Meeting Lovey-Bear

While my mom was in town, we loaded up the girls & headed over to The Florida Mall for some shopping.  One of the stores on our list was Build-A-Bear.  We had a gift card that has been sitting around for over a year now just waiting for the perfect opportunity to be used.  Gaga in town + a very motherly 2 year old that has a fetish for stuffed animals = that perfect opportunity.

Charlotte quickly picked a bear over the other animals. One, because she is a fan of bears & two, because I was directing her attention to the cheaper end which was populated mostly by bears : )

First she took him over to the stuffing machine & got to press on the piece on the floor to fill him up with stuffing. It was kind of funny because she couldn't press on it with her foot & watch the bear get filled up at the same time so it was a really uncoordinated effort by a cute little 2 year old. Thankfully, Gaga could help her.

all stuffed & stitched up

getting her all washed up

We also headed straight to the sale rack to pick out her outfit.  Gaga helped get her dressed in her lovely teal gown with sequins, her white sequined shoes & even got her a pink satin headband complete with a flower on top. 

All the while, little missy sat quietly in her stroller chewing on her toy & grinning at us every time we looked her way. I have a feeling that a trip to Build-A-Bear might be a bit more expensive in a few more years!

After getting her stuffed & dressed, Charlotte hopped up in my lap & helped me fill out her birth certificate.  She does love to type on the computer so this was right up her alley! We gave her the name "lovey bear" since we already have a "bear."  When Char says her name it sounds like "yuvy bay" which just makes me smile.

Then our beloved "Yuvy-Bay" got inside her new house as Charlotte calls it. I said "Char, smile at mommy!" and this is what I got.....

Oh my, she is a hoot.  It was a fun experience & Lovey Bear has been cared for very well for the past week.  Our trip to the mall was fabulous minus one thing...when we got back to the car & were loading up we realized that Eloise was missing a shoe. I went on a wild goose chase around the mall for the next 20 minutes in hopes I would come upon it. I didn't & I ended up with really sore pinky toes from them rubbing in my shoes on my mad dash. The sad part was that they were Charlotte's first little pair of shoes : ( When I called Rob looking for some sympathy, his response was "honey, she's a baby, she doesn't even need shoes." Well, I guess he is right & I am a little sentimental.  Our best guess is that Elo's buddy that rides next to her in the stroller removed it & stuck it in a bin at Bulild-A-Bear.

We ended our outing with a trip to Chick-Fil-A. We really like it....I mean REALLY like it. We like it so much that playing Chick-Fil-A drive-thru is one of Charlotte's favorite imaginary games. She always says "fyes pees & kickin (chicken), tank you" I felt a little better about losing the shoe after I indulged myself in my extra large "fyes."

So, thanks to the McCracken family who gave Charlotte the giftcard that led to our little Lovey-Bear who is now a part of the family (of animals) that sleeps with her every night.  You can never have too many stuffed animals right? That is such a lie ; ) In fact, I just laid them all out in a row & let Charlotte pick 3. I put the rest in the closet. Lovey-Bear, Lambie & Aurora the tiger were the chosen ones. I am sure we will trade it up in another week or so but for now, Lovey-Bear will get lots of snuggles!

project 365: [days 15-21]

January 15th- Enjoyed lunch with the newlywed Lent's followed by a fashion show of Auntie "Ameas' jewelry

January 16th- Starting to cook dinner & realizing the chicken was frozen....McDonalds instead!

January 17th- Started our study of Luke in Life Group

*January 18th- Old man Bennett doing what he does best.....being lazy!

January 19th- at Build a Bear filling up her new pal full-o-stuffing. "Lovey Bear" is her name : )

January 20th- Charlotte's first french braids courtesy of Gaga

January 21st- Daddy getting some snuggles from Elo at Abuelo's

project 365: [days 8-14]



January 8th- Family date to Cold Stone Creamery

 

January 9th- First project on Cameo- dropped off at the Lent's house before they arrived home from their Honeymoon

January 10th- Bennett sleeping ON TOP of Charlotte, he seriously thinks he is a chihuahua!

January 11th- Spent the evening with the Nations family at the soccer field celebrating Senior Girls Soccer Night





January 12th- Evening retreat including bubble bath, hot chocolate, candles, pandora & some great books



*January 13th-  an afternoon workout while the girls napped



January 14th- Dinner with Hugo, Juanita & Matilda - Cooked dinner on Raclette Grill

Charlotte at 2 1/2 years

Sometimes I still want to call her baby Charlotte but it doesn't really make sense to say "baby Charlotte is two and a half years old."  How did we get here, I do not know.  I would venture to say that the babyish looks are pretty much gone & she has blossomed into a little girl. She is spunky, delightful, carefree, silly, loving, kind (most of the time) & VERY independent. h

I think she is still close to the 30 pound mark but looks to be getting taller.  She can fit into some 2T clothes but is more comfortable in 3T.  3T clothes are more appropriate since they actually cover her belly when she raises her arms : ) The shoes she is wearing now are 8.5 wide but she was acting like they were bothering her today...seriously, her feet grow SO fast!

Here are some things she is up to:

• takes her clothes, socks & shoes off & puts them on with no trouble
• loves to put her head under water in the bath tub
• requests to play outside a million times a day
• wants to play "airplane" on my feet & then have me be the plane on her feet
• thinks that everytime we go to the grocery store she needs a piece of turkey & cheese & a cookie. She actually thinks we should get this at any store : )
• wants us (or the dogs) to chase her constantly
• would eat macaroni & cheese for breakfast, lunch & dinner everyday. Other likes in the food department: fries, PB&J, broccoli, green beans, cheese, any fruit, pasta, tacos, spaghetti, smoothies, a finger dip of Daddy's coffee in the morning
• enjoys play dough, coloring & finger painting
• loves to read her books or be read to
• can "read" certain pages of Go, Dog, Go & Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb
• if you start reading to her, she will say, "no, I read you" & take over
• plays like she is a mommy to her dolls & her sister
• she attempts to nurse Eloise on a regular basis (I so need to post a video of this!) she says "you wah milk Eh-wheese? okay, here go" as she lifts her shirt & smashes Elo into her chest. Poor Eloise can't ever find anything to latch on to. HILARIOUS!
• bosses the dogs around like nobodys business 
• loves to count but majority of the time says "1,2,5,678910!"
• she goes through phases where she likes to practice her letters & numbers. When we practice regularly, she is right on with all of them. If not, it is hit or miss.
• knows all her colors & shouts out the colors of items in books at random
• knows all her shapes
• knows the answers to the questions: Who made you? God, Why did God make you? to glorify Him & enjoy Him, What else did God make? all things
• requests "O Come O Come Emmanuel" to be sung at bedtime with "Re-doice?"
• talks to Eloise in the exact same tone with the exact same inflections in her voice as I do
• likes to hold Eloise, lay on her, pick her up & drop her, pull her across floor, push her down, & assist her to sit up. All the while baby sister mostly grins ear to ear!
• I hate to say it but, she is a bully at the park. She pushes anybody & everybody for no good reason!

Chatter box: The talking has really taken off in the past 6 months. She is talking all the time now, attempting full sentences but still leaving out words sometimes. We understand her about 95% of the time on the first try. Here is a list of some of the fabulous things she says..

• When you have to take an item away from her she says over & over "doh takey way me" or she will tell Elo, "I takey way you Elo"
• When Eloise wakes up from a nap & comes into the room where Charlotte is she says "oh hello" but it sounds more like "Ohio Eh-wheese!"
• In requesting to watch Winnie the Pooh she says "Pee-wooh" She also randomly says "I yike honey mommy, Pee-wooh yike honey too!"
• When you ask her "where did mommy go" on the days that I work she replies with "mommy wok hopipal, where babies bohn, and mommies"
• She sometimes comes out of her room at night & says "I scared!" When you ask what she is scared of she says "chickens & owls" or she says " I noi-eese" meaning "I heard a noise"
• EVERYTIME I feed Eloise & she has food on her face, Charlotte exclaims "You a mess Eh-wheese!" while giggling uncontrollably. If she gets food on her face she says "I your mess mommy"
• If you ask Charlotte if Eloise can eat ___ or go tee tee on the potty, Charlotte yells back "No! You a baby Eh-wheese!"
• When she has an idea that she thinks is just great she will tilt her head to the side & raise her eyebrows up while stating "We go walk maybe?" "We go pay socca ball maybe?" "We eat maybe?" Every idea is followed by "maybe?" Super hard to resist the cuteness!
• When on our way to the park she says "I be nice boyees, I be nice guhs, I be nice mommies, I be nice babies, I be nice doggies"
• Says "I yuve _____" about anything & everything
• When talking about being sad she says "I sad, I need mommy" or if she sees someone else sad she says "he sad, he wah his mommy" I told her the other day that when I am sad that I feel like I wah my mommy too : )
• When we are reading a book she tries to pick up the things on the pages while saying repeatedly "I wah hoee" or "I wah pick it up."
• She went through a phase where she would say "go away mommy." We explained to her that this was not a kind thing to say. One day last fall I went running & Rob followed me with the girls in the stroller. He had Char shouting "go mommy go!" So from then on when I would correct her after she said "go away mommy" she would say "dat not nice" in a sing songy voice & then shout "go mommy go!" This made me laugh hard on more than one occasion.
• Following the statement of anything that might bring any bit of enjoyment to Char's life she says "Dat be so fun?!"

Sleep, or lack there of: Oh my, I guess it was about time that I had to experience some sort of craziness after having an almost perfect child in this area for a very long time. It has been an awful last month of lots of waking during the night & coming to our room.  I always thought people were crazy when they would say that they didn't know how it happened but their kid ended up in thier bed & they didn't notice. Well scratch that off my "never gonna be that mom" list.  This is what usually happens. She is so sneaky I don't even notice! The other common occurence is that she is awake & wired at 3am standing at my bedside saying "you awake mommy? I get kicker (sticker) now?" We did have about 2 weeks of company in December so we are getting back to normal & she is doing much better staying in her bed. She is being rewarded with a sticker in the morning if she remained in her bed all night. This happens about 50% of the time. She also gives stickers to Libby, London & Aurora, her tiger for staying in their bed. The other morning she brought a sticker to Elo & said "Kicker for you Elo, you a good guhl stay in your bed all night yea!"  I guess she doesn't know that Eloise has no choice but to remain in bed ; ) Her usual hours of sleep are from 8-6:30 or 7 & then 12:30-3 for her nap. She is happy to go to bed for nap but likes to push bedtime back as far as she can with lot's of antics like "one mah time" down the slide, etc.

Big girl Panties: Charlotte is 100% potty trained (day & night) as of the end of August.  She has had accidents on & off but very infrequently.  The other day at the park, we went to the restroom and mommy goofed & did not pull her pants down to her ankles.  We had a super soaker like spray all over the panties & pants. She said "oh no mommy! I all wet!" Long story short, when we got to the car I stripped her down from the waist down & she rode home with a nudey booty as we call it. I prayed the whole time for 2 things, one, that we wouldn't get pulled over & two, that we wouldn't get in a wreck causing me to stand out on the street with my nude child  : )

I doee: As I mentioned before, this little lady is determined to do most everything on her own. If you are too overbearing according to hear she exclaims over & over "I doee, I doee,  I doee, I doee!" She will have no assistance in climbing into car & buckling up, taking off or putting on clothing/shoes, carrying piles of books to & from her room, the list goes on & on. Many times if you attempt to pull her pants down & get her on the potty she will say "no, I doee," get off the potty, pull her pants up & start over on her own. She will also say "you go out there!" The only time she demands help is when we are not giving her full attention & she walks away saying "holp me holp me holp me."

Heart: It is a daily necessity to have my heart & mind focused on Christ as I parent a sweet but challenging two year old.  This does not always happen & on these days I find myself overy frustrated, harsh & super irritable.  These feelings remind of my need for renewal in Christ & for Him to provide me with strength & energy for each day. Charlotte is learning to obey & is able to identify if she has a "happy heart" or not.  At least once a day she ends up in her room for some time alone until she can have a "happy heart" again.  She also knows the answers to these questions: How do you obey? all the way, right away & with a happy heart, What does disobedience bring? pain & hurt, What does obedience bring? joy & reward. It is still a bit confusing in my mind as I consider how to help her act a certain way because it is right, to have her obey mommy & daddy because it is right &  keep in mind that right behavior is not what makes God accept you. At 2 years old, our in depth conversations seem years away to help her understand that Jesus is the one who was perfect in our place & that because of our trust in him we delight in doing what is right.  So for now, we speak in simple terms, sometimes practicing the more complex as if we are rehearsing for future conversations. She smiles at us as we wonder what her little mind really understands : ) We continue to pray that God will make her heart sensitive to the Holy Spirit & that she would find Christ SO desirable as she grows.

Two and a half years into the incredible experience of caring for this girl, I am loving it & loving her.

Wedding of the Century

During the last week of 2011, on December 29th to be exact, we celebrated with Chris & Amanda as they committed their lives to one another as husband & wife. I call it "the wedding of the century" because it was : ) We have known Chris for a long time & have had the honor of praying for a wife for him for the past 4 years & God was SO good in providing such an incredible woman for him to join his life with.  Chris was actually a groomsman in our wedding...very fun to reverse! 

Our claim to fame is that they met at our house! Our friend Christine works with Amanda & thought that they may be a good match so yes, it was a set up, & a good one at that.  They got engaged in Colorado over the summer then came back to Orlando to plan away.  Theirs was the first wedding ceremony to be held in our chapel & it was beautiful. Rob was a groomsman & I was his wife, and an unofficial picture snapper per request of the bride & groom. 

We enjoyed dinner with the Lent & Molesky families in Celebration a couple nights before the wedding & then had a blast at the rehearsal & dinner.  We were childless for the wedding festivities thanks to some very sweet friends that spent many hours with the girls. 

Chris & Amanda were both in a state of delight, as they should be : ) Her entrance was my favorite part.  She chose the song "He's Always Been Faithful" by Sara Groves & had the recording played.  This song has been a precious part of our experience as parents. See why HERE.  After singing this song day in & day out to my girls, so much that Charlotte can fill in the words for me if I stop, I couldn't help but think about one of them choosing this song to walk down the aisle to some day if God sees fit that they marry. Charlotte requests it every night as "the piddy song" translated to "the pretty song." I agree Charlotte, it is a piddy song for a piddy bride!

Onto those pictures I snapped....unofficially...



the beautiful bride & the handsome groom



this might have been one of the best moments....Chris read his vows to Amanda which included "you are super sexy & hot!" Amanda loved it....as you can see : )



the Valentines

 We LOVED seeing some old friends including the beautiful family pictured below.  We met the Berghoefers when we visited Florida while considering moving here.  They hosted us for dinner & offered us encouragement as we were walking through an important decision.  We immediately bonded with them & couldn't wait to get to know them once we moved to Orlando.  Sadly enough, they moved to Maryland just before Charlotte was born for Bill to take a position with Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  We have missed them so much!

Chandler, Shannon, Bill, Luke, Logan, Rob & Me

So, the ceremony was just beautiful in every way & we were pretty sure the reception would be the same : )
Boy were we right! The reception was held at the Summerlin House in their outdoor terrace. 

The centerpieces- tissue paper flowers, dyed mason jars & personalized ribbon
I should definitely pin this on Pinterest : )

so beautiful

first dance

Another "sweet" idea of Chris & Amanda.... Instead of having a wedding cake, Matchmaker Christine was deemed "Christine the Baker." She organized about 8 of us to bake & decorate specific flavors of cupcakes that were then set out in this adorable arrangement with cards stating what we could choose from.  The table was complete with the banner. Also "pinable."

Me & my Jenny Girl

the table for the wedding party

We ate a feast & loved every bite then headed over to the dance floor.  Okay, for anyone that is unaware of my feelings towards dancing, here is the low down.  I will begin with quoting my husband "you danced like a mom long before you were one!" Hahaha this makes me laugh mainly because this statement is 100% true.  I am a nerd that likes to dance at home with Charlotte in the kitchen, perform a special show for family only when I am in a silly mood (one of Steve & Jenny's favorite nights at our house) or break it down all alone, memorizing moves from So You Think You Can Dance.  The bottom line is I will never look as cool as the rest of the folks on the dance floor & I am okay with that so I just have to get moving & then I have fun.  I did have quite the crew of girlfriends to be silly with so that helped.  I am just praying that I did a good enough job hiding from the video camera....if not I am sure Chris and Amanda will just smile & say "poor girl, what's wrong with her, did someone put something in her drink?"  Notice, there are no photos of me dancing...for a good reason : )

The Lents & The Valentines

Just after the Bride & Groom left, we had to snap a picture of the Red Raiders.  All but Tommy on the end went to Texas Tech at the same time & were part of  the nine30 College Ministry at First Baptist Church in Lubbock.  It was fun to catch up & get our guns up!



Me, Rob, John, Nick, Ben, Kyle & Tommy (the father of the groom)

We are so thankful to the Lord who brought Chris & Amanda together.  Both of them love Jesus & serve him in radical ways.  We have no doubt that they will be a great pair as they transition from single to married life & beyond.

I was quite tearful through those few days for a couple reasons. One, I am SO delighted to see them marry one another & could almost burst at the seams thinking about the many things they will experience together as they walk with the Lord through their life as husband & wife. Two, I experienced a massive amount of flash forwards.  Why is it that when your children are not even 3 years old that it brings you to tears to think about them being all grown up? It very much excites me to think about what they might be like as women or who they might marry but there is just something that makes your heart feel heavy when pondering all of these things.  During the rehearsal dinner, the bride & groom's parents along with close friends of theirs made toasts that truly affected my heart & my attitude towards parenting.  They thanked the bride & groom for being faithful to the Lord, for remaining pure & for not settling for anything less than what God had in store for them.  The friends of the parents spoke to the caliber of godly parenting that went into raising both Chris & Amanda.  The friends & family of the bride & groom shared time after time of the Christ like character Chris & Amanda each posses. God really used that evening to remind me of the importance of my role as a mother.  He reminded me that this journey of training my children to be godly is not in vain & that through His grace, we will not only make it but may see the fruit of our labor. We may someday enjoy an evening where we get to toast the bride & groom as parents who have seen a baby grow to woman who Lord willing, treasures Christ above all else & will make a wonderful wife because of that.  Who knows, maybe we will be the parents of a groom at some point too : )

Thankfully, my little ones are still SO little and I have lots of time to prepare for that moment : ) For now, we will anxiously await the arrival of the Lents back in Orlando.  They return from honeymooning in Canada tomorrow evening. Rob will be their limo driver from the airport to home.  Not really a limo, just an Expedition with car seats, crunched up cheerios & probably a diaper somewhere in there ; ) Just an ultra sweet taste of what may be to come for them!

Congratulations Chris & Amanda, we love you!

Project 365 [Days 1-7]



This year, with a fabulous camera in hand & countless opportunites to capture the everyday activities in the life of our family.....drumroll please.......enter Project 365.  A picture a day to document the happenings at the Valentine Nest in 2012.  Due to my working one day a week & being away from the house for 14 hours straight, my super sweet husband has been coerced so kind to offer to take the photo for that day each week. His contributions to Project 365 will be designated with a * next to the date. 

Here's to a great year of picture taking!

January 1st- Meal planning for the girls

  

January 2- Charlotte got a sticker for staying in bed all night long

January 3- Coldest day Eloise had ever experienced, 35 degrees

January 4th- Rob & Travis leaving to go duck hunting (returned with 6 duckeroos)

January 5th- Breaking out my new toy

January 6th- Baby Food Bonanza in my kitchen- sweet potato, spinach & peas

*January 7th - Relaxing day with Daddy (and Libby) at the park



Down on the farm!

Over our lovely visit with Grammy & Pop Pop, aka Jeannine & Bob, we enjoyed a day at Green Meadows Petting Farm.  Charlotte loved it last time we were there in April but was WAY more into the animals this time around.  Unfortunately cousin Karis was not too excited about the animals but I think she still had a good time!  She would go near an animal & say "bye bye!" Charlotte got pecked on her finger by a turkey & took a huge fall onto a giant tree root resulting in some "boo boos" on her arms. Other than that, we had a blast!

We got out there just before they opened and started out with a really small touring group. Due to our small tour group, one other kid & I were the only ones who milked the cow.  I got made fun of for my milking technique & inability to get any milk to come out.  This turned into a weeks worth of jokes that made me laugh so hard my sides hurt on various occasions.  Thank you to Rob, Steve & Jenny for your humor & creative T-shirt ideas.

Bob & Jeannine love spending time with the granddaughters and us too, at least I think they do ; )  



Pop Pop helping Char drive the tractor

Char trying to convince Karis that the sheep is nice



checking out what the sheep were eating for lunch

My favorite part of our visits here is when we get to hold a baby chick & a baby duck.  I am sure the baby chicks & baby ducks aren't too excited when they see the line of overly rambunctious children waiting for their turn : ) Charlotte could hardly wait for our chicky to be handed to us & quickly told me "I do-ee" meaning, "back off lady!"  So, I encouraged her to be gentle & I backed off.  She was precious with this little chick.  She treated like a newborn baby saying "sh sh sh" & rocking it back & forth. The chick actually fell asleep!  Char is such a good little mommy : )




Daddy helping Charlotte hold the wiggly duck

 

Grammy & Char on the hayride



And we tried and tried but this is the best we got! Rob had me laughing after he said that Elo looked like she had a toothache the way her headband was on her head!

Riding the pony....the highlight of Charlotte's day!  I know she enjoyed it despite the super serious face : )

Uncle Steve, Aunt Jenny (baby Isaac), Kar-bear, Char & I took a ride on the train.  Charlotte kept asking me "we go Timbuctoo mama?" We do read that book about every other day so I recited it to her as we went down the track.  She kept leaning out the side of the train to see the engine up front. 

hahaha...Rob insisted that Steve be the one holding the pig





and the piggy, holding the piggy

What a fun day! When we thought the fun was ending, Pop Pop bought us all ice cream!  We got a free gift on the way out.  The girls could choose between a plastic snake & a cute little stuffed mouse. Yes, Charlotte chose the snake.  She didn't even think about that mouse she just shouted out "SNAKE!" I think she got that from me.  I had an odd obsession with snakes while in elementary school & will admit that the reptile house is still on my top 3 places to visit while at the zoo.  All that to say, there is now a plastic snake residing in our home that causes me to do a double take every time I walk by!

I love to visit a "farm" but according to Rob, Steve & Jenny, it is a good thing that I don't have to provide for my family by milking a cow....