No More Babies

Well, it's official. We no longer have any babies in the Faddis house! Emma is growing up. She's 20 months and she is changing almost daily. She's finally starting to try to talk! Thank goodness!

So far we have...

Thank you Her version: daaa daaa
Please Her version: seeese
Cheese Her version: sheeese
Momma Her version: mmmmMaa Ma!
Daddy Her version: Da Da
Sara Her version: Shawa
Hope Her version: O
Luke Her version: ewww or Bubba
Poppa Her version: pa ba
Mom Her version: mmmmMaaam
Gi Gi Her version: geh geh
Paw Paw Her version: pa ba
Jack (hard to phonetically do that one!)

And she's doing more and more. She is such a joy to be around. Just the other day, my brother told me he was glad we had Emma because she has such a great personality. :) She's such a little sponge, also. She pays attention and will mimic us when we didn't even know she was watching.

Now this is hysterical! I was standing right beside her and hear her "blowing" her nose. (She holds the kleenex on her nose and then blows a zerburt. ha!) I was on the phone, and distracted and when I looked down this is what I saw. She was pulling one kleenex out and "blowing," dropped it, got another one, and kept doing that with about 10 kleenexes! She is a hoot!

Lance commented tonight when he got home that she's growing up. I laughed and told him that was exactly what I was blogging about tonight. We're both noticing it. It's a little sad, but so much fun!

Shake, Rattle, and Roll!!

Oh my word! I missed my first earthquake! Dangit! We had a 2.5 earthquake in our little Arkansas town!!! Crazy!!!! I was close to our church 20 min away and I didn't feel it. Bummer! Lance called me to ask me if I felt the earth shake. I thought he was crazy! I couldn't imagine what he was talking about. He told me that they heard a loud boom and the clinic shook. They thought that someone had hit the building.

Then I talked to my Mom and she told me she heard what she thought was a sonic boom and felt the shake. She went outside to see what happened. A few minutes later, Lance called me back and said that it had been an earthquake!

Then there was confirmation from the USGS that there had indeed been a 2.5 mag earthquake 4 miles from my house. What a (non)experience! I'm so jealous that my Mom and Lance got to feel it!

Love on Your Babies!

This is so sad, and I wouldn't usually blog about something this depressing, but I don't want to ever forget how blessed I am and how fragile life is. A family in our church lost their 6 y/o daughter to a accidental gun shot wound today. My heart is breaking for them.

I haven't felt good the past couple of days and the kids have been trying what little patience I have. But they are alive to try my patience. Life is so short. My husband and my children are my life. I love them more than anything in this world. I'm giving them extra hugs in the morning and kissing their beautiful faces tonight when I go to bed.

Lord, help me to have patience and remember what this life is all about. Thank you for the blessings you have given me in my family. Help me to be worthy of them.

Remember When?

I relieved some memories today. :) I told Luke last night that I might let him skip school today. His attitude has been pretty good lately and we were supposed to leave for Branson today for a Cub Scout weekend (we're getting a delayed start because Lance is sick). I thought that it wouldn't be a big deal to let him skip. Lance didn't like the idea as much. He did remind me that Luke had a spelling test today. So when Luke got up, I told him that he was going to have to go to take his test and I would check him out early.

Well, he didn't like that too much. We had a little bit of a fit, but he made it out the door without too much trouble. I warned him that he'd better behave at school or he would be in trouble. I guess he didn't believe me. :)

I called to make sure he was done with his test so I could check him out. Turns out, he was a little turkey all day. It was only noon and he'd had his name written on the board 4 times and had lost his recess time.

So here I was in a dilemma. I didn't want to check him out and reward his bad behavior, but I didn't want to not check him out and he act even worse for his teacher because he was mad.

Sooooo. I went to school to have a talk with him. I walked in the office and told the office workers that I needed to talk to him. (they were aware of the situation) It just so happens that his principal was in the office when I walked in. She asked what was going on and I asked he if she wanted to sit in on my talk with Luke.

Now here's where I relived some memories. I had to go to the Principal's office a couple times in my elementary school career. (That was back in the day when you got sent for not doing your homework. Seriously? Not doing your homework??) So I remember the fear of going to the office. BUT, I NEVER had to go to the office and my mother was there, too! haha! Bless his heart. I can't imagine how hard his heart was beating!

Needless to say, he didn't get checked out early. :) And he had a much better afternoon! haha!

What Do You Say???

So this morning, Hope was trying my patience. :) She loves to change clothes. She has forever. She causes me so much extra laundry. It drives me nuts! She loves clothes and loves to try on all her cute things. She constantly comes to me with a new outfit and says, "Momma, am I cute?" Ha! Today, within 30 minutes, she had changed clothes 3 times. I kept telling her to take off those clothes and put on the clothes I gave her. After the third time, and I told her sternly to change her clothes, she looks at me and says, "You're ruining up my life." Seriously???? What do you say to that?? Ha! Little does she know it's going to be soooo much worse when she's 13!!!

And then tonight I was saying prayers with Luke. He prayed and then I was sitting on his bed talking to him. He told me that he told someone about God today. I asked him how that happened and he said that this boy doesn't go to church, so he gave a speech about God. :) One of his friends said that it was a good speech. (and yes, I wonder what in the world he said!) He said he told him about who God is and what He's done. I told him I was proud of him. That it's hard to share your faith, but that's what it's all about. Telling others about God and Jesus. Then he looks me right in the eye and says, "Can I have a quarter?" HAHAHAHAHA! What a goofball! I burst out laughing and then he did, too! It was hysterical!

Bless His Heart!

So the other day, Lance took Luke with him to his parents'. Lance was working with someone on cutting some boards out of some logs on his parents' property for out barn. Lance loaded Luke's new bike in the truck and Luke was loving riding all around the farm. UNTIL...he was riding down in the field. Lance told him to stay away from the creek, but other than that, he was limitless. The problem was, he didn't see the mud bog until he was stuck in it. Now picture this: Luke has on Crocs and a red t-shirt. He gets off his bike and sinks to his knees in mud. There goes his shoes. He tries to get them, but at that moment, he looks up and the cows are heading to him to check him out. Remember he's wearing a RED shirt! He freaks out, takes off his shirt, runs barefoot as fast as he can to Lance, leaving his bike in the field. He was scared that the cows would charge him because he's wearing red.

Poor boy, and then his Daddy got on to him for losing his shoes! haha! He had a rough day!

Tech Geek

Today passed in a whirlwind. I didn't have time to stop and sit down until 8:30 tonight after all 4 were snug in bed. Church, home for lunch, laundry, back to church to drop Luke off for early choir practice, drop the girls at some friends' house, tour the new church building, go pick up the girls, take them to choir practice, evening service, meet Lance at a restaurant for dinner, home to put kids in bed, couch. Whew! I'm tired all over again!

Lance was at the hospital this evening, so it was just Luke and I at the evening service. The girls were in childcare. Right before the service started, Luke asked me if he could sit with Mr. Brian in the sound booth. He had asked Brian (our church media guru!) once a while back if he could go up there sometime. Brian had told him he could and this is the first evening service we've been at in a while. I texted Brian and asked him if Luke could. He said sure.

It was soooo cute. I kept looking over to keep an eye on him and he was in Heaven! He went from behind the camera, to the computers, to the sound board, to Brian and back to the camera. I had told him not to touch ANYTHING and he didn't, but you could tell he was dieing to! At one point, he had a headset on! haha!

Mr. Big Stuff behind the camera!

At the end of the service, I went to get him while our pastor was leading the invitation prayer. When I got to the booth, Luke was in the orchestra pit giving our worship pastor a mic! Evidently Mark (who is a dear friend of ours) had been in the booth and left his mic when he went up to the stage to lead the invitation song. (he was just going to use another one) Luke saw the mic, and before Brian could stop him, he ran down the aisle to give it to Mark who was already on stage! Thank goodness it was during the prayer! He thought he was so grown up!

On the way home, Luke said, "Momma, when I grow up, I want a job like Mr. Brian's. It's exciting." Thanks Brian! I owe you one!

He is Risen Indeed!

Easter Sunday was probably the best Easter I've experienced! Our worship in song was amazing and then our pastor preached a great sermon on the Day that Changed Everything. The big girls and I got up early and were at church at 8:00. Our choir sings in all 3 Easter services each year. It makes for a long day, but it is a lot of fun. I haven't been able to make the early service very much over the past few years because of having so many small children. I love being able to. We sing at 8, leave during the service and go have a potluck breakfast and then sing in the 9:30 and 11:00 services.

One of my friends posted on Facebook this weekend this: It's not about the bunny, it's about the lamb. I LOVE that! We have fun with hunting Easter eggs, but we make sure every year that they know that JESUS is the reason that we celebrate Easter. He humbled Himself and took on the role of a bondservant to ransom us from our sins. Praise God He did! Hallelujah! What a Savior!

After church we went to Mom and Dad's for lunch. Then it was the Easter egg hunt the kids had been waiting for.

The kids getting their Easter baskets before we ate.

Sara examining one of her eggs! ha!

Hope took time for a candy break! :)

Emma walked around saying "Ohhh!" every time she saw an egg!

Luke found the golden egg! (the sweetest thing was when he found it Hope yelled, "Luke found it! He won!!)

My Family

Then we went to Lance's parents and had an Easter egg hunt with all of the cousins. The kids had so much fun. They love their cousins! We were going to try to take Easter pics with our nephews' new bunnies, but there was just too much chaos going on. We are going to try to do that in the next couple weeks!

Pinewood Derby

Today was Luke's first Pinewood Derby. He and my Dad spent this week building his car. He picked a tank design and named it Luke's Tank. He got 2nd place in the Most Unusual category. Which is pretty cool. I'm proud he was recognized for his originality!

Posing with his car and ribbons. Love that smile!

After the derby (which took a lot longer than I thought it would!) Mom took me and the kids to the Sr. Adult Wellness Center for an Easter Egg hunt. The wellness center is for seniors and has an olympic pool, aerobic pool, indoor and outdoor tracks, pool tables, library, conversation areas, offers different classes and is all for $25 a year! It's a really neat thing in our area.

The kids had fun. There weren't many eggs, but the Easter Bunny was there and some older school aged kids did a magic show and they had a free lunch. And the weather was absolutely perfect!

Luke with the Easter Bunny

The girls. (Emma wouldn't have anything to do with him!)

After the hunt, I took the big kids to Lance at our land. He was planting a lot of trees that he got the other day from the forestry service. They had the best time just running all over the place. They were out there for 4 hours and weren't ready to come home when I went and got them.

When we got home, everyone had a shower and then we made homemade pizza! Luke, Sara, and Hope had their own personal pizza and got to make it however they wanted. They loved it! For whatever reason, it's the first time we've ever done it. It will definitely be a regular thing from this point out. :)

While we were waiting for the pizza to cook, we decorated eggs. It was so much fun! I found the coolest thing at WalMart to decorate eggs this year. You put your egg in it, drop a few drops of dye, close the lid and then push down on this big button and it spins the egg around and around and the egg is colored! Too Cool!! No mess and the kids loved it! Even Emma could decorate them!

Hope wanted to do one with her Daddy :)

Luke had to strike a pose!

Emma getting in on the action!

Sara making her piece of art

As I type this, all the clothes are ironed, play clothes ready for the grandparents' houses, baskets done, breakfast casserole made for potluck at church tomorrow, and I'm ready to go to bed. I can't wait for tomorrow.

HE is RISEN!!!