It's Great to be Two!

We have a two year old at our house. Every day I get to spend about three hours alone with him. Not something I experienced with the other two year olds at my house.

With my first two year old, I had a brand new baby to take care of too. With my second two year old, I was dealing with a four year old who wanted to go to school and was constantly into everything. I don't think I had time to realize the joys of having a two year old when I was overwhelmed with tantrums, screaming, frustrations with wanting to be understood and not having a large vocabulary, and dealing with other challenging developmental stages. Don't get me wrong, there were moments in there that were beautiful but I was so overwhelmed I just remember the time as the "terrible twos" before the "tricky threes." I do have to say, Ryan is more mild about most typical two behavior than the other two. Part of that is his temperament and part of that is my increased awareness of my own challenges and limitations and knowing how to better care from myself.

Now, I get to revel in the great things about being two and remember some of the same joys with the first two when number three has similar experiences or behaviors. Some of the great things about being two are

• learning and saying new words every day
• running faster
• enjoying being teased and teasing Mom and Dad
• knowing what he wants and being determined to ask for it until he is understood
• waking up ready to play
• giving kisses
• displaying a more defined sense of humor
• being able to get things like diapers, shoes, jacket, socks, specific toys
• following directions
• always wanting to help around the house
• wanting to do what Mom, Dad, brother, and sister are doing
• being more content when a routine is maintained
• loving to talk on the phone
• climbing on everything and everyone
• learning what a conk feels like over and over again, but feeling okay after receiving Mommy's kisses
• being most content when the whole family is together
• loving books, libraries, and stories

We still have days filled screaming, tantrums, and trouble, but most of the time I forget he is two because he is such a bright part of our family. Love you, Ryan!

Indexing Goal Done

I finally completed my goal of 75,000 records (names) within one year. Now, I think I am going to take a long break from that and set a more reasonable goal of about 25,000 for the year. Doing that much I burnt myself out a bit. I still have a strong testimony of the importance of indexing, I just need to be a little less intense about doing 100s of names every day.

New Blog

I may have to start a new blog. This one tells me I have no more space for pictures.

What to do? What to do? I will let you know if and when I decide what to do.

The Standard Works, Goal Complete

It's morning time, and while I haven't jumped in the shower yet and I have a long list of To-Dos I still managed to finish a year long goal, among other things.

Last year around Thanksgiving I was thinking about the things I was thankful for and one of those things is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the scriptures. I decided I wanted to make a goal to read my scriptures every day even if it was only a single verse because I have not been able to do this consistent at since I married my sweet husband.

In January, I finished the Doctrine and Covenants and decided to read the entire Bible for the first time. I have read most of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament, but not all of it. When I about halfway through the Old Testament I decided I wanted to read all of the Standard Works (Bible, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and Book of Mormon) completely before December 1st, the day I started reading my scriptures every day.

Today I finished the Book of Mormon, the last of the Standard Works I was reading, four days ahead of schedule and I only missed two or three days of reading in the last year. I learned a lot this last year, but mostly I learned I want to know more about what each book teaches and why, which will require more in depth reading and less speedy reading. I am grateful for the scriptures and the things I learn from reading them and applying their teachings to my life. It was an amazing experience!

I Know What I Want

We have a two year old at our house who is very determined to get his way. One morning he wanted more cereal, and so he served himself some more. Granted, it was all piled on the kitchen table, but I have to admie his indpendence and determination.

 

Freezing at the Corn Maze

Scarves and Miracles

I feel I would be ungrateful if I didn't write about my experience last week. I forgot to take a picture so I will try to explain the best I can.

Last week we received an email from the Relief Society (women's organization in our church) that we were going to put together Christmas care packages for 25 of the missionaries serving in our area who were not receiving support from their families. One of the things on the list was scarves. Now, I love to crochet but it usually takes me almost 10 hours to crochet a scarf and I didn't want to go buy more yarn when I already had three medium size boxes of yarn from various projects I needed to use. I decided last Thursday I would get started and see how many I could get down before the following Thursday without neglecting my family or other responsibilities.

I finished about 1 1/2 scarves each day in between doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, running errands, doing carpool for the bus stop, homework with children, volunteering at the school and local food co-op, showering, exercising, church, and other family activities. I used up most of stashed yarn (I now have one box instead of three) and completed 10 scarves in one week. The last time I attempted that many scarves it took me six weeks while doing almost nothing with my family or for my house. I know I couldn't have completed all of those scarves without some extra help from my Heavenly Father and I am grateful for it.

Tent Maker

Bekah has become quite the tent maker. I often find her bed torn apart in efforts to make a tent over the table and chairs in her room. Other times all the other blankets in her room are piled up instead This picture was taken when she was pretending to take a nap after making a tent with her sheets. She is an inventive little girl.

A Marathon Bike Ride

Last Saturday a friend and I rode 26 miles on our bikes. The picture above was taken at the turn around point halfway through our ride. It was an amazing feeling to know I could ride that far in just over 2 hours and not be so sore and out of breath I had to sleep the rest of the day. I can't say that I understand why people want to run that far, but it was an amazing ride.

Eight months ago I couldn't keep up with Benjamin on his bike, now he can't keep up with me. It feels so good to be strong enough to ride this far and still have energy to go play with my kiddos afterwards!

Sunday Naps

We love our Sunday naps, LOVE them. A couple of Sundays ago our routine was interrupted and we didn't get our Sunday nap at the usual time. Guess these two were a little more worn out than we thought because this is how they fell asleep around dinner time.

Our Pumpkin Patch

Look what our pumpkin patch produced! (And I don't mean the cute kids.)

Big Sisters & Little Brothers

Almost every boy I know, who has one or more big sisters, has a picture similar to the one above. At some point in their young lives little brothers will get dressed up in girl clothes by their big sisters simply because they want to play with their sisters and/or don't know any better. Ryan had such an experience one Sunday afternoon when Michael was out for a drive with some friends and I was busy making dinner.

Snuggling Grandpa

"Hold me! Hold me!" is a common refrain from our little Ry-Ry. This time he asked Grandpa to hold him while he held is toys and watched what was going on at Great Grandma's house.

Blanket Burritos

My favorite "food," our children wrapped up like burritos and ready for sleeping our snuggling. We start when they are tiny and they never totally outgrow the comfort of it.

Drummer Boy

Ryan likes to play with the big kid toys, but the big kids are usually playing with them. One day we happened to be at the listening exhibit at the museum and no big kids were around (our older two were with Dad) and Ryan had the drums all to himself. He was delighted!

Watching the Owls

On Michael's birthday, we went to watch a baseball game. Michael was able to watch most of the game while the kids and I played on the playground and chased down the owls.

 

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Sometime in early August, Bekah lost her first tooth. I wouldn't have known her tooth was loose except the new tooth was growing in behind her baby tooth just like with Benjamin's first tooth. She was a good sport and we pulled it out quickly, and she was delighted when the tooth fairy left money under her pillow.

Hiking with David & Denise

David and Denise came to visit us during August and we went for a three mile hike with our three crazy kiddos. We survived with minimal crying, complaining, and no accidents. We even managed to have some fun!

First Day of Kindergarten

Our Princess is so excited to be in school! I still have a hard time believing she is big enough to be in Kindergarten. Every day she tells me what she learned in class and how much she likes her teacher.

 

First Day of 2nd Grade

School started about a month ago, and now I finally have pictures from the first day to share. The kiddos had separate first days of school this year, something about having the Kindergarteners start a week after the rest of the kids. Here is Benjamin excited for his first day of school!