My Shoppers...Again

I recently posted about how Lucy and Molly are so good to go shopping with me. You can read about it here. This past Sunday we went to Walmart as a family to get some groceries. When Ross goes with us we always get two cards. Molly in one, Lucy in the other. (It took us until Molly was about 6-7 months old to figure out that we needed to get two carts. We had no room in the cart for our groceries with Molly in the seat part, Lucy in the cart part, and the groceries around her. Funny how something so little can make such a big difference!) Anyway, the girls are so good to go with us. They're so cute, too!

Little Girl

I love this outfit that Lucy has on. It's a Paw Patrol outfit that my sister got her for Christmas. It's actually a pair of pajamas, but can totally pass for a jogging suit or "daytime" outfit, so to say. She's worn it to the gym, to MOPS, and to Bass Pro Shops one night. I love that she wears it because it's just so sweet. To me it represents the fun of being a little girl and not having a care in the world. I hope that she remains this carefree little girl who loves to wear her Paw Patrol outfit as long as she can. I don't want her to get caught up with "girl" things too soon. "Girl things" meaning makeup, trendy clothing, boys, etc. I want her to stay this little girl as long as she can. I love her so much!

Reliving The Fair

We went to the Ozark Empire Fair this past August and it was a really great time! We went with my parents, my sister, and my two nephews. Unfortunately, my brother-in-law couldn't make it. We hadn't planned on going, it was more on a whim but I'm so glad we went! I have so many great memories of going to the fair as a kid.  

Each summer the last week of July/first week of August meant it was fair time and we always looked forward to it. My parents would make us look at all the livestock first before we got to play games and ride rides. We usually got to take a friend with us and that was tons of fun. It's funny to think back about how the fair changed as I grew up. When I was a little, little girl it was all about going with my family. In elementary school it was all about going with my best girlfriends and playing games and riding rides. In high school it was all about going to scope out boys........such is life I guess!

We had a great time with Lucy. She got to see some of the animals at the petting zoo and really liked looking at all of the lights on the rides. We played the duck pond and a few other games, but didn't ride any rides. The tickets were kind of pricey (something we were completely oblivious to as kids) and we didn't want to pay for the tickets just to have her get scared on the ride.

Molly was a good sport to ride along in the stroller, however wasn't happy on the way there or on the way home. :) We plan to go back next summer and I'm sure Lucy will have a blast and Molly will enjoy looking at everything. Fun, fun memories!

I even got to play a game!

Fun Family Night

Last Friday night we went to Bass Pro after dinner to walk around and look at the fish and turtles. We've done this lots of times before and really enjoy it. It's free and a great way to do something fun, get out of the house, and burn some toddler energy! We had a really nice time!

Sunday School

Ross and I now help teach the toddlers (18-30 months) class at our church. We're on a rotation and only have to teach once a month. When I signed up for this I wasn't super excited about it and I was doing it with another person instead of Ross. I signed up because I felt I needed to volunteer at church somehow and this seemed like the best option for me. I eventually got Ross to volunteer, too, and now we're leading the class.

We taught last Sunday and I decided to have some fun with it. I picked the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread and made a craft and found a coloring sheet to go along with it. The craft was paper plates tied together and cut out fish and loaves of bread to go in the paper plate basket. My plan was for the kids to color the basket and then put their fish and bread in the basket. Now, I know they are 1 1/2 years old to 2 1/2 years old and it could be completely lost on them, but I always appreciate when Lucy comes home with Sunday school crafts like this so thought why not. Maybe something will sink in with the kids and it will be worth it!

I had an idea of which kids might be there, but wasn't sure exactly how many we would have. I made up enough baskets for seven kids. We had one kid. I was kind of disappointed about that, but the little girl we had had fun putting the fish and bread in her basket and enjoyed coloring it, so it was worth it! I look forward to doing another story and craft next month!

Heritage Gifts

For the past several years my Mom has given my sister and I what I like to call "heritage gifts" at Christmas. These are gifts that came from her house and were either used by her, a relative before her, or something Stephanie and I used when we were growing up. I'll admit, sometimes I'm not so happy to receive these gifts. :) Some of the things are miscellaneous items from my childhood that I really don't know what to do with. She doesn't want to throw them away, so she gives them to us. I understand her not wanting to throw them away because I kind of don't want to either, but don't know what to do with them now.

However, the gifts I received this Christmas will definitely not be thrown away! She gave my sister and I her "Merry Christmas" and "Seasons Greetings" Christmas glasses that we used while growing up. We both loved these glasses so much! If I remember right, my parents got the glasses at Sears for signing up for a credit card or something like that, probably over 35+ years ago now. There are four Merry Christmas and four Seasons Greetings glasses and we both loved them. We would often argue about who would get them some day. My sister and I have been lucky enough to find a random glass like this at thrift stores and have gotten them for each other. My Mom split up the glasses this Christmas and gave two Merry Christmas and two Seasons Greetings glasses to each of us. I thought that was very smart of her to split them up. She put them in a very nice decorative box and even gave us the plastic bag the glasses came in all those years ago. I love this gift!

She also gave each of us a very pretty Christmas tree candy dish that was perhaps my Gramma Peterson's? Maybe they were just my Mom's, I don't know, but I always enjoyed getting them out each Christmas because they are so pretty.

Along with the glasses and candy dish came two green champagne glasses my Mom has had at home and some very nice towels from my Gramma Peterson. I loved all of these items and will cherish them and all the memories they hold forever.

My Sippy Cup Struggle

We have lots of sippy cups. Sippy cups for Lucy and for Molly. Sippy cups with and without valves. Sippy cups with and without handles. I have some favorites and each girl has her favorite. One thing I cannot stand about them or figure out is how the blank to organize them! Here's a few pictures of my sippy cup cupboard. For whatever reason I cannot seem to keep it organized! This cupboard is so different from my other cupboards. They are all nice and organized with plates, bowls, serving dishes, etc. These sippy cups annoy me so much! A lot of them fall over because they seem to be top heavy or they fall out of the cupboard because everything is crammed in. I also have bottles, bottle lids, and baby snacks thrown in with everything else. About once a month I'll organize the cups, but I can never seem to keep them that way and it gets all messed up again. My struggle is real!

Happy 2016!

Happy 2016 everyone! Our new year started off on a rough and tired note. I woke up sick on New Year's Eve day, Molly got sick later that afternoon, and Ross was up most all of that night not feeling well. We had a very uneventful evening and New Year's day. It is hard to be sick, but even harder to be sick when you're a parent! I think having a baby compounds it more, too. Lucy is pretty good to play on her own and she can feed herself. Molly, on the other hand, needs lots of attention still! But we survived!

On New Year's Eve night I posted a picture to Facebook of both of my girls sleeping. I've done this the past two years with Lucy and think it's fun. Here's what they looked like in 2014 and 2013:

And here's my 2015 post:

Happy 2016! I hope yours is as peaceful as the sleep in these pictures!

My Go-Cart Part 3

I've posted before about the go-cart I had when I was a little girl. You can read about it here. I was so excited to see it again when we were at my parents' house for my birthday a few weeks ago. My Dad has it all fixed, ready to go for Lucy and Molly to ride some day. Lucy got on it and my Dad pushed her around the yard a little bit.

I can't wait for them to be able to ride it. I spent countless, countless, countless hours riding this go-cart around our yard. I made a map of our yard and plotted out my go-cart course. I even mowed the course one time, but sadly had to quickly mow the rest of the yard, too. Dad wasn't too fond of the idea of having a mowed go-cart track in our yard. Oh well. I had a helmet to wear and a driver's license, too. Oh how I loved this go-cart! Thanks for fixing it up, Dad!

O Be Careful Little Eyes

My station of choice anymore while driving in the van is pretty much Lucy's CDs of nursery rhymes and Bible songs. We recently got a new Bible songs cd from Gumma and it has the song "O Be Careful Little Eyes What You See" on it. I've heard this song several times before and sang it as a kid, but this time I listened to it a little differently as an adult. Read through it and think about what the words say. It's such a great example of how to live your life... 

 

 

O be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little eyes what you see

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little eyes what you see

 

O be careful little ears what you hear

O be careful little ears what you hear

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little ears what you hear

O be careful little hands what you do

O be careful little hands what you do

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little hands what you do

 

O be careful little feet where you go

O be careful little feet where you go

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little feet where you go

O be careful little mouth what you say

O be careful little mouth what you say

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little mouth what you say

God Made The Thumb And The Hand and The Finger And The Sky....

When I got to my MOPS meetings, Lucy goes to her classroom which is basically like a Sunday school class. I look forward to seeing what she will come home with each time we go. She has some sort of book like the pictures below, coloring pages, and a craft. The two ladies that teach her class are the best ladies. They have everything prepared and Lucy really enjoys her time there. (Sometimes she's a little clingy to me when I drop her off, but she is always playing and laughing when I pick her up!)

I keep the items she comes home with and we go through them throughout the week. Her "The Story of Creation" book is one of my favorites. Each page is devoted to something God created and I ask her what each page talks about. It's so sweet because she says what was created on that page and she also says "the thumb and the hard and the finger..." because there's a picture of God's hand on each page. It is just the sweetest thing! You can watch a video of her going through the book here.

 

A Cricut And Vinyl

I got a Cricut cutting machine for my birthday in 2014 and just had a chance to put it to use this past summer. I haven't had a lot of time to do much with it, but so look forward to doing using it in the future. This machine is so cool! I made these water bottles by cutting out names in vinyl and then I made the girls shirts with their names on them by cutting out iron-on vinyl. There are sooo many things I can make with this machine can can't wait to work on different projects. Now to find the time..... :)