Evan and Lucy

Lucy doesn't get nearly the attention that she once did.  Actually, that is not entirely true.  She does not get as much wanted attention as she used to.  Now two little children give her lots of love, while Derek and I don't quite do what we used to.

We moved here two years ago, and Lucy had not been to the vet during that whole time.  This week Evan and I took Lucy to a new vet.  It went really well, and I'm happy to report that she seems fine.  

I had such fun watching them meow at each other that I decided someone else might enjoy it, too.  Unfortunately, Blogger didn't want it to upload.  This has happened every time I've tried recently to upload a video.  Has anyone else had this problem?  (Note: The video was from my computer, not You Tube.)

For the record, I would like to share that this was the first time that Lucy did not draw blood when she was put in her carrier.  Derek recommend long-sleeves, but they weren't even needed!  

Evan really loved having a captive (and willing!) audience with Lucy.  Lucy liked being protected from Evan.

Yummy!

Oh, yes, that was GOOD!  

This was the chocolate from our Fudge Nut Bars.  

Upside Down!

Meghan has gotten to be quite good on the trampoline.  Not only does she love to scare me by jumping without holding on, but she uses the bar for flips and "tricks."

We had to put the trampoline away for several months because a little guy would chew on the blue foam-like bar...and eat it.  I can't imagine who that may have been!  They are both enjoying it a lot now.  Oh, and Evan "catches air" when he jumps now, instead of just bending his legs.  So cute to watch him run around jumping!

I'm not sure who may or may not have noticed, but yes, that is a recliner in the toy room!  Now that Evan uses a big boy bed, the recliner was added to the toy room.  Oh, my, it is so nice to use it for story time throughout the day!

Sew Busy with Friends

This was an incredibly busy week for me.  In addition to some daytime busyness, I was out a lot in the evenings (with and without children).  I just don't do well with being gone so much.  Somehow in all the craziness, I was able to make these birthday gifts for our friends.

(I will apologize now for the giant fingerprint on the lens that makes all the pictures blurry.)

Birthday Girls!  They loved their pillows, thankfully.

This was all the girls at the party...there were boys (and dads), too, but this was the picture of the girls.

In case you are wondering, Sophie and Karine are friends, not sisters.  (We all know families don't have to look alike, right?) With two September birthdays, they wanted to have a party together.  It was lots of fun!

Someone really needs to give me a reality reminder when it comes to my sewing abilities.  It takes me so long to complete a project!

The kids got the coolest party favors.  Really!  Each child got a monogrammed white t-shirt!  Very cool.  Meghan doesn't want it to take the ribbon off (that wrapped it up) so that it can be washed and worn.  She likes it just as it is!  Silly girl!

Shake It

Yes...I keep spices in the lazy Susan.  Evan, too often, has access to them.

I was just three or four feet from Evan making applesauce (which uses cinnamon).  He managed to open the cinnamon and shake it all over himself.

My mother-in-law was here thankfully, and changed Evan's clothes while I spent a very long time cleaning up my Gel Pro mat.  The cinnamon is practically the same color as the gel mat, but let me tell you, cinnamon is not fun to clean out of those grooves!

BIG Boy Bed

Evan has been showing that he's ready for a bed.  The big clue for me is how he likes to get under the covers of our bed and pretend "night-night."  He also likes to use the pillow in his crib for a blanket.  That makes me think he would like a heavy blanket to sleep.

So over a week ago we had a fun night at the local furniture store...shopping!  We picked out a basic twin mattress set for Evan.  (We'll get the bed at a later time.  For now the mattress will set directly on the floor.)  Then I ordered bedding.  (We wanted trucks or tractors that was in our price range.  We found it at Walmart.com.)  We had to wait a bit because we also needed to have a mattress pad.  We finally got everything we needed to get him set up.

This was Evan's initial reaction!  He loves tractors and trucks and his bedding has both!

This picture isn't as focused as I'd prefer, but it shows you how TALL this bed seems.  The perspective makes it seem even bigger since Evan is by the wall.  The bedding set also came with a bed skirt, and I think we will be adding that, too.

Despite being in a big boy bed, Evan still sleeps with his pacifier and special blanket.

Evan took to the bed immediately.  He napped and slept in it with no problems!  (It did take him longer than usual to take his nap, but he wanted to be in the bed.)  He loves it, and likes to play on the bed, too!

When Meghan was just a few weeks younger than Evan she went to a twin bed, too, but that was because Evan was due to arrive on her birthday.  Derek and I like to skip over the toddler bed, and it has worked perfectly for our family.

Pictured here is Meghan's room.  With lavender paint, curtains, and bedskirt, her room is quite purple!  Some day soon we'll hang some things on the walls that will help.

Our poor children have blank walls.  But at least they are painted now!  Obviously, I'm not good at decorating, nor is it a priority.

Brother and Sister

That's my tongue.

That's Meghan's tongue!

A Good Day

Seriously, when did Meghan get to be so BIG!!??  She definitely looks like the big sister in this picture!

We had some great news today!  Today was Meghan's first day at school without a time-out!  Day seven is the magic number!  I hope this starts a new trend.

(Many time-outs happened in the classroom, but some were on the playground, too.  Even if her teacher didn't tell me, she would.  Our little girl is a happy child-when things go her way.  Too often she is determined not to do what is asked of her or to do something that is just outright wrong.)  

W

Evan has a favorite letter already.  W.  He says it clearly.  He points to it whenever he sees one.

W

A sideways 3 is "W."  An upside-down M is "W."  W is "W."  A bite out of a biscuit is "W"-at least to Evan.

I love that he has just picked this up from books and games!  He doesn't even know that for all of his schooling the W will be important when it comes to seating arrangements and alphabetical order.

Weekend Home

While I was at the Women of Faith conference, Derek was home with the children.  This was the first time I had left him with the children overnight, though there have been a handful of times that I've been gone for a day before.  This was essentially two days (though one night) that I was away.

From the sounds of it, everything was fine.  Normal.

But instead of relaxing during naps and after the children were in bed, Derek spent about five hours making our powder room blue!

We both really like the color.  It's a medium-light blue.  We had picked it out together when True Value had buy one gallon, get one free sale over Memorial Day weekend.

For reference, you can see my baby blue shirt.
















See, even Meghan is happy to say goodbye to those plain, white walls.  (Even if they are still plain!)

Weekend Away

First thing Friday morning Derek dropped me off at a local church to meet up with five other women (and one more to join us later).  We were heading to Philadelphia for a Women of Faith conference.

On Friday we heard Patsy Clairmont and Andy Andrews-and enjoyed both quite a bit.  That evening Anita Renfroe made us laugh.  Saturday we heard more from Patsy and Andy along with Lisa Welchel, Marilyn Meberg, and my favorite Mary Beth Chapman (wife to singer Steven Curtis Chapman).

We stayed overnight in a hotel (even though we live about an hour away and could have driven).  (The hotel had just opened on Monday so everything was brand-spanking-new!)  We had more girl time together.  It was such fun!  We were quite the group.  Four of us were in our thirties, two in their forties, and one in her seventies.  Quite the age range, huh?  And no, the "elder" woman was not the least bit phased by us younger ones.   Most of us had met before and were good friends, but two people were friends from church of others.  Regardless of when we met, I think we all had a great time...even if we stayed up late and got up early.

I'm not sure I would go to Women of Faith again (for various reasons), but I would certainly enjoy a weekend away with the girls again!

At Least It Wasn't Her Hair

You may remember that a few days ago Meghan cut a strip of fabric that was already part of Amy's patchwork-purse-to-be.

Well, when I went to work on it again, I found the other half of the destruction.  She ruined 8 blocks.  Could be worse, huh?

Amy's birthday is in October...and I am determined to have it completed by then.  Let's hope I don't have any more setbacks!

We Created Monsters

When we went on vacation, the children played in the cars (or more specifically Grandpa's truck) while the grown ups unpacked and packed.  This was incredibly helpful, to say the least.

Since then, the children have been playing in the cars on a regular basis...sometimes more than once a day!  Evan is now efficiently able to crawl from the front seat to the back seat.

Safety first!  When Meghan asks me to play, the first thing I am required to do is to put on my seatbelt.  Smart girl, huh?

Though the pictures feature the children in separate cars, they often play together in the same car.  The problem is they both LOVE this activity.  Some days most of their outdoor play time is spent in the cars!  Apparently, the swingset has nothing on a four door sedan!

Some days we drive to school, church, or the pharmacy.  Other days we go on longer trips to visit family...all with a 3 year old at the wheel.

Lessons Learned: 1. Garage door openers need to be removed from the visor.  2. My audio book CD's (from the library) should be removed before the children play.  In my car the CD can be ejected when the car is off.

On a side note, we have a GPS unit.  We refer to it like it is a family member or at least just as important as a diaper bag.  We call it Garmin, since that is the brand.  After vacation, we put Garmin away.  Meghan immediately noticed, and asked us, "Where's Garmin?" It was as if we left a member of the family behind!  Then she proceeded to inquire how we would get to our desired local destination without Garmin.  Somehow, we found the way.  Imagine that!

Scissor Trouble

To see what trouble Meghan found in our spare room click here to see it on the other blog.

She Kissed WHAT?!

Our annual church picnic was Sunday.  In addition to a moonbounce, a reputable man brought in some reptiles, and possibly some other creatures, too, for a talk and show.

Later everyone had an opportunity to kiss pet the big snake.  As I expected, Meghan pet it without reservation.  Then we promptly used hand sanitizer as we had been instructed.




Later, she was playing with a friend, and apparently wanted to see the giant snake again.  So she went to see it.  Looking for her, I saw she was with the gigantic snake.  So I made my way over to her.  I was promptly (and appropriately) grossed out when a friend told me that she KISSED THE SNAKE.
Before we said goodbye to humongous snake, we used more hand sanitizer, including a bit on (not in) her lips.  Yes, folks, that's my girl.

Funny thing-word got around pretty fast that Meghan had chosen to show affection to the creature.   It's nice when that is the big news of the day!


(Maybe I should also share that earlier that day, a friend told me how Meghan kissed her son on the lips.  We did talk about kissing friends on the cheeks or just hugging them before she kissed the snake.  Somehow, it did not occur to me to address how we show affection to reptiles.)


We didn't purposely leave Evan out of all the fun.  After multiple meltdowns, Derek and I decided it would be best to take him for a ride and try to get him to nap since it was well past nap time.  I didn't get to visit and catch up much with friends since Evan and I were gone for about an hour.  (This is why I don't know what type of snake is pictured.)

Meghan's First Day of School

This was the best smile of the morning!

Today was Meghan's first day of preschool!  Though she went to  the speech and language classroom last year, this feels like a real school experience for Meghan and for us as parents.

Meghan ate her breakfast wearing her backpack!

I had already purchased this backpack a few days prior to Meghan being sick on her backpack. (Phew!)  When I explained that the other backpack couldn't be cleaned so we would get a new one, she requested hearts and sparkles.  She was satisfied with the hearts, even without the sparkles.  Thankfully!  (I didn't taker her to pick it out because I didn't want to come home with Dora, Disney, or something way too mature.)

Meghan enjoying the steps at school.

Meghan and Mrs. S.

A lot has changed since last year!  Check out last year's first day of school here.  She looked so tiny, and that was just in October of last year...winter hat and all!