As of the end of May, I'm officially on summer break - yippeee! And this also marks a major transition from me - I'll be moving from my full-time role in Student Development to a part-time position of 12/hours week. I am so, so grateful for the opportunity to work at my job in a very part-time capacity. As much as I love my job, I've been longing to be home more with my girls and to have a bit more margin in our lives. Two full-time working parents, one busy and active toddler, and a babe who still gets up several times/night makes for some tired parents. But I think I would have been really sad to fully leave my job; this is a perfect balance (or so I hope!).
So, in my first three weeks on summer break we have been soaking up lovely summer days, living with no specific schedule or time constraints. And we are loving our new neighborhood this time of year - we're getting to know all of our neighbors, kids run through all the neighborhood yards, the streets are shaded with beautiful trees, and we can easily walk to several parks, downtown, and the farmer's market is a quick stroll from our house every Saturday.
Here are some fun pictures from our summer days.
Lots of hanging out on our porch:
This handsome guy....
Made me this amazing meal! James wanted to make me a special meal to celebrate my transition to part-time, so he made a French Bistro steak herbed butter, roasted fingerling potatoes, and arugula salad with blue cheese and pears. We also finally cracked open a bottle of Alexandria Nicole that we got a few years ago on our Eastern WA winery trip. It was an amazing meal (fully enjoyed after kids went to bed!)
Garage-sale Season! One of my favorite things, I love a good treasure hunt. There are score of garage sales around here every weekend, with tons of quality goods. I've been stocking up on activities for Madeline as she's been developing so much lately. My latest run last weekend came up with a wooden baby doll cradle from Pottery Barn kids, tons of books, puzzles, and a few toys, a little kids table and chairs (definitely a hit with Madeline), and a Radio Flyer tricycle. All for around $35.00, score!
This girl's favorite outdoor activity right now is riding her tricycle - we go up and down the sidewalk on our street, and she rings her little bell. Crazy to see her looking so grown up as she rides her trike!
We've progressed to more complex puzzles - big floor puzzles or ones with inter-locking peices. She LOVES them, and it's fun to see her wheels turn as we teach her about corner pieces, edge pieces, matching animals in different pieces, etc. Lots of learning happening.
Here's another fun garage sale score - this "letter game" as I call it. She's been able to recognize her capitol letters for quite awhile now, but we haven't worked on lower case letters. This little set has around 20 different words where you fit the letters into them, and they are all lower case so we're working on those. I'm also trying to teach her the sounds of the letters, but I need to do some research on how to start teaching phonetics. In any case, she sits down to do this activity a few times/day.
Another one of Madeline's favorites right now is her paper doll sticker book. It's a really nice one she got for her birthday, and we just finally brought it out a few weeks ago. We do it together, and each page has a different party theme that you dress up the girls and set the scene for with stickers. She would sit down and do the whole book in one fell swoop if she could, but I'm trying to spread out the fun. So funny to hear her say things like, "I think this little girl would like the purple purse, so we need to give this little girl the yellow hat." We have to be fair with the distribution of goods for our paper dolls, right?
Lots of backyard pool fun play dates:
(At Judah and Jalayn's house)
Our backyard pool
The babies like to be a part of the pool party too!
Our first trip to the big pool for the summer! I didn't get a photo of it, but just like last year her favorite thing at Rice pool is the huge sand castle building area. She runs back and forth with her bucket to fill up with water and dump in a sand hole to make a "lake." I think it's her outlet for me not letting her turn the sink faucet on and off at home - she can turn on the faucet to her heart's content at the sand castle section (I realize this is a common favorite of toddlers, they all line up to use the faucet again and again!)
A common car scene these days - sunglasses, her backpack full of books and other goods, and a few tag-a-longs - Mr. Moo Cow, in this case.
Lots of park play. Madeline has been loving any climbing challenge she can find - it's definitely something she wasn't engaged with last summer, and but loves this year.
We picked up some flowers at a Greenhouse at the beginning of June and have been watering our flowers at home. Madeline's a big fan of helping water the flowers.
Farmer's Market! We do a "farmer's market loop" each Saturday where we walk through the farmer's market, swing through the downtown park, head through the library, and then head back home for lunch and nap time. It's become a great ritual, although we've decided we shouldn't load up on fresh made doughnuts every week. :0) We're trying to pace ourselves!
Madeline is at such a fun age, making all sorts of new discoveries and saying such funny two-year old things. I wanted to write some of them down so I don't forget them; perhaps they won't be as funny to anyone else, but they made James and me laugh.
Madeline, while eating lunch: "Mama, come sit down next to me."
Me: "I will in a minute, Madeline, when I finish these dishes."
Madeline, tapping the table next to her seat: "Sweetheart, just come sit down here by me for a few minutes."
Well, how could i refuse that offer? :0)
Last night, shortly after James came home from work and we sat down to dinner, Madeline casually says, "Well daddy, how are you doing today?"
Madeline is starting to become much more aware of various emotional states. So it's nice that she can now express, "Mama, I'm sad." Or "Thunderstorms scare me!" Or, "Mama, that little boy is crying, why is he sad?" Or, if she notices I'm upset, she'll look at me and say, "it's okay, mommy, we're okay!" Very sweet.
Madeline is in a big "myself!" phase (she's been in this phase a long time). Often it's frustrating, but sometimes it's really funny. Our rule for when she's walking out and about with us, especially near cars, is that she has to hold our hand very tightly. But lately, she's been telling us "I want to hold my hand by myself!" And so she folds her hands together like she's praying, and off she goes. Unfortunately that doesn't quite get at the root of the safety issue!
She continues to be a spirited, strong-willed little girl, and we still have several time-outs or spankings every day. I hear that consistency is the name of the game with toddlers, and that it takes many, many times for a certain concept or discipline to sink into a child at this age. And as my mom reminds me, as a parent you "pay now or pay later." So, I'd rather pay now when the issue is not hitting or following through or saying "go away mama!" rather than the issues teenagers face. There are such highs and lows with a two year old, and they are just back-to-back. One moment she's reading with Isabel and making her sister laugh, and the next minute she whacks her in the head because I gave Isabel a toy that she wants. It's definitely challenging as a parent to know how to deal with each different scenario - there is no perfect manuel for a play-by-play on how to best handle different situations. And each child's personality sometimes dictates a different response. So James and I are humbled as parents, doing the best we can and praying for the Lord's grace and wisdom as we guide our little girls. And so, so thankful for the gift they are to us, two healthy, beautiful girls.
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