Warm weather + finally healthy children = A perfect extraordinary day

Today was a normal day full of ordinary things that has been turned out to be anything but normal or ordinary!! My heart is SO full after the incredible day I had enjoying the amazing blessing of my two beautiful children and being a stay at home momma. We loaded up on our bikes, rode to the library, saw a magic show, checked out books on bees, stopped on our ride to the icecream place to watch the bee Zoe spotted in the flowers, had a picnic lunch, ate ice cream, and danced in the fountain. Today was an amazing day full of ordinary things that were truly extraordinary.

How her mind works...

We have prayed with Zoe before bed since she was born. Once she became verbal she has prayed as well. In the beginning her prayers were pure gibberish, just noises. Then they became somewhat distinguishable words all slurred together. After that she went through a faze where she prayed for whatever she saw, ie her closet doors, pretzels, etc etc. Lately I have treasured this ritual with her (even more then I normally do) as her prayers have become her own. They are an expression of her thoughts, her love, and her feelings. She often surprises me with the cute things she prays for, tonight was one of those nights. Zoe mid prayer says, "and thank you God that you made me a girl, and not a boy or anything like that".

Gage...

Things I want to remember about Gage...
1. When he is tired, or is really excited to see me, he LOVES to grab my face between his two soft chubby hands and smash and smear his face all over mine.
2. He LOVES to hang upside down...especially if he has ear infections (which has been atleast once every month for the last 5 months!)
3. He thinks taking medicine is a treat, gets all excited to take it, and cries for more when it's gone.
4. He LOVES his stuffed monkey, and has a cute little "ha ha ha" noise he makes when I hand it to him.
5. We wave goodbye to Rob every morning, and Gage has just (last week) started waving too. Waving goodbye usually involves ramming himself into the screen door banging on it, while screaming DA DA, then flopping or "waving" his hands. When we are outside in the front yard, he will wave at cars when they go by.
6. He has started clapping when we sing at church or whenever he senses someone needs some encouragement. Yesterday several times he started clapping when I was giving Zoe a compliment.
7. He has been showing incredible comprehension about what is going on around him. When we are getting ready to leave he will look for shoes (although rarely do I make him wear them, the time commitment for getting them on versus how long they stay on his feet just still isn't worth it).
8. He LOVES to pretend talk on the "phone", anything and everything looks like a phone to Gage.
9. He has recently started saying, Momma and Daddy, and not just making the noises, he will call for us, and it melts my heart to hear it every time!
10. He is still not walking, but (this week) has started standing on his own without holding onto anything.
11. This week he sat at the table while we were doing a project together for Father's Day, and he actually contributed. He has started to have the hand control/desire/understanding to color and does so without eating the crayon/marker.

Yee Haw!

So we all managed to survive the crazy yucky sickness that took over our house last week, although I feel a little disappointed for Zoe because it really put a damper on her week to celebrate. We managed to do small things during the rest of the week, like meeting Daddy for lunch or opening a present, but it was rather low key. We were all recovered though just in time for the Trek Corral. Rob puts together (and the youth group hosts) a restaurant style dinner each year the group heads to Trek to help offset the cost, and this year was a blast (southern-ish theme and all!). It was complete with Square dancing, horse races, shoot outs, wanted posters and Root Beers out of the bottle! We had so much fun! Rob amazes me with his love, devotion and passion for working with the teens. And just for the record, in case anyone was wondering...we are crazy full swing into our busy summer!

Birthweek Day Two, Three and Four...

Day Two: Swimming in our friends big pool. She was super excited when she realized that with the help of her Ariel armfloaties she could do it all by herself!

Day Three: After giving Zoe several options, she decided we would spend the day riding bikes downtown, playing on the beach and getting ice cream at Navy Pier. It was a great day!



Day Four: No pictures, for your benefit. We all succumbed to the stomach flu. It was not quite the day I had in mind, but we managed to salvage it atleast a little bit. I had gotten Zoe a new movie, so that was her birthweek present for the day and we snuggled on the couch watching it. As unpleasant as the stomach flu is, cleaning up other people's puke while sick yourself adds a whole new fun dimension. Here's to a happier birthweek day five, six and seven!

My three year old princess...

Saturday marked the kick off of the celebration of Zoe's birthweek with her birthday party. Her birthday was actually a few weeks ago, but Rob and I were out of town, so we just decided not to tell her, and let her think her birthday was just a little later. We had SO much fun at her party. I was a little disappointed when we had to move the party to the church building because it had been (earlier in the day) raining like crazy. Everything worked out great though, and the best part was seeing how excited Zoe was and how special she felt. She came up to me at one point during the party and said, "Momma, thank you for such a special birthday party. I love you!", it melted my heart and made all the work that went into the party worth it!
Zoe decided on a princess theme, so the entire party was based on princesses and princes. The girls decorated wands, while the boys made shields. Everyone had a chance to decorate a crown too.
Several of the girls brought little princess dresses to wear. They were adorable running around in their sweet little dresses!
I could not get her to stand still for any pictures she was so excited dancing around, giggling and shreaking, it was priceless! I had gone to a home improvement store earlier in the week and gotten cardboard and made a castle. It was designed to fit between the house and the garage, with the door cut out over the gate, but it worked propped up in at the church too!

Here is Zoe's special castle cake. She has been asking for her castle cake ever since she saw it at a friends party a few months ago. I was able to buy the pieces online super cheap (one was broken...not that you can tell) and made the cake myself. I love the tradition of making her cake, it is such a labor of love. I love to see her face when she sees it. Zoe actually stood patiently and watched the whole time I decorated her cake, she was so excited. She would say, "oooohhh, it is starting to look like a castle now... can I put the princesses on yet?"

Zoe shreaking, "I am SO excited"

So included in the list of games was decorating homemade cookies in the shape of a tiara. I had icing, candies, and sprinkles. I think this was one of Zoe's favorites. Also we had a treasure hunt outside, played a cake walk type game, dug for rings (or ring pops) in a big box of rice (this was a real hit with the kids), and ate a delicious dinner (including Rob's famous burgers). It was overwhelming exhausting...I mean, It was an awesome day! I loved to see how much fun Zoe was having! She is such a sweet little thing, and an incredible blessing in our lives. We adore her! Stay tuned for updates on the rest of celebration as we party hardy the rest of the week (assuming I don't drop before then)!

Lovin' me some Florida...

As I sit attempting to write this blog, I struggle to find words to adequately express just how full my happy heart is. Rob and I celebrated our nine year wedding anniversary in Florida...on the beach...by ourselves! We had an absolutely magical time! Our time could not have been more perfect! We actually went to Florida for the wedding of a former teen in the youth group (who was considerate enough to get married on our anniversary weekend). Everything about our 5 days together was perfect, everything from our flights (we were bumped to first class), to our four star beach side grand resort (thanks price line). It was amazing...we took late night walks on the beach under the moon, we were spontaneous, had uninterrupted meals, watched the sunset, went snorkeling and para-sailing, and overall had a heavenly time. I am so thankful for the man, husband, and father that Rob is. I am incredibly blessed to share my life with my best friend. Rob is an incredible husband who continues to make me feel special and makes our marriage a priority. A big shout out to my mom who was run ragged by our two sick kiddos, she is amazing!!!! And Congratulations to Jeremy and Maggie, it was such a blessing to be a part of their special day.

What's the difference...

We have a robin in our back yard that has built a nest, and her eggs just hatched. Zoe and I decided to go to the library to learn about Robin's, so here is a bit of our conversation today as we were looking through books about birds...
Me: What differences do you see between the sparrow and the Robin?
Zoe: The sparrow looks fluffy
Me: Ok. What about their tummies?
Zoe: Well...um...the Robin's tummy is orange, the other one is like this (hands making circular motion) and your tummy is squeeshy.

Appreciate the added bonus answer

That's a what?!

Rob and I have been pretty excited about the Blackhawks Redwings games. Rob and Zoe were looking something up online about the games when she pointed to the screen and said, "Look it's a flag". And this is the conversation that transpired:
Rob: (in a confused tone) No, that's not flag.
Zoe: Yeah, right there
Rob: No Zoe...
Molly: (trying to cushion the blow) Sure, I mean I can see how the Red Wings Swoosh looks like a flag.
Rob: But that's not what she was pointing to - it's not a flag
Zoe: Yeah, that right there is a flag
Rob: What? No Zoe that is an indian
Zoe: Yeah, with all the feathers, Daddy it's like a flag (points behind her)
AND THEN IT CLICKS
Rob: Oh my word, she is pointing to the blackhawks logo and she isn't saying it is a flag, she is saying it is on our neighbors flag. I am sorry Zoe you are right.
Zoe: I know Daddy. I knew what I was talking about after all.

(As a side note: You can see our new venture in landscaping in this picture too. We decided we would like additional privacy in the coming years so we planted and planted and planted arborvitae trees, now only for them to grow grow grow!)