet little Megan's heart and mind and she has moved on easily and willingly. I have been homeschooling her while Eric and I have been carefully praying and discovering what are her best options. We are happy to say that she will be starting 1st grade at our local public school on Wednesday next week where they have already welcomed her with open arms. We appreciate all the prayers and well wishes from all of you while we've been going through this tough time. I will have new first day of school pics for her next week! Claire, is Claire, so we don't worry about her. She's going to Kindergarten at E91 (where they've gone since they were babies) and is infinitely happy there. Thanks, God for making the best of a yucky situation! Life trial #8768, check!