Adventures in La La Land

1. I don't have much to share this week. I spent most of the week out by the pool working on my tan. Or inside cutting stuff for VBS crafts. Good news. My tan is looking fabulous and I am all ready for VBS! 2. Lucy went on her second ever sleepover Monday night. My sister has a girls' sleepover every year with the girls from her daycare (+Lucy). She's done doing daycare, but still did the sleepover. Lucy loves  being one of the big girls and couldn't care less about leaving me. She had a blast doing make-up and hair and photo shoots. 3. I took the advice of some of my friends and got the two-seater cart at Meijer this week. And I stole borrowed some quarters from my brother's change jar to get the girls each a banana to keep them occupied. Lucy only ate a couple bites of hers, so Lena got to have two. It kept them happy through most of the store. Success! 4. I saw this on Pinterest this week and loved it: I've always loved the story of Joseph. So ...

Oh my Lena. I've been putting off writing this post, because I just don't feel like I can do her justice. She has so much personality and so many funny quirks. I never want to forget them, so I shall immortalize them on the trusty internet. I think I'm just going to do bullet points instead of trying to make it all flow seamlessly in one long entry. A few boring stats to begin with: She has 6 teeth: 4 on top, 2 on bottom.  She's transitioning from 2 naps to 1. Generally she wakes up between 6 and 7. Naps at noon for 2-3 hours. To bed for the night at 8.  She pretty much only eats cheese, fruit, and sweets.  She has a bottle of lukewarm milk every morning, but refuses to drink milk any other time of the day. She's still a tiny midget. I don't know her official stats (doctor appointment at the end of August), but she barely fits in 12 month clothes. One day this week, I put a 12 month skirt on her and it fell right off. I went back upstairs and got her a ...

I was reading through some old blog entries recently, and came across Lucy's 18 month update . In it, I wrote that she knew 14 words. I know that Lena is more verbal than Lucy was at that age, but when I actually started to write down all the words Lena uses, I was shocked by the number! She's 18 months old today, and I probably won't be on top of things enough to actually write her 18 month update, but I'm going to transcribe all the words I've been writing down for the past couple of weeks. Just for fun. :-) She'll repeat anything after you. These are the ones that I've heard her use in context without prompting. And I'm sure I'm forgetting some. So crazy! It's funny how she tends to be more like Justin while Lucy is more like me. But Lena has definitely been more verbal from a younger age - which she does not  get from Justin. Haha. Love it. Anyway, here they are: Mommy Daddy Luke Grandpa Grandma Niki Lucy out up please phon...

1. This week pretty much consisted of three things: preparing for VBS, Town and Country Days in Sparta, and Jordan and Karla's wedding. So bear with me if I don't make it to 7 this week. :-) 2. I have such great memories of going to Sparta's Town and Country Days as a kid, and I love revisiting it now with my own kids. Yesterday, we did some of the "kids' day" festivities: the petting zoo, water tables, fire trucks and tractors, and the carnival. We drove by the carnival earlier this week and Lucy was enthralled. Friday was dollar day, so I promised Lucy we could go on a few rides. She insisted that she wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel, but that is way too scary for me, so I told her she'd have to ride with my nephew Tayton. Haha. She was totally planning on it until we started driving to the carnival, when her tune suddenly changed to "Maybe I'll go on the ferris wheel when I'm 5 or 6." Haha. She found a few rides that she loved, thoug...

1. I did better with my book-reading this week, keeping it mostly to after the chores were done and the girls were in bed. I read four books:   Betraya l  by Robin Lee Hatcher.   It was pretty dumb, but cute enough. Then I read A Proper Pursuit  by Lynn Austin. She's one of my all time favorite authors, and this book didn't disappoint. I loved it. Then The Inheritance  by Tamera Alexander. Another pretty cheesy one that I enjoyed well enough but wouldn't call earth-shattering. And finally A Sensible Arrangement   by Tracie Peterson - it was pretty good. I know I need to branch out of my "inspirational fiction" genre if I want books that aren't so predictable, but I just can't find good romance books that aren't full of se x unless I stick with Christian fiction. 2.  I had a rough day at the grocery store with my girls on Monday, as many of you have already seen on facebook. Lena refuses to sit in the cart. Even when I buckle her, she still man...

1. We had a rough start to our week. Lena got a terrible summer cold and was absolutely miserable. She was up numerous times in the night, hacking her guts out, had a fever for 3 straight days, and would not  let me put her down. I carried her all day, every day for at least 3 days. I eventually was so desperate to save my back and get some stuff done, that I attempted putting her in the hip carry in my hot sling. She freaked  out and screamed like crazy, climbing up me and clawing at me like she was dying. It was a brutal few days. On Wednesday, she suddenly turned the corner and has been so much happier ever since. Whew! 2. Last Saturday, we had plans to go to the beach at Grand Haven, but Friday night is when Lena started to feel sick and I was really worried about driving the hour to Grand Haven only to have her melt down. We had already told Lucy we would go to the beach, though, so she was heartbroken at the idea of ditching the plan altogether. So we made the brill...