Is there a doctor in the house?

The other day Lydia & Caraline were playing doctor. It was so sweet & cute. Then we decided to play vet & we were checking ALL the animals in the house!!! The girls thought that was so fun!

Our girls are getting so big & I love staying home with them. The other day I was able to take a 3 minute shower while the girls played in their room together and when I RAN to check on them, they were playing nicely with the puzzles.

If you were to ask me a few years ago if I would like to stay home, I would have told you for about 2 years, but I would go back to work soon.

BOY, have things changed!!

I will have been home with the girls for 2 years in November and I do not feel the need to go back to work any time soon!! I have enough to do at home!!!

I love staying home with my girls so much that in the past few days, I've been thinking bout homeschooling!!! I have about a year before Lydia offically would be a preschooler. This fall she is going to a private preschool program 3 half days a week. We will see how that goes, but I think I want more time with them.

They are so much fun to be around! Don't get me wrong, there are days I would like to take them to daycare and go to work, but I hated leaving Lydia everyday at daycare.

I was always so torn between being with my child & working with 20 first graders. At work, the kids were ALWAYS first graders, the group that I worked with were always going to be 6 or 7 years old. Lydia was growing and getting bigger everyday & I was missing that.

I know that I will NOT regret being home with my girls. I can always teach another time.

Maybe I will even teach my girls at home. I may need my head examined, but I think I would like to give it a try. I want to be able to watch them grow in many more ways!

Who knows, Lydia and Caraline could be your doctor someday.

"Respect & obey the Lord. This is the beginning of wisdom." Proverbs 9:10

Fourth of July 2008

Every year since Scott & I met, we have gone to the Liberty fest parade and sit in the same place by the BSU.
Scott and I got together on July 4th 1998, so we have been together for 10 years! He proposed to me July 4th 1999.

We love going to the parade in Edmond, but there is a time that I miss the fourth of July of my childhood.

When I was a child, up until I was in college...well, maybe high school, we got up early & went to Pawnee. In the morning, they had a parade. After the parade, there were games to play & EVERYONE played!! There was the egg toss, three legged race, sack races, boot toss, backseat driver game.

But the most fun was the turtle races!! I swear, my cousins would stop on the side of the road weeks ahead of time to pick a turtle!! They would train the thing to run!! They always got extra turtles for Tori and me.
They put ALL the turtles who was registered in the middle of a big circle. (You usually marked your turtle so you knew which one was yours.) Then which turtle made it to the eadge of the circle first, won.

After the games, we would go back to Grandma & Grandpa's house and eat lunch. When the kids would ride bikes and swim all afternoon long. We would always ask when the fireworks were. Sometimes those afternoons seemed so long!!
Soon we would take baths, put on clean clothes, eat a little dinner and head back into downtown Pawnee.
There was street band singing and dancing in the streets & a carnival with a famous Ferris Wheel. We HAD to ride it!!
Then about dark-thirty, they would shoot off a warning firework to let you know they were getting ready to start. Everyine would gather on the court house lawn & watch. Sometimes it seemed like there was 10 minutes between each firework. But you knew when it was over because they would shoot off 8 to 10 fireworks together.
Everyone would clap & head home.

I loved the feel of the small town fourth of July!!

Anyone want to help me organize a turtle race for next year?:)

"Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord." Psalm 33:12

Playing "catch up"

It's been a while since I posted a blog...oops! Life with a 3 year old and a toddler is really busy!!

Let's see...

At the end of May, my mom retired from teaching after more than 20 years.

In June, we had Vacation Bible school which both girls loved!!

We've had a few "field trips" with our good friends to the Little River Zoo and the Oklahoma Science Musuem (formerly known as the Omniplex)

We spent some time in Woodward with Scott's parents for Father's day and his dad's birthday.

Lydia is working on sounding out words and trying to rythme. Caraline is now sitting in a booster seat at the table with her own plate. Caraline thinks she can do EVERYTHING Lydia does! Caraline always says "Go, Go, GO!" She is talking more too! I love it!

I love being home & watching my girls grow!! It's a hard job at times and there are days I think I should have been fired, but at the end of the day, I thank God that I'm able to be home and be Lydia & Caraline's mom!

"Teach me what is right God & I will do it!" Psalm 89:11

Walking in Addyson's memory

Saturday, May 10, 2008 our family walked in the Payne county heartwalk. We walked in memory of Addyson Layne.
Everyone wore lime green shirts with Addyson's picture on the front. On the back it read, "Some people only dream of angels, but we've held one in our arms."

I'd like to think she knew we were walking and remembering her short life as a gift God allowed us for a while.

She is healed & being held by her healer, God. He held the other part of her heart and only God could complete Addy.

Walking 3 & a half miles wasn't easy and we were all tired afterwards, but that didn't compare to the struggle of an open heart surgery Addyson had at 10 days old. She is resting in the everlasting arm of our Lord.

So, we walked and remembered our sweet angel. She is unforgettable.

"This world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven." Hebrews 13:14

Tree-huggers unite!

In honor of Earth Day on April 22nd, I have decided to recycle!:)
I have a lot of friends who are "recycle conscience" and want as much organic as possible.
It wasn't that I didn't care before, because I did, but something inside me thought, "What if there are some things I can do to help the environment? I really want to provide my family with food that is good for them and is natural as possible. Maybe I'll try some 'all natural' products!"

So, since we have a curbside recycle service and a newspaper and magazine recycle bin just down the road at the school, I thought, "I can do this!"

I did some research on recycling and started saving the "recycle items" in the garage in the recycle bin.

When I went to Walmart and bought organic spaghetti, Hormel "all natural" honey ham, which has no added hormones, no added MSG, & it is REALLY GOOD!! I got some natural shampoo. I even bought some "all natural" Arm & Hammer deoderant without aluminum or paraben.
I wanted to buy some cute "earth friendly" t-shirts for me & the girls, but I thought I had bought enough!:)

It feels good to be "environemently conscience"! Maybe if everyone recycled and only bought "nautural" things, we could help our earth and our children & grandchildren would have a cleaner world to live in.:)

So I guess I've turned into a "tree-hugger"!

"The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!

Psalm 16:6

Caraline's glasses

Caraline got her glasses today! (look past the red eye)
She keeps them on ok if she is busy playing, but if she stops and thinks about them, she is trying to take them off!!
I'm not used to seeing Caraline in glasses yet! It took me a while to get used to them with Lydia too. Now Lydia isn't "Lydia" without her glasses!

We go back in June to see if they are helping.....

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, & no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him." I Corinthians 2:9

good news and not so good news...

First, the good news:

We bought a "newer" car! We bought a 2005 white Honda Accord. We are pretty happy with it! (It has some interior issues, cigarette burns, but other than that...pretty good)
The back seat is a good size for all the carseats. (The backseat in the Galant was SO small, it was annoying & REALLY cramped!) We are excited!
Now I can put my "Addyson" sticker on the back window!

Now for the "not so good news"...

Caraline needs glasses! She is only 15 months old! We knew her eyes were not good. I thought that maybe the Dr would patch one eye for now, but, no, he said "She needs glasses."
So, we picked out some little frames (with a big price tag) and she should get them in Friday. I hope she keeps them on!
I will post pictures are soon as she gets them.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:18