6 months!

Mercy turned 6 months on January 19th. Hard to believe! I just feel like she's changing so fast and growing up already too quickly! She's pretty squirmy right now, rolling around everywhere when given the chance, and grabbing everything in front of her. She got her two from bottom teeth in and is already eating 3 meals a day (in addition to still nursing). She's a beautiful, happy, smiley baby, and we're so glad she's part of our family! Here are some 6 month pictures...

Outside Pics

I've been meaning to put these pictures up for some time now. There is a little playground outside our apartment building that we take the kids out regularly to play on. It's not exactly ideal, but it gives them a place to run around and expend energy, which they possess in copious quantities. So, without further ado, here are some great outside pictures of the boys!

Giggles

Tonight we were having our family devotions and the kids were reviewing things we've read about Jesus in our devotion book (The Jesus Book by Stephen Elkins - great book!). Each boy takes turns and it was Micah's turn to say that Jesus taught about baptism. When he hesitated on the word "baptism" Joshua tried to help him by saying, "It's another word for 'bapto'". Well, I thought Joshua just totally made that up, so I started laughing. Then on the next one, Jesus taught about repentance, I said, "It's another word for 'repento'". The boys thought that was totally hilarious and everyone started giggling and making up words with "o" on the end of it. Then, to my shame, Daddy came to Joshua's defense and read to me that "bapto" is the Greek word for "baptism" and that Joshua really was correct in saying that. So my 6 year old's Greek is better than mine. :-) Nevertheless, we all laughed quite a bit tonight during devotions and had a great time. I'm not sure the boys ever really knew why we were laughing except that they thought "repento" was really funny. I guess I should brush up on my Greek before I start making up words next time. :-)

If You're Ever Down in Texas...

A few Sundays ago we were having a fellowship time in our home. Luke was sitting with Daddy helping him work the Powerpoint for our music time. So, we were in between songs having a time of prayer - everyone was nice and quiet - and Luke started to sing a little song. It goes like this... "If you're ever down in Texas, look me up..." He got if off of a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Funny song, not exactly perfect timing on Luke's part to sing it. :-) Such a hilarious 4 year old moment!

Catching Up on Christmas Activities

I have all these great pictures from the holiday festivities that I haven't shared yet, so that's what I will do in this post. Enjoy! We sure enjoyed making these memories!


The kids in our Sunday fellowship here put on a Christmas play for everyone; it was great! Joshua & Luke wanted to be shepherds, Micah was one of the wise men, and Mercy was baby Jesus. :-) We meant to take off her bow before the play, but oh well. It was very laid back and not a big deal, but all the kids had fun doing it. For the boys, we just bought some fabric and cut a hole for the head and tied it off at the waist. It was perfect! Mercy did a great job as the baby in the play, especially considering how all the kids (Joshua is the oldest one and there are 9 including Mercy) swarmed her as soon as we put her in the "manger". Her white blanket was meant to be her swaddling cloth. :-)



The holidays are not complete without the baking and decorating of the Christmas cookies. We decorated these and gave some to our neighbors. Everyone was impressed that our children could do such things. The first 3 pictures are of the decorating, and the second set of 3 are the boys after they enjoyed the fruit of their labors.

Time to eat some cookies!

Here we are doing some fun Christmas crafts. Thank you, Grandmother, for sending them!

These were taken after we opened some fun presents. Thanks to all our family members who sent gifts for them to open!

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Mercy Update

Hard to believe, but she's approaching 6 months old now! She's sitting up (with help) nicely, and enjoys rolling around on her blanket - or off her blanket. Her little hands are beginning to grab anything they get close to, so holding her while eating at the table has become dangerous. Two little bottom teeth have just this week made their grand appearance, and we're gearing up to start her on rice cereal soon. She even has her own IKEA high chair. :-) Despite attempts to distract her, she has become an avid thumb sucker of her left thumb. We'll see if that means she'll be left-handed or not. Her brothers continue to adore her and like to entertain her even more now that she's more interactive. Mercy's smile can light up the room, and we're convinced that she's the most beautiful baby girl in the universe. Her hair still seems reddish, but we think it's yet too soon to say if it will be a true "red", or "ginger" like our New Zealand friends say. Here are some pictures from the past couple of months...