5 Months Old!

Taking these pictures were a little bit more challenging than last month...Joanna is becoming more and more active, especially when she is excited. She has rolled over onto her belly a few times, giggles at the antics of her sister, and loves to play with the bird on her exersaucer. She's all smiles and screams these days. When we were still not sure what her name would be, my family called Joanna "Precious Forever Savage". Long story, but I must say, she is precious!

Click here for 4 months. Click here for Phoebe at five months.

Phoebe is 2!

Phoebe turned two years old yesterday. Our little girl is a gift from God. Her name, meaning bright and shining, truly suits her. Within her two years of life, she has moved from Kentucky to Ohio, from an apartment to a house, and from having a room of her own to sharing it with her baby sister. My days at home with her are filled with new words and phrases (on Friday she asked me "check email?"), new skills (including flushing the toilet and washing her hands), hugs and kisses, blowing bubbles, reading books, playing with toys, looking at pictures and playing with friends.

Each evening when Greg comes home, Phoebe tries to tell him everything she did that day, condensed into the equivalent of about two sentences. She loves bath time in the big tub, dancing to music with Mommy, seeing squirrels and birds in our back yard, and helping in the kitchen. And she loves elephants, so we had a little elephant birthday party for her yesterday.

Greg found a great little book for 2-3 year olds that we started with her yesterday: "Truth and Grace Memory Book." It has scripture and hymns for us to teach her, as well as questions and answers to help her learn biblical truth. The first question is "Who made you?" and the answer is "God made me." I'm looking forward to teaching her these basic truths.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday. Phoebe celebrated with her friend Stephanie and her 5th cousin Kendal. Thanks to Regina for making the cake!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 1:17

Visits!

We have been blessed to have out-of-town friends and family come to visit us in our new location over the past few months. It is great fun to show them our home and introduce them to our surroundings. It also helps us get to know the area better!

"Ausin" Jenna came back in April and got to see Phoebe's favorite nearby park (with her beloved swings and slides) and my favorite place to walk.


 
We also had a week-long visit from Nonnie, during which Phoebe's friend Zeb was here. Zeb's Daddy is also a Tennessee fan, and Phoebe has inherited some of his orange baby-wear. For mor details from Nonnie's visit, click here and here.
 

 

My Mom and Dad were here the day before Mother's Day. My Dad planted a beautiful assortment of perrenials in our back flower bed, and Mom helped in many ways around the house, including coaching me on making the pie crust (for which I'm very thankful!).

Next came our friend Emily from Louisville for the week. She was a huge help with Phoebe and around the house, and we got to discover Columbus a bit together on the 1.5 sunny days we had that week! Her Mom Kay was also able to visit for a couple days. 

One of my teammates from my second year in Freiburg, Germany, Eric, stopped by with his wife, Sarah, and their four children, James, twins Fritz and Hans, and baby Elizabeth. Phoebe has a box of jewelry from her Great-grandma Tyo, and when the boys saw it, they were so excited about the "treasure"!

"Ausin" Erin also stopped by on her way through Columbus. Phoebe showed her how good she is getting at blowing bubbles.

We are now looking forward to celebrating Phoebe's 2nd birthday with her grandparents next weekend, when they are all in town for Joanna's baby dedication at church and for Father's Day!

My Favorite Mother's Day Picture

I think this picture deserves it's very own blog post...

Mother's Day

Though it's a few weeks late, I still wanted to make a Mother's Day post. I was blessed to have my Mom and Dad here the day before, and then was able to spend Sunday day and evening with Greg and our daughters. I am challenged every day to love our girls as God wants me to, and that is only possible with the help of the Holy Spirit. He is a gift to all who put their faith in Jesus (see verse from Acts below). The Bible says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22). Left to myself, I am impatient, short-tempered...basically the opposite of the above list. God should get the glory for anything good in my life.

One very fun Mother-daughter activity that has come about over the past weeks is that Phoebe has started helping me in the kitchen. She pulls a chair over to the island in our kitchen and says "Make dinner?." To keep it fun, I need to be okay with a little mess and a little slower pace for meal prep. As the weeks go by, we find more and more things for her to do in the kitchen. Though I'm sure other Mommies have thought of all of these things, here are a few of the things Phoebe does to help: puts cheese and pepperoni on a pizza, helps me pour ingredients into the bowl, stirs, shakes, transfers chopped items into a bowl, makes foil balls while Mommy works (that's just to keep her busy while I'm cutting or doing something more difficult), and, of course, samples the food. Phoebe is also helping me unload the dishwasher by stacking plastic plates and cups. I got some of these ideas from a blog I started following called Passionate Homemaking (thanks to a friend), but most of them came from watching my Mom and Mother-in-law engage Phoebe in helping them while they were here.

L: Phoebe helping me roll out the crust for our Mother's Day strawberry rhubarb pie.
R: Phoebe and Greg feeding the ducks cheerios in Schiller Park in German Village (my requested destination for Mother's Day).

Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."