Aylin Jewel's 2 Year Photo Shoot

We got in our CD of pics and I finally got to look at them, so here they are

Make a photo slideshow



My Consignment Steal/Aylin's Favorite Toy/Counting to 5

As a mom on a budget, I try to hit consignment sales for clothes and get hand-me-downs from friends.  Every now and then I find a great little toy; for example, two years ago, at about this time, we bought Aylin a rocking horse for $10 which we saved until Christmas.  This year I found this:

It is a Kleinway Baby Grand Piano, in great condition and I paid $15 for it!  A friend prompted me to do some research, and I found a few shops that sale these for $95-120, and on eBay and Craigslist they are $70 and up!  Let me just say this, this is the best $15 I have spent thus far; Jewel Bug LOVES her piano!

 

And finally a video to let you listen to what we have been hearing since Thursday night:

If you listen closely AJ counts to five at the end of the video, the sound only catches the 4 and the 5 because 1, 2, and 3 were so soft.  It was the first time I heard her count CORRECTLY!  Normally she just skips around all the numbers from 1-10, normally saying 6 and 7 three or four times.  I love this girl and love watching her play her new piano :)

"Out of the Mouth of Babes..."

A Memory Post for Our Family

(Images from NASA's website)

Tonight, as I was pulling Aylin Jewel out of her carseat, she looked up and REALLY noticed the stars.  We have pointed them out to her before, but tonight was just different.  I was in a hurry and my mind was racing about getting everything inside, taking care of the girls (dogs), getting the trash to the street, and getting AJ to bed because we have a long day tomorrow.  I was privately praying that she wouldn't give me too much trouble tonight because I was tired and just didn't want to fight with her (she's been fighting sleep for the last couple of weeks).  That is when I heard it...an awe-inspiring, "WOW!"  I stopped and watched a little sparkle in Aylin's eyes as she scanned the sky.  Finally, she looked down into my eyes and said, "Momma, whasat?" (What's that? for those of you who don't speak baby)  Her look of amazement just brought a smile to my face, and I forgot about everything else including the rush to get inside.

I replied, "Those are stars, aren't they beautiful?"  To which I got a "yes...bootiful stars," all the while gazing upward.  I then asked her if she wanted to watch the stars for a while, which gave me a very excited YES!  So we took our stuff inside, let the dogs out, gathered up the trash and took it to the street, and then sat down in the grass and looked up at the stars.

We talked about How God made the stars on day 4 and sang the creation song.  We talked about how the stars form shapes and some people use them to find their way home.  Then she wanted to sing the creation song again and we talked about the other things God made, each time coming back to the "bootiful stars." 

My Jewel Bug then said "pay" (pray) and folded her little hands together. Which at the time made me tear up and as I am writing this is making me full-out cry.  So we said a little prayer outside on our front lawn at 9:20 PM, and we thanked God for his creation and specifically for his beautiful stars.  And we asked that Mommy not be in such a rush, that I would take the time to look around (up in this case) and enjoy God's creation more often.  That I might SEE as my 2 year old SEES.

When we finished praying, I promised her that when she was older we would learn about the different constellations God put in the sky and how to find them.  She hugged my neck and said, "okay mommy."

I told her we needed to go inside and call her daddy (he is on a youth trip) before going night, night.  As we walked into the garage, she waved at the stars and said, "Bye, God stars!"

The first thing she said when her daddy said hello was "STARS!"  She then tried to tell him all about them in an excited blur of words I couldn't even understand. :)

I leave you with a couple of Bible verses that seem extra relevant tonight:

Matthew 21:16 "...Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." 

(This is where I got the title from)

Also read Deuteronomy 6:5-7, Matthew 18:1-10, and Mark 10:14-16

Vacation Bible School at the Southaven Church of Christ

On Sunday night we have an introduction lesson into our VBS followed by a Hot Dog Supper and Balloon Release.  To date, AJ has cried 2 out of the 3 years we have done this, so daddy always hides a back-up balloon for her.  Every now and then it pays to be the preacher's kid :)  The pic above is of her when she received her BUB (back-up balloon).  This year our theme was "In the Lord's Army" and had lessons about "Christian Armor," "Gideon's Army of 300," and "Joshua and the Battle of Jericho."

The guys, Ben and Eric, did an amazing job on the auditorium stage!

Shannon (Reed's mom) and I taught the Gideon lesson to 2-4th graders this year; this was our story room:

 

On the last night of VBS I sent Aylin to her class with my camera, here are some of the pics her teachers took:

 

Here are all the crafts Aylin brought home from the 3 nights of VBS.  They are the Christian Armor (at least wheat we made it home with), Gideon's torch, and Joshua's trumpet.  She had a great time in class, thanks to all her teachers and assistants!

And finally Aylin Jewel's Photo Memories from her 2011 VBS class:

Our 4th of July Weekend

I'm a little late with this post, but I just now emptied the pics off of my camera.  July 4th weekend is always a busy time, but very fun and uplifting as we do things with our Christian family.  The festivities start off with the Hernando Bike Parade which we attend with other members from the Southaven Church of Christ.  We had a smaller group than last year, but still had a GREAT time!

 

 

 

I had to add this picture below b/c it shows Aylin and Dean last year in Dean's wagon (L) and them this year in his wagon (R).  She rode her bike until she saw him, then decided she needed to ride in the wagon again.

This next collage is of Aylin goofing off with my camera, these are the pics she took:

The weekend ends with our annual congregational cookout at the Taubken's followed by fireworks at Snowden Grove.

 Aylin with her Nannie Chelle and Becka :)

 

And I leave you with this last pic of Aylin Jewel at LAST YEAR'S fireworks, when she took some of her first steps.  It's crazy how much things change in just a year!

Aylin Jewel's 2 Year Check-Up

This morning we went for AJ's 2 year check-up, and she did amazing!! She tee-teed and pooped in the potty as soon as we got there. She climbed on the scale all by herself and let the nurse weigh and measure her. Then climbed on top of the bus exam table, which coincidently she decided to carry in her own toy bus from her Nana (since we left Mickey at Nannie Chelle's). She let the dr. and a trainee examine her, and laughed and played with them the whole time. She told some baby crying next door to hush :) and even said "ahhhhh" for the doctors! Finally, here are her stats:
Head- 47.75 cm
Height- 34 in
Weight- 30 lbs
50% across the board, almost 75%

Laney Claire Comes To Play

The past two days we have had extra kids at the house and I have LOVED every minute of it!  Tonight, LC came to play while her mommy had a class to attend.

 These girls play so nicely together!

In fact the only time I had to get on to either one of them was right before LC was getting ready to leave, and it was bedtime for both girls!  Above: The girls playing house TOGETHER! Below: TAKING TURNS feeding Aylin Jewel's Baby Alive.  YES! I said these 2 yr olds were taking turns!

 Bobby and I decided to order some pizza for dinner, and the girls decided to share the Mickey tray while we watched Toy Story 1 :)

Popsicle Break

Breakfast for 3

Jennifer S brought breakfast over for us all :). Aylin was so excited to sit in a "big chair" and let JS have her "baby chair" - those were her words.

John Stephen Came to Play

So yesterday our friend JS came over and the two kids played and danced and screamed on and off for an hour until we went outside for an impromptu play date with the Etheridge's and Risters!

Sliding with the Risters

Aylin loves the Rister boys! Griffin is the first boy to tell AJ he loves her :) LOL! And almost everything we do AJ asks for Reed :) They came over for the surprise play date yesterday too. The "whoa" you hear me say is b/c Aylin almost flipped out of the pool when G came down.