Rockin’ and Readin’

Since one of Boo’s new favorite things to do is read, her other new favorite is to rock.  She comes up to me a dozen times a day, “Rock? Rock?”  To which I respond, “You want to read a book?” and she says, “Uh-huh!”  Two of her favorites right now are Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House “Hous? Hous?” and Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon 1-2-3.  “Moon? Tee?”  We read those two books over and over and over…until Mommy says, “No, not that one.  Let’s read a different book!”

She has been sick the past few days so we have been reading even more than normal.  We read for over an hour the night she started getting sick. 

Both my girls like to read when they get hurt or are sick.  I love that and did it on purpose.  When I nannied, if either of the children ever got hurt they would not stop crying and settle down until I turned on the TV so with my girls I was very purposeful in reading to them after they got hurt.  K can be screaming her head off (like when she broke out her tooth) and if I give her just a few minutes to cry and then get a book she will settle right down and sit there and read with me.  So when they are sick we end up reading all day.

In five days of school K came home with a cold (the first week) and the flu (the second week) and generously passed both on to her sister. :P  Hopefully this isn’t a pattern that continues all year or our book bindings will all be falling off by the time we’re done with preschool!

Yes, I am raising two little bookworms.  And I love it. :)

My Top Ten

Okay, I am in a much better frame of mind today.  Mostly thanks to all your encouragement and a little technique my mom instilled in me as a child called “counting your blessings”. :)

So since I have way too many blessings to list I will just list the ones directly related to this house project.
I am so thankful…

1. that we were able to save up the money to do this major renovation and make our house the way we wanted!

2. that my husband and father-in-law are super-hero-construction-worker-jack-of-all-trades and can pretty much do anything!

3. that this summers’ project does not really affect our living space other than it being a little more crowded with stuff.

4. that my girls seem to view this all as normal and enjoy having the extra grandparent time.

5. that everyone in our little town is so encouraging and always stopping to tell us what a great job we are doing and how they can’t wait to see how it turns out.

6. that the people at the hardware store have gotten to know us so well that they are now giving us the contractor’s discount whenever we buy things there. (and when I went down to grab a few washers the other day they told me to go ahead and take them and tell T they were “on the house”)

7. that we have been able to get all our materials with very few problems.

8. that we have only had three rains since the end of July (and only one was big enough to get the water all the way into our downstairs).


9. that we are almost finished with three years worth of renovations and we are going to have an AMAZING house by the time this is all over.

and the top reason I am thankful today…

10. that our friend and Pastors (aka: the roofers) are here RIGHT NOW and hope to have the whole roof done by this weekend!

We’re almost there!

Tired

I feel like I haven’t been posting very much.  Yes, we have been very busy, but mostly it is because I am a firm believer in “If you don’t have something nice to say…”

I have been trying so hard to keep a positive attitude about the house and I have mostly been able to, but it is really starting to wear on me.

I can totally picture what it is going to look like when it is all finished and I know it is going to be amazing.  That mental picture is the only thing keeping me going right now. 

I am tired of days like today (laundry day) when I put my daughter’s clothes away in her makeshift dresser (aka: the side of the breezeway steps and a nightstand pushed up next them).

I am tired of navigating my way through her “room” that is stuffed to the gills with almost everything that was in the upstairs.

I am tired of straightening piles of books that have no bookshelf home.

I am tired of walking in through 18 inches of space in Boo’s room because of the mattresses where K sleeps when our much needed help is here on the weekends.

I am tired of spending every weekend and evening like this.

I am just tired.

We are so close I can almost taste it, but at the same time it seems so very far away.

Hopefully I will get my 42nd wind tomorrow and we can power through these last stages of this huge undertaking. 

I have been trying desperately to will my happy thoughts back into place. 

And when that doesn’t work I just look at these two faces.

And it’s enough to keep me going.

We WILL be finished with this thing one day.  And it WILL be all I dreamed it will be and we WILL be able to spend time together as a family again, and we WILL be able to have fun on the weekends again! 

We will make it.  Hanging on by the skin of our teeth.  But we will make it.  One day.  Soon.

Mama Time

Wow, what a quick week it has been!  The roofers came on Tuesday and were able to do the garage and the breezeway.  I am so happy with how it turned out!

The guy that did the roof goes to our church…he’s the main reason we decided to hire it done…and he uses our Pastor and our youth Pastor as crew members sometimes.  T has been out of town all week so it was really nice to have people I know working on our house and not strangers,  Instead of feeling weird about strangers being here I felt triply safe.  :)

T was at a conference and we usually either go with him and or go to my parents but we had ladies group at church, preschool, awana, dance class, and worship team that we needed to stay home for so I asked my grandma to come stay the week with us.

Yes I am a big baby and have never stayed alone by myself…ever…to my recollection.  I was thinking about it and I cannot remember a single time that I have ever stayed in a house by myself.  I have never lived alone, I went from my parents house to roomates, back to my parents and then got married.  Whenever my parents were out of town I stayed at T’s house or a friend’s house, and now whenever T is gone we go to my parents.

Anyway, my grandma graciously agreed to come babysit me, haha:) for the week.  I was absolutely AMAZED by how much I was able to get done with her here!  Boo followed her around like a little shadow, and consequently, without MY shadow, I checked things off my “list” like crazy! 

The girls had a wonderful time and adored having Mama here to show off for all week.

She took them outside for over an hour yesterday morning so I could get some stuff done in the house.  She also stayed with them during naps so I could run errands, AND she kept them entertained during worship practice.  Usually they are climbing all over the stage, tripping on wires, pounding the piano keys right along with me, and trying to sing at the top of their lungs.  It was SO nice to have her there to keep them busy!

And I think she read about 100 books in four days.  That’s probably not much of an exaggeration!  Boo is REALLY into reading right now.  She brings me books ALL day long and since I am very interested in promoting healthy reading habits I try to always stop and take the time to read to her. 

I read a statistic that said that the single biggest predictor of higher SAT scores is being read to as a child.  I don’t know if it is true but it makes sense.  I never purposely tried to teach K her letters.  I just read to her A LOT and she learned them all by 18 months. Boo knows a few but she has never been the avid reader her sister was. So I am thrilled that she has discovered a newfound love of books to rival her bookworm sister and Mommy.

T is back now and his dad is coming tonight for a whirlwind 24 hours to work on the house.  There are a few other things going on this weekend so we are not going to be able to put in our usual three day stint.  I am dropping the girls off to spend the night at Noni’s so we can make the most of our 24 hours.  Hopefully we will have made some good progress by this time tomorrow!

Thanks for coming to stay with us Mama, we had a BLAST!

Lost Videos

I was cleaning out my email inbox today and found these two videos that T had taken on his phone a long time ago.  I was going to say that judging by her hair I was guessing they were both taken around her first birthday, and then I looked at the email date and it was two days after her birthday. :)

I LOVE the way she laughs in the first one.  It’s amazing to me that she is only 19 months old and yet it seems like it was AGES ago that she was this small.  They change SO much in the first few years! 

Love that sweet smile.  It makes my heart happy!

Have a wonderful day!

Wordless Wednesday

Busy

Wow, sorry.  The last few days have just flown by and I realized I haven’t posted anything.  It seems like our schedule has just exploded!  Everything has started at once, and that combined with our major house project has left me feeling a bit frazzled.  Fourteen days ago we were just getting home from our Canada trip.  Since then we have started all our new activities: preschool, dance class, Awana, and bible study (which we are leading, so I had to get all organized) in addition to worship team practice, church, and six full days (since then) spent working on our house.  Busy.  To say the least.  

We are making progress on the house.  Slowly but surely.  It seems to be just slowly because of where we are right now.  The soffits and facia take a long time on an old house because it is not exactly…square.  Or level, or straight, or…you get the idea.  Everything takes three times as long because you have to work with what is there.  But it’s coming.  Here’s a shot of some of the finished work on the porch. 

We have roofers coming tomorrow to do the garage and the breezeway so that is very exciting.  Hopefully we will be able to get the rest of the trim work done so they can get the rest of the house roofed before it rains more.  I don’t like waking up to water coming in my closet. :P

In other exciting news Auntie Nina and Uncle Mike are visiting for a few days!  We got to go out to lunch and to the park with them today.

A very fun, albeit very graffiti-ed slide. :)

What a fun day!  Thanks guys!

"Laugh With Me!" - Part 13

Wow, I just realized I haven't done one of these in forever!  So going back to April...

~

April 3rd

We heard her singing while she was playing.  T stopped, listened carefully.  "Is she saying what I think she's saying?"  I stopped to listen.  We hear, "Don't let Satan toot it out!  I'm gonna let it shine!"  Yes, baby girl, that would be awful if we let Satan toot it out!

~

April 8th

We had been telling her that she was getting a playground for her birthday.  Whenever she asked about it we said, "When you are four!"  So one day when I told her Grandpa was coming over to work in the backyard she got all excited, "Am I four now??"

~

April 11th

Me talking to T: "Emily is coming to babysit tomorrow."

K: (perplexed) "Which baby is she going to sit on?"

~

April 15th

K likes to play with others but she also likes to have her own space each day.  One day S was really getting into her things.  She didn't get mad.  She just stood up and said, "Mommy?  Maybe it's time for me to go to my room and spend some time without my sister.  Ok?"

~

April 16th

After eating 3 sausages I leaned over and gave her some more off of S's plate.  "No thank you," she said, "I'm not a shash-sage eater."

~

April 20th

K was running circles around our kitchen island when I heard her toot.  She kept running, full speed, and started tooting every few feet.  She stopped, exasperated, and looked behind her, "Booty!  Stop tooting!"

~

April 26th

My brother-in-law has a goatee, one day after visiting them, K stuck a post-it note to her chin and said,  "Do I look like Uncle Wade?"

~

April 29th

She was cutting some paper on the counter when she said, "Uh oh."  I looked up from my dinner preparations, "What?"  She pointed and I noticed that she had cut a hole right through her pants! 

Me: "Did you do that on purpose or was it an accident?"

K: (quizzically) "Which one is bad again?"

I laughed, "On purpose."

K: "Oh, then it was an accident.  I thought my pants was paper!"

Hi Bye

One of Boo’s favorite games lately is “Hi Bye”.  She finds a door and goes in and out over and over and over again.  She loves to do this while I get ready in the bathroom, because it only works if there is someone to say Hi Bye too. I love how she stops to wave. 

Our Little Ballerina

Wednesday was K’s first day of preschool and yesterday was her first day of ballet/tap!

She was excited to get into her “costume”.  I thought she looked adorable!

She didn’t want to put her tap shoes on when we got there but once we got them on her and let her hear the clicking noises she was hooked!

She and her little friends starting dancing around the little studio.  It was so cute!

She LOVED it!  Her teacher is another lady from our church, and the grandmother of some of her friends so she already knows her.  That is one of the big benefits of a small town!  K is already talking about going back next week, and the teacher told us they are planning a small recital at Christmas time.  We can’t wait to see our little ballerina in action!

1st Day

Here’s our big little girl!  Today was her first day of preschool.  I can’t believe she is already old enough for this!



Last night we had a celebration for K’s first day.  We invited both sets of grandparents and one set of good friends.  I decorated in a school theme using ideas I found off the internet.  (I saw a really cute vase decorated with pencils but I didn’t have the right shape of vase and when I used a glass the whole thing tipped over so I just left it empty...I should have put fake flowers in it or something.)



The guests colored on their “placemats”.





K requested pizza, and I made a “blackboard” cake that said Happy 1st Day of School!



Here’s a little closer picture of it.



Then K got to open a few gifts.



We gave her memory box that I had made off of http://www.papercoterie.com/ a few weeks ago.  It says “The artwork of:” with her name on it and her picture is on the back. 

My thought is to have it hold her school papers so once it gets too full she will have to sort out.  She gets to keep whatever can fit in the box. I thought that might cut down on the paper clutter. :)



Boo enjoying the cake. :)



It was a fun little celebration.  Thanks for coming everyone!



This morning we got up early…yes early for us but not for the rest of the world.  Our girls normally sleep until 8:00 or later so needing to be at school by 8:00 is definitely going to take some adjusting!

Daddy made Minnie Mouse blueberry pancakes per the new-preschool girl’s request. :)



Then we got S out of bed, tossed her in the stroller (she ate after we got back home) and made the three block walk to preschool.



We got there right as her friend, S, arrived.



K did beautifully!  She waltzed right in the house and started talking to the other kids and playing with the toys.  It really helps that she is very familiar with her teacher (our Pastor’s wife) and has been to this house about a hundred times before.  She also knows 5 out of the 8 kids in her class.  She had no hesitation and didn’t even notice when we said goodbye and left. 

Here she is with two of her little girlfriends.


My friend and I picked her up afterwards and she said she had a great day.  Her exact words were, “I had fun!  There was apple slices and banana bread for snack!”  I guess that is the makings of a great day. :)

Considering how great of a cook that Miss J is, we know she is going to have a wonderful year!  Haha:)

Ooo Canada!

Last week we fled the country!  Yep, we went to Canada again for Labor Day.  Baseball families vacation!  What a busy and fun five days!

We went shopping.

Made new friends.

Went to a candy store.

And a totally awesome toy store.

Hung out in our pjs.

Swam in the hot tub.

Played soccer.

Tried to knock out our front tooth, AGAIN.

Read books.

Went to the lake.

Shared a picnic.

Went swimming.

Played on a really cool inflateable water slide.

That had really cold water coming out of it.

Laughed at each other.

Played games.

Went hiking.

Danced to the XBox Kinect.

Played cards.

Played princesses.

Colored.

Did stickers.

Ate yummy food.

Went out for ice cream.

Skipped rocks at the river.

And had a wonderful time!

Thanks for the memories Canada!