Spelling Tuesday

Loralie's Big Girl Room is officially finished! We had a lot of fun putting it together for her, and I think it turned out perfect. She loves sleeping in her big girl bed and dancing on her blue furry rug (somehow not pictured any any of these pictures!). I painted the dresser and put together that toy box by the sweat of my brow! And this turned out to be my favorite feature of the room- her artwork display. She can hang all of her projects from library story time in her room, and I get to keep my refrigerator a little bit clearer! I made the name thingy for $10 worth of supplies. I think it turned out pretty cute!

This Easter season has been really one of the most meaningful to me that I can remember. I have, of course, grown up knowing the whole Easter story, but there is something different about teaching it to someone else, that makes it really hit home. Watching the look of sadness on Loralie's face when I explain to her about the "bad guys" that hurt "her Jesus" stirs something within my own heart. She even patted her children's bible and said "oh, I sorry Jesus". I mean, how do you explain this to a two year old? I am not even sure she really knows what "dead" means! But, I tried to sort of break it down for her is small steps. Each day I hid an Easter egg that held a treat and a small object that was found in that days "Jesus Story". Then we would read the story together out of her children's bible and do a corresponding coloring sheet. Each day we would review all the days before, so by today she was pretty comfortable telling...

Lillac was my Dad's very favorite flower. He said that it reminded him of the lillac bushes outside of his window when he was kid. He said it reminded him of his mom. I had lillac scented candles burning at his funeral. Caleb and I bought our house almost seven (!) years ago, and the first summer we lived here we planted a scaggly little lilac bush in the corner of the yard. Each year the bush refused to die, but refused to bloom either. It stood as a monument to my perfectly flesh colored thumbs for the last seven years. This week, I look out my window, and what do I see? I am going to pretend like that is a little present from Dad. Happy Spring!

One of the greatest joys in my life is going on a "wander" with Loralie. She will wake up from her nap and say, "Mommy, how bout we go for a nice new walk?" We will put on shoes, and head out into the neighborhood, not really knowing where we are going, and not really caring. We aren't in a hurry. We stop to pick "flowers" aka yellow dandelions. I show Loralie how to do "mama had a baby and it's HEAD POPPED OFF!" and she giggles and giggles. "Let me pop it mom!" she says. I show her how to blow on the fuzzy dandelions to make a wish. She wishes and wishes. We keep on wandering. We come to a whole hill full of weeds and her eyes get huge and she says "Mama, look at all those WISHES!" She plucks another yellow dandelion and hands it to me. "Here ya go. Dis make you so happy!" And she was right! It certainly did.

Yesterday Loralie was in rare form even for her! She was so hyped up, which means very entertaining! Here are some of the funny stuff she said: She was running around in circles saying "I'm a crazy person! I'm a crazy person!" When she walked into her (almost) completed "big girl room" she did a huge " OOOOOOOO !" and then said "mommy, I so exciting!" while jumping up and down. She kept trying to hug her big girl bed, which would have been pretty cute if it wasn't freshly painted... She told Caleb and I that the Easter bunny was bringing her a brudder . She kept trying to take her Dora calendar off the wall, and I told her she needed to leave it alone. She said "Ya, you better just put me in time out." She was watching me do an art project for her room and she said "Mommy, that is so awesome!" She told me "Mommy, I am just a little bit mean." Ha ha! Aren't we all...

Today was a pretty big day- Loralie had her very first haircut! Well, a trim really. Her and her little friend S ophie had a "Salon Date" today at this really cute kid's salon. They got to watch cartoons and sit in cars while they got their locks chopped. And then they gave the mommies little baggies of the curls! Sniff, sniff :)

"An evil and wanton generation is always wanting signs and wonders. The only sign you'll get is the Jonah sign!" -Jesus There are some bible stories that you have heard so many times that you scarcely comprehend them any more. Such is the story of Jonah. I have heard this story since I was a little girl, but I have been thinking a lot about Jonah lately. Maybe it's because the Easter bunny is bringing Loralie the Veggie Tales version on DVD, but that story keeps coming to my mind. And when you really think about that story, Wow. Weird . Most of the time when you think about Jonah, the story is condensed to something like this: Jonah runs from God, gets thrown overboard , swallowed by a whale (!?!), has a change of heart and ends up going God's direction after all . But as I have studied this story as an adult, some smaller details present themselves. Jonah, at the time of this story, was already a pretty famous evangelist/missionary. He was well known most plac...