Coloring update

Well I spoke to soon...we are back to monochromatic coloring schemes!

Another thing we discover is that she sings while she colors. Cute right? Not so much in church. Sunday about a third of the way through the service we got the coloring book out. It was not possible for her to color without singing! It was so bad I had to take her out. The colors hit the page and a song comes from her heart!

Washington Square

Our town has a pretty neat little square with unique shops, an old fashioned candy store and a new popcorn/ice cream shop. Every time we drive around the square Elizabeth always comments on the fountain in the center. Most of her experiences with fountains have involved her and a swimsuit and playing in the fountain. This fountain is just for looks. We have the same conversation each time, "Mom! Look! The fountain is on! They turn it off when it snows and then they turn it back on when it's warm." Followed by, "Can we go there? Can I play in it?"

I decided that today would be a great day to take a picnic and maybe grab a special candy treat from one of the stores. Well we ended up meeting some friends for a playdate in the park and we ate our picnic lunch there. After playing and eating lunch I took the kids up to the square only to find that the fountain was turned off!! Man, this has not been my week. Yesterday I was going to take them to Lou's for one final root beer, only to find that they were closed for the season.


I still took them into the candy store. Elizabeth picked a smarties lollipop and I got a few peach rings and reeses pieces. The lady told us that they were just fixing the fountain and that it would be back on again.


I guess we will try again next week! Grant doesn't look too happy in this picture, but trust me he was...we shared our candy with him!

Coloring

Are these not the sweetest pictures? (yes I'm a little bias!) Elizabeth really loves to color right now and I can tell her skills are improving. She is starting to color different parts of the pictures different colors, no more page of all purple! As she is perfecting her coloring, Grant is perfecting biting the tips off of her new crayons!

Don't get between a girl and her dog....they are pals!

Grant's Medical Mystery Solved!

Grant started running a fever last Sunday. He woke up Monday morning and was fine. We went to a friend's house to play. That afternoon he spiked another fever and it pretty much stayed until Wednesday. It ranged from 99 to 103 and meds didn't seem to be helping him. He was acting fine though. Since we were going in for Elizabeth's check-up I had him checked out too. That morning I had tried Motrin instead of Tylenol and when they took his temp at the office it was normal, of course!! However, while waiting in the office he developed a slight rash on his belly and chest. His left ear was clear, but his right was bright red and his throat not looking great either. The doctor suspected strep, which you can also get in the ear (didn't know that!). The ear and throat would both be treated with amoxicillin, so no need for a strep test. This is Wednesday.

Friday morning, my poor little guy is just beside himself. Very unhappy, very fussing...very unGrant like! So I called and said he is not better, he is not even the same, he is worse, what can we do? Their response was that I had to give the meds more time to work. They said it usually takes 3-5 days and it had only been 2.5. I was a little irked, but what can you do. Their suggestion was to give Tylenol or Motrin along with the prescription. Well I had actually already done that and it made no difference.

Friday evening we are sitting out on the deck and I was playing with Grant in my lap and I get a good look in his mouth and holy cow, he is cutting molars!! For those of you not familiar with molar cutting, it can be very painful and paired with an ear infection and sore throat, I am sure he feels pretty lousy. I'm glad they didn't give me more meds, because I try hard not to over medicate and let the kids ward off the bugs on their own. I am not sure if there is more than one molar poking through because I couldn't see the other side of his mouth. The irony is, my mom asked me about his molars and I totally dismissed it....I should know better! Moms are usually right!!

Elizabeth's 3 Year Check-up

I took Elizabeth to her 3 year check-up this week. This was the first time she had to put a gown on. Just another reminder that she is growing up and isn't a baby anymore! Of course she asked several times why she had to wear it!

She weighed in at 37 pounds and 40 1/4 inches tall.

Brandon and I have both noticed her putting the "b" sound in front of words. I asked the doctor about it and he said not to worry for a few years and that studdering will also be common, which she also does occasionally. She thought it was pretty funny to get her reflexes checked and told the doctor "I like to giggle!" All in all, everything looked good!

Illinois State Fair

The year is 2011 and I am 31 years old and this was my first time at the State Fair! I have teased my parent's for years about never being taken to the fair as a child. This year my Dad took the day off work and Mom and Dad took me and the kids.

I failed to remember to take a picture of the family at the beginning of the day, you know when we were looking fresh as daisies! Instead I took the picture at the very end when it was 97 degrees and we were all feeling a little faded!


I was very impressed by the size of the fair and the fairgrounds. The animal barns are huge. We walked through a lot of them...horses, cows, pigs, sheep. Dad only had to explain a couple of animal parts that Elizabeth was inquiring about! Dad even ran into a man showing cattle from Dalton City that used to work with my Grandpa Heller. When I saw the beds and cots scattered around the animal pins I whispered to my Mom, "This is a whole other world isn't it?!" A world that I can't really relate to, but certainly appreciate how hard they work.

For years I have heard about the famous Butter Cow. I can now say that I have seen the Butter Cow! I took a picture of the facts instead of trying to remember them all. 800 pounds of sculpted butter is pretty impressive.


Elizabeth got to ride a pony, Poncho. Poncho was a rather large pony, but she loved it! She also petted a piglet that was only 5 days old. I got to milk a cow. Dad got his corn dog and Mom and I got the best frozen lemonade I have ever had. We got a box of taffy, which was being made on site. I didn't know they actually made the taffy at the fair!

Elizabeth rode the Super Slide twice, once with Pops and once with me. She warned me as we walked up the stairs, "it's pretty fast mommy!" She also got her face painted (a dog) and got to crawl into a mini excavator (not Caterpillar though!). Grant was pretty content in the stroller taking in all the sights. We watched the horse showing for about an hour and a little bit of the high diving act. We walked through the Midway, where Dad really wanted to win Elizabeth a giant stuffed animal. I told him if he won it it had to go home with him! He kept walking!

There is a lot of history behind state fairs that I can't begin to appreciate. I know that they when my parent's were growing up they were a very big deal and often the event of the summer. Today I think a lot of people just view them as food and rides, but it really is about a lot more. Of course we enjoy the food though! I did pass on the deep fried brownies, but I was very tempted!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great day at the fair!

ATL: Wrap-Up...Destination Home

A few miscellaneous things from our trip. Grant's new favorite toy is a suitcase and he fits perfectly in it! The first night he had a really hard time laying down and so he was playing in my room and he found the suitcase to crawl in. He took stuff out, he took stuff in...he was so happy!


It took him a little while to figure out how to get out!


The next day, I got him dressed and he went directly for the suitcase again! Look at that smile! Now, I'm thinking this is perfect...one of Elizabeth's favorite games to play is "I'm packing for vacation." As long as she doesn't try to pack her brother I am thinking these two will get along great playing the "Vacation/Suitcase Game!"


The kids played hard! I am too afraid to take a picture of Grant sleeping, I don't want to risk waking him up! Elizabeth would fight it, but once she tried would be out cold in seconds. I had to pry her cup out of her hand. She was asleep like a rock!




One of our favorite things to do when visiting David and Sara is visit the outlet mall right by their house. I hate to admit it, but we were there everyday. The first day for the kids, the second day for us and the third day for a quick exchange. What is even more amazing is how many kiddie rides they have at this mall. We only allowed it two times, but they still had a blast sitting on them even if we didn't put money in. Elizabeth is really into pretending and she would talk to all of the "characters"...Garfield, Bob the Builder, the animals... It is actually pretty cute to listen to her. She told the dog on the Hot Dog Truck, "bye, bye, be good and have fun!"

Well, I hope we enjoyed the Tanger Outlet Mall because there is a good chance they might post our picture and ban us from future visits! Grant and Elizabeth decided to have a screaming contest at the Gap, the Loft and everywhere in between. It was horrible and ear piercing. We received some really dirty looks...rightfully so, but it was always followed by lots of giggling and not crying so that's a plus, right? My mom did point out that they only did this on "our" shopping day, not on the day we were shopping for them!

They had so much fun, but it was time to pack up and head home.

If you recall from my first Atlanta post, we had a great flight down. Well, we got to the airport fine, got the car returned fine. Elizabeth's legs were really tired. We had not done a lot, so there was no reason for this. We only had one stroller and it was for Grant, for the 25 pound boy who doesn't know how to walk! Atlanta's airport is huge and there are many trains and terminals to have to take. We were poorly directed to the special stroller security line and waited a long time with kids who really needed a nap. (for some reason they both stayed awake on the way to the airport) This is pretty much when I start noticing that no one is smiling at us. You know that nice smile that says, "ah what a nice family." I am now holding Grant because he was done with the stroller. He is pulling my hair and if he isn't doing that he is biting my shoulder, arm, whatever he can sink his little sharp teeth into and Elizabeth is pretty much refusing to walk! We still aren't through security.

We finally arrive at our gate, only to find out there has been a gate change. I get EB her promised special treat ($4 Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream...$4 just kills me, but a small price to pay if it keeps her happy). We then start rotating to the bathroom. Grant needs his diaper change, Elizabeth needs a pull-up on because surely she will fall asleep on the plane, I have to go, my Mom has to go....and oh yeah they are boarding. I don't have a gate claim ticket for the stroller because they insisted I push the stroller up to the desk to receive the ticket and it was really crowded. Since they have boarded all zones I go to get the tag for the stroller and she wants to scan our boarding passes and I say "oh it will be just a moment, my mother is in the restroom"......insert dirty glare. We get seated and of course Grant is not happy. I don't know if it is his ears or what, but he cries for 30 minutes. The nice looking older woman across the aisle is not amused...insert lots of dirty glares. I send my mom up to the front to get some milk. She is chastised for getting out of her seat and by the way that will be $2. It takes so long to bring the milk to us that Grant has now cried himself to sleep. He is asleep for about 10 minutes and Elizabeth starting crying..."What is wrong?" "It smells! Something stinks!" Well she would know she has a very sensitive nose and she was right it did smell. Or course Grant wakes up...more crying...more dirty looks. This short flight can't land fast enough!

We finally make it to the car with all of our gear and we decide to meet Brandon for dinner at Chili's. Elizabeth informs us that she does not like Chili's and thinks we should write down names of restaurants on a piece of paper and then choose. Where does she come up with this stuff?! We couldn't understand what other restaurants she wanted in the running...something that sounded like Qudoba and Bon Jovi...so we settled on Avanti's....close enough!

Three minutes from the house I see her take a big yawn in the rear-view mirror and then closer her eyes and it is over before I even get a chance to put her in the tub to wash all those airport and airplane germs off of her! C'est la vie!! Never fear we know how to have more fun, tomorrow is the State Fair with my dad!! Hope you have your listening ears on Pops because a little three year old is going to have a lot of "whys?" (she thinks there are going to be hippos!)

Wonderful trip, but always good to be home!

ATL: Playground

The neighborhood also has a great playground. The first time we visited David and Sara, Elizabeth was only a few months old. The second time she was old enough to do the baby swings. This time she could do it ALL! Grant was big enough to do the smaller area. He will climb on anything and there were steps leading into a tunnel which was perfect for him....until Elizabeth got in the tunnel/tube thing behind him and decided he wasn't moving fast enough and gave him a shove....to which he returned a bite. You can picture the scene right?

I have cut Elizabeth off of the baby swings and she now has to do the big swings. Honestly, her legs are just too long to lift her up into those baby swings! She is still trying to get the hand of pumping her legs and we still do a lot of pushing, but she will get there!
Grant loves to swing and it always brings a smile to his face! Plus, it saves his poor little knees from crawling around on the hard stuff! Elizabeth did take a little tumble that resulted in a few skinned knees, but I think it was extra dramatic because she was soooo tired!

ATL: Neighborhood Pool

David and Sara's subdivision has an awesome pool. It has a zero depth entry, a water slide and four water features. The slide wasn't one, but the kids didn't nkow any different! There is also a 6 inch water level with a few little fountains. Elizabeth could pretty much touch everywhere and with her new confidence in her swimming (really pretty much treading water, but that's ok!) she had a blast! Grant loved being able to splash around and crawl in the water. He really liked to walk too if you held his hands. Still no steps yet, but he gets a little closer everyday! Tooth #8 did start to break through this week!


The best part was, we had this entire pool to ourselves! We had the best of both worlds. We were able to swim with David and Sara at their house when they got home from work and we could go to the big pool during the day. We all came home a little browner! It was like staying at a resort. The weather was absolutely perfect all week.

ATL: Noah's Ark

We were very lucky to have Uncle David Tuesday afternoon. He took us to a place called Noah's Ark. It is kind of like a zoo, but really open and lots of paths to walk. It was perfect in the shade, a little toasty in the sun. There were a ton of emus, which is one of Elizabeth's favorite animals at our zoo. There was also an exhibit with a lion, tiger and bear living together. There were also two tiger cubs and a bear cub being raised together (pictured below). There were wolves, leopords, monkeys and lots of birds (very chatty, loud birds). Those animals were all caged, obviously. Then there was a pony and a donkey with free range. Elizabeth was in the height of her glory! She could stand between the two of them and pet them at the same time. The pony was just her size and she asked if she could ride it. Now Grant on the other hand did not appreciate these free range animals because he was trying to eat lunch and the pony thought his black beans looked pretty good. We also had a large ducky family that followed us half of the time, again after GR's food! They were pecking at the stroller and my feet! For fear of my son getting pecked I had to throw his food away. David and Elizabeth got about five feet from a deer and even then the deer didn't move, but David wisely decided that was probably close enough!


Not really knowing what to expect of Noah's Ark, I was impressed. It was very scenic and it was nice to be out in the fresh air enjoying the animals. The kids loved it and fell asleep as soon we got in the car. Great fun! Thanks David!

Destination Atlanta (ATL)

This week my Mom and I took the kids to Atlanta to visit David and Sara. We were just looking for a little get away and break from our normal routines. We had a very successful flight with the kids. It is only an hour and a half, which is nice. I was armed with every snack and toy (iPad!) imaginable. Grant still sits in my lap, but Elizabeth had her own seat. By the time we touched down I think we had all sat in all three seats! Of course as soon as the "fasten seat belt light" came on to indicate we were starting our descent, Elizabeth says, "I have to go potty." I was going to make her hold it, but the adult in front of us got up to go, so we did too! We got a pretty dirty look from the flight attendant, but other than that a wonderful flight! We navigated through terminals, trains, trams and a rental car center with two kids, two suitcases and two large car seats!




David and Sara have a beautiful pool at their house. Elizabeth tried to take her clothes off and just get in! We managed to hold her back until David and Sara got home from work!

I had high hopes of having a bed to myself, but Elizabeth seemed to need a sleeping partner. Grant decided he didn't want to go to bed (any night) and never sleep through the night. However, EB and I did sleep in to 8:30 twice...ok so that is EST, but still proves it is possible for this girl to sleep past 7am CST!!

I didn't take my camera, so all of the pictures are cell phone quality. I needed the luggage space for the outlet mall ;) More posts to come on all of the fun we had!

3D

I don't remember the last time I got to go to a movie with a girlfriend. So today Jessica and I were "gleeks" and saw Glee 3D. We had to have a picture of us in our cool 3D glasses. Of course, we were such mommies and during all of the other 3D previews commented how much our kids would love this or that (Lion King 3D...yes for sure!)

Well it is about to strike midnight and my pumpkin, I mean bed is calling. Tomorrow we hit the road (tarmac) for Atlanta! Uncle David and Aunt Sara, I hope you are ready for us!! I have a very excited 3 year old that is ready to see you! Don't tell her, but she painted you a beautiful watercolor (black paint on orange paper, a real pre-Halloween masterpiece) but there just wasn't room for it ;)

Some Days

My first wake up call was at 1:00 am with Elizabeth. She had to go potty. This is the first time she has ever woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I took care of that and back to dreamland, but not for long. An hour later she is climbing into bed with us. We typically don't allow her to sleep with us, but I wasn't in the mood for an argument so I let her climb in to cuddle. Brandon still had his half of the bed, but Elizabeth and I didn't sleep great. She was very restless and just didn't seem comfortable. She managed to stay quiet until 6:00 and the whining started. Brandon sent her back upstairs with juice and we turned Mickey Mouse on while waiting for little brother to wake up. We all headed down for breakfast around 7:00. She really couldn't decided what she wanted, but finally decided a muffin and apple juice would be ok. Five minutes later I notice she has gulped her juice and is just staring at the muffin (not like Elizabeth) and then she says, "Mommy my tummy hurts"...quickly followed by a burp and the juice coming back up. I get her all cleaned up and she is most upset about her vitamin that was sitting next to her muffin that she hadn't gotten down yet. Poor thing! No problem, we have more vitamins!

As I hold her I can tell she is feverish. Sure enough 99 degrees warm. For low grade fevers I try to just let them run their course, after all it is the body's way of getting rid of the sickness. After moping around and watching a lot of TV we finally got showered and dressed. She lays down on our bed at 10:40 and sleeps for almost two hours. Yeah, this can't be good. When she wakes up her fever is over 101...time for some meds. She perks up and really wants to play outside. I hold her off as long as I can and her fever was back to 99 so I give in to a little fresh air. Grant and Jack were thankful for seeing the outdoors too! Shortly after coming in she starts to fade. Back to couch and more TV watching. By the time Brandon gets home around six, the fever is back up to 102 and it's obvious that only the meds are keeping her temp down. So another dose it is.

Meanwhile, I am preparing tilapia for dinner. Yes, we have been eating seafood/fish once a week! I am not sure the shrimp alfredo we had last week was healthy, but it is in the seafood category! If you recall Grant loved the tilapia last time. I baked lemon pepper tilapia and roasted cherry tomatoes with garlic and basil and we had some of my grandma Briggs wonderful sweet corn...yummy dinner. (thanks grandma!) I had just finished buttering my corn, ready to take my first bite and Elizabeth wants more strawberries. Well since it is pretty much the only thing she has eaten I get up to cut more strawberries. She takes one bite of the berries and one bite of corn and retires to the couch. Grant in the meantime has polished off his strawberries and has decided that tonight he does NOT like tilapia and starts throwing it on the floor. Jack apparently, does enjoy tilapia. After he has thrown the large pieces he begins just banging the little pieces on his tray and smashing them to a pulp. Then starts the goat sounds of "ma, ma maaaa, ma, ma" which sounds really cute like he is saying Mama, but really it just means "more" because he only does it when there is food around. Yeah, sorry buddy we are not giving you more food to throw!

Elizabeth fell asleep on the couch and Daddy carried her upstairs to bed. Poor baby is still burning up. I just checked on her and she is so sweaty that I am not sure if her fever broke or if she is sweating in her sleep like usual.

Some days are more fun than others. Oh yeah, Grant had a mysterious rash appear today too. Who knows what it is from, but we will hope he wakes up with less bumpy, blotchy skin tomorrow! I got this great picture of Brandon cleaning up after Grant's fish throwing fun. Thanks honey!

Signed-up!

I am so excited that Elizabeth is old enough to have a vast number of activities available for her age group. Since we aren't putting her in pre-school until next fall we are going to use this year to try out some new things. Brandon and I didn't want to overwhelm her, so we are going to wait until spring for ballet. We figure a little extra maturity might help when trying to perfect first position! We may try soccer or t-ball in the spring too. My only guideline is that the activities can be done during the day in order to preserve our evening family time.

This fall she will pick back up her swimming lessons. We were so thrilled to learn that the same coach would be back. We got in on an earlier time slot too, which will be better than 11:30 like we had in the spring. She is going to do pre-school tumbling as well. This is a drop off class so it will be quite a step up from the tumble tots class we did with her before. She is also registarered for Sunday School. She will be in the 3 year old class. I am actually going to co-teach the 4-5 year old class.

Hard to believe it is almost back to school time! I am starting to get the fall clothes shopping itch! I love all th seasons, but I love the transition between them the best. Bring on the football and pull out the sweaters!

Elizabeth Turns 3!

We had Elizabeth's birthday party on Sunday. This was her first "friend" birthday party. She wanted to invite her best friends Gavin, Lauren, Hannah and Andrea. I don't know how but we ended up with 28 people! We decided to purchase a bouncy house rather than rent one. We figured we had lots of years of bouncing ahead of us! Brandon's only stipulation was that it was big enough for him!


We took Elizabeth outside and started to inflate it before her friends arrived. I don't think she quite understood at first, but it didn't take long for her to catch on! It was a little warm out and the kids had worked up a good sweat before dinner. Elizabeth's favorite meal is steak and mushrooms, but given our large guest lists we had pulled pork sandwiches instead! The kids ate a little and went back to bouncing. Although Elizabeth had started asking if everyone was done eating, because she knew after dinner it was gift opening time!


Elizabeth was one very lucky girl to receive so many awesome gifts! She said the same things after opening each one, "Is it mine? Do I get to keep it? Can I play with it now? Can I try it on now?" Our reply, each time, "Yes it is yours, yes you can keep it, but we will have to play with it later" We were up until 9:00 pm playing with new toys! As tired as she was from all of the activity she was pretty wound up too! When we finally got her to bed and kissed her goodnight she looked at us and simply said, "I had fun." What more could you ask for?



The theme was ice cream cones. I made ice cream cone cake pops and a large ice cream cone cake, because you can't put candles in a cake pop! I was teased that the ice cream cone cake resembled a hot air balloon before I was completely done frosting it. Guess it's good to know that I could also make a hot air balloon cake!




Elizabeth did wake up at 3:30 this morning crying that her legs hurt. I asked her if she thought it was from all the jumping and she thought it probably was. We got an ice pack (boo bunny) and she was able to go back to sleep. She woke up ready to jump more! The grass couldn't dry fast enough! Lauren came over and jumped with her all morning and even had lunch with us. I told her she was lucky to get to eat lunch with her "bestie" (meaning best friend). She said, "Mom, I'm not testy, is Lauren testy?"


Grant was pretty curious about the cake. He was trying to look up to see it on the counter!


We measured the big birthday girl tonight and she is 3 feet 4 1/4 inches tall. We had steak and mushrooms for her birthday meal tonight. We ate half of it downstairs in the basement though because the tornado sirens went off during dinner. When we came back up she wanted more mushrooms. Daddy had already finished them. Elizabeth asked me to cook her some more. I told her we didn't have anymore. She told me that wasn't a problem I could just go to the store and get some more! One package of mushrooms just isn't enough for Brandon and Elizabeth (I don't even take any!)

We had a great party on Sunday and a nice quiet day on her birthday. One thing is for certain, I will get more sleep tonight than I got three years ago (remember that the first night in the hospital Mom?!)

(I have written this one post in three different sessions, trying to capture two days of birthday fun and I am pretty sure it is all mixed up and the written in an inconsistent tense...but it's all here!)

3 Years Ago...

...right about now, I was laying in a hospital bed. The petosin (sp?) that they had given me to start labor was starting to kick in. I was watching Conan, Mom and Brandon were alseep in chairs next to me with their feet propped up on my bed. "Wake-up people, it's starting to hurt and you guys are sleeping!"

We have just finished Elizabeth's 3rd birthday party (more posts to come on that!)...her first party with friends. I just lay here thinking, how did she get to be three so fast? Looking back at pictures, she looks older now because her hair is longer. I told her tonight that I wanted to cut it! She said "at Mimi's?" I don't think cutting her hair is going to make her grow up any slower, but it's just hard to believe that my baby girl turns 3 tomorrow. They just grow up too fast!

There just isn't much that she can't (or won't) do. She is very verbal and all of these things make her seem like such a big girl. She is going to do so much! I can't even imagine what she will do with all of the thoughts inside her head. Her expressions are priceless and I can't even begin to describe how cute it is to watch her tell a really big story that she is so excited about. You can almost see the energy and bubbles overflowing from her! She is so much fun. Her hugs and kisses goodbye are at their best. "Just one more kiss Mommy" "Can I give you a kiss?" A hug and a kiss go hand in hand with Elizabeth...you get them both!! It usually takes a minimum of 4 kisses from the grandparents or mommy and daddy to satisfy her!

She loves animals. She loves her little brother (as long as he isn't messing with her stuff). She loves sugar (what can I say, she's my daughter!). She loves to run and play. She loves to books. She loves bath time (hates having her hair washed though). She loves to watch Mickey Mouse. She loves to have quiet time by herself to play (which usually involves getting water from the bathroom to play with in her kitchen set). She loves to go swimming. She loves to play with her friends. She loves McDonald's. She loves pancakes for breakfast. She loves to be "wrapped up like a baby." She loves her monkey (security toy). She loves picking tomatoes. She loves to dance...

...And three years ago today I didn't even know if I was having a baby girl or a baby boy. How did we get so lucky?

VBS Wrap-up

This is a picture of Elizabeth in her VBS shirt. The kids wore their shirts to church on Sunday and I was hoping for a little performance. At least a little "Jesus Loves Me," but that didn't really materialize. Anyway, it was a great week and this is a picture of her in a cheerleading pose. They sent a picture of her doing this with pom poms home and when I asked if I could take her picture with her shirt on she immediately went into this pose! The theme for VBS was "Go the Distance", a sports based theme. I know she had a good time and is now really excited for Sunday School!

St. Jude

My Dad recently completed the Memphis to Peoria St.Jude run. I took the kids to see him off. There were almost 200 runners and 5 of them were former St.Jude patients. It is amazing what St.Jude does and the support this community gives it. I am so honored to be able to support my Dad in this awesome endeavor.

My Mom also took the kids to see his team run when they were closer on Saturday. Elizabeth even helped make posters! She of course had a lot of questions about what Pops was doing. I tried my best to explain that his efforts help make sick kids better and that not all kids are as lucky to be healthy like her. She reminded me of a time when she got sick after eating an apple. I tried to reiterate that these kids are sick all the time. She knew that Pops was finishing his run on Saturday and Friday night at bedtime she still had lots of questions and finally said, "So when Pops is done running all the kids will be healthy?" If it were only that easy. I love the innocence of a child.

A big thank you to all of the St.Jude runners! My Dad always says, "we do it for the kids." You don't have to look very far to realize how lucky and blessed we are, even on our worst days.

New Counter Tops!

A big hats off to Brandon who worked his tail off this week and weekend to get our kitchen project completed in time for Elizabeth's birthday party.

We had granite installed on Monday and because we had already done a tile back splash earlier in the year, we had a little more work to do after the granite went in...mainly add some more tile! There was a lot of grout that had to be cleaned out and it was a noisy, dusty job that Brandon worked on after a long day at work. We cleaned up on Saturday evening, finishing the job a full 24 hours before party time, a new record! Good job honey!

A New View

Sometimes you live with something for so long that you begin to not even notice it. This is what happened to us and our "back yard." Technically we have a field behind our house. It has been used as a place for extra dirt to go when new construction goes up. Unfortunately, it also attracted a lot of other dumping and you could lose a small child in the weeds growing on top of the mounds (well you could lose Jack's frisbees). The neighborhood kids loved to ride their bikes back there and some even brought shovels to make paths. I am glad they had fun, after all riding bikes and getting dirty sounds like summer fun, but it was kind of an eye sore out our back windows.

Earlier this week a bulldozer arrived. My immediate reaction was pure panic, as I feared they were going to start an expansion. I would much rather look at dirt piles than new houses, but I got up the nerve to take the operator a cold drink and ask what was going on. Much to my relief the farmer had decided to clean it up and was ready to plant more alfalfa. Hooray!!

The kids loved watching the dozer and tractor work. Grant especially loved pressing his nose against the slider and watching the dirt move.

Blogger help!!

I am hoping that some of you that read my blog can help with an issue that I am having. In preparation to have my blog put into a book some day for my kids I am realizing that I really need to put caption with my photos. I have no idea how to do this and a few of the searches that I did for it get very intense (I am not a computer programer!!)

Do any of my fellow blogspot bloggers have any suggestions?

VBS Funny

VBS Day 3 = Success!!! I kept my distance and she did great! I think she was even dancing and singing a little at the closing :)

Ok, so here is the "funny". Yesterday she told me that a teacher said "wheat butt"....wheat butt? wee butt? What??? I had no clue what she was talking about, but the word butt was very clear. I don't like her using this word, so of course she thought it was hilarious that someone else was saying it. I have to admit I was not overly pleased that the word butt was being used, especially at VBS. I asked my friend Jessica if her little boy had mentioned anything about this and she said no.

Last night I am tucking her in and I ask her if she has learned any new prayers that she would like to share. Yes! She breaks into "Jesus loves me" and then stops.
"Do you know the rest?"
"No"
So I continue for her "for the bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, we are WEAK BUT He is strong" A big case of the giggles follows!

It wasn't "wheat butt" but "weak but!" You can only imagine trying to explain this grammar lesson to a child that doesn't read or spell!!!

Grant even dropped his bottle and started clapping his hands as we sang "Jesus Loves Me!" Too cute! He just wanted to be part of the laughter. I love my kids!!!

VBS Take 2

A Mommy Fail Moment: When as a mother, you know you have screwed up and your child got the short end of the stick due to your actions

VBS went so well Sunday night that I let my guard down during Monday night's session. I had gone downstairs to peak at her and she was doing great. She was well behaved, quietly sitting there, being our precious Elizabeth. So I got brave and said I would help with their pictures. I had helped the bigger kids the first day and Monday was the little ones turn for pictures. Well she was doing great until she saw me. She let me help her with the picture and then when I told her it was time to rejoin her group her eyes welled up with tears. Mommy Fail Moment. I knew better. She was doing fine on her own. It took 20 minutes of water works and coercing to convince her to rejoin the group for the final few minutes. Bless her heart, she did. She sat in the pew and barely participated in the closing songs, but at least she was there and not crying.

The next challenge was to convince her to go back the next day. As we walked out she was crying saying "I don't want to come back." Well I wasn't willing to let her off that easy. I explained that it was my fault and we were going to choose not to cry the next day. We will see how she does. I will be keeping my distance!

BLT's & VBS

Brandon has been waiting, very patiently, all summer for his precious yellow tomatoes to be ripe. This weekend it finally happened! We were prepared. We had stocked up on bread, lettuce and bacon and we were ready for the official meal of summer... BLT's!! They were delicious and worth the wait!


Sunday night Vacation Bible School started at our church. Elizabeth was just a week shy of the cut off, but they were kind enough to let her join. Her friend Gavin signed up too. I was going to volunteer, but asked that I not be in her area or age group. This is the first solo activity Elizabeth has done and she was very excited about it. My friend walked the kiddos into the sanctuary and said Elizabeth was pretty wide eyed! There were about a 100 kids on the first night. The little ones were on the lower level of the church for the two hours and I never saw her. I was very anxious to hear her version on the way home. This was some of the info I got from her:

"We played a game, freeze means stop" (freeze tag I assume)
"We sang a song" (last night she said it was something about Kingdom, today in the bath she said it was about walls coming down)
"We read a book about coconuts and ABC's" (uh..not sure about this one, maybe something is lost in translation here!)
"Gavin whispered something in my ear...we are going to have a special treat"
"We had a snack with marshmallows and lemonade!"
"Can I go back tomorrow?"

YEAH!!! Success!!