rainy saturdays & vanilla pudding

seems like we've had rainy saturdays lately. and on one recent rainy saturday, justin was at his soccer game, so the kids and i were playing a good ol' fasioned game of make believe. the kitchen chairs became our car, we made fake money out of index cards, and lisey and i took multiple "trips" to the store and mimi's house. each time, she'd bring her purses (thanks aunt mary!), money, bumma (of course) and even occasionally, her binoculars! even isaac got in on the purse action, though for him they seemed to be nothing but teething relief :)

then she pulled the ever famous "try-on-daddy's-shoes"...every kid looks adorable doing this!

can you tell i've been trying shoes on her lately...she's feeling her toes in the shoes to see if they fit!

more recently, we made pudding. trader joe's makes an all natural pudding...any excuse i can get to have pudding, i'll take! anyway, here we are making pudding. she's wearing her daddy's old smock from when he was a kid (thanks oma!)...and she even got to lick the bowl.

lisey here, izie here, daddy here, mama here, bumma here...

lately, whenever we get in the car to go somewhere, we do "roll call".

"lisey, are you here?" i ask...

"lisey here..." she says...followed by, "izie here...bumma here...blankie here..." and anything else we've brought along with us! don't know if any of you out there can relate, but my daughter is a walking packrat...she has to have both hands full when we walk out the door...or even just to walk upstairs for that matter!

she's growing up before my eyes and it blows me away. there are moments when i just sit and look and both of them and realize just how quickly it's going...i try so hard to hold on to those moments and really soak it up...but it seems nearly impossible to fully grasp the process.

in one pic, lisey is eating cereal at her table with daddy...moms and dads out there, did you ever see a picture of your child and sit back blown away because you feel like you've caught a glimpse of what they will look like when they're older? the cereal pic did that for me...every time i look at it, i stare until i have to force myself to look away, because i can't shake the feeling that i'm looking at my daughter's face years from now...

isaac did this to me today too. he was taking a nap on our bed and i walked in to make sure he was alright. and as i looked at his long self, laying on his belly, face turned toward me, in his blue pants and maroon hoodie...i felt as though i was looking at a toddler or little boy laying there on our bed! i couldn't believe that's my baby!

here are more pics of the kiddos these days...i am more and more thankful that i am a stay at home mom. every day there are moments that God uses to remind me what a privilege and joy this calling is, that i call my everyday life.

i couldn't resist taking a picture of this early morning get up! (and for those who may not know, that is "bumma" in her hand)

HELP! our camera stinks!

we have been talking about getting a new digital camera for over a year now. the time is finally here! our camera is so old and so past its prime that i have to hold the memory stick in just the right way in order for the picture to take! oh my goodness! just writing that makes me feel like a flintstone living in the jetson's world!

so...what does everyone recommend? i'm looking for digital camera suggestions...what do you love? which ones should we steer clear of? any options you're so glad you have? ones you wish you had now that you know about them? preferences on memory sticks vs. other memory options...

thanks everyone! hopefully our blurry pics will be a thing of the past very soon!

our boy

isaac's dedication

papa's birthday

nothing like it, part 2

simply put, yesterday was nothing like the day before that i posted about...and for those who enjoyed the sweet rocking chair moment, i just had to post this one (though truth be told, my pride almosted kept me from doing it!) cue the circus music...

so yesterday started with another walk, though this one was much more stop and go because morgan kept pulling me to the left for some reason, which in turn pulled us more and more into the center of the road. thankfully, we don't live on busy streets, so no big deal. a bigger deal, however, was when we passed a house with a pitbull mix, whom i've met before and is really very gentle. but when he got a look at morgan, he made a barking run for us. morgan, in turn, barked back and proceeded to attempt to drag me around the parked cars to get at this dog. thankfully, pitbull was on a run and morgan wasn't strong enough to outpull me. we moved on from there quickly :)

then when we got home, isaac napped while elise and i played a game and drew with crayons. he woke up, nursed, and then it was time for elise to clean up...this turned into a correction moment. while i was trying to get her out of her seat to sit on time out, isaac started pooping in my arms. "no problem," i thought..."his poops haven't been that massive lately...i shouldn't have to worry about leaks." not true this day. as elise's behavior escalated, so did his poop, until it was leaking through his shirt and onto mine. a moment of grace entered right here (when i needed it most)...as i was changing isaac, elise finally said, "sorry mama...sorry mama." PRAISE GOD!

after this, it was nap time for both of them. elise requested that i rock both of them together again. did i have the sweet moment like the day before? nope. instead, we had an awkward, uncomfortable rock, to which neither could really get into a good position. so i attempted to lay isaac on the floor and then slide elise down to stand while i readjusted...but instead of sliding to her feet, elise (who i guess wasn't reading my mind at that moment and who was more asleep that i thought) slid off my lap and landed face first on the edge of the ottoman.

and the mother of the year award goes to....

could i have apologized any more?! oh my goodness, i felt horrible! after cleaning up her fat bloody lip, she just looked at me with those gorgeous eyes, and wimpered, "rock?" so we did. elise and i rocked, with isaac screaming on the floor...she passed out in my arms...and he did too about 10 minutes later. whew...

i was still able to smile and chuckle somewhat in the midst of this, thank Jesus once again, and echo the theme from the day before...there's nothing like it.