Reminiscing

A couple of years ago my sister and I moved to opposite sides of the USA. It has been really hard for me not to have her close by my side. I hate that I have not gotten to know Brennan and Autumn, and that she does not know Monica. As I was thinking about this today I remembered all the fun times Daniel and Madelyn shared when we were close together. Here are just a few pictures of the two of them playing together.

A day at the park

On Tuesday the baby sitting kids went home early, so I convinced daddy to neglect his work and come out to park with us. We had a lot of fun. Monica has found he favorite thing to do at the park is to swing! She laughs and smiles the whole time. What a sweetheart!



Push me daddy!



Daddy is getting tired of pushing! Thanks big brother!



Daniel held Monica and took her down the "baby slide". He is such a good big brother!



Let's swing together!



Let's ride together!

Daniel's first attempt to color in the lines

Daniel has been practicing his writing skills. We have been working on tracing and controlling the pencil. Today his activity was to trace the kites and then color the pictures. Normally when he colors he just scribbles all over in one color. Today I had him concentrate on staying in the lines and choosing different colors for the different parts of the picture. After he was done he said "here mom put this on the fridge", and of course that is where is belongs! He did a great job!

Isn't she beautiful?

Kids Playing at the "Tree Mall"

According to Daniel there are two malls close to our house. The "tree mall" which has a play area with a huge tree and is a camping outdoor theme, and the "food mall" where the play area consists of things like giant waffle, and a slide that is a piece of bacon. I must say that it is nice to have these two malls close to our house. One a cold and rainy day it is nice to have a place to go and burn some energy. The "tree mall" is usually less busy so I like to go there so Monica can also play. It is hard to believe that my baby girl is big enough to enjoy playing at the mall. I feel like just yesterday she was this tiny little thing curled up in my arms. Oh how time flies!

Daniel is very proud of himself that he can climb on the outside of the tree. For more than a year he has seen other kids do this and has always wanted to be able to do it himself. Now he is big enough that he can climb any way he wants to on the tree. He is very happy about it!


Here is Daniel and Monica inside the snake.


Monica is very close to pulling herself up on things. She can get up on her knees but not quite all the way up to her feet. If I stand her up against something she will stand there a long time. This is her standing up against the snake.


Here is Daniel and Monica in the boat. Daniel likes to play Jonah in the boat,which I think is really cute. Although I had to draw the line when Daniel wanted Monica to play Jonah and then wanted to throw her overboard!



Here is Monica playing at the mall. I did realize that I had the camera turned the wrong way at first! But this gives you a good idea of how well this girl moves around!.

A moment of conviction

"It often surprises people to learn that God is not always pleased when people worship him. We might be inclined to think that God should be thankful for any attention we give him out of our busy schedules. But worship is not about God's thanking us; it is about our thanking him. And God is not pleased with just anything we choose to do in his presence." (John M. Frame, Worship in the Spirit and Truth)

A Special Day

Today is my Mom's birthday! I miss her so much and wish that she was here. One of her favorite things to do is garage sale, so this morning Daniel and I got up early and "took Soso" to the garage sales with us. I wish that you were really here mom, but since you could not be I carried a picture of you around with us, and thought of you the whole time we were there! Happy birthday to a very special lady!







Soso playing with Monica and her new toy I bought for 10 cents!

My Flowers

I love planing flowers. I cannot wait until I get a yard where I can just play in the dirt all the time! But for now since I live in on the top floor of an apartment building I have my window box and my potted plants. They make me happy and I love to see the beautiful colors when I open up my curtain in the morning. For some reason I could not get my Tulips picture to turn the right way, but you get the idea! They just bloomed a little more than a week ago!

The many hats of motherhood!

A clip for a Hearts at Home conference. This is very funny!

Sense of Accomplishment

I don't need to run a marathon to feel like I have accomplished a great task. I just need to get four kids age 3 and under to go to sleep at the same time.



Silence is bliss!

Thank you Aunt Andrea

Aunt Andrea sent Monica and Daniel a little bit of money with very specific instruction, to take them to the mall and get them a drink and a pretzel. That was something that Daniel was very excited about. Here is Daniel with his pretzel of choice and his lemonade. Thank you Aunt Andrea for thinking of us!


Monica says "what is this????"

Finally Updating

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. So here are some pictures. This first one is Monica in her chinese shoes. A friend named Grace gave these to Monica. She is from China and her mom made these and sent them from China.



The Meijer (pronounced meyer) Gardens here in town has a really cool butterfly exhibit. We have been twice. It is a tropical setting with a bunch of butterflies flying all around you. Both Daniel and Monica love it.



This picture just amazes me. It is a true showing of God's great design. Notice that the tips of this moths wings look like snakes! How cool!

To Brennan Matthew

My dear sweet nephew Brennan Matthew,

I know that we have not had much of a chance to get to know each other since you were born, but I want you to know that I love you so very much. I love you so much that I felt compelled to write you this letter. I noticed that you and I might have a very similar childhoods, so I wanted you to know these things so you can be better prepared for the next few years of your life. Everything that I am about to tell you is between you and me. You must not let anyone know our little secrets (especially your older sister!).

1) During major holidays such as Easter and Christmas WATCH YOUR STUFF! Make sure you do not allow your sister to dump out her Easter egg basket, or her stocking anywhere near yours. You might be asking yourself, why not? She just wants to be close to me… no my dear naive little Brennan, what she is really doing to trying to get as close to your stuff as she can so she can swipe your candy and eggs without you knowing it. Trust me, this is a smooth trick. I am 26 and just found out that your mother used to do this to me!
2) If you make your sister really really mad it is best not to fight back because you will lose! I am sorry to say it is in her genes. The best thing that you can do is run and go hide under your bed. For some reason this was always a safe haven for me.
3) When you get things for Christmas remember that it is YOUR stuff. There is a good possibility that 6 months down the road your sister might try to convince you that what is yours is hers, but HOLD YOUR GROUND. Trust me, go with your gut, if you know that it is yours fight for it.
4) When doing the dishes together always dry, never wash! Just trust me on this one. If you need more details ask your mother.
5) If your sister has a friend over and they try to get to eat something that you are not sure about, DON’T EAT IT! For some reason friends seem to come up with obscure ways to torture younger siblings. Just simply decline their offer and then go hide under your bed.
6) Make sure you give your sister her privacy. Never read her journal, or break into her special things. Even though at the time it might sound like a good idea, it will crush her, and then she will crush you!
7) Most importantly have fun. Your sister could possibly be the best friend that you will ever have. Even though there are some things about her that you might need to watch out for, don’t allow this to get in the way of her being your best friend and play mate. This strong personality has another side, a strong sense of commitment, love and acceptance. She will always protect you from any one who bullies you (after all it is her job not some strangers!). She will be your favorite buddy and playmate. And when you are both grown you will look back on your childhood and have some great memories.

Well Brennan, I hope that this list helps you over the next few years. I love you sweet boy and hope that someday soon I will be able to hold you and kiss that adorable little face of yours.

Aunt

Sunday Afternoon at the Park

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the park. It was the first warm day in a long time. We all had such a wonderful time. Monica loved just laying out in the sun. Daniel loved flying his kite, playing on the playground, and riding his bike on the bike path. I enjoyed flying Daniel's kite as well. It made me remember when I was a little girl flying my kite in our back yard. All of us enjoyed spending some time with just our family, and found it to be a very relaxing afternoon. I hope we can having more times like these in the near future.

Conversation with Daniel

Tonight Daniel came up to me and said "Mom I have good news and I have bad news" This is something that he says to me quiet often. I am not sure where he got to from, but he loves to tell me good and bad news. So I told him to tell me his good and bad news. He said "The good news is that when I die I am going far far away to heaven to be with Jesus. The bad news is that when I go away I will never ever be coming back home." We had a good conversation about heaven after he said this. This is such a fun age to teach spiritual things. I guess it has been on his mind a lot because he often brings up this subject.