Growing Up

I thought you might enjoy this little montage of Lainey from her birthdays. Sorry the first two are so dark; our scanner is not the greatest!

Brand New

First First Birthday Party (yes, there were two)

Second Birthday

Third Birthday

Fourth Birthday

Fifth Birthday

A Birthday To Remember

I think Lainey had a great 5th birthday. She loved the hula hoop we got her and, by the end of the day, had a pretty good handle on just what she was supposed to do with it. Her hips need a bit more wiggle to them, but she's definitely making progress. Her party was simple and a little quieter this year as several of our friends with kids weren't able to make it, but she had a good time. One of her friends gave her a cowgirl dress and hat and she loved it! As soon as she put it on, she said, "Yee-haw!" So never fear, even though we're not in the South and she's a native Washingtonian, we're still raising her with a little country girl in her! Here are a few pictures from our day:

Our Favorite 5 Year Old

Blue Tongues!

Our Little Cowgirl!

Too Much Birthday!

Long Days and Simple Pleasures

Today felt like the longest day ever. Lainey came and got in bed with us at 3:49 saying that she couldn't sleep and, thus, my day began. Sleeping in a double bed with one more person than should be there does not make for a restful time. Lainey only measures 3'9", but she takes up much more room than someone with such a small frame should be allowed! Just as I thought I might be able to squeeze out a few moments of sleep, Abby woke up and was ready to eat. I'm anxious for her to get back to her regular schedule of sleeping through the night. I think the shots have messed her up a bit, but hopefully she'll be back on track tonight.
Lots of details later and one short fifteen minute nap for me, Nonie and Diddy took Lainey and Sarah Grace to the mall shopping for clothes and shoes. I think a good time was had by all. We met them at Red Robin for supper. Lon slipped away and let the waiter know that we were celebrating Lainey's birthday as well as his parents' anniversary and asked them to come sing. I think his parents were surprised and Lainey was thrilled. She got to stand up in her chair and put on some silly glasses (Nonie and Diddy wore the glasses too, but got to stay seated!) while all of the wait staff sang to her. She LOVED it. After they were finished singing, we looked over at Sarah Grace and she was busy digging into Nonie and Diddy's ice cream sundae. It had two spoons, was sitting right in front of her and she figured, "Why not?" I wish I'd had my camera with me! Lainey's been having some pretty significant stomach problems (today was our 3rd trip to the doctor in 10 days) and was having a hard time during dinner. When she got the ice cream, Lon said, "Lainey does that help your tummy?" She said, "A LOT!" It's the small joys. As she was almost finished eating, she said to no one in particular, "I'm SO happy." It was precious and made it all worth while. If it only takes ice cream, she can have it all the time. She warms my heart. I wasn't in their room tonight when they said their prayers, but Lon said that when Lainey prayed she said, "I pray that you'll forgive me for my sins," to which Sarah Grace said, "My sins," and Lainey added, "and Sarah Grace's sins too." I LOVE LOVE LOVE these girls and can't wait until Abby's right in there with them. My heart is full!
Well, it's off to bed. Here's hoping that Lainey doesn't want to begin her birthday at 3:49; I don't know that I can do that 2 days in a row especially since we're having a party during our regularly scheduled quiet time!

Musings Upon Approaching the Eve of a 5th Birthday

We're gearing up for a fifth birthday party here on Saturday. As there are no little girls Lainey's age from church, we've invited people to come who are special to Lainey. These include the surrogate grandparents from church, our favorite babysitter, an 11 year old who loves to play with Lainey at church and her mom, and some other good friends of the family. It would be neat to have several 5 year old girls running around for a couple of hours (if not neat, at least loud and giggly), but how much more of a blessing that Lainey is able to befriend people of all different ages. I'm very grateful for that and think it will be a great benefit to her as she grows up to have the ability to meet and deal with all kinds of different people. I'm especially thankful that these folks love our family enough to be a part of a 5th birthday. We've ordered Lainey an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen and I think she's going to be really excited about it. She picked it out without knowing she was picking it out because mom was slick! I'm excited to see her reaction when I pick it up tomorrow. Time really does go by too quickly. It's hard to believe that this time 5 years ago (on a Thursday night in fact) I was waiting for the phone to ring telling me to come to the hospital because they had a room ready. That call didn't come until Friday morning and she didn't come until Saturday morning, but what a blessing! I look at this beautiful little girl who sits at our table and makes jokes and wonder where that little infant I brought home disappeared to! Time goes too quickly; I just pray that we can treasure each moment with all three of our girls and not take any of it for granted. What a gift from God and an awesome responsibility to be a Mommy!

Dr's. Visit, Free Pizza, Ice Cream, and Blackberries, Oh My!

Today was the day of the doctor's appointment here in the Graham home. Lainey had a 5 year well check and Abs had her 4 month check up (at nearly 5 months of age; it's when I could get an appointment). Abby weighed in at 13 pounds 2 ounces and was 26 inches long. All was well. She was less than thrilled with the three shots she had to get, but was pretty easily consoled. It turns out that Lainey didn't have a bladder infection last week so the antibiotic she's been taking has been for naught. She has continued to have some pretty severe pain so we're going to have to do an ultrasound next week to see if we can determine what's going on. Lainey was extremely less than thrilled about the four shots she had to get, but let me say that once she got them there was no doubt as to how well her lungs function! We followed that lovely time up with going over to the lab to have some of her blood drawn! Good times! Later in the day, something got said about Lainey getting shots and Abby getting shots, but Sarah Grace not getting anything and Lainey said, "And that's why she's having a good day!" So, we've completely traumatized her I think. I'm praying that this pain is caused by something relatively simple and will be easily fixed. One thing I know, she belongs to the Lord and He has her life completely in His care. He is completely trustworthy. The nurse won Lainey over after the shots by giving her a gift certificate for a free mini pizza from Papa Murphy's. I had promised her ice cream if she did a good job (she didn't, but after 5 pokes and me holding her down the whole time, I needed ice cream) so we went to Dairy Queen and got a Blizzard for the 3 of us to share. So, I think the morning ended on a happier note for her!

Lon, his dad, the girls, and I ended up at the Blaine Marine Park this evening and discovered that the blackberries are ripe! I just happened to have a large bowl in the car (never know when you might need one) so we picked enough for me to make a nice cobbler for tomorrow. Good eats!
I think we might have been able to make a larger cobbler had Lainey and Sarah Grace not eaten twice as many blackberries as they put into the bowl! Delayed gratification means nothing to them! Patience is a virtue we shall continue to work on!

The Zoo, An Only Child, and Some Awesome Cooking

Nonie and Diddy took Lainey and Sarah Grace to the zoo in Vancouver, BC today. It sounds like a good time was had by all and no one got left behind in Canada-always a good thing. I think we've had our last sunny day until Saturday. Sarah Grace asked tonight if we were going to see the sun again and why did the sun go in? As though it didn't want to play anymore and had gone inside to rest.

While Lainey and Sarah Grace were off at the zoo, Abs and I went to Walmart. I had forgotten just how easy it is to go shopping with just one baby. Compared to three, it's a piece of cake! I even had time to just look at things, something I'm never able to do when I have them all with me as someone usually has to go to the bathroom, somebody's pulling stuff off the shelves if I put the cart too close (which is a must unless I want to meet oncoming traffic in the aisle), or someone is throwing a fit about us not getting something they've seen that we just have to have! It's usually an adventure and I was thankful for the downtime today! I'm excited about the things I found Lainey for her birthday and I think she will be too!

As I was cooking supper tonight, Sarah Grace came in and asked what we were having for supper. I told her we were having chicken pot pie and she said, "Are we having macaroni awesome?" Translation: Are we having macaroni also? I prefer awesome I think and may start using it to describe all of my cooking, especially stuff I'm not sure the girls will eat. "It's broccoli awesome!" "It's rice awesome!" We'll see how that works out!

Tea Parties, Boo-Boos, and Wipeouts!

Lon's dad arrived safely today and the girls were extremely glad to see him. They rode to the airport with Nonie to get him and had a great time. When they returned home, they had big plans for him. Sarah Grace came got him and said, "Let's go play tea party." He indulged, though I don't think it was too much trouble. Lots of laughter rang through the house again today. I'm grateful they have 4 grandparents who love them and are willing to come and visit them as often as they can. We're looking forward to a brief trip to NC next month to see the other set of grandparents. I'm so thankful that we live in a time when travel across the country is so much easier and can be accomplished in a day's time!

We have a restaurant in town called "Big Al's". It's like unto a Denny's and in fact is in the building that used to house Denny's. I'm pretty sure Lainey believes the name is actually "Big Owls". Today Sarah Grace pinched her finger while trying to close the bouncy seat. She really did hurt it quite a bit and after I put a band-aid on it, she continued to cry. As she cried, she said, "Ow. Big Ows." I laughed. We have such funny little kids!

Time with Nonie and Diddy (isn't it funny how family names develop? Grandma and Grandpa just wouldn't do for us!) definitely left the girls wiped out. After a shower and brushing of teeth tonight, Sarah Grace climbed up in my lap in the rocker and went to sleep. I guess getting up at 6:15, missing a nap, and playing hard will do that! My bet is that most of the week is like that!
It's left Mama a little tired and I'm hoping for an earlier bed time tonight!

First Day of Fall and Memory Making

Today was the first day of fall. Check your calendars if you'd like; they may indicate that we have about 4 more weeks left in summer, but the weather we've had today said fall is here. Here's hoping we get one last little bit of warm, sunny weather for Lainey's 5th birthday party on Saturday afternoon.

I often have a hard time thinking of stuff to blog about on Sundays. The pastor's home is a busy place on Sunday mornings; added to the regular busy was wondering if Lon was going to make it to church at all since the stomach bug seemed to be refusing to let go. I think the power of God was really on display when he got up to preach today because my thought was "If we hadn't told people he was feeling bad, no one would ever know." The Lord is indeed faithful to his servant and Lon himself would agree that it was all God and nothing he did in his own strength, especially since he felt that he had very little of that left. God is good and I believe His word went forth today. It's amazing to me how the devil tries his best to prevent that from happening, but God's plans are bigger and better!

Lainey and Sarah Grace had a good time playing with Nonie in their room today and we heard some sweet sounds of little girls laughing and making memories. I wonder who really had the better time? I think she's not 2 or 5 (I, in fact, know how old "she" is, but also know that "she" would rather me not post that on the world wide web!)

Lon's dad arrives tomorrow afternoon and we look forward to more memory making!

Random!

As the hour is late and all other Grahams are in bed and I am desiring to be there myself, I shall provide you with a few random snippets from our day.

Today was Lon's 30th birthday. All was fairly quiet. I fear this will not go down in history as his best birthday ever as he wasn't feeling 100% and is really trying not to get this stomach virus I had earlier in the week.

Lon's mom arrived safely from Texas and will be here for the week. His dad arrives on Monday. We're looking forward to a good visit with them and are praying for some good weather while they're here, though at this point, that's not looking good.

The girls got to swim in their pool today and actually enjoyed it quite a bit as the temperature was a balmy 77 instead of 65 or so like the first time they got in.

A funny thing Lainey said today:
While watching "Prouse on the Hairie", a scene of town came up on the screen, she turned to me and said, "Is that Walmart Grove?" "Where," I asked. "Walmart Grove. They live in Walmart Grove." Oh I laughed (but not so she could see)!

Perhaps tomorrow will provide more blogging fodder; my only true hope is that everyone will indeed be well, especially the preacher!

Cake Making and Sweet Sisters

All the Grahams seem to be fairly well now. There was some worry earlier today that Lon might be getting what I had, but it seems to have passed. Tomorrow is Lon's birthday so I made a birthday cake this evening with a little help from Lainey and Sarah Grace. They wanted to help me crack eggs which I should have known was going to be an adventure. Sarah Grace wanted to go first and while she did a great job of cracking the egg and opening it, she completely missed the bowl and the entire egg went all over the counter. Oh well. Lesson learned: crack eggs into a smaller bowl and then pour them into the larger bowl. They had fun and what's one egg in making memories?
Tonight, I had Abby in her bouncy seat in the girls' room while we were cleaning up a bit. I left her in there after I was done and I think Lainey and Sarah Grace had a great time with her. Lon and I peeked in on them at one point and saw that Lainey had moved her to a new spot and was sitting on the floor beside her. Lainey and Sarah Grace came in the living room and left her at one point and Abby started fussing. They ran back down the hall to go see her with Lainey saying, "Let's go see Abby!" and Sarah Grace saying, "Let's go see my sister!" Lainey must be quite entertaining to Abs because we could hear her laughing the hardest she's laughed yet. I'm so glad to know they love each other so much and I pray it will always be that way. What's it going to be like when Abs is big enough to join in the tea parties, games of house, and the "family game" (a Lainey creation)? How blessed I am by my little family!

It's 3 AM at the Graham Home. . .

Who do you want answering the red phone?

A Brief Pause In Blogdom

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I've been busy playing nurse and blogging has been low on my list of priorities. My desire for perfection (and perhaps the sin of pride) hates to have missed a posting, but my desire to be a good Mommy doesn't care one iota about this blog when compared to taking care of the little ones. Lainey is not feeling well and has what the doctor thinks to be a bladder infection. It's complete with pain and vomiting; good times in the Graham home! Not to be outdone or so that she doesn't feel lonely in her illness, I have developed some sort of stomach virus myself. REALLY good times in the Graham home. So, when I say I've been busy playing nurse, it's more like Lon has been busy playing nurse. It was a long night for all of us last night (with the exception of Sarah Grace and Abby, but thankfully they've been quite understanding and agreeable today).

Looking forward to quiet time already!

Jesus Made Me Mommy

Today as we were getting ready for quiet time, I sat down to rock with Sarah Grace for a bit. We don't usually get to do that, but I had to ensure that Abby was sleeping before I put Sarah Grace in the same room with her. As we started to rock, Sarah Grace looked up at me and said, "Why did Jesus make you Mommy?" I repeated her question and before I could answer, she said, "Jesus died. We sinned. " What a blessing that, at 2 1/2, she is beginning to develop an understanding of such things. Sometimes there are such sweet moments with these girls and I'm so thankful for each of them. I look at them and wonder what our house is going to be like in 5, 10, 15, 20+ years. How many little feet will be under our table? And what little things will they laugh about? Will they still love to sing hymns? Will they still hug one another? Will they be as close then as they are now? Oh how I hope the answer is yes! What a blessing it is and how grateful I am that Jesus made me Mommy!

Swimming Pools, Movie Stars

Okay, so there weren't really any movie stars in our day, but anytime I get to make a reference to The Beverly Hillbillies I go for it. Perhaps because the swimming season is a little longer in NC or because the Wal-marts on the East coast are better stocked, Nana was able to come through for us on a swimming pool. She found one last week and shipped it and it arrived today. The girls were very excited upon opening it when they realized just what they had. Now unfortunately (only in regards to getting a swimming pool in the mail) the heat we've been experiencing left yesterday. The high was only 67 and it was overcast. But because we love our children and delight in the things they delight in, Lon set up the pool and filled it with water, some of which was heated on the stove so the girls wouldn't freeze. Only in the Northwest do you have to fill your swimming pool with heated water in the middle of August! As we were getting the pool blown up (an adventure all its own as we had to fashion a pump for it out of an air compressor, a garden hose, and a lot of packing tape; I think I might be married to MacGyver), Lainey kept dancing around saying, "It looks like a giant peanut. We get to swim in the peanut. We get to swim in the peanut!" I think that perhaps we've been watching too much diving on the Olympics because Lainey wanted to climb on the picnic table and jump into the pool. Lon got in the pool with the girls and they took great joy in splashing him; Lainey went so far as to get out of the pool to go and get a bucket! She's serious about her splashing! Further confirmation that we've been watching too much of the Olympics: the girls were out playing this afternoon after lunch and I happened to look out and see that Lainey had gotten a 2 x4 and had run it from the porch to a cardboard box and was just before stepping on it as though it were a balance beam! I stopped that just in time!

While the girls were eating lunch today, Lon overheard Sarah Grace singing "Jesus is the Mighta King, the Mighta King, the Mighta King" to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" She does make us smile!

Abby is teething which means that most of the day she is in some stage of fussing. Either she's fussing because I'm not holding her, or she's fussing because I am holding her and she doesn't like the way I'm holding her, or she's taking a break from fussing because she's nursing, or she's fussing because she's tired because she was too busy fussing to take a nap. Got that? All to say, the last two days have been rather long with dear old Abs. Even Lainey has started praying that Abs will get her teeth in soon! She still lights up with a smile every now and again and that makes it all worth it.

Pretty Flowers: A Centerpiece or a Snack?

We have a friend at church who grows beautiful flowers in her garden and sells them at a local produce market. She usually has leftovers on the weekends and brings bouquets to church and gives them away. She gave some to Lainey today for us to bring home. A moment later, I saw Sarah Grace walk in with a separate bouquet. Vicki said, "Amy, I hope you have room at home for two because Sarah Grace just wasn't going to be satisfied with 'Your sister has one and you both can share.'" So home we came with two bouquets. The girls were really cute in their little sundresses holding these beautiful flowers so I thought I'd take pictures. I told Sarah Grace as we were getting in the van, "When we get home, we'll take your picture holding the flowers and then we'll put them in a vase." Her response, "Then can we eat them?" Ahm, no.

Just Hanging Out

I went to check on Abby tonight after we put her down and this is what I found:


Good thing those rails are in place!

A Day At the Fair

What a great day at the fair! We all had such a good time and I think the girls made some great memories. We saw cows, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits, and one chinchilla. Both Lainey and Sarah Grace got to pet a calf, a cow, and a sheep. (And yes, there was thorough hand washing that followed. No E Coli for us, thank you!) The day was HOT and this time I really mean it. It was close to 90 degrees in Lynden. Lon and I have been away from the South too long and are no longer used to such heat and the girls certainly aren't! Alas, we almost wilted several times but still managed to have a good time. After almost having to leave Lainey as a payment for our lunch (seriously, is there anything really "fair" about $3.50 for a corn dog?) and not wanting to have to trade in other children in exchange for a book of tickets, we told the girls they could ride 2 rides and that was it. This was before we realized that Sarah Grace was 2 inches too short to ride on anything even with an adult. So, we talked them down to one ride on the ferris wheel which, because Lon had to ride with them, still ended up costing us $12. But it was worth every penny to see how much they enjoyed it. As I watched (from a shady spot beneath a tent) Lon and the girls wait in line to get on the ferris wheel, I was reminded of my own childhood when Fath (that's my dad for those unaware) and I went to the state fair every year. Nearly every year between kindergarten and 8th grade and a couple of times in high school, he would either take me out of school or take me on a Saturday to the fair in Raleigh. Those are some of my favorite memories of childhood and I'm so grateful to be making similar ones with my own children. It was just neat to see it from the parent's perspective this time- the kids wanting every single plastic toy they see and not understanding why dad doesn't want to pay $5.00 to shoot a basketball for a toy worth $1.00 that he may or may not actually win; wanting to sample every food from every vendor that you pass no matter that they couldn't possibly be hungry or that it cost more than the admission price into the fair itself and not understanding why they can't ride every single ride they see (though to Fath's credit, he let me ride A LOT and rode A LOT with me each year). We ended our time at the fair by sharing a big bag of pink cotton candy. I can't remember the last time I had some, but it took me back yet again to the days of childhood. Is there any better candy than cotton candy? I was always amazed at how it just seemed to disappear in my mouth. Even today I found myself wondering "Where does it all go?" (As an adult I now know the answer to that questions is 'on the hips' as in "A moment on the lips, forever on the hips.") As we left the fair to walk back to the car, Lainey said, "I want to come back tomorrow!" And so it goes.

Enjoying some cotton candy

Here's Sarah Grace with a little cotton candy on her face, shortly before Lainey picked it off and ate it. Words you thought you'd never say as a parent: Don't eat food off of your sister's face!

I'd like to buy a firework for my ephelant please!

As Lainey and I were working on school work today, I had given Sarah Grace a picture to color so as to keep her occupied (and to keep her from saddling up her trusty ride Felix again). As she was coloring, I heard her saying "A, I, O, U" over and over. Thinking that she might be soaking in some learning, I asked her what kind of letters those were. Her eyes got really big and she said,"Fireworks!" I was holding Abby and had to hide behind her briefly lest Sarah Grace see me laughing at her.
The fair is in Lynden this week so we're off to take it in tomorrow. We were telling the girls that we'd see horses and cows and pigs and rabbits and such. Sarah Grace said, "Yeah, we'll see horsies and rabbits and bunnies and ephelants!" She was pretty crushed when we told her there probably wouldn't be any ephelants there. In spite of the lack of pachyderms, we shall still have a good time. Perhaps we can have an elephant's ear as a substitute!

My Growing List of Life Skills

Today's version of homeschooling went a little better, I think. Today we worked on the letter F. Lainey wrote uppercase and lowercase f's and really did a good job. I took an old newspaper circular and had her cut out words that begin with the letter f and we then glued them on a piece of construction paper. In case you haven't given this much thought lately, let me remind you, cutting is a life skill you take for granted. Wow, is it a strange and difficult thing to teach someone else to do! Saying "just cut" doesn't cut it (pun totally intended!). We made it through with all of our fingers in tact and I now know that's another skill I need to add to the growing list of things I need to teach the girls to do. Let's see, that's teach them to be like Jesus, teach them how to sing hymns (we're making headway on that one), teach them to memorize Scripture, teach them the importance of making the bed everyday, teach them how to tie their shoes, teach them to use scissors, teach them to love each other, teach them table manners, teach them that when you feel like you have to throw up and you're sitting in dad's lap, you should probably tell him instead of just doing it (yep, Sarah Grace did that tonight after dinner, but we're all good now) and teach them how to dunk their Oreos in milk (Lon's got that one covered I think.). Wow, my list keeps growing and growing. Good thing we've got quite some time to work on this list though I think the throwing up thing is going to be moved nearer to the top than it has been in previous days!

Homeschooling and the 2024 Olympics

What to tell? What to tell? It seems that most days around here nothing extraordinary happens and for that I'm very thankful, but it does leave me at a loss of things to share with you at the end of a day. Lainey and I worked quite a bit on some home school stuff today and, wow, do I have a new respect for kindergarten teachers! My thought while I was working with my one brilliant child was "How do teachers do this with 29 students?" Makes me want to rethink all of these political ads airing right now where they say "So and so voted against reduced class size or against a raise in teachers' pay." She is quite smart and she is learning, but I do have to remind myself that she's only 4 and isn't going to get all of this on the first day! This shall be a challenge for both of us, but it shall be fun as well. The real challenge will be in coming up with something for Sarah Grace and Abby to do while Lainey and I are working. Today I looked over at Sarah Grace and found she was trying to ride the cat. You read that right friends, she was trying to ride the cat-complete with a "Giddy up". Perhaps not the most productive (or healthy for the cat) thing she could be doing. I am all about maintaining a schedule and providing structure in that way so I think we're going to have to find one that works for us and stick with it. I had great plans for a super schedule today, but let's just say Abby had some diaper issues that resulted in a bath and 2 changes of clothes. Impressive.

The girls are really enjoying the Olympics. Sarah Grace especially likes them and asks several times throughout the day if they're on yet. The Canadian channel (yes we live close enough to get that) shows events throughout the day so we watched a bit of diving this morning. Sarah Grace really wanted to see some gymnastics last night but we missed it so she asked this morning if the dancing one was going to be on. Dancing one is code for gymnastics. When they came on tonight, she said, "Look, it's the water cube one!" She does pay attention. She finally saw some women's gymnastics this evening and was quite excited. She stood up in front of the TV and held her arms up and said, "I do what that girl did." Later we saw her kneeling on the floor with her foot up in the air. She also asked Lon if we could get some uneven bars for our backyard! Let's see, you have to be at least 16 during the calendar year of the Olympics in order to participate so it looks like it will be 2024 before she has a chance at the summer games! Maybe she'll be potty trained by then. . .

"I Love You" Paper and the Magic of Childhood

Today I wanted the girls to do some coloring so I gave them some regular white paper. Sarah Grace said, "No, not Daddy's paper" and then proceeded to say something else that I couldn't quite understand. I finally realized that what she wanted was the construction paper that we have used in the past to make cards. I explained that, for now, we were just going to use regular paper. She said, "But later will you get the 'I love you' paper?" Can you tell that we usually write 'I love you' on the cards we make?

I had a candle burning this afternoon and was trying to explain to Lainey that if she'd put the lid on top of it, it would burn out because it needs air to burn. She did and was fascinated when the flame went out. I used a match a little later to light it again (being careful to explain that only grown ups could use matches) and I wish I'd had a camera to get a picture of Lainey's face when I did it. Her little mouth made an "O" and she backed away and said, "That was cool!" I love the fascination of childhood and how everything seems like magic.

Lainey is really a great help to me from time to time and she's learning to do a little more with Abby. Today I showed her how to hold her when she was standing up. She later walked to the back of the house with her where I was talking with Lon. I got a great picture of Lainey holding Abby on the couch and per Lainey's request I'm putting it on here. Really, when I took the picture, she said, "Can you put that on your blog?" I didn't even know what a computer was when I was 4, much less a blog!

Cakes and Olympic Dreams

Lainey and I made a cake today. Having "help" in the kitchen sometimes makes the job twice as long, but she needs to learn and we make some good memories in the process. I've also found it to be a good teaching tool. When we're measuring items, we are able to work on a little math as well. She saw that we needed 1/3 of a cup of milk and I asked her how much we needed and she said, "Ahm, we need 1 and a 3." Voila! A lesson in fractions! She likes to crack eggs, but as she told me today, "I'll crack the eggs, but you break them open because I don't want to get my hands all sticky." As we were getting all of our ingredients out, she saw our cocoa and asked if she could taste it. I explained to her that it wasn't sweet and wouldn't taste very good yet. A little later she asked again if she could taste it and, knowing that she'd never believe me without trying it for herself, I gave her a little taste on the end of her tongue. Words alone can't capture the face she made as she stuck out her tongue and said, "I don't like it." And now she knows!


We've been watching some of the Olympics off and on. As they came on tonight, Sarah Grace said, "Olymkicks in China! Olymkicks in China!" When the gymnastics started and one of the girls did her routine, Sarah Grace said, "The girl wins. The girl wins." She's too cute. While watching gymnastics, Lainey asked if she could do what they were doing. I told her we could check into it, but that it would mean not taking dance lessons. She said, "I'd rather be a ballerina." She then decided she could have the best of both worlds and would just run and tumble in the house. We had to put the whoas on that. We'll save the tumbling and somersaults for outside!

Life Lessons From a Two Year Old

I mentioned in a previous post that when we pray at night, we're trying to teach the girls to think of something they're thankful for, something they want to pray about and something they need to tell God they're sorry for. Lainey understands these different ideas quite well, but Sarah Grace doesn't quite have a handle on it. Whenever we ask her what she wants to pray for, she usually names something that Lainey has done wrong and needs to say she's sorry for. Conversations often go like this:
What do you want to pray for Sarah Grace?
Lainey being rude. -Or- Lainey being disobedient.
It's so much easier to see the faults of others than to see our own faults. Perhaps this is what Jesus had in mind when he spoke of removing the plank in your own eye before trying to remove the speck in your brother's.
Sarah Grace is at least starting to realize she needs to focus on herself and not Lainey, but she still doesn't quite understand the different things we want her to mention. Tonight we asked her what she was thankful for and she said, "For being angry." Okay, well what are you thankful for? "For being angry and rude." We went with it. Lon prayed with her that God would forgive her for being disobedient and as he was saying "In Jesus Name", she said she wanted to pray for someone. Lon asked who and she said, "Mr. Jim and Mrs. Debbie and Mr. Ken making a sandwich." Sometimes we can't help but smile. Wouldn't it be nice if we were all thankful for such little things in our lives as someone making us a sandwich? More and more I think we have a lot to learn from these little people in our home.

The School Bus Wins

Today was our Friday together filled with errand running, family time, and an ice cream sundae from MacacDonald's. Lainey said this morning that she'd like to get a swimming pool. Thinking that it's near the end of the season and we might be able to find something on sale, I told her we'd look at Wal-mart. It's definitely the end of the season and things were on sale; unfortunately all they had left were one 18 foot pool and one 24 foot pool. The 24 foot pool was marked down from $600 to $500, not quite the steal I was looking for. I said, "Lainey, we can't get that because it costs too much." She said, "But I really want it." I said, "Well, it's $500 and that's too much money. How about we go and find a jump rope instead?" Her response, "OKAY!" So, we went from a $500 pool to a $3.00 jump rope with equal delight. Aren't kids great?


As we were riding around town, we could hear Lainey and Sarah Grace in the back singing and playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors". Sarah Grace won for sure and for certain when she said "Rock, Paper, School Bus". No clue where these kids come up with their stuff, but they do make us laugh!

First Lessons in Potty Training

An important part of wearing big girl panties is understanding where exactly they go.

Looks like we've got a lot to learn:

A Day of Finger Painting and Other Adventures

I promised the girls yesterday that our first activity of today would be to do some finger painting outside. I wanted to do it this morning so it wouldn't be so hot (read 80). So, we got everything all set up outside, no small feat with 2 girls following my every move, only to get out to the picnic table and find that our paint had all dried up. There was no salvaging it. So as not to be the great disappointment, we quickly (as quickly as we can with a nursing baby, sandals to find, potties to use, and juice cups to fill; honestly I don't think I've just walked out of the house to go somewhere in 5 years) headed down to Wal-mart to find some paints. Crayola came through for me (I LOVE those yellow and green boxes!) with a set of 4 squeezable bottles of finger paint for under $5. I LOVE Wal-mart! As we were in the checkout line at Wal-mart, Abby started to fuss. I looked down at her to comfort her and discovered that she had pooped all over the place. It was leaking out of her diaper and had formed a small puddle in the car seat. I thought, "Oh great, how am I going to fix this?" We paid for our stuff and wandered back out to the car where I got Lainey and Sarah Grace strapped in to their car seats and, ever thankful for the large box of wipes and the large floor space of the van, set to work on Abby Poops-A-Lot. I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, it was messy and Abby rode home only wearing a diaper. So, back home to try the finger painting. We had to wait through lunch, a bath for Abby, and lunch for Abby. Lainey was not pleased about me feeing Abby and said, "But you fed her before we left." Good thing she's not in charge of Abby's meal schedule! We finally got it all set up again in the backyard. Newspapers spread out, smocks on the girls, paint on a paper plate so they could share it and here we go. Lainey painted for a little less than 10 minutes and then came in to wash her hands saying, "It's sticky. I don't like it." I told her that it was okay to be messy and that the whole point of finger paint was to be messy and she said, "I want a paint brush." Oh well, we'll try it again someday and see if her opinion of it improves. Sarah Grace seemed to really enjoy it a little more than Lainey did so maybe her wanting to do it will encourage Lainey.




Later in the afternoon, they wanted to put their bathing suits on and run through the sprinkler. Lon patched a hole in it and Lainey played while Sarah Grace tried to decide if she wanted to join her. We discovered another hole in the sprinkler which meant more water was pouring out of the side than was coming through the top. Lainey said, "We like the hole," but I turned it off and then turned the hose on them and let them run through that for a bit. Lainey loved that and thought it was great fun, but Sarah Grace wasn't too sure until I let her spray Lainey and then she thought it was awesome!

At Wal-mart today we bought Sarah Grace some big girl panties in the hopes that they would encourage her to use the potty and move out of diapers. Thus far she has shown no interest. I asked her today if she'd like to get some panties like Lainey and her face lit up and she said yes. I explained to her that if we got some then she'd have to start using the potty. She said, "I don't want to try now. Maybe 3 years old." As in maybe when I'm 3! Mom's answer, "No!" So, we got some and we'll just see what happens. I find hope in knowing she will be potty trained before she starts kindergarten and that won't be too long.

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

People outside of the Pacific Northwest often ask us how we like living up here where it rains so much. The answer is that it doesn't rain all the time and on days like today when the sky is a bright blue, the temperature is a warm 79 degrees, and a nice breeze is blowing, you forget that there are ever clouds in our sky. The girls played outside quite a bit today and after lunch, the ice cream truck came down our street and we ran out to get a special treat. Good fun and great memories!

Complete Trust

Enjoying a Special Treat on a Hot Day

She's too young for ice cream, but still quite happy!

Fabulous Footwork

Abby found her feet today-with her mouth!



And my personal favorite:

Wow! Have you tasted these things? They're awesome!

Too Much Oatmeal, Moving On Up, and Sweet Prayers

Often when Sarah Grace gets up in the morning, she is immediately ready to eat. Many mornings, her first words are, "Mommy, I'm hungry." On more than one occasion it's simply been "I hongry". This morning was no different, but as Abby was up from about 4:20 until 6:00, I was not as quick to respond to Sarah Grace's desire for breakfast. When I did get up, she said, "Mom, guess what I did? I opened the oatmeal." I found an empty box in front of the pantry and another box partially opened. I thought, "Hmmm, didn't I just buy oatmeal? I didn't think we'd eaten enough to have a box nearly empty." Well, when I came into the kitchen, I discovered that she had emptied the entire box onto the counter and was making her way into the second box. She had 11 packets of oatmeal out on the counter PLUS two cans of cinnamon rolls out of the fridge (she said one was for Lainey). I laughed and said, "Sarah Grace, are you hungry?" I managed to talk her down to just one pack of oatmeal and half a banana.

We finally had to move Abby from the cradle to the crib tonight. I know, I know, we should have done this weeks ago, but for some reason, I had a harder time making the move this time. We had no choice tonight after we let her cry for a while in the cradle and went to check on her only to find that she had moved so much that she was now lying perpendicular to the way she should be and was mashed up in the corner of the cradle. So, with a quick change of the sheets on the crib and a quick move of the mattress, we made the transfer. Now we just have to do some (major) straightening in the rest of the room so that things look a bit nicer. We hold out hope that soon our new church building will be completed and Lon will have an office and our nursery will no longer have to serve as a home office by day. I'm not sure we'll know what to do then!

I read last night about an idea for when kids pray at bedtime to have them think of something their thankful for, something they need to tell God they're sorry about, and something they want to pray for. We decided to try this with our girls. I wasn't in their room tonight when they prayed, but Lon relayed their prayers to me. Lainey was thankful that we glorified God today. When asked when we glorified God, she said, "When we went to church." She wanted to pray for Lon that he "would get the work done he needs to do today tomorrow" and she wanted to tell God she was sorry for being disobedient to me when she hit the ironing board. Sarah Grace wanted to pray next and said she wanted to pray for "Lainey being rude". Lon told her that she didn't need to worry about Lainey being rude and needed to pray for her own thing. She ended up praying that she and Lainey would be obedient. Lon helped her do that and was finishing up with "in Jesus' name" when Sarah Grace said, "No, not in Jesus' name." She wanted to keep going! What a blessing that at 2 1/2 she wants to keep praying! After they prayed, Lainey asked Lon why Jesus had to rescue us so he was able to share some about our sin and our need for a Savior to forgive us. Her next question, "Why do people have jobs?" They're not all deep spiritual questions, but what a blessing that even amidst the ordinary questions of life, we're able to speak the truth of Christ into their little lives!

Laundromats and Character Lessons

Today the girls and I had an adventure at the laundromat where we took Lainey's comforter to be washed from the sickness of the other night. Okay, so it wasn't really an adventure, but it's amazing how fun some things can become when you talk them up in just the right way. "Look girls, it's spinning so fast and look at all the bubbles (that are cleaning away the chunks that almost made your Mama sick on the way over here)!" It's the little things in life. I can remember being in first grade and Mrs. Rice reading A Pocket For Corduroy which involves a little girl taking her dearly beloved bear to the laundromat only to have him get left behind to have many adventures. I always wanted to go to the laundromat once I heard that story, but don't think I ever did. So, now my girls can mark that off their list of dreams I am fulfilling vicariously through them.

Lainey and Sarah Grace also helped Lon build a lean-to outside today to hold some wood he's gotten recently. They were pretty good at helping bring nails, hold stuff, and asking a myriad of questions. They're good at the latter most all the time. What's that, why, and why not are things we hear on an hourly basis. The more I get into this motherhood thing, the more I realize just how very difficult it is. Because we want to be the kinds of parents who are very involved in what our children learn and not just hand them over to others who are deemed experts (a title which is often handed out with little forethought or checking of credentials), I feel that we are going to be very, very busy these next 18+ years. In spite of the lack of a 401K, retirement plan, vacation (what's that word mean?), or sick days, it's a job I wouldn't trade for any other. For those who think that being a stay at home mom is boring, think again!! There is so much to do. Not only do I have to teach these little people how to eat with utensils, tie their shoes, make their beds,etc., I (and Lon, as I am not alone in this endeavor) have to mold their little characters and teach them what it means to love Jesus and be like Him. That's the hard part because it's something that we often struggle with ourselves! They are depraved, albeit cute, willfully disobedient creatures who are struggling to do their own thing in this world, but so are we! Thankfully, we have been redeemed by a loving Savior who desires to make us more like Him and Who will walk ahead, beside, and behind us as we seek to teach these girls important things such as the importance of serving others (this lesson often is taught through not saying "Me first" when it comes to brushing your teeth or getting your vitamins), praying for others, trusting God, and being humble. I'm so grateful that I'm not on my own there because I would fail miserably. So, as I go to bed tonight wondering if I taught my girls anything today besides the importance of never getting into a clothes dryer and closing the door (yes, Sarah Grace tried this) or of not throwing a piece of wood and hitting your sister in the head because she took a toy that you really wanted to play with (yep, Sarah Grace tried that too; wow, she was on a roll today!) , I thank the Lord that He has walked with me every step of the way today and will go before me tomorrow to prepare their hearts and mine for what He has in store for us! Thank you Jesus!

Wall-E

We took the girls to see Wall-E today and had a great time. I'm not sure if they were more excited about the movie or the large bag of popcorn and lemonade we all consumed. Lon, not being a popcorn eater, got some Nestle Crunch candy. Lainey asked what it was and we told her it was Daddy's popcorn. She asked to try some a little later and when she did she said, "Hmm, that's a little different." I think she was really expecting to have some sort of popcorn and was surprised to find it was chocolate. Abs did good during the movie and slept part of the time and was quiet for the rest. One of the benefits of nursing is being able to feed wherever you find yourself! Also, since the theater was so dark, I took advantage and changed her diaper there as well, but made sure to tell her, "This is the only time it's okay to have your pants off in a movie theater!" Also, I was reminded why we don't go to the movies very often when we had to take out a small loan to pay for the tickets and the snacks. I was afraid we might have to trade in Lainey for the tub of popcorn, but we managed to get by without it coming to that! I was grateful for a little birthday money that we put towards the cause!

I asked Lainey this morning why she hung the ribbons and Legos up on her bed last night and she said, "I just like for things to be pretty." She also said later that it was for a party. Who knows what we might find when we check on them later!