Sissy G Turns 2

 There are some things in life that you just never forget and one of those is giving birth to each one of your children.  You can have 19 children but you will still remember each birth vividly.  One thing I will never forget is the fact that after she was born we got a good look at her umbilical cord and in it was a very tight knot.  The only thing my midwife could say was that I had a miracle baby.  I still get teary eyed thinking about that moment when my lil girl was laying in my arms crying and healthy and then looking back at the umbilical cord and knowing that things could've been a lot different.  But PRAISE GOD she was healthy and still is healthy.  Let me take time to give you a lil more insight into the life of our second child.

She goes to the beat of her own drum.  Even if that means brushing her teeth out on the front porch in the morning.  She doesn't mind doing things a little different from everyone else and in fact seems to enjoy trying something new that no one else has tried yet.  In her mind....why wouldn't you brush your teeth outside.

 She loves the outdoors and getting messy.  She's starting to get an imagination and would love to serve you up some rock/mud soup.

 I'm seeing a big change in her appetite.  Where as before food came before all else....usually now she will choose playing over eating.  Here she is eating her lunch on a Saturday at the ballpark watching her cousin play baseball.

 She loves being a sister.  She often wants to hold her baby brother and is very gently with him.  Her favorite person in the whole world, though, is probably her big brother.  She does everything he does and is quite the tomboy because of it.

 She has a thing about baby wipes.  Or maybe its a thing with messes.  Either way she likes to take each baby wipe out of its container and spread it all around. 

 Have I mentioned her love for mud? I'm sure she' no different than most two year olds but she will walk through the mud....never around the mud.

 Ohhhhh....and the time she tried to be helpful and bring me an opened box of spaghetti noodles.  She thought it was the greatest thing in the world when they spilled all over the floor.

 Although her efforts in cleaning it up weren't the greatest.  Definitely laying down on the job.

 This lil girl is a social butterfly.  She loves other kids and usually fits right in.  Here she is with a group of girls at our church.

 This is early in the morning....sitting on the counter waiting for mommy to make her breakfast. (The clock in the background is not the correct time) I love her early morning...sleepy head look.  To me its precious.  She's still a bit tired so she's moving around slowly and has big bright sleepy eyes and wants lots of lovin' from her Mama.

 She got new boots recently and wears them all the time.  Did you know that pink rain boots with horses on them go with every outfit?  When you are two they do.  She's sitting here at the library reading about fish.  Don't be fooled though....she may look quiet but she was most definitely not.  She was reading and talking very loudly but thankfully no one in the library seemed to care.

When we got inches upon inches of rain the last week we had put on our rain boots and gone out to feed our bunny.  Both kids started begging me to let them jump in the mud puddles.  They still had their jammies on but I thought....you're only a kid once....and so they had a blast in the rain, in their jammies, jumping in puddles. 

 Party Time.  Sissy G got to have two birthday parties this year and her birthday theme was Tinkerbell so she got to dress the part.

 She wore the outfit and the wings the entire time and loved every part of it.

 This lil (big) guy dressed the part too being all fashionable with a tie.

 We had lots of flowers and garden themed foods and decorations. 

 Two lil Tinkerbells enjoying some blueberries.

 Little G flashing Mama a smile while his aunt is holding him.

 One of Sissy's presents was an outdoor kitchen that my aunt made for her.  It turned out great and Sissy absolutely loved it.

 Taking time during her party to water the weeds.

 Finally a picture with Bubby in there.  They were watching the Avengers and both Sissy and Bubby were pretending to be Hulk. 

 Time to open presents.  You can tell that this lil girl hadn't had a nap.  She had that sleepy look going on.

 Checking out her first gift.

 I want to brag on my Bubby G for a second.  There was a lot of chaos going on at this time.  People trying to get pictures and kids running around but this boy sat down with his sister and I could hear him talking her through how to open the presents.  He would tear a small part of the paper to show her how and then say...."Here Sissy...now you try"  or "Tell them thank you, Sissy."  He was helping and making the moment extra special and all about her.  I was very impressed with him doing that for his lil sister. 

 Time for "cake-cake" as Sissy likes to say.

 What a ham.  She enjoyed every bit of that birthday song and birthday cake.

 Time to brag on Sissy for a bit.  She has been doing really well with the potty training lately.  She had a diaper on all day but would come tell me when she needed to go potty and we would go in her room on her lil Minnie Mouse potty chair and go potty.  She's definitely getting the hang of it.

 One of Sissy's presents was a bubble machine.  The kids were very excited about trying it out.

 Millions of bubbles everywhere.  It was a kids dream.

 Party number two and cake number two for birthday number two for kid number two. 

 All the kids enjoyed our new playground set.  It was finally not raining and the ground had dried up some so the kids could run all around our backyard. 

 Lil Sissy G got more presents.... She was a blessed lil girl.

 Smiling with her big cousin waiting for some cake.

She was enjoying listening to everyone sing Happy Birthday to her.

 Look at this big girl blow out candles.

 Bubby was pushing her head closer to help her blow out the candles.  

 Group photo of all the kids at the party.

And a special close up of these two. 

Thank you, Lord, for my precious two year old baby girl.  She's becoming an amazing and neat lil person full of fun and smiles and a bit of drama, but I love every minute with her.  She's going through that hard stage in life where you learn about the word "No" or how to share but I'll take this stage in life any day.  We are understanding more and more of what she says and its a blast to get to see what her lil mind is thinking.  These last two years went fast and I'm definitely ready for time to slow down but with this lil family of mine I have a feeling nothing is going to slow down for a while.  I'll just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Happy Birthday Sissy G!!!

Fishing, Baseball, & Swimming

 Summer is definitely here.  After a fairly cool spring we are finally getting to enjoy the hot days of summer.  These three kiddos are excited about the time they get to spend outside.

 Gampa took Bubby G on his first fishing trip of the summer to our local park.  Bubby was very excited about catching fish but he was a bit confused on why we couldn't buy an aquarium to put the fish he caught in and keep them as pets.  I went and visited Gampa and Bubby at the pond to see how they were doing.

 I had been there all of a minute before I noticed this head staring right at Bubby while he was fishing.  This snake did not move for quite a while but eventually swam off.  That pretty much ruined the fishing trip for all of us since all we could think about was where that snake went. 

 Last week we headed up to Peoria to watch the Illinois baseball and softball state tournaments.  We had two kids from our church playing so we were excited to go watch them.  The softball team finished first and the baseball team finished second.
When we first got to the baseball stadium they were blaring music really loud which has a tendency to hurt Bubby's ears so he wasn't real happy in the beginning and spent a lot of time with his ears covered.

 But it didn't take too long for him to start having fun.

 This lil dude was such a trooper.  Never cried no matter how loud it got and actually slept through about half of it.  He's just one of those laid back babies which makes things easier for this Mama.

 The kids sharing a bucket of popcorn and watching the game.

 Sissy G getting a lil extra. 

 Bubby moved on to some chocolate ice cream. 

 Little G talking to Gampa.

 Part way through the game Nana decided to take Sissy and Bubby out to walk around.  I went up to see how they were doing and found Sissy walking around holding hands with not one lil girl....

 but two.

 My lil social butterfly.

 After the game we got an autograph from the pitcher (kid from church)

 This boy is one of the sweetest kids and has been a big part of our church since he was little.  It is neat seeing him grow up and making good decisions.  My kids thought he was a superstar. 

 Group photo before we left.

 A couple days ago we loaded up and headed to meet my sister-in-law and three kids to go swimming at their local pool.  The kids were beyond excited for their first swimming trip of the year.

 Even this lil guy was all smiles.  I love how when he smiles his whole face lights up.

 My oldest niece was excited to get some baby time at the pool.

 Sissy was very concerned about the pool at first.  She didn't want any part of it. 

 But Bubby was all in.

 Catching a mid-air shot of my nephew jumping into the pool.

 Getting some sun.  It won't be long before he's swimming around with his brother and sister.

 Growing up I spent many hours jumping in a pool while trying to catch a ball in the air that one of my brothers would throw.  I'm talking....many hours.  We couldn't just swim.  There always had to be a ball involved.  It's hard to tell in the picture but my nephew is about to jump in the pool and Bubby G was supposed to throw the ball so that my nephew could catch it in the air.  Bubby ended up throwing a rocket right passed him but it was still cute watching them try to play the same game I played so much as a kid.

 Eventually Sissy G started warming up to the pool and she did get in.  However....once she got in the pool I no longer had enough hands to also carry my camera around so the pictures stop here.  But she did have a good time and will probably be ready to jump right in next time we go.

These kids don't sleep much in the car anymore.....and if they do it usually takes hours before they finally fall asleep.  But after swimming for about 3 hours they were conked out pretty quick. 
Summer is already starting off with lots of fun times.  A part of me wants this summer to last forever.