Days before Becoming a Big Sister

Faith Trying out the carseat! 

Faith had a morning of trying out the carseat! 

After a very long appointment at the midwives office, Lydia declared she "needed" a mommy date. So how can you say no to those blue eyes! 

Football and Popcorn with Dad (well atleast until the popcorn bowl is empty!)

A lazy Sunday afternoon walk! 

Letter E Projects! 

Columbus Day with Dad

The advantage to working with the Federal Government are these random holidays. So James got Columbus Day off work. And we enjoyed having him home! 

Lydia I am sure talking her Dad into something amazing! 

We discovered a super cool natural play space. Lydia LOVED the water features (in the cold rain!). There were tons of other activities but really in our world the water was amazing! And yes, I am HOT all the time and did not realize until later that Lydia was not dressed for the season at all. And James, well he is from Minnesota and 50's and rain equal short weather in his brain! 

Pumpkin Carving

Lydia has a great dislike for the guts of the pumpkin. And maybe her parents did chase her around the porch with pumpkin guts ;) 

Doesn't that just scream "chase me with pumpkin guts"????

Lydia's Projects

Last week was a difficult week at our house. Lydia left no boundary without testing it. The weather was cold, rainy, and gloomy ALL week. And really 9/10 months pregnant, is just not a fun a season in life. SO I uploaded pictures thinking to myself, "we survived and I am skeptical that I even took a picture". BUT I was pleasantly surprised to find out that we did have moments of happiness (I could not remember any happy moments so this was comforting!). Lydia must have been in a good mood atleast some of the time because she did ask to do projects. And the most important thing, we all survived and I think we still like each other ;)

Lydia's homework from Bible study truly is the highlight of her week. 

Oh, yes how about you take all the little tiny peices of paper of these stickers. Literally kept her entertained for 30+ minutes without a nap! I was shocked that she was able to focus that long without her nap. 

We found play money while cleaning - hours and hours and hours of fun all week long. Grocery store anybody??? 

And counting! 

And sorting! 

And back to the stickers for a little longer. 

Thumbprint art

Writing Letters

Miss Perfection erasing the letters that "were not right". 

Lydia is going to get this entire writing her name thing soon. Very soon by my prediction! 

4 no 3 Kisses

Sorry Lydia. You do things like this and we just need to document them to remember them...

Lydia's nap time request was granted for 4 kisses on her cheeks. Not 3 and not 5 but 4 kisses on her cheeks. Request granted. Hugs given. Sweetly covered up. Blinds closed. Room and child ready for sweet slumber. And I close the door the dramatic tears begin "No mommy I only wanted 3 kisses on my cheeks and I don't know what to do with kiss 4".

Mom silently groans and quick on her feet says "Oh, I will steal kiss number 4". Leans down and takes away kiss number 4. Problem solved right?

Oh, no! Your tired little body could not compute that I had taken away this kiss. Realizing that you could not be reasoned with in this tired state of mind I told you to go to sleep and close the door.

45 minutes later (which mind you you threw your toys, stomped around your room, and had a complete fit over this 4 kiss issue) you were still going strong and definatly not anywhere near sleeping. I went into your room and you could not even remember why you were upset. (Can we say tired???). I laid you back down, covered you up, even took a chance and kissed your cheek, and you were happily sleeping before I was back down the steps.

Tea Party Bribery

After a fun morning with a certain 3 year old, I needed a nap and so did she. So I bribed the little girl with a cupcake tea party IF she slept! AND I am happy to report - cupcake tea parties are great motivation. After nap, we baked cupcakes and ate dinner quickly so we could enjoy our tea party! 

The highlight of the tea party was James got home just in time to enjoy some party time too! 

And the next morning, the tea party dishes still had icing on them. Even tea party dishes don't magically clean themselves overnight... 

Dad's Busy Week

For a multitude of reasons, James had a chaotic week at work and had some really long hours. Lydia did ok with this for a couple days but by the end of the week she was bitter that her dad was not at home in the morning when she woke up and wasn't home before dinner. (Yes, she is a very fortunate little girl that her Dad is usually home when she wakes up and gets to come home before dinner most nights!).

We will skip posting the pictures showing the little girl laying in the floor crying and kicking her legs because "Dad is not home" but some more positive pictures!

After realizing Dad was not home one morning we made plans to write Dad a note on the driveway after our walk (Lydia is up before the sun every single morning!).

Lydia's Note: "I miss you". 

DeAnna putting a more positive spin on Lydia's drama: "We Love Dad". 

Laying out toys for Dad to play with (and yes, I was home and available and willing to play but what you can't have is what you want!). 

DeAnna once again trying to put a more positive spin on Lydia's drama. Once the little girl quit whining over the fact that Dad wasn't home when she woke up (notice not even a tear stain!) we took a picture to send Dad. Lydia really knows how to work her smile to pull on her Dad's heart.

Despite my best efforts Lydia really doesn't see why her Dad has to work and in her 3 year old wisdom doesn't yet appreciate her Dad's work ethic. One day she will learn but at the end of last week, I was quite thankful for Friday and for this dramatic little girl to have her Daddy home for the weekend! 

Lydia's Projects

Lydia and I had ALLOT of time together last week so we did soooooooo many projects and activities. To say we were busy was the understatement of the week. 

Letter C craft with cotton balls. But the best part was a new bottle of glue! 

Lydia has been wanting to learn how to write her name. So we made some name cards. 

We read the story about the Israelites and God's cloud of fire telling them where to go. Lydia then needed to make a cloud to tell her where she should build a tent. Kept her very busy for a day :) 

Playing with the name cards (again!). Best toy in the house last week. 

Dot ART! 

Sometimes you are painting and the urge hits you to run some laps through the house. And Lydia did not let the urge go unnoticed! 

OH, we also read the story about Joseph and his coat and Lydia needed to make a coat too. (Ofcourse, what fashionista would miss an opportunity to make a coat!). 

Lydia related well to Joseph's brothers because "I get jealous when Dad talks to you". This wasn't a news flash to James or I but it was a nice opportunity to talk about good choices to make when we are jealous. 

Lydia decided to challenge herself with the scissors and cut each shape out and not just the box around the shape. Pretty tricky I believe (and this took her days and days to complete!).