The Office Countdown!

I'm so excited for the start of the new season of The Office tonight (Thursday) on NBC. I've never laughed so much at a tv show so I can't wait!

The Things She Says...

Ava, who is now 27 months old says and does a lot of things that you wouldn't expect from a 2 year old...(or at least I didn't).

Some of the things she said recently.
1. Daddy: "Okay Ava, do you want to get your pjs on and get ready for night-night?" AVA: "No, not today." she said very matter-of-factly.
2. Mommy in morning: "Let's change your diaper." AVA: "NO! I don't want you to change my diaper...Ava could die...get ouchy!" (On rare occasion, I've said the word die to emphasize seriousness with dangerous things).
3. Mommy was talking to Daddy on the phone at work, Daddy: "I want to talk to Ava." Mommy: "Ava, Daddy wants to talk to you." Ava: "I'm busy right now."
4.After a long time at Hobby Lobby, Ava: "I ALL DONE WITH HOBBY LOBBY!"
5. Ava: (pouting after Mommy told her No...she's in this pouting and crocodile tears stage) "You made me cry!"
6. Ava: (tell Daddy bye-bye for work) "Have lots and lots of fun!"
7. Ava: (unprompted at the dinner table after prayer) "Ok...let's see..., Daddy, how's work today?"
8. Ava: (mommy changing her morning diaper) "Where's Daddy going?" Mommy: "Work." Ava: "I want to give him a big kiss."
9. Daddy to Mommy at dinner: "She hasn't even touched her chicken." Ava pokes chicken and says, "I touched it."
10. If Mommy and Daddy ever raise their voices at each other, Ava: "Guys, Guys, Stop. Mommy, be nice to Daddy. Daddy, be nice to Mommy."
11. Ava had been kind of yelling at Daddy (a new thing recently). Daddy went into the garage to load the car. Ava opens the door to the garage and says, "Daddy, I'm sorry I yelled at you."
12. Ava speaks in whole sentences and even understands how to use pronouns. At church on Sunday, a little boy showed her a picture and said, "That's Michael (pointing to a boy) and that's me." Ava immediately repeated, "That's Michael and that's you."
13. Ava is also into telling stories and pretend reading books. Here's a recent story: "Once upon a time there was a boy named Nemo. He was a fish. His Daddy's name was Marlin. He liked to swim in the water. The end."
14. Ava also likes to sing songs and knows all of the words (or almost) to: Twinkle, Twinkle, the Barney Song, I'm a Little Jayhawk, Ring around the Rosy, Row, Row, Row your Boat, etc.
15: Ava to Mommy: "I love you Mommy...tons and tons."
16: Ava running in the backyard: "I'm fast...like Dash." (from the movie Incredibles)

A few things she's done recently:
1. Ava loves getting into things and has repeatedly moved chairs or her stool to help her get things. On one occasion, she had moved the kitchen chair all the way through the living room and into the guest bathroom so that she could reach the Dixie cups and princess toothpaste the Mommy had put up high (those two things sure work magic by the way to get Ava excited to brush). On a separate occasion, Ava kept moving the kitchen chair to the cupboard that houses her special cups and some random candy. After the second time, I told her that if she moved the chair again, it was time for crib time (timeout). After a few minutes, things got quiet again. I head for the kitchen, expecting to see a chair missing from the table but they were all there. I turn the corner and Ava has dragged her Little Tikes picnic table from the living room into the kitchen to use as a climbing device. I almost expected her to say, "I didn't move the chair so you can't get mad."
2. I was trying to mow that lawn one day. Gaia had offered to take Ava to the park so I could get it done. While waiting for Gaia outside, I thought I'd start up the mower. I got a chair out for Ava and told her to sit there while I mowed a little. I starting mowing and then noticed Ava was missing. I stopped and went inside to see Ava, a chair moved to the "special" cupboard, the fridge propped open and Ava holding a gallon of milk and a green cup. Luckily, I got to her before the cap come off of the milk. She protested majorly so I gave in and put some milk in her cup. She then spilled it all over the garage...no big deal really. I told her to stay outside. Repeat: Mowing, Ava missing, Mommy heads inside. This time, I see Ava sitting at the threshold of the garage and house, eating jelly beans out of a bag. Mommy: "What are you doing?" Ava: "I'm eating jelly beans." (Duh, mommy) I look inside - chair moved, cupboard open.

I realize that my mommy skills could've been better. I should've only given her one warning before timeout in story number 1. And in number 2, I should've waited to mow until Gaia arrived so that I could've kept a closer eye on her. But then I wouldn't have funny Ava stories.

We love Ava very much. She's really a sweet, caring, expressive little girl. She loves playing pretend, reading stories, watching movies, snuggling and hugging and kissing her baby sister, Elise. We're so happy that we get to be her parents.

Attitude is Everything

We're mostly over our household sickness here. I got it the worst followed by Chris, Elise and Ava, who got away (thankfully) with only a runny nose for a day and a half. I'm having trouble with my pic storage so I've been less than enthusiastic about posting since I can't post the pics I want so here's a boring post...

So I've been thinking about everyday trials and challenges and am realizing how important our attitude towards these things is! I can be such a complainer or worse, a know-it-all. I tend to get annoyed easily and tend to think I know the best way to do things. (picture Chris nodding his head at this statement). I notice that when I try to be cheerful and have a good attitude and/or change my perception of something - things go much better, I'm happier and therefore, my kids and husband are happier too. You really can get through anything with the right attitude. Nothing new...nothing you've never heard before...just something I'll have to continually remind myself of.

Contrast

Chris and I are fighting nasty, nasty colds right now. Being sick as a parent of two makes me long for the days of youth when being sick was completely different.

When you're sick as a child: (Keep in mind I'm talking mild acute illness and when you're old enough to understand you're sick)
1.)You get to stay home. Mom and Dad ran all of the errands. As an adult, you still have to have to get a few things to keep you going - including meds and the work at work is always there. No elves or fairies to do it for you.
2.)Mom and Dad got you 7-up and soda crackers to ease your tummy aches. As an adult, you don't want your 2 year old seeing you drinking 7-up because they'll want some.
3.)You could sleep ALL day if you wanted to. As an adult, you still have to wake up at the crack of dawn with your kiddos and naps are a rarity.
4.)When you're not sleeping, you get to watch TV - whatever show you want, for however long you want. As an adult, rather than running around playing with your kids, best to entertain them with hours on end of Disney and PBS kids.
5.)You gets lots of sympathy and well wishes. As an adult, you're kids just don't know and you're lucky if they aren't extra whiny or at least seemingly so and no one wants to hear you complain or blog about how sick you are. ;)
6.)Mom and Dad take care of you and bring you everything...no having to get up extra for restroom breaks. As an adult, you get to take care of yourself - you still have to get up...especially to wash your hands each time after you blow your nose so as not to infect the uninfected.
7.)You can really milk every cough, every sneeze and every low-grade fever. As an adult, you muffle your sneezes, cover up your coughs and go to the other room to blow your nose, especially if your baby sleeps in the same room as you at night.

Actually, while it's really hard with both of us being sick, at least Ava and Elise are still well. Also, I haven't been sick since Elise has been born which is a blessing on its own. It also makes me appreciate when everyone is well. Oh, and my mom did come over yesterday while Chris was at work to help out and keep us company. Plus - the last few nights after the kids have gone to bed, we've been re-watching the 3rd season of The Office on dvd in anticipation of the 4th season next week!

Snap Shots

With no Kelli France or Kristy Merrill (friends who are talented photographers) nearby, I've resorted to trying to snap (no posing here - you would've laughed watching me chase Ava around trying to take her picture) some pictures of my girls before they're all grown up. Oh how I wish they lived close by! - Although my sis Heidi does pretty well - should make her follow my kids around...

Grammar Girl

I thought it'd be fun to see what the most commonly misspelled words are:

Here's a short list:
accidentally, argument, definitely, equipment, occurrence, principle/principal, receive, recommend, separate, weird. For more - check out this link: Commonly Misspelled Words: http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html

IHere's a website that is dedicated to helping us know when to lay or lie, and accept or except. Grammar Girl Website: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx

My Precious Cargo

Of all the things we lug around in our cars or minivans - these two are my favorite! (esp. when they aren't crying or whining ;)

Gage Park

For last week's playgroup we took a trip to Gage Park. It was actually a fairly mild, overcast morning - great park weather. We had about 8 moms come. I think we all enjoyed ourselves. (Above pic taken from train ride).

For $1, who can beat the 10 minute scenic train ride with a trip through a tunnel and everything?
It occurred to me as I watched Ava running from play equipment to play equipment, following many of the "big" kids, that Ava is becoming quite the "big" kid herself.

Had to get a pic of Ava posing as a character from The Wizard of Oz. The first one she tried was the Lion. It was funny because she didn't understand that you only put your face up to the opening. She kept trying to stick her whole head in and then got frustrated when her head kept getting stuck. She may have wanted to be able to see the character too...who knows. We were able to help her figure it out eventually. :)

Gage park has either the oldest or one of the oldest indoor Carousels around. We pretty much had it to ourselves so we enjoyed a couple of rides...also at a great rate - 75 cents. Ava didn't want to stop. She had got me to sort of chase her within and around the Carousel. Luckily, that didn't last long.
Here's Ava with her little friend Payton. They've enjoyed getting to do lots of stuff together lately. When we tell Ava that it's Sunday, she says, "I go to Nursery...and play with Payton!"

Sunflower Farm

We saw an article in our local newspaper about a sunflower farm not far from where we live. We decided to go and take some pictures. Many thanks to my sister Heidi who got some good shots despite a grumpy toddler who just wanted to play with rocks. Elise was happy to have her picture taken though. Here are some of the better shots (warning - lots of pictures!):

FAMILY PHOTOS:





PARENT-BABY PHOTOS:

BEAUTIFUL AVA:

PRECIOUS ELISE:

Summertime

So far this summer has been a good one. Ava is so excited to go places and learn new things so that has been fun. I'm also feeling better than I have in a long time. 2 babies in 2 years is quite a thing to undertake but I survived and amazingly so did Chris! (survived me that is). Elise is out of her newborn fussy stage and we are being blessed for sticking with her! She is such a sweet, happy child - huge, huge smiles all of the time. I think she just wanted to be able to see everything and interact with everyone.Ava is such a girl. Here's the trademark little girl in Mommy's big shoes picture...actually, these are Aunt Kelly's big shoes. Mommy pretty much wears flip-flops right now. I do like her expression. It's hard to get her to smile for the camera for longer than a nanosecond, so this is a rare treat.

Since Ava is an age where she can appreciate it more, we've been involved with playgroup more this summer. We had a pool party at our house last week which I think turned out to be a lot of fun for the kids. We had a large turnout - which is great. The kids had fun playing in 2 kiddie pools, the sprinkler, our swingset and lots of buckets of water for the kids who are into filling containers and then dumping them out. We took a break for popsicles and watermelon. At one point, I counted 24 children in attendance.
Ava decided to eat her popsicle in the swimming pool. I saw the popsicle go under a couple of times...Ava didn't seem to mind, except when she couldn't find the rest of it. She then reached out and wanted mine. I took a bite and gave it to her. Another gross thing is when Ava was eating watermelon. I had given her a piece and then a little bit later noticed her gnawing on a piece that was definitely a different shape and size from the one I gave her...hmmm. Then, I caught her in the act of pulling a rind out of the trash can that still had some pink on it. YUCK! Then came the lesson on how we don't eat out of the trash. Still later, I saw her pick up a rind off of the ground and start eating the pink again. !!!!! I offered her a fresh piece. Apparently, I don't feed her enough.

Projects!

I've been busy with various projects lately. I finally bought a sewing machine of my very own. My mom was letting me use one of her old ones which you can see is older and doesn't near as much as my new one. I went with a Bernina because I've heard great things about them and lots of people I know, including my mom, have one. Better safe than sorry I guess. Now I just have to learn how to use it!

My first project was to make flannel boards for a little preschool group we're doing. If you're interested, I used an 18x24in. artist panel/canvas, 3/4 yard of flannel, and tote bag strapping bought from the ribbon section at Hobby Lobby. I sewed the flannel like a pillowcase, making sure to make it fit really tight, and then hot glued the open end down neatly. Then, I used the strapping/trim to make a little handle, burning the ends to keep them from raveling, and stapled them to the back of the board.

Then, I decided I need to do some painting so I touched up this tulip painting that I painted a few years ago and have already "touched up" twice. I think I have to stop though, even though it pains me to look at it and see how I could improve it still. Ava saw me painting and said, "I paint too!" She then took a thanfully dry paintbrush and started to stroke on my painting. I quickly got out paper and paint for Ava to try for herself. She enjoyed it - her favorite thing was for me to make purple by mixing red and blue for her.

Cool Website

Have bored kids like mine? Try printing out one of these activities! Ava is currently playing with the kitty one.

http://wondertime.go.com/create-and-play/printables/

County Fair

I'm now helping to plan ourchurch's playgroup. For this activity, we went to our County Fair. It was raining lightly which helped keep things cool...and it really didn't matter too much since most everything we were looking at was inside. We saw part of the dairy cow show and lots of animals.

Gaia, Kate & William...Ava's aunt and cousins.

Here, Ava & her friend Payton are looking at the chickens.

Our frirend debbi held Ava up to get a better view. It was neat to see that several of the chickens had laid eggs.
When Ava saw the camel in the petting zoo they had, she was SO excited. "Mommy, a CAMEL! Look, A CAMEL!...Yummum, (how she says cousin William's name)A CAMEL!" Later, when telling Daddy about the camel, she said, "I saw a CAMEL! - like ALADDIN!" It's amazing the connections kids make!
Ava and her friend Mary at the petting zoo. We spent the perfect amount of time there and even got to pet a rabbit and chicken because we knew the girls showing them. (I think it sounds funny to say you got to pet a chicken...:)

Yumm-Yumm

Now that Elise has passed the 4-month mark, we've decided to let her sample a little bit of rice cereal here and there. She's definitely shown interest in eating. I feel kind of sorry for her, watching her watch us eat and look like she's ready for a bite too. She even put her hand in the popcorn bowl a couple of times the other day.
She really like whatever it was she thought we were doing to her. The only thing is that she's SO messy! She doesn't want to just eat it off of the spoon...she wants to taste it with her fists, rub in on her face and use it as hair gel too. Call it selfish or lazy, but, I'm not giving it to her very often yet because it is just TOO messy. Maybe if I swaddler her first??? kidding!

"A-nastics"

We signed Ava up for Parent/Tot Tumbling this summer. As you can see, she absolutely loved going. The class was very casual, pretty much consisting of us warm-ups & streches, free play, and a group activity at the end of the class. Much of our time was spent going around to all of the various equipment and helping Ava to try it out. Her favorites: the balance beam, vault and trampoline.

Stretches! Chris and I took turns helping Ava and watching Elise.

Balance Beam. I kept trying to get her to put her arms out at each side. At one time, I told her to point - so of course she does a full on point, looking in the direction of which she was pointing..funny to see. Sorry no pic of that.

Oh, she also really enjoyed going across the ladder. It led to the trampoline, possibly one of the reasons she liked it so much.
On the last day of class, they sit all of the kids down (some missing - couldn't get everyone to sit at the same time), and give them certificates. After getting her certificate, Ava found a spot on a mat nearby and lied down, looking at her certificate and just laughing - like she was just so happy. :) It was fun to see her in this class. She learned a few things but mostly just had some fun using her body in different ways.

Meanwhile, baby sister has a new favorite carseat toy to keep her occupied while big sis does her "a-nastics".

Birthday Wishes!

Happy 32nd Birthday, Chris!

Love, Lori, Ava & Elise

New Recipe

In an attempt to eat more whole grains, I purchased a pkg of Gold Medal Whole Wheat flour. Here's the recipe from the back of the bag: I don't think I've ever tried bread with bananas and raisins but it was VERY good, definitely a keeper.

Banana-Raisin Whole Wheat Bread
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (3-4 medium)
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup raisins
2/3 cup plain nonfat yogurt (1 Yoplait sized cont.)
1/2 cup fat-free cholesterol-free egg product or 2 eggs (Yeah, I used 2 eggs...actually, I only had one but it was still good...not sure about this egg product stuff)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Move oven rack to lowest position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of two 8x4-inch loaf pans or one 9x5-inch loaf pan.
2. Stir together all ingredients until blended. Pour into pans.
3. Bake 8-inch loaves 50-60 minutes, 9-inch loaf 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperatue up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days. 24 slices per loaf.

We also tried a whole wheat pizza crust recipe (does contain some white flour too), from oprah.com which was pretty good. http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/food/recipes/food_20030623_dough.jhtml Now I'm on to looking for more whole grain recipes.

Finished

I had to escape the world for a few days to find out how the great Harry Potter book series comes to an end. Wow. I won't spoil the book for you but will say that I didn't want to put it down - enjoyed it thoroughly. Things I thought might happen - things I had never imagined...What a talented author! She created a new world and got so many kids and adults reading for pleasure again. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!