Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, July 05, 2010
Spending time in Crookston
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Hope says...
To Grandma Spears, "Do you like to drive cars? No, Grandpa likes to drive cars, but you don't. (long pause) Grandma, do you have kids?
Grandma answers, "Yes, I have two kids."
Hope, "NO, you don't have kids!"
Grandma answers, "Yes, I have two kids."
Hope, "NO, you don't have kids!"
*****
Earlier in the day, "Grandma, can you brush my teeth? They have snarles."
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Maybe I'm pregnant???
Doubtful, truly doubtful. BUT, I've indulged in some unusual pleasures today that might make one wonder.
1) Coffee. I made a whole pot for myself. Of course, I can't drink more than one cup (and it takes me all day) without getting an upset stomach... thanks to all the years of completely avoiding caffeine... still coffee was delicious today.
2) Teddy Grahams. Our elderly neighbor gave Eva a whole unopened bag of them this afternoon. I took the liberty of opening them while the girls were ALL napping (a rare occurrence), and they compliment a sip of coffee very well. I've never had more than one or two of them since I've never actually bought them, but they're yummy!
3) Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. We had some friends living with us last week who love ice cream (shout out to the Thompsons!), so Eric instructed me to buy lots of it. After their departure, the only varieties we have left are the unappetizing Mango and the simple, but elegant Vanilla Bean. I strongly recommend you try Vanilla Bean ice cream with a handful of teddy grahams thrown in. It was really a beautiful experience, friends!
Do you think I could market my new creation, coffee-teddy graham-vanilla bean? Cold Stone, anyone?
1) Coffee. I made a whole pot for myself. Of course, I can't drink more than one cup (and it takes me all day) without getting an upset stomach... thanks to all the years of completely avoiding caffeine... still coffee was delicious today.
2) Teddy Grahams. Our elderly neighbor gave Eva a whole unopened bag of them this afternoon. I took the liberty of opening them while the girls were ALL napping (a rare occurrence), and they compliment a sip of coffee very well. I've never had more than one or two of them since I've never actually bought them, but they're yummy!
3) Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. We had some friends living with us last week who love ice cream (shout out to the Thompsons!), so Eric instructed me to buy lots of it. After their departure, the only varieties we have left are the unappetizing Mango and the simple, but elegant Vanilla Bean. I strongly recommend you try Vanilla Bean ice cream with a handful of teddy grahams thrown in. It was really a beautiful experience, friends!
Do you think I could market my new creation, coffee-teddy graham-vanilla bean? Cold Stone, anyone?
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Catching Up
Oh, do I have some catching up to do! Life has been moving at breakneck speed for the last few months, leaving secondary priorities (like blogging) completely sidelined. I do hope to catch up and at least blog about Eva's 5th birthday, but in the mean time here are some simple updates:
1. All of us: We love summer. We love grilling and leaving the kitchen a little less "lived in". We love eating on the patio and having some elbow room at the table. We love splashing in the kiddie pool. We love our friends, the Thompsons, who have been staying with us for the last two weeks before moving to another state. We love working in our really enormous garden plot at my parent's "homestead". We enjoy working in our small raised garden beds on our own little parcel of land. We have three or four little green Roma tomatoes and lots of blossoms on the other tomato plants! We loved our most recent field trips to Gale Woods Farm and the Children's Museum.
2. Eric: Just returned from leading a trip to the NEXT conference in Maryland. He describes it as totally awesome, transformative, and I'm sure will be a mile marker we remember when we're looking back on these years. His passion for Jesus was renewed, as well as a deeper love for serving the church and serving/loving our family.
Immediately after returning from NEXT, Eric started his new job which is really, really busy. He spends lots of extra time learning the job so he can be really, really good at it really, really quickly. Man, what a good employee!
3. Me: I am generally racing from one craziness to another. I spend my days cooking, picking up toys and personal paraphernalia, refereeing child's play, applying band-aids, answering the phone and email, chatting with neighbors, making and unmaking the guest bed, and I've just recently started drinking a half a cup of coffee with cream each morning. My, what a miracle drug!
I set a personal record by being in the grocery store with my girls at 9:20 this morning and home unloading the car by 10:00. Three cheers for coffee and for Hope, our unrelenting alarm clock.
4. Eva: Finally recovered from the extreme highs of having a birthday, she is trying to find her place in the world. Truthfully, we've been struggling a lot lately to train and discipline Eva, which can also make fun and loving times hard to come by. But, she is staying busy nonetheless, dressing up in long dresses, jumping off the picnic table into the kiddie pool, playing for hours with her friends, and giving long and detailed descriptions of her own decision making processes. Whew!
5. Hope: Currently fighting a mild cold, her two year old voice sounds extra dopey these days. She also spends hours of the day changing between ballet clothes, gymnastics leotards, prairie girl dresses, swimsuits, and sweatsuits. She hates tank tops and short sleeves and pitches enormous fits if I insist that she wear summer clothes. Her bangs are often in her eyes, but it doesn't stop her from browsing books for hours of the day. She can also be found screaming, squealing, giggling, and arguing with her live-in playmate Malachi Thompson.
Esther: Today was the crabbiest day of her life. I held her a lot and thanked God that she is not normally like this, allowing me to complete my tasks with two hands. She is not truly "mobile", but wiggles around quite a bit and has the longest reach possible. She also has a fantastic gag reflex, which enables her to never choke on or swallow the myriad of things she is able to stick in her mouth (thanks to her amazingly long reach). She started eating solids a few weeks ago and is really enthusiastic. She screeches and howls if we sit up to the table to eat and don't include her. Unlike her sisters, she pounds mashed up table foods like I've never given her an once of breast milk in her life. She is typically really happy, really excited to eat anything, completely obsessed with watching her sisters play, and passionate about biting off large chunks of paper that she reaches with her long arms.
Her bangs are never in her eyes anymore since she almost always sports a little ponytail, and she looks super cute with her four little baby teeth. Basically, I think she's adorable and tons of fun!
Alrighty, that's the to-the-minute update. Peace out!
1. All of us: We love summer. We love grilling and leaving the kitchen a little less "lived in". We love eating on the patio and having some elbow room at the table. We love splashing in the kiddie pool. We love our friends, the Thompsons, who have been staying with us for the last two weeks before moving to another state. We love working in our really enormous garden plot at my parent's "homestead". We enjoy working in our small raised garden beds on our own little parcel of land. We have three or four little green Roma tomatoes and lots of blossoms on the other tomato plants! We loved our most recent field trips to Gale Woods Farm and the Children's Museum.
2. Eric: Just returned from leading a trip to the NEXT conference in Maryland. He describes it as totally awesome, transformative, and I'm sure will be a mile marker we remember when we're looking back on these years. His passion for Jesus was renewed, as well as a deeper love for serving the church and serving/loving our family.
Immediately after returning from NEXT, Eric started his new job which is really, really busy. He spends lots of extra time learning the job so he can be really, really good at it really, really quickly. Man, what a good employee!
3. Me: I am generally racing from one craziness to another. I spend my days cooking, picking up toys and personal paraphernalia, refereeing child's play, applying band-aids, answering the phone and email, chatting with neighbors, making and unmaking the guest bed, and I've just recently started drinking a half a cup of coffee with cream each morning. My, what a miracle drug!
I set a personal record by being in the grocery store with my girls at 9:20 this morning and home unloading the car by 10:00. Three cheers for coffee and for Hope, our unrelenting alarm clock.
4. Eva: Finally recovered from the extreme highs of having a birthday, she is trying to find her place in the world. Truthfully, we've been struggling a lot lately to train and discipline Eva, which can also make fun and loving times hard to come by. But, she is staying busy nonetheless, dressing up in long dresses, jumping off the picnic table into the kiddie pool, playing for hours with her friends, and giving long and detailed descriptions of her own decision making processes. Whew!
5. Hope: Currently fighting a mild cold, her two year old voice sounds extra dopey these days. She also spends hours of the day changing between ballet clothes, gymnastics leotards, prairie girl dresses, swimsuits, and sweatsuits. She hates tank tops and short sleeves and pitches enormous fits if I insist that she wear summer clothes. Her bangs are often in her eyes, but it doesn't stop her from browsing books for hours of the day. She can also be found screaming, squealing, giggling, and arguing with her live-in playmate Malachi Thompson.
Esther: Today was the crabbiest day of her life. I held her a lot and thanked God that she is not normally like this, allowing me to complete my tasks with two hands. She is not truly "mobile", but wiggles around quite a bit and has the longest reach possible. She also has a fantastic gag reflex, which enables her to never choke on or swallow the myriad of things she is able to stick in her mouth (thanks to her amazingly long reach). She started eating solids a few weeks ago and is really enthusiastic. She screeches and howls if we sit up to the table to eat and don't include her. Unlike her sisters, she pounds mashed up table foods like I've never given her an once of breast milk in her life. She is typically really happy, really excited to eat anything, completely obsessed with watching her sisters play, and passionate about biting off large chunks of paper that she reaches with her long arms.
Her bangs are never in her eyes anymore since she almost always sports a little ponytail, and she looks super cute with her four little baby teeth. Basically, I think she's adorable and tons of fun!
Alrighty, that's the to-the-minute update. Peace out!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Working on Bike Skills
We were given a free, beat-up old bike for Eva this spring.
Although she is exceedingly cautious and unmotivated, I think she might learn to ride a bike by the end of the summer. In the meantime, I have more than made up for her leery approach with my giddy excitement for this new stage of independent adventure. 
Eva and I are similar on so many accounts, but this is an area where we totally diverge. I learned to ride a bike at the age of four in one crash-and-burn afternoon. At age five I found some BMX tracks with fun little dirt "bumps" in an empty lot near our house and never looked back. 
On the other hand, Eva will not fall... refuses to risk pain... will not relinquish control, even if it means she will never experience the adrenaline rush of a downhill joy ride. If she can't calculate her approach and strategize a successful outcome, it may never happen. I can already pretty much say "forget about it" in reference to "Look ma! No hands!" On the bright side, she happily dons her shiny purple helmet for each outing.
Differences aside, we sure are having FUN learning!
Although she is exceedingly cautious and unmotivated, I think she might learn to ride a bike by the end of the summer. In the meantime, I have more than made up for her leery approach with my giddy excitement for this new stage of independent adventure. Eva and I are similar on so many accounts, but this is an area where we totally diverge. I learned to ride a bike at the age of four in one crash-and-burn afternoon. At age five I found some BMX tracks with fun little dirt "bumps" in an empty lot near our house and never looked back. On the other hand, Eva will not fall... refuses to risk pain... will not relinquish control, even if it means she will never experience the adrenaline rush of a downhill joy ride. If she can't calculate her approach and strategize a successful outcome, it may never happen. I can already pretty much say "forget about it" in reference to "Look ma! No hands!" On the bright side, she happily dons her shiny purple helmet for each outing.
Differences aside, we sure are having FUN learning!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The day after Eric's long-awaited significant raise,
we were sitting at the table eating lunch. Eva turned to me and said, "Can we get a dog soon?" Likely anticipating my answer, she continues, "Well, we're probably going to run out of money soon. I mean (dramatic sigh), I want an American Girl (doll) and a dog."
Appreciating the hint of humility and frugality in her tone, I was still thinking about how to respond when she continued. "We could get one of those signs... like when someone is really poor... you know... they hold up a sign..." Surprised, I ask, "Like the people who stand on the side of the road with a sign like, 'will work for food' or something?" Eva responded enthusiastically, "Yeah!"
Not sure where to go with this conversation, and thinking that I've certainly sent the "watch your pennies" message very clearly, I said nothing. In a moment I reminded her, "Well, Daddy just got a new job, so we probably won't need to beg for money on the side of the road."
I don't actually know what Eric's new job title will be, but he will working in a completely new role, at a new location, but still within General Mills. He is really, really excited to start! And as I mentioned, his new boss fought for a very nice raise for him, so we won't have to get out our dry erase boards to stand at the corner... unless we buy Eva both an American Girl doll and a dog :).
Appreciating the hint of humility and frugality in her tone, I was still thinking about how to respond when she continued. "We could get one of those signs... like when someone is really poor... you know... they hold up a sign..." Surprised, I ask, "Like the people who stand on the side of the road with a sign like, 'will work for food' or something?" Eva responded enthusiastically, "Yeah!"
Not sure where to go with this conversation, and thinking that I've certainly sent the "watch your pennies" message very clearly, I said nothing. In a moment I reminded her, "Well, Daddy just got a new job, so we probably won't need to beg for money on the side of the road."
I don't actually know what Eric's new job title will be, but he will working in a completely new role, at a new location, but still within General Mills. He is really, really excited to start! And as I mentioned, his new boss fought for a very nice raise for him, so we won't have to get out our dry erase boards to stand at the corner... unless we buy Eva both an American Girl doll and a dog :).
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