Doin' some work

Monday Morning Madness

Let me start this post by saying I love Daniel's current stage of development. He is talking more and more, he is developing a sense of humor, he has quite the personality. I love his adorable antics and find him to be the cutest child in the world. Just last night, I was thinking that whoever came up with the term "terrible twos" must never have known a child like mine, because there is nothing terrible about this little boy. I still believe all that, but...

Monday mornings are never our happiest time. We love having Brian around on the weekends, and it is always sad to send him off to work on Monday. In addition, I often take the weekend "off" of house cleaning. It is never intentional, but somehow the house is always a wreck by Monday morning. This Monday was no different. We got Brian out the door to work, and I began wading through the clutter to start our day. As I was washing up the breakfast dishes, I took my eyes off Daniel for perhaps a minute. He was playing nearby, and I could hear his little voice, which lulled me into a false sense of security. When I turned around, this was the sight that met my eyes. (Imagine the light fixture swinging slightly, and Daniel's feet almost lifting off the table top.)
I happened to have the camera close at hand, so while I was shouting, "No, Daniel, let go of the light fixture and get down from there," I was also snapping a few shots. Talk about sending mixed signals to the little guy. He was probably wondering, "So, am I cute or am I in trouble?"

After this escapade, we headed to the basement to do some laundry. When we got to the basement, I saw the closet I had begun cleaning out on Friday afternoon and never finished. Random stuff was strewn everywhere, so I quickly began stuffing everything back into the closet. I guess I hadn't learned my lesson from the earlier incident, and I took my eyes off Daniel again. This time he found a permanent marker, and decorated his hands, arms, pajamas, and one of his daddy's prized possessions. I screamed, "Oh, no!" which led to Daniel repeating "Oh no!" about twenty times as I hauled him upstairs and into his crib. With him contained, I raced back down to the basement to clean the marker off Brian's stuff. Thankfully, my dilapidated magic eraser was up to the task, and the marker came off. Pretty much. (By the way, thank you Melissia for introducing me to magic erasers. Everyone should have one, especially people with marker-stealing two year olds).

I was a little tired after all this hulubulu. (Did I mention Daniel had been up four times during the night?) So, I decided the best thing for me was a shower. I have developed a great system for getting bathed each day. I pull the playpen in front of the bathroom door; load it with books, toys, and snacks; and let Daniel play away while I shower. I can peek out through the bathroom door at him to assure he is safe, and I get to shower in peace. Pretty much. On this glorious morning though, I glanced out of the shower to check on Daniel and found that he had stacked up all of his toys, used them for leverage, and climbed out of the playpen. So much for peaceful showers.

All of this took place before 9:30 a.m. I am feeling exhausted and a little exasperated, but I still love this stage. Pretty much.

Water Sports

Daniel's very most favorite thing to do is play with his Daddy's tools. This activity is especially fun when Daddy is home, and they play together with the tools. However, a close second to tool-playing is water-playing. Daniel loves playing with water at the sink. He is constantly lugging chairs, benches, boxes, buckets over to the sink...anything that will give him enough height to reach the faucet. He pours water between cups and bowls, stirs with spoons and spatulas, and runs his toy cars through the downpour. As you might imagine, these activities cause quite a flood on the kitchen counters and floor. But, alas, it keeps him busy and develops those fine motor skills, so I don't complain. Too much.

See that huge stream of water headed to the floor in the above photo?

And that apron provided no protection. His clothes were completely drenched afterward. But, he sure looked cute, don't you think?

The photo below shows Daniel in our bathroom. He had carefully removed the lid of the trashcan and set it aside. Thankfully, he also removed the trash liner and neatly placed that to the side too. Then, he turned the trashcan upside down for a makeshift stool. This all happened without my knowledge during the 30 seconds I dared to take my eyes off him. Of course, when I found him I had to snap some photos. He knows if Mommy is taking pictures he must not be in too much trouble.

The Ultimate Report Card

Yesterday afternoon, I sat down with my Bible and notebook. For some time now, I have felt God calling me to come further in and higher up with Him. What a wonderful thing! The Almighty God wants a closer relationship with me! And how have I responded? Primarily with laziness and self-centeredness. Yuck. I hate when those two traits rear their ugly heads in my life. Yuck, yuck, yuck!

You have to give time, energy, and self in order to have relationship with someone. And having a relationship with Jesus Christ is no different. It takes hard work. It takes time. It takes a willingness to give over your selfish desires and seek the desires of Someone else.

As I prayed through this matter, these thoughts came into my mind: If I was getting a grade…one that would appear on a report card or transcript…I would be more diligent in my pursuit of Christ. Is it not enough that the Heavenly Father is my teacher and my very deeds are recorded in His book for eternity? Lord, forgive me.

You see, I have always been a hardworking pupil. From kindergarten to my graduate degree work, I have rarely given less than my best. But when it comes to the most important relationship of my life, why would I often settle for mediocre effort? I am frustrated with myself. Praise the Lord that His mercies are new every morning. And today is the beginning of Lent. A time for denying self and preparing for the Lord. What better time to turn over a new leaf?

My Bible reading yesterday just happened to be the passage below. Christ will be the One who gives our final grade. Our salvation does not rest on diligence or works, but these things will determine our reward. So I ask myself...Don't you want to end this class of life knowing that you held nothing back..that you did your very best? And don't you want close communion with God here in this life? My answer is a resounding YES! Lord, help me!

I Corinthians 3:10-15
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Sugar cookies

On Valentine's Day, I wanted to make a special sweet treat for Daniel. Due to his milk, egg, and peanut allergy, he cannot have most store-bought candy or most baked goods. What I really wanted to make him were heart-shaped sugar cookies, so I began searching for a good allergen free recipe. And let me tell you, I hit the jackpot! I highly recommend the Food Allergy Mama's website. Highly recommend. Her recipes look excellent, and the the two I have tried (pancakes and sugar cookies) were awesome. She has a cookbook too, and I am definitely buying it. All her recipes are milk, egg, and nut free.
Here are some photos of Daniel and I making the cookies. He likes helping me bake, and he especially likes getting little nibbles along the way. He probably ate 3 or 4 cookies worth of dough before we were done.

Happy Valentine's Day

At this point, you are probably laughing or feeling deep sympathy for the little boy whose parents put him in this get-up. Or perhaps you are doing both!

Well, let me explain. We did not set out to dress Daniel as cupid and photograph him. It all began when I got an offer for 12 free photo cards from Shutterfly. I had to use the offer before January 31st, and the only upcoming occasion that could possibly warrant photo cards was Valentine's Day. So, I set about creating Valentine's photo cards. I planned to use a photo that I had already taken, but nothing seemed just right. Then, I had the bright idea to dress Daniel in his new red sweater, maybe even have him hold a heart, and snap his photo. As I discussed this plan with Brian, he came up with a better idea: "Let's dress him as cupid!" And so the madness began. Brian carefully crafted the wings from an old cardboard box and wrapped them with aluminum foil. I cut the heart out of paper and glued it together. I found an old pair of white cheerleading tights from high school, and we used those to cover his diaper. We used hair ribbon (another relic from my cheerleading days) to hook the wings on his arms, and there you have it. Cupid. And isn't he just adorable?

As we were putting the wings on him, Brian said, "When he gets older, he will not be happy about these photos." Oh, I imagine that is quite the understatement. Can't you see us showing them to his first girlfriend? Oh glory! At least this blog is private now. Instead of everyone on the world wide web having access to these photos, now just our closest friends and family do. Hehehe.

The Birthday Boy

This past weekend we celebrated Daniel's 2nd birthday! He enjoyed his party very much. As family began arriving, Daniel would lead them down to our basement to see his turtle sandbox. And guess what Daddy and Mama had put inside the sandbox? Beans, of course!

The birthday lunch consisted of walking tacos, fruit skewers, and veggies. I think Daniel mainly ate grapes and Fritos. Hohum.

Daniel was looking pretty sleepy after lunch, so we went straight to opening gifts. My, oh, my, did he wake up then! He loved each present so much that he could hardly pull himself away to open the next gift. He opened his new Cars book, and immediately went over to his Great-Grandpa Johnnie to have him read it. We finally had to put it away so that he would keep opening presents.

Daniel also loved his new tractor that makes all sorts of noises and even plays the chicken dance. I've been trying to teach Daniel the actions to that song, but no luck so far. I think he feels himself to be too mature for such things. Daniel was also mighty excited about his new cozy coupe. He loves to be pushed around in that thing! The photo below shows him clutching his tractor while simultaneously getting into the cozy coupe. He wants it all, folks!
One of the most hilarious moments was watching Daniel stand in the back of his wagon and sing into the handle. He looked very serious about it too, like he was crooning some sort of love song. Every time I think about it, I start laughing!
We finished the afternoon with yummy cake and ice cream. My first cake attempt was a complete flop (don't use plastic baking pans!), but thankfully, my mom made the one below and saved the day!
We are so thankful to have our family to celebrate with us. And we praise the Lord for this precious boy. He brings such joy to all of us. Happy birthday, little man!