Featured Post - Allergy Elimination Journey

Allergy Answered Prayer

Today is a big day in our household. After 2 1/2 years of struggling with allegies our baby boy is Allergy FREE! This is our journey to hea...

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Monthly Memories

Today I am 25 Months old!

I am no longer doing the Monthly Milestones because she is at a point where she is doing and saying about everything! So instead I want to start to journal monthly memories we have of her- funny stories, silly routines and just any moment that we want to remember.

1. Her favorite words are "Be Careful!" She even says it to herself, when climbing out of her booster seat or coming down the stairs.

2. She has this routine at nighttime before she goes to bed. When one of us is laying down with her she will go through a list of things that she wants such as fruit snacks and say "I want fruit snacks" to which we reply, "You can have fruit snacks tomorrow." This routine continues until she runs out of things that she wants. One night was especially precious as she came to the end she said, "I want snuggles" and her Daddy said, "Now that is something you can have right now!" And she rolled over and put her arms around him!

3. She likes to keep her Bible in her Princess Aurora treasure box. We began reading the Bible together and memorizing it, we are working on Psalm 23.

4. She like to play with play-doh, school (a magnetic box of letter and cards), tea party, and color.

5. She started going to the 2 year old class at church. One week after she had gone for the first time we were talking on Sunday morning about all the people she would see at church and she said, "I See Jesus at church." Just goes to show she was listening during her class!

6. She loves to sing, "This is the Day, This is the Day that the Lord has made" with her instruments!

7. She likes Grapes. Today she told me so. She said, "I like Grapes!" She also loves fruit snacks, candy, chocolate milk, and Hannah (Montana) yogurt.

8. She loves to say "No," what two year old doesn't? We are working on this one, along with being obedient the first time asked.

9. She has started to throw temper tantrums...even at the store....last night at Waldenbooks in the mall because she wanted a princess coloring book. We were good parents and DID NOT buy her the coloring book!(I believe this is payback for all the temper tantrums I threw as a kid!)

10. She is a good shopper, this seems to contradict the last one, but overall she is so well behaved in the grocery stores, is friendly to everyone she meets and says thank you when they give her a cookie at the bakery!

11. She counts from 1-10 with little assistance and can go to 20 with a little more help!

12. She continues to be a little chatterbox and blesses our heart. We are constantly amazed at the thing she says, what she understands, and the energy she has.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Bedtime

Bedtime
ABC Wednesday

My college friend and blog buddy, Becky, inspired my video today. In her post, My Favorite Things, last Thursday she asked if anyone had any special night time tuck in routines. Well, Becky, here is my answer. I absolutely love our routine. It really is our family time and is the BEST!

Our routine always starts off with a game, usually hide and seek, but sometimes Daddy wrestling Annabelle or giving her a blankey ride. Then we brush her teeth and read some books. Her favorite books lately are Fish Kisses, Princess Couting and Alphabet book, Disney Anthology, and her Bible Flip book. After Mommy and Daddy read a book, she then takes her Bible out of her treasure box and we've been reading Psalm 23 together this month. She knows the last words to the first 3 stanzas. Next, we pray together as a family. Lastly, one of us stays to stuggle her. She usually lets us know which one she wants for that night, "I snuggle Mommy or I snuggle Daddy." Sometimes as you'll see in the video I actually fall alseep with her!

Note: The background music is from the CD that Annabelle has fallen asleep to since she was born!

(Sorry the video ends abruptly. I didn't realize it until it was all finished and uploaded to YouTube!)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Agida


Agida: Italian-American slang for heartburn but it can also mean mental aggravation. The word is Italian-American slang derived from the Italian "agitare" meaning "to agitate".

I felt agida as I watched the inaguration with my students yesterday. I was really hurt by President Obama's comment: "Schools are failing our children." I wondered as I sat there with 23 young minds (who probably started wondering if their school/teacher was failing them), if they fail, will it truly be because of me?

Teachers work so hard to help America's kids. I've worked as a teacher or sub in 18 different school districts, and they are filled with teachers who are working hard for their kids. And it's becoming harder and harder just to be a teacher. Josh has said to me this year that if he had go through what I have to in the state of Ohio to teach he would have quit by now! And he has a teaching degree just like me!

So many times I've watched heart-broken as kids struggle in school because parents are too self-focused to help their kids succeed. No matter what a child's natural intelligence level is, they succeed if they have parents who are willing to put their own selfish desires aside for the sake of their kids. Some kids are moving back and forth between two houses every week, others have parents who are in and out of jail, or who simply don't care enough to even ask their child whether or not they've done their homework. And yet it's the schools that are failing?

I am also frustrated because a lot of teachers put him into Office. I just got my NEA magazine and it was littered with Obama's picture and how much the teachers helped. It is just frustrating then to have him say we are failing. Some might say I'm taking his comment too personally--but the overriding point of his speech was that it's the government's job (federal/state/local) to solve all our problems. The message he is sending is basically, "Just sit back and let the schools take care of raising your child for you, and if they don't, make sure you complain." Someone has rightly said that the new mantra is, "Ask not what your country can do for you... demand what your country do for you." I love my job and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I think it's time we place more responsibility on families to make wise decisions for the sake of their children. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be hearing a message of responsibility from our leadership for at least four years.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

ABC Wednesday -Z

Z is for Zoo


What I love about ABC Wednesday is that it allows to me to blog things that I didn't have time for at the time.


Before Christmas we went to the Zoo to see the Lights before Christmas. It was absolutely beautiful. Now while we were there we were NOT planning on Annabelle getting her picture taken with Santa because she has been so shy and nervous when we would see him. But this Santa was so sweet and kind and convinced us to get into the picture with her and it worked!


Enjoy the Smilebox. There are a couple of videos, including when she walked up to Santa!


Click to play
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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Christmas Catch Up

Well, here it is our Wilson Christmas Video Montage. It is 7 minutes long, but fun to watch. Especially when she gets her slide! I recommend pressing the play button and as soon as it starts loading press pause. A red bar should then go across the bottom. When it is all red then press play and it should play continuously. Does this make sense?

Monday, January 5, 2009

ABC Wednesday-Y

Y is for .....
Do you see the Y in this picture? Y words we know
Did you notice the color of her clothes and bow?

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Christmas....finally

(Click on images to view them larger)
When we arrived at the Wilsons they had a lot of snow. So that night we put Annie in her snowsuit and headed out for her first sled ride. Unfortunately, she wasn't too thrilled. Maybe next year!


On Christmas Eve we headed up to New York to be with the Mosher side of the family. We had such a blessed time singing Christmas carols and hymns. Josh even read a Christmas story from Grandma's story book. It was fun watching Annie with her two twin cousins. They had a lot of fun together.

Christmas Eve night ended by recieving our PJs from Mom & Dad Wilson, hanging our stocking, writing our letter to Santa (Yes, Josh and Emily still write one), and leaving Santa some treats, which included Cheesecake! My Smilebox starts us out there.

Just so you know between Sharon, Emily and I 410 videos and pictures were taken in the 3 days we were visiting, so it was EXTREMELY difficult to narrow this down to one smilebox. I will be doing a Video Montage soon!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Top Ten

Top Ten Photographs of 2008, hosted by The Roost blog. My friend, Becky, is always finding these creative ways to post pictures. If you haven't yet checked out Becky's blog check it out. She always has hilarious stories and thoughtful quotes! Thanks for giving me another reason to blog!

As you see, I started with the present and worked my way backwards through the year. I tried to use pictures that I have not posted to keep it interesting. Looking through all my pictures brought back so many memories and reminded me of what a BIG growth developmentally this was for Annabelle!

Click on any of the pictures to see them larger

Christmas Morning
This is the best feeling in the world! November
Border Battle Game
Ohio State vs. Michigan

October
Halloween at Daycare
(see Annie all the way to the left?)
September
Summer
MayApril
(I love the way she sleeps so freely!)March
(Ready to shop!)
February
She looks like she is about to fall asleep hereJanuary

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Turning Two

Yesterday Annabelle turned two. She has been the greatest joy in our life. We are so grateful for her energy and what a happy spirit she has. She lights up any room. She is a chatterbox like her Mom, and thoughtful like her Dad. She is a friend to everyone she meets and is always willing to share a hug or give a kiss.

If you are a frequent reader of our blog you may remember awhile back when Annie was 7 months old we were told she had Vesicoureteral Reflux. If you want to read about you can read my blog post from August 2007. She is to go in once a year to see if she out grew it, and her test was set for her birthday. The great news was that she has outgrown this and no longer needs to be on medicine everyday! We are praising the Lord for this great news!

After her test we went to Winter Wonderland. We were then going to take her to this great kids restaurant named 2 Toots, but when we got there they had shut down their business! We were so bummed but decided to go to Burger King which is one of Annabelle's favorite places.

This smilebox is of her Birthday Day!

Click to play Annabelle's 2nd Birthday
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This is of her party today, January 1st!
Click to play Annabelle's Party
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