Park Day!!

A day at thepark with our homeschool friends.

Our friends, Kristen and Micah.

My crazy climber.

We had five moms, and 15 kids. How fun! The other kids were playing too hard for me to get many good pictures. =)

Halloween

The Whole Gang (Daddy was taking the picture)
Obi-wan Kenobi (when he is old, hence the beard drawn by Daddy)
Luke Skywalker
Spider baby
Prairie Girl
Momma had been sick, so we either wore what we had, or did some last minute costume creation. We headed up to Ojai Valley Baptist Church for their Harvest Festival. We saw so many good friends, and had a great time.

Palm Springs

Wow, we had such a great time. I don't really know where to start, or finish, except to say that the Lord knew our family needed this time away together, and it was made even more sweet by time with friends from church and our homeschool co-op. We celebrated Noah's 4th birthday there, and had movie night at our hotel room with 17 kids!! We hope we will be able to go back every year!!

The Birthday Boy!

Ezra in the kiddie pool-only a foot deep!

Emma and her friend Savannah riding scooters!

Carmel Apple night!

Apple picking!!

Okay, so this is old news, but I just uploaded pics from my camera.

A few of us homeschooling moms made the drive up to Solvang for apple picking. You can see that when just a few of us get together, there ends up being quite a gang. I think we had almost 20 kids. =)

And Noah!!!

Dear Noah,

You are four!! You were so excited to turn four, and since then, you have done many things, "because I am four." You like to eat beans, because evidently, four year olds like beans.

We celebrated your birthday during our vacation in Palm Springs. You still had donuts, and friends over to share them. We had a movie night in our hotel room on your birthday with 17 other kids!!

You are such a special little boy. Sometimes, it seems like you are living in your own little world, but it must be a fun one!! Your smile lights up a room. You are a goofball!! You are learning to read ("The cat ran fast.") You love doing school work like your big brother and big sister. You LOVE legos, especially Star Wars legos like brother. You run on your own timetable. The other evening, we had finished dinner and momma was starting to clean up, while you were at the table. You looked up at me and said, "Mommy, you're beautiful." And then you smiled that "million dollar smile" that made me feel like nothing else in the world can.

We pray that your heart of love will be filled with compassion, just like Jesus' was. And that your smile will touch hearts and lives for His glory. And that just maybe, the people who feel like they have no place, will spend a day in your world with you, and find the hope of Jesus and the love of a Savior. We love you Noah!!

Ezra....

Dear Ezra,

You are two now!! You know, I already had two boys before you came along, but nothing really prepared me for you. You are such an amazing boy, full of life and personality. Before you were 6 months old, my main describing word for your personality was "tenacious." I continue to maintain that position. When you see something you want, you go after it until you get it. I never baby-proofed the house for any of the kids until you came along-and then, it didn't matter because you would figure out how to get around it, or overcome it by brute force. You have the best belly laugh... I could tickle you for days, just to hear you laugh. You think you are a big kid, and want to do everything that "Emma", "Pau", and "Wo-wa" do.

You have such a special connection with Daddy. I don't know if it is because he delivered you, or not, but you sure do love your Daddy. You usually prefer to be with him. (But, you sneak me all kinds of special hugs and kisses while he's gone at work). You are learning all kinds of words everyday, but you usually like to leave the endings off of them. You love to ride your "bike", which is brother's Razor scooter. It's kind of scary to see you on that thing, but we just put on your helmet and let you go, because containing you is even more of a problem. =)

You bring so much joy and excitement to our house. We love you so much, and we pray that your tenacity will be of great service to the Lord for His Kingdom.