Between Here and There

  Parks, picnics, walks, grilling out, backyard play, and more park visits - it's FALL and time to be outside.    *thanks to kristen for the photos from yesterday's first of many days at the park.

Quick get this post up before Kyle sees.  I saw a snippet of a Discovery Health show back in March and decided to give it a shot ( raising your children in a gender-neutral environment ).  I'm really just kidding about that. Actually there is no hope of Jack escaping princesses, tutus, necklaces, and purses.  All he knows is that they are the things to want and so there are many times that we find Jack and Lillian fighting over the same purse.  She however rarely fights to play with his trucks.   Sorry, I just knew he would be such a cutie, I couldn't help myself. On another note Lillian has completely fallen in love with coloring and drawing and writing notes.  She can spend hours at the table drawing.  I know she would love it if I would just set up an area (all for her) with painting and play-do and crafts galore.  Then she really would be set.

GO Baylor Bears!

Kids had fun playing night-night one day in the dining room. Jack even tried to trick me today on the way home in the car. He has a habit on falling asleep close to 12pm if he's had an active or early morning and then it messes everything up because he hasn't had lunch, etc. So usually Lillian and I have to keep saying "Don't go to sleep Jack". When I look back today he seemed close and then I tested him and looked back again and he'd closed his eyes. He loved the trick and kept trying to do it but couldn't be quite as convincing since he was watching my reaction with half-shut, half-open eye lids.

This photo is not meant to scare Jenny who arrives tomorrow night for a weekend visit. This was taken this afternoon and the completion cannot be far off. Since then a new window has been installed. Now we (hopefully mainly Kyle?) just need to....

We were all out the door this morning by 8:30 (Kyle out at 8). Not the natural thing to do on a Saturday morning but we had things to do. Kyle was at Parent's Weekend on campus making himself available to talk with parents regarding their students/ his class. The rest of us headed to a garage sale where I found a lamp and shade, Cars bed sheet for Jack's crib, two sippy cups, and a fake pearl necklace for Lillian all for $3.10. I am always looking for sippy cups and was particularly hoping to find a lamp and shade for my bedside table. And I did. Next we were just going to drop by the Pharmacy and pick up a prescription for Wesley. Both he and Jack had their check-ups yesterday and are doing great. Wesley is 26 inches and 15 lbs. Jack is 34 inches and 24 lbs. I changed our plans when I remembered a pond and park I have been wanting to visit with the kids. It was a very cool place with lots of potential (for the fall weather). The park area was a bit neglected but the p...

Lillian is really enjoying listening to music these days and is really quick in learning a song. I switched my music to almost exclusively Christian radio awhile back so she has learned a lot of great songs with beautiful truths about Jesus and life as a Christian. One of our current favorites is Hold us Together by Matt Maher (see the video on the left side). If you haven't heard it yet check it out and you will be easily hooked on this great tune. Today after making super easy chocolate pudding with Lillian and she had some after lunch she came over to me and said "This is the best day of my life." And then with a smile, "It would not have been possible without you." The first phrase closely resembles one in the above song. The second, who knows where it came from? Her dad has been sharing some other songs with her as well. You can ask him about that...

Jack, Wes, Lillian, Mommy, Daddy

Gemma Taylor Gieser Arrived September 01, 2010 at 2:17pm 6 lbs, 8 oz. Waiting for a picture to include. Congratulations to Julianna and Jim.

I probably shouldn't have posted this particular picture of Jack with his bopbop in considering the topic below. Jack hits 22 months this week. Jack and I are able to communicate fairly well considering he has an extremely limited vocabulary. I think he says: ma, bug, and go. That's it. He has in the past had other words that he now refuses to say. Go figure. By 12 to 15 Months Kids this age should have a wide range of speech sounds in their babbling and typically say one or more words (not including "mama" and "dada"). Nouns usually come first, like "baby" and "ball." Your child should also be able to understand and follow simple directions ("Please give me the toy," for example). From 18 to 24 Months Though there is a lot of variability, most toddlers are saying about 20 words by 18 months and 50 or more words by the time they turn 2. By age 2, kids are starting to combine two words to make simple sentences, such as ...

Helping Dad finish installing the new vanity. Cooling off in the pool. I'm still a cutie.

This afternoon I read Lillian the book Mama Loves . It's a very simple and sweet book. It got me thinking about some homeschooling ideas in prep for learning to read. This would be a good book because it has lots of repetition. The story ends with telling the child that maybe one day you'll have a child to love on. Lillian carried on the conversation about becoming a mother. I told her that I would call her on the phone and tell her children that Grandma loves them. Then she stopped me, "Why are you calling me? I'm going to be living with you." I just replied by telling her that she was very sweet.

Many of you know of this recipe and the legend behind it. If not, read here . Lillian and I made them tonight (and 2 weeks ago). I usually half the recipe so it'll fit in my kitchen-aid. I was reminded of this recipe from Carolina Blessings , a wedding gift from my highschool homeroom teacher. Incredible Chocolate Chip Cookies 4 sticks unsalted butter, softened 2 cups sugar 2 cups brown sugar 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 4 cups all purpose or cake flour 5 cups oatmeal, processed in batches in blender until powdered (*must do) 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons baking soda 24 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 milk chocolate bar, grated 3 cups chopped nuts (*unfortunately left these out since there were none in the house) Preheat oven to 375. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, chocolate bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on an ...

Finally I'm getting around to posting some of our pics from the beach week in North Carolina a month ago. We went with my parents, Rachel and Asher, and Julianna (Jim was back at IU for work and Craig in Florida for a class). It was too bad that it did not work out for everyone to there - we missed the PO Hawkins, and Pete and Rita were on their honeymoon of course. A lot of hanging out indoors (well, when we weren't at the beach or one of the two pools). The weather was ridiculously humid. Really! My glasses would fog up the second I stepped outside. Ugh, only bearable in you can jump in the ocean.

This morning as I was putting Lillian's hair up in a pony tail she complained about the pulling and said "this is not what I want Mom!" Next she ran to the mirror and exclaimed "This is a disaster" after inspecting her appearance. Just now as I explained to her why I couldn't/wouldn't read to her while I was feeding Wes, she replied with a simple "that's just a disaster."

Kyle and I started renovating our two tiny bathrooms before we left for vacation at the beginning of July. The plan is to put in new everything but leave the layout/plumbing the same. Here is the before picture. Notice the ugly but useable tub/shower. These next ones are of the progress. The new tub is in and shower is being tiled, so pretty but not so useable. New toilets and tiled floors. Unfortunately things did not get quite finished before we left. The main thing is the shower that needs to be finished tiling and the replacement window in the shower area. And of course the two sinks need to be installed. We have been managing fine without the use of completed shower. I put up plastic so that we can still use it but I still try not to especially since most children, mine included usually use bath time as play and splash time. Besides jumping in the pool at the Y and showering afterwards, here are a couple other bathing options.