Abbie

Since Miriam has been back in school, our house becomes a bit quieter and we start to form a new "school" routine.  One of my favorite parts about Miriam being in school is that I get to spend more time with Abbie and Ella.  We sure miss Miriam while she is away, but there is something sweet about time alone with these two.  And lately, I've been treasuring my moments with Abbie.  I love hearing what questions she has and trying my best to answer them.  I love her quiet spirit and compassionate heart.  I love her prayers.  I love her joy.  And I love her big, blue eyes.  

six {!}

I'm not sure how it happened, but six years somehow have passed by since our beautiful Miriam entered the world and joined our family.  What a blessing she is to all of us!  We are so proud of her.  Today (and this weekend!) are full of celebrations for our Miriam Jean.

growing up

I have commented to a few people lately that although my days and weeks sometimes seem long, the months and years always fly by. I'm not sure exactly how that works, but it often feels that way. Sometimes I find myself just wishing for time to go by so that we can hurry out of these intense and often challenging days of parenting. But then I look at these pictures and wonder...where did that time go? I need to constantly remind myself to live in these moments, no matter how hard they are.

the face

This is the face I get when Abbie is really excited about something.  And I'm really glad my dad captured it a few weeks ago when we visited them.  Isn't it fantastic?

singing with Miriam

Miriam loves to sing.  And we love to hear her sing.  Matt followed her around a week or so back at the playground singing "Thomas O'Malley" from the Aristocats.  Well, she actually just repeated the same few lines over and over and over again:

That I'm
Abraham De Lacy
Guiseppe Casey
Thomas O'Malley
O'Malley the alley cat

she's all girl.

Yesterday, Miriam wore a lovely dress to church.  She liked it so much that she insisted on keeping it on all day (usually we change out of church clothes when we get home).  She loved twirling it and occasionally lifting up a little bit with one hand and walking around (I do believe this was Beauty and the Beast inspired: 

...see?)  

Anyway, so this morning when she woke up, she requested to wear another dress.  We looked through her closet and I pulled one out.  She tried it on, but apparently it didn't fit her criteria: it needed to be able to twirl and be able to be lifted up a little.  So I pulled out another and another and another.  She kept trying them on and finally settled on this one.  Although it didn't quite lift up the way she wanted.  Oh, and she needed tights.  That was a must.

Yup, it lifts.  But not quite good enough.

And I do believe we have a little girl turning into a princess.

today we celebrate

your joy

your love

your smile

your birth

YOU

Happy 1st Birthday, dearest Abbie!

Miriam's McDonald's thoughts...

Yesterday afternoon, I had to drive Miriam to her grandparents' house so that she could go with them to Cubbies.  Because we were running a little behind, we stopped at the McDonald's drive-thru to pick up supper on the way.  As we were driving along and eating, Miriam asked, 

"Mama, did I get a toy with my cheeseburger?"

"No, honey, we didn't get a happy meal this time.  You and Mama are just sharing a meal because it's a little easier."

"Oh."

{and then she paused for a bit}

"So does that mean this is a sad meal?"

it's your typical church Sunday school Christmas program

I love watching Sunday school Christmas programs.  It's so fun to see kids retell the Christmas story and sing the classic carols.  This year, I was so thrilled to watch Miriam be a part of the program as she sang with her class for two songs.  She went to a rehearsal the day before and had been belting "Away in a Manger" and "Go Tell it on the Mountain" for the past several weeks around our house.  She was definitely ready.  I wasn't sure how she would do at the actual program, but I brought my camera so my family members who couldn't make it could still see her.  It also always seems like there's that one child who forgets what they're doing on stage or simply decides to sit through the entire program while everyone else stands and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss any of those moments.  And, in case you didn't figure out that it was our dear Miriam I'm referring to, she is in the front row with a green and red dress and black top.   

 In other news, this little girl had a much better day yesterday.

and i melt

Last night, Miriam and I headed to Cubbies after a few week break because of sickness plaguing our house. We knew she would be receiving her Cubbie vest (which she was pretty excited about), but I didn't know she would be getting her "Hopper" badge. Seeing as I am pretty unfamiliar with AWANA, I'm learning things along the way. Anyway, apparently they have a little "badge ceremony" when the kiddos receive various badges throughout the year. So, just a few minutes before the badge ceremony started, I went into the sanctuary so that I could watch Miriam get her badge.

And then I heard her name called from the front. Miriam stood up, walked to the front, picked up her badge, and everyone clapped. And I melted. I must admit, there were a few tears in my eyes as I watched my firstborn receive her first award. If I'm teary at Cubbies, I can't even imagine what I'll be like at her high school graduation. *sigh. Thankfully, we have quite a few years to go.

wilbur

Because of this extremely unseasonably warm weather, I decided I must take the girls out for a walk after lunch. After we were walking along for awhile, we noticed a lady mowing her lawn. As we walked closer to her, Miriam said, "Mom, I think her name is Wilbur."

"I don't think it's Wilbur, honey, but I suppose you can call her that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We continued to walk and a few minutes later, Miriam heard a dog barking. "Mom, I'd like to have a dog someday."

"Really? Me too. What do you think you'd name it?"

"Wilbur."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After our walk, we played outside in the backyard for awhile. Abbie sat on a blanket while Miriam "planted a garden" in her sandbox and I raked up some leaves. When I stopped for a minute to go sit next to Abbie, I noticed some sort of little bug crawling on the blanket. I told Miriam to come over and look at it. She ran over and managed to pick it up and it started crawling up her arm. Guess what she named it? Yes, that was her new pet Wilbur. I decided to go continue raking when I heard Miriam start calling out, "Wilbur! Wilbur! Where are you?" I guess Wilbur had had enough and decided to find another place to crawl around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As it was getting closer to nap time, we packed up everything from outside and came and played in the girls' room for a few minutes. Miriam found a book and started paging through it while Abbie played with her toys on the floor. In the book, she stopped at a page of a little girl playing with blocks. "Her name is Wilbur," Miriam told me.

Well, okay. Whatever you say. I love that girl.

i'm free!

(or three, rather. It just sounds like 'free' when Miriam says it). Today is our sweet little Miriam's 3rd birthday! Is that even possible? It is incredibly amazing to think of how much she has changed in these three short years --from a helpless, tiny newborn baby to a spunky, talkative little girl with a personality all of her own.

We have had two celebrations for Miriam's birthday and will have another one in a few weeks. We celebrated last Sunday with my extended family. I don't think Miriam knew that she would be showered with so much love from everyone (and presents!). She got so many wonderful gifts from clothes to an abacus to a camera. She just loves them all. She was also so excited for her birthday cake that she managed to take a huge bite out of the side before it was even cut.

Then, for her actual birthday today... we asked her what she would like to do. So far, we've been to McDonald's for lunch (complete with some time to play in the play place) and an attempt to go to the apple orchards. Unfortunately, the orchards don't have apple picking until next weekend and also didn't have the huge inflatables set up as they usually do. So, we will try a visit there again soon. We will hopefully have some sort of ice cream dessert (by her request) this evening.

Here are a few pictures from last week's celebration and this morning when she opened up her gifts.

And, I thought it would be fun to look back at her past birthdays:

you're killin' me, smalls.

The weather around here has been simply delightful the past two days. We've been taking advantage of it by spending much of our days outside: walks, drawing with chalk, playing in the sandbox, swinging, picking cherry tomatoes, running, pulling weeds, chewing on small toys while sitting on a blanket, and sitting around a fire roasting marshmallows (obviously some of those pertain to a specific members of our family. Matt doesn't chew on small toys very often and Abbie doesn't usually pick cherry tomatoes). Anyway, I digress. This evening we decided it was the perfect night to sit outside around our fire pit and roast marshmallows. A few weeks ago, simple marketing got me at Wal*Mart when they had a display of marshmallows, Hershey's, and graham crackers all lined up. I picked up one of each and we finally were able to take advantage of our new (used) fire pit and make some s'mores tonight. Miriam had never roasted a marshmallow by herself, so she was pretty eager to get the fire going and start roasting.

After her first s'more was almost done, Matt asked, "Miriam, do you want another s'more?"

To which she replied, "s'more of what?"

"No, another s'more."

"But s'more of what?"

To which I replied, "you're killin' me, Smalls."

ham or turkey?

A few mornings ago, Miriam and I were coloring on a little whiteboard when I decided to write a few small words down for her to start practicing her phonics. We are certainly at the very beginning stages of reading, but it's fun to have her try a few letters and sounds. So, I wrote the word "HAM" down for her to read. First I asked what the "H" said and she replied, "huh." Then, I asked what sound "A" made and she said, "aaah." Finally, I asked about the "M" and she said, "mmmm." So far, so good! Then, I started putting the sounds together repeating, "huh...aaahhh...mmmmm," over and over again. After a few times, I asked if she heard what I was saying. She thought for just a minute and then shouted, "turkey!" I think she should get a few bonus points for that --not only did she hear the word ham, but she associated it with turkey! We have a smart little girl on our hands!

big sister, little sister

Miriam

just adores

her little sister.

Can you tell?

{Even when her little sister is more than done taking pictures.}

savoring 'til the last bite...

Miriam loves fruit. Any kind of fruit. Often times I need to persuade her to eat whatever else is on her plate before she can have more fruit. There have been many times that something like this comes out of my mouth:

"No, Miriam, you have already had a huge handful of blueberries. Please take two more bites of your pizza before I give you more."

So, because of her love of fruit... she often will savor the last piece of whatever she's eating until it's completely gone. For example, she'll keep a grape in her mouth for 10-15 minutes just because she knows it's the last one she'll have for awhile. I often forget that she even had anything to eat until I notice she's still chewing on something for quite some time after.

As Miriam was savoring a fruit snack today (another one of her delectable delights), I thought to myself, "how often do I savor the Word of God? Do I read it and quickly get back to what I am doing, or do I hold onto it for a long time?" Perhaps that is quite the stretch in relating fruit to Scripture... but it did cross my mind. Many days I find it challenging to take more than five minutes to sit and spend time with the Lord. But I do know that He delights in even those five minutes -and especially if I savor His Words. A challenge for myself now is to make sure that my time with Him is not just another thing on my "to-do" list; rather, I want it to be a sweet time of solace in my often-times busy day that I can carry with me through the rest of my day. I want to savor my relationship with Him.

laughing is contagious

Don't you agree?

A Different Perspective...

This morning, Miriam said to me, "Mama's married." To which I asked, "who is Mama married to?" She answered, "Papa!" I was glad she somehow knew what that meant and then she proclaimed, "Papa's married." And I asked, again, "to who?" Then she answered, "Jesus!" I had to laugh a little, but then I realized she is right -since we are the bride of Christ. So, whether or not she really "gets it," she still proclaims Truth!

Reading with Papa

I was cleaning up last night right before Miriam was heading off to bed and stopped to look and see this:

I just had to stop and get my camera because I love watching Miriam spend time with her Papa. I don't take enough pictures of moments like that, and I don't want to forget these times when Miriam is older. I've been reminded lately to treasure the simple times... and that was one of those times.

Sharing Snacks

Miriam had been carrying her "baby" around for much of the day yesterday, so she also decided to bring her up while she ate her afternoon snack. As I watched Miriam eat, I noticed she was also trying to feed her little baby! It was so adorable...

Then, she noticed the animal crackers stuck right in the baby's mouth...

And then, finally, she decided to eat them right out of the baby's mouth.

It's been fun to see her playing with different toys and even playing "pretend" every now and then. She's not our little baby anymore! She sure is growing up fast... everyone always says they do, and it's so true. We look forward to spending this Christmas with her this year as she will get a chance to eat dinner with us, spend time with family and actually open her gifts! It'll be different than last year when she slept through most of our festivities :) We will be spending quite some time at my parents' house for Christmas and New Year's, so I'll do what I can for posting on here. Merry Christmas, everyone!