Sickness

I'm really getting tired of this sickness. As I said in the previous post, we've had someone sick in our house for the last 13 days. Yesterday, Carys was finally fever free and it looked like we might be home-free. We went to our Home Group Bible study last night and Avery was running a fever by 8:30 p.m. Sorry for exposing everyone again.

Here are the patient stats:
Cambria: temp of 99.4; She's the only one who hasn't been sick these past two weeks. She may be going down now.
Avery: temp of 101.4; Keeps telling us that things smell and make her gag (aka her sister)
Carys: cough and congestion as of this morning.

Jeff is out of town until tomorrow night and I had grandiose ideas of doing something fun with my girls today (Saturday), but instead, we packed everyone in the car this morning and drove thru Starsbucks and now they are watching "Olivia" on tv. So much excitement.

Guess I'll fold all that laundry from post-stomach bug and potty training. Sigh!

Potty training

I have to laugh at God's sense of humor. A few weeks ago I started asking God to show me how I might find time to potty train Avery. Between kindergarten, playgroup, Bible study, dance, keeping our friend Hadley, etc. I had no idea how potty training would fit into our schedule. She's 3 1/2 and totally knows how to use the toilet, but I just hadn't had the opportunity to push her all the way into underwear. Well, God provided me with an answer. We're on day 13 of sickness in our house. Last week it was a stomach bug, this week it has been fever and colds. The good news is that Avery decided to start potty training. Not only did God provide the time at home to potty train her, but He also gave her the desire to go through with it. :-)

At day 13 of sickness, Avery is fully potty trained. I can even take her out to Walmart, or some other errand, and she'll tell me that she needs to use the potty.

I think we're ready to be well now, Lord.

Waking up

Carys has been waking up a lot tonight. She's been sick all week so it may just be that, but when I was holding her a few minutes ago I found another possibility. I noticed that one of her feet in her footsie pjs was larger than the other. I unbuttoned the pjs and found one of Cambria's socks in there. Maybe that will help her sleep a little better. Probably not, but I'm glad I found that missing sock.

Anyway...

I may regret this blog entry since it will make everyone very aware of a phrase I use. There is something about age 3-4...it never seems to fail that my girls begin picking up some phrase I use. Lately, Avery has been using the word "anyway" all the time. At first I wondered where she learned it. Duh, it's always from me. Sigh!

Here are some of her uses of "anyway":
Mommy, anyway, I don't want to take a nap.
Mommy, anyway, I have a little tinkle in my underwear.
Mommy, anyway, can I go out in the backyard.

A personal favorite:
Mommy, anyway, when I grow up then I'm going to swim under the sea like Ariel.

Allowance

A month ago we began giving the girls an allowance. We want to teach them more about managing money, so we gave each girl three jars in place of their piggy banks -- Save, Spend, Give. Each week they receive a certain amount of money for each jar. At present, Cambria receives a dollar in each jar and Avery receives 50 cents. Cambria loves it. Now she knows exactly how much she has to spend on something or how long she might have to save her "spend" money to buy an item she wants. She's getting VERY good at addition as a result of her "spend" jar. :-)

We don't have a chore list at this time (it will come, though -- laugh all you want, mom), but for now, they generally have to get dressed, make their bed, brush teeth, and clean up their mess around the house. This "chore" idea will come together more in the next few months.

Cambria is showing more interest in helping around the house. She particularly likes to empty the dishwasher. For now, instead of making her hate the dishwasher, I will not give it to her as a permanent chore. However, I have told her that she can make extra money if she wants to empty it. So, yesterday she and Avery emptied the entire thing and I paid them 50 cents and 25 cents respectively. It was the best 75 cents I ever spent. :-)

Prayer & Forgiveness

Lately Cambria has taken to agreeing with us in prayer. By that I mean, when we pray something then she'll pray "yes" when she agrees with something we've said. I'm sure she picked it up from us, but now she's made it her own, as well. It's very touching because she doesn't say it for every prayer...just the ones for which she is especially passionate.

This past Sunday we had a part of the service where we could write something on a card that we wanted to be forgiven. After writing it, each person would walk up to the cross at the front of the church and place it at the foot of the cross. This symbolized us asking Christ to forgive our grievance, placing it before Him and accepting His forgiveness. Cambria leaned over to ask Jeff what we were doing. He explained to her and she proceeded to write her own card. It read: "I'm sorry that I was mean to Avery." She finished the card, showed it to Jeff and I, and ran it up to the cross. She brought tears to my eyes and smiles to many of the congregation.

Carys' Baptism

Carys was baptized this past Sunday. It was a special time as Jeff was able to baptize her. She kicked her legs and moved her fingers the entire time, trying to squirm out of our arms. However, she became very still when Jeff poured the water on her head...she must have thought it was a bath -- her favorite thing in the whole world. The baptism was also special because Jeff's sister Heather and her family were visiting from Maryland and could stand with us.

Afterwards we had cake and a wonderful time of fellowship with our dear church "family" in Maple Valley. Thanks to all who helped with photos, video and the cake. :-) You know who you are.

Avery

Our Avery is a funny girl. Here are a few quotes from her:
"I wish I could jump into the tv."
"Them can't see us, we can just see them." (About Dora and Boots)

Avery struggles with a sensitive nose and strong gag reflex. She had a stomach bug a few days ago and is still gagging at everything in sight. Yesterday she kept telling me that I smelled bad (I took a shower). This morning, she wouldn't sit next to Jeff at breakfast because he made her gag. Oh my, we have our hands full with her.

New pjs

Avery received these pjs from her Yen-Yen, but they've only just started to fit. Now they are the favorite pjs in the house. Both girls fight over who gets to wear them. On the pjs are picture of frogs making funny faces. Here is Avery's attempt to imitate them.

Bottom left.

Bottom right.

Bottom center.

Even Cambria can make weird faces. :-)

Home Depot

The other day Avery and I took a mommy-daughter date to the Home Depot Workshop. We made a race track. I was proud of our work...it actually turned out like the picture on the instructions. :-) Avery had a great time using the hammer for the first time.

Avery with her friend.

Our silly Avery (this pic gives a good view of her crooked front tooth...that's thanks to Cambria's handy work last year.)

Mommy, Avery and the race track.

Carys' first time on a swing

Carys had her first experience in the swing the other day. She loved it, though it was a little colder than I expected. I can't wait for warmer weather and long days at the park. I'm a huge fan of the early daylight savings...the day are so short in the winter so we are thrilled to have daylight for longer.

Smiles

Checking out something...

I'm done now.

Playing with a box

A while back I blogged about the girls playing with water bottles. The toy of this week was the box for the new tv stand. The girls pushed each other up and down the hallway so many times. It was heavy to push when one of them was on top...I was afraid they might end up with a hernia, but all was fine.

Sweet sisters

Pretending to sleep.

See, we always get along. Yea, right! :-)

A new pic of each girl

Avery being silly with her cup.

Cambria is ready for her date with daddy, including cowgirl boots and Phase 10 cards.

Eating time for Carys.