Crazy Sleepers!

Ella actually needs the guard rail more than Delia. She is ALL over the place when she sleeps-- backwards and sideways in the bed and even dangling from it. Sleeping with Ella is like sleeping with a boa constrictor too, she's a fierce cuddler (like her daddy) and will use all parts of her bed buddy as a pillow.

Delia picks a spot and stays in it for 11-12 hours straight. She falls asleep and stays asleep on her tummy every single night. She curls up and won't budge or really cuddle (like her mommy).

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Good luck future husbands! :)

Love that Michael's Coupon!

When Ella asked Dave, "Daddy do you have tools? Can I put them on my head? I want to be a bride!" we were admittedly stumped. A bit of pondering led us to the light, though: "Oh she means tulle!" She got this vocabulary from a hand-me-down princess craft book from my friend Penny. So we used this week's Michael's coupon on a package of tulle and made bridal veils. Getting some more use out of the flower girl dress too, you can see.

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Ella has her daddy so wrapped around her girlie little finger that when she requested a groom, he even put on his black suit and dug his old prom bow tie out of my memory box!
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As I thought it might, the new office has turned into a bit of a craft room. We spend at least an hour each day hauling out the now-accessable supplies and making stuff. Besides tulle, we also loaded up on $1 projects at Michael's-- make-your-own puzzles, princess finger puppets, tiaras you can jewel and scratch-off-black-paint crafts (like the fish at Delia's party).

I Think It's Officially Safe to Boast

I wasn't going to even try until this winter. I still have a closet full of diapers and a keen awareness of Delia's strong will. But, last week when she said, "I go pee potty" after watching her sister and then effortlessly did so three different times, I thought, "Okay we'll try potty training." One week later and this girl is trained! I will not take any credit for this, though I will proudly brag and remind you that Delia turned two just two weeks ago. This was all her doing. I simply made the potty available and took away diapers as options. She's had multiple successes every day and has even started waking up dry and going at places other than home-- like church. Dave and I are absolutely amazed and tickled that it was this easy-- no long hours waiting on the potty, no pleading, no elaborate bribery nor even any frustrating accidents. We acknowledge that Delia will do anything to, one, imitate her big sister and, two, get a nummie!

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My big girl in undies. To use Delia's own words, "I not bee-bee, I big girl!" So long crib AND diapers! (Not feeling as nostalgic about this goodbye, though!)

Pity the Tennis Racket...

...now that its life as a pretend guitar is over, it's the one who will be banished back to the sporting goods tub, forgotten in the closet for another 10 years. The yard sale we walked by today is to blame.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Yesterday my good friend Teri and her kids Beth, Allie and Nathan were in town. We got to spend the morning with them at Jetta's house. Swimming, chatting, lunching and watching the kids play were the day's scheduled events. It was a great morning packed with a few of the things and friends I love most. We started in the pool, then moved to snack time just outside it. We all got drippy and sticky munching watermelon slices in our swimsuits. The kids rolled around in the sand, jumped on the trampoline, rode bikes and then were herded in for lunch. Jetta's homemade bread with aged cheese slices was the main course, along with some salads and home-canned peaches. I multi tasked-- eating while improving my tan in their porch swing while telling stories and laughing with the adults. Dave and Phil were able to join our crowd for lunch.

Watching Ella in the pool is such a joy. She's gotten so independent and adventurous. She and Delia even jumped off the diving board towards the end of the day! (With life jackets on, holding on to Dave's hand, but still!) Teri's kids are strong swimmers and my girls loved splashing around with them.

I get such a kick out of Delia and the twins. Their "Buddies Since Birth" bond deepens all the time. Now they call each other by name ("Pee-duh and Gore-uh") and interact in their funny toddler way. At Jetta's house, Delia is called "Peter's Girlfriend." Who knows? IF they do get married some day, a name change wouldn't be necessary! :)

Phil just finished building this awesome sandbox next to their pool-- it was like going to the beach. The kids were burying each other and digging up treasures with shovels and making sandcastles and everything.

Ella and Nathan always connect. Here they jump together, they also spent a good amount of time riding bikes around the wrap-around porch. I got to talk to Nathan a bit and he cracked me up!

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Teri and the kids had to take off and head home, but the party lingered a while longer. We hopped in the pool one last time and had some ice cream sandwiches before exhaustion hit the kids and an exit became necessary. All this pleasure in the middle of a weekday-- I LOVE my stay-at-home-mom job!!

Nostalgia

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I promise this will be the last post affected by Delia's move to the bunk bed and my office makeover. Lately I've been remembering. As I wash nursery curtains and bedding to pack away or as I see the crib that kept my sleeping babies safe for 4 years in pieces like this waiting to move to the attic, I can't help feeling a little sad and a little longing for the days of the past. I love where we are in life right now and both Dave and I feel very comfortable and peaceful saying our family is complete, but it's still hard to pack away those memories.

I can hardly bear to think about selling all the things that got us through the past few baby years at a garage sale. Yet, I guess I just need to keep in mind that my memories of Ella and Delia's infancy are not physically attached to these particular beams of wood or to this starry night fabric. My memories are in my heart. As long as I can still see each of my girls joyfully greeting me in a pulled up stand after nap time, I have lost nothing. I feel full and content as long as I can still feel the excitement of opening that bag of bedding from Heather in our empty nursery with my belly growing and my arms eager to set up a cozy room for the baby we didn't know yet. And if the eyes of my mind ever grow fuzzy on these details, I'll always have the pictures to keep the memory alive!
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SO excited about this important element of decor to our starry night baby room.
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Ella


Delia


Sweet times together. So long, crib!

Makeover

I love her to pieces and will do anything for her. The year and a half Delia's makeshift nursery took over our office was just a small inconvenience, but it sure is fun to get this room back! I warned Dave that I'd be feeling ambitious with our office when he returned from the service trip and has he ever been sweet about it. After he disassembled the crib and worked with me to get caught up on almost 2 years worth the bill and document shredding and filing, he took a morning off for a family trip to Ikea in Sacramento. Just a few new things really helped spruce the office up-- curtains, some artwork, a toy storage center, a new desk lamp and these magnetic boards for the kids' artwork. I was going for a "whimsical" feel in our new and improved office. I'm not sure I achieved it, but I do like how colorful and kid friendly it seems. After the past year of mismatched baby and office furniture and the past 10 years of wedding present decor and old college remnants, the change feels fabulous and will definitely enhance my creativity when it comes to blog writing! :) And if you're looking for a birthday present idea for me, I love this clock off our amazon wish list...
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We heart Ikea!

Our overflowing bookshelves and 10 ton desk had to stay, so we just made over the space around them.

I love how these magnetic boards fill what was a wasted space between the closets. As soon as they went up, Ella said, "I better start working on some new artwork!"

A few views of the rest of the office.

Is It Me?

Or does she look like such a big girl? Enjoy Delia's 2 year old pictures.

A Sunday Shower

Tonight when we walked out of the evening church service, we found the sprinklers running on our church's lawn. My kids and Jetta's were dancing through them before the "Now, wait..." could even escape our lips. With effort, we did manage to keep the girls in their dresses. I'm not sure a naked sprinkler party is very church-appropriate. :) As I watched the kids in their Sunday best gleefully get soaked and the crowd of delighted church attendees around them grow, I too couldn't resist laughing at the pure fun of it.

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Of course, our church services may be the one place I don't carry my camera, so here's a soggy, but very happy, Ella at home.

Daddy's Home!

And look what he brought us from New Orleans!

More stories about Dave's mission trip to the south to possibly follow...

Is Your Mama a Llama?

You know she loves Shamu, but did you know Delia's other favorite animal is the llama? Books like Is Your Mama a Llama? and Llama Llama Red Pajama and our frequent trips to the cheese place to feed the llama have fueled this interest. When my church friend, Yvonna, told me about her alpacas and their new batch of babies, I knew I had to take the girls over to visit. What a morning! We got up close to these fluffy-headed, long-lashed gals and learned so much from Yvonna. Not only did Ella and Delia get to feel the super soft mama and baby alpacas, they also collected eggs from the chickens, patted the bristly potbelly pig, watched the horses eat apples, fed the goats leaves and chased the geese around the yard. I asked Yvonna where she kept the giraffe, because our visit today was just as fun as a visit to the zoo!

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Sisters are for Splashing and Sharing

Can you believe an entire week has passed and these are the only 2 pictures I have to show for it?! What could possibly have caused this pause in the every day blogging or break from the paparazzi-like hounding of my girls for good photos, you wonder? The answer: a very busy schedule from VBS and Dave's absence on a mission trip to Mississippi with his Young Adult group. Today I can say we not only survived the week, but were tremendously blessed by it. I was able to once again be the Bible Leader for Vacation Bible School and I had a great time bringing the stories of Moses to life for the rotations of students that came through my room. We gathered around a burning bush, plagued Pharaoh, painted blood on doorposts, ate a Passover meal and crossed the Red Sea. And as exciting as this all sounds, it was nothing compared to seeing Delia sing her heart out and do the motions to the songs surprisingly well during each day's closing Swamp Stomp. She kept exclaiming, "I singing! I dancing! I clapping! I spinning!" Ella was able to join a kindergarten class and also had a fantastic week making crafts, playing games and riding around on her crew leader's back.

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Tonight we celebrated the finale of a tiring, but happy week with a trip to our town's new little frozen yogurt place. Dave returns tomorrow night and we can't wait to see him!

Successfully Transitioned!

I type this blog at 1:22 pm Pacific Time-- a time that for the past year and a half has been a no-computer, no-internet time for me because of naps. While Delia slept in her crib in our study, we made sacrifices. Upon returning from our weeks of vacation, however, I am happy to report that Delia has had one whole successful week in the bunk bed in her sister's room! It took some bribery to get her to stay in that bed (a "nummie" upon waking) and two times now she has not earned that reward, but overall she is doing great! We had just one bad night where she couldn't fall asleep and didn't know how to handle the freedom. I'll take that for the rest of the week's solid naps and nights of sleep, though. I am still getting used to seeing her tiny little self curled up in this giant bed, but I can acknowledge and celebrate that my baby is growing up. Next up: potty training!

Our Delia

I feel I need to spend a moment reflecting on Delia as she turns 2 today. I can't believe I've had this wonderful little blessing in my life for 2 whole years now! Sometimes I just look at her and wonder where in the world she came from. I understand so much about my sweet, girlie Ella and how she thinks and acts. Delia's combination of stinker and lover is more of a mystery to me.

Delia is the reason I have no ripe tomatoes in my garden. When I ask her, "Did you eat Mommy's tomatoes?" she'll reply "no" with her face full of red juice and seeds. This is also the girl who gave me 3 from-behind, for-no-reason hugs in nursery yesterday and told me 2 times "I ove oo Mommy" on the walk home. I kiss her goodnight and she says, "Hugga?" and then wraps her whole little monkey body around me. This is minutes after I ask her to help clean up toys and she runs away, climbs in the top bunk and yells, "No thank you!" And if these descriptions aren't doing a good enough job, here's an image that sums her up pretty well:

This was on Friday morning, while I was outside getting things for her party ready. Did she gratefully watch me out the window? Did she quietly sit with Ella and watch the movie I put on? No! She found the markers and added "Give Delia a Bath" to my already long list of things to do before guests arrived.

I love her so much and, when not releasing sighs of exasperation, thank God for the ways she surprises me every single day.

More Party Pics

(Warning: This has sound.)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Splashing in Delia's 2nd Birthday

I may have been a little out of my mind to plan a birthday party for Delia just 2 days after returning from our big vacation, however everything came together perfectly and the party was a huge success. It was obvious the theme had to be water and Shamu. This was really fun to put together. We did black and white tables and place settings, a Shamu cake and whole front yard full of splish-slashin' fun. We had a big borrowed pool with a slide, two wacky sprinklers, a slip 'n slide, a bubble station and even a kiddie pool filled with bubble bath. A little fish craft for the kids was prepared. And we served a taco and nacho bar lunch with fresh fruit to the 25 friends who came. As I watched Delia run up and play with each of her buddies and exclaim, "Mommy! Minnie poo!" (swimming pool) over and over I knew the work was worth it to make our 2 year old baby feel so special!
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Going down the slide-- this bigger, borrowed pool was the hit of the party!

The bubble bath pool was a blast too. We liked loading our hands up with suds and trying to catch bubbles being blown from the nearby bubble station.

Peter and Cora try some big bubbles.

Delia and Anika slip down the slide.

Waiting in the slip 'n slide line.

This craft was really cool. The kids used wooden sticks to scratch designs in a top layer of black paint on these fish, revealing a rainbow of colors underneath.

The Shamu cake-- don't be too impressed, it was really easy to make and I'm giving you the slightly blurry shot to mask the flaws!

Black icing, nice.

Diving into those presents. Delia received books, an outfit, a Mr. Potato Head set and a bunch of outside toys like a sprinkling can and sidewalk paint.

A Good-Looking Bunch, I Must Say

For Mom and Dad's Christmas present, we and Dave's siblings hired a professional photographer to take our family's portraits at our vacation beach this summer. We're pretty pleased with how they turned out!

Pop Quiz

This is what happens when you:

a.) Give your zucchini steroids

b.) Talk dirty to your zucchini

c.) Go on vacation for 2 weeks and leave your garden untended

VM Vacation 2009

Two weeks ago we embarked on a journey east that we've been looking forward to all year-- The VM Family Vacation. For 7 days we rented a huge cottage on Lake Michigan in South Haven, Michigan. And though currently exhausted, I must say all high expectations of what this time together would be were met and exceeded. Our family of 15 is so remarkable in so many ways. For one thing we are all best friends. For another, each person brings such unique gifts and character traits to the bunch. There is no group of people that I laugh harder with, nor any group of people I feel more comfortable being vulnerable with. I think of the tears I shed during this week-- some from laughing so hard over things so filthy the FCC would shut my blog down if I repeated them, some from our deep book discussion of The Shack and some from our family time of worship and devotion we kicked the week off with. Here are just a few of the highs...

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We were so excited to meet and spend time with Baby Cole. This kid is the new star of the family. What a charmer! He never stopped smiling the whole week!

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The cousins had a complete blast together. Though ranging in age from 7 to 1, they all got along perfectly and became such good buddies that yesterday's goodbyes were pretty heartbreaking.

Much of the fun happened right in our cottage, playing games, sharing fabulous meals and joking around or romping around on our beach. We made several outings as well, though. One highlight was our Ladies Lunch. Heather was able to join Mom, Karen, Kris, Ella and I for a meal in a nice restaurant followed by some browsing in the adorable little shops of downtown South Haven. Ooh la la, check out these fancy mochas!

We hit the beach every day. The kids jumped waves and flew kites and built sandcastles. Rocks were skipped, walks were taken, kiddos were burried, beach treasures were collected, a football was thrown. It was the very picture of summer vacation. The scent of sunscreen and bug spray and a good amount of sand still lingers in our suitcases.

One day we skipped over to the nearby town of Saugatuk to walk around the marina and do a little window shopping.

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Hope you've enjoyed my two week blog silence and are hungry to know what we've been up to because today and tomorrow I will dump all my favorite pictures and memories into a long series of posts. Put the kids down for a nap, get a snack and enjoy! :)