Neat Things I've Found

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

So I signed up for something called the BabbaBox. Very cool. I got my first box in the mail the other day and it's really neat. I am not very creative or good at coming up with craft ideas that are fun. Usually if I ever do come up with something it takes four hours to get it all together and tons of trips to Hobby Lobby and the girls are done and disinterested in about five minutes....But this box is great. They send you every single material you'll need to put them together. You get a new book, downloadable educational app, several crafts, and other itmes.  And they are all themed together. This month's theme is By The Seashore.

Another really fun thing I've found is Project Life. It's a really neat way to start memory keeping.  I am so bad about writing things down because it always feels like I'll never forget this stuff.  And then I forget it.  And I am not a scrapbooker at all.  The thought of sitting down and putting together a scrapbook makes me shudder.  But I also think writing things down in a journal is kind of boring.  So this is an easy and fun way to keep your memories and pictures in an easy to get to place.  The product has been out of stock for months and amazon just restocked everything.  It's pretty easy because you typically will make a page per week of the year.  That way you can remember all of the big things and the little things that happen when your kids are little.  And it's organized by year.  There are plastic pages where you can print off your instagram photos (through persnickety prints) and keep them in the binder as well.  And I hear there's going to be a baby edition sometime later this year.  It would be a fun way to track your pregnancy and your baby's first year.  Anyway, cool things I've found recently that I'm having fun trying out. 

Alright, well now I'm off to watch the olympics with Ella!

Summer with the girls

All summer I have so enjoyed all of this extra time with the girls. On September 5th, they are both starting at a new preschool. It's about two minutes from my house and they will go from 9-12 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. It's put on by the methodist church. We went and toured the school a couple of weeks ago and both Ella and Sadie were very excited to walk through a classroom again. Ella more so than Sadie. Before we visited, I asked Ella if she was ready to go back to school. She was pretty unhappy at her last preschool, which is why we worked out this new schedule. She asked me two questions: Will I have to eat lunch at school? No. Do I have to take a nap at school? No. After she got her answers, she was beyond excited. Those were the two things that she did not like at the last school. But Ella loves to be in a classroom environment and she loves to learn and meet new friends. I'm so excited for her. And Sadie definitely needs to spend some time in a structured environment with other kids. Ella is such a good sister, but I see her cater to Sadie a lot because it's easier. So it will be good for Sadie to learn how to interact with other kids her age. And the good part is that I'm not giving up too much extra time with them. They have been spending Fridays at their Nonnie's house. But now it's about the same amount of time, I just get to go into the office three mornings a week, which will be extremely helpful for me my job.

Oh, and in other BIG BIG news...Sadie is getting pretty close to being potty trained. We've been working on it since Thursday and she's only had about three accidents!  Everytime she goes potty she high fives me and says "I TID IT!  YAY FOR SADIE!"  It's the cutest ever.  And Ella even gets in on the celebration. :)  Sadie still can't tell me that she has to pee ahead of time, so I take her to the potty a lot, but we made it through a birthday dinner at La Casona, a couple of trips to Target, and a bike ride without an accident.  So we're getting there.  I'm so proud of my girls.  And they are growing up so fast.

And the last update....Ella starts soccer in August!  We went and picked out her cletes, shinguards, and a ball.  I'm so excited!

Sadie calls them piggy-ponies

Hammin it up

i cannot believe she is 4 1/2!

I'm so proud....

Trip to the beach

:)

Sadie loves to play dress up

Fried pickles...Mmmm

Mr. Wonderful

Friday, July 27, 2012

You know how you usually have that small group of people that you can count on no matter what?  Well, for me, that's my husband.  Always there.  Always happy to see me.  Always happy to talk to me.  Always happy to help me with anything I need.  Always happy to take care of me.  I am so lucky and blessed that he is so good at being exactly what I need.  I'm feeling a little mushy today.  Maybe because we just celebrated our 8 year anniversary or maybe it's the fact that he's been out of town so much lately and I've gotten really good at missing him like crazy.  Or seeing how much his daughters love him and miss him while he's out of town, but are secure enough in his love for them that they are not too affected by it.  But there's definitely a missing piece.  He completely balances us out.  I cannot wait until he gets home.  It will be so nice to have the love of my life sleeping peacefully beside me at night (or at least until the next work trip).

the weekend he proposed....we were so young!

Eight years

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Josh and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary yesterday.  It was an okay day. It's hard to celebrate when there's a lot of sad around you.  Josh's dad passed away on Thursday, the 19th.  He fought so long and so hard and he peacefully left us here for his eternity in Heaven.  On Tuesday morning, he said he only had three days left.  I don't know how he knew, but he did his best to prepare everyone.  God's hand was so evident throughout it all.  But it's still been a really tough week.  We did our best to celebrate and overall had a nice day.  We were sitting at Chili's last night while my mom watched the girls for us so we could have a quick, quiet dinner together.  We were talking about all of the different stages of our lives the past almost decade we've spent together and which stage has been our favorite. We usually will say that whatever current stage we're in is our favorite.  But right now is hard.  Life, work, kids...everything just feels difficult.  Sadie is extremely defiant, which is a stage Ella never went through.  Ella is a people pleaser.  Even when she would throw a fit, you could hold your arms out to her and she'd just melt in your arms until she cried it all out.  She is so tender hearted.  But she's also learned how to argue and talk back.  She rolled her eyes when I told her something yesterday!  So, that's where we are these days.  But the kids are what keep us going and keep things interesting.  We may be having a hard time right now, but this is still where we want to be.  Please pray for the Park family.

We miss you Ewie <3

 

Friday, July 6, 2012

I really don't like to write about personal things.  Usually any posts that get too personal never make it past the draft status on here.  About a year ago, I started having anxiety attacks...nothing I've been to the doctor about, because I'm scared that they'll prescribe me something and I want to overcome this on my own.  I don't want this to be a permanent thing in my life.  But they can be pretty debilitating.  I clench my teeth every night while I'm sleeping and I have to wear a guard now so that my jaw stays in alignment.  I spoke with my mom and dad about it last year and my mom told me that there were times when she was younger where she would all of a sudden become really fearful, so she memorized Psalm 91.  Well I was at home one evening and we were cleaning up dinner and out of nowhere I sort of started to freak out.  So I went and sat in the half bathroom with my phone and was trying to remember the Psalm that my mom told me to read when I start getting scared.  So, I pulled up Psalm 18 and started reading it out loud to myself:


 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
  my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
  my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
  and I am saved from my enemies.
 The cords of death encompassed me;
  the torrents of destruction assailed me;
 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
  the snares of death confronted me.
 In my distress I called upon the LORD;
  to my God I cried for help.
 From his temple he heard my voice,
  and my cry to him reached his ears.
(Psalm 18:1-6 ESV)

And slowly but surely my heartrate went down, the tears stopped falling, and I felt like I could breathe again.  So maybe it wasn't the same one that my mom memorized, but this is obviously the one God wanted me to hear.  He gave me something to cling to in that moment.  So these days I'm pretty armed.  When I start to feel that uncontrollable fear creep up on me, I can read this Psalm and try to keep it at bay.  I can tell you that my anxiety attacks aren't related to anything in my life right now.  Life is pretty good for me.  Two beautiful children, a husband who adores me, a healthy family, a new house....and maybe that's why I have these "episodes" for lack of a better word.  I keep waiting for something terrible to happen.  Because, after all, this is life and it's not always going to be this easy.  I was angry about all these newfound fears at first because my life is so incredibly different now.  But I've come to accept that God put this in my life for a reason.  Maybe this is a time in my life where I need to be aware and cautious and be steadfast in my faith that He will ultimately take care of me and my family.  I'm not always "thankful" for this lesson whatever it may be, but when I start to panic I can remind myself that He is in control.  And He loves me so much. 

Here's a song that I love.  It's by one of my favorite bands Rush of Fools.  If you haven't heard of them, you should check them out.  All of the albums are really good.  The second one is probably my favorite. 

Spontaneity, sort of.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

So I got to be spontaneous today!  For five whole minutes.  So Josh is out of town all the time, so he was going to be in Louisiana for the 4th of July. Well my mom found some airline tickets that I could use my rewards miles on and fly out for super cheap and spend the day with him.  So I packed my bags and wrestled over how impractical it was and kept going back and forth about the whole thing.  So, finally I closed my eyes and clicked the button over the word "purchase ticket" and then almost threw up.  I have anxiety issues, if you didn't already know that about me.  Then about five minutes later, the girls and I were in the car headed to Mimi's house so they could have a sleepover.  Josh calls and says that he has to work all night and they're going to be driving home tomorrow....so luckily Southwest refunded me for the tickets.  But I was a little bummed out.  Super excited that Josh will be coming home tomorrow, but bummed out that we didn't get to do something crazy like book a last minute same day flight and go have some fun on Bourbon Street.  Well, there's always next time.....

(I still can't believe I actually bought the tickets....That is so not like me.  At all.)

Random Happenings

Let's see, what's been going on around the Park household?  Not much, really.  Since Mother's day, Josh has been home for about a week and a half.  So we haven't made much progress on the house.  I take that back, we did make some pretty awesome progress in the kitchen.  We bought a new refrigerator, stove top, and microwave.  One weekend when Josh was home, he put them in and they made the kitchen look so much nicer...and part of this century.  I don't even mind my old cabinets anymore!

Oh, and we're spending $950 to have a diseased tree removed today.  Fun.

Did I happen to mention I hate don't love owning an older house?  If we could ever finish fixing things that are broken, we could actually use our money to remove the ridiculous chandeliers and wallpaper so it doesn't feel like we're living in some old person's house......sigh.  We'll get there.  Don't they say the process is the fun part?! (i think someone said that at some point)

Ella and Sadie have been having fun at gymnastics. Sadie cries the whole time if I'm not sitting on the floor with her while she's doing her thing. Ella's a pro. Although, they did a back flip thingy on the bars last week and Ella did not enjoy it much. We'll see if she can conquer her fears and do it again today.

Oh, and it's my BIRTHDAY MONTH!  I turn the big 3-0 this year.  I can't believe I got old and didn't even realize it.  But I think the 30's are supposed to be the prime years of your life, right?  I have to say that the second half of my twenties were the best years of my life.  I'm excited to see what the next decade has in store.  Josh has been out of town so much, so he saved up a lot of money with his per diem and told me I could pick anywhere to go for my birthday.  So we looked at all these different resorts and islands and places and finally picked a place in Belize.  You see, it can't be that far away because I've never left the girls longer than 2 nights and I was ok with leaving for 3 this time (baby steps, people!), but no more than that.  So Belize was pretty close, not too touristy, and not super expensive.  Beaches, rainforests, everything I could want!  And then I backed out.  I mean, I spent so much time researching and deciding and then when it came time to pull the trigger I just couldn't do it.  I don't know, being in a foreign country where there isn't very reliable Internet access or the ability to call and facetime the kids, I just couldn't do it.  So instead we're headed to Austin for two nights.  It's close and I can facetime.  I wish the girls were old enough to enjoy (and justify the cost) for Disneyworld.  I've never been, so when they're a little bit older we'll have fun doing that.  I must really be turning 30 if the idea of going to Disneyworld with my kids sounds more appealing than an oceanside beach resort on the Caribbean.......although after this tree fiasco, if I had booked the vacation I'd be having a heart attack right now, I'm sure! :)

Oh, and VBS is this month too.  The theme is Babylon, so we're studying Daniel.  It is going to be so much fun!  We have been hard at work getting the set ready.  Tracy and I have been making hedges out of crepe paper, glue, and frito lay boxes.  One side of a box takes me about 3 hours.  It's nuts.  I guess that's why we started so early! 4 more sides to go and the hedges will be done. 

Okay, I guess the kids have been playing on the iPad and my phone long enough...we have big day of cleaning and organizing ahead.  Here is life according to my iPhone....

well i'm obviously bad about documenting the houses's updates because i haven't taken any before photos.  but here's the after!


she's the best sunday afternoon napping buddy ever


i love my sadiebug!


i love this girl

sadie LOVED the splashpad!


here's the tree that's going down...it's the gigantic one on the left.  it's rotten at the base of the tree almost halfway through the trunk.  i was too afraid it would fall on my neighbor's house...or my kids...or pretty much anything near it!


and yes, those are mosquito carcasses...josh sprayed the yard with some heavy duty bug killer and he didn't spray the front porch.  so it turned into a mosquito graveyard!  i hate texas weather!

And a picture of a finished side of the hedge

Friday, May 25, 2012

I am almost finished with my first week as a stay-at-home-mom and I am loving it.  And I'm a mostly-stay-at-home-mom who still works on Fridays and whenever I can sneak in a few hours every day at home to keep up.  It hit me about a month ago that next school year is my last year with Ella before kindergarten.  I can't even believe I'm saying that.  This is it for Ella and me.  After this year, everything changes.  I'm dreading it completely.  I wish I could say I'm looking forward to the changes and seeing her learn and grow and enter society, but I hate it.  Around the same time that I started worrying about not having enough time with her, Ella started becoming unhappy at school and Sadie started crying again every morning when I would drop her off.  I was realizing that they weren't happy at school and I wasn't satisfied with only being with them two days a week.  I started wondering if I'd be able to do it.  Would I be able to scale back my hours and still get everything done?  I wouldn't have been able to pull the girls out of preschool while they were happy there.  I've never been one of those moms who thinks I'm super qualified and better at raising kids than the teachers at LHA.  I feel like they are much more qualified (and patient) than me!  But the girls got unhappy for some reason, so we took the plunge.  After talking it through with a few people and getting some suggestions, the girls last day of preschool was last Friday.  It was sad to pick up their pillows, blankets, and everything.  Walking out of that door was hard for me.  This place had taken such good care of my babies for two and a half years.  Wonderful memories and friendships since before Ella could even talk.  I was so grateful for their care and attention to my children.  Needless to say, this week was quite an adjustment.  Monday and Tuesday were terrible.  Wednesday and Thursday were wonderful.  Today, I miss them while I'm at work, but I like being here and having conversations and basically being part of the world again.  But I'm looking forward to Monday again.  I think it's going to work out just fine.  I also think that Monday and Tuesday were a little more difficult because we were starting our second week with Daddy being out of town.  I was a little worn out and they really miss him.  Thank goodness he gets to fly home for the weekend.  It's going to be so great to spend the time with him, even if it is only for a few days.  Bring on this next chapter of life.  So far, so good.


Happy Birthday Sadiebug!

Monday, May 21, 2012



Two. Two years old. I absolutely cannot believe she is already TWO. Time has absolutely flown by. We had so much fun celebrating Sadie's birthday on Saturday. We had a cookies & milk birthday party and we had a moonwalk...this is huge. We actually have a yard for a moonwalk. It was great. The kids had so much fun playing and Sadie felt so loved. The only downside is that Josh has been out of town and he wasn't here for the party. We missed him so much. But, I took lots of videos and sent them to him so he would know what we were up to. Here are some fun pictures from the party. I tried to get pictures of all the kids that were there, but you know how kids are...Nonetheless, thank you to everyone who came and made Sadie's day extra special. 

She got a bike from Mimi.  It's a balance bike and it might be the cutest thing ever.  She squealed when she saw it.

Here is a picture of Sadie's birthday cake - it was a strawberry milk cheesecake.  Too bad no one got to eat any of it.  I dropped it face down on the ground as I was carrying it out side.  womp, womp, womp.  It figures I would do something like that though.  :)







We went to Billys and had spinkle donuts Sunday morning on her actual birthday. 
My mom is the best.  There was no way I could've gotten everything done without her help.  Since Josh was out of town, I was in a little over my head and she was awesome.

Heather came over early to help us get everything together.

Alley is so sweet.  She cleaned up my room and made my bed while I was still getting everything ready.  So after I had finally gotten everything cleaned up that night, I went to my room to go to bed and it was so clean and awesome.  What a sweetheart!



Soccer

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Soccer sign ups were today.  I've only been waiting about, um, 10 years for this.  I can't believe I'm going to get to watch my Ella play soccer :)  I'm not going to mention the fact that she isn't super excited about it.  She said she doesn't want to get sweaty.  Whose kid is this?!  I told her we'd try it out for one season and if she doesn't like it, we won't sign up again.  I may have to wait for Sadie to be my soccer player.  Ella is muuuuch more excited about gymnastics and ballet.  Which is ok with me too.

Friday, May 4, 2012

So, Ella has been having some strange stomach issues for the past year. She would randomly throw up a couple of times a week and she quit eating all of her favorite foods. We went to the emergency room last August because she was having severe pain and passing some blood. The doctors at the local hospital did a CT scan, but didn't seen anything abnormal. Well, it was the worst experience ever. The people who happened to be working that night either don't have kids or were just trying to see how bad they could torture us. Ella had to drink some barium and the guy who was going to do the scan brought it into the room in a measuring-type cup, handed it to Ella and said "here, drink this. it tastes awful, but you have to drink it." And then leaves. I almost followed him out the door and slapped his face. I mean, can't we at least get a princess cup or an umbrella or something?! So after bribing, encouraging, singing, dancing, drugging, and eventually threatening we were able to get her to drink some of it. It seemed like the trip to the emergency room was worse than the pain in her stomach. So fast forward a few months and we got to see a specialist at Texas Childrens. After talking to me for a while, we decided to just wait it out and see if she had anymore symptoms. Well, she did. So a month ago, we took Ella to have a colonoscopy. I was so worried about how she would do. The prep for a colonoscopy is awful anyway. She doesn't like juice or soda. All she drinks is water. Well, she did great. It was hard for her, but we were able to do all the prep with unsweetened iced tea. Although, she was WIRED at night after drinking a gallon of tea during the day :) I fasted with her because I felt so sorry for her after her second day, which hard her confined to a liquid diet. She even told me the liked chicken broth and asked that I make it again for her one day. She must have been hungry!!!! She did wonderful during her test. She was nervous about the IV and threw up once she heard they were going to have to give her one, but we had a fantastic nurse who did an amazing job with her. The first nurse blew out her vein the first try and then he came in and saved the day. We went back to the procedure room with her and the anesthesiologist put something in her IV and within about three seconds she was out! She looked so peaceful sleeping there. But the GI doctor told us that everything looked wonderful. We were looking for polyps and he didn't see anything, which was a huge relief to me. I am so grateful that she's ok. She still complains of random stomach aches, but we haven't seen anymore blood since a few days before the procedure. The doctor said to think of it as a "nosebleed" but for your colon. Still doesn't seem normal to me, but I am also not a doctor and I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is smarter than google! I'm so thankful for doctors and modern medicine. I was wreck thinking about all of the different possibilities and scary scenarios. We did a lot of praying for my sweet girl. Ella and Sadie are so precious to me and give me such joy.

Ella's daddy is her superhero. He takes such good care of her and is so protective. I love him so much. He's definitely the strong one.


After she got her spirits back, she and I went to get pedicures. It was her first real pedicure. She was so cute. She leaned over when they were scrubbing her feet and whispered to me "they are doing all the mommy stuff this time!"

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

I keep feeling like I'm living in someone else's house.  I just can't seem to get unpacked.  Last week, I made TONS of progress.  And then we started seeing a bunch of spiders and a few roaches and even a mouse (that ella asked if we could keep as a pet).  The house was vacant for two years, so I guess we started stirring up all the creatures.  So I called the exterminator and he told me I needed to empty out ALL of the cabinets....Um, I'm guessing he didn't realize that I had just finished putting everything IN the cabinets literally the day before!!  I could kick myself for not having him come out when we first bought the house and it was empty.  But I've almost got everything put back in the cabinets.  I just wish I could get to the point where I could hang up pictures of my beautiful children and husband......necessities first I guess.  We don't have nearly enough furniture (or funds) so we're making do.  I think once I get some of the more personal things unpacked and put up, it will feel more like home.  But for now we can sleep, shower, get dressed, cook dinner, and watch TV.  Survival mode!  :)  But we love the new house and we're (slowly) making it home. 

Ellabell:
Pol nailish - :)  Nail polish.  She also still calls her forehead her headboard.  <3
Swirlnado - She likes to call tornados swirlnados because they can "swirl you up".
She loves loves loves to help me clean.  Give that girl a bleach wipe and she's good to go!
She is dropping her nap.  She hardly ever naps anymore, but she's to the point now where she is a great helper and I enjoy the couple of hours the two of us get while Sadie's napping.
Caillou is still her favorite show.  (Although she has just recently decided she likes Good Luck Charlie...makes me a little sad since it isn't a cartoon)
The Chronicles of Narnia (all three) are her favorite movies. 
She's sort of excited about soccer, but she'd rather take ballet.
She also looooooves superheroes.  Batman is her favorite.
Ella is starting to come out of her shell.  She is much friendlier to people she doesn't know.  Instead of giving them some strange "i don't trust you and don't even think about it" look, she'll smile and wave or say hi.
She is also an AMAZING big sister.  She loves Sadie so much.
Ella cannot wait to go to kindergarten because then she won't have to take a nap.  I, on the other hand, am nowhere near ready for kindergarten.

Sadiebug:
You-mah-me:  You're mad at me.  She says this a lot when she has to go to time-out.  But she's also smirking when she says it....that girl is something else.  "No Sadie, I am not mad at you but you cannot climb up on the table and attempt to juggle knives"..... haha, i'm sure she'd try if she could only reach them!
Sadie LOVES to do anything she isn't supposed to.
She is also the funnest, most lovable kid when she wakes up.  She is usually up before 6AM and she is such the morning person.  She is fully-rested and in the best mood.
She loves her "mankie" (blankie) and teddy.  We hardly go anywhere without them.
Sadie loves her paci too.  We were way more concerned with not letting Ella have her paci if she wasn't sleeping when she was that age.  Now, whatever keeps Sadie from throwing a wall-eyed fit!  We love the paci.  :)
Sadie's favorite show is also Caillou, which makes things easy since they both like the same show.
Sadie loves her big sister.  She watches and studies everything Ella does.  She is figuring out the world from her big sister's example.
She will also talk to anybody.  She loves chatting it up with strangers...anybody who will listen.
Sadie loves school. Loves, loves, loves school.
We still can't go out to eat.

These girls are my heart.  I am constantly coming up with new ideas and better techniques from all the blogs and articles I read.  I think I'm slowly getting the hang of this!  :)


 

Easter at Nonnie's :)

And this one was just for fun!

Through the eyes of a child

Friday, April 6, 2012

My sweet girl. She is so beautiful, on the inside and out. I want to share a conversation with my sweet girl from yesterday. I never want to forget this moment in time. We were eating a quick dinner at Subway before going to church for our Maunday Thursday service. Josh went to change Sadie's diaper, so it was just Ella and me sitting at the table.

Ella: Mom, did Opa die?
Me: Yes, a long time ago. When I was just a little girl.
Ella: How did you know he died? Did you go see his body?
Me: Yes
Ella: Like we went to go see Nanny's body?
Me: Yes, just like that.
Ella: I miss Nanny. I wish we could see her today.
Me: I know baby. Sometimes we miss the people that are in heaven. And it's okay to miss them.
Ella: But she was a grandma. Grandmas don't die.
Me: They do. Everybody has to die one day.
*At this point I see these big tears starting to well up in her eyes as she's come across some sort of awful realization.
Ella: Mom, does that mean you're going to die?
Me: One day baby, but not for a long time.
Ella: When you're a grandma?
Me: Yes, baby when I'm a grandma.
Ella: I don't ever want to grow up.
Me: Why don't you want to grow up?
Ella: Well, I want to grow up to be a big kiddo like Alley and Cane, but I don't want to grow up to be a parent.
*She starts getting really concerned again.
Ella: But if everybody else grows up and I don't, I will be all alone.
*By now, I'm crying. Thinking in my head...no, racking my brain on how to make this better. How do I keep my sweet girl from thinking everyone she loves is going to die and leave her here by herself.
Me: Well, Ella one day we all get to live in Heaven together. We're all going to die here on Earth, but we get to go to Heaven.
Ella: So you mean we'll be alive in Heaven?
Me: Yes.
Ella: Ohhhhh, I get it now!
Then she looks up to the ceiling and I hear her quietly say:"God, I think I do want to grow up to be a parent. But I still don't want a baby."
She looks over at me and says "I just told God that I did want to be a parent, but no baby" as if I didn't hear her a moment ago say it already. But to her, she was speaking to God, not me. So she had to turn and tell me too.
And I just smile through the tears streaming down my face. One of my biggest fears is losing one of my children and I hate having these conversations about death with her. Because even the thought of her dying is too painful for me to deal with. But through this little conversation with my daughter, I was able to also come to a slightly closer understanding that God is going to take care of us.

Josh comes back from what seems like an excruciatingly long absense to find Ella bubbling and bouncy again while I'm wiping tears from my eyes and he's trying to figure out what happened while he was gone.
Once I had regained my composure and we were driving to church I was able to turn around and explain to her in very real terms how amazing it was that this very weekend almost 2000 years ago Jesus died on the cross JUST so that we could all go to Heaven and be together again with Him. Had he not died on the cross for us, we would not be alive together in Heaven. Very cool.

*Side note: Ella does not want to have babies. After Sadie was born, she was asking me lots of questions and I told her that you have to get a shot when you have a baby. So she decided that she no longer wants any part in being a Mommy. So, then I told her that she doesn't have to get a shot, but she's no fool. She said that having a baby hurts too. So she asked me how to make sure she doesn't have a baby. I told her that she just needs to tell God that she doesn't want to have any babies since I'm at a loss for words to a then 3 year old who wants to make sure that never happens! Every once in a while, I will hear her whisper out to God when she thinks I'm not paying attention: "God, I don't want a baby" just as a reminder to Him. :) I still hope she changes her mind one day.
And here's a quick snap of my Sadiebug. She was mad at me for taking a picture. This seems to be the picture I get out of her most of the time these days. This or one of her flailing around on the ground in mid-fit. :)

Stories

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

When I was little, my dad was out of town traveling a lot. He was a truck driver, so he spent a lot of time gone. But when he was home, he was home. My dad is a master storyteller. He used to always tell me stories about two raccoons named George and Willy. They were always getting into some kind of trouble. I remember one time George got his tail bitten off by an alligator. As soon as the story was over I would beg for another one. My dad had this way of making you hang off of every word. The stories would just suck you in. So since we have had the opportunity to live here while we're waiting for our new house, my girls have gotten to experience story time with my dad. Although his stories now are about Princess Ella and Super Sadie and they are good. My dad has not lost his abilities in the past 25 years. Here are some fun pictures lately. We have been having fun out here in the sticks. :)