Happy Thanksgiving!

O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!  - Psalm 118:1

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!  Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! - Psalm 95:1-2

Know that the LORD, He is God!  It is He who made us, and we are His, we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.  Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise!  Give thanks to Him; bless His name! 

- Psalm 100:3-4

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.  Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever! - Psalm 118:28-29

8 hours!!!

Well, she finally did it.  I fed Mary Grace last night somewhere between 10:30 and 11p.m. and she slept all the way until 7:00a.m. this morning. I was a little bummed that I didn't exactly feel the immediate benefits of uninterrupted sleep when I woke up, but I am sure this will come as we get a few more full-night's sleep under our belts.  Just like the other 3 before her, Mary Grace has found her thumb - a wonderful soother!  This is sure to cause headaches in the future as we seek to break her of the thumb-sucking habit, but for now I am relieved that she has found this built-in pacifier.

Here's a short video of our happy, chunky-cheek, all-night-sleeper.

Sarah's 4th birthday

Our Sarah turned 4 years old today (at 3:36 a.m., to be exact...).  I told her this morning that when people ask how old she is now, she can't say "3" anymore because she's older.  She paused for a second and then said, "But my feet aren't bigger."  I guess she thought she'd undergo a dramatic growth spurt overnight or something.

It is becoming a tradition in our family to celebrate birthdays at our favorite local Chinese restaurant.  After we ate our fill of our favorite dishes (it's funny, the wait staff there can tell us what we're going to order before we do!), we got out the cake and candles for Sarah.  Hannah, as you can see, was very eager to get her hands on that cake.

The days leading up to her birthday, Sarah would tell us that we would sing her Happy Birthday but that she would not.  What's funny is that when people told her "Happy Birthday" today, she would turn around and say to them, "Happy Birthday!"  And when we sang Happy Birthday to her, she sang it to herself several times for fun.

Hannah was victorious in sneaking some chocolate from the cake before the candles were blown out.

Sarah has always been 'famous' in our family for her great cheeks.  We think Mary Grace just might have her beat, however. 

Christopher and Daddy enjoying the cake.  (It's rare to get a picture of Christopher smiling like a normal person these days).

Hannah got more than just a taste of that chocolate cake.

The gift below was one of Nana's finds.  As soon as she opened it and Nana started explaining to Sarah how it worked, Sarah was removing her shoes and socks and climbing into this get-up! She began walking around the restaurant giggling with delight!

2 months old, and we're still waiting...

We're still waiting for little Mary Grace to sleep through the night, that is!  I know, I know.  I ought to give this little peanut a break considering she only wakes up once in the night and is otherwise a great napper and very contented, sweet baby.  Christopher and Sarah slept through the night at 6 weeks and Hannah didn't sleep through the night until she was 10 weeks.  I guess I'm more eager for Mary Grace to sleep through the night sooner rather than later because she's #4 and having 4 kids ages 5 and under leaves Mommy with little to no breaks!  This is evidenced by my silence on the blogosphere ever since my mom skipped town.  I have a free moment now that MG is in the bouncy seat as I type, Hannah is sleeping, and Christopher and Sarah have been given strict instructions not to leave their room until a given time.

Let's see, MG was about 2 weeks old at her baptism (see the last blog post) and today is 2 months old.  The following pictures were taken at ages 1 month to 2 months:

The picture below was taken the day MG turned 1 month.  Don't you just love the spikey hair?

The next two pictures were taken when she was about 6 1/2 weeks old.  Watch those cheeks grow...

The next two pics were taken a couple of days ago.  Christopher adores his littlest sister.

Christopher is making MG laugh.

Today - MG is 2 months old and smiling responsively.

I dressed MG in this little leopard printed get-up on Sunday.  As you can imagine, she attracted lots of attention at church, but the greatest response was from her older siblings.  Christopher thought I actually killed a leopard to get its skins for this outfit, but I assured him the print was simply painted on the material.

I was pretty convinced that MG's eyes would turn brown, but here they are...still blue.