Well, we had a wonderful holiday season. Always lots of fun to have time with my family. We had a great week at home with everyone! Eden is 6 yrs old now, (how that happened so quickly we still don't know) and is loving kindergarten. She has a new assistant teacher, Miss Johnson. She is very sweet too, and Eden likes her but really misses Miss Moore. She got the sweetest note from her at her last day. Abigail is still loving preschool. She thinks it is fun to go to school, she just doesn't like to put any extra effort into her school work. She is so different from Eden in that way. It is interesting to see the differences in the two of them. Isabel is lots of fun. She is a great helper with the little boy I babysit. She loves to laugh and make us laugh. She is such a clown sometimes. She is definitely the baby of the family. We have really noticed lately that we all, girls included, like to help her do things. She knows we will help her too...such a bad thing sometimes.

Eric is busy with work. He had a excellent first year as a Branch manager. His branch is 9th in the company! There are around 400 branches. So his hardwork and of the employees really paid off! I think there were quite a few people watching him last year to see how things were going to go, with him being so young, given the largest branch in his district. One of the benefits we will receive because of his hard work and keeping the branch at or above goals, he gets to go on the company trip in March. I get to go with him, so we are both very excited about it. The trip this year is to HAWAII! Yep, can't wait!

I've been staying busy teaching the 1st & 2nd grade bible class with my friend Rachel. They keep us on our toes! It has been alot of fun for me. I'm still keeping Jacob 3 days a week. I've had him a year and it is amazing to look back at pictures and see how much he has grown and learned since I started watching him. He is such a well behaved little man and Isabel just adores her buddyboy! I'm very grateful for Eric's job and that it allows me to stay home with my girls and participate in their school activities. Also I get to earn a little money by babysitting Jacob and in March I will get to start watching a baby girl, Taylor, a couple of days a week as well. Both of the kids are neighbors so I think we have been blessed to have the neighbors we have and the influence we have been able to have with them. I was asked to keep Taylor because her parents knew I would help teach her to love God and be a good person. (Her parents are not religious but wanting someone to help teach their daughter...) This could be an opportunity Eric and I have been praying for with our neighbors....

I guess that is all the news for now.

Bible translations for kids? I need to get Eden and Abigail new Bibles for their class at church and I'm going back and forth between ESV and NKJV.... not sure which is easier for kids to understand when reading and easier to read...or maybe there is another version that would be good? My girls are 5 & 4... just wondering which to purchase. thanks for your thoughts!

Yep, all of you that understand that title, I think Eden will love it. For those of you that don't have any clue, Eden is signing up for Girl Scouts tonight, I guess that means I am too :) I never did girl scouts so this will be a new experience for me as well. She is excited and looking forward to being like some of her older friends. Not sure what to expect tonight at the sign up and meeting but I think we will have a lot of fun bonding with Girl Scouts. She likes that she gets to be a Daisy.

Did any of you go through Girl Scouts? How long did you stay with it? Do you remember costs, activities...I really have NO CLUE what we are getting into, but it always looked like fun!

Received word from my mom that Josh, Tabitha Smith lost Samuel last night. Samuel was 4 months old. I know there is joy that he is no longer suffering here on this earth and gets to be those in Heaven, but as a mother I can't imagine the emptiness she feels not being able to hold this son in her arms anymore. Samuel was born with numerous defects that were not known until his birth (on time). They had to put him on oxygen Wednesday to help him breath but early this morning his little body couldn't hang on any longer. Please say a prayer on their behalf, I know they would appreciate it. Samuel's older brother Wyatt (21 months) isn't able to understand all of this but he will miss his little brother, he sure adored him.

Today is Eden's first day of Kindergarten...lots of thoughts go through my head about her growing up. She was so excited this morning! Eric has really done a great job of showing her how important school is and how excited he is for her. He is so proud of his little girl (all of them but focusing on Eden today). I have to admit it was hard on me to drop her off at school and then leave knowing she would be there ALL day. I tried hard not to cry in front of her, but didn't make it. She saw the tears streaming down my face. She was sitting at her desk which is tabled with 3 other kids, coloring an apple picture when we left. She was not talking to anyone, even us once we walked into the school. She was scared and nervous and anxious and excited all in one. I know she'll do fine and she will really enjoy being in school. She did well with preschool and will love her teachers this year. It is just hard seeing your children grow up. I'm so very proud of her! She is a wonderful little girl, very polite and helpful. She always wants to make you happy and tries her best at everything she does.

We took pictures at school and before. She held up her kindergarten sign outside of the house. It will be her first page in her school scrapbook. I'll do one each year through high school. It is a 12X12 paper with Kindergarten 2009-2010. She wrote her name in ink at the bottom and her handprints at the top. It will be neat to see how she changes each year :)

Well, in two weeks I'll get to do this all over again, Abigail will start preschool, 3 mornings a week 9-12. She is really excited about it! I know she'll do fine too. I'll be a mess that morning as well :)

Happy first day of school to those of you experiencing it today, last week and coming up!