Wednesday, August 19, 2009

My Prayer: Empty Me

Empty me
of the selfishness inside,
Every vain ambition
And the poison of my pride,
And any foolish thing my heart holds to.
Lord, empty me of me
So I can be
Filled with You!
This is the chorus to a Chris Sligh song that I really like.
It has been a prayer that I have repeated often lately.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Uh-Oh

Look at what Valerie has just discovered!



Looks like we have another thumb sucker on our hands! This is about the age when Sierra started sucking her thumb and wouldn't you know it, here goes Valerie. I started noticing a trend on Friday and she has been doing it a lot since then. I'm a little torn about what to do. It's just so stinkin' cute! Sierra really only sucked her thumb when she was tired, so I hope that Valerie will be the same. I don't really want to use a pacifier either. We'll see how long this lasts.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Check this out!

My brother, Chuck, normally works behind the scenes at Channel 7, the local NBC affiliate. He goes between "master control operator" and "director" for the evening news programs. Last night, however, was a different story. Check out his skydiving video here. He rocks!

My Summer Vacation

(Since Marc officially went back to work this morning, I decided to give myself a "back-to-school" assignment for the blog.)

My Summer Vacation
By: Serena Mouser
Age 33
This summer was a very busy one...in a laid back sort of way. First of all, I gave birth to this little person:

Valerie Joy has been a great little baby. Although she spits up (A LOT!) and still gets a bit fussy in the evenings, she has already brought us so much happiness. After a rough start, she is as healthy as can be! In other words, she eats like a little piggy. She has been very flexible with our crazy summer schedule and has already started sleeping through the night on occasion. (Unheard of at this age with the previous Mouser girls.) Valerie is a very smiley little girl and LOVES to watch what her big sisters are up to. She'll babble your ear off if you stop to listen and make faces at her.

Another major accomplishment was potty training this little spit-fire:


Ally was very stubborn about using the toilet for a long time, but this summer she decided to give in to our valiant efforts to get her out of diapers. We are so proud of her, in spite of several embarrassing accidents.

The rest of the summer has been filled with lots of fun family activities. We always enjoy the movie nights at Settler's Park:

And, of course, we spent lots of time playing at the river:

A recent highlight was a visit from Marc's oldest brother, Steve, and his family. The girls don't get to see their new big cousins very often, so this was a real treat:

Now it's time to get back into a school time routine. I'm looking forward to that in a way. I'll miss having my best friend around all day, but we have lots of good memories to look back on. In a few more weeks some more big changes will take place. Our oldest is heading off to Kindergarten.....AHHHH!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Ally, the Artist

A couple of weeks ago when we took the girls to get their check-ups, Dr. Welch asked us if Ally was drawing stick figures yet. Marc and I looked at each other and then said, "Nope." Well, she has since turned into quite the little artist. Most of her people have very prominent noses with "lots of boogers." I'd say that girl has a fixation!




Made You Smile!


You're grinning, aren't you?!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

BLING!

After being on the fence for quite some time, Sierra finally got up the nerve to endure the pain and get her ears pierced on Saturday afternoon. She was so brave. (Wish you could have seen Marc, though!) Instead of anguish on her face you could see the pure delight. This is just one more triumph for this girly-girl!

Waiting for Mom to get out of the way so that the piercing could be done.

She wanted an up-do for church today so that she could show off her new pink, flower earrings.

The expression, pose and bag say it all!

And this one has nothing to do with earrings, but I just had to add it:
Looks like Valerie is using her teddy mobile as a revolving punching bag, doesn't it?
I love this girl!