Harley's Birthday and Natalie 1st Softball Game

Harley turned 5 on the 23rd. She wanted to have a Maya and Miguel party at the local park. We invited the kids in her church classes (Wednesday and Sunday) and invited the little girls in her dance class as well as a couple of family friends and of course cousins. She was supposed to have on on the 19th, but we all caught the flu, and it was raining ridiculously. So we rescheduled for the 26th. She has a little friend from her Sunday school come, and a cousin. It rained (drizzled really) for the first little bit, but the sun actually came out after that. She had fun playing at the park, eating cake and especially the pinata. She surprised us all by saying that her cake had too much chocolate. She designed her own cake this year. She asked for a round chocolate cake with two layers. She wanted vanilla ice cream between the two layers, and chocolate chips on top of the ice cream. She wanted chocolate icing, and sprinkles on top and "Happy Birthday Harley" written in red icing. She was pretty detailed. I guess she had put a lot of thought into it. She is a funny little girl.

I can't believe that she is 5 years old. She says she still feels like she's 4. We got her an American Girl Bitty Twin. She has named it Cindy,and she goes everywhere with us. So far she has gone grocery shopping, to the Galleria, to Wal-Mart, and even the ball park. Randle was picking on her by saying the Cindy wanted to stay home instead of going with us Sunday. I said that she could go with us but had to stay in the car during church. Randle then says, "That's OK, she doesn't want to go with us anyway, she wants to stay home and play with toys." Harley gives Randle a look like he is the dumbest person on earth and shouts, "Yes she does, SHE WANT TO LEARN ABOUT JESUS!!" We about lost it. I am very excited the she loves her little dolly. She even bought a new doll stroller with her birthday money.

Natalie had her first softball game yesterday. She said she had fun. She didn't make any hits. She didn't get an opportunity to stop any balls b/c she plays right field. She was so very nervous. She had a great attitude though, and can't wait for practice. We are going to borrow a swing a way from a friend of ours to let her get in some batting practice. They also have a tee that they said we could borrow. We bought her a new bat yesterday that is yellow with flowers on it. She all but slept with it and was asking if we could hit some balls after school. I am glad she is so excited.

Natalie's First Bible Quiz

Today was Nat's first Bible Quiz Tournament. Her team participated in 8 different games that had 20 questions each. She buzzed in 3 times and got 2 of them right. She tried to buzz in other times, but wasn't quick enough. We were proud of her for buzzing at all. She was so worried and can be so shy we didn't know if she would even buzz in. She will have her next one in October, and I can't wait to see how much confidence she gains.

Harley had a long day of Bible quiz, but did really well. She sat very still and quiet. She is already learning alot of the questions and answers, and she has 2 years before she can join. If she continues to learn at this rate she will blow them out of the water.

The Busy Life

I am so spoiled from our life in Indiana. The girls had YMCA memberships and the Y was only 3 blocks from Natalie's School. I was able to schedule swim lessons and dance right after school, so that we weren't out late. Neither of our girls did sports, so we were home a lot. Not so much anymore. We aren't members of the Y anymore so there are no more swim lessons. But instead of swim we are not doing Monday night Campus Life Meetings in the Hoover area, Wednesday night Bible Quiz and Church, Thursday night Dance, and Friday night Hoover Football Games. We are also about to add Softball practices one or two nights a week and games on Sundays. Then there is the occasional Saturday Bible Quiz Tournament and Sunday night Small Group. We are loving everything we are doing, but wow at the scheduling.

Last Sunday our van broke down, so we have been borrowing Randle's dad's truck. What a blessing it has been. We hope to have ours fixed by this Sunday or Monday. It may be the $15 fuel filter or the $200 fuel pump. We are really hoping for the filter. Either way I am sure God will supply.

Natalie is settling in to school now. She is still saying that she doesn't have friends, but I think it is more of a definition controversy than her not having friends. She plays with her classmates, and every time I am around they are saying hi to her and running up to tell her something. I think that she is defining "friend" as she had them in Indiana. It was different, b/c she had been in a class with the same kids for 3 years. We also went to church with several of them. This was our only real fear when moving from IN to AL. We are trusting God that He will lead her where she needs to be. I know that He is preparing her for her future and it will all end well, with her having learned the lessons, and growing where God needs her too.

Randle's side job will be wrapping up very soon, so we are also trusting God to supply a job. There may be more openings at the temp job he was at before. We have also learned of a couple of job opening in the surrounding areas. This is tough for me. I am having to continually give it back over to God. Obviously I am strengthening my faith and trust in Him right now. I can't wait to see where God takes us and what He has us doing after all of this is over!

The Girls Just Keep Amazing Me

Monday we got a letter from Natalie's teacher telling us the results of her reading test. I am sure there are several different reading tests out there, but Mt. Laurel uses the STAR. It explains that there could be some variables so there is a level listed, but when you get to the level of book she should get there is a range listed. Anyway, she tested at a 3rd grade level at 4 months into the school year. At the end of 1st grade she was reading at a second grade level at the end of the year. So that means she advanced 4-5 school months over the summer. We are very excited, and proud of her.

Harley has been writing a lot and wanted to spell words. She has been spelling 3 letter words that end in "at" for about a month. She then started reading them. I couldn't believe she was sounding them out and spelling them before reading. Today she asked for our "fox thing" meaning our Hooked on Phonics. I got it out for her and she didn't want to start at the beginning where it teaches you letters and their sounds. I told her if she could name most of the letters and their sounds by herself I would let her skip it. She got all letter sounds but "g" and all letter names except for lower case and upper case "g" and lower case p,d,and b. Considering there are times when Natalie gets b and d confused and I knew that there are no q words until much later in the books, I let her skip the letter part. She has now read her first short story "Fat Cat, Fat Rat". It consists of the words: cat, rat, sat, and fat. She read the story 3 times to me and about 4 or 5 to Randle. She is now tackling the "an" family words. I can't believe she is reading at the age of 4.

Natalie and Harley: the mouse hunt

Yesterday started with a visit to both Hoover High campuses with Emily, JT, and Judy. We went to each lunch period to pass out invitations to the annual Campus Life Burger Bash.

Last night we had the annual Burger Bash with Campus Life Ministries. We meet every Monday (except when school is out) over off of 150 at the Langston Family's house. We had around 112 students come last night. There was a skit, a couple of games, burgers, chips, cookies, and of course a visit from Captain Unexpectedpants! We were very excited about the turn out and hope that it continues.

The girls went with us this week since it was a little more free flowing. They started off climbing all over the fence around the horse pasture. Then playing with a Frisbee, quickly changing to climbing on the large spools, and chasing each other. They had a blast! At one point Michael pointed out that there was a small field mouse running behind the guys that were grilling. The girls saw me looking at it and Natalie decides to catch it. She ran at it and snatched it up pretty quick. She didn't get her hands around it though and it jumped out of her hand and on to her forearm. She panicked, and swung her arm up. The mouse went flying and landed in front of Harley who trapped it with her hands and quickly jumped away when it squirmed. They chased it around a bit both of them squealing with delight and finally Natalie caught it. She held it up at her chest level and was looking at it. It was of course scared so it nibbled her finger and she threw it. Harley then goes after it and picks it up and then the poor mouse got thrown again when it bit her. It was quite a show for all those around to watch. I am quite impressed that they even tried to catch it, much less caught it. They finished the evening hopping around like bunnies with little bunny ears, noses, and tails on. They also re-named the horses and chased the dogs again before I drug them away. When we finally got them home they were out cold and were both carried in. We woke Natalie up to take her inhaler, she did it, rinsed her mouth and went straight to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.