My Sweet Girls!

I finally got the girls to let me get some pictures of them ... together!

Thanks, Mom, for the cute matching outfits!


(Oh, and if you're on FB, you've already seen these. Sorry!)

Ben's in the background making them laugh.

Ella is trying to pose like Avery. I love this one!

Big, long sisterly smooch

Sort-Of Birthday

Happy 100 weeks of life, Ella!! You bring incredible joy and love to our lives and are a true blessing to us all. We love you with all our hearts!!





(No I haven't been tracking the weeks, but apparently Circle of Moms is, so I thought that was pretty cool to know.)

Love and Logic?

I was trained in Love and Logic as a teacher before I had kids, then took a bible study on it several years later when Avery was little. In theory, it's a great principle: The child takes ownership of her actions, faces a consequence that is logical to the offense, and learns to make responsible decisions on her own without seeing the parent as the bad guy.

I really do try to use this idea when it seems appropriate and makes sense (oh yeah ... and when I can remember to keep my cool!)

This morning at MOPS, we had a wonderful speaker talk to us about Love and Logic. With it fresh on my mind, I realized I had the perfect opportunity to test it out just 5 minutes after we got home.

Ella had gone into the pantry in search of "treats" as she and Avery like to do. She spotted the bag of flour right in front of her and, pulling it down, immediately started asking for "gookie". My first instinct was to say, "No! Put that back." But then I realized that the front of the bag had pictures of cupcakes on it, so that's why she thought there were cookies in there.

So...Love and Logic.

Why not let her look in, even try it if she wanted? Then she would figure out on her own that some things are not treats and don't taste good. The beauty of it would be that I wouldn't have to be the bad guy, telling her no, listening to her whine, making her cry.

Of course Avery wanted in on it, too. Perfect, I thought.





Uh, nope! TOTALLY backfired on me. They loved it.



At one point, Avery even asked me for a spoon.



Great, so now I have one more thing that they like and are going to try to sneak out of the pantry at any given opportunity.

Bath Time

Giving baths is something that Ben and I take turns doing. I am so thankful to have a husband who is willing to do this, especially since it's not my favorite activity. In fact, neither one of us particularly enjoys it. Usually our conversation sounds something like this:

"It's bath night, isn't it?"
"Really? Already?"
"Yep."
"So it's your turn, right?"
"No, I thought it was your turn."
"Nope, I did it last time. Remember?"
"You sure?"
"Yep."
Big sigh. "OK ... let's go, girls."

I'm not really sure why neither one of us loves doing this. Maybe it's the way we have to sit on our knees and awkwardly reach over the tub. Or maybe it's the way Ella cries when you wash her hair, or Avery fights to be in the front. I don't know.

But we forget there's a fun part, too. The part where the the kids play, splash, and use their imaginations. This is the good stuff.

Randoms

Request for pics have been noted, so here you go, Lynn! Random stuff I had on my computer of my favorite people!

Our trip to the zoo for John and Reese's birthday party. It was a lot of fun for the girls, but I think Ben was the one who was the most into seeing all the animals.

Nap time for Daddy and Avery.

Nap time for Daddy and Ella.

Apparently Daddy likes to nap a lot!