This morning when I came upstairs to get the kids ready for the day. Trey was reading the Bible to Charlotte in her room. He was sitting on the floor and she was sitting up in her crib. I was standing by the door when I hear him reading. Here is the story he told her,
"Once upon a time there was God (points to a picture of Moses in the Bible) and he was wearing a green shirt (Moses did have on a green shirt). And then the wise men came on animals (The next page had a picture of men riding donkeys). .... Charlotte, are you listening? Listen, Charlotte!"
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Snow Day Flashback
Getting ready to go outside. We had no power from Sunday night until Monday afternoon, so that meant no showers on Monday morning :)
I don't think I can move!
Trey was so sad when the snow disappeared. He played outside with Jay all morning on Monday and then after his nap he wanted to go back into the snow. We tried to explain that the snow had melted. He insisted it was still there and then looked out every window upstairs trying to find it. It's hard to understand why the snow goes away when you are 2. He keeps saying now, "Maybe it will snow again another day."
All bundled up
I don't think I can move!
Charlotte had on so many layers she couldn't keep herself from falling over in the snow!
After falling over Charlotte was done with the snow, so we went inside for her nap. Jay and Trey continued to explore outside.
Making snowballs
Trying to climb tall mountains
Finding sticks in the woods
With all the wet, heavy snow and wind a tree branch fell across all driveway.
Trey was so sad when the snow disappeared. He played outside with Jay all morning on Monday and then after his nap he wanted to go back into the snow. We tried to explain that the snow had melted. He insisted it was still there and then looked out every window upstairs trying to find it. It's hard to understand why the snow goes away when you are 2. He keeps saying now, "Maybe it will snow again another day."
Monday, February 20, 2012
First Snowfall of the Year
Yesterday morning we left for church a little skeptical of all the bad weather that was being predicted. By the time we arrived home, flakes were falling from the sky and about an hour later the grass was covered. The snow fell pretty heavily the rest of the day and into the evening. We had a good 4 inches covering everything. You can see the snow falling behind Charlotte.
"Did you hear about the snow we have in my backyard?"
After naps we got the kids bundled up and ready to go outside. Charlotte was such a trooper getting all bundled up!
I didn't have any boots for her and I couldn't put my fingers on Trey's from last year (which would still have been WAY too big for her tiny feet) so I found Trey's mittens from his baby snowsuit and used them as feet coverings for Charlotte. They were waterproof and a perfect fit.
"Did you hear about the snow we have in my backyard?"
After naps we got the kids bundled up and ready to go outside. Charlotte was such a trooper getting all bundled up!
I didn't have any boots for her and I couldn't put my fingers on Trey's from last year (which would still have been WAY too big for her tiny feet) so I found Trey's mittens from his baby snowsuit and used them as feet coverings for Charlotte. They were waterproof and a perfect fit.
"Really, Mom? This is ridiculous."
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Making Cookies
While Jay was out cutting wood this afternoon I asked Trey if he wanted to make some cookies for a surprise for Daddy. His response was, "It would make Daddy so happy to eat some cookies with me."
Helping to get everything in the mixing bowl.
He was very gentle with the egg.
Oops- you caught me sneaking chocolate chips out of the bowl again!
Counting the cookies while he waited for them to cool. I told him when the timer beeped (meaning the second batch was coming out of the oven) he could eat one of the cookies that was cooling. Well after he ate the first cookie he said, "When the timer beeps I eat another cookie from that pan over there." I explained to him that he didn't get to eat a cookie from every pan just because the timer went off to signal another pan was finished! Talk about wanting to provide quality control!
Finally getting to eat the finished product.
He also made up a story while reading the cook book. It goes like this
"Once upon a time there was some cookies. And then there were MORE cookies. The end."
Helping to get everything in the mixing bowl.
He was very gentle with the egg.
Oops- you caught me sneaking chocolate chips out of the bowl again!
Counting the cookies while he waited for them to cool. I told him when the timer beeped (meaning the second batch was coming out of the oven) he could eat one of the cookies that was cooling. Well after he ate the first cookie he said, "When the timer beeps I eat another cookie from that pan over there." I explained to him that he didn't get to eat a cookie from every pan just because the timer went off to signal another pan was finished! Talk about wanting to provide quality control!
Finally getting to eat the finished product.
He also made up a story while reading the cook book. It goes like this
"Once upon a time there was some cookies. And then there were MORE cookies. The end."
A Change of Heart
Remember how yesterday I was all lovey, dovey missing the newborn stage of babyhood. Well this little princess decided to stay up crying from 1:30-3:30 am last night. I spent those hours trying to let her cry it out, rocking her in the rocking chair, changing her diaper, checking to make sure she had her paci, etc. until she finally fell back asleep. I think it was her teeth hurting her because when I gave her some Tylenol she was out 5 minutes later. Too bad I didn't just give her Tylenol at 1:30 when she first got up.
I was woken up this morning by a cute little boy opening our door at 6:30. So I spent all of today with a headache and slight irritability because of being up in the middle the night. Apparently in 4 short months my body has gotten use to a full night's rest. I take back all the things I said about precious newborns and now am grateful that I usually get an uninterrupted night of sleep because I need it to keep up with these two!
I was woken up this morning by a cute little boy opening our door at 6:30. So I spent all of today with a headache and slight irritability because of being up in the middle the night. Apparently in 4 short months my body has gotten use to a full night's rest. I take back all the things I said about precious newborns and now am grateful that I usually get an uninterrupted night of sleep because I need it to keep up with these two!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Newborns
This afternoon I went to visit a family that had a baby last week and bring them some dinner. Oh, how my heart ached looking at that precious newborn. I keep reminding myself- My kids sleep all night (usually), they are on a good routine, I am not a milking machine anymore. But seeing that teeny, tiny little face, feather-like hands, and sweet baby yawn, well it made me forget all those things. I am not saying I want a newborn right now (Don't worry Grandma and Grandpa- we aren't sending anymore your way!), but I do miss those newborn snuggles.
So for just a minute, get a baby blanket and snuggle up with these newborn moments.
My kids sleep all night... I like their routine.... I don't want to get fat, I mean pregnant, again right now. Yeah- I keep telling myself these things.
So for just a minute, get a baby blanket and snuggle up with these newborn moments.
My kids sleep all night... I like their routine.... I don't want to get fat, I mean pregnant, again right now. Yeah- I keep telling myself these things.
Monday, February 13, 2012
A Look at Valentines Past
2003- Our first Valentine's Day as a "couple." I was a freshman in college. I woke up at 5 am, walked to my car in the cage at Tech, stopped at Kroger for some "fresh" prepackaged krispy kreme donuts and woke up Jay for a surprise Valentine's breakfast at his apartment. Seriously- how is that even breakfast??? Later that morning, Jay came to my dorm room during my morning class and hid paper hearts and Valentines all over my side of the room with things he loved about me and the book The Bernstein Bear's Funny Valentine, which will be read to the kids tomorrow :)
Funny story- Jay had been up late the night before cutting up paper hearts for a Valentine surprise for me. His roommate Seth was planning to let me in their apartment that morning and had to do a quick clean up of the craft disaster Jay left all over the living room at 5:30 in the morning. We love you Seth!
2004- I decided to make a red velvet cake for Jay because he loves cake so much. This was before I really knew how to cook or bake. There was red dye all over the kitchen. I had to stop mid way to drive to Kroger to find cake pans to bake the cake. I went to bed that night with dirty mixing bowls and cake pans filling the sink and plans to tackle the mess the next day. Jay drove up to Blacksburg early in the morning to make me breakfast in bed. What a great surprise! Too bad my roommate (Seth's wife Emily) at the time had to clean up all those dishes in the middle of the night so that Jay would have a clean kitchen in the morning and he wouldn't see his surprise.
2005- My roommates all went out that night. Jay decided to buy all the ingredients for a nice dinner at the store and make me dinner in my apartment. He roasted a chicken for the first time. Somehow the chicken juices dripped to the bottom of the oven and smoke was filling the kitchen. We had to open all the windows in the townhouse and try to clear out the smoke before the smoke detector went off. I can't remember what happened to the rest of the dinner....
2006- Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. I am pretty sure I had to work until 8 that night so Jay fixed dinner. We had chicken helper (I can't believe we ate that stuff!) served on china in candlelight at our apartment. It was very romantic.
We have a had other fun Valentine's Days in the past 6 years, but somehow adding work and kids into the mix we haven't been able to go all out as in the past. And well, we don't have great roommates to clean up our messes either! Thanks Emily and Seth for helping us out with Valentine's surprises!
Happy Valentine's Day to the greatest husband ever! I love you! Even if our days do look more like this these days :)
Funny story- Jay had been up late the night before cutting up paper hearts for a Valentine surprise for me. His roommate Seth was planning to let me in their apartment that morning and had to do a quick clean up of the craft disaster Jay left all over the living room at 5:30 in the morning. We love you Seth!
2004- I decided to make a red velvet cake for Jay because he loves cake so much. This was before I really knew how to cook or bake. There was red dye all over the kitchen. I had to stop mid way to drive to Kroger to find cake pans to bake the cake. I went to bed that night with dirty mixing bowls and cake pans filling the sink and plans to tackle the mess the next day. Jay drove up to Blacksburg early in the morning to make me breakfast in bed. What a great surprise! Too bad my roommate (Seth's wife Emily) at the time had to clean up all those dishes in the middle of the night so that Jay would have a clean kitchen in the morning and he wouldn't see his surprise.
2005- My roommates all went out that night. Jay decided to buy all the ingredients for a nice dinner at the store and make me dinner in my apartment. He roasted a chicken for the first time. Somehow the chicken juices dripped to the bottom of the oven and smoke was filling the kitchen. We had to open all the windows in the townhouse and try to clear out the smoke before the smoke detector went off. I can't remember what happened to the rest of the dinner....
2006- Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. I am pretty sure I had to work until 8 that night so Jay fixed dinner. We had chicken helper (I can't believe we ate that stuff!) served on china in candlelight at our apartment. It was very romantic.
We have a had other fun Valentine's Days in the past 6 years, but somehow adding work and kids into the mix we haven't been able to go all out as in the past. And well, we don't have great roommates to clean up our messes either! Thanks Emily and Seth for helping us out with Valentine's surprises!
Happy Valentine's Day to the greatest husband ever! I love you! Even if our days do look more like this these days :)
Monday, February 6, 2012
Cabin Fever
I have often told people the best thing we ever did for Trey was have Charlotte. He got all our attention, all the time, and all his needs were met as soon as he needed something. Not that we are horrible parents now, but after Charlotte was born Trey learned to wait sometimes, to share often, and right now we are working on how to play together. Trey would not spend nearly as much time in time out if he didn't have a little sister to push over or take toys from, but I am hopeful that he is learning how to show love and kindness by being a big brother. Charlotte, well Charlotte is learning how to be aggressive if she wants a toy, how to climb all over her brother and pull hair, and all other important things little sisters do to get attention.
I say all that to explain how almost every playtime involves some sort of time out (be it a person or a toy) and an explanation of how to play gently with your sister or brother. We have been spending a lot of time playing inside because of this wet, muddy, yucky, cold winter. Trey and Charlotte are playing together much more, but we are having to referee this play time to ensure that no one is physically hurt.
The last weekend in January our living room became a play fort. We had some cousins visit and a pillow was on the sofa from their over night stay and Trey loved to play on the floor with it. He added some blankets and pillows from upstairs and it was great fun for a cold wet afternoon. Trey included some of his own singing and entertainment for the evening.
"Charlotte, pretend you are asleep!"
Charlotte says, "Please hold on to the pieces while I take apart your puzzle."
In an effort to get Charlotte to leave his puzzles alone, Trey got out some baby puzzles for Charlotte.
One day I was in the kitchen and I heard a hitting noise. I thought for sure Trey was hitting Charlotte so I ran into the living room and this is what I saw. Trey was letting her beat all over him.
Their other favorite game is where they put their heads together. I don't let them do this because I am afraid Charlotte is going to get hurt, but when they crawl towards each other they always end up in this position. I think Charlotte does most of the pushing!
This past Friday we had a day off together. Since we have had NO snow days this year, it was a nice chance to relax all together.
Charlotte played with her dollhouse.
We have been trying to engage Trey in fun activities during Charlotte's nap that he can't do while she is awake. During her nap that day I put some buttons I had in a bowl and gave Trey some leftover cupcake holders to sort with. He got out every measuring spoon we own and went to town. At the end of sorting he dumped them all on the table and called out, "Neigh, neigh horse, come eat some hay!" It was really fun watching him sort and then pretend the buttons were hay for his pretend horse. As soon as he heard Charlotte wake up he announced, "Charlotte is awake, I gotsta clean up my buttons." Then he put them all away.
Trey also found a balloon so I blew it up and they had fun together all morning.
While we have had lots of fun inside together, I hope spring comes soon so we can get outside!
I say all that to explain how almost every playtime involves some sort of time out (be it a person or a toy) and an explanation of how to play gently with your sister or brother. We have been spending a lot of time playing inside because of this wet, muddy, yucky, cold winter. Trey and Charlotte are playing together much more, but we are having to referee this play time to ensure that no one is physically hurt.
The last weekend in January our living room became a play fort. We had some cousins visit and a pillow was on the sofa from their over night stay and Trey loved to play on the floor with it. He added some blankets and pillows from upstairs and it was great fun for a cold wet afternoon. Trey included some of his own singing and entertainment for the evening.
"Charlotte, pretend you are asleep!"
Charlotte says, "Please hold on to the pieces while I take apart your puzzle."
In an effort to get Charlotte to leave his puzzles alone, Trey got out some baby puzzles for Charlotte.
One day I was in the kitchen and I heard a hitting noise. I thought for sure Trey was hitting Charlotte so I ran into the living room and this is what I saw. Trey was letting her beat all over him.
Their other favorite game is where they put their heads together. I don't let them do this because I am afraid Charlotte is going to get hurt, but when they crawl towards each other they always end up in this position. I think Charlotte does most of the pushing!
This past Friday we had a day off together. Since we have had NO snow days this year, it was a nice chance to relax all together.
Charlotte played with her dollhouse.
We have been trying to engage Trey in fun activities during Charlotte's nap that he can't do while she is awake. During her nap that day I put some buttons I had in a bowl and gave Trey some leftover cupcake holders to sort with. He got out every measuring spoon we own and went to town. At the end of sorting he dumped them all on the table and called out, "Neigh, neigh horse, come eat some hay!" It was really fun watching him sort and then pretend the buttons were hay for his pretend horse. As soon as he heard Charlotte wake up he announced, "Charlotte is awake, I gotsta clean up my buttons." Then he put them all away.
Trey also found a balloon so I blew it up and they had fun together all morning.
While we have had lots of fun inside together, I hope spring comes soon so we can get outside!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Lunch Date
Since Trey was born Jay and I have been on a total of 4 "real" dates. Yes you read that right. We went to 2 plays at Barter Theater in 2010 courtesy of Uncle Mark and then we went out to dinner one night last August and out to lunch on my birthday in December. Now I know that this may send some of my friends into a frenzy that this is not healthy in our marriage, and I do understand where you are coming from. But right now we both work, live a good 45 minutes from any "date" type places, plus our closest babysitters Grandma and Grandpa watch our kids every week day, so they need a break too.
For the first six months of Trey's life we had netflix courtesy of Uncle Mark (are you seeing a trend here?) and so we would put Trey down to bed or a nap and pray he would sleep longer than 45 minutes and watch a movie together. Later right before Charlotte was born we would have make spending our evenings together a priority as he had a 7 pm bedtime. After Charlotte was born our "together" time was extremely diminished. She didn't sleep for a VERY long time and the amount of work it took to keep our household pulled together, our meals homemade from real food, and running on 3 hours sleep left no time to think about going on a "real" date.
About a year ago Jay switched to a different job within the division and now works at my school 1 or 2 days a week. Those days we eat lunch together in my classroom. No one needs a nose wiped, or is throwing food and while not the most romantic place, it gives us a chance to chat and just focus on each other. Sure there are days I am trying to create a flip chart or Jay is on his cell phone dealing with a computer problem somewhere else, but I really look forward to lunch on Fridays with him. Especially now that I am not pumping milk during my lunch break.
In life there are seasons. While I miss the dates every weekend, just spending time together whenever we wanted season before we had kids, I wouldn't trade the be woken up at 6:30 to B-I-N-G-O shouted beside your pillow, crawl out of bed at 2:00 am to find a paci season that we are in right now. Yes both those things happened last night.
Sometimes you have to roll with the punches and be creative to find time together. That's what we do right now. And I look forward to 11:25 on Fridays every week.
For the first six months of Trey's life we had netflix courtesy of Uncle Mark (are you seeing a trend here?) and so we would put Trey down to bed or a nap and pray he would sleep longer than 45 minutes and watch a movie together. Later right before Charlotte was born we would have make spending our evenings together a priority as he had a 7 pm bedtime. After Charlotte was born our "together" time was extremely diminished. She didn't sleep for a VERY long time and the amount of work it took to keep our household pulled together, our meals homemade from real food, and running on 3 hours sleep left no time to think about going on a "real" date.
About a year ago Jay switched to a different job within the division and now works at my school 1 or 2 days a week. Those days we eat lunch together in my classroom. No one needs a nose wiped, or is throwing food and while not the most romantic place, it gives us a chance to chat and just focus on each other. Sure there are days I am trying to create a flip chart or Jay is on his cell phone dealing with a computer problem somewhere else, but I really look forward to lunch on Fridays with him. Especially now that I am not pumping milk during my lunch break.
In life there are seasons. While I miss the dates every weekend, just spending time together whenever we wanted season before we had kids, I wouldn't trade the be woken up at 6:30 to B-I-N-G-O shouted beside your pillow, crawl out of bed at 2:00 am to find a paci season that we are in right now. Yes both those things happened last night.
Sometimes you have to roll with the punches and be creative to find time together. That's what we do right now. And I look forward to 11:25 on Fridays every week.
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