Anna lost another tooth...

And she said something pretty funny the other day... I was talking on the phone & making pudding for a snack. She kept asking for chips. I kept mouthing to her that I was making a snack. She continued to tell me that she really WANTED some chips. Once again I told her I was making her a snack. Then she said, "but mom, can't I have chips for an appetizer."

A Few Pic's From TX

Anna, Maggie & cousins Tessa & Colby are enjoying a nice swim at Nana's

Claire's sporting a new headband at Mimi's

Elaine's gonna get Claire at David & Marita's incredible house in Wimberly!

Photos from Amanda's Wedding

Here Amanda Leggett is being escorted down the aisle.

We all participated in a time of worship.

The very happy Mr. & Mrs. Graham Davidson!

Back in Monterrey

We got back to Monterrey late last night (or early this morning) from a glorious trip to Texas. The girls and I played, played and played! Wes was there too, and he got to play some, but he also had lots of business things to attend to (sorry honey). We had such a great time visiting family & friends, swimming, eating Tex-Mex, shopping, attending a beautiful wedding, and mostly playing with those we dearly love (and miss). We were in DFW a week & a half, & in Austin over the weekend, and it all really zipped by. Honestly I don't have any pics to post...I was just too busy enjoying myself to think about a camera. In a few days I'll try to post a few pictures from the former Amanda Leggett's wedding (she is now Mrs. Graham Davidson). Thanks to everyone who made our visit so special; we really appreciate you all so much! And although I am very glad to be home with a less hectic schedule, I'm a little sad thinking about how long it'll be until our next visit!

Do you get it?

I've been on the lookout for funny uses of english here (as promised), and a cosmetic company's slogan caught my attention. I am not sure if it's poor english or if I simply don't get it... you be the judge:

"Beauty is an experience, nothing more."

Stepping Heavenward: One Woman's Journey to Godliness

I really enjoy reading! Most of the time I wish I had more time to read... and every now and then, I simply forsake almost all other duties and submerge myself in a book. Well that's what happened with this book (sorry Wes & girls). It's a "journal" of a Christian woman who is very much like the character of Joe from Little Women. I really loved seeing the heart of someone struggling with her sin nature and seeking to deepen her personal relationship with Christ. And though I am very different from the character, many times I felt like the thoughts were taken from my own journal (if I kept one). In case you don't get a chance to read the book for yourself, I'll leave you with the most poignant quote from the book:
"Do you always submit to God's will thus?"
"In great things I do," I said. "What grieves me is that I am constantly forgetting to recognize God's hand in the little, everyday trials of life, and instead of receiving them as from Him, find fault with the instruments by which He sends them."

Just a cute picture of Elaine

Elaine is sooooo cute & smiley! In this past month she has learned to crawl (as is pretty quick) and pull-up. She is still wobbly, but cannot resist pulling up on everything!

Anna's Graduation

Here are pictures from Anna's Kindergarten Graduation! It was a sweet time, & we cannot believe this year has flown by! Congratulations sweetie!

Here is Anna with Maestra Francis (her teacher).

Here Anna is getting a rose from Esteban. They introduced the classes with the boys giving the girls roses.

She just received her diploma.

The grand finale!

Here Anna & Maggie are with Anna's best friends from the year Ana Victoria (R) & Paulina (L).

Language Laughs

This post by Amber's amiga made me think of our own witnesses of misused English here in Mexico (although even funnier was the chocolate milk in Korea "friend of milk"). Wes posted on some of these on our Serve page awhile back. I'll be keeping my eyes open for some new ones to share.

Anna lost another tooth

And to end the feast portion of my "feast or famine" postings, here's a picture of Anna (w/Maggie) showing her latest missing tooth.

The Warning Crayola Forgot

Crayola has a cool new product that is solid black paper that when drawn on with the "magic" markers all kinds of colors appear. But they forgot to put the warning: SUCKING ON MAGIC PAPER WILL TRANFORM THE SUCKER INTO A BLUEBERRY.

Good news is that the "magic" markers break the spell.

Claire is just soooo...

fun...busy...funny...cute...almost 2... Well, whatever she is... she is definitely keeping me on my toes. Her language skills are exploding. She will repeat just about anything you say (spanish or english) and is forming all kinds of sentences (usually english or spanglish). Today she informed me, "I so stinky." And she loves to say "Ewwww, gwoss" anytime Elaine drools or is getting her diaper changed. She is learning shapes, rooms of the house, possesion words, names of colors, and she can count to 9 in english & 6 in spanish. Probably her favorite thing to do right now is unzip zippers (a newly acquired skill that we could have done without).

What a Mom!

Here's is the kind of mom I want to always strive to be - Carolyn's Story from girltalk

10 Ways to "Sneak" Exercise in Your Day

1.Live in a home with stairs
2.Never go up or down stated stairs without carrying at least one child &/or at least one laundry basket
3. Forget why you went up or down stated stairs until you get back to where you started from
4. Carry a child around at all times, especially useful when you need to pick things off the ground
5. Move to a foreign country where a dishwasher is always a person (you)
6. Don't make your children eat at the same time (if you have 3 children, you could fix at least 9 meals & 6 snacks in 1 day)
7. Have older children leave their cups & plates out so that younger ones can dump out those 9 meals & 6 snacks (really lean into those swipes at the floor)
8. Never cook or serve food that can simply be swept up; preferably things that have to be picked up piece by sticky piece
9.Encourage children to change clothes multiple times; preferably handwash-only clothing
10. Leave young toddler alone for 10 minutes daily- the messes made in these 10 minutes can take several hours (and tons of calories) to clean up

They are now truly big girls

About a month and a half ago we began putting this yucky tasting polish on Anna & Maggie's thumbs to discourage their deep-seated habit of thumb sucking. We also let them choose a gift that they could have after they hadn't sucked their thumbs for a solid month. As you can see by the smiling faces, they were very happy to become non-thumb-sucking-big-girls-with-fun-new-toys!

Elaine Updates

The past couple of weeks have been crazy for so many reasons... but one of the biggest is that Elaine celebrated her 1/2 birthday, got her 1st and 2nd tooth, started solids, and although she isn't crawling on her knees, she can army crawl with the best of soldiers! She is still the sweetest & most smiley baby, but she really wants to get around! Also, her favorite sound these days is "dada."

Never in January

I have soooo soooo many things to post about, but I need pictures! Soon, I hope! Until then I'd love to direct you to this method of reading through the Bible that Noel Piper encourages: Never in January. I just started this and I am searching for everything related to the joy of the Lord. It's very exciting!

DBC Short Term Team

Here's a picture of the team (except Cheryl) that came in to help put on the Women's Retreat & Kid's Camp. Thank you guys so much for your endless serving!

Kid's Camp

On Friday Night & Saturday part of the DBC team, the missionary dads & other church members had a Kid's Camp to help out the dads who were taking care of kiddos while their wives were at the Women's Retreat. Thank you Wes for not only taking care of our children, but many others also! Thanks to all the coordinators & helpers.

Sunday was Children's Day

Here in Mexico they celebrate Children's Day. Our church had a Noah's Ark themed evangelistic service to celebrate the day.