Baby Lu talking on the phone and playing in her chair

Hello?

This sounds serious.

I know just what you mean.

Ha ha ha. That's sooo funny!

Ok, hold on.

It's for you.

One sock and two boots later...

Lu has fun in her chair.

Watch this... oops.

And sliding to the floor.

I do have other children, but taking pictures of the baby is so much fun.

My New Year's Resolutions and the 90 day Bible Challenge

I've been posting about resolutions for several days now and I plan on finishing up my mini-series on Jonathan Edwards tomorrow. But, today I want to share with you some resolutions I've made for 2010 and beyond.

1. Resolved, to read the Bible in 90 days cover to cover. And to be constantly in Bible study.

I was challenged by Kimberly at Raising Olives, but Mom's Toolbox is actually hosting the challenge and is where you can sign up to be a part of the fun. I'm so grateful my husband has agreed to do this with me so we can hold each other accountable. I've never attempted this before and I'm excited, yet nervous about it. I'm hoping to gain a better familiarity with Scripture and a more firm Bible chronology at my fingertips. During this time I will continue with my kids on our one year Bible reading plan (we do this aloud together).

I have often heard women tell me that they don't have time for Bible study at this point in their lives. God gives each of us 24 hrs in a day. How little of that time do we normally spend getting to know the One who made us, sustains us, loves us more than anyone else does, cares for our struggles, redeems us, and is preparing a place for us in heaven? Isn't it convicting when you stop to think about it? Our priority each day should be our time in the Word of God. His Word never goes forth in vain. It is sharper than a two-edged sword and pierces us. Is it possible to be sanctified, to grow more like Christ, to sin less, without spending time in the Bible? No, it's not. So, what are we waiting for? Let's just do it.

2. Resolved, to make time in our schedule for us to minister to others as a family.

If you have kids you know that just keeping up with their school work and activities is quite demanding. One of the main reasons I wanted to homeschool our kids is so we could more easily take advantage of ministry opportunities. Well, I've dropped the ball on that. I once read a quote regarding money that said something like, "what I spent is gone, what I saved I lost, but what I gave away is mine forever." I love that quote and think it applies to our time, as well. I've been so convicted and challenged by Jonathan Edwards' disciplined use of time. No, I'm not going to set aside a certain number of hours for this, but I am going to determine to review my resolutions each week like he did and keep them always before me. This will serve as a reminder of my priorities. Jesus came as the humble servant. If I'm a slave to Christ, if the Lord is my Master, then it follows that I will be serving Him. Keep me accountable in this, because I need it.

3. Resolved, to live each day as if I had a terminal disease, which all of us do!

I love that Edwards' determined to live as he thought he would wish to have as an old man looking back over his life. A life without regrets is what I want to have. I want to appreciate my family now. I want to study my Bible now. I want to be a woman of prayer now. I want to grow spiritually now. I want to be obedient now. I want to be a friend now. I don't want to wait until I'm left with memories full of regrets.

4. Resolved, to eat and exercise to the extent that I think the Lord would be pleased with should His return be imminent.

I know this is somewhat subjective, but what I have in mind here is moderation. I've struggled over control in this seemingly insignificant area in my life and I want to pay less and more attention to it. Let me explain. I want to NOT focus on whether or not I look how I would like to. (Let's face it, that's never going to happen, anyway.) I want to focus more on whether I'm eating more than I need. Edwards really inspired me in this area. He thought in terms of energy and effectiveness. I want to see my life as God does. I'm sure He couldn't care less what I look like, but my character, how much idle time I allow myself, how much time I'm devoting to exercise, how much excess I allow myself to indulge in, these He cares a geat deal about.

When I was young and single I would deny myself food and exercise to excess. Now that I'm way too busy to think about my appearance for more than 30 seconds a day I don't struggle with those issues. I've begun having the opposite problem of just not caring about exercise or diet, as long as I can fit in my clothes. I've focused on the wrong thing. The end result is neither here nor there. The point of Scripture prohibiting gluttony has nothing to do with the end result of weight or appearance, but everything to do with the godly character traits of self-control, industry, and contentment. We know that bodily discipline is of some value, but spiritual discipline of much more value. So, I can spend some time exercising, but probably not as much time as I would like. And I can eat sweets and praise God for them. And I can drink fraps and mochas, too. The key is to avoid excess. And this is where it gets tricky. Richard Baxter, another Puritan, wrote a lot about this. I think the key is to think like Edwards did about meeting the Lord and reviewing my life with Him. What will He think of the amount of time, money, and energy I've devoting to food and exercise? I think it's that eternal perspective that helps us live each day now for the glory of God.

5. Resolved, to make studying the Bible, memorizing Scripture, and praying the priority of our homeschool.

I recently read several books written by bloggers that really helped me "get" this. The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach by Robin Sampson encourages Christian families to follow the Hebrew method of centering education around teaching God's Word to our children (Deuteronomy 6). Lynnette Kraft encourages the same thing, but comes at it from a heart-wrenching testimony of loss. In her book, In Faithfulness, He Afflicted Me, Lynnette shares about the sudden death of her 6 year old daughter who had suffered from heart problems. She was able to reflect back on her daughter's great love for the Lord and command of Scripture. She is so grateful that she didn't make math and spelling the priorities in their homeschool each day. She is comforted and encouraged by the knowledge that her precious daughter is in heaven with the Lord. What else really matters?

I know that's only 5. What can I say? I'm a minimalist. But, if I actually live by these 5 resolutions, think how different my life will be.

What are your resolutions for 2010 and beyond? Will you keep me accountable? Perhaps I should blog about my resolutions from time to time. Successes, failures, thrills, and discouragement. Edwards' personal diary shows how very consumed he was with living life according to his 70 resolutions. He reviewed them each week and wrote about the degree to which he was living out each one. My goal is to also read over my resolutions once a week and reflect on my progress at that time.

Baby Lu giving her new baby doll a bottle

Baby Lu got a new baby doll and accessories for Christmas. Here she is giving her baby a bottle for the first time. What a proud little mother she is.

This is serious work, don't you know?

Wait a minute, is this right? Let me try it in her ear.

Do babies take bottles in their ears? Nooooooo!

Ok, back to business. But wait, let me just try something first.

Well, you can't blame a girl for trying.

You know this bottle feeding wouldn't be half bad if I could just find a comfortable place to do it.

That's better.

Much better.

I know there's something in there.

Maybe I had it turned the wrong way before.

Life is good.

Resolutions that make the most of your time

If you’ve been following my mini-series on resolutions, for which I’m relying heavily on Steve Lawson’s book The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards, you know we’ve already seen reflected in Edwards’ resolutions his commitment to the pursuit of God’s glory and putting away sin. Today I hope we will be challenged and inspired by how Jonathan Edwards made use of his time.

This is something I struggle with, as I sit at my computer, making the most of my time. Do you know anyone like Roan of The Joyful Johnsons who can get so much accomplished on a given day it wears you out just reading her to-do list? Doesn’t it seem like these industrious souls have been given more time somehow than the rest of us? Well, we know that’s not possible, but sometimes it seems like it anyway. Edwards wrote much on his use of time because he realized that while lost money and health can potentially be recovered, time lost never can.

Resolution 5: “Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.” (Lawson p. 95)

Lawson explains that when Edwards penned this resolution he was completing a master’s degree, serving as interim pastor, and pursuing many interests such as the natural sciences. “So zealous was Edwards to improve his use of time that he calculated ways to gain minutes from tasks large and small.” (Lawson p. 95) (I felt somewhat vindicated that Edwards wasn't feeding people 3 times a day, or homeschooling or potty training anyone.)

Edwards prioritized time according to the will of God and also scheduled certain matters like prayer and study for times of the day when he was most alert. This rigorous prioritization required that he devote less time to other tasks that had to be done nonetheless, those he called “the tyranny of the urgent”, and to entirely neglect less important matters. He made these difficult decisions by keeping in mind the brevity of life.

Resolution 7: “Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.” (Lawson p. 96)

You know that country song, “Live like you’re dying”, or something like that? That’s the idea. If I knew I had one year to live would I really want to spend it traveling the world or sky diving, or would I want to value each precious moment with my family and study God’s Word and pray all the more fervently with the knowledge that I would soon be meeting my Maker?

Resolution 19: “Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.” (Lawson p. 100)

And as you can imagine, Edwards was NOT a procrastinator. He believed that delayed obedience is no obedience. (I’m quick to remind my kids of this, but all too often I neglect to apply it in my own life.)

Resolution 11: “Resolved, when I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances don’t hinder.” ( Lawson p. 98)

Really, Edwards thought of his life on earth as a training grounds for all eternity.

Resolution 50: “Resolved, I will act so as I think I shall judge would have been best, most prudent, when I come into the future world.” (Lawson p. 101)

In his diary he wrote of his struggle to keep his eyes fixed on heaven. “Lord, grant that from hence I may learn to withdraw thoughts, affections, desires, and expectations entirely from the world, and may fix them upon the heavenly state, where there is fullness of joy…” (Lawson p. 102) Edwards felt keeping his heart focused on heaven would help him to better live for God’s glory in the present.

Resolution 52: “I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age.” (Lawson p. 103)

Pondering the imminence of either his death or Christ’s return also helped Edwards keep materialism in check.

“Let every thing have the value now which it will have upon a sick bed; and frequently, in my pursuits of whatever kind, let this question come into my mind. ‘How much shall I value this upon my death-bed?’” (Lawson p. 97)

I hope to follow Edwards example as I make my New Year’s resolutions and prioritize first things first. C.S. Lewis once said, “When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.” (The Quotable Lewis edited by Wayne Martindale and Jerry Root p. 411) That’s what I’m counting on!

Project updates- the dollhouse and downstairs puzzle cabinet

In case you were wondering how my husband's been doing on the dollhouse, here it is. His work stalled a few days ago when he went on a church ski trip to Colorado. He took Mr. Monk (10) with him and they won't be back until late tonight. As you can see, he's quite the perfectionist. Take it from me, there are no rough edges on this dollhouse. I should have taken a picture of the wood shavings on the floor to prove it to you!

He still has some work to do before putting on the paint, like individually glueing all 800 shingles into place. And as you can see by the tremendous amount of trim everywhere, painting is going to be no easy task.

I have every confidence that he'll get it finished- hopefully before Monday since this is Mr. Monk's homeschool work space. Ok, on to brighter subjects. The downstairs puzzle and game cabinet. The idea behind this organization project is for American Boy (3) to have all of his "school" stuff in one spot. This way while I'm reading aloud with the big kids he can easily grab something from his cabinet to keep him quietly occuppied. At least, that's the theory.

I have the wonderful color, counting, and shape-sorting games that Tara from too many kids in the bathtub sent me and even some puzzles and games from when I was little. You can probably tell they're the ones with taped up boxes. There's even a block puzzle from my dad's childhood days. Amazingly enough we still have all the pieces and pictures! Let's just say I come from a long line of pack rats. I do see that I need to order a second wire puzzle rack.

Here's American Boy's game and puzzle cabinet all sealed up. He has no trouble moving that chair to the side and I need the seating. He's supposed to only get out one puzzle or game at a time and then replace each one before starting on the next one. This works most of the time. And yes, my books are double-shelved. Don't judge. At least I moved them off the ottoman.

And here's a shot of our living room. After taking this picture I took down the garland and restored our mantel to its pre-Christmas state. Our family photo is several years old and does not include Baby Lu. Anyway, I have a great idea for something very special to replace our picture over the mantel. I'll let you know more about this project later. It's an idea I got after reading Safely Home by Randy Alcorn and A Church in the House by Mathew Henry. If you've read these two books, maybe you can guess what my idea is.

Here's what our mantel looks like now. Twinkle Toes (8) painted this picture for me last year in art class. My mother-in-law just gave me the candle ensemble on the right and my mom gave me the plaque that says "As for me and my house,we will serve the Lord" last year. One of my sweet Bible study friends gave me the precious girl reading her Bible. You can see how much I depend on others for the decorating of my house. Come to think of it everyone who knows me must realize I need help in this area!

Heimlich maneuver on Christmas morning?

It all started with the chocolate the kids found in their stockings Christmas morning. I thought it was cute that Baby Lu reached for a Reeses bell right away. (I would regret this later.)

Twinkle Toes stopped digging through her loot long enough to pose for me.

Baby Lu is still feverishly at work on the candy. I'm still thinking "how cute".

Mr. Monk inspecting the goodies in his stocking. I'm not sure why he didn't just take it down like everyone else did.

Success! She got it unwrapped, or so I thought. Then I noticed a little foil in her mouth. Oops.

Group shot in their coordinating Gymboree Christmas jammies. Guess who lost her shirt before Christmas eve? If you guessed Measle, the same one missing her skirt for our Christmas card phots, you were right.

I think it was while taking this second shot that I noticed Lu was having some trouble. Right after this I took her into the kitchen and tried to get her to take her bottle. When that didn't work I did a little Heimlich over the kitchen sink. I also did a finger sweep and came up with a big chunk of chocolate and some foil wrapper.

She was obviously not traumatized for long. A few minutes later she toddled up to me with a package of gum. Needless to say I moved all the candy and gum out of her reach.

She took it pretty well. After all, she did get a new purse with lots of cool stuff in it to take out and carry around. You see the chocolate incident left its mark on her new jammies, though.

Below are a few shots of the kids opening presents. I was very proud of myself this year. I stood over them with a camera instead of a trash bag. Surely that's progress, isn't it?

Resolutions that help us to put away sin

Last time we looked at how all of Edwards’ resolutions stemmed from his desire to glorify God at any cost. Today as I continue to share from Lawson’s book The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards, I’ll focus on the second category of his resolutions concerned with putting away sin.

As Christians, we all want to sin less, this is unanimous, but how we go about that pursuit can determine the degree to which we are successful. Edwards recognized that his sins were symptoms of the corrupt desires of his heart and he took his heart seriously.

Resolution 24: “Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.” (Lawson p. 84)

Resolution 56: “Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.” (Lawson p. 85)

When I look at Edwards’ life, I think he must have been one of the most godly men to live on the face of the earth, but when Edwards’ examined himself (which he did often) he saw his sin and it was terribly offensive to him.

“My wickedness, as I am in myself, has long appeared to me perfectly ineffable, and infinitely swallowing up all thought and imagination; like an infinite deluge, or infinite mountains over my head. I know not how to express better, what my sins appear to me to be, than by heaping infinite upon infinite, and multiplying infinite by infinite… When I look into my heart and take a view of my wickedness, it looks like an abyss infinitely deeper than hell.” (from Edwards’ Personal Narrative, taken from Lawson p. 89)

They say the first step in tackling a problem is admitting you have a problem. Edwards proves this. He was a man perhaps more preoccupied with holiness than any other and we see in his above reflections that when he looked into his heart he saw a big problem. Do I take my sin as seriously as Edwards did? How often do I allow myself to think that since I’ve been saved from my sins that they don’t really matter anymore? As if God doesn’t care one way or the other since it's all just water under the bridge. Edwards understood the call to holiness in Scripture and he took it seriously.

Putting away his sin wasn’t just theory for Edwards either, like it often seems to be for me. I have these epiphanies during Bible study about ridding myself of sin, but all too often the convictions end there, as convictions. Edwards made actual escape plans to avoid sinning when temptation called.

“When I am violently beset with temptation, or cannot rid myself of evil thoughts, to do some sum in arithmetic, or geometry, or some other study, which necessarily engages all my thoughts, and unavoidably keeps them from wandering.” (from Edwards’ diary vol. 16, 776, taken from Lawson p. 86)

He was truly taking his thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ!

Edwards was determined when he discovered sin in his life that he would fully repent of it. He also determined to be gentle and forgiving of others in view of God’s forgiveness of him.

Resolution 3: “Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.” (Lawson p. 79)

Resolution 8: “Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings of others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.” (Lawson p. 81)

So Edwards understood his propensity toward feeling self-righteous toward others and realized the antidote was reflecting on the magnitude of the sins forgiven him by our merciful Lord.

In summary, our resolutions should reflect our knowledge of our sins, the importance of searching out our sins so we can confess them and repent of them, the priority of putting away our sins, and the plans of action that will help us to avoid future sins. Wow, that’s quite a list. So, as we make our New Year’s resolutions let’s try to keep in mind what activities will help us keep our sins before us and what actions will help us to sin less.

Pursuing God's glory as the resolution of resolutions

One of the reasons I loved Lawson’s book The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards is that it focuses on Edwards’ resolutions making it a quick and easy read, as opposed to many biographical works that can be slow and tedious as you learn about a person’s entire life. He groups Edwards’ 70 resolutions into 6 categories: pursuing the glory of God, forsaking sin, making proper use of God-allotted time, living with all his being for the Lord, pursuing humility and love, and making frequent self-examination. I won’t go through each one, but I highly recommend you get Lawson’s book if this interests you.

Edward begins his resolutions with his aim to glorify God in all things, showing really that all of his subsequent resolutions are meant to aid him in this endeavor. Resolutions 2, 4, 23, and 27 also deal directly with his goal to give God glory. Here's resolution #1:

"Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever." (Edwards' first resolution copied from Lawson p.65)

Notice how Edwards assumes that whatever is most to God’s glory is also to his own good, profit, and even pleasure. My, how we’ve redefined “good”. How often do I consider some difficulty that is to my spiritual benefit and God’s glory “good”? Therein must lie the key to suffering well, the perspective that if it’s to God’s glory then it really is to the believer’s benefit, too. I don’t just have persecution in mind here, but the daily suffering of giving up my frivolous wants (and I have lots of them) in order to seek God’s glory. This is very convicting to me when I see how short I fall in the goals that I have set for my life. My goals are usually more short-term- like what I want to achieve over the next 1-10 years. Edwards truly had an eternal perspective in that he desired for every second of his life to count for eternity.

The next 69 of Edwards’ resolutions consisted of every possible way in which he could live out his primary goal of doing everything to maximize God’s glory. In the same way, I hope to establish some resolutions for myself for the upcoming year that will also stem from that same purpose to glorify God. I hope you will join me in brainstorming about the details of our lives- schedules, reading time, family time, diet, ministry, Bible study, friendships, marriage, “free” time, etc. and let’s establish a few resolutions that will spur us on toward holiness for the glory of God. Will you join with me? I’ll look at some more of Edwards’ resolutions in my next post and then start to make a few of my own. I’m NOT going to make 70, so don’t worry I think I can wrap this up in the next few days.

Resolved

Naturally since we’re about to begin a new year, and since my life has degenerated on all fronts over the last few days of holiday (I wore my pajamas for 2 days straight. The same ones. And eaten a steady diet of toffee, peanut brittle, and other assorted Christmas goodies.), I’ve had resolutions on the brain. I read the book The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steven J. Lawson last summer and it rocked my world. As I read through the little book, it brought many highs and lows. I was so challenged by it on the one hand, and so utterly disgusted with myself on the other. I congratulate myself for trying to steer clear of sin (you know, at least avoid the obvious ones) and here is a man who determined to decide each day between good, better, and best. Forget sin, he was concerned about being the best he could be each day. For example, I try to keep from getting fat because well, I don’t want to be fat, and oh, gluttony is also a sin. Edwards also watched what he ate, but for different reasons. Edwards actually measured his food and experimented to learn just how little he could eat without being too weak to carry out all his pastoral duties and still get the best use out of his mind. He noticed that eating too much and even eating at certain times made him lethargic and tempted him to sin by being lazy. Wow. I think too many cookies = fat. He thought too many cookies = sub-par service to the Lord. See the difference? Now apply that to every area of your life and you have some idea of Jonathan Edwards 70 resolutions. Yes, 70. And he read them over once a week to keep them always before him.

He also reviewed and analyzed the degree to which he was keeping his resolutions. He actually quantitated his progress so he could compare his success from month to month and year to year. For those of you who don’t know what that means, he used numbers to calculate how well he was doing. He implemented a grading system! Are you exhausted yet? Oh, and I forgot to mention that he was only 18 and 19 and a new believer when he wrote them. What were you doing when you were 18? And he reviewed them for the rest of his life!!!

I don’t know about you, but I usually keep my New Year’s resolutions for about 2 weeks. My mom says it takes 3 weeks to form a habit, so I guess that’s my problem. If I could just hold on for one more week maybe I could keep it up for the rest of my life. Ok, back to Jonathan Edwards. You might be wondering why in the world did he do all that? Didn’t he know that we’re saved by grace? The answer to the second question is “yes”. In fact, he understood that not only are we saved by grace, but that the degree to which he would be able to successfully keep his resolutions also depended on the grace of God. “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by His grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to His will, for Christ’s sake.” (from Edward’s preamble to his resolutions) And also from his journal Jan. 2, 1722 “I perceive if God should withdraw His Spirit a little more, I should not hesitate to break my resolutions, and should soon arrive at my old state. There is no dependence on myself.” The answer to the first question then, of why he wrote his resolutions is that he wanted them to serve as purpose statements to direct him on his Christian journey. “Edwards consecrated himself in all things in order to glorify God and gain the incorruptible crown.” (Lawson p. xiii) His two-pronged goal with his resolutions was that he wanted to keep his spiritual priorities always before him, and he wanted his resolutions to serve as guidelines for self-examination. In other words, he wanted them to help make him holy. He wanted to live his life to the utmost for the glory of God.

Did it work for Jonathan Edwards? Well, in short, yes. He didn’t live a very long life (55 yrs), but he left a legacy of godliness that helped shape America over the next 100+ years. Edwards was a pastor, theologian, philosopher, university president (for 5 weeks) and left an indelible mark on our nation. His descendants include 300 clergymen, missionaries, and professors of theology; 120 college professors; 110 lawyers; over 60 physicians; more than 60 authors of good books; 30 judges; 14 presidents of universities; numerous giants in American industry; 80 holders of major public office; 3 mayors of large cities; 3 governors; 3 U.S. senators; one chaplain of the U.S. Senate; one comptroller of the U.S. Treasury; and one vice president of the United States. He’s heralded by many as the most influential single figure in American Christianity until the 20th century. It’s hard to measure success in the Christian life, though. His church certainly didn’t appreciate him, as he suffered a big church split and then was asked to step down from the pulpit. He lived out much of his life in relative obscurity ministering among a group of Native Americans. He used the time to write and left us with many works, the most influential of which were Religious Affections, Freedom of the Will, and The Nature of True Virtue.

Now that you’re primed for more Edwards, you’ll have to tune in next time to learn just what these resolutions were that helped make this man so great.

Merry Christmas!!!

Unlike many of you blog divas, I am NOT a photographer. I have cute, photogenic children, but any good pictures I take are the result of pure luck. I usually have around 2 minutes to get that perfect shot. I think mine may be the only kids that can actually say "cheese" without smiling.

I planned the above photo shoot at the last minute after we made our thankful tree on the day before Thanksgiving. Of course, Measle couldn't find her knit skirt that matches her vest, though we looked everywhere and at Nana's, too. It turned up a few days later! I didn't get that shot I was hoping for, but this one came close. From left to right: Monk (10), American Boy (3), Measle (6), Baby Lu (1), and Twinkle Toes (8).

Since I wasn't thrilled with the first picture, I decided to try again with them dressed in their formal Christmas attire. Baby Lu was NOT happy with sitting on anyone's lap so finally I tried putting her in the chair. That was a little better, but she kept trying to push everyone away.

Here she is feeling quite triumphant that I've sent all the other kids off to play and she alone is queen of the chair. I used this shot for photo stamps on our Christmas cards.

Oh, and I'm sure this has never happened to any of you other bloggers out there. My 3 yr old who talks to me all day non-stop was trying to get my attention the other day while I was on the computer. He kept telling me to come see Baby Lu and I kept ignoring him. Finally, with urgency in his voice he said, "Mom, she's sitting on her tray!" I ran into the kitchen with my camera and found this.

So I don't win mother of the year, but it is pretty funny. She's my first one that has climbed out of her high chair. I guess the crib's next.