A Thursday update =)

Well, Wednesday I ended up having to play for a funeral in the morning, so I couldn’t post.  And no, I don’t write these in advance.  That would be way too smart….

Speaking of not planning ahead, this is how my Sunday morning was going this past week.

I ended up finding the matches of both shoes I didn’t want.  You’d think on Sundays when I’m playing the organ I’d have enough sense to pack the night before.  Nope. I must say though, I wasn’t completely disorganized– I totally had all my music in the correct order waiting for me on the organ when I got to church.  I felt pretty good about that.

Oh, and this is what happens when you are running around like a chicken with your head cut off on Sunday morning and allowing the children to feed themselves for a few minutes.  Caleb was trying to give Grace more raisins….  (It was sweet but also annoying…) I blame myself.

I bought another gate! This time for outside! YAY!  Little Gracie bean gets into everything all the time.  And, when we’re outside I can hardly put her down because the second I do, she’s stuffing her mouth full of leaves, grass, rocks, and anything else she can find on the ground…. Look, she loves it!!  Also, do you love my brilliant towel spread? HAHA.  I plan to get a big sheet, but this is what I had..

And here’s what Caleb’s been up to.  We’ve been doing A LOT of “swimming” since it’s been warm.  He’s been busy in our TWO pools pouring water in and out of buckets… oh and watering trees and my feet etc.   You may wonder why we have two pools.  I was wondering the same thing this year when I opened the shed and saw both of them.  I’m not positive, but Ben and I think that last year when I bought this bad boy at Aldi, there were probably two stuck together.  So, I maybe didn’t pay for both– but really, I very well could have and I’d have no idea. (I rarely look at my aldi receipt….bad habit?)

Anyway, I’m kind of glad to have two.  I think it will be nice next summer.  Caleb and Grace can each have their own. HA!

I think I’ll end there.  I want to go outside and have a picnic lunch with the kiddos….. maybe next time I’ll write about how I locked myself out of my van while garage saling with both kids today…  but maybe not.

-Melanie

Monday, bathroom, and goofy

Happy Wednesday!

Monday was a SUPER great day, so I’ll tell you about it.

1. I went grocery shopping by myself (I do this every Monday, but it’s still amazing)

2. At Aldi the price of Hershey bars went down.  YES!!!  And, if you know me, you know I eat a lot of Hershey bars.  In fact, I just finished one.  It helps me blog…??? Whatever.

3. The checkout guy at Walmart tried to scan MY coffee mug ….again. HAHAHAHA. It gets me every time.  Seriously.  It doesn’t even phase them that it’s full when they pick it up.  

4.. Ben was home all day.  So, Monday is usually a good day anyway.

5. Ben and I got to go on a date (that’s TWO Mondays in a row….. crazy!)!  We went to Bd’s Mongolian Grill (which you may have seen on facebook), and it was DELICIOUS.  If you sign up for their Club Mongo, you get a FREE birthday meal.  That’s a great deal… because Bd’s ain’t cheap!

6. Ben got me a mini ipad for my birthday, and it came Monday.  It was a HUGE surprise.  He felt bad he broke the last one because although it was “his” I used it ALL the time for cooking.  I usually cook from the internet, and having the computer in the kitchen is kind of hard…. and dangerous for spilling.  I thought it was so sweet of him.  Plus, he knows I would never buy one or say I wanted one.  It’s better if he just gets it for me. ;)  He’s the best.  And not just because he got me a present.  He’s was the best before that… it just REMINDED me. haha. I’m just kidding. 

7. We went bowling after Bd’s…. and I bowled a 74! I know…super bad.  I think I was distracted by the high schoolers next to us acting like the F word was a perfectly normal adjective to use.  

8. We stopped at Ikea too, and I bought more plastic plates, cups, bowls, and silverwear.  I LOVE their kid dishes.  The bad part was seeing someone wearing a shirt with the F word on it.  Ben and I decided that should be illegal.  That’s JUST what I want people to be wearing when Caleb starts learning to read…… ?? “Hey Mom, what does F**** mean?!”  No thanks. 

Now, let’s talk about bathrooms (I like when subjects flow naturally after all……).  I find it frustrating that restaurants have to have cutsey names on their bathroom doors.  I prefer walking into the bathroom with TOTAL confidence.  My favorite sign is a picture of a lady in a dress with a “WOMEN” sign above or below it.  You know why?  Because I never question if I’m going in the right door. 

We go to Northwoods occassionally and I think I’ve got it now, but the first 5 times I went, I had a panic attack every time because the door says “Doe”.  I know, I know, everyone knows doe is a female deer.  BUT, you do NOT want to walk in the wrong bathroom, so even if you think you know it, you second guess yourself. (I am QUEEN of second guessing myself and freaking out) I seriously sang “Doe a deer, a FEMALE deer” every time before entering.  Why do they do that to me?  Bd’s had “Mongals” on the door.  It’s OK, but you have to focus for a second to be sure.  Ben said he once went to a place where they had the male and female signs– you know, the arrow or the cross on the bottom.  Those were the ONLY signs for the bathroom. I burst out laughing– that is CRAZY!!!  If you are unsure of the signs google “gender signs”.  I just did it (since I’m second guessing my description of the signs…).  Don’t worry, wickipedia just informed me of all the additional gender signs.  Apparently you can be “other” or be genderless.  Interesting.

Speaking of gender…. I know that the world thinks you can be genderless, but since I know better, I have decided whether the child in my womb is a boy or a girl. My official guess is… GIRL!  So, we’ll see.  Ben is guessing boy, so we have to decide what kind of bet to make.  The other day someone asked Caleb about his siblings, and he said he had a brother in mama’s belly. HAHA!  Girl would be easier since I already have my name picked out.  Ben says it’s my pick (within reason obviously) since he picked the last two. =)

Since we haven’t had a picture yet, I better add one….  Here’s my sweet little peanut!  She has a bruise on her cheek from banging it on a drawer, and then yesterday she crawled into the corner of the wall and got the gash on her forehead.  Accident prone?  Hmm…. weird.  Wonder where she got that?  Probably Ben……;) 

And here is Caleb after I gave him “goofy”  I pretty much got him nothing for his birthday, and so the other day when I was at the store and saw Goofy, I HAD to buy it.  Ok, “had” is a bit strong, but I just knew he’d love it SO much that I bought it.  And, if you know me, (which I say A LOT), I NEVER do things like that.  Enjoy the blurry picture…. whoops.  It’s hard to get a good picture when Goofy can’t stop dancing.  

That’s all.  Hope you have a good Wednesday! Tonight we go cheer daddy on at his softball game!

-Melanie

BIG NEWS in the Kappers' house!!

So, most of you I’m sure have heard the news.  We are expecting #3 this November! WOW! I can’t believe I’m going to have a family the same size as the family I grew up with.  Weird.  Also, I just turned 27 Monday, and that’s officially upper 20s.  I remember when we first moved to Mississippi– we had only been married for 6 months, I had just turned 22, and I met people who were 27 with children who had been married for 5 years or so, and I remember thinking they were REAL LIVE people.  Now I am too.  Oh, and our family is officially above average in America!  Woo hoo!

In case you aren’t on facebook or just missed the announcement, I’ll put it on here.Obviously, my children are SUPER excited.  Especially Grace…. she totally gets it.  NOT ;)Caleb asked me if I would open my belly so he could see the baby.  He was bummed when I said I couldn’t.  He’s consistently said it’s a boy or brother every.time.  He also at one point named the baby Salty.  Well, that was after he tried naming him Caleb and then Grace.  We said those names were already taken and he had to pick a different one…. that’s when he came up with Salty.  And, in case you’re poor at math OR don’t feel like figuring it out, OR can’t remember how old Gracie is, I’ll tell you– Grace and the baby will be about 17 months apart.

And now I’ll do a number section….

1. The most common comment I’ve gotten BY FAR is “You’re going to be busy” Yep.  I think they’re right.  Maybe everyone who has mentioned that will offer to babysit at some point. HAHA!

2. If there was a third gender option for a child, I would guess this baby was that.  This pregnancy is different from both of the other ones, and it’s REALLY throwing me off as to the gender of this child.  And, I was right BOTH times so far, so there’s some major pressure to be right again. (pretty much from me only so I can continue to have bragging rights with Ben…) I guess I’ll have to guess boy or girl at some point… I just need more time.

3.  I want a boy and a girl.  I cannot decide.  I want Caleb to have a brother because I always felt a little bad for my brother Alan that he only had two sisters…. but then I think that since Grace and he/she will only be 17 months a part maybe a girl would be better so they can be life-long friends.  But then I remind myself that whatever I actually want or think I want is irrelevant because God has already determined the sex of this baby and ordained all of his/her steps.  So, what a silly thing to think about.

4. I was convinced I was having twins when I found out I was pregnant.  And so was Ben.  It’s because my belly is enormous.  I’ve been showing since like… 5 weeks.  WHAT IS GOING ON?!  But, it’s not twins.  That’s actually a good thing.  I don’t want to end up in the nuthouse at 27, and I think that’s where they’d take me if I had multiples (plus two others I mean… that would be 4 kids 3 and under….)  OK, I probably actually could handle it because when you have them– you just HAVE to handle it. Amen?

5.  My symptom that stands out with this baby is headaches– not every day, just more than I’d like… my headache on my birthday was bad enough that when we got to Olive Garden I threw up in the bathroom before we sat down. (How romantic!).  And, there was someone else in there… so it was SUPER embarassing.  But, I felt AMAZING after that.  I actually felt like the person probably thought I was bulimic since they heard me throw up and then saw me exit the bathroom acting completely normal next to Ben.  I felt uncomfortable….

6. I’m kind of wondering how many false alarms I’ll have before I have this baby– will I go to the hospital 12 times? 50? or will I be able to tell the difference between braxton hicks and the real deal? (In case you’re unaware, I was in labor for about 45 minutes with my last baby and I had her in my bathroom).  Hopefully I’ll be able to tell the difference but just book it to the hospital after I have ONE stronger contraction.  Yes, that’s my plan.  This labor will probably be 16 hours long, and I’ll wish I stayed home longer.  Who knows?  I’m just trying not to feel anxious about it, and so far it’s going pretty well.  Ben’s a bit more anxious about it…. hahahhahahhah.  I’m sorry, it’s not funny.. but kind of.

7.  And this is a friendly reminder to all those who interact with pregnant women.  Comments like, “You look like you’re going to pop!” “You’re HOW far along?” “When are you due, next week?” “Are you sure you’re not having twins??” or with pity in your eyes, “You look SO tired!!” are not helpful. Unless of course with the tired comment you’re willing to back it up with– I’ll watch your kids all day and clean your house for you.  So, please refrain from using those comments even if you mean well….. pregnant women everywhere will thank you.  ;)

8. Caleb’s been sitting on the toliet for the past…. half hour?  He REALLY wants to go and just can’t.  It’s because I said we’d have cupcakes after he went.  I probably shouldn’t have said that. But, I must say writing this has been really peaceful. HAHA ;)

Alright, that’s all for now.  I’m feeling so blessed to be the mother of THREE precious little ones, and I’m just praying that God will give me the strength I need to take care of them!  I know He will!

-Melanie

Crawling, park, polar plunge, naptime, and sale papers

If you haven't noticed, Wednesday has become the new family blog day.  It's kind of fun to have a once a week plan.  We'll see how long I can keep it up.  It helps to have Amanda around because I bet she'd pester me if I didn't post ;)

So, what's new around here?  Glad you asked!  Grace is CRAWLING!  I know, it's a pretty impressive accomplishment at over 10 months.  HA! Better late than never?? I think so.  And, don't worry, I missed her crawling.  Apparently it doesn't matter if you're a stay at home mom or not, you still can manage to miss ALL your child's firsts.  Oh well, I think Ben's happy he got to see most of them so far.  Maybe I'll see her first steps.... or maybe I'll be at my once a week grocery trip...

Here she is! She has a very interesting way of crawling.....

Yesterday we went to the park. (and I bet we'll go again today because it's supposed to be 80!!!) Caleb enjoyed pushing Grace in the swing for a while, and Grace enjoyed it too..... even though he didn't have very good rhythm and that makes for a bumpy ride.

 

Isn't Caleb's hat cute!? I can't get over it.  I love it almost as much as Grace's bonnet from my last post.  I picked this up at a garage sale and paid over a dollar for it.  ($1.25.... it was steep, I'm used to hats being priced at 50 cents MAX,).  I just knew he needed a hat for the summer, and I knew this one was cute.  Sometimes you gotta splurge ;)

So, have you done the polar plunge yet?  It seems to be ALL the rage.... all over my facebook.  I must say, I've REALLY enjoyed watching the videos.  But does anyone else think it's the weirdest thing ever??  I take it as...."I'd rather jump into freezing cold water when it's cold outside than give to charity. And I'm going to tell my friends they have to do it OR ELSE they'll have to give to charity. And since they hate charity as much as I do, I bet they'll find a pool or lake and jump in it.... and if they don't, they're totally lame."  BAHHAHA!  I just really think it's hilarious.... you'd think it'd be something that would actually benefit something??  Whatever.  Maybe next year someone can do.  "Who will give me $5 to do a polar plunge?" and then give to the money to a worthy cause of course... or, I guess they could pocket it, but that would be a bit sneaky.

Shall we move on? Sometimes Caleb sleeps too long.  Too long for him is probably different than most kids because he is an extreme sleepy head (WOO HOO! Maybe Grace could take some lessons....)  The problem occurs when he is still sleeping past 4:30 (when he went down at 1 and he goes to bed between 7-7:30.) And in case you're wondering, we LOOOOOVE having our kids go to bed early.  You should try it. Don't know how?  I'll teach you.  When 7 or 7:30pm comes around you say, "OK, time for bed." and put them in bed.  I learned this from my friend Lisa-- she's REALLY smart. (By the way, I'm talking about smaller kids, not your 10 year old.) I'm totally convinced that most kids are overtired.  I'm also convinced that tired kids act out.  Anyway, back to nap time-- sometimes when I wake Caleb up from his nap he isn't super excited to see me..... This time I decided to send Grace instead.... and BOY was he happy to see her!  It almost made me feel bad.... but since it was SO precious, I got over it pretty quickly.

Look at how happy he is for his wakeup call.

!!    

Of course they had to play in Caleb's bed for a while after he got up.  The two of them together melts my heart.

Gracie Bean has been a bit of a stinker lately.  She's started getting into EVERYTHING.  Do you know what that means??  More pack n play time for her! WOO HOO!  When I had Caleb I quickly learned the beauty and brilliance of a pack n play/gate.  Anyway, I let her on the loose the other day, and found her reading the sale papers.  Good girl.

She also has decided she loooooves outlets!  I mean, who wouldn't want to stick their fingers and toes in those tiny little holes all around the house??  She spots them across the room and rolls right over.  Wait, that was SO two days ago. She might crawl over now....although, I have a feeling her days of rolling aren't quite over.

Since I posted on Proverbs last time, I'll leave you with a little Proverbs trivia this time... (maybe trivia isn't the right word... I don't know).  Today is the 7th, and it's really easy to remember what Proverbs 7 is about.  It warns agains the adulteress and the 7th commandment is "Do not commit adultery"  Now hopefully you'll remember forever. =)

-Melanie

Zoo, room, park, dog, and a sickly, miserable Caleb

I think this will be a picture heavy post..... so if that's not your thing, look away! ;)

A couple weeks ago there was a nice day (can you believe it?!).  I decided I should take the kids to the zoo, so I called my parents to join us! We usually go to Lincoln Park Zoo because we're cheapskates.... but then my mom heard from someone that you can get FREE passes to Brookfield zoo at the library (in IL that is)!  My mom picked up some of those for us, so going to Brookfield turned out to be cheaper than going to Lincoln Park..... and let's get real, Brookfield zoo is superior.

Caleb LOVED it, and Grace loved being in the stroller.  It was a great day.

Mom and I were super impressed with the camels.  Caleb may have liked the fence more... I'm not sure.I'm obsessed with her bonnet.  I find this picture hilarious.  Grace was eating and pulling dad's hair, and my mom was making sure my dad didn't drop Grace. They had such a neat place for the giraffes!  Caleb thought it was SUPER neat because that's his favorite animal, and they were SO close!  It was also hilarious because they had trees painted on the wall and the one giraffe kept licking the wall.  It was amazing... like how long has he lived there? Does he STILL not get that it's not really a tree?!? It's the giraffe in the back behind the fence..... see him?And, remember how my Grandma was finishing off the quilt for Caleb's room?  Well, she did!! And doesn't it look simply marvelous!? And isn't it nice how some of the drawers aren't shut, and one of the bins is missing from the shelf, and there's pjs on the dresser and a few clothes and a couple of children on the floor?  I'm just trying to be real.... and unfortunately it gets much messier than that on a regular basis.....  We go to the park when it's nice.... (so rarely) but Grace LOOOOOVES the swing.  It is so fun to push her in there.  Ben hates this hat.  I don't think it's THAT bad... Grace was tormenting my Grandma's dog at coffee time.  She wasn't scared at all.... just grabby... and the dog was trying to stay away from her..And finally, you may have seen this picture on facebook.  I've been using this thing as a stroller lately. No, I'm not cool enough to run with it or strong enough to bike with it... so a stroller it is!  Since a lot of our walks are in the cold, I LOVE using this because there's a plastic flap that you can put over their "window", so they stay warm!  It's BRILLIANT.  It also pushes super easy.

It's SO SWEET when they are in there together!.... well until Caleb yells, "NO GRACE! NO! NO! NO!"  But really he was only doing that this week when he turned into nasty Caleb.  We don't like nasty Caleb. at. all. We prefer sweet Caleb. He's been sick for a week, and he hasn't been sleeping well because his nose is stuffy and he's been up coughing.... I think the combination of sleep deprivation and having a nose you can't blow brought out the absolute WORST in him. (Which also reminds me-- I need a good idea of how to teach Caleb to blow his nose. I even googled it... no luck.)   And, I know it was probably very, very miserable for him.  But.  Wow. It was horrifying.  Like... he threw a REAL LIVE tantrum because his movie was off.  And you know what? I spanked him anyway.  Because I don't care if you're sick and dying, you can't ever ever ever ever act like that. ever.  Got it? Ever.  Glad we're clear on that.  I hope he is too.

I think our house is getting better, and unless I get sick, I think we might actually be able to go to church Sunday!! Although, Caleb woke up with gunk in his eye, and now I'm freaking out that he has PINK EYE! Oh, please no!! We have been there, done that... and I don't want to do it again.  I can't wait for things to feel normal again.  But, it reminds me of how blessed we were all Winter getting by with just a few runny noses!

I'll leave you with a part of the Proverb of the day, which is Proverbs 1 (because today is May 1).  And you know, you could start reading one every day because there's 31 and 31 days in May.  Perfect, isn't it?  And, you could start reading them to your children because they are practical and teach us how to live wisely... and how/why to stay away from the wayward woman, and bad friends, and being lazy, and the list goes on!

Proverbs 1:7- "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowlege: fools despise wisdom and instruction."

-Melanie

 

Caleb is THREE!

Happy THIRD birthday to the sweetest little boy EVER.  This morning I went into his room to get him when I heard him wake up, and I said....

Me: HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!!

Caleb: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Me: No, silly, it's just YOUR birthday today

Caleb: When is your birthday mom?

HA! Then we Skyped with Ben's parents in Africa and he told them Happy Birthday after they said it to him.  When Ben came down and said "Happy Birthday Caleb!!" he said "Happ.... thank you grandp-- dad!" HAHHA.  We're working on responding with "Thank you, *insert name*"  He's improving.

Then I told him I would make him some birthday pancakes for breakfast.  And he kept talking about his "birthday panny cakes."  I can't stop laughing about it.  Why panny cakes?  Maybe it's because he loves Miss Patty Cake and it kind of sounds like that??

Anyway, in memory of 3 years ago, I HAVE to post a picture.  Does it look like he may be suffocating?  He might be.... but I was a new mother and didn't know any better. ;)  Just kidding.  He was fine, I'm sure... I mean, he's three now, so obviously he had enough air.  This was the best moment of my life. hands down.  My dad always said "there's nothing like the first one" and although I act offended every time (I'm 3rd), he's totally right.

I remember when we got home from the hospital no one was happy..... Caleb was crying, I was crying, Ben probably thought about crying.  I was very emotional (and I'm really not a very emotional person at all--although getting more with each child.....), AND, I felt like I got hit by a train...  Caleb was jaundice, and while everyone thought he was such a cute little "glow-worm" I remember I was SO upset he had to be hooked up and get his foot pricked all the time.  Thankfully my mom was out (in MS) and helped me, and I DESPERATLEY needed her.  Thanks mom, you're the BEST.

I just showed Caleb this picture and said, "that's you-- baby Caleb!" and he said "Yeah, I was broken".  Interesting.  Now he's reminding me of when he purposely stepped in dog poop on our walk the other day.  I forgot he's little and we've never encountered dog poop on a sidewalk before, so I didn't think to warn him and just had to watch him go for it.  It was horribly disgusting. And I yelled in horror ... "NOOOOOOO!!! THAT'S DOG POOP AND DISGUSTING. We DON'T step in dog poop.  EVER" ... or something like that.

Anyway, back to Caleb's birthday.  We had a birthday bash on Saturday morning.  It's hard to have a rockin' party when you have grandparents in Africa, an Aunt in Spain, an Uncle/Aunt in MO, an Uncle in IA, and an Aunt in AZ.... and no cousins... so, we had great grandparents, grandparents and a great-great Aunt.  It was VERY fun.  And when they all left Caleb said that all his friends came over.  It was very sweet.

Let's get to the party! First, we have the dollar store center piece on top of a piece of sesame street wrapping paper (classy, I know).

 

Then, we have the cupcakes!  I made Cookie Monster, Elmo, and Oscar. I thought they were pretty stinkin cute. I finished the last cupcake approximately 5 minutes before people came over.....

This is my SWEET lazy susan server I got at Menards. I love it, and I'm pretty sure it was under $10.

This was the food.  It wasn't anything too special.  We had ham and cheese sliders , potato salad (I found the recipe online and it was OK, I didn't LOVE it, so I won't post it), chips, punch, fruit, and the cupcakes of course.  For the crowd, I think it was a reasonable amount of food.  I was going for a light lunch.

Here's a cool shot.  I'm very good with the camera......aka my phone ;)  I thought I was getting a shot of all the food, but then I noticed I didn't put the buns on the platter (from the dollar store!!  Seriously, I LOVE Dollar Tree)

And here's all the guests! (great lighting!)

And here's Caleb opening his present.  It was tools!

\

Caleb gave ME a present for his birthday-- he slept in underwear and was dry this am!! I seriously think potty training might be over. Forever.  Wouldn't that be amazing?

Today we'll probably go for icecream and I'll try to think of something else fun. ... like I just told him we'd take a donut break in a minute. The problem with going somewhere today is that Grace is still pretty sick.  She's coughing her brains out and her nose is a faucet =(  It's so sad!  The good news is that Caleb has ZERO expectations for the day.

So Happy Birthday to my precious little boy, he brings more joy to us than he will probably ever know!

We love you Caleb Daniel!!

-Melanie

 

Friday night update!

I think in college it might have been embarassing to update a blog on Friday night, but since becoming a parent (maybe even just married) I have no problem posting on Friday night and admitting I'm not doing ANYTHING. =)  So, let's get started!

Caleb the other day wanted me to be a horse.  I was willing, but I wanted to know my name of course, so I asked, "What's my horse name Caleb?"  It was....

Geb-ohb-dept

WOW I said.  I asked again, because it was so complicated I was sure he wouldn't remember and he said..

Geb-ohb-dept.

So then I just burst out laughing.  That's what he was referring to me as we played....

He was a different animal with an uncomplicated name like Max or something.

Today after putting Grace to bed, I came downstairs to Ben and Caleb on the phone with each other.  It went something like this.

Ben: Who is this?
Caleb: (in a high pitched voice continued throughout the conversation) Auntie Tailor
Ben: Where are you?
Caleb: In Mexico with Uncle Jim
Ben: What are you doing?
Caleb: Playing Grandma Kappers' game
Ben: What's it called?
Caleb: Birdie Puppie

BHAHHAHAHHAHA.  Seriously. He KILLS me. Maybe it has to be your kid in order to think that's funny, but I cannot stop laughing about it.  It's just like-- WHERE do they come up with this stuff?? By the way, Uncle Jim is Ben's brother and in December he married Tailor.  They went to Mexico on their honeymoon, which Caleb apparently remembers. They have never, to my knowledge played Birdie puppie.... (feel free to correct me Uncle Tim or Auntie Tailor..) and I have a feeling that's not a game that Grandma Kappers' owns.

Grace was becoming the worst eater to ever live, so I decided to switch to mostly table food... and now my life is waaaaaaay better.  I'm SOOOOOOO happy I made the switcharoo.  She is gobbling up all sorts of things with her hands, and it's wonderful.  The last couple days we tried prunes and apricots... she loved it!  Hopefully I can convince her (like I did Caleb) that prunes are candy.  HAHA (but seriously... it worked....).
Here is what the floor looks like after Grace eats.  She's not trying to throw it on the ground she's just THAT bad at eating.... I think it looked worse in person although it still looks bad here.  Don't worry, she did make some in her mouth.

 She's 9 months, and when Caleb was 9 months he was still eating pretty much only baby food.  I think that's why the idea of table food this soon took me by surprise.  They're already so different.  Like... Grace is maybe only starting to consider the idea of moving, and Caleb was crawling by now.  Caleb was standing up by now, and Grace prefers to just sit....  I'll call her content... some might call her lazy...... But EVERYONE would call her the sweetest little girl EVER.  Ok, maybe not everyone, but isn't the picture below precious?  There she's stuffing her face with cheese.  I think she'd like to eat cheese for every meal every day, but mom says no.  I'm a big meany.

Now, the picture I just showed and the next few I posted to instagram.  So, if you are one of the 22 people following me (BHAHAH, I'm such a loser!) you've already seen them..... Also my screenname is mlndyng, and I think if I had known what instagram was when I signed up, I would have picked a different name.  I picked that because it's kind of my username for all things.  It was my Dordt email address back in the day-- it's your name without the vowels... and at Dordt I wasn't married.

Moving on.... any day that it is KIND OF warm, we are going outside for walks lately!  We LOVE family walks.  We've started taking two strollers though because we find it easier to push... Caleb is REALLY heavy.

Here's my little thumb sucker.... isn't it cute?? (for now anyway?)

 Caleb got to eat pretzels on our walk.  He thinks that's pretty cool.

My two favorite boys

Sooooo sweet!!

 And now, I'll do a special shout out for the TRUE WOMAN CONFERENCE.  Seriously, this conference is life changing, and if you are a woman you should go.

Here is the link. http://www.truewoman14.com/.  I went two years ago, and it was the best conference I've ever been to... by far.  It's totally worth your time, money, energy... etc.  They have fantastic speakers (including my personal fav, Nancy Leigh DeMoss) and great music (the Getty's lead).  Please check out the link and sign up.  I think there's a discount for a little while yet if you register.  Thousands of women from around the country and OTHER countries come.  It's SO neat!!

But no one panic.  If you do nothing right now, I will CERTAINLY be posting about it again because I love it THAT much.

And, on that note, I'll leave you.
Until next time!
-Melanie