Welcome Tissa Margaret Diane!

 We were blessed with the arrival of Tissa Margaret Diane on May 5th at 10:54 am. She weighs 8 lbs. 10 oz and is 22 inches long. She was born into the presence of just her Dad and Mom as the midwife did not make it in time as she was over 2 hours away.

Darcy started having contractions at 10 am; they came fast and hard. She called Chad to tell him to come home from work and to hurry. He arrived home with less than 10 minutes to spare before Tissa made her entrance. We are fortunate enough to have a retired nurse for a neighbor and she came over and stayed with us until  the back-up midwife arrived. The back-up midwife stayed until our midwife arrived. When Laurie arrived, she checked Tissa and Darcy and both got great reports.

 When Chad called one of our friends to let them know, she sent over her 18 year old daughter to take care of the girls and prepare meals. She was a life saver! She was here until Darcy's parents arrived with dinner. They are staying until Saturday when another young lady will be arriving and staying for two weeks to help out.

I hope you enjoy the pictures! I forgot to turn some of them before uploading them, but you can still see how beautiful she is and how adored she is by her sisters.

Happy 9th Birthday, Eva!

 Eva received $10 from Uncle Jim, Aunt Amy, Madalynn, and James.

 She is turning into such a beautiful young lady! It's hard to believe she's 9 now!

 She received a sand art kit from Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Sherry (our neighbors).

 Papa & Nana Smith gave her a new art curriculum video set.

 Finally, a new water bottle (from Papa & Nana Smith)!

 A book about pioneer life written by a Michigander from the West Michigan area (from Papa & Nana Smith).

 Pottery Wheel kit from Dad, Mom & sisters.

 Scrapbook, stamp, art kit from the Inglerights.

 Allyn drew Eva paints, a paintbrush, and an art palette.

 A Bible trivia game from Papa and Nana Carmichael.

 Sabra made her a bracelet.

Cora drew her a princess picture.

Eva made her own birthday cake to look like an artist's palette. She did a great job!

Celebrating Easter!

The girls enjoyed an egg hunt for Easter. This year, since I wanted to avoid the candy, we just assigned monetary amounts to different eggs (we had solid eggs, decorated eggs, mini eggs, jumbo eggs, etc.). The girls worked with their buddies and after adding up what they "earned", then each girl got that amount.

 Dara and Hava are buddies.

 Allyn and Jaina are buddies.

 Sabra and Cora are buddies.

 Eva and Martha are buddies.

 Chad parents gave the girls The Legend of the Sand Dollar: An Inspirational Story of Hope for Easter by Chris Auer and illustrated by Rick Johnson. Dara read the story to everyone and then in the back of the book, Donalyn had attached a sand dollar that Chad's grandparents had gotten from FL many years ago. The girls loved it!

Easter Morning Play

The girls acted out the story, The Tale of the Three Trees, for Easter. I read the story and Eva, Allyn, Sabra and Cora each had multiple parts to play. This was a no cost production done for our church on Easter morning. Eva, Allyn, and Sabra were each a woodcutter who cut down a tree.

 

Eva then took her tree to a carpenter's shop and fashioned a feed box from it.

 

Allyn's tree went to a shipyard where she made it into a simple fishing boat.

Sabra's tree was made into beams and left in a pile.

Cora was Mary who placed baby Jesus in the manger made from the 1st tree.

Eva was Jesus who fell asleep when a storm arose and then called the waters.

Eva also carried a cross made from the beams of the 3rd tree.

When Christ arose from the dead, the trees realized their dreams came true and exceeded their expectations!

The girls then sang Romans 8:28.

Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty of Life!

Are we training our children for a career or for living life? What is our ultimate goal?

Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty of Life!

Happy 6th Birthday, Sabra!

 

Happy to be 6!

 Sabra's tea pot and tea cup cake. It started falling apart before I even finished decorating it.

 Sabra wasn't upset that it fell apart. It still tasted good!

 Dara made Sabra a blanket for her doll.

 Allyn made Sabra some paper dolls.

 Daddy & Mommy gave her new princess gloves.

 Papa & Nana Smith gave her crocs, Polly Pockets, and ordered her some Little House on the Prairie beginning readers.

 Eva made Sabra a pillow for her doll and bought her some princess jewelery.

 Papa & Nana Carmichael gave her a mug of her very own.

 Jerry & Sherry gave Sabra a coloring book and some bath gifts.

I forgot to turn this picture, but she got some play dough play things, a doll, some organic suckers and a purse from the Inglerights.