Singing Sensation

Chancery has a new favourite song, and can be heard singing it around the house most days…

And just in case you aren’t familiar with the original, here it is!

Bigger & Better!

Asher commonly references when he grows up as “when I get big like Daddy,” so a few days ago when we were getting ready to go to the store, I told him that he could be the driver when he got to be big like Daddy.

I was a little surprised to hear his reply.  He vehemently said, “I don’t want to be big like Daddy, I want to be big like GOD!”

How, exactly, do you follow up a statement like that?

The Sugar Bowl

Asher has a void in his diet that, much to our chagrin, he tries to rectify on Sunday mornings after church.  Many times I have caught him in the act of eating spoonfuls of sugar off the tables set up in the fellowship hall for the coffee drinkers.

I have tried asking, cajoling, reasoning, begging, bribing & threatening to get him to stop eating the sugar, all to no avail.  Lately my tactic has been to remind him just before he enters the fellowship hall that he isn’t allowed to eat ANY sugar off the tables, & he replies, “I know, Mum, no sugar.”

Once we get home, I always ask him if he ate any, and last week he told me, “I only ate a little bit, so you wouldn’t see me do it.”

PChad told me that it was reported to him that Asher was observed as he put a full spoon of sugar in his mouth, but before closing his mouth he took the spoonful back out & returned to the sugar bowl…
I guess he DOES listen sometimes!  And just think of the restraint that would have taken!

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Chancery: “Are you ready for taking pictures, Mum?”

 

Chancery: “Ok, just wait, I need to get something.”

 

Chancery: “I couldn’t find it, but you can just start taking pictures if you want.”

Asher: “I think you should just come & sit for a moment so Mummy can get a GOOD picture, Chancery.”

Chancery: “Asher, don’t you know that ALL my pictures are good?”

Asher: “That might be true, Chancery, but some are better than others!”

Chancery: “That’s outrageous!”

CSN Giveaway!

Ok, folks, I have spend hours perusing the CSN stores & I just kept getting drawn back to the Toys & Games site.  The kind people there have agreed to a double giveaway!

One winner will receive the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Fridge Talk Magnetic Wordplay Recorder which will provide hours of entertainment for your children/nephews/nieces/neighbours' kids, allowing you a few more valuable minutes to finish your coffee/cook dinner/check facebook!

The SECOND winner gets as a set of Melissa & Doug lacing cards!  These can be used on long car trips to keep little hands occupied, during church services to keep the kids quiet, or even at restaurants when waiting for your order (unless you just eat at McDonald's like we do).


All you have to do to be entered is leave a comment on THIS blog post before Friday April 2nd.  I will announce the winners next Friday!

Sun Hat

We were driving around in the truck the other day & Asher suddenly declared me, “When we go to the beach, Chancery needs to wear her sun hat, so that she protects her head from the sun.”

I told him, “That’s right, but what about you?”

He thought for a minute, then replied, “I don’t have a sun hat, so I’ll just use my raincoat.”

In that case, we’ll be pretty easy to spot at the beach!

Thinking Of Me

To get from our house to the movie theatre takes about 10 minutes.  Last week, our friend Miss Julie, took Asher to the movies as a special treat, and she told me on Sunday that they had not gotten halfway there yet, and he piped up from the back of the van.  He said, “Miss Julie, can I ask you something?”

“Sure!” she replied.

“When the movie the-a-tor is over, can you take me back home to my mummy right way?  Because I’m starting to miss her already.”

This comes as a bit of a surprise to me, since Asher doesn’t seem to be one of those kids that has real attachment issues, but there haven’t been too many instances that he has gone off with someone else all by himself either.

Miss Julie did some quick thinking, just in case there might be an issue, and said, “Well, the movie isn’t going to be too long, and when we’re gone Mummy’s just laying down for a nap.  She’s not doing anything exciting.”

After that there were no issues, so I guess he just wanted assurance that he was getting to do the more exciting thing.  And even a week later, he randomly says, “Miss Julie came to my house & took me to the movie the-a-tor, and I ate POPCORN!”

I’m just glad it was such a positive experience for him, because we still can’t get him to sit through a whole movie at home, even when we make popcorn to go with it.

Upcoming Giveaway!

The kind people at CSN, a collective of over 200 stores, have offered to sponsor a giveaway on my blog.  I’ve been perusing their sites to find some great prizes!  In the meantime, head over to their site & have a look around, they have everything from toddler beds to Frying pans to Dollhouses & furniture available there, at reasonable prices, and in one easily navigable place.

Watch this space for the upcoming giveaway!

Documentarian

Chancery has really been chatting up a storm, and lately she likes to describe what she’s doing, or what is going on around her.

A few days ago, she was summoned to breakfast, but apparently that was not what she wanted to be doing at that moment.  She sat in her seat & cried a bit, then said, “Chancery crying,” and continued her crying right where she had left off.

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Sometimes talking to her can get confusing, I asked her if she’d like to go play in Asher’s room, she said, “NO!”  When I verified, “No?”  she agrees & says, “Yes.”  So I ask, “You WANT to play in Asher’s room?”  “NO!!” she yells at me, like I’M the confusing one.

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My favourite was yesterday at snack time, she finished her cheese & announced, “All done, mouth!”

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Chancery: “Asher, can you please read your book to me?”

 

Asher: “Sure, ‘Goodnight Moon.’”

 

Asher: “Goodnight Moon.”

 

Asher: “Goodnight Moon.”

 

Chancery: “Something about this seems a bit off.”

Asher: “Yeah, I can’t actually read.”

 

Asher: “But it was a good try, wouldn’t you agree?”

So Sorry

As kids do, Asher has picked up on certain phrases we use.  He still has a ways to go in learning when to use them though, as evidenced by this conversation we had this morning.

Me: “Asher, I asked you to pick up your juice & bring it to the fridge.  Now, I need you to be a good listener & go get it, please.”

Asher: “I’m sorry to hear that you want me to pick up my juice, Mummy.  I will go and get it for you now.”

Of course, there is the possibility that he understands the phrase perfectly & he’s just being ironic… sometimes I wouldn’t put it past him either.

Too Little

Chancery has been walking around saying “Potty” & pulling her jeans down the last few days.  So much so, that it’s near impossible to keep her from pulling them down.  I’ve tried telling her that she’s still too little, but she just pulls her jeans down & says, “Chancery, potty!”

So, I broke down yesterday & pulled out the little potty for her.  She has thoroughly enjoyed sitting on it, to the point that I have to tell her that it’s time to get off the potty sometimes.

Much to my surprise, the second time she sat on it yesterday, she immediately wee’d in it.  I don’t think she really understood what happened, but we all cheered for her and she started clapping too.  Asher has become a great encourager.  He likes to sit right beside her on the floor & offer her drinks.

The truth is, I’m not ready to get her potty trained just yet.  Not because I’m not ready for my little girl to grow up, but because I’m just not convinced that she is old enough to be able to tell us when she has to go, and have the ability to hold it when there’s no washroom nearby.  Besides, do they even make pants for a 19 month old?

Mm-hmm

One thing that PChad & I really try to do with our kids, is teach them to speak properly.  We want them to know the right way to pronounce words (so I try not to say ‘jaguar’ around them because I just can’t seem to get it right), and learn correct sentence structure.  So, when Asher started saying “Mm-hmm” instead of yes, we knew we were going to have to be quick to nip it in the bud before Chancery picked up on it as well.

PChad stopped him just after he said it the other day, and asked him to say “yes” instead.  But Asher explained, “I say ‘Mm-hmm’ because you say it & I want to be just like you!”

So, PChad told him that we only say “mm-hmm” instead of “yes” when our mouths are full of food because then we aren’t allowed to talk with our mouths full.  So far so good, we are having less instances of “Mm-hmm” throughout the day, but is seems they have increased at the dinner table.

Movie Time

I woke Asher up from his nap the yesterday & told him to quietly get ready to go, because his friend Miss Julie was coming to take him to the movies.  He did fairly well being quiet until he saw PChad downstairs.  Asher ran up to him & said, “Miss Julie called on the phone & said she would like to take me to the movie the-a-tor!”

I told him, “And you get to have some popcorn while you’re there too.”

“Yay!” he exclaimed, “Popcorn is my most favourite food!”

He did really well sitting through the movie until about the last 10 minutes.  I thought that was pretty impressive for him, but it turns out that the reason he got squirrely then was he had to wee.  Apparently he drank a lot of juice during the movie.

It’s nice to see him so excited about these little outings, and maybe someday in the not too distant future, WE can be the ones to take him to the movies!

Problem Solver

A few days ago, Chancery was quite eager to eat, but I was still making lunch.  Chancery had climbed up in her chair by the table & was yelling, “Eat!  Eeeeeeat!” at me.

I told her, “Chancery, we aren’t ready to eat yet.  We haven’t prayed yet & we need to wait for Daddy.”

The next thing I heard was, “Lord… bless… us… ANEN!”

She was taking care of the things that were stopping her from eating.  She then climbed down from her chair & went to the door to PChad’s office & said, “Ding-a-ling!”  (Our dinner bell sound).

She’s pretty bright, and very determined when she wants something.

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Chancery: “For this photo shoot, I have brought along Ernie & Woody.”

Asher: “And I have Russell.”

 

Chancery: “What?  We were allowed to bring buddies from our BEDS?”

 

Chancery: “You didn’t tell me that!”

 

Chancery: “If I had known that, I would have brought Boomer!”

 

Asher: “Yes, I am so glad I brought Russell.”

 

Chancery: “Maybe I’ll just try to get Russell from Asher.”

 

Chancery: “Hey, what’s that over there?”

Asher: “Nothing.”

 

Chancery: “Mummy, Asher pushed me!”

Asher: “I didn’t touch her.”

 

Asher: “Nice try, Chancery, but you’re not getting Russell.”

 

Chancery: “Fine, I’m going to get Boomer then.”

Community -Bert & Ernie

I just love the show "Community" & am delighted that it just got picked up for another season. One of the great things about it, are the clips done at the end of every episode. Here are Troy & Abed as Bert & Ernie...



Happy Friday!

Spatula!

Sadly, the kids have caught on to the goodness of licking off the spatula after baking, so now, not only do I

not get it, I have to referee their sharing of it.

But their obvious enjoyment of it, makes it worth it.

Mirroring Behaviour

The other night, I was cleaning up the kitchen & I got a cardboard cut on my thumb.  “Oww!” I exclaimed & Asher came running to see what had happened.  I told him that I got an owie on my thumb & showed it to him.  Then I asked, “Will you kiss my owie?”

Asher said, "Sure, let’s get that all better,” then gave it a kiss.  I find it interesting to hear things that I have said, but never really thought about.  I don’t really remember ever saying that, but once he said it to me, I’m pretty sure that is the exact way that I respond to him when he asks for a kiss on his owies.

Chancery has been picking up some of my phrases as well.  Apparently I say, “Thaaaat’s it!” quite often, and I HAVE caught myself saying it now that I am conscious of it.

My favourite lately, has been when I am trying to get something to work & it’s just not cooperating.  Asher has alerted me to the fact that I say, “Come on, zipper, WORK!” or, “Come on, door, OPEN!” and, “Come on, boot, GO ON!”

And now Chancery joins right in with, “Come on!”  I keep telling myself, that it’s a good thing the phrases they are picking up are comical & not bad…

After all, it is pretty funny to hear a 3 year-old proclaim, “I’m NOT lollygagging!”

Blocked Exits

The other day, Chancery & I were home alone for a little while.  Chancery busied herself near the kitchen for quite awhile, and I’m of the mindset that it’s good for kids to learn to self entertain, so I left her alone for a bit before I decided to see what she had been up to.

I think she was missing her daddy & had decided that the best way to get him to spend some time with her would be to block the door to his office so he wouldn’t be able to get in once he was home.

I watched her for quite awhile before she noticed me, & she was determined to get the books lined up properly.  If one started to tip, she was there to set it straight again.  I think we may end up with another family member who needs everything to be straight & in it’s proper place.
 



 

Choose Wisely

As Asher & I went into Chancery’s room to get her up from her nap yesterday, Asher decided he wanted to play with the toys in Chancery’s closet.  After I took Chancery out of the crib, he kindly said to her, “Chancery, you can choose any toy that you want.”

Followed closely with, “NO, that one’s mine, Chancery!  You can’t have THAT one!” when she reached for the toy he had been eyeing.

I guess his generosity does have it’s limits.  Which makes me even more thankful for moments when they work together like this:

View Full Album

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 3.5 years

Chancery – 1.5 years

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Picture me saying, “Smile! … Kids, look here & smile!”  Over and over and over…

 

Asher’s caught mid-word, Chancery leans into it for all she’s worth.

(Asher 0, Chancery 1)

 

(Asher 0, Chancery 2)

 

Asher shows us his good side, no points awarded

(Asher 0, Chancery 2)

 

Chancery can’t figure out why this is taking so long

(Asher 1, Chancery 2)

 

(Asher 2, Chancery 2)

Good smile from Asher, but eyes closed.  Smirk from Chancery.

No points awarded.

(Asher 2, Chancery 2)

Asher’s losing interest.  Chancery wonders when it will stop.

No points awarded

(Asher 2, Chancery 2)

FINALLY a good smile from Asher!  Chancery has that glazed look.

(Asher 3, Chancery 2)

Fine, we’ll go for the stoic look.

No points awarded

And the Final Score is Asher 3 points, Chancery 2 points, no pictures of both kids smiling at the same time, and Mummy needs a latte!

Tune in next week when we’ll try it all over again!

(Masochists, aren’t we?)

Carolina Isle -Review

I am not a big fan if historical fiction.  There are a few books here & there that I have enjoyed, but I am definitely more of a modern fiction fan.  Fortunately, Jude Deveraux writes both.

Carolina Isle is the story of 2 cousins from very different backgrounds who are tired of their respective lives.  Luckily, it just to happens that they look almost exactly alike, so they hatch a plan to trade places, both imagining the other girl’s life to be more desirable.

I have to say that there were elements of this book that were a bit predictable, but the over all storyline had me captivated right up ‘til the end.  In my opinion, Jude Deveraux has a real gift of hooking the reader & keeping them on tenterhooks through to the last page.

Couldn’t Have Put It Better Myself

Now, I’m not normally a big fan of Horatio (from CSI:Miami), but sometimes, he’s just spot on.  I give you exhibit A:

Name That Landmark

My Mom sent me this oven mitt a few weeks ago, & I decided it was time to get rid of one of the old ones I had b/c it was pretty grungy.  So, it didn’t take long to get pressed into service.

 

A few nights ago, as I was setting a hot dish on the table, PChad asked where I got the oven mitt from.  I told him it was from my Mom, & it was a Seattle landscape.  He  disagreed with me that it was Seattle, and told me to look harder at what it was.

Do you know what he sees when he looks at it?  Sydney Harbour, Australia.  I figure that the company that marketed them thought, “Hey, Seattle & Sydney look a bit alike, why don’t we bring the Sydney oven mitts to Seattle & try to sell them there as well?  We won’t even have to come up with a new design!”

So, my question for you is, what city do YOU think it is?

Take Two -Review

Take Two is the second book in Karen Kingsbury’s Above The Line series.  I am a big fan of series, and as I mentioned in the review for Take One, this is the fourth series, so there are some of the same characters we’ve been following for awhile & are familiar with.

In this book, we continue to follow Andi as she figured out what her own faith looks like when she lives across the country from her parents.  While not always making the “right” choices, the choices she makes (I felt) were very true to those that a girl in her situation would make.

The other central character in the book, is a wife & mother of two small children, whose husband is out of the house for weeks at a time due to his hectic schedule in the movie making business.  Again, there is a certain realness to her character that is refreshing in the Christian fiction genre.  When her husband is gone, she resorts to eating junk food much of the time & just has a real difficulty coping with managing the household on a very limited budget while her partner is away, and for the most part, unavailable to her.

I would definitely recommend these books.  It seems to step away a little bit from the predictability that has been present in the first three series, and is shaping up to be a very realistic series.