Playing in the Mud

Recently we converted a small storage room attached to the house into a pottery. Jeremy spent some time with Moriah this afternoon playing in the clay.









Can't believe I actually caught this on video:
Moriah is using a sponge to keep the clay moist...

Racing

6 o'clock rolled around tonight, a time when Jeremy normally spends with the girls. Instead the phone rang and Jeremy was consumed for the time being. Quick, I had to come up with something to do with Moriah, something that would engage her, something we hadn't done yet today. To my dismay Moriah hasn't really taken interest in cars (and me having been a tomboy, had trouble with the excess of dolls, princesses and pink) until tonight. Moriah had a blast racing cars with me! I loved it. Then Papa came along, and of course was a better race car player than me. His engineering skills came in handy and the two built a race car ramp...

Big Girl Apples

So close to getting out the door this morning with the girls...instead, I laid Maddie down for a nap. She will gladly take two naps a day, but doesn't always get the chance to because we are out and about. She didn't sleep much yesterday (I think she is FINALLY teething) and so I knew she would be extra tired today. I still don't feel any teeth cutting through but it is WELL past time for her to get some teeth! That's right, she turns 10 months in 2 days and the girl is "gumming" all her food.

Moriah was kind of bummed we didn't go out this morning seeing as she has been sick and we haven't gotten out much lately. I convinced her to keep a "sparkling attitude" as her Uncle Luke would call it and that we'd get some special Mama-Momo time in. We sat down to read a new children's bible we got for Christmas from one of her cousins:

We have other bibles that have served their purpose while Mo was younger - full of great pictures and with paraphrased stories. Moriah is to the point where she can sit down for extended periods of time and listen to books. And so, we began with the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. For the most part I think she understood it - the book does a great job of explaining in children's terms w/o dumbing down the stories. Once the story was done Moriah said in response to Eve eating the forbidden fruit, "I eat BIG girl apples, I don't eat them from the tree."

What are YOU funny about?

Whenever Moriah hears us laugh and wants to know why, she asks, "What are you funny about?"

Christmas morning Moriah came downstairs and upon seeing all the wrapped presents said, "Look Papa, the Elves have the same paper as we do!"

Common words Moriah inserts the letter B into: Bee-tatoes (potatoes); Bee-sign (design); Bee-sghetti (Spaghetti); aaBeecado (avocado); Bee-tend (pretend)

Bippity - Boppity - Boo

Mo LOVES to play dress-up. This is papa's latest creation...






This morning Mo said to me, "Mom, let's play dress-up. I'm going to turn you into an ARG." And so, a pirate I became.

Torn

Oh, what to do!? Moriah has been sick for the past few days, leaving me worn out and with little patience. Both girls are finally down for naps and I am torn between taking a nap (only to be rudely awakened to Moriah yelling "MOM, come get me. I'm all done resting!") and trying to stay awake, reading, drinking a cup of coffee and having some MICHELLE time. It's funny- just the other day Moriah and I were playing pretend and she would wave her wand over me to turn me into a princess. When we were through, she waved the wand one last time and said, "And now, I turn you back into a MAMA." It is times like these when I realize so much of my identity is wrapped up in being a mom. Already I can see it will be hard to go through the whole empty nest thing in 20 years. Then again, I'm sure Jeremy will be so excited to have just the two of us in our home, he'll have adventures galore planned. Alright, a decision has been made - I just remembered Jeremy has a meeting after work and will be home late. I'm going to go nap and get some extra rest in preparation for the hours between 4 and 6 pm when babies and mothers seem to struggle most...