A Baby for Christmas

*Re-blogged from Living on PB&J.

I will never forget my first taste of motherhood. 7 years ago, I was just a few weeks away from delivering my first baby. It was Christmas. I had decorated, and gotten my new little boy’s clothes ready. I had packed my hospital bag. Everything was ready!

I sat in my sparkling-clean, shimmery, glittery, all-decked-out-for-Christmas, pre-children house, and pondered the Christmas story. I had heard it all my life, but somehow in 2007, it had new meaning.

I would sit in my rocking chair with my hand on my tummy, feeling my little boy kick and squirm. And I thought of Mary.

Mary was told that Jesus would be the king, that He would deliver His people. Joseph was told that He would save His people from their sins. But what did they really understand? The Bible doesn’t tell us all that Mary understood.

When baby Jesus was born, the shepherds came straight out of the field to worship her Son. Oh, Mary knew He was special, but they worshiped Him? She pondered all these things. She wondered, and she was amazed!

I wondered, as I felt my little boy inside me, if Mary knew her Son would have to be a sacrifice. I could not imagine being in her sandals. I even thought of God in a whole new light… as a Father. I could not imagine giving up my precious Son, even for good people, let alone murderers, thieves, and those who will never accept the free gift of salvation.

That Christmas, days away from meeting my firstborn son, I drew closer to my precious heavenly Father. What love, that He should give His firstborn, even His “only begotten” Son just for me!

Jackson. Born December 28, 2007:

Fun Gender Reveal for Baby #4!

We found out in April that God was giving us another little blessing! We are excited and thankful!

From the beginning of our marriage, I always thought I would love to be surprised with the gender if I already had a boy and a girl. That way, I would already have the “stuff” and could just sit back. But, I just couldn’t hold out…none of us could! So, we decided to do a fun gender reveal.

I scoped the internet and pinterest for fun ideas. Here we go…

On ultrasound day, it was so hard not to peek. The technician went for the gender right away. Baby was in a great position, so she had us close our eyes for a minute or two. As soon as she wrapped up the ultrasound, she put the sweet surprise in an envelope. All that held the envelope closed was a tiny piece of tape! Ahh! It was so hard not to open it! When we got to the car, I held it up to the light to try to cheat! I know, I know! Pretty desperate! But thank goodness, I couldn’t see!

A sweet friend asked if she could please help with the reveal, so I said “Sure!” She came over a few days later, and took some pictures and pulled off the whole shebang for us!

It was so fun! The cans of silly string were wrapped with paper, and decorated. We each had one in our hands. Camera ready, go!

At first, I couldn’t tell what color the string was! It looked white! But when I looked up in the trees, I could see the PINK!

“Ahhh! It’s a girl!” I said!

Jackson said, “I wish it was a boy.”

Kids! 😉

Thank you to Cassie King for the beautiful pictures, and hard work! You really made our day special!

Beginning Our Home School Journey

A few people have asked to let them know how we like our curriculum. And just so family and friends can see, I’ve decided to periodically  post about our home school journey!

Let me first say that I know I just started. I have been extremely enthusiastic and passionate about our choice to home school. I have planned, browsed the web, and picked the brains of moms who are doing it, specifically those who are doing a good job and don’t seem mega-stressed about it all the time! I had our curriculum bought by March, planned out and filed by April. I got ready early! And I know it’s just my first year. I know it won’t always be so fun.

But for now, pardon my enthusiasm over our school experience. It is fun! And we are loving it!

I chose to use My Father’s World. It is a Bible-based, hands-on approach to learning. Kindergarten begins with Creation, then everything continues from there. It combines Science and Bible, as they learn to read. For instance, “S” is the first letter we will focus on. “S” stands for “Sun” and the child will learn, “Jesus is the light of the world.” So, you teach them that Jesus is the Light, while teaching them the sound for “s”. All the letters stand for an element of nature. It is my Father’s world! And that is the basis of every lesson.

We just finished our first two weeks. Every day we read the Creation account straight from the Bible, then the boys colored a number that corresponded with the day of Creation we were on. It made a chart that we had on the wall.

After that, we started learning ABCs for a few minutes. At this point, it just helps the student get familiar with all the letters. We sang the ABC song while pointing to leach letter, and went over flashcards, adding a few letters each day. (Pictured below: Top row – 100s chart, and August calendar. Bottom row – basket 1: ABC cards, basket 2: straws for counting to 100, basket 3: empty so far, ABC chart)

After the ABC part was finished for the day, the boys made a page (for a Creation book) that also went with the day we were on. It was so cute! When we got to Day 3 (land and plants), Timothy just scribbled a few plants on his page and was finished. But Jackson went through a very tedious process of deciding what kinds of fruit he wanted on his page. After a few tries, he finally decided he wanted me to make him some pineapples for his page, because that’s his favorite fruit. His book has much more “love” in it!

We finished the Creation unit by going to the park. We made a chart showing things that God made, and things that man made. It was fun! I love the “hands-on” approach of this curriculum! After we made the chart, we played!

And that sums up our first two weeks!

Upside:

• We had a lot of fun learning together!
• It brought quite a bit of order to our house. I am determined to do a good job with school, and make sure it gets done! So, we would all get up, get dressed, have breakfast together, then clean up a little before school. After school was finished, it would just be lunch time! I love the order and scheduling it adds to our day.
• Jackson is really starting to learn a lot of his letters. When we started, he could only recognize 2 or 3 letters, but now gets about 7 right, without singing along with his ABC chart!

Downside:

• I am tired.
• It is hard with a toddler.
• I can tell there will be rough days! After the first week, Jackson had trouble sitting still during flashcard time! So, we improvised and did only half at a time.

 

We had a great two weeks, and I’m excited to start into phonics next week!

Eva, Sweet Eva

Eva, sweet Eva

 

• 20 Months old in a few days
• Has learned about 10 new words this month, including “no.” She can whine, too. “NoooooOOoo, MooooOOmmmy.” 🙂 Other words are yes, good girl and uh-huh (with a whole-body nod)
• Can get out of bed by herself, which Jackson nor Timothy learned to do
• Looks funny when she tries to give kisses
• Loves to sing (in bed instead of falling asleep)
• Throws her head back in despair, and sometimes her spine just can’t hold her up… when she doesn’t get her way. Also throws herself in the floor sometimes (oh dear!)
• Loves to climb (see below)

She’s our cutie pie and we all love her! She keeps us on our toes, on our knees, and in a constant smile!

29

For my birthday this year, my hubby really surprised me! For a few months, he would sit on the laptop and not let me come near. 😉 I got a clue and guessed right, although I didn’t really know until my birthday! He made a beautiful blog book for me. It had my entire blog (minus the posts where I popped on to say I was too busy to blog!) complete with pictures. It was so pretty and thoughtful!

The very last page of the blog said that my husband took me to the symphony for my birthday, and out for a day of shopping! Score big time! I have wanted to go to the symphony for all our married life. {I know it’s not really that long!} I was so happy, I cried!

I was thrilled!

We went to Cincinnati’s Music Hall on Friday, Feb. 22nd.

It was so beautiful and dreamy! We sat in the Gallery in section O and I was surprised how well we could see!

The conductor was also the violinist who did the solos. It was amazing to watch him play. Then for the last two pieces, he conducted. I just love to see professionsals in their element! Of any kind!

The last piece was by Mendelssohn. It was incredible! To see about 60 stringed instruments in perfect sync! I was amazed!

Me and the man who is so good to me!

Inside the Hall. It was built in the 1800s, and is SO amazing.

The cute bag I bought in the gift shop:

 

It made me love and appreciate classical music even more. So much so, that I’m implementing it in home school this year. Just to introduce the kids to it, and help them to respect it. We will play a piece and do a special activity along with it. And read books about the composers. I hope they will love it!

After the concert was over, we had a wonderful lunch at Red Lobster, and did some major shopping!

I love my husband and am so thankful for him. It’s always nice to get away and spend time together without answering 20-questions-a-minute!

Here’s to being 29… forever! 😀

Thanksgiving 2012

This is our 6th Thanksgiving in Ohio. That’s so hard to believe sometimes. The years are flying by!

Our first Thanksgiving here at the Reagan family home was in 2007. I was expecting our first little blessing. The Reagans’ 5th little one was  only 5 months old.

Things have changed! 🙂 Now there are 9 little ones between us, and 5 years of friendship.

Sights of the 6th Reagan/Boyer Thanksgiving:

Our two-family spread

Jackson, Elisha, and Timothy Buddies!

My Eva and her turkey bib (and turkey grin)

Me and my awesome hubby!

Jamin and sweet Macey

Round 1 of Eating 🙂

Let’s load our plates!

Isaiah being goofy!

“Sneaks” – best game ever!

Eva’s First Birthday!

I have mixed feelings about this very special day. It seems like Eva should still be a newborn. But she’s already an entire year old. My tiny bundle is now walking, babbling, fussing at her brothers. She is precious. She is a gift from God. I am so glad she’s in our family. She is always ready with a smile. She loves to empty cabinets, play in the toilet, and see how many things she can unload from my purse. She shivers when she touches a grape. She likes to eat dirt. She yells when the cat comes near. She adores her brothers unless they are being pests.

She’s our Eva Joy… for one year!

8 Wonderful Years

I cannot believe we have been married 8 years! Time surely has flown, just like everyone said it would. We have grown closer each year, and I can’t believe what a friend my husband has become. It’s so wonderful when you feel completely safe to tell whatever secrets you need to, and your husband will understand. Because he knows you.

Jamin is my forever Love. I am still so happy to be his wife. As we grow together, it’s amazing to much closer we become. The more I know him, the more I love him.

It’s so unreal how so many are getting divorced these days. I am so thankful for a husband who makes our marriage a priority, and who has chosen to work on it… together with me. After all, didn’t we promised God we would?

I love you, Jamin! I’m so glad you’re mine!

 

Pre-Easter Pictures

I love them with bed heads! I love them with snot! I love them with dirt and grass stains! I love them with jam all over their mouths! I love them with holes in their clothes!

And I love them all dressed up!

Eva, 8 Months

“Oh, my little Eva! How fast you’re growing! How beautiful you are!”

At 8 Months:

• She wants her mommy! And she says, “Ma ma ma ma” a LOT. Oh, happy sigh. She loves me!
• Earlier in the month, she was getting on her knees and sitting down again. Now, just yesterday she crawled. She is so cute. I almost wanted to cry because she is just growing so fast!
• She loves her brothers. But she is starting to fuss at them when they annoy her. Both of them want to hug on her, grab her, kiss her. Sometimes they make her fall if she is on her knees or trying to stand up. She’ll scream at them if they bother her! (it’s cute!…for a little while longer)
• She loves music. Sometimes if there is singing, she sings too. Loudly. 🙂
• She gives big smiles to people… if I am holding her.
• She gives big smiles to the camera! We have a ton of smiley pictures. She may be vain.
• She is putting away the food. She hadn’t gained much weight at her last checkup (less than a pound), so he wanted her to have more calories. We hit the puree pretty hard and now she eats about 3 containers of baby food a day. I can tell she’s getting fatter. 🙂
• She has started pulling off her head bands! I am sad.

Our girl is growing up. The longest pregnancy ever is still so fresh on my mind, her newborn days seem so recent. I cannot believe that she will turn 1 in just a few short months. 🙂 I am so thankful for my little girl.