Prayer Request

As many of you already know, my mother-in-law, Ruth is in intensive care after complications from surgery a week ago Friday. She's still not awake yet, but is continuing to make small improvements each day. The doctors keep saying the recovery road will be long but we're hopeful for a full recovery. Please keep her in your prayers.

No More Paci!

Well, we did it. While we've been talking for awhile about the Paci Fairy coming to our house, we couldn't quite bring ourselves to do it. But it's been getting a bit out of hand lately. Hard for us to understand because at preschool she doesn't have one at all - not even naps, but as soon as I walk in her room it's the first thing she asks for. Some days it was tough to get it out of her mouth for dinner! Well, Mike was fed up with her having it all the time and snipped the tips of two of them (as suggested by the pediatrician). She was very careful with her last paci, not wanting it to get broken like the others. Then it happened. Last Sunday she lost it. We turned the house upside down looking for it and finally she gave up to exhaustion. Unfortunately for Mike I was leaving the next morning for 4 days away for work. But he said she did great and only asked for it a little bit. So Yeah!....after a full week there is no going back. I'm so looking forward to paci-free pictures - even though this last one is pretty cute :)

Parrots in Disguise

Once our kids were beginning to mimic sounds and especially words, we became very cautious about what we and others said in front of them - not wanting them to pick up any inappropriate words. Thankfully, in our house the "s-word" is still "stupid" and we haven't had to address the real bad words yet. But what we didn't count on was how hysterical it would be to hear our words and phrases repeated back by our children.

Some examples of our little parrots:

The other morning Lindsay was doing something to annoy Katelyn when all of a sudden I hear Katelyn say "Lindsay, stop it! I don't want to have to yell this morning!"

Then this evening while Mike was diligently untwisting every wire twist tie, peeling back half a roll of tape, and cutting several plastic fasteners to get out Lindsay's Dora doll out of its packaging, several pieces fell to the ground. When I asked Lindsay if she was going to pick them up, her reply was "No, Daddy has to do it. He made the mess!"

My baby is 3!

I can't believe that Lindsay is 3. She on the other hand won't miss an opportunity to remind me. She got up out of bed Wednesday morning, stood on her tippy toes, stretched her arms up as high as she could reach and said, "Look at me Mommy. I'm bigger now. It's my birthday!" Wish I had my camera to capture the glimmer in her eyes as she said it.

This really is the first year she understands and is all excited about her birthday. She wore a pin to school and just beamed everytime someone said "Happy Birthday!" She loved all the phone calls (especially singing :)) and of course was enthralled with presents. She was willing to share though - She told Katelyn she could watch her open her presents!

After sharing cupcakes with her classmates in the afternoon, we had dinner as a family with a special guest - a giant Dora balloon that is still tied to the kitchen chair, now referred to as the birthday chair.

And since it couldn't really be a birthday without a cake and candles we got a small chocolate cake. The girls I think had more fun decorating themselves with icing!

Ever since the Toys R Us ad came in the mail 2 months ago, Lindsay has been asking if she was going to get a "jumpy thing" for her birthday. Well, I guess she did a great job blowing out her candles, because her birthday wish came through. She LOVES to bounce and this way she's contained so maybe's there's hope left for my couch cushions!