Their Sunday Best

My family has loads of pictures of my sister and me as tots in our little dresses on Sunday morning.  It must have been a tradition for a little while. :)  I've recently started trying to do the same with my girlies, partly because of all the pictures of Heidi and me and partly just because they look so sweet in their dresses and wear them for such a comparatively short time!  

I have found, however, that it is much, much easier to get one girl at a time, however! (Who is surprised? heh.)

On this particular Lord's Day, I happened on Ruthie at the little play kitchen, unnoticed at first.

Loved the light!  And yet her face was in a shadow, so I tried luring her over toward me, and eventually just moved her around a little bit, trying to get her face in the natural light.

Perfect look!  Too bad Bio Bio Bio had to do a photo-bomb . . . 

Suddenly it feels like spring!  With daylight savings time yesterday, we were able to do our first outdoor lunch of the year.  It was a very odd day, because all the families near church and the church itself had an ice storm and lost power, but we only had a very soggy day of rain.  Church was cancelled due to the outage and some of our friends gathered in our living room with us to worship and eat outside together afterward.  It actually turned out to be quite special.

Oh, the dentist

Three years old . . . she had her first successful dentist visit this week.  Six months ago, she wouldn't open her mouth enough!  The hygienist asked if I'd read her a book about the dentist, and I felt like a failure for not evening thinking of that!  This time, when we got the reminder call, I quickly placed some dentist books on hold at the library, but they were delayed, and then the library was closed because of snow . . . yet thankfully she had matured enough to open her mouth this time!  

There was a TV in the office playing children's programs, which was quite enthralling to the child who didn't want to take off her mittens, hat or sweater.  :)

She had such a good time that she asked me when we got home if we could go back soon.  Not for a while, sweetie!  

There have been many things like that in her life recently.  Little by little, her mispronunciations are correcting themselves.  She says "walk" instead of "wot," for example.  She sits in a big-girl chair (on her knees) and puts her dish in the sink when she's done eating. Her hair is getting very long, and I'm debating trimming it for a second time.  She gives actual puckery kisses...with her tongue sticking out a little bit!  And she's getting to the point where she can talk about feelings and perceive my feelings.  Moments like that make all the discipline a bit more worth it.  

Gemma's birthday, cont'd

I mentioned that Gemma was rather overwhelmed with birthday gifts from her loving extended family :) but I thought it would also be fun to share the little something I made her for turning 3.  It's a little bath set for her baby, who has been named "Bio Bio Bio" once and for all, I believe.  :)

Poor Bio Bio Bio . . . she got dropped in a parking lot last September, and I believe that she had a rough encounter with a car.  We're just thankful that we found her after the fact!  When Gemma first saw her, she put heart stickers on her eyes, but now she has come to terms with her dolly's permanent injury.  If asked, she repeats what we explained to her: "Baby's eyes are a little broken, but she can still see!"  In public, people frequently ask if Baby is an old family hand-me-down, but she has just known that much love from Gemma in her two years of ownership!

I had some leftover terry cloth, seam bias binding, and fleece, so I put together a wee hooded towel and sponge.  These little projects just delight my heart!

I packaged them up with an empty baby bath bottle which was a hospital freebie.  The writing is coming off, but Gemma doesn't seem to mind.  :)

Whenever Gemma takes a bath, she likes to have Bio Bio Bio bathe in the upside-down bathroom stool, so I staged her this way for you.  :) Besides that, we just bought her a new pack of undershirts.  How many things does a kid need, right?  She and her sister's birthdays are both so close to Christmas, that it just makes sense to keep things simple, at least while they're little.  Maybe we'll start a tradition of taking them someplace special instead of buying them something special as they get older.  But for now, it was nice at least to spend some time making her something.  :)

Little Bear Birthday

Gemma's been three for almost three months, and just today I went back to look at the pictures from her party!  Well . . .

As promised, we planned a Little Bear party for her, based on the books by Else Holmelund Minarik and illustrated by Maurice Sendak.  They are just precious little books, and we love them!  One of the stories is called Birthday Soup, and inspired by that and this sweet theme-based celebration I found through pinterest, we planned our little party for Gemma on December 7, her actual 3rd birthday.  :)

We had birthday soup with carrots, potatoes, peas and tomatoes, of course :) and also some chicken, cream, wine and seasonings.  That was it, besides crackers, some apple slices, and a big cake, of course! 

For decorations, I put up my trusty re-used doily garland and a bunch of balloons in classic colors.  John helped me print off fun paper placemats (from here), and Grandma supplied the snowflake napkins. Nice and simple!



Gemma was eager to help with the balloons, and to make sure that her babies were properly seated and attired.  :)



I loved the idea of having the children dress up like the characters in the story!  Inspired by the blog I mentioned, I wanted to make animal ears out of felt.  Then Mom found reindeer ears at the dollar store (which were actually 2/$1) which already had felt-covered headbands.  So, I just hacked them with some scissors, hot glue, and additional felt and quickly put together headbands for Cat, Duck, Hen, and, of course, Little Bear!  They are very imperfectly done . . . but Little Bear didn't seem to mind.  :)

Two of the headbands already had feathers on them.  Perfect for Hen and Duck!  We made Duck a bill with some cardboard and yarn, too.  

Since we were in NY at the time, all of John's side of the family and my Grandma, Gemma's Great Grandma, were able to be there, which was really special.

Her Aunt Abby gave her the birthday candle when she turned 1, and we've been burning it every year!

And the checkerboard cake with chocolate buttercream was delicious, if I do say so myself.  :)

After that, we let her open presents in the living room and all the cousins played.  I was fooling with some of the settings on what was then our good camera, and had no idea what I was doing!  That's why they're grainy and weird.  I can hardly believe I was to be upgraded so quickly!  (Stop talking about your new camera, Gretchen!  Augh!)

Gemma was just showered with things . . . I kind of wish I had said "no gifts!" But she was very sweet, and very generous with her "Cockoo!"s.  She still wears her Little Bear ears all the time, so they have been well worth their 50 cents and 5 minutes of glue!  

Happy three years old, big girl!  How very quickly you are growing!

Ruthie's Coat

"My mommy made me this coat!  It's really warm!"

"My grandma found Mommy six skeins of Shetland Chunky at Salvation Army!  She was so excited to try this pattern that she dutifully checked the gauge and carefully made adjustments for the chunkiness of the yarn.  She just couldn't understand why the pattern would call for such short sleeves . . . so she lengthened them to match a size 18 month jacket's sleeves."

"They're so big on me!"

"I guess my sister can wear it for now."

 "The collar needs a little blocking, too.  Ahem, Mom . . . "

"O" is still for Overalls

It's been two years since I wrote that sweet little "'O' is for Overalls" post about Gemma.  Two very fast, full years!

Today, Ruth was wearing the same outfit (and she's just about the same age!), so I brought the camera along with me while I was hanging clothes on the line to take a few fall shots.  

The mums are the same, and my rosemary and thyme are much bigger!  Two years ago, I had some basil which was just about done.  I haven't had any since, and I miss it!  But I do have some tomatoes in--just recently resprouted some and replanted them.  The new plants seem happy; we'll see how they do!  

So much less hair . . . and still uses a pacifier.  I'd forgotten that Gemma gave hers up by this time (sort of accidentally--we lost it, and then she wouldn't take one anymore).

She's such a little darling, though!  She's just starting to crawl up on her knees, and pulling up a bit, too.  She loves to stand.  :)  She blows raspberries and babbles a lot.

Big sister, reminiscent of the struggles we had with naps at 10 months, is not napping anymore.  But she IS singing nursery rhymes, as much as she sings!  She loves pretending--she'll nurse a wad of pine straw or her toothbrush to sleep and have her markers go potty.  She finally named one of her babies Cinthia Baby!  And she thinks that "Winnie the Pooh" is "Winnie OF the Pooh."  :)

It's good for me to pause and reflect on these precious moments, because we do find discipline and potty-training very draining much of the time.  Ruth mostly sleeps better than Gemma did at this age, and I think part of it is because we've learned more since then, both through experience and reading.  Hopefully it will be the same the second time around with the disciplining and pottying.  I read a quotation by Elisabeth Elliot today which was very encouraging in this respect.  She said, "Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process." 

It's easy to pinpoint the most painful episodes of suffering in our experience--a breakup, loss of a baby, bike accident and burglary were some of the hardest things I've been through.  I think others can relate to the nagging question "What is God going to test me with next?"  I've been thinking lately that maybe this isn't the best approach to have toward suffering.  Yes, more tough times will probably come, but that doesn't mean that I should pull up my bootstraps and toughen my heart so that I won't ever hurt like that again.  The suffering we Christians go through is to make us more like Jesus.

I've also been thinking about how the sanctifying work of "suffering" doesn't always present itself in the form of a painful episode.  Sometimes it's just about persevering through another semester with a tough professor, another year with a challenging class of students, another sleepless night with sick children, yet another accident on the rug.  We pray and hopefully learn our lessons along the way, instead of just reflecting back upon them after the trouble is over.  While parenting really isn't suffering (it's mostly joy!), it is sanctifying.  We cannot demand that God make it easy for us just because He loves us, since He is teaching us through the struggles.  He is with us in our storms, and He is also with us when it's just cloudy and depressing for weeks.

I digress.

Happy Fall.  :)

8 months old

She's eight months old, and just about officially army-crawling!  (Still not very fast, though!)

Still no teeth, either.  :)

She's a little babbler now!  She has said "ya" and "ga," but she really loves saying "ba ba ba!"

She's sleeping a bit better, too, thanks to some nighttime help from Daddy.  

Other than that, she's round and roly and blue eyed and getting some more very blond hair!  And nursing is still her favorite.  :)

Someone else is still two-and-a-half, as far as she knows (though she's nearly two-and-three-quarters, to be precise!).  She is learning like a little sponge!  I taught her to sing "Happy Birthday" while she washes her hands, and now she goes around the house "singing" it all the time (though "birthday" sounds more like "burping").  :)  John taught her that when she has her next birthday, she'll be three.  So, now, she says "Soon it will be my burping.  I will be free!"  One time, I casually remarked that maybe we will have a Little Bear party, so now--without fail--she addends "we will have a yiyyo Bo burping!"  I'd better follow through on that!

When I say "singing," I don't mean that she has found different pitches yet.  Here's to hoping she eventually does.  :)  But even her monotone singing is darling because she bellows deeply and seriously and still mispronounces most of the words!  Some of her favorites besides Happy Birthday are Holy, Holy, Holy and the B-I-B-L-E, which she learned in Sunday School.  She's also picking up on songs we haven't explicitly taught her, like one of the songs from her Rain for Roots album, and the closing line from the Sovereign Grace song "I have a shelter in the storm"--she surprised John one day by bellowing "take me home to heaven!" for the first time.

She's also turning summersaults!  We have no idea where she learned that!

Gemma would be thrilled if Ruthie would rough-house with her.  Despite these pictures of them sitting calmly side-by-side, Gemma now frequently comes up behind Ruth and puts her arms around her (darling!) and then tries to pull her back and roll around.  As long as she's gentle, Ruth loves it.  There's hardly anything sweeter to a mommy than to see her girlies grinning at each other!

It's gotten a bit easier to take them both grocery shopping now that Ruth doesn't automatically fall asleep when I'm wearing her!  We try to stay home for naps, since she hardly sleeps in her infant seat anymore.  Gemma can sit in the cart and she can be on my chest, and there's plenty of room in the cart for food.  No one wants to lug around an infant seat with an 18lb+ baby in it!

In other news, we're on our third cold of the summer . . . and that's all I have to say about that!

Fabric Scrap Tutu

I'm filing this post under "sewing," even though the sewing truly is minimal!  A while back, my sister Heidi (aka Hockey by Gemma Grace!) pinned this idea on her adorable "muskrats" board:




Well, a blogger came up with her own copycat tutorial and Hockey picked up some cute fat quarters to recreate it.  She ended up leaving them at our house at Christmas, and I in turn brought them to my mom's in July to use her pinking shears on them!

Though I liked the pointed strips of the original pin, I ended up following the tutorial pretty closely and decided they were fine as-is.  :)

Little one was getting sick when I took these photos . . . poor thing . . . 

"How are you going to keep it from fraying when you wash it?"  Excellent question . . . I'm intending it to be a dress-up tutu and am going to try hard not to have to wash it!  But I suppose you could spray some fray-stop or something on it.  

Another fun thing is that I cut the elastic out of one of my cami's to make it more nursing-friendly, so the entire project cost me nothing!

She loves it, Hockey!  Thanks for the idea and the supplies!