Random funnies

We're starting the girls in swimming lessons this Saturday, Jenna has already told me that she won't be going in the water, but instead sitting on the edge of the pool, watching the rest of the kids.

I was so excited that Nate got me a toaster oven for my birthday--our old one was gross. A friend told me that a sign of getting old is being excited about corded items for gifts.

We had guests coming over and I was in a rush to get the house clean. I was upstairs vacuuming and left the girls in the play room. When I got done, I came downstairs to an entire roll of toilet paper ripped into small pieces on the floor. So much for cleaning.

Jenna looked at the tops of my hands the other day and told me that I was a grandma now since my hands had big lines on them. (I think she was referring to the veins.)

I have specific instructions from Jenna on how to give her a "surprise" party for her birthday. She told me that she was going to wait outside while her friends crouched down inside. Then when she walks in, everyone will jump up and yell, "surprise!" Not sure that's a surprise party!

Abby just came up to me with a package of wipes in one hand and a diaper in the other and asked me if I was poopy.

I think I might be a democrat . . . .

I have been a registered republican since I was 18. No wait, I think I orginially registered as a democrat when I was 18 and didn't even know the difference between the two. Then I learned more about the parties and what my own beliefs were and have been a republican ever since.

For a while, I was a one issue voter. Abortion was it for me. I couldn't vote for anyone who would be in support of killing babies. Faith was a huge issue for me as well. To have leaders with lives based in Christ was important to me. That still is. But, I've realized that I can't only vote for people because they support or reject abortion. That's an issue that is great fun and important to debate about, but when it comes down to it, I don't see that as an issue being resolved in the political world anytime soon. I choose to focus on my own family and concentrating on how we choose to teach the girls about the sancitity of life instead of putting all my eggs in one basket on election day.

I've come a long way. I am trying to learn about all the presidential candidates and vote based on faith as well as important issues that must be addressed: health care, the environment, and security--to name a few.

When I thought about the issues that were important to me, I realized that I don't seem to fit into either party very well. So, I took this online evaluation. I had to go through a list of issues, rank their importance and indicate whether or not I supported the idea. The end result was that I am most closely matched (71%) with Bill Richardson, a democrat. And most of my other close matches were democrats. So, I'm afraid that I might be a democrat.

Now, I am probably not going to vote for Bill Richardson because he doesn't have much chance of winning, but I am open to considering others--in all parties.

I might just have to be an independent. We'll see.

If you are my dad or my uncle Wayne and you are reading this, you are probably falling off your chair--both for different reasons.

Most of my posts are about funny things that happen with the girls and I've learned that finding the humor in motherhood and telling you all about it is a positive thing for me. I'm not exactly sure why, but when I laugh about the things that make me crazy sometimes, the craziness doesn't take such a toll on me.

This post, however, is not about a funny thing that happened with the girls. My heart breaks for two families at our vicarage church as well as the people surrounding them.

I love God. I know that everything that happens is in His plan and that everything ultimately glorifies Him. I trust Him and I understand the sacrifice He made for me. I'm having a hard time understanding how two families can be hurting so much as a result of two deaths that were so shocking and hard.

A little girl, just a few months older than Abby, died two weeks ago from an aggressive brain tumor. Her parents, as well as their friends and family, watched her slowly and painfully slip away. An admirable man with a beautiful, Godly family including six children suddenly died yesterday. He will never walk his daughters down the aisle and his family is left in a heap of disbelief and grief that is unimaginable.

Seeing these horrible things doesn't make me doubt God. In the awful things, I see His comfort, healing, and great love, but why them and why now?

My heart breaks for these families and for the people who love them. But I still love God and trust that He will take care of them.

Nate is disqualified

Apparently, having hairy arms disqualifies you from rubbing Jenna's back.

Every night after prayers, I stay with Jenna for a few extra minutes and rub her back. I started that one evening when she was sick and she has asked for it ever since.

The other night, Nate asked Jenna if he could stay and rub her back. She said, "No Daddy, you have hairy arms."
:)

"Clothes Haaaaaaa"

"Clothes haaaaa" is the best way I know how to phonetically spell a new phenonmenon in our house. The word "haaaa" is Abby's word for "off." And there's not way to phonetically spell "haaaa" that does justice to the way Abby says it. But she says it a lot these days.

This morning, I went into her room to find her completely naked. She got her blanket sleeper off as well as her diaper. Thank goodness it wasn't a poopy diaper, but I have that those unfortunate situations this week. Yuck.

Anyway . . .Abby likes to take all her clothes off several times a day. I think it's a challenge for her and she likes to see if she can get out of every outfit that I think is too tricky for her. For example, after the first few times she did this, I started putting a Onesie on her, thinking that she couldn't get that off, therefore, she couldn't get to her diaper.

Wrong.

She got her arms out of the Onesie, pulled the Onesie down to her tummy and proceeded to undo her diaper by reaching in the stretched out neck that was now around her stomach. I thought that was a surefire way to keep her from getting everything off, but I now realize that I have nothing. No defenses against our 21 month old who does not want to keep her clothes on.

So now every time I drop her off at the nursery at church or leave her with friends not only do I have to warn them that she will probably climb on anything she can find, but that she will probably strip as well--and not just the clothes--the diaper too.

On one hand, this is hilarious to me. She is just so amusing and really is a riot most of the day. However . . . when I am trying to get everyone out the door for church or preschool or something important that I am stressing out about, the last thing I want to see is a naked baby running around with her clothes in a pile.

Jenna never did this. In fact, I was worried about her dressing skills when I heard my friends tell me that their kids were always dressing and undressing themselves. Not to fear though, Jenna is an expert dresser . . . she has taken to picking out her own outfits. Needless to say, I only let her wear the yellow tank top over the blue long sleeve shirt with bright pink tights with hearts all over them and her denim skirt when we aren't going anywhere important. Yes, I get stares, but you know . . . she is very proud of herself and learning some independence.

As you can see, getting dressed and staying dressed are issues in our house right now. And while it is a minor inconvenience at times, this is the stuff of life and parenthood that we will always remember.

A New Kind of Moisturizer

Abby is into everything. She thinks that emptying all the toy bins in the middle of the room is great fun and doesn't think that any of Jenna's clothes belong in their drawers. I recently had to put a child safety lock on the pantry door handle so that she couldn't get in the pantry. She had been emptying the bottom two rows and carrying stuff around the house. The last thing I needed was to have vegetable oil spilled all over the family room carpet.

The girls stayed with some good friends of ours while Nate and I went to a meeting last night. They are well aware of Abby's adventurous and curious side, but weren't prepared for her latest antic. Apparently, Abby got into the diaper bag, and rubbed diaper rash cream all over her face. By the time our friend, Matt, discovered all of this, her entire face was white. When we picked the girls up, Matt was afraid to tell us what had happened, thinking that we would be upset. However, we laughed out loud at the thought of her getting into the diaper rash cream. I just wish I could have seen her!

I went out this morning with a friend and came home to find out that she had done the same thing again while Nate was home with her. Only this time, Nate said that she kept saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy" while rubbing the diaper rash cream all over her face. It seems as if she was trying to put moisturizer on like I do each morning. How funny!

I have not witnessed either of these hilarious incidents, and Nate didn't get a chance to take a picture. If we do get a picture of Abby putting "moisturizer" on, I'll be sure to post it.