friends :)

Dear Friends that have moved away,

Do you know that Maryn misses you?  That she asks about you every day?  That you are her prayer requests every night?  It's true.  And I miss you, too.

She says, "What happened to Mara?  Why are there other little girls living in her house?"

She says, "Now I don't have any friends."

She asks, "Why do all my friends keep leaving?"

And I play Candyland and Play Doh with her all evening to make the sad feelings less heavy.

We miss our friends!

But this evening the Powells came to visit while the Daddies were working, and I love them too.  I am so glad they are here.  We are so blessed.

Penguins with Maryn and Updates with Josiah :)

We had such a fun day!  I woke up early, at 6:15, because the kiddos have been sleeping in till 8:30 pretty consistently.  I thought I could have breakfast with my hubby, have some quiet time, take a shower, etc.  And then this little one came down the hall at 6:30 am, ready to go:

 We have been learning about penguins.  Here Maryn is with her Mommy penguin, who has gone to the ocean to catch fish.  She left her mate with her baby for four months!

 Ella Grace visited today for a few hours, and here she is with the Daddy penguin.  He carried the egg on his feet those whole four months (we used a Kix cereal piece as the egg).  Then the egg hatched.  Here's the Mommy meeting her baby for the first time!

I also made two loaves of bread in the bread machine and experimented with some recipes and a new bread pan, but still not quite what I wanted.  I don't know why my amazing bread baking friends don't share their secrets.  My bread tastes good, like most homemade bread, but it's smaller and denser than Miss JoAnna's and Miss Hope's. Boo.  Everything they touch turns to gold.  Why are some people like that?

My little mister, Josiah, is saying lots of words, using lots of signs, growing more and more independent each day.  But the best part is that he's starting to really remember animal sounds.  Ah!  So cute!  His favorite is the elephant.  He can also do a cat and anything growly.  But his growl is the cutest thing.  He's not very intimidating :)

He has learned two new words.  "Mess," and "Sit!"  Ha!  I wonder how he learned those :)

He folds his hands when we sit to eat, ready to pray.  He walks to the bathroom when we're done to wash his hands.  He walks to the kitchen to get some milk when it's time for bed.  And knows just what to do at teeth brushing time.

He often lays down without a whimper at bed time, but is STILL waking up 30 minutes to three hours into his sleep.  It's driving us crazy.  We thought we nailed it down as a lactose thing, but it's not adding up.  I don't think it's his belly.  I suspect he's having nightmares/falling dreams...he wakes up freaking out, just wanting Mommy, and the only thing that consoles him is Mommy.

So it goes, life with kids.  If it's not one thing, it's another.  Once you think you have something figured out (like a way to have a quiet time, or a way to have an easy nighttime), it all goes out the window.

Christmas Day 2011 Videos

Part I:  Maryn coming out at 7:20 am to see the presents, and her big girl bike

Part II:  Josiah coming out at 8:30 to see the presents, and his slide

Part III:  Josiah opening his truck from Uncle Mark and Aunt Melissa

Part IV:  Josiah going down the slide all by himself

Part V:  Josiah playing with his new favorite toy...

Part VI:  Maryn telling you about some of her new toys.

Christmas Day 2011

Santa really must know a lot about us!  Look at all the Cheetos :)

 Wow!  Lots of gifts from us to our kiddos, and from lots of family members too!

 We weren't sure if Maryn would be super thrilled with her bike.  But she was!  And we were able to take her outside to ride it for a while today.  She did great!

 Ah, they were so excited.  Here she is with her flashlight.  A favorite for sure.  She also got candy in her stocking, a little doll, toothpaste, a toothbrush, floss picks, and Cheetos :)

 Have you ever seen a kid so excited to get underwear?

 Oh, happy!  Here's Josiah opening up a Boo-Boo Buddy.  An Elmo ice pack for bumps and bruises.  He needed it an hour or so later.  He actually got three big bumps on his head today.  Shocking.

 Santa also put a sword, trains, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and candy in Josiah's stocking.

 Maryn's first Barbie doll!  Look at the paper flying.

 A huge truck from Uncle Mark and Aunt Melissa, while he ate Cheerios and candy canes.  Later he pushed it everywhere outside.  He loves it!

 Maryn already broke in her new coloring books from Aunt Cheryl.

 Josiah kept stopping for kisses and lap sits today.  As if to say thank you.  Love him.

 And his favorite toy...our least favorite...the noisiest toy in the world:

 I asked, "Who got him that mower?"  And John said, "I don't know.  Someone who hates us."  It was his mom!  Agh!  But Josiah sure does love it.  We already generously offered to let the neighbors borrow it ANY.TIME.

Here's Maryn on her own computer from Aunt Cheryl:

 Cheetos break!  No one better take my Cheetos...

 Modeling her new apron (which is beautiful, and was made by Melissa's sister in law, Amy!  It's incredible!) and pajamas from Uncle Mark and Aunt Melissa.

 Maryn wore her apron almost all day and used the convenient pocket in the front to store sprinkles.  She was a great helper with frosting Jesus's birthday cake.

John and I had our hands full today.  Both kids were excited, exhausted, spoiled and bratty.  But we love them anyway, and are so grateful for the blessings bestowed on us this year, last year and every year.  But most of all we are grateful God came to earth, to be born as a baby, to grow and learn much like we ought to, and die a death that we will never have to.  By taking on all the sins of every person in the world.  Defeating sin and coming back to life, so that we might live.  So that we might give him glory in all we do.  In all his grace and mercy, even when we fall short (and we always do), he still loves us.

Glory to God in the highest!

Christmas Eve 2011

Today we all slept in until almost 9:00.  After we drug ourselves out of bed, we eventually made a birthday cake for Jesus!  

 We kind of waited around for Daddy to come home.  I was exhausted--we all were--due to John's work schedule the last few days and Josiah was up in the night for quite a while.  So we did some school things--learned about penguins--and watched a little bit of March of the Penguins.  Maryn was very interested in the documentary.  She had A LOT of questions though, and some parts are pretty scary or sad.

Then we got ready for Daddy to come home so we could go out to dinner.  The place we planned to go was closed so we went to a restaurant called O'Charley's.  It was SO good.  It was kind of like how Applebee's used to be (really yummy).  I had an amazing dinner.  A steak!  A Caesar salad!  And a loaded baked potato!  Yes!

We drove around to look at lights afterward.  Then frosted and decorated some cookies for Santa, wrote him a letter, and got ready for bed.  Then we read Luke 2 as a family on Maryn's bed and said goodnight.  They are still awake...back in their rooms...and now Mommy and Daddy get to play Santa.  I think I'll eat my leftover steak and potato and let John put together the toys :)

Here are the little rascals dancing in front of the tree.

Merry Christmas!

The best sweet potato casserole recipe!

Per John's request, we are making his mama's sweet potatoes this Christmas.  And we're having a ham!  That's right, we've gone traditional.  Here's the recipe.  Try it.  Trust me.

Sweet Potato Casserole (Laura McKinney’s recipe)

2 40 oz. cans of cooked sweet potatoes, mashed (or 4 ½ cups fresh cooked and mashed sweet potatoes)

¾ cup white sugar

3 eggs lightly beaten

6 T. butter, softened

¾ cup milk

1 ½ tsp. vanilla

¾ cup coconut

Butter a 13 x 9 in. pan.  Preheat oven to 350.  Mix above ingredients.  Then make the topping:

Topping:

½ cup flour

1 ½ cup brown sugar

6 T. butter, softened

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

1 cup coconut

Mix with fork until crumbly and sprinkle over potato mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Maryn has a special message for you!

Watch her YouTube video here.

I'm sorry she doesn't speak very clearly :) and Josiah is blabbering and banging in the background.  She had just done it so well for me, and I made her do it again and she had kind of lost interest.  But it's still as cute as ever.  Here is the translation (you may want to read along).



"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Christmas Gifts Under $10

I felt so blessed to actually buy gifts for some more people this year.  I was even able to put together a few gifts for neighborhood friends.I bought these adorable gift bags and notepads in the dollar spot at Target, and also bought some of these dish rags from my MIL Donna, which she made.  I tied them up with pretty ribbons I already had (I don't know what from!), and attached a little poem.  This is what it says:

Isn't it true that in our neighborhood

A dishwasher would do us all some good?

So this year I got you not one, but two

Dishwashers to do the dishes with you!

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Amanda

I am so clever.  ;-)

We do school randomly :)

 This morning I sent Maryn and John to the grocery store with a list and Maryn had a "BINGO" card and stickers.  She had to find all the numbers she could at Target and mark them with her stickers.  Then after lunch, Maryn and John played this game I found here.   We used a spinner with the numerals actually on it rather than dice because Maryn needs to learn her numbers.  Although she was very good at counting and coloring the number she spun.

During Josiah's  nap, we used the buttons Miss Beth gave us to get crafty:

Cute, super easy button ideas here.

Maryn loves school.  I started looking at kindergarten and preschool curriculums again and I am just feeling very pessimistic about them all.  I feel at this point all we really need is a math curriculum (preschool) or at least a guide, with ideas for stuff to do.  She's way advanced right now in reading (letters, sounds) so purchasing or trying to follow a preschool program would be kind of pointless.  I need a good scope and sequence, or something like that...to keep us motivated and on track.  Also some social studies and science would be great too.  Right now we do so many random things, whenever we feel like it.  But next I do believe we will study the northern states, Canada, and animals that live in colder climates.

If you have any ideas of books that would give me some basic guidance, let me know.

Right now we're watching 101 Dalmations and she is scared out of her mind.  :)  It may be a long night.

Good Times with Grandma and Grandpa!

 We had such a great time with my in-loves the last couple days.  We opened Christmas presents, ate at a lot of restaurants, and Donna took me shopping!  Shopping with no kids for what was it, three or four hours?  JoAnn's, Kohl's, World Market and Trader Joe's!  Fun times.  And we got lots of goodies, and we even found a pair of petite maternity jeans that Donna made me try and lo, they fit!  I am pretty excited about them.

Maryn and Josiah acquired a special present from all the Erdmans:

 They are trying to make our kids into Packer fans.  Josiah loves the cheese head and Maryn loves cheese, so they may have a chance.  :)

We feel very blessed to be loved by many!

Elf on the Shelf

Surely by now you have heard about this little creature.  It seems like a fun idea, but I know a few people who have maybe taken it to a whole new level.  Read this blog post:  Overachieving Elf on the Shelf Mommies.  I'm not trying to judge stay at home moms, because I am one myself, but I thought surely this was more of a SAHM thing.  Since we have loads of time on our hands.  Not true, I know!  But lo and behold, I do know a few full time working mamas who are doing this.  And they're not just moving the Elf around, making little notes, etc.  The elves are wrapping up all their picture frames and hanging them back on the walls.  They are having marshmallow fights in the kitchen.  They are decorating the Christmas tree with toilet paper.  They are making enormous, delicious breakfasts before school.  Wowzers.

I don't have anything against elves.  And I believe that as long as you preach Jesus all year, a little Santa isn't going to take the Christ out of Christmas.  I even abbreviate Christmas as Xmas on my phone while texting sometimes.  ;-)

It really does all boil down to priorities.  That and thinking like a child for a minute.  What would you rather do when you were five?  Discover that creepy little elf had covered your Christmas tree in toilet paper, or do a fun craft with Mommy?  Or read a book with a Mommy?  Or watch Mommy pick all the TP off the tree?  A little magic in Christmas is fun.  Sure.  We leave the cookies nibbled from Santa, and we even give the reindeer special reindeer treats.  Some people don't, and that's okay too.

But this Elf on the Shelf business (the really over the top ones) I don't really understand.  I think your time could be better spent.  But maybe my time could be better spent too sometimes.  Ah, to each his own I guess.  What do you think?  Are you for the Elf or no?

 

Oh my. She is practically a teenager.

Not only is every other word in her vocabulary, "Like," but now this!

 You should have seen how sweet she looked sleeping there last night. She slept in it all night and didn't fall out.  I think she did wake up once and cried a little bit.  I think she forgot where she was.

John worked so hard yesterday.  He took down the loft, helped our friends carry it over to their apartment (which oddly enough is the same apartment we got it from, and they put it in the same spot!), put it together over there, only to come right back to carry Maryn's new furniture upstairs.  He put together the bed, we rearranged lots of things in both kids rooms, and I tried to vacuum and dust every time we moved anything.  It was exhausting, let me tell you.  Then we used a valance our friends gave us with the bed to cover up the unsightly toys in Maryn's closet...

 So Maryn's closet is now home to her kitchen, dress up clothes, some school storage, and above on the racks there are hundreds of toys for rotation or to only get down when the kiddos ask for them.  It's a mess in this picture...sorry!

Maryn has been so tired and yucky feeling lately.  We may just need to get outside more, but today during Josiah's nap, we tried this fun little activity with her old crayons.

 We unwrapped and broke several dull crayons and sorted them by color into this silicone mold.  Then we let them melt in the oven set at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes.  In a couple hours, we will pop them out and we'll have new gingerbread man crayons!  I may make some into Christmas ornaments.

This activity kept my tired little girl's fingers busy and her bottom still for about half an hour this afternoon.  And for that I am grateful!

 She's such a big girl.  :)

Play with Grandma, Aunt Cathy and Auntie Sara!

Much of our visits with Grandma include coloring.  Josiah is just getting the hang of it.  

 And Play Doh!

 And crafts!

 And baking!

 And after the kids went to bed, FROSTING and SPRINKLES!  And Harry Potter.  :)

Christmas Joy!

Here is a cute wintery craft we did today.  My aunt Cathy sent this for us to do last year, but for some reason we never got around to it.  But look what a good job Maryn did with it this year.  I am glad we waited.  She colored it herself of course, and she also cut out the wings and the feet all by herself!

But my favorite part, the most wonderful thing of all, is the little "plaid" she made on the penguin's hat.  How stinkin' creative is that?  I could swear sometimes she has the mind of a professional designer of some sort.  I don't think any of us have being drawing plaid or making plaid around the house, but obviously she's noticed it somewhere.  

 I did have to help her glue all the pieces on.  Cathy sent us a sample picture, but isn't it hard for kiddos to copy a sample just right?

At our Kids' Crafternoon yesterday, I was really surprised how many kids (even 8-10 year olds) honestly have no idea how to use school glue, glitter, or make a simple craft like the one above by following a sample.  This is a great tragedy of what No Child Left Behind does to our school systems.  Teachers think they don't have time for those things any more.  But the truth is, these things are absolutely vital to a child's understanding, development and knowledge of how things are made, how things are pieced together, how to follow directions, be creative, pay attention to detail, etc.

When I was teaching, I always found a way to incorporate crafts like the one above into our daily schedule.  That's right--DAILY (okay, maybe not the glitter part).  They usually did things like this during their reading workstations while I was with a small group.  If the principal asked, "how does this involve reading, or improve reading skills?"  I could obviously point out several ways it improves reading skills.  Teachers and Parents:  You gotta be creative, too!

Here's a creative spin on a play date.  Maryn and Ella (mostly Ella) were having a hard time eating their pasta (especially the spinach part), and I remembered we had a giant apple fritter in the kitchen, which I wanted to eat really badly.  So I told them we were going to have a birthday party for Jesus with a doughnut and candles and Christmas plates and Christmas napkins!  But they had to eat their pasta first.  And what do you know, they did.  And we had a little birthday party for Jesus.

 Here's a picture of Josiah after our Kids' Crafternoon.  He sustained several injuries after my neglect of him while setting up and helping other kids do their crafts (by that I mean, clean up glitter and tear it from overexcited children's hands).

 He got a giant bump on his head, a bloody lip, and some kind of carpet burn all over his cheek/chin.  And this morning, Maryn wailed a block at his head so that he now has a gash on the other side of his forehead.

Today, I finally got motivated to make cookie dough for our Christmas cut outs, a family tradition for as long as I can remember.  Maryn was a very good helper.  We read the ingredients list together, gathered them all up, lined them all up in order, read their labels, practiced adding and subtracting ("There are only 5 eggs in this carton.  How many more do we need?  Yes, we need ONE more egg.").  It was so sweet, because later Maryn used this same language with John, saying, "There are three snowflakes and we need one more!"

Now that our craft nights and our monthly food line is behind us, I feel a huge weight off my shoulders.  John has the next two days off and then my mom and Sara will be here for the weekend.  I think God is starting to bless me with some Christmas joy, and I pray it continues.  I pray I can find peace in this holiday, and give to others without feeling obligated or burdened.  That I could make cookies with my sweet daughter, the way my grandmother and my mother and my aunts always did with me, without making it out to be a huge chore, a duty of sorts, or a hassle.  And I pray there are many Italian subs in my future as well.  ;-)

Josiah, 16 months

My baby boy is 16 months old, which is dreadfully close to one and a half, which is too close to age two!

Josiah grows in giant spurts, mentally and physically.  He started walking a couple weeks ago and boom, he is suddenly doing a hundred things that amaze me.  His sign language and words have exploded.  Today, we finished with dinner and made a run for the bathroom.  We typically wash up after dinner in the sink, so I thought, is he going to wash his hands?  Sure enough, I found him picking up the stool, moving it to the front of the sink, and getting on it to wash his hands.  How cute is that?  He rubbed his hands together to make bubbles with the soap, too.  I love it.

Now just pray he'd sleep like a normal toddler, okay?  Normal being....12 straight hours without waking up, lol.

Busy busy!

Josiah, a little worn out:

 Maryn received quite a treat the other day.  She got to help me at the STOVE for the very first time.  She was so excited to stir the butter and the marshmallows for our Rice Krispies Treats until they melted.  It was a little science experiment.  Isn't home schooling great?  :)

I thought she might want to be at the stove all the time now that I let her once, but she is such a smart, sweet girl. She understands it's only for sometimes.  John and I are really starting to appreciate this about her.  We chalk it up to our good, old fashioned, inconsistent parenting skills.

Everyone will tell you, "consistency is key!"  But in life things just are not consistent.  Sometimes Mommy thinks it's funny when you dump baking soda on your head.  Other times, Mommy might sit down and cry if you dump baking soda on your head.  It's all okay.  The kids will be all right.  :)

Christmas Crafts

I suggested John and Maryn make this felt gingerbread man together.

He wasn't very pleased.

He's not very patient with our little crafter, and he doesn't let her make any mistakes!

But look how much she loves him.

I think she enjoyed it.

 We made a cute gift bag.

 Josiah has been rather artsy lately as well.  Sticking his tongue out while he concentrates, just like another boy I know.  :)

 Some photos of Ladies' Craft Night...here's Joanna :)

 Debbie, Marissa, and Charissa....

 Here was my big project on Tuesday night, since Hobby Lobby didn't have what I needed for ribbon trees.  I found a bow making tutorial on Pinterest, and got to work.  I did this last year but this year it looks a thousand times better.  If you want to try something like this though, I would suggest wider ribbon.  I think mine is about two inches thick.  Then after you make the bow, you can do separate ribbons down the sides, and you hook your Christmas cards on there with clothespins, which I decorated with little satin ribbons.  I always use Tacky Glue for these projects.  I despise hot glue, and I only use it if absolutely necessary.  Tacky Glue seems to always do the trick.