Dan also was officially installed as senior pastor here at the Covenant church. The sermon he gave while candidating can be found here: http://www.vimeo.com/7750699. The service where he was installed isn't on vimeo yet. Jim Fretheim did the installation and sermon that week (superintendent of the northwest Covenant conference).
Annika hit the 100 days of school this week--which, with about 9 snow days this year, is quite a feat! She had the best day ever, she said. Today her class is at the ice rink where she is trying out her skates for the first time ever. Dan is assisting the class by tying lots of skate laces. And yes, her school does collect boxtops for education--and Campbell soup lids, and anything else they can for schools. So feel free to send those our way when you have enough accumulated to warrant the postage!
Annika is definitely our reader. She and I are having fun reading my favorite books from early elementary like Nancy Drew (just started book 2--Hidden Staircase) and the Boxcar Children. Lauren--not so much. She'd prefer to make up stories or sing along with Daddy. We're teaching her some classics like "Beautiful Baby" by Bing Crosby. Come now--we've always wanted renaissance (well-rounded) children. My kids are even going to be able to name singing cowboys, too!
Emily seems to be our athlete so far. She can do a perfect forward roll and is pretty light on her feet--which may not be saying much as she is only 28 pounds and just going into 3T clothes. However, with her double ear-infection right now, her equilibrium is a bit off--and she's sporting a split lip (from hitting our in-home mailbox) and a black eye (from playing chase with an Ikea rocker).
Emily is almost potty-trained! We've got the #1 down--now working on getting #2 into the toilet and not the pull-ups...progress, though! We also went to the open house for preschool next year. For two hours each week, Megan will be the only daughter with me...how strange when my girls are still so young. Lauren will be attending full-day kindergarten next year at Annika's school just down the street from us. Alas, and then I lose them for 12 years to the school.
Em's 3rd birthday--note, the ring on her hand is actually a toe-ring!It's so hard to take it moment by moment when the four make so many demands on me all at once, and I end up exhausted--and yet, when I can stand back and just watch, I so enjoy each stage they're in and wish I could videotape it all.
Megan is our bully who knows her mind. Unless she's in just the right mood, she won't let you kiss her and by far has the most impressive temper tantrums of any of our kids. She and Emily are very helpful, too--too much so. Yesterday, Megan decided to help us rinse the dishes by putting chili powder into the cascade spot in the dishwasher.
As part of a discipline in our faiths this year, Dan and I each sacrificed something for Lent, as Christ sacrificed himself for us. I gave up soda--not too hard since I can still drink coffee and get my caffeine--of course, I'm only 10 days into it, and I do miss my Mountain Dew.
Dan gave up TV and all forms of TV like movies, DVDs, etc. Annika asked him two days ago if he would spend time with her by watching Barbie and the Three Musketeers. He said, "Annika, you know I gave up TV for Lent." Annika replied, "Dad, you shouldn't have done that. You should have given up being mean to your kids instead." Wow--that was quick-thinking!
Lauren has now had her first communion (and second, and third...) She asked Jesus into her heart by herself at some point in the last few weeks. We grilled her about it to make sure she understood what she was doing. Her explanation? "I apologized to Jesus for what I did wrong that I could remember" and she named a few extremely minor things--nothing like lying or beating up on sisters...And she plans on continuing to ask Jesus into her heart. We tried explaining that wasn't necessary. She said, "But I want to." Okay.
We asked her why she wanted to ask Jesus to be part of her life. "Because I love him," she said--a much better answer than "fire insurance." So we're very excited to have her join us in our Christian family as well!
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We've had several visitors to our new home. Here is poor Cousin Will--he should probably be glad he doesn't have any older sisters...
Some of the beautiful snow we've received so much of this winter!
Dan has had some pretty creative ideas for the kids this year. Here is the cardboard house made from the box Lauren's memory-foam mattress came in...
All four girls and one of our adventurous babysitters, Caitlin.
What the girls did with Lauren's old mattress...
Annika, Lauren and Emily with Diego (Dora the Explorer's cousin)
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