She Walks!!

Well she finally did it! In one week she began crawling (normal not the Spiderman thing) and walking. She is loving her new independence and you never know where you will find her. Usually in a cabinet emptying it... she is a funny little thing. We also are getting two new bottom teeth which will take us to 4 on bottom and 4 on top. Sorry I don't have any new pics of her.

Love the Sunsets

The other evening I glanced outside to this wonderful sight. God is so good. Do you ever have those time where you are so full that you feel you will burst. As I enjoyed the warm, quiet (okay so not so quiet) evening/moment...I couldn't help but think of the hymn "It is well, it is well with my soul."

We're Still Alive

Hello! Sorry for the delay in posts. I was sick all week last week and then I've been trying to play catch up this week. But we're doing better...well Katie and Rody have the head cold stuff but they are doing okay!

Sisters

I got in trouble from Nana b/c I haven't posted pics in a couple of days. I have a new client and have been working every free minute.

I love the relationship developing between Kyra and Katie. They adore each other which was my prayer. I pray that relationship will last throughout the years and they will continue to have an affection toward each other for years to come.

And Katie loving on her baby doll..she gets so excited when she sees her.

Take Advantage

I love how at a young age chores are actually seen as fun. David has been quite the little helper the last few days. Part of my New Year's resolution was to clean a little every day. So yesterday David helped me "wash" (dust) the furniture in my room and then this morning he thought it was so fun to vacuum Katie's high chair and the stuff I swept up off the floor. I love kids. They are so much fun.

What a Day

If you are a mother or a teacher or both...you will relate to this. What kind of day have I had you ask? Okay so you didn't ask, but it is our blog so I can just tell you. :-) This morning started out a beautiful Monday morning after having had my quiet time and reading in Joshua of all his conquests and the faithfulness of Caleb. So I set out...ready to conquer the world...or at least my little corner of it.
So a gung-ho teacher sat down for devotional time with a student who was less than willing to learn the great truths and spiritual lessons I had to teach her. But we had a brother who was more than willing to provide the distraction my student needed while the littlest student of all felt her mission this morning was to redefine the word "Destroyer" after she cleared out an entire bookshelf that she could reach from her walker. So goes a day in the life of a homeschool mom. And then God (who had to be laughing by now) through His spirit reminded me of faith (we had a great actor come to our church and do a presentation on faith vs. hope as he told the story of Jesus from Thomas the disciple) and he talked about faith vs hope. So I concluded our home school day with the faith that God would take my sincere efforts and use them to instruct my unwilling student on the freedoms we have in America, how to add double digit 10's and what we learned on the long vowels today and Braille.

One More Room Down...

We've spent the last couple of weeks putting together desks, painting bookshelves, but we got the room done. Here are before and after pics. This is the office/school room/playroom. I really like the way it turned out. I've got to get some pics on the wall, but we're making progress. Then I hit depression as I took all my beautiful Christmas decorations down and my living room looks so bare. Oh well...that is my next mission. After getting all the boxes out of my garage. :-)

She Crawls!!! Well Sort Of...

Katie Grace made a huge leap toward independence on Saturday. I had changed her and left her in her room while I went to get David out of the tub. When I came back she was across the room and pulled up on Kyra's bed. So I took her to the living room and put her across the room then me and her bottle went to the other side. Then she did this Spiderman thing where she puts her hands on the floor, her bottom in the air and walks on her feet. It was hiliarious. Then she got really mad at us for making her do it like 50 times. :-)

Little Things

There are so many things I'm thankful for as a parent..one is being able to watch my kids learn and discover. David and Kyra both learned within the last couple of weeks how to snap. They think it is so cool. David can snap only with his right hand like his mama. Kyra snaps with her left.

BIG Change

With the new year comes new things...like my hair color for example. Haha!! I decided I either wanted to go really blonde or dark and figured the dark would be easier to maintain. :-) So here it is. I think I'm going to have her tone down the red--she had to use red to keep it from turning green with the previous color of my hair. Red/Green...I could be a Christmas tree.

Say Cheese

I love this picture..these are the safety goggles from David's dinosaur project.

Jump Time with Sister

Katie and Kyra enjoyed a warm afternoon yesterday on the trampoline. You could hear Katie squealing up and down the street. She LOVES to be outside doing whatever her brother and sister are doing!

Another First

Well Katie had another first earlier this week. She got a baby doll for Christmas that she loves to play with. I show her "eyes, ears, nose" etc as we play with the baby. Well the other day she touched her baby's eye and said "eye". So now she wants to poke everyone in the eye--especially D. He's a pretty good trooper.

Negotiating with a 3 Year Old

My D still continues to be such a funny little guy...This morning I was getting him "redressed" b/c he wanted to wear something different than what dad had already gotten him dressed and he told me "I will wear that on one condition..."Then the other day we were going to the bathroom at church and David looked at the Women's sign and said "You know what that says? It says girly bathroom."

Challenge

The kids and I are studying three areas this semester. Obedience, respect and manners. These are the three character areas that we need to 'fine tune'. Yesterday we looked at Noah and how he heard from the Lord and obeyed Him...even though he had never seen rain and could not possibly fathom a flood...he simply obeyed. No arguing, no talking back. Today we'll look at Joshua and Jericho and how once again God's people obeyed with questioning even if the means for taking the city seemed "odd".
So my challenge to you...what has God called you to do? What responsibilities has He given you? Do you obey without arguing or questioning and do you move forward with vigor to accomplish that which He has given you? That is my desire for my life!!

Reading Time

I spoke in an earlier post about how cool it is to get to watch your children mature. Well little Ms. Kyra continues to amaze me. Yesterday we went to the library and she gathered up her little students and read "Patch" to them. It's like a 25 page book and they all sat still and listened. Amazing!!!

Survived

I am happy to report in that we (okay I) survived our first night at the Y! It was cram packed and so we did cardio--I rode a bike 3 miles and walked 1. As far as walking today....well...actually I'm feeling good. The kids are so excited about getting to swim. So we'll have to do that soon.

Katie Update

Isn't she just cute? She is so much fun and has so much personality. We think she's pretty cool. She still does not walk (why? she grunts and Kyra or I pick her up--she is the princess for sure). Crawling---not really. She sticks her bottom way up in the air and goes backward.

But she jabbers a lot (imagine that - one of my kids that talks a lot). Here are her list of words to date: Mama, Dada, Dyda (Kyra), Dadid (David), Nana, Paw Paw, Grandad (Sorry Granny we're still working every day on Granny), Hi, Bye Bye, Nigh Nigh, Thank you (okay it is more two syllables and pitch but she uses after getting something) Uh oh! I'll keep you posted!

Brotherly Love

I loved this picture...they look like they actually like each other. They do! You know that is one of the things I love most about homeschooling. Is to see the relationship that Kyra & David (and soon Katie) have with one another. They love to play together. And with the warm weather we've had...they have been outside a lot playing on the trampoline and in the playhouse (which they put up by themself (probably an OSHA violation.)

As I was reading in Romans 1:11-12 Paul tells the believers in Rome "I long to see you....that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." I am so thankful for the friends in Christ I have that encourage me with their faith. I have friends that encourage my trust in the Lord in parenting and just walking with Him everyday. Thank you Lord for friends like these and help me to be a friend like that to others.

Gifts

One of my areas of covetness are for people who have the skill of finding cool and unique gifts. My boss has this talent and always sends the neatest things. Well I wanted to show you what my good friend Julie sent us for Christmas. I thought this was so cool. The kids love it...David especially b/c he looks bigger than Kyra. :-) This has been the discussion at several meals.

Loyalty

As a mom, one of the coolest things about having kids is getting to discover their little personalities. One of the character traits I most love and admire about Kyra is the loyalty she has toward her friends. She is constantly talking about, remembering, wanting to share with and buy for her friends. She talks everyday about her friends in Grady and the two little girls that live on our street. I think of the story of David and Jonathan and the loyalty Jonathan (the rightful heir to the throne) had toward David. Thank you Lord for friendships that are founded in you and that are eternal. Lord I pray that you would continue to develop this within her and give her friends that reciprocate this loyalty.

Brining In the New Year

The Chesser Family spent the last night of 2007 with our church family. We first went to a party for our young couple's and were shamed as we played "Are you smarter than a fifth grader." (Okay Rody wasn't but I was) Praise the Lord as a homeschool mom I have the teacher's edition!! :-) Then we went to the Torbett's and brought in the New Year! The kids had a BLAST as they ran and played into the New Year. Check out Katie--what a party animal. She and dad check each other out.

Chris and Collin in his Florida Gators room--we cover a variety of teams in our class from Tennessee to Florida to Arkansas--two Texas teams--the Raiders and Longhorns!

Happy New Year

I absolutely LOVE the New Year..there is something about new beginnings that just get me excited. Part of my personality is that I'm strong on the start and not so great on the follow through....but I get really excited about a new start. I have great hopes for 2008 and have so much to be thankful for! As I snuggled in bed with Katie Grace this morning I thought back to a year ago and how I'd had a bad spell on New Year's Eve--I am so thankful to the Lord for preserving her life and allowing the joy within her to flood our family. So what are your plans for 2008? Do you make plans for your spiritual, physical and family life? My goal this year spiritually is to go beyond 'just going through the motions' to a Spirit empowered, transformed life and I believe this will happen through a more disciplined prayer life. My motto for 2008 is "It's all about the journey" and Rody set a plan for our family this morning out of Matthew--that our house be built on the Rock! So that when the winds and rains come, we will be able to stand strong b/c our home is built on a solid foundation. And physically, well we are joining the YMCA--I know everyone does that this time of year but I so desire to be healthy when I'm 80 that I'm the funnest grandma on the planet! :-) I hope you have a great New Year. We hope 2008 is filled with getting to know people better through "doing life" together--even when it's messy...and getting to spend quality time with friends and family!