A County Fair Birthday

Sunday was an awesome day for a birthday party! When we got up, the sky was pretty gray and I was worried it might rain... but alas the sun came out and it was a beautiful afternoon! We really couldn't have asked for better weather. The theme for the party was "county fair," so I served fried chicken, corn on the cob, watermelon, caramel apples, popcorn, lemon shake-ups and whoopie pies filled with ice cream for dessert. I try to challenge myself to throw a great party on a budget, so I designed the above invitations myself on Adobe Illustrator. As complicated as that program was to learn, I was really proud of myself for how they turned out! They looked even better printed out on card stock, which I basically did for free at the school I work at! There are definite benefits to working somewhere with a technology lab and a print shop. :)

Before the party started, there was all the food to prepare. Annabel wanted to help assemble the whoopie pies :)


Annabel had been talking about her bounce house for MONTHS. She was so stinkin' excited about it. I underestimated how difficult it was to transport and set up, though, and for a few minutes I thought it might not actually happen. I was going to let daddy explain that one ;) However, they got it set up and the kids had an amazing time bouncing the afternoon away!









Asher had fun at the party, too!


This picture is the epitome of Asher's personality. He is always smiling, cooing, or flirting!


Poor kid got stuck in his car seat while we were setting up, but he was quite amused by these balloons!! He kept laughing as they would blow close to his face!


Spending some quality time with grammy


After eating, it was time for games and face painting. The kids waffled between pirates, butterflies and toy story paints :) This is my sweet cousin Abby, who while quite a bit older than the rest of the kids, kept them entertained and seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit!



After Annabel's face paint wore off, she just looked dirty ;) Actually, I think it's probably fair to say that she WAS pretty dirty by this point!

Then, FINALLY, time to open presents!! Oh, the joy!


A new umbrella! How fun!




A Bambi purse and some books


The hat mommy made her

She got so many lovely and fun presents! She got lots of books, including 3 new Fancy Nancy books, which she loves, lots of new craft stuff and a play-do factory! She also got a really cool princess dress, which I think she's going to wear for Halloween this year.

Sneaking some popcorn .... oh well, it's only your birthday once a year!

Milling about...

This gives you a closer look at the pennant banner I made for the party. I love the colors and the way it turned out!

After presents we amused ourselves by reading Fancy Nancy aloud. :) It's pretty amusing stuff.

Ashi thinks Fancy Nancy is pretty silly.

And after the party:

Both kiddos, completely zonked out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LITTLE FANCY ANNABELLA!

Is it September already?!

This week has been my first week back to work after being off all summer. I won't lie, it's been a hard adjustment. I'm only working 3 days a week, but it just seems like we're so busy now. The night's are hectic because Annabel naps at daycare so getting her down for bed is a bear. And there's milk to prepare, bottles and pump parts to wash, lunch to pack, supper to make and baths to take, all while trying to sneak in some snuggles and fun. I find myself really missing the uncomplicated days of summer when we relaxed at home all day and got the little girl to sleep by 7 *sigh.* And to make it worse, it's been really hard sending Asher to daycare when he's still so young. I'm not super-comfortable with our daycare right now (just little things - or maybe not so little since I can't get them off my mind...) so I'm not really sure what to do about that. I need to work- obviously for financial reasons but also for licensing purposes, and we don't have a lot of options child-care-wise. So I guess I'm just praying and trusting that God will answer and provide.

On another note, I've started volunteering in the church nursery. I work every 4th Sunday as a "team leader." That basically just means I'm in charge of changing all diapers and doing the snack/story for the different classes :) Annabel likes to stay with me on those days instead of going to her class- she is my little helper!

Ashi's getting so big and fun. He is SUCH a happy, easy baby. I don't know how many people have commented on just how "good" he is (I have contention with that- I know, I know, ME? contention? Never!) but anyway he is just the sweetest little thing. And soooo cute- I could just sit and stare at him for hours!

Annabel still loves to help with him :)

Look at how big he is! He is well over 13 lbs now- at 10 weeks! He's already grown out of most of his 3 mo clothes and is well into 6 mo stuff.

I've been knitting up a storm this summer. I have made several sets of hats/booties or just hats for all my friends having babies. I've made at least 5 hats and 2 sets of booties! And I finally finished these pants for Asher that I've been working on for a while now. Cute!

Last weekend we helped our high school youth group with their "Amazing Race." Well, Derek helped with it while Annabel and I swam ;) Haha. Anyway, we had a really fun day and it was nice to get to know some people from the church better.

Derek and I both have 4 days off this weekend (well, I always have 4 day weekends, but he usually doesn't!) Yesterday we went to a community yard sale to walk around and have some fun. I gave Annabel a dollar to buy what ever she wanted (hoping, praying she wouldn't want a stuffed animal or a toy with batteries!) She picked these mix-n-match donuts, which have actually turned out to be pretty fun! These were $0.50, and with her other $0.50 she bought a pair of tennis shoes ;) They are two sizes too big, but it became quickly clear that we weren't leaving without those tennis shoes! At least they are decent, clean Nikes rather than something nasty and stinky, haha. She's been wearing them ever since, even though they are clearly too big!

A Duck's Butt

When I was a little girl, my great-grandpa (pawpaw) used to tease me about my belly button and say that a little ducky swam by and left his butt in there. Sure enough, if you look at the folds of my belly button, it looks just like a little butt! I actually believed him for quite a few years, until I got old enough to realize, that, well, 1) ducks don't have butts and 2) how was it going to get said butt into my belly button anyway??

This is one of the few memories I have of my pawpaw, and it's a special thing that I remember about my childhood. I was telling Annabel this story the other day and asked her if she thought a duck had left his butt in her belly button, too? She looked pretty hard at her belly button and finally said, "He DID leave his butt in there... and he left his penis, too!!"

Oh. My. Goodness. What am I going to do with this child?!?

Simple Kids

I just found this website, Simple Kids, and I love it! Just thought I would share...

I love the post on Simple Chores for kids. Annabel loves to "help" around the house :) Here are some of her "chores:"

*put the cloth napkins in the basket on the table after they are washed and folded
*"folding" her little washcloths
*picking up her toys when she's done playing with them
*putting her shoes away in the hanging organizer
*Putting dirty clothes in her hamper
*carrying her dirty plate to the sink after a meal
*feeding Bailey

Some of these things require more assistance than others, such as feeding the dog. But she loves the responsibility, and asks throughout the day, "is it time to feed Bailey??" Other chores, such as picking up her toys, she does not look forward to as much ;)

Best Yard Sale FInds

I've definitely hit up the community rummages this summer. I did find some cute clothes for the kids, especially boy stuff for Asher! I've kind of found that once kids get a little older, they tend to be harder on their clothes, so I didn't find as much for Annabel. I guess that makes sense, since Annabel

is super-hard on her clothes!

Anyway, what I did find, which I was super excited about, was BOOKS! I found several teachers that were clearing out their book stashes! We got tons of Scholastic and Usborne books, Berenstain Bears, Dr. Seuss,

Little Critter, etc. All for $0.25 apiece! *sigh* I love books.

She Still Loves Me

If there is one thing about parenthood that never ceases to amaze me it is the love that my children have for me.

Everyday with Annabel is challenging for me. She is not a difficult child, but she is in a difficult stage, and I don't often feel that I have the tools necessary for dealing with the job. She is an ordinary 2-year-old... I don't think she's any different than most 2-year-olds. But being patient, gentle, kind and nurturing don't seem to come naturally to me. I struggle a lot with meeting the high expectations I have for myself as a mother. I certainly know what kind of mother I want to be, but it doesn't always play out that way. And I'm not easy on myself when it comes to my many shortcomings (and I guess I don't really feel like I should be, either).

By the end of the day, I find myself looking over the events of the day and weighing whether I feel like it was a success or not, kind of like weighing the good interactions with the bad. As long as there are more good, I sleep easy that night... but when the bad outweigh, well, that's when I'm the most critical of myself.

"Took Annabel to the park this morning and played tag with her. Check. Giggled about something nonsensical, check. Snuggled up and read lots of books while nursing the baby instead of making her play on her own. Check. Sat her in front of the tv so I could catch up on internet time. Fail. Didn't let her help with making supper because she was getting on my nerves. Fail. Said hurtful things in a harsh voice. Fail. Wasn't as gentle as I could (should) have been when making her stay away from her brother. Fail. Took her to the pool and continued teaching her to swim. Check. Punished her for something that didn't deserve punishment. Fail. Made her feel bad about trying to "help"- fail, fail, FAIL."

And yet at the end of the day, when we're all exhausted and at our most raw, it's me she's begging for. "I want mommy to put me to bed. I WANT MOMMMMMYYYYY!" For some reason unknown to me, I still satisfy a place in her and meet a need that no one else can, regardless of the way I've treated her that day. It is a very humbling knowledge. I don't deserve to be loved so unconditionally, and yet there it is. In her little 2-year-old eyes, I am her whole world. She sees herself through the lens of mommy and how mommy treats her. Eventually she will view God by the way she is treated by her parents.

I can not take this for granted. I know there will come a time when she will stop loving me unconditionally, and her love will be based on our relationship and how I make her feel about herself. And truly, that's the way it should be- it's not the job of the child to love the parent unconditionally. But it scares me to think that if I don't get myself together and do better at this, that one day we may not have the relationship I want.

One verse keeps coming back to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9). And grace is for us mama's, too. But it is so hard.

Pics

A photographer I am not... but I do love to take pictures of my kids! I had planned to get some professional newborn pictures of Asher, but it ended up falling through. So I borrowed a nice camera from my friend Angie and went to town. It was fun, but I have a new respect for natural light photographers! So anyway, here's a bit of what I came up with.