Sierra Elise is FOUR!

SIERRA ELISE ~ June 2004

We have a four year old in the house. Can't believe it! Marc and I were just thinking about how quickly these four years have gone...and yet, what did we ever do before we had Sierra in our lives?!? I can hardly even remember those six years before we had kids. Sierra has been such a sweet natured little girl and such a pleasure to raise. She has a very sensitive soul, something we hope will never fade in her. The "drama queen" tendency is definitely there, but along with that comes some of the most beautiful expressions of love that you could ever wish to hear. She loves her family, her white blankie, loves to read, do crafts, go on nature walks, watch movies, play dress-up, ride her bike and daydream about being a princess. Ally is teaching her to try new things and be a little more daring and independent.

For her birthday Sierra wanted to go to Roaring Springs, our local water park. (It was between that and going bowling! I guess that she liked it pretty well.) Anyway - we spent several hours at the water park yesterday. The girls loved the kiddie pool area and the lazy river. Neither one of them wanted to go down the bigger slides on their own, but they must have gone down the dolphin slide at least 50 times each! The water teeter-totter was also a big hit. We had a special breakfast in the morning and some cake and ice-cream after dinner. All in all, it was a fun and tiring day!

Sierra's breakfast choice - chocolate muffins from Costco.

I didn't get many pictures at the water park - we were having too much fun to bother with a camera.

Sierra's personal favorite - Funfetti cake and frosting by Pillsbury.

Marc had the major role in choosing both our daughters' first names. Thank goodness I happen to like them both very well! I was able to pick middle names and a verse to go along with them . "Sierra" means mountain and "Elise" means consecrated to God. Here is a blessing for our Sierra Elise from Psalm 121:

"I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."