We may have our hands full.
Within the last few weeks Grace has really started to pick up a lot of new words in her vocabulary. One word that clearly emerged among the rest was "shoe". It started that she'd just talk about them while I put them on. Then I'd discover her digging through our shoe bin, dragging random shoes around the house (so we can never find our pairs!) It wasn't long before she'd recognize the shoes that were hers and she'd bring me one or the other and say "shoe". This week she actually started to bring me both shoes in a pair, hand me the shoes, say "shoe" and then climb on my lap so that I can put them on. She likes to wear shoes!
"Shoe" is usually the first word she says in the morning. I will pick her up out of her crib and she'll just start asking about her shoes. It isn't too long after she's dressed that she'll fetch hers and request to wear them. She'll try on Hannah's occasionally. She'll bring Hannah's shoes to Hannah! It has become very obvious that she has shoes on her mind.
And then today we realized just how much. Hannah and Grace were playing with their doll strollers. Hannah, being older, has a blast pushing the actual dolls and treating them like they are actual babies. She puts them to bed, tucks them in, takes them out and feeds them, gives them baths, etc. She's pretty involved in her doll's well being. Grace will usually stick a doll (or stuffed animal) in the stroller just to be like Hannah and off they'll go chasing each other with their strollers.
This evening I saw Grace struggling with her stroller. I assumed her doll was falling out and I went to investigate. She'd pretty much sorted it out by the time I got there and off she went...with my shoe placed happily in the seat.
Oh, dear... we may have a shoe fiend our hands.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Crafty Mama
Yes, it is true. I'm a crafty mama. All right, that is a major exaggeration. A lady at church offered to teach me to crochet. Now, I'm not the most coordinated of people. I tend to make giant knots in the thread when I mend clothes, and anytime I've sat behind a sewing machine it has led to disaster. But for some reason I've been wanting to learn to do something a bit craftier, like crocheting or knitting.
I've been enjoying learning, though. The initial lesson wasn't that successful, but once I figured out my own method and watched a tutorial on YouTube a dozen times or more, I began crocheting a scarf. Now the scarf was less than successful, due to a number of reasons. Number one reason being that each end goes at an angle rather than being straight. I have no idea why this happens. I'm working on a blanket now and I'm trying my best to prevent the whole uphill crocheting...
I've been terrible at updating lately. Hannah has started gymnastics, so I need to take some pictures and come update on that! So I will be back!
I've been enjoying learning, though. The initial lesson wasn't that successful, but once I figured out my own method and watched a tutorial on YouTube a dozen times or more, I began crocheting a scarf. Now the scarf was less than successful, due to a number of reasons. Number one reason being that each end goes at an angle rather than being straight. I have no idea why this happens. I'm working on a blanket now and I'm trying my best to prevent the whole uphill crocheting...
I've been terrible at updating lately. Hannah has started gymnastics, so I need to take some pictures and come update on that! So I will be back!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
August Happenings
I've been woefully bad at updating. Looking back at this last month it seems like there should've been plenty to write about and yet nothing had struck me as particularly blog-worthy at the time.
We've been hoping for some house news, but unfortunately the kind we have is not the kind we were hoping to share. The home we made an offer on didn't play out. At. All. They counter offered without lowering their price one penny, and on top of that they added 5 or 6 more conditions. It felt like we were negotiating with them so that they could do us the favor of letting us buy their house from them. In this market that was absolutely ridiculous and so we passed.
Since then we've gone over our finances again. And again. And just realized that with some of our upcoming expenses this year, we really need to have extra money. Which we finally do...as long as we are living here in our pitiful starter home.
So we've decided that unless something shows up in our super-low price range in the next month, we shall just camp it out here for another year or more. Pay down more debt and work on beautifying our house even more. By the time we're finished we will be doing someone a favor of allowing them to buy our home. hehe.
We went to visit Eric's family in PA at the beginning of August. It was a very long trip (for us) and we were very glad to get home. We all caught colds (except Hannah) right in the middle of the visit and that made the whole trip very tiring. We had to cut it short because of the illness, and it just felt like it took forever to get home! It was a good visit, though, despite dealing with Hannah's typical attitude adjustment. She always becomes sassy when we visit family...we're not entirely sure why that is. Ultimately it was a good visit and we had a good time.
Our most recent news is that our firstborn, our kitty Aurora, met with an unfortunate accident. While I was at a woman's event she and Eric had an altercation. I'm still not completely clear on the specifics, but there was an exchange of biting and kicking that led to Aurora's hip being broken. It was all an unfortunate accident...and for the next three weeks Aurora is confined to a cage in the hopes that she'll heal. It never fails to break my heart!
To make up for lack of updates, I have a couple cute pictures from this last month.
Walking along Lake Michigan on our way out to Pennsylvania
Hannah did SO well in the car on the trip
One of the few times they shared nicely
One of my favorite pics of Grace. Oh how I wish it hadn't been such a "spur of the moment" shot which led to her head being cut off!!
We've been hoping for some house news, but unfortunately the kind we have is not the kind we were hoping to share. The home we made an offer on didn't play out. At. All. They counter offered without lowering their price one penny, and on top of that they added 5 or 6 more conditions. It felt like we were negotiating with them so that they could do us the favor of letting us buy their house from them. In this market that was absolutely ridiculous and so we passed.
Since then we've gone over our finances again. And again. And just realized that with some of our upcoming expenses this year, we really need to have extra money. Which we finally do...as long as we are living here in our pitiful starter home.
So we've decided that unless something shows up in our super-low price range in the next month, we shall just camp it out here for another year or more. Pay down more debt and work on beautifying our house even more. By the time we're finished we will be doing someone a favor of allowing them to buy our home. hehe.
We went to visit Eric's family in PA at the beginning of August. It was a very long trip (for us) and we were very glad to get home. We all caught colds (except Hannah) right in the middle of the visit and that made the whole trip very tiring. We had to cut it short because of the illness, and it just felt like it took forever to get home! It was a good visit, though, despite dealing with Hannah's typical attitude adjustment. She always becomes sassy when we visit family...we're not entirely sure why that is. Ultimately it was a good visit and we had a good time.
Our most recent news is that our firstborn, our kitty Aurora, met with an unfortunate accident. While I was at a woman's event she and Eric had an altercation. I'm still not completely clear on the specifics, but there was an exchange of biting and kicking that led to Aurora's hip being broken. It was all an unfortunate accident...and for the next three weeks Aurora is confined to a cage in the hopes that she'll heal. It never fails to break my heart!
To make up for lack of updates, I have a couple cute pictures from this last month.
Walking along Lake Michigan on our way out to Pennsylvania
Hannah did SO well in the car on the trip
One of the few times they shared nicely
One of my favorite pics of Grace. Oh how I wish it hadn't been such a "spur of the moment" shot which led to her head being cut off!!Tuesday, July 29, 2008
A House (hopefully)!
We casually restarted our house search this month. There isn't much in our preferred area that meets our specifications, so by house "search" we really mean waiting with sheer boredom for new houses to come on the market, and when they don't, going over the houses that are already on the market over and over, just in case we missed one that might appeal.
Our intention was to take a gamble and list our house in September even if we hadn't found something. We lowered our target price range, which also meant we lowered our expectations.
We decided to go look at a house only a block from our current residence. We hadn't previously been interested because it seemed too small (not to mention we weren't keen on living THAT close to our current home), but it was the right price and seemed to have most of the things we wanted. We liked it more than we thought we would, and made an offer last night! We have yet to hear back and even if they do accept it we still have to sell our house so we really have no guarantee that we'll get it. It is one of those lovely things in life that is completely in God's hands. There is nothing we can do to make this work in our timing. It is a good practice in faith :-)
In the meantime we are leaving to visit Eric's family in PA this weekend. We will most likely leave with the house situation still up in the air, which we hate to do, but there isn't much we can do about that. We are crazy people! As if we didn't have enough going on packing for a week-long trip, but then we had to throw in buying a house on top of it!
Please keep us in your prayers in the coming months. We need every one we can get!
Our intention was to take a gamble and list our house in September even if we hadn't found something. We lowered our target price range, which also meant we lowered our expectations.
We decided to go look at a house only a block from our current residence. We hadn't previously been interested because it seemed too small (not to mention we weren't keen on living THAT close to our current home), but it was the right price and seemed to have most of the things we wanted. We liked it more than we thought we would, and made an offer last night! We have yet to hear back and even if they do accept it we still have to sell our house so we really have no guarantee that we'll get it. It is one of those lovely things in life that is completely in God's hands. There is nothing we can do to make this work in our timing. It is a good practice in faith :-)
In the meantime we are leaving to visit Eric's family in PA this weekend. We will most likely leave with the house situation still up in the air, which we hate to do, but there isn't much we can do about that. We are crazy people! As if we didn't have enough going on packing for a week-long trip, but then we had to throw in buying a house on top of it!
Please keep us in your prayers in the coming months. We need every one we can get!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Our Flowergirl
Hannah got to be the flower girl for her uncle Nathan's wedding this past Friday. She did a good job and had a lot of fun (I think). She felt like a beautiful princess for the day and I was so proud of her. Unfortunately she is probably too young to have too many memories of the occasion, but oh well...that's what pictures are for!
The saddest part was realizing that we would not be seeing Nathan and Mollie again until Christmas since they are moving to Texas. It wasn't like we saw them all the time anyway, but we attended the same church, and it was nice to at least see them in passing. We hope to make it down to Texas at least once while they are there, but with two little ones and the cost of gas, it really depends.
In other news, we are planning on putting our house on the market in September. The hope would be to get it on the market in time to sell before winter. It will probably take a couple months the way the market is now. Our only wish would be that there was a house on the current market that interested us. There are a couple that would do, a couple that are nice but a lot of work, but nothing "just right" yet. We are praying that by the time we are ready to sell, the right house comes along.
If you are interested in viewing a few more pictures of Hannah and the wedding, here is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49726&l=d9eb4&id=593949611
The saddest part was realizing that we would not be seeing Nathan and Mollie again until Christmas since they are moving to Texas. It wasn't like we saw them all the time anyway, but we attended the same church, and it was nice to at least see them in passing. We hope to make it down to Texas at least once while they are there, but with two little ones and the cost of gas, it really depends.
In other news, we are planning on putting our house on the market in September. The hope would be to get it on the market in time to sell before winter. It will probably take a couple months the way the market is now. Our only wish would be that there was a house on the current market that interested us. There are a couple that would do, a couple that are nice but a lot of work, but nothing "just right" yet. We are praying that by the time we are ready to sell, the right house comes along.
If you are interested in viewing a few more pictures of Hannah and the wedding, here is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49726&l=d9eb4&id=593949611
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
We Survived Freshwater Fury
Eric and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this weekend (seriously--have we been married that long?). We went to Door County, and spent one night at a B&B in Sturgeon Bay.
Before we headed further north, we decided to go to the Maritime Museum. Eric has a thing for boats--and I reluctantly traipsed along because he obviously wanted to go. The Maritime Museum had signs everywhere touting "Can you survive Freshwater Fury?" Nowhere did it say what Freshwater Fury was, we assumed it was some sort of exhibit. Realistically I knew they were just making it sound very cool, but that it was probably just a simple display. Even still, I was a tad bit disappointed when I realized that it not some crazy ride or other exhilarating exhibit. So, since the alternative was to perish of boredom, we made it more interesting. Or at least I did--I think Eric was a bit embarrassed by me (although he did play along--good sport that he is).
"Do I spot a storm coming? Captain, you better check this out!"
"Uh oh...this doesn't look good."
"I've never been in a storm this fierce! If I let go I'll wash away!"
"I better send out a call for help right away! Good thing I know the morse code."
"I should never have agreed to man the wheel while the captain relayed his message! This is harder than it looks!"
Yea! We seem to have made it through!
What kind of adventure would this be without the obligatory kiss of the hero and heroine at the end?
Yes, we did go on to spend the rest of our anniversary getaway achieving more romantic (and less goofy) pursuits including walking along Lake Michigan and enjoying the amazing world that God made for us. We attended an outdoor play in the woods, which was fun (if not a bit bug-infested). It was wonderful to be able to enjoy each other and actually be able to finish a thought without having to stop to answer a toddler's question. Ahh, bliss...
Before we headed further north, we decided to go to the Maritime Museum. Eric has a thing for boats--and I reluctantly traipsed along because he obviously wanted to go. The Maritime Museum had signs everywhere touting "Can you survive Freshwater Fury?" Nowhere did it say what Freshwater Fury was, we assumed it was some sort of exhibit. Realistically I knew they were just making it sound very cool, but that it was probably just a simple display. Even still, I was a tad bit disappointed when I realized that it not some crazy ride or other exhilarating exhibit. So, since the alternative was to perish of boredom, we made it more interesting. Or at least I did--I think Eric was a bit embarrassed by me (although he did play along--good sport that he is).
"Do I spot a storm coming? Captain, you better check this out!"
"Uh oh...this doesn't look good."
"I've never been in a storm this fierce! If I let go I'll wash away!"
"I better send out a call for help right away! Good thing I know the morse code."
"I should never have agreed to man the wheel while the captain relayed his message! This is harder than it looks!"
Yea! We seem to have made it through!
What kind of adventure would this be without the obligatory kiss of the hero and heroine at the end?
Yes, we did go on to spend the rest of our anniversary getaway achieving more romantic (and less goofy) pursuits including walking along Lake Michigan and enjoying the amazing world that God made for us. We attended an outdoor play in the woods, which was fun (if not a bit bug-infested). It was wonderful to be able to enjoy each other and actually be able to finish a thought without having to stop to answer a toddler's question. Ahh, bliss...
Thursday, June 19, 2008
And So It Begins
My kids are already fighting!! I was never so disillusioned as to think that they wouldn't. And they've certainly been at it lately over toys. But it is amazing to me that they are fighting verbally...when Grace does not even know that many words!
My proof:
Hannah can't stand that Grace doesn't agree with her, and so they'll continue this back and forth until Eric and I are absolutely bonkers!
But...they are very cute while they do it.
Can't wait to see what they will come up with as Grace learns more words!
My proof:
Hannah can't stand that Grace doesn't agree with her, and so they'll continue this back and forth until Eric and I are absolutely bonkers!
But...they are very cute while they do it.
Can't wait to see what they will come up with as Grace learns more words!
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