Deacon of the Week

Our booger bear will be two in September.  He's about 20 months now.  My oh my, how time flies.  With Deacon being our second kiddo, I find it hard to jot down new things that he does or says.  I imagine it will be a bit crazier with more kiddos, but chasing him around the house and shooing him away from fragile things has recently replaced jotting down some memories of him growing up ;)

I hear mumbling in the car sometimes and I think it's Mae, but it's really Deacon pointing and talking about things.  I take for granted this fast time of learning for him.  He's not our little baby anymore!

It's really fun to see how different he is from his sister though.  He's a wild man, but Mae was pretty mellow at his age. At times, I wondered (and worried) about what we did differently.  When he screams at the very top of his lungs for something and runs around non-stop, I like to think it's the testosterone?  He really does have his own way of communicating and he's still learning. I need to remember that most days. 

Some Deac vocab...

Dada, Mama, Ma (Mae)
Nana (banana)
Wawa (H2O)
Peace (please)
bye-bye
all done
ba (boy)
apple
whoa!

He knows some animals and we all know what lions, tigers, and bears say.  Rawr is heard a lot around this house...

When we ask him to sing a song, he makes a spider with his hands to start climbing up the water spout...

He loves to wrestle and play hide-and-seek.  He'll close himself in our closet and laugh really hard when he pops out.

He rarely refuses food and will sway you any day with his sweet smile.  That kid...

He looks every bit like his handsome daddy too ;)

Diet Starts Monday

I wrote back in the day about our diet ventures.  With traveling, holidays, and a busy schedule, we've swayed a bit from where we'd like to be with our eats.  It's hard, isn't it?

We want to be more faithful with how we eat, and we're excited to work on 'greening up' our grub choices. 

Some treats that we've tried and have enjoyed:

Roasted Cabbage
Crispy Brussels Sprouts
Tomato-Basil Soup

The kids have liked:

Dessert Quesadillas
Egg Cups

We haven't been as strict with the kiddos about eating only veggies or 'healthy' food, but we do ask that they eat their portion of veggies if we have it for dinner.  We hope they'll grow to like certain foods more.  Any healthy eats your kiddos have liked?

I'm slowly building up our "Make Again Meals" board on Pinterest if you care to follow along or swap meal ideas!

And the winner is...

A long while back, I started up the great mug exchange.

Check out the lovely gals that participated!

Christy from always me with you.
Brittany from bee little queen.
Jenn from deliberate wanderer.
Emily from life as a rodriguez.
Kelley from the houtz house party.

Thank you ladies for sharing your mug shots and stories.  I'm looking forward to our mug exchanges!

And the winner of the great MUG exchange....
and proud owner of an Amazon gift card is....

Christy! Congrats to you pretty lady!  

You did it!

"You did it! I'm so proud of you! You're such a big girl!" ::clapping::

Maevri shouts this to me while I'm in the bathroom.

That might be too much information, but we sometimes have an open-door policy in our house.  Even if the bathroom door is closed, our little ones find ways to get in don't they?

Over the last month, Mae has heard a lot of potty cheers and songs, so I guess she feels like everyone needs a little moral support sometimes while using the facilities.  'Tis true, but we are really happy that our little gal is potty trained now ::hallelujah chorus::.

I traveled over Spring Break, so I got to catch up on some potty training reads.  We had been 'practicing' using the potty with Mae over the last few months on and off.  By 'on and off,' I mean that we would try it out one day every few weeks just to see where she was at.  I was a little discouraged (and not motivated) with training, but probably should not have been since we hadn't even tried the hardcore, go big or go home training yet.  I remember praying on the plane ride home, "I'm not too sure where to go next with this potty business, but I pray that she understands it quickly and recognizes the need for a toilet.  I'm nervous about the energy and patience that's needed to start this venture." (And that was paraphrased...)

God cares about the 'littlest' of things. 

After getting home from my trip, Mae told me that she had to use the restroom.  "Say what?? OK!" was my shocked reply.  We ran to the bathroom and she pooped in the potty. What do we do?  We call daddy and the grandparents of course.  We also head to Costco to buy that 10-pack of Disney Princess panties.  It's a big day. 

We've had a few accidents since then, but we're super thankful she has recognized the need for a toilet ;)

I think gradually reminding her over the months about potties and panties helped in the process.  Reading books and having Dora and Tinkerbell panties reminded her about a big milestone coming up too.  She didn't really just get it one day, but it took time.  It seemed to us like she did though, because it was a big surprise.

Next up: Deacon. Yikes.

new kids on the block

It will be almost three months since we moved into our new house.  There are still minor cosmetic things we'd like to do and there may be a few unpacked boxes lying around, but it is definitely feeling more like home each day.  Before buying the house, we were able to get some good time with the former builders and owners of the home.  They showed us the ropes and gave us the low-down on the home; they really made it their own.  It was a sweet time and we know they miss this house.  (It was the first house built on the block in the 60s. The wood paneling might be a clue...) We think the wooden beams and 'vintage' light fixtures are pretty sweet though.

Our dining/office room.  We finally put up a shelf.  It really makes it feel more like home...

 We have a hallway! It's the little things.

Kid's/guest bathroom. Dora potty seats are the new fad.

 Mae Mae's Room.

Deac's Room.

Front craft/reading/play/sitting? room ;)

One of those minor cosmetic changes I'd like to do. It's a flower bed. Literally. I call it a giant litter box.

Mae grabbed dirt out of it to throw, but that wasn't the only thing she grabbed...

Backyard fun.

We really enjoy our home and we love making it our own.  It's fun to look back at house hunting and see God's provision through it all.  We loved working with our realtor (shout out to Will Wright) and after a long while looking, we decided to put an offer on this house.  It was actually one of the first houses that we saw online, but I remember saying, "It's kind of dated and 'meh.' Lots of wood. Let's keep looking." Little did we know, it would be our new casa.