Time with Grandma - Part 1

We were so thankful for a visit from my grandma the past few days. At 93, travelling isn't easy, but that doesn't stop her. We had her over our house for dinner and some time with her two great grandaughters. It had been since last July when she saw Nina, and she had never met Lyla before, so this was a special visit. Lyla took to Gram right away, and sat on her lap more still than she'll sit on our lap!
We think they became good buddies!

Time With Grandma - Part 2

Our second visit with Grandma was today at my mom and dad's house before she leaves to go home tomorrow. Today's visit was MUCH more high energy as the four great grandaughters were there together. There is never a shortage of silliness when they all get together.

I think that Gram is going to have a lot of stories to tell when she gets back home. I also think she's going to sleep for a day! She's been busy and on the move ever since she got here on Friday, and between visits with the girls, dinner at my house and dinner at Shen's house and hanging out with my parents, she's going to be worn out when she gets home! We're so happy she was able to visit, and we are pretty sure she kept entertained while she was here!

We've Been "Efl-ed"

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/81Vx7axG2p2cARoc
My mom elf-ed Bo, Shen, G, Mark, and I...this is a funny one! Make sure the volume is on.

Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas!!!!! We hope everyone had a wonderful day celebrating such a great holiday. Christmas really is such a wonderful time, and we really enjoyed ourselves this year. We spent Christmas Eve at the traditional family gathering at my parents' house, then Christmas morning at our house then back at my parent's house. It was an awesome time of enjoying our kids, our family, and everything that God has blessed us with. We really are thankful! To see all the pictures from our evening and morning, click on this link. By viewing the slideshow, you can read the captions of who and what some of the pictures are about.

http://picasaweb.google.com/amandabeth2/062?authkey=gjhnrKGushU&feat=directlink

Winter Has Arrived!

Since winter officially arrived yesterday, we know we'll be spending most of our time inside for the next few months. Thankfully, our basement toy room is a pretty good place for the girls to play and get their energy out. Since there isn't much in our basement right now other than our elliptical machine and the toy room, there is plenty of room to run, jump, and play which is coming in handy during these long, cold months ahead!!

And the Nightmare Continues...

In case you were a little in doubt about the presence of the sex slavery issue here in the U.S., msnbc.com just posted an article this morning you might want to read.

Sex Slavery: Living the American Nightmare

With Christmas right around the corner, and all the celebrating and gift giving that surrounds us, could you imagine being in this wonderful country but in these deplorable conditions?

It's Taken Nine Months...

...but Lyla finally has a tooth breaking through. She's been drooling and chewing for six months, so it's about time! So far, no successful picture of the tooth, but since we've all got them (I hope), there may be no need for a visual on this one.

We Love our Animals

The girls both love the lion and giraffe in the nursery. It's cute watching Lyla do the same things that Nina did at her age. Every morning, Lyla crawls over to the lion to give it kisses like Nina did. Lyla also likes to "ride" the giraffe with our help, and she loves to crawl in the legs and play with it's tail...just like Nina did. It's cute to see that they both love those animals so much.

A Really Great Event

Last night, Mark and I attended the 2008 benefit dinner for the International Justice Mission with our good friends, the Clarkes. It was an amazing evening. The ridiculous traffic, pouring down rain, and running a block in the pouring down rain (in holiday attire, high heels, no umbrella), couldn't detract from the magnitude of the time we were there. Both Megan and I attended the Call + Response film a couple months ago, and we were both really impacted to do more in the area of human trafficking and injustice. During the film, the president of IJM, Gary Haugen, spoke on the crisis of injustice in our world. The information and statistics are startling. Did you know that there are more people in slavery today than at any other time in history? The images will break your heart and keep you up at night, but the fact is that it's all too real and happening all around us (all over the world and HERE in the U.S.). It's almost impossible to be exposed to the reality of what's going on and not want to do something about it. Second only to drugs and weapons, humans are the most trafficked product in the world, and the demand for humans is growing as traffickers realize that once they sell a drug or a weapon, their product is gone, but they can sell a human over and over and over and continue to make a profit. Scary, right? Did you know that children are being advertized for sex on Craigslist? It makes you rethink your use of that site. One could go on and on, but the point is that IJM is doing so much right around the world to bring justice to victims of unspeakable acts. They are dedicated to fighting for basic human rights, persecuting the cowards who buy sell women and children for sex, and those who enslave children and adults against their will and without pay. As Haugen said last night at the dinner, the battle is really one of Good against Evil, and last night was truely a celebration with over 1200 people that a lot of Good really is happening through IJM. We were so thrilled to be a part of the evening, and our hope is that many others will join the fight against injustice because it really does matter to those victims. Haugen made a great point that we may not be able to make a difference for all the people in the world, but we CAN make all the difference in the world for some.

To learn more about IJM or the topic of human trafficking, here are just some sites that might interest you, and there are many, many more out there:

International Justice Mission

Polaris Project

Born To Fly

Season of Light

Not For Sale

Trafficking Sucks

I would also really recommend Gary Haugen's book, Just Courage

To close, there was one quote I read on a blog that really stuck in my head. It's by Dr. Martin Luther King. He said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Something to think about...

Nine Months

Lyla turned nine months old on Monday. I would have posted then, but I was trying to get the Santa pictures posted that day, then we went to the tree farm to get our Christmas tree, bring it home, decorate it, etc. So, for a quick Lyla update. At nine months, she is into everything. She wants to do whatever Nina is doing, and crawls all over the house pulling up on everything she can. She's still a picky eater. I took her to the doctor yesterday for her check-up, and the word is that we need to put some meat on her bones. She's at the top of the spectrum for height but at the low end for weight. She is still a great baby, so sweet, and still has NO teeth and just a little bit of hair! :)

In these pictures, she's checking out her reflection in the trash can (a bit gross, I know, but she's a kid...what can you do?). This first picture is her giving herself a kiss. She gives the biggest open mouth slobbery kisses ever, but we accept them anyway. This one is a must see in larger mode. Click on it to see the funny reflection in the trash can!

A Visit to Santa

Yesterday, we took the girls to see Santa. Our community was having a Winter Wonderland which was supposed to be outdoors. However, it was SO cold and windy, and they thankfully moved the activities indoors. Nina was very excited to see Santa this year.

Lyla wasn't feeling very well, but she didn't seem at all scared by Santa.

Nina loved the reindeer, Santa, and the juggling elf!

Buddies...Kind of

I can't say they're buddies all the time, but we're definitely getting to the point where they're starting to play together. There is still a lot of I want what she has, but I have a feeling that's not going to go away anytime in the next 18 years. While we definitely think there are challenges to having two kids in less than two years, we're starting to see the benefits also.

Big Baby in a Little Stroller

Nina and Lyla have taken to a new game. Nina is the mommy and Lyla is her baby, and Nina gives Lyla stroller rides in her baby doll stroller. They both think it's pretty funny, and I crack up b/c Mark sings the big baby in a little stroller a la Tommy Boy - if you forget that part of the movie, here's a little refresher: http://crackle.com/c/Movies_and_TV/tommy_boy_fat_guy_in_a_little_coat/1860692

Thanksgiving 2008 at Hartfield

http://picasaweb.google.com/amandabeth2/051#

I took quite a few pictures of our time down at Hartfield for Thanksgiving, so you can click on the above link to view the slideshow of photos. We had a great time, and with a holiday intended for us to take time to give thanks with family, we were reminded of how much we truely have to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving to all from our family!!!!

If Only I had my Video Camera Handy...

Nina's buddy, Casimir, came over this morning to play. Keep in mind they're both 2 1/2 and great playmates, but it's been at least a month since they've played together. Casimir walks in, he and Nina give each other a hug (completely unprompted by Teresa and I), then Casimir says to Nina, "You look beautiful," and Nina replies, "Oh, thank you," then they run off to play. Can we say prom dates in about 16 years?

We're Going Crazy...Wanna Come?

*** Click anywhere on the collage to see it bigger

I didn't coin this phrase, but I'm using it today for lack of a better one myself. I think this has been the longest 1/2 day we've had in a long time. It's a high of 40 degrees here with blustery winds, and I didn't have anything planned for us to do today...big mistake! So, here are some shots from our morning. Thank goodness for nap time right now then we'll start all over again for the second 1/2 of the day!

Queen of the Table

Remember the game King of the Mountain? Well, we have a little bit of that going on in our house with the learning table we're borrowing from Emme and Ryleigh. We'll call our issue Queen of the Table. Clearly this is a baby toy, however since it's new to us and Lyla wants to play with it, Nina is also obsessed with playing with it. Just like in the King of the Mountain game where you had to pick off all the weaker ones to get to the top of the hill, the stronger sister has been seen "picking off" her weaker sister by removing her hands from the table which obviously results in the little one falling to the floor.

Now the we're onto the little tricks, we keep a very close eye on the situation here...

A Fun Rainy Day Activity

Today I tried out this place in Ashburn that I have never been to before. It's called Sport Bounce. They basically just have a warehouse full of bounce houses and big inflated slides for kids to play on. Since it was a rainy day, it seemed like a good day to give it a try. The sessions of the open gym only last for 1.5 hours, but we used up every minute. Nina had so much fun. She didn't stop running, climbing, bouncing, and sliding the entire time that we were there (click on the picture below to see the happy face). When we had to leave, she told me, "Mommy, I'm so tired," and she took a great nap today! I'll have to do this again! When we were at Sport Bounce, I brought my old/falling apart camera (hence the bad picture above), but I use that camera for video. When I was transferring my pictures, I came across this video that I had forgotten from last week. Lyla had just started clapping, so I was trying to get her to do that on video, but she was more interested in the camera that I thought I had hidden well under the chair!

Uh Oh!

I came into Lyla's room after her nap yesterday afternoon, and this is what I found. Priority #1 when Mark got home from work yesterday - move the crib down to the lower setting!

8 Months Old

Lyla turned eight months old yesterday. Right now she is at the age where she's like a little puppy - very curious and into everything! She is into pulling over trash cans, toy baskets, etc. just to get out everything that is inside. She loves cords and will motor across the room just to get to one (why do kids never love to play with safe things?). She recently started clapping to music, but she claps with one hand open and the other hand in a fist...it's pretty cute!

Sister Update

• In this latest sister update, I'll give you a slight compare and contrast of the girls at the moment: Nina
• very sweet sometimes and very toddler at other times
• quite sharp and is using that ability to exasperate her parents at the moment
• loves being the center of attention in our family
• is motivated by a challenge (we actually got her to eat a few pieces of meat the other day by telling her we didn't think there was ANY chance she could possibly eat it)
• wants anything that Lyla has even if it's a baby toy that she hasn't played with in two years
• has tons of energy and a very big imagination
  Lyla
• very laid back and easy going
• quite determined - if she wants something, she's going to get it
• wants everything that Nina doesn't want her to have - i.e. Nina's "sisters" which are like Polly Pockets, and I'll surround Lyla with her toys and she'll take off crawling at a rapid pace across the room to get Nina's sisters
• has a funny sense of humor for a baby - every morning she waits at the corner of her crib facing the door to her room so she can see us when we walk in. Today she had climbed over her bumper and had her little face pressed against the crib bars trying to see the door better. When I open the door there is this big smile on her face and she starts laughing!
• the type of baby that makes us realize why some people have a lot of kids. We guess we're going to pay for it when she's older.
  
  

Man Enough?

While some people in our country might have been somberly contemplating their vote for today (not to say that we won't be serious while voting today - we will), those in our house were signing a waiver (not kidding) to purchase the hottest wings available, appropriately named the Flatliners. The Redskins were on MNF, so what better occasion to put your manhood to the test? Bo and Mark can definitely take some heat, but I've never seen them react this way. About ten seconds after putting the wing in their mouths, they started sweating, pacing, having shortness of breath, feeling nauseous, etc. I didn't know whether to keep laughing or call 911. They chugged milk, interspersed that with beer, consumed as much celery and blue cheese as possible, and they still couldn't get rid of the feeling that their tongue, throat, and stomach were being ripped out (in their words).

After waking up this morning, both complained of sharp abdominal pain and night sweats that woke them up on several occasions last night. While we're not sure that all Flatliners are created equal, the ones at the Sterling Buffalo Wing House are certainly not for the faint of heart. While I don't think Mark or Bo will ever do that again, they can now wear their Man Badge with pride.