a terrific kid

I am so proud of Emma!

In the last post, Jason was bragging about Emma (we are shameless, I know). So then what do we find in her folder today?

Emma has been selected as the Terrific KId from her class. Every 6 weeks, one child is selected from each class that has shown positive character traits. Emma is the first one of the year from her class!

The school is going to have a celebration program for those kids this Friday. We are so proud of our big girl!

Emma Moments...

this is jason (kelly's hubs) writing on the blog today


there is an old saying "sometimes you miss the forest for the trees".

i think parenting is like this sometimes.

because you are near to them everyday,

because you see all the "little" things they do that frankly, drive you crazy,

and because they are "your kids" you want and expect the best for them and are disappointed for them when they fall short.

yesterday, i saw "the forest" in my emma grace.

at richland, parents can eat lunch with their kids, so i decided i would take a few minutes and surprise her and eat PB&J and chocolate pudding with my sweet girl. richland is a VERY diverse school, so emma is getting the opportunity to make friends with lots of kids that don't look like her, they don't go to the same kind of church that emma does, they don't even eat the same kid of food she eats at lunch, and most of then know 2 languages.

at her table yesterday there was, victor, jamal, nora, bavla, emily, cornelius and ammal.

you get the picture.

here is what amazed me, here is what my emma grace taught me, here is what i didn't know about her...

emma grace is colorblind

no, she can see red, yellow, purple, and blue, but when it comes to her classmates, she is perfectly colorblind.

she didn't care that one of her classmates was eating some curried eggs for lunch, she didn't care that another one looked as though they had not bathed in 2 days and wore the same clothes everyday to school, she didn't even notice that there was a new muslim girl in her class that can't speak a word of english, she just saw a new friend who wore a pretty headdress.

amazing

and at the same time, super convicting.

emma, in 45 minutes, reminded me how we should all see and treat each other. she reminded me how Christ see us, and how it will be in eternity, and how Jesus must long for us to embrace each other, and each other's "differences" here on earth.

i am pleading for emma to stay this way as she grows up, i pleading for myself to model this for my family.

don't miss the forest for the trees in your kids...

"They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.”
--Isaiah 61:3 (NIV)

her boys

Getting Ava dressed has become a big issue.

But, not in the way that I thought. You see, everyone told me that the older that my children got, the less they would want to dress in all the smocked clothing and sweet dresses that I put them in.

Wrong. Not Ava.

See this outfit? She pitched a fit to wear this one morning as we were getting dressed for school.

She kept saying that she didn't feel pretty in it and that the other kids would laugh at her.

Then, yesterday morning as I was getting her ready for school, I got the full explanation from Ava on why she did not want to wear an outfit I picked out for her. It went like this...

"I don't want to wear those clothes. Those clothes are not pretty. My boys will not like this. My boys only like it when I wear sundresses. Please let me wear a dress!"

Well, of course! I was only thinking that I did not want your nice clothes ruined at preschool. I completely forgot about your "boys".

Are we really starting this now?

her new thing

Lila has found something new to drive us crazy with. Oops, did I say crazy? I meant to say it was adorable.

Heading into the entertainment center...


Very proud of herself...


Notice how I have nothing on my shelves. Who could keep anything with this little one?


And after the fall...

She's got to work on her exit!

daddy dates

I love when Jason gets a roll of film back, and I get the surprise of seeing what the family is up to when I am not around.

The girls love to go visit Howard's Donuts on the weekends. They love their sprinkled donuts with their chocolate milk. My teeth hurt just thinking about it.

8 months

September has already proved to be quite a month. It has come and kicked us right in the tail.

First off, we had our identity stolen. Remember that whole Jason's Deli scandal with stolen credit card information? Well, we were one of the lucky ones. And, they took us to the cleaners. But, alas, all is resolved! I'm just left with major paranoia, and I really want to take all of our money and dig a hole for it in the backyard.

School has welcomed our girls back. In fact, they gave Emma a wonderful gift. One month into the school year, and we already have our first stomach virus. There goes perfect attendance (like we even had a chance).

But, the stomach bug didn't stop with her. Oh, no. It took as all down within a week and a half.

Good times.

On a bright note, we launched The Orchard Fellowship today. We had over 400 in attendance! Such a wonderful morning!

8 months ago today, our precious Lila was born which means it was picture time tonight. I thought I would put her in her cute University of Memphis dress. Got to support the home team... well, at least in basketball!

Lila has been a very busy girl since 7 months. She is now pulling up on things and standing.

She is Speedy Gonzalez with her crawling, and she will not be fenced in! She is going to keep me on my toes!

Hello, Blue Eyes! I could just eat up my cutie pie!

meet abby

Today we had to run to Target to get some formula for Lila. Of course, I couldn't resist begging to take a look around the Pottery Barn Outlet since we were close.

While in Pottery Barn, we noticed these adorable soft baby dolls. Jason grabbed one and held it up for Lila to see. She smiled so big and started giggling and reaching for the doll. When Jason pulled it away to put it back on the shelf, Lila started crying.

She was smitten with "Abby".

While we were outside in the backyard this afternoon, I grabbed Abby and brought it to Lila in her swing. When I looked over at Lila, she was holding Abby's hand.

Precious! I had to grab my camera...

It looks like we've got a new member in the family!

happy birthday, jason!

Happy Birthday, Jason from 4 of your biggest fans!

We are so lucky to have you as our husband, dad, pastor, paparazzi and friend! We love you!