1st child

Bethany's first-childness is certainly emerging recently.  She is a pleaser, rule-follower, advanced-learner, sibling-protector, and instigator all in one 38 lb, blue eyed, blond girl.  We aren't going to even bother mention her brother-correcting ways. Man...one would think there was three parents in this household...but I digress...

Bethany is becoming a nice lil' teacher to Owen.  She likes going up to her room w/ her brother in tow. They run up, flip the lights on and off a thousand times*, occasionally slam the doors* and then the lessons begin.  (* = both of which they've been instructed not to)

She likes to begin her lesson by putting a book on the chalk board (like Mrs. S), then she goes on to teach Owen the letter or number of the day. 

If you ever get the pleasure of being in her class, make sure you copy her techniques ex-act-ly.  If not...she will make you aware of your faulty ways.

However, she is a very eager and enthusiastic teacher.  Wouldn't you like to be a part of her classroom?

{Snow} Day!

Bundled up!

Barely able to move.

 Excited to finally be outside.

 Taking a break.

Shoveling away.

Randomly throwing snow back on the drive way.

 Throwing it at Dad!

 Enjoying our Snow day!

Our lil' Monkey

Our lil' monkey finally has a more fitting habitat.

After contemplating and planning Owen's room for the better part of a year...it finally came into fruition!

I think our energetic lil' monkey will have no problems getting along with his new roommates!

He even gets to sleep next to his very own lion and elephant!

Just in case you aren't quite sure where you are...

Pretty amazing that the lion doesn't even bother to go for the giraffe. Do lions even eat giraffes? Hmm...best get on Google for that one!

And what did our freshly hair-cut Owen think about it? 

Well...he loved it! I am so glad that his room is finally complete! 

Today is...

Six months since Owen's surgery to correct his craniosynostosis (which just so happens to coincide with it has been 6 months since some of the single worst moments of my life). 

But I gotta say that today...

Owen's

looking

mighty

fine!

Baby Big-Girl Bethany,

Bethany,

Wow! Sweetie! I am not sure when you stopped being this lil' baby girl that I remember. But somehow this beautiful little girl has emerged from that once, bright-eyed, fussy, cuddley little baby.  Now, you are 3.5 years with an immense love for you God, family and school.

When I look at you it is hard to fathom where the time has gone.  You have grown so much lately. Since you have started preschool you have learned an incredible amount of information.  You can recite several pledges, Bible verses, and songs.  You know your alphabet by site for 80% of the letters (being able to write most of the letters you have been taught). You can even write your name and your brother's!  Your memory is remarkable.  You can tell many stories of things we have done even several months ago.  You recognize places and remember what we did there, even if we've been there only one time.

I am just so proud of the person you are becoming.  You are a very caring soul; giving your brother the very toy frog that you just earned from your preschool's treasure box.  While you aren't crazy adventurous, you don't mind egging your knows-no-boundaries brother to do you dirty work. You'd rather make sure to follow all the rules and be well aware of the situation at hand before you get to engrossed in any sort of activity.

You love singing.  Being a member of the SunBeam Choir is a perfect fit for you.  You really love God and seeming to understand exactly who God is. Dancing is your other activity.  I am certainly impressed that you are demonstrating something that resembles rhythm...you certainly didn't inherit that from me. 

Dear, sweet Bethany....I love you very much. Thank you for allowing me to be your mom...it is certainly one of the greatest honors I could ever imagine!

Love,

Mom

Parenting Perks

If we are gonna be honest here (and I don't see why not) there has been the occasional time with the two bambinos where I feel like I am going to pull out my hair.  I don't know, there is something about two kids fighting, yellow and squealing over a single toy amongst an avalanche of a gazillion toys that drive me batty. 

But I've gotta admit, the parenting perks far out weight the parenting frustrations. 
Here are six perks in random order:

(1)  Watching your son's vocabulary expand before your very eyes. He loves point out characters, body parts, animals and a even a few letters in his books.  Today his lil' sense of humor emerged when puts a *clean* diaper on his head and says, "hat".  Then, In his super soft and sweet voice he goes, "Noooooo." 
Man, I love this boy!

 

(2)  When your daughter does something she isn't supposed to do (while encouraging the lil' bro to follow suit) before you get a chance to correct her, she goes and says something like, "But Momma, aren't we cute."

(3) A perplexing parenting perk is trying to figure out why your son loves to cram himself in tiny boxes. This was the third box/container he tried to sit in just in an hour span!

(4) One of my favorite perks is while I am chilling, minding my own business one or both of my babies comes up just to cuddle. Oh how I love cuddling those lil' goobers!

(5)  Getting to eat dinner with your three favorite people in the world, one of which who demanded to wear an Elmo towel to help really simulate a fine-dining experience at our very own house.

(6)  While this isn't the final parenting perk there is...it is the final one for the night. How awesome is it to go downstairs and see a random piece of paper donning your daughter's name on it taped to the wall. If that wouldn't plant a giant smile on your face...what would?



Owen and Do'h!

Bethany and Owen have a hankering for some Do'h.  They love that crazy, yellow man.  Remember when Bethany was 18 months old and she requested the Do'h Santa to be played nonstop...

Well, it looks like Owen loves that man just as much!

The basement....

What it is supposed to look like....

With the help of this man, it often does look nice and orderly.

With the help of this one, especially, while she plays "stations" like they do at preschool,...

 the basement...

is typically a pigsty!

This one also adds a lil' to the basement chaos!



Man...at least they can keep themselves occupied!

Christmas {2010}

The Milles Christmas in pictures {with brief captions}.

Decorating Jesus's birthday cake {with a few sprinkles}

Presents {waiting to be opened}

Using the long-desired telescope {to spy on the neighbors}

Being absolutely adorable {while sporting an ear infection}

Riding in the Cozy Coup {& opening presents, drinking milk and resting in the Coup as well}

Riding her bike {not sure how she became big enough}

We had a blessed, amazing Christmas.

Praise God for giving us his Only Son, who of which we celebrate this great day!

Mary...

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Mark Lowry's "Mary, Did You Know?"

With all the anticipation of Christmas and our own hard work in making sure that Christmas is really about the celebration of Jesus's birthday---and not a generous, jolly ol' elf...Bethany wanted to dress up to be Mary.  

She's a pretty adorable Mary, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, back to my original point. Have you heard that song.  I think being a mother it brings a totally different perspective to the whole Jesus's birthday thing.  I now think about Christmas through the Mommy Lens.  Do you have a Mommy lens? If not...all you do is think through it from Mary's perspective. 

 Sure she knew she was blessed with Son of God.  But my heart breaks when I think about the end of Jesus's life. Did Mary know about THAT from the get-go?  Did she realize just how miraculous and significant of an event was taking place & that her whole life has completely changed directions.  I know that I, for one, tend to underplay events in life & not truly realize their significance until time has passed and I am an outsider looking back. 

Then I wonder, how much did she anticipate the end of Jesus's life. Was she dwelling on it (like, ahem, I know some people might).  Did she cry for him? Did she worry for him? Did she lose sleep at night knowing the inevitable?

For being such a joyous and emotional event....just how much did Mary consider when she as she was holding the brand new baby Messiah?

 

I am grateful for Mary.  What a super strong woman....having been so young & yet so instrumental in the salvation of billions of people.

(btw...I am sure the REAL Mary never dragged her baby brother around by his arms...ahem...we certainly would never let this Mary do it either...)

Bethany There was a Lil' Baby

This weekend, Bethany and the whole Sunbeams choir at church treated the 9:30 service with an awesome performance of "There was a Little Baby". Bethany did fantastic, as usual. Here is a video of her performance.

If this doesn't plaster a freakishly large smile on your face...I am not sure if anything ever could.

sibiling differences: play-doh style

 Who know getting out the play-doh tub could provide major insights to your children.  While both kids were entertained for a good 15 minutes with the arrival of the doh.

But there were some pretty significant differences between the two of the lil' goobers....

 As with all her work, Bethany took her play-doh business rather seriously.  Making sure to use the proper tool that would optimize her creation process.

 

She then proudly displayed her creation.

 Owen....on the other hand...loved the play-doh containers.

 He loved the play-doh tools...

I am pretty sure that he is the only kid in the world that couldn't stand playing with the play-doh itself.  This kid surely has me puzzled! 

Simple Parenting Mistake Solved

Parenting Mistake # 2,423,424.667:

 We put up all the Christmas decorations, the Christmas tree and sat on Santa's lap all on the same day with the 1 year old and the 3 year old (who still struggles w/ the concept of time...as indicated by the fact that every day in the past is considered yesterday).  The result of these activities: Bethany thought the next day was Christmas & when it turned out NOT to be Christmas, she thought the next day was Christmas. This went on for a few days until.....

Solution to Mistake #  2,423,424.667:

 Along with the wooden nativity scene advent calendar, I made a large and colorful paper-chain to count down the days until Christmas.  We started with 24 days left & after bath time Bethany gets to tear one piece off at a time.  She knows once she gets to rip the last one, the next day will be Jesus's birthday.  She loves getting to rip one off each day & counting the remaining links.

And sometimes, while she does that, Owen "gets" to eat some non-edible candle decorations, sigh.