Journey To The Cross 2010

On Saturday we enjoyed our second Journey to the Cross program at church. This was a great way to start off our Holy Week celebration. Adley seemed to understand more than I anticipated. She participated at each of the stations, cowered in front of the Roman soldiers with the whip, contemplated at the crucifixion and was first in line to view the empty tomb.

Cana took everything in and didn't make a sound. Did I mention we have wonderful girls?



At several stations, the people welcomed us, the travelers, into their homes to hear their story. After we got home that afternoon Adley donned her hoodie towel as a makeshift headdress and sat on her chair:
"I am Mary.
I am not a soldier.
Welcome to my home"
Then she would get up and walk around the room...
"Here we have some books....
Here we have our donkeys..."

Every Little Bit Helps....

After several attempts to explain to Adley how much is "too much" hand soap we've taken matters into our own "hands." We've tried liquid soap, foaming soap, liquid soap with difficult-to-operate pumps, all to no avail.

I decided that I can't keep her from using 1/2 cup each time she washes her hands. Therefore, I'll use the foaming soap and refill it myself and at least cut our costs. I bought a new dispenser of foaming hand soap from Target.
The next morning, Adley unscrewed the cap and poured the entire bottle down the drain. Frustrated, I decided to retry bar soap - the new Johnson's Buddies soap. Notice their claim that their Sudzing Bar lasts "twice as long as regular soaps!"

They were right - it took Adley
2 DAYS
to mash their bar into unrecognizable and unusable soap.

The search goes on...

Baby Steps...

In the morning I think..."Today I'll clean the kitchen!"
After breakfast I think..."At least I'll start with the dishes."
By noon I say, "We'll just have lunch and then I can get started."
After lunch, I say, "Time to empty the dishwasher."
By two, its "nap time" and I think, "I have time to empty the top rack before little sister wakes up."
At 2:15, I want to scream, "At least let me put away the coffee cups!"

I"m sure there are other mothers washing breakfast dishes at 10pm at night, right?

Did I mention I was typing this one-handed?

Duty calls!

A Message from Adley

First Week of Spring? (3/15-3/21)

Our week was full of friends, playgrounds and snow! Quite the variety.

On Thursday, we visited friends.

On Friday, we spent the morning of Family Day doing some shopping and the afternoon at the playground. The temp reached 65! We enjoyed a new park.

On Saturday it snowed all day and it wasn't much warmer on Sunday.
Other than that, a quiet week

Mommy and Daddy are still learning how to coax Cana to giggle.
Once she starts, she won't stop. And the smiles are contagious.

"We're the girls!"

We love our bathrobes

Getting ready for Easter...

Sisters

After alll that rain...

...its nice to see a rainbow.
Yes, we were playing with sidewalk chalk OUTSIDE today. We hit 58!

March 8-14 - Making Cookies & Dress-up Day

We had another good week in March. The temperatures reached 50 and even 60 once! We had lots of rain though, so we're not playing outside quite yet.

On Monday we made about 6 dozen of Uncle Ray's Sugar Cookies. On Tuesday the girls let us watch LOST.

On Wednesday we headed to church with enough time to make it to the Soup Supper. With traffic backed up we made a detour. Unfortunately, I made a wrong turn and we went the long way around to church. On a frontage road north of church, Adley pipes up from the back seat: "Where's church Mommy?" I answered the only way I knew how: "I don't know."

I felt crummy on Thursday and had to cancel a playdate so us girls stayed indoors while it rained all day. Friday was Disney dress-up day at preschool which was fun for all!

Saturday was a week long. We had plans to go grocery shopping with Lisa. The original plan involved dropping one or both of the girls off with Daddy. Unfortunately, Jared had a meeting so all 4 of us went to the busiest store in Naperville, on Saturday, at lunchtime. The highlight of our trip was Adley's attempt to put a can of artichoke hearts into the cart that was accidentally dropped on her sister. Don't worry - I have promised not to take both girls grocery shopping again.

Love that face!

The bakers in their coordinating aprons getting ready for Uncle Ray's Sugar Cookies...(3/8/2010)

Measuring is very serious work.
(note the powdered sugar on the upper lip)

Look Daddy!

Hard at work.

Adley the smasher.
She also did a fine job of sprinkling the tops of the cookies - she was very generous!

The finished product. Yum!

Friday, 3/12/2010, Disney Dress-Up Day
Adley is wearing a Princess Aurora dress and her own sweater.
The tiara is from Grammy, cleaned and embellished by Mommy. Her jewelry is by GrandMary (amazing that we found it all) with a party pack of rings from Target.

Fun Fact: the rings came in a party pack - 15 in all and I intended to let her wear 1 or 2 and take the rest to school to give to her girlfriends. Well, she put one on each finger. I apologized to her teacher after class telling her I didn't intend for her to wear 10 rings to school. Miss Chris told me there were 7 by the time she got to school - they counted!

March 1-7

This first week of March was fairly typical. We caught up on a few minor projects, mid-week service and soup supper, we located all of our 3-6 month dresses for spring and we watched the snow pile out back shrink enough to allow at least one more parking spot. Temps were in the 40s so we opened the windows some for much needed fresh air. On Sunday, we were invited to lunch at the home of the B family. A good week all around.

Adley reading the jokes.

Adley laughing at her own jokes.
Yes, she is the funniest person she knows!

Cana is enjoying the new-found ability to grasp.
Bonus - because most of what she grasps ends up in the mouth!
She grasps with both hands - not favoring left or right....yet.

Adley wearing one of Mommy's dresses.

Grandma Mabel bought this (and two others?) for Michelle at age 3.
As the story goes, on the way to the car...
Michelle: "You know Grandma, I'm not going to wear those dresses."

Fortunately, Adley has no such hang-ups about getting dressed up - or posing for pictures.

What is she thinking?

Grandpas, Grandmas, Aunts and Uncles!

On Wednesday, 2/24, GrandMary and Grandpa Al drove down to visit us. As an added bonus they brought Uncle Noah and Auntie Wendy too! The girls sure enjoyed all the extra attention. Cana really started grasping objects and holding onto a toy so it was helpful to have lots of one-on-one play.

On Thursday we celebrated GrandMary's birthday with a party. The balloons and banner were pink because Adley was on the planning committee. We went out to lunch for Thai food on Friday and Grandpa Al helped Jared install our brand new garage door opener. We toured IKEA on Saturday at lunch time and then visited cousins Rocky and Deb in the afternoon! Everyone joined us for church on Sunday and then it was time to say goodbye. What a weekend.

Auntie Wendy and Uncle Noah are great dancers, but who can compete with the girl in the pettiskirt? Adley took her Aunt and Uncle on the carousel at Fox Valley. Perhaps her favorite activity was playing "hospital" with Doctor Wendy. Adley would be in bed in the hospital (sheets and pillows in the corner) and she would be too sick to get out of bed. Later, she would return from her room with her baby doll and announce she had her baby.

Visiting cousins Rocky & Deb was a special treat. We'll have to do that more often, since they live close-by. Jared and Uncle Noah worked on a fun project in the garage.

Thanks Noah (& Wendy too) for taking some great pictures with Mommy & Cana!

February 2010

It's a good thing she likes to read...

Adley as Photographer

DuPage Children's Museum

2/1/2010 - The DuPage Children's Museum in celebration of Adley's 3rd birthday

We started and ended our day at the Waterways neighborhood which was the obvious favorite. It featured a waterfall, water table, bubble making stations and the best benefit of being about to get wet! The Creativity Connections was a great place to spend an entire week. There we played with shadows, flashlights, giant lite-brites and an entire room filled with drums! Adley treated each of the shadow areas as a stage and danced her heart out. We also enjoyed the AirWorks with the wind tunnel and various tubing to build with. Oh, and Mommy and Adley donned the goggles to try our hand at hammering in the Build It section but our attention span was waning by that point.

We basically skipped the majority of Make It Move, Math Connections, and Art Studio neighborhoods. Maybe next time!

Adley Interview - Age 3

A quick interview conducted 3/3/2010 to capture the unique fun of being 3!

Favorite:

• cereal - "I like Monkey Cereal and Cereal Bran!" (that's Gorilla Crunch & Raisin Bran) Also, Honey Bunch of Goats is popular too!
  
• vegetable - "cucumber and carrots
• fruit - "apples or bananas"
• drink - "APPLE JUICE!"
• toy - (after thinking for a bit....) Cana (Baby Lyla, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, magnetic dress-up dolls Maggie and Ella, and puzzles, all puzzles)
  
• TV show - Super Why or Word World according to mom
• game - "Chutes n' Ladders"
• book - "Nursery School" (and Corduroy, the Napping House, Silly Sally and the House of Seven Colors)
• restaurant - "at pizza" (Cici's Pizza)
• holiday - "I like birthdays"
• animal - "a tiger and horsey"
• friend - "Emily" (and Lilly, Katy, Aubrey from church)
  
• song - "Clifford" (new CD from GrandMary & Grandpa Al) (and Pop Goes the Weasel)
• color - "PINK!"
• movie - "Barbie, but not the mouse & the bat" (Barbie in the Nutcracker fastforwarded through scenes 4, 5 and 11)
• thing to draw - "a face"
  

If you could change your name, what would you choose?

• occasionally answers to Kelly, Goldilocks, or Madeline
  

What do you like to do with Mommy?

• "watch a movie"
  

What do you like to do with Daddy?

• "eat breakfast"
  

What do you like to do with Cana?

• "Cana watches"
  

Where do you like to go?

• "I just like to got to IKEA"
  

Mommy's notes:
Currently learning letter sounds and the numbers by sight. Adley has started discussing her drawings and including letters. She uses both left and right hands interchangeably and is totally enamored with cutting and gluing. In church, Adley sings long and loud despite her reading handicap. She has learned nearly all of the melodies in the liturgy and is usually able to join in on the last word. She regularly picks up her own hymnal and opens it to a page with music to sing along. When we face the center aisle to recite the creed, Adley opens a hymnal and turns to the center with everyone else. She can also recite the Lord's Prayer with a few exceptions "Fadduh", a little trouble with trespasses, and the "gloria."

The Quotable Adley:
"It's a morning day!" - the sun is shining!
"Dere dit is!" - something lost has been found
"There's nothing you can do about it" - comes from
"Sometimes that happens" - any messes, or spills
"But Why?" - speaks for itself
"Let's Skype"
"Say it louder" - meaning, I didn't quite catch that. original and effective don't you think
"I love my baby" - always refers to Cana
Ses-she Street - where Big Bird lives
mazagine
"Gloria, indeed" - a toast of some kind with unknown origin (Madagascar????)
"alligator" - elevator or escalator or alligator
"cartoons" - cartoons or croutons

January 25-31

January 26, 2010 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADLEY

Daddy made Mickey pancakes for the occasion and ...
Daddy bought her a jumbo princess coloring book - her first present.
(photo upper right: getting to lick the beaters on your own chocolate cake - priceless)

Party Party Party
1/27/2010
Princess Adley had hot dogs for supper with Lisa and then we opened presents. Adley is well loved. She had many beautiful presents to unwrap: Biscuit books and Scholastic DVD's from Mommy and Daddy; a pineapple dress, Color Wonder books and a train puzzle from Grammy and Paka; Lemon Merainge doll, dry erase farm animals and a Gingerbread Boy books from GrandMary and Grandpa Al; 3 sets of pajamas and a Strawberry Shortcake DVD from Lisa.

I'm sure I'm missing some too. She loved them all. Although, the highlight, I believe was the pink cake. We still talk about it. It was chocolate, it was beautiful, how could we go wrong. Best yet, it had polka-dots. Yes!

On Friday, 1/29, Adley brought in a Mrs. Fields decorated cookie to each of her friends at school. GrandMary surprised her with a bouquet of balloons at school. And we took the milestone photo of Adley at 37 inches tall!
Cana, on the other hand spent that Friday morning in bed - our bed. Look at all that space!

January 18-24

In these photos: the baptism of Micah Steven, child of God, 1/24/2010, Adley and Emily - two dancing princesses and Mommy's first attemtp at braids in Adley's hair.

January 11-17

This week we visited the library for story time (1/13/2010), played in the snow in front of our house (1/14/2010), and photographed the beautiful snowy trees at church (1/17/2010). Adley helped to feed Cana, tried on the yellow dress, handmade by Cousin Wendee, did some "water painting" and made her own peanut "butter sandwich." We had a good week.