First Half of July 2012

Praise the Lord for a wonderful July!! We got to welcome our niece, Alicia Smith, into the world, spend time with her and spend half of the month in Texas.  Seeing our friends and family in Texas was an exciting break from our calm life in AZ!

July started out with M&M turning 10 months old!!  I cannot believe that their 1 year birthday is rounding the corner!  Mothers always tell me that time goes too quickly and I cannot help but agree.

Shiloh also caught my attention quite a bit when she discussed her prettiness (last blog post) and got me thinking about ways to more intentionally teach all of our girls that they are precious daughters of our Wonderful Creator. 

A few changes Marc and I have made with our girls (mostly Shiloh right now) to help instill this fact are - He tells all of them every night as they are going to sleep that he thinks they are beautiful.
-When I complement Shiloh, I let them her know a character quality that I admire as well as thank her for the action or behavior she just did (I don't do this every time but I try to do this several times a day).  For example, "Shiloh, thank you very much for hugging your sister when she was crying.  That shows compassion- did you know that Jesus shows us compassion in the same way.  By acting like Him, you are not only making Mommy and Daddy proud but also God our Father who created you. Thank you for being compassionate to your sister!"  That may be a mouthful, but for how many time-outs she gets in one day, a lengthy compliment is probably necessary.
-I've also created a bible study plan to do with Shiloh for the next year!  I'm so excited to begin it!

I've also been working on a preschool curriculum for Shiloh.  A few blog posts ago, I mentioned that we have been living on a pretty strict budget.  I've realized recently that a Mother's Day Out program just isn't in the cards for the next year, but I want to make sure Shiloh is learning as much as possible while she's spending time with me at home; to help me make sure I am teaching her, I've made a curriculum for the next 6 months/ish depending on the subject (some things like bible study, math and reading I've got a year plan but for others like science and writing I don't).

At first the thought of making a lesson plan seemed a bit overboard, BUT I get so distracted every day.  I want to make sure I am preparing Shiloh as well as playing with her.  I also have to admit, that because I love a clean house, I can get VERY distracted with keeping it up and will not spend as much time with my girls as I would like.  With my lesson plans, I will give Shiloh my focused attention, which she loves, and teach her subjects in a really fun way. She will never even know she's learning and she will get some great one on one Mommy time.  (When M&M get a little older, they will get in on the fun too)

I have spent several weeks preparing my lessons for our "start of school," and I am so excited for it to begin!  The third week of August we begin Mommy school.  My goal is to treat it like a MDO program- we will take pictures on the first day and have a special breakfast!

Pictures from July:

Mischievous M&M (Zee in pink, Lee in purple)

Sweet girls "helping" with the dishes

10 month Pic (Zee on left, Lee on right)

Playing in the Rain

Zee loving her pasta

Lee loving her pasta

Shiloh's 1st Braids!!

 Showing them Off

Texas trip and milestones- next post :)