Black and White @ The Paper Mama:
Pastel @ Simplicity:
Bicycles @ The Trendy Treehouse:
My photo of my sage bush was chosen in the Top Five at Simplicity. I would love a vote if you liked my photo!
My photo was also chosen as second place at The Paper Mama last week. Yay!
-Ella is 26 months old-
It has been awhile since I have written a tot school post. We’re still doing things (although I haven’t been quite as diligent as I would like to be), but I have done a poor job documenting it here on the blog. This week’s post is going to be abbreviated – but I wanted to show how just one set of things (in this case, little colored animals) can be used for a variety of activities.
Ella has been obsessed with these little animals for a week now. She can spend hours everyday playing and learning with them. (Anyone else’s toddler like that? Do they get obsessed with one thing and not get bored with it?) Here are just a few things Ella has been doing with the animals:
These are some of the faces I get when I try to direct Ella when I’m taking her photo. She’s a big GOOF!
I’ve mentioned on several occasions (here, here, and here, for instance) about the great task that lays before me as a Christian parent: the task of raising my children in the Lord.
I was blessed with the opportunity to hear Brad Harrub of Focus Press and Think Magazine speak last night. It was a lesson of reality that I needed to hear. Parenting is tough work (and I don’t even have teenagers yet!). His lesson was an encouragement to me as well as a reality check. Strong parenting is required to raise children in the Lord. The lesson focuses on challenges facing our youth – and the task that we have as parents to handle those challenges. Click here to listen to the lesson (it will begin after a short introduction to the speaker and topic). (By the way, Think Magazine is really a great resource hitting topics and challenges that face us in the world today.)
If you listen to the lesson, I’d love to hear what you think!
I leave you with some verses he mentions in the lesson, Deuteronomy 6: 6-9:
And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
There are some things about children that are truly precious treasures. One of those things is the sweet innocence and peace of a child, especially when they are sleeping.
I love looking in on my children sleeping before I go to bed. At first, I looked in on Ella when she was a baby because I was paranoid, and I wanted to check her breathing. I wanted to make sure that nothing could hurt her while she slept. However, checking in on her evolved into something more – not only could I check on her to make sure she was safe, but I could also take a short moment to consider the blessing of children, and to think of the joy she has already brought into my life. I often smile when I go in and find her sleeping in an odd position or a sweet position;, or, now as I check on Troy also, smile when I see him sleeping in the exact same position I remember Ella sleeping in.
I don’t go in to check on the kids if I hear either of them stirring – I don’t want my presence to wake them up. I’m always a little sad when I don’t go in to check on them. I know that these moments will pass too quickly as life seems to do, and I want to cherish every one of them. I’m not ready for the day when I don’t go into to check on my sweet Ella and Troy.
Surprise @ The Paper Mama
This photo was taken the first week Troy came home. Yes, he’s down inside the pack and play, and Ella was checking him out!
Sweet Shot Tuesday @ My 3 Boybarians:
