Carter's new obsession: prayers. Seth started doing bedtime prayers with him, and he loves it. He starts with the basics - God bless Mommy, Daddy, Carter, Maggie, and Ella (the dog). Then you don't know where it's headed after that. He seems to have a couple of favorite additional people to ask God to bless. Uncle Scott in particular is a recurring character at prayer time. Also, Ms. Angie, Mr. Brandon, Hunter, and Brynna, our friends who also happen to be his Sunday School teachers at present. When he first started prayers, he ended them with, "In Your name I pray, come in." Seth finally convinced him that the word was "amen" rather than "come in", but then he decided to end with "God amen", I guess for extra oomph.
Now, for the next part, I have to confess that before kids, we were not diligent with our mealtime blessings at our house. As Carter started talking, we started trying to remember, but we were still irregular at best. Well, Carter entering the two year old preschool class has solved that issue for us. We were working on the typical "God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for our food." Seth had a few issues with this one. He wanted to say "God is good. God is great." Then it didn't rhyme, which drove me nuts. At preschool, they get fancier. It starts with "Bow your head and close your eyes. Now it's time to talk to God." Then it moves on into the prayer: (sung to the tune of Frere Jacque) God our Father, God our Father, we thank you, we thank you. For our many blessings, for our many blessings. Amen, amen." Cute, right? Well, we can't just leave it at that. Carter wants to close his eyes to pray, but he doesn't want to miss anything. So he does this fluttery little thing with his eyes so that he has the best of both worlds. Then he sways to the music. So the result is what looks like a bad impression of Stevie Wonder singing the blessing. The funny thing is that he sings the blessing all of the time. I gave him a graham cracker the other day while he was riding in the back of the shopping cart at Target. I looked down and saw the eyes start to flutter and the body start to sway, and I knew it was coming. Yep, the blessing at the top of his lungs as he rode through Target. I'm sure everyone in that store thought I was a fanatic, making my kid say the blessing for a graham cracker!
Sometimes I have a really hard time keeping a straight face through Carter's prayers. But then I figure God is getting a little chuckle, too. Anyone who created two year olds is bound to have a good sense of humor.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Ahhh, Saturday
I remember leisurely Saturday mornings of sleeping in, followed by watching t.v. in bed. Then we'd get up and have a relaxing breakfast. Ahhh, the good old days. Now I am watching my second Saturday morning sunrise in a row. This week I'm watching with Carter, and Maggie and Seth are sleeping. I'm so envious of people who can put their kids to bed later than usual and have them sleep late the next day. We ran late at dinner last night and didn't get our incredibly tired children in bed until 8:45, so we had high hopes of sleeping in a little today. Ha.
Maggie woke first at 10:30 pm, needing a little love. Then she woke again at 3:00 am. She nursed, then drank 8 oz of formula before settling back down. This truly gave me false hope of sleeping late (and I mean past 6:30 when I say late). But alas, it was not meant to be. At 10 till 6, here came Carter climbing in bed with us. After some pathetic moans and groans from a cold-suffering Seth, I finally gave in and brought Carter in the living room so he could sleep.
Not to say it's all bad. I am being hand fed goldfish like a queen while I type. And Dr. Carter is checking me out, so I'll know that my health is perfect, too. I might even get a shot and a band aid. I'm also getting the best pretend haircut of my life. I was greeted by Maggie calling for Mamamama and standing up in her crib looking around at 6:30. How can you not enjoy that?
So, the good new is that I've definitely got a jump start on my day. The bad news is that I could already use a nap. Ahhhh, Saturday.
Maggie woke first at 10:30 pm, needing a little love. Then she woke again at 3:00 am. She nursed, then drank 8 oz of formula before settling back down. This truly gave me false hope of sleeping late (and I mean past 6:30 when I say late). But alas, it was not meant to be. At 10 till 6, here came Carter climbing in bed with us. After some pathetic moans and groans from a cold-suffering Seth, I finally gave in and brought Carter in the living room so he could sleep.
Not to say it's all bad. I am being hand fed goldfish like a queen while I type. And Dr. Carter is checking me out, so I'll know that my health is perfect, too. I might even get a shot and a band aid. I'm also getting the best pretend haircut of my life. I was greeted by Maggie calling for Mamamama and standing up in her crib looking around at 6:30. How can you not enjoy that?
So, the good new is that I've definitely got a jump start on my day. The bad news is that I could already use a nap. Ahhhh, Saturday.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
A Little Update on Us
Wow! Time really gets away from you, doesn't it? I can't believe that summer is ending and school has started back. Of course, the temperatures are still over 100 degrees here every day, but my poor sister who is due any day with baby number four, is holding out hope that this heat wave will end any moment now. I'm predicting that she'll have a girl on August 26th, so she'd better start having some contractions so she can have this baby tomorrow!
Maggie has decided that 5:45 is a wonderful time to wake in the mornings, no matter what time she goes to bed the night before. She and I are having some quality time watching the sunrise each morning these days. Personally, I'd rather sleep now and bond later, but hey, you take what you get. At least she sleeps all the way through the night.
Miss Maggie is crawling, quite speedily all over the house now. She'll be 8 months old on Tuesday, and she's already pulling up to stand on whatever she can get her hands on. She's so good natured, though. Sometimes I'll realize that she's crawled out of the room, and I'll go looking for her only to find her in another room playing quietly by herself. We've been working on table foods, and so far she really likes diced bananas, diced carrots, peas, refried beans, and mashed potatoes.
Carter has assigned himself as Maggie's personal mind reader. All day I hear, "No Momma! Maggie doesn't want to come in here! No! Maggie doesn't want my toy! No! Maggie doesn't want to be held!" Yes, I realize that Carter is not clairvoyant, that this is merely a grammatical snafu, but it's funny nevertheless.
And Carter, ahhh Carter. I am never bored. He definitely keeps us entertained. One day, he came up to me and said, "Hey Momma, Beethoven says, 'Da Da Da Daaaaaa!'" I laughed hysterically, so of course, we hear it all of the time now. His favorite activity (other than torturing his sister) is having us spell things. He'll bring me a notebook and crayon and list off word after word that he wants me to write for him. You'd think I'd get a break in the car. No. I was silly enough to ressurect a little game my mom played with us growing up. She sang 'Bingo' and used our names instead of Bingo. Now Mom didn't limit her spellings to five letter words that actually fit the song, so neither do I. I seem to remember only getting Mom to spell people's names when she sang the song, but Carter has taken it to a new extreme. Not only do we do every name he can think of, but we also do every inanimate object he spots as we drive along. Oh, the things I've spelled to the tune of 'Bingo' - Carter, Maggie, Mommy, Daddy, Van Goat (one of Carter's favorite Baby Einstein puppets), stop sign, garage, mailbox - you get the picture. Oh well, at least he's learning something.
Carter has started back to preschool, and he's loving every minute of it. The first day of school he insisted that we go to lunch at Chick-fil-A afterwards and that his teacher, Ms. Wendy, go with us. In his new minivan. Luckily, Miss Wendy and Sue-Suz obliged and went along with us to lunch. Then when we got there, his other teacher, Ms. Laura, was already there eating. He said, "Look who's here! It's Ms. Laura!" He was so excited!
One last funny Carter story, and I have to wrap this up. The men in the family have now woken and joined the early bird ladies. Anyway, we were at the grocery store the other day, and I was buying some little individual container of diced carrots for Maggie. I asked Carter if he was going to eat any carrots, and he said, "No, I not a baby." I told him that carrots are not just for babies, they're for big boys, too. I said, "Aren't you a big boy?" He looked at me and said, "No, I not a big boy. I'm just Carter." What can you say to that? Well, that's about it for us right now. We'll update again soon.
Maggie has decided that 5:45 is a wonderful time to wake in the mornings, no matter what time she goes to bed the night before. She and I are having some quality time watching the sunrise each morning these days. Personally, I'd rather sleep now and bond later, but hey, you take what you get. At least she sleeps all the way through the night.
Miss Maggie is crawling, quite speedily all over the house now. She'll be 8 months old on Tuesday, and she's already pulling up to stand on whatever she can get her hands on. She's so good natured, though. Sometimes I'll realize that she's crawled out of the room, and I'll go looking for her only to find her in another room playing quietly by herself. We've been working on table foods, and so far she really likes diced bananas, diced carrots, peas, refried beans, and mashed potatoes.
Carter has assigned himself as Maggie's personal mind reader. All day I hear, "No Momma! Maggie doesn't want to come in here! No! Maggie doesn't want my toy! No! Maggie doesn't want to be held!" Yes, I realize that Carter is not clairvoyant, that this is merely a grammatical snafu, but it's funny nevertheless.
And Carter, ahhh Carter. I am never bored. He definitely keeps us entertained. One day, he came up to me and said, "Hey Momma, Beethoven says, 'Da Da Da Daaaaaa!'" I laughed hysterically, so of course, we hear it all of the time now. His favorite activity (other than torturing his sister) is having us spell things. He'll bring me a notebook and crayon and list off word after word that he wants me to write for him. You'd think I'd get a break in the car. No. I was silly enough to ressurect a little game my mom played with us growing up. She sang 'Bingo' and used our names instead of Bingo. Now Mom didn't limit her spellings to five letter words that actually fit the song, so neither do I. I seem to remember only getting Mom to spell people's names when she sang the song, but Carter has taken it to a new extreme. Not only do we do every name he can think of, but we also do every inanimate object he spots as we drive along. Oh, the things I've spelled to the tune of 'Bingo' - Carter, Maggie, Mommy, Daddy, Van Goat (one of Carter's favorite Baby Einstein puppets), stop sign, garage, mailbox - you get the picture. Oh well, at least he's learning something.
Carter has started back to preschool, and he's loving every minute of it. The first day of school he insisted that we go to lunch at Chick-fil-A afterwards and that his teacher, Ms. Wendy, go with us. In his new minivan. Luckily, Miss Wendy and Sue-Suz obliged and went along with us to lunch. Then when we got there, his other teacher, Ms. Laura, was already there eating. He said, "Look who's here! It's Ms. Laura!" He was so excited!
One last funny Carter story, and I have to wrap this up. The men in the family have now woken and joined the early bird ladies. Anyway, we were at the grocery store the other day, and I was buying some little individual container of diced carrots for Maggie. I asked Carter if he was going to eat any carrots, and he said, "No, I not a baby." I told him that carrots are not just for babies, they're for big boys, too. I said, "Aren't you a big boy?" He looked at me and said, "No, I not a big boy. I'm just Carter." What can you say to that? Well, that's about it for us right now. We'll update again soon.
Monday, July 9, 2007
New Pictures
Here are the pictures of the kids that we had done this weekend. Getting a picture of both kids looking at the camera and smiling at the same time has proved to be my own personal Mission: Impossible. I still dream that someday it will happen! Until then, we're getting some funny ones that I'll treasure anyway. So without further ado.....the kids. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to flip a couple of the pictures!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Eeeek!
I went for a haircut today, which included the obligatory eyebrow waxing. A necessary, but painful evil. I noticed that she got a little wax on my eyebrow, but I thought she just wiped it off. I didn't notice the problem until a couple of hours later when I was standing next to Carter in the bathroom while he was washing his hands. I looked in the mirror and thought, "Hmm. Something looks funny." Well, of course, you would look funny too if a big chunk of your left eyebrow was missing. Oh yes. The stray wax apparently took part of my eyebrow with it. At least my hair typically covers the bare spot. We'll just keep our fingers crossed that it grows back. The odd part is that she didn't tell me what she did. Did she think I just wouldn't notice the deviant eyebrow? I just don't know. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. Eyebrows, that is.
We took Carter and Maggie to the Lion's Club Kiddie Carnival tonight. Aunt Birdie went with us. Obviously, Maggie doesn't ride rides, but her big brother makes up for it. He'll ride anything we'll let him on. Then he waves at everyone while he's riding. He doesn't care if he knows you or not, he's going to wave. And if the Lion's Club worker was close enough, he'd give them a high five on each and every revolution of the ride. Tonight he rode the swings, the cars, the rockets, the parachutes, and the roller coaster. At fifty cents a ride, I'd say that was $2.50 wisely spent for a night of entertainment.
We took Carter and Maggie to the Lion's Club Kiddie Carnival tonight. Aunt Birdie went with us. Obviously, Maggie doesn't ride rides, but her big brother makes up for it. He'll ride anything we'll let him on. Then he waves at everyone while he's riding. He doesn't care if he knows you or not, he's going to wave. And if the Lion's Club worker was close enough, he'd give them a high five on each and every revolution of the ride. Tonight he rode the swings, the cars, the rockets, the parachutes, and the roller coaster. At fifty cents a ride, I'd say that was $2.50 wisely spent for a night of entertainment.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Ashes
Last night we had some friends over to eat dinner. The great thing about my husband is that if you let him grill out, he will handle the entire meal. And we're not talking simple burgers. If you tell him he can experiment, you often get steaks and seafood with gourmet sauces. So for Father's Day, I got Seth some cedar planks so he could make cedar plank salmon. Last night, that's what he was going to make. He soaked the planks for a couple of hours like he was supposed to. Then it called for him to preheat the planks on the grill for a few minutes before he put the meat on. Well, the planks had been on the grill no more than five minutes when our friend came running in to grab a cup of water. Apparently, the planks were on fire and flaming nicely. Seth thought that they might still be salvageable until they threw the water on them and they disintegrated. Guess you can't cook salmon on ashes!
Anyway, the salmon still turned out wonderfully. It had a garlic lime sauce that was delicious. Then he did a grilled asparagus with a red wine vinaigrette sauce. For dessert, we had grilled pineapple skewers. Yummy! And the best part is that when Seth grills out, he cleans up, too! I put the dishes in the dishwasher, and he did the rest. What a great night! Good food, good company, and a clean kitchen! The only thing I'd change is that we'll soak the cedar planks a little better next time!
Anyway, the salmon still turned out wonderfully. It had a garlic lime sauce that was delicious. Then he did a grilled asparagus with a red wine vinaigrette sauce. For dessert, we had grilled pineapple skewers. Yummy! And the best part is that when Seth grills out, he cleans up, too! I put the dishes in the dishwasher, and he did the rest. What a great night! Good food, good company, and a clean kitchen! The only thing I'd change is that we'll soak the cedar planks a little better next time!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
I Know, I'm Slacking on the Blog!
Long time no blog, huh? I have to admit that lately, by the time I get the kids settled into bed, I just don't have much energy left to write. I've been doing some knitting, but I learned the hard way that I shouldn't knit past 9:00 or I start making big mistakes. I had to take out a huge section of a dress that I was making for Maggie. I think my brain just shuts down at night.
Anyway, enough about me. Onto the kids. We're going to Vacation Bible School at church this week. I'm the snack hostess, so Maggie stays with me and helps me replenish the snacks. Carter spends most of the morning playing in his classroom, but I take him to opening and closing assembly for singing and dancing. And boy does he dance. He flaps his arms like a bird and runs up and down the aisle laughing and shrieking. The child is a dancing fool. I've had several people tell me I should bring a video camera to record him. Maybe I will tomorrow.
Carter's latest thing is wanting to know the name and everyone and everything that he comes across. It's constantly, "Who's dat, Mommy? What's dat, Mommy?" I'm glad he's curious, but it's really embarrassing when he asks who someone is, and I can't think of their name. I try to cover it up with a "Why don't you ask him/her?" Like I think it will just be fun for him to get to ask. You think people are onto me? Probably so.
Maggie is doing great. She's sleeping from about 8:00 p.m. until between 5:00 and 6:00 the next morning. She's starting to get pretty good at sitting up. In the Boppy pillow, she can sit and play for quite a while, and she's getting better and better at keeping her balance without it. She's eating solid food now and loving it. She actually attacks the spoon to get the food. She kind of starts chewing on her way to the spoon like she's trying to get ready for the food. It's really cute.
Well, it's 9:00, and I've already established that my brain shuts down at about this time, so I better quit for now. No telling what I'll type if I don't. I'll try to update more often and post some new pictures soon.
Anyway, enough about me. Onto the kids. We're going to Vacation Bible School at church this week. I'm the snack hostess, so Maggie stays with me and helps me replenish the snacks. Carter spends most of the morning playing in his classroom, but I take him to opening and closing assembly for singing and dancing. And boy does he dance. He flaps his arms like a bird and runs up and down the aisle laughing and shrieking. The child is a dancing fool. I've had several people tell me I should bring a video camera to record him. Maybe I will tomorrow.
Carter's latest thing is wanting to know the name and everyone and everything that he comes across. It's constantly, "Who's dat, Mommy? What's dat, Mommy?" I'm glad he's curious, but it's really embarrassing when he asks who someone is, and I can't think of their name. I try to cover it up with a "Why don't you ask him/her?" Like I think it will just be fun for him to get to ask. You think people are onto me? Probably so.
Maggie is doing great. She's sleeping from about 8:00 p.m. until between 5:00 and 6:00 the next morning. She's starting to get pretty good at sitting up. In the Boppy pillow, she can sit and play for quite a while, and she's getting better and better at keeping her balance without it. She's eating solid food now and loving it. She actually attacks the spoon to get the food. She kind of starts chewing on her way to the spoon like she's trying to get ready for the food. It's really cute.
Well, it's 9:00, and I've already established that my brain shuts down at about this time, so I better quit for now. No telling what I'll type if I don't. I'll try to update more often and post some new pictures soon.
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