Cookie Conversations

Peter, our little cookie monster, had been begging for cookies all.day.long. Mommy ended up looking online at cookie recipes after he asked about an hour ago, and he was staring at the Pinterest wall full of baked goodies... "Oooo. Yummy! Cookie! Cookie!".
Mommy finally stated,  "Bri, I think you're just going to have to make him cookies.". Peter took a flying leap off his stool and ran out of the room, calling, "Come on! Come on!".
While we worked on them, Emmi said they were yummy. I asked her how she knew, since we hadn't had any yet!
"They look yummy, so they are yummy!", she answered. Peter nodded. "Yummy!"
"Peter knows they are yummy, because he made them with you and they are his," Emmi continued.
"They're not mine?" I teased her.
She answered, "No, you made them too, so they *are* yours too!"
"Oh, is THAT how it works?" I questioned.
"Yep!", she said, "Because it rhymes!". Haha... okay! Thanks for telling me, I didn't know ;)!

Happy Mother's Day to My Mommy :)!!!!

I love you, Mommy :). You are such a sweet blessing in my life :). I am so thankful for you and all the ways you have teamed together with Daddy to invest in us through the Lord. Thank you for following the Lord's leading and being open to having eight children, no matter the cost. Thank you for your careful training in the word of God. Thank you for the time you spend schooling, caring, and just talking to each of us. We love you, Mommy :)!!!

 "She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

 She looks well to the ways of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

 Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

 “Many women have done excellently,

but you surpass them all.”

                     ~Proverbs 31:26-29~

Thankful Thursday, Weeks 110

(I'm posting this back where I thought I had... heehee! I promise I wrote it out that week ;)! ~June 4th, 2014)

Doesn't he look cozy and sweet in this pile of (clean) diapers :)?

Spring is here (and with it allergies for some of us), but it is pretty outside if you are brave enough to get out there. We found a big old toad out there last week, much to Abbi's delight :). She was really eager to catch it and hold it, but it was so big (literally the size of her hand!), that she couldn't get a good hold on him before he would jump and rather frighten her. She eventually decided to leave him ;). We have some plants with gorgeously purple colored buds out in front that I'm eager to see open. Bethi's plants are coming up, she's really excited about that :). She got  them to use with the really neat flower press/card making kit she got for her birthday. Nine years old, and I am so thankful for her :)!

These were so pretty!

An early Josiah smile... they've gotten bigger...

He *loves* these hippos, it is *so* cute!

Andrew got Peter all ready to defeat anyway danger that came his way. Isn't he cute? Andrew went through a phase were he dressed like this everyday... I wish I could find a picture, I'm pretty sure I have one...

Peter to save the day!

Aw :).... They're precious!

Snuggle time with Mommy for Peter :)!

Mommy made some healthy chocolate hazelnut 

spread this week, and Peter loved it!

Yes! Yes!

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah...

A post full of Bethi!

Blogger is sending me error message after error message, but I refuse to let it stop me. And since I tried in desperation to type while my screen is watered out and Blogger says they don't know what I'm doing (blogging... um... duh.) or what issues I'm having (me either... oh, that's right, nothing but the error message!), and it worked, it should go fairly smoothly. I hope. But without anymore chit chat... here are some pictures with a bit of commentary from Bethi's birthday :)...

Bethi chose a yummy breakfast of french toast for her birthday. We don't make french toast much (Mommy said the other day that it will be odd when most of us are moved out of the house and she can start making french toast for breakfast without someone having to be standing at the stove for at least two hours ;)!). So when we have it, it's even more of a treat :)!

 After breakfast, Bethi and Daddy headed 

out for a special time together :)!

 I love this picture :). 

I hear they saw ducks...

 And held inch worms. Tori was glad she stayed home ;). 

They also went out for lunch and stopped at the dollar store so that Bethi could get gifts for everyone- she buys gifts for others every birthday, she's so sweet :). 

While they were gone, we decorated the house, cleaned up, had our own lunch and ruined I mean made her birthday brownies. I didn't really ruin them (the edges were a little overdone though), but they did cook a little funny for an unknown reason, and I used special dark cocoa in them instead of regular cocoa, so they can out WAY darker than I am used to. I opened the door to check them, and about panicked at how burnt they looked because of the darker cocoa, haha! 

When they got home, we ushered her in with a  birthday song, and, after she and Daddy had cleaned up, she got to open her gifts and cards!

 Tori must have written something funny in her card ;). 

This gift was a cup, one of those tumblers with a straw. As she was unwrapping it, Mommy was calling out, "Something (the straw) could break in that, be careful, careful... how about you unwrap it upside down? No, don't set it down on the point..."... haha... 

Supplies for making a card set, with a flower press :)! While they were out Daddy helped her get some seeds, that they planted today, so she could grow flowers to use with the press :). 

Bethi's handing out gifts, Peter is first :)!

She and Daddy chose well, everyone was thrilled with their gifts :)! 

I love my new note cards, and Emmi especially talks about 

hers all.day.long. Haha :). They were some little grow-in-water fish :).  

Ready for dessert!

The candles were cool, the flames burned different colors :)!

This was funny! Andrew hadn't used a whipped cream spray can before... He was shaking it, shaking it, trying to get something out! Haha :). 

Cutie Peter :).

Daddy worked on our fan while we got ready for bed (it's actually doing some good being on now, yay!), and then we enjoyed family bible time... then Bethi kicked us out and stayed up to watch a movie with Mommy and Daddy while we got to sleep ;)!

The birthday girl :)...

As Emmi was saying...

I was sitting in Mommy's arm chair a couple days ago with Josiah, and Emmi came up and started talking with me. "Do you know I love you?" I asked.

"Yep!"

"How do you know?"

"Because God told me!!!"

This is actually a normal conversation, and I *love* this answer, but what she followed it up with this time was hilarious...

"Do you know how God told me? Because he can talk. Abbi said he can't talk because he doesn't have a mouth, but that is *not* true! He *doesn't* have a mouth, but he *can* talk!"

One of our catechism questions is "Who is God?", and the answer is, "God is a spirit and does not have a body like man." This has, so far, been the most confusing for the two little girls ;). 

Haha :). I love her (frequently, though not always), sophisticated way of wording things... the other day, someone interrupted her when she was talking to me. When Emmi could get a word in edgewise, she exclaimed, "AS I was saaaaying...". Haha :).

Happy Birthday to Bethani!!!!

Bethi is nine years old today :)! This is the last year she is in the single digits... she's getting so old!

Bethani is a joy to be around, and a great little sister :). She loves to draw, do crafts, and write, and has recently started working on her own little book, and has done so quite diligently! It's been funny, because as I've been watching her work on it,  I've realized that not only is the writing bug hitting her at about the same age it bit me... she appears to have the same "drama" flare, haha :).  She also *loves* babies, and enjoys it when she can get Josiah... the other day she snuck Josiah off the bed from where Mommy was changing him just to hand him to her to be fed, haha ;). She also loves to help out with the Hidden Treasures auctions when she is able! She's a blessing to our family, and today we're celebrating the gift of her, sooo....

Happy Birthday, Bethi :)!!!!