fig tree freedom

guest blogger: Lydia

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This one is a funny Amelia Bedelia.


Even Aunt Rachel was laughing as she read it.

This little napper is always so excited for the wake up party who comes to greet her after naps.

Last week, there was a lot of snuggling and a lot of Cinderella watching with a houseful of sniffling, coughing, and sneezing.



Being sick is the pits, but snuggling a two-year-old is pretty awesome.

Anna loves her pacifier, but her pacifier use is limited to naps and bedtime and her carseat. The pacifier in her carseat is on a clip, and her carseat hangs out on the floor in the living room. So sometimes, we catch her doing this.



Guilty.

Yesterday on the way to church, Lydia asked, "Daddy did the weather say rain today or beautiful?"

The weather was indeed beautiful, so we took advantage of being outside after naps. (Heidi took a long nap, so I took the girls to the playground in shifts. So Heidi is MIA from these photos.) Anna loves to swing, especially when Lydia is pushing her.





Crawling around on the playground equipment is fun, too.


Especially when Lydia is beneath it.

guest bloggers: Lydia & Heidi

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On Sunday, Tim and Nicole joined us for pizza. After dinner, we played matching with our Curious George cards.




They were pretty good - but not good enough to get more matches than us.

guest blogger: Anna

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I love to eat!



But despite these photos, I didn't eat much of this strawberry. I'm still deciding if I like strawberries or not. I'll have to talk to Aunt Lauren. I hear they're her favorite.

We introduced the girls to the beloved Amelia Bedelia on Valentine's Day.


Amelia Bedelia and the Baby was an easy first favorite.



We will be heading to the library this week to check out some more. (And I'm sure we will also end up with a pile of Berenstain Bear books as well.)

Though, I realize Amelia Bedelia books are still being written/published, I'm partial to the "classics" I read as a kid. We will have to see what all the library has available.

I got a little excited on Friday when the sun was out because I had light pouring in the windows with which to take pictures. And Anna was happy to ham it up for the camera. Plus, she also loves to clear this cabinet on a daily basis.






Hello, blue eyes!

guest blogger: Lydia

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I have been asking Mama that I wanted to do a craft every day. So for Valentine's Day, she had this ready for Heidi and me.



It's a heart flamingo! I love flamingos. (I want my next birthday party to be a flamingo party.)


Then we wrote our names on them.






Anna did her own craft: making a mess of the kitchen toys.


Happy Valentine's Day!

I am really excited to see Frozen at some point because I love Disney's animated movies, especially their musicals. (I can sing my way through Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin . . .). But I'm not sure the girls are ready for all of them yet. We've been watching some YouTube videos from Frozen - for sing-a-long purposes, of course. And "Let It Go" where Elsa is (presumably - what do I know; I haven't seen the movie) building her ice castle in the lonely mountains was declared, "I didn't like that one, Mom."

So we watched, "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?"


And what do you know, this was the conclusion that followed the discussion of our viewing. "So, the mom and dad got on a tippy boat and fell in the water, and they died. And now they're in heaven and can't come back."

?!?!

Once upon a time, I was reading through Exodus. And then I had Heidi, and I haven't mentioned it on here since. That was over three years ago, and nowadays I find myself hanging out in Exodus 14.

The Lord has just lead the Israelites out of Egypt out of slavery (Exodus 12), and they are camped in front of the sea. Pharaoh has changed his mind about telling them to leave, so he is coming after them with everything he's got - chariots and horses and horsemen and troops.

So now the Israelites are camping. It sounds like thunder in the distance. Or maybe it feels like thunder. Or maybe an earthquake. The air weighs heavy with dust, and the intensely blue sky fades. The sand cakes their nostrils and coats their teeth. Suddenly, Pharaoh's army is there, and the Israelites are stuck. The sea is in front of them, and Pharaoh's army is breathing down their necks.

And the Israelites freak out. "They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, 'Was it b…

guest blogger: Anna

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Mama, this drawer kind of works like a rowing machine.



See?


It's really fun!


Don't worry; my finger's not stuck. I'm still laughing.

guest blogger: Heidi

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It snowed a lot to the north and west of the city last week. And Uncle Ryan was in town with Keiper and Kaia. So we went out to visit. The snow was still there, but it was kind of icy on top which made it trickier to navigate than freshly fallen snow.



There were plenty of sticks from the tree that fell over in the neighbor's field.



And the fort Uncle Ryan had built on Monday was still standing, too.


Hmmm, Lydia? You okay?

As I hinted yesterday, more changes are on the way for us.

Here we are in Philadelphia on the blue dot.


This is where we will be by Easter, in our hometown in the suburbs of Philadelphia.


It's certainly going to be different, but historically we do changes all at once. In 2006 we got married, moved to Nashville, started a new job and started grad school - all during the months of July and August. In 2009 we graduated, took the BAR, moved to Philadelphia, and had our first baby. So for 2014, we're just keeping with tradition. =)