Another Monday Update ... On Tuesday

Simon was anxious to take a picture, so Matt posed with the book he was reading.

Simon liked the pose and wanted to try it himself.

Simon stopping while we walked back to our hotel room to give Evie a kiss !

The other day this conversation occurred.

Simon:  Evie is my favorite baby.

Matt:  I love her.

Simon:  She laughs a lot.

During "nap" which is becoming more and more a "quiet time" and less of a sleep time, I walked in on Simon to check on him.  I turned on the light to take this picture.  He said he was "watching a movie."  He had opened the door to his bedside table and was pretending to watch a movie.  He was pretty quiet, as he "whispered" his narrative of his "movie."

Simon having breakfast one morning last week!

We're still loving our porch !

We do still need to finish the wall with the gate when we decide what we are going to do there that will give us privacy AND a breeze.

Evie sitting so well!  It's about time!

Mom spent some time last week with my sister and her two boys.  Apparently Blaize weighs about the same as Evie now!  

Blaize was born in March!

Could this be the beginning of crawling?

Yikes, I will have to break down and semi-child proof again!

Notice the toy that was RIGHT NEXT TO Evie in the previous picture is now out of her reach and almost off the rug.  Simon is still interested in this old toy of his that I pulled out for Evie!

  I'm glad I didn't send this one off to the resale or anything!  

Sometimes I am too quick to get rid of stuff!

But Evie is forced to try a little harder to play with it!  

That's a good thing for our "content to just lay there" little girl!

I was so tired the other night that I went in the kitchen with a piece of trash and glass of water and Matt watched in surprise as I poured the water in the trash can!

Simon's first apricot.

I bought him one when I stopped to buy one for our friend that was in the hospital and that LOVES apricots!

Simon will have his acting debut this Sunday morning at Keystone Church, Dallas, Texas, in the decade-spanning popular children's musical, The Music Machine!

Matt has been recruited to be the official videographer.

Hmm...I won't be surprised if there are a lot of close-ups of a certain red-headed child on that video!

Simon was in a picture-taking mood LATE Saturday night at RYP!

We were exhausted!  Getting both kids to rest at the same time was a bit of a challenge sometimes!  And Evie's stuffy nose became stuffier in the cool room!

But, all that stuff was a "chance to die" as Amy Carmichael would say, and was really just fun challenges of parenthood!

Whenever it is bedtime, Evie just seems to become cuter and sweeter and cuddlier.  I think she does this to stay up later, as we can't bear to put her in bed sometimes!  

It is her own "crying technique," but kind of the opposite of crying!

Well, we can't find our alarm clock that we took the Anatole last weekend!  Hmmm...Last night we needed it, and I murmured (half-asleep) for Matt to get a wake-up call.  I thought I'd read in Real Simple that there was such a thing.  

So, there is!  You can sign up for a service for $4/ month OR there is a free service that Matt found.  You tell them what time you want to be called and even record a message and then you are called the next a.m..  We did a trial run and it worked.  I answered the phone to Matt singing a very silly song about waking up.  But, this a.m., we awoke at 7 a.m. wondering what happened to our 5:30 "wake-up call."  ... ??

Matt thinks he may have made a mistake, so we'll see.  Maybe I'll be getting a call at 5:30 this afternoon.

This will be fun if it works out.  

I'm imagining silly songs and scripture with which to start the day!

Matt has already decided it will also be an excellent "prank" tool.

Our family's highlight of RYP was Saturday night at dinner!  We were there a little late, and guess who ended up joining us?   Hmm, I don't think I can write it or post a pic that I took of him and Matt, but it was the field leader of Nepal.  He is like a celebrity in our home.  Matt has a special affinity for praying for this country, and it has kind of became the country that we pray for most as a family.  What a privilege to share the table with such a servant-leader!  He was sweet and doted on Evie (even suggesting that I clean up her face a bit from the smeared sweet potatoes), and he seemed to really enjoy Simon as well!

Sunday night.  

Popcorn and fruit night, a tradition "stolen" from the Bales family.  

I think our winter/fall tradition of "loaded sweet potatoes" needs to be put on hold for a more summery-Sunday night fare!

Yum, mangoes and popcorn.

I love the fruit that is in season now!

God must want us to eat more fruit in the summer for some reason ...

Maybe it is the water content :)

Yes, we rearranged again.

I think this one will last.

The other arrangement had a walkway right in front of the tv which didn't make much sense.

Eventually we would like to replace the "couch" with 4 chairs that have "small lines" and don't really take up much space.  We think that paired together with a table between, it would cultivate more conversations, etc.  Our couch of 8 years can't last too much longer!  

It's getting pretty "limp."

We had always wanted this book shelf to the left on the fireplace area, but it was too tall.

So, the best idea that came from Monday's rearranging was the idea to take off the legs of the book shelf, which made it look less modern (a good thing) and made where we wanted it to!

I really want a mirror over the fireplace, eventually, to help reflect some of our natural light ...

I need to start "playpen playtime" with Evie soon before she starts crawling and resists it!

Maybe I"ll start with 5 min. today and just start increasing her time increments!

If I can get her to be content in there, what a life-saver that would be, knowing she was in a safe-spot when I couldn't be right with her.  This isn't an issue now, since she isn't crawling and just stays on her blanket, but once she starts moving, I need to have a place every  now and then to put her, where I know she will be safe!

So, I set up the playpen in the living room, hoping that I will start using it more!

And the best news for last ....

Evie is saying "Mama"  all of the time now!

I kind of think it may be her first word.

Amy:  I think maybe "mama" is Evie's first word.  I think we may have jumped the gun, thinking that "Dada" was her first word.

Matt:  What are you talking about?  She said "Da-Da"

Amy:  Well, why didn't she keep saying it?

Matt:  She said it.

Amy:  She just happened to say the syllable "da" consecutively.

So, we are still in debate as to whether this is her first word or not.  I think she probably really did associate "Da-da" with Matt, but she just didn't/doesn't say it as much as she is saying "mama."

Ah, how sweet!