Lunch In The Park With Daddy

Even with three small humans, it's fun to take some time out of the day and go visit Steve. If he worked a little closer, I would do it everyday! On Monday, I packed up some snacks for the kids, and a bottle for Camryn, and met Steve for lunch. We drove to a small park near the Chattahoochee River. The "park" is basically a gravel road leading to picnic table, but there is a pretty, wooden platform built over the water and it's all protected so that Bella and Rex can look at the water without tumbling in. It wasn't too hot today and it was very relaxing!

Walking to the picnic table. What a handsome, wonderful Daddy!

Bella and Rex looking at the water. We heard, "Mama! Daddy! Mama! 'Mere! Sheesh! Sheesh!" about a million times. They were very excited about the water and fish!

Proof I was there! I had the double stroller, so Camryn was in the back and all of our goodies were in the front.

Steve's Job Update

For the last month or so, Steve has been investigating positions outside of his bank. As a wife, I have been able to see God's hand on Steve in so many ways; Steve's job has always reminded me of Joseph - God has protected him from layoffs and toxic co-workers, blessed his reputation and integrity within the company, and prepared him for opportunities to expand his area of influence.

Steve has no problems with his current job, but he has always been a hard worker and a wonderful planner. As we've talked about expanding our family, Steve has started to look at new opportunities. He had a great interview at a strong company a few weeks ago, and they really seemed to like him for an Analyst position (pretty much what he does now, just on a slightly larger scale). When he returned last week for a follow-up interview, it was with the top four men in the company, including the man he had originally met with. These men were really impressed with his resume and talked about Steve filling a Portfolio Manager position.

The wonderful praise is that he left this interview with an informal "yes" and is waiting for a formal offer from their HR department. I think Steve's preference would be the Portfolio Manager position, but he'd be fine with either. We're praying for wisdom and God's blessings as we move forward. Reading back over this post, I sound like a really biased wife, but it's okay! I'm happy that I get to write about Steve for once!

"And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, 'Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory; that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil that I may not cause pain!' So God granted him what he requested."

I Chronicles 4:10

Sweet Mother Of Abraham Lincoln

Tell me there are other mothers out there who have had moments of wanting to turn around, walk out their front door, and leave the toddlers locked inside? Maybe go for a pedicure or some shopping. Okay, I was kidding about that last part. Mostly.

No? No one? Just me then.

My children (I'm including Rex in this for the sake of the post) have an uncanny ability of waiting until the 5 or 10 minutes that I'm out of the room and doing something else before they get into a situation that usually makes me gasp in horror. (Not "horror movie" horror, just the "I. CAN'T. BELIEVE. YOU. JUST. DID. THAT." kind of horror.)

Walking from the dining room into the hallway and playroom. It looked like we were under construction.

Into the living room...everything was covered in a fine (or not so fine) mist of powder. P.S. It's takes forever to get powder off of anything! I don't know if there's a special trick, but if there is, please don't tell me. It would push me over the edge.

And, the finale...the living room. I know, right? RIGHT?!?!?

This has only happened twice in the precious little monster's two years of being alive, and it gets worse each time. It's not like I leave out baggies of baby power everywhere or anything. Every once in awhile, they find my stash and go to town.

So that was my afternoon. I was basking in the joy of a lazy Friday afternoon, when I came downstairs and found all of this. I've cleaned the floors and counters three times and there's still a film over all of it. Beautiful, wonderful, inquisitive little humans! I'm very thankful that it's Friday!

"Daddy's Home!"

The favorite part of my day is the moment that Steve walks through the door. It doesn't matter what's happened throughout the day or whether it was stressful; at that moment, Bella is over-the-moon overjoyed! She runs to him, laughing and squealing! Today she wanted a ride on Steve's motorcycle as he pulled it into the garage.

I Am A Rock, I Am An Island...

(Am I too young for a Simon & Garfunkel reference?)

I didn't cry this morning during carpool! I took my place in line, handed Bella's school bag through the window to the Preschool Director, and watched as she unbuckled Bella's seat. Bella held her hand and walked into the school. I was a little too proud to be sad. Plus, knowing that the director of the program and her assistant teacher love her as much as I do always helps.

One of the items on her supply list was to send in 4 pictures of our family for an art project that they'll be working on this year. We don't normally get a lot of opportunities to take pictures of all three of us, so I was very thankful for all of my Michigan pictures! Another reason to be thankful that Julie took about 500 pictures during that trip!

How cute is this? I love that her teachers did an art project while also reassuring mothers that their child is wonderful even if an art project doesn't come home every, single day. P. S. Do you like that I stuck it to the fridge with a stamp? it was all I had on short-notice.

"Bweeeeease!"

We're working on "please" and "thank you" at our house, and we're in the habit now of asking Bella, "How do you ask?" if she starts demanding something. I end up asking her as much as possible, but not because I consider myself a big stickler for manners; it's more that I think it's really cute to hear her say it!

Bella's Words

Bella was chattering away this morning, and it made me think that I need to write down some of her recent "Bell-isms" to remember and share.

Bella says her "f" as a "p", so...

food is "pood"

fork is "poke"

foot is "poot"

Bella's "s" is said like an "h", so...

sun is "hun"

and when she wants us to sing, it comes out as "hing"

She also tends to put the ending consonant in the beginning, too. A giraffe is a "faff" and a fish is a "sheesh."

Bella identifies lots of her animals by their sound instead of their name, and my most recent favorite is when she calls her elephant her "boo." Apparently, that's her version of an elephant blowing its trumpet.