Standing Tall

Yep, that's Lily; Not yet 7 months old standing by herself. Of course she can only manage to stand for a second or two before landing on her bum with a big thump. She keeps doing it though, so she is showing signs of being fearless like her big brother, Ryan. You know, the one who climbed on top of his cozy coupe at 1 year of age and loved to perch atop this walker.

Ahhhh

I think this is the first time this has happened in 7 months...
It's 9PM and all the kids are asleep! Jay is at Bible study and the house is [mostly] clean. This means for the first time in as long as I can remember I get to totally choose what I want to do with no very little guilt. After all, there are dishes I could do and I need to get the rest of Lily's 9 month clothes out of the box, but those things can wait for a little while. So, what do I choose to do with all my free time? Well obviously I am blogging and I'm also watching Dancing with the Stars. Oh and I am also TiVoing NCIS and The Unit because I can't miss them, but Jay likes them too. Have I mentioned that I love my TiVo? This post is starting to sound like a cry for help...HELP! I can't stop multi-tasking! I guess When I get free time I don't want to waste it relaxing or anything;-)

Bath Story in Pictures

This is the first time Ryan let me do fun stuff with his hair, so I wanted to document the occasion.

He *thinks* soap got in his eyes. No amount of explaining it was just water and he'll be okay works, so I did what any good mother would do and took a picture. What? That's not what you would do?

This is the immediate result of seeing the previous picture.

He continued to talk about his crying face and laugh for a while.

Then I said, "Let me see your muscles" :-)

This has been the story of a bath. Brought to you by the letter 'B' and the number '3'. (Can you tell we watched Sesame Street this morning?)

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Important Things about Jesus (to a 3 year old)

Ryan bent down and picked up a plastic coin from the floor. Holding it up to me he said, "Is this mine?"
I replied, "Yes, it is." Then he told me he was going to hold it and bring it to Sunday school and put it in the bag. This coupled with the necklace he was wearing after Sunday school last week that said "I can worship God by giving" led me to think he wanted to give his money to the church. How sweet. I said, "Oh, you want to give your money at church for Jesus?"
He said "Yes."
I told him, "That is not a real coin, but I think it is wonderful that you want to give your money to the church for Jesus. Maybe we can get some money from your bank and give it to Jesus."
"Yes," he said as if his mind were already somewhere else. "Where is Jesus?" How do you answer that for a three year old?
I went with "Jesus is everywhere, but He lives in Heaven with God."
To which he replies, "Oh. Does Jesus have Humbers[Hummers] to go on the roads?"
Holding back my laughter, "I don't think Jesus has Hummers. He liked to walk."
Ryan, knowing how wise and cool Jesus was/is, disagrees, "I think Jesus does have Humbers."

So much to blog so little time!

I have some back-blogging to do, so be on the lookout for posts before this one until I catch up! I'll start with Ryan's birthday on Saturday and work my way up to the orchard yesterday.

Ryan's 3rd Birthday Party

We had so much fun at Ryan's party. Of course the theme was Cars because he is obsessed with anything with wheels and he especially loved the movie Cars. Half of the invited guests couldn't make it, but Friend Ben and Emily did come and Ryan enjoyed his buds. We played with cars and ate some english muffin pizzas and some snacks...

We enjoyed a little Rim Toss. Emily especially liked this game, but she didn't especially like standing behind the "line"
;-)

The kiddies made some graham cracker cars with yummy treats and pretzel wheels. Ben really liked the hershey bar windows. You might notice his car is windowless;-)

Ryan blew out the candles and we ate some cake.

Ryan opened his gifts and the kids played semi-nicely together with Ryan's loot. I guess you can't expect too much sharing from a toddler with his brand new toys.

It's Happening So Fast

My babies are growing up so fast! Lily is getting around better and faster now. She doesn't usually crawl though. She kind of ambles about in a bear walk. Every once in a while she will drop down to her knees and rock, but she usually gets back up on her feet when she wants to move. I've never seen another baby get around quite like her. She is making more sounds now. 'Ah-ba' and 'da-da' are her newest conversational pieces. Ryan is also increasing his repertoire. He speaks very well though he is still learning grammar. He has also has finally taken an interest in drawing. He is quite proud of his ability to draw circles and triangles. The biggest change of all and what is hardest for me to deal with is the big boy gymnastics. Next week he starts his new class. The class where he goes in alone- without me- all by himself. It makes me nervous. I wonder if he will behave, if he will listen and understand the directions and if he will be scared without me. He seems excited at the idea now, but we will see how it goes when it comes time for him to actually go in by himself. Hopefully I'll be able to hide my own apprehension! There has been something to love about every age and stage so far. I'm sure that won't end just because they need me less.

Here is a picture of my big kids at 6 months and 3 years old.

Oh My!

I turned my back to cut an apple for Ryan and look what I saw when I turned back! I think it is so adorable how visibly proud she is of herself :-)

My children amaze me every day! Like a few days ago when Zach's friend came to the door. Ryan answered it. He opened the door and said, "Hello Aaron. How are you today?" I didn't hear the other end of the conversation, but there was a pause and Ryan said, "No, Zach can't play he is visiting Grandmommy today." Now I've never thought to teach my 3 year old how to answer the door, but he seems to have picked up some very nice manners somewhere.

Ritardando!

Hmmm. I'm sitting here watching Little Einsteins and when they say 'ritardando' things slow down. Think that would work for me? I would just like a little break. A day with no errands to run, no cleaning to do, calm kids who are not sick and needy... Maybe if I say it louder? Yeah I didn't think so.

PS It does make me giggle a little bit inside every time they say it. Maybe because I didn't grow up thinking of it as a musical term ;-)

And So It Continues...

Yesterday I introduced Lily to Giraffe. They seem to get along famously:-) I guess Giraffe makes a great friend for babies. Ryan thinks it's great that Lily likes Giraffe just like he did.

Six Months Old

Yes I know Lily was 6 months old Saturday, but we were both sick and she had red puffy eyes. I took her picture yesterday in the monthday chair and you get your post today. So what is Lily up to this month. She is sitting herself up and she gets around in an inchworm like fashion. She gets her knees or feet up under her and kind of dives forward and repeats this until she gets to her destination with some rolling or squirming involved if she needs to change direction. She can pick up and hold a block. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, especially her big toe. She is mostly a smiley, giggly girl. Who lights up when she sees people she loves. Ryan and daddy are eliciting especially big smiles these days.