Pure joy!

Bullies already?

We are having our first experience with bullies and it makes this mommy very sad! I didn't think we would have to deal with this yet, especially at preschool! Anyway, Adrianna has been coming home for the past few weeks a little sad. She has been telling me that some boys in her class are hitting her, kicking her, telling her they don't like her, and being very mean. I kept asking her what she was saying to them and she keeps telling me that she is being nice.
I picked her up today and she was very somber. She was even trying to hide from me while I was waiting for her. She was very mean to Eliza on the way out and she was also having a very bad attitude. Surprisingly I stopped to think before I got on her case and wondered if the boys were picking on her again today.

Well, come to find out they were. This really bothers me! I don't want my child to ever have to feel what it feels like to be made fun of. I don't want to imagine her standing there wondering why she is being picked on. I don't want her to ever question the beautiful person God is molding her to be. But I know it's inevitable. I know she will have to deal with the cruel people in this world. It doesn't mean I want her to! I just don't know what to tell her besides reassuring her that God loves her, that He made her beautiful and special, that there will be mean people in this world but we still have to be kind to them.
Believe me, this mama bear will come out! She has to learn how to deal with these things I know!
She did look at me and say "Mom, the bible says, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. I was nice to them and See, I did what the bible says!". I of course started crying and she asked me why. I told her that it makes me sad when people make fun of you but that I was proud of her for doing the right thing. Jesus was definitely honored today by what she said.

So how do you deal with bullies? I will be doing some reading tonight about that! If you have any experience with them or things that worked, please let me know!
I did mention it to her teacher and she is going to keep her eye out for it.

I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with these grown-up issues with my 5 year old!

With a moo moo here and a moo moo there....

This post is definitely going to show what a city girl I am! Those of you who have ever been on a dairy farm or near one will probably think that this experience is the norm. Well, not for me! I have never been on a dairy farm! It's not that I don't enjoy farms, I just never had the opportunity to go to one. Adrianna's class took a field trip to one last week and at first I did not want to go but it turned out to be very fascinating! Yes, we have all seen cows, but it was so neat to see how they are used for just the thing that God made them for....in this case, MILK!

We went into the milking parlor first and immediately saw the back end of many cows just standing in a row. Their udders are cleaned off and then they are hooked up to the milking machine. This farm prides itself on having very sanitary conditions and very clean milk, which I'm sure most farms do! It was so cool to see the cows walk in single file and go right to their stall. I guess some of the cows even get upset if they are not in their right stall! Each cow is milking 3x a day and they each product 8 or 9 gallons a day. They once had a cow that produced 20 gallons in a day!
The girl giving the tour said that their farm has 1250 cows and they could produce enough milk to supply 4 meijer stores. It's somewhere around 16,000 gallons a day! Wow...

Next we went to the calf barn and saw some cute but not so little baby calves. We even got to feed them a bottle of water! They went nuts. Adrianna found a very thirsty one and it was slobbering all over everything because it couldn't get the water in fast enough!





This city girl even took a shot at it!








This little calf was born that morning! I didn't know this but females only produce milk after they have a baby. The baby is taken away right away but I never heard the reason why. Anyway...the male cows are sold to a beef farm.








Adrianna also got to have her first taste of chocolate milk! I know, I know, she has never had chocolate milk! Mainly because I didn't want her to just want the chocolate when she was little because it does taste so much better than white! And she is mildly allergic to it. She loved it of course!





After their snack they got to go in a hay maze and play in the corn pit. Such a fun day!

The only thing I didn't like was that we smelled like cow poo for the rest on the day and we were only there for 2 hours!

More Entertainment!

We are trying to give Caleb lots of opportunities to build his neck strength because he is still a little wobbly. I borrowed this exersaucer from my friend Sarah and he loves it! Thanks so much Sarah!

But I think the girls are enjoying it just as much as he is!

Easter at Keith andJen's

So I am a little late in posting about Easter but better late than never!
We first had lunch with Shawn's parents right after church. Then we headed to South Bend to spend the day with Keith and Jen. We went to dinner at Carrabba's which is our absolute favorite restaurant! The food just melts in your mouth! (but not if you get a salad or a pizza!) :)
Then we headed over to their house for the day.

I just love this picture of the 5 of us! I just look at it and see how blessed I am!



We also planned an Egg hunt for the kids. Colin was looking at that green egg and saying "I can't pick that up". I asked him why and he said their was a bug on it! I looked down and sure enough there was a tiny little ant on it! So funny!





The kids of course got candy but my mom also hid some pennies, bracelets, and other trinkets in the eggs!











My mom also gave them a basket full of goodies too. The playdoh was a big hit with Eliza. Sorry about your carpet Jen!

We had a great day celebrating the Resurrection with our family!

Daddy's in Disney so we went to Detroit!

Shawn took his band to Disney World over Spring Break so we decided to take a little trip to Detroit to see family. My mom went with us and it was so good to get away! The kids did amazing in the car and it was a really great trip. We stayed with my grandma and grandpa for 2 nights. It always amazes me that no matter how much I try and consolidate our stuff we always have so many bags to bring! Between the pack-n-play, diaper bag, bedding, and bags for each of us for our clothes we might as well stay a week! I think my grandparents would go crazy! I felt bad that we had to take up most of the rooms in their house but they are very gracious and I LOVE going there! It always so relaxing there and I reminisce of the many times we would go there growing up. Lots of memories in that house! There is just something about it that I can't put my finger on. Needless to say, it was fun doing the normal things of our life, just in a different place.


We had lots of time to just be together. You bet we had out the coloring books, movies, and reading books. The girls also loved jumping on their mini trampoline!
I just love this picture of my grandpa spending time with the girls.





Lovin on my grandma! I am so blessed to still have her in my life. She is definitely a spiritual mentor to me!







My Grandma planned an Easter Egg Hunt for the girls and Alex. It was so fun to watch them scour the yard for their 6 eggs!
Alex was so good with the girls and they just love her to pieces!










She even had baskets for them to put all their loot in!








Caleb was the most amazing baby! He was so content and hardly make a peep! He slept well and was content most of the time. This often means that when we get home he will be crazy!






A loving gaze for my Great-Papa!

GOODBYE DIAPERS!

As you know, we have been working really hard with Eliza to get her potty trained. We started a few months ago with the typical steps you take to train a child to go potty.

1. Reading books about going to the potty, which she has memorized!
2. Watching videos about going to the potty
3. Taking her in to sit on the potty every time we go and every 20 min. throughout the day.
4. If she does go in her diaper, especially poo, we would take her into the bathroom and dump it in the toilet to show her where it goes.
5. Putting undies on her and letting it drip down her leg, and even putting undies on under her pull-ups so she could feel wet.
6. Buying Princess undies to motivate.
7. Promising candy to motivate.

It just wasn't clicking for the longest time. She didn't even mind if she was wet or poopy. A few times recently either she had a major poo or Caleb did and we would show it to her and mention how gross it was. She even said "Eww that's disgusting" and gag! She wasn't even showing she wanted the candy either.
On Monday of this week she got up and said "I have to go potty" and she has been going ever since! She wants to go by herself (so maybe that was the key) and she even washes her hands by herself! Now she wants the candy and is so excited to go. Adrianna has helped her a few times also.
This morning we went to take Adrianna to preschool and Eliza went without a diaper! She was dry and even went at Target! We let her pick out some new undies and she picked Princess, of course! At nap time today she started crying because she didn't want her diaper on. So as of right now, she is sleeping with no diaper!

I can't tell you have excited I am! Of course, all you other mom's out there understand! It is so cool to see your child accomplish something and see it click in their little minds.
We are just doing diapers at night and we'll see if she wakes up dry from her nap!

This is going to help the budget A LOT!