smiles & life

it’s about time i posted something new, i guess.  this past weekend we started heavily potty training both leila & nadia.  leila knows all she needs to know…she’s just lazy, i guess.  you can ask her all day long if she needs to go potty, and she will tell you no just about every time (& you know she needs to at some point!).  and she almost never tells you if she has to go…so we are working on being more strict with her.  last week nadia started telling us she needed a change as soon as she went potty in her  diaper, so we decided we might as well work on her, too.  it took two whole days, but we finally got nadia to pee in the potty for the first time yesterday…hooray!  exciting times here, eh? ;) 

well, on to some smiles going on here…

1. this morning liberty was giggling & giggling out of the blue…she walked up to me and said, “mom, my thinking is sooo funny!”  love that girl…she definitely keeps us laughing. :)

2. nadia is now sleeping in a “big girl” bed (meaning we took the rail off her crib).  this is bittersweet…she is no longer a baby (but of course will always be my baby ;).  she does fine at nap time, but at night when her sisters are also in the room, she has a hard time settling down for sleep (she keeps getting up and climbing into her sisters beds). 

3. jonathan & i are going away for the weekend.  we are really looking forward to some time with each other & no kiddos around (although we will miss them..this will be the first time we have been away from them overnight together).  we have a wonderful friend here who will be watching the girls…so thankful to have someone we know we can trust with our precious girls.  also, it’s my birthday over the weekend…so it makes our little getaway extra special.

4. finger painting with libbs & leila over the weekend. liberty’s masterpieces are hanging on the left, leila’s on the right, and mine is in the middle, haha!

5. making cookies with the girls (using a recipe from a murder mystery novel, haha!).

6. one morning when we had to wake the girls up, jonathan found this in nadia’s crib:

7.  daddy & girls chilling on the couch one evening before bed.

8. i am chugging along on my shalom cardigan.  it seems to look a little small for me…but only time will tell.  i’m not very good at altering knitting patterns…but i sure hope this fits me because i really like it & if it doesn’t i will have to make another one. :)

9. we recently got the girls a set of wooden pots & pans…and one set of wooden play food with some leftover Christmas money…they love it!

10. messes (w/shaving cream) in the bathtub.  i can smile about it now, haha.

11. sweet hugs.  leila & nadia seem to have a special bond…

12. special valentine’s gifts from memaw & gpa kevin.

13. another teaser spring day in which the girls were able to use some bubbles from their great aunt & uncle back in crescent city. it’s so fun to watch them…liberty is fairly decent at blowing the bubbles.  leila puts her mouth right on the wand and tries so hard, but cannot seem to make bubbles…and nadia will watch her sisters and try whatever they are doing :).

14. nadia’s pretty birthday dress from poppy & gree…and a bday outfit from memaw & gpa kevin.

15. this little pouty face that reminds me so much of my sister:

16. headstands.

17. this book. so good.  here’s a quote that struck me recently while reading: “When I realize that it is not God who is in my debt but I who am in His great debt, then doesn’t all become gift? For He might not have.” (ann voskamp)

18. this verse: “But godliness is actually a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.” 1Timothy 6:6