Just Catching Up!

It has been absolutely GORGEOUS here this past week (until today). The weather has been so wonderful that we have spent as much time as possible outside. We got to have our first picnic of the year, had several playdates with friends, and of course we had to go to the zoo!!!
With all this beautiful weather I've had to FORCE myself to stay on top of Zora's schoolwork. We have finally finished all 7 continents! We wrapped up Africa last week. We are now learning about the human body and we will continue learning about how we can care for this beautiful earth God has allowed us to use. Which brings up another thing...we are really into this reduce, reuse, recycle thing!!! I used to think that I wasn't really a wasteful person, but after doing these lessons with Zora I realized that we weren't doing all that we could as family to help take care of our part of the big picture. So, we have started a compost in the backyard, and we are now recycling paper, plastic, glass & cans. What I love is that we've only been doing it for a week or so and the girls already know what trash goes where!

Zora has lost another tooth, so now she has a double gap right in front! Too cute!

She also did something the other night that I just have to post. Joel went in to check on both of the girls and retuck them in as we were headed to bed and he called me in there laughing. This is what was in Zora's bed with her...
I'm so glad she loves to read! I guess it's better for her to be sneaking books and a flashlight than something else into her bed!

Last Thursday we went to another art class at the Gilcrease Museum and the girls had a lot of fun building collages. They were supposed to make a collage of their favorite place. Lily choose McDonalds - imagine that! - and Zora chose the pond at her Papa's house where Joel took them fishing. Here are some pics of them hard at work!

We also took advantage of the beautiful Woodward Park and took lots and lots and lots of pictures! Here are several!!!

Have a great week!

I Love You...

Our girls love to try and describe just how much they love us. They always say, "I love you as big as..." and try to think of something really big. The game goes back and forth as we tell them something bigger, and on and on.

Tonight it was really cute because Zora said, "I love God as big as the world, Daddy and Mommy as big as Asia, Lily as big as Europe, and myself as big as Sudan."

PRECIOUS

She's using not only her knowledge of how big continents and countries are, but she loves God the most and herself the least. I'm must say that I'm a proud momma tonight :)

Easter Weekend

The girls have been begging Joel to take them fishing recently, so with the absolutely gorgeous weather yesterday he took them. Zora had the time of her life and wanted to stay all day. Lily thought it was great for about 30 minutes and then she was done.

Zora was completely into it - catching the fish, holding the fish - the whole experience.

Lily was more excited that her fishing pole had Nemo on it and that Daddy let her take some of the pictures.

Today, of course, we celebrated the real reason for Easter at church. We sported our nice, spring-like clothes with our coats on top because it was gray, rainy, and COLD!

After our morning service we went to Poppy Joe's house for some really yummy food, a brief (and chilly) egg hunt, some crafts and even a visit with a real bunny!

We headed back to church for communion and feet washing. This is a very sweet and special service that our family truly enjoys. First we had communion to remember the sacrifice Christ made when He died on the cross for our sins. We then had a feet washing service to remind us that we must humble ourselves and become true servants and follow the example of Christ (John 13). It was a precious time to teach my girls about humility and a servant's heart. They do not fully grasp or understand all of the symbolism, but they participated and it warmed my heart.

Zora washing my feet (with the help of Christina)

Lily washing Mamma's (Joel's mom) feet with my help

Clarification...

I'd like to clarify something. I'M NOT PREGNANT! Apparently, several of you got the impression that I was because of the closing statement of this post, but all I was talking about was this :) Sorry for any confusion or false hopes!

Who's That Cute Girl?

It's Zora with her new glasses!

I noticed that she had been squinting quite a bit and then she started complaining of dizziness and headaches so I took her for her first eye checkup and found out she is a little bit nearsighted. She really likes her new look and so do we!

Is There Anything More Precious...

...than girls in pigtails???

The girls had a pretty exciting weekend. The weather was absolutely beautiful here and we took advantage of it to the fullest! We packed in as much excitement as we could possibly handle...

Friday we went to Seasame Street Live with some of our playgroup friends. It was really cute and the theme went along perfectly with what we are studying in science right now. It was all about how plants grow and how to take care of this beautiful world we live in. How appropriate!

We followed up a great show with some "gourmet dinner" at McDonalds with our friends. What could be more fun than that???

On Saturday we started out with the usual duties - laundry and grocery shopping - UGH! Then Daddy had the brilliant idea of getting outside and enjoying our day at the zoo. My nephew, London, came along and the kiddos had a blast :)

We finished off the beautiful weather with a little outside play at home in the sandbox.

We have another piece of news to share with you, but are waiting for the perfect picture, so stay tuned! Until then...

Exciting News!!!

ZORA LOST HER FIRST TOOTH!!!

It has been very loose for at least a week now, but everytime Joel tried to touch it she was reduced to tears. Today she just couldn't keep her hands out of her mouth and as I watched her wiggle it I could tell it wasn't going to last much longer. And sure enough, it literally just fell out in her hands!

And another piece of exciting news... Joel just landed a really big job with the City of Tulsa! I am so proud of him and he is super excited, yet nervous all at the same time!!! Please pray for him as he tackles this! Most of all we thank God for this awesome opportunity. We know that all good things come from above!