Verbal Snapshot

• Sarah and Josh love going to school workshop days.  They get up early (with no complaints) ready and excited for the day.
• Rachel hates hats.  And sunglasses. 
• Sarah is so good about helping in the kitchen recently.  She loves cutting tomatoes or bananas with a small paring knife.  She is always there to help take something out of the oven.  The kids all have their after dinner chores and it's so nice to have all the help in the kitchen.
• Jeff makes a mean pot of oatmeal every weekend.  We eat ours with brown sugar, bananas and peanut butter.  Yum.
• We are all about our family dinners.   Jeff leads our dinnertime devotional.  We eat out every other week at a nearby burger joint (family night = kids eat free), and oh how I enjoy that evening.  But family dinners at home are awesome.
• We're starting to have movie nights more regularly. 
• I'm running 13.1 miles in 10 days and don't really feel ready for it but that's okay.  I will be sore afterwards, but will try not to complain.  Too much.
• Sarah loves playing the piano.  She recently started taking lessons.  And she got braces last week.  That girl is growing up way too fast.
• Rachel (almost 1 year old) has 8 teeth now and loves crawling around.  Teething is crazy.  Sarah, Josh and Zac are so good about making sure small toys (read:  Legos) are off the floor.  Because they will go into Rachel's mouth.  Immediately.
• We are not good at making our beds.  None of us.  And it's totally my fault.
• We were blessed with some bunk beds recently, so we're using one of the beds as an elevated lego table in the kids' room.  
• Laundry with 4 kids is a scary thing.  In theory, I should be washing-drying-folding-putting away at least one load per day.  This is not happening.  Ugh.  And socks.  Socks are not my friend.
• Sarah and I had pink eye last week.  No fun.
• Church is so great.  We've been working on lots of bible memory verses.  Sarah is earning church bucks to buy amazing and fabulous prizes.  It's so great to have God's word in our heart.  I need reminders of His grace every second of the day.
• I love our home school days.  I recently cut back on our schedule to give us more slow mornings at home.  
• I'm always looking for more ways to stay organized.  And to decorate our home.  On the cheap.  I'm excited to hit some spring garage sales.
• Josh and Zac want to wear shorts and a T-shirt every day.  These boys could eat PBJs every meal of the day for a week, and not complain once.
• Sarah's loving the new second hand watch she got for Christmas.  It's so fun to tell time.  She's on the verge of starting to learn multiplication facts.   
• Rachel smacks her lips whenever she eats something she likes.  Like fruit yogurt or apple sauce.  
• We've been studying planets and outer space recently.  All the details about Jupiter, Saturn Earth and Mars are amazing.  And God made them all!
• I got to go for a run on the beach barefoot last week.  It was fun, but hard.  I read that it's supposed to be good for you.
• The devoted Mr. Garland is awesome.  He loves drinking ruby red grapefruit juice.  I can't stand the stuff, but I love being married to him.
• That's it... have a great week!