Sunday, February 20, 2011

Emma's busy hands

We do sleep occasionally and when we do finally fall asleep, we will sleep anywhere. I am not really sure if it was really nice of Mommy to take this picture of me, but she says it is cute, so I'll let her have it. But, guess what! We are not asleep long and when we get up, we are ready to play. Mommy tries to have lots of ideas for us to play. She saves everything. Mommy likes to play with cereal boxes, milk jugs, diaper boxes, anything. Mommy really likes to play. She tries to come up with ideas with her trash so that we will play with her.

One day, I heard her say, "AHA!" and in a few minutes she put this backpack on me. It used to be an orange bag but I like to pretend I am going to school or to the store, so she made me a backpack!
Mommy calls these our Picasso glueings. She cut out shapes to make a face and gave them to us to glue. Mine is the first picture and Erin's is next to mine. Mine is a face. Erin hasn't told me what hers is yet, but I think it is beautiful, don't you?
See, boxes! I told you she saves everything. Oh, I forgot! Her very favorite thing is colored duct tape. It is pretty amazing everything that stuff can do. Erin and I already know we are princesses so Mommy made us our very own thrones but they work great for t.v. chairs too.
See my table? It is just my size. We like to do our crafts at this table. Here we made our very own little barns out of envelopes to put pictures of our farm animals in.
We sang "Old MacDonald had a Farm" and pulled the animals out of the envelope as we sang.
Erin likes to paint. I think painting is fun because it makes such a big mess. That is a lot of color in one place! Erin was painting a rock, but her legs were just as colorful when we were done. We are the best masterpiece after all, right?
This is the reason I told you that Mommy liked to play. Look what she did! She took some diaper boxes and made a playhouse for our Weebles. They had a lot of fun with this. They had 2 slides, an elevator, a chute, and a merry-go-round. Well, I am wasting good playing time. Have fun and make lots of memories!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

In the meantime...

Where have we been? Well...mostly just right here living our lives and having a blast doing it. I spend my days chasing after, entertaining, cooking for, disciplining, and comforting two absolutely enjoyable and exhausting girls. Hide and seek is a daily game and it never gets tiring...for the girls.
Here is just a little update, however late it may be. We had a marvelous Christmas. The girls were absolutely delightful. Christmas gets more fun with each year they grow older. Bryan and I just found restraining ourselves difficult. Everything you see in the store you can imagine your child loving and playing with forever, even though we all know and have proven time and time again, the boxes can be much more interesting. But we eventually did make our decisions and did pretty well not getting too crazy.
We have had snow, then snow, then more snow. It is quite a chore to bundle up both girls so tight they gave barely move, herd them out the door and into the cold snow, and then try to get them to move and play. But Emma truly enjoyed it! She wanted to just walk and walk in the snow. The only thing that convinced her to move toward the door was the promise of hot chocolate, which we all know is the best part about playing in the snow.
Erin didn't care much for the snow, but the hot chocolate was a different story. The picture above is the reason sippy cups were invented. I don't believe this shirt has been the same since its exposure to large amounts of chocolate.
I am always looking for new ideas to keep these active and growing minds learning and entertained. We try to do a little project or craft each day. The girls love to paint, but my nerves can't handle too much of it. However, I am very grateful for all washable materials. We have made thrones out of boxes, beanbags out of a little duct tape and material, kites out of contact paper, tissue paper,and ribbon, and color our fair share of Curious George pictures.
(I have no idea why this is underlined, by the way! Small technical difficulty)
Of course, the mundane has to interrupt the fun occasionally. The girls are generally patient and depend on each other for comfort and entertainment and sometimes just a good fight.
Dress up of any kind seems to reign supreme most of the time. Princess dresses, Daddy's hats, and Mommy's shoes all make life at home a little more exciting.

At the end of the day, it sure is nice to lean back, relax, and stop moving for the first time since you woke up...and I am sure the girls feel the same way!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Thankful hearts

Last week as I stared out at the ocean stretching farther than I could see, I was amazed at God's creativity and love for us that He would give us such a beautiful and majestic expression of His glory and goodness. However, when I am at home playing with my girls or singing to a sleeping child I am filled with the same wonder.
My heart overflows with thankfulness to a God that would enrich my life with the fun and the challenges of raising two such beautiful expressions of God's creativeness and love.
This week we had the opportunity to visit some family and have had a great time. I am so thankful for family that loves and supports us.
The girls have new and fun experiences all the time. I am grateful that God has filled our lives with fun memories. My days are full of laughter as I watch the girls explore and try to figure out the world around them. Just the other day, Bryan and I were saying that we had two girls just so they could chase each other around the house.
Sweet moments...I couldn't take enough pictures to capture the sweet moments that fill my days!
I would be lying if I said that every time I saw their curiosity displayed, my heart leaped for joy. I have realized how much I grunt or groan in frustration now that I hear Emma making the same noise in frustration. However, I am glad that God gave them curious minds and able bodies that allow them to explore and discover things even though it may cause extra work or momentary frustration. God gives me every bit of energy I need in order to do the job He has given me to do.
Thank you God for sacrificing your one and only Son to bring joy to my life! I am most thankful for my Savior who gave His life in place of mine so that I can experience the blessings of God that this sinful child doesn't deserve.