At Last...

Iris learned how to ride her bike today!

For the last year, she's adamantly refused to have anything to do with her bike, no matter how much we've cajoled or coaxed, preferring instead to ride only her scooter. I was beginning to despair of her ever riding a bike, so when I heard her little voice this afternoon saying,

"Hey mommy! Look at me!"

I was totally not expecting to look up from my sweeping to see her pedaling her little legs off around the cul-de-sac! But that's exactly what happened. Iris must have taken her bike out while I was distracted in the process of organizing stuff in the garage and not paying attention and, for some reason, decided that today was going to be the day she was going to learn how to ride her bike.

We are SO proud of the way she persevered and pushed through and figured it out - all by herself!

She spent the rest of the afternoon going around and around the circle, practicing her new skill, getting better and better each time. This is going to add so much to our summer fun! I'm imagining family bike rides around the neighborhood...

Snack Buddies

Iris: Hey mom! Don't you want to take a picture of us?

Me: (laughing as a I head for the camera) Why yes, actually. I do want to take a picture...you must be a mind reader!

Two minutes later, post picture...

Iris: So mom, are you going to put this on the blog? Don't you think this would make a good blog post?

It seems that someone has caught on to the way things work around here. Is it possible that I might have a blogging partner in crime in the form of my very own daughter? I have to say that her sudden interest and cooperation in having her picture taken has definitely made things infinitely easier.

And as for the picture above, I LOVE when they snuggle up in our big armchair and snack or read or hang out together. It makes my heart absolutely sing because they are just so darn cute when they do it! Iris can be so sweet and kind and conscientious of her little sister, and it's so awesome to see that good sibling/sister dynamic developing between them. I want them to be loved and blessed by each other as much as I have been loved and blessed by my sisters!

OVERHEARD

At the breakfast table this morning during devotions...

Daddy: So Iris, if Jesus lives in our hearts, what book will we have a desire to read?

Iris: (thoughtfully) Um.....Hello Hello Kitty Play With Us Today?

Hmmm.

I think maybe daddy had a different Book in mind...

Roly Poly Iris

Iris figured out how to turn somersaults awhile back and watching her practice this amazing feat has been in turns both fun and funny.

This afternoon she actually asked me to videotape her efforts which I thought was a strange request coming from a girl who usually avoids being photographed or videotaped like the plague. But who am I to argue? I quickly whipped out my trusty camera and took full advantage of this fleeting moment before she had time to change her mind!

And so I present to you Iris, showing off her fabulous somersaulting skills:

Recognition

When Grandpa Tom and Grandma Vicki came to visit this past February, Grandma Vicki brought Iris and Lydia an album of pictures that she had taken of them and the cousins over Christmas. Both the girls have really enjoyed looking at them, but Lydia especially has loved these pictures. She drags them around with her everywhere and will sit for a long while, poring over each one with complete fascination. I think she's a bit confused about how Iris and daddy got in her book! We spend a lot of time going over each person - "...Here's Iris....here's cousin McKensi and Brooklyn....can you find daddy?...do you see Lydia?..." etc, etc.

So this morning she has her book of pictures out and is flipping through the pages looking carefully at each one, and when she gets to the last page, which is a picture of her with her blankie, she leaps up and runs for her blankie and brings it over to the picture to show me how it matches and says, "Me, ME!" It was so cute. I love her little voice and her little expanding mind!

Just Swingin'

Last Saturday, Todd built and installed the new swing addition to our backyard play set. Needless to say, it's been a hit, and the girls have been swinging their little bottoms off ever since!

A Trip to the Zoo

About a week ago we made our first trip of the season to the St. Louis Zoo.

It's been sort of a tradition ever since Iris was tiny to meet my friend Jenn and her kids there to spend a morning while she's out on spring break (she's a school counselor), weather permitting. We've always been lucky, and this day was no exception! It was a gorgeous day, and Iris and Lydia got to see some animals we don't normally see a lot of when we go - like the bears and some very playful tigers.

The highlight of the day for Iris was the Children's Zoo. The jeep was a huge hit! She also got to climb around in a treehouse, play with pretend food, and pet some guinea pigs.

Part of the attraction of the Children's Zoo is the large outdoor play area. Lydia got a kick out of getting to sit in the hippo's mouth.

Iris displayed some of her courageous spirit by walking across the rope bridge all by herself.

The highlight of the day for Lydia was the Bird House. She is incredibly fascinated by birds these days. And I admit that as much as I want to encourage her in any interests she might have, birds kind of creep me out. Todd and I watched Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds a while back, and since then, I haven't been able to feel quite the same towards those creatures. If you've ever watched this movie you know what I'm talking about!

So on the whole I think the girls enjoyed the trip. In addition to looking at animals, they also got to ride on the carousel and the train - very exciting! I know Iris is looking forward to future visits in warmer weather when we can play in the sidewalk fountains!

Happy Birthday to Me!

So yesterday I turned the big 3-0. Very exciting. But being the shy, introverted, avoider of all fanfare if I can help it sort of person that I am, when Todd asked how I wanted to celebrate the day, I opted for just a quiet family dinner out.

Now when Todd left for work yesterday morning, he mentioned that there would be presents to open during dinner. Usually we just do books - that's been our trademark gift to each other for a long time now. I have to admit, though, that in the back of my mind I was kind of hoping that instead of books, my gift would maybe happen to be new seat covers for our kitchen chairs. Remember how a few posts back I mentioned that we had finally gotten rid of the last vestiges of that hideous yellow? Well, we have....on the walls at least. The seats of our kitchen chairs still happen to be hideously yellow, and the fact that they now match nothing in our house is an affront to my sense of order and flow. Todd, being sensitive to this slight idiosyncrasy of mine, tends to be fairly accommodating in matters of home decor. I was crossing my fingers for new kitchen seat cushions.

Imagine my surprise when Todd pushes a slim packet across the table to me while we're waiting for our entrees to arrive. No seat cushions inside, of course. Instead there was only this:

And when I flipped open to the first page, there before my very eyes was an itinerary for a four day trip for Todd and me to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington!

Most of you know that Todd and I never really took a honeymoon when we got married nearly seven years ago. There were many factors that played into this - we were too poor, Todd was finishing up school, we were about to make a major life transition in a few months to move here to Missouri - we just weren't able to make it happen. We did four days in Omaha in lieu of a more spectacular vacation. It has been our dream to take a trip to the Pacific Northwest as a sort of late honeymoon, but we've just never gotten around to it, and here Todd went and planned this trip for us without me having even a glimmer of an idea he was doing it! AND he even took care of the babysitting question, conspiring with my sister to have her fly out here to babysit the girls while we're away! Amazing! Seat cushions? Who needs seat cushions? I'll take a dream trip over seat cushions any day!

Oh, my goodness, I am beyond excited, and I will be spending many happy hours this spring and summer poring over these books, my gifts from the girls:

Thank you, thank you again and again wonderful, awesome, beloved husband. I can't wait to take this trip with you! And thank you, thank you again and again wonderful, awesome sister for so graciously agreeing to watch our kids so that we can do this. I was completely, utterly taken by surprise - you guys know how to keep a secret well! Oh, I'm so, so looking forward to this! It seems like September can't get here fast enough!

Little Nap Invader

Lydia loves helping me wake Iris up from her nap in the afternoons. I think her joy stems mostly from the fact that due to Iris' usual initial extreme grogginess upon waking, she gets a brief but exhilarating opportunity to go crazy with all of Iris' stuffed animals and blankies while Iris is still too out of it to notice or care. Stuffed animals and blankies she is absolutely not allowed to touch on pain of death at any other time of the day!

Lydia just relaxing in stuffed animal and blankie heaven. For her, it doesn't get any better than this!

"Hey, Iris...you awake?"

"Oh yeah. They're all mine!"

Our sweet Lydia. She has such an eye for seizing the moment, doesn't she? Watching her go nuts over that stuff with her grumpy big sister lying next to her trying desperately to ignore her is one of my favorite things right now! It's so cute...

Iris' Big Day

Todd does a great job of spending as much quality one-on-one time with Iris as he can. Their favorite outing of choice? The coffee shop down the road. Yup, over the years it's become kind of their thing. They eat breakfast, read the paper together, and basically just hang out and enjoy each other's company for an hour or so...just the two of them. No mommies allowed.

And although they both really love the coffee shop excursions, Todd decided it was time to kick things up a notch. With Iris' love for dance in mind, he purchased two tickets to a special dance performance that took place this past Sunday afternoon at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Here's a few pictures from their day:

Todd and Iris getting ready to depart. Note Iris' fancy new dress that she picked out all by herself especially for this occasion. I think she did a pretty good job!

Powell Hall

Iris on the grand staircase before the performance. Of course, no outing is complete without beloved blankie-blankie.

I thought this video footage of Iris practicing her moves was priceless:

The outing was a success. Iris loved every minute. Lydia is eagerly anticipating the day when it gets to be her turn!

Afternoon Shenanigans

Yesterday we spent the afternoon soaking up the gorgeous spring-like weather by playing and hanging out on the street in front of our house, catching up with friends and neighbors we haven't really seen since November when the weather turned too cold to play outside.

We had so much fun, and I was reminded anew just how much I love and appreciate our little corner of suburbia, and just how much I'm going to miss our beloved cul-de-sac when we move next December!

Iris had a good time pretending to be a baseball player. Here she is in full get-up ready to knock it out of the neighborhood!

Lydia spent some time preparing to go on a little bike ride. She wasn't fazed at all by the fact that the bike was about five times her size!

The bike thing didn't work out, no surprise there, so she found this scooter, which appeared to be much more manageable.

It's supposed to be fabulous weather for the next few days, and we are all set to enjoy it. We are eagerly awaiting the moment when spring decides to stick around for good!

And Then My Heart Literally Stopped

I left my purse in the shopping cart at the grocery store.

Usually, I am fanatical about knowing where it is at all times, but for some reason today my mind was elsewhere. I strapped in the kids, unloaded groceries into the trunk, and then drove away in complete oblivion. I didn't even notice my bag was missing until I pulled into the garage and went to reach for it as I was getting out.

And it wasn't there to grab!

Oh. My. Goodness. Talk about total and utter panic! After making a lightning fast perusal of the interior of the car and trunk, and NOT finding it, I jumped back into the car, and we sped off in the direction of the grocery store. Only I use the term "sped" lightly. Why is it that whenever I'm in a desperate hurry to get someplace, the traffic in front of me seems to be crawling? I think I aged ten years in the five minutes it took to get there!

Seriously, though. Just a half hour before all this drama began, I had been at the bank taking out our household cash for the month. From the bank we went directly to the grocery store. So, in my purse at that moment was a substantial amount of cash, my checkbook, my debit card, credit card, both numbers for our checking and saving accounts, and my driver's license. Oh, and my cell phone. Basically everything. Our lives were on the brink of being absolutely rocked. It felt like my chances were slim that whoever found it would actually turn it in. My mind was so distraught, the only prayer I could get out during that terrible drive was, "Please, dear God...please, dear God!"

Thankfully for us, this story has a happy ending. It was an amazingly kind-hearted and honest person who found my bag in the shopping cart. My purse was waiting for me intact and untouched at the Customer Service Desk. It still seems incredible to me, considering the amount of cash hanging out in my bag, that whoever found it DIDN'T just take it and run. God kept His hand upon it and protected it, and I am weak in the knees with relief and gratitude!

About Lydia

Lydia is growing up fast, and it's hard to keep track of (much less blog about) all the new and fun things she's been starting to do over the past few months. So I thought I'd post a small list of some stuff that we are loving about our sweet La-La right now for all you friends and family out there who don't get to see her very often.

Here it goes:

- She shakes her head and says "no" to every question we ask her no matter what it is.

- She claps, waves, blows kisses, eats with a fork, drinks from a big girl cup, and pretends to "talk" on the phone.

- She can make the signs for "more" and "all done" - but only if she's getting her diaper changed or thinks we aren't paying attention. Never when we actually want her to, the little stinker!

- She absolutely loves to torment her sister by grabbing one of Iris' beloved toys and then running away with it as fast as she can so that Iris will chase her.

- She's starting to say a multitude of words, among them: shoe, jacket, coat, Iris, daddy, mama, no, touch, and bear, and we've heard her say some phrases: Daddy's shoe, don't touch, all done.

- She loves to experiment with accessories, draping herself in bracelets and necklaces and hats, and she likewise loves to play "babies", pushing them in the stroller and feeding them.

- She adores shoes and jackets. She prefers to play with these items over any other toy we might have. The boot and shoe basket in our garage is the greatest thing that ever happened to her!

- She totally understands everything we say to her now and can follow simple directions and find objects we ask her to go get even if they're in another place - her memory is expanding in leaps and bounds!

- She holds my hand so tightly whenever she's walking anywhere with me, and if I let go for even a moment, she's searching for my fingers so that we can be connected again, making sure that her little fingers are holding at least a thumb at all times. I love it, and I'm dreading the moment she doesn't want to do it anymore!

And that's our Lydia in a nutshell at the big age of almost fifteen months. She's a determined, mischievous, sometimes naughty, goofy, affectionate, funny little thing - such a big personality! She keeps us on our toes, that's for certain, but we feel so completely blessed that she gets to belong to us.

A dress-up junkie in the making

The End Of An Era

And so it's happened.

Our TV, our only TV, the TV Todd has had since 1992 and I'm not even joking, finally bit the dust. It's been trying to prepare us for the inevitable for over a month now, but we've been having a hard time accepting it.

Here's an example of what we've had to resort to in the last days:

Sadly, this past Friday, we were forced to come to the realization that the end for our faithful little TV had arrived. Enough was enough.

After a few moments of grieving (because, seriously, we will never find another TV that lasts nearly 20 years!), we packed up the girls and headed to Walmart.

Say hello to our new, modern, flat screen TV:

We've now officially joined the ranks of the rest of the world.

Iris-isms

Last night while hanging out on the couch before supper...

Iris: Mommy! Can you sit next to me?

Me: I am sitting next to you.

Iris: But I want you to touch my arm!

(I scoot over so we're sitting arm to arm)

Iris: Yeah. (satisfied) Now we're cozy.


Piping up from the backseat while out running errands in the car...

Iris: Mommy, I wish I could get inside my heart and take Jesus out and play and play with him!

Designed to Sell - Part Two

Todd installed crown molding in the girls' bedroom this past weekend:

Not too shabby for a first ever try at hanging molding, if I do say so myself. He did a great job, and it looks absolutely fantastic! Most importantly, it completely covers up the multitude of sins residing where the ceiling meets the wall from some very jacked up drywall hanging by the builders of this house. Without going into too much detail, I'm pretty sure they forgot that you actually have to use nails (or screws, if that's your thing, but you must use something) when you hang drywall. So, the main purpose of the molding has been accomplished, and we are very pleased with the results. Doesn't every room look just a bit better with crown molding?

And because I just couldn't stand it any longer, I went ahead and painted our kitchen as well:

We are free, free at last from the bondage of hideous yellow paint! All spaces have been satisfactorily neutralized.

So now we are finished painting. It has been a job and a half, and I am so, so done. I was musing last night as I was cleaning brushes for the last time, that I don't care if I ever see another brush or can of paint again! I think the girls would second that thought. They're ready for things to get a little more normal around here.

Next up: Hanging a ceiling in the basement

Vomit Makes For Great Dinner Conversation

We've been attending the membership workshops that our new church hosts once a month. We've really been enjoying them - not only because of the wealth of valuable information they impart, which is incredible, but also because they offer childcare and feed us supper (it's so nice to not have to scramble for babysitting...or cook!).

Well, last night happened to be a workshop night, and when we got about halfway through the material for the evening, our food arrived, and we stopped and took a supper break. Todd and I got the girls all set up and situated with their food and drinks, and we got ourselves all set up and situated with food and drinks. Everybody's calm - eating, talking, joking, laughing.

All fine and good, right?

In the midst of all the fun, Iris turns to me, points to my salad and says, "Mommy, are you eating Lydia's vomit?"

Poor, poor girl. She was a front row spectator during Lydia's vomiting debacle at the babysitter's. Apparently, the sight of it left a deep impression upon her.

And you know what?

Looking down at my salad, I realized that it did, indeed, resemble Lydia's vomit from that night.

Yum!

To The Park

We paid a little visit to the mini-park in our neighborhood after lunch today. The weather has been so nice here the past few days we just had to get out and enjoy it!

Here's some video footage of Lydia going down the slide I just had to share. I'm so proud of the way she can do it all by herself! She thinks she's pretty cool too and proves it by repeating the process over and over. And over. Aren't slides great?

She's such a determined little thing...determined and brave. Later on, I caught her walking across the suspension bridge trying to get to the bigger slides on the other side!

We had fun, and we're actually headed back to the park this afternoon after nap time. We're taking full advantage of this weather while it lasts!

Designed to Sell - Part One

In light of the fact that less than a year from now we will be putting our house on the market in preparation for our move to Lincoln, we've been taking stock of our little home sweet home over the last few weeks, making a master list of things that we feel need to be fixed/improved/installed (hello, basement ceiling!) before we're ready to sell.

And we've decided to start knocking items off that list as soon as possible. Partly because we want the improvements done so that we can actually enjoy the fruits of our labor before we have to give up the house, and partly because it's winter, and I'm itching for a project or twelve. I'm pretty sure it's genetic, this desperate craving to always be in the midst of some household renovation, to not feel completely satisfied unless up to the elbows in paint or spackle or sawdust, to get insanely excited at the prospect of a project. Seriously, I really honestly cannot remember a time in my life that my parents have not been renovating something, whether it's been a house or a car or a piece of property. Right now it's a house. So see? I don't really have a choice. It's in the blood. Luckily, Todd's pretty handy and more than willing (usually) to tackle anything I might suggest. And whatever he can't handle, my dad can, as he happens to be the handiest dad ever!

So. First project up was painting our living room/entryway.

We've been slowly neutralizing our house over the last few months, painting first the bathrooms and then the bedrooms various shades of taupe. Buyers love neutral shades, right? This has made a HUGE improvement over the red, orange, and puke brown that were in those rooms to begin with. I'm always asking myself why (WHY!) we ever thought those colors in particular would be good choices to cover our walls. And how did we live with them for five years before making a change? Yikes!

Here's the Before:

Our walls up until a few days ago have been a deep yellow mustardy color. But not mustard yellow in a good way. Mustard yellow gone way, way wrong. A yellow so hideous that I am pretty sure it has been causing me to go slowly crazy over the last few years, an idea that causes Todd much laughter, but I am positive is true.

Here's the After:

It didn't turn out too bad. I didn't particularly care for the shade at first, I must admit. This taupe is the exact same color that we used in our basement, and we love it down there, but for some reason, on our upstairs walls it looked like it had too much gray in it. Too much gray for our yellow-based decor. For a while I wondered if maybe we had made an even graver mistake using this taupe than we had with the yellow. However, with just a few accessory changes, our living room looks much, much better, and the color is growing on me. I can't get over how light and bright our house looks now! Unfortunately, all that lightness and brightness makes our kitchen, which we have not painted yet, look extremely, well...yellow. Alas, the kitchen, our last painting frontier, is a bit farther down on our list due to the fact that there is a lot of work besides painting that needs to be done in there. I only want to have to move the appliances once!

Part Two: Crown molding in the girls' bedroom

Tiny Dancer

Isn't she so sweet? Lydia totally begged me to help her put on that skirt. She kept bringing it over to me and trying to stick her foot in the waistband. I think somebody wants to be just like her big sister...

And speaking of big sisters, did you happen to catch "Pirate Iris" swashbuckling across the bottom of the screen?

I know she was rather hard to miss considering the fact that she was shouting, "Chocolate Prunes!" at the top of her voice as she was swashbuckling. Don't ask. Let's just say that she loves the things and leave it at that. So. "Pirate Iris" happens to be her current favorite persona-of-the-moment. There's been a lot of "aaaargh"-ing and "ahoy, matey"-ing going on at our house these days. Oh, and lots and lots of sword fighting. Because you can't be a good pirate without a lot of sword fighting, don't you know.