2 yearold prayers

Samuel's prayer tonight was so precious. It was similar to other nights but I wanted to document some of it so I don't forget the precious 2 year old prayers when we are a few years down the road.

Samuel:"Dear God, thank you for being a strong and mighty man, thank you for my great destiny. Thank you for mommy and daddy, thank you for God, thank you for my house, thank you for on the road. Thank you for God. Thank you for Ellie, thank you for Gods things. Thank you for obeying. Amen"

I tell Samuel at bedtime that he is a strong and might man of God with a great destiny.
We pray all the time to help Samuel learn how to obey.
We pray to keep daddy safe on the road.

It is so precious to hear him weave these things into his own prayers. So innocent and completely honest and trusting.

Samuel and Ellie

I just wanted to post an update on what the kids are up to so I wouldn't forget.

Ellianna: She is pulling up on everything. Unfortunatly she has recently taken up biting. I can't seem to find anything that gets her attention enough to stop. She just thinks it is really funny.
She says: dada (this is her most intentional word) bah (ball), hi (her 1st word), woo (woof), duh (duck)

Samuel: He is at a challenging age and yet oh so very precious. I am guessing I will be saying that about every age ahead of us. His newest thing when I ask him to do something he will say "I just don't know about that" or "in a minute". I am expecting imediate obedience so this is an issue we are working on. His mind is always working though.

We were out to dinner yesterday and Samuel and Zach had this conversation:

Samuel: "I need more"
Zach: "May I have more, please!"
Samuel (confused): "I want more"
Zach: "You need to say: May I have more, please"
Samuel (defeated): "I'm full"

I love my kids so much. It is such a blessing to be their mom.

Meal Plan

So I have been trying to get on top of my meal plans, this is the structure I am going to attempt:

Monday:
Breakfast-Quiche
Lunch - Sandwich
Dinner - Pasta

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Oatmeal
Lunch - Muffin Tin Lunch
Dinner- Pizza

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Toast
Lunch - Hotdogs
Dinner - Chicken

Thursday:
Breakfast - Eggs
Lunch- Mac & Cheese
Dinner - Beef

Friday:
Breakfast- Toast and Smoothies
Lunch-Sandwiches
Dinner - Date Night or Chicken

Saturday:
Breakfast- Pancakes/Crepes/Frenchtoast
Lunch- Soup and Bread
Dinner- Fish

Sunday:
Breakfast- Buiscits/Muffins
Lunch- Lunch with family
Dinner- Leftover Buffet

Week of Fun!

This has been a really busy week. It started with Zach and I taking the kids down to Lake Connor last weekend. Jamin, Kelsie and the kids joined us on Saturday for a while. It was the first time for us to go camping with just our kids. We had fun. I have to say that it is fun to have more people around the fire at night though. Sunday was our 6th Anniversary. Wow I cannot believe it has been that long. Zach's parents took the kids. (Thank you so much) We went clothes shopping without kids in tow. What a difference. We also tried out the buffet at the Tulalip Casino. We don't gamble but just for kicks and giggles I took 1 dollar and plaid one game while we waited in line. I made $4.90, which made my day and paid for part of our meal. And I had no desire to go plug my winnings in another money eating machine.

Monday I had my nieces and we had a semi quiet day at home. This involved about 7 loads of laundry and 2 loads in the dishwasher. The kids got their naps though.


Tuesday we took all the kids to the water slides. Samuel insisted he didn't want to ride the big ones. I kind of forced him. As soon as we got to the bottom he kept yelling "that was so much fun, that was not so bad" but when I asked him if he wanted to go again he said "nope" I made him a couple more times. He fought it all the way up and loved it all the way down. By then his lips were blue so we went to get him warmed up. Ellie went down the baby slides a few times but mostly she crawled around the blanket we had laid out.

I later coerced Samuel into going one more time. This time he wanted to go again and again and again. Unfortunately we didn't apply the sunscreen often enough and everyone but my two babies got fried.


Wednesday we went to the free movie at the mall. My kiddos lasted about 15 minutes so I left my mom with the girls and went sale shopping. I got some great stuff from gymboree. I don't usually like their stuff and they are so expensive. I got 5 shirts and a pair of shorts for $30. I thought that was great, their quality is great. You would almost pay that at the consignment shop for used no brand low quality stuff.

Thursday we went to the Great Vancouver Zoo. We were all still kind of hurting from our burns and the hot sun took it right out of us. I was spraying everyone with sunscreen about every 30 minutes. Now I'm packing ( uh I mean supposed to be packing) to go back down to Lake Connor tomorrow.

Next week I will have to find my house. It was pretty neglected this week.

Woodland Zoo

We took the kids to the Zoo last weekend. It was great. Samuel loved it. Ellie slept most of the time in the stroller. But when she was awake she was totally enthralled by the giraffe.
At the petting Zoo Samuel did really well about not touching the animals faces. He was close enough he might as well have been touching though. He kept saying "Hi, hello, hi, hello" He was getting a little annoyed that the silly goat wouldn't stop eating and look at him.
I just love these pictures of Sammy and the Gorilla. I am always calling him my little monkey so this is so fitting.

Ellianna Grace

I can hardly believe that my precious baby girl is 1. One year ago right now I was completely exhausted watching my husband who was allowing me to rest while he slept sitting up so he could hold our 6 hour old daughter upright. She kept choking everytime we lay her down.

Today our little Peanut is crawling, pulling up on things, laughing and smiling and changing more and more every day. She has got her own entertaining little personality. Samuel adores her and is always hugging on her. Not always gently enough. Her only word so far is "hi" or "hihihihi" According to our doctor that warrants a visit for our 1 year old to a speach therapist.

My boys have been at it again. In the last month Zach finally got the railings done I have been asking for for 3 years. And they turned out amazing. Go figure Samuel has only fallen off the side of the stairs once. The day we get the railings done he falls backwards down the stairs. Thankfully my dad caught him.

Samuel adores his daddy. He always copies him.

They also built the sandbox we have been talking about for a long time. Again it turned out great. Zach does such a great job. He always finds a reason why it didn't turn out. He is way to hard on himself.

Awsome boys

My awsome boys built me Pantry shelves and shoe shelves in the garage this week. They turned out awsome. I can finally buy at Costco without wondering where to put things. Now it will be my job to rearange the kitchen cupboards so all the kids cups and bottles don't fall on me everytime I open the door.

Sunday Morning Buiscuits

A couple of weeks ago Zach and Samuel made breakfast. Ok so Zach made breakfast and Samuel made mess, but he sure was trying to help.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Today Samuel and I baked Cookies. It was his first time making cookies. He thought it was great fun. I tried to get him to roll them into balls. He rolled them watching me closely and as soon as I set my cookie down he would plop his down with a triumphant splat. It was adorable. I went to get my camera to get a picture of him baking his first cookies. I came back to him taking the balls I had finished and flattening them into "Pannecakes". He always wants to be up where I am working. I hope he doesn't stop wanting to be where I am, doing what I am doing.

I have a new dryer

Ok not really. Some of you have heard my laments about doing laundry. My dryer was obviously giving out. It would sometimes take me 8 hours to dry a load of laundry. By then the load waiting in the washer to get moved to the dryer already stunk and had to be run again. I would start laundry on Monday morning and would rarely be done before Wednesday evening. This is with loads running constantly even at night.

We finally decided we would probably need to get a new dryer. Zach decided to try one last thing. He pulled out the dryer and checked the vent that goes from the dryer to the outside. Long story short, he spent all weekend trying to get that path unplugged. By the end he had pulled out at least 9 gallons of dust and lint. It was plugged solid.

So it has been taking me 60 hours of my dryer running every week to get my laundry done. This morning I did all of our laundry in 4 hours. That is sorted, washed, dried and put away. Amazing. Laundry doesn't have to be a dreaded ordeal.

2 year old thought process

We have spent the last 3 days at my parents house except for sleeping. My siblings are all here to celebrate Christmas. My parents have a really full house right now. So my two neices are sleeping in the bunkbeds in my old room along with Samuel in a playpen and Amy, my soon to be sister-in-law on a mattress on the floor. The other night Amy was really tired and went to bed around 8 PM. Samuel wasn't quite sleeping yet so he was talking away as usual. Amy lay there and listened to the following.

Dad sneezes down stares.
Samuel: "Buesss you papa, buess you papa" , pause, "buess you papa, buess you papa" .... (repeated for about 5 minutes) then Samuel realizes Amy is in the room. He looks at her for a while and then
Samuel: " Why aunty Mimmy no sweep with Uncle Michael." How do you explain this to a two year old.
Amy: "Because I am sleeping here with you tonight"
Samuel: "I sleep here tonight, mommy and daddy go home, I sleep here allll night. There are lights on outside, lotsa lights outside." And the monologue continues.

It is amazing to me the thoughts that are put together in the mind of a two year old.

Will post more about Christmas next week. Right now I need to go feed the baby.