Monday Musings (on Tuesday)

You know it's Monday when Eleanor puts something in the toilet that doesn't belong there. Today it was her snazzy pink shoes.

Monday also brings dance class, and the new studio has more space for Eleanor to walk around and more space for the moms to sit and talk. Really enjoying this one hour of our week.

Avery is doing so well with listening to her teachers, following instructions, and focusing in class.

Our home is a disaster. We've been out of town on 3 separate occasions over the past 2 weeks, and we barely have time to recover from one trip before we're packing for another. I have exactly 8 days before we leave for Thanksgiving, so it's a flurry of activity trying to get everything unpacked, washed, and re-packed all amidst purging the extra junk that has piled up and the regular life activities of the week.

Worn.Out.

Eleanor loves post-bath naked time. She runs around with just the hooded towel flying out behind her and squeals with laughter as we chase her.

I'll throw in a couple Avery-isms, too.
We saw a "hiccup" truck on the road yesterday.
"Break-dancing is much more cool. Check this out." And then...she break-dances. (She's quoting from Angelina Ballerina.)
Her dance teacher couldn't find a CD she wanted, so she asked Avery if she took it. Avery didn't even miss a beat, responding with, "Yes, I did!" So Ms. Sarah asked Avery to return it, and Avery pretended to toss it back to her and exclaimed, "There, I gave her her music back!" Ha!
"I just want to focus on eating right now."

an old photo, from a month or two ago, but just the right amount of cuteness to perk me up

One Year

I felt weird tacking this onto the Monday Musings post, so I'm making it a separate thought.

I feel as if this shouldn't go unmentioned, though I still can't bring myself to really blog my feelings on this....yesterday was the one-year anniversary of Dave's death. Words on this blog won't do justice to what I'm feeling or who he was, but it was a hard weekend. Maybe one day I'll be able to write about all of this. I miss him so terribly much. Thank you to all of my family and friends who checked in on me and prayed for my family this weekend. You have cared well for me and the rest of the family this past year, and I'm thankful for God's lovingkindness in small mercies worked through each of you.

Monday Musings

A little contemplative, a little lighthearted for your Monday morning....

My one word this year is RENEWAL. I have to say that this year has felt like anything but that. More like sifting, so I guess that would translate to renewing, but "renewal" has such a positive connotation, and not much has felt positive this year. But, looking back on my original post about this year's word, I'm reminded of this:

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18

I'm also a glass half-empty kind of person, and that's a battle of the mind I have to fight constantly. As the holidays approach, it's time to start thinking of next year's word. I wonder what word will find me in the next couple of months.

Eleanor is sick, with the highest temp I've ever seen her display before. We're headed to the doctor first thing in the morning to see if it's RSV, which is going around right now. Poor little girl has been happy happy despite all of this, apart from an hour or so after nap today when her temp was at it's peak.

We are back in dance after having to miss last week, and Avery was so excited to go. We watched Angelina Ballerina this morning in anticipation of her class.

Avery is into role-playing. All weekend she was Kai-Lan, and Luke was Grandpa (from an episode on one of her movies we have in the car). Eleanor turned into Baby Amy (?) and I became Aunt Michelle. Uncle Nick was Santa Claus. Not once did she misspeak and get us confused. That girl's memory is incredible.

It's Not A Glamorous Life

 Today, I'm thankful that God uses my children to sanctify me - what better way to grow in grace than through precious faces like these? I'm also thankful that I can (sometimes) laugh at the curveballs these girls throw my way, especially when it's been a hard week, or month, or year, or more. Maybe she writes all over her face with pen the day before a funeral. Pray it comes off.

3 days later, she did it again

Maybe the little one has the world's biggest blowout in her carseat, and you and the hubby stand in the middle of a parking lot, cleaning the baby and the car up for the next 20 minutes, laughing too hard to get the poop off efficiently, because the only alternative is to cry and yell, and that certainly doesn't make the poop go away any quicker. I'm the mom that grabs the camera when chaos erupts, not because I want to embarrass my children later in life, but because these are the events that I look back on and smile at, because I'm reminded that I was able to laugh in the moment, snuggle my baby no matter how badly she smelled, and to simply enjoy this crazy journey of motherhood. It's not a glamorous life, but it's my favorite way to spend it.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our funny girls!

Halloween is much more enjoyable when you have kids - the joy on Avery's face when she puts on the costume I made her, the excitement flowing off of her from getting to trick-or-treat for candy...it's just so fun! There was a marked difference between last year and this year - she really understood what it meant to put the costume on and go house to house for candy.

We have a long-standing tradition of trick-or-treating with my sister in her neighborhood - we do a short loop just on her street and around the corner a bit before we camp out and enjoy the loot we brought in through Avery, a glass of wine, and passing out candy to the other trick-or-treaters. Finally, Michelle and Nick were able to participate with their own little guy, and they surprised us by having him join our barnyard fun this year!

Farmer Luke, Farmer's Wife, our sweet cow and tiny little chicken

Sheriff, Cowgirl, and their trusty steed

Some of the funnies from our Avery-girl:

One house gave Avery a bag of pretzels. She looked at them, said, "Daddy, are these pretzels?" Yes. "Is this a treat?"

"Let's go faster!"

One man wanted to end his night of giving out candy, so he dumped the rest of his bowl in Avery's bag. Her eyes got wide, she looked up at us, and exclaimed, "I got LOTS of candy!"

All in all, a really fun night, with lots of compliments on the costumes (*insert Mom-pride here). We let Avery have quite a few pieces of candy, and then it gets doled out very sparingly once Halloween is over. Even Eleanor tried a small bite of chocolate and LOVED it. She just sat back so contentedly on Luke's lap while she nibbled on it.