Appreciation

We have been so fortunate this past week to have the help of Grandma, Grandpa, and Grammy as we transition from a family of three to a family of FOUR!





Along with the much-appreciated help with laundry, dishes, meal preparation, diaper-changing, and errand-running, the extra attention that Elizabeth and Ashley get from their grandparents is a joy for us to see!

Big Sister and Little Sister

There are many, many advantages to having so much help from loving grandparents following Ashley's birth...but one of the greatest of these is having the time to just sit and enjoy the precious moments with each of our children. It gives us a special appreciation for each of them and allows us to pause and cherish the short amount of time that they will remain at this stage. Also...it gives us plenty of time to take lots of pictures!!!

Here are a few that we've taken of Elizabeth and Ashley over the past several days.

Mommy and Me

And so it begins...Here's Mommy in the hospital with Ashley on her second day of life!
And here is Mommy with Elizabeth on the day after we returned from the hospital!

We are so very blessed to have these two precious little girls. But now the real juggling act is underway, and Mommy can already tell it is going to be a challenge to make sure that each one gets the precious time that she needs! Please wish Mommy luck...

Elizabeth's World According to Eric Carle

Elizabeth just LOVES rhythm, rhyming, and songs. So Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" is perfection to her ears! Here, she gives us an innovative and modified reading of "Polar Bear, Polar Bear"--she replaces the "What Do You Hear?" phrase from that book with the "What Do You See?" phrase from the Brown Bear book! We think it's pretty clever...

Welcome Ashley Rose!

Peter, Michelle, and Purple are so happy to welcome PICKLE into our little family! Ashley Rose joined us on Sunday, March 15 at 8:19am...weighing in at a whopping 4 pounds, 13 ounces! She's a TINY little peanut...but very healthy, and, of course, we think she is just precious!

Elizabeth has oh-so-generously agreed to share her Blog space (the first of MUCH sharing in Big Sister's future)...so henceforth, this BLOG will be retitled, "The Adventures of Purple and Pickle"!

Above is one of the first pictures of Ashley, followed by a video of Elizabeth and Ashley's first face-to-face meeting! :-)

For Mom

You know how I hate to take pictures of my big ol' pregnant self (complete with oh-so-attractive double chin!)...but at the request of my Mom, I am posting this ONE. Here I am on Friday just before heading to the doctor's office for my 36-week exam. Let the ridiculing commence...

A Conversation About Nothing...

More and more frequent are the conversations that Elizabeth seems to have with herself. Sometimes it's narrating her activities, and other times it is a mix of imaginative play and just general chitchat. Today, she was playing with the Three Little Pigs house that is on loan to her from Mrs. Sue (mommy's wonderful small-group leader at Mom-to-Mom). Throughout this several-minute video, Elizabeth comes up with some surprising little gems--hope you enjoy!

P.S. The electronic noise you hear in the background is our computer printer scanning some documents. Hope it is not too distracting!

Sweet Serenades

So...Elizabeth has been VERY into singing these days! But, rarely does she voluntarily sing on cue or on camera! Yesterday, however, she seemed to be in the mood--sort of!

As you'll see, at first she refuses and punctuates her point by shaking her head vigorously and adding, "I'm having a fit! Mommy can sing it!" (which...let's face it...if this is the best she does for having a fit, we are in good shape!) But, when asked again, she busts out with a pretty good rendition of "Down By the Station"--which I will translate for you below!

Down by the station,
Early in the morning,
See the little puffer billies
All in a row.
See the engine driver
Pull his little lever,
Puff, puff, beep, beep,
Off we go!

And...a few minutes later, she offers up a fairly decent version of "The More We Get Together"

Most of her on-camera performances conclude with the eager question: "Do you wanna see Elizabeth?" Like most children, she gets the biggest thrill out of seeing herself on screen!

Foreshadowing?...

Let's hope not!
But...I'll just tell you that this is a pack-n-play for a BABY DOLL--not for Elizabeth! Though...convincing her of that is impossible!

And ever since I assembled the bouncy seat for the new baby, Elizabeth has made that her new chair of choice as well. Uh-oh!

Snowy Day

Here are some fun photos of Elizabeth enjoying the snow!













This is Elizabeth's version of making a snow angel. She doesn't quite understand that her hands and arms actually need to make contact with the snow--so instead she holds her hands up and vigorously flaps them up and down! Too adorable!

Three Cheers for Cheerios!

I wonder if the good folks at Cheerios knew what a masterpiece they were creating when they first made them. I mean...did they realize that these perfect little-person-sized snacks were going to save the world? (Or, at least, the world of all toddler mommies everywhere?) Well...I'm sure they do now!

Here is Elizabeth enjoying her Cheerios and milk at the cute little table that Grandma and Grandpa gave her for her 2nd birthday! And, by the way, yes...that is Mo sitting next to her in the other chair at the table. After all, what would snack time be without the companionship of your favorite furry friend?

Merry Christmas 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

At Christmastime, we would like to take a moment to send out lots of love and joy to our family and friends!








We are very blessed to have you in our lives and give thanks to God every day for each of you!

Saddest...Carnival...EVER!

I don't know how to say it any other way! This was supposed to be this amazing Holiday Fair and Craft Show in a cute little town (the town is cute!) just a few miles up the road from us. But when we arrived,...well...it was pretty much deserted except for the people working there. (Carneys?...small hands...oh, nevermind!) At least it was indoors and well heated! ;-) Still not sure Elizabeth knew what to make of the rides. Judge for yourself:

Next Time Won't You Sing WIth Me?...

Warning: Gratuitous "proud-parent brag video" to follow. Viewing not necessary unless you are one of E's grandparents!

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, and, What's That?...Oh Yeah, More SNOW!

Welcome to the Holiday Season from Okemos, Michigan! In case you were wondering...yes, we are FREEZING COLD!!!! Here are pictures of our house (and views of our backyard and neighborhood from the front yard) from last weekend!













And...it still looks the same...covered in SNOW!

Chillin' Like a Villain...

Check out the way Elizabeth is just kicking back, lounging in her pink chair, "reading" her bunny book. We're happy she loves her books so much--so, for now, we won't make a big deal about the fact that it's upside down! ;-)

"Yo, homey...I got some mad reading skillz!"

First Night in the Big Girl Bed!

Well...tonight is the night!

So...we are bringing you up-to-the-minute coverage on the Big Event!

Here are some pictures of Elizabeth's "Big Girl Room" with her "Big Girl Bed"!




























And then, a little video treat to document the bedtime ritual.




(You may notice...we did not have her crawl under the covers, yet. She is used to sleeping with these favorite little blankets on top of her, so we thought we'd ease in a little at a time before introducing the whole sheet and comforter situation.) I'll post tomorrow to let you know whether or not the first night was a success!

"Are You Chasin' the Train?"

Elizabeth got a Thomas the Train and little track for her birthday (yes, the cheapie plastic kind from Marshalls--but it's not supposed to be an heirloom, and it seems to do the trick!) As you can see, she never seems to tire of chasing it around the track. In fact, my guess is that you will tire of watching her chase it around the track long before she gives up! Enjoy!

The BIG Birthday Post!

So, as many of you may know...Elizabeth turned TWO last week! So hard for Mommy and Daddy to believe that she has already been on this Earth for 2 years!


Auntie P and Hunkie D came out to Michigan from LA to celebrate with us...and they brought SNOW! haha!




Okay, maybe they didn't bring the snow...but it worked out that the snow came to visit anyway!








Here is a video of Auntie P teaching Elizabeth to "lick the snow" and Hunkie D's half-hearted attempt to start a snowball fight! ENJOY!

Cute as a Bug on Halloween!

Elizabeth had her first "trick-or-treating" experience...and it did not go quite as Mommy planned. She looked adorable in her little Ladybug outfit, and seemed sort of interested in doing what the other kids were doing (we spent a few minutes watching all the hullabaloo from our front porth first)...but when it got right down to it, once we crossed the street and headed up to knock on the first door, she stopped dead in her tracks and repeated, "no...no...no..." and then began to cry. So, Mommy comforted her a little, then coaxed her to get some candy from the nice lady. But one piece was plenty for her...and she was ready to return home to the safety of of Daddy's arms on her own front porch. From then on, she helped us pass out candy to the kids who came to visit us. Ah...much better.