Gifts for Baby Jesus

We have been doing a Christmas chain as a family this year. We thought of 24 things to do as a family that would help us have a Christ-centered Christmas. We then created a chain with those 24 ideas. Today's activity was to share what gift we would bring to the baby Jesus. Niev went first and without even having to think to hard about it replied, "I would give him some of my books." What would you give baby Jesus?

Caution: Future Artist in Progress

So I think my daughter has been hanging out with her daddy a little bit too much in his garage/workspace. She has truly honed in on his artistry skills. Check out these sketches (I have an entire drawer full of them in case we are short on cash then we can pull them out and collect our baby-genius prize).

This was drawn by Niev when she was just over 2 1/2. When I asked her what she had drawn she seemed put out that I would have to ask. "It's Niev," she replied taken back that I didn't recognize her right away.
This is her family. (you might have to click on the picture to actually see it. I am holding Rowan and Niev is standing next to Daddy. (I must be mad a lot because she only gives me eyebrows! and they are down-turned.)
This is her friend Emma and Emma's mommy Jen. When she drew glasses on Jen I told Niev, "Jen doesn't wear glasses." I then looked at Jen (because she was over at the time) and realized that she actually DOES wear glasses! She is observant! (BTW, the glasses are the rectangular things around the eyes.)

This is so tender to me. It is a picture of Niev and her dad laying in bed on pillows because Niev is sad. Daddy is wearing his glasses. Niev has a very loving daddy.
I love seeing the creative side of Niev. Somedays it drives me crazy. For example, I was trying to get somethings done on the computer. Niev knew I wasn't paying attention to her so she went into the kitchen got out my honey and proceeded to poor syrup into about four different bowls each about two feet apart. Needless to say, there was syrup all over my kitchen floor. The next day, I was folding laundry. I could hear Niev in the kitchen so I called to her, "What are you doing?" She said, "Oh I'm just drawing a picture!" She was in the kitchen for about 20 minutes which is a long time for her to draw so I decided to see exactly what she was doing. She was drawing with HONEY!!! Let me remind you that I have carpet in my kitchen. Now I have sticky carpet in my kitchen. Ian and I both took some turns using some elbow grease and a lot of Resolve, but it is still a bit stiff in places. Someday I won't have carpet in the kitchen, but I will always be grateful for a creative child. I do love her.

Social Darling Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Social Darling Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

I just don't think it gets any cuter than this dress. When will I have mad skills like this? When?

The Hop, Skip and a Jump Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Hop, Skip and a Jump Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Meet my Prince Charming

I know that blogs are really all about people bragging about how great their lives are (when in reality, they only tell the good and the days they don't blog or don't have much to say are the days when they are swearing at their kids, burning the Hamburger Helper and turning on Dora the Explorer and calling it Pre-school). I try really hard to not be amongst this group of bloggers, but sometimes things happen that make you want to tell everyone just how fabulous you have life.

I really slacked in cleaning the house today. I tried to do dishes until Rowan pulled a KNIFE out of the silverware rack and I called that duty quits until naptime. I tried to straighten the living room, but Niev and Rowan pulled out more toys than I could put away. Niev was also yelling at me the whole time telling me that those were her toys and she was playing with them. I tried to fix delicious meals, but I was just too tired. I tried to be a good mom, but then my sister called. Sorry, when there is a new baby in the family it kind of takes precedence. Plus I was avoiding doing all previously mentioned tasks. I did manage to take Niev to storytime today and even had Rowan in tow. This rarely happens because my husband works from home so I can put Rowan down for a nap and then leave Rowan with Ian with a monitor (you should all try having your husband work from home. It is great. I highly recommend it!) So in that realm I really felt accomplished. But I had a meeting tonight and when I left the house, it was a disaster. I mean dishes everywhere, toys strewn about, dinner still needing to be put away, floors littered with everything imaginable (and a few things you probably didn't want to imagine!).

Enter Prince Charming...

I come home from my meeting and the floors are vacuumed, dishes are done, house is completely straightened, closet doors are back on their hinges!, a load of laundry has been done!, dishes have been put away!, our bedroom is clean! I am speechless. I knew I married good, but this is insane. I love my husband and his unselfishness. He had tasks he wanted to get done tonight. He had an agenda, but he put it all aside for me. For this, I am eternally grateful. He is so thoughtful. Thank you Ian for always making my life so much easier (and way more FUN!).

two more reasons why I love him

Summer reruns

This summer we spent a lot of time swimming at the public water sprinkler park thingys (I never quite know what to call them). Niev enjoyed them thoroughly. So much so that we went there almost EVERY day. By the end of the summer she finally got brave enough to go through the mushroom pool's waterfall. It was a proud moment. Thanks Jen for the pictures. I never ended up taking my camera. She still has a suntan on her back from her swimsuit and I swear I ALWAYS put sunscreen on. We just really went that many times.

Before we left, we would always have to allow some time for this fire engine. I would go up to the little window, order food, she would go to the back to fix the food and then she would deliver it out of the window. (I swear we have only gone through a drive-thru like twice in her lifetime. Must have made an impact!) I wish you could see her sno-cone machine. Classic!

Sisters

I have been wondering lately if Niev and Rowan will be very similar. I have not come to any type of conclusion on this question as of yet, but I did run across some photos from the last several months that I thought interesting.

Evidence
Exhibit A: They both like to wear hats while reading.

Exhibit B: They both love wrestling with their daddy when he gets off of work.
Exhibit C: They both hate to wear clothes (see exhibit B).

Exhibit D: They have mastered the model pose.
Yes, even Rowan has.
Exhibit E: They adore each other and absolutely live to make the other one smile.

Please don't call on Mom for prayer.

Tonight Ian asked me to say family prayer. I was really feeling a lot of love for my little family and must have really been getting into it when Niev interrupted. "That's too much. MOMMY, that is just too much. Stop. I said,'STOOOOOP!'" I could barely close my prayer I was laughing so hard.

And so the tradition begins: Moms always say the longest prayers!

Paula Buh is a SAINT

Last night I was talking with a group of friends and the subject turned to in-laws. Many of the women were not close to their mother in-laws and often times it sounded as if their MIL were judgemental and quite nosy. They not only told them how to run a house, but how to raise their kids, how to talk to solve issues with their husbands and how to go about their spiritual growth. It broke my heart.

It also gave me a great sense of appreciation for Ian's mom. She doesn't pass judgement or seem to belittle me in her own sly way. Instead she loves me unconditionally and accepts me as a true daughter. I love when she comes to visit because not only can Ian and I get away for a bit, but it is great to chat with her. She is so easy to talk to and always seems to take my side (even if she really doesn't think that I am right). I admire her strength and the way that she has kept her family together through some very demanding and straining trials.
I love her for the son she raised. He truly attributes much of who he is to the wonderful mother he has. (He keeps the seat down on the toilet, takes the kids when I need a break which is about weekly now, and truly is smitten by his children and shows them the greatest love a father can give. This is all due to his mother.) She even forgives me for being a really bad blogger!

She is the most fabulous grandma that I could ever ask for. She eats up every minute she can with my kids while she is here. She calls Niev on a very regular basis and holds long, in-depth conversations about her day. She celebrates with Ian and I at every milestone of our girls and shares in our sorrows at their heartbreaks and sicknesses. She truly has mastered unconditional love. Honestly, what more could I ask for!

Paula, I love you and wish you lived closer (please move now!) You are so good to me. Thank you. We all love you dearly!Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!

Beautiful girls

I just wanted to brag about my girls for a bit. Isn't that why people blog? Come on, be honest. That IS why you blog. But really, they really are becoming so cute.

We got a dog several months ago (Rowan was 4 months old and YES we are insane for getting a dog when we just had a new baby. Blame Ian; it was his birthday gift.). He is a pug-chihuahua mix and is really such a good dog. Rowan and Bonzer are the best of friends. They play so cute together and he is very patient with her. She will smack him, just lay on him and roll around. He puts up with a lot.Doesn't that make you want a dog (hint, hint Smiths)?

We carved a pumpkin at the VERY beginning of this month. Niev was WAY more into the cookies than carving a pumpkin, but isn't that typical Niev! By the time Halloween rolled around, our pumpkin was rotting. Niev kept telling us that pumpkin was getting dirty and we needed to clean him off (mold was growing on the outside).

Rowan FINALLY got her first tooth about two weeks ago (maybe a bit longer). It was a top one. Weird, I know! She now has three teeth, two on top and one on bottom. She won't show them, but she still is pretty cute. How can you not want to just smother her with smooches!
She is trying to walk. She is taking a few steps at a time and then will (very controlled) go to the ground to begin crawling. She is fast little crawler. As soon as I open the dishwasher or the fridge you hear, "woosh, wooosh, woosh" as she is crawling as fast as she can to get into stuff. She is quick!

Niev is very much into pretend play. She will make anything into a doll and make it talk. It is really fun to be in her world right now. She is a great little artist and draws the most amazing people (glasses with a bridge, sleeping people with pillows and girls with long lashes). She recognizes her name (or any letters in her name, ie. she sees an N in Natural and says, "That is my name", while pointing to the N.) I love my smart, firey girl.

I swear we wear clothes in this house.

See, here they are wearing clothes. yes, we are getting ready for church, but they are STILL wearing clothes in the house. It counts.

House improvements

While I was away making applesauce at my mom's house, Ian was busy painting the girls' room. Isn't he fabulous! We had the paint for SEVERAL months, but it is really hard to paint a room where little ones have their quiet time, their nap time and their sleep time. What a saint he is! (Sorry no pictures, but imagine a really great greenish-gray color that is perfect. Yep, that is the one. Isn't it great!)

We recently wanted to update our light fixtures, but didn't have a lot of spare cash so we went a cheap route.

I don't have a before picture, but the original chandelier in our entry was about three feet too wide for our small entry. Ridiculous. We found this idea on line (wish I could remember where) , but improved it with varying the bulb sizes. We really LOVE the outcome. It gives a whimsical, bubbly feel rather than the heavy overdone feeling of our old gaudy chandelier. We are so pleased.Now we just need to pick a hallway color--any ideas???

We also wanted to update our dining room light. As you can see it was REALLY 60's and ugly. Gold is not in.

Spray paint does wonders! The blue really adds to the room.

Hope we inspired you to do something on the cheap that adds a bit of spunk to your house!

Grosgrain: Shabby Apple 'Dare to Design' Lawn Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain: Shabby Apple 'Dare to Design' Lawn Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

A lucky girl would be able to win this dress. Please let me be that lucky girl!

Halloween is finally over!!!

I overheard Ian talking to his mom about how "everyone should just give up on Lora's blog". Well, you've asked for it so here it is. Good luck keeping up!

Normally I really love Halloween, but this year has been extremely chaotic with the Primary Presentation and then my volunteering for too many things for our Halloween Carnival. I have truly learned to just keep my mouth shut and NEVER show up to meetings.

Tonight we had a Halloween Carnival, Bake-off and Trunk-or-Treat. I have been thinking about the girls costumes since around Labor Day and then costumes took a backseat while we were preparing for the Primary Program this last Sunday. Once Sunday was over, I realized that that I really didn't have much time to get everything done that needed to get done (especially since Niev and Rowan's costumes were more in the design phase rather than the sewing and done phase!).

Last night at 11 p.m. Ian and I put the finishing touches on the girls' costumes. They really turned out so cute.


Niev kept jumping up and down so it was very hard to get a picture of her. She LOVED eating dinner with her friends (I can't get the underlining off of this part...sorry!)

Niev was so cute saying, "I'm an astronaut and Ronin is a rocket." When she was trick or treating, she would say, "Tick, trick or treat." I just couldn't correct her. She was trying so hard to say just the right thing that would get her candy.
She kept trying to see what the girl was painting on her face so she was being EXTREMELY wiggly for the poor young woman painting her face!

Today was busy spent preparing for the carnival (which I was in charge of!!!) and then baking a pie for the pie bake-off (which I proudly won second place! Sorry Derrick, my pie was still better than your whiny-story pie). I'm so glad that tomorrow, then only thing on our calendar is going trick-or-treating with the girls.

Monsters, Monsters everywhere!

Niev had her first monster encounter last night. She woke up at 4:30 and came into our room whining that there was a monster in her room. She went on to explain that he was going to get her so she swung her arms and the monster couldn't bite her. He kept trying to bite her, but she just kept swinging at him

Ian gave her a ratchet-type tool and told her it was a "Monster Blaster". He then preceded to throw all the monsters out of the house (great dad, huh!). She refused to go back in her room and cried for a while after Ian forced her to go back to bed (we've been having problems with her trying to sleep with us after about 5 a.m.). I just hope her "Monster Blaster" works tonight!

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Isn't this just my kind of dress! Love it.

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Practice makes perfect

Rowan is amazing...she got her first tooth today. It is her top left. Weird, huh? Aren't they supposed to get their bottom teeth first. She is a unique little girl, what can I say!

She has been pulling herself up like crazy and now she is free-standing. I even caught her today practicing her free-standing. She was being really quiet on the other side of our counter so I went to investigate. She was practicing and so concentrated that she didn't pay any attention to me. When she finally did notice me, she just laughed and shrunk to the floor. Love that girl. She is adorable. More later? Can't promise since you all know how bad I suck at blogging. Sorry, but I have things to do...

A free bike every week? They must be crazy busy...

or crazy rich (which means crazy busy making tons of money).

Aren't these fun bikes!

While the cats away, the mice shall play

I think I may be in for some double-duo trouble:

I was in the garden, quickly picking corn (that I grew with my own two hands...and some water, seeds and good soil!). When I came inside (not being gone five minutes), I found Rowan COVERED in Desitin and Niev trying desperately to rub it in. Rowan was just trying to eat it.

Can't help but love sisters!

Speaking of sisters, I got a chance to see my sister this weekend without the kids. My parents were heading to Utah just for the weekend and Ian offered to watch the girls to allow me to go. What a fabulous husband! Melissa has a son that is Niev's age, but it was Father-and-Sons campout, so Melissa was child-free as well. We shopped, went out for dessert and laughed until tears were streaming. I will be forever grateful for an unselfish, self-sacrificing husband. He truly is fantastic. No one has a fighting chance trying to convince me that they have a better husband. No way, no how!

PS--Niev must have really missed me because she got into my make-up, shampoo and the fridge within the span of three hours. I was trying to clean my house. I gave up on that and just played with my Desitin smelling girls!

Ha, ha, I beat you this time!

Kelley, I posted before you did. I really can't believe it! Miracles do happen...I guess I can't take full credit seeing as these are YOUR pictures with YOUR camera that YOU copied and put on a CD for us. (I told you it is all because of the "where do I put the pictures issue" that I am not blogging!)

This last weekend, Ian and I spent in Portland (a very quick and spontaneous trip at the suggestion of Ian--shocking, I know). Because it was for Ian's birthday, I told him that we could spend the entire weekend with his sister, Kelley, (my sister, Julie, also lives in Portland). He was kind enough to allow me to go to breakfast each morning with Julie so that I could spend some good quality time with her. I loved every minute of conversation with Julie that I got. We went to Farmer's Market to grab some goodies and then a great breakfast the next day. With Kelley, Brian and Hudson in tow, we went to the zoo. We road the train in and Niev thought that was pretty special. Her Gramma Buh comes on the train from Portland to visit us and she asked where Gramma Buh was when we got on the train. We love Portland and visiting our sisters and their wonderful families.

Rowan looks so much like a boy here, a very cute boy but still a boy!

Rowan was enraptured by the zoo

Niev's favorite--the penguins. This is the only "decent" picture she would take because she wouldn't let her eyes off the penguins for a second.

Niev kept asking to go back to the tractor-car
Niev really thought this eagle's nest was very cool.
Hudson and Niev getting their pet on at the petting area
Sisters, sisters--there were never such adoring sisters (just for you, Kelley!)


Rowan and Hudson totally loved each other

Hudson and Rowan getting some suck-face time--I told you they adored each other