Sarah, Shannon, and Some Silly Sisters

Sisters in pigtails!

2009-06-24T10:24:00.002-05:00

I'll have more stories to post soon. I'm so busy with my dissertation right now, but I'm almost to the end. For now, here are the girlies in their pigtails :)

It looks like Blogger cut Annabelle in half. If you click on the picture, you can see the whole thing.

Pa-si-so

2009-05-01T20:14:00.000-05:00

I took this video to record my favorite Annabelle word of the moment. It's also a good example of her personality--cute and happy until she loses interest, and then it's "Go away!"

Bluebonnets!

2009-03-24T13:14:00.006-05:00

We went for our annual frolic in the bluebonnets last weekend and got some fun pictures. It's hard to get Annabelle to sit down and smile for us, but we did the best we could. They spent most of the afternoon running circles around trees. We had to stop Annabelle from picking up ants, until one bit her and she got the idea. After that, she just pointed and yelled at them, "Go away bug!"

Sorry I've been away so long!

2009-02-07T22:26:00.003-06:00

I know that there are a couple of great-grandparents who look forward to these posts, but we've just been so wrapped up in our busy lives lately that I haven't had the time. Not to mention the FIVE trips to the pediatrician we've made over the past couple of weeks. Also contributing to the problem, both girls love the computer so when I sit down to do something like this, they try to climb in my lap and take over. I'm not going to try to update everything that's happened in the past two months, so I'll just let you know that everyone is healthy now and generally up to their old tricks. I'll try to give some more detailed updates on each of the girls this week.

For now, here's a new picture because I know that's your favorite part:

A couple of weeks ago I bought Rebekah her own cookbook, and she made dinner for us. She made potato skins, and they were really tasty! I did help her, of course, but you would be surprised how much she could do on her own--pretty much everything that didn't involve a sharp knife. When I was shopping for her cookbook, I found a used copy of a Little House on the Prairie cookbook for 49 cents, and I bought it so Annabelle could have her own cookbook, too. We have already baked Laura's maple cakes, which you might remember if you read the Little House books as a child. Now we are planning our Valentine's Day meal, and Rebekah has already picked out a cookie recipe from her book.

by the way...

2008-12-10T16:17:00.001-06:00

It's snowing here.

A new aunt!

2008-12-10T09:39:00.005-06:00

Rebekah and Annabelle have a new aunt and we have a new sister-in-law! We went to Derek and Melissa's wedding last weekend at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth. It was quite a trip. We had a wonderful time, and everything was beautiful. We are excited to welcome Melissa into the rapidly expanding Peters family. Rebekah handed out programs with her cousin Drake and acted very grown up while she did her important job. Annabelle was a different story. She is at a fun but difficult age. She loves to run and climb and talk and yell all the time, and I spend the whole weekend chasing, catching, and restraining her. But I achieved my goal: keeping her from ruining the wedding! The poor thing had to miss her nap, which made my job even harder, but she soon caught up on her sleep at the reception.

These are literally the only two pictures I have from the wedding. I didn't even get a shot of the bride and groom! As much as I love to take pictures, my hands were full! I guess I'll have to buy some pictures from this wedding. And if anyone has pictures they'd like to share, send them my way.

Thanksgiving preparations

2008-11-22T16:24:00.003-06:00

We've officially started planning for Thanksgiving with a marathon shopping trip. I've been hosting Thanksgiving at our house with my parents and brother since we moved here, and I really enjoy it. The cooking goes on for days, and I've started already making some apple butter in my slow cooker for breakfast.

The Thanksgiving menu looks like this:

Smoked peppered turkey from New Braunfels Smokehouse (Dad ordered that for us and it will be delivered in a few days)
Cornbread dressing (baked in muffin tins so everyone gets some of the crusty edges)
Sweet potato casserole (mashed with eggnog and topped with marshmallows)
Chunky sweet potatoes roasted with orange juice, brown sugar, and pecans
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Purple hull peas
Sweet green peas (some plain and some covered in white sauce)
Rolls Mom is picking up at the Mennonite bakery
Pecan Pie
Italian Cream Cake

Mean Kitty

2008-11-04T16:07:00.002-06:00

Annabelle's new favorite game is "Mean Kitty." A couple of weeks ago, she started crawling around the house saying "Meow" all the time. I mean all the time. It's the first thing she does when she wakes up and the last thing she does before she goes to bed. But she is not a sweet little kitten. She scratches. So now most of our interaction with Annabelle involves teaching her how to be a nice kitty and not scratch people. We actually don't see Annabelle too much anymore--just Mean Kitty. (I blame Shannon--one of his favorite games to play with the kids is "Mean Dog." You can imagine how that goes.)

Halloween fun

2008-11-04T16:04:00.001-06:00

We had great fun with Halloween. Annabelle wasn't sure about her costume at first, but as soon as we started trick-or-treating she perked up. She tried to go in and stay at the first house we went to--I guess she thought these people were pretty nice for giving her candy. They both had just as much fun handing candy out at our house as they did trick-or-treating themselves.

Pumpkin patch

2008-10-15T15:28:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, we all went to the Aggie Habitat Pumpkin Patch, which benefits Habitat for Humanity. We like to go every year to pick out our pumpkins and take pictures. This photo will give you an idea of the size of the pumpkin patch--this shows about half of it. If you look closely you can make out Annabelle in the pink shirt, Rebekah in brown pants, and Shannon in a red shirt in the back.

While we were there, the volunteers were emptying boxes of little pumpkins to put out for sale. When they were finished, Annabelle, whose favorite game is putting things in boxes, helped out by running with a tiny pumpkin in each hand to put them back in the boxes. She would not be dissuaded from her task and probably put twenty pumpkins away before we finally distracted her.
.
Stay tuned for pictures of our pumpkin artwork!

the bit about the ketchup...

2008-10-03T10:00:00.002-05:00

On the suggestion of my friend Rochelle, here's the rest of the story. After Rebekah was traumatized by this cartoon, I went to watch it myself to see what upset her so badly. The cartoon is set in a hunting lodge, and at the end a gun goes off and Pluto faints. Then Chip and Dale pour ketchup on him, so when Mickey Mouse comes back, he thinks Pluto has been shot (don't you miss the days when even Mickey Mouse cartoons were good and violent?). Oh! That must be it! She thinks that Chip and Dale killed Pluto! I went back to Rebekah and asked her, "Did you think that Pluto was bleeding?" Tearing up again, she replied, "No. It was ketchup. They dropped a broom on him (she thought the rifle was a broom) and then poured ketchup on him and it is SO MEAN to pour ketchup on people!" And then more crying.

too soft-hearted

2008-10-01T14:13:00.002-05:00

Poor Rebekah. She's just too soft-hearted for her own good. She frequently breaks down in tears over the slightest hurt feelings, hers or someone else's. Even though we are careful about the television shows and movies that she watches, we are often surprised by what upsets her. Yesterday, I found some old Mickey Mouse cartoons for her to watch. She was happy at first and giggled like, well, a little girl, but suddenly she ran away from the screen crying. When she calmed down enough to talk, she cried, "Chip and Dale are being so mean to Pluto!" Her distress led to a good half hour of crying, during which she was inconsolable despite her insistence that she knew that Pluto was not real, just pretend. "I'm still just so worried about Pluto," she said. We love that she has such empathy, but we also hope that we can help her learn to cope with her feelings a little better.

Ike has passed us

2008-09-13T12:12:00.003-05:00

The winds have peaked and are on the way down. The gusts are at about 35 mph now, and the rain is not bad at all. Our town tends to flood, but hopefully it won't be bad. Shannon and Rebekah just went out to "survey the damage," of which there was little. Rebekah never passes up a chance to put on rain boots, so she helped Dad check things out.

Hurricane update

2008-09-13T09:59:00.002-05:00

The storm is here, and we still have power so far. The wind woke me up at 6:00 a.m., but I don't think it will get any worse. We've got 40 mph winds with 60 mph gusts, and it will probably be like that all day long. It's possible that the winds will cause us to lose power later, but maybe we'll get lucky. We're perfectly safe at home and we are not leaving the house until tomorrow. I can't keep Shannon inside--he keeps going out on the porch to watch the storm. Annabelle peeked out the door behind him and said "Whoa!" I know that the news reports are showing that we are in the hurricane, so I just wanted to let everyone know exactly what we're experiencing so you won't worry.

storm watching

2008-09-11T23:32:00.002-05:00

We just wanted to let everyone know that we're prepared for Hurricane Ike, and you shouldn't worry about us. We're far enough from Houston that we're not in danger. We'll probably have some wind and rain and maybe some power outages. We've got all the water and batteries we need, and we're moving all our outdoor stuff into the garage. After that it's just a matter of waiting it out. There's no reason to worry about us--we'll just be stir crazy by Sunday morning. Keep those who live on the coast in your prayers.

check ups and pictures

2008-08-09T11:30:00.005-05:00

The girls had their latest check-ups and shots and they are both healthy and still really tall for their ages. We're trying to pack as much fun into the summer as we can, with baseball games, water fun, and birthday parties galore. This morning we went to the gardens at the George Bush Presidential Library to take pictures of them together before they outgrew their matching Easter dresses. It was a challenge but we did get some great shots. Here are a few, and I've put all of them up on my Flickr site if you want to see them.

Rebekah's birthday party

2008-07-22T14:01:00.004-05:00

Rebekah's birthday party Saturday was a big success. She had lots of friends there, and they played in the water and ate massive amounts of cake and watermelon until they were all exhausted. Rebekah got so many new art supplies that we're going to have to get some sort of cart to store them all in. I'll have to start posting her artwork on the blog for you to enjoy. She has already produced a tribute to Jackson Pollack as well as a family portrait. She has also kept us entertained for the past few days with intricate dramas involving dinosaurs and My Little Ponies. All my party pictures have other people's children in them, so I don't want to post them on the internet. But here's a shot of Annabelle dripping in watermelon juice.

Biking in style

2008-07-17T10:34:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Rebekah!

2008-07-12T07:18:00.002-05:00

Rebekah is four years old today. We gave her a basket and bell for her bicycle, some pencils with her name on them, and some storybooks in Spanish. And I painted this shirt for her:

We'll have pictures of the birthday girl trying out her new bike accessories soon.

Wilderness vacation

2008-07-08T12:04:00.006-05:00

We just got back from our big wilderness vacation at Toledo Bend Lake--I don't think we can call it a real camping trip, since we stayed in an air-conditioned cabin followed by a golf resort. But we were in the woods and there was some outdoor fun.

We started on Tuesday with a group of 22--12 adults and 10 children. No, that wasn't the family reunion. That's just Shannon's brothers and sisters and their spouses and kids. The kids were ages 8, two almost 5, one almost 4, two 3, three 1, and one 8 weeks. We stayed in a large cabin that was just made for us. It had five bedrooms with eleven beds, so we could all be together but not on top of each other. The kids played all over the place and made as much noise as they wanted and the adults enjoyed talking and watching the kids play and napping. The perfect vacation, I say. Rebekah was thrilled to be with her cousins. Annabelle was less thrilled, I think, mostly because she seemed to suspect that every time another toddler approached her it was with the intent to take her toy/book/food/sippy cup. But the toddlers got along fine, as did the big kids. And we got to meet baby Kalyn for the first time.

Rebekah went fishing and caught her first fish. Make that her first FIVE fishes! She wasn't afraid to touch it and she threw several back in the water herself. All the big kids caught fish, and of course, the grown-up kids did, too. Kyra, Grace, and Annabelle kept trying to jump in the lake while their older siblings fished.

On Friday, we all moved to the Cypress Bend Golf Resort for the family reunion. That was quite a change from the cabin, so we got two vacations in one. Shannon and his brothers went golfing Friday afternoon and then we went to see a less-than-spectacular fireworks show. But it was Rebekah's first time to see fireworks, so she was happy with it.

On Saturday Rebekah and I walked on their nature trail so that she could collect things in her pouch. She came home with a few sticks, some rocks, some hickory nuts, a tiny pine cone, and two snail shells, with the help of her new favorite person, Aunt Betty. (Rebekah says, "That Miss Betty sure is a sweet lady" And that little Rebekah sure has mastered the Southern vernacular in her short life.)

Saturday evening we met met at the lake for a picnic, and then all converged on the hotel swimming pool. Rebekah discovered "Safety Floats," which we always called Water Wings, and she was happy to be able to swim all over the pool without feeling scared. Annabelle is afraid of nothing, and she jumped into the pool at least a dozen times before eating her weight in watermelon, seeds included. After swimming, we put the kids to bed and those adults who weren't watching sleeping children when to the hotel lounge for Karaoke. By the end of the night, even Shannon got up to sing the theme song to "Smokey and the Bandit."

Annabelle's first hairdo

2008-05-30T09:59:00.002-05:00

I know you must be anxiously awaiting an update on the state of the jungle gym. It's fully assembled and getting daily use. Rebekah loves love to climb to the top and then hang in the middle. Annabelle loves to stand under it and watch Rebekah climb. I took pictures, but I decided not to post them on the blog because I don't want pictures of the outside of our house on the internet.

So here's a picture of Annabelle's first hairdo. She has been trying to participate in the daily ritual of fixing hair and even tried to put a ponytail holder in Rebekah's hair this week. So the next day, I let her have her very own ponytail.

Monkey Bars: Before

2008-05-21T19:04:00.003-05:00

UPS brought a big box yesterday. It claims to be monkey bars (or what we call a jungle gym). Shannon sends Dad his earnest gratitude for the gift. :)

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-12T13:38:00.002-05:00

I had a nice Mother's Day and I hope all of the mothers out there did, too.

We finally had Annabelle's baby dedication at church yesterday. She and Rebekah wore matching pink rose dresses with pink sashes--they were beautiful. Annabelle did very well when the pastor held her, and Rebekah stood beside us and spoke when the pastor asked her about her sister. We were proud of them. After church we had lunch with our friends Courtney and Tom and their girls Eliza and Hannah, who had come to church with us.

Rebekah signed her own name on the card that she picked out herself. I also got wine, chocolate, and flowers. Instead of buying a pre-made bouquet, Shannon and Rebekah chose the flowers individually to create a bouquet just for me. They had fun on their pre-Mother's Day outing.

For Rebekah and Annabelle's grandmothers and great-grandmothers I made a CD of Rebekah singing (we got Annabelle on there a little, too). She made up most of the songs herself, and I know it will have them laughing.

the nose

2008-05-08T09:48:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Rebekah and two other children collided on the playground, and Rebekah's nose absorbed most of the force. Much crying and screaming and bleeding. We took her to the doctor and she said is wasn't broken. Turns out it is very unlikely for a child her age to break her nose because it is still almost completely cartilage. After the first major gush, which lasted quite a while, her nose continued to bleed a little bit all day long, and even this morning. The doctor said it could bleed off and on for days. She also said we shouldn't do anything to treat it because the more we touch it the more it will bleed. After everyone saw the big playground drama, Rebekah was the superstar of the preschool. Everyone wanted to know how she felt and what the doctor said. She has relished all the extra attention. This morning her little nose is swollen, but it's not discolored at all. Her eyes are not black (except for the dark circles under her eyes that she has been genetically cursed with). Her nose is very sore and her teeth are, too, but she is in good spirits and ready to play all day. I just hope she doesn't smash her face again. At least until it has a few days to heal.

The children have gone cannibalistic

2008-04-24T11:32:00.002-05:00

My mother blames it on the spring. The children are acting crazy, refusing to go to bed, running around the house, jumping on each other and me, shrieking and making all sorts of odd noises. This trend has been escalating over the past two weeks, with what I hope was a climax yesterday. Recently, Rebekah was bitten by another child during a playdate. This week she was playing with Annabelle and decided to bite her clothes like a puppy. She accidentally bit Annabelle. We dealt with that and hopefully convinced her not to try it again. The next day Annabelle was bitten TWICE by a child at daycare. It seems that this classmate was determined to get Annabelle, so the teachers had to keep them separated all day. After being used as a chew toy, I suppose Annabelle was pretty annoyed, so last night she bit me on the shoulder. What is wrong with these children???!!! I've never encountered this problem. I just hope it's over.

learning to write

2008-04-24T11:30:00.003-05:00

I almost forgot to tell you that two weeks ago Rebekah wrote her name. She is terribly proud and has been practicing it faithfully ever since.

The Enchanted Forest

2008-04-18T12:30:00.002-05:00

We have been taking family walks in the evening this week--a habit that I hope we can continue--and a couple of days ago we discovered a sign with the words "Rosewood Nature Trail."
We were suspicious of the title because we live in a residential area and the trail appeared to lead into someone's backyard. We headed down the trail and found ourselves on a bumpy but scenic woodsy path that in some places made us forget the there were, in fact, people's backyards about two feet to our right. Rebekah immediately named it the Enchanted Forest and began telling us stories of all the enchanted snakes and frogs that live there. In one spot we saw a rose bush, and I asked Rebekah what she thought might happen if we picked an enchanted rose. She answered confidently that the police would come and arrest us. We came out of the enchanted woods and found that we had traveled almost a full circle, ending up on an apparently new sidewalk, still surrounded by loose dirt that had been used to level it. "Look!" exclaimed Rebekah, "Enchanted dirt!"

Happy Birthday Annabelle!

2008-04-08T09:29:00.001-05:00

Today Annabelle is officially one year old!

Annabelle's birthday party

2008-04-06T18:33:00.014-05:00

Annabelle's birthday party Saturday was great! We had planned a garden party, but the yard was too wet, so it was more of a garden-themed party. It was a real baby party--seven of the twelve children were under two years old. I made French vanilla cupcakes with lemon-cream cheese filling and buttercream icing. For the flowers I used pre-colored fondant and flower-shaped cutters. For the butterflies, I piped melted chocolate onto wax paper in the shapes of wings and bodies and filled them in with yellow candy:

Annabelle, of course, had her own little cake to smash up herself:

The favorite snacks of the party were chocolate-covered pretzel sticks molded into the shape of daisies:

The creation I was most proud of was my fruit flower basket:

The kids planted marigolds in flower pots to take home. Here are Lily and James posing with their flowers and Annabelle trying to put her flower back on its stem ofter she pulled it off (she later tried to eat it):

In all, it was great fun, and Annabelle was a happy (almost) one-year-old.

The yuck is finally over

2008-03-28T09:38:00.003-05:00

Many of you know that Annabelle had a particularly nasty virus, and I'm happy to report that she is finally well. We were worried for a while that she might end up in the hospital for dehydration, but we managed to avoid that. Now that the yuck is over, she is replenishing her fluids--she woke up three times last night and drank a full bottle of milk each time. When she returned to daycare today, her teachers were saying how thin she looks--that's an adjective that has never been applied to Annabelle!

Spring Break Adventures

2008-03-19T15:22:00.016-05:00

We had a great family vacation over Spring Break. We started out on Friday night, March 10, but we got out a little later than planned. Annabelle had to have a bath after she decided to turn herself into Miss Tomato Head at dinner. The girls slept almost the whole way to Arlington, and when we got there Mom and Dad were there to meet us. Annabelle didn't need any time to warm up--she went straight to her Granmommy and Papaw.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Dallas Arboretum for the Dallas Blooms festival. We had to stop Rebekah from climbing right into the flower beds. They had an artisans' show where we bought a glass ladybug necklace for Rebekah, and the gardens gave us some ideas for our own flower beds. We especially liked the Women's Garden, which had beautiful statues and water features. There was a Texas frontier town set up, and Rebekah enjoyed exploring the little houses. They had a display of bonsai trees, and three of us voted for Best in Show. Rebekah chose a tiny one with no leaves for Best in Show--I guess she thought it needed some encouragement.

We left the gardens to meet Mom and Dad back in Arlington for lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse, but we had a little trouble getting there. We had just bought a Tom-Tom GPS to help us get around, and we used the restaurant location that was already programmed in. Well, instead of Spaghetti Warehouse, Tom-Tom took us to an ACTUAL WAREHOUSE. So much for Tom-Tom.
After lunch, we went swimming in the indoor pool, which was our main reason for choosing that hotel. We walked to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner that night, and Rebekah got up and danced with all the waiters.

On Sunday, on the suggestion of Dad and Shannon, we went shopping at Cosco--only they would think of Cosco as a vacation destination--and then Mom and Dad went home. The four of us then went to the Dallas Zoo. Rebekah's favorite part of the zoo was the parrots, the carousel, and the giant tortoises. Annabelle was more interested in the french fries from the snack bar. That evening we went to Dealy Plaza so Shannon could see where Kennedy was assassinated. Shannon was awed by the historical significance of the place while the girls were happy to frolic on the grassy knoll.

On Monday we went to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science. They had a dinosaur exhibit that included a simulated fossil dig for the kids. It was actually the first time that Shannon had ever seen real dinosaur bones, too. Rebekah was impressed with the giant prehistoric sea turtle that was suspended from the ceiling. Comparing it to the tortoises she had seen at the zoo, she said, "Mommy! That biggest turtle can fly!" After the museum, we spent the night at Derek's house and visited his church. We drove home on Tuesday.

Wednesday, to extend our vacation even further, we went to the Aggie baseball game. Before the game, we went shopping to outfit ourselves in Aggie shirts, and Rebekah picked out hats for the two of us. We all had a good time watching the game and cheering for the Ags.

By Thursday, Annabelle had another ear infection, so we didn't make it to the art museum as planned. On Saturday, Rebekah and I went to Michael's for a kids' craft day where she made a collection of ladybugs and a magic wand. Speaking of making stuff, here are the invitations to Annabelle's birthday party (with our address covered for the sake of the internet).

first sleepover and first theater experience

2008-03-06T15:14:00.005-06:00

Rebekah had her first sleepover last weekend. Her sleepover friend Hannah, who is nine years old, brought along her baby sister Eliza for a few hours while their parents went out to eat, and all four of the girls played dress-up together for a long time. The favorite game of the big girls, though, was getting inside the collapsible cooler and rolling each other around the room. The next morning Tom and Courtney came to pick up Hannah, and we all had breakfast together. My culinary skills impressed all, and I was officially named Waffle Queen.

Later on Saturday night, Rebekah and I joined my friend Rochelle and her children Nicolas and Sophia, also favorite playmates of Rebekah, to see a production of "The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley." The kids liked the play, but the two girls were concerned about how flat poor Stanley was, and they very much wanted him to round back out again. They were also strangely concerned about a puppet show that came on before the play--it caused more worry than entertainment, I think. You never can predict how a child will react to new things.

On Sunday, Shannon and Tom went to see Arkansas play Ohio State at the Aggie baseball field as part of a tournament that A&M hosts every year. We plan on taking the kids to an Aggie game next week, another first for both of them.
When Shannon got back, he took Rebekah shopping and got her some rain boots. To say she is excited about those is a real understatement. She jumped around outside begging the sky to rain, and sure enough, the next day she got her rain. She was a happy little puddle jumper.

Next week is Spring Break, and we have many more adventures planned. Annabelle's first trip to the zoo (Rebekah's third), and for both of them, their first science museum and first art museum.

pictures to go with the last post

2008-02-22T09:20:00.009-06:00

Here are the pictures that I promised in my last post.

Rebekah in her fancy dress setting out the break-and-bake cookies.

Rebekah making valentines for the home-bound church members.

A card I made for my grandmother out of candy boxes.

Rebekah and Shannon working in the yard.

Rebekah's poison oak on her chin and her cheek (you might have to click on the picture to see it).

Shannon's poison oak on his arm.

And because it would be criminal to let this post go up with no picture of Annabelle, here is her first ice cream experience. She stole my cone and smushed her little face right into it. She thought it was especially funny when I took a bite while she was holding it.

ear infections and poison oak--oh, and Valentine's Day

2008-02-21T09:53:00.003-06:00

I'm blogging at work because I've been too busy and tired to do this at home. That also means I don't have all my pictures with me. I'll have to add them later to illustrate this post.

Illnesses
We all seem to have recovered from our various ailments. Annabelle had it worst because she had an ear infection that lasted almost a month. It took three rounds of antibiotics to finally get it better. Now she is well and back to her joyful little self.

Valentine's Day
Rebekah loved Valentine's Day. We went to the church party again, where she passed out valentines to the other children and also made cards for the people who can't get out of their homes to go to church. On Valentine's Day, she came home from preschool and put on her fanciest dress to celebrate the occasion. She wasn't quite ready when Shannon got home, and she actually started crying because she wanted to look just right for her daddy. He had to wait outside until she was dressed and then we let him in with the flowers he brought for all of us. I cooked shrimp scampi, at which Rebekah initially turned up her nose. When I told her it was a special Valentine's dinner, she changed her mind and dug in, exclaiming "This is the best Valentine's dinner I ever had!" After dinner we made some "Break and Bake" cookies.

Yard Work
Shannon and Rebekah spent some time working in the yard over the weekend. She swept the porch, and they both raked and bagged leaves. The result was a nice, clean yard and two cases of poison oak. It's always something, right? Not to worry--they are healing and not too itchy anymore. I had no problems because, as much as I love raking and sweeping and bagging dirty scratchy leaves, I had to stay in the house with the baby.

Walking?
Annabelle has taken seven steps in a row, but we have not yet convinced her to repeat the performance. She doesn't fall down when she tries to walk; she simply refuses to walk. She takes a few steps, then changes her mind and crawls. But no hurry. She's only ten months old, so we're impressed with her mobility as it is. And finally, after months of only two teeth, she has a third, with a fourth soon to follow.

That wraps up our adventures over the past few weeks. Except I should add that I absolutely love the class I'm teaching right now. My students are fantastic. Hopefully we'll have more reports of good health and no rashes over the coming weeks.

the plague

2008-02-07T11:17:00.000-06:00

We've had it rough the past few weeks. Annabelle had an ear infection, followed by another cold, followed by another ear infection, and just when we thought we were out of the woods, she caught a stomach virus. Yesterday Annabelle was doing well, so I was expecting to get back to work, but at 3:00 a.m. Rebekah came into my room to tell me that she was sick. She spent the wee hours of the morning sick and is home now with the stomach virus. Shannon got the flu, which caused him to get bronchitis, and he is just now feeling better. Since he had to take several sick days for himself, he hasn't been able to stay home with the kids, so I've missed two full weeks of work. I've had a bad cold, but I'm starting to feel better. I just hope I don't get the stomach bug, too. So that's what's going on in our lives--sick, sick, sick.

sick day sewing projects

2008-01-30T15:24:00.000-06:00

Annabelle is sick today, so I'm staying home with her. I can't get too much school work done while also watching her, but I did throw together a couple of quick sewing projects. I took a pair of pants Shannon was getting rid of and made stuff out of the legs. I made a laptop sleeve to protect my laptop while it's in my school bag and a tote bag out of the other leg. I like piecing things together out of already existing items because part of the structure is already there. It's not quite as hard or tedious as cutting something from a pattern. I also like making bags because they are very forgiving--they don't have to fit, and if the stitches are sloppy, it's less important than if it were on your clothes. Even with stopping several times for Annabelle, these pieces only took me an hour to make. Here's another view:

366

2008-01-27T11:21:00.000-06:00

This year I'm doing a 366 project. That means that I'm taking one picture every day for a year (this year has 366 days). I take pictures almost every day anyway, so this is an easy project for me. I'm posting them as a set on Flickr. You can see them at this address:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slynne78/sets/72157603687437391/

You can also see it any time by clicking on the picture collage in the sidebar.

First step!

2008-01-25T13:54:00.000-06:00

Annabelle took one step yesterday! Rebekah said we can't call Annabelle a baby anymore because she can stand up by herself. We don't have a picture of her walking, but yesterday I caught a cute one of her emptying the DVDs out of our cabinet. Notice the snazzy new leg warmers.

Weird Things Meme

2008-01-24T10:52:00.000-06:00

LeLe tagged me for the weird things meme. I'm not going to tag anyone else because I can't keep track of who has already done one like this. But since she requested, here are some weird things about me.

1. One of my comfort foods is a concoction someone showed me when I was in elementary school, and I have made it for myself since I was a little girl. You take white bread, spread ketchup on it, top that with pickle relish and then a slice of cheese, and then microwave it until the cheese melts. It sort of reminds me of a McDonald's cheeseburger without the meat. I only eat that when I'm alone because it's weird, but it still tastes as good to me now as it did when I was 8.

2. I don't think my mother has ever called me Sarah. She calls me Sarah Lynne or Sister, but never just Sarah. (I'm not complaining--I like it)

3. I use a hundred different pet names for my kids. My most common ones are Snookie-boo, Lovey Bovey, Honey Baby, Bookie-choo, Hunny Bunny Wunny, and Baby Jaby. I try to only do it at home because I'm sure some people would find it annoying.

4. I look up my students on Facebook.

5. I get really involved with the novels I read, to the point of having a physical response--shaking, racing pulse, nausea--and sometimes I have to put the book away for a while to recover. I never read thrillers because I don't think I could handle them. Once I had a full-on panic attack because of a book. I often talk out loud to my books while I'm reading. Sometimes I hide them because they upset me so much (like that episode of Friends when Joey put The Shining--and later Little Women--in the freezer).

6. On the subject of books, I won't buy a book that has a movie picture on it or the words "Now a Major Motion Picture." A movie and a book are two different things, even if one was based on the other, so I don't like the conflation of the two. But also I'm sort of a book snob, and I don't want to appear as if I buy books just because there are movies based on them. I also don't buy books with Oprah's Book Club on the cover because I don't want to appear as if I buy books just because Oprah told me to.

7. I never ever sleep through the night. I wake up at least once, usually twice every night.

8. I miss my kids when they go to bed.

For good measure, here are some weird things about the other members of my household:

Shannon always has to be making some kind of noise, like clapping, tapping, flicking a pop top on a Coke can. He also has an amazing talent for tuning out everything around him. I can be sitting right next to him talking and he doesn't even know I'm there. He absolutely LOVES break-and-bake cookie dough and frequently makes a special trip to the grocery store just to buy it--we call it "Cookie Night." He bakes the whole package as soon as he gets home and eats them hot out of the oven, but he never eats them the next day. Only the night they are baked.

Rebekah does something I called "rebooting." If she is having a bad morning, sometimes she will lie back down in her bed and get up and start over again. One time when we came home from preschool, she got upset between the car and the house and got back in the car, buckled up, and then got out again. After that she was fine.

Annabelle loves the bathroom. We have to keep the door closed all the time because as soon as she sees it open, she crawls as fast as she can (and she's really fast!) to the bathtub and tries to get in. Once she stuck her hands in the toilet and played in the water. She almost knocked over her high chair once when Shannon started running her bath water while she was still in her chair.

Standing up!

2008-01-22T10:35:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Annabelle stood up without help and without pulling up on anything. She just stood herself up and looked at us. Rebekah said, "Mommy, why isn't she falling down?" She only did that once, but several times she pulled up on something and then let go. She'll be ready to walk any time now. The picture above is not too good because the lights were off when I took it. Annabelle got up about an hour after she went to bed to practice her new skill. We had to keep the lights dim so we wouldn't wake up Rebekah.

Earlier that day Rebekah wanted to play basketball, and since it was cold and wet I suggested that we stay in and use Shannon's new collapsible cooler for a goal. Later I went into the other room to feed Annabelle, and when I came back I found this:
She had a bit of a struggle getting out. She got herself tipped over, but every time she tried to get out, she rolled. I confess, I watched her roll around the living room a few times before I stepped in and rescued her. :)
BTW, this picture features one of the amusing features of our living room. There's not a good place to put an entertainment center, and we wouldn't use the fireplace with a baby around, anyway, so we put the TV on the hearth in front of the fireplace. It goes great with our low-budget child-proofing--we just pile pillows up in front of the bricks.

bundled up

2008-01-18T13:51:00.000-06:00

The girls are ready for the Texas-style wintry day. Cold and wet, no snow in sight. This is what we call good chili weather.

wrinkly nose

2008-01-15T21:32:00.000-06:00

Not quite the "nosy smile" that I wrote about a couple of days ago, here is one of Annabelle's many wrinkly-nosed expressions.

She's got the joy joy joy joy . . .

2008-01-15T18:31:00.000-06:00

After dinner, Rebekah got out some modeling clay.

Rebekah: Can I play with this?
Sarah: Not right now. It's too messy.
Rebekah: But Jesus said yes.
Sarah: What?
Rebekah: Jesus is in my heart and I hear him saying yes.

Annabelle update

2008-01-13T19:29:00.001-06:00

Annabelle is now nine months old, and she is a speedy little crawler. For the past few days she has been standing up on her own--I think the record is twelve seconds. She seems like she is ready to walk any minute now. She weighs 22 pounds now, about the same that Rebekah weighed at her age. Last week she didn't feel so well, and it turned out she had two ear infections. This is just the second time she's had one, so we're doing pretty well on that front. She is feeling much better now and is back to her perky self. She expresses herself loudly, whether she is happy or sad, and she has a great big laugh. I wish I could show what we call her "nosy smile"--when she's really happy, she wrinkles her nose and smiles with her whole face. We haven't managed to catch it on camera yet, but that is my mission next week.

free rice

2008-01-10T09:45:00.000-06:00

This message probably sounds like spam, but I promise it is a real post from me, Sarah. I just wanted to share this website with you.

If any of you need a brief diversion, go to www.freerice.com. It is a word game that tests your vocabulary, and for each word you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to fight world hunger. You don't have to sign up for anything--you don't even give your name. The "rice" is donated in the form of money to the United Nations World Food Program. The connection between your word game and the donation is when you click on a word an advertisement appears at the bottom of the screen. Companies pay for the ad space, and the Free Rice organization donates that money. I've looked into it, and it appears to be completely legitimate.

And, besides, word games are fun.

Overdue Christmas wrap-up

2008-01-07T11:16:00.000-06:00

Wow! It feels like Christmas was a year ago! We started our travels at night a few days before Christmas and stopped in a hotel to break-up the long drive. Unfortunately, the hotel's crib was already begin used and we discovered that Annabelle MUST sleep in a baby bed. Every time we put her in the floor or in bed with us, she thought it was party time. After a long night, we went to Hooks to visit Mamaw and Papaw Evans (or G.G. and Great-Papaw, depending on who you ask), where Rebekah tried to "speak" to the dogs in their own language, barking through the window, while Annabelle took a dip in their water bowl. This is why we don't have a dog! From there it was on to Arkansas where the girls got to play with TEN cousins!

We had an early Christmas celebration (which Annabelle slept through!), and drove home on Christmas Eve, so as not to miss Santa Claus. He came through for Rebekah, bringing exactly what she asked for--a violin and a piano (electric keyboard). We're hoping the toy versions encourage her interest in music so that maybe next year she can start taking instrument lessons. She has definitely inherited a love of music from both sides of the family. Annabelle got a very simple toy that has been one of the favorites--a set of stacking/nesting bowls that also fit together to make four balls to roll. They both play with that toy every day.

After Christmas, Mom and Dad came down, and we had our third Christmas celebration. They gave us a PlayStation 3, which I resisted until I learned that it plays Blu-Ray DVDs. I got a dancing game that lets you play your own CDs, so I've been dancing to a lot of 80s pop in my living room--that is officially my new work-out plan. And rest assured, you won't be seeing pictures of that here!

Sisters

2007-12-18T10:06:00.001-06:00

To use or just amuse

2007-12-17T10:22:00.000-06:00

A crafty blogger has posted a PDF of printable gift tags. They are really funny, but you could also print them out and actually use them. I will try to have at least one good post this week about all the pre-holiday fun we've had, but I have some serious, heavy work goals for myself. Keep me in your prayers--I need some extra strength to push through some work problems I've been struggling with.

Christmas shirts

2007-12-06T22:40:00.000-06:00

Here are the girls in the Christmas shirts I made for them. Annabelle's says "Jingle Belle" and Rebekah's says "Jingle all the way." The holly berries are red buttons. I liked this picture better than the ones where they were looking at the camera because this is how they look most of the time--Rebekah is making silly faces and Annabelle is looking at Rebekah. You can click on the picture for a closer look.

Shannon's job

2007-12-03T10:16:00.000-06:00

Mary has requested an update on Shannon, and since he can't seem to get himself in here to do it (he's too busy checking on the Razorbacks every time he gets near the computer), I guess I'll do it for him. He likes his new job at the bank. The transition from restaurant management was smooth because the work is similar--he's still managing a team of people who are serving customers. He has said that the lifestyle is totally different, in a good way. The hours are predictable and consistent, and he's home with us every night and every weekend. It's fantastic for all of us. He's been through a lot of training, but it's stretched out over a few months instead of condensed. He also likes being able to wear nice clothes that he picks out every day instead of a uniform. He's thrown out all his greasy black pants and gray shirts! Hopefully he'll get in here and give you some more, but for now, that's what's up with Shannon.

Hooray for Christmas!

2007-12-03T09:45:00.001-06:00

We're all excited about Christmas out here. We've got the house decorated and we've been enjoying the festivities around town. I'm awfully proud of my mantle. I got the decorating idea from a Southern Living Christmas book that Mamaw Evans sent me for my birthday. After I hung the stockings, Rebekah walked in the room and said, "Mommy! You decorated red socks! That's so silly!" and she laughed for about ten minutes over it.

Our tree looks like something out of a department store because we bought a big package of red balls at Sam's and that's all that's on it now--except for one little white bear that Rebekah found and stuck on there. It will be more personalized and less Martha Stewart-y once we get out the rest of our ornaments. I've always wanted to be able to put my Christmas tree in a window that you can see from outside, and this year I can.

On Saturday we went to Christmas in the Park where we saw a friend perform with her dance class. After that we stood in line for an hour and a half to see Santa. Annabelle tolerated the wait well considering we didn't get done until 9:30. When we finally got to Santa Claus, we knew it was worth the wait. This year was Rebekah's first time to see Santa because I was determined not to subject myself to the long lines until she asked for it herself (we didn't even try with Annabelle). Rebekah crawled up in his lap and hugged him and touched his beard--she was starstruck! She wouldn't even look at the camera because she wouldn't stop hugging him. She did manage to ask him for a piano. When we left she said, "Santa Claus loves me." On the way home both girls fell asleep and Rebekah never woke up even when Shannon changed her clothes and put her to bed.

On Sunday we went to the Christmas parade, which lasted for over two hours! It was so hot that we were wearing short sleeves, and I took off Annabelle's pants and let her just wear a onesie. I actually saw some little girls in sun dresses. Santa was at the end of the parade, so we hung on until the end. Rebekah and Annabelle both perked up for the marching bands, and of course, I'm encouraging that. I just know I'd be the best band mom ever :)

language arts

2007-12-02T10:25:00.000-06:00

On Friday, Rebekah brought home a note about what they had been learning in school for the week. For the literacy section, they read a book called Diary of a Worm, so I asked her to tell me about the worm. She began, "Once upon a time there was a little worm..." and told me the story. For the language section, they learned about articles, adjectives, nouns, and verbs. I asked Rebekah if she could tell me about nouns. She said, "Once upon a time there was a little noun..."

We are easily amused

2007-12-01T17:19:00.000-06:00

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1131872382

first pets

2007-11-21T15:09:00.000-06:00

Rebekah is now the proud owner of her first pets, a trio of goldfish named Goldie, Cheeto, and Cheese Puff. Eventually she will have a larger pet, but I am maintaining my stance of no babies and dogs at the same time. I also stand firmly against rodents and birds. I am so not interested in cleaning cages. For now, she is quite pleased with her fish.

Cooking has commenced

2007-11-21T14:57:00.000-06:00

I have made a caramel-chocolate-pecan pie for the adults and turkey sugar cookies for the kids. The pie filling is made of caramel candies instead of Karo syrup, and the crust is crushed pecans instead of pastry.

Halloween Belles

2007-10-31T21:14:00.001-05:00

Halloween was a big hit. Rebekah was Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast--and she was not alone. Every three-year-old girl we saw at the church Fall Festival was a Disney Princess. Coordinating with her sister's yellow dress was Bananabelle, who seemed to enjoy the festivities, too. Her costume was a hit, but the Chiquita label did not hold up well to the excessive drool :) And by the way, please pardon the snotty nose in every picture--it was unavoidable. She conked out before we left the church and did not make it to the trick-or-treating portion of the evening. Fortunately, even though Rebekah is old enough to insist on trick-or-treating, she is young enough that three houses satisfied her. Exhausted, Rebekah has passed out on the couch. Annabelle, refreshed by her late evening nap, is up for another round.

Sunday project: fairy castle bedroom

2007-10-28T17:28:00.000-05:00

All of us were pretty much stuck at home today because we are sharing one big cold--just in time for the girls to start their new daycare/preschool. I did manage to get a project done. I created a fairy castle bedroom for the girls out of a Wallies paste-up mural. I have been looking at them online and when I saw them on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $14, I couldn't resist. The kit had a big castle and a little one, so it was perfect for the girls' shared room. Take a look:

Rebekah's side

Annabelle's crib

the window between their beds--Granmommy made the letters on the window

Annabelle's side

Punkins!

2007-10-27T13:17:00.002-05:00

We've been to two pumpkin patches in the past week, and we may be going back this weekend. Rebekah is in love with pumpkins and Halloween in general. She keeps asking if she can go trick- or-treating, and then she follows it with an explanation so we'll know how to do it: "If I go and knock on someone's door and say 'trick-or-treat' then I will get lots and lots of candy." I keep reminding her that it only works on Halloween--otherwise it's just begging. I have told her that we are going to our church Fall Festival for Halloween, so she says she will knock on the church door and say "trick-or-treat' and get candy. I can't wait to show you their costumes next week. Last night we painted our pumpkin family. Everyone did his or her own pumpkin, except for Annabelle, of course. I painted hers, complete with one dimple and one tooth. She held it yesterday for a picture, but since we used washable (and non-toxic!) paint, she ended up with green all over her mouth. Below is a close-up of Rebekah's pumpkin. It actually ended up with a face, albeit a small one. Her first concern was to use every color of paint, and once she accomplished that, she was ready for the face. If you look towards the top, you can see two dots for eyes, a dot for the nose, and a straight-line mouth. Above the face is blue hair and below it are feet. It also has ears with blue earrings. She did a good job for her first pumpkin, and she is awfully proud. To see details of the pictures, just click on them.

return of angel baby

2007-10-27T13:07:00.000-05:00

Going through hand-me-down baby clothes, I once again found the cutest pajamas ever. I love seeing Annabelle in the clothes Rebekah wore so I can relive some happy memories while making new ones (I know it's corny, but it's true). Stay tuned for pictures of the cutest hat ever--it will be making a comeback as soon as the weather gets cold.

More Annabelle action

2007-10-19T14:55:00.000-05:00

Annabelle had her six-month check-up, and she's still in the 90th percentile for height and weight. Adding to her list of accomplishments, she can also pull herself up to standing. Once she gets up, though, she can't go anywhere or get back down, so she just stands there and cries until we come to help her. We have let her fall back down, but she doesn't land on her bottom as she should--she falls head first and lands on her face. Last night we discovered the tiniest ridges of her first tooth poking through her bottom gums. We were so excited and called the grandparents to share the news, but that mood changed when her emerging tooth combined with a fever from her immunizations kept her up all night. Poor baby! (and poor Mommy)

settling in--and Annabelle crawls!

2007-10-17T07:58:00.000-05:00

We've moved into our new house. The settling in process is long, especially since every one of us got sick while we were moving, but we already like our house, and everyone is sleeping a little better now. I was worried that Rebekah would have trouble since she's been sleeping in my bed for the last two months, but she was so happy to see her own bed again that she took right to it and hasn't complained (about the bed, that is--she has found plenty of other things to complain about, but that's just a symptom of being three). We had a great visit with family before we moved, and Shannon was happy not to be rushing back to work. He starts his new job on Monday.

In the midst of all this, Annabelle starting crawling--not scooting on her belly, but real actual crawling! She started about three days before she turned six months old. She is all over the place now, which is not the best timing for a move. We keep having to catch her to get things out of her mouth. Rebekah seems to have taken her sister's new mobility as a threat and has launched a preemptive strike, showing that baby who's boss. Most of the time she is sweet and hugs and kisses and plays with her--even as we speak, Bekah is putting on a puppet show and Annabelle is giggling with delight. But several times a day, we have to rescue the baby because Bekah has pushed her over, dragged her across the carpet by her head, or STOOD ON TOP OF HER! We are on high alert because never know when the sweet Bekah will slip away and Bekah-monster will take her place.

Woo-hoo!

2007-10-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

Shannon has a job offer for a management position at a bank. We won't have details until the end of the week. Today is his last day at his old job, and he's pretty excited, especially since getting the call this morning. The timing has worked out well, too. He wanted to take a vacation this week to visit family without his cell phone ringing all the time with work problems, and he'll be able to do that. It won't be a real vacation for me, as I will still have to beg, borrow, and steal work time throughout the week, but it will still be nice to see everyone. I hope Shannon will log on and actually post something about this whole thing himself, but based on previous experience, I have to be laid up recovering from childbirth for that to happen. I have some news for Shannon, too. Tomorrow he can sleep in as long as he wants and enjoy his time off. But he better relish it, because no more late nights working means no more sleeping half the day. (And since the girls wake up at 6:00 a.m. every day, 9:30 is sleeping half the day away to me.)

photos by request

2007-09-28T08:14:00.000-05:00

G.G. (short for great- grandmother) has requested some more pictures. Actually, in my birthday card she wrote "Send more pictures!" So she's pretty adamant about it :) I got some really nice ones this morning. Annabelle is sitting up fairly well, so Rebekah can easily hold her in her lap, and as you can see, Annabelle wants to crawl right now! She woke up at 3:45 a.m. today, not hungry or crying, just getting up and trying to crawl. I wish I could have slept through it, but she was also very noisy. Every time I tried to feed her and rock her and put her back down, she just got up on her hands and knees and tried to crawl around in her bed. She didn't go back to sleep until 5:30, and I just stayed up after that. I will not be fit to speak to this afternoon.

on the lake

2007-09-19T13:51:00.001-05:00

This week I began my last year as a twenty- something. Shannon gave me a cake and a balloon, both of which Rebekah has enjoyed immensely, and he also gave me a bouquet of sunflowers. Those made me smile because he gave me sunflowers for my birthday the year we were dating. Last weekend we rented a pontoon boat for a couple of hours and spent the afternoon on the lake. It was such a nice, relaxing time. Poor Annabelle didn't know what to think of her little life jacket, but she eventually snuggled down into it and went to sleep. Shannon and Rebekah actually ventured off the boat into the water, but Rebekah wouldn't let go of the ladder. Shannon tried to encourage her to get out into the lake, but to tell the truth, I was glad she was too scared! If you ask her, though, she went swimming and she wasn't afraid because her life jacket kept her up.

leap of faith

2007-09-13T14:37:00.000-05:00

Here's the big news: Shannon quit his job.

His job as a restaurant manager was good for a long time, but with the kids now, he is away too much. That job will always demand many nights and weekends, and we have decided that it will be better for us to find something in a different industry. This is not a rash decision, but it is a difficult and stressful one, and it will carry a lot of changes and sacrifices. We have decided not to buy the house, and we will move back to the university town that we have come to consider home over the past four years. We have signed the girls up for a Montessori school and we have a lead on a rent house. He's got a few more weeks to go, then it's moving time.

We are blessed to have the support of friends who will once again live close to us. We are so happy to return to our church and have had calls from many members of our Sunday School class with everything from words of support to job offers, and always prayers.

We don't know what the future holds, but we know that this is the best move for our family.

revolving blog title

2007-09-11T09:48:00.000-05:00

The blog has another new title: Sarah, Shannon, and Some Silly Sisters. I think we'll stick with that one. It's appropriately cheesy (despite the flawed alliteration--maybe we can convince Shannon to drop the "h").

We have big things to tell, but we're not quite ready to make the announcement (no, it's NOT another baby! Two silly sisters are quite enough for the moment!). Please pray for us as our family continues to go through big changes.

Bekah's first haircut

2007-09-10T13:51:00.000-05:00

Rebekah got her first (professional) haircut last week. I brought her into the salon and told her how exciting it would be to be a big girl and get a beautiful haircut. But Rebekah would not have it. She hid behind me and kept repeating, "I don't want a haircut." When I asked her why she didn't want a haircut she said in the saddest voice, "but, Mommy, I have curls." The poor thing thought that if she got a hair cut she would have curls anymore! And she is quite proud of her curls because everyone who meets her tells her how cute they are. After ten minutes of begging and bribing (notice the sucker) and promising that her curls would still be there, she finally consented if I would sit in the chair and hold her in my lap. The stylist cut off the split ends and cut her hair into layers that made her curls spring right up like Shirley Temple. She looks so cute! After it was over, she decided that getting a haircut was pretty neat, and she called both sets of grandparents to tell them how beautiful she looks. She has also been asking to go back to "the haircut place" so she can be beautiful again. When I told her that she didn't need another one, she thought for a moment and said, "Mommy, you need to get your hair cut. It's not beautiful." Nice. I didn't take it too hard. She usually has lots of sweet compliments for me, so I let this one slide. She told me right after that that she hopes we can be best friends forever, so I'll hang on to that one :)

Bouncy Belly

2007-09-10T13:41:00.000-05:00

Annabelle (or Belly, as she has come to be called around here--but Shannon says we can't keep calling her that because she can't go to Kindergarten with a name like Belly) has a new toy--Johnny Jump-up! She wants to stand up all the time, and my arms get tired, so I thought she'd like it. The first time I put it up, she just sat on her bottom. Rebekah jumped all around her trying to show her how to jump, but Annabelle just laughed at her. Rebekah can make her laugh out loud better than anyone! She did seem to enjoy sitting up and watch from a different angle, though. Poor Rebekah wanted to get in it so badly, but we had a nice talk about all the things that she can do that babies can't, so she finally felt better. The next day Shannon adjusted the height on the Johnny Jump-up (duh) so she had to stand instead of sit. She still wouldn't jump, though. She scooted around and pivoted on her toes, but she still seemed happy, so I think the toy is a success despite the lack of actual jumping. With a little more practice and sister's help, I'm sure she'll be bouncing soon. For now, it's a great chew toy.

Shannon's birthday

2007-09-10T13:30:00.000-05:00

I found a USB cable, so now you're due a run-down of what you've been missing.
Shannon turned 34 last month, and in honor of the event, I made the same Superman cake he had when he turned six. I also made him a chocolate pizza, which turned out really cute.

boxed up

2007-08-27T12:34:00.000-05:00

Don't let the silence fool you--a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Our worldly possessions are now boxed up in a storage building, and we are in the condo. Lots of family came down to help us move. The girls started daycare. Shannon turned 34. I have taken lots of pictures, but we find ourselves in a predicament--we can't find anything! It's a miracle we have the computer up and running. The printer is not plugged in because we had to steal the power cord to plug in the TV. I've got lots of cameras in arms' reach--video, digital, 35mm, and APS--but not a USB cord in sight. I found my laptop, but not the power cord. I bought Rebekah a new nap mat for school because I had no idea where to even look for hers. Until the next day when I found it in a duffle bag in the bedroom, in pretty much plain sight. But we're managing just fine. We went swimming in the pool (well, Shannon and Rebekah did--I can't find my swimsuit!), and we plan to rent a boat next week and take a spin on the lake. Unfortunately Shannon can't use the golf course that is literally six feet out our door. It's a private club and there are signs telling us that we are not allowed to set foot "in or near" the golf course, even though the golfers drive their carts right up onto our sidewalk looking for stray balls. But the course does make for a lovely view from our gigantic window. I took special pleasure in watching yesterday as a sudden thunderstorm drenched the golfers. I have much to report, but I have to get to work--school has started!

Some crafty things

2007-08-12T00:42:00.000-05:00

Worries over moving have led to insomnia, so what better time to blog? As always, my busy schedule has not prevented me from making little things here and there. Crafting is my favorite means of stress relief.

I've saved all of Rebekah's broken crayons for her whole life, and recently I melted them and made them into new fun shapes. I also made some tractor crayons for James. This is super easy. Just sort the crayons by colors--all the various shades of a color will mix into one shade--and melt them down. I used a pickle jar and set it in a pot of boiling water--they melt fast. Then pour the melted crayons into candy molds that you can get at a craft store for less then $2. Warning--I lost the purple ones because I put too much water in the pot and when it bubbled it knocked over the jar. So not only did I lose all the purple crayons, but I also had to wash them out of my pot.

I have also been saving wine corks for years and I finally did something with them. I painted a plain wooden tray, sliced the corks in half, and glued them down to make a wall decoration for the kitchen. If I were to do it over I wouldn't have cut them--that was tedious--but you'd need a lot more corks.

My favorite crafts lately have been greeting cards. I have found that I spend less time making my own cards than I spend at the store picking one out. I like doing these because if I need to wind down after the kids go to bed, I can just get out my box of supplies and make one. It's nice to be able to have a completed project in one sitting. Here are some I did for Mother's Day. The one with the picture of the girls is my favorite. Click on the picture to see more detail.

Yummy!

2007-08-11T13:28:00.000-05:00

Annabelle had her first taste of solids today, and boy was she happy! Rebekah was not interested in eating from a spoon until she was at least seven months old, and she never liked cereal, so we didn't expect much. But Annabelle was raring to go. I made some very thin rice cereal, and at first she couldn't seem to figure out how to close her mouth, as you can she in the picture. Once she got the hang of it, I couldn't get it in fast enough, and I mixed more cereal in to thicken it up. She ate the whole bowl! Her eating habits are so different from Rebekah's. When Rebekah was a baby, she would nurse all day long if I let her. A feeding session would last forty-five minutes, and she was happy to live on milk for most of her first year. Annabelle nurses for five to ten minutes and is done. I fed her a bottle with a stage 2 nipple, and she guzzled it down, but Rebekah cried when we gave her a stage 2 even when she was a year old. Rebekah cried the first time we tried to give her cereal or baby food, but I could almost hear Annabelle thinking, where has this stuff been all my life? The funny thing is, Annabelle is growing at almost the exact same rate as Rebekah did. I guess babies just know what they need and are good at telling us about it.

making lemonade

2007-08-08T14:32:00.000-05:00

We're taking our lemons and making lemonade. We are moving into a resort condo on Lake Conroe until our house is done. It's furnished, all utilities included, and a month to month lease, so it's ideal for our less-than-ideal situation. It's on a golf course and it has a swimming pool, so we can pretend like we're on vacation for awhile (except for that whole work thing). All of our stuff is going into storage, so I have the task now of figuring out what we need on hand and what we can live without for an undetermined amount of time. And now back to packing.

Annabelle's stats

2007-08-08T14:14:00.000-05:00

Annabelle is four months old today! She is not a happy girl right now because she has a little cold and a bit of a fever, and she had four shots today. She weighs 15 lbs. 10 oz., almost double her birth weight, and she is 26 inches long. Like her sister, she is in the 90th percentile for weight and the 95th for height--we have some big girls. She will not lie on her back when we put her down. She rolls right over onto her tummy before you know it. She tried to roll off the scale and the exam table today. At night I still swaddle her to sleep because if I don't she rolls right over and pushes her head up and looks around. It's like she doesn't know how to be still, even though she is so sleepy. The doctor said that since she sits up so well, we might try to give her solid food. I remember being really anxious to give Rebekah solid food, but the thought hadn't even crossed my mind for Annabelle. Now I'm excited about the idea, and I think we'll try it tomorrow. Maybe she'll spread out her feedings a little--she rarely makes it two hours without wanting to be fed. Of course, she sleeps twelve hours a night, so I certainly can't complain.

look at the tickers

2007-08-02T23:21:00.000-05:00

This is only true for a couple of days, so look now. Rebekah is 3 years and 3 weeks old, and Annabelle is 3 months and 3 weeks old. Just thought that deserved acknowledgment.

The Blog has a name

2007-08-02T23:13:00.000-05:00

Finally, the blog has a title. In anticipation of our move to the land where everyone has two kids and two cars and all the houses look alike, we give you Suburban Utopia. (Title inspired by a recent viewing of the movie Over the Hedge, which could have been written about our neighborhood. Except in the the movie, they have electricity.)

Need advice

2007-07-31T15:05:00.000-05:00

Bad news--the house is not ready, so we have to move into an apartment for a time until the electricity is in. (To clarify the problem, the whole street is new and has no electricity at all. There are ten houses all built and ready to go that don't have electricity.)

I'm concerned about how Rebekah will respond. She is excited about her new house and has seen it a few times, but we will have to live somewhere unfamiliar to her and then move her again to the house she's been looking forward to. How can I explain this to her in terms that she will understand? What can I do to make the transition easier for her? I have some ideas myself, but I would also like to hear any suggestions you might have.

Thanks. And pray for us--this is stressful and we're trying hard not to let it worry the kids.

Bekah-isms

2007-07-31T14:13:00.000-05:00

According to Bekah, in the day time the sun is in, not out. At night the sun goes out and the moon comes in.

Also, she uses word ol' as an adverb to amplify her chosen adjective, as in, big ol' bug. She also repeats adjectives to amplify them, as in, big big bug. Separately, those are not that funny or unusual. But it was pretty funny when she saw a "big big big ol' ol' ol' ol' wasp" outside.

fussy girls

2007-07-26T21:41:00.000-05:00

It has been loud in this house. The formerly pleasant and content Annabelle has lately become Miss Fussypants. She fits right in with her big sister, Miss Sassypants. Between the fuss and the sass, Mommy is tired. But now that they are asleep, the house should be peaceful until about 5:00 a.m. That's when I can expect Rebekah--that's right! the three-year-old!--to wake me up to start the day. The three-month-old will not awaken until 8:00. I put Annabelle to bed and she stays there happily for eleven, even twelve hours. I put Rebekah to bed and she wakes up three times before midnight. What's that all about? I'm hoping the fussiness and the early waking are phases that will pass in the next few days. The sassiness? That is here to stay.

moving update

2007-07-21T19:51:00.000-05:00

The progress on the house is still stalled by the utility companies, and we don't have a move-in date yet. The good news is that we can stay in our rent house for a few more weeks, so hopefully that will give us enough time to get into the new house. The problem is the rain, and it's not letting up any time soon.

Thanks to our good friends Courtney and Tom, who babysat the girls, we were able to go out for our anniversary dinner on Thursday. We both appreciated the chance to enjoy being together and to get our minds off the stress of moving for a while.

babytalk

2007-07-17T14:42:00.000-05:00

Annabelle has something to say.

Five Year Anniversary

2007-07-14T09:07:00.000-05:00

We haven't done anything to celebrate yet, but Shannon brought me some flowers last night. Since we've been married, we've had two kids and moved five times. I'd say it's been a busy five years!

Matching dresses

2007-07-13T13:23:00.001-05:00

Here are the girls in the matching dresses that G.G. and Great-Papaw Evans sent them.

Rebekah is 3!

2007-07-12T22:05:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Rebekah!
She had her three-year-old check-up yesterday. She weighs 40.5 pounds and is three feet three and a half inches tall. She's still in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. She got one shot, and she didn't cry or even day "ouch"--she seemed almost happy about it, especially when she got a brightly colored band-aid. She finally got the Dora birthday cake she's been talking about for months, and she also brought some cookies to school today to celebrate with her friends. Shannon was happy to be able to make it home from work in time to cook hamburgers, in the Peters tradition. When he told her he was making her a special birthday burger she asked if it was going to have cake on it. We have one more special day planned for her on Sunday when we will take her to Build-a-Bear Workshop.

The Singing Bee

2007-07-11T08:59:00.000-05:00

That last post calls for a happier story. I mentioned this on my other blog, but I'll elaborate here. The Singing Bee is the best game show ever! We were all stressed out last night over the many things happening in our lives, and then this show came on.

It was about half an hour past Rebekah's bedtime, but she was still up because she had just finished calling all of her grandparents so she could spell her name for them--that's right! Rebekah can spell her name--accurately and consistently! I didn't even know it. I picked her up from school and her teacher told me that she had told her how to spell her name when the teacher was writing it on her art project for the day. Rebekah was so proud of herself and we laughingly bragged that she could spell her name at two years old--she won't be three until tomorrow!

So, we were all still up and started watching the show and singing along and jumping around and dancing. Rebekah thought it was the funniest thing ever to see Mommy and Daddy dancing and singing, and she got all riled up, too. I can't imagine what Annabelle thought of the whole thing! Rebekah didn't get to sleep until almost 11:00 last night, but it was worth it to have an unplanned evening of fun. We've been so stressed out lately that we all needed to relax and be silly. I recommend watching it and playing along--adults and kids.

After Rebekah went to bed, Shannon and I stayed up making and coloring icing for Rebekah's birthday cake. Shannon remembered learning how to make roses when he was a little boy watching his mom decorate cakes, so he tried his hand at that last night. They weren't half bad. I won't be making any roses, but I think the cake will turn out nice. I'll post a picture after I finish it.

Stalled

2007-07-11T08:51:00.000-05:00

Bad news on the house--it may not be done by the end of the month. The builders have done everything they can do, but they are waiting on the utility companies to come and put in the meters and whatever else has to be done to a new house. The builders can't finish until the utilities are in, and they can test to be sure that everything works. So everybody's just sitting around waiting. We are in a rent house now, so we have no leeway--someone is moving in here on August 1. So we have quite a pickle. We will literally be homeless. Everything will work out, but it's going to take lots of planning and lots of money that we really needed for other purposes. But moving is always expensive (believe me, I'm an expert on this topic). The best possible scenario is that it will all come together at the last minute and we can move right into our house. We're exploring our other options and trying to keep our heads on straight in the process. Pray for us!

Hello Annabelle!

2007-07-06T13:30:00.001-05:00

In the past week, Annabelle has really opened up and shown us her personality. She's so expressive now, and she smiles and coos all the time. I brought her up to the office today, and someone said she's like a little kitten who has just opened her eyes. I took a ton of pictures yesterday (trying to capture a smile--haven't gotten it yet) and I played them on a slideshow on the computer. Annabelle loved watching the pictures and started cooing and reaching out like she was talking to the baby on the screen. We may be biased, but we're pretty sure she's the cutest baby ever. Or at least the cutest baby since Rebekah!

Surprise visit

2007-07-06T13:12:00.000-05:00

Between our two trips last month, we got a surprise visit from even more cousins! Mikka and Chris (yet another Uncle Chris) stopped by on their way home from a trip to Houston, and the kids were excited to play together. Here's a picture of Kade, Kyra, Rebekah, and Annabelle. You can definitely tell which ones are siblings--Kade and Kyra look as much alike as Rebekah and Annabelle do.

More cousins!

2007-07-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

Sarah and the girls went up to visit the Evans side of the family last week, and in addition to lots of attention from Granmommy and Papaw and Uncle Chris (one of them), the girls got to play with even more cousins. Rebekah and James played on the slides while Annabelle and Lily...well, pretty much just stared at each other. Rebekah got an early birthday cake and a new bicycle with training wheels. We have big birthday plans for next week, too, so she's going to think her birthday is supposed to last for weeks!

house progress

2007-07-06T12:53:00.000-05:00

We all visited the house- in-progress a couple of weeks ago, and it's looking good. Shannon stopped by again this week, and the paint and tile are in now. We should be moving at the end of the month.

Edited: Sorry if you missed the picture. It occured to me that it might not be a good idea to publish our house number for the whole internet to see. Maybe I'll put up another one later with our house numbers edited out.

Boo

2007-06-22T10:14:00.000-05:00

My rocking chair broke :(

Annabelle's stats

2007-06-21T14:48:00.000-05:00

Annabelle had her two-month check-up today. She is 23 inches long and weighs 12 lbs. 8 oz. She got four shots and an oral vaccine and is not pleased. She needs extra snuggles today. Turns out she has mild torticollis, like Rebekah had. Torticollis is a (not painful) condition in which the neck muscles on one side are short, so the baby's head is cocked and she turns her head only to one side. We just have to do some easy exercises to stretch her muscles back out, and it should be gone in a few weeks. It's very mild--you can't even see it in her pictures. Rebekah's was more severe and took longer to diagnose, but since we knew what to look for, I was able to tell the doctor about what I'd noticed and we don't have to go to any other doctors (Rebekah's caused some drama with several trips out of town to see a specialist). Even though it's not hereditary, both girls were born with it. It was likely caused either by neck injury during delivery or by a tight fit in the womb that caused their necks to be scrunched up. They were the same size at birth, so it's not too surprising that they had the same condition. She also got her first prescription for antibiotics today because she's had some serious sniffles for three weeks. I took her to the doctor for it twice and it just looks like a cold, but since it has hung on so long, we're hoping that the medicine will kick it out. In related news, Shannon and I are still sick even though we have finished our medicine. We either have new colds or particularly persistent infections that need even more antibiotics. We've all been sick for a month! It's June--we're not supposed to feel so bad in the middle of the summer! The good news is that Annabelle does not have an ear infection, which is a miracle since her nose has been stuffy for so long. So that's it for now--hopefully I can soon report that our various ailments are cured.

Faces of Rebekah

2007-06-18T16:32:00.000-05:00

Not to be outdone, the diva demands attention of the camera.

Faces of Annabelle

2007-06-18T16:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day

2007-06-17T10:34:00.000-05:00

Rebekah helped with Daddy's cupcakes.

Camping trip

2007-06-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

We had such a great time on our camping trip. It was a huge family reunion, and tons of people were there. We spent time with aunts, uncles, and cousins we hadn't seen in years, and some I had never met before. All of Shannon's immediate family stayed in a 3-bedroom mobile home at Lake Ouachita for the weekend, which turned out to be a tight fit. Everyone managed to clear their schedules to be there at the last minute, so we had 21 people in the mobile home, which included ten children and eleven adults! It's not very often that everyone is together like that. The first night we met up with the rest of the family for a cook-out and then everyone stayed up late goofing off and singing--everyone except for Annabelle and me--we went to bed! Rachel (aka Roo-Roo) is in cosmetology school, and she practiced giving pedicures to Mikka, Randi, and Vicki.

The next day we all went to the beach. I forgot to put sunblock on my legs and I sat on the beach with my arms draped across them. The result was a crazy sunburn that will leave stripes on my legs for the rest of the summer! (You'll just have to take my word for that! I won't be posting pictures of my legs for the whole world)
Here are Rebekah and Kade playing at the beach:

And here are Juran, Chris, Shannon, and Derek acting like little boys:

That night we had a fish fry, and Rebekah and Shannon went fishing. Her line had a small plastic fish on the end instead of a hook, so she got to practice casting and we didn't have to worry about losing an eye! At the campsite she was playing with her pole around a little Yorkie, and it ran and caught her fish. She was traumatized! We got the fish away from the dog and calmed her back down. So Rebekah didn't catch any fish, but she did manage to catch a puppy--not everyone can say that. By the way, Mom, I know what you're thinking--Rebekah is not wearing a life jacket because the boat is tied to the bank and not actually out on the water.

The next morning we got up for a big pancake breakfast with the whole family. Kyle and Chris played their guitars, we sang hymns, and Derek gave a message that had everyone in tears. As you can imagine, wrangling all ten kids is not easy, so we didn't manage a picture of all of them, but we did get one of all of them who could stand up (we're missing the three baby girls: Kyra, Grace, and Annabelle). Of course, they weren't the only kids there, but I felt accomplished just getting the first cousins together. In this picture, left to right, are: Rebekah, Gracie, Drake, Wyatt, Tyler, and Siera; Kade is in the front. The picture is cloudy because it was so hot that the lens kept fogging up.

So where is Annabelle during all of this? Well, after the first night when she smiled and cooed and just charmed everyone there, she was worn out and slept for the next two days!

Great-grandparents

2007-06-11T22:36:00.000-05:00

Annabelle met her great-grandparents for the first time this weekend. We stopped on the way up to visit Grandma Cox and on the way home to see G. G. and Papaw Evans.

Rebekah's take on the trip

2007-06-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

We're back from our camping trip, and we have a lot to report and pictures to post. For now, though, click here for Rebekah's report on the weekend.

big weekend

2007-05-29T10:17:00.000-05:00

This weekend we found a place to live! Shannon's new job starts at the end of June, and we'll be moving very close to Houston. We're buying a brand new house--so new it's not even a house yet, just a slab. There are a lot of plans and preparations still to make, so we'll keep everybody updated.

Mom and Dad came out to visit this weekend and we had a great visit. We showed them where our new house will be and where Shannon will work, and the girls loved having all the attention. Bekah was so happy to play with Granmommy and Papaw, and of course to get the presents they brought her. She got a great art kit and has played with it every day. The first thing she wants in the morning is her new art box. She is also learning how to use scissors and is obsessed with it. Even Annabelle was full of smiles when her grandparents held her. Annabelle smiles a lot now, and she lights up when she sees her big sister. These girls already have a strong connection, and I am so proud when I see how much they love each other. Rebekah says that she is the best big sister of all. Dad also bought me a cake decorating kit, so I can make cakes for Rebekah's and Shannon's birthdays this summer.

Annabelle update

2007-05-24T17:19:00.001-05:00

Annabelle is doing great. She had her first cold already, but she is over it and happy as she can be. She has started smiling, especially when you kiss her. Rebekah helps out a lot by covering Annabelle with her blanket or giving her a pacifier--even if she doesn't need one! Annabelle likes her big sister and will often stop crying when Bekah talks to her. As you can see from her round little cheeks, she is growing well.