Watering is so much more fun...

...when done in a beautiful dress!

Encouragement

This is sort of a random thought, but I keep forgetting to write it down. We attend mass on Sunday as a family, and going with Beth and Luke is usually challenging for us. It's rare that the actually hear a homily, let alone have time to understand and think about it. Ryan and I try to prepare before mass by going over the readings and reflecting on a short meditation. Anyways, mass is a constant battle to keep Beth quiet and Luke still, but we still feel that it's doable and important that we bring our children to mass with us- and actually sit in the church, usually in one of the first few rows. Despite what you think, Beth actually behaves better in the front (usually) since she's able to see. She follows along in a kid's book and I point out the important parts and tell her what's going on. She knows when the bells are going to ring, and follows along by raising her hands like the priest does (really funny!) and singing loud at the top of her voice!

Last week we attended mass at a different church, and Beth asked, "Where's Father Tom?" It was so funny, she cracked me up!

Every now and then, Ryan and I will both feel discouraged after mass, musing with each other that "This is our worst one yet!" Yet probably half that time we feel like our kids were the most disruptive, noisiest, and distracting kids in the church, it never fails that I have someone come up to me after mass and compliment me on my family. I am so moved and so touched, usually I tear up at the nice words people have to say. I've been told my kids are so quiet, so well-behaved, and that it's beautiful that I'm teaching them the faith at such a young age. I can't even repeat half the compliments because I was so in awe that someone would think these things about us that a lot of it is just blurred together. I am so thankful for these people, they are so encouraging and their compliments usually come at just the right time! It helps me endure the rough days, and even though we know we're doing what is best for our family, it's nice to hear a compliment every now and then. :-)

In all fairness

Today I took Beth and Luke to a local restaurant that has a sandbox and toys for the kids, we met a friend that I hadn't seen since college! Anyways, Beth had a blast- she played practically 2 hours all by herself in the sandbox! I told Ryan that whatever it would cost to build a sandbox like that, with those exact toys, would be totally worth it. It was a lovely day since it was overcast and there was a storm blowing in, so it was nice and windy.

While Beth manages to ask "why" all day long, I am mostly patient and try to answer her questions. I just wasn't ready for it- I really thought this happened when they were a little older! Anyways, it's an opportunity for us to learn. None of her questions are too deep yet; "Why does daddy go to work?" or "Why is Luke hungry?" are typical. Her speaking is so clear though, but I'm still surprised that the everyone else seems to understand her just about as well as I do!

Her dancing skills improve daily and being a ballerina is usually a top priority for the day. When she gets bored, she asks me, "What can we do next?" In a day, she usually draws, reads, dances, plays with her dolls, interacts with Luke, and helps me with chores. She is a big help- really! She loves to vacuum and use the swiffer wet jet. Yesterday she helped me dust and clean the windows. When I do laundry she helps me sort and put the clothes in the washing machine. She is such a little domestic cutie.

Ryan and I are considering putting her in a little soccer program in September called Soccer Tots. I really want her to do something, and while I like the idea of Little Gym it's just a lot of money! I think we'll try this because it's an 8-week program, so not a huge commitment, plus Ryan is just anxious to get Beth on a field kicking a soccer ball! If this goes well, maybe she could start ballet in the spring!

PS- suddenly my computer and camera are feuding and I can't get my pictures on to the computer. Sorry! Hopefully they can make up and be friends again and then you can see pics of my cute kids! I have some good ones!

An old toy made new

After redoing Beth's room, we cleaned out a lot of "baby" toys that she no longer plays with and moved them into Luke's room. We also moved around furniture in Luke's room to accommodate some of these "new" toys (they're big) and make a little more play space. I had forgotten that we'd stored some of the bigger toys in the attic, so we pulled a couple of them down and now, of course, Beth is obsessed with them! This little one is Beth's "fire truck" and she was just going off on Luke about how it's "her" toy. I pulled up an old video of Beth playing on the truck when she was a little older than Luke, and I showed her how she used to love to play on the toy when she was a baby. Now she's more than willing to share with Luke since she got to play with it when she was a baby too! Of course, old habits die hard... She still rides the fire truck a lot!



Last Tuesday night we went out on a double date! We went to a burger place on the lake and watched the sunset with some drinks and stayed out late. We had a great night!

My garden has failed

I am very close to throwing in the towel for my summer garden this year. All of my squash plants and my pumpkin died, and I'm certain it was due to a certain condition called stem split. What happened was it didn't rain for about 6 weeks, then we got probably 3 feet of rain in one night (okay, not literally, but a LOT) and the stems couldn't support that much water so they burst open. And then the plants slowly croaked, from the base of the stem all the way to the very last leaf. How sad, but honestly, totally out of my control! Right? (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

I have a cucumber. It's pretty sad looking but it's a real, singular cucumber. Actually I have several more growing right now, we'll see if they make it past 2 inches long though (that's usually about where I lose them).

it was actually pretty good- i made a really yummy cucumber and cream cheese sandwich!

My tomatoes are still doing fine, though they are out of control since we didn't bother to cage them this year. I don't think they'll do fine for too much longer since the plant it leaning over so much...I did figure out a cost-effective way to cage them next year, so hopefully they'll do better.

My herbs are no fun. They're there, but not really growing.

Since I'm giving up on this garden, I'm looking ahead to a fall garden. I didn't bother last year since I was 7 months pregnant! Based on preliminary research, I am going to do carrots and broccoli, maybe some sort of leafy green like kale. Beth LOVES raw carrots, so I'm hoping they do well- how cool would that be???

Our week

one of my new favorite pictures!

On Monday I left with the kids to head to my parent's house for a visit. We had a nice visit- I got to hang out with my family and a couple of friends I hadn't seen in a long time, and Beth had so much fun playing with my brothers! I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a couple. Beth spent a lot of time petting the cats, watering the garden, playing with cars and little men (GI Joes?), and enjoying time with my parents. I think Luke had a good time too!

watering the flowers

wrapped up in fabric Uncle Michael brought us from Africa!

oh good grief. the obsession begins (she had no idea this was a video game since we never turned it on, she just liked beating the drums!)

Today Beth attended Grace's third birthday party. She was supposed to go dressed as a princess, but as it turns out we have no princess attire in our home! So she went as a pretty ballerina...And I guess I'll have to keep my eye out for some princess clothes and shoes!

Weekend in photos

corn-shucker, from last week. she did this all by herself! (yes, she dressed herself too. when your kid can dress herself, you don't care what she wears!)

i don't remember why he was so smiley, but i love it.

first pathetic cucumber. it's still growing though. if you look closely, you can see a shriveled up one right next to it. that's what happens when they don't get enough water!

another happy picture.

he was playing with daddy on the bed.

our house guest for the week. layla and finley are having lots of fun together!

me and bethie right before i trimmed her hair. it was getting long but it's still thin since her layers weren't even yet. so i fixed that!

what her hair looks like now. if it looks crooked, it's probably because it is!

hee-man. he carried in most of my groceries tonight, all in one trip. and closed the trunk and the front door behind him. and i don't even have to tip him!

A first!

Luke pulled up today, all by himself! I wasn't even in the room, I was spying on him and Beth through the doorway (out of their site, haha). They were playing nicely together so I just sat there enjoying it, then he pulled up on Beth's little piano. I ran to get my camera, but by the time I had it pulled out and ready to go, he'd fallen over and was in no mood to repeat his performance. I'll try to have it ready next time!

Today Beth was a guest at The Little Gym. I really wasn't sure how she'd do, given our previous experiences, but she loved it. I was so surprised! The class was an hour long, and she went into the gym while I stayed outside with Luke and watched her- she didn't look back at me until about 40 minutes into the program, and she just kept right going! There were about 8 kids in the class and they did some running around, basic gym things, and pretended they were princesses (and princes- that was the theme today). I am seriously considering enrolling her for the fall, but she'd have to be in a class that would require my participation, and that would be hard with Luke! It's also expensive, but I'm justifying it by saying we're not planning on putting her in preschool anytime soon (if ever). It's just a thought right now, we'll see what happens!

Beach 2009

We just got back from our annual trip to Port Aransas! The kids had so much fun- we all did! Beth just loved playing in the sand, especially burying her feet, and Luke did pretty well eating, uh, playing in the sand also. ;-) We invited our friends Pat, Katie and kids to come with us, but still got to see my family every day out on the beach. I loved introducing a place I've grown up going to and have come to love to special people in my life. Every year it looks a little more touristy, but I suppose that when my mom and her family started going there 40-something years ago, it probably was still an almost-deserted island at that point. We liked the new place we stayed in, so if anyone needs a recommendation I would definitely suggest our condo!

And now for the pictures! There are a lot, I got a lot of good ones this year!

crossing the ferry, luke was asleep so he missed out on a picture of his first ferry ride!

luke's first experience with sand. he decided to take a big bite.

since the kids woke up at 6:20 the first morning we were there (a little earlier than normal), we decided to eat a quick breakfast and walk to the beach. we were out there by 7:30, it was empty, calm, beautiful and peaceful.

the first day, my aunts, cousins, mom, sister and i threw a surprise baby shower for my cousin! i think we had a nice time.

the girls before we hit the beach. they liked that both their cover-ups had hoods!

rafting in the shallow water.

luke fell asleep on me and let me lay him down. this actually happened a few times but by the last night he wasn't sleeping so well. he and beth were so worn out each night, but i think they were so wound up that they had a hard time falling asleep.

cutie in her "hot tub"

evening family picture. poor luke was so sleepy!

my family (minus one brother) on the beach. we missed michael soooo much!

flying a kite with daddy. it was a cheap kite so it didn't fly very well or high, but it was exciting enough for beth.

hmm luke, what have you been up to?

burying hands and feet. it was the funniest thing to her.

ryan caught two fish at the same time! two! i thought this was the coolest thing. they were hard heads, apparently one of the least popular fish in the gulf.

enjoying the sand.

they got serious about building a sandcastle last night. i think one of the biggest we'ver ever built. pretty cool, huh?

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! We went to our town's parade in the morning- it started at 9 am but I'm certain it was already 95 degrees by then- it was HOT! We dressed Beth and Grace in their matching 4th of July dresses, and we had a man ask us if they were our twins or someone else's. They do look similar! It lasted for 2 long hours, then we went to our community pool. Last year they grilled hot dogs and had snacks, but this year they only had candy. Too bad, we were counting on a free lunch, haha. Instead, we had fast food burgers and Luke took a nap. We grilled with our friends that evening and planned on going out to watch the fireworks, but Ryan and I decided to stay home and let the kids sleep. We were all totally exhausted! But overall we had a really good day!

ready for the parade to start!

daddy and luke

sleepy boy!

twins?

luke fell asleep on me in the pool...

...and was so tired he let me lay him down on a pool chair!

kids

(alex, did you teach her this lovely face?)