Jesus

“I need Jesus!” yelled Avery, and then louder, “I NEED JESUS NOW!” I thought, okay, this is going to be interesting. I was about to tell her that Jesus lives in her heart, and He is with her every day when I realized what she was asking for: the Fisher Price nativity Jesus. She was holding a lone wiseman that never got packed up with the other Christmas decorations last year, and she was yelling and crying that she needed Jesus. It was astonishing to me that she remembered that the wiseman was a part of something; not just some random figurine. Plus, she hadn’t played with the nativity in a year so I was feeling impressed. Impressed enough to pull out the minivan (yep, you read right—more on this in a minute), approach the six-high stack of Rubbermaid containers, pull them down one-by-one, dig through the Christmas decorations to produce Jesus and all his mates and other nativity paraphernalia to a delighted preschooler. She said, “Thank you Mommy for finding Jesus!” No problem.

I’ve got to tell you that this little nativity set was sort of an impulsive purchase. I really went back and forth on whether or not it was necessary. It was a little pricey but I decided to go for it, and I’m so glad I did. Not only did it keep Avery’s hands off of my breakable nativity, but it also became a real tangible way to talk about the Christmas story. And, it has given me tons of memorable material—like yesterday, and the day after Romey was born (as Avery told the nurse that Romey was the baby Jesus, and said so with such awe and conviction; it was priceless). Now that I think of it my nurse’s name was Mary. Crazy.

And Dan’s needing a little Jesus these days too as he’s finally given up the fight and surrendered to my constant needling, begging, and downright practicality—he agreed to a minivan. Dan hates the idea of a van. He hates what it represents, he hates the idea of being seen in it—the whole package. Me, I’m too practical to care what people think so I’m ecstatic to have the extra space, and love seeing my little queens perched on their thrones. Soon I’ll have a picture of Dan in the driver’s seat with a big smile on his face. I suggested taking our family Christmas picture in front of the van but Dan said he’d put his hand over his face. So, I made him a deal. Quit griping about the van, be pleasant about it, smile when you talk about it and we’ll get a Nintendo Wii. The deal is under consideration. Hopefully he’ll go for it.

Here’s to embracing life as minivan mama, and Dan lying down in the backseat wondering who’s seen him! :o) The plates should read: DAN VAN.

Have a great day!

Avery helping my mom rake the leaves. My mom was using a "blower" (I think that it is what is called) and it was hysterical to see Avery's reaction to all the leaves coming at her. Avery loves to help--she quickly grabbed a rake and started raking. At home, she is always asking for her turn with the broom. She doesn't know it yet but I'm going to get her a kid-size broom for Christmas.

Little brown-eyed beauty watching the leaf show. She'll be a year old on December 6.
I had to "share" a craft with you. Avery is constantly bringing the coolest crafts home from school. Avery's teacher says that craft time is Avery's favorite activity of the morning. Anyway, this is a piece of pumpkin pie, and I was so puzzled as to what the white cotton was supposed to represent. Alas, I got it: cool whip, and the teacher even sprinkled it with cinnamon. Cute.

Monkey Madness

Happy sugar coma! Avery had a blast trick-o-treating. My favorite moments were Avery going up to doors and yelling "Hello? Is anybody here?" or "Thanks!" as she was halfway down the driveway, ringing doorbells twenty times, and begging to go to the "scary house." A ton of fun, and a ton of pictures to share--too many cute ones to choose from so scroll quickly!

Avery yelling, "Let's........

.......Go!"

All About Ro

Beautiful brown-eyed girl
Munching on an apple

Mashing some sweet potatoes and cheerios

Time for bed!

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!

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.

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:

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!

Happy Monday!