With or Without you...

It is really hard for me to believe that B is turning 3 in just a week. However, when she starts one of her conversations with me it feels more like she is turning 13 (which is especially scary to J!) She is so very precious to us.

What has been even harder to believe, is that lately we have been leaving our kids more often...and they don't seem to mind! Both sets of grandparents have been amazing with watching them so we could go on dates (we have definitely been trying to make up for lost time!), and I think this has made all the difference for us. In Pasadena, there was an all-out hysterical melt-down if mommy and daddy even attempted to drop them off at kids' church. Now they head right into Sunday School, B's dance class, the childcare for MOPS, and now EVEN the gym childcare, with only an occasional slight whimper. If you had told me six months ago that this would be the case, I never would have believed you. I think it is because we left them with adoring grandparents first and eased them into the idea that mommy and daddy do sometimes do things without them.

It just makes me realize how big they are getting and how much easier life is becoming in certain ways. It seems more emotionally draining these days, but far less physically draining. I can do things like the dishes or take a shower while they are awake. Sounds silly, but those things are a pretty big deal.

Although, I must admit that watching them head off with not so much as a sad glance as I walk out the door does make me have a twinge of sadness myself. My babies are growing up and definitely don't "need" me as much as they used to. After all, that little girl was pretty much constantly in my arms for the first 12-18 months of her life. But, luckily, that twinge of sadness passes as I am able to have a little time to re-energize. And, who knew exercise could be so relaxing!?!

Retiring the Boots

This post is to commemorate the retirement of T's Mickey Mouse boots. After a complete year of faithful service and intense duties, including being worn all night (quite often), being worn through all seasons and in extreme temperatures (from 22 - 115 degrees), and being used to spread red paint throughout our house, they will be finding their final resting place. They are literally falling apart at the seams (who knew rubber could do that?) and they have a stench like none other. They have been a favorite shoe and have served T well through his year of being two. They are being succeeded by a new pair of fire man boots. We will miss you old reds....

Now a tribute in pictures...

Playtime

Hometime

Climbing trees together

At the Aquarium

Just being themselves (while skateboarding on a plate :)

At Bass Pro shop...

Their last Christmas together

*** A special thank you goes out to the Newlove family for giving the treasured Mickey boots to us last year. You know us well!

Our Little Ballerina

B has been excited about taking her first dance class for months. She loved the idea of the ballet shoes and leotards and tights. She even liked the idea of dancing with a teacher and other little girls. My fear was that she wouldn't be so excited when the day actually came and that we would dread each Wednesday morning. However, I didn't have too much to be worried about.

Last Wednesday, B was completely dressed in her entire ballet outfit by 8 a.m. even though her parks and rec. "Ballet, Tap, and Tumbling" class didn't start until 11 a.m. She proudly walked down the hallway to her class and went right on in with her dance bag and all. She didn't even seem bothered when the teacher told all of us mothers that we had to leave. (Personally, I thought we should be welcome to watch a 2-3 year olds dance class, but we were left only peering in through the small window next to the door. However, I have some pretty sweet video taken through the reinforced glass, I must say.)

As the class began, B was listening to the teacher, but then as I see the other girls tapping in a circle, I see her laying on one the mats a little ways away despite the teacher's prodding. She later told me she was just feeling a bit tired. Next she got up, and grabbed her dance bag. I am thinking she is packing up to go, but she comes over to the door and waits until I open. "I can't find my lunch in my bag," she says. I explain that we aren't going to have lunch until after. "But I'm HUNGRY!" I hand her two little crackers from some random bag in my purse and tell her that she should go and dance with the other girls. I did not think this was going to work.

Thankfully those crackers rejuvenated her just in time to take off the tap shoes and switch to her ballet shoes. From there on out she followed the teacher's directions and had a wonderful time spinning around, pretending she was a butterfly, and fluttering around the room. She also enjoyed the tumbling portion and the butterfly stamp she got at the end. She walked out of that room quite proud of herself, saying, "That was so much fun!" She then asked when her next class was, and I happily told her that it was next week. I was relieved and so happy that she had fun! I can't wait until the last week of class when I get to come in and watch rather than just peer through the window like a peeping Tom!

Our Sweet Little Gifts

We had a lovely Christmas with the family. Lots of delicious food, sweet memories with family, and plenty of grins by the kids. The day after Christmas we went up North to play in the snow at Nana and Papa's cabin and had such a great time sledding (though we didn't last too long in the cold!) It's funny how all of the excitement of the holidays creates great memories, but they still are not overshadowed by the everyday sweet moments with our kids.

A couple of such moments took place about a day after we had arrived home, when B's cough had turned into what appeared to be a pretty raging ear infection. She was crying until 3 in the morning telling us how badly it hurt. As I snuggled her on the couch in the middle of the night, and J and I tried to discuss what we should do, she figured out we were contemplating a doctor visit. She was extremely opposed to this idea and started telling us anything she could figure out would be a reason not to take her, "It feels better! I like it when it really hurts!" She also proceeded to yell these things as we took her in to the pediatrician the next morning. She was much calmer when she left with a prescription and no shot. We went by the pharmacy after the appointment, but found that their window was closed and we would have to come back by later. T did not like this plan and said, "We need B's medicine!" When we told him it wasn't ready and we would get it later, he said, "BUT, B's hurting!" How cute it is to see him look out for his sister! These sweet kids are truly the best gifts we could have imagined this holiday season.

Best "Nap Drive" Reads of '09

I am afraid that I am about to bid a fond farewell to a close friend the toddlers are quickly outgrowing: naptime. 2009 was the year of the nap drive. At the beginning of this year I quite blissfully discovered that if I drove the kids around for a while I could ultimately park and get up to a 2 hour simultaneous nap out of them, equaling 2 hours of quiet reading time for me. I can't begin to explain the impact this has had on my life, however, I will say one great perk was that it provided me the opportunity to read quite a few incredible books. Because I LOVE when people recommend books to me, I thought I would share my list of favorites by genre (but in no particular order):

Spiritual:

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller

Prayer: Does it Make a Difference? - Philip Yancey

Mudhouse Sabbath - Lauren Winner

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

Same Kind of Different As Me - Ron Hall and Denver Moore

Africa:

There is No Me Without You - Melissa Faye Green

What is the What - Dave Eggers

Racial Discussions:

I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla - Marguerite Wright

Why Are All of The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? - Beverly Daniel Tatum

Parenting:

Raising Cain - Kindlon and Thompson

Raising Strong Daughters - Mc Minn

How to Talk So Your Kids Will Listen and Listen so Your Kids Will Talk - Faber and Mazlish

Mask of Motherhood - Susan Maushart

Einstein Never Used Flashcards - Golinkoff Ph.D., Hirsh-Pasek Ph.D., and Eyer Ph.D.

The Power of Play - David Elkind

Historical Fiction:

Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Minister's Wooing - Harriet Beecher Stowe

Lineage of Grace - Francine Rivers

The Centurion's Wife - Oke and Bunn

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Hosseini

Now, it is your turn to post some suggestions for 2010!

'Twas the Week Before Christmas...

Amidst all of the excitement, sugar, nativity story-reading, advent calendar chocolate eating, and sheer pleasure over receiving interesting mail,* here are some of the happenings at our house over the last week or so...

*Note: Our kids are obsessed with holiday photo cards, they pour over them and trade them and look at them again. It's pretty hilarious. If you sent us one, be sure it was quite closely examined and prized!

Making letters out of peanut butter play dough (this was way more fun than I imagined it would be)

A fun visit to the Zoo with Grandma that was eventually rained out (Thanks SO much for the passes, Nana and Papa!)

McCormick Train Park Christmas Lights night with our fun friends, the Hedricks.

Baking a birthday cake for Jesus ( I am not sure why T suddenly is shirtless and angry in the frosting picture - but apparently a lot can happen while a cake is baking :)

And last, but definitely not least, one of the most special happenings this week took place while Daddy and Papa were out back staining some cabinet doors for us, and T ran through the wet grass which had unbeknownst to us turned some dried up red paint into fresh, perfect-for-running-through red paint. Then T ran, "really way fast" through the house in his red boots creating a very festive figure eight of red paint throughout the entire family room. Here he is showcasing (that's for you, Ry and Didi) it as I was cleaning (or rather creating giant pink blotches all over) the carpet. B tells a pretty great version of the story if you have a while :)

We are all pretty excited for Christmas and hope you and yours have a blessed one, too!

He's Back!

Daddy is officially back! We were so happy to have him home! He took off Friday and Monday giving us lots of time to reconnect after being away for so long. We caught up on the fun Christmas activities we had planned to do, and we took lots of long naps since he and I were both feeling a bit under-the-weather.

Our first activity was making gingerbread houses. I decided that maybe we would try a new kit this year which was made up of a "mini-village" of gingerbread houses. Last year, J had put on red frosting which dripped down all over the door of our other house making it look more like Passover than Christmas, and the kids had just focused on eating the frosting, so I thought maybe something new would be good. Well, that was not the case, since these things were tiny and impossible to assemble (who are these people kidding?) We ended up decorating one-dimensional pieces of houses.

Looks just like the picture, right?! :)

That night we made hot caramel apple cider and took it with us to see the Christmas Lights on Natal Street, which was a lot of fun!

B LOVED the cider and you can see her proudly carrying it with her.

The next morning, we continued our "sugar-fest" by cutting out, baking, and decorating sugar cookies. Then we consumed them in what must have been record time.

Our last special activity was our trip to the Science Museum where the kids saw their first planetarium show, which they enjoyed (once the guide started letting T push the buttons so he would stop asking to leave.)

Having J out of town sure makes us appreciate each other and our precious kids even more. It makes us excited for our holiday time coming up, too!