Emma at 28 Months

Emma is definitely working the two vibe now, and gets a kick out of holding up her thumb and pointer finger to tell people she is two.  This two year old is not held back by age or height, and I am constantly putting her feet back on the ground.

I will support her in other dreams, but climbing is not one I plan on encouraging at this age.  As you can see, Mt. Counter holds some of the best views of snacks in the house.

Fortunately, she has other interests besides climbing.  She has definitely taken a liking to our summer harvest, and enjoys watching all of our various produce as it grows.  Pears...

 ...blueberries...

...and peaches.

Not that she really eats them.  She is more of a Cheerios and meat kind of girl, which seems to be working for her.  She has grown almost two clothing sizes this summer and we even had to buy her some new summer jammies this past month as she had outgrown all of her other ones.  Here she is below, proudly modeling new-to-her Dora jammies that we so luckily found at our local children's resale shop.  We were on a mission to find her Dora jammies that matched Lucy's coveted nightgown and would you believe it that we found one, mid-season, in her size?  The only thing better would be if there had been two, as if I wash them, I have to wash and dry them between when she wakes up and when she goes to bed, as she refuses to sleep in anything else now.

And lately, I will dress her in anything she wants if it will ensure a smooth transition into sleep.  I'm not sure what kind of phase is happening with her right now, but she takes forever to fall asleep.  We've tried moving the nap times, eliminating naps, and moving bed times but unless we skip her nap all together and deal with a cranky girl for the last five hours of the day, she doesn't go to bed before 10:00 p.m. most nights.  It is getting really old, especially since on the days that we try eliminating the naps we can't drive anywhere in the car after 3 p.m. or she will fall asleep and not go to bed until midnight.  So you can see why I've taken so many pictures of her sleeping this month.  It is a big deal.

We went for an evening walk the other day in the hopes of tiring out Emma who happened to have taken a nap that day.  It had just finished raining, and you could hear the water rushing in the storm drains.  Emma went to investigate closer and ended up having a conversation with the "Man in Hole" as she is now referring to it.

The conversation went like this:
Emma: "Who in there?"
Man in Hole: "Who in there?"
Emma: "Who IN there?"
Man in Hole "Who IN there?"
Emma: "WHO. IN. THERE."
Man in Hole: "WHO. IN. THERE."
Emma:  "Mom, there a Man in Hole.  I not like that man."

Other things Emma has been chatting about this past month include:
-"It's not fair!"
-Emma: "Lucy's licking my face!"  Will:  "Why'd you put flavor all over it?"
-Emma, when asked if the food tastes good or is too hot: "It's not too bad."
-Emma, after FINALLY doing what I asked her to do: "Mama, you happy now?"
-Stated before viciously grabbing an object from her sister: "Actually, that's mine."
-"No poop talk at the table!"  Emma proudly yells this at every meal.

This little chatter box has also fabricated her first lie.  Lucy was complaining that Emma took her gum.  I found Emma hiding at the bottom of the steps to our backdoor with a half-opened piece of gum.  Needless to say she tried to convince me that she did not open the gum.  She just opened the top part.

And yes, I still have a "baby talk" accent when I talk to Emma.  I can't help it, she still looks just like the little baby we brought home from the hospital almost two and a half years ago.  Maybe once she loses her chubby cheeks I can talk normal to her?

Emma is getting less and less cuddly, and so I have to soak up her cuddles when she gives them to me now.  Usually it is in the middle of the night when she sneaks into my bed, but I will take what I can get.  I love to ask her, "Who loves you Emma?"  This past month she changed up her usual response with, "This lady" while pointing to me.  She will also tell me during our bedtime routine snuggles, "I'm kicking you out of my bed.  I need water."  To which I will respond, "You are trading in snuggles with me for water?"  And Emma heartlessly responds, "Yup, get out."  Here is my grown up baby girl taking a picture of ants at Story Time.  What a widdle cutie.

July: Buckets, Berries, Bugs and everything in Between

July officially started our summer vacation.  With Will's new job we are left with a third of the amount of time to enjoy our bucket list of summer fun.  An entire month of vacation is still nothing to shake a stick at, giving us plenty of time still for beach days, long walks and bike rides, time spent with friends, activities with the kids, projects around the house and lots of good food and gardening.  Here is Lucy below, kicking off our stay-cation in the comfort of our own backyard.

Turns out, maybe we shouldn't have kicked off our vacation so hard.  Two days into our "trip", my toe got severely infected and I ended up having an emergency surgery.  It was so unplanned the girls and Will were with me at the doctor's office.  Will was a bit stressed out, trying to hold three disturbed girls but we went out for ice cream after, as I couldn't feel my foot yet and well, ice cream is my comfort food.  Silver lining of this bummer of a way to kick off summer is the doctor was able to save my toenail.  Unfortunately, this knocked beach days, long walks and bike rides completely out of our summer bucket list o' fun.  Here is my family below, taking good care of me.  Of special note is the inset picture of Will vacuuming.  I took a picture so that I could treasure the vision for always.  Will does many, many things but vacuuming is usually not one of them!

We finally made it to the cemetery to plant flowers at Luke's grave as well as Will's Grandpa Timmerman and my Grandma and Grandpa Hines' graves.  We were torn between feelings of guilt for getting there a month later than usual while trying to remind ourselves that we should not feel guilty for living our lives.  We know Luke doesn't care, but it hurts to realize that life continues to move on to the point that we are too busy for such a small gesture, especially when there aren't many gestures we can do these days for our firstborn.  It is what it is though, and we planted our annual flowers and enjoyed a picnic lunch.

We enjoyed a laid back fourth of July at my friend Bonnie's house.  The girls swam with their friends Emily and Kayla and enjoyed their first, firsthand experience with fireworks.  Notice Lucy wearing sunglasses as her own safety precaution.  I think it did help them with their fear of fireworks and a great time was had by all.

Will and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary on July 10th.  Here we are below on our wedding day.  It's hard to believe it's almost been a decade and as cliche as it sounds, time sure does fly when you are having fun.  I feel so fortunate to have found and married my best friend and soul mate.  We have been through so much in these nine years of marriage from joys to heartbreaks and everything in between.  My dreams would be nothing without Will in them, and he is an integral part of my hopes and dreams for the future.  Who knew nine years ago that we would have three beautiful children, eleven chickens, several thousand bees and a couple of green thumbs?  I certainly didn't, but I am happy to say that this is better than I could have ever dreamed.  I also wish that I knew then what I know now - I would have registered for drastically different things... pickling crocks, a dehydrator, yogurt maker, worm bin... you get the idea.

That's not to say that we don't have our issues.  It's amazing how after nine years we can still find new ways to irritate each other while holding strong to the things that have always driven the other person nuts.  Will has recently proclaimed that I put too many things on edge.  As in objects, not people!  He took a picture the other day to illustrate what he has been trying to tell me for months.  Below is a plate I set on the counter, apparently much like I set many things on horizontal surfaces.  I swear I do not do this consciously or even purposely to irritate him.  I also will admit I have no idea WHY I do it either, but until the photographed proof, I had been aggressively denying any such claims of living too close to the edge.  His least favorite is when he finds his school iPad balancing precariously from the top edge of the piano.

Despite my bum foot, I have been quite the socialite this past month while my dear husband stayed home to tend the children and the chickens.  A longtime friend of mine is back in the country after a year-long stint in Japan, so we celebrated her homecoming and a belated birthday with a fancy tea at a five star hotel by my house.  I've never experienced anything quite like it and it was definitely something I would like to do again!  Imagine me trying to explain this to a client that evening as I kept burping champagne.  No, really, I don't normally drink champagne at two in the afternoon.

I went to the Michigan Lavender Festival with my sister-in-law kid-free, as the girls were sick.  I took advantage of my free-as-a-bird status, and I enjoyed dropping in on several different classes about making your own body care products as well as how to grow and harvest lavender.  That same weekend I also got to go with my sister on an all day excursion to Lansing to visit our aunt.  It was the longest time I have been away from the girls since my bout with MRSA last winter.  It was super refreshing, and when I came home from Lansing, this is what I found at the table:

Two giant mason jars for my fermenting projects!  I have been looking for these for quite some time.  It was a nice surprise and it definitely made me happy to be home to a family who knows me so well (I fully realize that fermenting jars are not your run of the mill homecoming presents).  Thankfully I had arrived home with completely recharged batteries, as the girls were then sick for the next two weeks, passing fevers and coughs back and forth to each other like a ping-pong ball.  We missed lots of social gatherings and activities and at one point Lucy overheard me say, "Great, there goes our weekend" after I took her temperature and it read 102 - again.  Lucy looked up at me with the saddest eyes and said, "I'm sorry mom, you can just leave me home alone so I don't ruin your weekend anymore."  I swear it felt like a knife went straight through my heart at that point and I instantly dropped to my knees and became the most devoted mother you ever did see.  Fortunately, we found ways to occupy ourselves while we were on quarantine. 

Lucy caught a lot of bugs - literally and figuratively!  She got a Little Tikes bug box and net for her birthday and it has been the most used toy of the year.  She has a routine this month where she gets up with Will in the morning to let the chickens out and then they pick berries and catch bugs together before breakfast.  Every evening before bed we let the bugs go free.  I couldn't believe the dragonfly that our neighbor caught for Lucy the other day.  It was beautiful and let Lucy hold it for quite some time before it flew away.  Hopefully Lucy did not give it her fever.  The picture on the right is of Lucy holding a small black toad and the center picture is of Lucy with her most frequent catch - a cricket.

The berries were amazing this month.  The strawberries were finished the first week in July just in time for the raspberries, blackberries and blueberries to come out in full force.  Lucy is an efficient berry-eater, and Emma is an efficient berry-waster.  Emma doesn't care for berries, but loves picking them and feeding "bad" ones to the chickens as well as accidentally knocking over the berry bowl.  So as long as I didn't mind the bowl being knocked over multiple times, and I kept Emma from feeding the berries to the chickens, Emma still resulted in larger yields than Lucy would bring home.  Which is why you always assign the berry picking to the one who doesn't like berries.

We had enough berries for breakfast every morning, multiple berry desserts as well as yummy blackberry syrup (a.k.a. ice cream topping) and blackberry jam.  Will actually made our year's worth of blackberry jam himself since I was laid up with my foot and berries do not keep too long.  I am trying to focus on gratitude, however I am kicking myself (with my good foot) for not making sure Will deseeded the berries before making the jam.  I really, really am trying not to complain because if Will didn't make the jam, there wouldn't have been jam this year, but now there will be seeds in my jam for a whole year!  It's a rough life I lead.

Relaxing doesn't come easy to Will and I and so maybe the bum foot and the coughing, contagious kids is what we needed.  Here are the girls below, showing examples of the many forts they built this past month.

We also did artwork outside in attempt to keep my floors clean.  I was feeling quite satisfied with my parenting at this point, and we all know the fall from grace is fast and hard.  When I set the camera down, the paint really hit the canvas.  In retrospect, I should have given them both the SAME colors.  When one realized the other had different colors than SHE did, paint started flinging and by the time it was over the neighbors had heard a decibel of my voice that I wasn't even aware I had.  Also, there is no doubt that the neighbors also know both girls middle names now too.

I hosed everything down, including the girls which helped me feel better and hung their dripping paintings on the wire trellis for our apple trees.  At this point I was back to feeling semi in control and life moved on.  I have added painting with two kids to the same list as letting two kids push the mini shopping carts around Trader Joe's.  Some things are just not meant to happen with more than one kid at the same time.

Our garden is definitely enjoying the wet summer we are having.  Below is the asparagus bed Will planted for me, as well as one of the chickens who so generously donated the rich fertilizer to start our new garden bed off on the right foot.

  

We love our chickens for many reasons and wonderful, organic fertilizer is a definite plus.  Anything we plant in aged chicken poop does remarkably well.  Unfortunately, we forgot to amend the soil in our existing garden beds and I think it may be to blame for the poor performance of our lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers.  Either that or those plants just don't like the wet and cool summer we are having.  Our pole beans, cabbage, basil, parsley, dill, garlic, potatoes, beets and carrots are doing very well as is our rhubarb.  Our rhubarb has been so successful in fact, that we have planted another bed of that this past month. One of our goals is to have as many perennial crops as possible that are native to the area and require little to no work once planted.  Rhubarb, asparagus, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, pears and peaches all seem to enjoy the micro climate that is our yard and should come back year after year with little to no effort on our part.

Lucy planted the sunflower in the above left hand picture from a seed in the spring.  The top right is of a peach on our peach tree, bottom left a pear and bottom right an apple.  The peach and pear trees are looking very healthy and should have quite a bit of produce to harvest.  Our apple trees that we are trellising along the west wall of our garage seem like they are struggling.  They each contain only a handful of apples and seem to be fighting off diseases and insects.  Time will tell if these trees will make it as a permanent crop in our yard, but in the meantime I feel like I owe it to them to read up on the plights of apple trees.

Lucy and Emma had more bonding time this month, as they shared each other's germs.  I would like to say that although both of them know exactly when, where and how to push each other's buttons they did play rather nice this month.  It might have helped that usually one was down and out with a fever.

Thank goodness there are 31 days in July.  We managed to have fun the last week of this month with both kids finally healthy and my toe healed enough for me to wear shoes again.  The girls have gone to a special summer Story Time at our library called Outdoor Explorers most Mondays this summer and have really enjoyed being outside and learning about nature.  The girls loved the fact that Will got to come with us, as usually Story Time is on school days only.

The girls also are taking a kids yoga class in a friend's backyard this summer.  It has been a great experience, and even better that both girls can take the same class.  I wasn't sure how Emma would do as she is the youngest in the class, but she takes it very seriously and is proud to be with the big kids.  Some of you may have seen the picture I posted of Emma on Facebook the other day in the top left picture.  I came across Emma sitting in the corner with her eyes shut and when I asked her if she was okay, she replied, "Yup.  I doing yoga!"

We also have spent lots of time with friends at parties, parks, ice cream parlors and bowling alleys.  Emily, Kayla, Arjun, Juhee, Grace, William, Katherine, Killian, Chloe, Aeden, Ethan, Ian, James and Lucas have all helped make our summer special.

Finally, we went to the zoo this past week and were able to fulfill our bucket list there before the sky dumped buckets of water on us.  We were able to ride the train, see the polar bear exhibit (but no polar bears were sighted, just seals and otters), flamingos, lions and monkeys as well as find a tent to eat our picnic under while guarding our food from the peacocks.

We have had many a car ride home this past month that ended like the below picture.  So, despite our setbacks, we were still able to live it up enough to exhaust our kids and keep Will and I from going too crazy!

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!