Goofballs...

I have a LOT of blogging to catch up on:

E.G. got 2 haircuts

Mia turned 2!!!!!

E.G. turned 4 months

Charis' bday

E.G.  rolls and rolls

We have fed the ducks a few times :) :) :)

Redeemed Furniture (I'll explain more about this later) moved into our new booth!

E.G. eats cereal now!

Mia moved into her new room (and so did E.G.)

After 4.5 months of no dairy or soy, I ate a piece (okay several pieces) of pizza!

We got a letter from our insurance company about my birthday coming up. ha! (more on this later)

And more!

As I was downloading pics to the computer, I came across these from Caleb's phone.  They made me smile, so I decided to share them with you today. :)

Caleb usually gets Mia ready for bed.  Even if I bathe her and put her pajamas on, he always brushes her teeth.  These two can get pretty silly when they get together.  

I hope you enjoy these pics that they took of themselves making silly faces in the mirror!...

The "surprised" look is my favorite, because that is the sign for "surprised" in sign language. :)

I love these goofballs! :)

Hopefully I'll catch up on blogging.  And if not, it means that I'm too distracted and busy with my fun family of four.  :)

No David!

Have you ever read this book?  I used to read it to my class, but I don't think I have ever read it to Mia.  I thought about it today, because I just realized David must have been 2 years old in this book.  Mia is a few days shy of her 2 year old birthday, and I seriously feel like I tell her "no" a bazillion times a day!  AHHHHHHH!!!!!

No...you can't take things out of the kitchen drawers.  Put it back, please. (x3)

No...you can't give E.G. your marbles.  She will choke on them.

No...I just said not to give her your marbles!

I told you not to shut the door anymore.  That's why you keep getting stuck in there.

Mia, please don't go in the bathroom anymore.

No...that isn't candy, those are tampons.

Mia, please don't hit E.G. in the head.
Don't throw the video monitor!

Where are your panties?

Mia, I told you to let Mommy dump your pee pee out into the potty.

Mia, I know you are trying to help me put the laundry away, but now I have to refold it all again.  Please just watch me.

Mia, I just asked you not to throw the laundry!

No...don't go in E.G's room.  She is sleeping.

You can't play with that pen.  Go get your crayons.

Mia, don't open the pen.  Go get your crayons!

ETC, ETC, ETC

But just like in the book, I love this little girl to pieces.  I seriously can't get enough of her.  (I wrote a whole post about her, remember?)

Hopefully this stage will fly by!!! (Is there a verb that is faster than "fly"? Whiz? ???)  And is there a way that this "stage" can fly by without my Mia Jubilee getting any older?  I don't want to rush that part. :)

I hope you all enjoy your day!

A Little Bragging...

Every mommy is proud of their kiddos.  I stare at Mia Jubilee all of the time and tell her how proud I am of her.  Here are a few reasons why...

She has known her colors and been able to sort them for about 4 months now.

She can talk REALLY well!  Seriously...she's pretty darn good.  :)

She LOVES her sister.  This makes my heart smile.

She has been potty trained for a month.  (Although we still put diapers on her when she sleeps....just in case!)

She has a heart for others and has a generous spirit.

She sings and dances all of the time.  If she hears music, her hips start moving!  And she's even started to make up her own songs to sing to E.G. :)

She would cook all day if we would let her.  She is great at pretending and cooks some yummy stuff in her little kitchen.

She is the perfect combination between dependent and independent.  She will play by herself, but will also let me snuggle her.  (It's pretty hard to get a kiss from her though!)

Her new favorite movie is Cinderella. 

She LOVES to play on our bed!!!!  Now she sits in there and watches Cinderella under the covers.  Sweet.

Her naughtiness is hilarious.  We have to hold back smiles a lot.

She responds well to discipline.

She has a tender heart.

She LOVES her family (aunts, uncles, g'mas, papas, cousins, etc) and talks about them ALL of the time.  She even pretends to text and call them on the phone.

One of her new things is pretending to take pictures.  She can turn anything into a camera.  (even her monkey)  She asks you to smile and then looks at her "camera" and says, "That's a good one."

She's a great artist.

She knows several shapes and letters of the alphabet!

She could sit and read books forever!  I love when she "reads to us" too!

She kisses E.G.'s toes all of the time and tells her that she "misses her".

She has never acted jealous of E.G.  She seems confident in who she is and joins in with us to love on E.G.

She LOVES the outdoors!

She prefers to be naked.  It's so hard to get her to keep her clothes on!!!!!  (Hopefully this will be a short phase.)

She just plain cute.  Seriously...God went about and beyond when he created my curly headed, JOYFUL Mia Jubilee.

She's not a perfect kid, and I'm sure we see her through rose colored glasses, but we're her parents. :)

And we are smitten. :)

(Sorry about the grainy pictures.  Most of them were taken on my phone.)

A kind word...

I know that I haven't posted in over a month.  I've wanted to, but several things have been in my way:

1. Time.  Obviously I spend a lot of time with my girls.  They are so fun, and I have tried to be intentional about only getting on here when they are sleeping.  You can imagine how rare it is that both of them nap at the same time, so that leaves little time for the blog.

2. Too much to say! When I DO have time, I feel like I have too much to say.  I can't decide what to write about, so I just don't write at all.  (I guess anything is better than nothing though.)

3. Fear of what others think.  This annoys me.  I shouldn't even care.  I started this blog for my family and close friends.  All of those people love me and care about my sweet kiddos.  So if there's someone who finds my blog boring or annoying, they don't have to read it.  (Not that anyone has ever said those things about my blog.  It's totally just something that I wonder.)

ANYWAYS!....I got an email from a friend the other day.  She said, "I know you've been really busy, but I miss your posts."

Those simples words were so encouraging and are why I am writing this post today.  I DO love to write.  And I REALLY like to write about my priceless family.  :)

So I'm back, people!  I'll try to be consistent in posting.  In the mean time, enjoy the following pics!

Mia LOVES to cook, and she's really in to Elmo right now... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our sweet family at Noni and Papa's on Christmas...

 Mia cooks for us a lot.  She and Caleb enjoyed eating their real lunch in her playroom...

And here's our wonderful Ellie Grace!  She's changing so much!  I'll have to do a post on everything she's learning.

My nieces came to visit over Christmas.  Mia loves and misses them so much!

This girl...she has my heart.

Not many people can fill Caleb's shoes...

...but this little girl sure is trying. :)

This next one is my fave...look at her tiny foot!!!!

Figuring out how to get up...

She was saying, "Woah...woah...woah..."

Making lemonade out of lemons...

It's Sunday, and here I am...on my couch.  It's crazy how a baby can change your world.

I had just put Ellie Grace in her car seat to walk out the door to church, (only our second Sunday back since she was born) when she spit up.  Not just ANY spit up; the kind that projects all over her and her car seat.  AHHHH!!!  Even if I would have changed her outfit, there's no way I was putting her back in that seat to go to church.  So what did we do?  We made lemonade of out lemons.  

Caleb and I took the girls outside so that I could get a picture of them in their coordinating Thanksgiving outfits.  The lighting wasn't that great, it was cold and sprinkling, but we got several cute pics of our sweet girls...

Mia loves Ellie Grace so much!  I can't wait to watch their relationship develop.

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Sweet Caroline...

Happy 3rd Birthday to my sweet niece, Caroline.  I can't wait to celebrate with her in a couple of days.  Here are some pictures from her birthday last year....

Don't you just LOVE how girly she is?  Nothing but pink for this girl! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAROLINE!!!!