Pit Stops and Treasures at 27 Months

Emma is our little comedian.  Her favorite things to make us laugh include poop jokes and, well, poop jokes.  "See you later poo pee!" and "You have poop on your head!" are some of her favorite one liners.  When she isn't busy making us laugh, she can be found enjoying life as a toddler, playing outside, cuddling, and even hunting for treasure.

Emma is a full-speed ahead kind of gal.  She can't be bothered with opening doors, so she gets in and out of her vehicle "Dukes of Hazard" style.

 Here she is below riding her tractor, and then driving her asparagus delivery bike.

 Will is officially on summer break for the month of July, and I have been taking full advantage of having him home.  While I've been out and about kid-free, Emma has slowly, ever so slowly, been converted to a Daddy's girl.  We aren't completely there, but one time out of ten she will now pick Will over me.  It is definitely a start.

When I ask her, "Emma are you a Daddy's girl?"  Emma responds with, "Yup!  I love Daddy, Lucy AND Mama!"  Our goal here is not for her to pick Will one hundred percent of the time, but a nice 60/40 deal with me picked slightly more than Will would make everyone happy I think.

Emma loves babies.  Here she is below cuddling her cousin, Sam.

 When there isn't a real life baby around, Lucy and Emma play baby.  Emma plays a really good baby, it is almost scary.

 Emma seems to be growing taller this month and perhaps only I can tell, but her baby chub is stretching out too, much to my dismay.

She talks very matter of fact, and can uphold her end of the conversation on the phone now too.  She starts out quite a few of her sentences with, "So, ....".  She has also been known to shout "NOT FAIR!" a time or two thousand as well.

 It is especially unfair how much bugs like to bite my poor girl.  Here she is below with three mosquito bites by her eye.  She woke up in the morning and her eye was completely swollen shut.  Thankfully, it got better as the day wore on because I was getting concerned about the Neanderthal comments coming her way.

It seems like this past month I spent a lot of time in public restrooms with Lucy and Emma.  Lucy does fairly well following my directions, but Emma is like a caged animal.  Once that stall door closes, she is bouncing off the walls and floor like a ping pong ball as she waits her turn.  This is stressful for me as I envision all of the diseases she could be picking up off the floor.  The other day I caught her ankle as she was crawling under the divider wall into the stall next to us.  As I dragged her back she was proudly exclaiming, "I found a penny!!!"  Needless to say I scrubbed her and the penny down in the sink and Emma has been obsessed with pennies ever since.  Fortunately, the subsequent pennies she has found were all in slightly cleaner locations.  Below is a picture taken by Emma during one of our many restroom visits.  Thank God for the iPhone, as it is my saving grace in keeping Emma occupied while attending to business.

 Until next month, may your pit stops be few and your treasures be many!

The Frog Days of Summer

Change is in the wind at the Timmerman house.  Will accepted the position of principal at the high school he has been a teacher at for the past seven years.  We did not set out on this path, but circumstances have brought (and sometimes dragged) us by the hand to this choice.  It will be a relief in so many ways to have the financial security that comes with the new job, however it is an adjustment for how much time Will is going to be away from home.  We have treasured our laid back summers and his teacher hours during the school year.  The good news is that he still has a great amount of days off compared to most professions, even though we are learning that in a leadership role, there really is no such thing as a day off.  We are going to try and ride the learning curve of our new situation, and focus on enjoying the moments when Will is with us to the fullest.

Will and I have spent a lot of time in the car this month it seems, from a vacation to Ohio, trips to pick up bee supplies and chicken feed from faraway farms, and trips to visit friends and family.  Besides our gasoline bill, it has been a blessing for us to have the down time to wrap our minds around our new situation while the girls napped in the back seat.  Will and I feel like the ceiling has finally broken on our lives, and all of the work we have put in this last decade is finally paying off.  The business that we started together at the beginning of the year is full of promise and Will's new job is also filled with hope.  Not only are we accomplishing more than we thought possible, dreams we have held for quite some time will now be possible.  It is amazing and scary all at the same time and my breath still catches in my throat when I think about our new future.

We haven't had any routine this month because of Will's new job as well as all of the social gatherings of summer.  This has been a bit unsettling for me, but like I mentioned before, I am trying to roll with it.  Picture me rolling down a grass hill.  Not pretty.  But I AM rolling.  Below is a picture of Lucy and Emma doing a much better job rolling down the proverbial and in their case literal, hill.

 

 Yes, the girls have done a great job rolling with all the changes as well as distracted parents.  They started and finished their summer reading program which involved reading over 100 story books with Will and I.  Here they are below at the library, one of our most favorite places to go.

One of the prizes for completing the summer reading program was a free ice cream cone.  We have enjoyed quite a bit of ice cream this summer.  I will be the first to admit that when I am stressed, ice cream is my go to relief.  I fear my children are being trained early.  Here they are below enjoying ice cream from their favorite place down town.

 The sisters have had to play with each other this month, as Will and I have been preoccupied.  I'd say it has been really good for them as although the fights have been tremendous, when they are getting along, they are playing better than ever.  Their favorite pastime this month has been playing Mommy and Baby.  Below, Mommy Lucy is hugging her baby Emma.

My brother and sister-in-law gave the girls one of the best presents for their birthdays this year.  It is a three month art project subscription.  Each month a box called a Kiwi Crate comes in the mail complete with everything you need for two in-depth craft projects.  This has been a God send for us, as my usually crafty self has been occupied with other things.  Here the girls are below with their newly made explorer box and lantern.

The girls have definitely been like two peas in a pod.  Please do not confuse this with peace and harmony, but it is safe to say that they are with each other through thick and thin.  Here they are below with matching chicken tattoos from our local Farmer's Market.

The girls have also spent a lot of time outside.  Their favorite pastime for June has been going on Frog Hunts.  Let's just say that I feel bad for the local amphibians as these girls have a lot of love to give.

Emma prefers to observe, but Lucy is not afraid of getting her hands dirty.  Our rule is we have to release any living creatures by bedtime.  Below is a picture of Lucy and Emma letting their pet frog of the day try out a swim in their swimming pool.

Fortunately, the girls have been able to swim in Will's aunt and uncle's pool in the meantime, as I still haven't gotten around to disinfecting the kiddie pool in our yard.  Lucy and Emma are really warming up to the water this summer which is a relief, as they seem to be overly fearful of water.

 We have spent a lot of time with friends and family this month which has been great.  We started off the summer with a trip to Ohio.  First we stopped in Bowling Green to visit my sister Jane.

Then we continued south to Dayton where we stayed with my roommate from college.  We had a great time and the girls were great travelers too.  Fortunately for us, my friend was extremely tolerant of the traveling circus I brought with me and the girls got a kick out of sharing a trundle bed, catching fireflies, and even playing in a bucket of water!  We read lots of stories, they watched lots of movies, and we ate tons of delicious Ohio food.

 My friend took us to a great Children's Garden which is a part of Dayton's metro parks.  Lucy remembered visiting this same Dayton metro park the summer prior, and begged us to take them again.  It is nice to see how Lucy's memory is starting to stick with her now.

We also met Will's brother in Cincinnati as he was up visiting from his home state of Arkansas.  It worked out really nice, as the drive to Cincinnati was under an hour from Dayton, as opposed to the 17 hour drive to Arkansas.  We toured the Cincinnati Zoo with Uncle Tim, and a great time was had by all.

Favorite phrases heard on the trip included:

-Emma: "I spy with my little eye something poopy."  Lucy without missing a beat: "Is it your underwear?"

-Lucy as we were driving south on I-75 past Detroit: "Are those volcanoes?" Will: "No, those are landfills."

-Lucy, as we were still driving south on I-75 past Detroit: "Why is there chalk on the buildings and walls?"  Will: "That's called graffiti.  It's an art form."

-Lucy, same expressway: "Wow, you were right.  This is a long trip!  I should have gone to the bathroom before we left."

-And finally, Lucy all month long has prefaced any detail she wants to tell me with, "Mom, I want to tell you something."

Our good friends came back from Japan after almost a year overseas.  We are happy to have them back and are looking forward to having their dad back for good next summer.  Here they are below, blazing a trail with Will as their guide.

We also attended two wedding this month.  The first one was my cousin and we had a great time.  It was an outdoor wedding and it was super hot that day!  My cousin still looked amazing despite the heat and Lucy and Emma were very impressed by the whole shindig.  They have been playing "Bride" ever since.  We also enjoyed having my brother Joe up from Florida for the wedding, as we haven't seen him in over a year.

 

Will and I also attended the wedding of a very close, long-time family friend.  The bride's three year old nephew took the below picture of Will and I.  I thought he did an excellent job!

 

 We of course still found time for projects this past month.  Will tackled a tree stump that has been bugging him for two years.  It was quite a job, but he finally got it out with the help of our neighbor.  We will be planting an asparagus bed there this coming month!

 Will also built a traveling chicken run for our chickens to get more grass in their diets.  Chickens love to scratch around, and within days of being on the same piece of land will eat every green plant down to the dirt.  It will be nice to have something movable for them to be in during the day so that we can ensure that we keep our lawn while they are getting plenty of green in their diets.

I have been learning the fine art of fermenting food.  The other day I noticed that my kitchen resembled more of a chemistry lab as I had four different projects bubbling and fermenting at the same time.  The cabbage turned into sauerkraut quite nicely, however the cucumbers skipped the pickle stage and went straight to a greenish gray bubbly stank.  I haven't tried the pickled watermelon rinds as they aren't ready yet, however the fermented yogurt dough was tasty, I just wouldn't use it as pizza dough the next time.  This is my attempt at eating probiotic rich foods so that we can save on the pricey probiotic pills we are currently taking.

Our garden has been extremely low maintenance as we have had so much rain we haven't had to water.  We have harvested bowls and bowls of strawberries and peas and are just now getting into blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.

We are in the Frog Days of Summer I suppose, and just like a frog transforms from a tiny egg to a tadpole and then a full sized hopping frog the Timmerman family is also transforming into our new normal.  I am hoping for as graceful of a transition as possible!

Emma at 26 Months

Emma has definitely adjusted to being two, even though when asked her age she tells people she is three.  Her vocabulary has improved to the level that she now talks freely in front of people other than her parents and sister.  Some of my favorite phrases that she has been known to say this month include:

-"Lucy."  She can now say Lucy's name, as up until now it came out as "Sissie".

-"You hurt my feelings!" when sad after being told something she doesn't want to hear.

-"NO! NOT!" when angry after being told something she doesn't want to hear.

-"My finger's stuck!" shouted whenever she needs attention.

-"I'm fallin'!" yelled after she climbs up to somewhere dangerous, with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

Speaking of climbing, here she is below, climbing onto the bathroom counter.

Emma slept through the night probably two times this past month, which gives us a 200% increase compared to last month.  Her bottom two year molars are finally in so hopefully her top two year molars make their debut soon and our sleeping through the night numbers continue to grow.  Here she is snuggling Uncle Johnny before bedtime.  She does get quite snugly when she is tired, which of course I love.

Emma is a great eater.  She will try almost anything for the first time and nine times out of ten she will choose to continue eating it.  The tenth time she will shake her head and say, "Too spicy!"  Here she is below enjoying a slice of cake at Will's cousin's graduation party.

Here she is below at the local bakery/ice cream shop near cousin Ellen's house, picking out a treat.

And here she is below holding her newest cousin Sam.  Emma loves babies.

Emma loves swinging too.

She also loves Popsicles and running through the sprinklers.

Not to mention Dukes of Hazard quality driving, complete with diving into the car instead of opening up the door.  Here she is below giving her friend Chloe a ride to welcome her back from a year away in Japan.

Life is never dull with a well-adjusted two year old!

The Mountain Top of May

Based on the amount of pictures I sorted through, May was a busy month at the Timmerman house.  We kicked off the month by getting one of my toes fixed from the botched surgery I had last year.  This was a huge deal for me but a very minor surgery for the doctor.  Thankfully, I dealt with my anxiety and the new doctor did an excellent job.  I was back on my feet in no time.  Here my loves are below, supporting me at my follow up appointment the week after my surgery.  I have used this situation as a teachable moment, and can now give my kids a real life example of how Mom did something she didn't want to do and how good it felt when it was over.  Minor toe surgery = priceless.

The first Saturday in May our wonderful Farmer's Market opened and fortunately I was limping along enough by then to attend.  The girls potted some marigolds and we met our friends there as well.

The late spring finally seemed to be here to stay this month, so I decided it was safe for me to wash the winter gear.

No sooner did the hats, gloves and coats dry than another freeze came to our neck of the woods.  Here we are below, scrambling to get all of our fruit trees, vegetables, tulips and bees protected from the incoming freeze.  If you look closely, you will see the ghetto fabulous 'safari' sheet from the 80's hanging for all to see off the wall of our garage.  Thankfully, Lucy and Emma are young enough to not be embarrassed by us yet.

We ran out of tarps and old sheets for my last patch of tulips, so I decided to pick the tulips that wouldn't make it through the frost.

All of our produce except for our pepper and cucumber plants made it through the last cold snap and we have resumed spring-like activities.  Will went to a chicken swap this past month to "look around."  I should have known better.  When he got home Lucy came running in the house telling me, "Mom!  Dad has a surprise outside for you!"  I responded, "What, he brought home a chicken?"  Lucy's eyes went wide with surprise and she went running out of the house yelling, "DAD!  Mom figured out the surprise!"  Will came in with a sheepish grin and I asked him if it was true.  A volleyball of words ensued in which I told him that I thought buying livestock warranted at least a phone call to your spouse.  Will's response, "I knew if I called you, you'd say no."  Flash forward exactly six days and all of our chickens except the new one are sneezing, coughing and have runny eyes and noses.  After intense online research I determined that the new white chicken (being pet by Lucy and Emma in the picture below) was a carrier to a serious and deadly disease and we would have to do the humane thing and kill the entire flock.  It was so hard for me not to tell Will "I told you so" so I told him.  Not to mention the sick feeling we both had about having to lose our entire flock who were like family pets to us.  Three days later, they were all better.  Moral of the story - always call your spouse when buying livestock and never make diagnosis from online sources like mybackyardchicken.com.

I am also happy to report that our new white chicken, aka "Friendly", is the most friendly chicken we have now and is super sweet as well.  Also, in all of my online searching, I determined that we need to do a better effort at keeping our chickens healthy and have found a local organic farm about an hour away that produces fresh, organic chicken feed.  In the top right picture above we are enjoying a picnic dinner on our way home from the lovely chicken farm.  In the center picture above, Will is using scissors to rescue one of our Isa Brown chickens from the blue tarp she shredded and then got stuck under.  Picture shreds of blue tarp around her neck like a multi-layered necklace with her wings trapped in shreds of tarp like a spider web and her squawking like swear words.  Life is never dull with these chickens!

Below is a picture of the perennials my friends so generously donated to our yard.  Thank you Jenny, Gina, Judy, Richard and Becky!

Our yard is finally starting to look like we didn't just move in.  It is a lot of work to fix up a yard that had been left alone for ten plus years.  Fortunately, we had a lot of plants to work with so after three years of splitting and switching plants around, our yard is finally starting to look just how we want it.  In a couple more years I will be posting on Facebook for people to come take perennials from me!

The weather did warm up enough for us to turn the sprinklers on a couple of times this past month, as well as eat popsicles outside, relax on the porch swing, enjoy wheel barrow rides, power wheel rides with friends, serious sidewalk chalk art, and even master the art of bike riding.  Lucy rode a bike with training wheels for the first time on her birthday.  A month later, she is zipping around like an old pro.

 It seems like most days this past month were too cold and or rainy to play and work outside, so we did spend a good deal of time inside as well.  I found the girls below playing in the bathroom sink.  Like a good mom, I went and got my camera so that I have material for their graduation parties down the road.  The top right picture is of Lucy baby wearing her doll.  The bottom right is of Lucy and I enjoying quiet time together under my napping blanket, which is actually an afghan Will's aunt made for him.  I told Will the blanket is now mine by possession because I can't take a nap without that blanket.  The bottom left picture is of Lucy painting Will's finger nails with blue paint dabbers.  Will is a good sport!

With all of our cold, rainy weather, the girls have some serious pent up energy.  One night, in an attempt to get them to bed at a decent time we went on a pajama walk complete with rain boots.  Many muddy puddles and a couple of heel blisters later, they were ready for some band aids and bed.  They also learned that when mom suggests wearing socks with their rain boots they better well listen.

We also had the joy of meeting our first nephew and the girls new cousin this past month.  Below is sweet Samuel Joseph with his big sister and two cousins.  In the bottom picture are the girl cousins taking a walk.

 The girls went bowling for the first time this past month with Will's work and had a blast.  Every time someone's ball knocked the pins, Emma would yell "CRASH!"

Over Memorial Day weekend our town had their annual Heritage Festival complete with old fashioned games and past times.  Here we are below trying out stilt walking.

The girls also got dressed in old-fashioned clothing and got to try their hand at washing clothes in a wash tub, churning butter, sweeping the floor, quilt making and even rock wall climbing.  Oh wait, rock wall climbing isn't old fashioned?  Either way, it was there and Lucy did an amazing job!  She got pretty high until she looked down and then was done.

In the above upper right hand picture, Emma and our friend's son William were sitting at a little table at the festival complete with play food and dishes.  My friend and I started joking that all they needed was a candle for their impromptu date and low and behold, Emma whipped a candle stick out from under the table and set it between them.

We harvested our first item from the garden just in time for my birthday.  I love strawberry rhubarb cobbler and got to enjoy some for my birthday dessert.  Since then I have also made a delicious rhubarb coffee cake from an old Amish cookbook.  I love rhubarb and it is just one of the many reasons I love the month my birthday is in.

I had a wonderful birthday.  It was amazing for many reasons, but mostly I think because I feel like I have personally grown so much this past year.  As some of you might know I have been in counseling and have dealt with issues of anxiety, depression and certain injured relationships over the last year.  It has been quite a journey of hardship and redemption and this year on my birthday I feel like I am a butterfly that has finally emerged from her cocoon.  The joy is unexplainable after going through the valley this past year of my life has been.  That is not to say that all of my hardships are over, but I feel stronger and better equipped to deal with all life has to throw my way than I have ever been before.  I have learned through this experience that God has not left me alone in my troubles.  Without several key people in my life as well as a heaven-sent counselor and a supportive husband I would not be where I am today - strong, happy and hopeful.   From here on out, I will be going where the love is, and breaking the chains of perfectionism by letting go and letting God.  I understand now that self-care is not selfish, but crucial for my well-being.  I have a renewed appreciation for the little family Will and I are blessed to help grow, as well as the friends and family in my life who support me unconditionally.  I am on top of a mountain, folks and because of this I had an amazing birthday with so much to celebrate.

Will surprised me by taking the day off of work, which allowed me to take a yoga class in the morning.  When I came home we went for a bike ride to a new Mediterranean restaurant that opened up by our house.  We did take out and brought it to our neighborhood park where we enjoyed delicious food by the creek that runs through our town.  I couldn't have asked for a better morning.  When we came home we put the girls down for naps and a long awaited (and we thought lost) package arrived for me.  Inside was a necklace from a dear friend which brought tears to my eyes.  The necklace is a tiny bird nest with three pearls representing each of my babies.  It was an amazing thing to know that my friend thought of me in such a meaningful way, as well as the fact that a package that we both thought was lost arrived on my birthday.  I believe that Luke had a hand in this and actually used my friend's generosity to make it look like he gave me a present as well on my birthday.  Either way, the significance was overwhelming to me.

Before the day was over I received two more packages and watched the girls run through the sprinklers.  No sooner did we get the girls dried off from the sprinklers than it started raining.  We piled on the front porch and I painted the girls and my toenails while we waited for the weather to clear up.  By dinner time it was still raining so we decided to enjoy our meal on the porch.  We had never eaten a family meal on our front porch before (just ice cream breaks during naptime) so it was even more special.

It has been quite a month, and quite a year for me.  I have made a long time dream a reality by trying my hand at bee keeping, and Will and I have launched a new business venture that I was previously held back by from fear.  I am invigorated by my new theme song "Catch My Breath" by Kelly Clarkson and feel as though I could accomplish anything now.  "Heavy heart, now a weightless cloud, making time for the ones that count, I'll spend the rest of my time laughing hard with the windows down..."