Daddy vs Mommy

One of the greatest challenges I faced when becoming a mother was to realize that not everything had to be done my way. I tried to be super mom and deal with all on my own. I wanted Jay to help but got frustrated when something wasn't done my way.
I've learned that both Jay and I can reach the same goals but don't necessarily have to follow the same path. Now, I'm able to just roll my eyes and be thankful that Jay does have such a big part in the girls lives.
I've had a few such eye rolling instances in the past couple days.
While getting ready for church Sunday morning, I had asked Jay to get the girls breakfast while I finished getting ready. He disappeared and went to Dunkin Donuts for a dozen donuts. I would have preferred they had cereal, toast, pancakes, fruit, or something else that was already here but hey. They were fed and happy so I really couldn't complain.
Later, I heard him reading to the girls. I was a bit surprised to see them on the couch listening to a Cisco book on computers. Not my choice of literature either but it works.
Last night, I went to my sister's for a Premier Jewelry Designs party leaving the girls with Jay and my brother-in-law. I knew they were going out to eat for dinner but had no idea as to where. I was pretty proud of them. They took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese because " they felt sorry for Emily with her broken arm". They got cotton candy and fun dips as well but Jay was smart enough to tell them they couldn't eat it. All that sugar before bed wouldn't have been good. I didn't bother to ask what time they got home or went to bed. All I know is that they were sound asleep when I got home just before 11 and were smelly this morning- meaning no shower last night.
They have a pretty great Daddy and I'm so thankful for that.

Yep... Purple

Most people thought she'd get a pink cast~~ except Angie at church and her Aunt Misty.

Emily survived the weekend with her splint and was counting down until she got her cast. She not only got her favorite color purple but it's also waterproof. She just needs to stay in clean water- no lakes or ocean. That's not a problem! Wahoo! Now Jay can set the pool back up and she can enjoy her summer.

Dr. Rebecca, who loved the chair on wheels, is inspecting the cast.

Here, we were just goofing off while waiting for the cast to dry.

And the best news of all, it'll be off before her birthday!

Hawaiian breaks

This summer hasn't gone exactly as I planned. I expected to have lots of free time to get schooling done, house work, and enjoy the last few days I have of babysitting. It started in a whirlwind of activities because our friends were moving away. We had just gotten to know them and wanted to spend as much time with them before they left.

That was the month of June. At the end of the month, I sat down with my trusty calendar and looked over the month of July. Shew- I had nothing planned except for VBS this week at a neighboring church. Good thing too with gas prices this high. Um, nope. We have had to go somewhere every day.

The month of August is looking to be just as busy as the past 2 months. It's really a blessing though. The girls aren't complaining they are bored, that's for sure.

Here is a picture taken this morning of Emily before the last day of VBS. It had a Hawaiian theme and they were to dress as Hawaiian as they could today. You can hear/see more about it here at Aimme's blog. Rebecca had stayed the night at a friend's so she wasn't around.

By looking at the photo, you'd never know that Emily has a broken arm. Yep, her left arm is broke.

She has wanted to move up to the next level in gymnastics for awhile now. So, I went ahead and got her a private lesson. She left knowing how to do a handstand fall to bridge and was working on her back bend when she came down on her wrist the wrong way.

I didn't take her to the dr. immediately because I wasn't sure if it was a sprain ,twist or what. She was exhausted from a week of getting up early so I wasn't sure if she was exaggerating due to being tired. She didn't even cry. I think she wanted to but held it off.

She had a very hard time going to sleep last night but after some Motrin, she drifted off and slept fine. She woke up early this morning ready to go to VBS. She was still in pain but said it was bearable. After VBS, we went to Costco and did lots of shopping. While putting the groceries in the car, I was showing her how to lay down the third row when she slipped and fell on her arm (in the SUV of course).

She cried out in pain. It's one of those cries when you know your child is in pain. So, I dropped off my 3 gallons of milk in my mom's fridge- which was less than a mile away and on the way to the Dr.- and we went in for some x-rays. Jay joined us and Emily was laughing and joking through the pain.

She has a splint on her arm now but will get her cast Monday. The down side of it all- no pool luau birthday party this year! She's been planning it for a year now and we had found a private pool to have it at (for free). Back to the drawing board on that one!

Here Emily is at the Dr. waiting on the x-rays to be done.

She's *trying* to look sad and in pain.

Here she is with her temporary cast and sling.

I'll show you what she looks like with her cast on Monday. What color do you think she'll choose?

Rebecca has lost 8 teeth now

Rebecca hates to have her teeth pulled. It's a full blown out procedure to have a tooth pulled. There is plenty of screaming and yelling coming from her. Thankfully, Jay has the patience to deal with her.

She had a tooth that really needed to come out as her permanent one had grown in behind it. This child's fear over having teeth pulled are going to cost us tons later on with braces.

Emily was quite funny. She ran to get the camera and took this photo. Then she put it on video mode and took videos of Rebecca screaming and throwing a fit. It as so funny. I won't post it as I know that posting these photos will embarrass her enough when she sees it.

Bottom (her) right side- barely hanging on

Emily loves it. She thinks her sister is a big baby and loved having her first 2 teeth pulled.
See, a big baby!
lots of tears were shed


but it came out and look how happy she is now.
Well, she's not thrilled but was worn out to go to bed and sleep well.

Girls photography

Since getting my new cameras, I have passed my older model camera down to the girls. Sometimes it is forgotten and it just sits on the shelf, other times, the girls use it whenever they see something photo worthy. There are just a couple of rules about how to handle it but for the most part, they take their own pictures and do their own editing. Emily loves the zoom and is evident on most of her photos. I just uploaded the pictures from their camera and will give you a peak of what they took pictures of. There were lots in there that I didn't even know they had!

This set of pictures was taken on a night when we had some friends over. Emily was probably the photographer of each of these.

HAHA! These pictures were taken one afternoon when Brysen was here. He really is such a good sport about letting my girls dress him up. It hasn't happened in a long time and I'm not quite sure how they talked him into it. When he was really young, the girls would dress him up and paint his nails. Poor Brysen. I think I posted some of these on a previous post since I took some with my camera too. They had a ball doing flips and cartwheels and seeing if they got it on the camera. Thank you Lord for digital cameras because they would have gone through several rolls of film that day trying to get just the right picture.
Apparently they were just having fun in the playroom. They had to be playing house with the blankets all over the floor. Just in case you are wondering, the top one is Halley and then there's Brysen. I started watching Halley when she was 13 months old. I started watching Brysen right before he turned 2. Halley will be 6 next month and Brysen will start kindergarten this fall. Wow, time flies by. They've grown up with Emily and Rebecca. I know Emily will be at a complete loss for awhile in Sept. when I am no longer a child care provider and it's only the 3 of us during the day.

These 2 photos were taken on a day they were painting a craft for Mother's Day. Don't you just love their smocks? Rebecca is finishing up her last bit of written school work so she can paint and make her crafts.

Well, that gives you an idea of some of the photos the girls took. Don't you just love my budding photographers?

I'm feeling a bit sick right now

Being a homeschool mom, I don't have a lot of experience of dropping my children off somewhere for even a few hours. I don't see how parents drop their children off for the day at school, day care, etc.

I just took Rebecca and Emily to VBS at a local baptist church where they go for co-op during the school year. Rebecca had no problem going. She has been looking forward to it for a while now. After checking in, we walked into the sanctuary and she found her grade. There were a couple of boys and one girl from co-op that she knew so she started chatting away to the little girl. No problem there. No separation anxiety or anything.

I walked with Em to the grade she's in and saw no one that she knew. She started to cling to me- something that never happens. I knew of one little girl that should have been in her class but didn't see her, although I had already saw her sister and mother so I knew she had to be there somewhere. Then I saw that they had divided that age group into 2 groups and that Emily was in the blue one and I was looking at the red group. We saw the little girl from co-op who gave Emily a huge smile and big squeeze. The little girl scooted over and made room for Emily to sit in her chair with her. So after one last "I'm scared" hug from Emily, I left.

She'll do great, I have no doubt. But how will I do??? Well, I'm going to go gut their room while they are gone for the morning. I can't wait for 12:30 when I can pick them up though...I miss them already. It feels weird without them.

Children's Choir

The children's choir sang this morning and did a great job. The children's music director does a fabulous job with the children. My girls are so excited to go to choir practice every Sun. evening.

I hope you feel as blessed as I do when I hear today's youth singing good Godly songs for Him.

A special thanks goes out to their choir leader- you know who you are! Thank you for all that you do, doing this week after week so that these children can have something to look forward to each week.

We spent the day with my grandma yesterday. It was a bunch of fun. I love my grandma too pieces and am happy for whenever she is feeling up for company.

We finally had a Saturday free that the 4 of us were able to go! We had sandwiches for lunch, then went swimming in the pool. After we were waterlogged, we took showers and headed out for dinner. We had great conversation and lots of laughs. The girls were exhausted and we finally left sometime after 9.She saves things from the Sunday paper for the girls to do. Here's Emily trying to draw something. Rebecca and Grandma are looking at one of those things that has 4 or 5 pictures and you have to figure out which 2 are exactly the same. They're using the magnifying glass and it was so sweet to watch them together.

I just love using the underwater camera. We all take tons of pictures of ourselves. I'll spare you and not post any of me on here! We always joke over Emily's love for food. She has such a wide variety of likes and will eat almost anything. She goes through phases of eating everything in site to barely eating nothing at all. Yesterday, she had a man sized appetite! She ate her meal of chicken tenders and oranges. Then she wanted to "try" my burger and potatoes as well as Rebecca's mac and cheese. Next thing I know, she has my sauce from the burger and was eating the scraps off my plate. Jay ordered a large dessert which she devoured. We thought we were ready to leave but Rebecca decided she was awake and hungry enough to actually eat her meal. So, while we waited for her to eat, Emily finished off grandma's salad. Where she put all that food is beyond me!!!

God is like...

God is like

BAYER ASPIRIN

He works miracles.

God is like

a FORD

He's got a better idea.

God is like

COKE

He's the real thing.

God is like

HALLMARK CARDS

He cares enough to send His very best.

God is like

TIDE

He gets the stains out that others leave behind.

God is like

GENERAL ELECTRIC

He brings good things to life.

God is like

SEARS

He has everything.

God is like

ALKA-SELTZER

Try Him, you'll like Him

God is like

SCOTCH TAPE You can't see Him, but you know He's there.

God is like

DELTA

He's ready when you are.

God is like

ALLSTATE

You're in good hands with Him.

God is like

VO-5 Hair Spray

He holds through all kinds of weather.

God is like

DIAL SOAP

Aren't you glad you have Him? Don't you wish everybody did?

God is like

the U.S. POST OFFICE

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet nor ice will keep Him from His appointed destination.

God is like

Chevrolet

the heart beat of America

God is like
Maxwell house

Good to the very last drop

God is like
B o u n t y
He is the quicker picker upper. . can handle the tough jobs. . and He won't fall apart on you

This is what summer is all about

lazy mornings, sleep overs, having friends over for the day, going to the movies, swimming...Yep, this has been one busy summer so far-full of fun for the girls. I let them lounge around for the first time on Monday. Emily played on her own most of the day and Rebecca bummed in front of the tv. I never heard an "I'm bored" complaint but that was the feeling around our house. It was a nice change of pace but the girls were excited when it came time to go to gymnastics followed by dinner out and a grocery trip for the whole family at Walmart.

So, on Tues., we resumed our crazy routine of going and doing all day. The girls are happier. Bumming around ALL day really isn't what it's cracked up to be.

For today, I took 5 children to the movies and now they are quietly playing while lunch is cooking. Then we'll go outside. Love the summer.

I redid the slide from Busch Gardens on the 3rd. It's 2 posts previous to this one. Be sure to check it out.

Fourth of July Party at the King's

We spent the Fourth of July at my sister and brother-in-laws annual party. They do a big bash every year. This year, there were 65 people there at one time. Rebecca got to play with her friend Christine and Emily made a "new" friend. It was actually a little girl from our old church but she had completely forgotten who they were. Emily kept calling her "that girl" because she still couldn't remember her name.

The party really started when everyone went home. The grownups went out to the moonwalk and attempted to play in it. It wasn't as easy as the children made it look! First of all, there was a small entrance so you had to slither in it. Then, if you went towards the sides, you had the fear of collapsing the moon bounce. I saw one girl do it earlier in the day and had warned the others but Jay, being a man, jumped where he pleased. And he fell off the side. We thought we were goners. Slight exaggeration but was good for a laugh.

We used muscles that were long forgotten. I was sore a full day afterwards!

I thought this was funny: Misty, the girls and I were sitting in the dining room. I stood up from sitting in a chair for awhile and was stiff. With my body sore from playing outside like a child I made the statement that I was old. Emily, who was coloring, never looked up but said "then my children won't have a grandma" Misty and I had no idea what she was talking about. She explained that if I was old and I die, her children won't have a grandma. I love her way of thinking.

We spent last night at Busch Gardens with my sister, brother in law and friends, the Nyquists from church. The fireworks were great and the fellowship was even better! We're off to Misty and Brandon's annual Fourth of July party. Have a great Independence Day!

We'll miss you

It is with a sad heart that we had to say goodbye to our friends. They're moving on but admist the saddness we're so excited for them. The girls have shed many tears over the thought of not seeing their friends again. We'll just having to plan our vacation to Hawaii to visit them in a few years. I like the sound of that!

Me and Laura

Rebecca and Samantha

Emily and an exhausted Taylor

cutie pie Katie