Peach Picking

Sweet Home Alabama.  We are only here for a year so I want to make sure we get out and do all the things that Alabama has to offer.  Our first adventure...Peach Picking.  We took an hour drive north of Montgomery to a small farm to pick our own.  We ended up with something like 30lbs of peaches.  My helpers donned their aprons and we got to work making peach butter, peach preserves, peach leather, dried peaches, and peach ice cream.  Its a good thing Grace likes peaches because she's gotten a lot of them!  The peach butter turned out awesome; it took a few tries to get the peach leather down but we finally did and that is in the pantry for a time when we are all out of peaches.  The peach ice cream is frozen sliced peaches that we will add milk and sugar to when we are ready to eat.  A guy at the peach orchard told us to make them that way, said it was the best!

Rebekah Joy - 34 Months

Rebekah is such a little cutie and I really do love this age.  It has its challenges but overall, I love how much she is learning and how sweet she is.

Sleeping:
No real changes in her sleep.  She made the transition to our new home in Alabama just fine.  Naps still start at the same time

Eating:
Rebekah has decided that she doesn't really like quesadillas for snack (just flour tortillas and butter).  She also doesn't really care for tomatoes.  We have been learning how to eat salad and I try to keep the tomatoes to a minimum although she still does have to try them.  She also has begun to enjoy ice in her water.  We have an ice maker on the front of our fridge here in Alabama and she is able to fill up her own cup with ice and water and has been loving it.

Skills:
Rebekah is showing great improvement in her jumping and is always asking "Mama look at this."  She has grown strong enough to climb up the slide on the play set in our backyard.  She has started memorizing and singing more of the songs in the car and the ones we sing in church. Watching her sing and do the motions for O Happy Day is so sweet!  Also, another sweet story is that one day we were out painting the play set and the girls were watching and providing moral support to their parents sweating in the sun; Faith had finished her water and wanted some more and was denied for the time by me but Rebekah chose to give up some of her water for her sister.  It warmed my heart to see her loving like that.

Play:
We were moving most of this month so we were in upheaval but Rebekah adjusted well to each part of the process.  Since we've been in Alabama she has been very into "driving" in their chairs, pushing their shopping cars with their kids in them.  Rebekah loves her stuffed animals and if she could she would carry around 3 or 4 with her everyday.  I usually limit her to one baby and one stuffed animal. 







 

Saying Good-Bye

As we prepare to leave our home of the last 4 years, we are saying our good-byes.  It isn't like I didn't know this would happen; my husband is in the military and really 4 years in one place is a lot for us and really it is the longest we'll be anywhere again (at least while still drawing a paycheck from the USAF).  If it had to be anywhere, I am glad it was here.  I have made some of the best friends here, met some truly amazing people.  We've enjoyed a wonderful church full of people who love Jesus and challenged us at every step.  Two of our three kids have been born here; this is the only home any of them has ever really known.  Coming here was literally the best thing for Frank's Air Force career.  I know my way around this place and have gotten used to the uniquely Arkansan accent (where tin is actually ten).  All this to say, I really hate saying good-bye.  For the most part though, the people we've met and love here, we will see again, perhaps not on this side of heaven but we'll see them again when we are all looking a lot better!  So, as we leave Arkansas and move on to parts further south, I am sad at what I am leaving because of the military life we lead but am grateful that we got to come here.  Without the military we never would have ventured to such a place and found the best of folks here.  Thank you to all our Arkansas friends for stuffing this place full of memories. 


We are in our new house in Alabama now, finding our way around our new city of Montgomery.  A big thanks to my parents who made this move so smooth and pleasant!  I've found the Wal-Mart and the pool, both important places :)  Most of the boxes are gone from our house, other than the 2,000lbs of our household goods that haven't made it yet.  I am drinking tea these days because the coffee pot was part of that 2,000lbs along with our patio furniture and my measuring spoons.  The moving company said they "are working it" but gave no other indicator as to when we might see the shower curtain rod for the girls' bathroom.  There is a great play set in the backyard of our new house and we have already stained it in preparation for hours and hours of play.  We are starting our church hunt tomorrow and are excited about what God will do with our willing hearts here in Montgomery.
I don't have any pictures of the house but this is the play set and Frank working hard at staining it :)

Grace AnneMarie - 9 Months

Sleeping - Still doing well at night and at naps really but those have been in her car seat and we are about to end that :(  She isn't really growing out of it but I know it needs to happen and she'll be fine after a few days of adjustment.  Nighttime is what counts and she is a great sleeper.  We've had a few days of interrupted sleep but I chalk that up to the move to Alabama.

Eating - Nursing continues as before.  She is a champion eater and has liked every new food she's been presented with.  The whole avocado is going over much better than mushed up.  I've started giving her more and more things to eat on her own as she is showing some skills with feeding herself.

Skills - I don't really know what clapping shows developmentally but she is doing it.  She claps when someone comes in the room or she hears a noise she likes or sometimes for no discernible reason at all.  She isn't really crawling but wants to SO badly.  She is skootching around with one knee under her and then landing on her tummy and getting frustrated by her lack of mobility.  It should only be another few days before she just takes off!  She has become more interested in books as something other than just a chew toy.  Grace has also become enamored with the dog, which is funny for me but not as funny for Lady.

Grace is still so happy, always smiling and laughing and cries when tired or hungry.  Of course we haven't done solo play for the last several weeks so that should bring out the waterworks when that starts as well.  She is about to move from 6-9month clothing into 9 month.  No teeth yet but they have to come in someday :)