Jesus Loves Me

She's 2!

Can you all believe this curly headed beauty is already 2? I find it hard to believe two years have gone by. 

She is spunky, full of smiles and laughter. She is a girl of her own mind and own prerogative. She is the boss of her brothers. She already has the motherly tone to her voice when commanding them do something. 

She has a sensitive heart, and is easily upset by changes in our tone of voice when we are correcting her. She will immediately shut her eyes tight and squeeze out large tears and cry cry cry. Once, Justin found her in our room with the door closed, she was into something she knew she wasn't supposed to be in and when she saw him she instantly knew she was guilty and ran to him crying. He didn't even have to say a word. 

She loves to sing, dance, and talk. She is much more verbal then her brothers were. She's been speaking in sentences for quite a while now. She is very clear about communicating her wants and needs. We can almost always understand what she is saying. 

Some of my favorite things she says are:

• Chaw-cat nolk= chocolate milk
• NO Siah! =  No Josiah!
• I don't wike it = I don't like it
• Mawww - meeee = she says Mommy like this in what sounds like a 13 year old girls voice, when I tell her she can't have chocolate or pens or markers or just anything she wants that I don't let her have. 
• Brush my hair
• Wap da beby = wrap the baby
• Bebe cwying = baby crying
• Je-fer hold me = she says this to my friend Jennifer when she wants her to pick her up
• Lawdy = applesauce
• And she has about 200 more words that she can say! 

Some of her likes and dislikes:

• Food, she loves food! Especially applesauce, peaches, asparagus, green beans, peas, meat, and chocolate. Oh boy does she love chocolate! And ice cream! 
• Still hates bathtime. She despises washing her hair. 
• Loves baby dolls, wrapping them in blankets, carrying them around the house, singing to them, rocking them, putting them down to sleep. 
• Dislikes anyone doing anything for her. She can do it all. 
• Loves for her hair to be brushed with a soft bristle brush. She will sit in my lap for a long time letting me brush her hair. 
• Dislikes her fingernails and toenails clipped. 
• Loves playing in the sink with the water running.
• Dislikes all medical professionals and anyone talking to her that she does not approve of or know very well. She's a screamer and a crier! Church is always a blast. 
• Adores about 6 people from church other than Justin and I. If she loves you she will run to you and cling to you for dear life! 
• Loves tutus and twirling around in them. 
• Loves to rip her hair clips out and fling her hair from side to side as she's running. 
• Loves to read books. 
• Loves to color and write with pens. 
• Loves to sit on the potty and try to go pee pee. 

She is a helper and a cleaner. 

This is her little friend Camilla.

Her hair is so long when it's wet and straight that it touches her shoulder blades. But has soon as it is dry it springs back up to her neck. I love it when she lets me put it in pigtails, she looks so cute! She'll usually rip them out because she likes her hair free and wild. 

She is always taking care of her babies in their bed. She's a good little momma.

We have fight night most evenings after dinner. Leah does not hesitate to get in on the action! She loves for Justin to fling her over his shoulder and flip her over!

These two do a lot of cooking during the day… (when they aren't fighting)

We had a great birthday for her! She gave me this super cheesy smile for most of the pictures!

I stayed up late the night before making her cake and trashing the kitchen. 

She meticulously opened all of her presents. Josiah and Paul could not handle how slow she was at opening them.

Princess shoes!

It was a good thing my mom sent so many baby bottles, because Josiah and Paul use them to feed their puppy "babies".

The cookies and cookie sheet set (Melissa and Doug brand) has been a hit. All 3 of the kids have really enjoyed this. They stick together with velcro and stick to the pan and there is a play knife they can use to slice the cookies. They love it.

And our little family picture using the tripod!

Leah is a beautiful joy to our family! 

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

And here's a video of our chaos and noise and Leah's sensitivity and crying. I just love Paul's excitement to sing Happy Birthday to his sister! 

Summer Memories

Snapshots of things we've done already this summer....

Been making homemade popsicles. 

We tried a fudge pop recipe that was sooo good. It tasted better than what you buy at the store! 

The popsicle molds are made by Tupperware and they are great! 

 We've been swimming in the backyard in our sad little pool. Our bigger one busted. They don't seem to care. They are happy with the hose and some buckets. 

And they must not be able to feel cold, the water is glacier cold coming out of the hose!! And it wasn't even that hot outside.

 Leah likes to drive her car around under the tree while eating her cheerios and occasionally getting a drink from the pool. 

 Paul is our water-lover. No fear. Full steam ahead. 

 COOOLD! 

 This is what Josiah likes to do. Lay on his towel and talk. And talk. And talk. And ask questions. 

J: "Mom, when is there children's day?"

M: What are you talking about? I have never heard of children's day?

J: "There's a happy mother's day and father's day. So when is there a happy children's day? 

M: uhhhh.... everyday son... 

M: Happy Children's Day, today! I cooked you breakfast, & lunch, washed your clothes, wiped your poop off the toilet seat, got the back yard ready for swimming, got you snacks and water, and made sure you had sunscreen on so you didn't get a burn... did I do enough for you today to make you have a happy children's day?

J: "Oh, yeah, thanks mom." :)

We experimented making sidewalk chalk paint. It was an easy mixture of 1/4 cup cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water and a few drops of food coloring. The kids had a fun time painting everything! I think Leah had the most fun. The nice thing was it easily washed off them, their clothes, and the sidewalk. No stains!

Last Saturday we headed to the hills for a church picnic at Sylvan Lake. It was such a beautiful day! There's a beach area with really shallow water. The kids were in heaven! Especially Paul, he was in the water nearly the whole time!

I love this picture of him!

Josiah did a lot of climbing on the rocks. He and Justin went on a little hike too.

Then there was a minor... sort of minor... vomiting incident in the water for EVERYONE to see. 

Josiah started coughing, he got choked on the water (he gags easy), and before we know it, he's coughing so hard he starts gag-vomiting, then full-on upheaval. We were ALL sitting on the beach watching this unfold and you hear everyone simultaneously do the "that's so gross" gasping and "ewww" as he's throwing up in the water. It was a sight to behold. 

We are making memories, people! HA!

Paul eventually got out of the water and realized he'd been swimming in GLACIER water on top of a mountain and his internal body temperature was frozen! I don't know how they weren't freezing while swimming! He huddled under the blanket for an hour in the sun and then he went and got right back in the water.

It's been a great start to the summer!