Phone Photo Glimpses

Tonight while I was scrolling through my phone photo album I got the urge to blog. So the dishes are waiting and I'll be hating myself when Priya wakes up for her midnight feeding, but oh well. All I'm going to say about this post is "WELCOME TO RANDOM CITY!"

The boy that never took a binky steals his sister's all the time.

Stuck! We were bad parents and we took pictures even though he was pretty distraught. I can't keep myself from laughing even now.

I don't even know. He's very intently watching Curious George like this. He stayed in this position, goof ball!

I've been trying to incorporate more structured play into our days so you'll see some photos of that in this post. The week of this photo I took a book called "My Sister and I" and planned play to correspond to the storyline.

The 2 pics above are playing dress up. He loved it! We used Daddy's clothes.

This stuff is called clean mud! It's goo-shy and so much fun! He loved it at first and by the end he was tired of it and started signing BATH.

Love those smiles.

Drinking from the hose, a skill Aaron is passionate about our children having. The squat, I love it!!!

I love this photo!

Did I mention she's creeping? She can't hold her head up in four point for very long but those arms and legs sure go, go, go!

Itty-bitty pasta sensory play! I love watching his brain work on new experiences.

Sidewalk paint! Porter's eyes were dilated this day so we played in the garage to keep from sun damage. I'll be honest I had more fun this day than P did, but it wasn't a total bust.

Why does this smelly dog always sleep on my pillow?

The balloon pit at the dollar store. Doesn't he look intrigued?

Darling girl!

Bite mark from the first day of school. We were actually pretty happy about it, because it has discouraged his own biting.

Exploring under the bed.

I blink and this happens all the time!

We spend lots of time on the floor.

Balloon play. A paper plate, a plastic knife, balloons, and duck tape = lots of fun.

The Costco berry smoothie has become a tradition.

Pot roast dinner! I turned around and had to take a picture. My darling little family having dinner! P's using a yoga block as a booster, Priya in her pretty pink dress, and the messy yum!

Again with the blinking.

The girl is so jealous of everyone that gets to eat real food. She managed to maneuver this apple slice into her mouth and we just let her enjoy.

We went out and voted for our City Counsel Man. Sadly our guy didn't win this time, but the kids got stickers.

Porter stole the popcorn from his Daddy while they watched some football after the buddy walk.

I sprained my ankle for the first time ever and the weakness it has caused...annoying. Shortly there after I broke my toe on the same foot.

She is some of the love that fills my heart with joy!

Our favorite little lunch spot. There is a vacant business building down the street from Aaron's office that has a delightful garden patio with shade, flowers, tables and privacy. We sneak off to enjoy a picnic here each week. The plan is to keep it up as long as we can before it snows.

Rice sensory play. My favorite place to do sensory play that can get messy is in our soaking tub. I just stop the plug and let Porter loose. All I have to do to clean up is grab my dust pan and hand broom, tada! Good as new. I took this picture today. He was busy and engaged for over an hour with this activity. I finally had to stop him so I could get some dinner going.

Priya Lynn doing what she does best.

As I was experiencing this I felt my sanity slipping away so I thought I should capture it for Aaron. I played it back to myself and couldn't help but laugh. Thank goodness for perspective.


These 2 are just cute!



She has started to say "mmm..." after each bite. Something else she learned from Porter. So cute. She only does it really well right at the beginning.


Piano with Daddy. Watch how Porter sasses his Dad and turns the pages.

Random enough for you?

I'm going to write something similar to an excuse but I need to know when I look back and there's gaping holes on our blog. I've been trying to figure out what's going on with us and why things aren't as easy to get to as they were before. Here's my conclusions: We're in transition with Porter's early interventions which takes us out of the home 3 times a week for half the day, then another day I'm busy with Young Women's. That's 4 days a week where we have large blocks of time being occupied where before it wasn't. The time that's left over we're just trying to keep up with the demands of the home and often neglecting those to be with each other. It's just not our season.

Shout Out For Priya

Our little Lynnie (a nickname of my cousin's growing up that I call Priya sometimes because I call her by her first and middle name a lot.  Her daddy doesn't like it so I've tried to stop but P picked it up and now calls Priya, "my Lynnie" often... Sorry Aaron) is doing some new things lately and they should be noted.

On Labor Day her Daddy and Brother came to wake Priya and I up.  We had a backyard campout and after the train woke her we had to go inside for the rest of the night.  She was so excited to see the men in her life she said, "Hi!" She said it to her grandpa Randy and Micah that morning as well.  She's keeping it up as well.  She's not to a point where she'll say it on request but it's so cute if you get to hear it.  We think she picked it up from P.  He spends a lot of time in her face saying "Hi" over and over.

She's eating rice cereal nightly, liking it, and sleeping better because of it.

She is rolling in both directions often.

She pivots all over the place.  She'll get on her tummy and pivot a full 360.

She's sitting up with the support of her hands.  She topples after a few minutes, but we're so proud of her hard work.

She goes after and plays with toys.

My baby isn't a little helpless infant any more. :(  They grow up SO fast.  It's a sad and exciting thing.  Love you Priya Lynn.

We Choose Each Other

I'm sorry that my blog has been lacking so much this summer. I'm keeping a mental list of all the posts I need to do. If only I could think it an have it magically done.

The past weekend Aaron, his Father & younger brother witnessed a bad accident. It was a vivid reminder in how fragile life is. Since Porter's birth there have been many wants, projects, and checklist items pushed to the back burner because we choose to spend our time and energy on each other. Aaron and I had this conversation once again following this incident they witnessed. Life is a gift, we do not control the amount of time we have here on this earth together. While we're here we choose to make the most of our marriage, family, and invest in our memories of love with our children. We know that God could call any of us home at any given moment so we're doing our best to not let the moment pass us by. I asked Aaron the other night, "If God told you He would bless your life with a beautiful child that would change your heart forever but the catch was that He'd only allow that child to be with you for a short time, would you tell God not to bother because you'd rather not feel the pain?" I heard a father speak about such a question at his son's funeral recently and he worded it so much more beautifully than me, but it's a question I'd asked myself before when I realized Porter's life would be more fragile than planned and that I had to make peace with the fact that Porter really could pass away before us -- the same is true with Priya. Aaron of course answered my question in the way most Father's would, "Of course not, I'd rather have them for a little while than never at all."

Last night I went to bed with an ambitious to-do list for today in my head. When Porter woke up laughing, I was happy to scoop him up out of bed when he joyfully asked for, "Horses?" I think he had been dreaming of them and thought for sure he'd get to see them when he woke. I thought at that moment that I needed to take him to my parents to see their horses today. I still got the necessary things done (we now have food on our shelves) but my floors are still un-vacuumed and tile needs mopped, because about 4p.m. I loaded the kids up and headed to Grandpa's farm. Aaron took care of some things at home and then decided to join us and watch Porter take his first Horsie ride! It was a simple evening, spent with family, good food, and memories. I sat on my parents' floor watching my freshly bathed children and remembered being a child at my grandparents home and the happiness I felt spending time with them. My children had the same loving experience tonight and will get even more loving from their other grandparents this weekend. I'll get around to blog update, cleaning the floors, etc..etc..etc.. but I'm cutting us a little slack so I can quit feeling guilty and live in the moment.

Late ramble, I know... I'll just end with "I love my family." They make me so happy I feel it pumping from my heart filling my whole body with joy.