He get's us

It occurred to me yesterday how much I understand and get my girls. Not that Bill doesn't get or understand them. But it's just different with a mom. I think it's cause we carried them for 9 months and we are (God willing) home all day with them.

Addie is like my twin, only 31 years younger. She is so much like me it's scary. I get her. Ellia is very much like her Dad. And I get him, so therefore I get her.

Ellia is really starting to pick up words and speak better. Just this morning she said "Raisins". And yesterday she said "Booooowl" and "Alrighty". It is so much fun teaching her new things & watching her eyes light up when she figures something out. It brings a smile to my face each & every time.

Bill said to me the other day "how do you understand what she is saying?" and I said "I don't know, I just do" - Well, it's because I just get them. Oh, and I am sure it's also because I am blessed to be able to be at home with my girls & we communicate all day long. Much like we should be communicating with the Lord.

So as I was taking a moment to myself I found myself realizing how much my daughter's babbles mirror our relationship with the Lord. Let me explain....


Ellia is always babbling. Now, not always is it clear & understandable but none the less she is trying to communicate. The key word is "Trying" The Lord doesn't need us to come to him with clear & precise words. He understands and gets us because he created us. He knows our joys & pains before we even feel them our utter them out loud. Why? Because He gets us.

And you know what? Even though I do not always understand what Ellia is saying, it still brings a smile to my face & joy to my heart to listen to her babble away. And eventually I pick up what she is saying, I understand what she is asking, demanding, pleading or whining for.

Just like I love listening to Ellia the Lord just loves hearing us communicate with him. He wants to hear from us whether it be in song, prayer, pleadings, frustrations/venting and yes, sometimes whining. Why? Because he gets us And I am sure it brings a smile to his face & joy to his heart. (well, most times anyways)

"Therefore I exhort first of all that
supplications, prayers, intercessions and
giving of thanks be made for all men.
that we may lead a quiet & peaceable life in
all godliness and reverence.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight
of God our savior."
1 Timothy 2: 1,2b-3

Happy Father's Day

Today is Father's Day. And this post is for the two men in my life who mean everything to me.

First, there is my Husband, Bill. Whom is the BEST father in the world to our two little girls.



His patience & adoration for them shines brighter than the sun. The way he is with Ellia when she is having one of her moments. (like she has a lot these days......the two's are coming) The way he talks to Addie & gets her to smile so big & laugh till I just know her belly aches. He is so loving and is quick to teach our girls the importance of Respecting others, Loving Jesus, Kindness, Patience, and of course wrestling moves or hunting techniques.

Happy Father's Day Bill!! You are the BEST and the girls & I love you soooo much.






Second, Father's Day wish goes out across the miles to my own Father or rather "Daddio" as I have called him since I was young. Sorry, dad yet again I am late in mailing a card!

There is a country song that goes something like this "I loved her first, from the first moment I saw her, I loved her first" And each & every time I hear that song I think of my Daddio. How much I know he loves me. My Daddio and I have always had a special bond.

We understand each other, we respect each other and we share similiar interests. We love sitting & watching a Football game. No words have to be spoken, we just enjoy watching the game & being with one another.

My Daddio is what some would call a Gentle Giant, as he stands over 6ft tall. He is the biggest teddy bear ever & he gives great hugs!

Today as we celebrate dads I want to send out a BIG

HAPPY FATHERS DAY to my daddio.

I love you!!!

Hope you have a great day.

Sick kiddos

Things have been a bit crazy in our household. It seems a nasty bit of "feverish devils" have come upon Ellia. She has been running a high temp since Wednesday. And it just doesn't want to let go of her. So far Addie is holding up pretty well.

But Mama is going stir crazy. I haven't left the house except for the doctor since Tuesday. And you would think since I am stuck at home I'd have time to blog & such. Not the case as I am constantly being pulled in one direction or another by a certain Miss Crabby pants.

However, this is what being a Mama is all about. Taking care of them when they don't feel good, having snot rubbed all over my shirts each day (you should see my shirts at the end of the day) and trying to make her as comfortable as I can. It's not been easy or very fun, but it has been what I have dreamed about for many years. Okay, well not the sick part, but the whole being a Mama.

Kinda of like my wedding vows, "In sickness and in health" I am a Mama. And I am loving it!

p.s. please pray for Baby Stellan. He is back in the hospital & the doctors are at their wits end on how to treat him now.

Wednesday Seen, Heard, Said

Seen: Woman breast feeding her newborn baby at the park yesterday. Right there at the playground. And she wasn't discreet about it at all.


Heard: Ellia playing with Addie and telling her "No Addie, No Addie". When I walked over to assess the situation Ellia was taking the little people dog away from Addie. Guess she didn't think Addie should play with it. Can we say bossy pants? Hmmm, wonder where she gets that from?

Said: "That is her amo" when talking about a friends daughter & their recent struggles . What I meant to say was "it was her mo" No one ever said that using proper english was my best quality.

Homemade Granola Bars

Remember this post about being a granola mama?? Well, I attempted to be one yesterday. Ellia and I made home-made granola bars. And I tweaked the recipe to fit our pantry & they still turned out GREAT!!!.

Recipe & pictures: Enjoy!!!!!

2 Cups rolled oats
3/4 Cup packed brown sugar (I used a bit less, cause I ran out)
1/2 Cup Wheat Germ
3/4 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup Raisins (optional)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup Honey ( I used cream'd honey)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla


Pre-heat oven to 350
Grease 9x13 pan

1. In lrg mixing bowl mix together oats, BS, Wheat Germ, Cinnamon, Flour, Raisins and Salt. Make a well in the center and pour the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. And then pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

2. Bake for 30-35 mins (my oven only took 30) or until the bars begin to turn golden around the edges. Cool for 5 minutes and then cut the bars while still warm. Do not wait till they cool to cut because they get a bit hard.

**So I did not have Wheat Germ, BUT my pantry did have Oat Bran & Flax seed.**
So I substituted 1/4 Cup of Oat Bran & 1/4 Cup Flax seed & they still turned out great.
And I used a mixture of Spiced Cranberries & apples - made by Dole. Got this at Costco along with Raisins.

Here is what the mix looked like after mixing:



Ellia helping me by dumping in the fruit & she helped me mix it all up


What it looked like once it came out of oven.

Finished product. They are sooooo yummy. And so healthy! Ellia ate one with her bowl of cheerios this morning. And she ate every last drop of it.

Thursdays with Team D

I am thankful for: All this fabulous weather we have been having. And the excitment & joy on Ellia's face as she plays outside in it. She loves to be outside & says "Mama paaaay, pleeeeease". It's the sweetest thing ever.

I am listening to: The t.v. running the background & the dogs barking next door. Did I mention they bark ALL the time and that Ellia cannot even play in her yard without them barking at her. So much that it scares her. And lets not even mention what happens when Bubba goes out in the yard.


I am looking forward to: Calvins graduation tonight. My BFF Melissa's son is graduating from Snohomish tonight. I am so excited to be going & to watch him walk across that stage. (there was some drama leading up to it, I'll do another post about that with grad pictures tomorrow) I have known Calvin since he was 3.5yrs old. Here are some fun pictures of him through the years.




What's for dinner Tonight: Brocolli, Rice & Cheese casserole with Roasted Chicken breasts. An easy dinner & one that just pops into the oven and since I have to leave early for graduation it will be easy for Bill to handle.


Missing: Ellia's big purple ball. She had it in the yard the other day but it has vanished. I think it might have rolled out the fence & down our hill. And in that case it probably found a new home since there are a ton of kids at the bottom of the hill. But it's sad cause she goes out into the yard and says "Ball, Mama, Ball" and looks for it.

A little bit of this, A little bit of that

It's been a crazy week-n-half here in the Team D household. Go figure that's why I haven't posted much since NMM. So this post will be a little bit of everything this week:

On Sunday, we went to a 45yr Anniversary/Retirement party for some old family friends of my families. Lois & Ken have known me for 28 years!!!!! Now that is an accomplishment. They live in Arizona and just recently retired. They came up to visit for their granddaughter's High School Graduation (it's tonight - a post about that is coming later). While they were here their kids threw them a Anniversary/Retirement party.

Lois came for our wedding but Ken couldn't. So he had never met Bill or the girls. It was fun to introduce my Wonderful husband and beautiful girls to him & the rest of their extended family.

A few snapshots of the day:


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Ellia and I am growing tomato's this year. We did plant a butterfly garden made up of wild flowers but sadly they aren't doing as well as the Tomato's. The other night I had to water the plants and do some weeding. So Ellia came out to help me and found herself very wet.
See all the trouble - I mean Fun she got into while out in the yard with me.

Here she is playing with her shovel & trying to water at the same time.
She decided getting wet was more fun than weeding the gardens.

Liking the water & being wet
Not liking the water or being wet anymore

I had to undress her outside b/c she was sooooo wet. She sat down on the step & it just made the cutest snapshot.


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Addie discovered Mashed Potato's the other night at dinner. She grabbed my plate and just started digging into them. It was the cutest thing. But before it was over she was covered from head to toe in taters. Too cute not to photograph.



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We made a visit to the splash park the other day. We met some friends and enjoyed the water during all this hot weather we are getting.

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have NOT been doing this week.


This week I did NOT discover The Farm on Facebook. And I am NOT addicted to this game, NOT in the least.

I did NOT get up at 4:30am when Addie woke for a bottle & go harvest grapes on my farm.

On Friday evening when I received a Pig as a gift You did NOT hear my yell downstairs to Bill "I just got a pig for my farm".

I did NOT join the "Bill D. needs to get a Facebook account" that was created by our friend Lindsey. And I did NOT bust up laughing when I got the invite & holler at Bill to come to the computer.

Bill did NOT join Facebook just so he can have a farm. Since I wont allow him to work on my farm anymore. Not after he planted sunflowers without my permission. And Yes, maybe I wanted them, but I wanted to plant them.

I did NOT call the nurse 2 days in a row and I did NOT talk to the same nurse each time. Who by the way did NOT remember me and did NOT utter a slight chuckle as I told her my name. (no worries, girls are good now, Addie had an allergic reaction to sunscreen & Ellia was running a very high temp and I wanted to know what was too high)

On Saturday evening when Bill told me how beautiful are girls are I did NOT say to him, "I want them to be ugly" "I don't want any boy to discovering their beauty till they are way older, like the Swan princess story". To which Bill responded with "Did I hear you right, You did NOT just say you wanted our girls to be ugly?" And I did NOT say, "Yes, you heard me right"
(Being the parents of two beautiful girls is going to be very hard.)

Seen, Heard, Said

Seen:
Sign saying: "Clothed hotties serve better coffee" Love this!

Heard:
"Grandma's house is a free country, your house is a dictatorship"

Said:
"Boobies" - Ellia has discovered them on everyone.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have NOT been doing this week.


Friday, I did NOT suggest that Bill take the to work downtown to work just so I didn't have to drive back & forth to Seattle 3x before we left to head down to Portland for the weekend.

And I most definitely did NOT then find a "better" route for him to take when I saw which one he was going to take. Cause you know I am the more experienced bus rider - having taken the bus for years to work.

While eating ice cream bars yesterday in the yard at Aunt Beth's - Ellia did NOT share her ice cream with Boomer. And I did NOT encourage her to do so just for a picture. And she most certainly did NOT then put the rest of the ice cream in her mouth after sharing with Boomer. Nope and the following aren't pictures of this episode either.

We did NOT leave late from Portland and miss our friends daughters musical concert at church. Even after we told her we were going to try very hard to come. And because we left late we do NOT have to pay another night of boarding for Bubba.

And so since we were late & not going to make the concert we did NOT stop at Bill's sisters house to check out the progress. (her house is getting a bunch of work done to it) And then decide to dress the girls for bed right there in her front yard. Ellia wore a new pair of pj's G & G gave her right then, Addie did NOT wear her dirty, breakfast stained pjs from earlier that morning for a 2nd time. Nope, I wouldn't stoop to that level and put dirty pjs on my daughter just so she'd be ready for bed when we got home. Ummm, yeah right!

I did NOT ignore my neighbors last night as Bill stood there talking to them as I unloaded the car. I was NOT in "unload" the car mode & just wanted to get it done so we could get the girls into bed & ourselves into bed after a long weekend.

Small Town Life

On Friday Bill and I headed down to the Portland area to visit his family. We had a great time as you will see in our pictures.

First, let me just tell you that Bill has this BIG idea of some day living in a "small" town out in the middle of nowhere & raising our kids. I get a bit sick when I think of this idea. What about a mall or a Starbucks. Or just people? I am a city girl at heart and I just don't think I could do it.

But this weekend I got a taste of what happens in small town America. We went to a Pancake feed (my first ever!) and we watched the small town parade of Hockinson. I also have never been to a parade - except at DisneyWorld. Our cousins Jason & Christy seemed to know everyone & introduced us to them all - or it seems. (this was cool, I like the idea of everyone knowing you) It was actually a lot of fun & I liked it. Don't know if I'm ready to move but if there is fun like this all year I could maybe get used to it.

On with the pictures:

Here is Ellia and I eating breakfast in the fire house. Can you tell Ellia has a mouth full of pancakes?

Overhead view of everyone chowing down on pancakes


The volunteers cooking up all the pancakes, ham & eggs. They had it down to science, but then again when you're feeding this many people you do.




Here we are waiting for the parade to start

Ice cream treats - it was HOT!!!

Julie & Kate watching the parade


Caleb & Levi and their exercise club ran in the parade. Here they are as they approached


Addie hung out in the back of cousin Jason & Christy's car for awhile to get out of the sun. Here she is chillin. Just call me Miss Cooolio!


Later we headed back to Aunt Beth and Uncle Harold's for a bbq. Christy entertained the little kiddo's.

Caden & Ellia played extremely well together. Isn't this a cute picture?

Dinner on Saturday night - Hey, Chirsty did you really eat all that corn??


Christy & baby Kate bonded on Saturday night. Here she is with all the smaller kiddo's just hanging out in the grass.