Lifeguards at the beach

Wee, this is fun!

Slowly not liking it

Fear

At one point she was biting my thumb out of fear. At the end I felt a little sick.

The ocean

The ocean was fierce this morning. I got to spend about an hour and a half there by myself. I went for a walk, collected shells and read more of my book. My favorite thing was watching the ocean. It's so amazing to watch the swells turn into waves, then the waves crash and create a foamy layer over the sandy beach. The water was choppy and the waves were crashing hard. Unfortunately I only had my phone so I couldn't get great shots.

The longer I stayed, the nicer it got...ran out of quarters though!

1st time at the Beach

Alex loves the beach! He loved the ocean and the waves. He loved the sand so much that he ate it. I know that every baby eats sand; it's kind of like a rite of passage.

Lilia on the other hand was a monster and super fearful. She was a monster because she slept horribly the night before and the day before had a 1/2 hour nap. She was fearful because last summer when we were at Lewes, on Cape Henelopen State Park some men were fishing and caught a 3 foot shark. She is terrified of sharks in the ocean. She won't even put her toes in. It's kind of sad. If you think of it, pray that she would get past that fear; even if it's years from now.

Alex & Lilia LOVED the pool

Alex is officially crawling

Alex is officially crawling

Lilia's quote of the day

We were crossing the street from eating dinner in downtown Bethany when my dad found a stone in the road. It was polished and cut nice as though bought from a store. My dad gave it to Lilia. They figured out that it's called "Tiger's eye." So as the car ride went on and we talked about the rock, this conversation ensued...

"How did the tiger loose his eye?" - Lilia

"Oh, it's not from a real tiger hunny." - Poppy

"Maybe when he was crossing the street his eye fell out." - Lilia

Then we all cracked up laughing.

1st Summer Storm

As if winter wasn't crazy enough with record snow falls, we are starting off summer with a bang. Literally a bang.

Late this afternoon the sky got dark and the wind picked up. Then terenchel rain came followed by marble sized hail. Lilia, Alex and I were watching the storm from the sunroom. My neighbor Jenny called me to ask if I saw the tree down. I said no and the three of us ran up to Lilia's room to see the damage. I couldn't believe my eyes!

Later tonight around 7:30 PECO came with chain saws and cut the tree apart. The police worked hard to clear the road of huge debree. They did a good job. Now 2 lanes are open on our street.

I hope the rest of the summer isn't this crazy!

Chaos on Chestnut

Last night I wrote on facebook how they were preparing the roads to be repaved. That was a HUGE BLESSING because of the storm. No cars were parked on Chestnut due to the construction. However, my friend and neighbor Jenny had just gotten back from food shopping and didn't want to park around the corner. It's tough to bring in 2 kids and groceries when you're not out front. Sadly one of the branches from a tree fell and smashed her back windshield.

We are letting them borrow our car while we borrow my mother-in-law's Highlander. By the way, thanks mom for making that happen. It's a huge blessing to Jenny & Dustin!

The broken tree

Out front of our house...we're safe.

Crazy summer storm

My boys, Alex 8 mo

Stayin' Alive = "The Marty Song"

One of Lilia's favorite movies is Madagascar. It's really hilarious if you've never seen it. Anyway we were driving in the car on Sunday when the song "Staying Alive" came on. Lilia shouted out, "It's the Marty song!" Marty is the zebra and in one scene he's walking down a street in New York City on his way to Grand Central Station and this song is playing.

So yesterday we went food shopping and the radio was on. Lilia asked me if the Marty song was on. We flipped through the stations only to not find it. Same thing on the way home. So this morning I bought it on Itunes for her and played it when she got up. She enjoyed it!

A summer favorite

Lilia's favorite summer dinner is kabobs with rice. She will eat an entire stick of veggies and meat plus lots of rice. It's more than I can get her to eat for any meal hands down. I'm so thankful for that!!!

Smith Playground. You Gotta Go.

It FREE! There is a giant indoor & outdoor playground in Fairmount Park, only a few minutes from the zoo. The mansion was never used and was just made into a playground. You can read more about it on their website. It was pretty cool!

Wahoo!

They have this enclosed giant wooden slide. You use a burlap sack to go down. Lilia loved it, but would only go down with daddy.

Smith playground, the back of the mansion

Alex riding the fire truck at the playground

Alex learning to crawl

Beginnings

Way back in April I started seedlings in a greenhouse kit I purchased at Lowe's. The cosmos did the best (pictured left). I placed them in my garden and now things are starting to happen. It's so exciting to know that only a few dollars, lots of water, sunlight and patience is paying off. I can't wait to see everything bloom and become so colorful!

Growing bigger & Ready to bloom

My 1st cosmo has bloomed!

Give it another month and the flowers will be blooming...I hope

Seeing me in a new light

I'm reading this book and I just made a basic, yet deep understanding of myself. I've always viewed myself as a good/righteous person who sometimes sins. However reading this quote changed my perspective drastically...

"Sin makes us moral quadriplegics. We are fundamentally unable to do what is right." Paul Tripp

Dave and I were sitting out back in the cool night air enjoying reading quietly. It was so perfect. When I read this I stopped, looked up and said, "Wow." I now understand the basic gospel message. I am a sinful person who sometimes is righteous, but only because it's Christ working in and through me.

Awesome, what a good night!

Alex update, 8 months

Alex was 8 months on Saturday. For the past two weeks, maybe three, I'd go in to get Alex from his crib and he'd be on his belly pushing up and sometimes on his knees. Dave and I have been giving him some tummy time lately on the carpet to work on those crawling skills. He's getting there. He will move one leg slightly then lunge forward on his belly. He is so determined. It won't be long before he's crawling around the house.

Also in his walker...now he doesn't even hold onto the handles. He just zooms around with his hand in the air out to the sides. Dave and I look at each other and laugh.

My friend and neighbor Jenny came up to visit at my parent's.

Jenny & Leo on the swing.

Alex and Miles hanging out in the grass.

"Drinking from mom's cup is SO fun!"

Water boy

Alex LOVES to drink water from a glass, his sister's sippy cup, a water bottle, really anything. Here you see him drinking water from this pot. My mom brought it out filled with room temp water to get him accustomed to playing in water. He just wanted to drink it.

Welcome home Dave...

Dave coming home was both wonderful and disappointing. Wonderful because we were so happy to see each other. Alex and Lilia were happy to see him and vice versa. I'm happy be back to normal life. Disappointing because we're both exhausted and we still have to live life taking care of 2 young and needy children. Dave would would 12 hour days for most of the missions trip. I'm exhausted; well you know why.
Then this morning the kids bathroom was leaking down into the dining room. Oh wonderful! Dave's checking things out with that. Our shower door was broken so I was using the kids shower. The bath is fine, it's when you use the shower that water leaks. We think we figured out where it's coming from. Hopefully some chaulk will do the trick. Then I'm going to put rice down onto the floor behind the shower for a couple of days to help soak up the moisture. Then by the time it will draw any bugs/mice, we'll vacuum it up with a shop vac.
We're new to home ownership!

Where are the horses?

Driving home yesterday from my parent's house we pass a horse farm. The horses weren't out and I asked Lilia, "Where do you think they are?"

"I think they went in to take a bath, eat a snack and take a nap."

Tractor

My mom borrowed this from a friend who found it in the trash. We had a blast with it while we visited.

Alex loves it too!

Leo, tractor man

I thought I'd have a turn. Lilia's pushing.

Lilia and Leo playing in the pool

Alex, 8 mo and Miles, 3 mo

Pictures to come soon

We are having a great time here. The days are flying and the kids are having fun. Yesterday my dad and I took Lilia and Alex to Kids Castle in Doylestown. We got some good playing in before the rain came down. Then Lilia got to watch mine and Matt's favorite childhood movie, "Robin Hood" the Disney version. I still have many of the lines memorized.
Today my friend/neighbor from Philly drove out with her 2 kids (Leo & Miles) and they hung out for the day. The kids played with the cars/bikes in the driveway and enjoyed the kiddie pool. All 4 kids were sleeping at one point and we enjoyed lunch and adult conversation.
I got to wash our car and vacuum it out. It was so dirty I could clearly tell if I missed a spot. Dave comes on Saturday, so we're in the home stretch!!!

The Bike

Over the weekend when my mom was here she would put Alex on this bike and ride him up and down the side walk. After a few times when she would set him on the seat his hands knew exactly what to do.
He grew to love riding on the bike so much that he would get upset when she took him off. Or after being in her arms a few minutes he would try to wiggle down wanting to get back on.

Another great zoo day!

The weather is perfect today! I decided yesterday that we were going to the zoo this morning. It was a great morning. We saw some animals that we haven't seen yet, like the reptiles. We collected more conservation cards of the lego animals too.
In the reptile part I heard this woman say to the person she was with, "Did you see his black eye?" I just had to laugh. I'm sure so many people walking by wandered what happened to Alex. Funny!
I packed lunch and we just sat and enjoyed ourselves and the cool weather. It was a really nice morning.

Worst Mother of the Year

Lilia and I were dancing in the kitchen Thursday evening. Alex was in his walker. I was trying to kick my leg over his head when instead my knee clocked him in the eye.
He certainly cried and cried. I wasn't sure where I hit him at first. I was waiting to see how he was before I called my friend/neighbor the pediatrician. He calmed down after a reasonable amount of time and even had a laugh at Lilia. Then I knew he was ok.
That night I got up to feed him around 2am and I noticed that his right eye didn't even open. Then yesterday it turned black and blue.
What's the most upsetting is that Alex didn't get his first black eye because he was just being a rough and tumble boy!

Whoops

Karen & my mother-in-law were over today helping out. I asked Karen to help me start up the grill so we could cook kabobs. We turned on the gas and turned the heat on. Then she hit the igniter button and whoosh...her hair got singed. Just the hair around her face. She quick ran to the bathroom mirror to see if her eye brows were still there. Thank goodness they were!
We all had a really good laugh! Oh, and the kabobs were really yummy.