Adventures in La La Land

Today you are getting the advance version of the Saturday 7 because I am off for girls' weekend as of 4:30 this afternoon!! Two  nights away at a hotel with good friends! Of course I'm already feeling anxious about leaving my girls, but I'm also really excited to get away. Haha. Paradox.  1. We had such a nice Easter with family. My girls looked adorable in their dresses, although they weren't thrilled with posing for a picture. 2. One of the best things I put in Lucy's Easter basket was a pack of raffle tickets I found for a dollar at Dollar Tree. She loves those things. We've been playing train and carnival a lot this week. :-) I also got her a book of mazes that she zipped through in 2 days! 3. Thanks to splurging on Easter goodies, I gained a pound this week. It made me really mad and I've been slacking as a result. How's that for counter-intuitive? 4. I'm sure you've seen on facebook that I reread Redeeming Love this week. If you ...

My little Lena Bean is 15 months old and it's time for an update.  Mostly I want to record all of the words she knows. I'm pretty sure Lucy was saying about 3 words when she was 15 months old. Here's Lena's list: 1. Hi 2. Bye 3. No (her favorite and most frequented) 4. Uh-oh 5. Wow 6. Whoa 7. Up please (uppee! - complete with little jumps until I comply) 8.Thank you/there you go - they sound the same and I'm never sure which one she's actually saying. Haha. 9. Mama 10. Lola (usually yelled in a scolding tone. Lola!) 11. All done/all gone - again, they sound the same 12. Fish (goldfish) 13. Dada 14. Amen 15. Eye 16. Ow/down 17. Hot 18. Brrr (cold) 19. Please 20. Baby She does sheep, cat, and car noises. She loves to growl but doesn't associate it with a certain animal yet. Haha.  She pats her belly to indicate "me too" or "take me with you." If I ever tell her we're going outside or...

1. A huge storm blew through here last Saturday. I've already written about it in this post , but wanted to record it here as well. As a result, we lost power for 3 days. We packed up and moved in with Justin's parents in the interim. We're so grateful to have family willing and able to take us in at the drop of a hat. 2. One night while were at Justin's parents', I heard Lena crying in the middle of the night. I stumbled down the hall to get her and heard Lucy singing softly from her place on the floor next to Lena's crib, "Jesus loves me this I know . . ." So precious! 3. Lucy's actually been full of it this week. One day we were in the car and she randomly asked, "Mommy, how did Lena get out of your belly?" I told her that the doctor helped me get her out, but she said, "No, like how?" I tried again to tell her that the doctor just knows what to do, but Lucy wouldn't buy that. Haha. She asked "Did the doctor cut ...

We've been on a roll with our Easter activities. This morning, we did the Easter egg scavenger hunt. I thought I'd share the clues/questions I made up in case anyone was looking for inspiration. I put two M&Ms in each egg: one for Lucy, one for Lena (who thought this was the best game ever!). Why did Jesus die for us? To take away our sin and make our hearts clean. Clue: Jesus made our hearts clean. Where do we go when we need to get our bodies clean? [shower] How did he die? On the cross Clue: The cross was made from wood. Where do we keep our wood for the fire? [fireplace/wood pile] What did they put in his hands? Nails Clue: The soldiers pounded the nails in with hammers. Where do we keep our hammer and nails? [toolbo x] Where did they put Jesus after he died? In the tomb. Clue: Where do we put wet clothes to make them dry? [dryer – discuss how it looks like a tomb] How long was...

I've been reading through the Old Testament and have noticed that anytime something notable happens, the people build an altar and are instructed to tell their children what the altar stands for in the years to come. I've heard it said that we need to have "altars" as well - visible reminders of how God has worked in our lives so we don't forget. Well, I'm going to use this blog for that purpose today. On Friday, I wrote a blog post about Lucy's fear of the wind. On Saturday, I had plans to go to a chocolate party in Grand Rapids. Earlier in the week, Justin and I had talked about all of us going down there and stopping at the mall before the party. Lena ended up taking a late nap, so we didn't have time to go to the mall, but it was raining and windy and Lucy had already watched 17 hours of TV. So we just kind of spontaneously decided to go together anyway. I'd take Lena with me to the party and Justin would take Lucy out for dinner. 15 minut...

1. Tuesday marked one week of dieting/exercising, so I weighed myself: down 2 pounds! I weighed myself again yesterday and was down another 2! One of the benefits of eating pure junk all the time is that my body is so shocked by healthy changes and sheds pounds immediately! Haha. I haven't been doing anything too hardcore. Normal breakfast of coffee and an English muffin with peanut butter, healthy lunch, small portion of regular dinner. Less snacking and less Dr Pepper. I generally try to stay under 1500 calories, but don't stress too much about it.  2. The exercise has been killing me. My knees seem to think I weigh 400 lbs and am 82 years old. I had to do 200 jumping jacks the other day (for the beach body challenge) and I thought I might die. I just kept thinking, "If the people on the Biggest Loser can do this, I can do this." My other problem is that I have zero core strength. My pregnancies totally destroyed my core. I'm supposed to be doing planks fo...

Lucy has a bizarre phobia of the wind. Actually, it's not that bizarre considering that I'm her mother.  When I was younger, I had a horrible phobia of tornadoes. Then cougars. Then bears. I'm still waiting to grow out of that last one. The first two phased out when I realized neither are that prevalent in Michigan. I know in the grand scheme of things bears aren't either, but I can't shake that one for some reason.  The point is that considering my history of fear, I feel like I should be better equipped to help Lucy handle hers. But I'm totally at a loss.  The weather has been beautiful here the past few days. Sunny and warm . . . and windy. Lucy will not go outside when the wind is whipping. We had to go to Niki's yesterday and she stood by the door trembling and making me promise that I wouldn't let anything blow away while we ran from the house to the van. I've tried reasoning with her and explaining to her that if something were to bl...

A week ago I came across this post from the Happy Home Fairy about doing 20 activities in countdown to Easter. I had grand intentions of doing all of them, but got distracted and haven't done one yet. So today I sat down and created a plan for our Easter lessons. I figured I'd share them ahead of time instead of after the fact like I usually do in case anyone else is looking for inspiration. These are almost all ideas from Pinterest, so I'll do my best to include links as possible.  Over the next few days we're going to focus on reviewing the story. We'll read it in our Bible Storybooks, watch our Veggie Tales Easter video, and watch this clip I found online. We also have this book : Also in the next day or two, we're going to work on making this: I can't find the source for this. The image on Pinterest doesn't direct to anywhere. But there are instructions written below the pin:  Use potting soil, a tiny buried flower pot for the tomb, sha...

1. I made another verse poster and had it printed at Wal-Greens for free thanks to a code my friend Cara shared with me! Now I just need to find a frame and place to hang it: Love it! 2. Articles I read this week: A hilarious take on bedtime.  - I identified with so much of this. I was just thinking earlier this week that I need to manage my e xpectations with bedtime. I expect to get Lucy upstairs by 8:15, in bed by 8:30, and have the rest of the evening to myself. When that invariably doesn't happen, I get so frustrated and annoyed. I need to learn not to expect time to myself until after 9. If You're Feeling Overlooked and Underappreciated   - This is from the daily devotionals Proverbs 31 Ministries sends me. I don't struggle that much with feeling overlooked and underappreciated, but I do  struggle with the menial, monotonous daily tasks of life. I tell myself all the time, what this article reiterates: this is my job right now. This is what God has calle...

I did this last year around this time and thought it'd be fun to do again and see how things change. The biggest change is that I'm not nursing a baby every two hours like I was last year! Haha. My disclaimers: this is not intended to be an illustration about how busy and chaotic my life is. My days are actually very low-key compared to most people I know. I tried to be as honest as possible about how often I check facebook or nap on the couch. Haha. I'd say this is a pretty good representation of a typical day around here. Other than dinner. I never spend that much time on dinner. And with good reason. So not worth it. And my usual disclaimer: It's seriously wicked long. Feel free to skim. :-) Thursday, April 3, 2014 6:44 Lena wakes up. I pull her into bed with me, hoping she’ll go back to sleep. No such luck. 6:49 Put on a sweatshirt and sweatpants. Go downstairs. 6:51 Change Lena ’s diaper. 6:53 Make her a bottle of milk. Lay down on the couch with her...