Our little girl turned one!!---& it's almost been 2 months!!!

Our little girl turned one almost 2 months ago & I can't help but feel like she's all grown up. She's crawling, cruising around furniture, and communicating more and more everyday. But despite of her increase in independence, she is still our little cuddler & melts our hearts when she throws both arms straight into the air to have us pick her up.

We had 3 wonderful birthday celebrations for our sweet Lillia...

1- With her Mimi & Papa Harrington a couple weeks before her birthday

2- On her Birthday-- Her daddy brought her home a Mc Donald's Happy Meal for a special birthday lunch :-)

3- With her Grandma & Poppie a couple weeks after her birthday

Lillia's Aunt Emily MADE her this adorable tutu!! So cute!!

Since she gave it to us every girl who comes over goes straight for it. Even Mark has had his turn wearing it!

Due to broken camera, we couldn't quite capture the smile, but I had to include a picture

of her in the crown!

Birthday Happy Meal from Daddy -- it came with a motion sensor penguin. Every time it registered movement, it made a noise--- Lillia loved it... I went crazy!

Grandma & Poppie pose with a very messy, but very happy birthday girl :-)

We love you, Lillia!! You are a very special gift from God!

All he needed was a button...

The imaginations of children always seems to catch me by surprise. I love how a laundry basket easily becomes is a boat or a cave...And how stuffed animals are friends who need their temperatures taken, a seat at the table, and are given names like "Move It" (which is a pink beanie baby bear that has found its way into Mark's heart).

Monday I was desperate for that imagination to kick in. We were on our fourth day of seclusion due to colds & coughs. No toys were offering any bit of distraction from the uncomfortable symptoms. Both children wanted to snuggle with their Mama & neither wanted to share. Mark found a small button on the ground and I quickly snatched it from his hand & placed it on the counter afraid it would find its way down Lillia's throat. A few minutes later I noticed Mark's sick-child-moaning had been replaced with a song. He was standing on the laundry basket (which was clearly now a stage) & he was strumming on an empty Maxwell House coffee container with a button. The coffee container was now a guitar and the button was now a guitar pick. The next few hours we had happy noises coming from our sick little boy. If only I knew 4 days earlier that all he needed was a button!!!

Our Dear Children- a photo update

Lillia - 10 months

Mark - 2 1/2 years

Two Great Videos

Video #1: Every morning we stand at the window to wave good-bye & blow kisses to "Daddy" as he leaves for work. Recently, Lillia has stayed at the window...

Video #2: Chris's version of entertainment = making his son dizzy, then video taping the effects. Too funny!!!

Pinterest

Chris's sister EMILY came to visit us a couple weekends ago. We had a blast catching up, playing with the kids and visiting the Twinsburg Twins Days Festival. While she was here she introduced me to the BEST website EVER (and I'm in NO WAY exaggerating!)-- PINTEREST has changed my life. For those of you who are not familiar with Pinterest, it is basically a melting pot of ideas. You can then take those ideas and "pin" them to your categorized boards. For example I have boards for recipe ideas, DIY projects, Activities for kids, etc. Last week ALL of our dinner ideas came from Pinterest. I had to share some of the ideas we have enjoyed over the past two weeks. Thanks Em, for introducing us to all this fun!!!

Card Table Playhouse...

This is just a slip cover over a card table. Is so smart!! We already had a card table & I had a plethora of fabric scraps. The kids LOVE it!! (I'm going to hide it away for Lillia's 1st Birthday in a few months.)

Genius Bubble Maker:

Inexpensive (or free), Simple, and Quick new activity for outside. Mark loved these bubble tubes! They were denser/ more sturdy than regular bubbles so he was able to hold them and play with them.

Step #1: Cut off the end of a plastic bottle

Step #2: Cover the end of the bottle with a wash cloth using rubber bands

Step #3: Mix a little bit of dish soap & water on a plate. Dip you bubble maker in the bubble mixture and blow!

Lillia's New shoes...

Sadly, she's sleeping so she can't model them. How fun are these?!? found the tutorial on Pinterest :-)

Side Note:

Around this time of the year I get very behind in keeping up with our family journal (a.k.a blog). This is what happens... Each summer we are so blessed to get to go away with both sides of the family for a week. We laugh a ton- eat great food- go on many adventures- and (of course) take HUNDREDS of pictures!! When I sit down to document all our fun time I go into indecisive mode. I can't decide which memories to record and which to risk forgetting forever. It's quite the dilemma. So instead of actually making a decision I typically avoid the blog all together :-( Sad, but true. That said--- I'm skipping documenting family vacations for a while. And hopefully I'll get to it in the near future so we can look back at the pictures and stories and reminisce :-)

Mark's 1st Story...

Every now and then I tell Mark a story at nap time or bedtime about an elephant. Usually this elephant rides a train to some new destination (usually a place Mark has recently experienced) & then he has an adventure in his own elephant way. Tonight Mark surprised me by sharing his own elephant story. This is how it went...

"Elephant went on a bus, but he was too big.

He fell down off the bus :-(

He hurt his leg.

He had to go to the doctor.

The doctor gave him a sticker.

The doctor put tape on his leg.

He gave the elephant medicine.

The elephant liked it :-)

Then the elephant go to play basketball players.

He shoot the basketball.

He made a really, really high one.

He played basketball players with Danny (aka Dan Schillero)"

I had to write it down right away, so we'd be able to read it together when he's 18yr old and smile about it :-) P.S.-- I love how Dan Schillero made it into his story. For those of you who don't know "Danny" is a college student at Parkside. He's pretty much Mark's hero. Chris & I definitely agree that Dan is an exceptional hero for any little boy. We are so appreciative for the time, energy, and love that so many college, high school, and middle school students have poured into our little guy.

5 Years Ago Today...

5 years ago today, I got to marry the love of my life!

He kissed me goodbye...

The other day we were playing on the driveway. Mark got into his good ol' Cozy-Coup (after filling it with "gas") and shouted "Good-bye! See you later!" But before he began his journey he got back out of the car as if he forgot something. He then walked over to me to plant a sweet little kiss on my lips. "Love you, Momma! Good-bye!" I melted. He got back into the car only to get out one more time. Forgetting something else he made his way back towards me and leaned down to plant another sweet kiss-- this time on Lillia's forehead. Now I wanted to cry tears of mushy happiness. I'm pretty sure when he's 16 and heading out in a real car we won't have a repeat of this precious moment, so I had to savor the moment and write it down so I can smile about it later too :-)

The fun new addition to the toy room...

The very first room you walk into in our home is the toy room. It's probably supposed to be a formal living room, but we opted for a toy room. We spend 80% of our indoor time in this one room and we LOVE it-- HOWEVER for a long while it was the only place in the house without anything on the walls and without any family pictures. So... I was super excited when I saw pieces of artwork in frames in the clearance section of Target for $1.75 a piece. A $1.75?!? --- this was a woman-on-a-tight-budget's dream!! I bought 9 pieces of artwork, took out all the artwork (except for one), and replaced them with family photos, paintings of Mark's, and outlines of my children's handprints. It's so fun to look up and see my 2 year old's paintings framed on the wall. And it's a huge joy to hear Mark at random exclaim, "There's Uncle Jon, Momma!" or "Oh.. Oh... there's Grandma!!"

this was the only piece of artwork that I saved-- a good reminder that my kiddos are "originals" perfectly crafted by God :-)

Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord....

Mark LOVES to sing. He finds a book that he'll deem his "music" and then he'll belt out his latest tune at the only volume he knows: Super Loud. The lyrics are made up on the spot-- his favorite these days is a combination of the phrase "The Lord God made you" (from the 1st question of the childrens' catechism Q: Who made you? A: God made me.") and Prov 15:1 "A soft answer turns away wrath." Although Mark's version is "A soft answer turns away RAP." :-) ...We love this kid! All I can say is parenting certainly is a privilege!

2 Victory Candles in One Night?!?

I didn't wake up this morning thinking we'd be potty training our 2 year old little boy. I definitely didn't wake up this morning thinking that I would only use 1 singular diaper for our little man all day. And I certainly didn't imagine we'd have multiple successful trips to the bathroom which (for the record) included both tinkle and poopy!! But we did and we've been celebrating all night!!! Congratulations, Mark, on successfully completing day one of potty training!! I know we will have many hurdles along the way but for now we rejoice in your many victories today!!

If that wasn't shocking enough.... our little baby girl decided to surprise us all with sitting up on her own!!! It was as sudden as the potty training. This morning she was tipping over just seconds after we placed her down. This afternoon she was sitting up for minutes AND was able to look all around!! Hip hip Hooray for Lillia Mae!!

Needless to say, we handed out 2 victory candles at dinner tonight. ---although, Mark got to blow out both of them :-)

The Babies

We have had the privilege of taking care of babies this summer--- Not the kind that giggle and cry, but the kind that you water and can eat :-) Baby Tomatoes! At least that's what we call them. When I first brought these dear plants home Mark helped put them in pots and water them. Every day since the two of us head out to the driveway to make sure they're OK. At the first appearance of buds I screeched with glee and Mark followed in suit (not really knowing what he was so excited about.) I explained that we had baby tomatoes. From then on our trips to the driveway have grown exponentially. Mark counts "the babies," waters "the babies," and encourages "the babies" in his sweet sing-song voice, "you growin' babies! you growin'! good job baby 'matoes!" I have a sneaking suspicion that the joy I get watching Mark lovingly "parent" his tomato plants is just a smidgen of the joy God gets watching us lovingly parent His precious children.

L.C. Graphic Designs---GIVEAWAY!!

Chris's Aunt Amy has a fantastic blog -- it's always been encouraging to read and fun to see pictures of their children and hear about their adoption process, but now it has a little more pizazz. They got a beautiful makeover by L.C. Graphic Designs. (Which you should totally check out at GrowingbytwoFeet). It's a brand new company created by a woman who Amy and Stephen met while on their adoption journey. Her work is gorgeous, but the BEST part of her company is that 70% of her profits go to widows and orphans!! She has a great giveaway going on to spread the word. You could win a free pre-made blog template for your own blog. Check it out here and SPREAD THE WORD!!!

Happy Father's Day, Chris!

Here's to a Dad who...

... makes changing diapers fun

...does silly dances to get some laughs

...wrestles, runs, and plays tirelessly

...makes up silly songs on the spot

...wakes his children at midnight to make shadow puppets on the wall

...knows all the tickle spots

...prays with his children and teaches them God's word

...encourages exploration

...comes up with fun nick names

...celebrates even the little milestones

...reads to his kids

...is always up for a trip to the park

... patiently teaches new skills

...plays Kan Jam with his 2 year old son

...makes warm milk in the morning

...uses his great imagination to tell stories and make up games

...is an amazing role model in his pursuit of Christ

Happy Father's Day, Chris!! I am so thankful that our children have you for a Dad!!

Uncle Ben's Graduation

In May we had the privileged of celebrating a very special brother and uncle: Ben. Ben is an avid reader, talented musician, intelligent, and purposeful young man. Our Mark loves having Uncle Ben rescue him from a nap or play guitar for him. And Lillia is blessed by all the snuggle time with Uncle Ben. He will be attending Grove City College in the fall--- needless to say, we have already bribed him for visits with food and laundry. Congratulations, Ben!! We look forward to seeing how the Lord uses you in this next phase of your life!

The verse he chose for his graduation cake:

"Look to the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." Habakkuk 1:5

Here's our graduate and his sweet girlfriend, Morgan. Such a cute couple!

Ben with his Mimi and Papa

We all enjoyed the festivities, the cake, and the excuse to be together...

Ben's 3 nephews dressed in matching outfits for the occasion :-) We HAD to capitalize on the opportunity!

Lillia and Gideon are only 2 months apart

notice the hand holding

last picture of our babies together before the Pfeils headed back to Japan--- it's a special treat to have babies so close in age!