Dressing up for Halloween

Ivory was a cute little pumpkin for Halloween. She loved her costume, except for the fact that she had to wear a hat!


Emily was Cinderella this year. We're just entering the princess stage, and as a friend pointed out, Cinderella is a good role model. When people treat her harshly, she is gentle and kind in return. She has a servant's heart.


I found the idea for this costume here. My mother-in-law made the dress for our niece when she was a flower girl at our wedding. I made the accessories; the choker, headband, fingerless gloves, and the pretty, but pointless, poofs on the side of the dress. Emily thought the poofs should have been pockets - probably for storing extra candy!

Gotcha!

We've entered the messy-faced-for-months stage with Ivory. It's always fun to catch them with spaghetti sauce all over their sweet little faces. But with a baby and a big sister, it get's more interesting.



"Who me? I'm just eating my pasta."



"She got me!"

It's true. While James was taking memorable pictures of Ivory, Emily came in for a closer look. Whenever Emily is in reach, Ivory tries to get her. This time she left a mark. Emily wasn't too happy about being messy at first (although she frequently has a messy face after her fine dining experiences), but once we started laughing she joined in.

Worms, Part II

Last year, James and Emily planted a tree for my birthday. Emily's favorite part as an almost 2 year old was discovering worms.

I thought that her fascination with these rather disgusting creatures would be forgotten as a result of fall and winter and the lack of earthworms during those long months. I was wrong.

After fishing with Grandpa, her interest was piqued again. Mom and Dad kept the worms in their refrigerator FOREVER after that fishing trip. How do I know? Because every time we went to visit Emily had to see the worms and carry them around the backyard. Mom and Dad finally released them into their strawberry patch.

In the meantime, James started a new backyard project (he's so great!), and the earthworms appeared again. Emily now carries her "baby worms" around in a bucket. They go down the slide with her. They sit on her lap. When she's going potty, her worms are going potty too (thankfully outside in their little bucket). The other day I was talking to James outside and Emily asked me to hold something. I didn't look at what I was holding....argghhh! I am not into worms! We've been talking about sharing a lot lately, but I hope she doesn't share these items with Ivory.

A sneak peek...

at my most recent project! More pictures coming soon without my lovely, but wiggly, models.

Happy 4th of July!

We're enjoying a beautiful 4th of July and we hope you are too!

Has it really been 6 months?

Alright, alright. I've been very bad about posting to my blog. I could make a resolution that I will post once a week, or once a month, but I won't. I will try to post a little more frequently, though. This picture is from our family's Fiesta Bowl Party. Ivory was wearing a BSU sweater her grandma made her. She was so tiny! I'm feeling a bit nostalgic.



Ivory is really starting to get around. She spends a lot of time stuck in various parts of the house, usually under the hutch or table and chairs. If there is a way to get stuck, she'll find it cheerfully. Saturday was a big day for her, because she went from crawling backwards, to crawling forwards!





Emily had fun fishing with Grandpa in Cascade a week and a half ago. They only caught two fish, one of them big enough to keep. Emily tried to feed a marshmallow to the bigger fish. It was a little bittersweet; I loved that she was taking care of her fish, but I didn't have the heart to tell her it was dying.



We visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory during our vacation to Oregon. It was a hit with our family!



We took a train ride at the Oregon Zoo.



And a Father's Day picture: He's a good daddy!

One, two...

Ivory is really growing! I wasn't sure I should put her pretty pink dress on for church yesterday because I feared it might interfere with her adorable chin! I guess we haven't been taking enough pictures lately. Every time I moved the camera to smile at her she would startle.



Emily looked like a little woodland fairy to me yesterday. It's hard to tame her hair for long these days! I did manage to get it a little tidier for church....

Blessed!

I've been a bit (or a lot) quiet on the blogging front lately because our little Ivory Grace arrived on October 1st. I had been hoping this little one would nurse well, but it didn't happen. How can something that is so "natural" be so difficult? Well, at 10 weeks everything came together. She is nursing beautifully and it feels like such a wonderful Christmas blessing from God. I get to use the nursing cover my friend Katie made for me! Yay!

Bedtime prayers

From approximately 2 minutes ago....

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for Wonji. Thank you for baby sister. Thank you for mama. Thank you for Emily. Thank you for daddy.
Amen
Night, night, God.

Coming soon...

Our little girl is due in less than 5 weeks! We're so excited to meet her. Here is a photo of Emily and I about 4 weeks ago. Isn't my girl sweet?



Emily has been practicing taking care of babies for a long time. This is her doll, Kita. Yes, Emily named her and we have absolutely no idea how she came up with such an unusual name, Emily will not be naming her baby sister...



P.S. We're expecting Emily's baby sister to have about the same amount of hair as Kita does.

Lavender fields forever

A few weekends ago, Emily, Grandma, and I went to a local lavender farm to pick some sweet smelling flowers. It was so fun and so pretty. Grandma let Emily hold a lavender bouquet, and for some reason she thought it was funny to carry it on her back.


Emily loved seeing the "buzzy bees" all over the lavender. She would love to hug the bees and pet the bees. We were able to keep her from doing so this time!

It was such a nice time together! We'll have to watch for this event again next year.

Being Photogenic

Let's just say that it isn't easy to photograph a toddler. So...when they feel like getting their picture taken, you have to make the most of it.

Fourth of July

We spent the Fourth of July weekend with James' family. One of Emily's favorite past times was running up and down the decks at grandma and grandpa's house.



Emily had so much fun with her cousin Esther! They had matching "flower" dresses to wear to church that Sunday. So pretty! We tried to get them to sit still for a photo shoot, but it just didn't work out.

A great thing about being a parent

One thing I love about being a parent is finding joy in the things that give my child joy. And the things that give children joy are so wonderful. Before we had Emily, James and I didn't make a habit of going to feed the ducks at a pond within walking distance of our house. We didn't visit the local school playground. We didn't care if we went to fairs and festivals where there were farm animals to pet.

Now, we get to do all those things that we didn't realize were so delightful. Of course, half of our delight is seeing Emily's eyes light up when she pets a goat and hearing a happy squeal as she pets a goose. We love seeing her share her bread and crackers with the ducks (half of it ends up in her belly).

Thank you, God, for these happy occasions.

What we did...

this weekend

and last weekend.

A fun day trip to a waterfall. Now, Emily is always wanting to "see a waterfall," "hug a waterfall," and "touch a waterfall." We've been having nice conversations about how Mommy can't make waterfalls and that it's God who decides the best places for them in nature.

Pigtails

Emily's hair is long enough for pigtails! What fun!