spring is fun

I love the spring temperatures here, but could do without the wind. There are many days where the wind is almost constantly at 15 mph with gusts of 30 mph. The cinder block fence in our backyard actually provides a pretty good wind break, but you just can't avoid the huge gusts. If you go out in town or to a park, there is no windbreak and you are at the mercy of the dust in the air.

As always though, God has set His world in motion for the good of His creation. There are pockets of oil and vapors around here that would create poisonous zones were it not for the strong winds circulating the air. The winds also blow the storms through rather quickly. If it rains one day, you can count on nicer weather the next.

The twins love to play outside when the wind isn't so bad. We usually spend 3-4 hours outside a day: before lunch, after lunch, and again after nap time. As the weather warms and the days lengthen, the after lunch playtime will probably be inside, but we will go outside again after dinner in the evening. Evenings in the summer here are wonderful.



Alyna is talking more and more, and starting to sing too. She has mastered the skill of jumping, and can actually get both feet about an inch off the ground. I think that's quite amazing for an 18 month old.



Ryan is constantly shocking people with his climbing skills. He climbs in and out of the stroller and his crib when the drop side is down. He climbs up in chairs and all over tables (until someone makes him stop).

Our new fun activity is coloring. We bought some triangle crayons and printed some train pictures off the internet, and they (and Mommy) marked on the paper for about 20 minutes. Ryan actually impressed us by not eating the crayons or the paper. Then they played with the crayons for another 20 minutes putting them in and taking them out of a ziploc bag.

Grandma (my mom) is coming to visit on Thursday, and we can't wait. We've got lots of things planned for while she's here.

Mine for a Moment

A friend of mine from high school, Kelly, is now a professional artist, and I love her work. She mostly does portraits.

She has a ministry going through one of her paintings, and I thought I should share the work with all who read this. Her goal is simply to give some encouragement and love to people who have lost a child. You need only to look at the picture to know that she was inspired on the day she painted it.

If you know someone who has lost a child, you can request a print from her. She asks for donations to cover the supplies and shipping costs, but will send it through the ministry's fund if a donation is not possible. She also takes donations above the shipping costs so that she can give out prints without charge to those in need.

Please visit the site. The picture is at the very top of the page, and the story behind the picture is there for your own inspiration.

Here's the link: Mine For a Moment

Mom blogs

I thought I would post a few links to "Mom" blogs I've started reading later. These are blogs by women I don't know, and they're all about being Moms. I have other blogs linked on the right hand side of this blog page that are blogs of friends and family about their own lives... these "Mom" blogs are different.

Check them out if you think you could use tips on parenting, raising a family on a budget, cleaning, family dynamics, etc.

And if you know of another good "Mom" blog, please leave it's link in a comment, and I'll be sure to check it out.

The Confident Mom - A Mom of 3 children... she's offers her services as a Mom coach, and I love her blogs, tips, and links.

Whole Living Gal - found this one through a guest post on "The Confident Mom"... has had great tips lately on natural cleaning products. She currently has a guest post on "Eating Healthy on a Budget" at the next link listed.

The Diaper Diaries - just started reading this one because of "Whole Living Gal's" Post...

Hearts at Home - has short blog posts and articles written by different moms on different subjects weekly and monthly. I've loved their insights. Right now there is a series on "Living with Less" that has been good.

Money Saving Mom - I just found this through a friend yesterday, but it looks promising.

Life As Mom - mostly recipes and tips for family meals and cooking

The Senses

On an episode of the twins new favorite show, "Chuggington", Koko's headlight burns out while driving at night. She has to use her sense of smell, hearing, and touch to find her way to the right place. I thought it was a very cute lesson about our senses.

While sitting outside the other day, I started thinking more about the story because I was smelling the spring freshness in the air. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, and hear the birds singing their beautiful song. I saw two squirrels chasing each other up and down a tree, and heard our dog Henrey bark as he tracked their scent along the ground. I saw a big smile on my daughter's face as she slid down the slide, and heard her brother's "vroom" as he pushed his dump truck along the ground.

God gave us so many ways to experience this world. How wonderfully creative our Father must be that he not only gave flowers beautiful colors, but also wonderful smells. Not only can we feel the coolness of a babbling brook on our bare feet, but we can hear it trickling along.

When you use all of your senses to enjoy the world, you can truly experience the fullness of his creation.

here's what's new

Twice this week in the evening Alyna has started to pull at the back of her pants. I asked her if she's going potty, and she pointed toward the bathroom door. So, feeling that her diaper was still dry at that point, I took her in the bathroom, pulled down her pants and diaper, and set her on her potty chair. She has actually peed in the potty then and there. I feel proud of her because it was her own initiative to tell me she wanted to go. Maybe we can actually have her out of diapers before the new baby comes... but I'm not pushing it just yet. If she tells me she wants to go, then we'll go.

Their favorite TV show now is a new show called "Chuggington" on Playhouse Disney (we watch on the internet). It's a cartoon with talking trains similar to the Thomas series. Personally I like this show better because it is livelier and faster paced. Both the twins absolutely love it. It also teaches good lessons about teamwork, reliability, and helping others.

She's saying new words all the time. This week it is: star, duck, over, juice, eggs, and choo choo

Ryan continues to babble, but is starting to experiment with putting different sounds together in his babbling.

2 weeks ago Ryan had a runny nose, and I told someone at church, "he's either getting a cold or a tooth, but we won't know which until it happens." Well, he got 2 teeth this last week, and I think there's another pushing through. Fortunately he has still been sleeping all night, he is just fussy during the day. Now Alyna's runny nose has turned into a full blown cold with low grade fever. I'm hopeful that it means she'll get more teeth soon too. She only has the 4 front ones still, and Ryan is now up to 6.

Barry is off until Tuesday, so we've actually got some house-hold projects back on the todo list that has been on hold since Christmas. It's amazing how time passes so quickly when you're too tired to do more than the minimum required.

Barry bought himself a Nook (new e-book reader from Barnes & Noble) that should arrive on Monday. He's very excited about it. His Sony reader was one of the first e-readers to come out a few years ago, and is in need of updating. In return, I'm getting to buy an ice cream maker and some new shoes. I can't wait to make fresh frozen desserts this summer.

That's all for now. We are so blessed by God for our family and friends...

Mommy kisses

Whenever my siblings and I got hurt as a kid, my mom would kiss where it hurt. If we hurt our finger she'd say, "either the pain will be gone in the morning or the finger will." We'd laugh... which helps with the pain too I'm sure.

Yesterday, Alyna smashed her thumb in a drawer so I picked her up and kissed her thumb. Later that day she got a paper cut on her hand from the phone book, and I kissed her hand again. Both times it seemed to help her.

This morning she was playing with some toys and started crying (I didn't see what happened exactly). As I approached her she looked at her hand, crying, and held her hand out for me to kiss.

I guess Mommy kisses really do have healing power.

new sounds and games

Alyna's vocabulary grew considerably in the last month. She says more distinguishable words than Ryan who prefers to babble nonstop.

Here are some of Alyna's newest words:
Up
Off - she says this when a show or book is over/done as well
Mo = more, she says this any time she wants something
choos = shoes
chess = either chair or stairs depending on context
chay = train
chee = tree
te = teddy bear
do = dog... but usually she just imitates the barking sound
ner = no

Ryan babbles a couple different phrases throughout the day: yabadebedebe, and "o boyo boy o boy o boy" (...and no he's never seen the Flinstones...)

Alyna is forever playing sister/mommy's helper these days. Her newest skills involve finding things on the floor and bringing them to us or to Ryan. When it's time to put shoes or coats on, she will pick up Ryan's things and take them to him. He usually doesn't accept them right away because he knows he needs our help to put them on. This frustrates Alyna.

The other day they followed me into the bathroom (as usual) and when it was time to leave, Alyna went out the door with me. I turned, motioned with my hand, and said "Come on Ryan." Alyna walked toward him making the same "come" motion with her hand. He reached out and grabbed it, so she just started leading him out of the room. She led him by the hand all the way into the living room. I giggled, but realized that if we're not careful she could become pretty bossy. So I have tried since then to be the one to coerce him into things and not let her drag him around.

Alyna's other new game is pat-a-cake. On one of our kid's songs DVDs, the girls clap each other's hands back and forth as they sing the song. So now, Alyna will hold up both her hands (like a high-10) and I clap them and then clap my hands, repeating. She loves it. I can't wait until one day she claps her hands in the middle part as well.

They both love to do back flips out of our arms. It's fun to do, but very tiring on the parents. No more so than having two of them climb all over you though.

Some days they play so well together, and other days (like this morning) there is screaming every 2 minutes because someone is in the other's way. Life is so frustrating when you're a toddler and your only real means of expression is grunting and screaming.