Some Simmons' Updates

Here are some recent photo's of the kids.














Some of interesting tid-bits about them--

Audrey's favorite sound to make right now is this non-girly sound that is exactly like a whale blowing water out of it's blow hole. She is also rolling over all the time, and is laughing regularly--especially at Cecilia, Gareth, dogs, and Daddy's beard up against her face.

Gareth is talking quite alot now and is obsessed with the Moon and Stars! ANYTIME we are in the car he wants to know where his moon and stars are, "Mommy, Mommy"
"Yes Gareth?"
"Where my Moon and star? Mommy, Mommy?"
"Yes Gareth?"
"Where my Moon and stars?" "Well Gareth they don't come out during the day. They are all asleep."
"Mommy, Mommy?"
"Yes Gareth?"
"Where my Moon and stars?"
I try and get him to start asking his daddy or my friend Amanda, but that doesn't last too long and he normally comes back to his favorite phrase, "Mommy, Mommy?" Just like Cecilia when she was young, I wonder if I should worry that Gareth is apparently a moon worshiper. But then I remember that Abram worshiped the moon before God introduced Himself and I would say that Abram turned out just fine.
Gareth also has a riding toy he got for Christmas, and he loves to crash into everything with that truck! His new favorite crash site is his older sister's shins! Several times during the day, I'll be in the living room working, and I'll hear that truck thundering down the hall, enter the kitchen, and SLAM! Then the inevitable, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! MOMMY HE HIT ME WITH HIS TRUCK!"
I head into the other room where Cecilia is on the floor holding her leg and Gareth, instead of looking sad or ashamed over what he has done, looks up at me with a proud puffed-up chest and deeply gleeful smile.

Cecilia has started school and LOVES it! She bursts in the door of the school each day and tells her teachers how excited she is to be there. She is making friends with the kids in her class and is growing into a kind and thoughtful little girl.
The other day, she, Josh and I were having Quiet Time together and her Pepaw called (this is Josh's dad). She asked if she could talk to him on the phone and while they were chatting he told her that she was coming over that night to spend the night at Pepaw and Grammy's house. Cecilia got instantly excited. She turned to me to ask if it were true, and as she was asking she became so excited, so overwhelmed (please note that all this happens in the space of about 30 seconds) that she began crying, fairly uncontrollably! My heart melted. I told her it was true and she closed her eyes tightly and gave herself an excited hug.
The best part came next when, still in her highly emotional state, she got back on the phone with Pepaw and started explaining how excited she was. When Cecilia is really happy and is trying to talk about it, Stream of consciousness is the only way to describe the experience. So she starts jumping to all these things that make her happy, trying to communicate with Pepaw that she is excited and the only truly coherent thing she gets out is at the end when she blurts, "And PEPAW, God is making us houses in Heaven!!" Josh and I are laughing hysterically not only at Cecilia's verbal vomit which is so sincere and adorable, but mainly because we can hear poor Pepaw on the other end of the phone, not exactly sure what just happened, not exactly sure what Cecilia is talking about and I'm betting that he is rethinking the decision to ask her about the sleepover. When Josh got the phone back Cecilia was adamant that he let Pepaw know that she just crying "happy cries" not sad ones.