Fish and Chips Story — The Story of Us

It’s official I’m 1

I kiss

I wave

I say hi and bye

I blow kisses

I high 5

I WALK

Every year my mom and dad’s church host a fishing derby at a local pond. They stock it with over 900 fish! And every year Alora’s cousin Corbin goes and every year Alora hears about it and begs to go fishing with cousin Corbin. So this year I planned a WV weekend getaway to nana and pap’s around the fishing derby.

Alora had a blast! Now granted she didn’t catch any fish, and was bored in 0.2 seconds, but it’s all about the cute pictures right?

On Friday before the derby we went to the pond and got to see it being stocked, buckets and buckets of fish being thrown into the pond. Alora even got to stick her hand in and feel one. Then afterwards we went to WalMart and bought her a barbie fishing pole, net and tackle box! When we got home we then promptly filled the tackle box with cheerios,”we have to be prepared for tomorrow Nana!” says Alora.

On the big day of the fishing derby we roll out of bed at 6:30 and get the girls up and dressed (for the 32 degree weather outside). Once we get there it’s a glorious day, cold at first but then starts to warm up quickly. Alora’s age group is the first to have there turn at the pond, ages 3-5. She gets her little pole out and Pap puts the bobber and bait on and she casts it out, waits for 3 seconds and asks “Where’s my fish?” Needless to say with the hour that she had, she got 3 to 4 bites all of which grabbed the bait and ran.

Now even though we without fish it was still a fun day because there were still slides, swings, games and face paint to be tackled! We even convinced Nana to put glitter spray in her hair to match Alora’s purple!

Jason and I were struggling with not giving into Easter bunnies and candy galore, but still having a spring basket and explaining the true meaning of the holiday. So how do you do that? With a salt mountain and stick figures of course. Jason found a post talking about a book from John and Noel Piper called Treasuring God in Our Traditions. It speaks of how to keep God in everything we do. The post explained how to make a flour and salt mountain (like how you used to make salt maps for science projects as a kid) a cross out of sticks and stick people out of pipe cleaner. You make the mountain on Thursday. On Friday before Easter you walk Jesus up the mountain with the cross and hang Him on the cross and “bury” Him in the mountain. Saturday you check and see the guards are still there and the stone is still in front of the tomb. Then, Sunday before Alora woke up we moved away the stone and “hid” Jesus so that the tomb was empty. When she woke up she came to see the mountain and she searched to find Jesus and saw that the guards were “stunned” and the Mary’s were there to take care of Him. It was amazing to hear Alora say “Jesus Lives, He’s Alive!” At that moment you know the point got across.

So here’s a quick preview of our Easter in pictures:

“the Jesus Mountain”, her Easter shower head (yes it’s the one thing she wanted!), dyeing easter eggs, and last but not least eating the chocolate Easter bunnies and savoring every moment, right before we got dolled up for church!

O.K. So all of you parents out there that have been in a car longer than an hour with more than one kid in the car know exactly what i’m talking about when you start screaming ” WHY DIDN’T WE JUST STAY HOME!” or worse yet you’re coming back from someplace and wondering “Can the time on this trip actually DOUBLE!”

So since we just finished one of those trips with the 3 and 1 year old and I don’t want to play offense any more, I’ve decided to play defense on our next trip; only a week away.

So I checked out a bunch of books from the Library: Traveling With Baby, Carschooling, and Cars and Kids. Well Traveling With Baby is well and good if you’re going by plane, train or boat, but not automobile. It seems more outlined for those taking a week or month family excursion vs. just a weekend trip to grandma’s house. So the next book Carschooling seemed great and I can’t wait to use it, when Alora is a year or two older, it’s just a bit over her head still. Last but not least was Cars and Kids, let’s just say when this book was written I was being born. So no books really worked for my situation.

Next on the list , google traveling with toddlers! Brilliant right, wrong! The boring dribble that you get just makes you want to cry! Then, when the cave of darkness could go no longer there was a light at the end of the tunnel, a website called Mom’s Minivan. Not only did it have great ideas, long lists, and leave me feeling hopeful that I could travel with my kids again, but it broke it all down by age group! Imagine that another mom that’s been there and done that willing to help us out!

So after reading all the list’s I pulled out my wallet and decided to try some of the things she recommended. The first is Packin Smart, by InnoBaby. It’s basically a tall tower of stackable food storage. This gadget for traveling is based upon the idea that kids like new things, so instead of cheerios for the 7 hour trip. Pack each of the 5 containers with something different and then every hour give them something new and exciting. I just received it in the mail, it’s small and portable and I love the color ( I chose pink), but my only concern is getting the food into the containers, the holes are a little small, which will be great for my kids trying to get them out with small hands, but not so great for putting things in. We’ll have to give it a test drive.

The next purchase is Baby Bungees. It seemed a little ridiculous at first, I mean a tether to keep your child’s cup in place or close to them. But then I realized how many countless times the girls lose there drink or there doll babies and we scramble to keep a seat belt on us while we twist and contort to get them as they roll back and forth on the floorboards of the van, all the while they’re screaming! These also just came in the mail today (it was like Christmas!) I can’t believe the quality. I really thought they were going to be pretty hokey and flimsy. But they’re sturdy, just a little bit of stretch and the part that is to hold the object is lined with grippy fabric (like on the bottom of kids socks or footies) to secure the object firmly. I bought 4, 2 for each girl to hold a drink and there baby doll. This I feel is a great investment.

And last but not least a second set of headphones. Now some of you out there may just now be putting two and two together and realize that i have a 3 and 1 year old and by saying that I’m buying a second set of headphones that means 2 things: 1) My 3 year old already has a set of headphones and uses them and 2) I’m buying a set for my 1 year old.   Now yes all of you have your pitchforks and torches ready, I let my kids watch tv in the van and my 3 year old even listens to her very own ipod (strictly Psalty though). But if you travel as much as we do with each set of grandparents living 5 plus hours away. You look for any way to help your children through the long ride. And besides I got a $40 pair of head phones for free with just $4 shipping, I can’t beat that. Now no I don’t actually put the headset on my 1 year old, I just put them behind the headrest in her carseat so she can’t see them to play with them, but can still hear the video and watch the screen.

So with my new purchases in tow and some strategic ideas like bringing a new toy out every hour, the alphabet game and bubbles, I feel I may at least have a start on the defensive line. I’ll let you know in two weeks how it all goes!

But if you have any new suggestions, tips, books or websites please pass it along.

“Do you know Jesus?” says Alora. “Yes I Do” says Ms. Debbie. “Okay” Alora says. She’s off running to the gate. “Ms. Stacey, Ms. Stacey, MS. STACEY DO YOU KNOW JESUS, MS STACEY I SAID DO YOU KNOW JESUS?” With a red face and a smile Ms. Stacey comes to the gate and says, “Yes I Do.”

Alora runs back to me proudly and says “Mommy, Ms. Debbie and Ms. Stacey both know Jesus, they have His joy down in their hearts. Bye, give me a kiss and hug, I have to go play now.”

And that was my morning.

On the way to gym class in the van we were listening to Psalty (the singing song book). It was the joy song. “I’ve got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart to stay. And I’m so happy, so very happy i’ve got the love of Jesus in my HEART.” Alora asked “Mommy do you have the Joy of Jesus in your heart?” and I said “Yes honey, I do.” “Well I do to, and Zoë, and daddy. I’ll have to ask if Ms Debbie and Ms. Stacey know Him.” “OK, dear” I say, assuming she’d forget as soon as we got to play gym and she saw all of her friends. But no, she took off her shoes and said hi to all of her friends then made a bee line for Ms. Debbie to make sure that she knew Jesus.

Maybe I should take a lesson in evangelism from my 3 year old.

Well yesterday marked a new first in Alora’s life. Her first official on the schedule and in the books dentist appointment. She was a champ. She loved it. Joellen (the dental assistant) helped her pick out her toothpaste. There were soo many options we stopped listing flavors and finally said pick a color. She went with swirly purple which was grape. She got polished and shined without a whimper. She did have two dark spots we have to keep and eye on and found out she has very deep grooves in her molars so we have to take extra care in brushing those so no problems happen on down the road. When it was all said and done she got a great shot with Dr. Zidel and picked out her pink toothbrush and pink timer. 

How can it be that in less than a month my perfect little innocent baby will be 1. That’s right 1. Okay now I know you don’t believe most of the first sentence and neither do I. She’s not perfect, and far from innocent, but you couldn’t have told me that 11 months ago. No, 11 months ago I was living in new mommy bliss looking at the wonderful thing God entrusted to Jason and I and she was perfect. But now enter the real world of 11 months later and the little girl who when you say no to her blows raspberries and growls at you with a pout, is far from the dew kissed angel from the heavens, but she’s still mine. Still entrusted by God to me.

It seems i’ve come along way in these past 11 months. I realized that being a “stay at home” is ok, in fact it’s what God wants me to do. I realized that Jesus is my provider and my covering, my husband. Just as Jason is here on earth. Both provide for my every need, comfort me when needed, and guide me always.

Now you may ask what does this have to do with the monthly post update on my kids, well it has everything to do with my kids. Because remember “When momma’s not happy, Ain’t nobody happy!” And as I realize these amazing things about myself, It makes me a stronger, better and little bit by little bit a more capable mom of handling all that life can throw at me. So bring on the raspberries and the pouting faces,,, i’m armed and ready,,, at least for the moment,,, and when that moment fails i’ll just turn to my husband and God, and they’ll take care of the rest.

And all of that gives me the strength to realize homeschooling may be right up my alley. It’s a recent struggle to decide where our eduction for our girls will lie. But after much discussion, debate and research, Jason and I have decided that who better to spend 8 hours a day with our girls teaching them everything there is to know, than us, their parents. The people God entrusted them to in the beginning.  Some people may say, well they’re still young, why worry yet or what about socialization, they’ll be weird unsocialized homeschoolers. And to that I must say after much research, is RIDICULOUS!

There is no better time than now to start teaching your kids, they start learning from the very beginning, why not guide them the best way you can. And as far as the socialization, my kids will have every opportunity to be a part of any group, sport or activity that any child would, but also has the opportunity to do it during the day, when others can’t. Field trips, no problem let’s take a family vacation to Gettysburg or D.C., explain that we are homeschoolers and take a trip behind the scenes.

Now granted I still have rose colored glasses on about this new endeavor, so things may change as reality catches up to me. And I completely agree it’s not for everybody, but for me and my house we will homeschool!

So over the past month not a whole great deal has changed. Alora has about 10 imaginary friends and can’t wait for it to be warm enough to play outside every day. Zoë has taken her first few steps,but only when she is not paying attention, if you want her to, forget it. She has 4 teeth on the top and two on the bottom with 2 more on the bottom trying to come in. Which in her mind means that baby food and formula isn’t for her anymore and she should move on to whatever everyone else has on there plate. So, once the pantry gets rid of all it’s baby food I think we’ll have to be done with it, because she is moving on. We’re still working on getting the hang of a sippy cup, but it’s coming slowly but surely. If she could just figure out to suck instead of blowing on it when she gets it in her mouth, but who knows,, she’ll get there soon enough! And then I will miss holding her in my arms feeding my baby girl, because oh did i mention I also just cleaned out her drawers because “lil missy” can’t fit in her 12 month britches, she’s too tall and her sleeves are too short,,, so on to 18 months, which unfortunately means a new wardrobe, I think i’m out of clothes,, oh noooo! So a shopping we will soon go!  But more on that next month!

Oh and there are new pics up,,, the funny ones of guns and jason drilling holes is my homework for my photography class and jason making a worm compost bin from scratch!

WOW has it really been nine months since our newest edition came to town? It seems like only yesterday she was a wiggly little one who couldn’t do anything for herself. Now she’s a wiggly little one that can crawl, cruise, set on her own, stand on her own (for 5 seconds), eats table food and has 4 showing teeth with 4 more peeking through. And her first ear infections, it will take allot though to catch up with her sister.

Well the past two months has brought us growth and chaos, Zoë is at 19 lbs. and 31 inches (just 6 behind her 3 year old sister). Along with lots of fun. It’s amazing to see the love that Alora has for Zoë each day, from giving her toys to feeding her to dancing in front of her to make her smile and laugh. Which no one can make her laugh like her big sister.

And speaking of the big sister Alora, her imagination is blooming like crazy. I mean i may have been creative as a child but this little one has imaginary friends and dragons living with her every day! I did good for Strawberry Shortcake and my Barbies to carry on conversations and splash in the pool. Alora can give them voices and make sure they never run out of things to say.

The snow and cold has brought allot of stir crazy, but luckily Alora has big girl class at her play gym which means she gets dropped of for two straight hours to play without mommy. I really thought it would be harder than it is, but she loves it soo much there is no way i could be sad.

So catch up on all the rest of our lives and chaos with the January posted pictures!

Since Heather probably won’t tell anyone, I thought I would just say that Zoe started saying Dada two days ago.  It was especially cute because at the same time she has started shaking her head “no” so that is what she does when Heather asks her to say Mama.  She shakes her head and says Dada 🙂