Winter Wonder Land

Today was, what I like to call "A Winter Wonder Land". I knew we were supposed to get several inches of snow throughout the night and 1 to 2 more inches throughout today. After waking up this morning and peaking though the blinds of the window that hangs just above our bed I called the girls and pulled up the blinds. "look out the window girls"! They were both in awe... Abbi said... "it's snowing"!!! and when Emma found her voice she said "I can't believe it"!!! ... and I was thinking right along the same line. It was absolutely beautiful. So after feeding daddy breakfast and seeing him off to work, the girls and I bundled up (it was their idea for me to bundle up) and went outside. I was planning on only sending the girls. It just looked so cold and it was so early, but yet they wanted to go. Soooo... our conversation went like this....

Emma: mommy, I want to get dressed and go outside
Abbi: me too!
mommy: well.. what about breakfast?
Emma and Abbi: I want to go play in the snow
mommy: o.k... y'all can play in the snow for a while and then we will have breakfast
Emma and Abbi: YYYAAYY
mommy: o.k.....let's get you dressed! Now... mommy isn't going out with you.. o.k.?
emma: why not?
mommy: because it is sooooo cold. I want to stay inside where it is warm
abbi: it's ok mommy... I will hold your hand *smile - TOO sweet!
emma: but I want you to be cold with us!! *lol

So they talked me into going out with them and I am SO glad I did. They had a BLAST and it was soooo beautiful! Yes - it is nice to watch it snow from the inside but it is also awesome to be out in it.. for a short time anyways .. until you start to loose the feelings in your nose and hands and depending on how many pairs of socks you have on.. sometimes toes too. The bad thing is it happens so fast! One second you think.. wow - it's not too bad out here and then before you know it.. WHAM - owe, owe, owe, OWE .. you can't make it in fast enough.

All-in-all, it was fun, beautiful, gorgeous and MOST importantly - my girls had a blast!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Right now it is 10.9 degrees with the windchill of 1 degree. Yes - it is time for bed and my warm blankets. Oh yes - you can see pictures of today's snow in our photo album!

Back to School

1.) This Monday was Emma's first day of school! She LOVES it. Her friend Sara is back too. Emma said she played with her ALL day! :) She is very happy to be back at school. Abbi of course gets bored and misses her. This was Emma's 2nd day of school .. all happy and oh so cute! Since she loves "going" to school so much, I am not sure how she will take to homeschooling next year once she starts kindergarten. She does love to learn, so that is a big plus.


2.) Emma and Abbi love to paint. They both had the bright idea of painting their hands and here they are showing it off.


3.) Both girls are such a big help in the kitchen. This past Sunday morning, as Emma was out in the sun room setting the table, Abbi was stirring in the "sausage and gravy".

Bear Hunt!

This morning I was in the laundry room folding cloths. Princess Abbi comes in and starts an adorable coversation. This is how it went:

Abbi: Mommy, look what I found! (pointing towards the contraption on her head)

Mommy: Oh wow! Where did you find that?

Abbi: in your room.

Mommy: Oh, yes - that's right. What are going to do with it?

Abbi: hunt for bears

Mommy: hunt for bears?

Abbi: yes! (makes a loud growling sound)

Mommy: Well, where are the bears?

Abbi: over there (pointing down the hallway)

Emma: Come here Abbi - let me show you the map where the bears are hiding.

Mommy thinking: I just love having a camera handy. You never know what you will capture.


.. and then a couple hours later.

Emma and Abbi at the same time, each on thier own potty: MOMMY!!!!!! WILL YOU COME WIPE ME?!?!?!?!


..... ahhhh ... the joys of being a mommy. Just doesn't compare to nothing in the world!

Bird Nest

One of Emma's favorite things to do is explore our backyard. One recent morning the girls and I were walking down towards the creek to see if we can spot any new birds. As we were walking, Emma spotted this beautiful bird nest in our path. It fell from the large tree hovering above us. She was very happy and excited about her find. We went on and on about what kind of bird could have nested in this very well built bird nest and finally came to the conclusion that perhaps it was a Robin.

Our Latest Additon

Once again I am amazed at how fast time seems to go by. Summer is almost over. Wow - unbelieveable! Each day I have made a mental note that "I need to blog". The days came and went and I never had the chance to do so. With so much light during the Summer months it is hard to get the girls down at a decent time.

Five weeks ago this coming weekend, we have added alittle addition to our family. :) Emma now has a pet Bunny named Molly, that she absolutely loves! Everyday Emma tells me "Mommy, I love my bunny, she is soo sweet"! The girls have had so much fun with her. During Molly's "imaginary play" she jumps and runs as if something is chasing her and the girls think it's the funniest thing in the world. I believe Molly loves being the center of thier attention. Her favorite foods are Romaine lettuce and apples. We picked some broccoli leaves out of our garden for her but it was quickly proven that wasn't her favortie food. Nonetheless, she ate it anyways.

On another note... Abbi, Emma and I just got over a 24 hour stomach virus. In that order.

On Tues, I was babysitting as usual. The oldest of the 3 came to me and complained of a tummy ache. Thinking it was a bowel problem I sent her to the restroom and dismissed the thought. She complained a few more times and I assured her it would feel better soon. That night or 3:00 in the morning rather, Abbi awoke crying. I went in her room to check on her only to find out she puked all over the place. I quickly undressed her and put her in a warm bath then re-dressed her and put her in bed with daddy as I went to her room to clean up the rest of the mess. Right as I was coming back about 10 minutes later, she was throwing up again. Thankfully, I gave her a towel on my way out, telling her to throw up on that should she feel the need again. Thankfully she did. She kept throwing up about every 30 minutes to an hour until about 10:30 or 11:00 the next morning. That morning, when I phoned the mother of the children I babysit to tell her I can't watch her kids that day because Abbi was sick, she proceeded to tell me that Bri got sick the night before... that is when I realized it was she who brought the bug along. *sigh About 12:30 that afternoon Emma started to complain about a tummy ache. At about 2:30 she too started throwing up and about 7:30 or 8:00 that evening.. well.. it was my turn.... uuugggghhhh. It seemed to be a 24 hour *bug. However, it only lasted 12 to 15 hours for the girls. First of all I give the credit to God, and secondly to God again, for the wonderful herbs he left on this earth for us!

Once we awoke I started giving Abbi the Children's Composition Tincture I made about a month ago. I also made Emma start taking it "just in case". I believe this to be the reason of their short lived stomach virus, vs. my 24 hour ordeal. My only regret is that I didn't start taking it when I started giving it to Emma. By the time I was feeling sick to my tummy I dared not put anything in my mouth -- uugghh. But anyways, thankfully we are all 3 back on our feet. The Lord was good. We were all bound to get sick, but he was good to let us be sick one at a time. First Abbi.. and by the time the worst was over for her, than Emma. Once the worst was over for her... I came down sick. I am thankful I didn't get sick until my babies felt better. This way I was able to take good care of them. :)

Today we were back on our feet cleaning house, which the girls are getting so good at. They have become quite the lil' helpers. I am so blessed. For some reason, Abbi seems attracted to cleaning toilets .. something I am not ready to have her take over just yet?!?!?!

I have more to blog.. but my girls want to play the "memory game" .. so perhaps I will blog later. :)

Pictures Part 3

1.) That's MY girl! A bird watcher/admirer in the making. We were watching the Indigo Buntings.
2.) Emma taking the Firefly out of my hand
3.) Abbi showing Emma another Firefly
4.) A Firefly gets away

Pictures Part 2

Pictures:

1.) Emma in daddy's work boots
2.) Abbi helping Mama water the flowers around the mailbox
3.) Emma and Abbi attempting to put training wheels on Abbi's new bike ( a .50 garage sale find) (notice how Emma is holding the wheel *smile)
4.) Abbi doing what she loves most... swinging

Pictures

Some pics I decided to add:

1.) Emma so proud of her new helmet from Daddy
2.) Emma painting a Rainbow and Abbi patiently waiting her turn
3.) Abbi happy to have her turn!
4.) Emma painting in her "My Little pony" book from Aunt Lisa.

Mama's Big Helper

Abbi LOVES helping me in the kitchen. Since daddy had to work late this evening, I decided that the girls and I would have "breakfast" for Supper. In the pictures above Abigail is cracking and pouring the egg into our skillet. As I was doing the dishes, she stood guard and let me know when they were "all done"! They were done to perfection. :)

It's official! Or rather, has been for a few days now! Jonathan, the girls and I are going on vacation! Lord willing, we are headed down South this coming Saturday to spend the 4th of July week with my folks. Emma is especially excited and looking forward to the trip to Grandma and Grandpa's. Plus she knows she will get to see many of her cousins! We are all excited and can't wait! :)

I asked Abbi if we should take her portable potty with us on the trip. She said "no.. we leave it home". Afterward I said "Well... yes, I think we should take it with us". I left it at that and forgot all about it. About 10 mins. later she comes and tells me .. "Puppy said we need to leave the potty home!" - haha... too cute! I can't quite figure out why she does not want to take it. She still uses it at home, as she is still too short to use the big potty all by herself. For the last several weeks she has entered this "I do it" stage. She has to do EVERYTHING on her own. She was asking me to help her on the big potty for a while, until she started the "I do it" stage. Now she would rather use the small potty vs. the big potty, because using the small potty she can "do it ALL by herself". I dare not help or she gets very upset. I am very anxious for her to outgrow this! :)

I have many more pictures to share, but they will have to wait. It's 11:30 and I have a big day of packing and cleaning tomorrow. I better jet!

American Gold Finch

Emma telling the bird it has a "sweet little tail"!

Emma talking silly to the birdie :)

This morning, I awoke about 7:30 and Princess Emma soon followed. I was on the computer checking up on a few things and Emma came and laid down on the couch. Soon afterward we heard a loud thud and Emma said "Mommy! That was a bird"! - which of course I was very familiar with the sound as this was not the first time this has happened. A Female American Gold Finch ran in to our window. I quickly got up and looked out the window and there it sat ... I was hoping stunned and not dead. I quickly went outside to inspect and Emma rushed to the window and asked "mommy .. is it dead"? I was happy to report that is wasn't! I picked it up and told Emma to hurry and get dressed so she can come outside and hold the little birdie before it comes back to it's senses. :) So she did.. and had a blast doing so. It was so sweet as she was petting and talking to the bird telling it that she will be alright. She was also telling the birdie " you have a sweet little tail"! :)


Abbi awoke about 10 minutes later and I told her to come outside if she wants to hold a bird. She quickly made her way out and as I took the bird from Emma and started to hand it over to Abbi it flew away. Abbi was very disappointed and I felt so bad as she was very excited about holding the bird. I told her.. maybe next time. She seemed content with the possibility of holding one "next time".

Enjoying Summer

Today was another absolute GORGEOUS day! The girls and I have spent most of the day outdoors. They have had so much fun riding their bikes, running through the sprinkler, chasing butterflies, birds and in the evening - Emma loves to catch the "Lightening Bugs". Abigail is still not too sure about holding the bugs. :) She shivers at the sight of one! Especially the Spiders. Yet - she LOVES the song "itsy bitsy spider". About 5 nights ago she slept in bed with Jonathan and I. They had already snuggled in bed and started conversation before I made it to bed. I am not sure how it all got started but when I tuned into their conversation they were talking about Spiders. Daddy was telling her that Spiders have 8 eyes and she said daddy has eye's like a "pider". She says... 1, 2, 3! Counting the eyes on daddy's face. Daddy said "WHAT?!?! No way! I have only 2 eyes!" Which of course Abbi had to argue all the while giggling so cutely. Needless to say, Daddy got tired and started to snore away while Mommy had to hear ALL about the Spiders. The more she talked about them, the bigger her eyes got and the more scared she was getting. I finally had to sush her up and make her go to sleep.

This evening as the girls were busy playing on the swing set, Jonathan and I were standing near the creek chatting about the days events and enjoying the cool breeze along with the beautiful song of the many birds. As we were talking, all of a sudden Jonathan says "Look! A Duck"! I look over, notice the duck and then we both notice about 5 little ducklings swimming close behind. It was the sweetest little moment and I was happy to have my camera with me! Of course, it is a new camera we had purchased today! I love it and have been snapping pictures like crazy - so I will be posting many pictures in the near future. :) The beautiful blue bird you see in the following 2 pictures is the "Indigo Bunting". Those are for my sis Monica! :) I must say - the MOST beautiful bird I have seen yet. I have many of them and I never get tired of seeing them. :)

Strawberry pickin'

This past Saturday, Jonathan, the girls and I went out to Suter's Farm and picked us some nice juicy SWEET Strawberries. (3 buckets full) Melt in yur mouth Strawberries. UMmmUUmmmm GOOD Strawberries. The only thing I kept thinking, was why haven't we done this before? Jonathan and I have been married for 5 years and this is a first for Strawberry pickin'. But surely will not be the last. Emma and Abbi both had a grand time. They had just as much fun picking them as they had eating them. I still have 2 buckets full in the refrigerator waiting for me to clean and freeze them. We hope to get out there once more before the season is over with.

After picking strawberries, we headed over to Columbus where we watched our Nephew play baseball. The game went til about 10:15 in the evening and it was FREEZING outside. Yes... freezing. Just when I got excited about the warm weather, it chilled again. *sigh The girls enjoyed watching their cousin play baseball. We had them wrapped up in their little blankets so they stayed cozy and warm. They enjoyed the overall trip. They had so much fun, they didn't want to come home. Abbi told me to take my shoes off.. cause "we not going bye bye!" (sassy lil' thing she is!)

Emma and Jared set up camp in the living room and built a "fire" while Abbi was running around the house playing with Samson. (Auntie Lisa's Pug) At least there she has a real dog to play with. For about the past 4 weeks or so, she has had "imaginary kitty's". I have been petting them, feeding them, carrying them around in my pockets and on my shoulder's and head. A couple of times I thought she was handing me "food" so I would start to eat it, and she would get upset!

Abbi: NOOO - don't eat Kitty!!

Mama: Ohh... sorry - I thought it was food.....

Abbi: Noo... Kitty Cat ---pointing to my lap, she says "1, 2, 3" ... (letting me know I know have 3 kitty's on my lap)...

Which isn't much at all. She has counted 4 in my pocket, and 7 on my shoulder about 4 on my head....some days they seem to be countless. As long as they are not real.. I can definitely deal with this. :) I love to see her use her imagination. Today, as she was playing in the sand box, she was gathering sticks and said it was for a fire. I am not sure where she gets this idea from, as we do not build fires.

Well - I would have more to blog, but we just got home from Columbus and am very tired. Just thought I better take a min. to blog something or I would never get to it tomorrow. :)

4 years of blessings!

Today, Princess Emma turned 4! We made a trip to Sears this morning and captured the princesses' beauty in photo! :) Since this year they were both 1 year older I thought it would be a breeze. Not a chance! We had a HARD time getting Abbi to smile. She didn't think the lady was "charming" at all. We finally managed to get a few smiles. :)

I can't believe my little Emma is 4 years old already! I feel so honored to be called "her Mother." She has brought so much joy in our lives. I can't imagine life without her and thank God daily for such a sweet little girl! She has become quite the little helper with the house work and also keeping Abbi in check. Today, she told me she needed the "spanky spoon" because Abbi keeps whinning. She figured she needed to set her sissy straight. :)

We are going to celebrate her Birthday Sunday afternoon. She is VERY excited and chatters about her birthday non-stop. It's o.k. as long as IT stops after the party! :)

Fun in the Sun

Since I have last blogged our seedlings have sprouted wonderfully! If I wasn't so lazy right now I would get up, take a picture and add it to this blog. But since I am indeed too lazy, you will have to take my word for it. :) Maybe another blog.

The weather has been SO NICE all week - we have been spending so much time outside. The grass has turned green and the trees are starting to sprout. Our ornamental Japanese Plum Tree is about to bloom. The buds are on and we expect them to open any day now. The girls and I have been cleaning beds; getting ready for Spring! Well, hoping to. It is supposed to be in the lower 40's next weekend. eeekk. I am praying that will change! We are so happy to have warm, SUNNY weather! ahhh... I just love the great outdoors.

Emma and Abbi continue to grow like weeds. Looking back at pictures from just a few short months ago, proves me right. Abbi is now bored with the "small" potty and she wants to go to the "BIG potty", which means I am taking her as she is still too small to get on herself. She is still doing so well with the whole potty thing. I am still amazed at how easy it was to train her. Or did I? I don't even feel like I did any potty training.

I have been thinking about getting Abbi out of the crib and into a toddler bed. That is until today. Now I am thinking I should just upgrade her to a queen size bed. She has now "adopted" 4 stuffed animals, one baby and 2 blankets that she must sleep with. She is starting to run out of room! Especially since her lastest is a BIG Winnie the Pooh.

Emma is so excited about her birthday party coming up in 2 weeks. She wrote her name on her invitations, all by herself and was very proud of that. :) We are doing a "Princess" theme this year. I can't wait. I love to see her so excited about something so special!

For the first time, since we have moved into this house, we have fertilized the lawn. Jonathan is very excited to start seeing improvements. The weeds were indeed starting to take over! Our neighbor across the street is in the landscaping business - he was able to get us some bags "at cost". Saved us alot of money - hopefully we will start seeing the weeds die off and the grass once again take over. :)