Category: Uncategorized (Page 52 of 201)

Today is Madison’s 2nd Birthday.

She is really starting to act more and more like a little kid these days and less of a toddler.  Her vocabulary seems to be growing daily and she’s started stringing many words in sentences now.  She’s also quite keen on being a big girl and doing things on her own.  Oh and she loves to climb.  Recently she learned how to climb out of her crib, but luckily we were able to catch that immediately so she’s stopped.  (whew!)   But I do think we are nearing the end of her crib days.  The tiny toddler bed is about to make it’s comeback for the 3rd time!

I am enjoying her at this age so much. She’s cheerful and social and helpful.  All wonderful qualities.  She can play outside with the other kids mostly unattended.  Plus she lets me do her hair without complaining and can buckle herself into her high chair on her own.  Now don’t get me wrong, she’s IS also 2 and a bit stubborn at times and has recently started fake crying if she doesn’t want to do something (like pick up her shoes and put them away).  But that’s to be expected, right?

We had a full weekend of Birthday activities–none of which were actually for our own family.  We hosted a Birthday party for a friend of Tim’s from church on Saturday and then we attended the Birthday party of another friend of ours (for her daughter, Makaiya, who just turned 2 yesterday).   Makaiya and Maddie are friends–well, forced friends, since we think they should be friends.  Because let’s face it, how many 2 year olds actually have real friends at this point in life… I remember that her Mom went into labor on my due date and I was happy that at least SOMEONE would be able to have a baby on that day.  🙂

The Saturday party here involved a bit more work since I had to clean the house and prep the food and help Tim prep some games.  The weather turned out to be a bit strange (raining then sunny then raining again) but overall it was great. We had loads of fun playing silly games and just hanging out.

On Sunday we went to Makaiya’s house and the kids enjoyed playing outside while we socialized.  Then there was a delicious meal followed by cake and presents.  The weather was much more agreeable–although a tiny bit cool and windy–but no one seemed to mind.

Coming up on Tuesday it’s Maddie’s Birthday (turning 2!) but she’s too young to really understand or anticipate it coming.  Since she’s so young we’ve decided to skip throwing her a party and just enjoy a low key day.  I actually teach that day too, so we’ll do cake at suppertime and open just a couple presents and that’s all.  She’ll have plenty more Birthdays to really go all out.  🙂

This is becoming a family favorite meal.  The kids love it because it’s fun and yummy.  And Tim and I love it because it’s cheap and easy (well, and yummy too).   I’ve always enjoyed making homemade pizzas but I find the crust to be a bit of a struggle for me.  Either I’m too impatient to let it rise properly, or I find it’s too plain tasting, or too mushy in the middle… I seem to have trouble with it.  So, making the pizza on the bread eliminates all of those troubles.  And one giant loaf of bread is only 99 cents at Walmart.  Ye-haw!

I’ve only used half of this loaf pictured!

For any of those of you wanting to give it a try (it’s ridiculously easy) this is what we do:  slice the french bread in half and then in half lengthwise (so you end up with four long open face pieces of bread).  Slather some pasta sauce on, sprinkle with motz cheese and top with pepperoni.  Bake between 400-425*  for roughly 15 min.  or until nice and bubbly toasted.  Done!  See, it’s so easy.  And so yummy.

Nope, you’re not reading that wrong.  I know Chloe’s birthday isn’t until September.  Auntie Jen takes the kids on a special outing for their birthday and this year she decided to combine all three cousins (Kailynn, Allison and Chloe) and take them to a water park in the Wisconsin Dells for an overnight!  As to be expected, Chloe is BEYOND excited about the trip.  She asked if she could pack her bag over a week ago.  I made her wait until yesterday.

I love these adventures and the memories that she’s making.   I’m sure she’ll come home filled to the brim with happiness and stories to share.

Off they go!  (Photo courtesy of Jen)

We are in full swing of summer mode.   Eating ice cream cones, running through the sprinkler, reading Harry Potter, trips to the library, planning birthday parties and watching family movies after supper.

I have found that I have two speeds in life: 1. busy/productive OR  2. relaxed/lazy.

The school year requires me to be fully in my first speed.  I have limited time in my day to get a lot of stuff done before I start teaching.  And, for the most part, I genuinely enjoy being busy and productive.  It’s satisfying.

But after marrying Tim, he has also taught me how to slow down and relax.  A skill I was lacking when we got married.  Completely.

I had no idea how to relax.  I know it sounds strange, but it’s true.

So we are enjoying our slower pace of life right now.  If things take longer than we expected, it’s no big deal.  If we drive somewhere and it’s closed, no big deal.  If Chloe’s piano lesson goes on for an hour, no big deal.  If we decide to eat ice cream for supper, no big deal.  If we can’t get to the swimming suits on a hot day b/c Maddie’s sleeping, just run through the sprinkler in your clothes.  If I want to ignore all of my responsibilities because I want just want to read, it’s ok.   🙂

Ah…. summer is great.

The kids enjoyed taking their annual teacher thank-you card pictures again this spring.  It’s adorable how excited they get about getting their very own photo shoot.  They get to pick places all over the yard to pose and hold their sign.  Maddie was a little difficult this year… but she’s at that age. (Plus, it was really cold the day we took hers! We took these back at the beginning of May.)  Overall, I think they turned out pretty cute!

Every recital I wish I had more students pushing to memorize their songs.  I don’t require the students to memorize the song, but I do think it’s a useful thing to have a song at your fingertips.  It’s also good to really work your brain “muscles” as well.  So, even though I don’t require it, I do encourage it.  This year I decided to try out a little incentive to those who wanted an extra push.

Enter the Memorization Star wall!

If the song was memorized they got to fill out their name on a star and put it wherever they wanted on the wall.  It actually worked surprisingly well for the first attempt.  I definitely had a few students eyeing the wall to figure out who had made it and came the next week eager to show me their song.  I think it will be a fun to bring back the Memorization star every recital!

(As a side note, Josiah didn’t quite have his memorized by the recital, but he worked on it really hard the next day until he had it memorized–and came running to tell me he was ready to add his star.  If you look really closely at the picture, you’ll notice he has been able to add his star on the bottom right side.  I just didn’t have the heart to tell him no. 🙂  )