Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter Pics




The best I could do...

It is IMPOSSIBLE for me, a semi-professional photographer, to get a good picture of the two of them together...


Cute Cousins

Easter Baskets!


Hailey got in her Easter basket some "C" batteries (she has been asking for some for her vacuum since she got it for her birthday...every time we go to Target), Charlotte's Web (the cartoon version), a Hello Kitty PEZ dispenser, some little farm animals and some candy.

Caleb got a book and a little toy truck. I think I may have wasted my money on his present...

Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter Egg Hunt was a lot of fun this year. Hailey was not as afraid of the Easter Bunny as she was two years ago. Last year she wasn't that scared either. This year she was not going to go near it so I told her the Easter Bunny's favorite color was purple. This didn't get us a cute picture of her hugging the Easter Bunny but she did at least give him a high five. And she would sit on the same bench if her cousin Parker would sit between her and the bunny. Good times...


Saturday, April 23, 2011

Making Easter Eggs Sad...

We started a tradition last year of dyeing Easter Eggs with Hailey so that is what we did yesterday since Randy had the day off for Good Friday. When we told her we were going to "dye" easter eggs with her she said, "But the easter eggs will be sad." I had to explain that we weren't doing anything bad to them, just decorating them. It's so funny how she processes things sometimes.
Captain Conundrum Caleb would have created a catastrophe so we waited until he was napping but hopefully he can participate next year...



Thursday, April 21, 2011

The one where I show off my short-comings but God still gets the glory...


Buckle up. This is a long one...
So I know I have mentioned close to a million times on my blog that I love my children. And I do. But they almost sent me to the crazy house last week. Not so much my children but my older, getting-too-independent-for-her-own-good child. She is such a sweet child but she has recently learned and is excelling in the art of arguing. Good times. Oh, and the little one isn't totally innocent either. Don't let those big blue eyes and handsome little grin deceive you. He has a bit of a temper and loves to test this tired and sometimes impatient mommy.
All that to say, by Friday I was done. D-O-N-E. Not done parenting. Just done with the whole situation. I could not do it on my own anymore. We were leaving for Camp Merriwood in a couple of hours where Randy would be leading worship for a youth retreat and I didn't know how I was going to handle the kids all weekend...especially since it was supposed to not just rain but have severe storms all day Saturday. I quickly got the kids in bed for their naps so that I could go to my bed and pout about the whole situation. I laid there fretting and decided to get up and do my quiet time for the day. My book I'm doing had me read Isaiah 26:1-12. Verse 3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" WOW! I needed that. That's not even the coolest part of this story.
So I go back to my bed and I lay down and start praying and just giving the whole thing to God. I'm not very good at that. I like to control things. But I could no longer control this. Just kind of randomly the thought popped in my head to ask God to keep the storms away at camp this weekend. I am always so afraid to pray things like that. What if He doesn't. Oh ME of little faith. But I asked God anyway to please keep the storms away this weekend. I didn't want to tell anyone I prayed that because I didn't want to look like a weirdo...and what if the storms did come.
We got to camp Friday evening and things were going great. I didn't get to stay for the whole evening service because the kids had to go to bed but Randy said several kids accepted Christ into their lives. AWESOME! I continued to believe that the storms were not coming but I still didn't tell anyone. Saturday morning we wake up and there were supposed to be light thunder storms in the morning and then the severe ones were to come that afternoon. It was gloomy outside and we had had the occasional sprinkling that morning but no light storms. By this time I had told Randy what I had prayed. At lunch time it rained pretty hard for about ten minutes and I think I heard 2 faint thunder rumbles and then it went away. By about 1:30 or so the sky was clear and the sun was out and the rain was gone. I was so excited. The campers were able to do all of the activities planned and we were able to spend time as a family outside.
I know many peoples lives were devastated by this same storm system in neighboring communities. I don't know why God answered this request for me. I really feel like He placed it on my heart to pray that. But, I can tell you one thing, it most definitely strengthened my faith. I REALLY needed that. It reminded me that if God can calm the physical storms of this earth, why couldn't He calm the storms in my life? And if I can place my trust in Him to not bring on the thunderstorms, I can trust Him to administer peace in my life and in my heart. "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" Thank you, Lord, for calming the storms, all of them.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Eleven months old!

I cannot believe a month from now my little man is going to be a year old. He is starting to look more like a little boy and less like a baby. He has 6 teeth now. He is crawling EVERYWHERE and is into EVERYTHING. He will cruise around stuff but doesn't seem to have much interest in walking yet. Apparently he has some pollen issues because he has had a super snotty, disgusting nose the last couple of days that only seems to get super snotty and disgusting when we go outside...bummer. He has a ton of personality. He still hates Sunday night nursery. And he will eat pretty much anything (sticks, grass, crayons, dog food, bubbles, meatloaf...)! I guess I should start deciding what to do for his first birthday...


"Look how high I can JUMP!"

Hailey loves to jump. And more than she loves to jump, she loves to have people watch her jump. It's funny because she doesn't usually like to have the spotlight on her and she doesn't like for people to make a big deal about something that she's doing. BUT, she LOVES to have people see how high she can jump!

Hailey blowing "candy lands" =)



I'm assuming she heard someone call these dandelions and she processed it as "candy lands." I find this rather humorous.

Speaking of humorous, Hailey has been going around the house the last couple of days singing, "Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb. Mary had a little lamb and BINGO was his name-o." =)

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Silly Saturday Conversations

H: "Mom, I'm thirsty"
H: (a minute and a half later...) "Mom I'm thirsty."
H: (another minute and a half later...) "Mom, I'm thirsty."
S: "That's funny, I thought you were Hailey."
H: "Well, Haileys can be thirsty too and they like milk."

********

H: "Daddy...Daddy...Daddy."
R: "Hailey can you just let Daddy read for five minutes, please?"
H: "HMMMMMMM"
R: "That wasn't really a question. I am going to sit here and read for 5 minutes."
H: "Well, I didn't say "No" I just said "HMMMMMMM."

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Natural Science Center Pics

So these have nothing to do with the natural science center...they were just taken there...so enjoy!



Seriously, is he not PRECIOUS!!!

Friday, April 1, 2011

"Because I'm a girl..."


It's been a while since I posted any "Hailey-isms" so here ya go..

Her new thing is wearing her sunglasses everywhere. Inside. Outside. Daytime. Nighttime. She isn't over her rain boots yet either. She still wears them quite often so on any given day she has rain boots, sunglasses and something purple on. Which brings me to the next "Hailey-ism"...
Her new favorite color since her third birthday is purple. If you ask her what her favorite color is she will tell you, "Purple. But I also like pink." And if you are a girl, you are also supposed to like pink and purple. If you are a boy you are supposed to like green and blue. Last night she was trying to get me to lay in her bed with her for a little while and her best ploy was to tell me, "Well, (which she usually starts an argument with...) boys like blue so that's why Daddy can sleep in his room but you are a girl so you have to sleep in here because my room is pink." Needless to say I laid down with her for a few minutes because seriously, how could I say no to that argument?
"But I'm a girl!" has become her reasoning/excuse for everything. "I need a cat because I'm a girl." "I can't do that because I'm a girl." "Caleb can't play with this because he's a boy and I'm a girl and this is something that girls play with." "I should probably eat some fruit snacks because I'm a girl." Im not sure I understand this reasoning...
She frequently tells me that she needs some check-up for her kitchen...meaning she needs some ketchup for her chicken. Or she will ask me if I an get her something from the chicken...kitchen. This mix-up is a little humorous =)
"Look how high I can jump!" "Look what I can do!" She has definitely gotten more daring. Now, she is still afraid of flushers in public restrooms, inflatables, the vacuum and the "fish shadow" that the curtain makes in her room at night. Oh, and the twirly slide...for reasons we don't need to go into. But I have found her standing on her table in the back room and she likes to jump on the couch, which she is not supposed to do.
She is a nerd like me. In school, I was always the one who had to sit at the front of the class so I could pay attention and take notes. I still have to sit on the front row at church because I get distracted so easily. At storytime at the library every Tuesday, Hailey always asks to sit at the front and she grabs her little pad to sit on and stares at the "teacher" the whole time. She's funny because the teacher will do these little rhymes that have motions to them and as soon as she realizes I'm watching her she stops doing the motions and sits back down so I have had to stop watching her...or at least not let her see me watching her.
***
I hate to leave Caleb out. He isn't talking yet, except to say "Dadda" and to babble but he does some cute stuff too.
He has gotten pretty good about obeying me when I tell him not to touch something or not to put something in his mouth but the last couple of days when I tell him not to do something he gives me this little grunt of disapproval It's kind of hard not to snicker sometimes. He still does what I say but he gives this little grunt as to say "I'll do what you say but I don't have to like it.".
He is also recognizing people a lot. Like, if I ask him "Where's Daddy?" or "Where's Hailey?" he looks around for them and when he finds them he smiles at them. And he loves Cooper. I think Cooper may be his second favorite "person" in the house.
He pulls up on everything...everything. And he likes to pull all of the books off of the shelf. And he loves to play ball. He is my squishy baby =)