Category: the Oldest

The Last of Us

Well, I guess it’s not really the last of us, but it was the last vacation of “just the four of us.”

We headed an hour away to a hotel,

[All children must ride on hotel luggage racks before they grow up.] 

enjoyed the pool,

 “We’re going to the pool!!! YAY!!!”
 My skinny muscle man and lovin’-the-pool Abi.

 She would not stop laughing. =)
[I put the camera down and piggy-backed the children with Matt for a half hour of glamorously freezing swimming. But the kids loved every second of it.]

and stayed up late watching football together on the big king-sized bed while eating popcorn and special snacks the girls picked from a nearby gas station. We laughed, the girls did some bed jumping, and then they fell asleep around 9:30p on the pull-out sofa bed.

 Abi’s zonked.
[P.S. Dry pool noodles make EXCELLENT temporary bed rails when placed tightly under the bottom sheet. No one had any problems falling out and my kids can be violent sleepers.]

The next morning we decided to go to COSI, an awesome children’s science museum. We got in free with our local children’s museum passes gifted to us this past Christmas from the grandparents.

The girls ran amuck, enjoying all they could soak in and we even enjoyed some lunch down in the cafeteria.

 Kitchen play with Daddy.
 Mmmm, serve up the plastic goodness.
 Off and on goes the X-ray viewer. =D

 Poor baby.
 Tragic. 😉
 Excellent nursing.

 1800’s town.

 And now the same town in the 1960’s.
 Working at the local diner. 
 Riding a rocket on the “street”.

 Hula-hoops in front of the “old” post office.

We loaded up a little after 1:30p and found ourselves back at home by 3pm.

It was a wonderful last get-away of just the four of us before we all welcome Ms. Hannah Joy to the family soon.

Oh the delights of two small girls soaking in the utter excitement of what so many pass by as commonplace.

We all had a wonderful time!

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Rachael’s Tea Party

Don’t let the silence on the blog two weeks ago fool you. It’s not silent over here. 😉

While Daddy was gone on the youth mission trip two weeks ago, Rachael hosted her first Tea Party. =)

She started out writing the invitations (obviously with some help):


Then came the welcome sign for the door:

Then she made the place cards:

With the help of Aunt Jes, we made the Tea Party treats and some teacup decorations. The menu was lemonade poured from the teapot, heart-shaped PBJ or Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches, applesauce, trail mix (PB/chocolate chips, pretzels, animal crackers, and raisins), and of course cookies (meringues, homemade chocolate chip, and sugar cookies with the puffed frosting from the store – mmmmmm, yes). 

Aunt Jes also helped in setting the table, even loaning us some of her extra teacups and her tea set.

Here’s Rachael’s tea party:

Each place setting had a piece of jewelry that all the guests could wear and a special cup:

 Yes, that’s a plastic ring for my two year old. 😉

 I didn’t have a tea cup at first. 

 Rachael’s Sunday School teacher who was unable to make it (hence Mommy stole her cup. hehe). 
[Actually this cup was given to my by my great grandmother.]

 Danielle’s Mom (to Rachael) and a dear friend (to me).
[She likes coffee.]
 Rachael’s Sunday School playmate and, for the longest, the only child in her age bracket/nursery at the church. 

 Aunt Jes brought a special teapot/spoon necklace for our little hostess.

 A new friend in Rachael’s Sunday School class whom we have welcomed with open arms. 

 Ava’s Mom, who’s in my Sunday School class and a new wonderful friend. 
 Here Vicki pours the lemonade form the teapot as Danielle (top), Rachael (middle) and Ava (bottom) enjoy their tea party treats. All the girls wore frilly, beautiful dresses to the party (most raided from their drees-up bins at home). 

Little Abi sports the “cover all” bib since her gorgeous frilly dress was a light/stainable pink.

The little girls had a blast and so did the Moms. And each party guest got to bring home a teacup picture to color and remind them of the fun at Rachael’s Tea Party. 

Rachael was quite the little hostess, tending to her guests and explaining where everyone would sit. Hehe. And Abi was thrilled to run after Rachael, Danielle, and Ava, as they squealed and played before/after our tea. It was a wonderful, frilly, girlie time indeed that ended with two little girls knocked out cold for an extended nap. 

– Successful indeed. 😉
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Wordless Wednesday: Evidence of Patience

Not a peep of complaint, sitting still on the bathroom counter.
 
“Cheeeeeeese”
P.S. Daddy, Rachael and I had a great laugh and enjoyment in the crimped Afro the child had when we took the braids out before bed. Running about the room only added volume. =D
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Moving Mountains

Saw this over here and decided I liked the quote enough I made my own.

I used some scraps from my collection of gift bags, scrapbook papers, construction paper leftovers from other projects, etc, and glued them onto the lid of a shoebox to give it a canvas-like feel.

 [ “Let her sleep for when she wakes she will move mountains.”]

So now it hangs on the nursery door to the girls’ room as a “quiet zone” reminder when we have the youth over and also a precious little reminder of their beautiful potential to “move mountains.” I really love it. Makes me smile. And reminds me of how quickly the time goes – how little time we have to serve and love our children into adults. But it also speaks volumes of their ability to “move mountains” each day, not just in the future.

And I’m very happy with how it turned out. 

And of course I couldn’t have done it without my eager helper. 😉

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Paint the Window

When you have a 2 year old and a 3 year old you can never get enough paint. There’s the squishing and the experiencing to the full that is a mandatory part in all toddler and preschoolers’ play. But if you’re like me, sometimes you just don’t want to do the whole mess of paint thing.

So we did this:

Used: Ziplock/Hefty Storage bag, 1+ colors of paint squirted in, tape it to the window or play at the table.

 Rachael wrote letters in it. 
It lasts about 3 days on the window before looking “less fresh”. 😉
 We even used our feet!
(Love their creativity)

And we adored every second of it.

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