Curious

So, last week my sister-in-law had her baby boy, Noah. Lena and I got to go to Abilene to be there for his birth. The whole family was there looking at him through the nursery window, oohing and aahhing and all, when suddenly Lena's curiosity takes a turn. She says, "How did baby Noah get into Aunt Erin's tummy?" It was silence as everyone looked at me and waited for me to respond. I should have known that question was coming. I told Lena that a boy and a girl meet each other and love each other and get married (I have told her you have to be a grownup to get married). They had so much love that God decided they needed a baby and put one in the girl's tummy, because that is where God decided that babies should grow first. She seemed fine with that answer and went back to looking at baby Noah.

She's been having lots of questions about babies and the order of things. Another question came one night when she was too scared to sleep alone in her room. We found out that she thought God wasn't real because she couldn't see Him. I used the analogy of you can't see wind but you know it's there because you can feel it. She was understanding but not sure, so here is how it went:

Me: "Can you see baby Emma in Mommy's tummy?"
Lena: "No."
Me: "But you know that she is there because you put your hand on my tummy and you felt her kick."
Lena: "Yes."
Me: "It is the same with God. We can't see Him, but we know he is there because we can see all the things that he made.  God is very real."

A few minutes later, she must have felt at peace about it becuse she fell asleep in my arms. The next morning I asked her if God was real and she said, "Yes, He is very real!" We have not had any problems with her going to sleep alone in her room since that night. She knows that God is there with her and is taking care of her and she doesn't need to be scared. I also know that God is taking care of me as a parent and giving me the answers needed to her questions.

Conversations with my daughter

Lena and I were just sitting together and talking about different things. She noticed my glass of water and asked for some. She drank it all, then told me she drank it all because she likes water so much. I told her it was fine she drank it all because water is good for you. Then the conversation changed and this is what was said:

L: "It's good for us to pray, isn't it?"
Me: "Yes it is."
L: "It's important to pray to God every day, so we don't make him sad."
L: "I don't want to make God sad."

I just love that girl. She's learning to pray wherever and whenever she wants. Lately the prayers have been that the baby in my tummy grows big and strong and comes out soon.

It's conversations like this that make me feel like I am doing something right in parenting.

Bluebonnets

Here are some pictures I took of Lena in the bluebonnets last month.

Snow

I know, it's been awhile since I have posted. For Spring Break, we went to Pagosa Springs, CO with James' parents and played in the snow. There were so many pictures, that I just included a link to them on my photoshop website. This isn't all the pictures I took, just the ones I've edited so far. Click on the link below to see Lena in the snow and enjoy!

http://www.photoshop.com/user/sweetpeaphotos/?galleryid=a3db56e2ae0a4a3181b88558dd6a0f8d&trackingid=BTAGC&rlang=en_US&wf=shareslideshow

Too Long

I know, I know, it's been too long since I have posted on here. Facebook took over and I just didn't get back to posting here. It's a new year now, so one of my goals is to post on here more often. I have lot's of pictures from the last several months, but if I played catch up with old posts right now, I would never catch up. So, I'll just start from now. Pics of Lena's Gymnastics Show coming soon.

Princess

Today, Lena decided it was going to be Princess Day........or at least for the morning. She played with her princess sticker book and her princess polly dolls, watched Sleeping Beauty and dressed up in her princess dress-up clothes. It's fun playing princess with her. Lena loves to play princess, and I am always telling her she is a princess in God's kingdom.

Packing

Lena has really wanted to play with her cousin Olivia the past couple of days. She has also been wanting to go to Grandma's house. Today she asked me where Olivia was, and I told her that Olivia was at Grandma's house. She decided a little later on that she wanted to go to Grandma's house to play with Olivia, so she took her suitcase and packed it. She put her pillow, care bear and pajamas in her suitcase and announced she was all packed and ready to go to Grandma's. I told her that was great, but we weren't going to see Grandma for 3 more days. That girl makes me laugh.

side note: Lena just went into her room and got herself all dressed for the day, complete with shoes. She said she put her pink sandals on because Grandma likes the color pink. Her whole outfit all matched!

Bubble Face

Just about every time Lena takes a bath, she sticks her face into the bubbles to make faces. This time, she stuck her face into the bubbles and said, "Look, I'm Jesus."

Picnic in the park

Today around lunch time, Lena came to me and said, "Let's have a picnic", so we made a picnic lunch of PB&J sandwiches and baby carrots (Lena requested the carrots) and grabbed a sprite and dr. pepper, and headed to the park. We ate our food, and then Lena went off to play at the playground. After a short play time, it was really hot, so Lena sat in the shade in the rocks with another little girl. The little girl kept throwing rocks, and Lena tried it too (to which I reminded her that we don't throw rocks). The little girl kept throwing rocks over and over, and I was really proud of Lena because she didn't follow and did not throw rocks. They were having a conversation with each other, but I only heard what Lena said. Here is what some of the things I heard Lena say:

"Hey, don't throw rocks."
"Hey, you hit me." (She didn't do anything back to the little girl)
"Mommy, she keeps throwing rocks."
"Why do you throw rocks?"

I was really proud of Lena for taking a stand on what's right and showing the little girl how to behave.

Cute

Here is Lena and Daddy snuggling while watching Wall-E last Saturday afternoon. The second picture is Lena and Lady the dog, who belongs to my Mom (Grandma).

Butler Park

Last thursday our girls lunch and kids play group got together and took the kids to Butler Park for a picnic and to play in the water fountains there. Lena had so much fun playing in the water and splashing with her friends. She was constantly pouring buckets of water on her head and running around in the fountains. It was hard to choose from the mass of pictures I took, so there are several posts of pictures here. We will definitely come back to the fountains during the summer.

Playing with her friends, (L to R) Maizie, Mia, and Luc.















Playing with Maizie.






















Playing with Mia.
















Playing with Cooper, who is in her class at school.

Waiting.....hoping for a drink.

Water in the nose.

Lena's first hair cut

Lena got her first hair cut today. We still have the length and curls, but got a small trim and bangs. Lena doesn't like having her hair in her face, so the bangs will help with that. We did save the hair that was cut off for her bangs.

Lena in the Bluebonnets