The Beans

The Big Move

2012-01-23T17:09:00.000-05:00

Friday morning Josh picked up the truck and worked all day loading the truck while I worked upstairs finishing the last minute stuff and cleaned. So many people came out to help at different times and we are so grateful. I lost count but most people stayed for a few hours and then replacements came. We finished pretty late but then as we pulled out the poor girls could barely move, all I could see were there tiny faces sticking out of tons of our stuff. (We organized it a little better for the long drive so they had a little more room.)

So I don't have any pictures of Friday...too busy to take any and who knows where my camera ended up in the midst of all the craziness.

The few people that were left at the end huddled up with us, we prayed and then had some tearful goodbyes and then we started the drive. It was sad but also a relief to be DONE PACKING. I basically haven't had a break since July. It's been a long crazy journey.

We drove up to Jasmine and Brady's house in Allentown to stay with them. That way we were already about an hour into our trip but we were too tired to do much more than that after packing all day.

We woke up Saturday morning and noticed that Brooklynn and Sadie had on matching pajamas! And even more unexpected is that we didn't even plan this. How fun.

Then we were off! Josh drove the truck and I followed with the girls behind him. That means we both had to drive the whole time. He had a second interview the week before (or two weeks before? I can't remember, it's all a blur) and drove his car and flew back so we had been sharing my car..and we didn't have to tow it or get a third driver.

The girls (and me...let's be honest) were SO EXCITED to be reunited with Josh at the rest areas. I even splurged at one of the rest areas and bought some ear plugs. Where have THOSE been all my life? Seriously.

Brooklynn was very excited to test out driving the "big truck".

So I wasn't sure how fast Josh could drive in the truck so I followed him the whole way there...and I got SO. SICK....of looking at all the ads on the back of the truck.

Yeah...we "filled up" 4 times on our drive. Except the gas tank never was "full" the gas pump cut us off at the $100 mark. Having a Honda Civic this was very very very tough for me to stomach. YIKES.

Overall we were both completely sleep deprived and so physically and emotionally tired that we were pretty nervous about making the long drive with no "shifts"...we both had to drive the whole way, and Josh in a 26 foot truck. Praise the Lord that we were both alert and completely awake the entire time...it was a pretty smooth drive and we all made it safely.
Sunday we unloaded our truck into two storage rooms. Josh's brother, James came up, my parents came up and Josh's friend Mike met Josh, Josh's Mom and myself at the storage unit. My Mom watched the girls so we were both able to help. It went MUCH faster than the packing/loading part.
I also forgot my camera for this part...but I took pictures when we loaded up to move to Goshen a few weeks later.

Trying to be "Normal"

2012-01-23T17:08:00.002-05:00

In the midst of trying to cherish my girls and help them adjust a little...I would occasionally stop what I was doing and just be Mommy. These moments were much fewer than I wish were actual during these crazy two weeks, but I did try.

Gabby...you make me smile so much. Look at this personality:

And OH my gosh, my sweet little Brooklynn. I LOVE when you crawl up in my lap and watch videos on the computer. It's my favorite.

Gabby eating what looks like oatmeal and french fries...good job, Mommy. (Did I mention that we ate out...like a LOT that last week or two? We didn't have much food or stuff to cook the food in left so we just would keep getting more take out.)

Gabby is OBSESSED with the vacuum. Like she crawls around trying to attack it the whole time. She loves it. She also loves my broom....I think she is going to be my little helper soon.

10 Months Old

2012-01-23T17:03:00.001-05:00

Dear sweet Gabby,

I can't believe you are 10 months old!
10 months old is my FAVORITE age for babies. They're old enough to really have lots of personality, but still little enough that they're babies. They can do so many things by themselves but they also still need you. I love this age. Many of you might not realize...but we moved when Brooklynn was 10 months old, and now we moved when Gabby was 10 months old. This saddens me to no end because for both of you I feel like I couldn't cherish this month at all...in fact it's all kind of a blur. I tried to take many breaks and just enjoy you and all your little 10 month old self was doing....but really...it makes me want to cry when I took one of these breaks from packing and realized, "oh...Gabby is walking." I missed it. I mean...I guess technically I saw you take your first steps...and I realized that you were practicing...but really? I don't know when you made the switch from taking some steps occasionally to all out walking. Because I was busy...packing. Then again, no one told you that you were allowed to start walking yet.

Thursday

2012-01-23T16:55:00.001-05:00

My dear friend, Julie babysits for Cece and Andy since we are moving. (I babysat for Cece last year and since we were moving she found someone else....she splits time with that sitter and Julie for her long-term sub position.)

Anyway...Thursday night we stayed with Jeff and Emily so we could get most of our bigger stuff downstairs and not have to sleep on stuff or need stuff in order to sleep in our apartment. Thursday during the day we decided to have one last playdate and Josh and I brought over the girls and Julie was there babysitting and had Levi and just let the kids play. It was a nice break for her and it was just fun to be able to get one more playdate in before the move. (And we didn't have any toys left at our place...so really it was helpful for us to have a break away from our place.)
We brought the girls home for their naps and Josh and I packed some more and then the plan was to go back over when they woke up, have dinner and Josh, Jeff and Eric went over to carry some stuff downstairs to get a head start on the loading on Friday. Well....literally during the girl's naps, the LAST FEW HOURS that we were technically "living" in our apartment Josh played me a message on his voice mail saying that Josh is going to get a job offer tomorrow. I didn't even think this was possible, I still thought he had another step of his interview process so we were BEYOND excited....I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day just SO EXCITED and GRATEFUL. It was also the first day that Josh wasn't working at Devon anymore...he took the last two days off to help with the move.

So we went over to the Bryant's and right after we prayed for dinner Josh said, "amen...oh, and I got the job." It was so fun.

It was so great being able to do the whole actual move knowing that we had a job, a place we were going to end up and that God was completely providing for us. I can't even begin to describe how excited we were and how at peace about this whole thing we felt, especially now that he had a job. And the timing couldn't be more clear that this whole thing is from God. Basically....if he would have gotten the job and we would have waited to decide to move...it would be too late and he'd probably have to turn it down. Or we would have had to stay home for Christmas. Or we would have had to go home, come right back, and then move. I just can't imagine it being any more perfect of timing.

Here is one more kid picture:

Homemade Christmas Presents

2012-01-23T16:32:00.004-05:00

I saw these homemade hair bow holders on Etsy and I had to have two for my girls...and I also thought my nieces should have some, too. They were $20 on Etsy so I decided to just make my own instead. Looking back, it really is a fair price for the amount of time and energy it took to make them. I guess it was worth it to save a little money.

I was also making all the bows anyway so now it would be more of a present, AND a cute way to give them.

Gabby loved "helping me" braid the long braids. (which was no easy task.)

Here is Gabby testing out all the ribbon to see which ones would make the tastiest bows.

I also decided to make these picture ornaments for everyone in our families...which was pretty easy except when you're trying to do so many of them AND move across the country at the same time. I was way more work than I thought...but they are cute so that is good.

Going Away Party

2012-01-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

Our friends had a going away party for us. It was fun to see everybody and now looking back I'm going to try not to start crying as I write this. I'm starting to feel a little lump in my throat even now.

We LOVE our friends. Each and every one of them has touched our lives and our hearts. We are so sad we will not see you all as often, but we do know it's not goodbye forever. So many times over the years we have all reflected and we have said and other people have told us that it is RARE to find so many amazing quality GOOD friends. We watch football with you, go camping, go to the beach, have Bible Study, laugh, cry, watch each other fall in love and get married, then watch each other have one and sometimes two kids....It saddens me knowing that the road is much longer between all of us, but please always remember that you are still often in my thoughts and prayers. Also know that it will just take a little more effort to hang out. I think the last few years we have taken for granted the short drive it takes to hang out and spend time together...life happens, kids happen and it is longer and longer in between the times when we see each other. These are all things I couldn't really get out that Sunday night because I was crying...but you are all so amazing and we love you. I can't wait to see you each again soon. Please don't forget to tell us about things like our annual camping trip and beach trip because we will try and come. We are used to making the drive to see family out here and like we have said many times...you are not just our good friends but our "Pennsylvania family".

Our friends made us a big framed picture of several pictures of all of us over the years. I love it and it will be treasured always. They also wrapped up a box of Kleenex but instead of Kleenex it was filled with cash they had all put in. You are so generous and it was put to good use since moving is so expensive. I can't thank you all enough...but it is one more example of how God has provided for us in this crazy journey.

Brooklynn had to put the moves on Levi right before we left. They were playing SO cute together.

Shopping Day with Jasmine

2012-01-23T11:31:00.001-05:00

So for the last several years (I think it might be all the years we were in PA) my dear friend, Jasmine and I go Christmas shopping at the King of Prussia mall. And we do the WHOLE mall.
This year we took the younger kids (Samuel and Gabby) and Josh was sweet enough to watch Sadie, Wyatt and Brooklynn. Here are some pictures of their time. It looks like they had lots of fun. I'm glad they were able to spend a little more time together before our move, and it was wonderful to catch up with one of my best friends, Jasmine...in the midst of all our packing insanity it was a nice break.

We are going to have to figure out a way to continue our shopping tradition, either go when you're home for Christmas or Thanksgiving or meet in like Pittsburgh or something.

After Thanksgiving...

2012-01-19T16:59:00.002-05:00

So Josh and I had a ROUGH drive home. We were talking about how nice it would be to just drive home for Christmas and then just stay. We had been talking about moving since July, but not sure when it was happening. We thought maybe November, and then we were able to get our lease pushed until December...and then if we wanted another extension we'd have to wait until March. Well, both of the job interviews that he had went pretty well and we were thinking the timeline for either job would be around January. So if we WAITED until Christmas then we'd not only have to drive to the Midwest AND back, but right back out again for the move. So we were toying with the idea of just doing it once...what would that look like, is it even possible. We also realized that we WOULD NOT have an answer before that. Or if we waiting until the week of Christmas, we'd have to move during Christmas...and then wouldn't have help (or at least happy help.) So then we thought about the week before Christmas...and then looking at the calendar realized that it was only TWO WEEKS away from that point where we were. WHAT??! After much prayer and a HUGE leap of faith, that is what we decided to do. Only a few of our friends out in PA even knew that we were moving in the next few months, but most of them had no idea. We had been waiting to tell most of them so we would have something to actually tell them...like, we're moving to ________ because Josh got a job _________. Instead we had to pack up our lives and tell them we were moving, but we still weren't sure where....craziness.
Everyone was so great and understanding and so helpful. We have the best friends ever. Everyone has been so supportive and so confirming of our decision that we really were following God's path for our lives.
Finally it's almost the end of January and I can finally breathe a little easier after the craziness that we just lived through. It is HARD moving...but it is REALLY hard to move twice in a few weeks and over Christmas, in the cold...and did I mention a few states away? Yeah. We made it work. And we are time and time again reminded that this is where God wants us. Just Sunday we visited a church and it made me tear up a little bit...I looked around and realized it is EXACTLY like what Storehouse (our home church in PA) is hoping to look like in the next few years. They are hoping to build or renovate a space. It was like they went to the very church we visited to take pictures. It's just more evidence that God is taking care of every single detail of this whole move.

In the meantime...here are some glimpses into our crazy lives in December...

Things like laundry got a little bit overlooked while packing up...

Sometimes I was even too busy to get Gabby dressed. (OK, not QUITE...but I just love this picture.)

The girls tried to have fun when the could with all the boxes that were everywhere. (Until we RAN OUT of boxes. And literally couldn't find any more anywhere.)

But speaking of boxes...we managed to score about 5 or 6 of these already broken down stacks of boxes outside of Family Dollar. It was AWESOME.

Gabby got into anything and everything while I was busy packing. Imagine how hard it is to keep a normal 10-month-old out of trouble but throw at her tons of enticing breakable and cluttered objects everywhere she looks. That was my December.

including some remains of our boxes. Gabby found this star and choked on it pretty badly. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. She kept gagging, throwing up, gagging...until finally we saw this in her mouth. After that we made sure to check them very carefully before bringing them inside.

Gabby and Brooklynn spent a lot of time playing with each other since I had packed away most of their toys.

We took the doors off our big cabinet to make it lighter and Brooklynn and Gabby both decided this was a fun place to sit in.

most days there was a stack of boxes by the door waiting for Josh when he came home to stack in our garage.

Brooklynn was really excited when I cleaned out my closet....she found several new purses for her collection.

Brooklynn worked very hard one of the mornings to pack up her desk. (Coloring books, markers, crayons, etc.) She even decorated the box. I kept telling her to pick some of her favorites and she put ALL of her stuff in that box.

This is our garage....and sadly that is NOT all our stuff that we moved. There was plenty more.

Wyatt's Birthday Party

2012-01-19T15:15:00.004-05:00

Wyatt had a cars birthday party that we got to go to. What a cutie!

Wyatt turned 2! I loved the road that went all around the house, what a cute idea!

Gabby and Samuel

Christmas Pictures

2012-01-18T15:36:00.001-05:00

Josh's Interviews

2012-01-18T15:32:00.001-05:00

Well, Josh had two job interviews on the Monday after Thanksgiving. The first one was in Kalamazoo, MI. He was hoping to at least get that job and we could stay with his parents until he found another job. It was an entry level position and he felt over-qualified so we were pretty confident that he would most likely get that. It turns out they would need at least 2 more steps in the interview process, so I asked if he could schedule the second part for Tuesday...he was able to do that so we ended up staying even longer than we were planning, and still driving back after the interview. (It was a LONG drive.)
The second interview was in Goshen, IN. As soon as I saw him afterwards it was like he was giddy. He said he LOVED the company, would love to work there. It's a Christian company so that would be great. The only problem is that 6 (or 7?) other people were interviewing for the same position. As soon as I saw him, though, I just KNEW that is the job he was going to get. He said he felt UNDER qualified for this position, but I kept telling him that it doesn't necessarily matter, they would train him, he would learn, etc. He liked the company so much that he was hoping to get at least SOME job there, maybe even in the future if he didn't get this job if something else opened up.
Well, I was so thankful for a good interview, I was glad he was so excited about it, I had been praying for God to show him a clear difference in where we were supposed to be.
We weren't planning on leaving Fort Wayne until Tuesday morning but then since he got the second interview at the other job we headed up to his parent's Monday night, so he wouldn't have to drive as far and so that I didn't have to get up as early with the girls and we could just hang out in Olivet until he came back.
On a side note...the drive home was awful. We actually almost stayed in a hotel and finished the drive early Wednesday morning. Luckily we didn't have to.

More Decorating for Christmas

2012-01-18T15:21:00.001-05:00

Josh had two interviews the Monday after Thanksgiving so we stayed longer than my sisters and their families. Sunday night we decided to put up my parent's Christmas tree since we weren't doing our own. Brooklynn loved it but mostly she was ALL about the Santa Mouse tree. Once she put in all the lights, she did it over and over and over again. I think when we finally left they were all out again. It was so cute to see her liking this, my sisters and I used to fight over who got to fill in all the lights every Christmas.

Attempt at a Cousin Picture

2012-01-18T14:49:00.003-05:00

Well...no luck this time.

Thanksgiving at the Ashley House

2012-01-18T14:47:00.000-05:00

After a bit of decorating the Bean Christmas tree we headed to Fort Wayne to see my family. Everyone else got there in the morning so they got right down to business when we got there and my parents passed out early Christmas presents. It was one per family and it was a Charlie Brown Christmas book that talks and plays music. So cute.

Uh uh....Gabby, stop teaching Josie how to eat paper.

"No Josie, THIS is how you eat it." -Gabby

There ya go, Josie...Gabby will be so proud.

Breakfast before church.

Brooklynn is very sweet and gentle with little Josie. I guess her feisty attitude towards Gabby is just a sibling thing.

Josie is learning to roll.

She also is trying so hard to crawl...she doesn't go anywhere yet so she just looks a little bit like a seal. It is so stinkin' cute.

Gabby's Look-Alike

2012-01-17T15:35:00.001-05:00

So in case any of you were wondering who Gabby looks like...we discovered it over Thanksgiving. This is her Aunt Erin. The hair is a little different (ok a LOT different) but besides that I would guess I was looking at a picture of Gabby.

Decorating the Tree

2012-01-17T15:32:00.002-05:00

We decided not to do our own Christmas tree this year because of our crazy move. This little tiny tree I'm holding is our only tree...just to have a little bit of Christmas with us despite all the chaos of moving and packing. I always love decorating the tree. There is just something so magical about the Christmas season blossoming before your very eyes, coming together with family, listening to Christmas music, drinking some hot chocolate. Aaah.

Andrew kept playing this little trumpet Christmas tree ornament. How silly.

These two were inseparable. They even decorated the tree together.

Brooklynn and Daddy.

Gabby kept looking at the tree like, "What is this DOING in here? We're not outside!" It was pretty funny.

Saturday Afternoon

2012-01-17T15:32:00.001-05:00

Look at this! I told you I'm slowly winning Andrew over...very slowly. But I'll take it.

Check out my sweet turkey tattoo that Adeline drew on my hand.

She liked it so much she made herself a matching one.

Christmas Tree Farm

2012-01-17T15:06:00.000-05:00

Off to the tree farm again! For the last few years we've gone to this same tree farm after our old one closed down. We've had really good luck here.

The kids are immediately excited once they see the HUGE blow up Santa.

Did I mention Brooklynn kept hugging Adeline ALL WEEKEND? Well...she did. It was precious.

Cousin shot (minus Gabby)

What a cute shot of Brooklynn with her Aunt Charity

Adeline was a trooper since she didn't feel good. She hung out most of the time on this wagon.

But she did get a little snuggle time in with Uncle Josh

Aunt Erin got lots of wrestle time

This was going to be our Christmas card picture...but alas we haven't sent it yet so we'll take a different one.

Brooklynn's nest

My girls (Don't worry, Gabby was snuggly in the wrap under my Peek-a-ru most of the time and just took a quick photo op.

Bean Cousins by the trees

Our little angel

Brooklynn kept pretty busy pulling the wagon around. It was pretty tricky over all the roots and stuff...but she insisted.

This tree took especially long to cut down. So much for leaving early for the tree farm. (Although I tried to tell everyone that it takes this long EVERY year.) At least it was fairly warm out.

Notice the blue trunk...it was very sappy...and the home of SEVERAL mice. Poor guys.

Time to go home...but not before we tackle Uncle Josh some more. (And Daddy)

Bullseyes

2012-01-17T13:26:00.000-05:00

Brooklynn's new thing is to give everybody a "Bullseye." (Which to her means a lick right on the face.) There is a part in Toy Story 2 where Bullseye (the name of the horse) licks Woody (the cowboy toy). I guess that is where she gets it from? Anyway, several months ago Josh and Brooklynn were wrestling around and he was pretending to almost lick her on the face, and I think he actually got her once or twice and she was squealing, "no no! No Bullseye me!!" It was so funny we were all laughing so hard. But ever since then sometimes she will ask for a bullseye, or when we're kissing her good night she will try and lick us...it's always pretty risky.

Well...we thought this would be really funny to have people ask her for a Bullseye (before they knew what it was) and she would quickly show them much to their despair. We sure got a laugh out of it, though.

Black Friday

2012-01-17T13:19:00.000-05:00

Black Friday...oh I love shopping on Black Friday. I got almost all my shopping done this day. Josh and his Dad were nice enough to watch the kids all day while the girls headed to the outlet malls for the day. Thanks, guys! We had fun!

Some of us take the expression, "Shop 'til you drop" a little too literally.

I left my camera with Josh and all these cute pictures were on there...it looks like they had fun.

Well...fun MOST of the time.

This is later after James got back from working. Look at how TIRED all the kids (and Josh) look. Must have been a long day.

After the girls got back Josh and his Dad went shopping. He was VERY nice to get him an early Christmas present and take him suit shopping. (He needed a new suit for his job interviews a few days later.)

He looks VERY good, don't ya think? I think it was just what he needed to get the job.

He got this suit (left) and a new blue blazer (right.)

I made the comment that I think that Josh's dad is trying to get some more Grandchildren into the mix.

Bean Bowl 2011

2012-01-17T08:52:00.000-05:00

Josh really works hard at getting everybody to play games. Board games, card games, group games (like "Bean Charades") and also outdoor games like football. Everyone is always reluctant but eventually cave and end up having fun. This is one of the reasons I married Josh...I love this about him.
So this year he REALLY wanted to get everyone to play football...mostly the kids. Andrew and Adeline were both sick...and it was pretty cold out. But we went out just for a little bit to throw the football around and everyone had fun.

See what I mean? Look how serious he is here coaching the kids.

Brooklynn was so cute...just running and laughing and having absolutely no clue what was happening.

Andrew was a lot more into the actual "game".

Thanksgiving 2011

2012-01-16T16:23:00.000-05:00

Yes...I realize it's January. My life has been a little crazy lately. We finally have Internet as of this morning (YAY) so in my attempts to catch you all up on our lives, I'll just start where I left off.
This Thanksgiving we got to spend it with Josh's family.

I took this picture at a rest area and thought it was funny. (We're not really letting Gabby drive while Josh is sleeping.)

Homemade DONUTS!! Brooklynn was beyond excited to see her cousins. Gabby was just excited to be eating donuts.

Aunt Charity got Gabby this adorable 1st Thanksgiving hat and bib. She looks adorable. I knew Gabby would LOVE Thanksgiving, but I had no idea she'd have such a cute little turkey hat and big to go with it.

My view at dinner:

Brooklynn is really warming up to Aunt Charity. I don't think Charity minds this one bit.

Charity and James. (James are you going to punch Charity? I can't quite figure out what is happening with your fist...are you just trying to show all the ladies that you're married? Seriously...what is happening?)

When we were finishing Gabby was crawling around on the floor. She is so smiley.

Josh and Erin. All those Beans look so much alike.

Aunt Joann and Uncle Roy got to join us for Thanksgiving. I didn't get any pictures of Uncle Roy (sorry!) but we got one of Josh and Aunt Joann. It was great to see you guys!

Betsey joined us via Skype for a little while. We were sad she couldn't be with us but it was nice to see her face for a while. Betsey is all the way out in Washington state for her first year of residency.

Cute pic of the Muskegon Beans...I especially love Andrew's new smile he's working in almost all my pictures. :)

Brooklynn kept going up to Adeline and just giving her these huge hugs...like she just couldn't contain how happy she was to see her. She kept it up the whole weekend, every time she saw her she would just keep hugging her.

Did I mention that Brooklynn was attached to Adeline the whole weekend? I barely saw Brooklynn...they kept going off to play "house" or "barbies". It was both sweet and a nice break for me.

Gabby was very focused on playing with all the toys at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I didn't see her much, either...between all the playing and the passing her around for some niece and granddaughter lovin'. Also a very nice and needed break for me.

Andrew was very attached to Grandpa. These two have a very special bond.

Adeline's very nice artwork. It says "Brooke"

Andrew also wanted me to take his picture with his special blanket. He loves those corners.

Andrew also loves Uncle Josh. Here is a cute picture of him. I keep trying to win him over as a favorite. I'm not quite there but I think one of these days he'll come around.

Happenings...

2012-01-02T17:18:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving was great. I still haven't blogged about that...maybe someday. The drive back was ROUGH...part of why we wanted to move before Christmas. I still have all the pictures on my camera. We got back, made the decision to move two weeks from then and it's been a whirlwind ever since. The move was successful. We managed (barely) to fit all our stuff into a 26 foot truck. We then fit almost everything into two storage units and are still living out of suitcases. We realized that we HAVE our computer and our tv but no cords to set them up. (so funny, kind of) So really it might be several more months before I blog about Thanksgiving.
So BIG NEWS for those of you who don't yet know: Josh got the job we were hoping for. Literally we found out the last few hours in our apartment. He probably wouldn't have been able to accept unless we made that crazy decision to move before he got the job. OR we'd be making the drive for Christmas then moving a few days later. Or missing Christmas completely. It is just such amazing confirmation that this was the best decision AND that it is what God wants for us.
We decided to find a temporary place to live IN Goshen instead of commuting from Fort Wayne (especially in the winter months). It turns out my Mom knows somebody in Goshen that manages an apartment triplex for a missionary family and one of the apartments is open Jan 1. AND they are fine if we live there just a few months. So most likely we will be living there...maybe even by the end of the week. We just need to go look at it to make sure.
We had a great Christmas! We started in Olivet with Josh's family. Then we headed down to Fort Wayne with my family. Then we went back up to MI again. Right now we're in Muskegon with Josh's brother & family for New Year's. We decided to stay until Wednesday so they could watch a football game Tuesday night. Then we will (hopefully) drive straight to Goshen Wed. Morning to check out the apartment and finalize Josh's job. We went last week, too, but they accidentally put his criminal check through IN instead of PA so they had to do it again.
So the plan is to hopefully start soon, live in temporary housing for at least three months, and then buy a house hopefully soon after that.
We are all enjoying being closer to family. Brooklynn especially has come out of her shell. It is so fun to watch her play with her cousins.
I think the hardest adjustment do far will be my handling of the mall...it is REALLY small.
It still feels a little bit like we're just taking a long Christmas vacation.
This is one of the park in Goshen. I can't wait to take the girls there when it gets nicer.

Blogging From my New IPod Touch

2012-01-02T16:27:00.001-05:00

Oh yeah, finally figured out how to do this.
I'm putting this sweet picture of myself on here to test it out.

The Road to Walking

2011-12-14T16:11:00.000-05:00

Gabby started to get really good at just standing; holding on to something or not. She had this skill basically mastered by 8 months. She's not really taking any steps yet; and not really trying.

Then she started to be able to take steps with assistance.

This next video is the first night she started taking steps by herself. She was really motivated by trying to steal Brooklynn's popcorn.

Here's a video of her actually taking a step by herself. (the morning after the previous one.)

Shortly after this she started taking 1-3 steps consistently.

Here she is practicing with her walker.

Well...it's official. Yesterday Gabby practiced ALL DAY, really hard. Every time I looked at her she was very focused, taking more and more steps. It's almost like she woke up yesterday morning and said, "OK, I'm doing this TODAY."

Here she is. (December 13)

Brooklynn's Thoughts on our Move:

2011-12-07T14:22:00.000-05:00

I think overall the kids are excited to be moving. I think all the boxes and tubs are more fun than their normal toys, anyway. (And they're BOTH helping me UN-pack already, too...even though we haven't moved yet. I have to pack each box like 3 times.)
It's still bittersweet for us, although honestly I am so busy I haven't been able to process it too much...it's more a race against the clock to get everything done. It will hit me after we're gone, I'm sure.
The other day I went into Brooklynn's room and she was looking out her window, looking very sad. I asked her to tell me why she was sad and she was talking about the "goats...say bye bye...no see goats" etc. I THINK she is sad that we won't get to go to our zoo anymore. I tried to tell her that there are OTHER zoos that we can go to and she said, "No..MY zoo here." So I think she actually realizes that we are in fact leaving this area and our apartment. (more than we realize.)
So again today I was trying to talk to her about things. I asked her if she wanted to move, if she was happy about it. She said, "no...too long. So far. Long drive. Sick in the car." (She gets car sick and throws up pretty much every time we do the drive.) I tried to tell her that after we move we can go see everybody and it will only be a short drive. We only have to do the long drive one more time.
She also keeps calling Josh's parents house "Adeline's house." I think it's going to be a rude awakening for her when she realizes that Adeline doesn't actually live there, too...she just sees her every time she's there so it's only natural she'd think she lives there, too.
All in all she's having a blast. I emptied all my fancy purses out of my closet and she's added them all to her purse collection...and carries them all over the place. She also had a hay day with all my sunglasses. (I have a LOT of sunglasses. Probably 50 pairs.) Occasionally she'll get really mad at me if she realizes I packed something of hers away.
OK, no more time to write...have to get back to work.

Big Changes...

2011-12-02T15:30:00.000-05:00

It's starting.

I've avoided this blog entry for a while now...mostly because I've been too busy to write it, but I'm feeling a cold coming on so I'm forcing myself to rest for a minute.

We are moving. Back to the Midwest....in two weeks. Yup. You are probably in shock right now, mostly because you might not have had a clue. The reason is that we have hardly told anyone...we were kinda waiting until we had more news to report. But alas, we are down to the wire and this is all the news we have so far.

You ask WHERE in the Midwest? As of tonight we don't know yet. Ask me in two weeks. Yeah...it's every kind of crazy around here these days.

We have been wanting to move back for years now. But it's always been one of those, "maybe someday" kind of things. Well, this summer I started praying about it. Like, really praying. Two weeks later (maybe even one week later?...it's a sort of blur) we had our answer to prayer. Josh's position at work changed and that was our sign...especially because his review date was exactly 1 day different than our lease-end date. Can you get any clearer?

So we talked about it, prayed about it...and I asked Josh if this was really happening. Was he 80% sure? 100% sure? His answer was "100% sure." I immediately felt a little bit like I was going to throw up and then got really excited and also really sad. I realized that we have been here over NINE years! Our friends here have become our family. It's going to be really hard to say goodbye. I really don't even want to think about that part. Of course we'll visit but it's not the same.

On the flip side, we're so excited to be closer to our families. This summer was the first time I've been back for any of my niece's Birthday parties. It sucks having to tell them year after year that we can't come. Or when people get together for a random weekend...we just can't be part of it. It's always been hard but when you have to start explaining it to your two-year-old daughter...it suddenly gets even harder. Brooklynn is starting to be old enough that she asks about her cousins....all the time. She wants to go see them whenever we get in the car. Out of the blue she'll just ask where they are. Today she said something like, "long drive, Grandma?" I want my girls to grow up seeing them more than just a couple of times a year. We've tried to make the drive more often than that but it is SO hard....and it's over $100 in gas and tolls each way. We just can't afford it. I'm so excited to live closer.

This move is the definition of bittersweet. We're so excited, but also so sad. We also have a lot of stuff to pack up in just a short time.

So anyway...more details. Josh had two job interviews over Thanksgiving. He even had the second part of the interview process for one of them the morning we drove home. (yeah...putting us back here at 1 am.) We are trusting that he will get one of them but aren't sure which one yet. We decided to try and move before Christmas, then we would just be home...so we don't have to do the drive a third time in about a month. Tonight we were looking at the calender and realized that if we were to do this...Josh had to put his two weeks notice in...TOMORROW. WHAT!?!?! Who does that? (actually, today. I wrote this last night.)

I know it sounds a little crazy, but we both are confident in this decision. We know this is God's will for us and are trying to follow Him where he leads us. This whole time, over three months now....God has been laying on my heart "trust...trust....trust....trust...." Seriously. And it's scary. We've been trying to balance trust and faith and also common sense. We don't want to move without a job. What will we do? We have two kids! (God whispers again in my heart, "trust.") I'll pray, "OK, God....I'll trust." and then I think something else like, "Josh keeps applying to all these jobs and not a single thing is happening! I know I need to trust you, God but really? Not a single call back or anything?" "TRUST."

Then it finally occurred to me...I keep hearing "trust" as a reminder because all my worries and all my needing an answer aren't really trusting God to do what He is capable of. I KNOW He can get Josh a job, in the right time but am I really acting like it worrying and not taking any type of action? No. That isn't trust. So after lots of prayer, we agreed that we need to step out in faith and truly give this whole situation over to God and really PROVE that we trust Him to take care of us and come through for us. And yes, it's scary. Probably the biggest lesson on trust so far in my life. I am really excited to see what happens.

Just based on the timing of everything...moving weekend is December 17&18. We will either pack up the truck in PA either Saturday the 17th or maybe Friday night the 16th, drive the next day and then unload into a storage unit out in MI or IN the day after.

We're planning on staying in Fort Wayne with my parents or in Olivet with Josh's parents depending on which job Josh ends up getting...and then starting the house hunt....

We would appreciate your prayers for our family.

Mainly for Josh to get one of the jobs (or both) that he interviewed for, and for the packing/moving process.

We will keep you updated about any more details we find out.

For You, Great Grandpa

2011-11-19T23:47:00.002-05:00

I was going to wait until she was officially walking to post a video but here are a few of Gabby's very first steps.

Gabby's First Word?

2011-11-18T14:48:00.000-05:00

Fall Pictures

2011-11-12T15:30:00.001-05:00

I was able to get one...just ONE half-way decent picture of both of my girls. I took 112. You'd think I'd have a little more to work with.

Yup...as usual this is how our photo shoot went. Even with Josh's help we couldn't reign in Brooklynn.

Here are the rest of my favorites.

"Is this my lunch, Mom?"

Gabby's Mohawk

2011-11-10T15:26:00.005-05:00

Gabby had food all in her hair so after I wiped it out she had this sweet Mohawk going on. I'm thinking about keeping it as her usual hairstyle.

Sad, Happy!

2011-11-08T15:19:00.000-05:00

Brooklynn is very concerned an aware of emotions right now. Here is her attempt at a "mood swing"?

Almost Doing the Splits...For Fun.

2011-11-07T15:17:00.000-05:00

Brooklynn had on my slippers and kept sliding like this really far down and going, "whoaaaaa" and smiling really big. What a silly head.

Has Anyone Seen Gabby???

2011-11-05T15:13:00.002-04:00

Oh, THERE she is!

Oh, there she is, again.

Time to Paint Some Pumpkins!

2011-11-04T14:45:00.001-04:00

Remember all our FREE pumpkins? Well, I wasn't about to carve all of them. I saved one and let Brooklynn paint the rest. She had a grand old time.
She managed to stay fairly clean, too...well the first couple of pumpkins.

Then she started finger (no make that HAND) painting.

(Andi, make sure you watch the first video...Mia and Marisa are the "stars" of Brooklynn's pumpkin.)

Hair Accessories

2011-11-03T18:10:00.000-04:00

Every girl needs a hair flower as big as her head.

Gabby-9 Months Old

2011-11-02T00:42:00.002-04:00

My sweet baby Gabby. I can't believe you are 9 months old already! You are so fun. It's so cute to see you able to laugh and play and interact with the world around you. My favorite thing right now is that you put anything up over your head to play peek-a-boo...it's your favorite thing EVER. You frequently "hide" behind a spoon, your binky...whatever toy you're holding and pretend we can't see you if you hold it up over your head. It took me a while to figure out that this was, in fact, the game you were playing. So cute.
(You're playing peek-a-boo with your plate here.)

You are also very into your baby dolls. (well, Brooklynn's.) Of course you love Brooklynn's favorite the most, too...probably because she is mostly off limits to you. You just love to try and pull that doll's hair out.
I think you have 5 or maybe 6 teeth right now? And it seems like there are like 3 more on their way.
I'm also happy to report that you now enjoy getting "fed" with food on a spoon. Finally! You also LOVE food. You are so quiet and content at dinner time. You sit down and just go to town before the rest of us are even sitting. It's actually the ONLY time you are quiet, pretty much all day. It is going to be fun when you can finally talk because I'm just dying to know what is going on inside that head of yours...and you've got LOTS to say. It's weird because I'm used to Miss quiet/shy Brooklynn.
You are also maintaining your weight right at about 25 pounds. Luckily for all of us it's slowed down a bit.
We love you, baby girl!

No Sleep, AWAKE!!!

2011-11-01T20:30:00.000-04:00

Brooklynn has been fighting sleep like crazy lately. She's always ~~saying~~ screaming, "No bed! Awake! Awake! No Sleep!" etc...
This particular night she said that...and then fell asleep during her story. I could barely handle the cuteness. Yeah...sure you're not tired, Brooklynn.

FREE?!? Pumpkins!

2011-11-01T17:00:00.000-04:00

I LOVE free stuff. Love it. I have a hard time controlling myself. I think Brooklynn has the same trait. She just started carrying them up to our apartment. We have 8 pumpkins here now.

Indian Summer

2011-11-01T16:30:00.000-04:00

So today was gorgeous outside. Can you believe we just had SNOW? My skin is getting all confused!

We'll take the nice weather, though. I LOVE it!

Candy Drunk

2011-11-01T15:31:00.000-04:00

So the day after Halloween I decided to just put out all of Brooklynn's candy in the morning and let her have at it. I figured she'd eventually get sick of it and stop eating it. And then I'd put it away and do the traditional "one or two pieces a day" thing.

Good times. She ate a ton, but less than I was thinking. I think the tootsie rolls really slowed her down because they took so long for her to swallow.

I love how Gabby is eating the box in the second picture.

Halloween

2011-10-31T16:30:00.000-04:00

So every Halloween for the last...I don't know...6? years or so we've gone over to the Bryant's since we don't get trick or treaters near us. We always watch a scary movie while we pass out candy. The last few years it's evolved to taking our kids, too. And THIS year...we both have two kids. Crazy how that happens.

Cece and Andy were Raggedy Ann and Andy. SO cute. Cece's costume was Emily's when she was a little girl and then she made a shirt for Andy.

Here's all the kids....sadly the best one I have.

and the worst...in case you're keeping track of my un-cooperative kids during group pictures. This one I particularly like the use of the Jessie hat to block her entire face.

I loved Brookie's little Jessie costume...especially from the back. See the cute braid it came with?

I thought it was pretty humorous seeing a cute little Nemo fish being carried around by scary Scream face.

After a while we went back and watched Ghostbusters. We opted for a "less scary" movie since my kids would be awake.
Gabby and Brooke both loved our glow sticks...thanks Grandma Kay!

Trunk or Treat

2011-10-31T13:00:00.064-04:00

Our church hosted a trunk or treat this year. It was our first year doing it and it was really fun.

Brooklynn of course was SO excited about the whole thing. Before hand she kept saying, "church, no class! no class!" (similar tone to her "doctor, no shots!")

The whole time we were there she just kept running, dancing, eating more candy. I'd say her FAVORITE thing was showing everybody our car, or "woody present." Partly because she went with the whole, "one for you, one for me" attitude.

This was our car. We went with "birthday party." (mainly because we had a ton of balloons already.)

Here are some of the other cars. As you can tell we had lots of fun.

Brooklynn just kept running and dancing...she had so much fun.

Brooklynn LOVED showing everyone her "Woody present." (the present filled with candy...it's wrapped in Toy Story paper.) She was actually really good with other people taking "her" candy...she was actually excited to give it away. She DID, however, insist on picking candy out for every person. Sometimes they tried to pick something else out and she'd be like, "no...this one." (like...TRY the sucker. TRUST ME.)

This is Brooklynn with her sweet friend, Julia and her dad, Matt. They all were Toy Story characters, too...Julia was Bo Peep and her dad was Woody. Her little brother was actually a cute little sheep but he wasn't in the picture. We just had to get a picture since the "whole gang" was together.

Gabby slept in the car almost the entire time. We got her out towards the end so she could go, too. She really just liked eating the wrappers.

Gabby and Brooklynn both loved all the tootsie rolls. My Grandpa would be so proud, it was his favorite candy.

Here's everybody who was dressed up...good job, everyone!

Rawrrrrrrr

2011-10-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Happy Halloween!

Trapped Inside on a Snowy Day

2011-10-30T23:44:00.010-04:00

So...what to do during a snow storm in October?

Brooklynn tried out a scream mask....so spooky, I know.

I also spotted her nursing her baby.

BOTH girls played with some extra streamers.

and I made some candy corn cookies. They were delicious.

Snow! (In OCTOBER?!?)

2011-10-30T23:10:00.001-04:00

Josh told me on Thursday that we were supposed to get snow this weekend. I barely believed him. But sure enough...here it is!
Brooklynn was beyond excited.

Technically it's not Gabby's FIRST snow...since she was born in an ice storm. But it's her first snow that we have brought her outside to "play" in.

They had some Halloween event at the mansion...who knows what it was...but I wanted a picture of the Halloween sign in the snow. It's just too strange not to. Sadly, our trunk or treat at church was also postponed, but only until the next day.

Getting Ready for Trunk or Treat

2011-10-30T22:44:00.000-04:00

We decided to do "Happy Birthday" theme for our trunk for trunk or treat. We already had tons of balloons...so really I didn't have to buy much besides candy. And what kid doesn't love birthday stuff? So we blew up tons of balloons, wrapped some boxes with paper and filled them with candy.

Brooklynn and Gabby had so much fun while I blew up all the balloons. Brooklynn also thought the "Woody present" was hers the second she saw it...at the time it was only an empty box. Then later I showed her what it was for and filled it with candy....you should have seen her. It was like heaven for her.

Foot Phones

2011-10-30T22:25:00.000-04:00

Gabby is now at the "chewing on her feet" phase. (If it's a phase...Brooklynn still does this.)

Kinda weird, but I thought it would be fun to get a picture of them both doing it. Pretty close.

Trains!

2011-10-30T22:20:00.000-04:00

I got Brooklynn an Ikea train set. She LOVES it. I love how focused she is when she plays with it. She built this particular track all by herself.

Gabby Was Here

2011-10-30T22:18:00.002-04:00

Rockin' It Halloween Style

2011-10-30T22:01:00.001-04:00

Gabby in her new Halloween headband. (I think she knows that she is cute.)

So I was nursing Gabby in our room and I heard Brooklynn in the bathroom and I thought, "oh good, she's going potty all by herself." But REALLY she was getting her stool so she could better reach the gingerbread house and just go to town. Hey, I give her points for ingenuity.

This is how I found her when I came back out. In such a candy-trance she had no idea I was even there.

Sneak Preview

2011-10-30T16:58:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday, Aunt Andi!

2011-10-28T00:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday, Andi!

Gingerbread House Punch

2011-10-27T16:44:00.003-04:00

What happens when you punch a Gingerbread House? Let's find out.

Really...all that happens is Brooklynn gets sad. She kept saying, "Daddy broke it..."

Special Halloween Package

2011-10-25T16:16:00.000-04:00

We checked the mail today and all of us were really excited to get another Halloween package in the mail! Thank you Grandma Kay and Grandpa Fred. The girls were super excited to open more stuff. Every time there is any type of package in the mail box Brooklynn gets ecstatic and says, "birthday? open it?"

Gabby of course loved the post-it note the best. Brooklynn immediately claimed all the candy for herself, but I was able to sneak the ring pop for Gabby to taste before rinsing it off and giving the rest to Brooklynn.

Seriously?

2011-10-25T16:15:00.001-04:00

How much paper can this kid EAT? I am constantly...no really...CONSTANTLY taking paper out of Gabby's mouth because she either swallows it or starts choking on it. And she compulsively keeps going back for more. What is the deal?

Happy Birthday, Great Grandpa Bean!

2011-10-25T14:35:00.000-04:00

We wish we could be there in person to give you lots of hugs and love on your birthday. But this will have to do for now. :)
Happy Birthday!

Gabby's Blog

2011-10-24T08:57:00.000-04:00

lc vc fv ygtrdf bnjz ghb

Lunch and Dinner with Gabby

2011-10-23T16:03:00.000-04:00

So we had leftover black beans for lunch. And when Gabby was done she totally looked like she grew a beard. So I threw this bandanna on her head to try and make her look like a pirate. No? Maybe?

And then we had spaghetti for dinner. Gabby LOVED this. I don't make spaghetti as much as I used to (sadly) because Brooke refuses to eat it. I'll have to start making it more...I mean LOOK at her!

So yeah...in case you were wondering. Gabby is eating OK.

Brooke's New Barbies

2011-10-22T16:19:00.000-04:00

The consignment sale gave Brooklynn some FREE Barbies. Somebody had donated some and they thought these particular ones were too...ahem..."loved"...to be sold at the sale. I said that my daughter Brooklynn would LOVE them, even like this. And sadly..this is what they would probably turn into anyway if we bought new ones. She earned each of them for some of her presents for pooping on the potty.
And I was right...she LOVES them.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Erin!

2011-10-22T00:00:00.003-04:00

We took probably 20 videos of her singing you "Happy Birthday." Maybe 5 of them actually had your name in the video. I think she sang Happy Birthday to everyone she knows. This is the best one.
Happy Birthday! I hope you like the picture she made for you....that I still haven't sent...but it's coming!

a close second in case you wanted an encore:

Nightmare at Elmwood

2011-10-21T15:37:00.002-04:00

So we were really excited to go to the zoo for their big Halloween event, "Nightmare at Elmwood." After the girls woke up I attempted to get Brooklyn in her cowgirl costume. Since it wasn't actually Halloween yet I didn't have all the parts (mainly the hat and boots.) I thought, "OK, we'll improvise and wear most of it." She wouldn't put the skirt on that goes with the costume, saying "pants!" And fighting all attempts that she was Jessie from Toy Story. She only wanted to be WOODY. So I had just the vest and jeans on her. It didn't seem that "dressed up" to me...basically all she was wearing was the vest. So I asked her if she wanted to wear her Buzz Lightyear costume. Nope. Wouldn't go near it. Time was running out so I threw this tutu on her. I decided to make her Buzz AND Woody with a tutu. She was a little less mad about this idea...but then made me take off the Buzz Lightyear stuff.. So...whatever.

I couldn't put Gabby in her Nemo costume AND put her in the wrap so I put this Michigan hat on her and that was her costume for the night.

Brooklynn was really excited about all the candy she got. I added it to her gingerbread house. She was really excited.

Splinters

2011-10-21T15:13:00.000-04:00

Well...I told Brooklynn to put down the old piece of wood. She just kept going after it and I warned her that she'd probably get splinters. Well...she didn't listen at all and so this is what happened. On our way back in she showed me her finger and said, "ouchie." So I told her she probably had a splinter. I got her hands washed off and looked at the thing...holy cow. I've never seen so many splinters at once before! I was actually a little impressed and excited because I LOVE to take out splinters. It is like a little challenge. She didn't cry and only said "ouch" like twice for all of them.

Coffee Thief

2011-10-20T09:08:00.006-04:00

How can I say "no" to this face?

October 19

2011-10-19T08:38:00.021-04:00

I have no idea what I did on October 19. My days kind of all blur together. But my camera tells me these things happened that day:

We worked on spelling Brooklynn's name. I traced some magnet letters on some paper and let her have at some magnet fun. She loved it. In fact...just the other day she saw her sippy cup that says "Brooke" and all of a sudden she pointed at it, got REALLY excited and said, "MY NAME!" I was impressed because we don't really tell her that much that it says her name, she just recognized it.

Silly Brooklynn...after watching her do it PERFECTLY a few times right off the bat I decided to get my camera and she did it like this: ALL WRONG ON PURPOSE. Then she laughed. She knew she was "tricking" me.

We played dress up. Brooklynn wouldn't let me take any pictures of her but Gabby of course cooperated. I would love to get a princess sister picture.

I watched my girls read books together. Brooklynn has ALWAYS loved this game. Gabby hasn't really gotten it yet but is starting to love it. (Maybe b/c they're made out of paper?)

Thank goodness for my camera of this day would totally be lost in my memory. Now I can remember at least a few things I did.

Special Chuck E. Cheese Date

2011-10-18T22:31:00.024-04:00

We got to take Brooklynn to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate her potty-training success. I've been saying for months that if she poops every day on the potty for an entire week (with no accidents) we'd go to Chuck E Cheese. Well, she finally did! I had to make good on my promise so off we went. Well, she LOVED it.

Brooklynn, we are SO proud of you and all your success. You've really come a long way.

Now the next step is knowing when I can safely send her to bed with underwear on. I'm too nervous to try. She might still be wearing diapers to bed for a few years.

Twilight Fans:

2011-10-17T08:33:00.000-04:00

We have a vampire in the house.

My Little Sillies

2011-10-15T21:25:00.011-04:00

Brooklynn does anything but eat at the table. It drives us bonkers. To try and keep a little bit of sanity in my life, I have to let her be silly sometimes. It's funny when I'm laughing at her I don't seem so annoyed. The stress kinda just melts away.

Gabby is actually happiest at the dinner table. Like...doesn't make a sound just eating happily. She was cracking us up the other day when we realized she had a Cheerio stuck on her nose...for quite a while.

The Zoo!

2011-10-15T20:31:00.014-04:00

The zoo is all set up for "Nightmare at Elmwood" which I guess is a big deal. I've never been so I have no idea. Maybe we'll go this year. They have a corn maze which was actually closed but we weren't sure so Josh and Brooklynn went through it. Brooklynn LOVES it and keeps talking about it.

We've been gearing up all summer to maybe take a pony ride....sadly it's taken this long to just get her to forcefully touch the pony. Maybe next year she'll be ready to go on a pony RIDE.
(Look at her hand all clenched in a fist. A few times she would take her other hand and pull her hand away from the horse. She wanted nothing to do with it.)

Go Blue!

2011-10-15T17:10:00.009-04:00

Saturday was the big Michigan/Michigan State football game. Sadly Michigan lost. My little Michigan fans still looked cute in their maize and blue.

Yeah, my girls look cuter in their individual shots...but you are all used to that, right?

Playtime with Gabriella

2011-10-14T16:54:00.007-04:00

Gabby is usually on a constant quest for finding more paper to eat. Sometimes she'll distract herself and actually play with some of our toys.

I have little pictures of the toys that are in these boxes. Each of the girls have a picture of themselves on them with toys that are just theirs. Gabby keeps finding her box with her picture on it and patting it like, "Come ON guys, I KNOW this is MY box!"

Every time I would push the button on this ball pop game she would start squealing with excitement. She LOVES it.

Gabby Goes Green

2011-10-13T16:46:00.003-04:00

I was making some cupcakes and put Gabby in front of the fridge to play with fridge farm. All of a sudden I looked down and this is what I found. I had all this recycling put nicely in a bag for Josh to take out and Gabby completely took every last piece out...I think she was searching for some paper. She decided that envelopes and some expired coupons taste the best.

"Toy Story" or "Buzz & Woody"?

2011-10-12T22:30:00.002-04:00

Brooklynn has no idea that "Buzz & Woody" is actually called "Toy Story".

Gabby's First Hair Cut

2011-10-12T15:55:00.004-04:00

I was going to wait to cut Gabby's hair...but I couldn't stand it another day. Her hair is too thin to keep anything in to keep it out of her eyes, and she's constantly rubbing her eyes (I think because her hair is right in them! Poor baby!) So I trimmed it. I will grow out her bangs when she has more hair so I'm able to put it up. Until then...her hair is out of her eyes! Yay!

(I literally made 3 snips. I'm afraid I'm going to throw the bag away with the hair I saved from her first cut because it still looks empty.)

Brooklynn was really excited that Gabby got a haircut. She got her own yesterday and now she wants me to cut my hair. So...maybe if I have a free moment I'll give myself a haircut, too.

Special Halloween Package

2011-10-12T15:41:00.002-04:00

We got a special package in the mail today from Grandma Grayce. It had candy, some Halloween headbands and two cards; one for Brooke and one for Gabby. Gabby was pretty excited about the envelope her card came in. Brooklynn was pretty excited about the candy. Thanks for the package!

Fun with a Pine Tree

2011-10-07T15:59:00.000-04:00

My girls both love the pine trees. Every time we go outside we have to feel them. Mostly for Gabby's sake...but Brooklynn tried to tell me that they were sharp. I explained the difference that these long kind are, in fact, soft...and the shorter ones are sharp.

This is what Brooklynn would look like if she had green hair.

Time for Some Cookie Dough

2011-10-07T15:33:00.000-04:00

Yup...I let my kids eat some cookie dough. Gabby like two DROPS of it...which most of it she got on her face. Brooklynn got to have a little bit more.

They both loved it.

Josh and Gabby

2011-10-06T15:23:00.001-04:00

I may be a Mommy's girl, but I sure love my Daddy!
It really is so precious to watch Gabby light up when she sees Josh come home from work.

Ouch!

2011-10-06T15:18:00.000-04:00

Can you imagine falling asleep in this position? I mean, all cuteness aside, can you imagine how uncomfortable that is? Gabby doesn't seem to mind.

Shoes!

2011-10-04T18:53:00.000-04:00

Our Halloween Gingerbread House

2011-10-04T15:06:00.008-04:00

I decided to make more use out of my gingerbread mold and do a Halloween-themed one. (Since I don't really like candy corn, anyway, but buy it EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. because I just can't help myself b/c it's so festive.)

Brooklynn....LOVES these candy pumpkins. And helped me eat so many of them while we were decorating, after right off the house...she's having a ball with eating all the candy off of this thing.
Brooklynn did the chimney and the pumpkins along the roof. Good thing I took pictures right afterwards because all the chocolate chips and most of the pumpkins are already gone.

8 Months Old

2011-10-02T00:42:00.026-04:00

Gabby is 8 months old today! I can't believe it! We weighed her the other day and she was 23 1/2 pound already. And I threw my hip out putting her in her crib because she is so heavy. Even though Brooklynn is 29 pounds (or maybe a few more) she feels much lighter than Gabby because she is much taller and can help hold herself more.
Gabby is going through her separation anxiety phase...BIG TIME. Like every time I even take a few steps away from her she starts crying. Or as soon as she sees me she starts balling. She's usually fine if I'm right there the whole time...or if I just stay away.
Gabby has been practicing her standing skills every chance she gets. (Even in her sleep). She can now stand UNsupported for several seconds. She takes one or two steps if you hold her hands...but really she just likes to be standing. She hasn't mastered the art of actually lifting her feet...or even wanting to.
She just sprouted her first tooth on the TOP this time...for a total of 3 teeth so far.
Gabby is such a sweetie. She and Brooklynn are becoming better friends and always goes over to Brooklynn and tries to play with her. She can't talk yet so she just stares at her laughing or smiling until she notices. (Most of the time Brooklynn ignores her but sometimes she comes around and actually plays with her.)

Adventures in Potty Training pt. 4

2011-10-01T15:06:00.002-04:00

continued pt. 1

continued pt. 2

continued pt. 3

Nov. 16, 2010: Today Brooklynn took off her pants and then her diaper. I asked her if she had to go potty and she responded with "peepee!" So I took her and sure enough she went. So I rewarded her with putting on some big-girl underwear (training pants) hoping she would continue to take them off when she had to go. I asked her 25 minutes later if she had to go again and she said no, then I waited another 25 minutes and she had already peed her underwear. She also freaked out and refused to sit on the potty after that. So I made her put her diaper and pants back on.

I'm thankful she sort of told me, though!

December 9, 2010: I have decided that since we're basically trapped inside because it's so cold, we might as well focus more on the potty training. Yesterday she did really well, was in training pants all morning with only 1 accident, and today NO accidents. She went about 5 times on the potty and I even thought she was going to poop one of the times. She is trying really hard, but I think she is backed up a little and it's a hard one.

January 31, 2011: Yeah, my previous update didn't hold, I'm too pregnant. I've decided to wait a little bit to fully work on training her, until I'm feeling better after I have Gabby. We do regularly sit on the potty, especially before bed. (usually she insists.)
The other day, though, I was feeling a little better and we worked on it a little morning. I put underwear on her and she stayed in it all morning with no accidents. We're trying to learn how to poop on the potty, that always seems to take way longer to learn. She went pee several times. We also watched her potty video "Once Upon a Potty" which every kid I know LOVES. They want to watch it over and over. The song is pretty catchy.

February 23, 2011: We had a breakthrough today and Brooklynn pooped on the potty! So it could have been a little leftover, she made three other teeny tiny turds like this one in her diaper and I could tell she was pooping so I asked her if she wanted to try and go on the potty. To my surprise she said "yes" so I sat her down and all of a sudden she pointed in her potty and said, "poo poo!" so I cheered for her. I'm not sure if it just fell off of her, since I hadn't wiped her yet, but I'll take any victory here. I think the point of it is that she sees that pooping in the potty is really no big deal and it's actually easier than going in a diaper.

March 4, 2011: Brooklynn ACTUALLY pooped in the potty today! It was a big one! (I did take another picture but I'll spare you and not post it.)

March-October: Brooklynn hasn't had too much success. She has been trying...and I'll read her a book and make her push some gas out before turning the page...and she'll get to a point where if it's going to be poop she REFUSES to push any more. And holds it...sometimes for hours on end until I can't sit in there with her any more. I've tried suppositories, enemas, just waiting. I've never seen anything so stubborn.

October 1, 2011
I have resorted to full-out BRIBERY to get Brooklynn to poop on the potty. She gets to open an actual present every time she has a success...and so far? It's WORKING. She's pooped almost every day in a row on the potty just so she can open a present. I'm hoping when we run out of presents she'll be fully trained so I won't have to re-stock. (Or could at least go back to chocolate or something.) Don't worry...all her presents are my free books or the like from the consignment sale. Basically the stuff I'm not saving for Christmas I wrapped up and put out of her reach for this purpose. We have an on-going deal that when she can poop ONLY in the potty (not at all in a diaper or her underwear) for an entire week straight, we'll take her to Chuck E. Cheese. (which we are calling Pizza Planet....from Toy Story.) She's never been to Chuck E Cheese but gets so excited when they go to Pizza Planet like it looks like the coolest place ever. I don't think she knows that there are actual places like that. She's on her way....I'm hoping that happens soon. Lately she's been CHOSING to try and poop, I think she wishes she could go every time so she can open another present.
It's so funny because I swore I'd never even use candy as bribery for potty training and here I am using actual presents. Oh how your views change once you become a parent.

Trying to Match her Babies

2011-09-30T07:35:00.000-04:00

Today I caught Brooklynn with a pen almost IN her eyeball...I think she was actually going for her actual eye to match her babies. First she did the area around it and then I saw her just in time...

The Pretzel

2011-09-28T21:43:00.004-04:00

Look at Brooklynn. She is so stinkin' flexible. This move is called "The Pretzel." I think her and Josh made it up. The funny thing is that it doesn't even phase her being in this position. She's like, "yeah, whatever."

Under our Table

2011-09-28T14:00:00.002-04:00

We have this little ledge under our table. It's kinda like a little step or shelf. Or footrest. I'm not really sure what it is actually for, but every single kid who has ever been in our apartment finds it, tries to climb on top of it, and is all in all obsessed with it. I guess it's right at their level. I don't really see the attraction...at least the MAJOR attraction that they all put on it. I mean,

With that said...when a kid is Gabby's age...it is a little dangerous. She climbs up on it and if you aren't watching closely will climb or fall back off and PLOP...crying baby. So you get her to stop crying, put her all the way on the other side of the room...and five minutes later she's fallen off again. (OK, maybe she's only fallen off once or twice but she likes to sit there and attempt to get back on.) Actually, her new game is taking a ball and banging it over and over on top of it like it's a drum.

Here is Gabby and Brooklynn playing peek-a-boo.

I Wonder Where She Gets it From?

2011-09-28T07:10:00.001-04:00

Here is Brooklynn with her baby in her Moby Wrap. (Yeah, Brooklynn has her OWN Moby).

I think the whole hands-free thing lets her be able to juggle her other 10 babies easier.

It's FALL!

2011-09-27T21:26:00.001-04:00

Fall is my favorite. We have all been enjoying the beautiful weather.

Grandpa & Grandpa Visit

2011-09-24T16:23:00.025-04:00

My parents were here for the weekend. We were all very excited for them to get here. It rained almost the entire weekend...but it stopped a little on Saturday so we were able to go to the zoo for a little bit. Brooklynn showed them all her Toy Story movies.

Remember how Brooklynn has to take her baby everywhere she goes now? Well, she got to come to the zoo again...and this time she even pushed her on the swing.

Brooklynn loves the new park alligator. She even gave him a kiss.

Gabby getting some Grandpa love.

Waiting for Grandma and Grandpa...

2011-09-23T14:57:00.000-04:00

My parents were on their way! Brooklynn could hardly contain herself with her excitement.

I bought her some new paper at Ikea and she was really excited to test it out. She set all of this up herself (no joke) and got right to work. She wouldn't let me put clothes on her; that is why she is naked. Whatever...pick your battles.

Note to Self...

2011-09-23T14:52:00.001-04:00

Never try and cover your two-year-old's mouth when having a screaming fit...even if you're trying to get her to be quiet so she doesn't wake up (finally!) sleeping baby.

Or you'll get bit. Like really hard.

Gabby Bang!

2011-09-22T09:23:00.001-04:00

Gabby loves to bang on....pretty much anything. So much that Brooklynn is often saying, "Gabby no bang!" of "No Gabby Bang!"

I knew she would love the bang on the pots game. She had a grand old time playing and I was able to get most of the dishes done.

BFF's

2011-09-21T23:20:00.000-04:00

Today we hung out with Jasmine and her three kids.
Jasmine, you'll be happy to know that a few days later I asked Brooklynn who her best friend is and she says, "Sadie."
We went to Ikea and Brooklynn and Sadie and Wyatt kept running and playing through the whole store. They had a blast. Then we got McDonalds and hung out at my place for a little bit. Good times. Thanks for a fun morning!

Sadie and Brooklynn on her couch.

Sammy testing out the Bumbo. I was impressed his thighs didn't get stuck in it like Gabby's do/did. Poor Gabs.

Binky Hunt

2011-09-20T23:13:00.000-04:00

We have a new game we play with Brooklynn. I give her a flashlight, have her crawl completely under Gabby's crib and "hunt" for binkys. She found all of these under there today. Who knew it was such a fun game? She was so sad when we found them all I had to throw them back down there so she could find them again.

Look What I Can Do!

2011-09-20T23:08:00.001-04:00

Gabby loves Brooklynn's bike. Really anything with wheels. She mostly sits on the floor and spins the wheels over and over. Josh decided to sit her on the bike to help her stand up...and surprisingly this worked very well. She LOVED it. What a big girl riding her bike!

Cookie Dough Monsters

2011-09-19T23:00:00.000-04:00

I have to save lots of cookie dough in my fridge for Josh to snack on. Brooklynn has noticed that this is a special treat and loves to fight Josh for the beater, bowl and scraper. Josh says he always gets the beater no matter what since he is the husband. How can I resist a sweet little girl RUNNING towards me so excited yelling, "cookies! cookies!" when I say, "whoever wants the beater better come and give me a kiss!" (and note: Josh doesn't even move.) The first time I gave it to Brooklynn because I clearly stated the ground rules there. And he missed out. Now I just give her the bowl and scraper and Josh the beater. He was so mad that I didn't save it for him.

Either way they sure are cute eating their cookie dough. Josh got to show her the art of taking your finger to scrape the bowl and licking your finger. She was pretty excited about this maneuver.

"Sparkles"

2011-09-19T22:26:00.003-04:00

Brooklynn is obsessed with glitter glue. I don't blame her...it's awesome. It wasn't invented yet when I was a little girl. She could use up an entire package in a sitting if I let her. I had to introduce the concept of using a paint brush to spread around the "sparkles" as Brooklynn calls it. It's so cute, and I love hearing her little voice say "spurkles."

Family Walk

2011-09-18T15:49:00.001-04:00

Gabby tries out the jogging stroller on our walk.

Brooklynn was so mad. Then they both started crying. Why is this such a big deal? Trying to do something fun as a family seems to EVERY SINGLE TIME end up with one or both girls crying for no reason.

My Lovely Girls

2011-09-18T15:48:00.000-04:00

Here are my little rascals...I love them dearly.

Every day I am completely overwhelmed with how much I love them. Every day I'm ready to curl up in a ball crying or pull my hair out screaming because they drive me so crazy. How can I go through such a range of emotions several times a day every single day? Because I am a mother. I think that is the only explanation.

My Twins?

2011-09-18T15:28:00.003-04:00

So this cute little jean skirt kept showing up in the laundry...it seemed like way more than Brooklynn was wearing it...until I put her fall clothes in her drawers and discovered that there are TWO of them. One is my sister's and one is my sister-in-law's. Yup...the same exact skirt, even in the same size. I thought it would be fun to dress my girls in matching outfits for church. (YUP...matching same-sized outfits--Gabby can wear Brooklynn's 3T stuff.)