End of Summer Snapshots and Quotables

When Abby learned about the ALS ice bucket challenge, she decided she wanted in on the good cause. After videotaping her Daddy, Abby nominated herself for the challenge. We had fun with the challenge. It was great opportunity to pray for the individuals and families affected by the disease.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoHIsdB3vac&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ

Then, she nominated her Mommy. 

 

 Joe wanted me to have a breather day and gave me the space to go spend the day with my mom and brother to celebrate their birthdays with them. I spent the day in one of my favorite places, having lunch and shopping with my mom and Cory, visiting with my Dad for a bit and even getting a pedicure with one of my best friends before heading home to my loves. It was wonderful! 

 

I even had some time to sit in one of my favorite spots with an iced coffee and just think and pray in silence without any distractions. #feelslikehome

 

Meanwhile, the girls spent a day with Daddy and their love tanks were all filled up with quality time from their favorite guy. I was so refreshed and filled up by my time. I'm sure it helped that I got these photos from Joe while I was gone. After all, it was tea party time at our house and he didn't want me to miss it. #bestdaddyever

all fancy for their tea party with Daddy

once again...best daddy ever!

checking out the new ice cream shop in town

Where's my dad?

Abby: Mommy, I know that lady is a lot of years old.
M: How do you know that?
A: Because she has all those cracks on her face that older people have.

just a little alone time: all dressed up and making some masterpieces

 Ashley came for a visit, so naturally we picked a new house project for her to help me with. Refreshing the kitchen has been on my list for a while, so she helped me get motivated to put my plan into action while she was there. Then, Heather came over to help us paint and consult. There is nothing like good friends helping that make the process seem less daunting. I love them! AND I love the kitchen updates. The kitchen is naturally one of my favorite rooms in the house, but I have not done much to it since we moved in three years ago. The chalkboard wall, gallery wall, our new cow Henry, fresh paint, the fun new curtain (sewn by Heather!) and the clipboards with my Nagymama's recipes on them make the kitchen even cozier and sweet for me to spend time in. Home sweet home!

 

Meet Henry the cow! I loved him when I saw him at the store and as unconventional as he was, I knew he was the perfect finishing touch for our kitchen.

 With the end of the summer closing in, we had to make sure we got to at least one summer dollar movie at the mall. Last year, Ella was too little to come with us. This year, we took Ella to the movies for the first time. She loved every minute of it and sat through the whole thing.

Potty training is all the rage in our house these days.  Ella had been asking us to take her diapers off all summer, but we kept putting it off because of our lack of consistent time at home. All of our summer travels made potty training seem pretty insurmountable this summer. We came home from Arkansas and spontaneously decided it was time. It was a long weekend and we were settling in at home. Labor Day weekend had arrived  and Daddy was home for three days. Teamwork, anyone? So with Doc McStuffins and Sofia the First undies in hand, Ella excitedly signed up for boot camp potty training weekend.

Three weeks later, we are still very much in process, but Ella is doing great. It is fun to see how potty training is different for our two girls. Abby was very regimented and determined to get on the potty every 20 minutes when we told her it was time to try. She diligently collected her M&M reward after each success and within the first week she was almost completely potty trained.

Ella's training has has been a bit more of a process because in the morning she takes a while to wake up and wants nothing to do with sitting on the potty. When she warms up to it, she does great for most of the day until she starts playing. Then, she does not want to be disturbed from her focused playtime. She isn't motivated by a reward like candy, but loves the cheer leading section (Abby, Daddy and Mommy) who crowd in and celebrate after each success. Little sister LOVES the attention. Bottom line: She has to be in the mood. When she is not, there are lots of tantrums, which lead to us relenting and then an accident five minutes later. Like we've said before, this girl has got some spunk and she's not afraid to unleash it when necessary. Every day she is staying dry a little longer and having a few less accidents! She is doing great.

Teaching her princesses all about the potty

"My did it!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S_oqcm46K0&index=11&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ

This is what life looks like when Lily is here visiting. Double dog snuggles.

This girl was born for adventure and loves those rain boots.

Recently. we sold the little car I was given when I turned 18 in preparation for our minivan. I have eleven years of memories in this baby, but it was time to let her go. From high school through college to marriage and babies, I like to think what these car windows would say if they could talk. It was the end of an era in our home. 

In other news...

Ella likes to sleep with ice. No really, she does! I have little pieces of plastic ice cubes that I keep in the freezer and at some point I think I gave her a bag of them for her boo boo. Now, every night when she goes to sleep, she requests three things: water, eye-sh (ice) and teddy. How's that for an adorable quirk. For now, I'm hoping it passes before winter hits. Just call her Elsa. 

Abby's current favorite activity: going on nature walks

Word of the month: Masterpiece
We've talking a lot about masterpieces and making masterpieces and that we are God's masterpieces. The girls love to make their own masterpieces. We especially can't get enough of Ella running around saying the word!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx--Ks_Pb2I&index=2&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ

I walked in and found Ella singing Jesus Loves Me to her baby and putting her to sleep. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk-Sg-ro4vU&index=8&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ

And I leave with you with this gem. This sums our family car trips up pretty well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilNIcVKUKkM&index=7&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu6m1Wr6z7I&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ&index=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_m3Yg8jRR8&index=5&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ

(Note: As soon as we took this video, I noticed that Ella had wiggled herself loose in her car seat and I fixed the strap on her shoulder right away.)

Adventures in Arkansas

When Daddy's away, life is never the same around our house. We miss him a whole lot and quickly adjust to a new normal to keep ourselves moving until Daddy walks back in that door.  At the end of the summer, was away on a ministry training trip. Ollie quickly took his post as man of the house. He kept me company at night and of course served as a quality watch dog. At least that's what I liked to tell myself as he slept like a rock next to me at night.

 

 The girls were so sweet and did anything they could to help me while Joe was away.

My little helper doing dishes.

This trip was a little different for our family. Instead of Joe coming straight home when his training was over, we had to fly to meet him because the FamilyLife staff conference immediately followed.  I nervously anticipated the trip for weeks because I couldn't stop thinking about flying solo with two kids. We've been flying with the girls since they were babies, but this would be my first time outnumbered! :) At the end of a long three days without Daddy, we were more than excited to get through our flights and be with him. 

The girls and I woke early and loaded into the car.  As we were walking out the door to make it to the airport on time, the girls both insisted on bringing their kids. I was already nervous about getting all the luggage, stroller and two kids into the airport by myself, but when they refer to their dolls as "kids" I can hardly insist they leave them home alone with "no one to feed them and hug them". When I said outnumbered, I was thinking two to one, not four to one. I thought for sure I would be carrying all of the "kids" by the time we reached Arkansas, but the girls were pretty dedicated mommies the whole trip.

 

So how did we do two flights and a four hour layover in Baltimore? Bags of fun filled with lots of arts and crafts, stickers and snacks! We also were ready with our portable DVD player and headphones if needed. I never could have anticipated how well our first flight went. The girls played so well, that I read four chapters of my new book and enjoyed a snack myself. It was like a sweet little hug from God, a 45 minute vacation for mom after a long three days of single parenting (and in an environment where I did not expect it at all).

Our time in the airport was hilarious. Abby and Ella are so friendly, potentially too friendly. I'm pretty sure I learned the name of half the people on our flight, as well as the person who put us through security, the nun, Steve from Maryland and the lady who sold me my much needed Iced Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks that morning. Both girls would wildly wave and say "Hi" to everyone walking by. If the strangers stopped, the girls would all but open an investigation ("What's your name?", "Where are you headed?", "What did you have for breakfast?"), followed by our life story (without leaving out the way too personal details). I drew the line when Abby started giving out our home address to people I didn't know. 

During our first layover, we enjoyed a relaxed lunch and some ice cream. The girls were starting to get whiney and tired as we quickly approached nap time. I was definitely thankful for our DVD player when the girls settled in for a short show before we boarded flight number two.

The girls napped most of the second flight and repeatedly told me how excited they were to see Daddy and pick their bed in our hotel room. 

Daddy picked us up at the airport. We couldn't have been more excited to see him!

It's no secret that Ella is not a fan of motion that makes her tummy flip, so watching her on the elevator was hilarious.  The first few times, her terrified eyes would bug out and she would take a wide "brace yourself" stance as we went down in the elevator. She quickly learned that if she held on to one of us or held on to her baby doll, the experience wasn't half bad. We captured a video of her actually enjoying her ride. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7hMKyp3_g&list=UUE9rj8wUMKGKSsg2SQUzVMQ&index=3

Our days at the conference were filled with encouraging speakers. Joe and I sat side by side and enjoyed every minute of the sessions. Our spirits were renewed with God's word and our vision was refreshed for the journey. While we were in the conference, the girls spent the day in childcare, which was like a really fun day camp for them. It's not normal for the girls to be in childcare from morning until dinner time, so I wasn't sure how it would go, but they loved their time there. They learned Bible stories, danced, watched movies, did crafts, played with new friends and even took naps! It was a fun three days for all of us!

108 nations represented in the room. 108 nations partnering with FamilyLife to strengthen marriages and families throughout the world with the hope of the Jesus. 

One of the best parts of our days together was the family time we had after the conference. It felt like we were on a family vacation complete with going out to dinner and evening swims in the hotel pool.

a side of cheese doodles and chocolate milk as a treat to go with their sandwiches

Abby saw this hat and begged me to get it for her. She thought a baseball cap was a much needed accessory in her life. Isn't it adorable? She wouldn't take it off. I asked her to take a picture and she willingly posed. The best part was Ella running over to join her. I think you had to be there for the full effect, but Ella just leaned over like she was with her best friend taking a fun pic. Her face says it all...and the placement of her arm! I just love them together. 

The girls played hard all day. Sweet girl was tuckered out. 

this one says it all

At the hotel, Abby and Ella shared a bed for the first time. Bedtimes took forever because the girls couldn't stop giggling, but when they finally did fall asleep watching them was the best entertainment.

Don't those pictures make you want to create an old fashioned flipbook? 

What hotel stay would be complete without swims before bed? Our little fish loved their time in the pool.

As always, our travels home were more eventful than we had planned. On our trip home from Arkansas last year, we got stranded overnight with two kids in the Chicago. It was quite the adventure. Remember that? This year wasn't that complicated, but our travels started at 4:30 at night and when we got in for our layover, we saw that our second flight was delayed a couple of hours. We thought for sure we would be reliving Camp O'Hare in Baltimore. Thankfully, we did board our flight that night around 11:45. Our girls were troopers. They did great sleeping when they could. Abby fell asleep during our layover. Both girls slept through the second flight. We were loading into our car close to 2 am. Abby looked at us confused as we were driving home and asked if we had even flown on our second flight yet. Needless to say, we were all thrilled to fall into our beds that night. 

a little confused to wake up at home after falling asleep in an airplane

Back to School Fashion Show

Abby and I had the best morning getting ready for back to school (or in her case first time at school). The sweetest parts of the "my baby is not a baby anymore" reality check that morning:

1. Abby gets just as excited as her mom about school supplies. We were totally in our element giggling together about markers and new crayons all over Target.

2. We unexpectedly found a hidden Frozen backpack and made all of Abby's school dreams come true.

 

3. While looking for a couple of new outfits, Abby "had to have" a maxi skirt and kid's infinity scarf to go with her outfit. In case I hesitated for even a second, she slipped in, "I want to be just like you Mommy. This is the best day ever. I love being here with you."

4. We held hands, ate a pretzel and enjoyed lots of girlie talk together.

5. Then, we came home and put on a fashion show for Daddy and Ella.

I love this little girl so much! :)