Childlike Awe

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. (Luke 2:11 NIV)

Does your child get all giddy about the lights on the houses? How about when he or she sees the manger scene? Katie gets so excited about all of it. Gasps can be heard from the back seat as we drive around town after dark. When we drive by the Catholic Church near us, she gets all excited to see baby Jesus all lit up. I don't always share in her excitement. 

Then I read in my advent devotional:

"Kids love Christmas because they figure they are going to get something they like...Think for just a minute of what Jesus came to give you--forgiveness for your sins, love to drown out the hate, the supreme honor of being called a child of God, and immortality to lift you out of your grave." (timeofgrace.org)

What a great reminder. Childlike awe is not just for the children. Honestly, when someone has a really good light display, I enjoy it too. Even more so, baby Jesus should excite us all. He gave us such a wonderful gift when He came to earth. Started off as a baby, became our savior in His death & resurrection. I am getting excited to celebrate His birthday!

Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Teaching an attitude of gratitude is an on going task. Here is one activity we did.

We made a Thankfulness Turkey. Each of us (yes, even Josiah) made a list of things we are thankful for. You would think coming up with 8-10 thing should be too hard easy. I guess it all depends on how detailed you want to be. Katie was so cute coming up with her list. Dusty, the airplane, of course made the cut. She is slightly obsessed. 

Josiah Daniel

Welcome to the family!

I'm a little late in posting this (oh life with two children is just so BUSY!)

We all love the newest addition to our family!!! He truly completes us. 

Ready for the hospital

All our bags are packed. We're ready to go...wait that sounds like a song.

Seriously though, now that I've finished baby boy's layette, I'm ready! Since nothing has happened yet, I made these Pinterest inspired Thank You gifts for our nurses. I was thinking about doing it, but wasn't sure I'd have time. Nurses are under appreciated, so I'm hoping these little gifts let them know how much we appreciate their help with our new little one.

Included inside these jungle themed cellophane bags is candy (Lifesavers, Twix, Snickers & gum), lip balm and hand lotion. Found all these for a great price at Special Thoughts. I love that store! Made each bag for under $4 each!

Layette for Baby Boy

I've been nesting for a few weeks now. Nesting, ya know, getting ready for baby boy to arrive. I've been going through Katie's baby things and selling clothes, getting baby toys ready, and making room in Katie's drawers for baby's clothes.  (more on that in a other post)

Part of my nesting also included making this cute coordinating layette.  Katie even has a matching hat. These are in my hospital bag, I can't wait to meet our little man and get him in these cute clothes! I just had to share the finished product. I am currently working on another hat, because this beanie looks a little big, but who knows. Only 5 more days until my due date...tick tock

Discipline

Warning: hot topic ahead

Have you ever said or thought, "I don't know why my child asks this way." Well, as parents, who else is the blame on but us. Having a toddler makes this topic all the more prevalent to me. Now is the time to shape my daughter's behavior & attitude. Now is the time to tune her heart to the Lord's and show her what it means to live out Christ's love.

Here is an excerpt from my devotional:

Discipline begins with a parent’s willingness to spend time and energy to shape attitudes and behaviors. Love sets boundaries so that a child knows what is good and bad, what he or she is free to do and not free to do. Discipline involves punishment, because sometimes people learn best through pain. It isn’t simply punishment though; it is a process in which you help to shape a person’s attitudes and values and behavior to reflect God’s ways. 

Verse:

Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul. (Proverbs 29:17 NASB)

or

Correct your children whenever they are wrong. Then you will always be proud of them. They will never make you ashamed. (Proverbs 29:17 ERV)

Discipline is not wrong. There are many ways to go about it (not going to get into that), but it needs to happen. Discipline needs to be consistent. Correcting your child's behavior or attitude is as much to your benefit as it is to theirs. (See the verse above)

Loving your child means correcting them.  If you want to have the next generation be loving, kind, "good citizens", then be sure to raise your children as such. Correct them (discipline, when necessary) when they are treating someone poorly or having a bad attitude. That shows them just as much love as when you give them the hugs & kisses they deserve as well.

Driveway Education

It's been some time since my last post. Sorry about that. I needed a little break. Now I'm back with a great idea for preschool even early education parents & teachers.

What 2 year old doesn't love sidewalk chalk? Ok, well, Katie doesn't always LOVE sidewalk chalk. Sometimes I end up doing more of the drawing than she does. On one such occasion, I decided to make my drawings a bit of an educational time. Katie thought it was just a game, perfect!

Let me describe our "game": I drew shapes and letters Katie knew on the driveway as you can see. She was excited to name each thing as I drew it. Once I felt we had enough shapes and letters on the driveway, I would tell Katie to stand on the square or the K, etc. Surprisingly, this "game" lasted a long time, as in more than 2 minutes.  My plan is to add letters, shapes, and numbers as Katie learns them. Maybe add a new letter or shape for her to learn as we play our game.

Any other great ideas like this for some driveway education?

 

Grow baby grow

Baby boy Vienneau keeps growing. I love that I can feel him move every day. Sometimes, I feel him move a little too powerfully! Hiccups are almost a daily occuranxe now & usually I enjoy feeling them, as long as I'm not trying to sleep.

As you can see in the pictures below, Katie is super excited to be a big sister!

Brian and I still have to decide on a name, and we are planning on surprising friends, family & even Katie with the name, so Katie took matters into her own hands... She calls him tree. 

Mother's Day 2014

I wasn't sure what to expect for Mother's Day this year. It ended up being just what I needed. My hubby is pretty good like that!

The day started off with Katie sleeping in, so I definitely got to shower! Then Brian made delicious Pilsbury cinnamon buns & coffee for breakfast. After church we headed up to Newburyport for lunch and a stroll. I ordered the lobster roll. Man, that was a good choice! It was delicious. I definitely needed to go for a walk afterwards!

Thanks for a wonderful day Brian!  Thank you for spoiling me.  One of my best memories of the day was when I was putting dishes away, while Brian was bathing Katie and he came out and said, "What are you doing? Go sit and be lazy."  My man is AWESOME!!!

Some highlight photos:

Katie got to decorate a cupcake as her dessert, it came with her kids meal. 

Katie Grace with the boat Katie May

Momma & Katie

To those who want it, preggo pix are coming soon. In the one above, Katie is covering up the bump a little, sorry!

Special Announcement!!!

Thanks to Pinterest, I really wanted to be creative and have fun with baby #2's internet debut...here are some of the ideas I came up with.

We are all very excited about the newest chapter of our lives that's just beginning. 

Yummy Chicken Dinner

I posted this picture on Facebook & Instagram. Since so many people asked for the recipe, I thought I'd share it. I was thinking of using brown rice next time.  It was a hit for the whole fam! Enjoy!!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken (adapted from the Hellman's recipe)

2 chicken breasts

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1TBSP bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425*F. Place chicken breasts on baking sheet. 

Mix mayo & cheese.  Spoon mixture on top of chicken. 

Sprinkle bread crumbs over chicken with mayo mixture. 

Bake for 20 min or until juices are clear. 

Roasted Asparagus

1 bundle of asparagus

2TBSP olive oil

1tsp garlic powder

1tsp dried onion flakes

1tsp dried basil

Salt & pepper to taste

Prep asparagus, place on aluminum foil (enough to wrap them).

Coat asparagus with olive oil and herbs & spices.

Wrap asparagus and place in oven with chicken.

*Asparagus was a bit crunchy (as I like it), if you prefer less crunch bake for longer than 20 min.

For our kids

The things we do for our kids. Katie's bird feeder art project from playgroup fell on the ground today. When it started snowing, Katie insisted that I had to save it from being covered in snow. I decided move it to a different bush.

Now we eagerly await the birds coming to eat from it. Since birds have a hard time finding food in the winter, it's not a bad idea to feed them a little. Cute fun project too. Here's how we did it. 

Items needed: Corn syrup, tray of bird seeds, cardboard, popsicle stick, paint brush, ribbon or string

Prep cardboard with a whole for ribbon or string and a slit for the popsicle stick. Paint corn syrup onto one side of the cardboard. Place cardboard, corn syrup side down, into bird seeds. Flip and repeat. Slide popsicle stick through the slit. Tie ribbon/string loop through the whole. Let dry. Hang your creation in tree.

To my sweet 2 year old

Happy birthday Katie! You are two!!

My how you have grown!

A letter to my girlie:

My dearest Katie,

You are my very special girl. You're beautiful. You're loved. This past year has been full watching you continue to grow and learn. You learned to walk, run, blow bubbles, draw circles, play with baby dolls, sculpt with play doh and so much more!

You are on the verge of jumping, and riding bikes. Oh my how you are growing up so fast my little one. I have to remind myself to enjoy every stage and cherish every moment. It's hard sometimes because you are moving so fast!

Love you lots pumpkin pie,

Momma

"Ah! Mommy! Snow!!"

Katie freaked out today because there was snow in my hair. I could only laugh. Snow so beautiful. While I don't like shoveling it, I do enjoy looking at it and playing in it. Katie sometimes thinks snow is bad or something.  She will learn that snow is fun to play in and  part of being a New Englander!

My Katie girl, you are just one day away from being 2. You have much more living to do. And oh how you will learn to love snow!!

Bock a Rye

Here we see Katie carrying one of her baby dolls around saying, "bock a rye."

What is that? Anyone have a guess?
I was totally confused.  Then, I realized she wasn't just saying, "bock a rye" rather singing "bock a rye" to her baby doll and rocking it back and forth. Ok, now I had an idea...

Did you guess Rock A Bye??  You are correct!!!  How cute.  She was singing & rocking her baby doll.  I loved seeing her act out being a mommy.

These are the little memories of my precious little ones that I want to keep.  These are the memories I want to write down.  They are cute and well, memorable.  They are just adorable!

Snow day fun!

Being cooped up inside a house all day with a toddler is not always fun. Here are some things we've done so far today. They are very easy and fun.

1. Crafts! Here is a very easy craft we did today. Paper snowman and a little snow scene. I'm thinking next time we do this, we will use cotton balls for snow on our snowman. 

2. "New" toys: Find toys your child hasn't played with in awhile! In Katie's case, even toys that she hasn't played with in a few days are like new fun toys. We played with her shopping cart, walking around the house, shopping in each room.

3. Music time! Ok, this one is my favorite. We busted out the kid instruments and sing Old McDonald or Mary had a Little Lamb while playing tambourines and the drum. Other times, we play music on my phone or the radio and have a dance party. No pictures of this, I was too busy having fun!!

4. Play doh. Okay this when we haven't done yet, but I'm pretty sure we're going to do it this afternoon. Katie just loves playing with it.