Daddy: Urgent Note from Reagan

Daddy, I think you better hurry home! Mommy and Grannie started shopping today!!

Oh, and thank you for our punching balls. Sydney has an orange one and I picked a blue one. They are so fun and we both can punch them hard! Mommy said she'll blow the other 2 up tomorrow for us!

FRIDAY'S BIG EVENT...PANCAKE PICNIC!

Oops, I forgot to post last night! Yesterday we kept it low-key again during the day. When JJ got home from work she let Reagan help her make chocolate chip cookies and pancakes!

So, during a very loud thunderstorm we had the Perfect Pancake Picnic! We had gingerbread pancakes with this super yummy cranberry, apple & something else sauce on it. Let's just say "OH MY"!! It was a lot of fun and Reagan really enjoyed it! Sydney started eating more, too, which I was grateful for last night!

Daddy, Daddy, I'm Sending You A Note!

Reagan likes looking at different blogs with me and when I explained to her that I am posting lots this week so her Daddy can keep up with us, she wanted to send him a "note"!

The girls are eating dinner right now and Reagan is going to tell me what she would like me to post. Here goes. These are her original words!!! =)

I Love When My Daddy...

ummm...plays with me

ummm...I like when he eats dinner with me

and I like when he plays something new

I like all those things.

ummm...I like when he watches movie with me. I like it when both of ya watch a movie with me.

I like when he ummm plays with me.

I like when he giggles with me.

I like when he gets me donuts.

I like when he teaches me to swim and when he splashes me.

I'm all done with Daddy now I want to blog you.

Ummm...I like when you read me a story.

I like when you help Sydney.

I like when play with me and make dinner because it's so good.

Ummm...I like when you put me on a movie and stuff and make lunch.

I like when you put me in the bed.

So that's all about mommy. =)

I like when Sydney plays me and that's all about her.

Buttons and Switches Galore!

Steve is in Jacksonville, NC putting together a simulator at the base there. He and Ben are working many hours and things are starting to come together. Here are some pictures of what they are doing and what they have to have working by the end of November!

This is an action shot inside the cockpit of the trainer...
This is where Ben and Steve are living most of the time right now. This is the little box that is like 56 degrees inside. Where Ben is sitting is where the instructor sits during the training...
This is kind of what you see out the window of the trainer. They have all the lights on in this photo and they will only have one projector turned on that is not set up correctly yet. It will look really cool when it is all done....

Some of the knobs and buttons they have to get working. All of these have to work!!...
More buttons and breakers on the ceiling of the helo...
Ben working...
Steve looking at a night scene while sitting in the trainer...

Slowing Down

Today we had a MUCH slower day than the last couple. We stayed home and just lounged around most of the day. JJ and I even managed to watch a movie in the middle of the day! Not a normal midday occurrence around here! The girls were pretty tired and Sydney had a low grade fever this morning when she woke up, so I thought it would be good to just hang out in the cool A/C! I also thought she was just teething. When I went to wake Sydney up from her nap she was burning up. She had a 104.4 temperature. The doctor wanted to see her so we headed up there about 5:30 PM! Poor little girl had to have a catheterization which was no fun for either of us. Thankfully while the nurses and I were taking care of her, the doctor on call was letting Reagan play in her office! What a blessing to have such sweet, caring doctors. Sydney has a really red throat and a virus, but thankfully that's all. No strep, and nothing else either. Praise the Lord! So, it looks like the rest of our week has just become a lot more laid back! We'll be hanging out around the house and praying that Reagan doesn't come down with the virus. Sydney hardly ate or drank anything today, so please just pray she will at least drink a lot of fluids tomorrow. We don't want her to get dehydrated.

Hmmmm...

I am reading this excellent book by Elyse Fitzpatrick titled Helper By Design. I have enjoyed every page of it and I'm sure it will go into my "regular reading" pile! Today I began reading the chapter on communication and almost laughed out loud at the following paragraph...

Lise Eliot reports: "One recent study found that as early as midgestation, female fetuses move their mouths significantly more than male fetuses, as if already practicing for a lifetime of speech. Girl babies start talking a month or two earlier than boys, and their phrases and sentences tend to be longer."

If you know my darling little Reagan-girl you know why I almost laughed out loud! She is such a talker!! I read this and just imagined her mouth moving before she was even born!! Most of the time she is such an encourager even though she doesn't even really know what that means yet. She loves praying for people (and dinner!) and she looks for details and is very caring and concerned about others. Other times we are really working with her practicing self-control and not talking ALL the time. I pray that she will always talk to us - and talk to us A LOT, but that her speech will honor and glorify the Lord.

Another paragraph in this chapter reads...

The startling truth about speech is that our words either serve to glorify and please Him or they exalt and please ourselves. They either portray Him properly, as a highly polished mirror reflects one who gazes into it, or they offer to the world a shattered and tarnished image of His person. Our words will either serve to proclaim the truth about our glorious, loving Father, or they won't; they will either serve to reveal the oneness in the Trinity, or they will distort it. As you can see, one of the primary tools God has given us to reflect His nature and person to the world is our words, and it's to that end we should seek to excel in their use. God has enriched our lives, especially in our role as helpers, by granting us this gift and entreating us to employ it for His glory and our husbands' good.

And another...
...Godly speech, however, is much more than that. It starts with the way that we view life, with whether we have a godward focus. It's revealed by the words that I speak in my heart when someone cuts me off on the freeway or when I'm drinking lemonade on my back patio, enjoying the spring flowers. Our words are simply the overflow of the thoughts of our hearts, as Jesus said. "The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart" (Matthew 12:34).

Here's my prayer for us tonight...
Lord, please instill a desire in us to use our words to bring you honor and glory. Show us were we defame Your name both inwardly and outwardly. Please soften our hearts and lead us to repentance and change. Give us a desire to learn new words that point to your power and might and saving grace. Thank you for sending Your Son to die on the Cross for us so that we can encourage one another and not be consumed with selfish gain. As we search Scripture and meditate on Your Word, please write it on our hearts so that when we go to speak we are speaking words that are an overflow of what you have hidden in our hearts. Let us praise you when we wake, when we walk through our day, and as we drift to sleep at night. Amen.

A Busy Day!

Today was quite a busy, fun-filled day! This morning when Reagan and Sydney were eating breakfast Steve called and sent Reagan on a hunt for a gift he had left her. I don't think I've seen her move that fast in a while!! She found her new Hi Ho Cheery-O game and it kept her busy 'til we left the house about lunch time! Sydney became a little possessive of new book her Daddy left for her, too. They were so cute playing with their new toys!

We packed up and headed to Dena's for lunch. Reagan was so excited to play with Mia and Ella and I so enjoyed visiting with my sweet friend! I went to get my hair done (Yippee!) and then came back to pick up the girls. Reagan did not want to leave her friends, but we had other adventures to finish out the day with! We ran home, made dinner and went to visit some of our other friends! Reagan and Sydney loved playing until 9 PM - yes, they went strong all day long and were absolutely wonderful for me! We had a wonderful time visiting and by the time we were out of their neighborhood the girls were passed out in the backseat. They didn't even budge once we arrived home!

For about the last year or so Reagan has had so much fun finding things she can do to help me around the house. This week she has been particularly interested in helping me in the kitchen! So yesterday morning she cracked the eggs and helped me make breakfast. Today I found out she is an excellent green-bean-snapper! Which is good news for me! I don't really enjoy that, so she has won herself a new job in the kitchen! It's amazing to me what a 3 year-old can help with...and she enjoys it! It is exciting for her! I love using it as an opportunity to encourage her in serving and thank her for what a big helper she is to me!

Here she is snapping beans...

While He's Away...

Steve is away working, so while he's away we are going to post a little snippet of what we do so he can keep up with us! Please be praying that he will have a productive trip and they will get so much working on the simulator by the time he comes home!

Tonight we had a yummy dinner at Citi and Grandpappy's. Reagan and Sydney played, watched Toy Story and then curled up with Grandpappy for a couple of good bedtime stories...

Applying FuN!

Last week our Mom's Blog posted different ways to spend time enjoying our children! (This week they are focusing on ideas for dads!) If you have little ones, please check out these posts...you will not be disappointed and I'm sure your little ones will be more than thrilled!

I am so task oriented and so often push having fun with my girls to the back burner thinking that I have other things I "need" to do. Now sometimes that is true, but a lot of times things can wait! Steve has been encouraging me more recently to play with the girls and so I've been trying to do just that. Last week's posts on the Mom's Blog reminded me of some great things to do with the girls and there were even a few things I hadn't heard of that we'll be trying!

We made a castle one day in the living room and the girls dressed up as princesses. Reagan protected us from the silly dragons. I had no idea building a little castle with a few blankets would draw out such a wonderful imagination. She is still talking about it!

I love for the girls to play outside, but it has just been too hot to take them out unless we are getting in the little pool and until reading Sheree's post, I hadn't thought of all the games we could play inside...so today we played rounds and rounds of hopscotch in the living room!

Oh, and when you see the pictures below, Steve has no problem having fun with the girls! He can make Reagan laugh so hard! They love being super silly together. (He's still working on getting Sydney to really belly laugh at him!)

So, let me encourage you to have read those posts and spend some time applying what you learn!

Sydney's 1st Braid!

Here's Sydney's first little braid! I would have never thought she had enough hair to do this...

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!

We had some super yummy ice cream from Bruster's last night! (Cristina, I thought about you while I was enjoying my big scoop of Graham Central Station!)

Reagan opted for the Purple Dinosaur while Sydney had Cotton Candy.

Sprucing Up Around the House!

Well, Steve has had a little break from school before the fall semester starts up (only 2 more semesters left!!) and he has been hard at work at home! Last week he scraped off the popcorn from our bedroom ceiling and JJ's bedroom ceiling, put knockdown on the ceiling, painted the walls, put on new baseboards, hung new blinds up, put chair rail up in our room and began putting the crown up in our room. It's amazing to me that he has gotten so much done!

A few weeks ago he took me on a date to pick out new bedding and curtains for our room. We found something we both really liked, so he bought it! I've been wanting to do our room since we moved in (as you probably know I like to have color on all my walls!) and now it's almost done! Steve may want to go back to school by the time this project is finished!

Here are a couple of pictures of our bedroom!

Mommy's Big Helper!

Reagan is getting so big, too! Here she is helping me on laundry day. She is getting to where she can fold all the small towels, washcloths, bibs and a few other things. She also unloads all of her dishes out of the dishwasher when I remember to ask her too! And the great part about it is that she loves doing it! Hopefully she still will 10 years from now!!

15 + Months!

Sydney is about 15 1/2 months old now...where does the time go?!?! She is so much fun these days! Her funny little laugh reveals her many teeth that have all decided to pop out at the same time! She is walking around everywhere and even beginning to allow her sissy to twirl her around! I love when her Daddy gets home and she squeals and makes her way to him as fast as her chubby little legs will get her there! She loves to eat and bananas are her favorite. Although she is not talking YET she is beginning to become quite a babbler! Also, she is beginning to really like reading and will actually sit still through a story during the day. She gives the best big, slobbery kisses and is so ticklish!

At night when I go to check on her and her sister when they are all snug in their beds, and I have time to just look at them and reflect on the day for a few minutes I get overwhelmed by the goodness of our Lord.

Oh, and tonight she had her first ice cream cone! Let's just say she didn't need any instruction on how to eat it! It was gone in a matter of minutes!!

Our "New Addition"!

NO, we are not having another baby...yet! On Monday one of the dear, sweet young ladies from our church moved in with us! JJ has come to stay with us and we are so excited! We have prayed for a while about someone moving in with us and we are so grateful that the Lord has answered our prayers by bringing us together! We are all looking forward to learning and growing from one another.

Oh, and the girls absolutely love her! JJ is a hairdresser and yesterday she gave Reagan two very lovely French braids and let her sleep with one of her blankets. Even Sydney has gone to her without a fuss at all (which those of you who know Sydney know that is a BIG deal!).