Here Amelie reenacts our drive home from the pool. Notice her concerned look. (In reality, she was yelling something to the effect of "Hey, Lady! Watch out, Lady!" Where did she hear such a thing?)

"I got a big fish!" Amelie exclaimed. However, upon closer inspection, we wonder if the big fish got a fishing rod instead. (Can you see the sprinkler in the background?)

Violet's "sprinkler time" was much drier than her pool time.

You've seen Girl With Watering Can? This is Girl With Pliers.

When You Go to the Library, Be Sure to Wear a Helmet.

Yesterday was library day. Our books were due, so we went to return them and pick out new ones. While I was emptying the backpack at the returns counter, Violet was behind me, in the stroller, and Amelie was standing behind her. Seemingly out of no where, a boy named Tommy ran, full speed, at Amelie and knocked her down. He was only slightly bigger than her, if at all. I found myself saying,"Oh, my goodness!" as I rushed to pick up my hysterical little girl. Tommy's mom ran over to attempt to wrangle him over for an apology. She successfully prompted him to say "I'm sorry for pushing you" while I was unsuccessful in getting Amelie to say "I forgive you." The mom also apologized to me and I honestly can't remember what I said in return. I hope I accepted. I was so shaken up, as was Amelie. I assured Amelie that she didn't do anything wrong, which was met by another round of hysterics. It was so weird. While the Mama Bear in me wanted to take care of Tommy, the Lord's quick prompting helped me to see it from his mom's perspective. I hope this was an isolated incident for Tommy, but somehow I doubt it. What must life be like with such an impulsive child? I'm sure it would be very difficult. Rather than seethe with anger when thinking about Tommy, I need to pray for him and his parents. It was also a reminder of my lack of control in the lives of my children. Amelie was in a "safe" place where "nothing" could happen to her, right? It was a reminder that there is no safe place and that it is only by God's grace that we ever safely get from here to there. I'm sure there are more lessons to learn from this situation, but I need to go and clean up the blueberry goop in the kitchen while Violet sleeps and Amelie watches Arthur.

Tagged

My first tag! How exciting! Keith tagged both Duncan and I for this one. Considering my current reading consists mostly of magazines, newspapers, and books by Sandra Boynton and the like, I'll do the best I can.

1. One book that changed your life: No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green by Melody Green and David Hazard

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (I only read children's books more than once)

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

4. One book that made you laugh: The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy by Vicky Iovine

5. One book that made you cry: Child of grace: A mother's life changed by a daughter's special needs by Nancy Doyle Chalfant

6. One book that you wish had been written: stories about my Dad's life as a firefighter

7. One book that you wish had never been written: anything by Spong (sorry Dad)

8. One book you’re currently reading: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee--a classic I missed while growing up

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: anything by C.S. Lewis that I have yet to read

10. Now tag five people: Is it sad that I can only tag two? I tag Heather and Chrissie. I also tag Duncan, because Keith is right, he probably won't respond to either of us. And beside, he was Keith's sixth person.

Starbucks and Scissors

On July28, I put $30 on my Starbucks card. This is something I've done in the past, as well, in an effort to limit the amount of money I contribute to the coffee giant. As of today, August 14, I have $6.42 remaining on my card. That's got to last until August 28th...that was the idea, at least. *sigh* What's a caffeine addict to do?

Last night, at church, a kind lady offered us a heap of paper, crayons, and colored pencils. Being a sucker for free stuff, I accepted. While scooping the art supplies out of her trunk, the woman said something to Amelie about cutting the paper and making pretty pictures. Very sweet. Well, this morning, upon seeing the pile o' paper, Amelie inquired about cutting and scissors. I looked for some of the child-sized variety, but didn't find any. I unwisely said we'd look for some while grocery shopping. Well, we looked and we found. For those of you reading this that have small children or may one day have small children, pay attention: TWO AND A HALF IS TOO YOUNG TO USE SCISSORS. As I was relaying my adventure to Duncan about how, while the risk of Amelie using scissors inappropriately came to mind (hair, clothes, upholstered furniture, etc.) as did the reality that she may try to use her "righty" scissors with her left hand. (tangent: Do you remember the two pairs of scissors in the bin at school that had the word "LEFTY" engraved on them? Did you ever try to use them, even though you were a "righty?" I did. Some may have looked at them as objects that caused scorn or mockery. I thought they were cool, at the time, but looking back, I wonder why the other 4 million pairs didn't have the word "righty" on them.)
It did not, however, occur to me that I would have to TEACH her how to use them and that she would not have the coordination to perform the act of cutting. When I said this to Duncan, he asked:"Don't they like teach how to use scissors in kindergarten or something?" I guess they do. I taught middle school and all of my students used scissors just fine.

Sitting Up!

Well...kind of, at least. Violet is working on it. I love the picture of the three of them "working" on the puzzle--a little glimpse of things to come.
On another note, Duncan figured out last night that it wasn't the video card that bit the dust during the thunderstorm. It was, in fact, the monitor!!! Poor Duncan now has to shop for a new one. He's only been drooling over flat-screened monitors for a couple of years...particularly since he got one at work. He could barely contain his excitement last night when he figured out the real problem. He also muttered something about how happy I should be about having extra monitors living in the garage. He hooked up one so I can function again. I've got my computer back--but with a seemingly tiny monitor compared to our fried one. Hip hip horray for spare computer parts in the garage! (Please don't tell Duncan I just said that.)

PARALYZED

Last night, in a thunder storm, we had a power outage and a power surge. The surge (yes we have a surge protector...they aren't invincible, obviously) fried our video card--whatever that is. All I know is that it means I can't use my desktop. I can't get to a list of e-mail addresses that I need to send out a mass e-mail about providing meals for a family in our church. I can't listen to music. (Well I could, but I'd have to get out those cds, blow off the dust, and put them into a cd player.) I feel so stifled! I'm glad that we have a laptop and that I'm able to get on the internet and check e-mail. However, it's like trying to cook a meal in someone else's kitchen when they're not there. I don't know where everything is. Everything takes much longer than it would if I were at home. And I just plain miss my own kitchen and the familiarity it brings. To top it off, Duncan has just gotten slammed at work today and informed me that he probably will be putting in some long hours this week. I CANNOT complain, since this rarely happens. It just means the new video card purchase and installation probably won't be happening anytime soon.

Another fun thing that happened last night was that Duncan discovered about $100 worth of purchases on our credit card bill that we did not make. We had to cancel the card and transfer some automatic payments to another card. He spent a while on the phone trying to get that accomplished. Our plan was to go to bed early last night, but we didn't make it until nearly midnight.

Through all of this, I am reminded of God's goodness to us. The lightening could have struck a tree that fell on our house. Our electricity could still be out so that we wouldn't have air conditioning or refridgeration. We could have had something much worse than a credit card number stolen from us. We could be in a situation where we don't have a bed to sleep in ever. The point is, it could ALWAYS be worse and God uses trials, even when they're small like ours, to teach us and to draw us nearer to him. Fortunately, these trial point me to Our Heavenly Father and cause me to glorify Him that is the giver of all good things! Praise Him!

Great Grandma Muriel

Yesterday, the girls and I took the trip with my mom that she takes at least weekly. We went to my grandparents' house, about an hour away from home. Both of my mom's parents are living. My grandma is 87 and my grandpa is 86. My grandma suffers from fairly severe dimentia, but is so sweet and still has quite a sense of humour. She was totally charmed by Amelie yesterday. Amelie is named after her, in fact. My grandmother's middle name is Muriel, which is also Amelie's middle name. My grandmother, however, has always gone by Muriel--not by her first name, which is Ethel. After the customary warm up period, Amelie had a ball. And Grandma did too. I was so convicted about not going out there more often. Even though my grandma probably won't remember the visit, while it was happening, she was so delighted. Even though Amelie won't remember the visit either, we'll have the pictures to look at and I'll be able to tell her about the time she spent with her namesake. When my mom is away in a couple of weeks, I'm going to go again. Amelie will remember the previous, recent visit and will hopefully pick up where she left off with her great grandma Muriel...scrunching her chunky toddler fingers into a spider that crawls up great grandma's arm and reaches her neck in the form of a tickle; all the while singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider..."

Tonight was the first time Violet sat in her inner tube the way it was intended to be used. At the beginning of the summer, she laid on top of it like a pile of mashed potatoes. Now she's floating around independently!! Before we know it, she'll be a high school graduate! Time goes so quickly.

Family Resemblances

After Curves today, my mom sat Violet up in the corner of the couch. (at right). She looked like such a big girl! The funny thing is, she did the same thing with Amelie when she was the same age (below). Interestingly, they are both exactly 2 days shy of their six month birthday in these pictures. How weird is that? Do you think they look alike? People either say they look nothing alike (Amelie looks like Duncan and Violet like me) or that they look exactly alike. I can't really tell.

Imitation is the kindest form of flattery.

Or however the saying goes. All this to say my husband has finally decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon. We'll see if he does as well as I've done since I started last fall. Maybe we'll be an encouragement to one another. Here are some pictures of the campout he mentioned in his post:


-Snacks
-Walkie Talkers
-Happy Camper
-A Good Camping Breakfast: Cocoa Wheats (Notice tent in backyard.)

Crocs

I don't usually consider myself to be a trend follower, to an extreme, at least. However, I've joined to Crocs wave. I bought a pair of knock-offs for Amelie on Thursday. This was an attempt to put a stop to the Flip Flop saga. "I want to wear my flip flops. I want to put them on myself. AAAHHHHGGGG! I need help!! No.No.No. I don't need help. I want to put them on myself. I CAN'T DO IT!!" (Fingers into mouth.) And this occurs AT LEAST five times a day. Oh, to be two and a half. So, I was thinking about how UNsupportive my flip flops were--especially while in the kitchen making dinner/doing dishes etc. I've heard about how comfortable the real Crocs were, so I broke down, spent $30 and am now the owner of a pair of chocolate beach crocs. I guess I'm now officially trendy. There are worse things, I suppose.

July Photos

When Amelie is near Violet or holding her, she'll often exclaim, "Two Sisters!" She's such a great big sister and Violet adores her.

A rare picture of the two of us. We're all dressed up to go to a wedding.

2 July 2006
Violet's Baptism Day

My Best Friend

Ok...so how terrible is it that I couldn't remember how to sign on to write a new post? So much for a "new beginning" back in June. It's just that I hardly have time to go to the bathroom, no less do this very often. Enough. I'm doing it now. So, for the topic at hand:
Last night, I was having a hard time falling asleep and I started mentally reminincing about the summer I met my husband. I had SUCH a crush on him and, because of my lack of self esteem, thought he'd never be mine, except for in fantasy land. A flood of memories came to mind...all of the laughter and goofiness of that summer. How all I wanted was to be around him. When I wasn't, I was wondering what he was doing, who he was talking to, what was on his mind. When I was...how perfect it felt to just be in his presence, to have his attention. Partly, that summer, it was infatuation. But as I grow deeper in my love with my husband and as we "grow old along" together, I realize what a treasure that time is for me. I feel so blessed that he picked me! He chose me to be the woman with whom he shares his life. He is so amazing. I often feel undeserving of the blessing that he is to me. He is such an amazing father to our two little girls. He has such patience and tenderness. I often marvel at his wisdom, both in things of the Lord as well as things of this world. What an amzing man the Lord has given to me with whom I get to share my life!

A new start

This past weekend, I found out that a friend of mine has a blog that she's using while she's going through her first pregnancy. It inspired me to write again. That and Spanish is over so I'll have a few more hours a week available. Since I last wrote, my older daughter, Amelie, turned two. And before that, on February 2nd, Violet Ella was born. She's now 4 months old and changing so quickly! Life was rough right after Violet was born. Having an almost 2 year old when bringing home a new baby was tres difficult. We worked very hard readying Amelie for her baby sister's arrival. And, all things considered, Amelie transitioned beautifully. She adores her baby sister and constanly wants to hold her and kiss her and hug her. The hardest part for me was that I couldn't pick up Amelie because of having a c-section. I was unable to pick her up for about four weeks. I probably should have abstained longer than that, but I was home alone with her after 3 weeks and she fell on March 3rd and required being picked up, which I then did for the first time in just over a four weeks. The other big change was that I no longer put her in bed at night. The pre-Violet routine was that Amelie would sit with Daddy during family worship and then I would carry her to bed. Well, the last time I did that was on February 1st. Since I couldn't do it for so long, it became the routine for Daddy to carry her. He still tries to get her to choose me on some evenings, but she always chooses him. I'm o.k. with it, recognizing it as a change that is not that big of a deal.
I need to go and eat lunch, so I can in turn feed Violet.
It's good to be back. I'm committed this time.

A More Focused Focus

My husband has been bugging me about posting. He claims that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands or millions of blogs out there with one or two posts...left abandoned in cyberspace pergutory. Quite honestly, after I began this blog, I have had a hard time of thinking about what I should write. Everything seems trite or unimportant. The majority of my life is consumed by my toddler, since raising her is my full time job. When I started this blog, I wasn't anticipating writing about my experiences of motherhood, but why not? So, I guess, that will be the focus. I'll write when I can and I'll probably write about her. Is this ok with everyone? (Can you tell I'm a people pleaser?)

Getting Over Myself

My husband and I finally went away to celebrate our fifth anniversary this past weekend. (Our anniversary was in June.) Back then, it didn't work out to go away for a variety of reasons. The biggest one was that we weren't ready to leave our little girl behind. As I thought about it, I realized that I have been there every morning of her life. How weird was it that I wasn't this past Saturday? For her, it didn't seem to make a difference. For me, it was significant. How, I'm unable to say, but it was sad and liberating at the same time. She is ok if I'm not there, but does it make a difference that I'm always there on a regular basis? She woke up at Grandma's house, not pining for me, but continuing with her routine, as if I nothing were different. I'm glad she was content and pleasant, as usual. But did she notice I wasn't there?
I continue this entry nearly a month after I began it. We've left her again, when we went to a wedding last weekend. I'm over it, I think. I'm over myself, I mean. She doesn't need me. I mean ultimately, at least. I am her number one caregiver and she'll probably recognize that more as she gets a bit older, but all she needs is love and familiarity right now. Grandma and Grandpa love her and that's all that matters to her. Also, they and their home are familiar to her. Ugh...growing up is tough, for all of us.