1st Born vs. 2nd Born?

When Grace was just over 2 years old we transitioned her into her big girl bed.  She did great.  She never got out of bed and we had zero issues.  It was over one year after the transition she got out of bed but stayed in her room.  When I found her sitting on the floor she was so upset and started crying for doing something she thought was wrong (and I didn't even reprimand her).

Today Caleb asked to take a nap in the twin bed in his room that we're hoping to transition him to soon.      I told him he could but that he needed to stay in bed.  He was very tired and said he would.  He's actually a pretty compliant kid so I thought he might.  Three minutes later we heard a door close and went upstairs to find Caleb running all over from room to room.  Back to the crib* he went and we'll tackle this problem in the near future.

*In regards to the crib we are just waiting for the day that Caleb climbs out.  He already climbs in himself so we know he can climb out.  We think he actually has a healthy fear of the floor since it far away.

Curls!

Last night I put Grace's hair in curlers and the result was awesome (in my humble opinion).  For ages Grace has been asking to have curly hair like her friend Charlotte's.  Isn't it so interesting to see how we start comparing and wanting what others have so young?  I have tried to take those moments as teaching opportunities to explain how God created us all differently.  I also wanted to have some fun showing her that there are lots of tools that can change the way our hair looks:)  Enter in curlers.  My friend loaned me some curlers she had used on her daughter and I'm thinking I want to buy my own set.  The adorable results are pictured below...

The Swagger Wagon

Do you remember those commercials for Sienna a few years ago where the super cool looking family got a minivan, rapped about it and called it the swagger wagon?  That is when the Toyota Sienna became my dream car van.  And that is when I realized I was old.

I never actually thought I would get a Sienna because who actually gets their dream car?  But whose dream car is actually a minivan:)  But I did know that we were planning on buying a minivan in the summer is 2013.  I just figured a car that cool would be way too expensive and we'd get something else.  But a few weeks, many test drives, many internet searches, 3 dealers, lots of discussion and time to think later Matt and I actually bought a Toyota Sienna.

I'm not going to go into the specifics of why we got what we got because it would be really boring.  But I'm going to tell you I love it.  I know it's only a car but I'll enjoy driving it while it's in my life.

Finally, as part of this purchase we traded in the 12 year old Grand Am I bought 10 years ago.  That car has been through a lot of growing up and life changes with me so it was sad to say goodbye.  Since it's been the car Matt's been driving to work for the last 4 years and he has no emotional attachment to it he was happy to say goodbye.  Now he gets to drive the Escape to work:)

Hugs and kisses for the Grand Am

Sienna from behind

Sienna from the front

A little closer for the color

Look at all that extra room!!!

Coffee, Please?

Percolator and mug from a former student who is now a Marine

If you know me well you know I'm not a coffee drinker (apart from the year I lived in Germany because you can't live in Europe and not be a coffee drinker).  I pretty much stick to milk, water, and tea.  And a cup of hot tea on cold mornings and a delicious sweet tea is always a special drink.  But things are changing?

I never passed on coffee because I didn't like it but because I thought avoiding the caffeine and potential habit would be a good idea.  But I think I took a leap onto the downward spiral while on vacation last month.

Let me start by saying that I sort of blame this on my sister-in-law Yvonne (Sorry!).  Last year while on vacation in MI she bought me an iced coffee from McDonald's and it was delicious.  So I will admit it has been a little guilty pleasure I've had about once every 4-6 weeks for the last year.

Because I've enjoyed that and not been to adversely affected by caffeine in the morning I wasn't hesitant to take a cup of coffe from the hotel breakfast bar on our first day in TX.  Sleeping in new places is hard for me so I've learned to take an over the counter sleep aid and coffee really helped it completely wear off in the morning.  So I enjoyed coffee every morning on vacation even if I didn't enjoy a sleeping pill the night before.

I got home and found myself craving coffe.  Uh oh!  I then proceeded to buy coffee, dig out the percolator, and drink up.  One day I had 2 cups and that was a hyper and shakey disaster.  I'm trying to limit myself to 2-3 cups a week.  I'm hoping it doesn't get "worse".  But I never thought would be at this place in my coffee drinking life either:)

This post is dedicated to my coffee loving friends, thanks for making me feel ok about this new phase of my life.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a super fun Memorial Day Weekend with Matt's family that I wanted to blog about.  Saturday right after my 8:30 piano lesson we hit the road and headed to Matt's parents.  We got up there and had a nice lunch and relaxing afternoon.  Jane and I hit up a couple thrift stores and then Matt and I went and looked at a minivan (we've been shopping for a few weeks and I'm hoping to have a concluding update on that soon).  Then Matt's parents took us out to eat at a yummy restaurant called Jason's Deli.

Sunday we were able to attend Matt's parents' church (the church Matt grew up in) and enjoy another good lunch at their house.  After naps we headed to Jared and Yvonne's house for dinner because it was Joshua's 7th birthday!  I can't believe how big he's gotten!  We had cake and pizza and a few other delicious summer dishes that Yvonne made.  Another fun moment of the evening came when Matt's parents surprised us by announcing they want to take the whole family to Disney World next year!!  WDW-2014 planning is starting and I think everyone is more than excited.

Monday we all went to Brookefield Zoo together.  J&Y take Joshua every year on Memorial Day for his birthday.  We haven't been with them since he was 1 so it was great to go this year.  The kids had fun looking at the animals and fighting over who got to sit in which wagon or stroller seat.  Jenna impressed me though because she spent a good chunk of the time pulling Grace around in the wagon.  My recap of the weekend might be kind of boring but we had a wonderful time with family and enjoyed the getaway from home.

Driving the tractor

Josh and his Star Wars cake

Cousins at the zoo

Grandparents and grandkids

Best Cousins:)

He Said, She Said

I have two amazing stories of things the kids said that I never want to forget.

He Said...

A week or so ago I had a $10 Kohl's cash that I wanted to be sure to spend.  Unfortunately we have plans every evening while it was valid so I couldn't just run out and spend it after the kids were in bed. So I had to do the thing I dread (all for $10) and take both kids to Kohl's with me.  They did well even when shoved in the dressing room watching me try on clothes.

What Caleb said while I was trying on clothes was confidence boosting.  After every dress/shirt/pants I tried on he said, "You look beautiful Mommy." and he often added, "that's cute."  Let me know if you want to borrow him to go clothes shopping!

She Said...

In the past we've been very surprised about all of the things Grace remembers about her life.  I think lately though she has begun to forget things that in my opinion were a big deal.  Maybe she's just getting too old so she doesn't have the long term memory.  So, I've been asking her if she remembers {insert event or activity here}.  She often looks at me with a contemplative look and says no.  Good thing I'm blogging her early life for her:)

Anyway, yesterday I was talking on the phone to my sister and like a half an hour after I got off Grace randomly said, "I remember 3 things Mommy.  I remember that you talked on the phone to Laura.  I remember we went on vacation to Texas.  And I remember that God is in my heart."  Don't forget that last thing little girl and you'll be just fine!

Touch-a-Truck 3

I'm not sure how many Touch-a-Truck events there have been in Champaign but I put 3 in my blog post title because it's the third one we've been to.  This has to be one of my favorite events our town puts on.  I did blog about the first time we went two years ago but I guess I forgot to write about it last year.

This year was super fun because both kids were old enough to really enjoy it.  We also are experienced attenders so we planned ahead and got there early.  We got to the park to play thirty minutes before the event and got a good parking spot.  Then we wandered over to the field of trucks.  The kids got free Marble Slab ice cream, climbed in a firetruck, busses, pick-ups and a few other random trucks.

After about an hour the horn honking was getting to me and couple of the kids we were with so it was time to call it quits.  By then we wandered back to the playground and had a nice picnic lunch and played for a while.  It was a great spring morning.

Thankfully she won't be driving for at least 12 more years

Girly firefighters with their pink hats

And Caleb insisted on a pink hat too

Caleb "driving" the firetruck

Grace's turn