Made in China?

With all of the hub-bub about lead paint in kids toys we have talked a lot in our house about not putting stuff in your mouth and making sure Genevieve doesn't get things she shouldn't. Adina always wants to be quite informed about a situation, so I've tried to explain that they have people in China making our toys, the paint isn't safe, etc. So, she has decided China is not her favorite place. Then, I of course, try to tell her the people are not bad, just the paint on the toys and so on.

Well, this leads in to my next story....

We have talked a bit about private parts in our house and I decided I better bite the bullet and give them the anatomically correct words for their body parts. I have been a bit hesitant because I made the mistake of telling Adina the word "boob" when she was about 18 months old and that was about all she said for 2 weeks while pulling at any female's shirt!

So, I sat them down and told them the word for boy's private parts and then the word for girls. I barely got the word out of my mouth when Adina got hysterical "Waaaahhhhhhh, I'M MADE IN CHINA!!!!! Why didn't you tell me I was poison? This is horrible!" So, needless to say the educational session ended in laughter on my part, with reassurance that she was NOT made in China!

Go, bunny racer, go

We made fun Easter snacks for Adina's Girl Scout troop (notice the thin - mint backs!) and First grade class. We had a lot of fun and the kids love them too.

Say "aahhhhh"

Madison had her first dentist appointment, she was so brave, not one complaint I was very proud of her. She did everything the dentist said and even made it up on the cavity free wall! She said her favorite part was getting the "sucky" thing put in her mouth!

Look how sparkly my teeth are! Take notice of the set of choppers on flossy the fish to the left of Madison! Wonder what goes through kids minds when they see these?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

In honor of our good Irish heritage and mostly our good friend Dr. Seuss we had Green eggs and ham! When I say "we" I mean Madison, Adina and Genevieve (I'm not much of a breakfast person and I couldn't get past the looks.) Unfortunately Adina was off to school before I could snap her picture - she looked all snazzy in green, but figured I should at least get Madison and Genevieve. Doesn't it look tasty!

Say "psgetti"

The joys of introducing all of the new foods is the joys of the messes as well! Adina and Madison think that it is no fair that Genevieve gets to use her hands to eat when they have to use a fork!

I THINK SHE LIKES IT

Just to give you an idea how we attempted to capture the moment...

Genevieve's Dedication!

We finally had Genevieve dedicated! It was a very special day. And for all those who wonder why dedicated and not babtized? We choose to dedicate our children to God, by this we promise to do everything we can to raise them in a Godly home, showing them God's love in all we do. We promise to raise them by God's law, the Bible, and we promise to seek out God's will in their lives. We then ask our church family to support us, pray for us and help us in our parenting journey. Our prayer is that we can instill God's deep love in our children so that some day they personally will make the very personal decision to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and then make their public proclamation and choose to be Baptized when they are ready!

Pastor Chuck and Donovan both performed the Dedication. It is wonderful that Donovan is able to participate in something so special.

Always hard to get that good family shot. It is dissapointing when the best overall is my worst (oh well)

The pictures that matter...

Girl Scout Cookies are in!

Adina is in the Brownies this year and loved selling her cookies. 240 boxes in all! What will she do with all her "cookie dough?" They get .20 per box to spend in the Girl Scout store. She was hoping to get a badge maker. We'll see if it was enough. Bubba (Donovan's mom) was nice enough to put up a sheet at work, I bet she never thought she'd have to distribute 100 of the 240! Bubba is a Brownie at heart!

Guitar Hero!

Ok, so I am willing to admit. The Guitar Hero is mine! My Christmas present from Marsha and Duane! And I am thoroughly addicted and I think my addictive personality has been passed on to my munchkins! Adina was practically in tears here because she almost finished the song. I counted later and she only had 6 more notes to go!

Because Adina had claimed the Wii, Madison jammed out with the real thing! All my pictures of Madison with the Guitar Hero are actually on video, because she shakes her hips so much it's hilarious.

Now that I'm 8 months old I can do anything!

It seems like every day she is learning to do something new. On a Tuesday she was bear crawling, by Thursday she was crawling regular and by the next Tuesday...standing up on everything even her head!!! Check it out.

Gotta check out my rock-star sister's moves!

February!

We got bunk beds! And they are way cool!!

Great-Grandma Wahl comes to visit us and celebrate Christmas, we like to let it last as long as possible!!!
And she got us these REAL cool headphones to use on the computer and some for our van too. Sure hope Madison chooses different attire in the van.Look who learned to Bear Crawl!
Look who's 8 months old!!
This is Genevieve's friend Caleb, she is exactly 1 week older then him! Can you believe she was almost 3 pounds heavier than him when they were born?! He wasted no time catching up.
Check out the before....

End of December into January!

We got a nice "wet" snow and built the heaviest and leafiest snow-reindeer!

We took a mini-getaway to Indiana...

Adina & Madison got some wet & wild fun at a hotel in Portage, Indiana

Genevieve got to look ADORABLE in her first swim suit

She also met GG (Donovan's grandma) for the first time
And Donovan & George got to go freeze their fannies off at the Bear's Game!!!

This football game is what initiated our visit to Indiana. Men will do ANYTHING for football, I guess, and their wives go along with it!

And Genevieve got to meet her Grammie for the first time!
LOOK I'M 7 MONTHS OLD NOW!!!

She has now learned to go in reverse and that darn couch always gets in her way!!!

Yes, I am still here!

My deep apologies! Christmas hit, then new years, then valentines day and now it is the beginning of March. Decided I better get my act together. Life has been crazy busy. We are all trying to stay healthy and caught up with school work and work. Just because the blog has not been active it does not mean my camera has not. So......Let's see what we have been up to.

LOOK AT ME! I'M 6 Months old!!

We have a fantastic small group we are part of and our kids love each other! We are very blessed that they enjoy going to small group just as much as the adults. They all were in the nursery together Christmas weekend! Only because 2 of us moms happened to be working in there, otherwise the oldest 3 would have been in the service, so we took the picture opportunity!!

Our Christmas Beauties!!!!!!!!

It was hard keeping her from eating the POISONOUS plant, but we did it!

And then, what we realistically had to deal with...

Genevieve's 1st Christmas!!

In our case, old veterans at this Christmas stuff!!

We really did enjoy our Christmas time together. We of course spent time focusing on the true meaning of Christmas as well. We read the Christmas story out of the Bible on Christmas eve. Madison even made me re-read it to her before she went to bed. She then told me all about an evil man named Herod who wanted to kill Jesus! Yay, Sunday School. She has a fantastic Sunday school teacher who really makes the Bible stories come alive for her!