Catchin Up

Working on trying to catch up on the blogging.  So. behind.  Here are some pictures from when Grandma & Grandpa C visited a few weeks back.

Pa & Ganma brough this nifty puzzle book that was a gift from some good homeschool friends of ours.  Mrs. Laura (the mom) is one of the most incredible, joyful, enthusiastic, patient women I know. She is mother to 7 children -- 5 of which have the fragile x syndrome & 1 who also has cyrebal palsy.  And yes, you read it correctly,this woman homeschools them all.  Well, all that are still at home.  Her oldest, Michael, now trains navy seals.  She also finds time to craft beautiful gifts for others, teach piano lessons, serve in her local church, and possess a huge smile while doing all the above (and the many other things she does not listed).  She has found creative, hands on, innovative ways to teach her children so they can remember.  My mom has evalauted them for 20 years and is always amazed by how this mom helps her kids learn. So, thanks Mrs. Laura for the great book!

Pa always finds it necessary to take his girl to the donut shop on his visits here.  It might just be his excuse to get donuts...  Ivory finds the donut holes to be especially delicious.

I think we might have a mini perfectionist on our hands:

I turned around to find these perfectly lined up.  Yes, "all by self!" (one of Ivory's favorite sayings). As you can see, she's quite proud of herself.

Micah man is still as chill and content as ever.


Sunday Best - Ivory
Ganma & Pa also brought this gift from Aunt Nancy M.  Ivory wanted to try it on immediately upon seeing it.  Love my little princess.



Later that day she came waltzing out in Mommy's high heels.

I thought adding the feather boa, hat & purse would complete the look.  She did too...for about 30 seconds.


Chillin with Dad
Ivory has come to love waking up slowly in the morning.  Lately she doesn't wake up until around 9am (and this momma is not complaining about that!).  She'll quietly talk & play in her big girl bed for a little while.  When I do come to get her she jumps up with joy, grabs blankie & bear and walks over for me to pick her up.  She then asks for milk and to watch Coos Coos (translation = Blues Clues) where she learns valuable lessons such as sharing, how to express your emotions and how to deal with frustration--an especially good lesson for this somewhat impatient princess (although she has really grown in this area, praise God!).  This particular morning she was chilling on the couch watching Cars with daddy.

Cars has become one of her favorites.  She was recently watching it in the car when she looks at me and says, "Ride in red one?"  I asked her to repeat her statement/question.  She says again, "Ride in red one?"  I asked her if she wanted to ride  in the red car and she says, "Ride in red one."  So, apparently our ride wasn't as sweet as Lightning McQueen.  Guess we'll have to keep this girl away from race car drivers lest she begins feeling the need for speed.

I can I just say this sight totally warms my heart?  I love watching my little girl all snuggled up with her daddy.  The only thing better is when little man joins them...as long as Ivory isn't harassing him, poking his face and jamming keys into his head (yes, she definitely did that last night.  His pitiful cry and real tears nearly sent me over the edge).

Donuts
Yes, more donuts.  People apparently find it especially exciting to bring this little girl donuts--and to tempt this dieting momma with them.  We were delighted ot have Jason's friend Neil visit us and he graciously brought us donuts from the local donut shop.  As Ivory had already enjoyed four bowls of honey chex we decided to wait until the next morning to enjoy her chocolate iced delicacy.  Ivory enjoyed watching The Chipmunks Squeakal with Neil while she ate her ceral.  It provided great discussion material between the two.  Ivory thoroughly enjoyed Neil's visit.  She loved that he talked with her like another adult and enjoyed making play dough snakes and tomatoes with him while Mommy & Cassie sewed.  The next morning she woke up asking, "Where Neil?  Where Neil go?  Come back!  Neil, come back!"  Guess you'll have to come visit again soon, Neil.





Micah Man
Micah is growing bigger & stronger every day.  He has nearly outrgown all his newborn clothing. Although it's sad to put away the old clothes, it's fun bringing out the clothes I put away while pregnant with the anxious anticipation of one day seeing my little boy wear this outfit or that.  Micah talks, coos, laughs, and smiles all the time--especially in the morning.  His smiles makes it so much easier to deal with early wake up times.  And I promptly forgave him for waking me up at 5:40AM last Sunday (Aug 1st) when he smiled at me and then rolled over!  What a strong boy.  I think he's just trying to keep up with his cousin Larissa (2.5 weeks younger!) who rolled from her back to her stomach the week before. She's a feisty one that's for sure.





He's so much more content during tummy time then Ivory ever was.  But then, he's much more content with life then his sister has ever been.  Ivory has a great zest for life, but sometimes her passion is very misguided.  She loves to ride the rollercoaster of emotions.  But then, that's part of what makes her so fun.  Micah might cry for a minute...

...but he's usually over it rather quickly and is back to his normal, sweet self.  I think he takes after his Uncle Matt in personality.  Jason appears to be laid back, but he has quite a bit of fire under that seemingly calm demeanor.  Which, of course, is one of the things I love best about him.  Matt is the same in some aspects, but does lean on the even more chill side.  Not to imply that his calm personality has diminished his drive to achieve--he is also an Eagle Scout like his brother, works & serves in the media department at his church, has made excellent grades in his two years of college, and serves at home whenever asked.  We're excited that he'll be coming to college only 1.5hrs away from us and hope he'll come visit some weekends.


Sunday Best - Micah
Not to be outdone by his sister, Micah also sported some sweet duds for church.

Love his little old man shoes. =)


The kids have been a true delight these past 3 weeks.  Ivory has finally seemed to accept her little brother and realizes that nothing about Mom & Dad's discipline & expectations has changed with his arrival.  While tantrums and melt downs have definitely not retired for good, she now interacts delightfuly with her brother (most of the time), plays well by herself again, asks politely for help or whatever she wants ("peeease come in kitchen" or "peeease help"), and is just all around more joyful and a true delight.  Those 2 months following Micah's birth were definitely rough going in the Ivory department, but we stuck to our guns and she finally caught on.  For being so smart you'd think she'd catch on to discipline and rules a little faster, huh?  We hope Micah decides to learn from his sister's mistakes and doesn't feel the need to rub his finger in whatever you expressly told him 2 seconds ago not to touch.  Yes, I know you don't believe that angelic face would do such a thing, but oh is it deceving. Now if only I could get her to stop asking me so politely not to sing.  It really does something to your self esteem to be singing while cleaning/washing dishes and to have your almost-2-year-old look sweetly up at you and say, "Peeeeease, stop.  Peeeeease stop."

Well, that catches us up on some "around home" activity.  Soon I hope to catch you up on our recent outings and trip.

Now it's on to potty training preparation--yes, today is the big day.  We've been preparing since Saturday and we'll see how it goes.  Pray for us!