A Sad Farewell

Birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa, 2008.

Birthday present from Nana and Pop, 2009.

I don't know who goes around stealing Radio Flyer children's vehicles, but apparently someone. We always left them out (the wagon for almost a year, the tricycles since July), but when we went out today they were gone. They were definitely there Thursday night - it was raining yesterday so we weren't out and I didn't think to check.

We'll miss you, vehicles. We had a great time last weekend pulling the wagon and riding in it all together, with Alden in the middle - at least that's a good final memory. And we hadn't even mastered pedaling on the trikes yet! Makes me even more ready to move to a new neighborhood...

Meetings

Alden has now gotten to meet all of his immediate family members (aunts, uncles, grandparents), except for Stuart's fiancee Mandy. Most of these pictures are from our Cleveland trip, but some are from when the Pierces visited in August (and there are more of those I never posted too...one day...I never posted the girls' belated birthday celebration either).

I learned during the Pierce visit that Alden will pretty much be happy if anyone holds him - totally different from the girls, and very appreciated by mom and holder alike. I really like the picture with Derek and Beth - he rode the train with them at the zoo (I only freaked out a lot, not a TON, that I couldn't see him) - almost looks like he could be theirs. :) We didn't manage to get a picture of him with Uncle Stu, unfortunately.

Meeting Uncle Michael in Ann Arbor, then with Uncle Matt in Cleveland. No picture with Uncle Peter, but I did finally manage to get him to hold Alden, under duress, for about 20 seconds, which was an accomplishment. Michael (in addition to babysitting several times) got Alden to laugh for the first time, which Matt also achieved.

Alden was great friends with Opa and Grandpa. He and Opa had a great conversation - Alden is definitely a talker. He and Grandpa were buddies, and both enjoy their naps immensely. That night of babysitting Alden would only sleep on Grandpa.

Aunt Sarah carried Alden for a little bit when we went apple picking, in addition to her babysitting help. Alden loves you all very much!

Blackmail Fodder

Hmm...on second thought, I'm going to NOT post the picture of me in these glasses. :)

This is what else we did on the drive home from Cleveland - stop a LOT and man-handle daddy and Alden.

Bossing and Compromises: A and K at 27 Months

Anna's smile is pretty literally just baring her teeth these days.

While the girls are not really developing much in the way of skills lately (especially since they're STILL all snotty and coughing - we've decided they had some kind of flu all last week), they talk all the time. I used to think they were funny, but compared to the things I hear out of their mouths lately, their pre-2 year old talking was nothing. Anna says the funniest things, all the time, but Kara is pretty funny too. What amuses me the most lately is their bossing each other around, generally followed by, "Kara/Anna, don't tell Anna/Kara what to do!"

Kara is still our solution girl, and last weekend demonstrated her compromising abilities as well...they were fighting over something and Kara said it could be Anna's turn in 5 minutes, to which Anna replied that 5 minutes was too many and it should be her turn in 2 minutes. Kara's response was "how about 3 minutes?" I think my laughter halted their fighting and the toy was forgotten...

If only I had a constant video feed - their individual babbling is hilarious, but times 2 and then when they talk to each other as well, it really makes my days a lot brighter. Their other big thing is showing each other things - lately it's been that whatever toy they got hit with was really hard. "See Kara, this deinonychus is really hard." It always starts with "See Kara/Anna..."

Of course if we're in public or anyone comes over, all talking ceases, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

Tasked with a photo shoot of the girls at the Natural History Museum in Cleveland, Andrew did what any smart man would - stopped them from picking up and throwing wood chips by sequestering them on the spiky stego tail. :)

More typical K-A interaction.

Oh My Gosh

Kara said that today at some point when something went wrong. Well, my words for today were a little stronger...EVERYTHING seems to have gone wrong. Baby Algo is sick, Kara threw up all of the food she ate today due to her still horrific cough, and too many other things to mention...but I will mention that our heat (or maybe just thermostat) decided to cease operation. I love sitting in a 60 degree house.

Anna has been the highlight of my day, since she is finally feeling better and acting like her usual self. In retrospect, the fire she almost started in the microwave when she wanted to "bake cake" is even a highlight (metal-lined cup, pencil, and piece of paper do not a cake make). My favorite, though...when I told her I was so happy she was back to "regular Anna," she told me: "no, still Indiana." When we drove through Indiana on Sunday she said "turning Indiana" for the majority of the time. I thought she meant that we were driving into Indiana. Turns out she meant that she was turning into "Indiana" instead of "Anna." She's been Indiana ever since, apparently.

Just another one of her many quirks - she is the silliest girl. She is very protective of the "baby toy." She lets Alden in, but never Kara. She cries if she even thinks Kara might get in.

Alive (Not Well)

We left Saturday the 3rd and drove to Ann Arbor, to Cleveland on Monday the 4th, and then back to St. Louis Sunday the 11th. We definitely had some adventures, and everyone had a lot of fun (I enjoyed more alone time with Andrew than I've had in I don't even want to think about how long). Unfortunately the girls came home with colds and coughs, so the return drive was not fun. I literally almost cried when I (finally) saw the Arch...SO happy to be home after those many many hours in the car. All things considered, though, things went really smoothly. The drive there was a lot of fun - the girls and I talked the whole time and Alden enjoyed his first time using a pacifier. Even in the last couple days I've enjoyed some small snippets - trying on my first glasses in the car (which were in a bag of stuffed animals I brought back for everyone, and are hilariously hideous) and wondering why they still fit (I was 7) was one - and today watching the girls run around sharing lollipop licks with each other was another (why it will never be just 1 who's sick...thankfully I got the pacifiers away from them before they gave them back to Alden). It's mostly "Kara/Anna a little bit sick today" or "Kara/Anna not feeling really good today" or "Kara/Anna have some snots." Anna did find out that her scratchy voice makes good dinosaur roars, which is something. They named their "tiny nakey babies" Anna and Kara and enjoyed putting them in proper position under my shirt ("Kara smash Anna way up top"). And they can't be feeling all too badly if they're hammering the TV screen (with toy hammers) while they're supposed to be watching a movie, right?

Happy Birthday Alden

Happy 3 months (Oct 1st) to the sweetest, nicest, snuggliest, cutest little boy in the world! (and biggest, of course).

Smiley baby (I can never get his smile on camera, but Andrew certainly could!), and smiley Dad.

He loves standing when we hold him (and when we put him so he can stand in his bouncy chair).

Happy birthday from your sisses too - we love you!

Anna Elizabeth and Kara Jane

I haven't done a Kara-Anna update lately, so here goes...

For a month now, they've been able to count to 20 (skipping a few here and there), and prefer to do it as loudly as possible, at random times. They are still very into descriptors when they speak. One time when Anna was running I asked her what she was doing, and instead of saying: running, she told me "Nanny just running circles right now." They are correctly using later, right now, first and then for sequencing (which Kara loves, and pronounces "len"), yesterday, today, etc.

Starting in the last few weeks, they've been keenly in tune with comparisons - "looks like," "sounds like," and "like" in general are very common. (I started realizing this was a trend when Anna told me my legs looked like a triangle a while back (they were crossed in a way that did make them look like a triangle). They especially like comparing to the movies and books that they like. We have some Madeline fans on our hands, so Anna was very excited when I showed her a scar on her finger last weekend in the car ("like Madeline"). They also love these Walt Disney "Silly Symphonies" that we watch on YouTube - Kara's favorite is the 3 Little Pigs (she has to cover her eyes, or sometimes just one when the wolf falls in hot water), and Anna's is called Water Babies.

I've also started noticing their problem solving skills of late, which is what most impresses me. Whenever I tell them (Kara especially) that they or I can't do something, she'll tell me a way that she/I can, often very creatively. Yesterday I was bouncing Kara on my legs and she wanted to go to the kitchen, staying on my legs. I told her we couldn't, and she told me I could walk on my hands. Of course, why didn't I think of that? :) I say "that's a good idea, but..." a LOT.

Tantruming is calmed down a little bit since I started a timing system for that, like with taking turns. I tell them they can cry for 2 more minutes, then need to stop, or have a repercussion (usually just being put in their bed to keep crying)...it surprisingly works really well. I think it lets them feel like they can cry (they do tell me they "just want to cry" sometimes), but get to make a decision about it and be in control. Can't wait till we have 2 teenage girls - yikes.

Our "Other Daughter"

As an aside to the usual Pierce Best Babies banter...ever since we spent a few weeks in Hoima, Uganda, in 2006, we've been sponsoring a girl we met at a school where we led several Bible studies - Clara. She was in my small group and impressed me with her faith and insightfulness into God's Word. We didn't talk too much, but when I spoke to the headmaster about potentially sponsoring her, he let me know that she was indeed behind in school fees (she's the daughter of a single mother who also had 3 other children in school). I got to sit down and talk with Clara and her mother for a while one afternoon (I'll never forget her mother telling me that Clara has always loved white people - ha!) and we've kept in touch since (I need to do better). Here is me with the girls, then Clara with her mom.

Anyway, when we sent money for her school fees this year, we sent additional money to help with a water project at the school to improve sanitation, provide showers, etc. (not sure of the actual details). Here are a couple of the pictures the headmaster sent:

I wanted to share because they really reminded me to step back and look at the bigger picture. It's easy for me to get bogged down in the day-to-day, struggles or triumphs, and forget how blessed I am. The wonder these girls have at this running water, and the prayerfulness...it shouldn't amaze me, as it did. I should be daily giving thanks to God for even the smallest things, and remembering Him in everything. As much as it seems to me like I struggle, He has provided so much more than I need.

Kansas City Here We Come!

Last weekend we drove to Kansas City on Saturday for my high school friend JD's wedding. The drive is about 4 hours, which isn't bad, unless you're traveling with 3 children. It wasn't the drive that was bad, it was the lack of naps for Anna and Kara - they were absolutely crazy and running around in circles, not listening, tantruming, etc. So, here are some pictures from after the wedding when we got back to the hotel room. :)

My favorite picture of Kara maybe ever. This is Anna's 3rd attempt...she purposely smiled at the wall in the other 2.

Alden looking enormous, since he is (and really tired).

On our way out of town, we stopped by some memorial gardens that Andrew and I had visited when we went to KC for our anniversary trip in 2005. We saw this enormous grasshopper (we saw a TON more when we stopped to play on the way home) and the girls splashed their new deinonychus figurines (one of my best dollar store purchases yet, keeping them entertained for much of the total drive time) in the fountain for a long time, until a safety officer told us there were chemicals unsafe for children in the water. Oops.

This weekend we head out for Cleveland via Ann Arbor to visit friends and family before another high school friend's wedding Oct.10th. The girls are getting better at traveling, since we can have conversations for a long time now, but Ann Arbor to STL took 12 hours on the way here in June 2008, so wish us luck!