Tricky Teeth

Sweet sisters reading together!

When my girls were babies I would hear other moms talk about how their kids would be up all night crying while they were teething. We never had a minutes trouble when Anna Claire and Lizzie got their baby teeth. Let me say that pay back has been exponential as baby teeth come out and big teeth come in. Lizzie has only lost her bottom two teeth and spent more than a few minutes crying tonight because everyone else in her class has lost more than her. Anna Claire's teeth have been interesting! She lost the bottom two in first grade and their replacements came right in - no big deal! She lost one front tooth back in December and their is no replacement in sight - seriously! She also lost two more bottom teeth and no big teeth in sight for them either. Imagine my surprise in August when her other big tooth just started coming in and she had not even lost the one it's suppose to replace. This may seem trivial but we have spent the last SIX weeks trying to get the baby tooth out before the big tooth covered it completely. Blood, sweat and tears. FINALLY tonight Russ was able to pull it out!!! She wrote the tooth fairy a note that she should get more than $1 because it was so much trouble. I disagree - I think Russ should get the extra money for his patience and diligence!

Where does it come from?

Anna Claire writes stories all the time and today was no exception. We bought some new wide-ruled paper at WalMart today and as soon as we got home she went to her room to write. Tonight as we were having family time on the couch she wanted Russ to read her story aloud to me and Lizzie. The story is about a girl named Ellen who has trouble paying attention in school. Ellen also has about 6 siblings and the best part - her last name is Willderbqu. It's a combination word with "Wilder" and "Barbecue." Russ almost fell off the couch laughing!

We also had an interesting discussion about Jews and Gentiles.
Anna Claire: "Now who's the good ones and who's the bad? We're Gentiles so we must be good."
Lizzie: "It's not good or bad - it's just where they're from. God loves us all."
I love Lizzie's ability to see through the confusion and get straight to the point!

First Day...

This morning I dropped off the girls at school! Anna Claire is in 3rd and Lizzie is in 2nd. They walked into school as old pros - no problems!
When they were little I couldn't wait until the first day of Mother's Day Out after what seemed like an eternally long summer. Even when they started Kindergarten I was so excited. But this year my emotions were so mixed! Excited about what the year holds but sad because I will miss my girls! We've had a great summer together and they are much more fun to be around. I will admit that not taking them to the grocery store is appealing!
Only 4 hours and 30 minutes till I get to hear about their day!

Funny Little Girl

Hunta has been gone to Ecuador and just got back home yesterday. The girls spent the afternoon at her house while Russ and I went to a meeting at church. Of course she brought them back gifts and their favorite is a stuffed doll that looks like an Ecuadorian girl. When we picked them up from her house last night Anna Claire introduced Russ and me to "Lydia Jessica Josifina ." Lydia Jessica is her first name and it is preferred that we call her Lydia Jessica. Then Anna Claire said,"She lives in Italy but speaks Mexican." To which my mom said, "I thought she could live in Ecuador." Lizzie also got a doll and her name is Lydia too but she goes by Lillie.

This morning Anna Claire came into the room where my desk is and said, "You know what kind of curtains you should put in here. Red leather! Now that would be a show and I like a show." I hope she's never in charge of color schemes. Let's leave that to Lizzie!

Family Olympics

Dressing Competition



Driveway Dash

We are loving the Olympics! I remember being almost 7 and seeing Mary Lou score a perfect 10 on the vault. Our girls have embraced the fabulous five and they call them by first names. I love it! Russ and I decided to have our own family Olympics. We came up with different events for our family to compete in. I hope you love my spreadsheet! We have had lots of fun! We have to finish up this weekend! Go USA!

Family Olympics

 Event                                    Russ                             Melanie               Anna Claire                         Lizzie

Dressing Competition	29.46 – Silver	26.45 - Gold	31.63 - Bronze	36.40
Ice Breaker Game	Silver	Gold		Bronze
Best Split	20 in	19 in – Bronze	12 in – Silver	2 in - Gold
Driveway Dash	9.43s –Bronze	9.7s	7.37sec – Gold	7.83sec – Silver
Obstacle Course at the Park
Freestyle – 25m swim	Gold	Bronze	Silver
Backstroke – 25m swim		Silver	Gold	Bronze
Butterfly – 25m swim	Silver		Gold	Bronze
19 step dash	7.53 sec	6.7 sec - Bronze	4.64 sec - Gold	5.0 sec – Silver
6 lap dash	44.48 sec - Bronze	45.66 sec	36.83 sec - Gold	38.53 sec – Silver
Breath-holding	Gold		Bronze	Silver
Chocolate Milk drinking contest	9.01 sec - Silver	7.51 sec - Gold	31.99 sec	22.22 sec - Bronze
Standing Jump
Backyard Obstacle Course

Piano Recital

Our girls have been wanting to take piano lessions for about a year and I found out our church offers lessons. We signed up for the summer as a trial run. My prediction was that one would hate it and the other would love it. I was wrong because they have both LOVED it and have practiced all summer. We have a great teacher who recognizes their differences. Anna Claire rushed through songs and her goal is to play them as fast as possible. Lizzie hates to play the wrong note so it takes her forever to get through a new song because she doesn't want to mess up. Our teacher let them play a concert for our family last Thursday night and they were so cute! They even played a duet!
Lizzie went to great lengths to be very rainbow for the concert. From her headband to her rainbow watch and rainbow, glitter shoes!

Beach Bound

We sent the girls to the beach with their cousins and grandparents for a few days while Russ and I had some time at home! We did crazy things like having dinner in a cool part of our city that is a 30 minute drive from our house - they didn't even have a kids menu. And we took an after-work bike ride at a nearby state park. After a few days we drove to the beach to spend time with our family. We had a great time with everyone! The beach had lots of seaweed but we had a pool nearby to swim in. A fun trip with lots of memories for our girls!

Imagination

Anna Claire has an amazing imagination! She comes up with all sorts of things for her and Lizzie to play. Anna Claire is always in character, whether that's Molly the American Girl or the keeper of the fairies that live in her head or the mother of Mare Izabel (pronounced Mary Isabelle) her baby doll or one of the Von Trapp children from the Sound of Music. Mostly if I hear someone yell, "Mom!" I ignore it because if I answer the reply is inevitably, "I'm not talking to you." Lucky for us Lizzie is very good to oblige all the demands her sister requires, most of the time.
My two favorite games they play are "Marker Town" and today she came up with animating the states. She is currently tracing the fifty states to make them characters is her newest story, "Happy Birthday, Indiana!" For those interested, "Marker Town" was a game played in our car using two different packs of markers. They had awesome names like Blue and Bluey, Black and Blacka, Brownie and Cafe. Hours were spent entertaining each other with this fantastic game. The markers had amazing adventures that included parents dying and orphans, trips to Disney World, and going to school.
The other day I heard Anna Claire say, "Lizzie, where are you?" And Lizzie replied, "The living room." Anna Claire said, "No, I mean in real life." And Lizzie said, "Seriously, I'm in the living room!" At times Lizzie has enough of pretend land:) I've overheard her say,"You know that isn't real, Anna Claire?"

Meatfest 2012

My family gets together every July to have Meatfest! As you can gather from the name grilled meat is plentiful. My aunt, uncle and grandmother provide the food, place and fun. There are 27 of us now!
One Grannie, two grandmothers, one grandfather, 5 grandchildren and their 5 spouses, 9 great-grand daughters and 1 great grandson (finally) plus the 3 Cs.
We had a great day and all the cousins had a blast playing on "the coolest water slide" according to Lizzie. Then we went to my cousin's pool to swim. Russ, my brother, and my two cousins entertained us with dives they're probably too old to do and are most likely regretting today.
Anna Claire "baby-sat" the 2 new babies. She LOVES them and thinks they are too cute! Jeremy brought fireworks that were loud. The kids loved the sparklers.

I can remember a family reunion at my grandparent's when I was little and I loved every minute. I know all my girls will remember these fun summer days!  

Last week a young mother from our school passed away from cancer and my heart was broken for her husband and three young children! She was an aquaintance of mine and I knew she had suffered much pain in her cancer journey. Her faith and trust in God was astounding to the very end - an example for us all! My heart was so heavy last Monday full of the "why" question that naturally comes after a death like hers. Graciously God reminded me of Matthew 11:6 "Blessed is the one who is not offended by me" and of the widow whose only son died and how Jesus had compassion on her. The comfort of His Word eased my heart and life rolled on when it seemed wrong to be happy.

Then a couple of days later, sitting on the balconey of my hotel room in the Smokies I read Psalm 65.

"Praise is due to You, O God in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.
O You who hear prayer, to You shall all flesh come.
When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our transgressions.
Blessed is the one You choose and bring near, to dwell in Your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness in Your house, the holiness of Your temple!

"By awesome deeds You answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas;
the One who by His strength established the mountains, being girded with might;
who stills the roaring seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples,
so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe of Your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

"You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water;
You provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with Your bounty; Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows cloth themselves with flocks, the valleys deack themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy."

I know He hears prayer - He has heard mine and answered! I know He forgives sin - He knows all my sin and has forgiven them! And sitting on that balconey I was aware that I had seen His mountains and His seas and my heart rejoiced in the Lord! Though I cannot always understand, He is I AM!

School+Soccer+Summer=Craziness

cousin fun!

Dollywood!

Grotto Falls

Matching swimsuits :)

Time has flown since my last post in March! The girls played soccer on the Cotton Candy Kickers team and Russ was their coach. The school year ended with Lizzie having a horrible stomach virus that stayed too many days. VBS was a very busy week and then my brother's girls came for Day Camp. We've been to the beach and the Smokies in the past two weeks. Throw in swim team every morning, piano lessons and work - crazy! I am resurfacing for air! I truly have an abundant life and I enjoy every minute!

more photos!

Spring Break

We spent part of Spring Break in Virginia & Washington D.C.! My brother and his family live in Virginia so my mom, sister, Anna Claire and Lizzie drove up for a fun visit. The girls had a fabulous time! Cousins - subway - zoo - the national mall - hotel rooms: what could be better? After a day of driving and another day with my brother's family we drove to D.C. and caught the Metro to the National Zoo. Lizzie was so excited to see the panda bears! That night we walked on the mall and saw the capitol at night - beautiful!

The next day we woke up and began seeing it all in 8 hours! 1600 Penn Ave - Vietnam Memorial - Lincoln Memorial - Cherry Blossoms - WW II monument - Smithsonian museums - National Archives - Capitol Hill - Union Station. Whew!!! I sent Russ a text to tell him that our girls did not appreciate the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. He replied that they are not independent, they have no rights, and he is the king :)

5 days and 1553 miles later - great, memorable trip!

Surgery ...

Lizzie went to a friend's house after school today so I enjoyed a nice afternoon with Anna Claire. We did a little shopping and as we were walking through Costco she was talking all about our Christmas at my grandmother's house. My grandmother has 9 great granddaughters and 1 great grandson - it's a fun time! Anna Claire was talking about how much she loved the 2 new babies this year then she said, "I hope Ms. Amy (my cousin's wife) got that surgery." I said, "What surgery?" She said,"The one you get to stop having all those babies. She has 3 and that is enough, probably too many."

On a sweeter note she was a little sad when we dropped off Lizzie because she wanted to invite a friend over. She said, "Could we invite a friend, like Hunta (my mom) over to play?" I'm glad she has fun with her Hunta!

Human beans

At dinner tonight Anna Claire said, "There are all kinds of beans and we are human beans." After laughing I said, "We are human BEINGS not beans." And Russ added, "But if we were beans we would be human beans."
We have such philosophical discussions around our dinner table!

Mardi Crawford

Lizzie told me she wants to go to the parade for the holiday that's today. When we were talking about it at dinner Anna Claire, "What holiday is today?" Lizzie said," You know, Marty Crawford or whatever it's called." Russ and I could not make eye contact for fear she would have hurt feelings if we laughed at her!
From this day forth Mardi Gras will be known as Mardi Crawford, at least in our family!

Happy Valentine's!

We continued our Valentine's tradition by having a "formal" dinner to celebrate. Our girls LOVED it again this year. Table cloth, china, crystal, candles, cloth napkins ... the works! We enjoyed our meal together! Russ gave us instructions on how you should act during a formal meal. Anna Claire thought it was fun to keep her left hand in her lap! Our menu was Tilapia and pesto pasta with green beans. We had blueberries and raspberries. For dessert I made a Chocolate chip pie.

A wonderful evening with my family - the best kind of Valentine's day!

Marathon Weekend

Our girls participated in the local marathon! I cannot begin to tell you how cold it was on Saturday morning. 35 degrees with a stiff 15 mph wind - in the shade of downtown buildings!!! Bravely, our girls bundled up and ran mile 26 to complete their kids marathon. Russ ran with Lizzie but Anna Claire ran with one of her friends.

I was amazed at the thousands of other crazy parents who came out in the cold to let their children run in the race! Our friends would say that they would expect Russ and I to take our kids out to a road race in inclimate weather. In our defense, we were certainly not the only ones!

In the middle of Lizzie's mile she asked Russ why this race always had to be in winter!!! Great question!

Cracking me up

This has been a crazy weekend! I went to a women's retreat and spent Friday night away from home. Russ had the girls and they had a fabulous time together!
The girls never have weekend homework so imagine my surprise last night when I was putting the girls to bed and Anna Claire said, "Mom, I'll do my homework in my bed before I go to sleep." What??? She had to read 2 chapters in a book then write a short summary. I told her to work on it and I would check on her soon. I started cleaning the kitchen and she came in about 10 minutes after I put her in her room. She said, "Mommy, can I take a pause from homework? I need to potty." I said, "Sure." Then she said, "My bottom interrupted my homework time, that's all."
I thought I might pass out laughing! Where does she get this stuff from?

Finally...

I realized I haven't posted anything since Halloween. But tonight Anna Claire said the funniest thing and I wanted to pass it along. We were having our family prayer /bedtime story time. Anna Claire said, "Daddy, please don't make this a long prayer. You know, I might fall asleep."
She is too funny!

We saw a set of twin girls at the store tonight and their dad said, "So you have twins too?" Anna Claire yelled, "We're NOT twins! I'm almost 8 and she's only 6." Then the dad said he and his wife are expecting another set of twins in August! They will have 4 kids under 2 years old!!! Russ stared blankly in the distance for a LONG time then said, "I can't imagine what that's gonna cost!" Lizzie said she was happy being the baby! No more babies for her or me!