Facial Fun!

 

Man, I thought smashing my face all around was fun when I was a kid.  I had no idea how much MORE fun it would be to smash my kid's face all around!  Luckily, he was enjoying it.  I think must have massaged his gums or something because he let me play with his face for a long time.  This was actually take two of the facial fun session.  I'd done it earlier in the day, but couldn't take a pic since both of my hands were otherwise engaged.  Ron was skeptical, but after seeing how much Ronnie enjoyed it, he was willing to help me snag a memory.  Thanks, honey!

Today, this is life as I know it!  -A 

Oopsie Daisey!

 

We knew this day was coming!  From the time he was very very small, Ronnie would kick his legs like a World Cup soccer player.  He eventually figured out that his car seat rocks when he kicks.  Now, he's a pro at rocking himself to sleep at the end of a busy day or just giving himself a gentle sway while he polishes off a bottle.  Sometimes though, he's in the mood to party!  When he's in the mood, he can rock this little seat all over creation!  Each time it rocks, it moves just a little bit so we have to be careful about where we put him.  We knew it was just a matter of time before he kicked so hard that the entire chair just flipped backwards.  Today was the day!  Thankfully, we were smart enough to know that he must always be fully buckled in his seat. Double thankfully, he thought it was hilarious!  My little dare-devil.  

 Today, this is life as I know it! -A 

Future worship leader?

 

My son loves music!  Shelby likes it alright and she's a great singer, but Ronnie never stops!  I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that when I was pregnant with Ronnie, I was leading worship at church.  He was born early February too and Christmas is the busiest time for singers!  I like to think it was during this special time that his love of music began.  Now, when I take him to rehearsal, we spend a lot of time laughing when we hear his little voice ring out between songs.  As I watch him, he just sings and sings while the band plays.  We just can't hear him until we stop!  He certainly doesn't let a lack of music stop him though.  It's so funny.  Now, he's starting to be interested in learning to clap.  I sure hope these are signs of things to come.  I pray that my boy will be a man after God's own heart who says "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever!" 

Today, this is life as I know it! -A 

Little Miss Independent

These days, we're exploring independence with the Shelb-ster.  I want to encourage my daughter to be strong and brave and to make her own decisions, but this is a tough time.  Because this is what happens when a 4 year old insists on putting on her own clips!  She is adorable and it's so funny to watch her flutter around the house getting ready to go somewhere with her hair all a mess.  However, if I let this girl out in public, I'd be taken away in a crazy bus!  So for the moment, we will strike a truce.  She may do her own hair anytime that we are at home.  If she has to step one foot out the door, Mommy gets to do her hair.  Seems to be working for now.  Guess this is stage 1 of the "you're not going out of the house looking like that" war.  Let the battle begin!  

Today, this is life as I know it. -A 

A few bad choices...

Do you think they give parent of the year awards to people who let their sick 4 year old stay up until 10:30 making and eating cookies?  No?  Drat.  I was so hoping....

No matter!  We had a BLAST!  Last year, Ron recorded a Good Eats episode about cookies - how to make them soft and chewy or cake-y and crumbly, whichever the cookie maker would like.  Well, in this house, we like warm and chewy so he did some research on different methods to create the PERFECT chewy chocolate chip cookie.  You'd be surprised what things matter.  For example - cold or melted butter, adding molasses, cold or room temp dough, whole eggs or just yolks, gluten levels in the flour...the list goes on and on.  Thankfully, my husband is a genius and he developed the most amazing chocolate chip cookie I've ever had.  I have been looking forward to them for an entire year and today was the day.  I was out late but Ron and Shelby graciously waited for me to get home which meant a late night for everyone.  But it was soooo worth it.  30 minutes and 3 glasses of milk later, we were laughing together at the table eating the first cookies of the season.

Today, this is life as I know it!  -A

Time flies when you're having fun!

 

So, some of you may have noticed that I missed a few days...Oops!  Life has been crazy wonderful and crazy busy this last week and every day that I planned to post, I was overwhelmed by the idea of trying to catch up that much!  So here's my solution.  This is a collage of my favorite pics from the last week (yes, I know there are too many here for 1/day but I liked them all so we'll just have to enjoy an extra!).  Going from top left to right:

Christmas is at the mall and it's only the first week of November...Oye - Shelby loves shopping on Saturdays at the mall - Sign of a good man: even at the mall, Ronnie's happy as a clam - Shelby is SUCH a good sister and a wonderful helper to Mommy - Ronnie got stuck and we had to coax him out like a dog.  He thought it was hilarious - "I love this tree. It has so many wonderful memories" - When a 4yr old doesn't have a nap, she falls asleep during her favorite movie and ends up watching the menu for a while - Daddy teaches Shelby how to make sauce: the legend continues! - Ronnie figures out how to put the balls in the tube on his stand up toy!

*whew*  Lots of great memories here.  Thanks for letting me share them as a group!

For the last few days, this is life as I know it!  - A 

Little baby hands

 

I love little baby hands.  They are just so cute!  Ronnie got the all-clear for table food at his last doctor's appointment, but the doc said he should be using two fingers for food instead of his whole fist.  No worries - just means more practice and we're good at that.  Ronnie is perfectly happy chillin' in his highchair with a few little snack puffs.   Watching him learn to chew and experience different textures is so fun!  He is also starting to figure out how to wave. Tonight at dinner, he was squealing at me and when I looked down to see what he wanted, he had both hands outstretched and his fingers were grasping the air.  He was so excited about it so I did it back to him.  This only made him squeal more!  A few minutes later, I looked and his hands were down.  I held mine out and finger waved.  With a big grin, he lifted his and did the same.  It wasn't consistent, but we're working on it.  Picture to come soon, I bet...

Today, this is life as I know it!  -A 

Hello, Kitty!

 

After Shelby's tragic doctor's appointment on Tuesday, I made a classic parent blunder.  I tried making up for it in a few different ways.  We went to lunch, got dessert, and then went shopping.  The fatal error came during this last leg of my penance.  Shelby has only 2 pairs of shoes - a white pair of sandals that are looking more gray than white and a pair of purple and white sneakers.  So I thought, what girl doesn't love shoe shopping?!  I told her we would go shoe shopping at Target and she could pick any shoes she wanted.  I know....what was I thinking?  Well, I was thinking they'd have some cute shoes that I could talk her into.  I was ALSO thinking, surely the galoshes would be with the gardening stuff.  I was wrong on both counts and she fell in LOVE with these!  I must admit that I was less than enthusiastic about spending $17.00 on rain boots when she still would have no decent church shoes, but a promise is a promise so purchase them we did. Today, it was all worth it.  It rained ALL day so when it was time to leave for grandma's after nap, she wasted no time getting her rain boots on!  I wish I had been able to take a picture of her walking down the sidewalk with her rain boots and Tigger umbrella, but it was raining to much for the camera to go outside.  I'll sure remember it though.  Parenting disaster turned rainy-day wonder!  God's grace IS sufficient!  :)

Today, this is life as I know it! - A 

Weekend Wednesday!

 

 Today was a GREAT day!  I got all of my morning work done pretty early and had more time than usual.  So...what better to fill the time than making a big breakfast!  Although pancakes are usually reserved for the weekend, sometimes, you just need pancakes in the middle of the week.  Shelby helped me whip together the breakfast trinity - pancakes, eggs, bacon - and we enjoyed them all together.  We even let Ronnie have a pancake!  The only thing missing from this pancake breakfast was daddy so we called him on speaker-phone to tell him how much we love him and how much we missed him.

Today, this is life as I know it! -A 

Those bruises are totally normal...

 

 Today, both my kiddies went to the doctor.  I never would have guessed how stressful that can be!  Shelby had her first set of shots of which she was cognizant.  She cried harder than I've seen her cry in a long time, which, of course, made me cry right along with her.  However, I determined that i would only mention that episode briefly for remembrance sake.  Now...on to the good stuff!  

Shelby is the "normal" size of a 5 year old which is great! .....except that she's 4.  It's not a bad thing at all...just funny.  :)  We've been concerned about her hearing because she always seems to be yelling, but they tested and found that she has perfect hearing!  Hooray!  The doctor also told me that she has great intuitive learning which means that she can figure out what to do without explicit instruction - LOVE that!!!

Ronnie...he "talked" literally every second that we were there. Thankfully, Dr. O'Hern told me this is a sign of high IQ and that it shows he's very smart and social - two of my favorite qualities!  Oh...and now that he's pulling up on everything and desperate to walk and play with his sister...those bruises are totally normal.  Which is good because his forehead's been covered with them for a couple of weeks now.  

Today, this is life as I know it.  -A 

The aftermath...

 

So here's a snapshot of the trick-or-treating aftermath.  It's funny, because we don't really let Shelby have sugar all that often so she was more interested in playing with it than eating it.  Can you see her "lollipop shop"?  All of her lollipops were neatly stored in the dining room table in one of the openings for the leaf.  Her organizational skills make me proud.  But...I digress.  She threw the towel in pretty early at the mall because candy just isn't all that important to her.  She was even talking about how she should give some of her candy away because she can't eat all of it!  She's amazingly good at sharing so this idea didn't come as a surprise to me.  Now, we've decided to let her have some out of her stash from time to time, but I'm so thankful that at 4 years old, this verdict makes her ecstatic instead of disappointed.    

Today, this is life as I know it.  -A