Apple

Adriana's favorite word these days is "A-pple" (the pitch of the voice rises on the last part of the word).
The other day after she had finished her lunch she asked me, "A-pple? A-pple? A-pple?"
"No, Adriana, no apple right now."
"A-pple. A-pple. A-pple," she said in an I'm-too-cute-to refuse voice.
"No, you've finished your lunch. You can have one for snack-time."
Realizing that I was a lost cause, she turned to her Aunt Hannah and implored, "I nee a-pple."

We're Back

By God's grace, we're done being cooped up with the flu; and we're back to crunching leaves under our feet.

Snuggling the Sick

My poor girl was the last of my kids too come down with the flu. It's provided the opportunity for lots of extra snuggling. I also couldn't resist pulling out the camera. Those puppy-dog eyes just seem to get larger when she's ill.

Snuggling with Daddy, too:

Under the Weather

We are just getting over a bought with the flu over at our place. The past couple of days have been full of pajamas, television, saltine crackers, extra chapters of On the Banks of Plum Creek, and lots of laundry.

Unscripted Moments

Elijah is a child full of unscripted moments. He says and does some very random things. We've often joked that he lives in La-la land.

The other day when the air pump came out for some flat bike tires, Elijah found his own use for the pump...

I asked him later what he was doing and he told me he was trying to blow up his tummy. In La-la land, belly buttons must double as valves.

Blankie Promise

I distinctly remember where I was when I made the "Blankie Promise." I was a teenager living in Carleton, Michigan and was standing in our front room. I made the "Blankie Promise" while searching for the 94th time for my baby sister Katie's must-have-at-all-times blankie that always seemed to get misplaced. The promise went something like this: "I will never, ever allow my child to get so attached to a blanket or toy that I have to go looking for it before nap time."
This, along with many other prideful statements, went out the window the moment I actually became a mother. Whether I liked it or not, there was the 5 lb. afghan that had to go everywhere with Isaiah (that thing saw as many states as Isaiah did). There was the Eddie doll with hair that stuck up 4 inches high because Elijah had to put his fingers through it while he sucked his thumb and fell asleep.
For Adriana, I decided to try not to fight an attachment but to pick the attachment item. I bought a sweet, fuzzy blanket with a stuffed bunny sewn to it. It was cute and small. But, of course, she could care less about it; she chose her own blankie. I put it in her bed one night and haven't been able to get it out since. She loves to snuggle with it and whimpered the last time I washed it.

And if you look in our attic you'll find a twenty-something-year-old, fuzzy pink blanket with worn edges that I still can't bear to see go in the dumpster.

Vintage Dress

My Grandmama was wonderful about keeping family books, photos, calling cards, and many other treasures. My house is dotted with antiques that she passed along. The last set of heirloom items I received from her before she died was a package she sent after Adriana, her first great granddaughter, was born. In it were dresses that she and her sisters had worn when they were babies. I put Adriana in one of them the other day:

Straw Stack

We're still plugging away at the Little House on the Prairie book series, and have made it to On the Banks of Plum Creek. The boys were intrigued by a recent chapter about how Laura and Mary slid down and wrecked Pa's straw stack.
Make-believe these days often involve Ma, Pa, Laura, and Mary; and Adriana's probably getting used to being referred to as "baby Carrie." Today was no different. A side of a hill with dead pine needles beautifully doubled as a straw stack...

Kisses

My girl loves to give kisses. On Sunday, I was told that she spent part of her time in nursery going around and kissing each of the one-year-olds on the forehead. She's wrecked pages of books because she gives the illustrations drool-tainted kisses. She played with a puzzle the other day and made sure each piece got its very own kiss. Later, I accidentally left my pantry door open and found her kissing the Parmesan cheese container.

Her loving personality melts my heart. As I did lunch dishes today, I watched her try to dance ballet to the Andrea Bocelli cd complete with twirl and arms raised...my heart was on the verge of bursting.

Senior Portraits

We're breaking from regularly scheduled boy quotes, silly stories, baby milestones, and kid pictures to share my sister's senior photos. As a Mommy and completely amateur photographer, I was so grateful that God provided this opportunity for me that would normally be hard to come by. Hannah was so much fun to work with, and we did a lot of laughing during this shoot. Then, for processing the photos, I found out that Adobe Photoshop CS3 (which is quite expensive) does a free month trial...God's provision again.

Daddy & Disgusting Delicacies

The other day, while the kids and I were at my parent's, I was talking to my mom as Adriana sat next to me. At one point in the conversation I said to my mom, "You know who that reminds me of? Steven!" To which Adriana turned to me and said, "Da-da?" I didn't know she could recognized her daddy's name already.

Later that day, I was driving Elijah to his haircut. Here was the conversation was had:

"Mom, I need a Kleenex."

"Elijah, honey, Mommy's driving and you're too far back in the van for me to get one to you."

"Mom, I really need one."

"Why, Elijah?"

"Cause I've got a booger on my finger."

"I'm sorry; you're going to have to wait until we get there."

"Can I eat?"

"NO!"

Five seconds later I glance in my rear view mirror to see my son's mouth chomping on something.

"Ewww! Elijah!"

Then I hear a spitting noise.

"It's okay, Mom; I spit it out."

Motherhood is disgusting.

To leave you on a non-booger note, I was excited yesterday to have the opportunity to take my sister Hannah's senior portraits. I still have lots of work to do processing all the photos, but here's a fun one that really had nothing do with the rest.

Have a restful Sunday...

Fall Festival

This Saturday we took the kids to a Fall Festival. The entry fee was in our price range...free, and there was lots of kid fun to be had.

The fire truck slide:

He posed all by himself:

No, Adriana, this is the petting zoo, not the pinching zoo:

"Excuse me, Mr. Bunnies, do you have some extra food I could munch?":

Some boy fun:

While on the hay ride, we talked about "Farmer Boy" and felt like we were out in the country. We were quickly reminded that we were still in Northern Virginia as the "farmer" had to finish his cell phone conversation before he got the horses moving.