Kate and Makaila

As you can see the girls are having the best time together. For the most part they are doing great. They are pretending all sorts of things while usually being twin sisters, mommy/daughters, friends that are 17 and 18 or even neighboring fort dwellers. They are also enjoying tea parties, the park and the backyard sprinklers as you can see.

Blackberries

Our outting today was blackberry picking. Overall it was a huge success. Cole wanted you to know that the blackberries will be needing a little sugar due to the tartness. Ryan just came along for the ice cream (which was probably the most stellar part of the day). As you can see the girls had a great time.

Cousin time

The cousins are visiting from AZ. So far it is going pretty well. They have adjusted to the time difference and found where all the toys are. Whenever we try to take a picture the girls just smile and pose (because both Rachelle and I take pictures all the time), but getting both Cole and Ryan to stop moving long enough to take a picture is more of a challenge. And my goal by the end of the week is a good picture of all four of them. Wish me luck. The pictures here aren't too bad, but you can tell which child wants to be a little different than the others?

Yesterday we went to church. Ryan was willing to go to Cole's class and Rachelle didn't get a page in church to come pick him up. Kate doesn't agree with the bugs in TX. Although we haven't really been bitten yet this year, she already has a bite that is causing problems. Yesterday we took the girls to the mall to make a return while the boys napped. We also walked into American Girl to look around and see what all the fuss is about. Yes, everything was ridiculously cute and no, neither girl walked out with a doll, accessories or matching girl outfit. We're not there yet in this household. We also had a great time enjoying a picnic at the lake of pizza and grapes.

Today we hit the park and spray park in the a.m. The girls loved that, the boys weren't so crazy about the water. In the afternoon we had a little fighting, but it was around that 4-6 time that is difficult for most kids. Tonight is the "sleep over" night for the girls. We'll see if they can go to sleep in the same room. There were a lot of yawns during storytime today.

Clean slate part2

After my rantings and ravings about spills and messes I thought to myself, "God doesn't get upset at me." Isn't it nice that God gives us a clean slate whenever we ask? And although He must be disappointed about the repeated sin and rebellion in our lives, He doesn't hold that against us. He doesn't ask us, "when will you get off the sippy cup?" Forgiveness. Free for the accepting. He doesn't remember the grape juice we spilled at breakfast now that we're eating dinner. He ignores the mud we tracked on the freshly mopped floors. His son's blood provided our clean slate. And does it again and again.

Front yard

This year I didn't have any excuses (too late in the season, pregnant, taking care of an infant) anymore so we decided it was time to get a little color in our yard.

We recently gave a Saturday to our front yard. Chad spent a lot of time digging out the old post for our lamp and then cementing in the new lamp post. I did some weeding and then went to Home Depot to buy some flowers. This is our first time actually planting something. Our house had such beautiful flower and things that our main goal was just to try not to kill things. So I told the sales person I serously had no idea. She showed me about 15 different options and I bought 3 of them. $70 and a few hand blisters later, this is what we got. I do think it looks good up close, and I'm still hoping we will get some spreading of the flowers as the summer continues, but I am disappointed on how from the street you can't hardly tell we did anything!!!

clean slate

I'm sorry if I sound like I'm on some sort of crazy cleaning thing lately, but such is life. I'm far from a crazy cleaner.

What is the deal with something being clean. It is like a magnent for kids. Clean room? Let's dump a few bins of toys all over the place and empty out the dress up clothes! Clean full-length mirror? Time to practice kisses! Clean shirt? The kids want chocolate milk. Clean floors? They want saltines to go with that milk. Clean dry erase board? Quick pass the marker. Clean fridge front? Let me draw you 4 pictures to put up there. I seriously think Makaila's room gets less messy when I let a half dozen things (balls, doll shoes, Happy meal toys, whistles, rocks) be scattered over her floor.

praise

We got into the school we requested a transfer for Makaila. Now it is nice to have a name to talk about as we try to get her fired up about Kindergarten. But I'm glad we have the summer to enjoy first.

things I love

I love how my daugter thinks it's awesome when her ceiling stars glow when she goes to bed at night

I love how my son begs for more every time there is something he likes (blueberries, hide and seek, tickles, construction vehicles, etc)

I love a good Vanilla Latte with whipped cream

I love watching my kids hop into my daughter's single bed pretending they are going to sleep there together

I love how my son shakes his head to the music when he hears a jammin' song

I love when my husband makes me laugh so much my side hurts

I love that I go to a church where one of the stage guys has a mohak and the music leader has a tatoo of Jesus

I love that my daughter has the hardest time waiting for you to open your gift

I love getting into my bed with clean sheets

I love that my kids answer "Yeah!" if I ask do they want to go to the library as well as they do for going to the park

I love a shower after a good work out

I love my son's belly laugh (sorry the video is sideways)

Peek-a-boo

Baptism

We went to a baptism like we've never been to before. And it has changed my opinion about baptisms. I know I should be celebrating with the person who is showing the world they are a believer of Christ. . . but I just have to admit I'm usually bored. When you don't know the person getting baptized, I just feel like things are so formal. And stuffy. And drawn out. But not our church. I feel like our church has gotten back to how a baptism may have originally felt. It is a picnic. A gathering of everyone. A casual celebration of a changed life.

How do they do that? It's outdoors, in a park, using a lake. We all gather around a lake in our shorts and flip flops sitting on blankets in lawn chairs. We sing a few songs together. Hear a short intro by our pastor. Then we break into groups and go listen to 3-4 testimonies of who you know or want to support and pray for each person in a small group. Then we all go back to our blankets and watch everyone get baptized. It's not slow and formal. 3-5 are going at a time. If someone wants to have their spouse, parent, friend or person who lead them to Christ in the water too, then they come right in. People clap and celebrate sporratically. Someone announces his past was years of drug use and look what God has done now. Kids play around on the blankets. But my daughter is there to see it happen.

Then the party continues. We all have hot dogs and hamburgers. There are bounce houses for the kids. Snowcones. A playground. Someone sets up a volleyball net. The church just hangs out knowing more people are making this public announcement of their faith. And isn't that what it's about?

Spills, part2

So I was thinking that Makaila spilled her milk because I typically give her a cup with a lid of some sort and if she never uses an open cup, she'll never learn to be more careful. So yesterday breakfast I gave her an open cup. . . huge spill all over the kitchen floor. Had to get out the mop and everything. Tonight at dinner, I gave her an open cup. I even went so far to warn her, "Makaila, this cup doesn't have a lid." First 5 minutes of dinner she spills her milk. Chad can tell by the expression on my face that I'm not too excited about this, but I am trying to hold my tongue. What he doesn't know is that BOTH the kids helped me make dinner, and I've already cleaned up flour and cheese all over the floor from that. So, my husband being thoughtful gets towels to clean up the spill. But the worst part is that HE knocks over the cup and the remaining milk TWO (not 1, but 2) times while trying to sop up the mess. I'm sitting there trying to decide if I should laugh or cry. Somehow in God making sure I'm kept humble, before the dinner is over I spill my water all over the other end of the table cloth. While I'm getting myself a new glass of water, Makaila realizes that she hasn't had anything to drink the entire meal and asks for more milk. On the first drink of her milk, she tips the cup back forcefully (as if it is a sippy cup) and dumps her glass of milk all over herself. All this in one dinner. (and Cole did well, only dropping peas on the floor) So next time you come to the Swank's house you may want to wear a rain slicker because you never know what will be splashing your way.

Spills. Seriously?

Can we just have a day without any spills? Can we not ruin all the papers by the phone I can't seem to organize or throw away? Can we get all the muffin mix in the bowl? And how can my son manage to shake his no-leak sippy cup just so to sprinkle milk all over the place? Just one day, to be spillfree, is that too much to ask? I might not go through 2 dish towels, 3 wash clothes, 1 hand towel and 15 paper towels. I might not need to do a load of laundry at the end of the day. Just think of all the time I'd have if I wasn't cleaning up spills. Oh, in the morning I'm pretty good about it. "Oh, did your cereal spill? Let me help you clean that up." (insert smile) But by dinner time I'm about to go through the roof after 2 cups of milk and an entire plate have been spilled. (no smile this time)

But I guess if we don't have spills we'll never have "I made my own breakfast, yep-that's the squirt bottle, thank you for the kisses on my mirror, you helped mommy cook, you used a big cup, I saw how you blew those bubbles, thank you for filling my water, you did such a good job eating your dinner, you had so much fun in the bath and the occassionally tea party with real liquid."

So when you see my husband at Costco for his bimonthly trip with the kids, don't question why next to the strawberries and the chicken he's buying stain remover and paper towels in bulk. Because now you know. Spills.

Sneaky guy

Today Cole and Makaila were enjoying gram cracker sticks for snack. Makaila wanted a cup to dip into milk. This is her cup. She got up to go to the bathroom and Cole immediately went around the table and got in her seat. He copied what she was doing with his gram crackers and drank all her milk. I went to tell her she better hurry back or her gram crackers would be gone too and he had gotten a tuperware from the dishwasher I had been emptying and poured the mild into it.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! Well, it was better than the expression on Cole's face. It started with Makaila waking me up at 3:55 a.m. asking me what I wanted for breakfast. I told her pancakes and to go back to sleep until the clock says 7. She and Chad did make me pancakes. We went to church. Then we had the all time record for the quickest week's grocery shopping (in and out of Super Target in about 20 min).

In this picture we are just leaving Panera. That was my request for lunch. We made the mistake of not putting Cole in a high chair since he was already playing around in the booth when the food came. Big mistake. Chad had the unfortunate luck of sitting next to him. Cole would not sit still. He was just crazy all over the place enjoying this rare freedom during a meal. We finally left after he bonked his head for the third time from being too squirmy. So here he isn't happy from both the bonk and being taken out of there when he was having fun in the booth.

I received some flowers and a new book I was wanting. Even better I had a little alone time where I made some returns at the mall and then went to Starbucks and read my book for a bit. Very enjoyable Mother's Day.

Booster car seat

We got Makaila a booster car seat for her birthday. I was made fun of by my sister for trying to pawn off something we needed to get her for a present. But she actually HAD asked for a car seat with a "stretchy seatbelt, like Kate's (her cousin"). Chad and I thought that was a great time to get it for her since she was requesting it. It is hilarious to see how proud she actually is of it. On more than one occassion she calls out to friends when we're getting into our car, "I have a booster car seat!" They don't really know what she's talking about, but that is okay, she is proud of it.

The other day we took the car in to have some work done on it. We were putting her old car seat into Chad's car so we would only have to switch hers when we dropped off my car. She saw her car seat going into Chad's car and she was NOT happy about it. "I don't want that car seat! This is my car seat. That car seat is a BABY car seat." Did I mention she's only had the new car seat for 3 weeks? After she calmed down I told her it was for Cole to ride home in.

No fear

We've had some storms here and there. It was totally raining and thundering and I woke both of my kids up this morning. They didn't hear a thing. I love that 98% of the time my kids sleep through storms. My kids rock.

More, more, more

More. This is Cole's most-used word. Strawberries? More berries. Chase him? More. Sing a song? More. Yogurt? More. Hold him up high to reach or see? More. A fire truck goes by? More taxi/tractor. (he can't say fire engine. All construction vehicles are tractors. Taxi he just learned he can say too) Tickle him? More.

School visit

As of today, we still are not sure what school Makaila will attend in the fall. We've put in a transfer request for a school close to us that we just bearly fall out of the boundary line. We also have gotten in to a magnet school that we're hearing really good things about. I like both schools and am struggling with where Makaila should go. I'm trying to leave it alone and go with if we get the transfer, that is our answer from God, and if we don't I won't appeal or anything so we'll go to the magnet school. But it is hard to wait patiently.

Today we went to a story time at one of the 2 school (followed by one at the other school next Friday). It was really cute, they did an art project, did motions for a song, met many teachers and had a mini-PE session in the gym. There was even an aquaintance of ours there so she had someone to sit by. It all went really well. . . except for the PE. All the kids lined up in the gym and the teacher called out for the girls to run to the center of the gym. Well, Makaila's friend is a boy and she didn't like having to do this without him and with all the parents and teachers watching. A teacher helped her walk to the center, but she wasn't happy. After that she came back over to where Cole and I were and would NOT participate in the rest of the running or the fun parachute activity. She is going to be very shy in the beginning of school. I pray she finds a friend in her class the first week of school so she can fell comfortable as quickly as she did for pre-K.

Tooth #2

Makaila lost her second tooth. I had been working and I called to say I was coming home. She told me it was really loose. And in the 15 minutes it took me to drive home, the tooth was out! This time she got brave. She said she took a tissue to the tooth and pulled it herself.

Birthday part2

So after all the guests left and the party was cleaned up we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the tent still being up. We had our dinner inside the tent. Makaila had requested pizza and applesauce for her birthday meal. We kind of left the applesauce in the house to save the Landis tent, but the pizza worked great. The kids just really enjoyed doing something out of the ordinary for dinner. It was the best part of her birthday. Although she might say the presents. . .