Beautiful brown-eyed girl
Munching on an apple
Munching on an apple
Mashing some sweet potatoes and cheerios
Time for bed!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Just Random......
The house is quiet, and I absolutely love it. Aside from being quiet, the house is also trashed. I should be dealing with last night’s dinner dishes instead of blogging. But, alas, I’m here typing away, sipping on some Dunkin' Donuts, and munching on a pumpkin donut. I love moments like this.
So, this is going to be a pretty random blog posting—a little catch up, and a little ranting. For sake of organization this blog will be brought to you 'bullet-style':
*I love seeing God’s faithfulness demonstrated in real tangible ways. I know He’s always working on our behalf in ways that we can’t always see or don’t quite understand. But, for visual learners like me, I always get a tickle out of ‘seeing’ something come together. Some people in our lives are seeing God’s hand at work, and it just makes me smile. I love it—it literally makes me want to drop off a casserole. :o) More on this later—faithfulness; not casseroles.
*Romantic getaway for three—Ha! I just had to type that. We had a gift certificate and resort credit for the Abbey Resort in Wisconsin, and so we decided to cash in last weekend and go. Danielle and Eric (Danyo and Irk—what Ave calls them) offered to take Avery for the weekend, and so we said, "Sure!" Read their account of what happened by visiting their blog. I asked Danielle how it went, something along the lines of: “How’d it go? Was it easier than you expected? More difficult? More fun?” Her response was: “Well, we (her and Eric) had a great conversation last night!” I love it—Dan and I have moments where we honestly feel that if we knew what we had been getting ourselves into (parenthood) we wouldn’t of done it. That said, we’re always open to giving unsuspecting couples a little peak at “life with child” :o) In all seriousness, we were grateful for a chance to sneak away and indulge in room service and a little one-on-one with Ro. So, thanks Danyo and Irk! Hope our friendship is still intact!
*Did you know I’m Dutch? Not just a little Dutch; a lot Dutch—like 100 percent. In case you didn’t know, Dutch people are insanely cheap and thrifty. Don’t get me wrong; I love to spend too, but I’m always out for the best deal to the point where I’ve been known to drive to three different stores on a grocery outing. Since I became a mama though I’ve come to appreciate convenience too. So, I tried Peapod last night, and color me impressed! I had a $20 coupon, so thought I’d give it a try. At 7:30 p.m. last night I ordered ten items, and by 8:00 a.m. this morning it was at my doorstep! Awesome! No driving around, no negotiating two kids, no trying to find that specific item (this time a year I love getting Coffeemate’s holiday flavors, and they are impossible to find!). Very, very cool! I don’t know if this will be a regular thing for me, but I’m certainly entertaining the idea.
*Well, I need to go grab Avery from school. Did I mention recently that she HATES leaving school? Well, she does and is throwing major tantrums when I come to pick her up. It’s the worst—decompressing a pre-schooler is like…..I don’t know. It’s just bad, and ugly.
*Oh, and I can’t forget Ro. The FANTASTIC news is that she’s eating great! She loves picking up foods and shoving them in her mouth. Potatoes, beans, noodles, rice cakes—she’s doing great. And, yesterday she even let me spoon some baby cereal to her. She willingly opened her mouth and ate it. In case you didn’t know, the eating bit has been trying. And, she’s got six teeth now, and working on seven and eight. It's hard to believe that she's almost 11 months old. We're trying to come up with ideas for her birthday. If you have any ideas, please feel free to share them with me.
And, lastly, here are some very cute pictures of Avery and Romey at Sonny Acres (courtesy of Adam Self).
Okay, back to last night’s dinner dishes (my mom’s so proud of me!). Have a good weekend!
Sweet Ro in a silly bunny coat.
So, this is going to be a pretty random blog posting—a little catch up, and a little ranting. For sake of organization this blog will be brought to you 'bullet-style':
*I love seeing God’s faithfulness demonstrated in real tangible ways. I know He’s always working on our behalf in ways that we can’t always see or don’t quite understand. But, for visual learners like me, I always get a tickle out of ‘seeing’ something come together. Some people in our lives are seeing God’s hand at work, and it just makes me smile. I love it—it literally makes me want to drop off a casserole. :o) More on this later—faithfulness; not casseroles.
*Romantic getaway for three—Ha! I just had to type that. We had a gift certificate and resort credit for the Abbey Resort in Wisconsin, and so we decided to cash in last weekend and go. Danielle and Eric (Danyo and Irk—what Ave calls them) offered to take Avery for the weekend, and so we said, "Sure!" Read their account of what happened by visiting their blog. I asked Danielle how it went, something along the lines of: “How’d it go? Was it easier than you expected? More difficult? More fun?” Her response was: “Well, we (her and Eric) had a great conversation last night!” I love it—Dan and I have moments where we honestly feel that if we knew what we had been getting ourselves into (parenthood) we wouldn’t of done it. That said, we’re always open to giving unsuspecting couples a little peak at “life with child” :o) In all seriousness, we were grateful for a chance to sneak away and indulge in room service and a little one-on-one with Ro. So, thanks Danyo and Irk! Hope our friendship is still intact!
*Did you know I’m Dutch? Not just a little Dutch; a lot Dutch—like 100 percent. In case you didn’t know, Dutch people are insanely cheap and thrifty. Don’t get me wrong; I love to spend too, but I’m always out for the best deal to the point where I’ve been known to drive to three different stores on a grocery outing. Since I became a mama though I’ve come to appreciate convenience too. So, I tried Peapod last night, and color me impressed! I had a $20 coupon, so thought I’d give it a try. At 7:30 p.m. last night I ordered ten items, and by 8:00 a.m. this morning it was at my doorstep! Awesome! No driving around, no negotiating two kids, no trying to find that specific item (this time a year I love getting Coffeemate’s holiday flavors, and they are impossible to find!). Very, very cool! I don’t know if this will be a regular thing for me, but I’m certainly entertaining the idea.
*Well, I need to go grab Avery from school. Did I mention recently that she HATES leaving school? Well, she does and is throwing major tantrums when I come to pick her up. It’s the worst—decompressing a pre-schooler is like…..I don’t know. It’s just bad, and ugly.
*Oh, and I can’t forget Ro. The FANTASTIC news is that she’s eating great! She loves picking up foods and shoving them in her mouth. Potatoes, beans, noodles, rice cakes—she’s doing great. And, yesterday she even let me spoon some baby cereal to her. She willingly opened her mouth and ate it. In case you didn’t know, the eating bit has been trying. And, she’s got six teeth now, and working on seven and eight. It's hard to believe that she's almost 11 months old. We're trying to come up with ideas for her birthday. If you have any ideas, please feel free to share them with me.
And, lastly, here are some very cute pictures of Avery and Romey at Sonny Acres (courtesy of Adam Self).
Okay, back to last night’s dinner dishes (my mom’s so proud of me!). Have a good weekend!
Ave riding the train with Zachary.
Avery: "Isn't this great!?!"
Avery fearlessly swinging. I think I told her to hang on tight at least ten times.
Sweet Ro in a silly bunny coat.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Ewww!
I finally got a picture of Avery with her favorite vegetable—broccoli. Yep, broccoli. She loves green broccoli and white broccoli (cauliflower). It’s the craziest thing! Avery certainly doesn’t get her love for these veggies from me, and I’m totally dumbfounded watching her eat them. Here she is cheesing with a little green floret:
Happy Monday!
We had a fun weekend, enjoying some of our favorite fall activities. Dan and Avery carved a pumpkin, and she just asked me to "turn the pumpkin on." :o)
Avery digging out some pumpkin seeds......
......and then asking if she could wash her hands. Such a girl!
Avery digging out some pumpkin seeds......
......and then asking if she could wash her hands. Such a girl!
Happy Monday!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Are you happy?
Wow, it’s been a month since I last blogged. Wow. Glad you’ve missed us (subscribe below if you’d rather not keep checking and checking). Where have we been? We’ve been here, doing life with two kids. We’ve been wrestling Avery, and when we haven’t been actively engaged in battle, we’ve been exhausted. Managing the needs of two kids often feels impossible. Sometimes it is easy; most times it is trying.
“Are you happy?”—This is what Avery asks us after we’ve been “un-happy” with her. It’s her little way of inching towards reconciliation with dear ol’ ma and pa. Avery has been giving us plenty to be “un-happy” about it lately. Honestly, we’re a little puzzled why this has been a difficult month for Avery. She’s absolutely CRAZY about school. The teachers have been remarking that Avery is doing well there, and loving it. On the flip side, Avery’s been bringing home some new “habits.” Extreme bossiness, defiance, yelling or screaming, talking back, pouting, and hitting are now regular occurrences in our home, and we’re struggling to figure out how to get through to her. Consequences and discipline are barely scratching the surface. Perhaps this is what 3 1⁄2 year olds are like? Perhaps there are a couple children in pre-school that are showing Avery the ropes? Maybe I’m jumping the gun here, but it seems as though outside influences (school friends, who, of course, aren’t being monitored every single second by the teacher (and I wouldn't expect that they would be)) are having an influence on Avery. The timing of this “eruption” of behavioral stuff is just too suspect. And so, it seems, it’s begun: teaching Avery that what she’s learning from others may or may not be something that we feel is acceptable behavior, and, more importantly, why. Sure, Avery’s a little young, but I believe we’ve got to start laying the foundation now. The shift from compliance to discernment isn’t far off.
And so, where’s Ro? In the midst of the craziness she’s still sweet little Ro—likely taking notes on all that is occurring around her. Her nine-month appointment went well (she's now ten-months), and she’s busy fine-tuning her cruising skills, and perfecting her pincher-grasp. She’s got four little teeth now, and loves to “tackle” Avery. I’m so glad that they have each other.
And, we’re absolutely loving fall—so beautiful, so delicious (bring us pumpkin flavored stuff and we’ll love you forever). There’s so much I’d love to blog about, and hopefully will soon. In the meantime here’s a few of my favorite pictures from the last month.
Avery loving the pony ride.
Cheesing by the ghosts--and yes, I know her pants are rolled up too high.
Avery embracing her roots.
Feeding smelly, dirty animals...and enjoying it.
Cuddling with smelly, dirty animals. Seriously kid, show some restraint!
Displaying what I like to call the "sponge phenomenon." She saw a character on Dora make a silly face and then turned around and made a silly face at me.
Avery sporting Dan's Cubs hat. Yep, Dan's a glutton for punishment. In his own words, he needs to "get a new team!"
“Are you happy?”—This is what Avery asks us after we’ve been “un-happy” with her. It’s her little way of inching towards reconciliation with dear ol’ ma and pa. Avery has been giving us plenty to be “un-happy” about it lately. Honestly, we’re a little puzzled why this has been a difficult month for Avery. She’s absolutely CRAZY about school. The teachers have been remarking that Avery is doing well there, and loving it. On the flip side, Avery’s been bringing home some new “habits.” Extreme bossiness, defiance, yelling or screaming, talking back, pouting, and hitting are now regular occurrences in our home, and we’re struggling to figure out how to get through to her. Consequences and discipline are barely scratching the surface. Perhaps this is what 3 1⁄2 year olds are like? Perhaps there are a couple children in pre-school that are showing Avery the ropes? Maybe I’m jumping the gun here, but it seems as though outside influences (school friends, who, of course, aren’t being monitored every single second by the teacher (and I wouldn't expect that they would be)) are having an influence on Avery. The timing of this “eruption” of behavioral stuff is just too suspect. And so, it seems, it’s begun: teaching Avery that what she’s learning from others may or may not be something that we feel is acceptable behavior, and, more importantly, why. Sure, Avery’s a little young, but I believe we’ve got to start laying the foundation now. The shift from compliance to discernment isn’t far off.
And so, where’s Ro? In the midst of the craziness she’s still sweet little Ro—likely taking notes on all that is occurring around her. Her nine-month appointment went well (she's now ten-months), and she’s busy fine-tuning her cruising skills, and perfecting her pincher-grasp. She’s got four little teeth now, and loves to “tackle” Avery. I’m so glad that they have each other.
And, we’re absolutely loving fall—so beautiful, so delicious (bring us pumpkin flavored stuff and we’ll love you forever). There’s so much I’d love to blog about, and hopefully will soon. In the meantime here’s a few of my favorite pictures from the last month.
Avery riding the train at one of our favorite fall stops--Sonny Acres.
Avery loving the pony ride.
Cheesing by the ghosts--and yes, I know her pants are rolled up too high.
Avery embracing her roots.
Feeding smelly, dirty animals...and enjoying it.
Cuddling with smelly, dirty animals. Seriously kid, show some restraint!
Displaying what I like to call the "sponge phenomenon." She saw a character on Dora make a silly face and then turned around and made a silly face at me.
Avery sporting Dan's Cubs hat. Yep, Dan's a glutton for punishment. In his own words, he needs to "get a new team!"
Two of my favorite people--Happy-Go-Lucky-Ro and Perk Dan
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