Last night we were getting in the truck to go to Mom & Dad's and I came around the corner to see Grace with her entire arm right up the exhaust pipe.
What is it with that girl and that truck???
6.26.2008
6.25.2008
The Art of Defiance
Gracie has recently learned the art of defiance, the pose that I will most likely see in many years to come - last night I saw my daughter turn into a teenager right before my very eyes. Grace has learned to fold her arms and roll her eyes.
YIKES! I didn't realize it would happen so soon!!! Ack!
I had noticed that she had been crossing her arms recently and for the most part it's been pretty adorable - she does it on the potty - SO grown up! But last night we went out to the Essenhaus (YUM-O!) with my grandma and aunt who were in town and Grace was hungry and tired of being in her high chair. She was done coloring, did not want to read a book and wasn't interested in her applesauce - all she wanted to do was blow bubbles in her milk. So, of course, I gave the warning "If you do that again, Mommy's gonna take your straw away" and of course, she couldn't help herself and blew a big ole mess of milk bubbles. I took the straw, got in her face to do the whole, "You need to obey Mommy, etc..." - she immediately started to whine and fuss and then about 2 seconds into it, she stopped abruptly, folded her arms in front of her and rolled her eyes to the back of her head and closed them and took in a deep breath as if to say, "I just don't know if I can deal with this right now!" Looking forever like a 13 year old girl who is just putting up with her mother.
Good grief - tantrum averted, but what the heck was that sigh?
She's generally a pretty laid back little kiddie, but when she's tired and hungry - look out. We get everything from milk bubbles to dramatic sighs. We didn't get to eat until about 7 o clock last night and then, well - she did some good justice to the homemade Amish noodles they serve there.
Annie was 3 months yesterday! Man the time is going by fast - she's all smiles and she loves to talk. She loves to coo and talk to me during our middle of the night feeding. Yep that's right - we're still eating at 3am. I had her sleeping real well and then we got sick, so it's back to the grind we go. She's almost rolling over on her own and she LOVES Grace. She laughs and smiles whenever Grace is around and talking to her. She definitely knows her sister. Grace loves her "Baby Annie" too. Annie is the first thing she wants to look at in the morning when she wakes up. Now, if I can just get Grace to stop poking her in the face when she's sleeping! She goes up and grabs Annie's cheeks and says "What a cutie pie!" and wakes her up! Argh :)
YIKES! I didn't realize it would happen so soon!!! Ack!
I had noticed that she had been crossing her arms recently and for the most part it's been pretty adorable - she does it on the potty - SO grown up! But last night we went out to the Essenhaus (YUM-O!) with my grandma and aunt who were in town and Grace was hungry and tired of being in her high chair. She was done coloring, did not want to read a book and wasn't interested in her applesauce - all she wanted to do was blow bubbles in her milk. So, of course, I gave the warning "If you do that again, Mommy's gonna take your straw away" and of course, she couldn't help herself and blew a big ole mess of milk bubbles. I took the straw, got in her face to do the whole, "You need to obey Mommy, etc..." - she immediately started to whine and fuss and then about 2 seconds into it, she stopped abruptly, folded her arms in front of her and rolled her eyes to the back of her head and closed them and took in a deep breath as if to say, "I just don't know if I can deal with this right now!" Looking forever like a 13 year old girl who is just putting up with her mother.
Good grief - tantrum averted, but what the heck was that sigh?
She's generally a pretty laid back little kiddie, but when she's tired and hungry - look out. We get everything from milk bubbles to dramatic sighs. We didn't get to eat until about 7 o clock last night and then, well - she did some good justice to the homemade Amish noodles they serve there.
Annie was 3 months yesterday! Man the time is going by fast - she's all smiles and she loves to talk. She loves to coo and talk to me during our middle of the night feeding. Yep that's right - we're still eating at 3am. I had her sleeping real well and then we got sick, so it's back to the grind we go. She's almost rolling over on her own and she LOVES Grace. She laughs and smiles whenever Grace is around and talking to her. She definitely knows her sister. Grace loves her "Baby Annie" too. Annie is the first thing she wants to look at in the morning when she wakes up. Now, if I can just get Grace to stop poking her in the face when she's sleeping! She goes up and grabs Annie's cheeks and says "What a cutie pie!" and wakes her up! Argh :)
6.23.2008
Summer
Somebody want to tell me where June went? Good grief - next week is the 4th of July for crying out loud!
We took Grace to a wedding this weekend. Clint's cousin got married, Maddie and Kenzie were going (Gracie's cousins) so, I decided to use the wedding as a little training time for Grace on how to behave in a church setting and also because I thought she would enjoy the reception afterward with the other girls. We left Annie at Ric and Bone's house, because I didn't want a bunch of people handling her after we'd just gotten over being sick. Shoulda left Grace there too! I suppose it was a good learning experience for her, being told to sit quietly in a pew (she didn't do that until I spanked her), being told to sit in a folding chair while waiting for the meal at the reception (not so much), and then whispering of course during the ceremony (Clint had to take her out) Oh yeah - and she pooped twice. Once at the ceremony and once at the reception. And then, of course, we couldn't get her to eat any of the reception food (although it was verrrry yummy! Hog roast and broccoli salad...to name my favorites) so she ate M&M's and Sprite. Yikes. I'm thinking there will be time enough to learn church behavior when she's 4 or 5, but, at 2.5, she's still a little low on the self-control level. I like that my Gracie girl is social and friendly and not exactly shy, but she sure does turn into a little livewire when we are around lots of people. We have a wedding to go to on August 8th (08.08.08!) and I'm pretty sure I'm leaving the BOTH of them with Grandma and Grandpa! I'd like to enjoy these things once in a while!
This weekend and this coming week too, we'll probably spend a lot of time with the cousins. They are spending a week with Clint's mom for VBS and I'm going to try and get them over them every chance I can. Grace loves playing with her cousins and as someone who never really developed close relationships with her extended family (with the exception of my Grandma Gilson) I want to encourage that as much as possible. I don't have any cousins on my dad's side of the family and all my cousins on my mom's side lived in Adrian while we were growing up and we just didn't visit that much. So, at Christmastime we get together and pretty much just look at each other or talk to our own siblings. Ha ha ~
On a side note - the song that was sung at the wedding on Saturday was "God Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts. Okay, maybe it's just me but I think that song is depressing! Why dwell on the rotten things that happened to get you where you are, rather than dwelling on all the happiness of the future you are beginning together? I thought it was sort of a downer, but not having ever gone through anything traumatic (romantic-wise) maybe I would feel differently if I had. Anywhoo - not my first choice, but also not my wedding :) To all of us who are married out there - aren't you soooo glad we're done with that?? All the planning and decorating and stress of a wedding? I commented to Clint on the way to the reception, "What happened to the good old days -on the prairie- when you decided to get married and then the next Sunday, you got married after the church service and had a potluck?" When did weddings become a billion dollar industry? And in retrospect - why didn't we do the potluck thing???? *Hee hee*
We took Grace to a wedding this weekend. Clint's cousin got married, Maddie and Kenzie were going (Gracie's cousins) so, I decided to use the wedding as a little training time for Grace on how to behave in a church setting and also because I thought she would enjoy the reception afterward with the other girls. We left Annie at Ric and Bone's house, because I didn't want a bunch of people handling her after we'd just gotten over being sick. Shoulda left Grace there too! I suppose it was a good learning experience for her, being told to sit quietly in a pew (she didn't do that until I spanked her), being told to sit in a folding chair while waiting for the meal at the reception (not so much), and then whispering of course during the ceremony (Clint had to take her out) Oh yeah - and she pooped twice. Once at the ceremony and once at the reception. And then, of course, we couldn't get her to eat any of the reception food (although it was verrrry yummy! Hog roast and broccoli salad...to name my favorites) so she ate M&M's and Sprite. Yikes. I'm thinking there will be time enough to learn church behavior when she's 4 or 5, but, at 2.5, she's still a little low on the self-control level. I like that my Gracie girl is social and friendly and not exactly shy, but she sure does turn into a little livewire when we are around lots of people. We have a wedding to go to on August 8th (08.08.08!) and I'm pretty sure I'm leaving the BOTH of them with Grandma and Grandpa! I'd like to enjoy these things once in a while!
This weekend and this coming week too, we'll probably spend a lot of time with the cousins. They are spending a week with Clint's mom for VBS and I'm going to try and get them over them every chance I can. Grace loves playing with her cousins and as someone who never really developed close relationships with her extended family (with the exception of my Grandma Gilson) I want to encourage that as much as possible. I don't have any cousins on my dad's side of the family and all my cousins on my mom's side lived in Adrian while we were growing up and we just didn't visit that much. So, at Christmastime we get together and pretty much just look at each other or talk to our own siblings. Ha ha ~
On a side note - the song that was sung at the wedding on Saturday was "God Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts. Okay, maybe it's just me but I think that song is depressing! Why dwell on the rotten things that happened to get you where you are, rather than dwelling on all the happiness of the future you are beginning together? I thought it was sort of a downer, but not having ever gone through anything traumatic (romantic-wise) maybe I would feel differently if I had. Anywhoo - not my first choice, but also not my wedding :) To all of us who are married out there - aren't you soooo glad we're done with that?? All the planning and decorating and stress of a wedding? I commented to Clint on the way to the reception, "What happened to the good old days -on the prairie- when you decided to get married and then the next Sunday, you got married after the church service and had a potluck?" When did weddings become a billion dollar industry? And in retrospect - why didn't we do the potluck thing???? *Hee hee*
6.18.2008
Sick :(
That's right - all of us Young girls were sick this weekend. Annie started coughing last Wednesday, then Friday Grace started and added a temp and then Sunday, I was full blown raging sore throat and ears with some temps here and there. On Monday - all 3 of us went to the doctor! One virus - 3 different manifestations. NOT EASY to be sick yourself and then have 2 little ones to tend to throughout the night. By Monday afternoon, I was feeling so rotten (antibiotics hadn't kicked in yet), and I was so drained of taking care of the girls' needs while feeling so horribly myself that when Clint came home, I just cried and cried. Thankfully, he took right over with dinner and the girls and I was able to get in a 2 hour nap - sleeping as best as you can when every swallow makes you feel like you want to die.
BUT. Antibiotics are wonderful things - Grace slept in her bed ALL through the night last night and Annie slept peacefully too, with only one feeding. We are rested, back to the sitters and work and ready to go :)
So - not much to blog about today, since we've all been pretty lethargic from the sickness. Hopefully that will be it for the summer and we won't have anymore of this sickness nonsense.
Hooray for feeling normal!
BUT. Antibiotics are wonderful things - Grace slept in her bed ALL through the night last night and Annie slept peacefully too, with only one feeding. We are rested, back to the sitters and work and ready to go :)
So - not much to blog about today, since we've all been pretty lethargic from the sickness. Hopefully that will be it for the summer and we won't have anymore of this sickness nonsense.
Hooray for feeling normal!
6.11.2008
Happy Birthday Hubby
That's right! This post is dedicated to my hubby bubby, my sweetie bottoms, my lovey-dovey, my Big Daddy. Hee! I do really call him all those things.
Not a major milestone birthday - he's 31 today - finally joining me (I'm six months older). Tonight all the folks are coming to our house (yikes! Where to put them all!) and we are grilling shish ka bobs (chicken, beef, shrimp, colored pepper, onions and mushrooms). I'm making seasoned rice and we have hearty roasted garlice bread (from Meijer bakery), his mom is bringing a tossed salad and for dessert: spice cake with cream cheese frosting. Doesn't that sound yummy???
I made a layer cake - those to me are more birthday-ish than a 9x13 - and of course, when I put the bottom layer upside down on the plate (like you're supposed to!) It cracked in three places. Looked just like a pie graph. So, I frosted it anyway and put the top layer on and frosted that. But of course the bottom layer is awkwardly sticking out in different places farther than the top layer and it isn't quite the dessert I had envisioned. I have the worst luck with layer cakes. I tell ya! They never turn out.
I tried to make a layer cake for my mother's birthday about two years ago. It was one of the actually more decent cakes - I was patient, the layers were the same size and I frosted it well. I was very proud of myself for having planned and executed AHEAD of time. So there the cake sat on the counter and we ran out to do a couple of errands only to return to a half-eaten cake. The DOG GOT UP ON THE COUNTER AND ATE IT. Boy was I hot. He did leave half of it a chocolatey mess for us, though.
So - oh and it gets better - I go back out and buy another cake on the way to Mom and Dad's house and just decide to bake the new cake there. No dogs big enough to get on the counter (they have a Jack Russell). I mix it up, I bake it and as I was taking out the second circle pan, the oven door (hot! hot! hot!) closes up on me and I flipped the blasted thing clean up in the air and it landed face down on the floor. GOOD GRIEF. My brother and his wife and everyone just cracked up - *sigh* I frosted just the one circle pan and we had a seriously deflated, diet sized portion of birthday cake for our celebration. Lord have mercy, cakes and I have not gotten along since.
So, of course, now anytime there is a cake to be made everyone else volunteers to do it - or to at least take it out of the oven for me, because I'm such a dolt. What can ya do?
Well, anyway - with all of the clumsiness and clutziness comes a Happy Birthday wish to my darling hubby who is a wonderful companion and fabulous daddi-o to the girls!
Here's a birthday song for Clint!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeypOvsY91Q
Not a major milestone birthday - he's 31 today - finally joining me (I'm six months older). Tonight all the folks are coming to our house (yikes! Where to put them all!) and we are grilling shish ka bobs (chicken, beef, shrimp, colored pepper, onions and mushrooms). I'm making seasoned rice and we have hearty roasted garlice bread (from Meijer bakery), his mom is bringing a tossed salad and for dessert: spice cake with cream cheese frosting. Doesn't that sound yummy???
I made a layer cake - those to me are more birthday-ish than a 9x13 - and of course, when I put the bottom layer upside down on the plate (like you're supposed to!) It cracked in three places. Looked just like a pie graph. So, I frosted it anyway and put the top layer on and frosted that. But of course the bottom layer is awkwardly sticking out in different places farther than the top layer and it isn't quite the dessert I had envisioned. I have the worst luck with layer cakes. I tell ya! They never turn out.
I tried to make a layer cake for my mother's birthday about two years ago. It was one of the actually more decent cakes - I was patient, the layers were the same size and I frosted it well. I was very proud of myself for having planned and executed AHEAD of time. So there the cake sat on the counter and we ran out to do a couple of errands only to return to a half-eaten cake. The DOG GOT UP ON THE COUNTER AND ATE IT. Boy was I hot. He did leave half of it a chocolatey mess for us, though.
So - oh and it gets better - I go back out and buy another cake on the way to Mom and Dad's house and just decide to bake the new cake there. No dogs big enough to get on the counter (they have a Jack Russell). I mix it up, I bake it and as I was taking out the second circle pan, the oven door (hot! hot! hot!) closes up on me and I flipped the blasted thing clean up in the air and it landed face down on the floor. GOOD GRIEF. My brother and his wife and everyone just cracked up - *sigh* I frosted just the one circle pan and we had a seriously deflated, diet sized portion of birthday cake for our celebration. Lord have mercy, cakes and I have not gotten along since.
So, of course, now anytime there is a cake to be made everyone else volunteers to do it - or to at least take it out of the oven for me, because I'm such a dolt. What can ya do?
Well, anyway - with all of the clumsiness and clutziness comes a Happy Birthday wish to my darling hubby who is a wonderful companion and fabulous daddi-o to the girls!
Here's a birthday song for Clint!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeypOvsY91Q
6.09.2008
Being Nice to Jesus
To Grace, this is what it means to obey. Lately, when we are talking to Grace, and by talking, I mean, reprimanding, I find us using words that I assume she knows. Words like "no" were not to hard to teach, but words like "obey" is taking a while to learn. I just assumed she knew what it meant when I said, "Jesus wants us to obey." And she'd just look at me and say, "I love you, Mama..." obviously paying no attention to what I just said. Well, I got to thinking - she didn't know what "obey" meant, or who Jesus is or really, why should she have to obey, other than the fact that Mama and Daddy get mad when she doesn't!
I've been trying my best to describe to her what the word obey means and put logic behind it - and at one point I said, "it makes Jesus sad when we don't obey." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I was unhappy with that explanation. I just have never read in the Bible where Jesus is sad when we disobey. And if I find a passage like that, I'll willingly stand corrected, but I think that must have been something I have heard someone else say. But, I said it, and now I have to figure out what that means to Grace. After a few weeks of telling her she needs to obey and then explaining what it means to obey - she has the concept that when she doesn't obey, Mama and Daddy are sad and so is Jesus. Now, whenever she gets into trouble and she is reprimanded - she'll run into her bedroom, curls streaming behind her, proclaiming over and over, "I'll be nice to Jesus! I'll be nice to Jesus!" So adorably cute that it melts my anger and I'll never forget how she sounds when she says that.
Lately I've been thinking about just how great a responsibility it is to teach your children the knowledge of Jesus Christ and how the Bible tells us to live. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by it all, and think what can I be doing to explain it better so that she understand Jesus and God and the Bible and prayer. But then I have to step back and say to myself - good grief, she's only 2! What do I expect from her? I'm 31 and don't have it all figured out yet!
I know she doesn't understand who Jesus is and I know she is just saying she'll be nice to Him right now to get herself out of trouble, but I have faith in the fact that even though she doesn't understand, it's a stepping stone. It's just a little part of the foundation of what I want to teach and model for the girls as they grows older. We read Bible stories every night, we take them to church, I try to fit the B-I-B-L-E in with all the Hairspray songs, we pray before going to sleep and at meals and eventually they will figure out who it is they're "being nice to." Then maybe Grace can explain it to Annie better than I did!
I've been trying my best to describe to her what the word obey means and put logic behind it - and at one point I said, "it makes Jesus sad when we don't obey." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I was unhappy with that explanation. I just have never read in the Bible where Jesus is sad when we disobey. And if I find a passage like that, I'll willingly stand corrected, but I think that must have been something I have heard someone else say. But, I said it, and now I have to figure out what that means to Grace. After a few weeks of telling her she needs to obey and then explaining what it means to obey - she has the concept that when she doesn't obey, Mama and Daddy are sad and so is Jesus. Now, whenever she gets into trouble and she is reprimanded - she'll run into her bedroom, curls streaming behind her, proclaiming over and over, "I'll be nice to Jesus! I'll be nice to Jesus!" So adorably cute that it melts my anger and I'll never forget how she sounds when she says that.
Lately I've been thinking about just how great a responsibility it is to teach your children the knowledge of Jesus Christ and how the Bible tells us to live. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by it all, and think what can I be doing to explain it better so that she understand Jesus and God and the Bible and prayer. But then I have to step back and say to myself - good grief, she's only 2! What do I expect from her? I'm 31 and don't have it all figured out yet!
I know she doesn't understand who Jesus is and I know she is just saying she'll be nice to Him right now to get herself out of trouble, but I have faith in the fact that even though she doesn't understand, it's a stepping stone. It's just a little part of the foundation of what I want to teach and model for the girls as they grows older. We read Bible stories every night, we take them to church, I try to fit the B-I-B-L-E in with all the Hairspray songs, we pray before going to sleep and at meals and eventually they will figure out who it is they're "being nice to." Then maybe Grace can explain it to Annie better than I did!
6.06.2008
Just a happy day
I love having Fridays off in the summer - granted it's not quite as awesome as when I was teaching and had the whole summer off, but even then I was always working anyway! But - on Fridays I get to sleep in a bit, even if it's just closing my eyes on the couch while Gracie watches Caillou and eats raisins. About 8 oclock is as early as I can be productive on these summer Fridays. I don't think that I'm cut out to be a domestic engineer - in fact, I know I'm not - but working 4 days and having 1 off with the girls to myself is great. I really enjoy the arrangement and I'll be sad when I have to go back to M-F.
Today was so pickin' hot that we weren't in a hurry to go anywhere or do anything. I dressed Gracie in the cutest little sundress and Annie in one of her many shower gifts - they looked so pretty I took pics. I just love tanned little faces, dirty little knees and bright blue eyes! Here are some pics of the girls I took today because they are so beautiful. Right now, Gracie is sleeping soundly in her bed and Annie is cooing and gurgling in her bassinette as I type. We don't have anything planned for the weekend. Just a happy day!
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