Watch out long post ahead

Just things I don't want to forget about my sweet crew:Miriam lost another tooth this month (her 3rd) and will likely loose her first top tooth in the next week or so. She's so happy that we've started school again and has said over and over the past week that "first grade is so much fun!" Her workload has doubled and she can't get enough!
She's struggling with spiritual things this month. It amazes me how studying Genesis can bring about these big New Testament questions in her! It's a big concept for such a young child, and mysterious in many ways. I think she's feeling the tug of Jesus on her heart but doesn't know just what to do about it yet. I'm struggling to find the balance between answering her questions and teaching her about Jesus without making her think she's 'supposed' to be ready. I think she's actually feeling fear about what it means to be 'a Christian.' She asked me yesterday if she could wait until she is an adult to ask Jesus into her heart. I replied that she could wait, but I thought she'd be ready before then; I told her that she would know when it was time. I wonder if she thinks Jesus is going to hurt her when he comes into her heart and I know that baptism and communion scare her even though she knows they are just reminders of the cross. She knows she is a sinner and it hurts her deeply to do wrong. I wonder if she's going to struggle with accepting grace due to her perfectionism even through adulthood. Today she told me that she 'might' go upstairs after Daddy woke up to talk to Jesus about coming into her heart(knowing that they aren't allowed upstairs to play while Rob is sleeping). I thought she wanted to pray with Rob but when I got to the bottom of it I realized that she'd really taken to heart the verse she read about going to her room to pray. She thought she could only talk to Jesus alone in her room! I told her that Jesus wants us to pray with other believers AND alone and that when she's ready she could ask Daddy, Mommy, or MacMac to pray with her. She seemed relived at that but hasn't brought it up again.
Rebekah Jo is still my sweet, loving, and cautious one. Today at the library during a magician's performance she hid behind me for the majority of the 30 minutes repeating over and over, "Mommy is he done? Mommy can we go home now?" She likes everything to be nice and predictable. Aside from the predictability of how she likes predictability she has been quite a surprising child in the last month.
I was so surprised when she absolutely adored performing at her dance recital!
Her list of acceptable foods has expanded some in the past month. She now likes strawberries, cheeseburgers, watermelon, and vanilla yogurt!
She went from learning and relearning the same 3 letter short 'a' words to reading most any three letter 'a', 'e', 'i', and 'o' word in just a week. She's still consistently unable to tell b, d, and p apart, but once told what letter she's looking at she can read the word. Math is still her strong suite. She writes most numbers backwards but it's obvious that she has a good grasp of math when doing oral problems. She sailed through the first pages of simple addition in her math book this week and loved every minute of it. She's so proud to say that she is in Kindergarten!
I've decided that Michael should have been named Rob Junior. When I look at him all I see is Rob! He has his Daddy's sense of humor and also his keen sense of smell. He came down the stairs a few days ago saying, "Mommy where are the rolls? What we have rolls for?" as he searched every counter and peered into the window of the stove. I had just mixed a bowl of pizza dough and left it to rise on the counter. He also has quite the imagination. I often wonder if he knows he's making things up or if he actually believes all the crazy things he says! This boy loves to have fun and will do just about anything to get a laugh.
I think he's resenting being treated more and more like a big boy. Tonight as I tucked him into his bed he said, "Mommy, when am I going to grow small again so I can sleep in your bed and nursey?"
Peyton is growing up way too quickly for my taste. She's the biggest Daddy's girl of any of our children at this age. Whenever Rob comes into a room she screams, "DaaDaa!!!" She melts onto his shoulder when he picks her up as if its her favorite place in the entire world. I'm sure my memory is clouded, but I think she just may be the smartest baby ever. She seems to understand so much of what we say to her. She nods her entire body 'yes' and furiously shakes her head 'no' at all the correct times. She can point to her belly, her feet, her hair, and sometimes her nose. She blows adorable kisses and waves goodbye with as much enthusiasm as possible. She lets me know when she needs a new diaper. She loves playing the "Where is..." game and correctly points to all of us and Memphis too. Her words include: Mama, Dada, DogDog, No, Tank you, bye-bye. She is currently breaking in her first molar and not sleeping well due to that, but after almost 7 years of little sleep it really doesn't seem like that big a deal this time. She is the sweetest cranky baby ever anyway.