"I Can't Wait" video of Nora's first 5 months

Leo is teaching me how to combine video clips so this is my first try! I hope you enjoy it. I made it using the shortcut where the program cuts/edits each clip for you. It takes a lot of time to really make it just right, so for now I'm satisfied with the shortcut.

We had a great Memorial Day and spent the morning in Thomasville watching the parade. We arrived about an hour before the parade started and we got to actually sit in some Vietnam helicopters and see some other planes. It didn't start to rain until after the parade. We spent the afternoon just playing with the girls and had tacos for supper (not real appropriate for Memorial Day, but we did at least have lunch at Waffle House. he,he.)

Some Recent Havhaps

Here are some fun pictures from the month of March! Nora loves to make funny faces and has recently starting shaking her head to say "NO" especially if a stranger wants to hold her! Adela is wearing a mask cut out from a Czech preschooler's magazine from Babicka. Other pictures include: the big move to the booster seat, fun on the playground, sisters with toothbrushes, funny hat night at AWANA.

Jak je chytrá Norinka? Táááááááááák je chytrá!

Já vím, já vím. Chudák naše děti budou mít strašný přízvuk jako jížní američani. ALE aspoň budou mluvit česky! Tohle je pro vás, rodino a kamáradi v česku. Ještě jsme češtinu úlplně nezapoměli. :)

Birthday Cake Practice and Silly Nora

When I was a kid, my mom had this great Baker's "Cut-Up Cake Party Book." We got to pick out which birthday cake design we wanted and then Mom would make that cake for our birthday. I thought I'd try to carry on the tradition, so we "practiced" making one of the cakes today. We chose this butterfly pattern because it was fairly simple. Adela enjoyed putting food coloring in the frosting the most.

Nora is quite a character and has already learned many ways to get our attention. One of them is squealing. Today she did this. I think she's already developing a sense of humor and she even looked to Leo and Papa to see if they were watching!

Who's in Charge?

To say that today was a difficult day as a parent would be a HUGE understatement. I felt so NOT in control and frustrated that I went in our bedroom, closed the door and said to myself, "I quit." This all happened before church of course. Adela had gotten up at 5:30am, whined all morning, asked to watch TV a million times, would not come when called to get dressed, brush teeth, etc. The final straw came when it was time to leave for church and I was trying to comb her hair ( a constant battle in our house). She squealed at the slightest pull and by then I'd had enough.

Later this afternoon I discussed all of this with my Dad. I tried hard to be objective and not say, "But, I've done that..." He said, "One thing you need to eliminate from your vocabulary is "Okay?" I honestly didn't think that was a big deal because I was thinking that my "okay?" meant "Is that clear?" I got to thinking about it and realized that he's probably got a good point. AND to confirm his wise advise, I had received this week's Home Training Lesson from Bible Study Fellowship International http://www.bsfinternational.org/ (This is my 2nd year and I absolutely LOVE it! Adela attends a class as well.) and decided to read it especially since it was titled "Who's In Charge - You or Your Child?"

Well, Daddy had hit the nail and I was sure to tell him! :) To paraphrase:

Adults often give up control in their home when they say, "It's time for bed. All right? Okay?" This kind of question at the end of a direction gives the impression that the child can choose to obey or not.

So, tonight I put this new idea into practice. I couldn't believe how many times I caught myself before ending the direction with "Okay?" She did seem to obey better though, so we'll see what tomorrow brings!

Lord, I pray that you would open my eyes that I might see areas where I can be a better parent. Help me to be objective and see ways that I can train my child to be more like you.

Nora the Chair Conqueror

She isn't walking at all yet, BUT she can climb this chair with the greatest of ease! She gets to the top, and yells, "Look at me, World! I did it!" Okay, she doesn't really say that but she has this giant grin on her face as if she is ready to take over the world. She also climbs to the top level of Adela's dollhouse, supervised of course. She is definitely becoming more vocal and can loudly let you know even in the middle of the night that she is NOT happy about something. Sweet Angel Baby is now called Night Time Terror - just kidding. :)

Adela is learning not to talk back (very exciting times in our house :). She is also very into knock-knock jokes, so if you know any good ones, please pass them along. She tries to make up her own and they go something like this:

"Knock-knock.

Who's there?

Banana

Banana who?

Monkey ate a banana."

Then she laughs. She's still learning about play on words obviously!

Merry Christmas/ Veselé vánoce 2009

How many photos does it take to get just the right one of an almost 4 year old and a 10 month old? An awful lot! Here are just a few of the almost 50 we took. It was a lot of fun being silly together under the Christmas tree. I'm so thankful for my precious girls and awesome husband. These truly are special times. We have been playing Christmas music all the time and it warms my heart to hear Adela singing about our Savior's birth. We truly rejoice that we can share with our girls the true meaning of Christmas.