Playtime

We have a little demolition/reconstruction project going on in the playroom, so other rooms in the house are now getting their fair share of playtime. Somehow our bathroom gets a large percentage of it.
It's actually sister's favorite spot to practice gymnastics {even though she has a mini trampoline and a balance beam J built for her in the basement}. It's oddly large for a bathroom. Even enough space to throw the tennis ball with Lily, which is quite entertaining to brother.
Sister, who used to be quite camera shy, is always interested in having her picture taken now that there's another kiddo around.
She has a knack for jumping in front of camera right before I snap a picture, which is OK since it makes me giggle right along with her.
So what do you think about the bathroom? If you're wondering, yes, in fact that IS carpet in my bathroom. It's a little strange to me, but at least my feet stay warm in the morning. I recently read that Heloise {the cleaning queen of Good Housekeeping} has her entire house, including the kitchen, carpeted, so it could be worse I suppose.
Can you tell it was done in the 90's? Carpet, gold fixtures, and wallpaper, oh the wallpaper. It's blue, forest green, cream, and maroon striped. But it gets better. There's also a foiled/reflective flower pattern on it along with the stripes. If only it were also textured, that would really seal the deal. I hope to change some things eventually.
In the meantime I'll just have to ignore the background and focus on those blue eyes and rosy cheeks instead, which isn't too much of a challenge for me.

Sally sells seashells..

We have a slight seashell obsession in our house. I thought this would be a fad of sister's, but this fad has lasted for over a year now. I find them in her play kitchen, by the bathtub, in her dress up, in my purse, decorating the table, you get the idea. The most common use for them is play food, specifically Creme de La. At least according to sister they are. You might think "Creme de La what?" Creme de la creme? No, just Creme de la, as in "Mommy, I made creme de la for you and all my babies, come have some." Here's what she had prepared for us on the coffee table recently.

I should be used to all of this by now but I have to admit that this surprised me:
This was a new one. Seashells might not be a common find in the average produce drawer, but not around here. Sister walked in right as I opened the drawer and {in a very proud of herself manner} announced "I made you apple pie with sauce and ice cream!!!!!! Eat some Mommy, it's delicious!" I love how she even put spoons in all the containers.
I certainly get my daily dose of laughter from her. She melts my heart and brings me more joy than I can put into words. She's also a REALLY great big sis.

Don't worry, she's not feeding brother creme de la here, just oatmeal :).

More Conversations

Yes, I know the last post was also a recent conversation with A, but these are the things that I never want to forget. I LOVE this age. I can see that she is trying so hard to process life and make sense of everything. I love that she has questions and opinions and is still at the age that almost anything and everything that comes to her mind also comes out of her mouth.

Between she and J (Papa to her) in the car recently

A: Papa, when I grow up I am going to get married, my husband's name will be Fritz and we will live in Arizona. We are going to have 2 kids, a girl named Abby and a boy named Shepherd. I am going to drive a red car with musical stickers, a crown, boots, and a veil on it. Fritz is going to be a, um, a, uhh, Papa what are you?

J: I'm a project manager

A: Fritz will be a project manager and work in Connecticut. I'm going to be a nurse-doctor-nurse. We are going to have 17 cats, named Abby (even though her daughter will also be Abby), Sninka, Nina, and, um, 13 others. [I guess she got tired of coming up with names, but at least her math was close :)]. Mommy won't be able to come see us since she's allergic to cats, but you can come over!

J: Ummm, well good, I'm glad I'll be able to come and visit you.

******************************************

Another one in the car with me recently. I'm seeing a theme here. I think maybe she knows that in the car she has our full attention-no phone ringing, dinner cooking, laundry folding, etc, and I think she also knows that, in a sense, she has us cornered!

A: How do we get to heaven?

Me: Well, when you know Jesus, you go to heaven when you die.

A: Right, but how do we get there?

Me: To heaven?

A: Yes

Me: (totally dumbfounded on how to answer this and starting to sweat at where this conversation is going) I don't know exactly, but Jesus will take us to heaven after we die, and we'll know then

A: Hmmmm, I think {pauses as she comes up with an answer, because she always has an answer} that he comes down with a rope and takes us up to heaven.

Me: Well, maybe that's what happens.

A: And I think there are lots of cats in heaven.

A couple things I gleaned from that discussion (1) A apparently thinks Jesus bungee jumps out of heaven, grabs you, and flings right back up (2) she is not pleased with the fact that I'm allergic to cats and therefore we don't have any.

*************************************

Again, in the car. Last week we took A, G, and our nieces to the zoo. Our niece, O, was in the third row seat, behind A and G. O propped her feet up on the armrest of G's seat, but not touching A or G.

A: Papa, O has her feet on brother's seat!

J: Don't be a tattletale, O is fine. You don't need to worry about what's going on behind you, just worry about yourself and what's going on in front of you.

A few minutes later J reprimanded A about something, can't remember exactly what it was....A's response?

A: Papa, don't worry about what's going on behind you, just worry about yourself and what's going on in front of you.

I'm impressed J didn't wreck the car he was laughing so hard!

Sometimes I wish I could just jump inside her head and experience what's going on in there.

Cousin

Conversations with 4 year olds are funny, entertaining, tender, and well, sometimes mentally exhausting. Av always keeps me on my toes with the comments she makes and questions she asks.

This weekend we had some issues with her arguing with me and talking back. We had a discussion about her behavior and attitude. After our discussion she had to sit in the dining by herself. When she was allowed back into the kitchen she informed me that I "hurt her feelings and broke her heart." Drama. She then let me know that the next time I argue with or talk back to her, she will put me in the dining room. This brought on a conversation that we have had over and over and over and over .....again. I am the mom, J is the dad, she is child and that God tells children to obey their parents.

I think she pondered all of this for a while and tried to come up with a way to get around it. The next morning we were having breakfast and she informed me that she wasn't my daughter, but actually my cousin! She proceeded to refer to herself as "cousin" for the remainder of the morning. She would also speak in the third person, as in, "Cousin is thirsty, can she please have some milk?" I guess she thought if she could convince me that we're cousins, that would make us equals...and therefore she could do whatever she pleased without consequences or discipline. I will admit that it did give me a good laugh and I was somewhat impressed with her creativity and thought processes on this one, but, oh my, if she is already this (I almost hate to use this word, but if the shoe fits..) calculating, what I am going to have to deal when she is a teenager? Never a dull moment around here right now :)

As is often the case when dealing with kids, it reminds me of my own relationship with God. How often do I try to justify my actions, deny my position, and somehow excuse myself from unwanted consequences?

***********************************************************

Here's another one from her that's not quite so mischievous. We have been discussing some basics of faith. We having been trying to explain that God is Holy, and without sin, and that we have sinned and therefore are not holy, which is why we need God. She is very interested in this one aspect and mentions it quite frequently. We were in the car running errands a few days ago and she asked "if the holiers love the sinners"

Timber

I was out and about recently when J called to inform that lightning had struck a tree in our neighbor's yard. My first thought was "great, where did it fall and what damage did it do?". It ends up it didn't fall, it's more like it exploded. As you can see below, it was as if all that was left was huge shards of the tree. It took out the treehouse and swing set next to it.

J said it sounded like a bomb had gone off outside and he actually felt it in the house. The tree is in the back corner of the neighbor's yard and the "explosion" was so powerful that 8 foot long pieces of tree cleared our yard and ended up in the next yard, easily over 100 ft. away. These pieces were like 4-6 foot long spears sticking out of the ground. They were so firmly in the ground that they stayed like that through the storms and for the next few days until we took them out.
I have to brag on my hubby now. Our neighbor is a single mom with 2 daughters who would not have been able to clean this up on their own. She tried to file with her insurance, but since it is classified as an act of God, they wouldn't cover it. J decided that we (read 90% by him) could handle it for her. I love his integrity, concern for others around him, and how hardworking he is. It was as simple to him as "it's the right thing to do," so we did it! Thankfully J wrangled our nephews into pitching in as well.

J is quite handy with his chainsaw, so he would cut and carried and loaded. The amazing part of the whole thing was that nobody was injured and no major damage was done. The treehouse is no more, but the 2 girls next door are teenagers that don't use it anymore. One piece of our fence was hit, but J fixed it. We were in awe of the power in the storm, God's creation. Oh-and we have firewood to last for quite a while!

Little Man

Recently I got to have a "girl's only" weekend at the beach. Well, it was actually a "mom's and nursing children" weekend, but since that's as close as I can get to freedom at this point, I'll take it. It was me with G and J with her daughter, MC. We had so much fun. I am so thankful for J's friendship. She is one of my very best friends and I miss her terribly since we moved last year. We can talk about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and I think we did talk about anything and everything that weekend, literally. We.talked.the.entire.weekend. I think we were catching up for the last year since I moved! J-hope I didn't completely wear you out :)!

J is a many talented woman, one of those talents being that she is a fantastic photographer. I got 2 great presents from the weekend. J gave me a photography lesson and took some fantastic shots of G! Feast your eyes on these. I know I'm biased, but I can barely stand how cute he is!!!

Oldie, but a Goodie

Recently I got to spend an afternoon with one of my best friends who happens to live in our former city. One of the best parts is that our daughters are also best of friends.

As you can see....

they were quite excited...

to see each other.

I could barely get any decent pictures

because they were too concerned with hugging/tackling each other. I did enjoy the absolutely adorable, constant giggling of those 2 little 3 year olds.

Four

This little guy.....is now 4 months old.....

14 lbs, 9 oz and 26.5 inches long

We survived the Dr's visit and the shots much better than our last appointment. He has been cleared to progress past a completely liquid diet. I fed him oatmeal tonight, and, oh my, did he enjoy it. I would have given you a pic of the experience, but I'm afraid it would have just been him screaming while I paused from feeding him to snap a picture. I was supposed to give one Tbsp of oatmeal mixed with breastmilk to a very runny consistency. He. ate. an. entire. bowl. and was giggling with delight through the entire experience.

In other baby news, G has learned to flip over. Very exciting, but he can only flip one way, so he's quite "turtle-ish" in that regard. It was quite an issue for a while because he would only do this during his sleep, so he would wake himself up.......and then be stuck.....screaming. Thankfully, he's figured it out and now sleeps on his back or his stomach.