A few vintage quotes...

Here are a couple quotes I have forgotten to post here:

From October 2011:
There was a blow up goblin on our street on Halloween. Elise saw him, heard him making noises, and said "he singing!" I asked her what he was singing, and she said, "Christisrisenfromthedead!" (she actually pronounced it: Tyes isrisenfromthedead.)

From Fall 2011:
Elise loves to sing "Hush Little Baby", but when she sings it, it goes like this:
"Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird... if that mockingbird won't sing, Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird. If that mockingbird won't sing, Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird..." And thus, the song that never ends.

From November 2011:
Isaac says "spin out" when he means to spend time with someone. For example, when I told him he was going to go to Gramps and Nana's house, he said, "So I can spin out with them?!?" 11/4/11

Elise's pronunciations: (from January 2012)
Elevator = Lale-bater
Quesadillas = pizza-deeyas

Words and updates

Things we've heard over the past month...

Isaac said, "I ran twenty minutes without stopping. It was a long time!"
(I guess he's heard me talk about training for my 5K!)

Out of the blue one day, Elise said, "I'm tough!" We asked where she'd heard that, and she said Ms Maggie at preschool. We agree with Maggie, little lady!

One day at lunch, I told Elise that her food needed to go into her belly (trying to get her to eat) A few minutes later, she said "Mommy, I put the food in my belly!" Then she proceeds to look down into her footed PJ's. She had literally put the casserole into her "belly". When we cleaned up, the food had even made it inside the feet of her PJ's!

Elise says "lale bar" when she's referring to a granola bar.

Isaac can do basic addition and subtraction now! Today I asked him how many stoplights he saw, and he said, "Two." Then I asked him if we added one more, how many would there be. He said, "Three" with a huge grin on his face. After that, I asked him how many there would be if we added two to the two that were already there. He answered, "Four and can we do some more Mommy?" He is doing well at adding and subtracting the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. Addition is easier for him, but he can definitely also understand "take-away". Today in preschool he did a worksheet that showed one, two, or three characters on the paper, and he had to circle "1", "2", or "3". He got them all right! We are so proud of our little learner!

At the grocery store, I have been letting the kids each have a produce bag to put a couple things in. This week, I was planning to make guacamole, so I let Isaac put avocados in his bag (which he calls "apple-cot-o's), and Elise put a lime in hers. That lime fell out at least four times between the produce department and the checkout line. Whenever it happened, she said, "Oh no, I dropped my apple-potamus!" Then Isaac would say, "That is so cute! I like how she said "apple-potomus!"

It is never, ever ever ever boring around here.

Naptime together!

Both kids start out their naps in their own beds. But usually the last few minutes, when they are waking but still groggy, happen in Mommy and Daddy's bed. Here's a rare sighting of both of them sleeping soundly beside each other...

Isaac the cowboy!

Our friend Gabby brought her toy horse and cowboy hat over during our playdate recently. Isaac gave it a try and ended up loving riding all around! He even wore the hat!



We love that handsome little cowboy!

She normally never wears hairbows...

...but somehow my friend Jennifer was able to get this one on her!




Um, PRECIOUS if you ask me!

Doing the dishes...

Lately, Isaac has asked us if he could help wash the dishes. He stands on our stool and uses lots of soap and gets the dishes super clean. It's so fun to watch him. He is very serious about helping out and getting the dishes cleaned.



Thanks for all your help, buddy! You are a GREAT helper!

Sibling LOVE!

Fun with paint!

This book, Mouse Paint, is one of our favorites! Steven and I've been reading it at the kids' bedtime since Isaac was a baby. It's a book about colors - specifically combining primary colors to create secondary colors. We read it again last week and decided to do our own painting experiment. We bought some red, yellow, and blue paint, and then we mixed it to create purple, orange, and green. Isaac loved creating a work of art by painting the paper with his new colors. Elise, on the other hand, preferred to paint herself. That's okay, though! I'm always up for a handprint project! Here's Elise's paper before we moved on to handprints:


Here is Isaac's paper:


Fun learning about colors!

Cookies for the Firemen!

Last week, Isaac and I made cookies to take to our local Fire Department. We tried a new recipe for molasses cinnamon cookies, and they turned out great. The kids and I had fun taking them to the firehouse and delivering them. There were even some Medic EMT's there, and we were able to thank everyone for all they do. (Including coming to our aid two times when Isaac had his allergic reactions!)

My upcoming race!

This coming Saturday, I plan to run my first 5K race. Kati has agreed to be my running mate, so we'll be doing the race together. She's a runner already and has been encouraging me to run for a couple years now.

This is big news for me, considering that I've never been

1) athletic
2) competitive
3) a runner

And never ever did I think in a million years I'd ever be a runner. Or athletic. Or competitive.

Mind you, this race is not about competition with other people. Maybe, though, it's a competition with my old mindsets about how un-athletic, or out-of-shape I am.

Over the past three months, I've gone from barely being able to run for 60 seconds without stopping to now being able to run 40 minutes without stopping. Last week (Monday, February 27th, to be exact) I ran 3.1 miles for the first time ever. I made it to the 5K mark! I couldn't believe it, but it was true!

I am SO thankful for the truth that I can do ALL things through Christ and that His power is made perfect in my weakness. I've seen that displayed in my training and amplified in my life throughout this process.

I love that I have a new way to exercise... that I can do something I never thought I could do... that I am going to be able to participate in a race this weekend... that I feel healthier overall... but the biggest and way coolest benefit is that I can run around with my kids without getting winded or tired out before they do! A couple weeks ago, we took the kids to Jetton Park in Huntersville, and I raced Isaac on one of the trails. He actually got tired out before me! He loved that I ran with him and he wanted to keep racing, so we did!

Elise is my little jumping bean, and now it blesses my heart that I can get out there and jump around with her.

Oh, And I can do jumping jacks with Steven when he's working out. Yeah, that's a hot wife right there. ;)

Yes, those benefits are worth it all. I'm healthier for my kids and my man. And I love it.

Thanks so much to Kati for always encouraging me to run, loving and encouraging me still when I didn't want to run, and then being super-uplifting when I finally started my training. She's given me so many kind words and wisdom along the way, and I'm so thankful for her!

Also, a BIG thanks to my cousin Lee who inspired me to use the Couch to 5K training program. Lee, I watched your progress on your blog last year and I was so motivated to give it a try. And it worked!

I'm pumped for Saturday! Kati and I plan to rock that race!

Little helper!

Elise took her first turn at vacuuming a couple weeks ago! Just like her brother, she loved it!

I thought you were just a birdseed thief.

Really, squirrel, really?

Elise and the backwards PJ's

I am realizing that I never posted about why we put Elise's pajamas on backwards... My friend Erin has pointed out how funny she looks, and I've made a mental note to blog about it, but I keep forgetting. But, alas, I remember now and am taking a few moments to document such a special time in Elise's life.

Back in the late summer (or early fall, I can't quite remember), both kids were napping and I was talking to Steven on the phone. I walked upstairs and smelled a poopy smell. I thought maybe Oreo (our cat) had had an accident. I looked all around the upstairs and kept telling Steven that Oreo's days were numbered if I found that he'd gone outside the litter box. We continued our conversation and I kept sniffing. A few minutes later, I got a big whiff of the stinkiness when I walked by Elise's room. I knelt down and sniffed under her door. "Oh no" I said to Steven. Then, with all the courage I could muster, I opened her door.

What I encountered was my precious princess with all her clothes off, including her poopy diaper, and her crib was decorated in what looked like dark brown paint. It was all over her sheets, crib rails, and had even dropped onto the baby crib that sits on the floor below. Elise was awake with her hands covered in poop, and dare I say it, even her face was marked. I immediately hung the phone up and started to work. I put Elise in the bath, and then I cleaned the crib, sheets, baby crib, etc...

I think we had takeout that night.

After that, we tried using duct tape to keep her diapers on (per the suggestion of our friends Leslie and Steven). It worked for a short while, but then she figured out how to remove it, even when we'd double- and triple-taped it. My neighbor Amy said that one of her four children had done the same, and she outsmarted her by turning her zip-up nightclothes backwards. We've been doing that ever since, and it seems to do the trick. That's why in all the pictures of Elise in her PJ's, you'll see that they are on backwards. I'm actually not sure if I could put them on the right way anymore.

The few times we (ahem, Steven) have put her in regular PJ's (non-zippable), by morning she has removed them and taken her diaper off. Thankfully no smeared poopy diapers again, but several times she's wet her sheets.

Today she actually told me to "put them on forwards!" Not on your life beautiful.