Girl's Day in Chicago!!!!

Yesterday was a day for the girls, our LITTLE GIRLS! Jill, Jamie, Krissy and I took Eva, Avery, Emilee and Olivia to Chicago for a day just for them. It was so much fun to watch the girls enjoy a day that was all about them.

The train ride in: The girls...

And the mommas!!!

First stop: American Girl!

My little girl carrying her little girl

Trolley ride!

Navy Pier!

The Ferris wheel is the best way to see the skyline...

Olivia and Eva on the Lighthouse ride

Lego store

The "Bean" at Millennium Park

Olivia: "I don't want this day to EVER end!"

Creator, Artist, Ballerina - girl

Olivia wears alot of "hats" during our days together...

Creator - It turns out this is a tray for daddy to use when he wants to eat in the living room.

Artist - This is Olivia's body traced onto paper (its a little distorted, she was giggling the whole time I traced her, she is so ticklish!)

And here is our ballerina girl. She got a new leotard tutu outfit last night from Grandma, and we haven't taken it off since!

Olivia is 4!

Today is Olivia's actual birthday, but she is taking after her mommy and we have been celebrating all week!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

New dance!

I know most of my posts have been about the kids lately, but that is what I am into right now! HA! Tommy and Olivia made up a new dance one night while I was working at church. One thing I LOVE about Tommy is that he PLAYS with our kids! Olivia IS very persistent, she will ask and ask and ask, and he RARELY says no.

One a side note, I can NOT wait to put up our Christmas tree! I get so excited every year! Olivia's birthday is next Friday and I think we will put it up as part of our birthday celebration! Please let me know I am not alone in wanting to rush this process! We have several small birthday celebrations with family around Olivia's birthday and Thanksgiving. HOWEVER, she informed me today that we will be inviting everyone we know and everyone we don't know. Wonder if she will notice that it is just us!

Noises in our house...

Oh my! Olivia "heard" a noise and is scared in our house. She hasn't left my side for over an hour!!! Here is her explaination (I am typing as she tells me):

"I'll tell you about the noise and you will know why I am scared. I will tell you what it looks like. It went "googgellyy mooogeelly" and it is big and purple and bigger than a bear. And it jumps really high into outer space and it is super-duper real. Its real mom. It is in this world. I heard it and it went (wierd expression and even wierder noise) and I heard it! It is really strange and that is why I need to stay by you. What I am talking about is in Indianecklace (Indianapolis)! I am not kidding, I am serious mom. Can you help me solve the mystery?"

Ah HAH! Now I think she just wants to keep playing. I was seriously getting worried, wondering what had her so spooked!

We went to Sam's today and have alot of boxes (diapers, wipes, tp, etc) and she has them strewn all over the living room, and then pillows and it is path and we were solving a mystery. I set the timer and played with her, full attention! Now that the timer has gone off and I am working around the house, she is scared... hmmm... Pretty sneaky, but good creativity, sis!

Olivia's traumatic day....

After mom's group today we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch with some friends. Olivia was playing in the play area and fell on something sharp that really cut up her little finger! It was bleeding everywhere and she was hysterical.

It is in those moments when my heart is truly outside my body. I think at times like those we hurt FAR more than our children could ever hurt. Although it will heal nicely and she is really doing fine, the look on her face and the tears are something I know I will never forget. She said "I wish we never went here, it is going to bleed forever!" (her verbiage of course, :)) We came home, cleaned her up, got a new band-aid on, munched on some pink m&m's (they make ANYTHING better!), made a pact to go buy some pink marshmallows, and now she is off to sleep. No doubt exhausted from the whole event. In the car and again before she drifted off to sleep, we said a prayer, thanking God for healing her and making her all better, and able to climb trees again (her request).

I wanted to document this so that we can go back and remember times when God brought her through something hard. Its hard to think that someday I will be writing about bigger life events that will come her way, some may cause her pain. Things I won't be able to fix with pink m&m's and strawberry marshmallows, but I ALWAYS want her to remember that we can go to God in prayer and He PROMISES to be with us!

Olivia,

Please remember, the most important thing I can ever teach you, that God is ALWAYS with us, when we are happy, sad and hurting. I know you fell and hurt yourself, but he was holding you and lessened your fall, I am sure of it! Thank you for being so brave, you are such a big girl. Also, thank you for praying for me earlier today when I said my head hurt. You are truly my little angel sent from God.

Love you,

Mommy

Carving pumpkins, giving thanks

Our last week has been filled with fall traditions and spending precious time with family. Grandma went to the Kingdom last Friday, and we had services for her Monday and Tuesday. It was so great to see everyone and celebrate her life. The pastor's message yesterday was titled 'Giving Thanks for Nothing". We should remember to thank God that NOTHING separates us from His love. This reminded me of how grandma taught me to also be thankful for EVERYTHING! For example, when we found a parking spot, she would say "Thank you Lord for this great parking spot!" She truly knew how to be thankful in everything and for everything! We love and miss you grandma, thank you for who you are and your legacy in our family!







Tommy and Olivia carved our pumpkin this weekend! Olivia drew on it first, and then daddy helped her cut it out! We have it sitting on the front porch and the kids snuggle up in blankets right in front of the door to watch it!




While playing dress up I let Olivia play with my veil. I haven't let her play with my wedding dress yet, but won't be long I am sure. She is such a princess! SO you would thinks he would want to be a princess for halloween? Instead she wants to be a cat. Go figure.




Snuggling up!



I love fresh apples! Olivia does too, Logan on the other hand, must have some serious texture issues because he love applesauce but not the apple itself. We are off to the orchard tomorrow to get more apples! I NEVER get tired of picking fresh apples!

"I Forgive You"

Let me preface this post, Olivia learned in Miss Michelle's class at church this past weekend, that "Friends forgive others"

Ok, back to my point. Olivia and I had a VERY rough day yesterday. She just didn't listen to me and at one point really put herself in danger (running out of the car in a parking lot). This is VERY unlike her, she is always soooo good! I realize that we all have bad days, including our kids. However, when it is a bad day for her it seems to throw me off guard. After the parking lot incident, I told her how upset I was, told her I was calling daddy (this brought on the BIG tears! "PLEASE don't call daddy!"). He spoke with her on the phone, we had to stop by the church, so I had Miss Michelle speak with her about the incident too. All in all, it was a very trying afternoon. By the time we got home, I was close to tears, not able to gracefully handle much of anything after that point. Later in the afternoon, I sat her down, and told her how much I loved her and why I was so upset and hurt by how she acted. She looked me in the eyes and said "Mommy, I have to tell you something in your ear" I bent down, expecting a big apology, followed by a big hug and a speech about how I was the best mom, etc. Instead, she whispers in my ear: "I forgive you".

I ALMOST came unglued!!! She forgives me? Then I remembered what she had learned this week and she was applying it her own way. Even though I wanted to explain that I was the one forgiving her, I just let it go and thanked her. We can have the lesson on correct forgiveness context later.

THEN! This morning I really got on her because I couldn't find my brush and I asked her to stop taking my stuff! She apologized and said she won't do it again. Now comes the part where I feel like the worst mom. I found the brush in my bag. I was CERTAIN I saw her take it to play yesterday. UGH! I told her how sorry I was, this time she forgave me in the right context.

Olivia,

I love you and I am sorry for the past two days. I know you are still learning. So am I.

Mommy

Today's Thoughts....

While riding in the car, Olivia asked me to roll down her window so she could pray (apparently she thinks God can hear her better that way).

Olivia: (SHOUTING!!!) "DEAR GOD, PLEASE TELL GREAT-GRANDMA THAT WE SAID THANK YOU!"

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The finished wall! I am really loving the change, Tom came over today to hang the mirror before Tommy came home!

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Potty Training Update:

Ok, Logan has NO CLUE what the toilet is for!!!! He may tell me his diaper is wet but that is it!!! So, my latest effort is to put the big boy underwear on over the diaper. Not sure this is a method in and of itself, but he has also figured out how to take the diaper off, so the underwear make it stay on...oh well, we will try again soon...

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And finally, to the lady who TOTALLY cut in front of me at Sam's. Did you enjoy hearing my son cry and fuss while you took your turn in front of us? If we had gone in front of you, we would have been out of range faster and would have, no doubt, added years of life to your ear drums. But as a christian mommy, with children watching my every move, I just smiled and acted like hearing Logan cry and fuss is the easiest thing in the world to endure. That took up all of my energy and I was cranky the rest of the day. (smile)

Today's Thoughts...

Jamie and I were just talking about how kids learn to sing our names. Remember when Logan was saying "oney' for "mommy", now he is copying Olivia and singing it for my attention... "mooooommmmyyyyyy". How do they learn that? Funny!

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Here is Olivia in this week's favorite outfit. A leotard and skirt.

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Here is a video of Logan saying my favorite word, at the moment, "butterfly". Sorry its kind of bumpy, but he was reaching for the camera...

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I was itching for a change, I soooo get that way! I just need to do something different, so I painted a wall! Its not finished, I need to hang the mirror and do some touch-ups. Here is the before.....

and the after....

what do you think?

Olivia's Version....

Olivia's version of a popular Bible story:

"In Miss Michelle's class we saw a movie, about God's brothers. They wouldn't bow to the statue and they got in BIG trouble. So the man's put them in the FIRE!!"

When I am 25...

Olivia: "When I am 25 and Logan is 24 (pretty impressed she got the age difference right) we are going to Santa Claus Land. AND I might drive!"

This made us laugh because we have NEVER talked about going there, not sure where she heard about it...


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Today was fun but sad for Olivia. Gigi (my mom) came to town to fly to Orland to join Brad, Kerri and the kids on vacation. Gigi came to our house to leave her car and we drove her to the airport. I don't' think it sunk in to Olivia that Gigi was leaving AND that she was going to Disney World, without her. We had some MAJOR tears, she just doesn't understand why we don't get to go...


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I can not BELIEVE the wind today! I was crazy! I can not even imagine what a hurricane is like. I have always found weather to be fascinating... so I started a poll to the right of the page. I am wondering what kind of weather makes the news where you live?

For you to remember...

Olivia, here are some things I want you to remember....

I want you to remember our special "mom and sis" play times (during Logan's nap).

Lately you really like to wash your Barbie's hair and then dry them with the "real" hair dryer. You hold the dryer while I brush, and then I hold the dryer while you brush. Today you said "Mom, do you want to switch barbies? If not, that is ok too." Thanks for being so sweet. Then we get the barbies dressed (you tell me what they should wear, because I could NEVER pick out the right clothes). They seem to always be going to the 'weddin' (leaving off the g).

Then you love to paint with your "real paints", not the watercolor ones. Today I just let you make a huge mess, you had a ball and your tummy was full of paint spots. I took the lids off of all 8 of the paint jars and you mixed them together in different concoctions. I love the rainbow you made for me and I am excited that you are figuring out what colors to mix to make new colors!

I know you get frustrated with Logan, he seems to destroy our 'weddin' right when we are ready to really play. He doesn't mean to make you mad, he is just a boy. So for now, we will just do our "special" play times when he is napping.

Another thing you are into right now, peanut butter hot dogs. I put peanut butter on one side of a piece of bread, fold it over and put more peanut butter on top. It is quite messy but you love it. Tonight I let you eat your peanut butter hot dog in the living room watching a show, you told me you would eat it soon. I came back in and you were alseep! How peaceful you looked. When daddy took you to bed, we tucked you in, your eyes popped open "I'm NOT tired!", then back to sleep. I am amazed at how you fight going to sleep, most nights after we say our prayers, you matter-of-factly inform me that you WILL be sleeping with your eyes open!

ALSO! It makes me sad that you are scared to go to the dr. She really just wants to help you. Today you asked for a dr. kit for your birthday (instead of water shoes) but you don't want the long stick they put in your mouth (to test for strep). I know it hurts but really they are just helping you. I fear now that you don't always tell us when your throat hurts because you don't want to go to the dr. You are always excited to go if it is for Logan! SOOO today, I went to the dr, and I took you with me, and see? I didn't cry! You did a great job of packing your backpack with toys, and you were SOOO good while we waited. Thank you for speaking to those who spoke to you. I know you get shy, but remember, I just want you to return a greeting and do your best to answer if someone asks you a question. It is ok to be shy. When we walked out of the office, there was a surprise in the waiting room. DAD! (it was his turn with the dr) you wanted to stay with him, but we had to go, thank you for not throwing a fit. We are VERY proud of how you acted at such a grown up place.

Just a few memories I want you to remember... Love you sis!

How Do I Put This?

Olivia and I were taking a walk today and she saw a worm on the sidewalk. Since we haven't had rain in a lot of days, it was pretty obvious that the worm was no longer with us. Not sure why, but I found myself trying to delicately talk around the death of the worm. I know we have talked about death at length, but I still wonder where she is in her mind about it...

Olivia: "Mommy, look at that worm!"
Me: "Hmmm, he must be sunbathing" ..... "Or taking a nap"
Olivia: "Or he is dead!"

Guess she is ok with it for now! :-)

Thought Provoking Questions

Riding in the car (coming home from meeting Susie and Deanna for breakfast, fun seeing you girls!) Olivia raised some interesting 3-year-old questions about Jesus...

Olivia: "Look mom, a cross on that church, Jesus died on the cross."

Me: "You are right!"

Olivia: "Was he on the back of the cross, or the front?"

Me: "I think the front"

Olivia: "Did his brothers do it?" (I think she is thinking of Joseph here)

Me: "Nope"

Olivia: "Did he just die?"

Me: "Yes, for our sins"

Olivia: "what?"

Me: another long-winded explanation of forgiveness, etc. followed by a pretty blank stare...

Sometimes I feels SOOO unprepared to answer questions that seem so simple but to a 3-year-old are so complicated! I know she has heard this answer over and over, but I can't imagine trying to process it in her little mind! Praise God He reveals Himself in ways we can each understand. For instance, I told Olivia, one day, that even though we can't see God He speaks to us all the time, like when the trees are blowing in the wind, He is saying "Hi Olivia, I love you". Now when we see the trees moving in the wind she says "Hi God, love you too!".

Toys

Anne posted the other day about toys and I have to share this. I recently boxed up some toys that the kids NEVER play with and took them to the garage to put away or donate or garage sale, etc. Olivia and I were playing outside today and she found the toys...

Olivia's New Bike!

A family friend gave Olivia a new bike tonight! How fun! She is so excited and wants to do it by herself. "Let go mommy, I can do it!"

This is a turning point for me, she really looks like a big-little girl now!! Am I ready for this?

Handy Olivia! (Get it? Like Handy Manny?)

Tommy and Olivia put the new nightstand together today! (Thanks Dotty!) It matches the bed perfectly! Thank you to my Handy Olivia and daddy!

During...


Olivia is so proud! She got to put the "doorknob on"!


After

Don't Grow Up Too Fast!

Olivia just said: "I wish they made kid bras".

I said: "When you get older you can wear one, alot older, like 12!"

I don't even know! Is that when girls start to wear bras? I can't remember and I am SO not prepared for her to be 12. AND since she can't date until she is 30 AND Tommy has to go with her, she really shouldn't rush things.

So to my little Olivia: "Please stay 3 for a very long time! Don't rush things! Let your only stress be not getting to the gas station often enough!"

Short Prayer

Some nights Olivia is just too tired for a long prayer, here is her current short version.

"Dear God, Thank you for everybody we love and everybody we give and everybody we know. And all God's kids say AMEN!"

I'd say that about covers it!