Thursday, December 23, 2010

Pattern Freebies

For all of my crafty momma friends, check out these amazing freebies at Homespun Threads. For Christmas, all patterns and tutorials are free. I think they email you the PDF documents after you "check out". Just thought I'd pass along the goodness. Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 13, 2010

In Joy and Sorrow

In joy and sorrow, I find peace and rest, come to Him in humbleness.

Psalm 71:8
My mouth is filled with your praise,
  and with your glory all the day.

v. 14
But I will hope continually
  and will praise you yet more and more.

Psalm 16: 5, 11
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup
  ...in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 145: 8, 13b, 17
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.

The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.

"O Let Your Soul Now Be Filled With Gladness"
O let your soul now be filled with gladness,
Your heart redeemed, rejoice indeed!
O may the thought banish all your sadness
That in his blood you have been freed,
That God's unfailing love is yours,
That you the only Son were given,
That by his death he has opened heaven,
That you are ransomed as you are.

If you seem empty of any feeling,
Rejoice - you are his ransomed bride!
If those you cherish seem not to love you,
And dark assails from every side,
Still yours the promise, come what may,
In loss and triumph, in laughter, crying,
In want and riches, in living, dying,
That you are purchased as you are.

It is a good every good transcending
That Christ has died for you and me!
It is a gladness that has no ending
Therein God's wondrous love to see!
Praise be to him, the spotless Lamb,
Who through the desert my soul is leading
To that fair city of joy exceeding,
For which he bought me as I am.
Peter Jonsson Aschan

Saturday, December 04, 2010

20 Months + 2 Days

It's December. Avery is closer to 2 than 1. This year is flying by.

She is so joyful and exuberant about life. She loves to dance, and will dance to any music she hears. Or to the sound of the salad spinner whirling, which she'll pump up and down while saying "wash wash" and swaying those hips back and forth.

She loves shoes, still. Especially high heels. She likes to try and put her own shoes on by herself and becomes quite distraught if I help too much. She shoved her footed sleeper feet into her sneakers the other day.

She gives hugs now, as well as kisses. Her favorite kisses are eskimo kisses with Daddy. When she sees her Nonnie, she runs to her, screaming, "Hi Nonnie, Hi Nonnie!!!". She points out any minivan that looks like Nonnie's, but always manages to only point at the Honda Odysseys, like Nonnie's. She asks to be tickled, "tickle, tickle" while tickling herself. She asks to "tuddle" before bed.

She brings books to me all day - I want to encourage this love of reading, but sometimes I just can't handle reading any.more.that.day. I reach a point where I feel like yelling No More Reading! But I won't, because she's precious, and I love that she loves books as much as her daddy and I do. Her favorite books are Goodnight Moon, which we read every night before bed, Not a Box ("box box") and Yummy Yucky ("ucky!").

She now points out things around the house that are ucky, like the trashcan and the toilet. She still touches things as she says "don't touch".

Tonight she figured out that laying down in the bath isn't scary, and that her voice sounds different when her ears are underwater.

She can go down the stairs, straight down the middle, if it's only 3 or so stairs total. Otherwise, she holds on, but still has no fear. I don't think she's realized that she can fall yet.

She talks non-stop. I have no idea what she is saying 1/3 of the time. The rest of it I understand. New words pop up constantly. The other day she repeated, "Hi, Precious" to my family. The family dog Coda is now Coco. Aunt Shell is An Dell, and Uncle Nick is Nicksh. Their dog Daisy sounds like Disease. Or Jesus. It varies. "Lunch" sounds like a curse word for a female dog. Uh-oh. She demands milk and juice all day long, but we make her drink water between breakfast and dinner. Raisins are "bee-bees". Crackers are "kikis", which used to be what she called cats, but now she says "ki-cat". Everything moos, unless we give her the correct animal sound which she will then repeat. She thinks monkey sounds are the funniest, or maybe it's just my poor impersonation of them. She can point at all of her body parts when we name them. She has names for her friends. Emme is Em-may. Skyler, Selah, and Analise have become Allah, Lala and Weece, or something similar.

She asks us to put bows in her hair now. I've given up on trimming the hair until it grows out long, so she walks around with her head tilted back trying to see from underneath her bangs.

We have an Advent calendar going this year, and tonight's activity was to introduce her to hot cocoa. She didn't take a breath the entire time she drank it. I guess she liked it. And she wore pajamas that said I Love Hot Chocolate. I didn't even plan that. I swear.

Love.This.Girl.