Cowgirl Birthday

It is hard to believe that Lydia is officially three years old! We had a wonderful weekend full of birthday fun. We started off the weekend with a trip to Deanna Rose Farmstead for an "almost" birthday party as Lydia referred to it with Lydia's friends. There were 11 kiddos there, and it was a lot of fun. We were able to walk through all of the farm together - stopping to feed the animals, going down the barn slide, playing on the playground, seeing Pippi the cow, and riding the ponies.

 

 

You have to be three years old to ride the ponies so this was Lydia's first opportunity. At first, she seemed a little unsure, but by the end, she was smiling! I hope she doesn't expect to ride a pony every time that we go to the farm! :) We then went back to our corral for cupcakes - the cupcakes were made by Aunt Brooke, and they were wonderful! They even had a red sparkly cowgirl boot on top to match our western cowgirl theme! But I think the highlight of the farm birthday party was the wagon ride that we ended the morning with. Lydia had a lot of fun!



We were also lucky that Aunt Brooke, Uncle Chris, Parker, and Brecken could come up and spend time with us this weekend. They stayed here on Saturday evening so the girls had all of Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to play together. It is so much fun to see them interact. My favorite was getting ready for church on Sunday morning and listening to the conversations between Lydia and Parker as they were lying in bed together. They were truly priceless little exchanges!

 

 

Then, on Sunday afternoon, we had another birthday party with just family. We just had it here at our house, and it was very relaxed! Aunt Brooke made an amazing gingerbread house (Lydia's request for the type of cake that she wanted). However, Lydia did not want to eat it at the party. We are planning on digging into the gingerbread house tonight! But we did eat another birthday cake that Aunt Brooke made and opened presents. The kiddos enjoyed playing outside since it was a beautiful day! All in all, the weekend was perfect!

The Stats

Well - I felt as though I needed to update you all on our activities over the past week. Last week was kind of crazy as we were getting everything ready for Lydia's birthday party. We had Lydia's last appointment with our Parents as Teachers representative, Jamie. That was actually a little sad for me - Jamie has been a wonderful resource for me to bounce ideas off of, and she has shared lots of wisdom with me over the last three years. We will definitely miss her!

Then, we had all of our regular activities during the week as well as a trip to Pittsburg, Kansas thrown in for me on Thursday! Needless to say, by Friday I was exhausted! But we also had Lydia's three-year wellness check with Dr. Martin on Friday morning. I had been preparing Lydia for the fact that she would be getting the seasonal flu vaccine at this appointment (i.e., a "shot"). She seemed fairly prepared for this when we went to the appointment.

She did great at the appointment. She followed all of Dr. Martin's instructions and her statistics were as follows:

Height - 38 1/4" (70% percentile)
Weight - 33 1/2 pounds (77% percentile).

Dr. Martin said that she looked great, and she was happy to hear that Lydia is a good eater (as though she couldn't tell from her statistics)! :) But when it came time for the flu shot, things changed a little. Hannah was scheduled to get her flu shot as well. Lydia went first. When the nurse gave her the shot, she immediately tried to pull away and then started crying. Then, it was Hannah's turn. The nurse gave Hannah the shot, and she didn't make a sound. She just sat there as though that was no big deal! When Lydia saw that, she definitely stopped crying! :)

Another funny Lydia story from last week. We were sitting at dinner on Thursday night, and I made the comment that I thought I was going crazy. I mean really - I had a crazy week! Well, Lydia immediately responded with "Is Mommy loco?" Loco means crazy in Spanish - I don't think they teach that word on Dora, but she had obviously heard it somewhere. When we realized that she understood what I was saying, Brian asked her if Mommy was crazy. She said no. Then, he asked her if he was crazy. Again, she said no. Finally, he asked her if Hannah was crazy. Once again, she said no. Then, he asked her if she knew anyone who was crazy. She immediately said yes. When Brian asked her who that was, she smiled brightly and said "Copper." Amen to that one! She definitely has our family dynamics figured out!

Like Mother Like Daughter

You might be surprised about who this blog post is actually about. Ever since Lydia was small, we saw those personality traits that seem to define everything that the birth order books define - the firstborn! In many ways, Lydia certainly takes after me. She tends to be a bit of a perfectionist and fiercely independent. She thrives on routine and likes to know what is coming next.

When Hannah was born, I knew that we had a completely different package on our hands. As a baby, she was very laid back. In fact, her personality seemed to be much more in line with Brian's. However, as Hannah has gotten older, and her personality has emerged even more, she has started portraying some new traits that have surprised both Brian and I. As I have described before, Hannah can make a mess out of absolutely anything in a matter of seconds. But, what I have rarely blogged about is how persistent she is with cleaning everything up.

 

When I ask Lydia to help pick up her toys, she will usually help, but I can also tell that she is definitely dragging her feet about helping. When I say pick up now, Hannah will usually make a bee line for whatever the task at hand is and dig right in. She loves order and having everything in its place (much like her Mommy)!

In fact, the other day, Hannah had a couple of her play pieces of food in her hand as we were leaving one of our bedrooms. I picked Hannah up and told her that we had to put the food away before we left the room. She quickly shook her head no so I carried her over to the plastic tubs where we store the food and asked her to drop the food into them. The first piece went into the tub without an issue. The second piece however, didn't actually make it into the tub. It landed on the floor outside. At that point, I didn't care, and I began to carry Hannah out of the room. But before we even made it to the door, Hannah said her word for down, and she was very insistent about it. She immediately walked back over to the tub, picked up the piece of food outside of it, and put it into the tub. Then, she picked up the plastic lid and put it on top. Once she was satisfied that everything was appropriately in its place, she followed me back to the door. I have to admit that I was surprised!

 

But we got the biggest laugh about Hannah on Friday night. Brian had taken both girls outside while I finished some preparations for dinner. He came back into the house and told me that I had to come back outside. Our neighbors have a large cottonwood tree whose branches hang over our fence. Thus, during this time of year, we have a lot of leaves to rake. Well, Hannah had found the many leaves and had made up her mind that they belonged back on our neighbor's side of the fence. She began putting them back through the slats of the fence by the handfuls. She is quite a character! And honestly, I think she would have put every single leaf back over had we let her!

I guess it just goes to show that actions of the people that you spend time with really do influence what you do and don't do. I just didn't think about that when it came to my kiddos! :)

 

Gift of the Tongue

We are studying the book of Genesis this year in my Community Bible Study group. So far, I have really enjoyed this study, and I am already anticipating getting to know the women in my core group even better. We have only completed our in-depth study of the first three chapters of Genesis, but one of the items that has really impacted me is the power and majesty of our Creator!

One of the most powerful aspects for me is how God literally spoke our entire universe into being. At the beginning of Genesis, the six days of creation begin by stating, "And God said..." I had never before thought of the powerfulness of this statement. God spoke everything into creation - isn't that amazing?

But the other item that has really resonated with me are the attributes that God has given to each of us. Obviously, I knew that God had formed each of us "in His own image." So, I knew about our physical similarities with God. However, I had never spent a lot of time considering the attributes that God had given us. The biggest attribute that has been on my mind has been the power of our tongue. Just as God created everything with His words, He has also given us the power of the tongue. Although other animals have tongues, none has the ability to communicate like we do.

That fact has definitely given me reason to ponder our gift of the tongue. God has also given us the ability to create and/or destroy with our spoken words. My prayer over the past two weeks has been for God to increase my awareness of my words. I really want to be known for my ability to encourage others and to build others up. I know how quickly I tend to open my mouth and speak (especially during those especially long silences when things tend to get uncomfortable). And usually, I end up saying something that I regret.

May we each remember the power of our words and commit to using them to encourage others. If God used His words to create our universe, can I not honor Him with the words that I use?

Pirate Pizazz

 

 

Can you tell which little gal is our neat one?

We have had a birthday-filled day. We have a lot of September birthdays in our family. Our nephew, Chase, will turn one year old on Tuesday, and my sister, Molly, will turn 30! So Tuesday will definitely be a celebratory day. But today, we went to Chase's birthday party. It was a pirate-themed affair which the girls loved. Lydia really enjoyed the treasure hunt and all of the pirate gear! But the best part of the party were the cupcakes. We decided that red frosting and a one-year old who loves to eat just don't mix well! Hannah literally rivaled the birthday boy for who was the messiest after their cake-devouring fun! At least she still knows how to smile through it all! Now the question is how long the red tint on her hands and face will last! :)

As we were running errands this morning before the party, Lydia kept asking if there would be cake at Chase's birthday party. We assured her that there would be cake there (and we knew it would be spectacular with Aunt Brooke creating it). As she kept talking about the cake, we asked Lydia if she understood why we were going to the party. Her quote of the day, "Yes Mommy - to help Chase eat his cake." You can tell where her priorities lie. We told her that we were actually going to the party to help Chase celebrate his birthday and that cake was just an added benefit! She matter-of-factly said, "Well you can't have a party without cake." I wonder where she learned that from! :)

Tonight, Brian and I went to a surprise 30th birthday party for one of his fraternity brothers from K-State. It was nice to see some familiar faces as well as meet some new people. And it was a great date night for Brian and I! Here's to all of the September birthdays!

Charlotte's Web

I have been trying to exercise on a more regular basis for the past few weeks. It has proven to be a wonderful experience - a little time to myself and a new perspective on each day when I get home. I have been exercising in the mornings and for anyone who knows me, I am not an early riser! So, it usually takes some effort for me to get up and get going but once I am outside in the beautiful morning air, I am usually ready to go.

This past week, I woke up and walked outside one morning anticipating the time just before sunrise that I have become accustomed to. However, I was greeted with a large and heavy blanket of fog. As I began to run, I have to admit that I started getting a little frustrated with God. He knows that I like to see what is coming next so that I can make it to the next point on my walk/run each morning. Seeing what is in front of me can really be my motivating factor (i.e., I just need to make it to that next hill)! But this particular morning, the fog was too dense for that to happen.

So, I continued to run with no forseeable end in sight. And then I got to the point in my run where I enter into a local park. As I began to run through the park, I noticed something spectacular. I began to see spider web after spider web. They were beautiful and exquisite masterpieces, and they were everywhere. I felt as though God had placed them there that morning just for me. As I try to exercise almost every day, I began to wonder if I had simply missed all of these during the previous mornings. And then I realized something even more profound. Although God had blocked my view of my next point along my run that morning, He had given me an even better gift - each individual spider web.

As I began to ponder this thought on the remainder of my run, I began to realize that our lives are very similar. Although we all like to see what is coming ahead, God can sometimes block our view. And we can rant and rave at God about why He is doing this to us, but usually, if we just take the time to focus on the here and now, God will reveal something even better that we would have missed otherwise. God is a big picture guy, and although we all tend to think that we know what is just over the next hill, God really knows. And He may block our view for a reason - so we take time to stop and enjoy the beautiful masterpieces that He has placed along our paths.

Lord, help me to recognize and enjoy the beauty that you put in front of me each day and to enjoy each moment, Knowing that You see the next hill or valley long before I do and that You know the path that is best for me.

Game Days

We have had a really wonderful Labor Day weekend! But to sum it up, it was all about experiencing different games. On Friday night, we decided to venture to Mill Valley High School to experience our first high school football game in our school district! It was definitely an eye-opening experience! With the amount of thighs and cleavage that I saw from the high school girls, I decided I could wait about 14 years to deal with all of that! But we did enjoy cheering the Jaguars on (although it wasn't to a victory)!

Then, Grandma Becky and Grandpa John had two extra tickets to the K-State vs. UMass college football game on Saturday evening. Lydia and Daddy took them up on their offer to join them at the game! It was really Lydia's first K-State football game that she could participate in. Since I have many wonderful memories of eating hot dogs in that same football stadium when I was little, I was so excited for Lydia to really experience the game! But when I went to football games, we were lucky if there were 500 fans in the stadium not the 50,750 that were there to watch Coach Snyder make his comeback on Saturday night! Luckily, Lydia was able to see the Cats record their first victory of the season! She looked really cute in her little K-State T-shirt and matching purple bow!

On Sunday, we only watched a little football on TV! But it was nice to relax at home! Today, we took Lydia and Hannah to Kaufman Stadium to see the Royals take on the L.A. Angels. The Royals were 0-9 against the Angels headed into this game, but they actually pulled off a victory today! It was a gorgeous day so we packed a lunch and went to the stadium a little early to enjoy the kid's playground before the game. A woman saw us eating at a picnic table and was nice enough to give us two free passes to ride the carousel and to play at the Little K. Lydia and Hannah both loved the carousel - Lydia picked a giraffe to ride on and Hannah (by default) picked a beautiful pony covered in flowers. Lydia didn't want to get off the carousel when the ride was over. But Lydia also got to go and experience the Little K. The kiddos each get a turn to hit a couple of balls and run the bases on a miniature field. Brian said that when Lydia picked up the bat, she immediately held it as though she were a left-handed batter. Then, she went to the left-side of the plate and actually hit a couple of balls. I guess that we have a lefty on our hands!

I am attaching a few pictures of the weekend festivities for you to enjoy! Have a wonderful week!

Lydia checking out the action at the K-State game through Grandma's binoculars!
Hannah hanging out at home with Mommy before we listened to the K-State game (glad we had something to smile about at the end of the game)!

 

Lydia showing off her "lefty" tendencies at the Little K!

 

Family picture outside of Kaufman Stadium before the Royals game began!

 

Worker Bee

 

Brian reminded me this morning about how different Hannah's personality is from Lydia's. Hannah was a very laid-back baby. She was great just accompanying Lydia and I on our many adventures and was very adaptable. I think that her personality has somewhat changed since then. She can still be very laid back about almost anything except for food! :) But now, if she really wants something, she will definitely babble at you until you go and get it for her. In fact, almost every afternoon when Hannah wakes up from her nap, she will immediately go into the kitchen cabinet where I keep extra sippy cups, get the one that she prefers, and bring it to me. And if I don't act fast enough, she will grab my hand and help me into the kitchen where she points at the automatic water dispenser on the refrigerator. The girl definitely knows what she wants!

But the other interesting difference between the girls is their level of activity. Lydia is perfectly content to play with one activity for a long length of time and just relax in front of the TV (I know - I am a terrible mom). However, Hannah has absolutely no interest in sitting still for any length of time. She is certainly our busy bee. She moves from one activity to another without missing a beat. She rarely sits down (except when she is really tired). It is not unusual to see Hannah move from playing with a toy in the living room to removing every item from a kitchen cabinet to climbing up the stairs and sliding back down within a 5 minute time frame. Brian often calls her his little "worker bee." If she keeps this up, she will lose that "chubby baby" look in no time! Hopefully, the adorable chubby cheeks remain!

Goldilocks

As many of you know, my mom LOVES books! Therefore, we have bookshelves full of books (mostly children's books at this point) on every level of our house and in both of the girls' bedrooms.

For Lydia's first Christmas, my mom and my sister, Molly, gave her "Goldilocks and The Three Bears." Now, of course, they selected the version that they liked with the utmost care and had to actually order a used copy of the book from the Chelmsford Public Library in Chelmsford, MA. The author of this particular version is Lorinda Bryan Cauley in case you are curious.

Anyway, Lydia had not really been that interested in the book until the past six months. Since then, Goldilocks has really become an obsession! In fact, most days, Lydia insists that she be called Goldilocks. It works out perfectly in her world because Brian is Papa Bear, I am Mama Bear, and Hannah is Baby Bear. She loves it! However, Goldilocks can also try my patience as she now insists that she doesn't have to follow the rules at our house because she lives at a different house in the woods! :)

Another funny story is that yesterday when we were at school, her new teacher introduced herself and told Lydia that her name started with a "B." To which Lydia immediately responded, "My Daddy's name starts with a 'B'." But when the teacher asked what her dad's name was, Lydia matter-of-factly responded, "Papa Bear"! Nice Lydia! And then to add to the story, her teacher from last year came by and said "Hi, Lydia!" To which Lydia again responded, "My name isn't Lydia - it is Goldilocks." We will see how long this trend continues! Oh to understand the mind and imagination of a two-year old!

And making their debut, the new Baby Bear and Goldilocks!