Sleeping baby

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man. ~Rabindranath Tagore

Hats off to Rasa Bea

My little sweetie has had an infatuation with hats since last fall. You probably remember seeing the pictures posted here. She wore her winter hats around the house all winter long and I finally hid them away as the weather got warmer this spring. Now I'm all for independent style but this morning Rasa came running out of the bedroom with her dress on, a plush block used as a bracelet, one of my t-shirts draped around her neck and a fishing hat from last summer that's about five sizes too small plopped on the top of her head. How's that for fashionista!

Nana picked up the girls a couple of baseball hats while up north last week and delivered them last night. Rasa is in her glory again! Adia loves hers as well but doesn't have the attachment to it like Rasa does. Adia's has an owl on it so her excitement is in holding the hat and signing bird while she looks at it and smiles. Not Rasa Bea, she wants to wear her hat..everywhere we go! Rasa also has a love of apples as you can see.

Wordless Wednesday 12 - first popsicles

Wordless Wednesday 11 - Nana's dresses

The Sweet Things....

We're extremely happy and blessed to live very close to Nana and Papa (my parents). The girls have a close relationship with them and I love that Rasa and Adia get to be surrounded by people who love them on a regular basis. The girls are always over the moon when they see them and even though it's almost everyday it's like it's been weeks or months even! My Dad's been over all week because of the remodel I've been talking about (thanks Dad!). The girls have been distracting him while he's been working so hard to get things done for us.

Yesterday Papa was here all morning and then took a lunch break and had to come back. When he did he walked through the door smiling and held up a small white bakery sack saying, "I couldn't resist". Inside were two little cupcakes, decorated to the hilt. A special treat for his little sweeties.

To say they enjoyed them is an understatement!
















Thank you Papa!

Rain, rain go away!

We've been having an especially wet May this year. April was beautiful, warm and sunny, something very unusual in Minnesota. Normally we see snow in April and temps between 30 and 50 degrees and in May we get sunny skies and warmer temps....not this year!

I'm running out of ideas to keep the girls smiling. Luckily we have plenty of indoor playgrounds in the area so we've visited two of them in less than a week and actually I think we'll be heading there again today! The beauty of them is that once your kid starts running and climbing well they have a blast climbing through tubes, sliding and most have ball pits too. Yesterday while Rasa ran around to every different area screaming with glee, Adia hung out with four little boys her age and smiled and batted her eyes (Good Lord!). She even found a Dad that she wanted to adopt and trailed him around smiling and holding her arms up for him to pick her up - I don't think so! He was nice and friendly so no harm done. Royce was making jokes about how she tried to trade him in.

It doesn't help that we're in the midst of a bedroom remodel so our loft and hallway to the girls room is cluttered with furniture from the other room making it hard to run through. Hopefully we'll be finished up by Friday, just in time for better weather! Fingers crossed!

Wordless Wednesday 10

Happy Mothers Day!

In honor of my special day,
I'm thinking about you and how overjoyed I am to be dedicated to you.

I've learned so very much from you.

Adia you've reminded me to take absolute delight in the moment. To get excited and scream for joy! To share in my accomplishments and always express my happiness. To shoot for the stars and when I fall to brush myself off and try again with even more gusto and determination! To spin, dance and feel the music in my soul.

Rasa you've taught me to touch, feel and hold on tight. The ability to be so connected and yet so independent. The balance between, love, affection, fun and stillness. To dance, even if I don't know how or even if no one is looking. You've challenged me in ways I've never been challenged and I'm such a better person because of you.

Be faster than me, smarter than me, more unique than I am and have more fun than I did! Be kind. Share. Be still. Be thankful. Most importantly remember that you are loved more than words can describe, more than your heart can handle and more than you will ever know.

The only thing I'll ever want for Mothers Day is you.

I LOVE YOU.

16 months......

In case it isn't obvious with my lack of writing that I've got my hands full let me just say that the girls are VERY busy these days, running, jumping, climbing, exploring and if I turn away for one second one of them is dangling over the edge off of something! I do think I may be in the best shape of my life!

We're still doing Early Childhood Family Education every week during the day and really enjoying it. I've made friends there and so have the girls. I'm excited about a class we're taking this summer specifically for 11 - 20 month olds. It's going to be a lot of fun as all of the activities are geared for their own age. We're also doing a new music class during the day! Thursday morning the girls and I went for the first time and it's wonderful. It's a curriculum developed by a brilliant Woman with a PhD in music and child development. The class is 45 minutes long and it's all singing, dancing, bouncing, and instrument play. Rasa especially was really into it. I think they're both going to love it. I'm so fortunate to be home with them and able to do all of these Mommy things all day long.

Aside from our activities we spend every night at our local park. It's beautiful and the girls love the playground, grass and paths. I've got a double bike trailer that we'll use otherwise we just walk with the girls in the stroller. The girls and I usually check out one of the city parks during the day and all go as a family at night. Royce and I love walking and biking and just being outside together and it's really something we all look forward to.

Adia Carol:


One word: BUSY. Actually that word is a huge understatement with her but you have to experience her first hand in order to understand what I'm saying. She never stops climbing and she's good, I mean really good. She can push out the dinning room chair, crawl up on it and onto the table in less than 2 seconds and does a little victory dance and shout when she's dancing on the table top. She climbs the big kid playgrounds like nobody's business! We bought the girls this climbing cube with a slide and it stands about four feet tall. Five minutes after we put it together Adia climbs to the top of the one wall, stands up and holds both arms in the air while smiling (look Mom no hands!). I took it apart twenty minutes later. I'm not a helicopter Mom but this kid is going to kill herself on that thing!

She's a sign language master! I'm simply amazed with how those teeny tiny hands of hers are able to make signs so perfectly! I always know exactly what she wants which is wonderful because Adia is never frustrated trying to communicate her needs.

She's also a little comedian. She loves making faces at people and making them laugh which in turn makes her laugh. Adia wants to be the center of attention....just....like....her....Daddy....and Grandpa Oly!

Adia is a princess. She loves jewelry, bows and pink. I'll adjust.....I promise. She's got interesting taste in clothing and is always bringing me the strangest combinations to put on her. I know it's important so I always honor her requests and when I put her purple pin stripped pants with a pink pajama shirt on she smiles, screams and dances! You go little girl!

Rasa Bea (or RaBee as she calls herself):


Rasa is a little walking (running), talking dictionary. She learns new words everyday and is starting to talk in sentences, "my baby", "my Momma", "what is that?!", "I want this" etc. She...talks....nonstop! Her and Royce spend time together looking at animals and saying their names and what noises they make. She really loves doing that with him. The best was when she saw the little mouse in Good Night Moon and said "ishy" and then "ick!" Ahhh you wise little girl.

Rasa's would rather run, run, and run then climb. She doesn't want to stop and loves to run away from her Momma! Of course her and Adia insist on running in opposite directions!

She's very particular about what she wears. With Rasa I need to give her a choice in which shoes or shirt she wears otherwise she won't let it go. Royce didn't know that about the shoes and put her in a pair she didn't like that day. She cried and carried on trying to pull her shoes off even a half an hour later!

Rasa has a wisdom about her that's hard to explain. She knows things without ever being told. My Mom calls her an old soul. She's as intelligent and articulate as she is sweet. Her and I are always exchanging looks and laughs when Adia's entertaining us.

Oh does she love babies!! She talks about babies in her sleep! She loves real babies, baby dolls, baby animals anything baby.....she must get this from her Auntie Chrissy.

Just the two of them:
Rasa is Adia's mother hen. Always wanting her in her view, asking about her when she leaves the room, hugging her kissing her and reading to her. Adia is also very affectionate towards Rasa and when either of them gets hurt the other gets very visibly concerned. They have an amazing bond like no other I've ever seen. Actually for the first time last week I felt left out. We were out running around at the soccer fields and the two of them found a nook in the soccer goal. They sat next to each other and were kicking their feet and giggling. There was only a place for each of them and they were so happy to be there without me but together. I'm always happy to see them demonstrate their independence from me but something about them doing that together is even more endearing to me. Almost like it's ok when they don't have me they will still always have each other.

Both girls are eating well. I figured out how to carefully offer snacks at specific times so as to not ruin their appetites for meals. They eat a wonderful variety of fresh foods, love pesto, tofu, brown rice, Mexican, Italian and Middle Eastern foods!! It's so wonderful to cook for them every day and I get a great deal of satisfaction putting healthy homemade meals in their little tummies.

That's it in a nutshell for last month. My house is usually a mess, my laundry is starting to pile up and there are toys and books in every nook and cranny of my home but there is never one day that I wish I was anywhere else. I am so fulfilled I'm bubbling over.

Wordless Wednesday 9