Easter 2014

We had such a fun Easter celebration this year. The kids and I prepared for it each evening by hunting for one of the Resurrection Eggs, and reading through the story of Christ’s death and resurrection. We also made resurrection rolls to illustrate how the tomb was empty.

For weeks, the kids have been hunting for Easter eggs in the house and in our yard. It is one of their favorite games. But, later, Abby learned that sometimes the eggs have candy. Now, she shakes each one, and with a disappointed look, holds some up and says, “Empty! Egg empty.”

We had a lot of fun dying Easter eggs, though Benjamin would have liked to do more. Next year, I might have to get two dozen.

And, we went to  (and helped out at) our church’s annual Helicopter Egg Drop.

On Easter Saturday, we spent the day with GG, Bob Bob, Great Nancy, Merl, Aunt Kim, Uncle Jason, Deb and Papa. It was a lot of fun.

Abby tried on random shoes. Here she is wearing GG’s.

We had a hunt in the basement. The funniest moments were when Abby and Benjamin went for an egg, and Abby started howling, “No Benmin! My egg Benmin!” And, later, she tried to move his eggs to her basket when he wasn’t looking. She keeps us all on our toes.

On Easter Sunday, the kids found their baskets and had a lot of fun opening their gifts. The highlight was Angry Birds candy.

Abby was in a pitiful mood in the morning, and she had to be held by a nursery volunteer all through the service. But, later, she perked up for the Easter egg hunt with her Grandpa Hilty’s side of the family.

Abby had my help, but she was more than excited that she got more eggs than Benjamin. She isn’t competitive at all. Grandpa Hilty helped her count her stash of “empty” eggs.

I bribed the kids to stand in a picture by doling out jelly beans. Abby kept reaching into the jar and helping herself.

And, she was a wild woman when she got her turn on the power wheel. Heaven help us when she learns to drive. Benjamin LOVED playing with all his cousins, which is why he is absent from most of these photos. I wasn’t chasing him at the time.

After this get-together, we went over to eat with the other grandparents. Grandma Jan organized another egg hunt, and the kids had so much fun running around to find eggs filled with candy. Abby was peeling chocolate as fast as she could to eat it. Benjamin brought all of his to me and asked if he could have it as rewards for reading lessons. I love how sweet and disciplined he is. I let him eat a few pieces, and then we packed the rest up for “bribes/rewards.”

Jan took some great photos, but I don’t have them yet. So, I will have to put them in here later!

Recharge!

It has been almost a year since we started a group at our church called, Recharge! We have around a dozen moms come each month, and about 20-30 kids.

I used to struggle with trying to figure out where I was supposed to serve. I didn’t get super excited about all the ministry options available to me, even though I enjoyed helping out where I could. So, when my friend Sarah Ellis agreed to join me in coming up with our own group (along with several other women, who helped along the way), I was super excited. I felt like it was exactly what God wanted me to be doing.

Each month, the women who attend comment about how much work it must be to run this group. But, the funny thing is, it doesn’t really feel like work. I am super excited about every meeting, and every planning session.

Sarah and I split up the duties, but one of my favorite parts is handling the marketing and the newsletter. I also love our brainstorming sessions to come up with our meetings. Each month, I feel like we learn and grow to make the next meeting even better. And, it feels like God just provides everything we need, month after month…including the ideas of what to do, and how to accomplish it. He even has provided us with a mentor mom, who is a wonderful resource each month.

I tend to take after my mom A LOT. I think she would have been super proud of what we created with Recharge!, and it feels like she is with me at every meeting. I use so many of the materials she left me from her days as a librarian. She kept insisting that I keep them, because she knew I would find a use for them. She was right. My kids still beg me to tell them stories on Nana’s story board.

Here are some photos from our meetings. For “Make Believe March,” we read the book “Not a Box,” and pretended our boxes were all sorts of things. We also wore our super hero and princess attire, hence my cape.

I couldn’t handle meetings without the help of Jeremy! He keeps track of Abby and Benjamin, and he helps each month with child care! I have such a wonderful husband, and it is great that his gift is taking care of small children. He is so good with toddler crowd control!

We set up a tent, some tunnels and a puppet area, along with a craft area to decorate boxes.

This is my favorite picture. Super Abby, with her super hero cape, loves Recharge! time.

Our first meeting was “Get the Wiggles out” in May of 2013.

Here is our June meeting, where we had a parade with riding toys and bikes, followed by an Olympic games…Benjamin has grown so much since then!

July was “Art with a Bang.” We did all kinds of fun art projects for Independence Day.

August was water fun.

In September, we had a scavenger hunt, and made a “Scavenger hunt in a bottle.”

October was “Mad Science.”

November was “We Give Thanks!” We had a spa time for the moms, and plenty of crafts for the kids. We also had a Turkey Bowl, with games that included pumpkin bowling, pumpkin curling and pin the tail on the turkey.

December was all Christmas related crafts and activities.

In January, we did a cooking theme, and the kids made pizza dough, a soup mix and chef hats.

In February, we did a “We love books” theme, pulling from all our favorite children’s books for inspiration.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take photos at every event. I have a mom taking photos for me now, because I rarely remember to get my camera out when we are doing the activities. So, next year we will definitely take more photos!

Coming up, we have an egg theme for April, and a birthday party for Recharge scheduled in May. Stay tuned!

All about Abby

Sweet Abby girl is already 21 months! It is difficult to believe she is approaching 2, but as far as Abby is concerned, she is on equal footing with Benjamin and his 4-year-old buddies. Abby is tiny (in the 20th percentile), but her personality is such that when she is in the room, Abby is large and in charge.

Rough a tumble, Abby throws herself full speed ahead into every activity and endeavor. Her favorite phrase is, “I DO!” and that means climbing things, brushing her own teeth, picking out her own clothes, etc.  She insists on moving furniture/objects on which she can climb, so she can help herself to things like scissors in the “child locked” drawer and vitamins from the tallest kitchen cabinet. (luckily she still can’t manage a child safety cap).

Abby especially loves water, and thus bath time. She is a big fan of the Jacuzzi tub, and if left to her own devices, more water would end up outside the tub than in it, once she is finished swimming and conducting water pouring experiments.

One of Abby’s favorite pastimes is putting objects into things, and then pulling them out to start again. Give the girl a box of cards, and she will spent 20 minutes carefully replacing them… only to dump them back out when she is finished. She also likes to carry baskets and bags around the house to collect treasures.

Whatever Benjamin is doing, you can be sure Abby will want in on the action. She especially likes to paint, play with play dough, color and attempt to use scissors whenever he is sitting down at the table. She even is doing her best to join us during reading/writing lessons, shouting enthusiastically, “B!” to every letter she sees or attempts to write.

Abby really likes to help out in the kitchen. During our belated Christmas celebration in Bluffton, she and Benjamin helped bake cookies with Grandma Jan. Abby also likes to taste whatever we are cooking, so she throws such fits when I don’t allow her to assist with (or sample) the raw chicken, eggs, meat, etc.

Abby recently discovered baby dolls. While they aren’t the center of her play life, it makes us smile to see her feeding her babies, taking them to the potty, or hauling them around the house. She usually insists that the babies, like herself, are permitted to roam the house mostly naked. Who needs pants anyway!?

Abby and Benjamin can get into some pretty physical altercations if I don’t intervene, but for the most part, they entertain each other pretty well. And, while Abby likes the time Benjamin spends at preschool, I think she also looks forward to his return. Speaking of time away, Abby loves her one-on-one time with Daddy each week at the library story time. She can’t get enough of the songs and the play time afterward.

Abby is very social, and she loves when we go places or to visit people. She especially appreciates when food is involved, since her number one priority (24/7) is ensuring she gets enough to eat. Here she is in Atlanta, enjoying time with the Meyer kids, and getting fed. Luckily, she is an amazing eater, and she not only eats ten times the amount Benjamin eats, but she also is much less picky.

It is still a battle to get Abby to drink milk. So, she usually gets hers in the form of hot cocoa…with a straw… in the same EXACT mug as Benjamin. She also eats one to two yogurts a day. We love that she calls it “O-toe!”

It is a good thing Abby has curly hair, because she won’t let me anywhere near it with a brush or bows. In places, it actually is getting quite long. She has what Jeremy calls her “piggy tail” in the back, where one curly cue hangs down longer than the rest. It is pretty cute, and uniquely Abby!

What else is Abby up to?

Abby loves to sing. Her favorite songs are the alphabet song, Twinkle Twinkle and her good night songs. Her songs often are accompanied by twirling and dancing in circles. She very much enjoys performing these songs for GG and Bob Bob, whom she asks to call daily on Facetime 

While Abby has a significant vocabulary, she doesn’t enunciate well yet, so sometimes it is a guessing game to understand her. Luckily, just this week she mastered the “k” sound, so her “car” now sounds like car, rather than “tar,” and she is starting to say “cup” rather than “pup.” Her most often spoken words are, “No, yep, yes, I do, up and eat/hungry.” She understands EVERYTHING you say to her, or about her. She also has an opinion about everything, which makes me smile…usually.

Abby is super good about sleeping, unless she doesn’t feel well. She tells us when she is ready for her nap, and she happily waves night night, lies right down and sleeps for 1.5 hours typically. At night, she also goes right down around 8 p.m. and sleeps until between 6:45 and 7:15 a.m.

While we had a little success with Abby using the potty, she still doesn’t seem quite ready for a full court press. So, I am slowly getting her used to the idea, and I think in a couple months I will give potty training a try. Right now, she asks to go any time she is in the mood for an M&M or the ipad. She is pretty smart…and already a good negotiator.

We can’t get enough of our precious Abby, and we love watching her personality develop.