Just for fun!

I saw this on someones blog and decided to do my own!
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car): Cookie Civic
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Mint'nChip Chocolate Chip
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): M-Jam
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Pink Rabbit
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born): Marie Santa Monica
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): Jamme
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink): The Red Water
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers): Robert William
9. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Marie Henry
10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Enos Easton
11. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower). Fall Gerber-Daisy
12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”): Strawberry Shirtie
13. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Kix Willow
14. YOUR ROCK STAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour” and the year): The Scrapbooking Rain Tour 2007!

I apologize to those of you who have emailed me in the past few days. On Saturday afternoon our air conditioner broke so we left and have been staying at a friends house (they're out of town). I haven't been able to check my e-mail but I just stopped at home to pick up a few more pull-ups and other essentials that I forgot on the mad rush to get into some a/c.

On a funnier note:
Just as we were getting in the car to leave on Saturday afternoon, Charis says, "Let's get on the rode, Jack!"
This morning at the park, Charis says, "It's nice and fun outside today and it's winding too!"

Breakfast Picnic

This morning we woke up and got some drive-thru breakfast before heading to the park for a picnic breakfast. It was beautiful! At 7am it was 78 degrees outside with a nice little breeze. The girls had a blast playing on the playground for an hour or so before we headed home for Emma's nap.
Charis and Daddy got a little dizzy on the tire swing though.
After we came home, Emma went down for her nap and Daddy and Charis went to Costco. While they were at the store getting all our necessities (toilet paper, diapers, wipes, animal crackers, etc.) Emma crawled for the first time! YAY! She also was able to pull herself up from her tummy to a sitting position for the first time. It's so exciting...next project...baby proof the house!

Fall is on it's way!

It's finally cool enough to enjoy the outdoors! We walked to the park at 7am this morning...it was really nice and it felt great to get some fresh air! I think we're expecting a high of only 97' today! YAY!

When I grow up I want to be a....

I took this online career choice test to see what careers were suitable for my likes/dislikes. Here are the top 15:

1. Nanny
2. Special Education Teacher
3. Child and Youth Worker
4. Elementary School Teacher
5. Teacher Assistant
6. High School Teacher
7. Early Childhood Educator
8. Adoption Counselor
9. School Counselor
10. Career Counselor
11. Occupational Therapist
12. Midwife
13. Speech-Language Pathologist
14. Clergy
15. Psychologist

Haha! I found this to be extremely interesting (being a stay at home mom and all). I guess my "career" choice has been confirmed...I'm supposed to be a mommy! What particularly amuses me is that during my college years I had two different majors...home economics and child development, I guess I didn't need a test to tell me what I should be doing. I think #'s 14 & 15 are really funny too (besides being contradictory in my mind).

Little Miss Independance

After Charis gave herself a shower last night she put her jammies on (by herself) then began her primping routine.

On another note...

This is how the morning went: The girls woke up, I fed Emma, made Charis' breakfast, dressed Emma, dressed Charis, dressed myself, put a load of laundry in the washing machine, cleaned up from four breakfasts, Ben's late night snack and most of dinner from last night, went for a walk then rode bikes/scooters with Emma in her walker in the driveway for an hour, then I ran inside quickly to check the clock to see what time it was...8:30am!

Are you kidding me?

Creativity

While I was making dinner tonight Charis reached into the drawer and pulled out a wooden skewer. "Look, it's my bibbity, bobbity, boo stick!" She said, waving it furiously in the air.

Downsizing, Sisterly Love & Carrie

We've found a way to downsize so that we'll be able to fit everything into our house. I don't think the girls will mind sleeping in the toy pack 'n' play or toy crib, do you?

I thought this picture pretty clearly shows the sisterly love dynamic in our family. Charis said, "Take our picture!" and promptly grabbed Emma and put her in a choke hold, Emma reaches up in frustration and grabs a fistful of Charis' hair. This happens at least once an hour. Just look at their faces!

So Charis has been "talking" to someone named Carrie on her play phone for a while now.

Charis (handing the play phone to Mommy): "Do you want to talk to Carrie?"

Daddy: Who is Carrie?"

Mommy: "I don't know."

Charis: "She's the girl from the song you sing."

Mommy: "What song?"

Daddy: "I don't know."

Charis: "Carrie...from the song you sing!"

Mommy: "What? Oooh, yes...this one? (singing) What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege to CARRY everything to God in prayer."

Charis: "Yes, Carrie!"

Charis

The girls came with my to my chiropractor appointment today and after the appointment Charis says to me, "Who was that doctor breaking your neck?"

Tonight before bed-
Mommy: "Finish brushing your teeth, go potty and then come to bed."
Charis: "Ok, but I don't want to, but I will obey."

What's going on?

Has this ever happened to you?

The last three times I've eaten red meat I've become rather ill afterwards. Sometimes it's lasted a few hours but sometimes it's been up to a few days. It's weird. At first I thought it was grease (the first incident was after In-N-Out) but the last 2 have been just normal beef. I've never been a big meat lover anyway (not that I'm vegetarian but I could take it or leave it) but Ben is rather disappointed because I am quite hesitant to cook beef anytime soon. What's wrong with me?

Brotherly Love

I had intended to post these awhile back but I guess I never got around to it then I forgot...oops. Anyway, these were taken at Ben's cousins wedding. She had a photo booth at the reception so Ben and his brothers chose to do some male bonding. As you can tell from the pictures, the one in the middle is the youngest. That's poor Marc...he's 15...it's probably a good thing that both older brothers are out of the house and living on their own...for Marc's own health and well-being! Now I think I'll go pray and thank the Lord that I have daughters and not sons!

Out of the mouths of babes

Charis saw this poster on the window of Blockbuster (which is next to the grocery store that we went to this morning) and she said, "Look, that girl is a giraffe in her bathing suit!" (I couldn't have said it better myself!)

9/11

Check this out!

Victory!

Charis slept for her entire nap (2 hours) without a paci! Now she's trying to go to bed without one. (Ben & I took her & Emma on a 2 mile walk tonight after dinner...I was hoping to tire her out so that she wouldn't want her paci...so far...it's not working.)

No Paci!

At this very moment I am attempting Charis' first nap ever (in 3 years, 2 months & 4 days) without a paci...I'll let you know how it goes.

Preparation for parenthood...

It's not just a matter of reading books and decorating the nursery. Here are 12 simple tests for expectant parents to take to prepare themselves for the real-life experience of being a mother or father.
1. Women: To prepare for maternity, put on a dressing gown and stick a pillowcase filled with beans down the front. Leave it there for 9 months. After 9 months, take out 10% of the beans.Men: To prepare for paternity, go to the local drug store, tip the contents of your wallet on the counter, and tell the pharmacist to help himself. Then go to the supermarket. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office. Go home. Pick up the paper. Read it for the last time.
2. Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who are already parents and berate them about their methods of discipline, lack of patience, appallingly low tolerance levels, and how they have allowed their children to run wild. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior. Enjoy it -- it'll be the last time in your life that you will have all the answers.
3. To discover how the nights will feel, walk around the living room from 5 pm to 10 pm carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious noise) playing loudly. At 10 pm, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1 am. Put the alarm on for 3 am. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2 am and make a drink. Go to bed at 2:45 am. Get up again at 3 am when the alarm goes off. Sing songs in the dark until 4 am. Put the alarm on for 5 am. Get up. Make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.
4. Can you stand the mess children make? To find out, first smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer. Stick your fingers in the flower beds, then rub them on the clean walls. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?
5. Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems: first buy an octopus and a bag made out of loose mesh. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out. Time allowed for this: all morning.
6. Take an egg carton, using a pair of scissors and a pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Last, take a milk carton, a ping pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Pops and make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower. Congratulations! You have just qualified for a place on the play group committee.
7. Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime. Stick it in the cd player. Take a family-size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seats. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There. Perfect.
8. Get ready to go out. Wait outside the bathroom for half an hour. Go out the front door. Come in again. Go out. Come back in. Go out again. Walk down the front path. Walk back up it. Walk down it again. Walk very slowly down the road for 5 minutes. Stop to inspect minutely every piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way. Retrace your steps. Scream that you've had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you. Give up and go back into the house. You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.
9. Always repeat everything you say at least five times.
10. Go to your local supermarket. Take with you the nearest thing you can find to a preschool child -- a fully-grown goat is excellent. If you intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goats eat or destroy. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.
11. Hollow out a melon. Make a small hole in the side. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone. Tip the rest into your lap, making sure a lot of it falls on the floor. You are now ready to feed a 12-month-old baby.
12. Learn the names of every character from Thomas the Train, Dora the Explorer, and the Wiggles.
When you find yourself singing "I’m the Map, I’m the Map, I’m the Map" at work, you finally qualify as a parent.

Mommy: "Charis, do you know who is coming over for dinner tonight?"
Charis: "Yeth!"
M: "Who?"
C: "I dunno."
M: "Miss Tonya and Mr. Mike!"
C: "Oh, that doesn't make me sad."
M: "Well, that's...good."

Just tonight...

Charis: "I like thalad, mama! Exthcept for the green parth."

Charis (while brushing her teeth): "Cheethe is the grothest thing I ever seen!"

What's Labor Day without a little labor?

Our friends invited us to go on an early morning hike with them this morning. Since we both have kids around the same age, we're all early risers so we met at 7:45 this morning and went hiking. (it was still about 100 degrees by the time we finished.) Did you notice the beautiful scenery?

(Note the sarcasm...but it was really nice to get outside and enjoy some fresh air, honestly.)
Emma fell fast asleep...maybe she should nap in her hiking backpack all the time?
Charis wanted to hold Isaiah's hand the whole time.
Real men hike with babies on their backs!

Mimi's trip to Arizona

Last Saturday my mom came out for a week long visit. She came first to teach at our church women's retreat, but then also to visit with the grand kids for a week. Here's a recap of our busy week.

On Tuesday we went to tea. (One of the gifts that the church ladies gave to my mom was a gift certificate to Abbey Gardens.)

Little ladies...
Charis found this cute little table & chairs set and played with it after we finished lunch.
On Wednesday we went to the Way to Play Cafe. Which is an indoor playground for children.

On Thursday we went to the Arizona Museum for Youth. We saw a neat exhibit about toys. They had all these old toys from the early 1900's and a history timeline of when certain toys were developed. Then the girls got to play in this little play center called ArtVille. It was just like an indoor playground for 4 years and under. Perfect!

They even had a padded area with mirrors for crawlers. Emma thought it was the greatest thing!

Mimi put poor Emma in a wheelbarrow!

Charis drove a school bus!

This was taken in the bathroom. I've seen these seats before but I think they are just the most ingenious thing! It was great when I took Charis to the potty and needed to help her, I had a place to put Emma!

On Friday we stayed at home and played in the pool and sprinkler on the lawn.

Emma tried to escape from the pool.

Even though it was about 110 degrees we still managed to enjoy ourselves.