Happy 1st Birthday!

This year has flown by. When you have your first child, it goes fast in retrospect, but boy does the second child's first year seem to fly by even faster!

We have been so blessed to be parents to our sweet baby girl. I remember the first few months after she was born thinking she seemed very easy and laid back. Boy, was I going to be in for a surprise! This little girl is spunky and full of life. She is into EVERYTHING and has a sneaky little grin she flashes at you when she's getting into something she knows is off-limits.

1 month old.

2 months old.

3 months old.

4 months old.

5 months old.

6 months old.

7 months old.

8 months old.

9 months old.

10 months old.

11 months old.

1 year old! Happy Birthday to our precious baby girl. We pray that the Lord continues to use your vivacious spirit to serve Him in amazing ways! May God give us guidance to help you use the spiritual gifts and talents He's given you. We cannot wait to see what the future holds for you. Love, Mommy and Daddy.

Crazy, growing kids

The kids are growing so fast it's hard to keep up with them sometimes...let alone keep my blog up-to-date! I think I need a secretary.

::Miss M is quickly approaching the Big One!

::She is a funny girl. She loves to laugh and has learned to clap and wave hi.

::Her current vocabulary includes Mama (yes, she said this one first!), Dada, bye-bye, ta da! and peek-a-boo.

::She can go from happy to sad in a matter of minutes, and vice versa.

::She has more hair than her brother. Thank goodness.

::N's wooden blocks, legos, trains and cars are some of his top toys of choice right now. When it's Fall and still 100 degrees outside, what else is there to do?

::He is Mr. Bossy for the moment. He is great at letting you know the rules and if you're not abiding by them, but following the rules himself is another story.

::He teaches his little sister all of the crazy faces she makes. And to pound on the table during breakfast so all of her Cheerios fly up in the air.

::Just yesterday we were eating lunch when Mr. N took his sandwich, broke it in half and said, "I break it. Eat and remember me." Guess he remembers reading about the last supper. He continuously cracks me up.

::We headed out to Superstition Farms again this year with some dear friends. You can never see too many cows. And why did I put him in a white shirt when we were going to a farm???

::I'm such a worry-wart of a parent. Every time he goes to feed the animals I get nervous about them biting his fingers. I think it's because I remember a story I was told about my grandpa feeding a horse with a carrot and nearly got his finger bit off. Or did I make that story up mom?

::On the hay ride we were able to take a tour around the farm and see a newborn calf that was just an hour old. Glad it didn't happen on the tour as I'm sure N might have been scarred for life.

::Yes, he is allergic to dairy. But what is a girl to do when they give fresh ice cream at the farm? I figured a couple of little bites wouldn't hurt...

Another one

Two posts in one day....don't get used to it. But I wanted to get caught up to "real time."

We headed to the Children's Museum of Phoenix this weekend. It was a blast and N is the perfect age to go.

When we first walked in we were hit with a huge climbing cage. Guess who was the lucky one to get to go in??? Little man had so much fun climbing up.

I admit it wasn't that bad, until I realized there was no exit at the top, and you had to climb all of the way down.

Here are my cutie-pies at the museum. She is so content as long as you take her wherever you are.

Doing our shopping at the grocery store. Next time I'm going to send him with my list.

The noodles were great to run through. But some advice, if you're an adult man chasing your older kids through the noodles, please keep in mind there are other young children passing through who will not appreciate the scary noises you're making.

Grab a bike and take it through the wash.

What a great day at the museum. I highly recommend visiting if you're in the area. Three stories of fun!

I discovered this fun Cheerio's Play Book for N. Who doesn't want the excuse to play with your food?

He is seriously in love with letters these days. I am really enjoying his enthusiasm for learning without much prompting on my part.

While I first attempted to get him to put the letters in alphabetical order, N did not agree with this plan. I've learned with his personality that if I know he already knows the letters, it's best to give him the creative space to do what he wants. Afterall, I don't believe in actually doing "school" at this age. It's more about letting him just have fun and learn along the way. So, this is what he came up with.

Sticker books are one of our new favorite things to do. A favorite for N because what little kid doesn't love stickers? And a favorite for me, because what parent doesn't like some quiet for a little while?

I seriously love her. How can you not? This is M at my feet all day long. And she'll bounce there until you pick her up.

I really don't care much about food. I'm not saying I won't eat it, but I don't get super excited if you tell me we're having a steak (ahem, like my husband). BUT, I do want to make eating a fun experience for my children. Enter Muffin Tin Mondays. I came across the idea a little bit ago so here goes my first Monday of it.

Left to Right: Gold Fish, Peaches, Soy Milk (poor kid. We think he is allergic to milk)
Train ham/rice cheese sandwich, Alphabet tomato soup, Another train sandwich
*We're using a large baby food jar as N's cup. It has been the best way for him to learn how to drink out of a real cup with minimal spillage. So glad I read this idea somewhere. You could probably use a small jam jar as well.

I think we'll probably make Monday our library day as well. It worked well to pick up our reserved books and come back for our Muffin Tin lunch.

Currently on the shelf is:
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Jesse Bear, What Will Your Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom
Peek-A-Boo by Ahlberg
Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola
Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik

Fall freshness

Fall is in the air...which is giving me tons of renewed energy. Sometimes you just need that in life right? With each new season I feel like God is giving us a fresh start. A chance to assess the past season and what needs changed to begin the new. Thank goodness for new seasons.

Miss M has hit 10.5 months. She has 6 teeth and loves to show them off. She greets us with a smile every morning.

We've been making sure to get our reading in every day. Sometimes by ourselves. Sometimes with mommy or daddy.

And sometimes we decide to skip the reading all together and use the book as a ramp.

Projects are always in the works.

And sometimes we like to be sneaky and eat parts of the project while mommy isn't looking.

We've made sure to get out and do lots of adventures as a family. We hit SeaLife about two weekends ago. Highly recommend it if you have an hour to spare. Just make sure you know how to turn the flash off of your camera!

N even got to touch a starfish. I was armed with antibacterial wipes for afterward.

After we were done, we decided to let N choose something he wanted from the gift shop. Out of everything in the store, he instantly ran to the $1 bin of little animals. Nice.

Randomness

I decided to keep this post open on my computer the entire day to see what random things might come about as I passed by it. Warning: I'm not sure what will be in store, and I can't be held responsible for it.

::We ran out of paper towels and I haven't been able to make it to the store to get more. This was a good thing. I now realize how OFTEN I reach for a paper towel when I could use a dish towel or rag instead. Saves the earth. Saves us money.

::Our baby girl has been working on getting four of her upper teeth in. She doesn't take teething quite as well as her big brother did, poor thing.

:: N's favorite Bible story right now is when Jesus appears to the disciples in their boat during a storm. He loves how Jesus helped Peter back into the boat after Peter doubts it is really Jesus. (Matthew 14, Mark 6, John 6). Geez, this really strikes home to me this week thinking back about how often I doubt who God really says He is, but if I would just trust in Him I, too, could "walk on water."

::I {heart} Google Reader. I absolutely love reading friends blogs, creative blogs, decorating blogs, food blogs...the list is endless. But my time isn't! Google Reader is such a great tool to read all of your blogs at once and a quick way to see if any of your favorites have updated posts that day.

::While the kids don't get to watch much television around these parts, we do let them watch a few videos we have. Our favorites are Hermie & Friends and Boz. HIGHLY recommend them. We enjoy how calming they are and how much the kids learn while watching them. Boz is actually made by the same creator as Barney...but don't worry, I don't think he's as annoying. My heart sings when we can find something enjoyable for the kids to read or watch that builds their character and encourages their faith. These two shows are some of the few I've actually seen where the characters pray in.

::At lunch I saw N looking up toward the ceiling. Suddenly I heard him say quietly, "Hi God. It's Noah."

::Have I mentioned how easy cloth diapering is? I can't believe it. Trust me, if it was hard I would not be doing it. I'm washing a load now, will set it out in the sun to dry and bleach...and just like that I have clean diapers for my baby girl. They go on just like disposables do. My only concern, which is a selfish one I admit, is that when winter comes and she has to wear pants, I'm not sure the little bit of extra padding is going to fit into the cute 12 month pants she has since she's already a chubby one. Hmmm....

::Just lit my favorite Fall scented candle. It's only August but I'm getting in the mood!

::Listing things on Craigslist. Hope they sell!

::"Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

::What are your favorite snacks for your kiddos? Or for yourself? I'm such a bad cracker snacker because they're easy to grab and munch on. It does nothing for my figure.

::Just received the CD we ordered from the Homeschool Convention we attended. Can't wait to start listening to all of the speakers we didn't get to hear in person.

::Ahhh...silence. The little ones are sleeping while mommy gets to get some work done.

::Just made my little man a rare treat that my mom used to make for me: graham cracker sandwich with yummy icing in-between.

::Have I mentioned that I like stale graham crackers and oreos. They are so soft when they're stale. Anyone else with me on this?

::Hubby called to say he will be on his way home soon from work. This is the time that I try to remember what it was we were going to have for dinner and get it started.

Last soccer practice & a birthday

We celebrated the Big Birthday Boy's 31st birthday last night. He's been talking about wanting to go camping for awhile now, and since it's 504 degrees outside that just wasn't going to happen. The next best thing...pretend to go camping inside!

So we started off with tin foil dinners for my meat-eating husband. Mmm... (don't worry, that white stuff is steam, not mush).

And finished with yummy smores broiled in the oven.

Last weekend was little man's last soccer tots class. He LOVED every minute of that class, and I loved that he got to run around for an hour and get tons of energy out.

Here is Mr. Social. I never would have guessed that would be his nickname as he was so shy early on. He had to introduce himself to everyone he stood next to and try to carry on a conversation with them. Most of the time they had no idea what he was doing.

Loves kicking the cones. I bet even the finest soccer players do this move.

One proud boy.

Stacking up the cones...

And knocking down the cones...

More soccer drills.

These hula hoops were hilarious. I had never seen that you could roll them and they would come back to you.

This photo cracks me up.

Practicing our balance.

Jumping the ladder.

Go team!

After every class the kids would get a stamp on their hand. N was always so proud of it.

Yep, I'm planning on getting some athletic scholarship out of this one.