New Babies!

Recently two of my good friends had babies the same week in the same hospital!  And I got to go visit them once they were home.  Fun to snuggle newborns!!

My precious friend since freshman year of college, Annie and her new baby Peter

Annie's super cute older kids-Joe (22 months) and Lucy (3)

Sadie is running away with Lucy's babydoll-oy, this girl!

Lucy and Joe on the train table.  Yes ON.  Oy.

Same day, new baby!  On to meet baby Carolina Jane, the first baby for my sweet grad school friend, Kate

Carolina Jane

Another friend from grad school joined us with her cutie, Shane :-)

Thank God for all these healthy, new babies and godly families raising them.  What a blessing!

Faces of Sadie-20 months

We've got a toddler folks.  She can express her opinions with the best of 'em now.  No full on tantrums yet but she'll definitely cry and run away if she's not happy.

discovered pockets and lovin' 'em

And we were worried about her hair growing when she was a baby?

She loves Elmo (and books)

She's quite the drawing fan, especially magna doodle (which is great because she's been known to eat crayons)

 Still enjoying this little girl a ton but I must say, it was MUCH easier when she was a baby.  We're in the stage where taking her on errands is avoided.  She doesn't like staying in the cart or staying with me and chasing a toddler through Target is not my idea of fun.  Otherwise, she's still super funny, sweet and loves cleaning and seems to be a precocious talker.  Love her!

Art Girl!

Today we got to go to a local public library for an "Artist's Reception."  Who is the artist you ask?  Ella!!  She and one other kindergartner at her school were chosen from all 70 kids to have their artwork hung at a county library for 2 months!  Today there was a reception for the artists and it was a lot of fun.  My parents love this sort of event and showed up with bells on (and a bouquet of tulips for Ella!) to celebrate.  

We also got to talk to Ella's art teacher who had glowing reviews of Ella's art and behavior at school (which is always nice to hear!)  She also said that in a couple years she'll be old enough to be selected for art camps during the summer that are by art teacher referalls only.  She said it's for kids who really seem like they are "artists" and Ella falls in that camp.  Wow!  What a compliment for a 6 year old.  She does and has always loved art so I'm glad it's something she gets to enjoy and excel in at school.  Yay El!

 Sadie and my mom had fun hanging out in the kid's section with Elmo

 Ella's artwork!  I mixed-media penguin piece :-)

 The proud artist!

a close up

 Ella and her Art teacher

Badge on my Sash

Many months ago, we faced our first Elementary School related crisis.  I feel like it was my indoctrination into having a "big kid."  And it sucked.  BIG TIME.  Ella.  Got.  LICE.

I thought it was far enough in the past that I could write about it without itching but no such luck.  Uckkk.  It was the nastiest thing EVER.  I would much rather change nasty diapers and clean up kid vomit every single day. 

I got a call around lunch time from the school nurse that Ella had live lice on her head and I needed to come pick her up from school.  My sister-in-law Amy was over for lunch which was perfect so she could help absorb my shock and fear (and watch Sadie while I left to get Ella).  I prepped myself to act calm and not be squeamish or act like it was a big deal in front of Ella.  I think my counselor skills kicked in and I played it cool with Ella.

I won't go into the nasty details but let's just say there are NASTY details.  Chris and I began what became a 3 week endeavor of washing Ella's hair with special treatments and combing through EVERY SINGLE STRAND to pull of any lice (live or dead) and nits (eggs).  Did I mention we did this EVERY day for 3 weeks.  Yeah.  We weren't messing around.  The nurse warned us it was hard to get rid of and we took her seriously.  Also, apparently the eggs take a week to hatch so even if we didn't see anything, new ones could be hatching any day. 

We also treated ourselves with the special shampoo and vacuumed, washed, froze, microwaved, or threw away everything in our house that could have possibly come in contact with Ella's hair or clothes.  I must say Chris did most of this since he was slightly less grossed out by it and I did more of the hair duty. We were a good team :-)

Apparently, even as first timers, our nit-picking skills are good.  We used a bright light we could clamp onto a chair to see her hair well and let her sit in front of TV while Chris and I took turns going through her hair and watching Sadie. We sent her to school the day after the first discovery of the lice.  The rule was that she had to go straight to the nurse's office and if she saw any sign of lice, Ella had to go home.  Guess what?  She (we) passed!  The first day!  She never had to miss a day of school.  Our analness paid off.

She was a good sport through the whole thing and we never did a thorough explanation of exactly what "lice" were so she wouldn't FREAK out.  And no one else in the family got it which was also GREAT. 

So, now that our adventure with lice is WELL behind us, I wanted to document it so I can look back at it if God-forbid, we ever have to deal with it again.  I will say it was a MAJOR motivation in cutting Ella's hair back in December. I refused to ever deal with lice again with her long, thick, curly hair.  I wanted to cut it off every day during this lice escapade but resisted because she didn't want to and I did not want her to be unduly scarred by this lice thing.

So, I believe Moms should get sashes to wear like Girl Scouts.  And lemme tell you, I earned my "lice" badge.

(And by the way, don't ever google images of "lice," like I just did to add a nice pic right here. You'll be sick.)

Wednesday Nights

Wednesday Nights are when I'm in school this semester (and Thursdays sadly).  But, Wednesdays starting at 3:30pm Chris has the kids through bed time.  A highlight for me is getting text messages with pictures of what they're doing.  Chris is an awesomely creative, affectionate, fun, enthusiastic, and involved Dad.  I could not ask for more for my girls.  The other day Ella and I were chatting in the car and I explained how some husbands aren't as great as Chris is.  She said "I know.  He really loves you and us.  I want a husband just like him when I'm older cause my kids will need a great Dad."  She didn't realize how sweet this was but I almost cried!  What an innocent, pure testimony of what a great job Chris does.  So blessed.

 Working on the quarter collection.  They now have nickel and penny collector sets too.  As a result, Ella can now pronounce places like "American Samoa" and "Guam" because they have their own quarters :-) And she knows facts I certainly did not know like why there are different little letters on different coins (mintmarks). Chris is passing on his love of knowledge.

Chris' post with this pic on Facebook said "$2 bill=impromptu history lesson"

Good Lord I'm thankful for this man.  My history lesson on this would have begun with our friend Google.

 Yes, they are taking apart a Tivo.  Every appliance we have that dies first gets dismantled by Chris and the girls and then thrown away.  This would never occur to me to do but now our girls are learning how things work inside.  Chris is a stinkin' genius.

 

 Recently Ella started piano lessons on Wednesdays so that's part of Chris' routine with them.  At her first lesson, Christ snuck a picture of Ella with Miss Virginia :-)

 

What a great pic to get during class!

 When Chris posted this on Facebook as "a perk to working from home", one friend commented asking "Is she your secretary?" heehee-I'm ok with this kind of "cute secretary" :-)

And a final cute pic Chris took of Sadie.  Thankful for a husband who has never, ever, once complained about having the girls when I'm at school.  Hope they won't miss their Wednesdays together too much when the semester ends!