Saturday, July 23, 2011

More Things Said By Clara...

"Daddy? You know I love you." -After helping me cut some plywood to fix the changing table while putting on her shoes to help me jump start one of our vehicles.

"I was hiding and then it came down. I was hiding in the closet." -First thing in the morning while cleaning up a freshly made, dirty diaper.

"OK, ok, I the mommy and you the daddy. Bye, See you." -While she has a baby doll in one arm and her purse over her other shoulder, talking over her shoulder as she's walking away.

"I getta hava treat!" -After she found out she was going to get leftover pizza for lunch.

Me at the dinner table- "Eat more food, Clara."
C- "OK, but I hafta finish what's in my mouth."

I was driving to PA two weeks ago and broke down along side the road. A spark plug had vibrated out. While limping to a parts store with one spark plug out I hear "Maybe it's broken, Daddy, maybe the engine is broken."

Then my Helper wanted to assist in fixing the vehicle, but it was to boring just holding parts. So she resorted to running around the car shouting orders and acting out a whole action scene for an upcoming movie. I wish I had the video of it all. At one point, I am under the hood and she is in the driver's seat turning nobs and switches and yells around the open door, "Push the red button, Daddy, the RED BUTTON!"

"Daddy, come here and lay down. Lay down. OK, good. I the doctor from California."

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Callin' Big Sis

Earlier today we were walking out in the apartment parking lot. Clara was way ahead of Kiah and I. I had called out to her a few times. After a bit I heard a little voice next to me call out something that sounded like "Ce-la!" I suddenly realized what he might have been trying to say so I tried calling out "Clara" a few more times The little man once more called out and it once again sounded like an attempt at big sis' name (Te-la or Ce-la)! Awwwww!!!! Made this Momma happy!

At 14 months Hil says "Mama", "Da", and the occasional something that sounds like an attempt at "Bye-bye" (Ba-ba) and "Hi". And he will occasionally mimic something we just said. Then there are the many sweet baby sounds... we must enjoy them before they are gone!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Precious Moments And Things We've Lately Enjoyed!

Picture this...

... a sweet, bare-footed girl, dressed in a white and blue dress, peacefully swinging at the play ground. Her sweet blonde hair in a little ponytail. The sandals had been shed shortly after arriving at our area elementary school playground. Then this dear little picture opens her mouth and adds to the cuteness by saying:

"I have no shoes. I'm just swinging. Just relaxing."

Oh, we love that girl and the cute things that pop out of that mouth!!!

I was swinging next to her with Hilkiah on my lap. I glanced down at one point and saw Hilkiah signing "more". He just recently started using that sign and his first time was while Stephen was pushing him on a swing about a week ago, so I think he may relate it to swinging. I don't know that he really understands what it means... but it's awefully cute! The only other sign he uses is "all done". He just puts his little arms straight up in the air and often says "Ahhhhhhh!" along with it!

Another cute Clara moment from recently relates to a recommendation I'd like to make to all you Mommies and Daddies out there. The other day CB (as we've taken to calling her lately) was jabbering away. I likely wasn't paying the closest attention. But suddenly I heard her say something about "skunk and reptiles" REPTILES???!!! Had that just come out of her mouth? Skunks we've definitely seen in books and pointed out and talked about. But the word reptiles isn't something you hear us saying as we look through an animal book. It's sooooo fun to hear them pop out with new vocabulary word... even when they don't full understand what they're talking about.

I'm quite sure I know where she picked up the word. She's been watching a great video over and over and over called "Flight and Spike" It's an excellent creation science video sold Biblical Discipleship. We picked it up recently at a convention we were at, and have we ever been glad we did! Both of the kids really enjoy watching it and we are love the excellent truths that are taught. Some of the animals covered in the film are Dinosaurs, Owls and Porcupines (or "pine-cones" as Clara calls them).

Another great resource for we recently came across is musical CDs put out by Sing The Word. Years ago, a very musically talented family started making quality recordings of Scripture put to music and they now have a collection of 7 different cds that they have done! We purchased two of them recently and have been soooo happy with them! They've done an excellent job with their recordings and they are such an enjoyable and beautiful way to store up God's Word in our heart and the hearts of our children! Some of the cds are aimed at younger children with shorter verses and simple songs while other cds have longer passages of Scripture. We got the two for the youngest ages... but even though younger ones are the target age group even Mommy really enjoys listening!

So, those are a couple new things that we've appreciated lately. If any of you reading this have recommendations for resources you've enjoyed using in the bringing up of your kidos... please pass them on to us!