Queen Esther Day(s)!

Lauren has been fascinated by the story of Queen Esther for quite some time now and it is one of her most requested Bible stories. We have this book and she can almost "read" it (she has it memorized) word for word. I don't know if it is the little girl in her that is drawn to the story of a queen and her bravery, but I am thankful that God has planted the seed of desiring to read His Word in her heart at such a young age!

We spent lots of time reading the story of Esther from various children's Bibles that we own. Because she is still young, we mostly hit on the main points. I wanted her to know that Esther was a girl just like anyone else. Nothing made her more special or able to do what was right besides the fact that she loved God and she decided to be brave for Him. (One thing I LOVE about God's Word is that it really is accessible for all ages...I know that years from now mine and Lauren's conversation about Queen Esther will look different from this first lesson, but to me that is SO exciting!!!)

I made Lauren a special princess lunch one day. Before you think I am a ninja with my mad sandwich cutting skills, I used these awesome Lunch Punches to make the crown sandwich. I used sprinkles on Nutella for the bottom and yellow sprinkles for the tips of the crown. The Cheez-Its are the Scrabble version (way cool!!! and so yummy!!!) and then I just served her some buttered noodles. This was not necessary, but she loves when I make her fun lunches, so I thought I might as well make it somewhat applicable to what we were studying! Thankfully, this lunch was a hit with her!

I chose the verse, "Nothing is impossible with God." from Luke 1:37 to teach Lauren. I thought I wanted something from the actual book of Esther, but this verse kept coming to mind. The more I thought about it, the more perfect the verse seemed for the lesson and for her little heart.

We used our clothespin verse cards that Desiré introduced us to to learn our verse this week. I found that even though Lauren can't read the words on the cards, she still really loved putting the cards on one by one and then pointing to them as we sang the verse. You can download the free printable here if you're interested.  (I purchased the adorable graphics from here!)

I totally made up the tune to the verse on the spot and you will mostly just hear my voice until the end (I. am. so. sorry.), but as shy as my little girl is I was just happy she actually agreed to be IN the video! (As a side note, this verse has been invaluable as we are in that toddler stage of, *insert whiney voice* "I caaaaaaaaaaan't!")

For a few little craft activities we made a queen crown out of yellow foam, glitter glue, and jewels! I can't find where I got the pattern, but I found this one HERE that would work.

And, we made a Q is for queen craft. I found the idea for this one HERE. As we talk about Bible stories I always try to incorporate some preschool appropriate learning skills as well. We have been working on letter recognition, so although this craft isn't exactly about Queen Esther, it gave us an opportunity to talk about the letter Q!

Lauren also had fun coloring this Queen Esther picture that I found HERE. It's been a goal of mine to try to have coloring pages that Lauren can work on while I am getting dinner ready. She doesn't like to do things on her own. She would prefer that I was right there with her and these pages make it easy for her to learn a little independence too. 

We also watched the VeggieTales version of Queen Esther's story. To be honest, Lauren wasn't too into the movie (and I wasn't that impressed either since it seemed to stray from the actual story line of Esther). I don't think that it really added anything to our learning, but it was nice to cuddle up together to watch the show and I don't ever discount the value of snuggle time with my little ones!

One of my favorite activities was when we acted out the story. It ended up being such a beautiful day out that we decided to pretend play outside! I had originally planned on using her little table and her play food, but with our spur of the moment change, I grabbed a blanket and one little box of her food and we went with it. Lauren pretended to be Esther and asked the King (yours truly) to attend a dinner and bring Haman (played by the handsome Easton Barry). Then, she served the food and told the King about Haman's plan. It wasn't perfect, I coached and encouraged her a lot, but I think acting it out helped solidify the order of events for her. 

Poor Easton had to play the role of Haman. He didn't seem too fazed being cast as the "mean man" and he sure enjoyed his dinner, so I think he should be just fine! :)

It also gave me lots of opportunities to ask her questions as we went along. I love to know what her little mind has absorbed from our little lessons. And, the teacher in me is always looking for areas of misconception that need to be corrected! 

(Even though Lauren is young, I wanted her to know that "God's people" (as most of her children's Bibles referred to) were the Jewish people. Most of the time when she talks about it she uses the term, "God's people" as it is easier for her to grasp and understand at this age.)

In all honesty, we took more than one day to complete all of the things shown here, and we didn't get to a few things I had planned for. As much as I wanted to do it all at once, I'm learning that life with a baby and a toddler is very unpredictable and it's way better to roll with it than get frustrated that it isn't "perfect". And, the most important thing, above all props and movies and activities, is that our little ones are learning what God's Word has to say to them!

Not So Fast, Mister!

Easton.

Seriously man.

Rolling over, sitting up, and two teeth in a matter of a few short weeks?

This is just all too much for this mama.

Can you slow it down a little? I'm not ready for my baby to be getting so big.

"My Feet Tickle"

Lauren. Lolo. Sweet child. 

Where has my good little sleeper gone? It seems, to my dismay, that she left when the binkie left. 

Everything I feared about getting rid of that little pacifier has come true.

Bedtime is a nightmare. A fight. A giant headache.

You cry. 

You scream. 

You kick. 

You make excuses... 

Tonight your feet tickled. 

Now what in the world am I supposed to do with that? 

Nursery Tour...5 Months Late :)

I had every intention of having Mr. Easton's nursery tour up before he was born. Almost five months later, here it finally is! I blame the sleep deprivation and the fact that when I actually have the time (or the arms) to take pictures he is in there sleeping, and umm, hello, no thank you very much. Sleep is a rare jewel around here and we do not take it lightly.

I wish my photography skills were better, but they aren't and we have no plans to work a nicer camera into our budget for the time being so these pics will have to do! Unless someone wants to gift me a camera. *Crickets* No one? Really?

Let's start with the view from the doorway looking into his room. Like that shadow on the lefthand side of the picture? You would think a professional took these pics, right? Also, the nice smudge in the middle of the picture is classy too. :) As you can see, the canvas I painted for him is hanging, but I still haven't decided upon or written his verse on it.

The curtains are black-out and were pretty inexpensive (considering we splurged on Lauren's from Pottery Barn) from Target.

As you can see this is the changing area. We used the same black furniture from Lauren's nursery. We found the boxes that hang on the wall and the black mirror at Target. That big box usually has one of his stuffed animals in it, but for some reason it was gone in this picture.

What's that? Bad lighting and another blurry spot? You are SO welcome! The vinyl sticker with his name was found here on Etsy and there really isn't anything else on that wall...we are still trying to figure out if we should keep it that way or add something...

When I found this fabric we used in his bedding on Etsy I knew I wanted to build his room off of it. The bright orange and the lime greens and blues just drew me in. The bedding was handmade and created by a lady on Etsy. We absolutely love it! My Meme Bandy made the sheets and that minky dot fabric is sooo soft and cuddly!

Ahhh, the bookshelf. Remember it? My amazingly talented husband created it for me after I could not find anything like it around here. I LOVE it so much. Even more since I know it was made by his own hands. He made one for Lauren's room too. You can see pics of her room and that bookshelf here!!! :) The painted canvas on top of the shelves was done by Lauren for her little brother before he was born. I just gave her some paints in the colors of his room and let her go at it. I think it turned out fabulous and she loved that she had a big part in decorating his room.

The license plate map was the first art piece we chose for the room. (We found it at Target for around $30.) Shawn and I both fell in love with it and knew it would be something we could use in Easton's room for a while! The pictures left of the license plate picture were taken when Easton was almost four months old. The one to the right is an ultrasound picture of him. My friend Carissa made the awesome name art piece and the shadow box on the black shelf is incomplete but will hold his baby beanie hat, hospital bracelets, and his birth stats!

The big comfy chair in the corner is one of those furniture pieces I will never be able to get rid of. I nursed and rocked Lauren many a night in that thing and now I visit that sweet chair every night (multiple times!) with my Easton.

The rug in front of the changing table was a steal at Target! I found it on clearance and I just couldn't believe my luck! They were the absolute perfect colors!!! That door goes to his closet which you can see a little bit of here.

All in all we really love his room and I think that the pictures really don't do it justice...it is way more adorable in person! I love that the colors and patterns we chose can grow with our little man and we can add different elements as he grows up.

Sweet Lauren

My little girl is becoming such a darling little lady these days. Of course, we have our moments, but she has made me laugh or get misty eyed more times in the last few weeks than ever. I wanted to record a few of these sweet memories so that I don't forget them!

Almost every day since Lauren was a baby I have asked her at the end of the day when we are cuddling and winding down for the evening what her favorite part of the day was. I always want to have open communication with her and I want to know what sticks out in her mind as totally awesome. I can remember asking her before she could talk and I would answer for her. These days, however, she is big enough to answer for herself. I've loved hearing her thoughts on what makes each day special for her. Some days it is that trip to the park. Other days it has been watching a movie (right now it is Tangled) together. The other night, I was giving Lauren her bath and I was sitting on the side of the tub with my feet in the water. She decided to sit beside me with her feet in the water and then she looked up at me with the sweetest face and said, "What was your favorite part of the day, Mama?" I almost lost it! It was seriously the most adorable moment ever. All of these nights I had asked her and now it was her turn to ask me. Loved it!

The other day I was playing with Lauren and Easton and I said, "I think I should throw Easton in the trash, right sister?" I was kidding, of course, but Lauren looked at me with a look of shock and said, "No! We need to keep brother. I love him!" And she really does. I am constantly amazed at the way that she looks out for him. She is the first to get him a toy or his binkie when he cries and she wants to make sure he is okay at all times.

I love my little girl so much and I cherish these little moments now because I know that before I know it they will be gone and we will be on to bigger and different sweet moments and challenges.

What a Big Boy!

We finally got down the jumper from the attic for Easton to use. He's been holding his head up really well for a while now and he is super strong so we figured that he was ready to try it out. I am so glad we did because he loved it! It was so adorable to watch him try to absorb all the colors and toys and things to touch. He looked so overwhelmed at first.

It was soon pretty obvious that his favorite part of the whole activity gym was the teething sun. He grabbed that thing right off and pretty much stuck to playing with it.

I LOVE this picture of my little man. He is just too stinkin adorable!

Shawn wanted to make sure that I explained that Easton is not wearing capris. Ha! This picture sure makes it look like it though! What a little doll!!!!

Women's Conference

On Saturday my dear friend Kelly and I headed to my hometown to participate in a Women's Conference my growing-up church was putting on. Actually, Shawn, Lauren, Easton, Kelly and I headed to my hometown. Shawn had to lug the kids along so that every three hours he could bring Easton to the church and I could feed him. Why will that sweet child not take a bottle?!?

The conference was really great. We enjoyed the speaker and I feel like I learned a lot by being there. We also got to take part in a couple of fun break-out sessions. The first one we went to was a "Spa Session". I was hoping for a massage, but alas my name did not get drawn. We still had fun soaking our feet and having some girl talk time.

Our next session was "Cupcake Decorating"! We were super excited for this one and had huge dreams that we were going to uncover our hidden talent of amazing decorating ability, get discovered by Food Network on the spot (why they were at the conference in my dreams I don't know) and get asked to start our own cupcake show. I hate to disappoint you all but that did not happen. However, I was pretty impressed with our mad sunflower cupcake decorating skills.

The frosting we had to use was pretty much straight up Crisco and sugar so we weren't on any kind of sugar high at all. Nope. Not at all.

The conference was a lot of fun and we are already looking forward to next year!