Phoned-In Frozen Party

When you're a pastor's kid and your birthday falls on Good Friday,

I'm sorry but your celebration suffers.

She can add it to her therapy manifesto.

Ashlyn turned 7 a few weeks ago.

She had two requests.

A trampoline park and Elsa plates.

Ask and ye shall receive.

Before we get into the party I planned in five minutes,

let's talk Ashlyn at 7.

She's smart.

Determined.

Tall.

She's missing most of her front teeth.

She talks non-stop.

She loves first grade.

At her annual IEP meeting with the school district I learned of a group of boys she orders around.

A special needs posse, if you will.

"Edwin, please get my FM."

"Joey, please tell me when Mrs. Savory (her speech therapist) comes to the door."

"George, I need my lunch, please."

Her teacher made sure to let me know she always says please.

Like that makes it OK.

She is one strong (and bossy) cookie.

We love her so much.

We also love the rainbow discipline chart.

And bedtime.

More for the manifesto.

Back to our party of the century.

I booked the place online.

Ordered a cake and balloons from Safeway.

Hijacked a favor idea from a friend who hosted a Frozen party a few weekends before.

And her leftover, two-week-old cotton candy.

That she drove 400 miles up Highway 5.

So. MUCH. therapy.

Conceal don't feel.

And you know?

I don't think anyone noticed.

And I was reminded once again.

It's not about the details.

It's about the company.

Kids love old cotton candy.

Happy Birthday, Ashy girl.

Banana Slugs, Marie Antoinette and the World's Best Cookies

A pretty new blog makes me actually want to blog.

Take that, Soviets.

Last night, we attended Kayla's JUNIOR HIGH orientation.

I can't hardly believe it.

But I am really excited for her, too.

I survived my awkward years.

I loved them, actually.

Mostly because I didn't realize I was awkward until later.

She went to Outdoor Ed last month.

I asked her to write a post about it and this is what she came up with:

"Outdoor Education was awesome.  But the fact that the beds were hard and had waxy, plastic coverings made it feel like you were sleeping on melting candles.  I saw two varieties of deer, bats, millipedes, pigs, a scorpion, a junco, a stellar's jay, nine banana slugs (including the one I put on my nose) and a lot of moths."

And I think I'm just going to leave it.

It's camp in a nutshell.

Waxy beds and banana slugs.

She is my favorite writer.

End of fifth grade calls for lots of fun activities.

Marie Antoinette took names during a class History presentation.

"Why so serious, Kayla?"

"You'd be serious, too if your head was chopped off, mom."

She looked like a tore up Dolly Parton by the end of the day.

I didn't realize wigs need hair spray.

And the two-sizes too big dollar store bridesmaid dress didn't help.

It's milestone central around here.

She has two teeth.

She crawled for the first time on Easter Sunday.

And she slept through the night.

Once.

She's babbling a TON.

Good news.

Ashlyn's not blind.

Bad news.

She lied to the school nurse during her routine eye exam.

And again during a second follow up.

"I WANT glasses, mama."

"They're cool."

No.

Hope ditched Wednesday service for an impromptu church BBQ.

My favorite.

It was 87 degrees in April.

Also, my favorite.

This is me doing my child's homeschool homework while they are at public school.

I'm sure there is so much wrong with all of this but I can't really put it in words.

I do know that peregrine falcons are the fastest animals on the planet.

And my girls rock the public speaking triangle.

One last thing.

I need you to make these cookies.

I'm on my 17th batch in as many days.

Really. 

You won't be sorry.

Well, you might be a little sorry.

Blame the Russians.

Behind the {New} Name.

A few years ago I wrote a guest post on a friend's blog about Ashlyn.

It sparked a little idea in my head to change my blog name.

And then life happened.

And I was overwhelmed at all that would be required to make the switch.

So it remained on the back burner.

And then Russians hacked my blog with questionable ads.

So I took it as a sign from the heavens that it was time.

My grandmother told me it was time, too.

"Honey, thank you for such a sweet story about Holland's birth.  But why are you selling Viagra?"

I'm blaming Putin.

Anyhow.

I'm so excited about this change.

More excited than she is about sweet potato puffs.

And thankful to my friend Katy for understanding my little vision.

And creating this most beautiful new design.

Without me even having to say much.

She is brilliant.

If you subscribed to my old blog and want to continue receiving posts, you'll have to resubscribe.

I'm sorry.

Take it up with Vladamir.

You can click on the "behind the name" tab below the header to read more.

When God is doing one thing, He's doing a million.

   

My Baby Girl and I

I had lunch with a new friend last week.

Who happens to be a photographer.

She snapped these pictures of Holland and I.

And they are such treasures to me.

Had I known she was going to share her skills, I probably would have brushed my hair a little more.

Or at all.

Worn earrings.

And not dressed my baby like a boy.

But such is life right now.

Not much time to primp.

Or worry about what my kids are wearing.

I'm lucky they are dressed.

But, really?

All that doesn't matter.

I just want to remember being with her.

In God's glorious creation.

The way she makes me smile.

A few frozen minutes that seem to float in time.

A tiny part of a season that passes all too quickly.

I am so thankful for these moments captured.

And for friends that take the time to capture them.

Our babies are our best gifts.

Photographs with our babies are a close second.

6 Months.

She laughs when I yawn.

So she's laughing lots lately.

Our baby has decided she's a night owl.

I know it passes fast.

And she nurses and falls right back to sleep.

So I cherish it.

And yawn a lot.

A funny, little personality is starting to emerge.

She makes this silly grin quite often.

Dave says Kayla used to do the same but I don't remember.

Because I'm up at 10 PM, 12 AM, 2 AM and 4 AM.

She is rolling much more quickly now.

And just starting the pre-crawl booty rock.

I think she's going to be fast once she takes off.

I'm hoping that skill takes a few months to perfect.

Because I'm too busy yawning to chase after a baby that moves.

She had her 6 month check up yesterday.

50% in weight and 85% in height.

Tall and lean.

All that power rolling has thinned her out a bit.

And this is my favorite picture of her so far.

I love her smile.

She's such a happy, easy baby.

She's social and friendly and a big, giant flirt.

Taking her new world in.

All day and all night.

Happy 6 months, little girl.

I love you.

Yawn.

Bringing Back the Rainbow Chart. And Are Terrible 6's a Thing?

I know my girls will read this one day.

So I want to be gentle.

But, Ashlyn Grace.

2014 has been a sassy year for you so far.

And it's time to regulate.

Discipline is a tricky thing.

Personal to each family.

No one has all the answers.

But this system worked well for Kayla years ago.

And we started back up again today.

And we've had the smoothest morning in months.

I will speak for my children.

They like structure and organization.

They like goals.

They like clear rules and consequences.

They like reasonable rewards for doing good.

This discipline system incorporates all of these things.

And makes me sane.

So I thought I'd share it.

Right click above image, save as, print and have at it.

It's pretty simple, really.

Kids start on green each morning.

Each child has their name written on a separate magnet.

Break a family rule?

Have child move their magnet to yellow.

Break another family rule?

Move to red.

Choose from consequence jar.

Consequences are written on large popsicle sticks that we keep in a mason jar.

Obviously, these will be different for each family and each child even.

No iPad time for that day.

Early bedtime.

Time out in room for 30 minutes.

Your choice.

The thought of no iPad for a day sends Ashlyn into a frantic tizzy.

So that's her button.

So her jar has about 10 of those.

That's another great thing.

You can choose the amount something appears which will increase the probability it is picked.

Same goes with rewards.

Catch them being kind and nice?

Have them move their button to blue.

Catch them again in the same day?

Move to purple.

Chose a reward.

These are also written on popsicle sticks and kept in a separate mason jar.

Be sure not to mix them up.

Because that's future therapy for sure.

You don't have to go crazy.

Extra book at bedtime.

Extended bedtime.

A movie on Netflix.

Special dessert or treat.

You know what your kids love.

And hear me out.

The goal is not to create greedy, performance-based robots.

The goal is that my girls grow to understand and live out the verse at the top.

I want our home to be one of love.

Joy.

Peace.

Patience.

Kindness.

Goodness.

Gentleness.

Self-control.

And when it's not, I want to take action to fix it.

I recognize that they are little humans.

And have bad days just like adults.

So grace abounds.

Much grace.

For them and for me.

Every day is a fresh start.

And this little bugger was up all night.

So she's on red today.

Thursday.

It's raining.

It's pouring.

Our dog is snoring.

I feel like he can rest a little easier now that his fur has grown back a bit.

He's no longer pink.

And doesn't need sunscreen during walks.

Dave is speaking to me again.

This is all good news.

Kayla is kind of serious about this violin business.

I love that we might have a band geek.

I pray for a band geek.

Band geeks stay out of trouble.

Unrelated.

I'm just wondering if the Superbowl could have been any more boring?

At the last minute Dave put together a friendly survey.

We had a variety of predictions to make.

Over little details of the game.

I've NEVER heard a group of people cheer so loudly over a coin toss.

Or gasp in disgust when the national anthem presenter didn't wear gloves.

Or be so concerned over the Red Hot Chili Peppers attire.

"YES THEY HAVE NO SHIRTS!!!!!!!!!!!"

Jumping up and down and screaming like we were in Sochi or something.

Anyhow.

Yesterday was a marathon of hectic.

Minimum day.

Speech and debate class for the girls.

We crashed a homeschool class.

Cochlear mapping for Ashlyn up at UCSF.

During commute hour.

With my baby on the floor of the sound booth during testing.

Evening service.

Today I'm choosing to be less crazy.

The girls are off to school.

After Ashlyn's Missing Lion King Umbrella Crisis of 2014.

She settled for a Dry Bar one.

She doesn't know that one day she will love the Dry Bar way more than Mufasa.

I'm getting a haircut this afternoon.

And my mom is cooking dinner for us.

Thanks, mom.

Thursday night family dinners are pretty much the best.

I'm Fitness Palling again.

Which makes me want to murder everyone.

But I went bathing suit shopping yesterday.

And that also made me want to murder everyone.

So.

To prevent deaths.

Egg white breakfast sandwiches and iced green tea for days.

And just in case you were wondering?

She's not interested in making any Fitness Pals.

And don't touch her chips.

Stay dry, folks.

I missed these puddles.