Whatever She Dreams Up

Grandma and Papa are willing to participate in whatever Aria dreams up and in most cases her imagination is quite extravagant.  Last Sunday, I came downstairs to discover this:

They were playing Frozen, of course.  The blue blanket is the ice and they are all dressed up in their winter gear.  Note the date was June 1.  I'm not exactly sure why Aria is wearing a pillowcase on her legs or why there is a border of luggage and toys around the ice rink or why Papa has to wear a girl hat and Grandma's hat is too small, but they were having fun.  Even though I give them grief and it occasionally causes me to roll my eyes or grit my teeth, I do think it is wonderful that Aria has two people in her life who are always willing to say yes.  Whatever she wants to play, whatever she wants to eat, wherever she wants to go, it is awful hard for Grandma and Papa to say no.  But Aria knows she is loved and that is what matters most.

New Swing Set

At the end of April, we got a new swing set for Aria.  Her old set was starting to make me a little anxious when three kids were on it at once, so it was time for an upgrade!  A funny story about picking out the play set, Justin and I searched a lot before presenting the idea to Aria.  We showed her some pictures of the one we liked and she was excited at first, but then said, "No, it doesn't have a telescope."  Of all the things to want on your play set.  We assured her we could buy a telescope and put it on and then she decided she liked it.

One sunny Sunday afternoon, Daddy and Papa went to pick up the play set and we started laying out all the pieces and putting it together.  There was a lot of wood.

However, very shortly into the process the sky looked a little dark off to the southwest, so I checked the radar.  I saw tornado warnings west of here, so I thought we should shut down the building and get the stuff in the garage.  I didn't want it to blow away before we even built it.  So we started carrying armfuls of wood into the garage and by the end of getting it all in there it was raining pretty hard.  Daddy and Papa decided to keep building in the garage, but about 5 minutes later the tornado siren started going off.  So, Aria's new swing set was partially built in the garage during a tornado warning.  Luckily, the weather was never very severe here and it passed quickly.

We ended up having the swing set in the garage for a week until we could move it back out again and finish building it.  It was sure hard for Aria to wait to have it all done, but it was definitely worth the wait!  She has spent hours and hours on it already!  Oh, and it is not a play house.  It is a secret hideaway.

Little Praises 3.0

Last week, Aria got her third opportunity to sing on the big stage in "big church" with her Little Praises choir.  My girl still really loves to sing and she loves being a part of Little Praises!  The teachers are wonderful and the songs she knows from her weekly practices are great to hear around the house.  Aria would much rather Little Praises continued on through the summer, but I'm sure the teachers love their break!  The other day we were discussing summer swimming lesson plans and Aria said, "But mom, we can't have swimming lessons on Wednesdays.  I have preschool and Little Praises and FX on Wednesdays."  I told her we don't have those things in the summer and her response was, "What in the world am I going to do?"  She loves her Wednesday events!

Back to last Sunday.  You just never know what will happen when you put a bunch of 3-5 year olds up on stage in front of the church.  The kids get to sing in all 3 services, so it makes for a long morning.  By the last service, most of them are a little squirrely.  That is why we record every song, every service.  You just never know when a boy will sing the whole song in a falsetto voice or a girl will tell her Daddy that a certain boy wants to marry her.  And, you have to hope that at least one of the songs will be a recording of the kids' faces instead of the back of their heads turned around looking at themselves on the big screen.  I picked the two videos I thought Aria did her best.  I wish I could include them all to get the full effect, but I'm not waiting that long for them to upload.

Here is Hallelujah Lord and Jesus Loves the Little Children/Oh How I Love Jesus

An Outdoor Fort

One day I was doing some cleaning in the kitchen and Aria was playing on the deck.  I wasn't paying too close attention to what she was exactly doing.  In hindsight, I do remember random objects going outside, but thought not much about it.  Pretty soon I heard, "Mom come look at my fort!"

Creative child.  Great at making her own fun, even if it isn't her preference.

Yesterday

Dear Aria,

I write this blog for you.  I hope that someday you read this and get a glimpse of your childhood.  However, you may ask why there are such gaps right around when you turned 4.  Lately, Mommy hasn't been spending a whole lot of time writing on this blog.  Instead, we've been having days like yesterday.

When you first got up we read a book.
After breakfast we read a book about Jesus and did our first Resurrection Egg craft.
Next we went to Music Together class and had a ball dancing and singing.
When we got home, we had a few chores to do.  You finished first so you played bubbles on the deck while I was doing the dishes.
Once I was done, I came out to enjoy the beautiful day with you.
We played ring around the rosey on the fire pit and jumped off.
I pushed you on the swing.
We drew pictures for Daddy on the driveway with chalk.
We played t-ball.
We ran races in the yard.
We filled up Augie's pool because she was hot.
We kicked the soccer ball.
We played in your sand box.
Eventually we had to come in for lunch.
After lunch we did our school time where you read a whole book to me, wrote your first and last name, and my phone number.  We also did some fun mazes and matching sheets.
Back outside we went for more of the above activities.
You did have a short rest time.
After that we read some books and had a snack.

Once Daddy came home you went back outside with him while I made supper.  We ate and then you and Daddy and Augie went for a walk.  When you got home, it was time to get ready for bed.

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed every minute of it.  A few times I thought about taking a picture or video, but I didn't want to miss a moment to run in and get the camera.  So, if the posts seem slim or if you are wondering why there aren't as many pictures or videos in some seasons of your life, know it certainly is not because we weren't busy.  It is because we were busy doing and being and enjoying life with eyes wide open!

Love,
Mommy

This is Normal, Right?

Because other kids sit at the kitchen table making a necklace in their unicorn bike helmets, too, right?

4 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

When you go on vacation with 7 other kids, you get to do really fun things like this...

Entertaining the Dog....and the Child

Aria invented a fun game for her and Augie.  I helped a little with tying the rope, but otherwise it was all her.  And most of the time it is hilarious!  I'm not sure who enjoys it more.

Things We've Heard

"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pantry."  "Mom, what is a pantry?"


"King Neversaynever made Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego go in the fire."


After I scraped my foot on a rock and was hobbling around... "Super Aria to the rescue!"  And she proceeded to get her stool, open the freezer and get me an ice pack.

A Must See...

I'm not sure why I never posted this...

I wish I had the whole song production, but this was all I got by the time I got the camera out.  Still a priceless memory!

More Augie Dress Up

I posted about Augie, the butterfly, but I forgot about this picture from awhile back.  I don't remember what I was doing, but I heard, "Mom, take a picture of me and Augie.  We're windows!"

It's another one of those 'why do we have toys when Styrofoam packaging will do?'

Dress Up

In our house, a day does not go by without Aria in some sort of dress up attire.  She loves wearing dresses, hats, masks, scarves, wings, shoes, skirts, doctor attire, and more.  She also likes it when others play dress up with her.  Even those who are unwilling...

Yes, that is one patient dog.  Most of the time Augie tolerates whatever Aria has in store for her.  I often get a look that says, "what is this child doing to me?"  But she doesn't react.  She becomes stiff as a board until the costume is removed.  Unless it is covering her face and then she will paw it off.  One time we even made a bracelet for Augie that she proudly wore around the house.  Life these days is just so fun!

3 Costumes, $0

This year Aria had a hard time choosing a costume for our three Halloween costume opportunities.  I decided that the costume Aria wore wasn't really about me, so I just let her pick three different things from her dress up box and called it good.  We spent exactly $0.  We did about 5 minutes of planning the outfits.  She was happy.  I was happy.  And of course she was cute, in 3 different ways.

Exhibit A
Fall Fest at church
Cat

Look familiar?  Why yes, Aria was a cat last year, too.  She loved it that much.  :)

Exhibit B
Daddy's work trick or treat
Butterfly

Exhibit C
Halloween trick or treat
Princess

Yes, it was a tad cold so we added a few layers and ditched the crown for a sparkly winter hat.

October Snow!!

This morning we did this...

I should say Aria did that.  I did not roll around in the snow on our deck in my pajamas, however I was that excited about it.  When Aria saw the snow this morning, she said, "It's not Fall anymore!"  I had to gently let her down, but it was okay because we let her go out right away to play.  She was a bit disappointed that it wasn't sticking and there wasn't enough to build a snowman.  However we did get all the snow clothes on and head outside for a bit.  I'm so glad this winter loving mom has a winter loving kid!  And the older she gets, the more fun it is to go out and play!     

Frog Wars

Aria has a Veggie Tales Treasury book with eight different stories in it.  Aria is very much the kind of kid who likes to read the same story over and over and over and over and over and over.  And over.  So I don't think we've actually read all eight of the stories in the book, yet.  Yesterday she finally picked a new one, Frog Wars.  I can't even tell you how many times I laughed out loud. 

Now, if you don't know much about Veggie Tales, they are walking, talking vegetables that tell Bible stories and give character trait lessons.  They are very humorous in their parodies.  We have a few of the movies and they are good for a chuckle, even for moms and dads.  The main characters are Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber.  There is also Junior Asparagus, who happens to be the main veggie in all eight of the stories in Aria's Treasury book.

Back to Frog Wars.  As you might have guessed, Frog Wars is a parody of Star Wars and also of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt.  For starters, let me just list the characters:

Dark Visor
Cuke Sandwalker
Princess Hair-Spraya (who has cinnamon buns on her ears)
Sweet-Pea-3-Oh
Achoo Bless-U (Aria's favorite and mine, too, I think)
Mo

Every time a new character was introduced, I laughed out loud.  I mean, Achoo Bless-U, that is hilarious!  Not only are the character names funny, but the "plagues" God places on Dark Visor are:

days and days of doing the Hokey Pokey
swarms of dust bunnies
a drought of pizza and ice cream
and the invasion of frogs

Oh my.  There is also some more humor in the story that I know is related to Star Wars, but I'm not a big enough fan to know the connection for sure.  On a side note, my favorite Star Wars-type memory is when my laid back, quiet dad had to act out Darth Vader in a game we were playing with another family.  He ran into the kitchen, put a cooking pot on his head and breathed rather loudly like Darth.  One of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Besides Frog Wars being a hilarious read for Aria, Justin and me, Aria was also able to connect the Veggie Tales version to the real Bible story.  Today, I stopped reading when we got to the point where Mo was introduced and asked Aria if she knew which Bible story this was like.  She thought for a minute and said the mean king and Moses.  Spot on!  I was thrilled she could make the connection.  Immediately after reading the Veggie Tales version, I grabbed a book off our shelf that tells the story of Moses and the mean king and we compared the stories.  It was a great, unexpected lesson!  It feels great to know all our morning Bible reading is really helping Aria become very familiar with Bible stories.  And it is sure fun to laugh together as a family!

Some Random Pictures I Love

Aria is an outside kind of girl.  She loves to hang out on our deck when I am doing things inside the house.  Here is her spot for a snack the other day.

She was making macaroni and cheese bird seed for the birds.  It is kind of hard to see, but she has a dirt moustache.

This is a smoothie moustache.

This is Aria attempting to "catch Augie's tongue" as she feeds her peanut butter.

Ice Box?

Here is what happens when you leave the lid off the sand box in the winter...

It becomes an ice box!  It was really cool to see the impressions the sand toys made in the ice.  Aria was only slightly amused because she wanted to play in the sand.  It has since melted and become a sand pool.  We will definitely need to replace some sand as it gets warmer!

Mismatch Night

Tonight was mismatch night at Middle School youth group at church.  Completely out of my comfort zone, I decided to go all out.

Unfortunately, not very many middle schoolers went all out.  In fact, there was probably only about 10 youth dressed mismatch out of about 100.  Being out of my comfort zone, got me thinking about how many of them were afraid to dress up.  I'm guessing they didn't participate for the following reasons:

• they forgot
• they didn't know about it
• they are "too mature" to participate in a dress up day
• they were afraid they might be the only one dressed up

You can't really do much about the first three, but the last one is so common.  I still struggle with hoping I blend in with the crowd.  Boy did I ever want to fit in and be cool during my middle school years.  It occurred to me tonight that it takes a great deal of courage to participate in a fun dress up night and not care what others think.  I'm really proud of the ones who participated.  They showed signs of great maturity in doing so. 

I know there were some kids who didn't dress up because it just wasn't their thing.  I applaud them, too.  I guess my main point is that kids in middle school are trying so hard to figure out who they are.  They spend so much time watching different groups, choosing friends, and pretending to be someone.  What they really need to do is just be who they are.  Stop worrying about what others will think, say, or do.  Do what you love.  Honor God with all of your actions.  Wear wacky clothes with pride, if that is your thing. 

Advice for middle schoolers...

and adults.

Diego Jesus

In my hunt for objects to use in my modified Resurrection Eggs this year, I was struggling to come up with a Jesus.  Aria has a Little People Nativity, so we had baby Jesus from that.  I wish there was some sort of Little People set with big Jesus.  I went shopping for some sort of figurine I could turn into Jesus, but nothing quite fit.  I then remembered we own a Diego figurine and thought he would do just fine for Jesus as a boy at the temple. 

As you can see, I gave him a robe and belt to make him more Jesus-like.  Well, I read the story and used the Little People to act it out.  Aria loved it!  However, she kept wanting me to use baby Jesus for Jesus instead of my makeshift boy Jesus.  This was exactly why I wanted to do these things, to help her understand Jesus as a little baby grew up and became the same Jesus that died on the cross.  Finally, I put away baby Jesus so he wasn't a distraction and Aria started using the boy Jesus, only always referring to him as Diego Jesus. 

I tried.

Exploring

We spent Christmas Day with my parents this year.  We did the usual present opening and chicken and noodle eating, but my favorite activities from our Christmas day this year involved kayaking and exploring.  One of the things I love about my parents is their willingness to do whatever Aria wants.  Although that means some serious spoiling sometimes, it also means they will follow her imagination wherever it leads.  On Christmas day it lead to fishing for golf balls from cardboard kayaks. 

Notice everyone is wearing hats.  We also all had to don hats, turn out all the lights except for the Christmas tree and our flashlights, and go exploring.  Aria got some Wild Animal Baby videos for Christmas and they go exploring so I'm sure that is why we did.  We went all over the house looking for various things in our hats.  We often had to switch hats as we went.

The best hat of the night and my mom's vote for the best picture from Christmas is...

...the bunny ear book light hat.  And I even got permission to post this!  He is a truly awesome dad!  I also have a lovely goofy face picture from this awesome dad, but I'll save him that one.

We do a lot of random things at our own house in our daily life.  Aria's imagination is a lot of fun and it is great to let her lead activities.  I think it was even more fun to let her come up with things to do at Grandma and Papa's house because they have different stuff and different places to explore.  I just had a blast spending quality family time.

Here are some of the present opening pictures...

Opening the present from Aria

Doctoring the moose

She's all set

Let me look in your eye, Papa!  (He's pretty brave.)

I included this picture because the cup Aria is holding is her absolute favorite.  Remember what I said about cool stuff at Grandma and Papa's house?

Hello CJ

And, it is a rare experience for me to say I can regularly beat Justin in a game, but this one is right up my alley.