Grace AnneMarie - 21 Months

The last few months have been super busy, Frank's school ending, VBS, a month long vacation, etc., so this post is going to encompass 3 months of Grace's life from April 2 - August 2. 

Sleeping - One nap is going well.  She usually goes down for it just after lunch and sleeps at least an hour and a half, sometimes longer.  I have moved the older girls rest time to start around 1:30 and end at 3 so the quiet time in the house is a little earlier.  If Grace is up by 3:30, I'll get her up (and it is rare that she is still sleeping then, but it has been known to happen).  For about 2 weeks in early July (so 20 months old), she would wake in the middle of the night and just scream off and on for an hour.  She showed no symptoms of cold or physical ailments (other than another molar coming in!) so I was reluctant to give her anything.  She was fine during the day other than being tired.  It eventually went away but it was a little annoying to say the least!

Eating - Did I mention that Grace loves ranch?  Well in addition to that being a food group in her mind, all other condiments, especially guacamole and sour cream are right up there in being enough to fill her belly with.  She was a great eater during our vacation.  We went blueberry picking 2 weeks ago and she ate her weight in blueberries which was great, except for the waste products associated with them!  She also loves peas, because they too are balls and she enjoys saying what they are before eating them.  Grace does show some signs of wanting to use a big girl cup and insists on having a fork at every meal.  She doesn't always use the fork but she wants to have one just the same. 

Play - Gracie loves balls to hold and roll; babies to wrap up in a blanket and feed; kitchen toys to bang on; (certain) books to read (her favorites are Go Dogs Go, Anna Karenina, Sense and Sensibility, Usborne Touchy Feely, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom).  She isn't too interested in the book if it isn't a board book and she generally doesn't stick around if her older sisters are being read a book that is "too big". 
Speaking of babies, she LOVED being at the Langehaugs with baby Zeke.  She just burst into giggles everytime she saw him and each time I carried her upstairs from her room to the main part of the house, she reminded me there was a baby up there. 
She loves playing with her sisters and they are really all super sweet to each other about 90% of the time.  She enjoys having Mama and Daddy around to sit next to and regularly calls us over with "Mama seat" if she wants some company. 

With all this running around this summer we haven't done much solo play but we'll get back into it soon.  She has been required to sit and listen to Bible story on the rare day we get school in and I have tried to give her a few activities to entertain herself but honestly she'd rather do what Rebekah is doing and Rebekah would rather have Grace's activity so I guess it works out. 
EVERYTIME I turn the water on to do the dishes this girl is pulling a chair over to "help".  She loves playing in the water and yes, it takes more time to do the dishes with her "help" but is a sweet time and I love it.  Plus, someday I have a vision of sitting down with a hot cup of coffee while she happily washes the dishes and sings songs of praise :)
She still loves to play peek-a-boo and dance with her sisters.  She loves "If You're Happy and You Know It".  The "horray" part is her favorite!

Skills - Grace has been doing very well swimming with her floaty on.  Out of the water she climbs on everything and has very little fear.  The girl loves to play with shoes but not actually wear them.  She is a stereotypical southern child and takes off her shoes to play outside every time she can get away with it. 
Her potty training, which we started the week she turned 18 months, is going well.  It took about 2 full weeks for it to click with her but she did eventually get it.  At this point I would say she is "potty" trained, poop trained, not so much.  I am going to have to start doing some hard decision making here as far as consequences for this because I am tired of soiled pants :)  She does love practicing to take her pants and panties off and on a lot!  Grace's favorite color is blue.  That is the color she can identify most readily.  She is happy to repeat the names of other colors when we say them but she usually declares them to be blue when we ask her for her own answer.  She enjoys picking out her own clothes and I think it distresses her that she has so few blue clothes!

Well, I am sure there is plenty I forgot but that is why we also make the videos of them every month and unlike me, Frank is on top of his responsibility there!

Rebekah Joy - 3.75 Years

Rebekah is 3 1/2 years old now.  She is just the most joyful jubilant little girl.  She has a bubbly personality and gorgeous hair!

Sleeping - We've gotten to the point where I simply ask if she wants to sleep or play during rest time.  Some days she will sleep for an hour and either she will wake up on her own or I will wake her and then on other days she choses to play.  Occasionally on those "play" days she will get tired and turn the light off and go to sleep.  I basically let her do what she pleases, it is only an hour and a half and sleeping even for a few days in a row does not seem to be affecting her wake up time in the morning.

Eating - Still a great vegetable and fruit eater.  She has been eating a great deal lately, I think she might be going through a growth spurt!

Skills - Learning all her lower case letters!  This girl is amazingly smart.  She is also improving on her scissor skills.  The Ribbon Dance to This Little Light of Mine during her recital was so classic Rebekah.  She is so passionate and has the best time doing things she considers fun and singing and dancing to cute songs in definitely on that list.  She memorized the books of Bible in order during the summer while driving up to Grandma's house. 

Play - Rebekah loves pretend play.  She is so cute and she just adores playing dress-up, making stuff in the kitchen.  She loved the "Would You Rather" questions from our vacation travel as well as Peter and the Wolf and Tortoise and the Hare.  She is always Tortoise and in Peter she and Faith are usually the hunters.   She still loves her Kanga and was thrilled to see one and pet a baby wallaby at the Co Springs zoo.  She had the best time with Brock playing dress up and making a mess in the mud. 

Random -

88 is Rebekah's favorite number.  Allison is her favorite name. 

We were at Walmart one day and after I asked for some help from an employee and we were walking away she declared "His skin is brown so he does not know Jesus".  I quickly explained to her that our current ministry happens to be with people who mostly have brown skin but there are plenty of people with white skin who don't know Jesus either and some with brown skin who do.  From a 3 year old perspective, I can totally see how her mind took her to that conclusion but I was thankful for the opportunity to correct her perception when no one else was around!

She loved eating the wild plums and feeding the cows at Grandma's house.

 

Faith August - 5 Years!

5 Years, wow!  Faith loves playing "house".  She also will usually chose to stay with the younger set of girls (3 of them who are between 3 and 3 1/2)  within our little circle so that she can be the Mama or at least in charge of play whereas when she plays with the older girls who range from 7 to 10, she is not in charge and that isn't as appealing for her!
Specs -

Sleeping - Still sleeping well at night and having a good time during rest time

Eating - Faith does well here and always tries something new but rarely likes it unless it is a new dessert.  When she loves something (mac & cheese, pizza, marinade meat, sausage pasta) she eats it until her belly is about to burst. 

Play - Loves playing w/ Grace and being a teacher to Grace.  Loves pretending to be Ms Kelli and leading Children's Choir

Skills - Great ladybug catcher.  Great at ballet class and tries so hard to do it well.  Pouring milks, emptying plates from dishwasher.  She continues to do awesome on her bike. 

Education - Doing awesome with her phonics and Bible verse memorization.  She isn't too keen on doing school all the time but each time she learns a new spelling rule, it is exciting for her!  Enjoys making her own readers in LOE.  Anything we can act out or use manipulatives for is awesome. 

Grace AnneMarie - 17 Months

This girl LOVES shoes.  She is constantly putting on her big sisters' shoes and walking around the house in them.  It is pretty cute :)

Sleeping - We are down to one nap as of this month.  She, like her eldest sister, just ceased being able to sleep in the afternoon if she got any kind of morning nap so I knew it was time to be done.  I was a little nervous about the transition but she did great and it only took about a week to get longer than a one hour nap in during the afternoon. 

Eating - Grace LOVES ranch dressing.  Seriously, she loves it.  She will simply lick it off whatever veggie I've placed it on.  She also loves other condiments like sour cream and guacamole (Danielle's recipe, of course) but ranch is her favorite. 

Play - Grace loves her sisters, everything about them, including just their presence.  On Thursday afternoons we have a Daddy and one daughter time.  When Grace's day with Daddy came due, I took the other girls to the store.  Frank said she spent their Daddy Daughter time walking over to the garage door asking for "Mama" and "Sissas" wondering why she'd been left behind.  In the mornings and after naps, Grace's favorite activity is to hug each of her sisters.  It is so endearing. 

Grace waves at everyone.  Literally, she just flashes that smile and waves at everyone.  She also gets irritated when her wave is not returned or acknowledged by fellow shoppers at the commissary or wherever we happen to be.  It is so sweet and really there is nothing more validating than being waved at by a cute baby :)

Grace AnneMarie - 16 Months

This is the cutest little girl.  She waves at everyone - literally, she thinks she's Miss America and really with that smile, who could argue.  She actually gets irritated when people don't wave back if they are doing something like working or not looking directly at her when walking through a store.  I am not complaining of course, I love having a happy and outgoing baby! 

Sleeping - Going well most of the month but in the last week she's stopped sleeping well (or at all) in the afternoon) so I am thinking that she is imitating her eldest sister who did the same thing when ready to drop her morning nap.  I am giving it a few more days to make sure but I think the morning nap is about to come to an end.  She is still happy, even if she doesn't sleeping in the afternoon and the highlight of her day is hugging her sisters first thing in the morning and after naps.   Of course now I am late in posting this and for the last week she has slept both naps with the first one starting at 1030 and the second at 1430.

Eating - Grace discovered ranch dressing this month and has decided it is like manna from heaven.  She LOVES it.  She also enjoys most condiments: guacamole and sour cream specifically.  I am sure she would happily make a meal out of any of these. 

Playing - Everything her sisters do, Grace wants to be a part of.  This month she has specifically loved playing ballerina with her tutu and the Usborn Ballerina Book & CD we've been listening to.  She loves stacking toys, even just using the plastic cups makes her happy.  Solo play is going great and she enjoys just about all her toys in there.  I've been trying to ensure that she gets time to play outside with her riding toys and pushing her stroller around before we go for a walk as it occurred to me that her sisters going for a bike ride and me pushing her in the stroller doesn't give her much exercise.  She seems to like playing on those toys for about 10 minutes before she is ready for the stroller :)

Skills - Grace is a climbing crazy kid!  She loves to climb on everything and for the most part does a great job and has also learned to go down the slide on her backside.  She is learning to use her spoon very well, of course there is still a little mess but she enjoys it :)  Grace is identifying several body parts, head, ear, tongue, mouth, belly, nose.  Her speech isn't too well developed yet but I know she can hear and understand me so I am not too worried about it.  I have begun to be purposeful about singing to her during diaper changes and she really responds well to that.  After a week of Row, Row, Row Your Boat she was so cute in imitating the R sound. 

Grace AnneMarie - 15 Months

Sleeping - About half way through the month, Grace's morning nap started increasing in length and her afternoon nap was suffering for it.  So, I pushed her morning nap to begin at 1030 and that seems to have corrected the issue for now. 

Eating - She has started learning to use a spoon with yogurt, oatmeal, and some thicker soups and really enjoys using it.  I was trying to feed her yogurt one morning and she just cried the whole time although she loves yogurt and was obviously hungry.  So, I tried handing her the spoon and a giant smile extended across her face and I knew she just wanted to be a big girl. 

Skills - Grace is learning to point to body parts: head, ear, nose, mouth, and belly.  She is also learning the M sound so she is beginning to say "Mama" which is just heart melting. 

Play - Because of her nap being pushed back she has now joined us for the first half hour of school which is calendar time and worship time.  We call her the Dancing Queen but also she becomes a little Drama Queen, putting her face on the ground as she is trying to make herself cry after some perceived injustice.  She is the cutest little dancer and she loves it!  On Laundry days she loves being pushed and pulled around in the laundry bucket.  Balls have been incorporated into her list of loves which also include the dog and dolls.  Grace had her first snow day (here in Alabama!!) but wasn't all that enamored with it once her hands got cold, Mama should have put her mittens on!

Faith August - 4.75 Years

Sleep - Same as normal.  I've been trying to give her more stuff to keep her mind engaged during her rest time and she seems to be enjoying it.

Eating - Remains a great eater although not as adventurous as Rebekah, she does love food and sometimes surprises but she always asks for more fish but never for more kale :)

Skills - Faith's favorite Christmas present was her new bike.  She never tires of telling people that she has a new bike without training wheels.  That balance bike that she rode for a year was totally worth it.  Within a half hour she was riding her new 16" bike without any help.  After an hour she was starting and stopping all by herself. 
Her awesome phonogram skills continue and she has completed another book of cutting a pasting the pictures in after reading the words.  Her handwriting is improving.  Incidentally, something I've learned about her is that learning the strokes for her made much more sense when she saw what letter that stroke was going to turn into. She needs to see what it is she is doing, that her time as a purpose! 
She is doing great at ballet and loves going to the classes.  We have moved to another studio and now she gets to do tap dancing and is super excited about that. 
Her coloring has started to be more deliberately within the lines and she is enjoying it more.
She continues learning her Russian and does well at it.  I need to start speaking with her more during the day so she can really learn it!
Faith did a great job singing in the Children's Choir Christmas musical; she was an angel (literally!).

Play -  Faith loves to dance around the room, either to the music we play during worship time, or to the stuff she is just singing to herself.  In addition to the bike (which she wants to write all the time) the girls were also given a set of magna tiles and that has been without a doubt the best toy they've ever gotten.  Frank plays with it just as much as the girls!  Faith enjoys making a magna-tiles house for Rebekah's Calico Critters Kanga family.  She also continues to love her baby doll but loves Grace more and continues to play Mama with her.  It is so sweet the way she talks to her sister (except when she is coming to knock her magna-tiles tower down).  She just loves Grace. 

Rebekah Joy - 3.25 Years

Specs - 31lbs, 37 inches

Sleeping - About 3 days before she was due for this 3 1/4 milestone, she began to drop her nap.  I've been giving her about a half hour to fall asleep on her own and then books if she doesn't.  I imagine it will be several months before it is dropped completely. 

Eating - Rebekah is a champion eater.  Always asking for more broccoli and so sweet in thanking me for meals, I just love it. 

Skills - "I can do it my ownself" is the most frequent phrase out of Rebekah these days.  She loves to try, she wants to learn new skills and only wants to be treated like a baby when she is playing baby and mama with Faith (although she does revert to this baby whiny talk once in a while).  It has been her job to sort and match the socks on laundry day but pretty soon she is going to move up to doing pants and I think she is ready for it.  She has started to be more deliberate about coloring in the lines on a page, although sometimes it is just a tornado of color on a page but she loves to color.  She can hop with both feet together.  "Mama look at this" is another oft spoken phrase from Rebekah.  She wants me to watch how fast she can run, how long she can stand, or at the silly face she is making.   For school time, Rebekah is learning her letters, loves to cut, match, transfer, and pour.  She is also learning her phonograms by overhearing them from Faith and plays the games in our LOE curriculum really well!  Faith's balance bike was handed down to Rebekah at Christmas this year and within about a half hour she was totally rocking that bike!

Play - Her little imagination is really coming to life in playtime.  She has always enjoyed "going on a drive" usually to "Chick-Fil-A" but she is enjoying playing choir teacher and Ms. Layne (their ICE teacher).  She loves to dance around and sing, it is so sweet.  I am sure plenty of this comes from her ballet class which she loves (although I suspect her favorite part is getting her Tiana sticker afterwards; Tiana is her favorite because she wears green).  During our Mama time she generally asks for stickers or for me to read to her.  She LOVES acting out our Bible stories; she enjoys craft but acting out the stories is her favorite part. 

Random - At her 3 year old appointment, the doctor heard an innocent heart murmur and that was verified by the cardiologist.  Rebekah did awesome at the dentist and has beautiful teeth :) 

Grace AnneMarie - 14 Months

Is it possible that I have the cutest baby on the planet?  I am sure lots of parents think that but I actually do have her!

Specs - 22lbs, 31 inches

Sleeping - No changes, still 12 hours at night and 2 naps a day, no real signs yet of dropping that first nap. 

Eating - Grace has learned to say "milk".  She is doing better about eating the food on her tray without whining for something else she sees on the table.  Not perfect but getting there.  We dropped the nighttime bottle when she turned 14 months and I still warm her milk a little bit in the sippy but she is happy with it cold also.

Skills -  Grace shakes her head "yes" whenever she hears inflection in your voice.  By the end of the month she also learned to shake "no" and is now confusing them, shaking "no" when she really means "yes" and you can tell from the look in her eyes!
She has learned to crawl up and get down safely from the couch.  She also figured out she can go down the slides at the park on her tummy with great success.  Awesome walker!

Play - If Grace sees a book, she wants you to read it.  She is constantly crawling into mine or Frank's lap with a book in her hand.  It is so endearing and impossible to resist because we want her to love to read!  She continues to love her little Hide and Squeek Eggs and Dolls.  Doll, Dog, and DaDa are the only words she really says consistently but she says them with such passion.  Her sisters got a set of Magna Tiles for Christmas and Grace has enjoyed being "Baby Godzilla" to come knock down towers!  She can be such a terror to them but then so loving to her doll :)

Faith's First Book

Faith created and read her first book this week.  We are using the Logic of English Foundations A curriculum and I love it.  I have never taught anyone to read so the step by step is very helpful for me :)  Faith has learned about 2 dozen phonograms so far, knowing all their sounds and how to write the lowercase form.  For the book, I printed out sheets of paper with a 3 letter word on them.  She had to read the word, pick the corresponding picture and glue that picture to the page to make the illustration.  She did awesome and was so proud when I told her she had to sit in the middle during reading time today because she was the reader! 

Grace AnneMarie - 13 Months

Wow, I am really late with this!  In my defense, this has been a stressful month for us!  First we found out that Frank got command of a comm squadron (great) in Korea (okay) as an unaccompanied tour for a year (not cool!).  Then after a month of getting used to that idea, he was accepted to SAASS and was universally advised to take the SAASS and put in for command later.  So, now he is staying here in Alabama for another year :)  Hooray!!  Now, onto Grace...I am trying to write this for how things were on December 2nd (even though it is about 20 days later)

Sleeping - Doing great, no changes

Eating  - Still loves bread.  Using a sippy cup exclusively and doing really well with it.  She still gets milk at snack time and a bottle before bed but I am sure these both will change by next month. 

Play - Doing great at solo play.  There is no very little or no crying at all.  She still loves dolls and loves to give hugs, especially to Mama.   She enjoys hearing the modulation of her voice when we bounce her or tap on her chest; she thinks she is pretty funny :)  She really enjoys these link toys that my sister got her for her birthday from B.  Her favorite book is Sense & Sensibility

Skills - One Wednesday night about the middle of the month she took a few steps at church.  Then a few days later she took even more and by the end of the month she was done crawling.  What a big walker and she is so proud of herself!!  She is a sorting fool and she loves putting things away.  Using her hands to move her lower lip and then blowing out to make noise.  I don't know the name of this action but it sure is cutie.  She has also learned to shake her head "yes".  Both the other girls learned the action for "no" long before "yes".  So, does that mean she is going to be my super positive and optimistic daughter?  Grace has also learned the sign for "please". 

Homemade Yogurt

The next installment of Continuing Homemaker Education is homemade yogurt. 

I'd often thought about, and even pinned a few recipes for making yogurt in my crock pot but I never did anything with it.  Frank sits next to a Jordanian exchange officer at ACSC and we've made an attempt to get to know him and his family.  We went over there to drop off some Danielle bread and while we were there the sweet wife of this officer gave me some of her homemade yogurt to try.  It was awesome!  She invited me over to learn how to make it and I was floored at how easy it was and how great it tasted!  The girls and I have made it several times, most recently for our Y week, and have had great success each time.  I don't think I'll ever buy yogurt again!

Heat whole milk to a boil, whisking continuously so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. 

Once boiling, remove from heat and allow to cool until just warmer than you would drink. 

 

Remove a little of the warm milk into a cup and add in 1-4 TBSP of the yogurt starter (or Greek yogurt from the store) and stir together. 

 

Add the yogurt/milk mixture back into the warm milk and stir. 

Pour milk into a plastic container and put on lid.

 

 Wrap container in a large heavy comforter (I use our down comforter) and let sit for 5 hours. 

 

After 5 hours check and if yogurt is still liquidy, replace lid and re-wrap for another 2-3 hours.  Every time I have made mine I have let it sit for about 7 hours. 

Place yogurt in fridge overnight before eating.  For sweeter yogurt, use less of the starter, for more sour yogurt, use more starter.  If you are using yogurt from the store as your starter, use the full 4 TBSP.

Cotton Pickin'

A sweet lady at our church invited several of us out to watch the cotton harvesting at her farm in Pike's Road this week.  We headed out there on Veteran's Day and had a great time.  It was so interesting to watch and then she allowed all the kids to pick their own cotton by hand.  The farm was harvesting the cotton about a month later than normal because of the cool summer that Alabama had this year!  It was plenty hot out for us while picking cotton and it certainly made me think about what a wonderful inventions the automatic pickers and cotton gin are!

 

 

Grace AnneMarie - 12 Months

The baby is 1.  This week has been party central around here.  For Reformation Day, we celebrated with our new friends here in Alabama.  Just as a side note, I knew that God would be faithful in providing fellowship for us but I am continually amazed at Him and His provision of wonderful, likeminded people everywhere we go who sharpen and love us and our girls!  The next day was my birthday followed by Grace's the next day.  So, there is plenty of sugary desserts at our house :)  Here is Grace in her birthday dress....

Sleeping - Continues as before with no real changes.  2 naps a day and 12 hours at night, it is pretty hard to complain about that! 

Eating - Her appetite has diminished somewhat and she is becoming more picky about what she wants to eat (bread still being her favorite) but she knows that she has to eat what is on her tray before receiving more of anything else.  Her first taste of sugar was a great day for her when she enjoyed her carrot cake cupcake on her birthday yesterday.  She has been fully weaned to whole milk and is taking it just fine in a bottle.  Our next big task is to wean to a sippy cup. 

Skills - At the beginning of the month she was pulling herself up with the aid of a stationary object (or person) but towards the end she is standing up by herself.  She is really enjoying her walker toy and is cruising around the furniture.  Any day now she is just going to take off walking on her own.  She really likes crawling up the stairs at the playground and does really well with it.  She continues to wave at everyone (even the moon).  She has stopped crying when we drop her off at the nursery at church which is nice :)  She has learned to put things back in the box, bag, etc., so we are teaching her the clean-up song. 

Play - Grace still loves dolls, stuffed animals, and books.  She is the happiest baby; squeals with delight at random times.  Her solo play is going better also.  She usually cries for a minute or 2 at the beginning but then settles down to play for about 20 minutes and I could probably lengthen it at any time.   She really loves to empty the laundry basket and the ball pit in the back yard play set.  Between that and the toddler swing she is pretty happy outside!  Grace also loves the little play kitchen and although it is a little trying for the older girls sometimes, she enjoys doing whatever they are doing in the kitchen and craft area. 

I am not doing a year 34 update for myself but here is me in one of the 2 birthday dresses I made myself this year...

Faith August - 4.5 Years

4 1/2 years since my life was changed forever by the 7lb 11oz, 20 inch little girl.  She is now 43 inches tall and 42lbs!

 

Sleeping - Same as before.  Her rest time has is also doubling as her solo play time and that is going very well.  There are still days when she sleeps but not that often and she is always ready for her time by herself

Eating - No real changes with eating.  We are working harder on table manners, specifically chewing with your mouth closed and waiting to speak until her bite is finished.  Right now I have her raising her hand to let me know she has something she wants to say but is waiting until her mouth is empty. 

Skills - When we arrived in Alabama we met a nice family with a daughter 364 days younger than Faith.  This young girl can swim without a floaty!  Well, when Faith saw that she was determined to swim, or at least try to swim, without hers.  I was impressed by her desire.  The pool closed here on Labor Day weekend so there wasn't a lot of time to practice.  I plan on enrolling the older girls in swim lessons prior to our PCS and that should hopefully accomplish the swim without a floaty desire.

Faith has met her goal for the year of writing the alphabet.  She can write all the uppercase letters and is pretty excited about that. 

Her love of coloring continues and she is actually staying in the lines now and really enjoying it.  Now I've begun to talk to her about color choice and why the princesses look better if they don't have green skin and flaming red hair but hey, it is still up to her :)

I've enrolled her in a Pre-Ballet class which she just loves.  The calm, steady discipline of ballet is perfect for Faith and she is really enjoying it.  She and Rebekah's classes met at the same time of day  and it is pretty convenient.  Hopefully wherever we move next will have something equally perfect for our schedule.  Following Ballet classes on Monday nights we've been volunteering with Inner City Evangelism Bible studies.  Frank works with the adults and the girls and I are in the kids area teaching Bible stories.  I think the whole experience has been great for them (although Faith has picked up a bad word in the process from one of the other kids!) and it is showing them the love of Jesus in action.

Wednesday nights at church Faith is participating in Children's Choir and Girls in Action.  She had her first Children's Choir concert in September and was so cute up there.  She was a little behind on the hand movements but was trying with all her might.  Girls in Action is supposed to be for 1st-6th graders but the teachers wanted her in there anyway.  They have said nothing but good things about her participation!  She gets points for scripture memorization and has done really well with that; she has an impressive memory!

I made a Velcro picture grocery list for Faith so she has something to do in the commissary while her sisters are riding around in the cart.  There is a 3 seater cart at the Maxwell Commissary but it isn't always available and we bring her list every week because she loves using it.  She takes off the Velcro piece and puts it in her purse after we pick up an item.

Was a great helper during our move using her shopping cart to ferry stuff around the house

She loves Grace and loves being a second Mama to her.

Education - We've started using the Logic of English for our phonics lessons.  So far she is doing great.  I love LOE because it is teaching handwriting and phonics at the same time.  She's also started using Rosetta Stone Russian that Frank and I bought several years ago when we first started learning Russian.  In addition to her learning a great deal, I am remembering a bunch of stuff I've forgotten!
As part of my Homemaker Education, Faith has been helping me with Homemade Pasta Making,  Yogurt making, and figuring out what to do with the 30lbs of peaches we picked when we first came to Alabama!

Random - singing - at the top of her lungs her made up praise and worship songs!

Rebekah Joy - 36 Months

Wow!  I can't believe my little girl is 3!  Amazing how she has grown up so much and I haven't aged at all!  Ha!!

Sleeping - No changes here.  She is such an awesome napper (making up for the rough ones when she was younger).  No signs of dropping her nap and still sleeps all night, waking up around 7 each morning.

Eating - Still enjoys most every vegetable and fruit and of course bread.  She likes having smoothies for breakfast and doesn't like to eat the crusts of her sandwiches.  I suppose if it is between broccoli and bread crusts, broccoli is the better choice. 

Skills - One day she decided she could jump with both feet and that was pretty exciting!  Imitating her sister, Faith, Rebekah started pumping her legs on the swings.  Mama's tired arms are always excited to hear her say "I can get myself higher!"  She recognizes most letters of the alphabet.  A gives her some problems and she mixes up V and Y most times but other than that she know her uppercase letters.  What a smartie.  Previously, Rebekah had only been able to cut paper but this month she's improved and can cut small pieces of fabric as well. 

Play - She loves to color; it has become her standard activity during the sermon at church and she really has fun with it.  We visited the beach for the first time in her little life in Navarre, Florida with some friends this month.  Rebekah was happy as long as she was sitting in the sand and the waves were just getting her legs wet but more than that caused her some serious concern.  She still isn't too keen on getting dirty and I think she sand all over her was part of her issue with the beach.  She LOVES helping in the kitchen and I love having her assistance.  One day we made homemade cannelloni and she helped with the dough making, the filling, and the sauce.  I handed her the red pepper flakes for the sauce and told her to sprinkle some in.  A millisecond later I turned around and saw she'd taken the shaker cap off the bottle and dumped the entire jar of red pepper flakes in!  That sauce was tasty :)  I added a bunch of sugar to calm down the heat and we all had a good laugh.

Faith and Rebekah love playing Mama and Baby.  Usually Rebekah is the baby and she has a great time with it.  She holds her "mama's" hand and lets Faith pretend to feed her.  It is pretty cute.  I like it better than the infant game they played with each other when Grace was first born because that consisted of them imitating her cry and one infant crying in the house is enough! 

Rebekah started taking a Creative Movement class this month.  It is ballet for 2 1/2 & 3 year olds.  She wasn't very talkative about it at first but now I can tell she really enjoys it.  There is no viewing window for me to see what is going on in there so I have to take her word for it that she enjoys it.  She loves showing at home the cutie stuff she is learning to do. 

Education - Station time sorting, counting, pouring, matching, she is doing great with all of it.  I mentioned her uppercase recognition. 

Party - Rebekah asked for a Kanga party this year.  We invited 2 families who've been so gracious in inviting us into their circle of friends while are here for the next year.  There were 8 girls at this party and each one of them were so precious.  It really does make me wish we were staying here longer to develop deeper friendships with these families!  The girls made Kanga ears and pouches and then raced in some homemade burlap sacks!  It was great fun!