Easter 2013

Easter 2013. This year we went to the Saturday night service at Southeast. Earlier in the day the weather was so nice and the kids had their first experience hunting easter eggs. Lucy loved trying to collect lots of eggs. Si was really content to find the occasional 1 or 2. He was in no rush, 1 egg was exciting enough.

Before church I took the kids outside to get a few snapshots of them in their Easter attire. We are moving soon and our backyard has been one of their favorite places. It is probably our favorite place as a family in our house so I wanted to get some pictures of them there at this age.

I asked them to hold hands so I could get this sweet shot. They were happy to oblige and continueed to hold hands all the way to the little play house.

On Easter morning we read some of our Easter books and talked about thankful we were for Jesus' sacrifice. Then the kids got their Easter baskets filled with eggs that had peeps and jellybeans inside and a couple of extra treats. It was a wonderful weekend. As an adult I think Easter is my favorite holiday. It is just so beautifully redemptive and I just can't get over how awesome Jesus is. As the kids get older I can't wait to share more with them and to teach them about the sacrifice that saves the unworthy.

Happy Adoption Day Lucy- 1 Year Later

On March 22, 2012 we finalized Lucy's adoption. One year later we continue to celebrate the beautiful, precious life she is and the joy she brings to our family. On March 22, 2012 Lucy was a very shy, afraid little girl. She did not want anyone to hold her but Mommy. While she is still pretty bashful, she has come such a long way. She is such a daddy's girl and she is a total goofball at home.

It worked out that on that day we were able to go to the Louisville Science Center with a couple of our friends which was a fun way to celebrate.

It was Friday so we went to Fiesta Time to eat. Lucy is just as crazy about her Mexican food as the rest of us so it was very fitting. We came home and read "Happy Adoption Day!" a couple of times for the special girl. It is hard to believe it has been a year. Yet at the same time I feel like she has always been with us. 

Silas-29 months

At 29 Months Silas is becoming very verbal. He has many phrases and sentences he puts together. Lately many things have become "scary", "exciting", "funny" or "awesome". Lately instead of saying "yes" he has been saying "exactly". He is quite the character. It is amazing how many emotional/feeling words he uses to describe events.

Silas loves to learn and he is a fast learner. He can count to 10, recognize his numbers, recognize his ABCS, recite the ABCs almost entirely by himself, colors, and shapes. He can sign probably 50 plus words thanks to the Signing Time videos. Sister can too.

He loves to play on the ipad. We have a couple of toddler friendly games and he frequently asks, "game at table" or "game at couch". I make him add "please".

Silas is obsessed with cars, trains, and planes. He is such a boy. He is really starting to enjoy rough housing with daddy too. He likes to watch Thomas the Train and calls him "Tommy".

Silas is definitely starting to show the will power of a 2 year old. He is learning to control his emotions, but often gets easily carried away in his frustration. This has been a learning situation for Mommy and Daddy. During these situation he likes to flail his body. We affectionately refer to him as Mr. Noodle then.

Silas is also very affectionate. He loves to hug and make conversation with us. The new thing for he and Lucy is to try to tickle Derek and I. They think that is hilarious.

He gets scared easily and comes to us for reassurance. He used to like Veggie Tales but now he is scared of it. He is also scared of Grover on Sesame Street. There is also an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba that Jack Black guest stars in. We can't even watch that one because he is screams in sheer terror when he sees Jack Black.

Silas loves to dance and jump. He automatically starts swaying his shoulders whenever he hears music. Silas still loves all fruit. It is always the first thing he wants to eat. He also still enjoys sucking his thumb. When asked if he wants to be a big boy and use the potty he squeals "No!" while shaking his head. His sister does the same. :/

Lucy- 28 months

Lucy is full of energy. She bounces around the house all day. She loves to dance , jump, climb, and run.

Lucy is a helper. She insists upon helping to load and unlaod the washer/dryer, pour food out for Marty, and "clean" house. When she sees me performing such tasks she looked at me and says and signs "I help".

My girl loves to feel like a "big girl". She begs to put on chap stick and wants Momma to dust her face with makeup brushes because it tickles and because she watches Momma.

Lucy's preferred toys are baby dolls and dolls from her dollhouse. She loves to push her baby in the stroller or shopping cart we have. She loves to be outside, finger paint, and follow Mommy/Daddy around the house. She learns by watching and doing.

Lucy's hair is getting so long. The longer it gets, the more momma learns about caring for her hair. We recently bought a sleep cap (which she pridefully wears) to help protect her hair at night. Lucy is learning to sit still for "hair day" while watching a show and eating snacks as Momma styles her hair once a week.

Lucy loves to say "cheese" and take pictures on my phone as long as she can see herself while I am taking them.

Lucy is obsessed with Fiesta Time (our favorite restaurant) and church. She requests to go to both places regularly. She also has a couple of friends and cousins she talks about a lot.

In the month of February Lucy started getting herself undressed in the mornings after she woke up. I found her like this many times. One time she was without the diaper as well :/ Thankfully this has stopped.

As silly as Lucy is at home, she is exactly the opposite in public. She is so bashful. Rarely making eye contact or speaking. Usually just as we leave from a store or talking with someone she will say "bye bye" when no one else can hear her but me. Lucy is sensitive too. She is easily upset if she is told no or that she needs to make a better choice. But, she can also be very stubborn, especially at meal times.

Lucy reminds me so much of myself as a little girl. Silly at home, bashful in front of others, dramatic when things dont go her way, and eager to learn and help. Im so thankful God blessed me with my Lucy Jane.

Hi Dozer

Silas is and always has been obsessed with trucks. He carries on around everywhere. It is always the first thing he gets attached to. He loves cars that have buttons and make sounds. He watched the movie Cars once and already knows "Lightning McQueen" when he sees it". OBSESSED.

For Christmas Silas got the book "Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site" and you guessed it, he loves it. He asks me to read it all the time. For each truck he loves saying "shhhh....nigh nigh truck".  Sometimes he will be specific and say the name of each truck, like crane truck, cement mixer, bulldozer, etc.

So this week at a local children's consignment sale I was able to find this really cool bulldozer. It looks so real and it has 6 different buttons that make sounds. It is larger than a lot of his toy cars and is probably comparable to the size of a basketball. I was so excited to give it to him and see him reaction.

So this past Monday I did just that. I proudly laid his new toy down on the floor in front of him just waiting to hear him squeal with delight. To my surprise that giddy squeal was actually a scream followed by a phrase I wasn't sure I had heard him say before. I kept listening to him and realized he kept saying "NO, dats scaweeeee!"...translated to "that's scary". He had never used an emotion like this to describe something before! He just kept looking at it, screeching, and saying "dat's scawee". I tried really hard to show him just how cool it was but he would have none of that. Bulldozer, or "dozer" as he calls it was going to have to keep its distance until he could figure it out. I managed to get a cute video of Silas "interacting" with his new dozer.

IMG 0577 from Leslie Jones on Vimeo.

Things Kids Say

As Silas and Lucy are getting older, their vocabulary is starting to develop more and they are beginning to say a lot of really funny and sweet things! I hope to remember to post this pretty regularly as my record of these cute little comments. So here it goes....


 We have been working on talking a lot about the potty lately (although talking and watching Elmo's Potty Time is about as far as we are getting). One day Lucy told us that she had pooped. Derek was home so he told her he would go and change her. He was talking to her about how one day she would go poo poo on the potty like a big girl. He then made the statement "everybody poops". Lucy stopped, looked up and said and signed "Jesus", as if asking us if the same applied for him. How random and funny?

Silas is quite the character when we go out in public these days. Lucy generally hides her face every time a stranger tries to engage her, Silas is just the opposite. Lately everywhere we are he looks at people and says "hey buddy" really loudly and enthusiastically. He also says "hewhoah" and " bye bye, tank you" every time we leave a store. Actually, the entire time we are checking out at a store he says bye bye. Over and over again as if no one hears him. Silly boy. You also have to imagine that my sweet little Ethiopian has learned to talk by listening to his momma's southern accent and has quite the accent himself. That in itself if quite hilarious.

Recently, upon getting close to our house Silas has consistently started to recognize landmarks and he realizes that we are close to home. When he says it, it is usually a long drawn out "weeee're hooooome!" This of course I thought was oh so sweet and soon after Lucy started saying the same thing. Then one Friday evening after our regular dinner at Fiesta Time we went to our second regular Friday stop- Target. When we pulled into the parking lot Silas looked up and said "weeee're hoooome!" Derek and I busted out laughing and I decided I must have an addiction if Silas thinks Target is on the same level as "home".

Most days when I get Lucy and Silas dressed I make sure to tell them that they look pretty or handsome. One day as I was getting ready Lucy looked up at me and said "momma you pitty (pretty)" and I thought I might cry. So sweet. Then I also realized this was pretty funny that she said that to me considering for the past 3 days I had been wearing t-shirts and sweatpants and now I was finally getting dressed up (by dressed up I mean jeans) and she noticed. :)

Lulu at 27 months

Si at 28 months

First Snow

Just after Christmas we had our first snow. Lucy and Silas got snow boots for Christmas and after the warm fall/winter we had had so far I was wondering if they would even get to use them. And then one Saturday morning (perfect because Daddy was home) 

                           A little blurry but I just loved how cute they looked so bundled up.

Lucy was very interested in the snow. Silas was more concerned. He didn't know what it was, it was cold, and it kept getting stuck to his toy car he brought with him. That fact concerned him the most and he kept crying when he couldn't wipe all the snow off of it.

Mom and Dad all bundled up too. 

We (Derek and I) made the snow man and the kids tried to help. Then when I tried to get their picture with it Silas decided to throw a fit. Good times.

Very dramatic here. 

It was a fun memory. It is so fun to do the things you loved as a kid with your own children. I'm not big on the cold, but there is something really special about waking up to snow. It always reminds me of the familiar words in the song, "Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow".  Thankful for this reminder.