God's Little Princess Devotional Bible by Sheila Walsh

God's Little Princess Devotional Bible by Sheila Walsh was a very cute book. It contains 337 pages of short devotionals. The stories range anywhere from "Why Worry?" to "Love from Above." With all the hype of princess stories like "Cinderella" that have a very unrealistic take on life a , this book puts being a "princess" into a different perspective. It talks about being the "daughter of a King," having God as our hero and what that means. It says the age range is 4-7 but I think 4 might be a little young for this book. My favorite feature of the book is the role playing and dress up ideas it gives. My daughter is a little young still for this section, but I can't wait to put on biblical "plays" with her. There did not seem to be enough illustrations in the book. I kept wanting to see more pictures to go with the stories, but that could also be because I have a 3 year old who mostly looks at the pictures and is just learning how to read. Overall this was an excellent book that I would recommend for a early school age girl.

Calling all Kindred Spirits

My friend Rheina and I thought it would be fun to throw a Anne of Green Gables tea party, so we hosted one at my house last weekend and had a great time. Above is all the yummy food that "Anne" would have served at one of her tea parties and that are mentioned in the books. We each brought/made something. We had caramel pie, shortbread, plum puffs, chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber cream cheese sandwiches and strawberries and whipped cream. It was perfectly scrumptious! :)

Rheina and Kathy looking lovely in their elegant pearls. The book that Rheina is holding, "The Anne of Green Gables Treasury" gave us the recipes for all the food we served.
Jan Holton and Kristina. Notice the red rose in my hat. That's the only thing I could come up with that was semi-Green Gableish.
Kristina and Jane (or Aunt Jane as Hannah likes to call her). I loved the country dress and straw hat interwoven with ribbon that Jane wore. Very Anne-ish. :) I had a great time ladies! Thanks so much. I can't wait for our next tea party in November at Kathy's house.

Andrew was dedicated!

We finally got Andrew dedicated. We started attending Lakeside Church last September, and we never had a chance to get him signed up for the baby dedications, so we finally made it happen.
Pastor Chris praying for our family and Andrew.

Happy Father's Day

For Father's Day this year we went with some friends Shaun, Kami and their daughter Alexis to SUSHI!!!! We had a great time. The food was great, the company was great, and the pictures turned out good too! :)
Andrew munching on edemame. Say "cheese!"

Hannah and Alexis posing for the camera.
Hannah being silly with whip cream on her face.

Andrew in Motion

Its been way to long since we last had a video up, but this one should make up for our absence. Andrew has started walking and we were able to get some of his better performances on tape. Now he's a walking pro and doesn't crawl anywhere anymore. Hope you enjoy!

Folsom Water Park

We went to the Folsom Water park yesterday and the kiddos had a blast. Andrew could not get enough of playing with this beach ball and was chasing it all around the park.
Andrew's first experience with a water gun.

Hannah playing in the water. When she is concentrating really hard, she always sticks her tongue out. :)
The park was a success! We will definitely have to do this on a weekly basis.

And I would walk 500 miles...

Andrew took his first steps a couple of days before his birthday about a month ago, but in the last couple of days he has been much more daring in his walking endeavors. He can walk all the way across the living room now by himself and instead of crawling he prefers to walk now.


One of the reasons Andrew has been walking so much lately, is because Hannah likes to take his hand and walk with him all around the house. It is really cute to watch. I'm so glad Hannah is such a good big sister to her little brother. :)

100 Bible Stories 100 Bible Songs by Stephen Elkins, Illustrated by Tim O'Connor

What a fantastic book! Created by Stephen Elkins it includes children friendly bible stories that go all the way from Genesis to Revelations. It has popular stories like the Garden of Eden, David and Goliath, and Noah's Ark, but it also contains stories that are not as familiar like Naaman's healing, Ezekiel's dry bones, and Peter heals the beggar. The songs are all sung by children, and their voices are beautiful. The book comes in a soft, squishy cover that is really fun to hold and squeeze. :) Even though the age group for this book is 4-8 years old my almost 3 year old absolutely LOVES it! She liked listening to the songs and the stories were very easy for her to understand. The illustrations are very well done as well. I recommend the book highly to any parent wanting to give their child a good introduction to the bible and also to any children's ministry at a church wanting a good CD to listen to while the children play or book to read to them.

Our new nook

I've been wanting a kitchen nook ever since we bought the house, because our dining room is so small and it would look perfect in there. I've been looking on Craig's List for the past 2 years, and haven't found one that would fit or that we could afford. Finally, I checked Craigs list again a couple of weeks ago, and everything fell in to place. The price was right, the measurements were perfect, the people selling it were in Orangevale, and they even delivered it for us since they had a truck. It realy has freed up the room in our house a lot!

Oh how your garden grows

Summer squash plant growing heartily.
Tomato and red bell pepper plants
Our first squash of the season
herbs and basil
The first sprouts coming up...I think these are watermelon. Not sure though. :)

Outdoor fun!

Hannah showing off her new swim suit.
"Mommy, push me please!" Once I get Hannah going, she's been able to swing all by herself using her legs. Gives me more time to get chores done! :)

Hannah swinging high. She's been singing a lot while she swings, so I thought I would snap one while she sang to her heart's content.
Strike a pose! Hope these pictures will encourage you to start your summer off to a swinging start!

Hannah's first haircut--Ooohlala!

We made an appointment for Hannah to have her hair cut (it was getting a little long) at a salon just for kids.
She did a great job! She sat very still while the hair dresser put her hair in clips and afterward blow dried her hair. She got to play with these little toys while the lady cut her hair so she would be distracted.
The end result! She even got a free bow at the end.
While all of this was going on, Andrew got to play in the toy cars they had there. He's such a boy!
Here's a picture of the salon. It was overall a great experience! :)