Jumpin' JillyBean

Valentine's Day

2011-02-10T15:48:00.003-05:00

Valentine's Day is Monday and we are working hard to create some cards for friends and family. I saw this idea in Martha Stewart Living last year and decided this is what Jillian will give to her friends this year. I like how adding the lollipop makes the hearts look like flowers.

They were super simple, just a little time consuming. I had to do the cutting and assembling of the hearts, but Jillian selected the lollipop and put it in for the final touch.

We still need to figure out what to send to family and we're going to be cutting it close. This has been a crazy week. Daddy had outpatient surgery on Monday, keeping me out of the house all day, then other commitments have kept us running the rest of the week. I'm sure we can get it all done and shipped out tomorrow just in time to let everyone know how much they mean to us.

Come on Spring!

2011-02-02T20:18:00.005-05:00

Today was Groundhog Day so Jillian and I did a little project. This simple little groundhog craft came to me via an email newsletter that we use for some homeschooling projects. Last year we made a groundhog out of toilet paper roll, but I like this one much better.

Jillian enjoyed painting her groundhog with an old toothbrush and since we didn't have brown paint she made him yellow so he would have blond hair like her.

Thankfully Puxatony Phil didn't see his shadow this morning so hopefully Spring is right around the corner. But Jillian's groundhog had a shadow, though she kept it hidden much of the day.

The Good, the Bad, and the What Were You Thinking?

2011-01-21T15:34:00.009-05:00

So once again I make up my mind to make it a habit to post more frequently and once again I fail. However, this time it wasn't because I simply didn't take the time to turn on my computer and write. I have purposely avoided writing because it would mean being completely honest about life around here.

Don't get me wrong. In the grand scheme of things our life is great. We are happy and healthy (except for a week-long case of the snots). But I have come to realize in the past two-and-a-half weeks that the most frustrating part of parenthood is how you can have a seemingly perfect child one day and a terror the next. And I don't mean little meltdowns that take place at random parts of a fairly smooth day, I'm talking about full-blown ugliness that seems to consume the day.

I am not so sure Jillian ever had a chance. I am not a super calm, soothing person. I have several friends who speak with sweet, whispy tones and try as I might, it doesn't work with me. So when I get flustered, frustrated, excited, whatever, I tend to do it big. Yes, I do have my moments when I am calm and collective and that's usually when I'm around others. And I also go to the other extreme where I brush it off and act like nothing has happened. But for some reason I tend to overreact when alone or with those who are closest to me. So it's no surprise that when something doesn't go as planned for my child that she flips out. That's what has been happening lately around here and it's been happening with more frequency.

Last week I was so upset with her that I actually said that I should enroll her in preschool and let someone else deal with her. Then reality quickly hit me with the fact that she'd still come home and probably with other behavior issues learned from other kids that we would have to correct. Sure she'd be out of the house for three hours a day, three to five days a week. But she's home with us for at least 21 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I literally dropped to my knees in prayer one day asking God to help. Help my child become more obedient. Help me react better to her. Help me be a positive example to her.

My answer came in the form of a couple of blog posts by women who are filled with much more wisdom than I.

This post on MOD Squad made me question if I expect more out of my daughter than she is capable of giving. For heaven's sake, she only three. There are times that I expect her to behave on the level of an adult when, truth be told, most adults don't behave any better. I need to be more mindful of where she is NOW. I need to understand that she is still being shaped and instead of getting frustrated that she makes the same comment four times in a row let her know that I look forward to the day when God teaches her that she is being heard and understood by others.

I also need to show her more grace than I am willing to grant her most days. How awful would it be if the God I try so hard to follow just threw up his hands with disgust and said he was finished with me? Following him means following his example.

The next way God spoke to me was through Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts and the blog, A Holy Experience. She spoke to my reaction to Jillian's missteps by writing:

"You are what you speak and you are what you hear and we are our words and our tongue is the tail of our heart."

Wow. The words ripped through me like a sword. Although I have always known this truth, the reality has never seeped into my heart as it did then and there. Again, bringing me to my knees in prayer that God help me offer calm, supportive, loving, yet authoritative words to my child. She only knows how to react by learning from me.

She's a fabulous child and a joy to be around - most of the time. It is up to me to lead by example and remember that she is still a very young work in progress.

Comfort in Routine

2011-01-04T20:58:00.004-05:00

In a way I am sad that the Christmas season has come to an end. We took down our tree over the weekend and packed away the rest of the Christmas decor and now the house looks, well, blah. But there is a level of comfort in returning to the same-ol-same-ol.

Jillian and I did not leave the house on Monday. We played with one of her art projects (a fabulous gift from a friend that will become a favorite gift of ours to give), did some school work, had plenty of play and music time, and completed a craft project for today's music class.

Jillian has been part of Kindermusik for nearly 3 years. There have been times when I have questioned continuing the program, but she loves the class and loves music. This session the kids are learning music that has to do with weather. Snow is the current topic so we had to make snow boots that she could take to class. It was a fun little activity that we did after nap time.

We used a brown paper bag, dot paint, stickers and cotton balls. Jilly had so much fun decorating her boots.
One had pink and green dots with snowflake stickers and the other had purple and blue dots with snowman and penguin stickers. The cotton balls served as "fur" lining to keep the snow out of the boots and to keep her feet nice and toasty.

She had a lot of fun stomping around in the snow that apparently filled her playroom. She even laid down on the floor to make a snow angel and trotted around with her bells singing Jingle Bells.

It was a fun afternoon and a great way to begin a new year.

Gift for God

2010-12-20T07:10:00.005-05:00

At this year's MOPS Christmas party we chose a gift that is going to make it on to our list of family traditions. What God Wants For Christmas is a neat Nativity lesson that can be enjoyed by the entire family. It comes with a pop-up manger, a book and 7 boxes that you open each day for 7 days. The first six represent those who witnessed Christ entry into the world. Day 7 reveals what God wants for Christmas.

It shouldn't be a surprise that what God wants is us, but as we talked about it the days leading up to the final day, Jillian was convinced that God wants a camel.

In addition to reinforcing the story of Christ's birth, the set is a fun little play toy for Jillian. She lays in the floor each night and has the figures act out her version of the first Christmas. The dialog that goes along with the production is quite entertaining as she makes sure the shepherd and the wise man speak nicely to one another and that they don't talk too loudly to wake up Baby Jesus.

Snow Angel

2010-12-16T20:36:00.002-05:00

We had our first snowfall of the season today. Kids didn't go to school so there was plenty of activity outside our door before 9 a.m. Jilly jumped into the action by making snow angles along the sidewalk up and down our street. She seemed to have had a great time for a couple of hours until she finally got a little too cold and needed a bit of hot chocolate to get back on track. The morning ended with a couple of kids in the house with hot cocoa warming their hands and the Grinch on TV. It was a great morning, in spite of not being able to accomplish a thing on my "to do" list.

Peaceful Evenings

2010-12-09T06:36:00.007-05:00

We babysit the second-grade girl who lives across the street each afternoon. She is with us from the time she gets off the school bus around 2:30 and her parents come home, before 6. Let's just say that the house is not at all peaceful during that time. She is a sweet girl, but having two girls who are very strong willed together is, well, interesting. I feel as if I can't leave the room for more than 10 minutes without hearing Jilly squeal because she's irritated that either the little girl is taunting her for some reason or because she's looking at her. It makes me wonder why anyone would want more than one child....It's not really that bad. The girls have had many more sweet moments together than not, it's just that those annoying times are amplified.

Either way I have employed a new rule: once Mattie is gone we turn on the Christmas CDs, flip on the fire, light candles and try to bring the day down to a peaceful tone by the time Daddy gets home from work. Yesterday was picture perfect.
I have a box that I wrapped with green foil paper a few years ago to hold our collection of Christmas books. It only comes out this time of year and is a virtual treasure chest for my child. She adores books and especially these. She was quite content browsing through and "reading" everything from Curious George's Christmas and Frosty the Snowman to the picture book of Christ's birth and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

It's quite entertaining listening to her. She has an amazing memory, especially when it comes to books, and either recites each page word for word or some version of it. She is so hungry to learn to read and we are working on it, though not as intense as I had planned, but that's OK. Her enthusiasm doesn't show any signs of diminishing.

Having these couple of hours each evening alone with the sounds of Josh Grobin belting out Christmas classics have made a big difference in the way our day ends. It is much more peaceful and joyful. In addition to bringing our home down to that level after a high-energy afternoon is important to me, but I hope that the act of reconnecting with the characters in these special books creates special memories for Jillian as well.

Spirit of Christmas

2010-12-07T06:57:00.004-05:00

Last week was one of those weeks. You know the kind when your days seem to blend together and then by the time you get to Sunday you wonder how, or if, anything was really accomplished?

The main source of the crazy week was getting our Christmas decor out and on display. A friend's father-in-law provided our amazing tree this year. It is the most beautiful tree - biggest and freshest - we have had since we were married and this will be the one Christmas that we will be spending the least amount of time at home since we'll be flying to visit my family for the holidays. J and I laughed the two nights it took us to get the tree together - cut to a height that it would fit in the house, purchase additional lights to wrap around it, hang the ornaments. He said that this is the one year that he was not rolling his eyes at the number of ornaments that I have because we clearly needed them to keep the tree from looking bare.

Coming downstairs alone each morning for my quiet time is enhanced now with the lovely glow, both from the tree and the fire place next to it. It is so peaceful and I no longer have memories of the craziness that I felt trying to make things come together while preparing for other activities of the week. I feel as if I can now enjoy the peace that the season brings.

Polar Express

2010-11-30T21:16:00.002-05:00

Jillian adores The Polar Express movie, book and soundtrack. She will watch the movie all day every day, if I let her. We bought the soundtrack a few weeks ago and I cannot tell you how many times we have listened to it - in the car, in the living room, in her toy room. I am not sure what it is about the story, but she loves it.

Since we were traveling to Tennessee for Thanksgiving we decided it would be a good idea to travel a couple of hours into Bryson City, North Carolina, to let her ride the Polar Express. We didn't tell her our plans. In fact, she had no clue what we were doing as we pulled into the parking lot for the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. She saw children wearing their PJs and questioned it. I asked her why kids would wear PJs on a train. Her response: "Well, sometimes kids sleep on trains." True, but then I asked why would kids get on a train in their PJs. I knew by the look on her face that she knew the answer but didn't want to say. I believe she was filled with joy but was overwhelmed by the idea. She didn't want to say it out loud, just in case she was wrong.

We took a quick trip to the ladies room and she changed into a pair of Christmas pajamas then we were on our way. Her face showed nothing less than sheer elation. The soundtrack played over the speakers and Jillian sang along with every song as she watched the countryside go by her window. We were served hot chocolate, her first of the season, and it had to be the best she has ever tasted.

We rolled up to the North Pole and Old Saint Nick got on board, giving each child "the first gift of Christmas." She has clung to that bell since she received it, making sure she, we, and everyone she sees can hear it, therefore believing in the Spirit of Christmas.

I have questioned whether or not the trip was worth the amount of money we paid, but closing my eyes and seeing her face makes me realize that how an adult views an event is a world away from a child's view.

Thankful

2010-11-25T06:48:00.004-05:00

"Give thanks in all circumstances..." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I am thankful for:

A God who provides all my needs
A Savior, Jesus, whose lessons of loving and serving others is one that I need to follow more closely
A husband who loves and accepts all of my shortcomings
A sweet child who fills my days with light, especially when they seem dark
Being born into a loving and supportive family
Marrying into an accepting and loving family
Friends who fill my world with wit, wisdom and inspiration
Strangers who bring more into my life than I will ever know

Love in a Shoe Box

2010-11-20T19:47:00.012-05:00

For the second year we participated in Operation Christmas Child, a wonderful ministry that delivers Christmas gifts packed in shoe boxes to children around the world. Last year we did one box and Jilly was convinced that a little boy in Haiti, named Carlos, received it. She talks about Carlos a lot and, actually, the little three-year-old visits us from time to time in the form of an imaginary friend.

It's been great having Jilly associate a name with her box. It gives her little mind the ability to visualize an actual child who will receive something special this Christmas. We prayed that the children know that they are loved by someone who has never me them. She talks about Carlos quite a bit, especially the past month, and has been planning what to put in his box. Sometime before Halloween Jilly informed me that Carlos has two sisters - one his age and one older. She thought it would be a good idea if we send gifts to them too. So, we prepared three boxes this year.

Jilly has been blessed with family members who have sent her cards throughout the year and many times those cards have included a dollar or two or five. She wanted to use her money to buy Carlos' gifts. It was solely her idea and came about with absolutely no prompting by me. I have never been more proud of her. So, she dug out $9 and we trotted down to the Family Dollar Store to see what we could get. She bought two cars, two coloring books, three boxes of crayons (one for Carlos and two for his sisters), two Snoopy tooth brushes, some Toy Story soap and toothpaste. I added to it with a few more trinkets and a shirt from Target. Jilly wanted to write a note to her friends, so I took dictation and she made them pretty with stickers.

After preparing the boxes, we said a prayer for each of the children who will receive it. Jilly said that Carlos had a stomach ache so prayed that God would heal him. It make me wonder sometimes if she has a sort of connection of the spirit with the child who received her box last year.

As I previously mentioned, I am reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love as part of a Bible study. The gist of the study is that we should stop clinging to earthly goods in the hope of using them in the future. He really hammers home the point that those of us who have received an abundance of God's blessings should pass on more than we use. In Matthew 25:45 Christ says: "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." And in 1 John 3:18 we are told, "...let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth."

I hope that this simple act of sending children goodies that fit in a shoe box becomes a building block for the type of giving heart Jillian develops throughout the course of her life. My prayer is that she becomes a person who, as her recent memory verse - 2 Chronicles 9:7 - instructs, is a cheerful giver.

Dear Santa

2010-11-16T16:25:00.004-05:00

We did an official Santa list today. It was rainy and cold and seemed like the perfect indoor activity. Plus, if we don't get this list to Ol Saint Nick soon Jilly may be out of luck this year.

I found some cute paper from Activity Village and we went to work. Jilly was a bit confused because she scratched out a note last week. I gave her a quick lesson on the beauty of nice stationery and no questions were asked.
She went to work on her version and I translated it on another piece of paper. Her main gift "wants" are an art easel and a CD player with microphones so that she can sing along. After that, her request is for the all-too-general "a lot of toys." I told her that she couldn't ask for something like that. For one, Santa doesn't know exactly which toys she likes and secondly, and more importantly, there is no need for "a lot of toys." Finally she said she was OK with those two things, but then added she wants a Horton Hears a Who game as well as a Curious George hide-and-seek game. Santa also has it in his head that he'll throw in the Mary Poppins CD as well as the new Olivia book.

So tomorrow we will place the completed list in an envelope and ship it off to the North Pole.

Generational Bond

2010-11-15T14:46:00.007-05:00

It's interesting that I tend to use certain cooking utensils for certain tasks and can never change over to something else. For example, I only allow my dough to rise in a particular glass bowl. I have one specific pan that I use for baking/roasting fish. I will only use the heavy aluminum pot my mom used to make fudge for sauce, chili and other hearty foods. And the only thing I will cook cornbread in is the iron skillet that belonged to my Grandmother Robbins.

There were only two things I wanted of my Grandmother's when she died nearly 10 years ago: her Bible and this skillet. Sadly we were unable to find the Bible she made notations in for much of her Christian life, but luckily I was able to use this.

My Grandmother was a product of the south and that means she was a great cook. As a kid I remember her making potato cakes and fried okra and fried corn in this skillet. I can smell it by just thinking about it. Needless to say the skillet is well seasoned, which probably accounts for the reason things I make in it taste so good. I have used this skillet to make fried chicken and pecan crusted catfish, but it is primarily used for cornbread. I am so thankful for this time of the year because it is when I make cornbread more frequently as an accompaniment to stew and chili, which we had for dinner Sunday night.

My Grandmother was also a woman of very strong faith. I recall waking up early in the mornings, before the sun had peeked up over the horizon, to the sound of her voice tearfully calling out to God. It was not a plea of desperation or a cry for help; rather it was her desperate cry to be closer to Him. I used to think she was sad but instead it was a joy filled cry thanking Him for all that she had and for always being with her - in good times and in bad. It was a passionate cry to her God that was more like an overflow of the love she had for him in her heart. It has only been in the past few years that I have truly appreciated that display of love.

Genesis 17:7 says: I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

And as much as I look forward to passing along my Grandmother's skillet to my daughter, my prayer is that the seed of faith that she planted grows even stronger through the years.

Give Thanks

2010-11-11T21:25:00.004-05:00

Today is the first day of the Thanksgiving advent-style calendar Jilly and I created last year. We placed it in our hallway and began what is developing into a family tradition - taking the time to write down what Jillian is thankful for each day. Today Jillian said she was thankful for eating spaghetti with daddy and God's blessings.

We had a bit of a challenge with the start of this exercise. She seemed to be confused with the Christmas Advent Calendar where she woke up to something new each morning. After letting me know what she was thankful today she immediately asked if she would have something new tucked inside one of the pockets in the morning. I tried to let her know this is the time we recognized how we are blessed. She completely understood that but still wanted to know if she would have something new in the morning.

Last year was the first year we did an Advent calendar for her and I am beginning to rethink that. First off, we never had one growing up so I'm not simply sharing a childhood tradition. And secondly, even though the gifts were small, she got something every day for 24 days. I think that it stole a bit of the thunder from Christmas morning. Maybe we'll simply give her an inspirational message most mornings and the other days we can give her a new ornament to place on the tree. For now we'll focus on having her recognize how incredibly blessed she is, even if it is something so simple as having the chance to eat spaghetti with her dad.

Planning A Meaningful Christmas

2010-11-10T20:42:00.005-05:00

I am involved with a Bible study group that is reading Francis Chan's book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. It has been a powerful study and one that caused to me deeply examine my relationship with Christ. I don't think much in Chan's teaching has surprised me. I'm usually honest with myself in regard to my shortfalls. However, this book has highlighted those shortfalls even brighter. The underlying message of this book, for me, has been to change my perception of security and stop clinging to earthly goods in the hope of using them in the future.

We are more than halfway through the book and this week's discussion led several in our smaller group talk about Christmas. We talked about how we are so blessed to need nothing in the way of gifts. We talked about stripping festivities and traditions back to the basics. Several ladies discussed not exchanging gifts and placing more emphasis on the gathering of family. A couple of ladies said that what they remember most of Christmas are not the gifts but the gathering of family.

I have to be honest here because, well, that is not my memory. At least not when I was a kid. Sure, as I get older I can look back and appreciate the time with my grandparents, aunts and whatever cousins were around that year. Our holiday varied each year - one year with my dad's side of the family, the next with my mom's and the next at home with both families welcome to celebrate with us. If I think back to Christmas at my grandparents' home in New Mexico, I immediately envision the platters of Martha Washington chocolates my grandmother made the previous weeks. In Tennessee I remember driving up to Pigeon Forge to look at the beautiful lights and my grandmother's church family stopping by Christmas Eve to exchange gifts and to share dessert. The memories are different depending on location, but the one constant thing that is foremost in my childhood memory is waking up in the morning to see what Santa delivered. Whether it was a doll, rocking horse, kitchen set, the anticipation of what would be under the tree filled my head each Christmas Eve as I went to bed.

I wonder if our parents and grandparents had these conversations back then. Did they ever fret over doting on us so much at Christmas? What has changed? I don't believe that we are that much better off financially than my parents were when I was a kid. Are things just more accessible now? As for us, we don't buy Jillian much throughout the year. She may get a new book or game during the year, but the bulk of her toys are purchased for her at Christmas and her birthday. What Grandma and Nana send is another story, but as far as what we do, it's fairly limited except for those occasions. And the child does not want for anything. Still, I enjoy the opportunity to shower her with gifts when possible. It makes me happy to have the ability to do that for her.

What is so wrong about showering the people we love with gifts? God showered us with the greatest gift, that of the birth of his son Jesus Christ. I get that we should not become so consumed with our earthly possessions that we lose focus on our eternity and serving God. But does that mean we abandon the traditions that provide so many childhood memories? I love the opportunity to find gifts not that people need (because as mentioned, few of us really need anything) rather gifts that they wouldn't purchase for themselves or something that screams their name when I see it. I admit there are some people who are a struggle to shop for and I dread it and do so because it's expected more than anything, but overall I feel blessed to have the opportunity to do for others. I don't believe in quantity or cost, rather the simple gift that says to a person that I have been thinking of them.

As for how all this relates to my study, well it's that I have decided to become much more purposeful about what I plan to purchase for friends and family and how we give to those in need (which I will discuss in another post). My goal to make this a more meaningful and simple Christmas this year is to put more thought into why I am giving a gift. Is the purpose simply to go through the motions of what has become a tradition or is it to glorify God by showering love on the people in my life?

Peace Among Chaos

2010-11-04T05:56:00.007-04:00

Psalm 46:10 tells us to "Be still, and know that I am God." It is in those peaceful moments - often times forced peaceful moments - that we are truly able to recognize God's power and majesty.

I will argue, though, that there are times we can feel a closeness with Him even when we're running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Yesterday is a glowing example.

It was one of those days where I thought I had everything planned out but it all went sideways. In my mind the day was perfectly planned: whip up a crock pot meal for a neighbor, quick trip to the doc, dive into the day's school lesson, have lunch, catch up on election results while Jilly naps, deliver meal, daddy home, dinner together. Oh, and let's not forget tending to the little second grade neighbor we watch after school. Still doable and manageable without stress.

A full but peaceful day.

Naturally things got off course a bit: decided to make an additional meal for sick neighbor, hosted a friend and her two daughters for a play date, blew off school, daddy's flight was canceled so didn't expect him home as early as hoped, entertained crazy neighbor kids, rushed to make our dinner, tended to Jilly's first hockey injury, squeezed in a little play time with Jilly and daddy after dinner, cleaned kitchen, prepped breakfast dish for MOPS, went to bed.

I will spare the details, but other than sitting to talk with my friend during the play date (which was periodically interrupted by hollering kids), I don't think I was still one minute of the day. However, I felt it was a peaceful day and a day where I was closer to God than any other this week.

I had the chance to serve Him by bringing comfort in the form of food to a friend. I got the chance to spend some time with a godly woman who I rarely get a chance to talk with. I watched three little girls pour out their sweet innocence through play. I experienced the opportunity to shroud my child with comfort and love after being hit in the mouth with a hockey stick. I had a natural flow partnership with my husband who stepped in to help brown sausage without being asked an in spite of traveling all day.

And all along I talked with God, asking what could happen next. Could I please have a moment to finish one task at a time? Instead, he shepherd me to the next adventure.

We naturally need peace in our lives to slow down and recognize the wonderful gifts we have received, but sometimes the pace needs to be picked up a bit to execute God's work.

Election Day

2010-11-02T08:03:00.004-04:00

Jilly and I will be heading to the polls in a bit to select who we believe is the best fit to govern us. I am sad to say that no one really stands out, but our household is fairly conservative so we tend to support candidates whose values are more in line with ours.

This morning I told Jilly that we had to get dressed so we could go vote. Her reply, "what is vote?" My best answer that I thought she could comprehend was that it's our opportunity to choose the people who make the rules for our country. Her response: "God makes the rules."

My prayer is that she is always mindful of that truth. Though the Bible tells us that we are supposed to respect those who govern us, we must know when they are asking us to go against what we know is God's law and do what we know is right. Man, is that more true today than ever and I can only assume it will be even more so as Jilly gets older.

Halloween

2010-11-01T13:21:00.002-04:00

Halloween was quite fun this year. It has always been one of my favorite holidays just because I love the whole idea of dressing up into something new for a night. Plus I enjoy all of the activities that take place this time of year - visiting the pumpkin patch, carving jack-o-lanterns, making caramel apples.

Jilly took part in quite a few events the past week. First, our MOPS group visited a retirement home and collected candy from the residents there. The kids were a little scared of the older people, but warmed up once they realized candy was involved. The residents adored the children and had a great time talking with them.
On Saturday we participated in what I hope will become an annual tradition - decorating caramel apples at the local coffee shop. We did this last year and Jilly and her buddies had a great time. This year was no exception. Thankfully Jilly doesn't have the desire to eat her apple, so we are holding on to it for a day or two as a decorative piece then will place it in the trash.
Then finally the big night - Halloween. I'm not so sure what Jilly looked forward to the most - trick-or-treating or seeing everyone else dressed up. She and her friend, Gemma, went out together. I love our neighborhood because not only are there so many kids for such a small community, but all of the neighbors seem to be just as excited. The adults enjoyed seeing the kids dressed up and the kids gladly took their candy.
So now it's over until next year (by the way, Jilly has already decided what she wants to be: an astronaut). We will take down the ghosts and goblins that are scattered in our yard and turn our thoughts toward being grateful for all we have.

Is It Fall?

2010-10-27T21:14:00.007-04:00

The calendar says it's fall, but the weather the past couple of weeks says anything but. I would be OK if we were still in Houston, but I always thought you were supposed to feel the seasons in Virginia. Not even the colors are that great this year, thanks to a lack of rain. But still, we are in the throes of one of my favorite times of the year.

Still, I feel as if it is slipping away from me. I am dealing with a tragedy that hit our mom community a week-and-a-half ago. It's a story that I have written as a blog post but have not found the courage to publish just yet. I think that once I see it jump from my head and into words then it will be more real than I want it to be and will have to deal with it on a level that I'm not quite ready to reach. It will appear here soon enough. We can't hide from the truth.

So instead I have been plugging along doing what people in this part of the country do this time of year - loving fresh picked apples, filling my home with the smell of homemade pumpkin everything, and getting ready for Halloween.

JillyBean has been planning for Halloween since June. Yes, June. You would think that you could blow off something that a three-year-old says she wants to do four months later, but not my child. She has a mind like an elephant - she never forgets. Not only does she remember, she remains fixated on it. I cannot tell you how many afternoons we have spent at the lunch table making sure we were on the same page, conversations that were initiated by her. "OK, mama. Let's talk about what we're going to do for Halloween." It was as if we were part of some corporate brainstorming committee trying to launch a new product.

This summer Nana and Doc took Jilly to see a middle school production of Peter Pan. She was hooked (forgive the pun that will shortly come to light). I have the movie on VHS and she has watched it several times. We were in Barnes & Noble and found the book and it is a staple at nap time and bedtime. So which character would my daughter naturally gravitate toward from the story? You'd think being a girl she'd love Tinker Bell. Nope. Or maybe even Peter. Nope. No to Wendy, too. In June Jilly announced that she was going to be Captain Hook for Halloween. Yes, my child was so inspired by the beautiful story of Neverland to become a pirate. The bad guy, though she insists she is going to be a good Hook....

I began searching for a costume that we could buy and nothing quite worked. The best "look" didn't come in her size so we decided to have one made. Not by me, of course. I can't sew. Thanks to a family friend, Jilly will be the pirate of her dreams on Sunday night - hook and all.

I am excited to see her all dressed up. She'll be cute yet fierce. We will trick-or-treat in our neighborhood and hopefully find a new home for all the candy that I am sure she will score. Then hopefully we can fall back into sync and enjoy this lovely time of year.

Music City Baby

2010-10-26T21:29:00.003-04:00

We got the chance earlier this month to visit Nashville. Daddy had to go for work and Jilly and I tagged along for a change of scenery and the opportunity to visit with Aunt April. In addition to getting the chance to catch up, Auntie A was gracious enough to do a daylong photo session with Jilly and captured some great images.

I wanted something that captured both Nashville and my child's individual style and sass. Here are the highlights:

Consignment Time

2010-09-14T06:43:00.004-04:00

It's time again for the Here Wee Grow Again consignment sale. I have participated in this sale since its inception and love it. It's a great way for me to make a few extra dollars for Christmas, shed some of Jilly's clothes and other items, and help out a couple of deserving organizations.

The sale is hosted by Aldersgate United Methodist Church and benefits its youth ministries department. Any leftover items that consignors designate as "donate" are given to the Central Virginia Baptist Associations' Clothing Center, a fabulous local organization that provides clothing to local residents who are truly in need.

The sale begins Saturday and continues through Saturday, Sept. 25.

My mother is coming to town today and will stay two weeks, mostly to spend time with JillyBean but also so that I can volunteer for the sale. I happy that I can finally spend a little more time helping out the organizers who work so hard to make this event so successful.

It is becoming easier each sale to shed more of Jilly's clothes. I still find it hard to get rid of some outfits, but that's OK. This time around we are selling her crib and changing table and it is a little more emotional than I had expected. Her changing table has been in her closet the past year, used primarily for storage, and her bed hasn't been used as a crib for some time. But still, seeing it go out the door is a little sad. I still remember how excited I was when we got them and put them together in her room. Hopefully they will bring as much joy to another family.

Summer Camp

2010-08-17T21:16:00.006-04:00

Most of the kids in our neighborhood have spent the summer in some sort of camp. Whether it was the YMCA, a tennis camp or church camp, their comings and goings have caught JillyBean's attention. She keeps talking about being able to go to camp when she's "a little bit bigger."

Well, the camp experience is coming a bit sooner than expected byway of spending a week with Nana in Tennessee. Daddy and I are going on a cruise later this month and are taking the major step of leaving Jilly behind. She didn't like the idea that we were going on vacation without her (and honestly, neither do I) so I quickly told her that she will be spending time at Camp Nana. She warmed to the idea.

Now as anyone who has ever spent time in camp - whether it be a day camp or sleep away camp - knows, you always get a really cool t-shirt marking the event. Camp Nana is no exception. Jilly and I made our own camp shirts yesterday. She is so proud of them and had to make one for herself, Nana, Ma and cousin Kallie. We still have a little bit of work to do on them once they're completely dry. The shirts should provide a good memento of their week together.

My Fair Little Lady

2010-08-08T17:41:00.006-04:00

It's fair season in these parts so we decided to check out our county's fair. We have been to neighboring counties and to the state fair, but never to ours. I sort of expected a little more since we are a larger county, but it was relatively small. Still, we had a good time. The newspaper had a coloring page that JillyBean colored to take to the fair in exchange for a prize. She received a cute toy Holstein cow, which sadly did not make it home. I think that she left it on the train ride. I was surprised that Jilly wasn't upset about it, instead said that "we can get another one next year."

Jilly rode almost every ride that was meant for kids her size and one for kids a little bigger. She started out with the pony cart ride, moved on to an alligator then decided to step it up a notch and ride the dragon roller coaster. She wasn't quite tall enough to ride it, but the man taking tickets didn't pay too much attention to the fact that she was up on her toes. Jilly was so excited when she got on the ride, but shortly after it started decided that maybe it wasn't a great idea.

Still, she got off the ride without tears but ready for something a little slower paced. It is amazing how grown up Jilly is becoming lately. She is becoming so brave when it comes to new adventures and does not shy away from people like she has tended to the past couple of years. In fact, it is not unusual for Jilly to say hello first to a new person - similar to the way she was when she 18 months old. She also exhibits a great sense of pride when she accomplishes something she considers "grown up."

The State Fair is next month so we will have to make sure to go. JillyBean will have access to a few more rides, animals and shows. All of this is a warm up to a future Disney trip that we hope to take in the next two years. We have friends who took their four-year-old this year and that seemed to be a fairly good age. I want to go when I know Jilly will be old enough to have strong memories of the trip. In the meantime, we are thankful to have photos of these fun times together as a family.

Questions of Faith

2010-08-04T14:34:00.002-04:00

JillyBean has been asking a lot of questions about God. I don't know why, but I never expected to get such questions at this age, though I don't know why since she asks about everything else under the sun.

Last week we were reading a book my cousin gave her for her birthday. It's a rhyming story book on the Book of Genesis and has great illustrations. We were reading the creation story and she pops up with: "Who made God?" I really didn't know how to answer but said something to satisfy her little mind. Today we had an exchange that went like this:
J: Mama, why did God make me?
M: Because He loves you and he needed you to love other people and to take care of the things He created.
J: But why does He love me?
M: Because He is your father.
J: No. God is Jesus' father. Daddy is my father.
M: Yes, that is right. But God is your Heavenly Father. He is the one who made you and gave you to me and daddy. He is the one who made you and who has a special plan for you.
J: (silent while thinking) So if God is my Heavenly Father then is Mommy Mary my Heavenly Mama?
M: No. She is just Jesus' mama.
J: Oh. Hey! Can we play Peter Pan now?

ABCs

2010-08-03T20:19:00.003-04:00

Today was an unusually cool day for the start of August. On second thought, maybe it was nice to be away from the 100-degree mark. Either way there was a slight feel of fall in the air and that means that school is around the corner.

So many of our friends send their children to preschool. Some started as early as 18 months while others have held off until three. We have decided that JillyBean will not go to preschool. I have mixed feelings on this issue, though I am happy with our decision. One one hand I would like for Jilly to be with her friends. She had a great time at Vacation Bible School, though that was just a blip. However, I'm not exactly crazy about the public school system as a whole, although we live in a fabulous district. Also, kids are in school for SO long that I don't want to start her any earlier than she has to. Still, knowing that the public school here demands so much of kids at younger ages, I don't want Jilly to be behind if we do choose to send her down the road so we are going to do a home school program.

I am a little nervous about this and not too confident about my ability to actually teach her. That's silly, I know, because basically everything she will "learn" at preschool we are "teaching" during our daily routine. She knows her letters out of context, all of her colors and shapes; she can count to 20 (when she's not be asked to do so) and she gets sequencing, matching, rhyming and all of that stuff. What we need to work on are the sounds of letters and how to write - something I don't remember doing until first grade but something kids today master, in some cases, before kindergarten. Reading will follow soon after, which she is chomping at the bit to learn.

Jilly has been showing a lot of interest lately in learning to write. She understands that words are made up of individual letters and when she asks us to spell something for her, she makes a separate mark for each letter. She also seems to grasp that each word is an individual item and spaces her "words" further apart than the "letters" that comprise the words.

Knowing that she is interested and ready to learn should make this process a bit easier. Having never taught any form of school, I decided to purchase a formal preschool curriculum. I chose the program from a company called Sonlight because it is literature based and uses story books to teach science, social studies, etc. We are doing a program above her current age because she is ready for it. The curriculum for 3- and 4-year-olds is nothing more than reading together and that is something we have done since birth. So she'll be in a pre-kindergarten program that will teach her how to write.

Homeschooling is something I have said that I would like to do for as long as possible but we are going to take it a year at a time. It is very exciting and Jilly is looking forward to mom being her teacher.

VBS

2010-07-18T16:22:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow begins a very busy week for me and JillyBean. Vacation Bible School starts and I'm so excited. Although Jilly is only three, she gets to go because I am volunteering as a teacher (I have been assigned to the five-year-old class). This is exciting because she will be doing the same preschool program as the older kids.

This is a massive program and the ladies from our church in charge of the children's ministry have been hard at work for months. As of today, they are expecting more than 470 kids for the week long program. It's a western theme, which is great for Jilly since she's all about horses and cowboys.

I loved VBS as a kid. I remember spending summers "church hopping," as we would attend Vacation Bible School at our church as well as VBS at our friends' churches. I hope that this is something Jilly will grow to love and look forward to each summer as well.

I have never led a class so I'm a little nervous but also excited about the opportunity. Keep us in your prayers as well as all the kids who will be attending and the volunteers leading them.

Little Miss Firecracker

2010-07-06T09:20:00.006-04:00

Here it is July again and I have failed to come in and update the blog. It sure isn't for lack of things to share, I just haven't taken the time to do it - once again. I need to dedicate a time of day each day to do this, sort of like a job.

Until then, we had a fabulous July Fourth celebration. JillyBean had been looking forward to July Fourth for weeks. Although I had been talking to her about why we celebrate the date, she mostly saw it as a time to shoot off fireworks. We had a couple of neighbors come over for a cook out and to let the kids have some fun. Jilly's buddies weren't as jazzed by the popping of the fireworks she and Daddy purchased, but they enjoyed the sparklers. Jilly didn't want to like the explosive rockets, but I think she forced herself to enjoy them since she had been looking forward to shooting them off for some time.

I really love the Fourth of July and have great childhood memories of family gatherings in Kansas. We would get together with my dad's cousins and spend the day tying black cat firecrackers together to make huge explosions. They all had cellars in their backyard so we would light the suckers and throw them into the cellar to hear the echo of the boom. We'd shoot off bottle rockets that we set up inside soda bottles and throw cherry bombs across the yard. It was so much fun. Then we would all have a picnic, play a game of softball and gather in the town park to watch the fireworks display that was put together by the local volunteer fire department.

Relay For Life

2010-05-25T17:09:00.004-04:00

We participated in the local Relay For Life event this weekend with our wonderful Mom's group. It was great fun and we were able to raise a bit of cash for the American Cancer Society.

It was rainy, so not as many people attended the actual event on Saturday night, but we had a good time. Our group, Moms On A Mission, endured the wet weather and enjoyed some yummy Wayside chicken and barbecue. Each of us signed up to walk an hour or two-hour shift (the goal was to have people walk 24 hours) so JillyBean accompanied me on my trek. She did great - walked the whole hour and even ran two laps around the track (more than I can do without stopping).

Afterward the kids ran around and played in the rain, danced, attended a magic show and, well, acted like kids. This is one of my all-time fave pictures of Jilly and her friends. I can't believe that I was able to get four three-year-olds to stand together, look at the camera and smile at the same time.
One part of the event that we did not stay around for (thanks to the wet weather and an exhausted child) was the lighting of the luminarias that people purchase in honor of or in memory of someone impacted by cancer. We made a luminaria for Aunt Evelyn who died last year. Jilly had a fun time decorating the paper bag that event organizers filled with sand and a candle to light. We are sure that Aunt Evelyn looked down with pride.

Oh to be three....

2010-05-18T11:37:00.005-04:00

...and get away with wearing pink sparkly shoes with bright pink flowers.
JillyBean and I went to Richmond on Saturday to get some new shoes for her. She is good for summer with sandals, church shoes and tennis shoes, but really need a pair of closed-toed play shoes. We go to Saxon twice a year to get shoes for her - once in the fall and again in the spring. I adore the store and its selection of kids shoes. They typically carry higher end shoes, but they do such a great job fitting her that I don't mind paying a little extra since they seem to fit the entire season. The people who work there really know how to work with kids and know what to look for in the way of fit. I haven't really felt all that confident at the stores in town.

It was the sweetest thing, shoe shopping with her. She looked carefully at the choices I gave her and I was not surprised that these would be her favorite. She wore them out the store and got so many compliments from the other mall shoppers that you could see the pride bursting from her face. On the way home I was looking at her in my rear-view mirror and she was raising up her feet and smiling at her new shoes. Then she said, "Thank you so much for my new shoes, mommy. I really, really love them."

Mother's Day

2010-05-13T16:33:00.005-04:00

I was so happy with Mother's Day this year. It was low-key and we were able to be together as a family. I came downstairs to this lovely arrangement on the kitchen table:
Not sure Beanie Daddy paid attention or if he was just lucky, but the color of the daisies are the exact color as the spring tea towels and a few other spring decor items I have in the kitchen right now. They coordinate perfectly.

We went to church and afterward had a lovely picnic at Cardinal Point Winery where moms got free appetizers with their tasting. We got a bottle of wine and had lunch on the lawn. It was a perfect afternoon, with the exception of a bit of wind. We came home and grilled steaks, which were super yummy. It was a great day.

Jilly Jam

2010-05-13T16:01:00.008-04:00

We are so lucky to live down the road from a wonderful orchard that not only provides scrumptious peaches in the summer but also strawberries. Jilly and I met a friend last Friday to pick a few and were generously rewarded. Last year we had to hunt and pick through several bushes to find perfect berries, but this year, we were able to pull off multiple berries from the same bush and didn't have to move much beyond one small section.

JillyBean had a lot of fun this year, too. Last year she wouldn't pick the strawberries and only wanted to carry the basket around with her. This year she didn't want to stop.
She even ate a few, which was something new. When she was a year old she loved strawberries but I haven't been able to get her to try one since. She loves strawberry ice cream, cake, smoothies, lollipops, etc., but would never eat the actual fruit. She wouldn't stop this time.

We brought home our load and used some to make fruit pops and some to make strawberry jam. I had never made jam before but it was actually so simple that I think we will do more. Jilly had the important task of mashing up the berries and she did a wonderful job.
We made 9 half pints of jam, but two didn't seal properly. We kept one and gave the other to a friend who said they would be able to eat it right away. Jilly has assigned "homes" to the remaining 7 jars so, if you're lucky, a jar of Jilly Jam will be coming your way soon.

Spring Sprung

2010-04-30T14:21:00.008-04:00

A friend took some lovely spring/Easter photos of Jilly earlier this month. Thank you to Stephanie Reeder for capturing such beautiful moments.

Party at Three

2010-04-30T13:51:00.003-04:00

JillyBean turned three - three weeks ago. There was so much activity taking place that I have had no time to come here to write about it. Plus, I spilled lemonade on the computer keyboard and the keys are sticky, making it difficult to type....

The birthday was great. I made a pink train cake, per her request, for our family celebration and was pretty happy with the result. It was strawberry cake with homemade butter cream frosting. It didn't look professional but it sure did taste great.
She got a new bike - a Thomas bike - as well as a doll house, a cow barn (since Santa forgot at Christmas), and a couple of movies from mom and dad. Grandma gave her a softball glove and a few other fun things.
The big shindig took place the following Saturday. We hosted 12 kids and their parents and it was a great time. The weather was beautiful, so the party stayed outside much of the time. Daddy brought home a tent that we set out in the back and placed a long banquet table under it so the kids could decorate their own mini train cake. We used it again to stage the food while the kids sat at little tables that we placed around the tent.

Guests were greeted with a sign that Daddy had made and we placed bunting and balloons on the front porch, giving it a festive look.
The kids had a blast decorating cakes and were pretty creative.
I made a train game for them to play and it was a huge success, but for the most part the kids had fun running around and playing outside. Jilly wore a cute little dress that a family friend made with Thomas material. It was a tad bit big, but Jilly HAD to wear it. The party concluded with a Thomas cake that I had made. It was chocolate and was soooo fresh that I can still taste it. It was honestly one of the best cakes I have ever had and it came from a grocery store. They did a fabulous job with it.
The kids loved their Thomas hats and wore them the entire time. They liked that they had their name on them and I think the parents appreciated not having something that made noise or more candy to take home, though they did have the cakes. It was a great party and now we can take a bit of a breather before planning for next year.

Easter

2010-04-06T06:29:00.006-04:00

We were all pretty worn out from Easter activities so this is the first chance I have had to come in and talk about it.

I have always loved Easter. I have vivid memories of dying and hunting eggs and receiving a special dress each year. Apart from the religious aspect of the holiday, I always felt it was one of the more special events of the year. Most of those memories include my Grandmother and New Mexico and I found myself looking back at family photos of us preparing for Easter and celebrating and a rush of wonderful memories flood my mind. I want Jilly to have that same feeling and memories as she grows older.
We did not get the chance to hunt or color eggs last year so we made up for it this year - threefold. It was almost overdone, but JillyBean had such a fabulous time that it was worth all of the jellybean- and chocolate egg-induced sugar highs she experienced the past two weeks.

Our first hunt took place two weeks ago with our fabulous MOPS group. I think that Jilly had more fun gathering eggs than she did trick-or-treating.
We hosted an egg hunt at our place for our mom's group. A dozen two- and three-year-olds came to our place and we scattered eggs throughout the courtyard behind our house and the kids went crazy. It was so much fun watching them charge out to pick up eggs to place in their baskets. Afterward they munched on cupcakes and fruit and played together. It was a great spring gathering.
The Easter Bunny brought Jilly a basket filled with gear to explore the great outdoors. She received a butterfly net, a bug house, flashlight, binoculars and magnifying glass - all from a super cute line called Sunny Patch, a division of Melissa and Doug. She also received some toy snakes because, for some reason, she's obsessed with the creatures.
She also got some more lip gloss and a color book of her beloved Wonder Pets. The candy was kept to a minimum - just a chocolate bunny - since she had plenty by this point.

This year's Easter dress was a custom frock that had her monogram embroidered on it. It was a sweet little pink and green apron dress that looked so dainty on her, in spite of her newly skinned knees and elbow. I had wanted to experiment with sponge curlers (another childhood Easter memory), but I never bought them. Still, I thought that she looked adorable.
We spent the afternoon at our good friends' house where we enjoyed a lovely after church brunch and, yet, another egg hunt. The kids had a blast. You would have thought they would have been done with hunting eggs, but I am pretty sure that we could do it again and they would be just as excited.
This was the best Easter that we have had since Jilly has been with us. Well, that's not exactly true. The BEST Easter was three years ago when she was born. She is the best gift the Easter Bunny has ever brought me and I doubt that gift will ever be trumped.

Big Girl Bed

2010-04-03T21:06:00.003-04:00

We made the transition to a big-girl bed a little earlier than planned. On Wednesday Daddy took the front off of Jilly's crib, transforming it into a toddler bed. I was not expecting it and neither was Jilly. He did it before he went to work and we were downstairs finishing breakfast and received the surprise when we went up to get dressed. Jilly was excited. Me, not so much. I couldn't believe he "uncaged" her at a time I would be home alone with her - for nap time. Thankfully we had a play date that ran late that day and Jilly missed her nap. She did spend some "quite time" in her bed when we got home, because she was so thrilled to have a "real" bed.

So far things have gone well. She stays in bed and we haven't had issues many parents have with wrangling her to stay in her room. It's still all new, so who knows if that will change...I am happy that we are trying this out as a toddler bed instead of the twin that will be her bed. She has fallen out of bed twice so at least she doesn't have far to go.

Real Life or The Legend of Ricky Bobby?

2010-03-28T16:09:00.002-04:00

Breakfast conversations are usually pretty interesting around this house. This morning was no exception.

Me: Jilly, do you remember what we celebrate at Christmas?
Jilly: Baby Jesus' birthday.
Me: Exactly. Do you know what we celebrate at Easter?
Jilly: Nope.
Me: Well, Easter is a time for us to remember that when Jesus grew up and was big like daddy, he made a promise and he kept that promise.
Jilly: Oh. Well, Jesus lives in my heart.
Me: I know and that's very special, isn't it?
Jilly: Yes. But it's not big Jesus. Baby Jesus lives in my heart.
Me: Really? Well, that's fine. I'm sure that Jesus doesn't mind that he gets to stay little in your heart.
Jilly: Yes. He will grow up when I grow up. I like baby Jesus best right now.

Her desire to keep Jesus a baby reminds me of the scene from The Legend of Ricky Bobby where the fictional race car driver explains that he prefers to pray to the Christmas Jesus.

I have wondered for a while how to teach the Easter story to Jilly. The birth of a baby is an easy one, but I'm not certain that an almost three-year-old can understand death and resurrection. That is why I am focusing on the promise of new life that Christ gave us. Jilly's favorite book right now is Horton Hatches an Egg and Horton's mantra, "I meant what I said and said what I meant; an Elephant is faithful 100 percent," is one way to teach the message that God is always faithful as well.

Party Planning

2010-03-27T14:15:00.014-04:00

Who would have thought that the start of Spring would be busier and filled with as much activity, if not more, than Christmas time? Not me. Jilly was actually born on Easter Sunday but since the holiday moves around from year to year, her birthday hasn't been all that close until now. Most of what has had me running around like a chicken with her head cut off would have been solved if I would have just told her what we would do for her birthday this year. But no. I had to get her input and now I'm paying for it. Like Beanie Daddy says, she's TWO. She shouldn't be making decisions that cause me more work than necessary. If I want to do it myself, well, that's my problem. But Jilly is the kind of child that when she makes up her mind that she wants to do something, you'd better be dang sure that you do what you can do to make it happen because she won't let you forget. I suppose we got a preview of that with the circumstances of her birth. She came 3 weeks early with no warning. I had been to the doctor a few days earlier and had made no progress toward going into labor any time soon. I was actually hoping we could hold out until May. But no. She decided she was ready and such is the life we live today....

But I digress....

JillyBean's birthday is the Thursday after Easter this year. I had the idea of hosting a party at home with her friends the Saturday before and double it as an Easter egg hunt. I had thought of getting each guest their own basket filled with treats in addition to scattering eggs about for them to collect. I was even hoping that I could convince Daddy to dress up like the Easter Bunny, but knew it was a long shot. Instead, Jilly has had it in her head for nearly a year that she wants to have a Thomas the Tank Engine party. I thought and hoped that she would change her mind as time went by, but she didn't. So, we are having a Thomas party. By the way, I don't understand her obsession with Thomas. She's never watched the show.

My planning for this event began shortly after the holidays. I began looking for Thomas and general train invitations that I thought were a little girlie. Some were too baby or were more along a circus train theme or were too heavily in the primary color scheme for my taste. Then I found these and knew they would work. I almost had the woman who made them change the color to pink and green, but thought that the red and blue were a bit more authentic and kept close to the Thomas theme.
Next came trying to figure out how to keep nearly a dozen (didn't mean for it to grow this big) preschoolers entertained without destroying our house. I won a cake pan on Ebay that makes six mini train cakes. My idea is to have the cakes ready for the kids to decorate with candy. I haven't decided if I want to frost them ahead of time. That may be a game day decision. In addition, I am trying to make up a game along the lines of pin the tail on the donkey. A friend whose son had a Thomas party last year said there was a similar Thomas game where you have to get the No. 1 in place. That game no longer exists so I am going to wing it. I haven't decided if I want to make a roundhouse and have the kids try to get their engine into the house or try to line up the train cars on a track. I have finally found some train templates that I like online and will print one out for each child. I feel as if I need one more thing to do, but am not sure. We're still kicking around ideas, but hopefully it will be pretty outside and we can shoo them out for a while then have hot dogs, turkey burgers then cake.

I am really excited for the guest favors that I made with the assistance of a good friend who has unlimited craft ideas. Each child will receive a wooden train whistle and a personalized engineer's cap. We worked on these earlier this week and I'm really happy with them:
I bought Thomas fabric and we cut out the little circles to attach the brim of each hat.Then we personalized the hats with each child's name. It was super easy and, I think, rather unique.

Next I have turned my attention to decor. I had grand ideas of turning the downstairs area into a train station, but that's not going to work since I'm busy planning two other parties that fall within a week of this one (more on that later). So we're going to keep it fairly simple. I am going to order two dozen red and blue balloons. One dozen will be tied to the front porch to greet guests and the others will be used inside. I suspect that we can tie one on to each chair that will seat a guest. I also revamped the birthday banner that I made Jilly last year. I ordered Thomas scrapbook paper and cut out letters and strung them together with red ribbon:

I still need to trace and cut out letters for her name, but am happy with this so far.

The big stuff is pretty much done. I promised Jilly that I would make a train cake for her, but I am unsure if it is something that will be served at the big party or reserved for the family party on her actual birthday. I have never done much to decorate a cake than simply slap frosting across it. The cake pan that I bought has instructions as to how to pipe it and I have the right tools, so we'll see how it goes.

Daddy is responsible for downloading train songs that will be played and he has it in his head that he is going to make a station sign that will hang on our porch to welcome guests. We'll see how that goes. I have all the confidence that he can do it, just not sure when he'll get around to doing it.

We asked our guests to consider bringing a toy that will be donated to the Charlottesville Ronald McDonald House instead of a birthday gift for JillyBean. She will get more than enough from family, and we want to continue teaching her the importance of helping others. She will make a birthday donation of her own to the organization as well. I know that birthdays are supposed to be special times when the attention is focused on birthday girl or boy, but I think the party is enough to show her how loved she is and how happy we are to have her in our lives.

Now, please pray for sunny weather so 12 kids and a couple dozen adults aren't stuck in the house.

Hello, Again

2010-03-20T14:13:00.003-04:00

Why is that I get on a roll posting here on a regular basis then appear to fall off the face of the earth? Things have been crazy the past month and I have simply not taken the time to post here. Again, it is certainly not for a lack of things to record. I cannot decide if I am too tired or too lazy to update. And, again, this is not a real post, simply a pace for me to put a couple of thoughts in order and "see" some things that I am considering.

JillyBean's third birthday is coming up and I have been fairly busy making plans for that. I will post on that more soon. She has been promised that she will get a "big-girl" bed when she turns three and we have been batting a couple of bed sets back and forth. Naturally the set that she has her mind on is not the one that I prefer. It is cute, but I like something else. I do like the sheets that go with the set, but I am not too crazy about the quilt. Then I found a quilt from another store and think that I may be able to get the best of both worlds but am unsure if they go together well.

Here is what Jilly likes:
I don't like the "busyness" of the quit, but I do like the sheets:
So I am wondering if they will go with this:

Room to Play

2010-02-24T20:02:00.007-05:00

I never thought that we would have a specific room for JillyBean to play with her toys. I mean, we played in our bedrooms growing up and didn't need a separate space, so she can do the same. Well, once we moved into the new house last summer, we designated the fourth bedroom as Jilly's room as well as the space for Daddy's TV and video games. Now I don't know what I would do without a playroom.

JillyBean does play in her bedroom a little. It is where her "library" is and her rocking horse and dolls. The playroom, though, is filled with her train sets, tea sets, cooking stuff, horses, plus her art stuff. She spends a lot of time in there.

This week I added some new decor to the room. This super cute fabric banner that spells out "create."

I have had my eye on these letters for a while at a local gift shop called novel. The store had a 40 percent off sale last week and I couldn't let it pass. I really love the way it looks and have it hanging over the art display that I made for Jilly several months ago using ribbon and clothes pens that I painted white.

I have a lot of ideas for decorating this room, but need to keep in mind that when it's used to its full potential, the result is this:

Love is...

2010-02-19T16:27:00.006-05:00

Children's book author Susan Crites spoke at our MOPS meeting this week and introduced us to her wonderful little book, I Love You More Than Rainbows.

Her personal story is incredibly inspiring, including what led her to write this book. I naturally bought a copy for JillyBean and picked up another for a birthday gift. It's a sweet book that helps children grasp the concept of how much a parent can love them. As she said, saying I love you is one thing, but for a child to realize that means that you love them more than ice cream puts it on a whole other level.

It is important that we teach our children that loving someone is more than merely saying the words. If a love is true then you do all you can to make that person happy and help when they are in need without being asked. We have been teaching that lesson a bit these past few weeks. It also helps that Jilly's AWANA group is learning that God is Love. It's amazing how these themes come together. I have a hard time believing that it is coincidence.

New Friends

2010-02-17T20:21:00.010-05:00

Our household has grown by three the past couple of months - two dogs and one little boy. No, we haven't adopted. They are all JillyBean's imaginary friends.

Air Bud was the first to enter our home, sometime in the Fall. I heard her yelling, "Air Bud! Come back!" I had no idea what she was saying or who she was saying it to, then it clicked. Snoopy arrived a month or so later. He causes trouble and is often sent to time out around nap time for keeping Jilly from sleeping. It is crazy how my "interaction" with these friends actually has an impact. Snoopy is booted from the bed and JillyBean goes to sleep.

The imaginary friend became a bit of an embarrassment one afternoon when Jilly and I were at a local Subway for lunch. We were sitting in a booth near a window that looked out at the parking lot. All of a sudden, Jilly jumped out of her seat and hollered, "SNOOPY!!!" She began moving toward the door, but stopping every so many feet, looking out the window, cupping her hands around her mouth and hollering, "SNOOPY!!!" I had no idea what was going on. I naturally followed her, stopped her and asked what was going on. She said, somewhat frantic, "That car has Snoopy!" while pointing out the window at no particular vehicle. I was unsure what to say, as the two other diners looked on, but tried to console her. I told her it was OK and that they were Snoopy's friends and they were taking him home. She didn't buy it at first, but after a couple of minutes she calmed down and went back to her lunch. The conversation continued on our way home with me assuring her that Snoopy would be home when we got there. She had her doubts.

And so it goes....Daily....

A new friend arrived at our house on Monday. I noticed Jilly walking through the hall with her hand cupped at her side, as if she were holding someone's hand, and she was whispering. I asked what she was doing and she said that she was showing the little boy around the house. Needless to say, I was happy to learn that this new friend is human and not another dog. I asked about this little boy and she told me his name is Carlos and he is from Haiti. "This is the little boy who got my box," she explained.

I cannot tell you how much this warmed my heart. We participated in Operation Christmas Child at Christmastime. We filled a shoe box with gifts for a little boy who lived somewhere between the Middle East and South America Southeast Asia and Africa. Each night during Christmas we prayed for the little boy who got our box. Once the earthquake hit Haiti last month I told Jilly that we still needed to pray for our little boy because of the disaster. For all we knew the box made its way to the hands of a Haitian child. We needed to pray that God is keeping him safe and that he is not scared. Apparently Carlos found safety in our home and we couldn't be happier to welcome him.

Slowing Down

2010-02-15T10:14:00.006-05:00

"Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

We experienced much slower paced days the past two weeks thanks to the snow. Jilly is not in school, but the school closings impacted our regular activities. We haven't been to Bible study the past two weeks, we didn't have MOPS and we did not have Kindermusik. We did not feel the need to head out and do things around town, either, opting instead to hang around the house. I know some parents are excited that school resumed today, ready to shoo kids back out the door so they can have a little peace and time to themselves. But I rather enjoyed being holed up these past few days. And the more we were "stuck" home the better our groove. The most frustrating part, for me, was not knowing what day of the week it was.

We did some art activities, a bit of baking and a lot of reading, but most of all we simply relaxed and took care of a little house business. I am blessed to have a child who can entertain herself for long periods of time. I cannot count the hours that JillyBean spent, mostly alone, in her toy room playing with her horses and trains, building bridges and castles, reading to her babies, and hosting tea parties. I know that I have mentioned this on several occasions, but her imagination excites me more than almost any of her other attributes and abilities. She's a thinker and is going to be a leader.

We were able to go to church yesterday and I was happy to see that she slipped right back into a "classroom" setting with ease. I was somewhat scared that we would revert to her shy self and not want us to leave her. AWANAS was another special outing last night, and again, she was happy to back with her teachers and friends.

I am thrilled that our regular activities will resume this week and that they should not be interrupted again. It is important for us to socialize and build on our relationship with others, but I am also happy to know that Jilly and I can make it just fine alone when necessary.

More Valentine Ideas

2010-02-10T11:37:00.002-05:00

I love this Valentine card idea from the Erin at house on hill road.

She says that she must have seen it somewhere else and now that I have seen it, I'm going to file it away until next year. How cute would these be to hand these out to friends? Of course, JillyBean would have to add a bit of glitter and sparkle to hers. The possibilities are limitless.

Milk and Honey

2010-02-09T21:30:00.012-05:00

A good friend recently brought an interesting book to my attention. Honey For A Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use For Books in Family Life is a look at how reading can not only enrich your child's life but also your family life.

I have been casually thumbing through the book for a couple of weeks now, but when JillyBean was feeling crummy on Saturday I used the time to dive into its pages. I will admit that nothing super surprising is revealed, but it does put a lot of thoughts and assumptions together with information I have learned over the years about the importance of introducing kids to books. Everything that you probably know about reading with your children gels together in this book.

Gladys Hunt approaches the subject from a Christian perspective, but I would not consider it a religious book. She doesn't guide parents away from particular subjects, rather challenges them to really think what lessons and images are important for them to pass along to their children. What sort of traits do you want your children to develop? Find characters and situations that will help them grow. Knowing her religious background, it was interesting to read her take on the Harry Potter series. The poor wizard got a bad rap from Christian church leaders for supposedly introducing children to witchcraft. She calls that bunk and discusses how children are quite able to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Besides, giving children a healthy dose of fantasy will not turn them into bad people.

She opened my eyes to quite a bit in regard to children's literature. For one, I realize that I cannot pass on my lack of enthusiasm for poetry to Jilly. I should use this time to rediscover the beauty of some poems and introduce it to her and help her grow an appreciation for the art. I also need to be on the look out for diluted versions of classic children's tales. I grew up loving the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairie series. Apparently they have been rewritten into easier chapter-styled books and much of the beauty of Ms. Wilder's prose is lost. Also, Disney has done its share to dumb-down great children's stories so I should be weary of branding and marketing schemes. I have a specific concern for this in regard to A. A. Milne's beautiful Winnie the Pooh series, which sadly has been hijacked by Disney. Pooh was a childhood favorite of mine. I dreamed of living in the Hundred Acre Wood and going on adventures with Pooh, Piglet and Eyore. I fear that Jilly will never grasp the sweetness of the relationship between Christopher Robin and Pooh and instead will continue to ask about Darby and Buster who are part of the My Friends Tigger and Pooh series on TV. Daddy says I don't need to worry. As she grows older so will her appreciation for real stories.

Artwork is just as important as language is in children's books. As Hunt discusses, small children will "read" the pictures before they learn to read the words. I have certainly seen this in JillyBean. The art of a book can draw a child deeper into the story and such images will remain with them forever.

Finally, Hunt made me rethink the importance of reading with your child. Sure it helps with language development, but more than anything it strengthens the parent/child relationship. Naturally we read to our children at this age, since they can't read on their own, but it's important to read aloud or continue to read books together as children grow older. As she writes, reading aloud brings the story and its characters to life. Plus, sharing a book together creates a bond. Characters in books become shared friends and plots become shared experiences.

Honey For A Child's Heart includes a great book list in the back with suggestions for toddlers to teens. It is a valuable tool and will now be a standard shower gift for everyone I know having a baby, so act surprised when you receive one.

Valentine's Week

2010-02-08T13:46:00.008-05:00

In spite of the 18 inches of snow outside our front door, it is a lovely day today. However, Jilly and I had some catch-up work to do in preparation for Valentine's Day. We started early this morning finalizing Valentine cards to get in the mail and made a couple of other crafts. I knew that I was on the right track when JillyBean looked up at me, smiled and said, "mommy, I have so much fun with you." It made my heart melt.
First things first, we had to complete the Valentine's cards that we started a couple of weeks ago. I got the idea from the February issue of Martha Stewart's Living. These cards were made by rolling up pieces of corrugated cardboard and turning them into stamps. Martha's idea was that they would look like roses (you can also cut a piece of cork to make the stem), but I thought that they turned out looking like hearts, which was perfect.

Jilly dabbed the stamps in red ink and went to town. Each person who receives one of her cards this year gets an original and no two are alike. As I mentioned, we did these a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it was the paper that we used or if she overdid it on the ink, but they needed some time to dry before flipping them over to complete.
On the other side, we wrote a personalized Happy Valentine's Day note to each recipient, attached a photo and stuck on a couple of festive stickers. I think that they're cute and unique and will be cherished by each family member and friend who receives one. Plus, other than the writing, the cards were completely decorated and designed by Jilly. I didn't give any suggestions to her about the amount of ink she used or the placement or amount of stamping she did. She was very proud of the final product as well.

In addition, Jilly and I completed our Valentine chandelier that I mentioned last week. It turned out just as lovely as I had hoped and spices up the dining room quite nicely. We decided to hang it in there to surprise Daddy when he gets home tonight. Hopefully he'll notice. Jilly helped glue the hearts together with her trusty glue stick. She is such a pro!

Spending a morning doing crafts with Jilly is one of my favorite things to do. It gives us time to work together and talk about not only what we are doing at that moment but other things going on around us. I treasure mornings like this.

Sick Day

2010-02-06T11:14:00.005-05:00

If we have to deal with illness at least it's during a time when there is not much else to do. JillyBean woke up crying about 4 o'clock this morning and something inside me knew she had thrown up. After a quick dunk in the tub and a strip of her bed, she curled up with me and the day began.

She's been puny most of the day and is vomiting off and on. Not to give too much information, but I think that what's coming up now is what she held back earlier. Throwing up is scary for a little kid and this is the second time she has done it (the last time was a little over a year ago). She cries as it comes out and sobs how she doesn't want to let it out of her while I hold back her hair and stroke her back trying to let her know that it is OK. At one point she looked up at me with the most pathetic look and asked, "I'm going to get better, mommy, right?" All I could do is hug her and tell her that I was sure she would be much better by tonight and back to normal in the morning.

For now she's lying on a towel and sheet covered couch watching movies and resting.

When life gives you snow....make brownies!

2010-02-05T16:46:00.008-05:00

My backyard looks like this today
So I made these

We are expecting 18-24 inches of snow this weekend. We are not expecting BeanieDaddy to make it home from work tonight. So, to get us through the afternoon and into tomorrow I decided to make brownies. Brownies seem to be the forgotten child of the chocolate dessert family. At least they are here. I'm more apt to do a cake, or cupcake or candy or something else. Brownies are usually an afterthought for some reason.

But I knew I had the ingredients on hand (at least I was pretty sure) and a page from my Southern Living Christmas Cookbook with a menu for a coffee and chocolate party has been taunting me for weeks. However, I had to make some alterations. The recipe calls for bittersweet baking chocolate and I had semisweet. After doing a little investigation, I learned that you can add unsweetened cocoa to the semisweet chocolate and you would have something closer to bittersweet. Also, the recipe calls for 2 cups of semisweet chocolate morsels. I have had a bag of raspberry chocolate morsels in the pantry waiting for a home so I used them instead. The result: pure heaven. It turned into one of those desserts that is so yummy but a little too rich to eat too much at one time. The hope is that these will last a while.

Here is the full recipe with my changes.

Dark Chocolate Brownies
Adapted from 2008 Southern Living Christmas Cookbook
1 cup butter
8 ounces bittersweet baking chocolate squares
2 cups raspberry chocolate morsels, divided
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts, toasted
1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt

Microwave butter, bittersweet chocolate, and 1 cup morsels in a 4-quart bowl at high 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until chocolate is melted, stirring mixture every 30 seconds. Whisk in sugar, eggs and vanilla.

Toss together walnuts, 1 Tbs flour, and remaining 1 cup of morsels. Stir remaining four and salt into sugar mixture. Stir in walnut mixture. Spread batter into a greased 13- x 9-inch pan.

Bake at 350-degrees for 30-40 minutes or until edges begin to pull away from pan (a wooden pick inserted in center will not come out clean). Cool on a wire rack.

In addition to the brownies, I made this pulled pork marinade recipe from The Naptime Chef. I doubled the recipe and added 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper and a little more than a pinch of red pepper flakes to give it a little more of a kick. And wow did it add kick. The smell of the pork roast cooking in the crock pot all day is amazing. I think this will be my go-to marinade/barbecue recipe from now on. Too bad Dad won't be home tonight, but there will be plenty when he returns.

Snow Days

2010-02-02T19:35:00.003-05:00

The first snow of the season fell on my birthday, Dec. 5. However, nothing stuck in our part of town. Everyone around us got some white fluffy stuff to play in except for us. The second snow came tumbling down when we went to Tennessee just before Christmas. There was plenty when we returned, but not seeing it fall is sort of like getting cash as a gift - it's great, you can do a ton with it, but it's not the same as the anticipation that builds when you unwrap a pretty box.

Well, I FINALLY got to see snow fall and stick this weekend and it came back today. Jilly loves the stuff and it has been a bit difficult keeping her in the house. We went out this afternoon, after her nap, because a lot of neighbor kids were in the courtyard (essentially our backyard) building snowmen and a fort. We were out for more than an hour. Not even the promise of hot cocoa could lure her back into the house. I swore that she could go back out in the morning and I am sure that we'll make another run in the afternoon.

It's beautiful and I love looking at it and playing in it, but I am SO ready for summer and afternoons spent at the pool.

Thanks for nothing, Phil.

2010-02-02T08:18:00.004-05:00

I realized that I didn't have the supplies I needed yesterday to begin our cute little Valentine crafts. So in preparation for Groundhog Day today, Jilly and I made groundhogs.
We used this template that required a toilet paper roll. Funny how I have plenty of empty toilet paper rolls but not enough craft paper for Valentine's Day. Jilly had fun coloring her groundhog then getting the chance to use stick glue to put him together.

It was also a good chance to teach JillyBean about the tradition of Groundhog Day.

Thanks to Puxatony Phil seeing his shadow this morning, we can expect another six weeks of winter. Actually we may not since Phil has only been correct 40 percent of the time. But the snow outside my window and predictions of more coming today and into the weekend seem to point to Phil being accurate this year.

So, we are off to the craft store today to pick up supplies to get us through these next chilly weeks.

Getting Crafty

2010-02-01T08:26:00.003-05:00

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I have a couple of goals that I have set out for 2010. One is to send at least one hand-written letter to a friend each month. Birthday wishes, a thank you note, or other events don't count. This is my way of getting back to the simple pleasures in life - receiving a little something in the mail box that isn't a bill or junk. Plus, it's a way for me to let my friends know how much I care for them. So far I'm on target with that goal.

Secondly I have decided that I am going to explore the crafty side myself. I have never been all that creative. Yes, I used to make money as a writer, but that was as a news writer/reporter. I simply took facts and presented them in a readable format. I suppose some creativity crept up from time to time, but not much.

I know that I am not very imaginative. I have ideas but don't know how to put them into play. So, to kick things off I will allow myself to become inspired by others.

Since January is in the books, and I now view that month as a time to get back to normal after the fall and winter holidays, Jilly and I are going to get cracking on some fun projects. I also view February as the perfect month to start this since it's the month of Valentine's Day. We have already borrowed an idea for making cards from Martha Stewart and now we're on to some cute decor.

The woman who is responsible for our MOPS blog posted these ideas and Jilly and I plan to tackle at least one today.

I like this banner from Crafting Chicks. I made a cute birthday banner for JillyBean's birthday last year, but I like the style of this. I will probably use this to help create her Thomas birthday banner this year.

And our second project is a Valentine chandelier that is featured on the My Little Gems blog.

I think that this will look cute all year long in Jilly's play room.

Christmas Dinner Revisited

2010-01-25T15:30:00.003-05:00

I have to say that one of the highlights to Christmas dinner was our first course, Cream of Curried Peanut Soup. It was simply scrumptious and I have been craving it ever since we had it. It was super easy to make. In fact, I made it a day ahead of time and simply warmed it up just before serving. I had never had peanut soup and questioned if I would like it. Again, completely surprised by the outcome and will most certainly make it again. Plus, I wasn't alone in liking it. Everyone enjoyed it, even my mom who tends to be a bit picky.

Yes, We are Still Here

2010-01-25T10:16:00.005-05:00

So my big plan to document the Christmas season fell by the wayside thanks to everyday life. Then, like in the past, I got to a point where I hadn't posted in so long that it got harder and harder to make myself get back in here.

This post is simply a photo recap of Christmas, which took place exactly a month ago today.

Jilly and I saw the Rockettes at the John Paul Jones Arena. It is a show that I have been wanting to see since I was a teenager. I have always loved the Rockettes and their Christmas show did not disappoint me. Jilly enjoyed it, as well. She sat in her seat and was excited by all of the spectacular dancing, music, costumes and decor. It was an event that I hope we can continue as a holiday tradition.

One of the holiday craft projects JillyBean and I did this year was to make these cute Christmas trees using styrofoam cones and candy. This one was made of gumdrops and we did another using mini candy canes and one with round peppermint candy. We placed the trees throughout the house.
And, of course, we had our regular Christmas tree, times three. The tree we placed in our living room (the "official" tree) ended up being filled with some older ornaments that mom gave me last year. These were glass ornaments that we used on our trees as a kid. I tied silver, red, green and gold bows on them to spice them up a bit. Also on the tree were the brass ornaments that BeanieDad received each year as a child. It was fun looking at the years that were engraved on each one. Then we included all of the special ornaments that Jilly has received. This year her Auntie Pam in New Mexico started a 12 Days of Christmas ornament collection for her. It will be wonderful to add a new one to the tree the next 11 years. By the time these "family" ornaments had been added, I was left was a crate full of ornaments that needed a home. Most were Santas. Not being able to stand the thought of an unused ornament, I decided to get another tree and place it in the dining room. I am happy with my decision. And finally, I bought a pre-lit, 2-foot tall pink tree to put on Jilly's night stand. We decorated it with silver glittery bulbs and tied sparkly green ribbon to them. It was super cute. I actually haven't taken it down. Right now it's covered with Valentine hearts and next we'll put Easter eggs and bunnies on it for spring.
We traveled to Tennessee the week before Christmas and got to see Nana, Auntie April, Ma, Granddad, PawPaw, Sweetie and a lot of other family. While we were gone, a major snow storm hit home. While we missed the loveliness of watching the snow fall, there was plenty left for Jilly to enjoy.
Jilly tromped through the massive piles of snow, made snow angels and a snow man. It was fun and perfect for our first Christmas at home.
Grandma and Uncle Jimmy came for Christmas. On Christmas Eve Jimmy dressed up like Ol' Saint Nick and he and Jilly delivered cookies to our neighbors. The kids were a bit surprised to see Santa so early.
Christmas morning was a whirlwind. Santa brought Jilly a baby stroller, a baby high chair and a horse barn with horses. In addition, she got an Olivia doll, Olivia DVD, and lip gloss since she is no longer wearing diapers and doing a great job going potty by herself.
One of Jilly's favorite gifts was an Elmo plane given to her by Uncle Sean and Aunt Casie. She actually got three toy planes. Maybe she'll take after her grandpa and be a pilot some day.
Naturally, no major event would be complete in the Beanie household without Jilly's bestest bud and his family who came over for Christmas dinner. We set up a kids' table in the kitchen while the adults enjoyed ham, butternut squash, corn pudding, broccoli, and a bunch more good stuff in the dining room.

It was great being able wake up in our own home on Christmas morning and have Jilly walk down the stairs to see all of her gifts. And now we're just trying to get back to normal but have a third birthday to look forward to soon. Yes, planning has already begun...

Yes, Virginia

2009-12-14T21:08:00.015-05:00

I enjoy the classic Christmas shows that are sprinkled among the network stations this time of year. I can't decide on a favorite, but it may have to be How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I am always amazed each year that A Charlie Brown Christmas is still on, expecting any time now that it be forced of the airwaves since it quotes scripture. There are very few of the newer shows that I enjoy. I don't see the Shrek Christmas show being a classic nor the one with the Madagascar characters. However, a new show that aired on CBS last week has won a special place in my heart, and I've only watched it once.

Yes, Virginia is based on the true story of a little girl who wrote a letter to the New York Sun asking the editor if there really is a Santa Claus. The editor wrote a reply that was printed on the paper's front page. The TV show is simply adorable, sweet, uplifting and everything that is good about Christmas. It is very fitting for me right now because I am reading about and coming in contact with more and more people who don't want their children to believe in Santa because they consider it lying to them. First off, if these parents get through their entire relationship with their children without lying, well, more power to them. Bravo! Some people may simply choose not to celebrate the Santa side of the season because of religious reasons. I can respect that as long as they don't do anything else secular during this time of year. But to exclude Santa thinking that it's lying or because their child will be devastated when they learn the "truth" is sad to me. I challenge them to think back on their childhood and point to the tragedy they experienced by believing in Santa. I have a hard time believing there are many. Any child devastated when they learn about Santa probably has bigger problems in their lives.

The whole Santa experience is among my most cherished childhood memories. Even in the years when doubt began to fill my head, it was still exciting to believe that just maybe he was real. There is no way I want to deny my child, or any child, that feeling.

I don't recall being traumatized when I learned the truth. In fact, I don't think I ever really learned about Santa, it just sort of faded away. It returned, though, as I got older and realized that Santa needs helpers to make sure that his love and generosity are shared with others, especially children who come from families who have a hard time providing a magical Christmas. That is why we participate in programs like the Angel Tree mission, Toys for Tots and why we find a family to adopt this time of the year. The thought of a child waking up without a gift from Santa breaks my heart. And I know there are thousands of children like that due financial woes and not because their parents don't want to "mess" with explaining Santa to them.

And, of course, now with a child of my own, Santa is more real than ever. It is so much fun to view this holiday season through her eyes. Things that I found irritating about Christmas, like those dogs who bark Jingle Bells, are now fun when I hear JillyBean laughing at singing dogs. In my opinion, belief in Santa is the simplest form of building faith. And as the conductor says in The Polar Express, "Sometimes seeing is believing and sometimes the most real things are those we cannot see."

So for anyone who does not want to believe in Santa or who doesn't want their child to experience his magic, following is a reprint of the 1897 reply to Virginia's question of whether or not Santa exists:

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The Untold Christmas Story

2009-12-12T08:36:00.008-05:00

Grandma sent Jilly a Fisher Price Little People Nativity Set as an early Christmas gift. She has played with it nonstop since it arrived on Thursday. For one, it gives her another outlet for her already massive imagination, and second, it allows her to play out the birth of Christ as she sees it.

So, here are a few things that I never knew about the First Christmas:

The three wise men brought Baby Jesus toys and diapers because, as Jilly puts it: "babies need a lot of diapers."
Mama Mary likes to sing Baby Jesus to sleep with "Rocky Top"
Snoopy followed the angel to the manger along with the shepherds
the camel is the daddy to the donkey
everyone ate spaghetti and had cake for Baby Jesus' birthday

Sleepless

2009-12-09T00:43:00.004-05:00

It's nearly 1 a.m. and I can't sleep because Christmas is two-and-a-half weeks away and I haven't finalized my dinner menu. Crazy, huh? I have been lying in bed the past hour with my head spinning. I figure that the only way to calm it down is to come here and type out my thoughts.

Last year I was inspired by an episode of Food Network host Nigella Lawson. Her entire menu for a holiday menu looked scrumptious and I swore that was what I was going to make for Christmas dinner. It is still my plan, for the most part but I feel that I need to add more. My mother gave me the latest edition of Southern Living's Christmas Cookbook and it has a couple of recipes in it that I plan to use as well. So, in order for me to get my head straight and feel better about a dinner that is more than two weeks away, here's my menu, or at least my menu at this point in time.

Cream of Curried Peanut Soup

some sort of salad with pomegranate or cranberry in it to give me something "red"

Ginger Glazed Ham

Spiced Peaches

Butternut Squash with Pecans and Blue Cheese (I actually made this last year and it was delish) OR

Sweet Potato Casserole (can I have both?)

Garlic Green Beans (my own recipe)

Yeast Rolls (not homemade since we have a fabulous Mennonite community here and they make better bread than I could ever dream of making)

Individual Fudge Cakes

My dilemma: for some reason this doesn't seem like enough. Maybe there needs to be another vegetable or I'm thinking too much of dressing that normally accompanies a turkey dinner. Maybe some broccoli spears? That is something my grandmother always had for Christmas dinner, with her fabulous cheese sauce, which I have yet to master.

Obviously there isn't much that I can do about this tonight. It's 1:01 a.m. and I really need to try to sleep. Hopefully getting all of this down will help - for now.

'Tis the Season to Be Baking

2009-12-07T20:11:00.007-05:00

JillyBean and I will spend most of this week in the kitchen baking cookies. I feel pretty safe doing this with her since she's not really into eating cookies, so there should be plenty for us as well as friends and family.

Today's creation was Snickerdoodles. I used a recipe that a good friend gave me and they have been a Christmas mainstay for the past six years. I remember when I added them to the lineup - I wanted something with cinnamon. Jilly had the most important job in making Snickerdoodles - rolling them in the cinnamon/sugar mix. She did a great job.

Tomorrow we are going to make a ginger/chocolate chip cookie that I made for the first time last year after finding it in Real Simple. Wednesday will be spent making cut-out cookies and hopefully on Thursday we'll make something out the raspberry chocolate chips that I found this afternoon.

I really enjoy making cookies at Christmas time. It reminds me of when I was a kid and made them with my Grandmother. We would sit at her kitchen table and roll out the dough then cut out Santas, trees, stars, bells, angels and other Christmas shapes then sprinkle them with colored sugar. It was something that I always looked forward to so I hope that I can create the same sort of memory with Jilly.

Editor's Note: The hat Jilly is wearing in the photo is her red snow hat, but she calls it her Santa hat. She insisted on wearing it today and kept saying, "ho ho ho" all afternoon.

Jingles

2009-12-07T14:22:00.006-05:00

Last Christmas we started a little tradition with Elf on the Shelf. It's a cute little character and book that serves as a gentle reminder to stay extra nice during the Christmas season. Jillian named him Jingles and each morning he shows up somewhere in the house. Today he was sitting atop a bowl of ornaments on our kitchen table. His job is to keep an eye on Jilly during the day then reports to Santa each night on her behavior. Most days Jingles has a good report, but he had a fairly naughty report last week. A note from Jingles in Jilly's advent calendar seemed to help adjust her attitude the next day. He simply reminded her that she is a very good and sweet girl, but acted up a bit too much the previous day.

I really love having Jingles around and think that maybe we should keep him year round.

The Reason

2009-11-30T21:18:00.005-05:00

Although Thanksgiving is over, our little lesson for Jilly that we need to be thankful for what we have continues. It is especially important now that the hoopla that surrounds Christmas is here. Make no mistake, I want her to anticipate the gifts she will receive from family and Santa, but finding the right balance between giving and receiving, and understanding why we celebrate Christmas is key.

Today we joined some ladies from our MOPS group at the Hope Community Center to sort through donated items that will go to families in need. On Saturday, area families will get the chance to "shop" for clothes, toys and household items. Jilly spent most of the time playing with some other children who were there, but I kept telling here that we were getting things together for families who need a little help.

Afterward we came home to finish decorating. One of the items that I saved specifically for JillyBean to help with was setting out our manger set. It was a good time to talk again about Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, and, of course, baby Jesus. She clearly knows that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and that one way we celebrate is by giving gifts to others.

Thankful

2009-11-25T22:32:00.006-05:00

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Jilly seems to be realizing that there is something between Halloween and Christmas. Our little ritual of writing down something each morning that she is thankful for is beginning to sink into her teeny little head.

We will be spending the afternoon with close friends. I have been asked to bring nothing, but that goes against the whole point of Thanksgiving. We did contribute the turkey, although we're not cooking it - just used our grocery store points for a free one. However, I am making my "famous" pecan pie. I am making it because no one in our house likes pecan pie and if I want to eat it, I have to make it for someone else.

I will turn on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning and hope that Jilly takes a minute to watch, but if not, that's OK. I always enjoyed watching it with my dad when I was a kid.

We wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving and hope that you take a few minutes to realize the many blessings in your life and not dwell on the challenges.

today Jilly is thankful for the candy Christmas trees we made together last night

Season of Peace

2009-11-24T13:59:00.012-05:00

I am so excited to host Christmas at our house this year. It is something I have been wanting to do for a very long time and now, with a child, it's easier to accomplish. We get to stay put every three years and that makes me happy. Of course all of our family is welcome to come and celebrate with us. I would love nothing more than to have a house full of people to open gifts, enjoy company and celebrate our Lord's birth. Only my mom and uncle will be here. My brother and his wife had planned to come, but sister-in-law started a new job and can't take off any time to justify the criminal airfare to get here for a short time. Beanie Daddy's family has decided to stay put in Tennessee. But that's OK. We have good friends who will join us for Christmas dinner and it is going to a joyous occasion.

Looking ahead I am amazed at how our calendar is already slammed. My plan is to make this a peaceful month and a time where we can really enjoy the build up to Christmas. We are going to be busy, but we aren't going to be rushed. I want this to be a time where we can teach Jilly the anticipation of Santa, the fulfillment of giving to others, and the joy of God's gift to us. Since she is older and is building memories, I want to begin establishing traditions - little things that she will treasure and hopefully pass along when she has a family of her own.

I have enjoyed reading Simple Mom's 12 Weeks to a Peaceful Christmas. It has given tips on how to make this an enjoyable time and not one where we're so busy worrying about making the house look.just.right.

Some of the highlights for the upcoming Christmas season include:

Lighting of the Lawn - an annual event that began in 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The event was intended to gather the community together as a way to appreciate all they had.
Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes - I wanted to be a Rockette when I was a kid. I am so excited that this show is coming to the John Paul Jones Arena and JillyBean and I are attending. I hope to make this the first of an annual holiday "date" she and I have together.
Hope Community Chest - This is a event coordinated by the Hope Community Center that allows families in need to receive clothes and toys. Jilly and I are volunteering with our MOPS group to receive and sort donations as well as assist on the day that families "shop."
Toy Lift - a local event that collects toys for children in need

Mixed in with these festivities is a slate of activities planned for home. We have a home to decorate, cookies to bake, crafts to make, and holiday movies to watch. In order to make this as enjoyable and memorable as possible we are going to simply take on the Christmas season one day at a time.

Jilly is thankful for:
gifts she receives in the mail
friends
Smoky and Snoopy (her imaginary friends)
Thomas the Train

The Gift of Giving

2009-11-20T23:12:00.005-05:00

We decided to participate in Operation Christmas Child this year through our church. The program is part of Samaritan's Purse and delivers shoe boxes filled with gifts to children around the world.

The program allows you to pick if you want to get gifts for a boy or girl and the age range. I had originally wanted Jilly to help pick out gifts for a girl aged 2-4, but she was adamant that we shop for a boy. We filled our box with Matchbox cars; a small tin of checkers that look like the characters from the movie Cars; a Thomas activity book; puzzles; Sesame Street stickers; a UVA t-shirt; a stuffed frog; and some candy. It was a fun outing with Jilly this afternoon, picking out the toys for our little boy. We made it a trip where we did not buy anything for us so that Jilly could focus on getting something for someone else.

This week is National Collection Week where all of the shoe boxes are delivered to a local collection site. Tonight JillyBean and I volunteered at the collection site. She thought we were going to take our box to the little boy, but was excited to get the chance to help prepare the boxes. When shoe boxes were dropped off, it was our job to make sure they were tagged properly and had a rubber band around the box. Then we placed the boxes in large cardboard boxes to prepare for delivery. Jilly handed the shoe boxes to me to place in the large boxes. She had a good time.

I am sure that she does not completely understand the meaning behind our task, but she did get that we were sending Christmas presents to a little boy who lives very far away from us. Right now we are developing a foundation for helping others.

today Jilly is thankful for pasta

Between Friends

2009-11-19T22:19:00.006-05:00

Today is a day when I am especially thankful that JillyBean has a vivid imagination. She was resistant to taking her hourly potty breaks most of the day but I was able to coax her into it by saying that one of her toy friends wanted her to show them how to go potty. First up was Mr. Cow. Jilly was engrossed playing with her farm animals this morning and didn't want to take a break. I told her that Mr. Cow had heard that she was a big girl now and wanted her to show him. She agreed happily and was so proud to explain to Mr. Cow the steps. Jilly also gave tutorials to her frog Lilly, Elmo and Farmer Ted.

All of this goes back to the promise I made to myself that I was not going to allow this process to cause stress or frustration. Harvey Karp wrote in The Happiest Toddler on the Block that you should instill a sense of pride in your toddler and one way is to brag on them, even if it's to an imaginary friend. Making them proud of positive behavior is a more effective way of enforcing that behavior than rewards. I have seen this work on Jilly in many situations. If she has a great day at the grocery store, the first thing I do when we get in the car is tell one of her stuffed animals that is also in the car. She beams with pride. I actually think that it means more to her that I brag on her achievements to Lilly or Happy Bear or Air Bud (her imaginary friend) then when I call Daddy or Grandma. So the opportunity for her to "teach" one of her buddies about going to potty really makes her feel like a pro, boosting her confidence and her willingness to cooperate.

today Jilly is thankful for Grandma, Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Sean

Woo Hoo For Number 2

2009-11-18T21:27:00.012-05:00

Today was a good day at Potty Training Camp. JillyBean actually poopied in the potty this morning. It was quite an accomplishment. She was extremely proud, but even happier to finally get a lollipop for a reward.

We ventured out for a play date and she had an accident shortly after we arrived. This is where things can get frustrating, but I refuse to let this be a stressful process. She went to the potty and not five minutes later I realized that she pooed in her pants. Thankfully it wasn't bad (and I'm sorry for too much information), but still it shows how potty training can wear on a parent. She had just been to the potty. Why couldn't she have told me she needed to go again? This is where I need to remember that I am an adult and she is a child.

Sometimes I wonder if we expect too much from two-year-olds. They have been in this world for a very short two years, yet it seems like we expect they develop manners and a level of understanding and compassion that many adults don't display. I don't remember being out in public around strangers as much when I was a child as kids are today. We certainly didn't eat in restaurants as often as we do now. Preschool was not a concept that was considered until age four - there was nursery school, but no preschool.

So much is going on in their tiny little brains right now. On one side there is this great need to become independent but on the other side they have a need to be babied. I mentioned in my last post that my attitude toward potty training this time around has changed making the process a little bit easier. That attitude has also spilled over into the rest of our daily interactions and I have noticed fewer outbursts and tantrums (from both of us). I feel as if I am a bit more relaxed as a parent now; not relaxed in that I've given up and I'm giving in, but relaxed in a way that allows me to enjoy parenthood more. I have learned to take deep breaths and pray for strength when I feel frustrated and that calmness seems to wash over Jilly. After all, she is not the only one who has had two short years to figure out life. I entered uncharted waters only two years ago as well.

today Jilly is thankful for Ma

By George

2009-11-17T20:41:00.010-05:00

One of JillyBean's greatest loves is Curious George. She adores the little monkey and we read his stories every day. We have been reading George stories every day for a year. Yes, I get a bit bored with the same thing day after day after day, but it brings so much joy to Jilly.

George came to the local Barnes & Noble last month and Jilly was so excited to get the chance to see him. However, once confronted with a life-size George, she sort of shied away. She even followed him through the store but would not get more than five feet from him. She wasn't exactly scared, more like overcome with the idea of meeting someone who has become a best friend through the pages of a book. Talking to her, though, you would think that they sat down together and had tea. She still beams, nearly a month later, when she talks about seeing George at the bookstore. Every time we go to the store she says: "this is where I saw George."

One of the gifts JillyBean is receiving for Christmas is a Curious George book and CD gift set. I never thought of an audiobook as a good gift idea for a child, but it's actually pretty ingenious. Nana sent Jilly audio versions of Little Bear and Mouse Tales after she broke her arm. They have been wonderful alternatives to flipping on the TV or even music on many occasions. She enjoys listening to the stories while playing in her "toy room" or coloring. We haven't taken them with us in the car because, well, listening to audiobooks makes me sleepy and that's not a good thing when I'm driving.

I am so thankful that Jilly has developed a zest for books. She loves to read and actually told me to sit down on her floor while she sat in the rocking chair and read a book to me. The obvious benefit to a love of books is for the development of her language and reading skills. But for me, daily reading of stories has helped to develop her imagination, something that cannot be taught in school.

In other news, today was an OK day in regard to potty training. She had one accident and fussed a bit when she had potty breaks in the afternoon. Today was more of a struggle, but we got through it. This is the biggest change over the last time we attempted to potty train - my attitude. Previously I would get frustrated when she would "fight" me to go potty but now I make it into a game. I laugh at her antics but am still insistent. Then when she actually produces, I make an even bigger deal out her accomplishment. This has caused less stress for both of us and I think it's the key to our success.

today Jilly is thankful for her dog Sandy

Give Thanks

2009-11-16T21:02:00.011-05:00

I am so thankful that the potty training is going pretty smoothly so far. Today was Day 3 and Jilly had no accidents. We made a quick outing and she came home dry and she used the potty on cue every 45 minutes. She even woke up from her nap dry and just called out to us from bed, upset that she had wet her Pull Up.

Since we were home almost all day, JillyBean and I dove into a little craft project for Thanksgiving. Like most kids, Jilly found Halloween exciting and is already anticipating Christmas. I want to make sure that Thanksgiving doesn't get overlooked.

Thanks to my wonderful MOPS group, I came across a project for a Thanksgiving advent-style calendar. We made ours with 15 pockets, since I couldn't get more than five on a row, and we are counting down. We included the scripture from 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "give thanks in all circumstances..." at the top.

Jilly placed all of the pumpkins and leaves on the calendar pockets. It was a fun little project and it gave me a chance to talk to JillyBean about how blessed she is and how important it is for us to thank people and to thank God (through our prayers) for all of those blessings. She doesn't quite get "thankful" so I explained it as things that make us happy.

After the calendar was complete, Jilly had to tell me five things that make her happy (we had to do five to make up the days we have missed). So far Jilly is thankful for:

Granddad
Santa Claus
Mommy
Daddy
Nanny (Nana)

We will place a note in each pocket leading up to Thanksgiving then we will read them all that day as a reminder of all the blessings we have in our lives.

This is an important exercise this time of year and one that I want to make a tradition for our family, especially leading to Christmas. Too often we are busy trying to fulfill Christmas gift lists that we forget to say thank you for the amazing things that we encounter every day.

Day Two

2009-11-15T21:12:00.002-05:00

JillyBean did great today, her second full day to Potty Training Boot Camp. She had a little accident this morning, but it wasn't much. We went to church and since she hadn't done anything but tinkle yesterday, I didn't want her Sunday school teachers to have to deal with dirty training pants so she went in Pull Ups. And just as I thought, she pooed not five minutes after I dropped her off in her class. Her teachers said that she did use the potty, as well, but this other business is going to take a little more work.

After church Jilly and I had to run an errand. We went to he bookstore and she went to the potty there. It took us about an hour to finish up what we needed to do and drive home and I was surprised to find that she was still dry. We went back to the 45-minute rule and she did great. She even told me she needed to potty after I had put her down for a nap and woke up from her nap dry.

I am going to call her doctor tomorrow to talk to her about how we are handling this. The results are positive, but I am finding that JillyBean just goes a little every time. I feel blessed that she doesn't have to sit on the potty for extended periods of time without producing, but I fear that she is holding back a bit. Maybe I have no cause for concern, but it would be nice to get a little guidance. I also want to learn how we get beyond the timer reminders. I know that we're only on Day 2, but I want to make sure that we are headed in the right direction.

Potty Boot Camp

2009-11-14T20:24:00.006-05:00

It was a year ago when I posted that we were going to begin potty training. We started off great, but got a little sidetracked then lost all momentum. We're starting over again and this time there is no turning back.

At the time I wrote that I believed the parent must be just as ready, if not more so, than the child. Jilly had clearly expressed a desire and interest to use the big-girl potty at the time, and I thought that we could tackle it, but I was not mentally prepared for the challenge. I am now.

This time around I am taking a cue from a friend who simply told her daughter that they were out of diapers and couldn't buy more. That day came yesterday for us. When Jilly got up from her nap I told her that was it with diapers and that it was time for us to move forward. She was pretty accepting, especially since she finally got the chance to wear her new big-girl Elmo underwear.

Even though we have cloth training pants, I am not using them at home. Instead we are using actual underwear because they aren't as absorbent. I don't think she felt too uncomfortable in the training pants the past few times we've used them and this way there is no mistaking that she is wet.

Last night I set the timer for every half hour and when it went off Jilly and I would take a little trip to the potty. Using a timer works much easier than simply telling her she needs to sit down on the potty. She produced each time we went to the potty, even if it was a little. This morning she told me she needed to potty, and went, three times. Those three times, though, were within five minutes of each other. We upped the potty breaks from 30 minutes to 45 and even did great with a short outing to the grocery store and quick lunch. However, shortly after we got home she had an "accident." She had two more within a half hour. I think that it was because she was outside playing and was a little too preoccupied to think about much else. After that, though, all went well.

We put her to bed, at nap time and at night, in pull-ups, but that's the only time she wears them. When we're out during this "training" period she will wear the cloth training pants only because it wont be quite as messy if she has an accident. Those outings will be few this coming week. I have all kinds of new puzzles, craft projects and a couple of new movies to keep us occupied. I know that I need to stay strong and dedicated to this process.

Jilly has to be out of diapers by Christmas. HAS TO BE. For one, she wants her own lip gloss and I told her that only big girls get their own and big girls don't wear diapers. Santa will bring some to her if he finds out that she is no longer wearing diapers. Also, if she's not potty trained by the end of the year then we're too close to her third birthday and I REALLY don't want a three-year-old in diapers. There are too many activities that I want her to get involved with by the time she's three and she can't if she isn't potty trained. Plus, I'm tired of buying diapers.

My posts this next week will be focused on our journey. I hope that I will have positive reports, though I am sure that it won't be easy.

Discovery Toys

2009-11-04T13:22:00.007-05:00

A lot of blogs that I read have sponsors who give deals to readers of the blog. Well, I have no sponsor but I am involved in something that can benefit any readers out there.

I recently became an Educational Consultant for Discovery Toys. Discovery Toys is a great line of fun and educational toys. The toys are of very high quality and priced very competitively, if not less than what you find in the retail stores.

Since Christmas is around the corner and most people are beginning to make their gift-giving list, I am willing to give either 10 percent off your purchase or free shipping for an order of more than $50.

JillyBean has loved all of the toys she has played with from Discovery Toys. Here are her favorites:
Motor Works: This allows children to take three vehicles apart and put them back together. It comes with a battery-operated drill and a manual screwdriver. Jilly played with this at her friend's house and neither child could get enough of it. It is geared toward older children to operate on their own, but younger children still have fun with grown-up guidance.

Zingo: This is a twist on traditional Bingo. Each player gets a card with 12 pictures on it and must match all the tiles to get Zingo. The game is advertised for children ages 4 and older, but at two-and-a-half years old, JillyBean is already a pro. We play this quite a bit as a family and she has now requested taking it with us to the local coffee shop to play. I am considering getting a second game to keep in the car so that we will have it on hand when we go out to eat and need a little distraction to keep everyone happy while waiting for food to arrive.

Busy Bugs: This game uses different colored bugs to teach matching, sequencing, and early math. The first time I gave this to Jilly, she played with it for nearly an hour. In addition to playing it as a game, the bugs are fun to play with alone. If you're squeamish of bugs, Discovery Toys is offering this game with farm animals that is similar but focuses on letters instead of numbers.
Once Upon A Time: This cute little book allows the reader the opportunity to change up the story each time they read it allowing them to build their imagination. The book also comes in a version suitable for boys called Ahoy, Pirate Pete.

In addition to purchasing individual toys, Discovery Toys has created bundled toys for the holidays for $99. These bundles are great if you want to save money on several toys or if you have several children on your list. They're also great if you know that you are going to attend a few baby showers in the near future or if your child is in preschool and will be attending a lot of birthday parties. The Family Games bundle is great for older kids or to add to your family game night collection. I cannot offer a price break on these packages since they are already discounted, but will be happy to give you free shipping.

Please leave a message here to take advantage of my promotion.

Dinner Bell

2009-11-03T20:20:00.009-05:00

A friend of a friend recently started a new blog that I am following. Bringing Dinner Back chronicles one family's goal to eat at least one meal together every day for 53 weeks. Their journey interests me because eating as a family is extremely important to me.

As a kid we almost always had dinner together; even during the years that I played softball and the week was filled with either practice or games. And both of my parents worked outside the home. My memories of the ritual are not all happy. In fact, I tend to remember shedding a lot of tears because my father would torture me by making me eat peas, lima beans, or some other nasty stuff. As an aside, I will not put a pea anywhere near mouth today, yet my child cannot get enough of them. Still, looking back, family dinner was important because no matter how many battles I lost in regard to the food I ate, it was a time that we were all together and could talk without distractions.

According to my husband, his mother read an article recently about parents who believe that children should "earn" their way to the family dinner table. The information from the article comes to me third hand, so I may be taking it out of its original context, but essentially the story said that some families make their children eat separate from the rest of the family until they learn the proper way to sit and act at the table. This idea appalls me. Since I view the dinner table as an extension of the family, I do not believe that anyone should have to earn their place in that family. Plus, how can a child learn the proper way to act at the table unless that child sees it modeled for them? I understand that some families have crazy schedules and it simply does not work to hold dinner, but no one should be cast aside.

The ritual is not always easy with a toddler. I am lucky that Jilly is a pretty good eater. I do not make it a habit to make a separate meal for her, though I usually include at least one thing that I know she will eat (I'm usually safe with peas and green beans). I admit that there are nights when she has gone to bed without eating dinner. I am OK with that because I do not believe that children will allow themselves to starve and that they go through phases when they simply aren't hungry at dinner time. However, I do break the rule and prepare something different for her when I'm in the mood for a dish I know she won't eat - like spicy shrimp creole.

Each Friday I compose a weekly menu, which is when I do my weekly grocery shopping trip. I make a list each week of what is needed for each meal along with staples (milk, bread, cereal, etc.) and buy only what is on the list, unless there is some super special (the store where I shop often has buy-one-get-one-free deals on meat so I'll buy even if it's not on the list so I can build it into a future menu). This can be a pretty daunting task over time. I tend to get bored with certain dishes but they're easy and I know everyone will eat them. It is also very hard to be the main person who sets the dinner agenda every single day of the week, every week of the month, every month of the year. But by doing this, we are able to wrangle our grocery budget and I'm not staring at the inside of the refrigerator at 5 p.m. each night trying to figure out what to make. The list is on the refrigerator door so even BeanieDaddy knows what to expect each night. It also keeps our household budget under control with fewer dinners/lunches out since BeanieDad doesn't mind taking leftovers to work. I buy fresh and usually organic vegetables, and we don't do prepared foods. Therefore, coupon clipping doesn't help much with the bottom line. Still, I get away with spending between $70 and $90 each week and that includes at least one meal with fresh fish.

My hope is that not only will Jilly be exposed to all kinds of food and develop a diverse palate but that dinner time is when we can connect as a family. I know that sitting down together each night may become more difficult as Jilly gets older and has her own social calendar, but hopefully putting this practice into place now will make it easier.

Leaf Man

2009-11-02T19:45:00.007-05:00

JillyBean has been obsessed with leaves ever since the fall colors began to appear last month. We cannot go outside without her picking up at least one leaf just to hand it off to me to save. "Oooh, mama," she says. "This is a good one." Needless to say, we have quite a collection of yellow, orange and red leaves of all shapes. And I can't bring myself to throw them away. Finally last week I got an idea - let's make a leaf man.

I was inspired by two things: the beautifully illustrated book, Leaf Man, by Lois Ehlert; and our first week's art class where Jilly used glue water as a homemade decoupage.

This morning Jilly and I took a little stroll through the woods near our house to add to our collection and also to find a few other odds and ends to complete our leaf man. I know, it seems strange that we would gather more leaves, but in order to make a proper leaf man you must have a vast selection of leaves.

I made the glue water using one part water and about one-and-a-half parts glue (you need a little more glue for the leaves than you would if you were doing a project with paper). Then we pulled out the construction paper and went to work. First we picked out which leaves would represent which body part, arranged them on the paper, then dipped our paint brushes in the glue water and smeared it all over the leaves and paper to stick. We used acorn shells for the eyes and simply glued them on to the face.

I'm very proud of the way these guys turned out as is Jilly. She simply beamed as she admired the final creation. She finally has a permanent home for her beloved leaves.

Halloween

2009-10-30T21:10:00.006-04:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I loved it as a kid, getting dressed up in costumes and begging for candy. How can it get any better?

I was extremely blessed to have had a grandmother who was a wonderful seamstress. She made every Halloween costume I wore through high school. I was a bunny, a clown, Cinderella (my fave), Raggedy Ann, a lion, Snoopy....It was great.

Sadly, JillyBean wasn't lucky enough to have grandmothers who can sew. Instead, she is blessed with grandmothers who are fabulous shoppers. No homemade costumes for this kid, but still, we've found some really great things for her to dress up the past three years.

This year she is a cowgirl. My mother found the costume and Nana found the red boots. It's all too perfect. What I love, though, is that she sort of looks like I did at her age. My grandmother made a cowgirl costume for me when I was almost two-and-a-half (same age as JillyBean), though it wasn't for Halloween. Instead, I believe that I wore it to the fair. I wasn't lucky enough to have genuine cowgirl boots, though.

Me as a cowgirl at two-and-a-half years old

Jillian as a cowgirl at two-and-a-half years old

Who knows? Maybe I can learn to sew and JillyBean will have some super cute homemade costumes to trick-or-treat in the future.

Jilly and Lou Lou

2009-10-27T22:18:00.005-04:00

Auntie April bought a stuffed lamb chair as a shower gift before Jilly was born. It's absolutely adorable and her name is Lou Lou. Once JB came along we would prop her up in the chair each week to take her picture. It was a way for us to see how much she had grown.

Lou Lou still has a prominent place in Jilly's room. Now she is able to sit in the chair and does so quite a bit while reading or playing with her dolls. She wanted her picture taken with Lou Lou today and I thought that it would be fun to compare the two over the past two-and-a-half years.

One Week Old

Three Weeks Old

Two Months
Three Months
Seven Months
One-and-a-half

Two-and-a-half

Seeing Spots

2009-10-27T22:02:00.002-04:00

As I have mentioned several times, Jilly loves doing art projects. She especially enjoys painting more so than coloring. She can sit at her table and paint for hours but tires from coloring after a few minutes.

Several moms that I know are a little apprehensive when it comes to pulling out paints because of the potential mess. Well, here's a great alternative that gives kids a break from the crayons - dot art. Nana bought Jilly some Dot Art markers last week. We got them out after JillyBean got up from her nap and she created all kinds of fun pictures for more than an hour. I finally had to tell her that we needed to put them away so that we could use them another day. There are many projects that you can do with dot markers. On one paper, I wrote Jilly's name and had her follow the lines, dotting each letter. We also experimented with mixing colors - yellow and blue for green, yellow and red for orange, red and blue to make purple. The fun is limitless.

Me and My Girl

2009-10-25T20:09:00.005-04:00

Beanie Nana and great-grandmother were in town this past week and it was nice having them here to visit. On Friday, JillyBean decided she wanted to stay home with them instead of accompanying me on our weekly grocery trip. At first I thought that it was a great idea - I would be able to run in, knock out everything on the list and get home in no time.

As soon as I started my trek over the mountain I began to get a little sad. I kept looking in my rear view mirror to see Jilly and had to stop myself several times from asking her a question. It was very lonely. Plus, it didn't take me any less time to shop than if she would have been with me. It hammered home a notion that I had often felt but never truly realized until then - I like being with my daughter.

Jilly has a very independent spirit. As she grows older she is more willing to explore that side of herself. Also, she is at the age where we are having to consider placing her in preschool. Is this something we want to do now or wait until she's closer to school age? I certainly don't think she needs to go to preschool to get a jump start on her academics. Everything that they teach them at this age is what we do on a daily basis at home - letters, colors, numbers, etc. I don't think she needs it for socialization because she plays with so many different kids on a daily basis. Some parents view the three hours their children is in preschool as an opportunity for them to have their own time, or a brief break from parenthood. I have mixed feelings about this. For one, Jilly does need to get used to being away from me and in the care of "strangers." But she's doing well with her Sunday school class as well as at MOPs. And, frankly, I don't know what I would do without her.

I made the decision a year-and-a-half ago to stay home with her and I am not ready to be without her. Sure, there are a few things that I could do every now and again that would be easier without having to take her with me, but overall, those are very few and far between.

She's my buddy. And I mean that in the sense that I really enjoy being with my child and not that I'm her "friend" more so than I am her mother. I enjoy her company. She makes me laugh and I love hearing her stories and her perspective on everything that she sees and experiences. Our time together is fleeting. Soon she will be in school, she'll be running out the door to play with her friends, she'll go off to college and, well, move on with her own life. I am not ready to let go of her now.

Scary Good Cause

2009-10-19T13:45:00.006-04:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I will have more about our plans later, but for now I want to spread some news.

Local photographer Dominique Attaway is going to be at Trailside Coffee (in Old Trail) taking photos of kids in their Halloween costumes from noon until 2 p.m. on Halloween. Each person will get a 4x6 picture of their child in exchange for a donation to HEAL Africa. Dominique says that whatever donation you feel comfortable with giving will be accepted; 100 percent of what she receives goes directly to the organization.

Dominique is an incredible photographer (she did some beautiful portraits of Jillian a year ago) and a very busy mom of three active boys, so the opportunity to tap into this amazing talent and help a worthy cause is the best Halloween treat you will get this year.

The 'hood

2009-10-05T08:12:00.006-04:00

One of the reasons for my absence this summer is that we moved to a new house in the middle of June. As anyone who has moved knows, it takes a little time to get settled and then you still feel as if you're playing catch-up with the rest of your life. The house is nice and we love it, but it is made close to perfect thanks to the neighborhood. Not many homes comprise this place, but pretty much everyone who lives here has children - infants to middle-schoolers (not sure if there are many high school-aged kids yet). And while there are plenty of family neighborhoods, this one reminds me of mine when I was a kid because the kids - hold on here - actually play outside. Shocking, I know, in this day and age. On Friday night I heard kids running around outside until at least 11 p.m. It's great.

On Saturday night our across-the-street neighbors opened up their backyard to the kids for movie night. It was awesome. They had a huge blow-up screen and played The Wizard of Oz (a movie that I despise, but oh well). Kids came over when it got dark and sat on their blankets on the lawn. They munched on popcorn and other snacks and had a great time. It was just as much fun for the parents, even if we didn't watch the movie.

This is the type of experience that I want for JillyBean as she grows up because it's what I had. I want her around neighbors who she will form strong bonds with as they grow older. I want her to have long-lasting relationships with childhood friends and share stories of running through the neighborhood on bikes, play at each others' homes and spending the night together. I know that she will have friends who live in other parts of town, at church and in school, but having those daily play partners are important.

Helpless

2009-09-29T22:12:00.007-04:00

A week ago I was riding in the front of an ambulance while my husband tried to console our crying child in the back. I have never felt so helpless in my life.

While on vacation at Bald Head Island, JillyBean fell off of a bench and broke her arm. My first thought was thankfully it was only an arm. But then when I heard her scream, I felt numb. My baby was in pain and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't even console her or hug her since Beanie Daddy had her in his arms and a transfer was not possible.

The whole scene seemed much more dramatic at the time than it does today. We were on an island, didn't have access to our car and needed to get to the mainland via ferry to get help for her. She was calm once we got to the hospital, which totally amazed me. She was especially excited to have a picture taken of her bones. What a champ. All the time I tried to calm the butterflies inside my stomach. The worse part was having to hold her down while the nurses put an IV in her arm.

As for the break, it's about as good as it can get if you're going to break your arm. She will be back to her old self in a few weeks, though you cannot tell that much has changed.

Looking back, though at the image of my baby lying in a hospital ER bed and hooked up to monitors is still upsetting. I am extremely thankful that we were there for a seemingly minor incident but can't help think of the countless moms and dads whose children have to deal with major illness or who experience a major injury. All my child was hooked up to was a blood pressure machine. She didn't have tubes to feed her, help her breathe or to relieve pain. How can these parents endure such a scene much less live with the knowledge that they basically live in a hospital?

This whole incident has prompted me to get involved with our local Ronald McDonald House. I believe that it is a wonderful resource for parents who are having to care for terminally ill children.

It is my desire to teach Jilly that is important to share the many blessings that have been given to her by God. It is the greatest lesson my mother taught, and still teaches, me and one that I want to see continue with my daughter. I believe that as she grows older, helping the families of sick children is something that she will easily understand. We are trying to get it in her head that she is a very lucky girl but not every child has what she has. She is still young and can't understand, but I believe that it is never too early to share the message.

Good Bye Summer

2009-09-08T17:32:00.005-04:00

It is crazy to me that summer is already coming to an end. Each summer seems to get shorter and shorter as I get older, so I hope that the warm lazy days seem to linger a bit more for JillyBean. These were always my favorite days as a kid - getting to stay out late, run through the neighborhood with friends, swim - and I want Jilly to have the same experience.

We made our last batch of fruit pops last week, and wouldn't you know it they were the best. The peaches seemed much sweeter than those we used the last go around and I have decided that fresh peach pops are a little more refreshing and tastier than strawberry, even though I like to eat strawberries more on their own. The fruit pops will soon be replaced with homemade applesauce, baked cinnamon apples, pumpkin bread and hot cocoa. Not bad replacements, but certainly not as fun to eat as frozen pops or fudgesicles.

Our summer is not officially over. We still have our summer vacation approaching, although the calendar will say that it is fall. We are heading to Bald Head Island in a week and are holding out hope that the warm weather sticks around a bit longer for a few nice afternoons on the beach. But once we return our focus will be on getting ready for Halloween, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas is upon us. It's hard to believe that the year coming to an end.

Cre8ive

2009-08-25T14:57:00.005-04:00

JillyBean has been exploring her creative side quite a bit lately. She has always enjoyed painting, using modeling clay, and building castles out of blocks, but she is gravitating to these activities more lately. To encourage this, I have decided to enroll her in a couple of art programs this fall as well as our continuation of Kindermusik.

The first actual art class Jilly is taking is through the Charlotteville Parks & Recreation department and is called Messes and Masterpieces. I think it's a quite fitting title. I am really excited for this because it will expose Jilly to all art forms. The second program I enrolled Jilly in is through the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I had originally gone on their site to find out what exhibits they have on display, only to learn that the museum is basically closed for renovations. However, their monthly preschool program is still in full swing. This class excites me because it will introduce JB to actual works of art while giving her the opportunity create her own.

Teaching Jilly art is something I need help with. Sure, we can color, paint and do projects at home, but I am not a very artistic person. In spite of being a professional writer, I have little patience for dealing with the details necessary to be proficient in art. I don't lose myself in drawing or painting like others do. I was never a big coloring book kid (drew outside of the lines and rarely completed a picture). I want Jilly to have a real opportunity to explore this side of her. Maybe she will bore of it and maybe she will excel. Either way, I believe it is important to grant her some exposure.

Bedtime Stories

2009-08-19T09:09:00.005-04:00

Like most parents, we have read to JillyBean since she was born. It has been part of our nightly routine since Day 1. And as she has grown and gained a greater interest in stories, we read to her throughout the day.

Now we have taken the next turn - sending her to bed WITH a book. Obviously she is not able to read at this point, but she has heard the stories so many times that she has either memorized the words (like The Digging-est Dog) or gets the gist of the story (like Duck in the Truck). Every nap time she requests to take a book, or two or three, to bed so that she can "read" it to Lilly, her frog, and to the rest of the half dozen or so babies that sleep with her. At first I was a bit hesitant, because I really wanted her to nap. My fear was that she would just sit up there and "play" and not rest. (The rule at nap time is that if she doesn't sleep, she has to stay there for 2 hours). But it was too cute to see her sitting at the side of her crib, with Lilly next to her, and listening in as she told the story.

In a way it has reinforced to us that she is actually developing reading comprehension. BeanieDaddy will change up a story every now and again and she'll pick up on what is different and correct him. She also asks Lilly the same questions that we ask her when we read - like how many candles are on Curious George's birthday cake?

And while in the beginning the reading in bed would lead to less sleep time, lately she has fallen asleep shortly after she finishes the story. I am unsure how so-called child experts would view this practice and what it means for toddler sleep requirements, but I think that the results are positive now and down the road. For one, it fosters a love of books and stories, which will help with her language and thinking skills. I also believe that it has helped to develop Jilly's incredible imagination.

Consignment Time

2009-08-05T20:45:00.003-04:00

It is hard to believe that fall is around the corner and that means that it's consignment season. The amazing Here Wee Grow Again sale begins Saturday, Sept. 26. In addition to providing a great place to shop for children's clothes, toys, and gear, this year's sale features Divine Consign, a consignment sale for women.

While I am very excited to be part of the sale again this season (this will make my third), I am a bit bummed by the timing. The deadline to get all of my items logged in the system is when we will be in Chicago and the sale begins while we are on our beach vacation. On one hand it's good because it has forced me to get started early. On the other hand it's bad because I won't be able to volunteer or participate in the pre-sale for volunteers and consignors. Hmmm...I bet BeanieDaddy would say that's a plus.

I started pulling out JillyBean's stuff this afternoon and am pleasantly surprised by how few things I felt the need to keep. I am getting much better at letting go, though there are still some items I feel the need to keep. I am also very happy that some of her clothes from last year will more than likely still fit this fall. That's why I love buying stuff from Mini Boden. They're sized in a way that she can get a couple of years out of most of the clothes so I don't feel so guilty spending what I spend there (though their sales are really great). Jilly's coveted pink jeans should still fit this year, which is a good thing because I haven't been able to find anything similar.

Life Lessons

2009-07-30T08:27:00.008-04:00

I knew that it had been a while since I had posted, but I didn't think that it had been this long. I checked in a couple of weeks ago, saw the previous post then was too ashamed to start up again. It's kind of like that old friend who you haven't talked to in a while but both of you are embarrassed to pick up the phone and call each other then pretty soon the friendship dissolves. That is not my intention here.

So much has happened the past couple of months. We have moved and JillyBean is growing much faster than I ever expected. I will update on that soon - promise - but something happened the other day and I have have to write about it so that I can move past it. Hopefully.

We live in a new neighborhood that is filled with kids and most are around the same age - elementary school. Jilly has two little friends who we have known for about a year, and it is nice to have them so close by for play time. I love it here because it is nice to know that kids still actually play outside. I hear them running around after dark and it reminds me of summer when I was a kid. I was pretty shocked one night when I heard them outside our back window playing red rover. I didn't think that today's more sophisticated children knew about that game.

On Tuesday Jilly woke up from her nap and a group of girls and boys were at "war" with one another. Boys against girls, water gun style. Jilly wanted to go out and watch them play, so we took a walk. The battle had pretty much come to an end by the time we got outside, but the girls were making sure they were prepared in case the boys returned. Their water blasters were locked and loaded.

For as friendly and fun as JillyBean is, she has developed a shy side. I encourage her to "be brave" when she approaches new kids and when she wants to play with them. I let her know that if she stands back, she may miss out on the fun. So as we approached these girls - who are between the ages of 7 and 10 - she looked at me and said "I'm going to ask, mama." That meant she was going to ask if she could play with them. I told her to be brave and if she wanted to play that she needed to get closer to them so that they could hear he ask. She inched her way toward the group and kept looking back at me for encouragement. I told her to keep going.

Now, these girls are super sweet and they really enjoy helping out with the little ones around here, but I don't think they really know what to do when a two-year-old approaches them; especially when they've just completed a battle with the opposite sex. There came a point when an invisible line seemed to be drawn between Jilly and the girls and they just stared at each other. I stayed back and did not let the girls know what she was doing, just to see what would happen. Soon, Jilly retreated but I was proud of the progress that she had made.

What went through my mind next has been weighing on me ever since. I suddenly got a flash of the day when my child will want to play with a group of friends and they'll tell her that they don't want to play with her. I can see it now: she'll run home with tears in her eyes, heart broken not understanding why kids she plays with on a regular basis all of a sudden don't want to be her friend. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes so I can't begin to imagine what it will be like when it actually happens. On the other hand, I am also sure that there will be a day when she will be the mean girl and say something like that to her friend, but that's for a different post.

For the past couple of days I have been playing the scenario over and over in my head. I don't know why I am obsessing on this. I think that mothers of girls have a very unique role compared to mothers of boys. The self-confidence of girls is so fragile and the desire to be accepted is so strong. I am trying hard to instill in Jilly that she is a very special and very loved little girl. That no matter what happens or whatever anyone says, she will always be loved by her family and, most importantly, by God. I tell her that she is lucky to have so many people who love her. I let her know that God made her a very special and that no one is like her. I encourage her and praise her uniqueness. I know that when you're a kid, though, it doesn't matter how much mom and dad showers you with love, if the kid down the street makes fun of you then it's the end of the world.

What I have concluded is that the best thing to say to her is nothing at all. When she comes home at 5, 15, 25 or even 35 with a broken heart, my job is to be waiting for her with open arms and a shoulder to cry on.

An Open Letter to the Disney Channel

2009-05-26T11:58:00.004-04:00

Dear Disney Channe l Executives:

I was never one of those moms who swore that she would keep her child away from the television. Let's face it - I am a television junkie. I do not have the discipline to stay away from my favorite shows and certainly cannot hide it from my daughter. I am thankful for the DV-R because it has changed my life. I still watch the shows that I love, but I am no longer a slave to network schedules.

However, I do limit what my daughter watches. Besides, there is very little that holds her attention. She is a huge fan of Elmo but doesn't ask to watch Sesame Street. She gets excited when she sees Dora in the store, but doesn't care much for her on TV. The only show that the child apparently needs to watch on a regular basis is Little Einsteins. She loves Rocket, wants to be June, and brushes her teeth twice a day with Annie. We have the DV-R set up to record every episode and replay it each day before lunch. Her routine typically follows the format: morning activities, Einsteins, lunch, book, nap. Sometimes we're out a little late or eat lunch out with friends so we save Einsteins for when I am getting ready for dinner. In fact, she sometimes gets a double dose of the little world travelers because it allows me the opportunity to get things done in the kitchen without being disturbed. I can also use an extra viewing as a reward, or a way to coax her into doing something that she doesn't want to do.

So you can understand why I am extremely upset with your recent line-up change. No longer does Leo lead the gang on a musical adventure each weekday. We are now limited to Saturday and Sunday episodes. It doesn't really matter that she's seen all of the episodes a couple dozen times, she adores the characters. In addition, she is actually learning about music terminology. She takes Kindermusik and I was so excited one day when Ms. Pam played the block and she looked up at me and said "staccato." She has also used the term pianissimo correctly. When she hears pieces by Mozart and Tchaikovsky on the radio, she identifies them with the show. She has shown a great interest in all types of instruments thanks to Quincy, makes up songs thanks to Annie and tries to follow June's ballet moves.

Did I mention that she is only two? I know that this doesn't make her some kind of savant, but it shows that she is actually learning something that I don't have the knowledge teach her.

Please rethink your schedule and bring Leo, Annie, June, Quincy and Rocket back on a more regular basis. I can't begin to imagine what we would do if you stop airing the show altogether. We enjoy Handy Manny from time to time and she will request My Friends Tigger and Pooh frequently, but when given a choice, she always picks Einsteins.

Kind Regards,

Beanie Mom

Goodbye

2009-05-16T11:46:00.009-04:00

JillyBean and Aunt Evelyn playing checkers on Easter

Beanie Dad's Great Aunt Evelyn died last night. She had been fighting Lymphoma for quite some time. While we are going to miss her very much, we feel incredibly blessed that she is leaving us now. When we saw her at Christmas she looked horrible. She was losing her hair, she was so frail and used all of her energy to entertain company. She turned 90 in early January and we believed that we would get a call at any time that she had passed. Oddly enough, Evelyn got a clean bill of health from her doctor about the same time my dad died. It was amazing news. We saw her at Easter and she looked like her old self. Then last week she began to take a turn for the worse and slipped away last night with Daddy's grandmother and mom at her side. Although she was in horrible pain this past week, she had four wonderful months and I am happy that our last memory of her is of her strength and spunk.

Evelyn reminded me so much of my grandfather. Ever the perfectionist, she was a fighter. She loved life and loved her family and wanted nothing more than to spend just one more day on this Earth. My grandfather was the same and I so wish that they could have met. They would have become fast friends.

A group of my good friends have formed a Relay for Life team, which supports the American Cancer Society. The team name is Moms on a Mission. Check out their page and consider giving them a donation to help fight cancer. Or you can purchase a luminaria in honor of someone you love. We know that Evelyn's spirit will shine bright for eternity.

Silhouette

2009-05-02T14:13:00.004-04:00

Amanda Soule has done it again. She has gone and posted an item that I don't think I can live without. Le Papier Studio has some beautiful prints that would look fabulous in any child's room.

We are moving next month and I am going to redo Jilly's room just a bit. I don't plan to do too much at this time since we're not ready to move her to a "big girl bed." But I will have a little more space to change things up a bit and make her feel at home in her "new room."

I am trying to get her excited about the move because I don't want her to feel like she is leaving something behind. This is the only room and home that she knows, since we moved when she was only 6 months old. I asked her the other day how she wants to decorate and she said that she wants a pink room. She was very insistent on that, too. I tried to get her to agree to a green room because I want to paint her new room the same way we had her room in Texas - Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage (I love that color). But she said no. PINK ROOM. I'm pretty sure that we'll stick with the silver sage, but I will be sure to add some pink accessories (her room now is lavender and green). And that is why I think that this silhouette from Le Papier Source would be perfect:

I think that it's absolutely adorable and the little girl in it sort of looks like JillyBean.

My Boys

2009-04-30T11:29:00.006-04:00

JillyBean LOVES playing with boys. I am not sure what it is - maybe they have cooler toys - but she really enjoys running around with boys. I guess for a girl that she can be a little rough. That's probably our fault for constantly spinning her around and "wrestling" with her from such an early age. She can be a bit of a dare devil. But she also very girlie and loves to play with her dolls and wear dresses. And pink jeans. I cannot tell you how many mornings we have to have the pink jeans discussion. She would wear them every other day if I let her, or if she had more than two pair.

I have joked that I am going to have to find an all-girls preschool for Bean to attend because I am not sure if she can focus on the teacher if she connects with a little boy in class. I was told that there is such a place here in Charlottesville, but I honestly don't think that we need to go to that extreme. At least I hope we don't.

One of her bestest buds, and the one she has known the longest, is an "older" man, he's 3, and she gets so excited when we get together with him. They play together really well. There is another little boy in our playgroup who Jilly adores as well. They get each other giggling and act so silly together that it borders on cute and annoying.

On Tuesday we got together with Matty and another little boy (who's even older at 4) to play at the park. It was funny to see the boys go between not wanting anything to do with Jilly to almost fighting over who got to play with her. In the end, though, they all got along together really well and had a fabulous time.

Sweet Temptations

2009-04-28T11:13:00.004-04:00

I am a follower of a fabulous cake designer's blog called Cake Journal. This woman makes some amazing cakes and I can only wish that I had half of her talent. Actually, what I really need is the patience to make such beautiful creations.

I can say that I do make pretty good cakes. I can usually bake pretty well. It's the decorating part where I fall short. So, I was super duper excited to see a new e-mail pop up in my in box from Williams-Sonoma touting their new cookie cake pan.

The recipe is for a chocolate cake and you can either spread frosting between to two ends or ice cream. I vote for ice cream.

Spring Forward

2009-04-27T22:55:00.006-04:00

The Dogwood Festival parade was a lot of fun on Saturday. JillyBean really enjoyed herself and loved the fact that she got to sit behind a "big truck" and wave at people. It was flippin' hot for an early spring morning, but we survived. Jilly talked about Miss Pam and singing in the parade the entire weekend. It was a fun experience and we look forward to doing it again next year.

Today we got a nice surprise in the mail. Auntie April sent us a disc with photos that she took while we were in Tennessee during Easter. There are quite a few cute shots, but these are my favorites:

I Love A Parade

2009-04-24T09:01:00.005-04:00

The Dogwood Festival has been going on here for the past week or so. It's kind of an odd set up, in my opinion. I am used to festivals taking place over a long weekend and events taking place in consecutive days. These festivities are kind of spotty. But, this is the 60th anniversary of the festival so I suppose the organizers know more than I do.

Anyway, the festival comes to an end this weekend and the parade is set for Saturday morning (also kind of odd; I always think of parades kicking off an event, not closing it down). Featured in this year's parade is Miss JillyBean herself. She's not any sort of star, mind you, but she and I will be part of the parade riding the Kindermusik float with her fave teacher, Ms Pam (Jilly LOVES this woman and loves the class). According to the line up, we'll be behind the Little Miss Dogwood float. Maybe I can turn into one of those crazed pageant moms and get Jilly prepared to be the next Little Miss Dogwood...Yeah, I don't see that happening....

Jilly is so excited for the parade, even though she has no idea what a parade is. She is thrilled that she has a special t-shirt for the event and that she gets to wave at people. I figured that it would be a fun experience for her.

Wiggle Room

2009-04-22T20:21:00.007-04:00

Another family friendly show is finally coming to the John Paul Jones Arena.

I am not a huge fan of The Wiggles, but apparently they put on a good show and the kids like them. The Australian group will be in Charlottesville on Wednesday, Aug. 26, as part of their Go Bananas tour. The Disney Channel recently changed up its morning line up and The Wiggles are now in a more premier morning slot. I can only think that change was made to help promote this new album and tour.

I first learned of The Wiggles when we lived in Houston. They came to Beanie Dad's building there and sold out two shows rather quickly. I don't know their appeal now, because the kids who saw those shows are probably the same whose parents pay thousands of dollars for Hannah Montana tickets today. It will be interesting to see how well this show sells. Maybe parents who have shelled out a few bucks for the U2, Metallica and/or Keith Urban concerts will be guilted into seeing this as well.

Room Decor

2009-04-18T11:58:00.005-04:00

Things have been a little crazy the past couple of weeks. Not only did we have Jilly's birthday, but my mom and uncle are here, and we spent a week in Tennessee to celebrate Easter. I'll have more about that trip soon, but the outcome of that trip has led to this post. Actually, this is a post for me to organize an idea or two in regard to decor, so feel free to bypass...

As I mentioned, JillyBean LOVES her hats. Well, she has also developed a little fetish for purses and received two new cute bags while we visited Nana. Aunt Jane gave her a sweet floral purse with a beaded handle (that I may actually use for a wedding in a couple of months) and Nana got her a precious pink straw bag from Hartstrings that has a rose on it. It also matches the beautiful pink linen dress and hat making this complete ensemble:

So, now I find the need for something to keep these hats and purses neat and tidy. I am unsure if I want to get a series of pegs or hooks to hang on the wall or a peg rack.

I really like this from The Land of Nod:
However, Anthropologie is one of my favorite places to shop. I love their clothes but I also like their home decor items. These hooks are great and make for a little more unique addition to Jilly's room:

Happy Birthday JillyBean

2009-04-08T21:59:00.007-04:00

My little baby is turning into a little lady....

Newborn

One Year

Two Years

PAR-TAY

2009-04-07T22:10:00.009-04:00

JillyBean doesn't officially turn two until tomorrow, but she partied like a two-year-old Sunday afternoon. The celebration took place at The Little Gym and we invited several of her friends. It was a lot of fun. Jilly was so excited for her "party" but didn't quite realize that it started with activities in the Gym. In her mind, the party was supposed to take place in the room that had all of the balloons, pizza, and, of course, the cupcakes. She threw a little bit of a fit in the beginning of the celebration but relaxed and enjoyed herself toward the end. Still, she was anxious to get the party started.

The theme was monkeys. We sent out pink and brown invitations that had a monkey sporting a tutu and tiara. They were really cute and you'd think that it would have been easy to find pink and brown decor but it was a bit difficult. So, I had to dig deep down inside myself and become, hold on a sec, crafty. I like the idea of doing crafts but when it comes down to it, I would rather pay someone else to do it. I'll cook and bake all day long, but sitting down to do some sort of craft doesn't always turn out all that well.

The treat bags that we gave to all of Jilly's gifts were filled with a small stuffed Curious George, a set of Curious George stickers, a monkey jigsaw puzzle and Jilly's signature sweet - Jelly Belly jellybeans. In addition, I made a batch of monkey munch. I'm really lucky that those made it to the party as Beanie Daddy kept picking at the stash before I could even fill up the bags.

I made favor bags using pink lunch sacks and brown ribbon with white polka dots. A little thank you tag with a monkey sporting a pink bow was added to keep the monkey theme going.

The next creative endeavor that I undertook was a birthday banner. This was actually pretty fun. Jilly and I went to Michael's and scoured the craft paper aisle for different variations of pink and brown paper. I found some really pretty patterns, which you can't see so well in the photo.

Probably the best birthday move, though was ordering cupcakes from the fabulous Cappellino’s Crazy Cakes. They did a mix of chocolate and pound cake cupcakes with pink and brown frosting. Half had monkeys on them and the other half had pink flowers. They turned out super cute and tasted just as good.

We all had a lot of fun, especially JillyBean. She couldn't stop talking about the "party" two days before the event. The most important thing to her was having cake, balloons and a hat. I had thought about getting a new party hat, but decided just to let her wear last year's hat. We couldn't keep it on her then, but this year she wanted to wear it, for a while at least. Although it was pink and green, it still worked well and is super cute no matter what.

On one hand I cannot believe that she is going to be two tomorrow. On the other hand, it seems like she's been with us forever because I can't really remember life without her. We're going to have a small dinner celebration tomorrow night. I'm making Bean's favorite three-cheese spaghetti and she requested a "pink" sunflower cake. I typically make a lemon sunflower cake, but I guess that it won't hurt anything to make it strawberry. The celebration will continue when we visit Nana for Easter. She probably won't remember these parties, but they mean something to us. Plus, she'll have plenty of pictures to look back on when she gets older.

New Again

2009-03-30T21:25:00.004-04:00

I have become a major fan of consignment sales, especially the Here Wee Grow Again sale that started on Saturday. I had every intention to walk away from the place without spending a dime but, well, it didn't happen. What can I say? I'm a sucker for pique sundresses with rick rack trim. Thankfully I did not attend the pre-sale for consignors and volunteers or the damage may have been worse. But I had plenty of time to scan the racks during my volunteer shift on Saturday and was able to fill JillyBean's closet with some super cute dresses. Seriously, I scored some amazing outfits and didn't pay more than 5 bucks for one. So far I have broke even - I made just as much selling my stuff the first day as I spent.

Now I need to get some bloomies for Jilly to wear under the dresses. I came across Avannabel Baby and these cute boomers that will go with one dress:
I'm in love with this site.

Still, probably the best thing to come out of my volunteer time on Saturday was learning where all of the unsold items consignors want to donate are sent. The Clothing Center is an amazing place here in C'ville that helps people are are in need. It provides free clothing for women who are victims of domestic violence and who are seeking assistance from the local shelter. It provides free baby clothing to moms who can't simply pop over to Wal-Mart or any other store to get necessities. And it allows men and women the opportunity to fill a bag with all the clothes they can put in it for only 3 bucks.

Learning about The Clothing Center is exciting for several reasons. For one, I had wanted to work with the local women's shelter to create a career closet for its clients. They don't have the space to do it on site and since they send their clients to the Clothing Center, I am hoping that I can work with organizers and create something there. Also I have been at a loss finding some place to donate my clothes as well as some of Jilly's stuff. I want to make sure that they go to an organization that helps the truly needy in our community and this place is it. I did a major clear-cut of my closet several months ago and the clothes are still in a pile waiting for a place to go. They're on their way tomorrow.

As for the consignment sale, it continues through Thursday so if you're looking for a deal, head on over. The quality of items is awesome.

Spring Deals

2009-03-25T10:08:00.003-04:00

This is just a quick post to let you all know that Janie and Jack is having a friends and family sale. You get 25 percent off your entire purchase Friday through Sunday by using the code JJFRIEND. I love their stuff and it holds up well through multiple washes. Believe me, JillyBean got a lot of use out of tops and shorts last summer and they still looked new when I pulled them out for the consignment sale.

Speaking of the consignment sale, our playroom/study is back to normal and no longer resembles a girls' retail shop. I hauled off tons of dresses, shorts, tops, bathing suits, shoes, etc. last night for the spring Here Wee Grow Again sale. If you're a C'ville resident, you must check out this place. The quality of clothes and gear is heads and shoulders above other consignment sales that I've shopped. The workers who "screen" items at drop off are super picky and make sure that all items are in tip-top shape.

The sale begins Saturday and continues through Thursday, except Sunday. It's located at Aldersgate Church at 1500 East Rio Road (behind the mall).

Hello Spring

2009-03-22T20:09:00.007-04:00

I know that we're a couple of days late, but we're so happy that spring is here. That means that swimming pool season is just a few short weeks away, and nothing is better than swimming pool season. It also means a new season of hats for JillyBean. The one above is last year's Easter hat and it still works this year. We have already purchased a new brightly colored striped straw hat for play, a white straw hat for Easter, a sun hat for the beach and pool, and are in dire need of a new Red Sox hat for the upcoming baseball season. That would probably make a great birthday gift. Rarely can we leave the house without Bean wanting to put on a hat. She must get that love of hats from her Great, Great, Great Aunt Arcena (whom she shares her middle name). It's funny because I can't get her to keep a bow in her hair but she would wear a hat to bed if I let her.

I have had every intention to returning this into a daily blog but have not made myself do it. It sure isn't for a lack of things to discuss, I simply have not taken the time to plop myself down in front of the computer each night to record the day's events. In addition, this week has been a little nuts. I had the stomach flu for a day and a half (thankfully JillyBean didn't catch it and thankfully BeanieDad is fabulous and stayed home from work to take care of things), and now I am up to my ears in consignment sale items. Those will be out the door by Wednesday and I plan to return to my regular blogging schedule - promise.

In the meantime, we hope that everyone is blessed with the same gorgeous weather we have had the past few days and are able to enjoy the lovely color that is painting the landscape this time of year.

Happy Almost Spring

2009-03-02T11:11:00.005-05:00

Wouldn't you know it, the first REAL snow we get this season comes in March. It started falling Saturday night and continued until this morning. The view out our back window is absolutely lovely.

Jilly, Dad, Sandy and I went out to tromp in the snow a bit yesterday and Jilly and I went out again this morning. There was more snow today than yesterday, but it didn't stick as well so we couldn't make good snow balls.

Still, it was lots of fun to get out and walk through the neighborhood. School was canceled so the neighbor kids were home and playing outside as well. Jilly loved shoving her boots in the deep snow and watching them "disappear."

Afterward we came in the house to warm up with a cup of hot coacoa and to watch Little Einsteins. What a great Monday!

Sad Day

2009-02-25T19:06:00.005-05:00

I was so sad to learn that Baby Style has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This is horrible news for us as we have purchased so many fabulous items for us and as gifts from this wonderful shop. Probably my favorite Baby Style item from is JillyBean's Lulu lamb chair. We propped Jilly up in the chair each week the first three months to photograph her growth then did it each month until she was a year old. Today she sits in Lulu to read to her babies.

I had purchased or received so many things from there - maternity clothes, toys, blankets, my Moses basket, baby clothes, baby shoes. It was always my go-to place when I wanted to find something a little unique.

I hope that they can pull themselves out of this but I'm sure that they won't. I was hoping to snag a few other items for Jilly's second birthday but I suppose we're out of luck.

C'ville Photographer

2009-02-18T21:33:00.007-05:00

I am getting ready to book a spring portrait session for Jilly to mark the new season as well as a new year year. It kills me that we're not closer to Auntie April, but if I have to hire a "stranger" then I'm happy to say that I found a great one.

Dominique Attaway did some beautiful spring/Easter pictures of JillyBean last year. I think that Jilly has beautiful blue eyes on their own, but Dominique's photos made them look stunning. Seriously, the kid was dead tired but in the photos she looks so angelic. I'd love to post a picture or two from last year's session but I don't have the rights to do so. Jilly used to be on her website but she's been replaced with newer portraits of other adorable children. However, you can see a couple here on her blog (this should take you to one photo and this should take you to the other, but if not, you have to scroll to March 5, 2008 entry toward the bottom; also these aren't the best of the session. i so wish that i could share them with you).

So, if you're looking for a great local photographer for family or event photos, I highly recommend Dominique.

Sprinkled with Love

2009-02-14T14:49:00.004-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! JillyBean and I made some heart-shaped cookies this week for our play group's party on Friday. Jilly put the sprinkles on. We were going to frost them but ran short of time and the sprinkles were much quicker. They turned out yummy, just ask her buddy Daniel who kept grabbing one each time he walked by the goodie table. It's nice to know that your work is appreciated, especially by toddlers who can be picky about what they eat.

The party on Friday was fun. As a last-minute change in plans, we sort of hosted it at our neighborhood's community house. It worked out really well and everyone had a good time. Jilly especially enjoyed licking the icing off of not one, but two cupcakes. I don't think that she took one bite of the cake but that's OK.

All of the kids exchanged cards and it was really sweet looking through them. I have in mind that I need to become a bit more crafty and create a scrapbook for Jilly that has all of her cards and artwork in it, but I can't get organized enough to do it. I have all of the stuff, it's just a matter of taking the time to sit down and do it.

We hope that everyone has a fabulous day. Beanie Nana and Doc are in town and have graciously agreed to babysit so that Beanie Dad and I can go out to dinner.