"It's Fall! It's Fall! I love it all!"

Around here we love fall--it holds so many dear memories to us--falling in love at York College, getting engaged, Thanksgivings spent with family . . . . We love the colors, the smells, the weather of fall.  And now to make it even sweeter our precious Elanor's birthday marks the beginning of this favorite season!

September 22--Elanor's birthday. I can't believe she is two years old! Children change so quickly and completely in the first few years of life. I love discovering this new little person and watching her blossom and unfold before my eyes.  She is such a joy to us!  Funny, quirky, spicy, so affectionate, imaginative, adventurous!

Newborn



One year old





Two years old!

Here are some updates on what this terrific two year old loves--climbing, playgrounds are one of her favorite destinations and when we are not at one, our patio tree will suffice.  She loves to read and read and read, often sitting next to the book shelf for long periods of time pulling one book out after another to peruse their pages and telling stories to herself in a sweet sing-song voice.  Singing--"Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Frere Jacques", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Jesus Loves Me" all being favorites.  Pretending to be a kitty cat, a princess, a fairy, and most of all "baby bird".  In her imagination we are often all a bird family--mommy bird, baby bird, daddy bird and sister bird!  We live in a "cozy nest" and daddy bird flies home from work to be with us.  Baby bird likes to snuggle and eat seeds and sleep in her cozy nest.  She often pretends this as she is falling asleep at night. Other favorite activities include painting and drawing, dancing, dressing up with Hannah, pretending "Peter Pan and Tinkerbell", or "Mary Poppins" with Hannah, taking care of her dolls--feeding them, pushing them around in their strollers, putting them to bed, and being outside any chance she can get!

To celebrate our "purrfect" little girl we had a kitty cat themed party! We invited our life group friends to an outing in the park where each kid brought their favorite stuffed cat!  When we were all hungry and tired we headed over to our house for some soup, presents, and of course cake and ice-cream.  It was a sweet, fun time with friends and Elanor seemed to really enjoy herself!  Enjoy the pictures!

On her real birthday we had a little family celebration with gifts and cupcakes!

(I think the band-aids were her favorite present!:))

In the last picture is the book (Night Time Is For Sleeping) that I made for Elanor to help introduce the idea of not nursing in the night anymore.  A few days later we started night weaning and after a few nights of crying a lot and being helped back to sleep by snuggling and rocking instead of nursing she no longer asks to nurse in the middle of the night!  I wish this also meant she longer wakes up in the night but unfortunately she still wakes up two to three times a night. Oh well!  Someday she will no longer need me in the night and I'll probably miss her sweet, warm little presence next to me.

We are so thankful of our "gift of light" and that God chose to place her in our family!

A Little Summer in the Fall

Okay, I know I'm supposed to be posting about apple story times enjoyed with friends at the library, celebrating the first day of fall by making applesauce, pumpkins at the farmer's market, making fall cookies with Aunt Danielle . . . . . But I promised a 4th of July smilebox and it's been almost done for months so now that it's finished-- here it is! :)

With out further too-do:

This photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

(The music is Wind and Sea by Balmorhea.)

Hopefully I'll be back soon with a post about Elanor's birthday!  (Yes, she is already TWO years old!)

Summer Fun!

In between all our trips and company this summer we've enjoyed farmer's market Saturdays where we get lots of local, delicious foods to grace our table throughout the week, as well as enjoy bouncing in a bounce house or getting to see our dear friends the Norman's while sharing scrumptions muffins!

Music Class on Wednesdays is always a real treat with instruments to play, favorite songs to sing, and lots of dancing as well as some real learning going on underneath all that fun!

Our main activity though has been playing in the water-- in our assocation pool, on our patio in the wading pool, in the sprinkler, and various other places.  My kids love to get wet!

Enjoy the smilebox!

This photo album made with Smilebox

Here's a quick video of how EZB and Hannah have spent many a hot summer afternoon . . .

Hope you've managed to get some water play in this summer--it sure is fun! :)

PS. Danielle--stay tuned for a Fourth of July smilebox . . . it's in the making!

Hannah

Hannah is a sparkler on the fourth of July,

A bounce, a song, a pirouette,

A flash of pixie dust whirling by.

Her spirit so strong, so sharp, so bright

A young star streaking through our night.

The force of her will, a tidal wave that crashes down my good intentions and sends me swirling in the aftermath of anger gone wild.

I want to nurture her spark—I’m so afraid: Afraid of dousing her with rigidness or letting her rage into a fire of self destruction by being too lenient. Balance is a rare enlightenment. I am stumbling in the dark trying to parent her.

She is so selfish yet only four.

Today she shared her cookie with her sister with a smile. Reminding me this journey of character development is not near over, (when is it ever over?) and does not end in my incompetent hands. The One who knows the stars by name has counted the honey colored hairs on her head. He has begun a good work in her. He has plans for her future. And she loves Him already—loves his Creation, loves His Son.

I take a deep breath and look into her eyes wide with wonder, curiosity and awe over a cicada or a sunset, or a trumpet solo or her sister’s new skill and I relax. I breathe out my guilt, my insecurities, my crazy need for control.

I love her. I love her. I love my daughter. I love Hannah Rivkah-- my priceless gift of “captivating grace” from the One who is Grace.

15 Year Anniversary Celebration!

In May Shawn and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary by taking the kids on our first ever family vacation.  Usually we travel with or to visit extended family.  This was our first time to just load up the kids and head off on our own family adventure.  We loved it!  We are definitely going to take more as time and money allow.

We went to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, staying in some cabins real close to Linville Falls and Linville Gorge.  We made some incredible memories watching our kids take in the beautiful views, discover rock climbing (and scaring us silly), enjoying sweet visits on our cabin's porch after the kids went to bed--watching glow worms wink in and out in the grass and pointing out shooting stars.  We had a campfire one night and let Hannah stay up late with us eating hobo dinners cooked in Shawn's masterfully made campfire oven.  We hiked to see the waterfalls, walked across a mile high bridge, were in awe of 600 year old trees, and breathless at rhodedendron framed views of mountains rolling away into the distance.  Elanor started exclaiming "Wow!" a lot during the trip!

The smilebox below tells the story better with pictures!  You can click on each picture to see it bigger and clearer. Enjoy!

Personalize your own photo album

Some things I've been wanting to share for a long time . . .

In March I finally got to meet the definition of sweetness: my niece Jamison-Caris Swann. She was born March 2, 2011 and I got to fly up and meet her five days later.

This was also the first time I have ever left Hannah.  She spent three days with her daddy and with our friends the Normans having a blast!  She really had no repercussions at all from me leaving her except for when I came back she was dressing herself and could buckle part of her carseat all by herself!  Makes me think I need to leave more often! :)

In April we all drove up to Nebraska so the whole family could meet JC-Swann.  We had a magical time enjoying the spring weather, walking to East Campus for the "big kids" to play under the flowering bushes, eating ice cream at the creamery, jumping on the trampoline, gazing at Jamison, talking and enjoying each other's company.  Words fail to me to express what a blessing it is to see the Barnacles so happy with arrival of Jamison-Caris.  What a long awaited joyful completion to such a sorrowful journey for all of us.

Uncle Shawn's "Whiskey-Grace"

Enraptured by Uncle Shawn's "Princess Gold" story (an ongoing bedtime saga for Hannah.)

Walking to East Campus

Under the "Fairy Bushes"

Uncle Bryan caught a snake!



Elanor "ecStatic" on the trampoline!



Elanor's happy place--digging by the back stairs.



My happy place. . . .



All our angels . . . sleeping or pretending to sleep. :)



Painting red rocks to fool the birds in the neighbor's strawberry patch.



My sweet sister and the sweetest ever baby.



The videos below were the culmunation of our magical time and how much I love being with the Barnacles.  Nothing more whimsical than little kids dancing to bells ringing!

Corban joins in!