I forgot to tell a great story about James in the last post. Josh and I have decided to start taking him to big church with us. His first time was a few weeks ago. Our pastor taught about being an overcomer and used Romans 8:31-37 (good stuff by the way). James sat still and listened the whole time, he even laughed when the pastor was funny. When we were on our way home we asked him what he thought of big church and if we wanted to keep going. He said "yeah, I want to keep going. How can I be a conquerer when a friend punches me?" He proceeded to tell us about a specific incident that happened with a friend and asked how God can help him. We were so amazed. No only did he behave well but he heard what was said and applied it to his life! We are really excited to experience church together.

We are going to the British Virgin Islands!

Josh earned a trip through Edward Jones so they gave us a book of amazing trips to choose from and we picked Peter Island. It is a private island and all that is on it is a 5 star resort. We get to go in July, without kids, all expenses paid because Josh works really hard for the greatest company. God is so kind and generous to bless us in this way. We are sinful, degenerate humans yet in His great love He saves us and grows us and lavishes His grace on us. This is such a huge success in our life and God gets all the glory. The last almost 7 years have been an intense battle but God has been faithful and Josh has become a strong warrior. We can't wait to see what the next 7 years hold!

Mallory has two teeth! She got the bottom center teeth last week. Finally we have something to show for that insane amount of drool! It really wasn't too bad. She was a little fussy the two days it took for them to break through but that is it. Now she has the cutest little toothy smile. I don't have a cute pic of that yet but I will get one up next time.

We have given her a couple of sink baths since she's been sitting up and she really likes it.

Last week we went to visit my college friend Kari. She lives in Bentonville, AR. Just the three kids and I went. We had a great time playing with Kari's daughter Sarah (10 months), visiting with Kari, and learning all about hunting and guns from her husband Daniel. The kids made me really proud for how flexible and considerate they were at someone else's house. Although, my proudest moment had to be when James pooped in the back yard and came up to the door with his pants around his ankles telling me there what a big blob of poop stuck to his bottom.

As we all know James has a great imagination. I find him playing the funniest things sometimes. Today he was pretending our dead mum was a trap for his Star Wars guys. There were bodies everywhere.

The other night I was tucking him in and he asked if I would pray for his hand (he had just burned it on the stove) so I did. Two nights later he said "can we do this new thing where every night you pray with us when you put us to bed?" Awww, so sweet! I was thinking aren't I supposed to be the one to suggest that? We say prayers together during the day but wise parents once told me to capitalize on bedtime because that is when kids start talking freely. I have always resisted that because I am such a sleep freak but now that James is getting older I might have to make room for some pillow talk.

This is what playtime often looks like at our house. James and Kinley pretend play and Mallory watches while playing with something that would usually be deemed as unsafe for babies (like the walmart sack she is playing with below)

Yea for tax refunds! With part of ours we decided to get bikes. We have wanted them for a couple of years and with James getting better and better at riding his own we decided it was time. We have really enjoyed it so far. If anyone has tips on teaching kids to ride without training wheels please share! James still has them but they are tipped up so that he isn't on both of them constantly.

This is the Morris Biking Fleet

The girls love their trailer! Mallory had to adjust to feeling a little cramped but she got over it. Kinley always says "go supa supa fast mommy".

The last rainy day we had I let the kids go out to play and Kinley insisted that she not wear pants...it was a battle I chose not to fight. She looked hilarious. With three kids my appearance standards have gone way down. I took the kids to the park a couple of weeks ago in their pajamas. It gets worse. We went at about 5pm and they wore the pajamas they had worn (and still had on) the night before.

One night at bedtime Kinley asked me to sing her a song and I asked what song because she is usually very opinionated about this and she said "sing me a Jesus song". The thing she has been saying more often that isn't so cute is "you are such a meanie!" She says it to everyone.