This June we will celebrate our 10th year wedding anniversary, what better way to celebrate than a two-day night getaway. (Thought we better before I have another nursing baby again.)
Josh and I left Thursday late morning and came home Saturday morning. We enjoyed lots of uninterrupted talking together. We also took a trip to a waterfall that our family enjoys. It was fun to be able to get into the water together, rather than playing tag-team while watching kids. Thankful for the time away we had together – thankful for the gift of marriage.
Last week we celebrated Anna’s 4th birthday. This year she was pretty excited about her birthday. We started off with a week countdown calendar including gifts, snacks, and a movie night. For movie night we watched Disney’s Snow White. Snow White is a favorite book in our house for the little girls and it was a blast sitting with Clara while we watched the movie, since she was very involved in the story, repeating phrases and saying “I found her!” whenever she saw Snow White.
Anna’s cake order was a bit complicated. She went between wanting a Mymy (her small stuffed panda) cake, a flower cake, and a butterfly cake. Then she settled on wanting a round cake with a picture of Anna, Mymy, and Mymy’s Little Sister in a stroller. Then it got more complicated and she also wanted Anna making a cake and Anna in a house included on the cake. I told her that I could only draw one Anna on the cake, and that was hard enough, since my smallest tip is still too big for tiny detail. The result was tasty, and Anna was pleased.
Taking Anna’s birthday picture this year was a breeze and she kept asking me if she could do different poses. That was quite a change from the years I begged her to look at the camera.
Anna had big plans for her birthday morning. She wanted to get up really early and put on a pretty dress. All the kids ended up getting up early and getting dressed up. They then played Legos together before breakfast. We had decorated Anna’s door the night before, so she got to see that first thing in the morning. For Anna’s birthday we went swimming in Ban Lung and had a pizza and French fries lunch at the pool we swam. Then for supper Anna ordered hotdogs and macaroni & cheese.
Gifts were pretty easy for Anna – she wanted a new mosquito net, a backpack, and some Little People princesses. Her siblings enjoyed buying/making gifts for her.
Four is a really fun age and Anna is one very bright and fun little girl. She can talk non-stop about the things her dolls are doing and she’s full of expression as she tells you every little detail about her dolls. I just love her hand gestures that go along with her stories. As our middle child, she did get lost in the cracks with her nighttime thumb sucking. A few weeks ago we started working on that and we’re so proud that she has, as far as I know, dropped sucking her thumb altogether. Anna also stopped taking a afternoon nap and has joined her older siblings during afternoon rest time, where they hang out on the porch and do projects and listen to books on the iPod. Our little girl is growing up.
Anna is pretty excited about having a new sibling and is praying for a baby sister. Before we told the kids we were expecting another baby, she told me we were going to get a baby on our trip (last March) to Phnom Penh.
We had a great time celebrating Anna’s birthday. She’s such a bright part of our family. We’re so thankful to have been gifted with her to our family.
The last picture makes me laugh. I told everyone to make grumpy faces and Anna who is usually my straight faced girl is pictures smiles while everyone else masters their grumpy look!
Last week we celebrated Josh’s 37th birthday. All the kids got dressed up for the celebration. Our day consisted of special food and extra time with the birthday man. Early in the morning, Becca and Isaiah secretly decorated Josh’s office while we were praying.
Becca made Josh oatmeal cookies. The most amazing thing was that Becca patiently allowed all her siblings to help with the mixing process (a hard thing for even an adult to do!).
For dinner we had grilled chicken and buffalo kabobs and had homemade mac&cheese, salt and garlic potatoes, and salad. For dessert we had strawberry cake with raspberry frosting To finished the evening we had a special show in honor of Daddy with original songs, performances, and a play done by family members. Happy Birthday Josh!
We enjoyed celebrating Holy Week this year. It was very similar to last’s years celebration, except I took less pictures. We really enjoyed reading though Piper’s Lenten Lights each night. You start out the day before Palm Sunday with seven candles and blow out a successive one each night until the last one is blown out on Good Friday. Then on Easter you relight all the candles. The visual element makes the readings more meaningful.
Palm Sunday we decorated our Resurrection Tree and reenacted the story of Palm Sunday. The tree is just a dead branch Becca chose from outside. The ornaments are all handmade.
Monday we reenacted the story of Jesus clearing the Temple. We also started our Resurrection Countdown Calendar, which had a extra treat for each day counting down to Easter.
Wednesday we had a family outing and went to Ban Lung and spent several hours and a pool that has watersides. It’s one of the nicest pools we’ve been to for little kids, since there are two large shallow areas for children and three different sets of slides varying in height.
Thursday we had a Maundy Thursday service, with feet washing and a reenactment of the Last Supper. Friday we had a Good Friday service with readings and singing.
Saturday was craft day and an Easter egg hunt. Clara was especially excited about finding eggs, it was adorable. I’m so thankful for the plastic eggs we got when in Bangkok when Clara was born.
Sunday afternoon we visited a young widow who recently lost her unsaved father. Nee is one of the people who is training to work on the Jarai Bible translation. After we returned, we had a dinner of buffalo roast, mashed potatoes, salad, and bread. Then we reenacted the Easter story and watched a few clips of the resurrection from different movie. Then we exchanged gifts. The kids are always so pleased with their gifts and with giving gifts. Afterwards we had apple pie and did our last Lenten Lights reading.
Thankful for the Holy Week we were able to have – thankful that our lives are changed because Jesus is Alive!
Josh and I left Thursday late morning and came home Saturday morning. We enjoyed lots of uninterrupted talking together. We also took a trip to a waterfall that our family enjoys. It was fun to be able to get into the water together, rather than playing tag-team while watching kids. Thankful for the time away we had together – thankful for the gift of marriage.
