A Bit of Independence

This was a monumental trip to the zoo. Josiah got to walk. Notice that Grandma came along....and also Aunt Laura and Aunt Linda. There was plenty of supervision to go around. haha. It was a lot of fun to watch Josiah discover the animals.

Holding Grandma's hand--most of the time.

Still doing lots of pointing. Josiah is making some animal sounds now. Aliza was gracious enough to teach him a peacock sound. Have you ever heard a peacock? It is pretty much a scream. I frequently have 2 peacocks in the back seat of the car.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a flamingo. Aliza came up with that on her own and it cracked me up. I should have gotten the flamingos in the background (standing on one leg).

Diaper Bag Fun

I'm so excited because this blog posted is perfectly timed! I bought bags for my sisters from a gal I went to Jr. High with and then asked her to make a diaper bag for me. (I know she would want me to be quick to add this she made this bag from a pattern. It is not her own design.) It matters not to me! I love it and it is great to have a diaper bag that is fun to carry.

Oh! The perfect timing part. Columbia Lily Designs has a restocked etsy site--as of today! Follow the link on the right to her blog and there is a direct link to her shop. PLUS she has some giveaways right now.

Here it is. It has plenty of room for sippy cups, diapers, bookkeeping stuff in the front pocket, camera, water bottle, and anything else I can think of to weigh myself down. lol.

And best of all it is approved of by Aliza!!!

9:22pm

Aliza was tucked in bed by about 8:15 and at 9:22 I took this picture. The books on the floor are ones that she has already read and the books on the bed are the ones that she will read before she goes to sleep. Before she started reading she meticulously piled all of the books on her bed. Every minute or so I hear a book being thrown on the floor. She has also asked for band-aids (which she got), juice (which she didn't get) and to be rocked (she got since I took a picture and disrupted her routine!)

My Grandad

After going to the ER at 11pm last night, my 82 year old Grandad had his gallbladder removed this morning. The surgery went fine and he is recovering. However, when the surgeon went in he found the gallbladder to be extremely infected with gangrene. This led to a much more complicated surgery than expected. At this point the surgeon feels that he was able to clean the area without the infection spreading. Grandad will be in the hospital several days to recover and receive antibiotic therapy for the gangrene. My Gramma is frail and is insisting on staying by his side. Tonight will be her 2nd night without sleep. Dad will arrive in their town very late tonight. Pray that Grandad will not pick up any other infections and that Gramma will have the strength to make it through these days.

Bible School Program

So Vacation Bible School turned out to be a success. Aliza did not enjoy the play, but she loved every other part of Bible School. On the last night each class sang a song and then the younger grades sang a song together.

This is the second song they sang. It's more complicated. Aliza didn't remember the motions so she turned around and watched the other kids and imitated their motions. She got lost behind another girl part way through!


This was the pre-school song. They sang right after the play so I didn't know if she would even stand up. I didn't need to worry! She got right up there and danced the whole way through.

Pesky Mosquitos

I hate mosquitos! This is what my little guy looked like after 15 minutes of being outside and this picture is only half of his face! Thankfully at his age the bites get red really fast, but then fade quickly and he doesn't even seem bothered by them.

I really think that we should be eligible for some federal grant funding for mosquito research. Our yard must be the perfect breeding ground for them. Yesterday I had the great idea to start moving some larger branches to our brush pile. I got to the tree line and every step I took brought up a swarm of baby mosquitoes. It was disgusting.

Before I get any lecture comments on the use of products such as Off, I did buy some tonight that is supposed to be dry and odor free. I think Off is yucky. It is sticky and stinks and tastes bad and if I put it on my kids I feel like they need a bath as soon as they come in and I don't have the energy for multiple baths a day. So until now they have been unprotected, but as of tonight I have some new ammunition!

That concludes my rant on our overpopulation of mosquitoes this year!

Beach Fun

It's almost the end of June and this was our first trip to the beach! We had planned to go on several other occasions, but our weather has been so rainy. I think we have thunderstorms in the forecast for most of the week.

Josiah wasn't so sure about walking on the sand. He loved sitting on the corner of the blanket and digging in the sand.

Miss "I would rather have my hair in my face than wear a clip or a pony tail." Silly girl.

Caleb and Aliza especially enjoyed the sand. Whenever I go to the beach I am always reminded of how much I am not a beach girl. The combination of sand and water is just not my thing.

That's why it is always good for us to bring Daddy to the beach with us. He is a great beach Dad. He's a great Dad anytime and anywhere, but he is by far the fun parent at the beach! Happy Father's Day to an awesome Dad! I made a great decision when I picked you to be the Father of my children.

Finally, Josiah started walking around and exploring. He got pretty good at walking on the sand. Then Jeremy took him close to the water. He sat at the edge for a bit and then Jeremy helped him get his feet wet.

This week we are taking Aliza to Vacation Bible School. She was so excited to go tonight. This afternoon she woke up early from her nap ready to go to VBS and there were tears when I told her she had time to play and we had to eat supper before we went. The opening play turned out to be WAY over her head and very intense from her point of view which led to her jumping on my lap and declaring (at a quiet moment when everyone could hear) "Mommy, I want to go home" with big tears in her eyes. She did agree to stay, but I held her a lot more than I thought I was going to. She had definitely lost her confidence, but when anyone asked her she said she was coming back tomorrow. Jeremy is taking her tomorrow night and she told me after we got home that "Daddy keep me safe tomorrow." It should be interesting to hear what she has to say about the evening when she wakes up in the morning.