I'm not sure you can call today typical, since our days seem so random now. Sometimes were busy little bees and then there are days like today when we can enjoy life at a little slower pace. And today started at a real slow pace, since we all slept in! Unintentionally though;-) Matt had turned off his alarm yesterday morning and then forgot to turn it back on last night- oops. So instead of a beep, beep, beep- it was the phone at 7:45 that woke our sleepy eyes. It was the local police department sending a message of a missing elderly person who hadn't been seen since 10 pm last night, yikes, luckily we received a call an hour later letting us know she had been found and was reunited with her family- Amen!
After hanging up the phone I noticed that the monitor to Lauren's room was off, another reason we had slept in. She was awake, but just laying in bed, and I heard Olivia stirring too. So up we got- Matt to the shower and me to the girls. We played upstairs a little after getting everyone up- no need to rush today.
We made our way down for breakfast, where the girls busied themselves while I unloaded the dishwasher, made toast, cut up a banana and got cereal poured into bowls. As I did this Matt finished getting ready and made himself a sandwich and got some yogurt for lunch today. We all got settled at the table, but not without Lauren whining a little to inform us of how hungry she was and how Olivia got into her seat first- she stomped and pouted as we fussed at her, low blood sugar can cause children (and us big ones too) to melt down at the smallest of indiscretions. We prayed and ate. Matt rushed so he could make it out the door at normal time despite waking up over an hour late- we all helped. He was gone by 9 and by 9:15 breakfast was cleaned up and our day forged ahead.
My sister was in my hometown visiting my mom, so I had them it on my 'list of things to do'- to call and see how the visit was going. Any conversation that has all three of us ladies in is always one filled with crazy and laughs. They had called the night before while driving someplace to inform me of the nutty things happening, apparently my mom screamed for Shauna to stop the car so they could pick up an urn that someone had just thrown out of their car, only my family!- it made me miss them and glad we well see them coming up soon! But as the girls and I sat on the couch, phone ringing, awaiting someones answer I smelled some unpleasantries- my mom picked up with a mouth full of toothpaste to tell us they were busy and they'd call us back later. This worked out nicely because I noticed Olivia didn't smell so fresh- time for a diaper change! Afterwords, Lauren asked me to read her a book I had laying about, she wanted me to read it out loud to her- she wanted to hear a story all about mommy and daddy. I said 'well this book isn't about us but we could read the photo books!' and she loved that idea. So we started with our wedding album and made it through Lauren's first photo book before the girls got antsy and wanted to do other things. Lauren wanted me to get out the box of coloring books and a bag of stuffed animals we're borrowing and Olivia just wanted to be with us, doing whatever it is that we were into at that moment. That's when I decided the opportunity for shower time was here!
They played about and wondered in and out of the bathroom as I quickly got myself together. I put the cloth diapers into the dryer and then Olivia pulled me to play bug bowling with her, only to be distracted by Lauren and we all came back into the living room, where we continued reading one more photo book. Then I noticed the sleepy girl next to me who was ready for morning nap- it was 10:30 already?! Diaper change, snuggles, and goofiness sent Olivia off to dreamy land and I headed back downstairs to see what Lauren had planned for our "alone time", as she calls it. She was coloring her books from earlier and we decided to do a quick school activity before painting. I checked email while she colored her "Q" sheet, cut it out, and pasted the "Q" items onto the big green "Q." By the time she was done with that I was done with email and we got out all the stuff for painting. She painted, we talked, and I typed some of this blog- of course stopping every 30 seconds to assist in any way I could. She finished painting a heart, a train, and then made fun shapes and hand prints on a big cardboard piece I had saved for just such an occasion as this. Then she cleaned up all the paint stuff and herself in the kitchen sink while I headed upstairs to get a little girl up from nap. Lunchtime!
We chatted and ate our lunches together- I was admiring how big the girls were getting, Olivia with her legs dangling out of her high chair. I'm sure it was because we were going though the photo books of when Lauren was just a 5 pound baby that caused me to just take in their personalities and size and sweetness as we all munched on peanut butter graham crackers, popcorn, raisins, and fruit. Olivia babbling what will soon enough be real audible words and Lauren rambling on about this or that. It was all of these emotions that prompted me to call Matt and tell him what big girls we have and see if his day had slowed down some. After hanging up, Lauren with a sad look of disappointment on her face, informed me she did not get a chance to talk to daddy, so we called him back so that she could inform him that she painted a train and how he needed to clean the bath toy walrus this weekend. I could hear the smile he had on his face, that mirrored Lauren's as they talked (he was on speaker phone).
Before I could blink lunchtime was over and I was cleaning the kitchen once again as the girls ran about and played with toys. Lauren whined from the other room, when I was almost done, "when is it time to play with me?" Oh she can be too much! We headed upstairs to put them in some clothes, do hair, and play. We picked out fun seahorse outfits and did hair. While I was doing Olivia's hair Lauren informed me she was going to make her bed- I was blown away by this action- she usually helps me by putting the animals back on and arranging them but this was the first time she did everything by herself and it was so sweet to watch. I ran and get the camera as soon as I was done with Olivia to document such a wonderful occasion. Let's hope she's inspired more often because she did a really good job, I was mighty impressed.
It was then I remembered the diapers in the dryer- the girls love stuffing the FuziBunz so I ran and got them out. Both girls smiled and did their part and the job was done in no time. Now I told Lauren I had a few fun games and she was super excited. We did a little game called 'stomp and clap' where I make up a pattern of stomps, claps and other 'dance' moves they repeat. They had so much fun- one move was a spin and Olivia isn't quiet ready for spinning in a circle so she would walk in a circle- it was too adorable. Now I wished I had video taped it! After that silliness we played 'freeze' were we dance and dance until the music goes quiet and then we freeze- they both enjoyed it but Olivia just kept dancing or roaming about and playing when the music stopped. We were super excited as one of our favorite songs by TobyMac came on, Speak Life. Love. that. song!
Then we played some more and read some books- today was Clifford. Lauren brought me a whole pile of them and she read one and I read one as Olivia sat on my lap and turned pages. It is too precious to watch Lauren "read" books (she just looks at the pictures and enjoys tell me what is happening) but this teacher knows that is a great way to begin to read, so you go girl! As Olivia snuggled into my lap more I realized it was getting close to afternoon nap time. For a slow day it sure was going quickly. So we began our nap time routine- which for many reasons is my favorite part of the day. I enjoy the routine of it and that it is the beginning of 'my time' but mostly because I enjoy just snuggling with them, reading, and talking. I'm NOT a night person and so often at bed time I am just out of energy and plain tuckered out. Plus, with Matt home we usually take a child each and snuggle so that means I don't get to have time with both of them. So nap time is better. I read both girls two books in the nursery as we rocked in the chair all snuggled together. We read Are you a Cow? by Sandra Boynton and The Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle- Olivia is really into animals and animal sounds these days. Then we ready our prayer poem book together Really Woolly Bedtime Prayers. Then Lauren went off to use the potty and I snuggled and sang songs with Olivia. Once I had her in the crib I made my way to Lauren's room to read one more book to her- a Thomas the Train book of course. She tried to use her sweet ways to get me to stay but today I needed to plan for Bible study tonight- which I explained to her, so she released me from her cuteness. I headed down stairs grabbed a snack, my bible, and the curriculum binder so that I could figure out what God had in store for my high schoolers tonight.
We're on our last lesson- Revelations. Not my cup of tea because of all the symbolism and all, but they need to embrace the end of God's glorious story and how it gives us hope and a future to look forward to. So tonight we're going to draw out what heaven might look like from our own perspective- who will be there, what it will look like, and anything else they want to add. Then we're going to talk about them, watch the video that recaps Revelations and read what John says heaven looked like when it was reveled to him. We've been meeting for 31 weeks and have gone from Genesis to Revelation and embraced God's story- Our story. It has been eye opening and faith building- I just can't believe it's almost over.
Anyway...Olivia enjoyed a nice nap, while Lauren laid for a bit before calling me up there to see if she had laid long enough- and it had been 45 minutes so I let her up to play quietly in her room. That's when I grabbed some more time to write more on here and got everything ready for dinner and Bible study tonight. I'll be sad when Wednesday night dinners stop because: one, I'll have to make dinner 7 nights a week again but two because I'm a social person by nature and enjoy eating with 50+ members of our church family one night each week. But all good things must end- a lesson Lauren is struggling to learn lately. She's been might clingy and very sad when we leave people or people leave us. I think it has a lot to do with two sets of Grandparents coming down in the past month and then leaving- she was heart broken both times people left and she's been extra sensitive about Matt going to work each day. We're working on helping her and praying for her to trust these people don't leave for any other reason than we all can't live together in one big house- although I'm sure she'd have it that way.
Before I knew it Lauren's quiet time was up and she came down to hang with me while we waited for Olivia to wake up. My mom finally called back so Lauren and I made bead necklaces, bracelets, and just random stuff with B-beads as we chatted. My sister had already left for home- so it was more of a low key conversation. Then we heard Olivia stirring upstairs, so I hung up with mom and headed to get her up. I glanced at the clock and was shocked it was already 5:25- oops again- I'm usually in the car waiting for Matt to pull into the driveway at this time. I quickly got Olivia up, changed her diaper, and was putting on shoes when Matt called to tell me he was stuck in traffic and wanted to know what to do. We decided to just meet up at church since he didn't know how much longer he'd be. About midway through my conversation I noticed Lauren pretending to put on Olivia's shoe and then throwing it to make her laugh- Olivia was in stitches over this silliness- oh how I love seeing them grow into friends!
We were walking across the parking lot at church when Matt pulled in so he wasn't that far behind. We all enjoyed the dinner, fellowship, and fun we had as we ate and chatted. Bible study came and we headed to classes. The girls enjoyed the activity and I enjoyed seeing their heavens. We read the account of heaven from Revelations. Our classroom was actually invaded by the middle school group, which made for lots of silliness and fun during the evening.
I do have to say that I didn't enjoy the ride home as much as usually, since Matt met us there we drove separately home as well- Lauren and Matt in one car and Olivia and I in the other. I love how we usually chat about our study- what we all did and the rest of our day as we drive home. But today Olivia and I made silly noises back and forth on the unusually quiet ride home. As soon as we all unloaded from the cars though the volume level went right back to the normal and I felt better. We put stuff away and then found ourselves all in our bedroom- us laying and the girls jumping about on the bed. We decided to brush teeth and read books down there tonight just for a change in pace and we were all enjoying the comfort and closeness. So I grabbed books and pjs and Matt did the teeth brushing. We enjoyed a couple of books and prayer together as a family. Matt took them to their beds and I finished this post. But now it's time to spend with Matt before I pass out and we start all over again tomorrow.
Nothing flashy or super exciting but these are the days of our lives and I wouldn't change them for the world!
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| Sweet Olivia |
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| Crazy Lauren |
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| Check out the beautifully made bed! |
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