April 15, 2012

Elmo continues to be Nina Kate's favorite.

We have an abundance of clover this year.  Will buy some weed'be'gone soon, but for now I'll just teach Nina how to make flower chains. =)

Cute Eyes

I sit down next to Nina and begin to brush her hair.  She looks up at me and says:
"Cute eyes Mama!  Black eyes.  Cute mouth.  Cute teeth.  Sharp teeth Mama."
I tease her and chomp at her fingers.  Then ask her what color my hair is.  She thinks for a few seconds and says, "gold!"

I like that answer!

Top 3 Nina Kate Phrases

"Whatch you are doing Mama?"

"Nice to see you Daddy!"

"Seven dollar pouch." (She is always assigning prices to things)

Potty Stake Out Day 2

I told myself we'd give it another quick try today while brother took his morning nap.  Of course after an hour passed by with no success I couldn't bring myself to give up.  I just know she will give in soon.  And I hate the thought of all that wasted effort.  So after a few hours we are eating another picnic lunch on the tile floor.  Nina is munching on some cucumbers and we hear "the music."  "I did it!!!" Nina exclaims before I can even process the royal trumpet triumph song. I look up completely shocked.  "You did do it!".  I lavished her with praise and offered the jellybean of her choice.  We even got to hear that royal music 2 more times in the next hour... of course followed by 2 more jellybeans.  

I consider this a great success and now I'm ready to sit on the couch and watch The Price is Right in the morning and let the potty sit in the closet for a few months.  

Royal Failure Day 1

So yesterday I had too much time on my hands in Wal-Mart and came home with a "big girl potty."  I literally opened up all the options and had Nina sit on them and I tested out their various features.  We settled on the Royal Potty that sings when pee hits the bowl.  I figure I'm a busy mom who could use a notification feature.

So today I had nothing on my calendar and Nina and I were both eager to try out our new purchase.  I am a novice at potty training but I've heard a few tips here and there so Nina and I settled down in the tiled hallway with Bibles, books, stickers, color magic pages, pretend food, flash cards, of course liquids of various kinds, and a picnic lunch... and so the great pee strike begins.

Two glasses of milk, a juice box, some sips of water, and two hours later she still hasn't made a royal drop in her potty.  I go to the kitchen to mix up some cereal for brother's lunch when I here the pitter patter of feet and turn and see Nina pee all over the tile floor!  ACK!

I try to keep my spirits up and carry on, knowing she has a lot left in her.  Finally, finally, finally I here the potty sing "hooray!" and I run to Nina.  "You did it!" I cheer and I look in the potty to see a few drops.  I decide to reward even the smallest success at this point and I tell her I'm proud of her, we dump it out, wash her hands and then..... WOOSH she pees all over the stepstool.  SIGH!

Family vacation... Sort of

Im typing this on the iPad from the microtel in Harrisonburg va. We are on our way to grandpa Kirby's funeral in pennsylvania.

When we pulled up to the hotel for the night Nina inquisitively shouted "new house?" lol. I tried to explain what a hotel is but she seemed pretty excited at the proposition of new diggs. She kept declaring "new couch!" as she climbed all over the sleeper sofa and "new bible!" when she dug out the Gideon's bible from the drawer. But best of all, when she wandered into the bathroom she shouted "cute bathtub!"

Yay for adventures and praising the Lord for such a pleasant day of travels! Even our McDonald's experience was exceptional. They gave us a whole bag full of free mcd cookies and those white mints. Feeling blessed.

Tis the Season

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent.  This marks 1 year since I began this blog.  My original intent was to write a few blurbs about life every day, however faithfulness is not one of my greatest strengths!  Looking back I am glad to have recorded the little bit that I have over the past year.  I know I will enjoy reading these entries years to come.

Today I want to share what God has been stirring inside my heart lately.  I realize that I lack passion in relationships.  When I said good bye to my childish ways somewhere I decided head mattered over heart and thus I almost kicked heart to the curb.  Not to mention overtime relationships naturally grow comfortable and lose the untamed fire of young love.  God has been calling me to awaken the passionate love inside me.  To recklessly and overtly love both my husband and my God.  I want to  make this my goal this Easter season.  

In the past I've always secretly dreaded the Lent season.  I could never decide what to give up and sometimes I would let the whole 4 weeks pass before I reached a decision.  Then last year thanks to the blogging trend I was challenged to do something meaningful.  David and I decided to have 10 minutes "unplugged" time.  This may sound like nothing, but after the kids go to bed our routine is to plop on the couch and by the end of the night us, the tv, the laptops, and the sofa have pretty much molded into one entity. This year we are going to attempt daily "unplugged" time again.  And for the first time since I can remember I am excited about the time of Lent.  I am changing my viewpoint as something to endure and rather I am seeing it as 4 weeks of "dating" my God.  It's a time to passionately pursue Him, to learn more about Jesus life on Earth, to listen to His messages, to spend more time talking with God, in summary to give and receive MORE.