Where Iris Goes To Get Away From It All....

I know I've been talking a lot about Iris having a hard time being able to protect her stuff now that Lydia's on the move. Sometimes a girl just needs some space of her own! Well, Iris has recently discovered just the place where she can play unmolested by an extremely interested-in-what-Iris-is-doing-every-second sister with grabbing little hands.

We moved the furniture in our living room around a few months ago, and the end result left a small, wedge-shaped area between the wall and our couch. A perfect spot for Iris to escape because Lydia hasn't figured out yet how to squeeze in with her. It's brilliant, and she can dump back there anything she needs to keep safe. Plus, it makes a pretty good indoor playhouse complete with it's own window...and kitchen, apparently, as you can see.

He's a Preacher Man

Our family took a road trip this past weekend to Summum, Illinois, so that Todd could preach his very first sermon in a little country church there. One of Todd's friend's dad is the pastor and so graciously allowed Todd to fill in for him so that Todd could gain some preaching practice. He did a great job, and we are so proud of him!

We decided to make an adventure out of the excursion and drove during nap time on Saturday to the home of Western Illinois University: Macomb, Illinois. If you're wondering why we didn't spend the night in Summum, well....let's just say that Summum is small. Very small. Like Strang, for all you Geneva folk. Macomb is like York.

We arrived as nap time was ending and checked into our hotel. I love staying at hotels, even ones that verge on just the right side of seedy. It must have been Girls State Softball somewhere close by because there were a whole bunch of softball girls staying at the hotel with us. What great memories that brought back! Oh, the nostalgia.....

After we got ourselves situated, we headed over to the park located right across from where we were staying. This park was classic - straight out of my childhood at Geneva Elementary School. I didn't even know there were still parks around with metal playground equipment!

The girls had a good time checking everything out, although most of the stuff, with the exception of the swings, was a little out of their range:

On the way out of the park, the girls inspected the flowerbeds:

Iris, our little flower girl, thought they were great!

Lydia's not too sure - she looks a little worried, as you can see!

From the park, we headed down to main street Macomb for some supper at Pagliai's Pizza:

One of the quaint things about Illinois towns, we discovered, is that many of them have well-preserved town squares. We had lots of fun strolling about peeking into the unique variety of shops and enjoying the nice (cooler!) evening.

We finished up our prowl by letting the girls explore the interesting sculptural playground in the square:

On Sunday, we headed over to Summum so that Todd could preach. Like I said earlier, he did fantastic! Everyone at the church welcomed us heartily and was so friendly. Todd couldn't have hoped for a better first experience!

We had a good time driving around and seeing what that part of Illinois had to offer - which was mainly cornfields (a lot!) and small towns. We felt right at home...

Me: (carrying Iris into bed) I love giving you hugs!

Iris: (wrapping her arms tight around my neck) Jesus likes it when you give me hugs, mommy.

Nothin's Gonna Stop Her Now!

Lydia has figured out how to pull herself up! This is great news for Lydia as she can now go virtually anywhere and do anything. This is bad news for Iris as it is becoming increasingly harder to find places to escape her small and very persistent sister.

Can I just say (I know this is totally random) that I LOVE the Leapfrog Learning Table? I think, hands down, it is the best money we have ever spent on a toy (well, I guess I can't forget the ten dollars we spent to get our beloved Cozy Coupe. That toy's been worth every penny too, and what it lacks for in looks, it has more than made up for in the joy it brings to this family's hearts. Oh, little Cozy Coupe - how we love you...). Anyhow, Iris adored the Learning Table when she was a baby and still does at the very grown-up age of three, and Lydia is quickly developing a similar love of the Table for herself. I like the catchy music and the fact that it has plenty of things for baby hands to fiddle with. It's definitely a keeper!

Dancing Queen

So we knew that Iris could dance. She's demonstrated her stellar skills often around our house. But this past weekend we attended the wedding reception of some very good friends, and she got down! Once the music started pumping, her little body started groovin', and she rocked the dance floor until the DJ was done. At one point, she even busted out some crazy break dancing moves she's apparently been practicing in secret for just such an occasion as this. We'd certainly never seen them before! I wanted to get some video footage, but it was too dark, and so I only have pictures - which don't quite do her dancing justice. I promise you, though, she was awesome!

I love her uninhibitedness - her willingness to just get out there and go to town (where can I find some of that?).

She was so sad when the dance was over. Her first question as we were leaving was "Can we come back tomorrow?". I think we may have a bonafide dancer on our hands. She must get that from Todd because the one place you would never willingly find me is on a dance floor......

We Have a Deck!

Finally, after nearly five years of living in our house, we have a deck. Construction was finished up this afternoon, and as soon as the contractor's little white truck pulled out of the driveway, Iris and I raced around to the back and up the stairs and danced a jig on the freshly laid floorboards of our new deck! We are soooo incredibly excited. I think it goes without saying that we'll be spending a lot of time up there in the near future.


Here is a view of our backyard from our new deck. It seems weird to be gazing upon it from such a great height:

Aren't our two lovelies cute? It didn't take Iris long to set up shop. Thanks Aunt Sharon for the table and chairs - they're perfect!

And most importantly - various pictures of our new deck:

It might take a little while for us to get used to having a new deck, but I'm sure we'll manage somehow. Next up on our project list is a bit of landscaping. Maybe we'll try to work up the motivation for that while relaxing on our new deck! Yay!

...and She's Off!

She did it, she did it, she did it, YEAH (Sorry, I couldn't resist a little Dora the Explorer)! We laugh because she's a little gimpy and sometimes she prefers to "crab-walk" on her hands and feet instead or even do the army crawl, but she's able to get where she wants to go now, and that's what's most important, right? We're so proud of her!!

It Won't Be Long Now...

Our little La-La is getting sooo close to crawling it's almost unbearable. One of these days soon she's going to get it all figured out and family beware - there'll be no stopping our crazy lovely then! I thought I'd share a clip of her practicing some of her moves:

We had a good laugh tonight (well, Todd and I had a good laugh - poor Iris cried) when we stumbled upon Lydia wrapped up in Iris' beloved blankie on the living room floor. Lydia is developing a penchant for all of the things that Iris is most adamant she NOT touch (like beloved blankie, for instance). Our laid-back lady is fast becoming a feisty little sister, and now that Lydia is semi-mobile, Iris is discovering that she is going to have to start being crafty about where she puts her stuff if she wants it to be safe from little hands.

A Pet for Iris

It is no secret in my household that I have a distinct loathing for the dogs in our neighborhood. Specifically, the dogs in our neighborhood who have owners that allow them to do their business in my yard. This seriously sends me over the edge (much like a possible mole invasion might. Hee, hee. Only MUCH worse). And I like animals in general, I do. But this makes my heart grow cold, and I know we will never have pets. I joke all the time that Iris will have to live vicariously through our neighbor's animals (her doggies are very nice, in case you're wondering - they are NOT the evil dogs I'm talking about).

Anyhow, the topic comes up often since it IS the summertime and many dogs are out and about with their absentminded (I'm trying to be kind) owners. Todd and I actually had a rather heated discussion about this very thing on Friday as we were getting ready to go to the 4th of July parade. Which is why later in the day as we were driving home I found it funny to be having a conversation about pets with my darling daughter. You know that saying about kids being like sponges? Well, it's true.

Iris: (piping up from the backseat) Mommy, we need a pet.

Me: (laughing, looking at Todd with eyebrows raised) We do, do we? What kind of pet do you think we need?

Iris: (brightly, eyes wide) A goldfish would be a good pet, mommy.

Me: A goldfish? Why do you think a goldfish would make a good pet?

Iris: (helpfully) Goldfishes don't poop and pee, mommy.

Isn't she a sweet and thoughtful lovely to try and accommodate my obsessive compulsiveness in her choice for a pet? She obviously has been paying attention. It almost makes me want to get her one.........almost.

Lions and Tigers and....Moles?

My worst fear (well, my worst fear in regards to my lawn, anyway) is about to be realized. We are on the verge of being invaded by moles! I say "on the verge" because it hasn't actually happened yet. But, oh, my goodness...they're close. So very, very close!

A few days ago, I was out in our yard winding up hoses (Lesson: You never want to leave hoses just lying around in the grass lest they kill the grass underneath - just a glimpse into one of my idiosyncrasies). I happened to glance over at our neighbor's backyard as I was doing so and noticed what looked like a huge clod of dirt, almost like a hole, right on the border between our yards. Oh man. Those rabbits better not be digging holes again, is the thought that passed through my mind. We had HUGE issues with this happening last year, in case you're wondering. I moved closer to inspect the hole....and nearly jumped out of my skin! Holy cow - the mole was actually still in the process of digging his tunnel underneath the ground!! I could see him moving around under there! It totally freaked me out, and my mind went completely blank as to what I should do.

What I should have done was bonk him on the head with a shovel to kill him and then stomp down the tunnel. This would have delayed any immediate digging into our yard by him or any of his little moley friends, giving me time to organize my plan of attack. What I did do was call my sister and talk to her for moral support while peering at the ground to check for movement and sqeamishly tapping the tunnel with my foot. As much as I view moles as the worst possible thing that could happen to our yard, there is no way I could actually kill one of them. Yikes!

I spent the rest of the day anxiously checking out the kitchen window to see if the mole was burrowing into our yard yet and obsessing over the sure destruction of our lawn. In my desperation, while waiting for Todd to come home from work, I went a little crazy and bought a whole bunch of this stuff:

Todd was a good sport and applied all of it this past weekend for me AND he and Iris destroyed the tunnel. Who knows if it will make a difference or not? At least we're doing something, right? And so far, they've left our yard alone. Maybe it's because of our hard work, but I'd like to think that it's the hand of God holding them back. He knows how much a mole infestation in our yard would send me over the edge. I know...crazy...but we spend a lot of time taking care of our grass (watering, mowing, fertilizing) and it would be devastating!

Todd's coffeepot fizzled out this past week, so he and Iris took a little trip to Wal-mart to replace it. As they were meandering their way through the store on the way to small appliances, Todd got a small glimpse of what his life is going to be like with two daughters:

Iris: (sweetly) "Oh, look. Bras for little girls!" (I think she was meaning the teeny little pre-teen bras)

Todd: (in disbelief) Um...yeah!.....they sure are.....let's keep walking!

Iris: (wistfully) I sure wish I was big enough to wear a bra.

I"m pretty sure Todd sprouted a few new gray hairs at the thought of his three-year old daughter being big enough someday to wear a bra. And oh, my dear, dear baby.....I hope it's a long time before we have to think of that because right now I can't bear the thought of you growing up!

Drop and Give me Twenty.....

Lydia recently accepted the 100 push-up challenge. So far she can do one, but she's hoping that with a little persistence and hard work she'll meet her goal of twenty in a row by the end of the week. Lydia is really serious about increasing her strength in preparation for crawling. Don't give up on your dream, Lydia. You can do it!

Beach Bunnies

Today we took our first trip of the summer to the swimming beach at Cuivre River. Is there anything better than being on a beach in the late afternoon with wet sand squishing between bare toes and children shrieking and splashing, watching the shadows grow longer and longer across the water as the day fades into evening?

Lydia couldn't wait to get into her monstrosity of a sea horse inflatable. Yikes! I had no idea that thing was so huge until we actually put air in it! I think there was probably room for both the girls in there. Iris floated around in her blue hippo. We seem to have a partiality to inflatable hippos at our house. Last year, we had a crazy yellow one which apparently didn't live to see a second summer. Todd swears I must have thrown it out during one of my household purges, but surely I would have saved that, right? Anyhow, it didn't make it hence the blue one we now possess.

Iris and I also hunted for shells along the shore which always thrills me for some reason. Maybe it's a connection to some lovely childhood memory. We took a lot of camping trips near rivers when I was little.

We headed home as the sun was setting. Happy lovelies in the backseat, Bon Iver on the radio.....ah, summer.....

Lil' Slasher

Did I mention that Lydia's name is really Lydia Scissorhands?

Sometimes her precious little fingers turn into slasher hands in the night, and we wake up in the morning to some version of this. What's she doing while the rest of us are peacefully sleeping in our beds, I always ask myself. She never cries....what does she dream about? I guess we'll be confined to the house for the next few days lest people at Target or the grocery store think I sliced my poor lovely's head with a razor blade!

On a side note, my wonderfully talented sister Emily has started a new blog which I am very excited about. She's just in the process of setting it up, but feel free to check it out here.

Well, we're off to keep a date with some nail clippers......

Fireman Iris and a Soon-To-Be Crawling Baby

Most people associate firemen with stuff like....oh, fighting fires, rescuing small kittens from trees, helping people.....you know, keeping our communities safe. They're not really known for their dancing. In fact, stellar dancing skills are probably not required to actually become a fireman. Not so at good ol' Station #9 (a.k.a Our House). Stellar dancing skills are definitely a requirement here. Check out Fireman Iris busting a move:

I bet you were expecting a video clip....well, I was going to....but Fireman Iris wanted me to sing along with her, and I was feeling a bit shy about you all hearing my voice. We were singing "Scotland's Burning", by they way. Do any of you Geneva folk remember doing that as a warm-up song in Chorus with Mrs. A? For whatever reason, it popped into my head today and I started belting it out during some playtime with the girls. Iris thought it was the greatest song ever. We probably sang it a hundred times while she danced up a storm...I mean, fire........

And here's Lydia.....on her hands and knees! This past week she has been trying really hard to figure out this crawling thing. We've been working with her, showing her how to move her arms and legs, and she's so excited she can barely stand it! Her one wish in the world at this point in her life is to be mobile. Rolling everywhere (which she does well) just isn't enough for Lydia. She wants to be able to chase after her big sister. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer.......

The Beginning of Summer

I know that today is really the first day of summer, I do.... but we were outside yesterday doing the whole sprinkler/wading pool thing, and I got great footage of the girlies. So, I'm going to ask you to pretend that what you're watching is actually from today. Hey, I have a good excuse - it's raining right now (not very summery weather, I might add. Shouldn't we be having lots of sunshine to kick off things?). I'm afraid I may not get a chance to capture the true essence of the First Day of Summer due to the uncooperating outside elements we have going on here. Just play along, OK?

Here's a clip of Iris and the sprinkler. Up until now, she's been a little wary of actually running through it. There's been a lot of running around it and beside it - taking care to not let a drop of water touch her skin.

As you can see, she's apparently gotten over any inhibitions she had regarding the sprinkler. Sometimes it takes her a little while to work up the courage, but then she plunges right in. Yeah, Iris!!

And then, my favorite.....is there anything sweeter than this? I love watching them play together.

Don't you LOVE Lydia's laugh? It makes me giddy to hear it! She thinks Iris is absolutely hilarious. I have to agree sometimes - Iris is such a little crazytown. She definitely keeps us entertained, that's for sure!

Happy First Day of Summer!

Shoes are a Girl's Best Friend

Before I go any further with this post, I must give a little warning.....

Em, if Ava is reading this with you, you might want to cover her eyes. Because if Ava is anything like Iris, she's probably not going to be very happy with what I'm about to show.



Are you ready?




OK.




Here it is:

Yes. That IS Ava's slipper that she so graciously handed down to Iris. And that IS Lydia - not a new pet or anything like that. Hee, hee. This slipper has become Lydia's newest love. She is developing quite the shoe fixation (notice I said fixation NOT fetish which is a word I find slightly creepy and not one I want to use in conjunction with my six month old daughter), and this fancy little number is her favorite. Shoes will just be hanging out, innocently minding their own business lounging by the wall or on a rug - but if Lydia spies them a gleam comes into her eye, and she begins frantically trying to get herself into a position within reaching length. We had some friends come over with their little boy for small group, and Lydia would have been the happiest girl in the world if she could have just managed to get a hold on one of his sandals (they WERE super cute!). I'm excited - imagine the shoe shopping expeditions we will have once she's older! Todd just rolls his eyes - he's thinking about how that's going to work considering our current closet space. All I can say is this: Once Lydia starts crawling, the shoes in our house better watch out!

Finger Foods

Lydia has moved on in the solids journey to trying out some finger foods. I gave her one of those biter biscuits last week about which she was very enthusiastic; however, she choked on a little chunk causing some mild panic to occur in her mother! She was able to cough it back up and all was good. Whew! So, in order to avoid a replay of that scenario, we've moved on to these rice rusks that dissolve more easily in her mouth when she chews on them. Lydia LOVES these - I think in part because they make her feel like a big girl. She especially likes when Iris helps her eat those fruit puff cereal thingies - and she's been doing a pretty good job of getting them into her own mouth as well!

Like Mother, Like Daughter...

Over that last month, we've been implementing something I like to call Independent Playtime. For 30 minutes every day Iris goes down to our basement and plays BY HERSELF. During that time, I'm able to e-mail or blog (yay!) or do chores uninterrupted, Lydia gets to take her morning nap in peace and quiet, and Iris gets to work on valuable skills like being able to entertain herself. It's a win-win situation for everyone!

Occasionally, however, I WILL spy on her just to see what she's up to - especially if it's been really quiet. Imagine my surprise and delight to discover that instead of playing with toys this past week, she's been doing this:

She's a girl after my own heart - I often sneak in some reading during Independent Playtime too! Oh, that both my lovelies will grow up to cherish books!