february 28, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for family. being together--there is nothing better short of heaven.


exhibit b: ben's 80's party costume...
exhibit c:

february 27, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for sweet pea! it was amazing for me to watch her particularly today and realize how far she's come! it is easy for the days to seem to merge together and for me not to see every little development she makes since i am with her 24/7. yesterday and this morning and afternoon it dawned on me though that she is really moving out of the newborn stage for good...reaching for blocks and toying with toys, she is a big girl now (even though she is really still tiny! but we have graduated to size 2 diapers when we use disposables and some 3-6 month clothing fits well now, so not that tiny i guess) so i am thankful for her growth and for the abundant blessing God has given us in her!
exhibit b:
exhibit c:

february 26, 2008

exhibit a: today i am thankful for my friend lyndsay, who never fails whenever we get together to share great spiritual wisdom and offer so much encouragement. she is a dear friend who knows just what questions to ask to get me thinking and to hold me accountable. i am so glad to have her in my life. thank you, Lord, for teaching me more about you through lyndsay. and i don't have a picture of the two of us. boo.
exhibit b: it's hard to shop for lots of groceries at once using a shopping cart when the toddler takes the front seat and the baby takes up the buggy with her car seat. i end up piling everything on lil miss (who in turn, while i was snapping this photo, decided to drop some of the loot on her sister) and on the bottom of the cart too.
exhibit c:

february 25, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for my grandma who is here to visit her great-granddaughters! she is such a role model for me in every area but mostly in her walk with our Lord. she is the most genuinely, through and through kind person i have ever known. she is strong and has the strongest faith. in short, my grandma is the best!
exhibit b: everyone wanted to test out the new toys we scored at a consignment sale last night. these are for mimi's house and they are lil miss and sweet pea approved!
exhibit c:
lil miss is very good at entertaining sweet pea. when we are out and about and sweet pea starts to whimper and whine, lil miss reaches over and pushes the froggie toy bar to keep her quiet. today she pushed all the buttons on this little seat all to sweet pea's delight.

february 24, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for the book my discipleship group is reading, seeking him. it is very convicting and for that reason, very good and needed.
exhibit b: we're fish-sitting. and of course, lil miss wanted to introduce all the babies in the house to "dude" as she calls him.
exhibit c: oh, the cutest thing. lil miss is taking such good care of her babies lately and has sweet little conversations with them, frequently dropping in phrases that come to think of it, i say to her and sweet pea all the time. phrases likes, "go to starbucks, baby?" "want to color? maybe? ohtay!" "do you see the book, baby?" "baby go bye-bye to target?" "oh, really? dat's funny, baby!" and all day long, i am instructed to "wrap her up, mommy!" meaning that i have to swaddle and re-swaddle baby doll every few minutes. today lil miss summoned me into my closet, spread out her "blankie with da stars" and asked for me to wrap her up! then she said, "sweet pea, come see?" so i brought in sweet pea. but lil miss wasn't satisfied with her sister just looking on and she asked me to lay baby girl down beside her. so i obliged (i am such a sucker for cute things like this). my heart was already full of smiles at this point but then lil miss, satisfied with the scene, goes, "mommy? camera?" i couldn't resist.

february 23, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful that other half and my oldest niece paved the way for lil miss to potty train (at least mostly) early. thanks to their encouragement and cousie's love of the potty, lil miss has been pooing exclusively in the potty for about five or six months now. she is by no means potty-trained, but tonight i am thankful that most poos land in the potty. like the other day, i am reminded that i ought to be grateful in this area because the opposite happened today. she had a big accident in her diaper and as i was cleaning it out and thinking about how nasty it was, it struck me that i need to be thankful that she was responsive to learning to go on the potty at a young age and that i have been spared many similar experiences simply because she is usually good about giving me warning and wanting to do her business where it needs to go. i don't have a picture to represent this, but i do have a photo of two new cloth diapers that just arrived at our house! (thank goodness she didn't choose one of her new ones to poo in today!)
exhibit b: "what? oh, you want some hummus, too? hum. let me think about that one."
exhibit c:

february 22, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for mountain man. i know i've said that before, but can a girl ever be too thankful for her husband?
exhibit b: today lil miss wanted to go bye-bye and i didn't really have any errands to run, so i decided this morning was as good as any to take the girls out for a starbucks date... lil miss has been known to spot the bucks' logo or lettering on a building and beg-- "mommy starbucks! buy juice now!" so don't worry she isn't already addicted to caffeine and coffee, rather she adores the odwalla superfood or green machine naked juice they sell. bummer they were out of the green stuff today, so we split a berry juice and lil miss very much enjoyed her watered down version while sweet pea looked on. i've decided we need to have outings like that more often.
exhibit c:

february 21, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful that most days, i am absolved of bath time duties or at least have assistance. mountain man is most always around to bathe lil miss, which makes my evenings after dinner and during clean-up much easier while juggling a usually-at-that-time cranky sweet pea. why am i so thankful for mountain man's help? because tonight i didn't have it and everything approached near disaster (while i was nursing sweet pea) when lil miss pooed so largely in her high chair (even though she swore up and down that she wasn't going potty when i asked her over and over) that her diaper exploded (i hate disposables), leaving poo on the seat and all over her legs and body...then it got all over the floor as i took her up for a bath. i turned on sweet pea's mobile over the crib and she spent a good twenty minutes gazing up at the dancing animals while i hosed lil miss off in the shower and then put her in the bath. i drew sweet pea's bath water and retrieved her from the crib, almost forgetting to dodge the poo still on the tile. i bathed sweet pea and was almost done when she too decided to do her business in an inoportune manner...in the bath. drained the tub and refilled it while she hung out on the towel. finished with her and sent her back to mobile land. then on to wash lil miss. she was diapered and clothed but then claimed "potty!!!" so off everything went again and we spent a good while on the pot once more. finally i picked up sweet pea and lil miss' nighttime sippy of milk and we headed for stories. only for lil miss to spill the milk over her rug, read two stories and then call for the potty again! finally i wrapped up everything to the chorus of sweet pea's pleas for attention. mountain man walked in and after i told him about the evening he chuckled and said some funny lines i can't repeat here. anyways, all that to say i am very glad mountain man is most always there to help at times like those! and no, i don't have a picture to represent all that...like i could have found a hand to hold a camera at any one moment during that two-hour span! i am just so glad that lil miss was no longer wearing this get-up when the accident occurred!
exhibit b:
exhibit c:

february 20, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful that sweet pea is an easy nurser...she is good at feeding on the go and in noisy environments and with her sister right in her face. today she ate like a champ in the car under the nursing cover at the park--lil miss would never have stood for that when she was a baby!
exhibit b:
exhibit c:

february 19, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for sunshine and warmth--what a difference a little brightness makes in all of us!
exhibit b:

exhibit c:

february 18, 2010

exhibit a: as you can tell from the one-day delayed posting these last two days, i've been a bit busy! today i am thankful that i am done preparing to sell my festive frills goodies for a sale next weekend! and i am thankful for two patient kids that allowed me to work on things even during play time.
exhibit b: it's bumbo time!
exhibit c:

february 17, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for a little miss who wants to "help" me get ready for my first festive frills sale! goodness knows i needed help....maybe not from a 23-month old, though...

exhibit b: today lil miss insisted that she wanted to eat at a restaurant...i gave her the next best thing-- lunch at "mommy's rest-er-ahnt"

exhibit c: if lil miss looks annoyed it is because she tried all day to nurse her baby and she wasn't getting the results she wanted.

february 16, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for our little nephew (okay, who am i kidding, at 12 months he is bigger than lil miss!) who turned one today! happy birthday cousin s!
exhibit b: lil miss was as exhausted as i was today (she got 13 hours of sleep the night before though, while i had three) and she actually fell asleep in her car seat on the way home from mimi's--she has never ever fallen asleep while driving around town before!
exhibit c:

february 16, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for an athletic husband. it has been a while since we have been able to work out together...kids kinda stand in the way of that. but tonight we made time to bike together after the girls went to bed. it has been over two and a half years since i have gotten on my bike, but i am happy to say that i am back in the saddle again! and speaking of which, mountain man outfitted my bike with a new saddle, clips and new cycling shoes! i am glad that we are both geared to compete and exercise and that we both want to convey our love of sport and outdoors to our children.
exhibit b:
exhibit c:

february 14, 2010

exhibit a: today i am thankful for love. oh, how fitting, you say? yes, but i can't resist. i am thankful for the love our God has for us, His creation...His fallen creation...His redeemed creation, redeemed only because of the love of His Son. I am grateful for the love of my husband...the love of we are able to bestow on our children...the love of family...the love our families have for our girls...the love of friends...the friends we love...
if this isn't an image of love, i don't know what is! ha! okay, maybe this is another equally loving image...
exhibit b:
exhibit c: both girls had auntie and uncle time today