Happy Birthday Jesus

I couldn't help but sing this tune the other day and after I did Lash wanted to hear it for real. We found the song on YouTube and now he requests it several times a day. He picked up the words pretty quickly:

Girly Girl?

Henley Jane is fascinated with the mardi gras beads at Papa and Oma's house. Every time we visit she goes to the drawer, pulls out the treasure and puts each strand of beads on. She appears to love wearing them and they make her look very pretty.

The other day Henley found Lash's super hero cape. Just like with the mardi gras beads, she tried to put the cape on...she tried and tried and tried:

Coloring Pictures

Lash really enjoys to color and to do workbook pages. This morning he got out the crayons and notebook paper to do some drawing. He brought me two or three pictures and asked me to guess what he had drawn...I got it wrong every time.

Then he brought me a picture of a drawing of Daddy:

How awesome is that?!? He is only three years old folks!!

When I was telling him what a wonderful job he did he said "I love Daddy so much," and "Daddy is such a great guy!" That kid loves his Daddy!!

After drawing Daddy he went on to draw me and in the process made some comment about my bum...not cool. After that he drew a picture of "Baby Henley" and as he was drawing he told her, "You're going to be so pretty."

Rules

Today at lunch I had to remind Lash of the dinner table rules:

1. There are no animals at the table. When you are at the table you are to act like a little boy and not a dog or a horse or a dinosaur, etc.

2. Do not make any weird noises with your mouth because Henley Jane will mimic and spit food everywhere.

Late in the lunch Lash started listing off his own set of rules. It wasn't until he had made it to 20 or so that I had the sense to get a pen and paper and write them down:

1. We don't hit people.
2. We don't get messy.
3. We don't hit babies.
4. We don't get messy ketchup all over the floor.
5. We don't get water all over grandmas when babies or boys are in the bathtub.
1. We don't ever run a school bus on people.

(Lash: "Are you writing it down?")

2. We don't hit people.
3. We don't hit people.
4. We don't drop tater tots on the floor.
5. We don't shine flashlights in peoples' eyes.
1. We don't push down Henley.
2. We don't hit zebras.
3. We don't kick horses with your legs.

Although he would hold up the second hand, he always started recounting from one and never continued to six. He also included "We don't hit people" much more frequently than I wrote down...do you think he has heard that a time or two before?!?

Randomness

Two cute and quick stories:

I laid out clothes for Lash to wear and then I left his bedroom. A minute or so later he comes running out of his room carrying the green shirt I had picked out for him and exclaims "Mom...thank you for cleaning this!" I said, "You're welcome. I knew you liked it." He then runs over to me and gave me a hug. The entire exchange was very dramatic but he was being serious and so sincere.

Lash wanted to watch a movie the other morning. While I was getting the VCR plugged in and the movie going Henley was getting into things and I said "Henley go sit in your chair and watch the movie with Lash." She immediately crawled over to her chair, climbed in and waited for the movie to start. If only she was that obedient all the time!

Lesson Learned

It was Thursday, which meant the kids were headed to Oma's house and I was going to the office. I typically  take Lash and the diaper bag (or anything else that needs loaded) out to the car first so that I can get Lash strapped into his car seat before needing to strap in Henley. After everything has been loaded I go back in to set the alarm and get Henley. This particular day I decided to take both kids out first...

After I got Lash in the Tahoe and gave him instructions to get into his car seat and I got Henley strapped in (there is no car seat base in the Tahoe so I have to use the seat belt to secure her car seat) I headed back inside to finish loading our things. When I got to the door it was LOCKED! I could not believe it! Lash had turned the lock on the doorknob and locked us out of the house. At that moment I was very glad that I hadn't left Henley in the house while I loaded Lash and the diaper bag because that would have made things much worse!

I felt completely helpless...I had no phone and no keys! I'd been meaning to get a spare key made and hidden, but that task was still on the to do list. I decided I would go to the neighbor's house and use their phone to call Clint. I left the kids in the Tahoe that was still parked in the garage and I started walking. I realized half way up the driveway that I should have changed shoes (side note: I was wearing a business suit and nice black dress shoes) but at that point I was not going to turn around. I walked to our neighbor's house, which happened to be over a 1/2 mile away (on a gravel road) and prayed that someone would be home. Nope..I even tried the doors thinking I could go in and use the phone and apologize later for intruding.

On my walk/jog back to the house I was praying for wisdom and help. I was hopeful that I would meet a car on the gravel road and borrow a cell phone. Well, I made it almost back home when I heard a car coming so I ran back up the driveway waving my arms, but I got there 5 seconds too late and the driver did not see me.

When I got back to the house the kids were both fine and no one was crying (I would pay money to see a video of what he did for the nearly 30 minutes unsupervised). There were some random keys in the console that I tried and none worked. I grabbed a putty knife and thought maybe I could break into the house...no luck. 

I had no idea what time it was but I was thinking that Oma and/or Clint might start to get concerned soon and maybe come looking for us. I thought that I could walk to other neighbors' homes, but at 8:45 on a weekday morning I wasn't too hopeful of anyone being home. I changed shoes, put Henley in the stroller, and off we went. I told Lash we were walking to Oma's house, but as we walked I was really just praying that someone would drive by. 

We made it a little over a 1/4 mile from our house when a truck drove by. After some persistent waving I was able to get the man to stop and he let me borrow his cell phone. I called Clint and he called the locksmith who showed up at our house right after we got back from our walk. It took Mr. Wilson less than 5 seconds to slide his drivers license down the door jam to pop the door open. 

I was so thankful and I made sure to have Mr. Wilson make a copy of our house key so that this will NEVER happen again! Lesson learned.

Facebook status updates

For the sake of time, a lot of the cute things Lash says or does gets posted as Facebook status updates. I decided to compile and post some of the funnier ones:

Clint:

10/16/2012: I need a physicist... Toddler spills approximately 1/2 cup of milk on the floor. Milk splashes behind the toddler to nearly 6'6" up the wall AND stretches roughly 8 feet across the floor opposite the wall. A simultaneous "WOW" escaped our mouths as we sat shocked in complete amazement... Everything was fine until toddler defiantly shouts, "I'm not happy with YOU right now - dad!"

10/5/2012: Nose to nose with his stuffed giraffe and both hands clutched around the limp giraffes throat, "HAVE YOU SEEN MY PLUG?!?!!?!?? DO YOU KNOW WHERE IT IS?!!! Is it in the closet?!!!" ("Plug" = "pacifier" and Lash got unplugged a few weeks ago.)

9/26/2012: Spoken at 7:00 A.M., "Dad, tell me about your day."

9/21/2012: "NO DAD!!! I am NOT going to 'Spank City' on my birthday!!!"

8/29/2012: It's bedtime. You are stalling. You know the drill. Bathroom. Brush your teeth. Let's go! Ok, let me help you... "DAAAAAAAAAAAD!!! Be kind to one another and build eachother up! That means you be nice to me!" Mark? "No!!!" First Thessalonians? "Five Eleven!!! Be kind to one another and build eachother up! That means you be nice to me Dad!!!" (He's not even 3 and already he is preparing to outwit me...)

7/19/2012: You know it's gonna be good when your 2 year old starts out a story with, "Back when I was a little boy..."

Sarah:

10/16/2012: This morning I told Lash to go potty (because that is what he does first thing every morning or else I end up cleaning up a whole lot of pee off the bathroom floor) and he responded with "I don't have to..." (serious face....pause) "...I went yesterday."

10/12/2012: Today at lunch I asked Lash what his favorite fruit was and he responded with "Maybe fruit salad."...what a smart guy!

9/25/2012: In case anyone is needing Christmas ideas for Lash he wants "pears, oranges, apples, bananas, blueberries, strawberries....and...umm...toys...and...umm...Kohl's Cash."

CIRCLES!

This is a game that Lash named CIRCLES! He loves it and so does Henley Jane:

Cowboy Lash

If you asked Lash what he was going to do when he turned 3 his automatic answer was "Ride a horse!"

So, that is what we did. A good friend of our's has a couple of horses and she was kind enough to give Lash a ride. We were nervous that he would change his mind once he saw the size of the horse, but he hopped right on and rode for almost 45 minutes.

Here are some pictures documenting the memorable ride and there is a video after the last picture.

Lash is very intense.

Lash, Cowboy and Georgia posing for a picture.

Ride 'em Cowboy!

Cowboy is a big horse.

But not as big as these two Clydesdales!

 

After this Lash kept trying to convince us that Henley did NOT want to ride the horse again!

Cowboy and his friend Jack eating a snack.

Lash having so much fun getting to ride a horse on his 3rd birthday.

Happy Birthday Lash!

Happy birthday kiddo! You are growing up so fast! Your vocabulary is incredible and you always want to be included in every conversation.

You can be sweet with Henley Jane, but more often you are a bully (self-proclaimed). You love to run around pretending to be either a dog or a horse.

You love dinosaurs and cars and could play with them both for hours. You will stop whatever you are doing if I offer to read you a book.

You are a rock star who plays the drums and guitar and you sing the "Oh My Soul" song all day every day (at least that is how it seems). You have so much energy!! You love to be outside and you enjoy golf, baseball, basketball and football. It is hard to watch a KU football game with you because you always want to play catch.

You are quick to say you will pray for someone if they get hurt or are sick and you are working on memorizing Bible verses (you know 4 so far). You are becoming a little more of a risk taker, but you are still pretty conservative.

I will never grow tired of your hugs, kisses or hearing you say "I love you too, Mom."

I love you too, Lash!

Story time with Uncle Chet

Uncle Chet has his hands full! Keep a look out for Henley's double wink.

"Daddy is here!!"

Both of the kids always almost always run and/or crawl to the back door when Daddy gets home from work. Lash always wants to tell Daddy what he is doing or invite him to play and Henley just wants picked up.

Applesauce

If you have never tried homemade applesauce you definitely should! It is super easy to make and very yummy!

After realizing that we (myself and a very good friend of mine) would not be able to pick our own apples this year, we went to the Lawrence Farmers Market and bought a bushel of apples from a very nice man who happens to live just down the road from us. He struck me a deal and Clint carried our 40-45 lbs of apples to the Tahoe and off we went to get to work.

It took us (myself, Amy, my mom, and occasionally little helpers) approximately 2 hours to get all of the apples peeled, cored and sliced.

Here is part of the mess that we made:

After adding a little sugar and cooking the apples on very low heat for several hours we were able to mash into a sauce easily with a potato masher. In the end we got 40 cups of applesauce, 16 cups of sliced apples to use for apple pie, and we each kept a dozen or so apples to eat fresh.

That was fun!

As the unofficial end of summer has come and gone...here are pictures that highlight the highlights of our summer:

Picky Eater

Like with almost everything, Henley Jane is turning out to be opposite of her brother...Lash was a great eater and Henley is not. She enjoyed all of the baby food that we introduced to her, although she had her favorites and the ones she would struggle to eat. Once we ran out of pureed baby food (equivalent to Stage 1 and Stage 2) we tried introducing chunkier baby foods and some additional solids and found out that she is very picky.

Here is a list of solids that she would eat without much coercing: zucchini bread, nutrigrain type granola bars, cheese, banana/blueberry muffins, wheat thin crackers, pear sauce, applesauce, cheerios, rice cereal and animal crackers. We tried things like macaroni and cheese and chicken with rice, but she would only try a few bites and then start spitting it out. She did really like the chicken and noodles at the Vinland Fair, so if anyone can get me that recipe I would greatly appreciate it :)

After quite a bit of observation, I have concluded that it is an issue with texture and not with taste. Here are a couple of things I have tried and found success:

1) For snack I give Henley cheese crackers and watered down 100% vegetable juice (similar to V8 or tomato juice). For some reason this combination works. If I try to give her veggie juice without the cheese crackers she usually spits it out. Go figure!

2) I realized that Henley really liked bread, so I tried to think of any way to get veggies and fruit into bread. I went to allrecipes.com and stumbled upon a recipe called Toddler Muffins. I followed the instructions for the recipe, but I made some slight changes to the ingredients based on what I had:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 oz (total) pureed baby food: carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup sweetened applesauce
2 mashed bananas (3/4 cup)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

This recipe made 24 mini muffins and a few regular size muffins. I froze the muffins in a freezer bag and I pull out two each morning because Henley eats one mini muffin for lunch and one for dinner. Along with the muffin she will have a slice of cheese at one meal and some pear sauce or applesauce at the other meal.

Thanks for taking time to read about our picky eater. The purpose of this blog post was to put in writing our experience so that if I cross paths in the future with someone who has a picky eater I can say more than "Oh yeah, Henley was like that but I can't remember what we fed her." Also, I welcome any and all ideas for ways to get fruits and veggies into her diet.

Aahhh....Fall!

Can you feel that Fall is in the air? Maybe it is just because the temperatures are a little cooler compared to the record high temps we had earlier this summer, but I feel Fall coming. Fall is my favorite season...I'm so excited!! Here are some area attractions that you might want to check out:

Vinland Fair: Okay, so this fair was last weekend, but it was so much fun and you should definitely put it on your calendar for next year! We went on Friday night and got to see the tractor pull and listen to live music. We skipped Saturday but I heard there was a watermelon seed spitting contest, a box turtle race and a homemade ice cream contest. Make sure you get there early if you want to eat dinner or eat before you go...whatever you do make sure to save room for some homemade pie! Next year I am excited to enter okra and zucchini in the Ag Exhibit...who knows maybe I'll get a ribbon. (http://vinlandfair.blogspot.com/)

Louisburg Ciderfest: My mom and I went to this festival a couple of years ago. There are lots of craft booths, a corn maze, a pumpkin patch and lots of apples and apple products. This festival is always the last weekend of September and the first weekend of October. (http://www.louisburgcidermill.com/?page_id=1705)

Kaw Valley Farm Tour: This is not an event we have participated in before, but it is something I would like to do. I have heard that it is well worth the ticket price ($10 per carload). The farms on the tour are working farms and have farm animals, produce and lots of fun! (http://www.kawvalleyfarmtour.org/)

Apple picking: Lash is so excited to go apple picking this year and to make applesauce. I have checked out local orchards and I think we are going to head to Wagon Wheel Orchard. They have many varieties of apples and they are located within 10 miles of our house. (http://www.wagonwheelorchard.com/)

Maple Leaf Festival: A lovely craft festival in Baldwin City! I have attended this festival as a patron and a vendor in the past and have enjoyed it every year (assuming the weather is nice). The festival is always the third full weekend in October. There is a parade Saturday morning, but if you want to miss the crowds I recommend heading out on Sunday afternoon. (http://mapleleaffestival.com/)

Schaake's Pumpkin Patch: There are all sorts of family-friendly activities at Schaake's. Last year the kids and I went with Grandma K and rode the wagon out to the pumpkin patch. Lash got to pick out a pumpkin for him and one for Henley Jane and then we hiked back to the barn. They also have a hay maze, farm animals and concessions. Admission is FREE and pumpkins are inexpensive. (http://schaakespumpkinpatch.com/index.htm)

Lash loves to sing!

Yesterday we were on our way to a play date and I needed to stop at the grocery store for a couple of items since I was in town. Henley always rides shotgun in the cart and Lash rides inside the "tank". As we are making our way through the store, Lash is singing "Bless the Lord, oh my soul..." quite loudly and without a single reservation! It was priceless!

Today before naps Lash had all of his dinosaurs and other animals in the living room and they were all laying down (there were 14 total). Lash starts standing them each up and saying "Come on, we are going to sing He's Got the Whole World." After he gets them all standing he starts waving his arms singing "He's got the whole world in His arms!" He looks over at me and says very seriously "Don't smile." It was so funny and how could I not smile at my young choir director?!?

Growing up

The other day I was thinking about how in the next couple of months Henley will start getting teeth (yeah, she is 10 months old and still no chompers), start standing and maybe even walking, eat more table food, sleep through the night (hopefully!!) and other major accomplishments. Then I realized that in the next couple of months Lash will master pottying in the big potty by himself, learn how to ride a bike, take on more chores at the house, etc.

My kids are growing up and I can't say I'm too disappointed. What does that say about me as a mother? I'm not implying that I am excited for them to grow up and move out...I'm just looking forward to when I can do things like: take a shower or use the restroom by myself; leave Henley and not have to be back at a certain time in fear that she might starve or go into Mama withdrawal if I am gone for more than a couple of hours; not have to dread tomorrow if the kiddos don't get naps today; get a full eight hours of sleep a night.

I love my kids and I pray that I am able to enjoy every minute as they grow!

Two Peas in a Pod

My kiddos love to read...well, Lash loves to read and Henley loves to chew on the books, so they make a good pair.

Potty Humor

We are smack in the middle of potty training. Some days are better than others, but every day includes hilarious potty humor. For example, Lash likes to assign an animal/object to the way he peed (for the record, we have no idea why he started doing this):

• "I just ready peed like a snowman."
• "I just peed like a seahorse."
• "I just peed like a crying cow."
• "I just peed like a triceratops." (that one is his favorite!)

Oh my soul...

I don't know what to say...

Zucchini Goodness

Every year I have lots and lots of zucchini and I struggle with different ways to fix it. Here is something I tried last week that was so yummy:

Slice zucchini so you end up with lots of round slices (like quarters, only bigger). Put your zucchini slices into a bag and toss with olive oil, garlic salt and grated Parmesan cheese. Place slices onto a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes (length of baking depends on how crispy or soft you want your zucchini).

ENJOY!

What do you want to be?

I randomly asked Lash this afternoon "What do you want to be when you grow up?" With a twinkle in his eye he responded with "Hmmm...let's see...get in water and do swimming lessons and fly like a super hero."

I love that kid!

"Scuse Me Kitties"

A month or so ago we got four kittens...Ed, Rose, Doc and Nike. Lately Lash has been very aware of when they needed food and he was anxious to help them out.

Last night we were coming in for the evening and Lash wanted to feed the kittens. He opened the door to the closet where the cat food is kept, filled the measuring cup, navigated down the few stairs (with all the kittens at his feet), and walked to the food dish while saying "here kitty, kitty."

Lash was very careful when he poured the cat food into the dish and the kittens started eating before he could finish pouring out all of the food. So there he was standing over the kittens repeating "scuse me kitties"...I guess thinking they would just move so he could pour the rest of the food into their dish. It was so sweet.

Laughing Terradactyl

Lash loves to make Henley laugh...

Tigger

Lash had gone missing and I knew he was in his room, which he is not supposed to be unless it is nap time. I hollered his name and out he walked from his room with his arms crossed and he said "I don't like Tigger." I told him that he has always liked Tigger, etc., etc.

I turned back around to my computer and I hear Lash say "I tell Tigger sorry." I turned around and he was walking back to his room and I heard him say "Sorry Tigger." He came back out of his room and said "Tigger and I are okay."

It makes my heart smile knowing that Lash is sensitive to when he needs to apologize...even though it usually takes being told to say it.

Blue Mustache

The other day Lash exclaimed "Ahli Jane blue marker on hers face!" I don't let my kids play with markers so I was a little confused. I took one look at her and realized that she had been chewing on one of Lash's blue crayons.

Zacchaeus

It's a work in progress...

Lash trying to get Daddy in trouble

The other day we made a quick stop at Home Depot. Clint went inside and I stayed in the car with the kids. Here is the conversation I had with Lash:

Lash: "Where Daddy at?"
Me: "He is in the store."
Lash: "What he getting?"
Me: "He is getting a mailbox and some garden hoses."
Lash: "For you?"
Me: "No, not for me."
Lash: "For different girl?"
Me: "No...I am the ONLY girl Daddy buys things for!!!"

Things I wish not to forget

Oh, there are so many cute things that the kids are doing now that I don't ever want to forget. Most of them are things that come out of Lash's mouth:

"Guppy" instead of spaghetti.
"You betcha baby" as he turns his head and closes his eyes.
"For sure" when asked to do something.
"Ok, I plomise" is said at such random times, but he sounds so sincere.
"Rearwy?"

He asks the questions "Where is....?", "What this called?" and "What is his/her name?" A LOT and I'm sure he is going to start "Why?" soon (yikes!).

Henley started really army crawling today!! She has been trying to get up on all fours for the last week or so and today I caught her army crawling through our bathroom.

Rather than cooing so sweetly, most of the time she sticks her tongue out and makes a noise like a Terradactyl.

Last night the boys kept roaring at each other at dinner trying to scare the other one and Henley sat in her bouncer and screamed along with them....too bad I didn't have the video camera rolling!

Sorry for the randomness and short glimpse...I'll work on getting more stories and videos posted soon.

The guy in the striped shirt

Today at lunch Lash kept asking for ice, water and apple juice. I told him he had to finish his milk first. He gulped down his milk and exclaimed "Happy Drink"! I took the cup, rinsed it out and then added ice, water and apple juice.

As I was delivering the fresh drink to him, I was kidding around and said, "I've got a drink for the guy wearing the striped shirt." He looked down, lifted his bib and realized he was wearing a striped shirt. I told him, "This drink must be for you."

He took a sip, looked at me and said, "Striped guy says thank you."

It's worth it...right?

 All of this nonsense for the sake of one pretty good picture...

 

P.S. Thanks Aunt Claire for your patience!

Best Friends

No need to send out the National Guard...here I am.

There has been a shortage of blog posts not due to a lack of material, but rather a lack of time!

This week was Spring Break for family living close to us, so Lash spent A LOT of time at Oma and Papa's house (THANKS!!). He had so much fun, however I think near the end of the week Lash was starting to miss Henley Jane.

Friday morning Lash woke up early. I went to get him out of his big bed (yes, he is no longer in the toddler bed and he thinks his "big bed is awesome!") and put him in my bed with Henley. He kept saying "I love you Ahli Jane!" Then he put his head on her tummy, looked at me and said "Best friends." So cute!

Lash Tebowing

Grandma K and Lash were playing football in the living room. Grandma K was the center and was snapping the ball to Lash. Every time Lash would get the ball he would run and run and then say "Touchdown!" I made a comment to Lash that he was a rushing quarterback and not a passing quaterback.

Lash's uncles have introduced him to Tim Tebow, who he says is his favorite football player, so I asked Lash, "What does Tebow do?" (in reference to passing or rushing) and he immediately put his fist to his forehead...Tebowing.

 (Okay, we didn't have the camera for the initial Tebowing moment, so this is a reenactment...still hilarious!)