little miss sunshine is 10!!

little miss sunshine turns 9!

Wednesday was my Little Miss Sunshine's 9th birthday!  I'm not sure how she is 9 already!  Just yesterday she turned 3!  :}

Somehow she went from this (kindergarten)... 

...to this!  (third grade)

I always miss my kids every single day, but somedays it hits me harder than others.  My heart was aching to be with my sweet girl on her special day on Wednesday and today all three kiddos were on my mind a lot for some reason.  As I was telling God how I was missing them, I saw 12:34 on the clock in my car :) and was reminded that He knew already.  

A couple hours later I got home and was about to start on this post when my cell phone rang...and it was my LMS, just wanting to say hi!!  :)  She was sitting waiting while Mr. Happy got a haircut and decided she wanted to chat while she waited.  :)  I talked to Mr. Happy too and he told me all about the mystery flavored lollipop he got for being good while getting his hair done.  (The mystery flavor was orange he said.)  :)  LM Giggles is home sick and has been for a couple days, poor girlie.  

I still miss them, but I'm so thankful He let me hear their voices today!! :)

LM Sunshine, you are as sweet and cheerful as ever.  You are learning so much in school and having a great time.  But I'm glad you still miss me and just want to talk sometimes.  ;)  I pray for you on my way to work in the mornings - that God would whisper how much He loves you to your heart and that He would call you by name to Himself.  That He will bless your school day, and help you to be a friend to someone who needs one, because you are so good at being kind.  :)

I hope you had a perfect day on Wednesday and I can't wait to check out the metal detector you got!  :}  ("Kiki, so far I've found $1.53...in my own front yard!")

I love you, beautiful girl!!

christmas story

This is something I did with my kids from the first Christmas I was with them when Little Miss Sunshine was only 3 years old.  At that point, I told most of the story and she filled in some of the key words.  Since then, she has re memorized this story each Christmas season.  I'm sad I'm not there to help refresh her memory on it this year.  This is from last Christmas...  :)

fancy nancy butterfly birthday

Yesterday was Little Miss Sunshine's birthday. She turned 8! I'm not sure how that happened! We decided we would have a small party in the morning with a couple of our favorite friends. LMS said she wanted to have a Fancy Nancy party. If you don't know who Fancy Nancy is...click here. To sum her up...she likes being fancy and wears whatever makes her feel fancy. So, we told our friends to dress as fancy as they wanted!

So everyone wore something super fancy and super cute!

After the quick group picture, it was time to eat!

Ok, so, I have been listening to a lot of Francis Chan's sermon's on YouTube lately. He is so challenging and speaks the truth so well. (He wrote the book Crazy Love...which, if you haven't read it yet...you should!) Anyways, several times he has mentioned how sometimes God just blesses us in the most surprising ways - even the tiny little details that He takes care of even when we haven't even asked Him to. For this party, all I did was tell Leah and Laura the Fancy Nancy theme. That was it. Nothing else. Ok, so notice the butterflies hanging in the kitchen that Wendy happened to put up that morning for LMS's birthday breakfast and note that the little cupcake liners I used to put the fruit in had butterflies on the bottom...and keep watching.

That whole center piece was from one of my favorite stores - the $ Tree. The flowers are pens and pinwheels and the little balls filling the vase are Sixlets candy.

Aiden looks so big drinking out of this big kid cup! :)

This little girl, who is most definitely "tutu cute", is SO. IN. LOVE. with Aiden!!! You should see the look on her face when she just sits there staring at him!! She is totally planning her wedding in her head! lol Ok, maybe not quite...but almost! At one point, Cake Leah picked Aiden up for a minute and this little Leah looked around and said, "Where did Aiden go???" like he did NOT ask permission to leave her sight! Ha! So cute.

Ok, back to Wendy's butterfly decorations. Leah agreed to make LMS a Fancy Nancy cake but all I did was flip through a F.N. book to show her who F. N. was. No other instructions or ideas whatsoever. Yeah...check out her (crazy beautiful) cake:

Uh-huh! Butterflies!!

Oh wait...there's more.

And fyi, this might be my favorite cake Leah has ever made...

and I might have eaten a slice for breakfast this morning....

Maybe.

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday, make a wish, and blow out the candles. Which of course includes the obligatory picture of the birthday person with chipmunk cheeks as they blow... :}

Next it was on to presents! Have you seen Lalaloopsie dolls? Evidently it was one of the top items this Christmas. They are...interesting. :)

Oh, and see that pretty present with the flowers all over the wrapping paper?? Um yeah, that was from Laura and baby Leah and guess what was inside???

One craft box of butterflies to decorate and hang up.

AND!!

A FANCY NANCY BUTTERFLY BIRTHDAY sticker book!!!

Like...seriously?! Are you seeing a theme yet? A completely unplanned one? Well, unplanned by us girls anyways. :)

Aiden sat on a little stool and watched the present opening very patiently...for about two minutes. Which is about right for a two year old! Then he was off to the see-saw! :)

My handsome little man! :) He was soo excited to get to wear this suit and didn't take it off for the rest of the day! I told him he could change back into his favorite red sweatpants and a comfy shirt but he chose to stay all dressed up! He did make one slight change however...he didn't like that you could only see a tiny bit of his cool tie...so he pulled it out so in hung down in front of his jacket and then it was all perfect! :)

We love our baby Leah!! :)

Everyone had such a good time! The kids had fun playing. The mommies/kiki enjoyed squeezing in a bit of grown-up conversation in between chasing kiddos. And the birthday girl said it was the best day ever! Leah, she told daddy that you made her cake and worked soo hard on it and that shows how much you must love her! ;)

A little while after everyone left, the mailman brought LMS a package from Aunt Janet! It was a "grow your own mushroom crop" package which is perfect because LMS LOVES science! She also sent these cool little laser rings for all three kiddos and they couldn't put them down the rest of the day!

We of course got outside for just a couple minutes for a quick mini bday photo shoot....

Fancy hair. :) Not the best zig zag job I've ever done. I do zig zag parts a lot because it's just fun and super easy! Oh, and I made her hairbows the night before. Can you tell what sparkly things I chose to put in the middle?? Yup! Butterflies!! I was trying to decide between that or flowers but liked the way the butterflies looked better. Little did I know at the time.....! It was just so fun that four of us chose butterflies for different things and hadn't even discussed it! It just felt like God reminding me one more time that He cares about the big stuff...but that He also cares about the little stuff too - stuff we never even thought to worry about in the first place! :)

Funny kids. :) LMG has no teeth! And Mr. Happy has a banged up chin! He fell and hit it on the corner of a metal box! Yeesh! Thankfully I was not around for that one!

One sweet pic....aaand of course...one goofy one!! That's my kiddos! They get it from their mother...! lol :D

Ok, so check this adorable little boy out:

Cute, isn't he??

Actually, that is not the same little boy!! The one in the middle is Aiden...the other two are Mr. Happy a couple years ago when he was two!! Aiden gets most of the clothes MH grows out of and wore this outfit to our little party. He got out of the car and I said he looked just like MH! Which is a comment that has been made before. So I had to pull up a couple pics of MH in the same outfit. It's so fun to get to see it on another little handsome boy now! :)

LMS, I hope you had an awesome day! I think you did. :) You are such a sweet girl with a tender heart. I love how you are learning to love Jesus and have told me before that you have prayed for our new friend Isaac or the little street boys in Uganda at some point during your day. You are so helpful around the house for me and are so much fun to be around. I love you!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE!!!

seven

Sunday was my oldest's seventh birthday. She was two when I came.

Such a cutie! And she still is. :) Here are seven pictures from her seventh birthday photo shoot...it took place over a couple days...and if you follow my other blog, you've already seen a couple of them. :)

YYY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CUTIE!!! YYY

home sweet home and something sweet

Scroll down to my post below and click on "The Thacker Pack" to read the update. Reese and his mommy are now home safely! I even got to see them on CNN as they were reunited! :) So happy that this situation got resolved and has a happy ending - God was obviously with them and protecting them every minute. Seriously, go read the update! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, if you have been reading my blog for very long, chances are you have heard me mention my friend, Leah, and the fabulous cakes she bakes. Leah and I go way back. All the way back to 2nd grade where we were in the same class together. Then I was homeschooled from 3rd grade through highschool. I saw her a few times during that period but not very much. Then we both ended up going to Bryan College, where, while we never really hung out that much, it was always fun to have someone else on campus (besides Michael) to talk to about home. Two years after I graduated, I was back here teaching and also babysitting on Wednesday nights in the nursery at the church my parents used to go to. After church one Wednesday, I ran by Walmart and heard my name in the parking lot. I turned around and there was Leah! Since then we have sort of reconnected and as a bonus I have had the privilege of tasting quite a few of her delicious cakes. She has just recently started a blog of her own showcasing the cakes she has made....like this one:

Mmmm...doesn't that look crazy good?? :) Go check out some more of her awesome cakes and keep her in mind if you ever have an occasion to order a cake! And while you're there, leave her a comment! I know she would love the feedback, especially since she's new at this blog thing! :)

Leah's Cakes

On a different note, I know there are quite a few mom's/teachers/former teachers/and people who just love to read out there who read my blog...even though most of you remain "lurkers" and have never commented! :} I am looking for some beginner chapter books and need some good ideas. My oldest is reading really well and keeps asking me for new books to read and I just recently let her read her first chapter book on her own and I think she's hooked. (yay!) Now I just need some good recommendations - something easy and fun and clean and appropriate for an almost-7 year old. Any ideas?

(If you've never left a comment before, here's a good opportunity to try it out! Simply click the "0 comments" below and it will bring up a little window in which to type your comment, including your name. It will ask you to "choose an identity"...just click on "annonymous" and then click "publish" and your comment will be added to my blog!)

pizza of the sea

incriminating evidence

I would like to share with you my story of the week. And first I must add that I know I don't usually write the names of my children, but for this one post, it is just necessary to share one name with you for the full effect. :}
Earlier this week my girls had been asking to play up in their room, which we usually do for a few minutes in the mornings after we get dressed and make our beds, etc. But then school needs to be started so we head back downstairs and tend to get involved in stuff down here for the rest of the day.
Anyways, I made a special point to take them back upstairs after the baby's nap one day this week and let them play. They were having a blast playing with their My Little Ponies and Webkinz animals while I sat on a bed and watched and "ate" the yummy "food" the baby brought me from their little play kitchen. :)
At one point, my middle child started making some comments that caught my ear, such as, "Who did that?? Did you do that? I didn't do that!!" I looked over at where there were playing by the window seat and asked what was going on. My middle child said, "Someone drew on the seat right here with a pen!!" At which point my oldest piped up and said, "I didn't do it, Kiki!" Now, I must stop here and share with you that we tend to joke that my oldest can't tell a lie to save her life, although my middle child, unfortunately, is pretty good at it sometimes. So when the oldest says she did or did not do something, we tend to believe her. Besides the fact that when something like this occurs, it's just like my middle child to do it - or the baby nowadays.... So at this point I think, oh well, whatever, I'm sure it was the middle child but I'll worry about it later, besides, I am in the middle of a lovely cup of pretend tea!
After a while Wendy came home and happened to sit down on the window seat. We chatted for a minute when she noticed the drawing on the seat. She immediately looked up and said,"Tess! Why did you do that?!" She instantly got an "Uhoh! I'm in trouble!" look on her face and glanced over to see my reaction. I was surprised that Wendy would so quickly blame Tess for the drawing and asked how she knew with such certainty who the culprit was. Wendy asked if I had "seen what it says" and I confessed that no, I had been told about it but hadn't gone over to inspect the damage yet. Then I said wait, it SAYS something?? That right there pointed away from the middle child who doesn't quite know how to sound words out yet. I asked what it said and Wendy said I would just have to come see for myself. Which is what you will have to do too...scroll down.......



















Notice that it is complete with a checkmark in the box! Ha! This is one of those times when you know you shouldn't let the child see or hear you laugh but it was just too hard to hold it in and we both totally cracked up! :}

first official day of kindergarten

Monday was our first official day of homeschool kindergarten! It took us a while to get the curriculum, a new little table, and a new cabinet to store the schoolbooks in. Finally, yesterday, we were ready to get started. My oldest was very excited and couldn't wait. She kept eagerly asking what was next and was a little disappointed to remember that she was going to her homeschool co-op classes today. :)

One thing I LOVE about the Sonlight curriculum is all the wonderful books that comes with it! We read the first poem in our Mother Goose book yesterday, which was Little Bo-Peep. I had never read the entire poem before and we both laughed to learn that the sheep came home but without their tails! Later Little Bo-Peep found them hanging up to dry on a tree! :) Here she is drawing a picture of the poem.

Done with the tree and about to draw a fuzzy black tail hanging on it! Her sheep was black because you can't see white on the white paper....

The baby saw the camera and had to jump in with his typical "cheeese!"

My middle child and my baby did pretty well amusing themselves while I was working on school with the oldest. My middle child will officially join us in kindergarten when she decides she is done drinking milk out of a baby bottle. Hopefully that will be soon! I can't wait to have two kindergarteners! :)

In science, we learned about the rain cycle, which are the pieces she is cutting out in the picture. We also learned how rainbows are made and the correct order of the colors. A very good first day of kindergarten! :)

pitiful girlie

Well, this has been an eventful weekend. My kiddos left Thursday evening in their RV for the weekend which gave me the luxury of an extra day off last Friday. Saturday was dinner at my mom's with my family and Michael's family - always a fun time! :) Sunday evening was Boomsday and a friend let us into one of the buildings on campus where we went up to the top (7th) floor and played games and chatted while in the cool, airconditioned, crowd-free study area with a huuuuge window! Definitely the way to view the fireworks! By the time the fireworks actually started, more people had thought of our great spot, so we had a crowd of children on the floor in front of us, oohing and awwing and making things more magical, as children tend to do. :)

The view from our window. See the bridge with arches? That's where they shoot the fireworks from...as pictured below...

Fireworks!! I brought my camera but totally forgot that the SD card was still in my computer!! Grr...so I took a quick pic with my cell phone.

Meanwhile, my kiddos were having a blast! The brought back a framed picture for me...here it is...

It's even better in real life! :)

However, Sunday evening, my oldest had just hopped on her bike and fell off, hurting her arm. They thought it would be just fine so they went ahead and stayed the night. By this morning, she couldn't move it without causing major pain and they were beginning to be afraid she had broken it. They called me to stay with the younger two while they took her to the ER. Thankfully, it is sprained, not broken, but I have actually heard that a sprain can be more painful than a bone break. So, her weekend has ended slightly differently than planned - lots of extra tv time instead of outside riding her bike time. Hopefully she will be as good as new very soon so we can get started on our kindergarten! :)

Such a sad little smile! Not even ice cream and two small snow cones (homeade - yummy!) cheered her up completely!

first tooth!!

So, I am currently away at camp for two weeks, which I will explain and put up pictures of sometime later. However, I got a picture in my email today and just had to put it on here. Evidentally, my oldest went to preschool yesterday morning a totally normal 5 year old....and came home yesterday afternoon with her very first, very loose tooth! And this morning that tooth decided to pop out!! I am still very sad that I missed the Big Event. I will also miss being there in the morning to hear all about the tooth fairy coming! It's another one of those situations where I am so excited about her reaching a new milestone in her little life...and yet sad that she's already that big!! Aren't kids supposed to loose their first teeth in first grade?? She hasn't even started kindergarten yet!! And she is also not supposed to grow, change, or do anything new and exciting while I am gone! Guess she didn't get that memo..... :}

TA DA!!