In her heart

I love the nightly routine that we have with SS and Hamp. Reading a book, singing some songs, praying and cuddling for a few min before bedtime. Last night was an extra special night for this mommy. After Hamp was in bed I laid in the bed with SS to read a new book my mom had recently got for her "I will forgive you." SS has really enjoyed this book and told me the first night we read it that Jesus forgives us. I responded, in shock, yes baby he always forgives us. She always amazes me with what is on that little mind of hers and with how smart she is. So after reading it was time for prayers and songs. I asked her what she wanted to pray about expecting the normal mommy, daddy and Hamp or for my baby dolls. I told her that mommy wanted her to know that she could always ask God for anything in prayer. Praying for her baby dolls was not what she had on her mind. She said "mommy can we pray about Jesus living in my heart." My response was "you want to pray about Jesus living in your heart, that he WILL live in your heart." When she said yes honestly I was a little nervous, shocked and excited. She is 3 I quickly thought...is she to young for this....no Deborah Anne she is not she is a child of God at any age I had to quickly remind myself. So we laid in her bed and prayed "Jesus will you come live in my heart, I believe that you died on the cross to save me from my sins. I love you Amen"....(she repeated I believe you saved you from your sins...lol). After we were done she said "Thank you mommy can we say that again." So that's exactly what we did all over again. I could have laid in that bed and held her tight for hours. I told her how much Jesus loves her and that he would live in her heart forever. We sang her favorite veggie tale song,.... "My God is so great my God is mighty theirs nothing my God cannot do, the mountains are His the rivers are His the skies are his handy work too. My God is so great so strong and so mighty theirs nothing my God cannot do"...I tucked her in and kissed her goodnight. I went and told Scott what she had asked me and explained to him how proud of her I was. I am aware that she is only 3 and does not fully understand what it means for Jesus to live in her heart but I also know that God knows that little girls heart and I can always remind her that when she was 3 she asked him to forever be in her heart. I sleep more peacefully knowing she is a child of God and I am also very proud that Scott and I are doing something right!!!




Luke 18:16-17
But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Fall catch up Part 2!

Steeds Dairy Farm!
We took the kids to this place last year and SS loved it. Hamp was not old enough to really enjoy so I had really been looking forward to this year.
We took the kids around the middle of October and they had a blast.
We started off at the petting zoo and let me tell you Hamp was SO excited. He kept saying "momma hand, momma hand," and walking me to each animal. He fell in love with a rabbit that a lady was holding and just stood staring at it for a good 10 min. He was trying to tell me all about it. It was so rewarding to see the joy in his eyes. It was like he was so excited he didn't know what to do with all his excitement and was just pacing back and forth between all the animals.





After this we headed over to a playground area and let the kids go on the slides etc..





then off to the "tube" slide they made...daddy enjoyed that also!



The one thing that SS loved last year was the jumping pillow...
this was her last year...

and this was her this year!




She had fun but honestly not as much as last year. Hamp was completely afraid of it so we did not play as long as expected.

We headed over to the hayride which was relaxing for Scott and me...



...then off to play in the corn. with pumpkins and ended the day with a pony ride!







A wonderful family outing that I'm looking forward to every year. Its kind of a good way of bringing in the fall season and completely leaving the summer behind. I love seeing the joy in the kids eyes as they play and experience new things!

Fall catch up! Part 1:)

So last blog I quickly caught everyone up on the summer so now lets start fall before Thanksgiving gets here and I am really behind.
Life around here lately has been somewhat crazy. Maybe I am exaggerating just a little but at least for me its been crazy. The kids are just all about momma, which I love, but man I'm wore out by the end of the day. Hamp started last week with this awkward tantrum that Scott and I have never seen before. SS was not one that just threw a tantrum for no reason but Hamp had his first last week....and thankfully it was when Scott was home for lunch. Maybe boys and girls are different but there is no satisfying him when this happens. Needless to say he had 2 of those today. One at the park ..great right... and the other this afternoon when he got up from a nap! I really have to just let him cry and scream and go pretty much crazy before he will calm down. The problem comes in when he is having his moment and SS also wants mommas attention. I remind them ALL day I am one person with only 2 legs so they each get one!! At least 5 times a day I say "Ya'll what does Bob and Larry (veggie tales) say about sharing." SS will so kindly say "we need to share." Not that this makes a magic light bulb go off in their head and they instantly share mommy but oh well it makes me feel better to throw a little "jesus" in the mix!!
So off my soap box lets move on to how our fall started!
AT THE ZOO!

Scott and I have been wanting to take the kids for a while and finally found a good day to go. We had a blast and the kids loved it!
They loved seeing all the animals and Hamp especially loved feeding the giraffes. SS would not have any part in it. Scott bought some lettuce to feed them and Hamp would say "more daddy more." He had no fear!

Together the kids had a blast milking the cow. They had a bucket of water and you could sit at the wooden cow and pretend. Hamp found the bucket of water much more exciting...GROSS!!

We had wonderful family time and the kids still talk about the different animals they saw!
Here are a few pics from the day.
Hamp is looking at the penguins in this PRECIOUS pic!

Admiring the fish!

Can you tell Hamp is getting tired!

They loved the carousel...they wanted to ride over and over again!


Proud daddy!


Mommy and SS looking at the elephants!

Yipee!!!

How sweet!

Hamp man!

Daddy and SS looking at the elephants and Zebras!


Next we head to Steeds Dairy Farm...to be continued!!!

Heck..lets just see what happened this Summer!

I really did not realize how behind I was with this blog. Family is getting on to me for being such a slacker. I talked about in the last post what all I needed to catch up on and now I still need to chat about all those things and our fun fall 2011!!
So lets start with missing Hamp at 18,19,20,21,22 and 23 months. That is "awfable" as SS would say!
18 months...

19 months...

20 months...

21 months...

22 months...

..my ever growing little handsome Hamp man!! Uggghhhh I could just eat him up. We will hold off on the 23 month pic and include that in some November fun (when we get to that point).
Hamp you are growing so fast. Your talking has really taken off but it is so funny to hear you communicate. You say " Hey momma" in a very deep voice, this is followed by blabber of some sort and ends with "momma." Most all conversations with you are this way. You love to point that little finger at me and bow your head some with only your eyes looking up at me and say "No no momma." You are not a biter like SS was but you definitely like to push and we are working on that. In most all 2T clothing, still taking one nap a day and sleeping through the night. A VERY picky eater like SS but we will get to those veggies soon enough.
You are a joy to us Hamp and this little momma hopes that you always love me like you do now...You are a HUGE mommas boy!!!
NEXT...so lets back up to May when we went to the Beach with my parents. Hilton Head 2011!
This was a wonderful trip. We got both beach family trips done really before the summer even started which was nice because it was not extremely hot or crowded. The trip included my parents..

my brother and his family...

and us....

The kids had a blast playing together and most of all my parents LOVED the time they were able to spend with the kiddos. They gave each of us a night out without our kids and that was very much appreciated.
Hamp was a little hesitant of the beach but loved the pool and SS was a little fish. They had a lazy river around the pool that she just loved.







Hilton Head 2011 was a success and already looking forward to next year.
NEXT..on to SS 3rd BDay Party..Arial theme!
g

SS got to pick what theme she wanted and Arial was her choice.

We kept it simple and it turned out wonderful. Slip in slides..cupcakes and friends and family...PERFECT!




We had wonderful friends that came in town (Portman's and Hickman's) for the party and we are always to grateful for them to join us.
After enjoying playing in the water, eating cupcakes and opening gifts we did our tradition of letting the birthday girl/boy hold all the balloons and let them go! I love that little idea and hope that we can always do this!


I leave you, only for a short time, with some cute bath time pics of the kiddos!! Whitfield's fun fall to follow:)