Play Date with Westin P.

The kids love babies and they love to baby babies.  However, they have a hard time when babies grow up, because they still think they have to treat them like babies.  Christian gets so excited when he sees a baby, who couldn't walk before, walk now.  Westin is one of these babies he remembers not walking and is still amazed when he sees him walking.  The other day, Jess and Westin came over to hang out and Christian whispered all excitedly to me, "mommy, he walking!!" 

Ava is really excited about babies because she likes to baby sit them.  She is truly a girl after her mom's heart.  She loves loves loves to feed them and follow them around and take care of them.  She does this for her cousin Sofi and now Westin when he was here.  When they pulled into our driveway, I heard Ava say to Christian, "now, I am his babysitter and you can be his friend." :)

The kids did end up having a great play date and Jess and I had fun too.  They played and colored and made get well cards for Westin's uncle Jake.  It was a great day.  Just another fun day in motherhood.

Watching Thomas the Train together

Playing Princess Games with Pappy

Ava has been having a hard time with her Nana being in Missouri, and as of lately she has been begging me to have Pappy Sweetheart move in with us.  I think this makes her feel closer to Nana when he is around.  So the other day, she called him and left a message on his phone asking, "Pappy, this is Ava.  Which night are you spending the night?  Tomorrow, Friday, Saturday or tomorrow night?"  He called back and she reminded him that he needed to come and sleep overnight and play games with her.  He was sweet and came up last night to see her.  She was SOOOOO excited.  She screamed and jumped up and down yellling, "Pappy, Pappy!!"  She missed him.  He ended up playing four games of Candy Land with her and two games up Barbie Uno.  She was in her glory.  Sweet Memories.  Oh, and he brought her Reese's Cups, their favorites.

She feels like a real princess when he plays games with her.

Interesting I Week

I think the the vowels are the hardest letters to teach children to recognize.  The English language in general is difficult, but how do you explain the vowels and how sometimes I sounds like E.  For example, Iguana, which we studied and learned about as part of our week, starts with I but sounds as though it starts with E.  Grrr, so frustrating.  Oh, well, they seemed to enjoy the week anyway. 

In honor of I week, we sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and watched the movie Spirit because the name had two Is in it.  We read some books on Insects.  We also investigated and researched igloos and iguanas.  We made an igloo out of marshmallows and toothpicks and we even looked up a few you tube videos on how to make an igloo.  The kids did try this while out playing in the snow, but obviously, it didn't work because the snow wasn't packed the same way as in Alaska.

We practiced reciting our memory verse of Psalm 86:12.  We also ate LOTS of ice cream and ice pops.  This was by the kids request when Ava realized that Ice started with I. :)  We also practiced writing letter I and words with the letter I in them.

We worked on the "Important Information Sheet" that had Our names, numbers, and address.  This was a fun activity and it is so dear to hear them trying to recited their full names with phone number and address. 

It was a good week as per usual.

The igloo ended up being a very sticky mess, but the kids loved the activity.

Laughter and Half Smiles

Last month, I took Christian to a Pediatric Dentist in State College to get a cavity filled.  We had to get up really early and so I just kept him in his pajamas.  When we got there he was so excited to play with the other kids in the very cool waiting room, that was made up as a castle and playground indoors.  Then we got called to our little room and they were asking me if he would be okay with going back by himself.  I knew he would have no problem and I was so proud as the lady took his hand to lead him back and he turned to wave at me and say "bye mommy" and then he smiled as he looked up at the lady leading him and said, "I Christian, what your name?"  My heart melted.  He wasn't the least bit scared and the assistants and dentist later informed me he was quite the trooper.  I was so proud when he came walking out with his one side of his whole face numb and still smiling away at me.  Because the one side was numb, he literally only smiled with one side of his face.  It was the cutest thing ever.  The assistant sat down beside me and said that once he got the laughing gas so they could work on his tooth, he started talking incessantly and wouldn't stop.  They said he did a great job.  Afterwards, we took him to get a milk shake from McDonalds and he was totally for that one. 

Here is a picture of him "smiling" for all he had, but only half of his face worked. I couldn't stop laughing.  :)

Now we are just being silly.  I am so proud of this little guy.  What a trooper.  The really cute part was when they offered him prizes, he could pick out two things.  He actually picked something to bring home to Ava.  The assistant loved this too.  She couldn't believe he was so worried about his sissy, so she gave him two toys for himself and then he still got one for Ava. :)

What do we do when Daddy is Home?

Micah has been really taking the time he has off work, as an opportunity to spend time and make memories with our kids. I love watching him together.  They are calmer and quieter when he is here.  We have been doing so many fun things around the house, just enjoying family time together.  We have been watching movies (Spirit, and Monsters Inc.) and reading lots of library books. 
Of course the kids love to play "Normo Boy" with their daddy.  This means they are actually playing Mario Brother's 3 on our Nintendo, and that is just how they refer to it.  Ava has been practicing this with her daddy for a few weeks now and she is definitely getting the idea of the game.  It is hilarious to watch though because her movements are so exaggerated, like when she is making Mario jump, she swings her arms and control waaayyyy up in the air as if it is going to help Mario do a better job.  She is improving her skills though and she will sit and watch her daddy forever, as he plays and conquers the game.  She loves to have him watch her and encourage her and cheer her on.  However, Christian has yet to make it past the first mushroom in the first level in world one.  He dies every time and he still smiles as he says, "I died!!"  He is more interested in playing with other toys in the playroom while Ava and Daddy play the nintendo.  This is good bonding time for them.  In fact, the other day, she was WILLING to allow Christian to go with mommy to the store while she stayed home with daddy to play Normo Boys.  She was actually begging me to hurry up and leave so they could get started.  Too funny.

Today, we had a big storm and the kids wanted to go out and play in the snow.  Now, sledding is not my thing, so I think if it would not have been for their daddy, they would have had to settle with just playing around in the snow on their own. However, Daddy surprised them and took them sledding.  They were so excited.  I loved the look on their faces when they saw what he had for them.  They didn't want to ever come in, but it got windier and so they came in to some hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Then, I heard Daddy offer to play Ava's favorite game with her.  He sat down and played THREE games of Candy Land and she was in her glory.  She loves this game and loves spending time with her daddy even more.

Daddy kept cheating, but she had no idea.  However, the games went faster and she was a good sport. :)

Time to Let Go and Let God

It is really hard to continue to hold your head up high, while life is taking the turns it takes.  The sermon we sat through today at church talked about not losing our soul to the things of this world, but risking losing all only to gain our soul in Christ.  This was a great sermon for this particular week.  I have been struggling as of late with allowing my life to continue to change in so many ways, while still staying content and happy where I am.  It seems the more things change, the more out of CONTROL I feel.
To look at my life, you would see I have it all, meaning the perfect hubby and two wonderful children that bless me everyday.  This is true, but what you may not know about me is that I HATE CHANGE!! Even if I know it is good or will turn out to be good someday, I HATE it.  Who doesn't, right?  Change means things will never be the same.  They will never be the way they have been for years or months in the past.  This could be changes in relationships (which are my all time most hated changes) or changes in surroundings or changes in circumstances.  All of these, usually no matter what they are, I find myself looking longingly back at what "used to be."   I know this is not how God intended it to be, so I do try and fight this desire to constantly look BACK in my life.  I have been working on focusing on the present and enjoying every moment and embracing the good and bad.  I have been also working on being content wherever life takes me.  I try to focus on the future and keep my head high.  And hey, one thing for sure, you can't fully get the benefit from changes in your life, if you are desperately still trying to hang on to what was or used to be.  So this is all impertinent to what I have to say next.

Ok, so this week, Micah was "let go" at his job.  No warning, no finish out this week, just sent home.  I have to say that this sort of blow a few years ago in our marriage, would have sent us for a loop.  However, we have had enough of these sort of BAD surprises, that we kind of experienced what we call the famous "peace that surpasses all understanding." Not that we are naive to what is happening, but we feel that we have seen God work so many times in our lives that we would be stupid to doubt him now.  We have experienced true miracles in our lives, real incidents that God walked us through and brought us out on the top every time.  In fact, find ourselves almost excited as  we wait to see how he is gonna work this one out. 

So, while I am calmly awaiting guidance from the Lord in this situation, I am also anticipating big things.  I am oddly to the point that I am grateful for the past rocky times in our lives, because it has built my faith, and I feel as though my faith is rock solid in the Lord.  I am grateful for the constant guidance from our parents and now I feel as though our faith is to the point that we can fully trust in God.  I am not saying that accepting the changes are easy or even fun, but I KNOW THAT GOD HAS SOMETHING BIGGER FOR US.  That is enough for me.  I don't know where God is leading us now and yes, things are changing in all aspects of my life, but I am ready to embrace and accept whatever God's will is for my family and my life.

A Few Christianisms

We are sending Christian to speech therapy and he is doing superbly.  He loves his teacher and she does a great job with him.  He has been going since September of 2010 and I feel his language has improved by leaps and bounds.  What he understands and definitely what he says.  He now talks in very clear and full sentences and sometimes, I wonder why I was so worried when he didn't talk much.  As we all know, often when a child learns to really express themselves with language, it is a few years until they stop talking, incessantly.  Well, such is the case with our little guy.  He talks ALL the time.  Sometimes, we tune him out because his talking is random and not connected. The one things that is so funny is that he loves to go to his "peech perody"  that is what he calls it.  Like I said, he is doing an EXCELLENT job. :)
Here is an example of what he sounds like at the breakfast table. . .:)  "I want pancakes mommy, I love pancakes mommy, chocolate milk?  I want Chocolate milk in my cup mommy.  Where is daddy at. . .he at work? Why?" Then I say "yes Christian, daddy is at work."  as I hand him his chocolate milk and pancakes and then he says, "I ride BIG THOMAS with my friend Angel!!  Thomas not talk to me?  Why?  I watch a movie. . watch Polar espress?  I love that movie."  This is an example of how he talks.  It is really cute and very random.  It is almost as though since he started talking, he loves the sound of his own voice and he just talks to talk.  Micah says he gets it from me. . probably true for I am very random in speech and thoughts. :)  Like mother like son.
A few things we are working on in speech therapy right now are his pronunciation of his "s" in front of words.  For example, instead of saying snowman, he says 'noman' or instead of snake, he says 'nake'.  So we are focusing on this.  He has in the past few months just started recognizing his colors which we have worked on for awhile and when he finally started recognizing and getting the answers right, he smiled so big and told me, "mommy, I learned!"  He is so proud of himself, he walks around telling me the colors of EVERYTHING he sees.  So funny.
He has problems with saying "what her doing?" or "her is so pretty"  so we are focusing also on "She Is pretty." and stuff like that.  He is doing better but it is so cute to hear him try and then correct himself. :)
He loves to sit and look at pictures in books and 'read' to himself.  His attention span to sit through a book I am reading has greatly increased in length.  Especially if I am reading a book that has something to do with trucks, airplanes, tractors, or trains.  These capture his interest time and time again.
Finally, the other day I put him in his room for quiet time.  When I let him out, I asked if he had to pee and he said, "i already did!!"  Later Ava came out carrying an empty toy box with urine in the bottom and said, "look what he did mommy." Here, he had taken the time to empty the box, drop his pants, and pee in the toy box.  Wouldn't it have been easier to call out and say, "mom, i have to pee in the potty?"  oh well, these are the days that I will laugh about and remember. I love my son.  He is such a great joy in my life. 
Thank you Lord for the blessing of our little man.

The Good and the Bad of 2010

We had a very interesting year in 2010.  Things were crazy from January all the way to December.  There were some good times and some crazy times, some sad times and some glad times and lots of other times in between. 
On January 14th my life changed forever.  I was working out at the gym and started having some chest pain and pressure along with some tingling down my left arm.  It wasn't horrible pain, so I went home and had a girls night with my daughter and then went to bed.  The next morning I woke up and my left arm felt really heavy and I noticed I was favoring it.  I also went to pick up my son and got pain again in my chest.  After a week in the hospital, they told me I had actually had a heart attack.  Supposedly I was born with a myocardial bridge across my LAD in my heart.  I have been symptomatic most of my life, but never knew it was my heart.  This was a crazy twist in events as I spent many weeks recovering and leaned a lot on family and friends.  This was the scariest thing that had ever happened to me to date. However, there were good things that came from this also.  I did realize how many times God had spared me during the past 29 years and that was a miracle and a work of His Hand for sure.
In March, while celebrating 8 years of marriage to my awesome hubby, God performed a true miracle in our marriage.  He healed us and bonded us in a whole new way.  It was almost like the crazy experience with my heart attack made us prioritize our lives better and realize what was important.  He gave us a whole knew love for one another.  Kind of as though we didn't know how long we had together and we realized how quickly it could be taken away so we hold on to EVERY memory and moment we have together.  Micah was a champ in how he took care of me and now how he takes care of me.  I thank God everyday for blessing me with Micah, my perfect soul mate.
Some fun moments in our year were the three vacations we were blessed to go on.  We spent a week in Missouri in June celebrating my Grandparents 60th wedding anniversary at the Yoder side reunion.  We were blessed to spend a week in Ocean City Maryland with some of our close friends, at their condo.  This was a blast and they even invited my parents to come along too.  The last vacation was a last minute thing, but The kids and I got to spend a fun month in Missouri with family and just hanging out.  It was hard on all of us, missing Micah, but we did enjoy ourselves too.  Then Micah came out and we spent a week there as a family before we traveled home.
We started to go to King Street Church this year that is only 5 minutes from our house.  We love it and of course we are getting to know lots of people there and enjoying the sermons, and fellowship.  My mom2mom group is held at King Street, so I already felt connected before we actually started to attend there for Sundays.
Ava went to her first day camps this year including gymnastics and cheer leading.  She didn't enjoy them too much because she missed being at home with mommy. :)  Christian started Speech Therapy this year and is doing great.  He has learned quite a bit and is actually speaking in full sentences. 
In September, our little blue Honda Civic retired itself and we went out vehicle shopping.  We ended up deciding on a Toyota Sequoia and love it.  It still has a working cassette player in it. :)
In October, my sweet mother moved to Missouri to be with her parents for awhile.  We miss her so much and yet we are glad she had this opportunity to spend time with her family.  However, life is soooo different without her here with us.  Also, in October, Micah started a new job with Pro Rehab and he is closer to home.  He went from an hour commute one way to a 20 minute commute one way. 
The rest of the year has been uneventful, which is how we like it.  We did get our Super Nintendo out and the kids and Micah and I love to play it together in the evenings.  We usually play Super Mario 3 but the kids call  it the Narlo Games.  We still aren't sure where that has come from. 
The year has been challenging and busy but we are glad to get through this year.  Hopefully life in 2011 will have fewer surprises for us but a few good surprises would be welcomed.  Most of all, I feel very blessed with my family and so happy that we are celebrating our lives together.  I love my life.