my dear ones

I have been snuggling into my sweet ones.  They are just so beautiful, inside and out.  Its the change of seasons and the new clothes to wear, they are all fresh and new (to us).  Lily has worn the most precious little fall rompers and I just can't get enough of her.  I am loving seeing her upright, walking.  :)  She's too cute & her sweet little baby chub, I can't kiss or snuggle it enough.  Peter's world is probably getting a little challenged with being in a structured environment 3 mornings a week and so I've gotten some reports of him having difficulty following instructions.  I hope he will learn to do so (but I also consider that he's just a boy, energetic and not always wanting to do what others want him to... some of that is OK.)  At times, I am tempted to have adult expectations of him.  He's shown me that he can do a little so I jump to expecting a lot of him.  Then he gives me a cackle about something like peek-a-boo (that we've played 600 times but its still as funny as the first) and I realize, oh, he is just a child... why have I grown him up in my mind?  I realize that these days are passing too soon- it just takes me seeing Peter's elongating body and I wonder how its happening so fast.  Oh, and I can't even speak the words fifteen months out loud so I can pretend its not true.  Moments test my patience often.  This week I found myself praying Lord help me to love these children (sometimes I've just got nothing!) with the love and dignity you've made them worthy of and created them for.  They are so precious and I am so weak and frail.  Oh, I hope they see Your love cause I've got nothin'.  I love them so much but so inadequately.  Lord, please love on them strongly!  I am so glad they are in my care for these years.  I can't get enough of them.  
I've had to take lots of mental pics b/c I am waiting for my new camera battery charger to arrive.  Hurry!  :)

mercy & respite

Yesterday was a rough day.  Peter behaved awful and I was so done with his behavior.
There was a sweet little God intervention... 
At the end of the day, Peter was totally melting down, crying, having a fit.  I was so done with this as he'd had so many already (when TV time was over, every time he had to get in his car seat or was asked to do anything, in the store he ran away from me over and over, just not following any instructions).  I was trying to get him ready to go play in the backyard but he's crying, going boneless, etc.  (I totally felt like behaving the same way, I wonder where he gets it?)  So sweet Lily walked over to the shoe basket and then brought Peter's shoes over for him.  It was like she just felt compassion for him crying and wanted to help.  It totally broke the ice and Peter realized that she was trying to help him as he was crying, just as we talk about helping others when they are sad (helping his babies, helping Lily, etc).  It was such a nice thing to break up the rage that was going on and a sweet lesson to see that being in need of help goes both ways (well, THREE ways).  Thank you, Lord.  Forgive us for our anger and change us.


Its a rainy morning, Peter's at preschool (a welcome break), and Lily & I have come home to play, drink warm pumpkin coffee and have a bagel.  Thank you Lord for the respite.  (And Kathy is taking them after naptime!)  Oh, I am so thankful!!

these {feet} were made for walking

(my legs/lap can gladly be used for 'resting'- oh, she is just TOO sweet)

we are all enjoying JEANS this week :)
Lily is going so well with her words & signing.  
She can say:
Da-dee or Da-EEE (her fav word by far!)
Mama (I have to ask for it!)
cat, hot, all done, chair (yes, she likes them!), cheese, juice, shoes, jump- sure there are more.  
Today she almost got 'Peekaboo'.  So fun!

weekend visitors + weekend work

The G girls & their daddy came for some play time on Sat afternoon.  It was a CUTE site in my backyard.  We missed Emily!

Lily is still quite entertained by her 'lil chair.  What a doll!

Our kitchen faucet broke last week so my in-house repair man went to work on it and had a new one up and running in a few hours!  He's so handy.  Thanks, my husband!

funny moments...

We had a fun day and a half with Maw here this week.  We did some shopping :) and Mike and I went out to dinner one eve- I've decided that is a necessary regular for everyone's mental health.  :)  Sometimes I try to be frugal and tell myself that I don't need to splurge on that but  it just helps so much that its totally worth it.  It makes everything else better.  And it was oh so yummy.  We went to Melting Pot- I got a de-lish fruity drink and then we got the cheese fondue.   They have a little French theme going on now and it was so good!

It was a good second week of Preschool and first week of Wellspring.  Peter has been working on memorizing his Sept memory verse from preschool and Wellspring- Gen 1:1.  

Lily is cracking me up with all she is catching onto these days... 

Yesterday I was changing her and Peter was in her room.  He said he wanted to hold Lily.  So I asked Lily if she wanted Peter to hold her.  She shook her head 'no'.  I asked if she wanted to hug Peter.  She shook her head no.  I asked if she wanted to give Peter a fist bump, she just looked at me (clearly not a no).  So I put her down and she walked over to Peter with her fist out for a fist bump.  TOO FUNNY!


This morning at breakfast, Peter is praying and says "Thank you the Lee-Bug, we lub her."


Lily is learning to hold her own and give it back to Peter in shoves and pushes.


Fun pics from the week....
The skirt Lily is wearing is just TOO cute!  Its a handmedown from Joy E- thank you!
Mom found Peter's shirt on clearance at Target recently (there's a close up at the bottom).
Its perfect!

 Peter's wanting to give her some lovin' with his arm around her and she's wanting nothing to do with it!

 Smiles Please!  Cheese!

 (oop, a bus catches his eye!)

 (aww, and then he adoring looks at his Lee-Bug)

 

 This is the pic for Uncle Will and Aunt Emily in Colorado (his shirt says "Hike. Camp. Fish." at the bottom- so perfect)- oh, my boy is handsome.  I adore his long blonde hair!

And its on to the weekend!

Outta Suburbia

We headed to the country this weekend for a fall festival at my parents' church.  

There were kid activities, music and BBQ!

This is the little train that Peter rode over and over.  I thought his sign was appropriate, tho I'm sure he'd have preferred it said "future bus driver".  :)

He got to ride on a miniature pony (with his cowboy hat on!)

I LOVE this pic with my dad's arm around him, such a sweet Paw.

It was SOOOOOO HOT and we were there from 3-7pm... HOT, very HOT!  (and i was a little irritable)

The kids got some good lovin' from Uncle John and Aunt Jessica.

Jessica's parents were also there- her dad's band played for the festival- so it was a treat for the Kings and Dennis' to have a weekend together.

 

Our sleepy heads slept some funny places...

This is Peter in church...

And the girls (mom, me, Jess) came in to nap while the guys had some "guy work" to do this afternoon.  Lily joined in and napped on the floor (she wasn't a big fan of the pack n play).  What a love bug!

and how funny that she is holding a tractor 

(of course, her bro got in lots of time on the real yiyo)

And love these "prettiest time of the day" pics of the girl- couldn't decide which I liked best, so added all 3

It was an exciting weekend away in the country but good to be home too!

We had fun, Maw & Paw, John & Jessica!

crafty outlet

So I've been into putting letters/numbers on T-shirts lately.  I'd wanted to do this for a while but didn't know how.  After finding a little lesson on how to make them in a magazine, I gave it a shot.  I made one for Peter for his birthday... I added a "3".  It was pretty easy and fun, so I continued on with first name initial letters for Peter, Liam and Bennett to have at the river house.  You can see Peter's in his first day of school pic.  

Earlier this week I did one for a friend's daughter and used a lowercase "a" (but a round traditional "a", not the extra top part that's on most fonts)... that one didn't go so well.  The T-shirt material was stretchy, not thick like the boys' have been, and the letter was a circle.  I'm not so great at making a good circle with the machine, straight lines work better for me, plus it was the smallest sized shirt I've sewn on- I have lots of excuses.  :)  Lessons learned.  And today I made these 2 for boys who are having birthday parties this weekend.  It really doesn't take long at all.  I'm really enjoying it b/c I enjoy making things pretty & it such a fun little crafty outlet that I can do at home.  And during this phase of life that's often messy, its a fun outlet to make things cute and neat... and it doesn't cost much, another bonus!