Come On Over

I finally found a kitchen table to fit in my new kitchen that can seat several people! I'm very excited about it. I found it at IKEA while I was in Atlanta for a girls trip. I ended up having to apply several coats of a finish to the top after receiving it that I didn't know I would have to do. I also ended up painting my old kitchen chairs and an old church pew from Rockport to use as seats for the new table. It was a lot of work but for very little money I now can seat about 10 people for dinner!

Softball has begun

Eric is at his second night of softball this week. He loves it! Last week we went to his first early games. Lyla wore his baseball cap from high school and told everyone that she was "a dad". Reesi and Joni and my mom were also with us. Lyla just about climbed the fence into the outfield twice but I caught her just in time. Softball games are fun but we always have a ring of dirt in the bathtub on those nights!

"I want to do it"

I wonder if I'm the only mom with a two year old that fixes her own scrambled eggs? Lyla is in the stage of wanting to do EVERYTHING by herself. Grace went through this too. It is good for them but frustrating for me sometimes. She has a complete fit if I walk through a door without letting her open it herself for example. She wants to turn the faucets on by herself, push every button in sight by herself, pick out her clothes, pick out her books, buckle her carseat, and cook her own food! Lyla likes eggs for breakfast and she always wants to do it herself. Well, it's not the safest thing to let an almost 3 year old do. I have to let her try though. She does a pretty good job and we haven't had any major burns yet. Notice she's naked! That's our Lyla!

It's always time to dress up!

A friend of ours from church recently gave me some hand-me-down clothes for Grace. In the bag were the shoes shown above. Grace was so excited about the shoes, and the clothes, that she insisted on wearing them to bed! She was sure it would be fine so who was I to stop her? She slept all night with those things on! The pajamas she is wearing were also in the "new" bag of clothes.

The other day Joni asked Grace what she would do with a million dollars. Grace said, "buy some new clothes". She's barely 5 years old! I think we're in trouble!

Boo-boos

I think most little kids make a big deal about boo-boos and ours are no exception. At the very hint of blood they freak out. One time Grace got hit on the forehead with a garden hoe and it put a little gash on her forehead but it bled pretty quickly. I will never forget it because she kept yelling "Am I going to die?" over and over again. The pictures above are from a couple weeks ago when Eric had the girls out riding bikes. I was at the grocery store and he called to tell me what Grace had just done and said. I said, get the camera so I can put it on the blog. Grace fell on her bike (while wearing some kind of dress-up clothes!) and scraped her knee. There was a little blood even though the scrape turned out to be minuscule. Eric said was very concerned, to say the least, about the blood and in the middle of the moment said, "Am I going blind or is it getting worse?". I think she meant that she couldn't tell if it was bad or not. We thought that was so funny. Lyla was right there to help fix Grace up!

'Cooby Dooby

Lyla loves Scooby Doo right now. Grace does too, actually. It's nice that they can at least agree on what cartoon to watch in the afternoon. Anyway, I am posting these pictures because a week or so ago Lyla fell asleep on the family room floor while watching 'Cooby Dooby, as she calls it, and I was amazed and had to take a picture. Lyla has completely given up naps. It is a very sad transition for me. I occasionally still try to make her but it usually takes at least an hour of fighting with her before she will give it up. She usually falls asleep at preschool during nap time though, which tells me she still needs it. I know she still needs it based on the way she acts by dinnertime too! This particular afternoon proves that if she would just let herself be still, she would be out. I was upstairs doing something and realized it had been a while since I had heard her, which is unusual. When I went to check on her the back door was standing wide open and she was not in the backyard! I freaked out for about 2 minutes until I saw her on the floor fast asleep! I had to get the camera to remember the peaceful afternoon. One side note...Lyla's birthday is in May and it will definitely be a 'Cooby Dooby party!

Lyla

Lyla has one phrase that melts my heart. She will be 3 in less than a month and she still says her "r" sound kind of like a "w". It's so cute. My favorite thing she says though is "Yarw da bess mommy in da hole wide wold". Translation: You're the best mommy in the whole wide world. She started telling me this a few months ago and it has stuck. This is the one phrase she says to me every day and I hope I never forget it (and she continues to think it!). It's amazing how little kids will love their parents unconditionally no matter what kind of day we have had. If only we all could love like this.

Swings and Popsicles

So, we had another deep conversation today while at the playground. This is almost a daily occurrence for us. But today I thought I'd try to record some of it. It started with Grace asking about the sun. We were at one of the little parks in our subdivision and it was a perfect day, 70 degrees and bright blue sky. Grace started asking science questions about the sun. She doesn't understand how you can see the same sun from anywhere. She wanted to know if it was dark at the beach while it was light here, because if the sun is here with us then it wouldn't be at the beach too. We've tried to explain how the earth rotates and causes night and day and how the sun is so big you can see it from anywhere on the earth. She keeps asking the same questions though, just in different ways. Eric loves to get our kid science books out and go through all of that stuff with them. But, that lead to questions about heaven. I think it was because Lyla asked if God was in the clouds. Then Grace always goes into the talk about why people die and go to heaven. She asked if mommies die before their kids and if I would die before her. It sounds very morbid, but she is really just very curious and intrigued by heaven and the whole subject. We have a family friend that died a couple years ago from muscular dystrophy and she still talks about him all the time. Today she was wondering why God made Joseph have the disease that caused him to die. She made the connection that God makes all of us and that Joseph was born with the disease that ultimately caused him to die. So, the question came of why did God make Joseph have that disease. So, I tried to talk about how God sees things differently than we do. How God knows how much better heaven is than what we have here on Earth and that He knows it's better to be in heaven than Earth. So He doesn't see death as a bad thing like we do. So then she asked what is heaven like. I told her that we don't know exactly but we do know that we'll be able to recognize each other. So then her response was, and this is the line I wanted to remember, "Maybe heaven will have swings and popsicles". Grace is so good at recognizing a beautiful day. She always acknowledges the beautiful weather and sky. She's great at reminding me to stop and "smell the roses". I can't believe she's going to school in the fall!!!!

A Trip to Rockport

Last weekend I had a women's retreat at church and Eric had originally planned to be out of town for work. So, I called my mom to keep the girls for the weekend. Well, Eric's plans fell through but the girls still went to Rockport. My sister, Joni, went up on Friday and brought them all back on Sunday and brought these pictures back with her. The girls had a great time. They love being on "Papoo's Farm" b/c there are so many things to do. My mom has a ton of our toys from when we were little so the girls love to play with them. Plus, Papoo has a very nice, two-seater dune buggy that he rides them all over the fields in and in the woods. They have regular swings, a tire swing, woods to go exploring in and the newest addition of a golden retriever puppy (Sophie). So, needless to say, they stay quite busy on the farm while they're there. Grace was telling me a story of something that happened on Sunday before they left to come home and she referred to it as "Sunday, you know, the sad day we had to leave". She also informed me that she wants to live there this summer because she needs to stay "ten days" next time. I told her I didn't know if Mimi and Papoo could handle all three girls for that long!

Who Made God?

Grace has thought about God and all things relating to God since she was old enough to talk. The first memory I have of her challenging me in this area was right after she turned two years old. I think I was still pregnant with Lyla. I was putting her to bed and Eric wasn't home. She started asking me about the devil. She wanted to know where he lives, what he does, can he see us, can we see him, why not, is he going to get her, and on and on and on. Remember, she was barely two years old! Most child rearing books/experts will tell you to answer a young child's question with simple answers. They say not to elaborate, just answer what they ask for and that will satisfy them until they're older and can understand more. Well, not with Grace. I usually try to do this but it just leads to another question. That is what happened on that night 3 years ago. She was not satisfied with any answer that I could come up with. Everything led to another question. After a very, very long time of going back and forth with her I finally got the phone and called my dad. She needed someone else to tell her. He finally got her to accept our answers enough that she could go to bed. That was just a taste of what was to come with Grace!

She is still that way and even more so. Her favorite time to talk about deep subjects is at bedtime and in the car. I guess that is when she's still and has nothing else to do but talk and talk and talk and talk......

Well, the reason for this post is because I wanted to record one short conversation with Grace that occured about a week ago. We were in the car and only about 2 minutes from preschool. Here is what came from the backseat...
G: Who made God?
Me: No one, He's always been there.
G: No, but who made HIM?
Me: No one. God made everything and He has always been there.
G: But, how was He made?
Me: The Bible tells us that He has always been there. I know it's hard to understand. I don't really understand but we believe it b/c the Bible says it's true. That's called having faith.
G: Well, why doesn't He come down here?
Me: I don't know. I guess He doesn't want to or need to. (I know I'm lacking in my scholarly knowledge)
G: What does God look like?
Me: We don't know, the Bible doesn't tell us exactly.
G: You know what I think He looks like?
Me: No, what?
G: I've always thought of God as looking like Ariel's dad.
Me: Who????
G: Ariel! You know, from Little Mermaid?
Me: Ohhhhh, King Triton?
G: Yes. I think He has a sword thing with 3 points but it's not a sword to hurt people. It's just for power and it glows. I think that's what God looks like.
Me: That's a good image to think of.

Thankfully at that point we pulled into a parking spot at preschool! I wish I had written down all of the similar conversations she has had with me in the past. Her favorite subjects to ponder are heaven, dying and going to heaven, God, and the devil. She is constantly thinking! (and talking!)

Haircut

Grace's friend, Addie, recently got her hair cut. It is a cute little bob that hits at about the jaw. Addie used to have long hair and cut a few inches off last fall. After that cut Grace wanted to cut hers too. I gave in and cut about 4 inches off of Grace. Her hair is still long but not nearly as long as it was. So, when we came in to preschool one morning and saw Addie sporting her new look I knew what I would be hearing shortly. So, just a couple days later Grace asked me if she could cut her hair "like Addie's". This was as we're about to walk out the door for another day of preschool. I told her that we could talk about it and that she needs to think about it for a while. Here is how the dialog went:

G: Can I cut my hair like Addie's?
Me: Well, maybe....we need to talk about this some more and you need to think about it for a while.
G: Why?
Me: Because it will take a LONG time for your hair to grow as long as it is now if you decide you don't like short hair.
G: How long will it take?
Me: A long time. Probably a few years.
G: Will I be 100?
Me: No, not that long, but you will probably be 7 or 8.
G: Will it grow before Jesus comes?
Me: (laughing) Well, I don't know. We don't know when Jesus will come, so, yes, it may not grow long before Jesus comes.

I just had to write that down so I would remember that conversation. It cracked me up.

Bathtime Fun

Captain Bubble Beard

Another Will Made of Iron

Grace is taking ballet on Mondays from 5:30-6:30pm. Lyla has to sit in the waiting area with me during this hour. She's done really great, mainly because there is a whole toy box for kids to play with and a snack bar! The first picture is of Lyla eating her apple from the snack bar last Monday. After she finished her apple and got tired of the toys she started trying to jump on the furniture in the waiting room though. There is even a sign telling parents not to let their children do this! I told her to stop and explained that it will mess up the furniture. I even pointed out the sign to her and read it to her. She tried it again. I stopped her again. When she tried it a third time I looked her in the eye and told her that we will not be able to stay if she decides to continue.

Me: "Do you want to stay and play with toys or wait in the van for Grace?"
Lyla: "Stay and play with toys"
Me: "Then you need to decide to stay off of the furniture. What do you want to do?"
Lyla: "Stay and play"

What did she do next? She looked right at me and jumped from one couch to the other! The 2nd picture is of her screaming in her carseat for the last 10 minutes of Grace's ballet class! So fun!

Daddy's Chain Gang

I was in the kitchen fixing dinner and Lyla came running in and went straight to her playroom. She went running back out seconds later with her safety goggles from her toy tool bench. Eric came to the door and said to get the camera and come outside. This is what I found. Eric was digging small trenches to lay railroad ties to go around the swing set in our new backyard and the girls had gotten into the action. Lyla, in her pajamas, got serious about it and decided she needed her goggles! They were serious about their work. It was pretty cute!

Easter Morning

My pictures from Easter morning are NOT good! I was so disappointed. The girls were decked out in their fancy dresses, hats and gloves but I could not get a good shot. We were running late for church, of course, so I didn't have time to change locations and the lighting on the piano bench was awful as you can tell. They were excited about their Easter baskets of goodies though. Unfortunately, the morning was quite stressful though. After running late and not being able to get a good picture of my beautiful girls, we had a complete meltdown at church in the middle of the aisle on the most crowded Sunday morning of the year!

I'm only writing this story so that I can remember the stressful times when my girls ask me when they have kids if I remember how hard having kids is. My mom always says she doesn't remember having the same problems with me and my sisters that I have with my girls. I think she's just forgotten. So, this story is so I don't forget.

After we finally got to church, and my blood pressure was already high, we found a pew in the rapidly filling auditorium. For some reason Grace did not like the seat we chose. I don't know if it was because it was in a different section than we usually sit, but she was not pleased. She has a will made of iron, so she decided to protest right then and there. She refused to enter the pew to sit. She just stood in the aisle and kept trying to argue us into moving. Well, within about 5 minutes the place was packed and we couldn't have moved even if we wanted to. She did not accept that though. When she realized we weren't moving, and church started to begin, she began crying! Of course, they usually pray pretty close to the beginning so it got really quiet and she was getting really loud. She finally came into our pew but she was not settling down. I finally had to take her and Lyla out. I was taking Lyla to the nursery to play and Grace out just to get her settled down. We went to the bathroom that was right beside the nursery. Grace's fit got louder while in the bathroom. (I will let myself forget the details of our time in the bathroom.) By the time I got Lyla to her nursery, the nursery workers were snickering at me. Luckily, I knew them and didn't feel too bad. They assured me they have been in my position many times with their own daughter. By the time I got back into church it was just about over and I left feeling like I needed to stay for 2nd service....by myself!

Easter at the Ezell's - a Harpeth Hills tradition

Every year at Harpeth Hills church of Christ the Ezell family hosts an Easter egg hunt at their beautiful home for all preschool families at church. The children LOVE it mainly because the Ezells basically have a full blown park in their yard. They have a pirate ship with a sand pit, a swing set, a 2-story fort, an adorable little girl's playhouse, plus a hammock and a couple little ponds as well. It is just amazing! Anyway, these are my pictures from that morning at the Ezell's home. I didn't get many pics of them playing b/c they were moving too fast from one thing to another! I think I captured a few good ones though. The girls are having a hard time giving the camera a natural smile when asked to though. ha ha For those that don't know G and L too well, their smiles in some of these pictures just don't do them justice. ha ha

Lyla was funny during the hunt though. She sat her bucket down and would walk around and pick up an arm full of eggs and bring them back to the bucket. The bucket, by the way, is from Christmas. Notice it is green and red? I had an Easter bucket for her but she wanted the one with her name on it. I'm glad I didn't waste $20 bucks on some fancy basket!