Hi Blog

Truly, this has become a once a month event for me, but thats ok.  Once a month is fun too.  We went on vacation for 2 weeks and have been home for almost 2 weeks now and I am still trying to get my ducks in a row, or my kids in order.  It seems like lately I have had a spiritual/child rearing amnesia.  I seem to forget God's goodness, His control over my days, His presence and strength with me.  And on the child side,  I feel like I've forgotten how to do anything!  I have so many good resources for help yet I feel like I've done nothing but get frustrated lately!!  Part of it may be God stripping me of a feeling of reliance on those resources (because when things are going well and the resources are working,  I can find in myself a self righteous pride) and part of it is just being on vacation for 2 weeks and...I think that explains everything!  Resources are good, a right view of God is good.  God is merciful and gracious, because even our best efforts are filthy rags.  

So what are some of these frustrations??  Well there is a little potty training happening which means lots of time spent in the bathroom, a lot of bribery, a lot of talk about pee pee.  We even have an app for that.  Ha! Patty the potty calls and says "it's time to go potty!"  I love it :)  Too bad Claire has totally figured out how to check the box for "I went pee pee in the potty" and press continue which leads her to a celebration - whether she actually went or not.  So as I mentioned we spend a lot of time in the bathroom and this really has me rethinking the color on the walls, I think it might be time for a fresh look!  In the meantime I hope I can grow in my patience during this potty process and not worry if we can't go swimming this summer because of my diaper - laden child.  And then there's an almost 4 year old who is scared to wash her hands by herself because the water is too loud, or "can you get me something else to eat because this peanut butter and jelly is gross (even though she ate 2/3 of it all ready).  She didn't verbalize that last part though.  Or a random tantrum for whatever reason,...ahhhh.  But even as I write this I think, man, they are so worth it and all of small trials (light and momentary they REALLY are, even if it doesn't feel like it) are truly part of God's grace in our lives!!

There have been some joys too, which would be wrong not too mention because after all this is like my digital scrapbook.  This is where I write down funny, cute and random things so don't mind me when you read it and think "guess you had to be there" because that is probably the case.  But if I don't write it here I won't write it anywhere sadly!  Claire has made quite an attachment to her yellow zebra blankie.  She calls it her blank-blank.  She has a lot of words she can't say correctly, so she takes the beginning and repeats it.  Like flower is flow-flow, napkins are nap-nap, and yogurt is yope-yope.  And yope-yope doubles for sour cream because the taste is quite similar...?  Anyway the blank blank goes with her everywhere, including when she sits at the table for meals.  She needs it behind her or wrapped around her.  So needless to say last night she went to bed with a blank-blank that may have doubled as a nap-nap, some taco sauce, yope-yope, the nail polish she spilled...I'll wash it today!  She also loves to say "she's so cute" about other kids.  Regardless of age, gender, real cuteness or anything.  

Sophie has been super interested in the human body.  I think this stemmed from a visit with a friend who had a book about the human body, and now Sophie is hooked.  She knows all about the lungs, the small intestines, taste buds on your tongue, etc.  Today we are going to read about the heart.  She went from wanting to be an animal trainer a year ago to a doctor now.  I just love how she has such a desire to learn, and how she soaks up so much information, and how her interests change.  I can't wait to tell her one day what she wanted to be at certain ages/what she loved to do.  I will obviously need the help of the blog, lets pray I have it saved and printed somewhere because otherwise I will not remember.  

And that is it for now.  I leave you with a video of Claire playing the xylophone with a steak at a children's museum in NYC.  

She's 2!

I am still having a hard time believing that my baby is 2, I think I had the same problem when she turned 1 last year.  I can't continue to be in denial every year, right?  They're just so precious at each stage, I want to savor it - except for the less than precious moments, those I want to erase...mostly because I end up seeing my ugliness and sinful self in it!

But I press on, to celebrate Claire!  She's 2 years old,  27lbs, and I can't quite remember her height but her pediatrician thinks she'll be anywhere from 5'4" to 5'6."  Apparently, you can figure out how tall a person is going to be by doubling their height at age 2, plus or minus an inch.  Didn't think you'd learn something here on my blog, did you?  :)  Or am I the only one who didn't already know that?  Don't answer that.

She's a fun loving little lady.  She continues her umbrella obsession.  She got one for her birthday and don't you dare pick it up, or there will be a scream of "miiiiiiiiine" coming from those sweet little lungs.  :)  She is a little obsessive and possessive with her umbrella, clearly an idol of hers.  She loves to dance, and will dance around the room saying "dance pawty, dance pawty"...it's kinda hilarious.  She is a girl on the go go go.  Really, she has a lot of energy.   She can also be really sweet and tender hearted at moments but mostly she's just running around all the time!  Can you see my yawns through your computer as I write?  It's hard keeping up with an energetic 2 year old!!  :)

Easter & Raindrops

I know it was over a week ago, but I didn't want to forget the nice Easter we had!  And since I don't blog often enough, I have to couple posts together :)

Amidst all the rain, we enjoyed quality time with Bill's parents who flew in to see us.  As I mentioned there was a lot of rain, and accompanying  the countless raindrops was a lot of chocolate.  Man, we ate a lot of chocolate.  Overall, it was a nicely paced weekend - we really enjoyed it all.

Why can't we get 1 picture where everyone is looking in the same direction??

And speaking of raindrops, Claire is currently obsessed with the song "if all the raindrops." And along with the song obsession, she likes to carry this little umbrella around, and when she is watching the raindrops video (it's a terribly made silly songs video) she puts the umbrella over her head.  Isn't it a funny coincidence that she loves this song while we are enjoying so. much. rain?

Looking at the rain filled river from Eden Park

She calls her umbrella "my wain-dops"

The Junklesons & Our Little Latina

You may remember me blogging about Sophie's imaginary brother, Andy.  Well meet the next door neighbors, the Junklesons.  I can't help but chuckle at this.  Sophie made it up all by herself and she named them the Junklesons!  I hope that's how you spell it :)  Jasmine Junkleson is her friend, she's 9.  Her brother, Aladdin is 2.  He's just a baby she says, a baby who can't watch Veggie Tales or The Incredibles yet, only Baby Einstein.  Wonder where she got the names...?

Anyway, I love her imagination.  We are constantly playing something or being some characters from a show or story.  I'm never just Mommy during the day, but rather a mouse, a princess, an evil step mother or an evil sea witch.  What a fun age.  I love the experiences with a first child...you really don't know what stage is coming next but it's such a joy to go through it with them for the first time.

Of course there is no less joy or surprise with the second child, either.  Claire is becoming more and more of a little person.  She is in a very "me, my, mine" stage.   A little on the selfish side at the moment...What cracks me up is her line-up of sentences.  The 3 basic sentences she has are: "I need...", "I want..." and "I like..." whatever the item is.  The best part is when she doesn't actually like something instead of saying I don't like, she still says "I like" while shaking her head no.  

She has a couple of words that she says backwards, and this is where the Latina part comes in.  She can't say Yes, and instead says "si."  It sounds like saying yes in Spanish.  She is constantly saying "si mama."  It's so a part of her vocabulary right now, we just laugh.

And I leave you with some pictures from our super sunny sunday!

We tried to have a picnic lunch in the backyard.

This picture just cracks me up.  Clearly, she is re-fueling during our visit to the playground which she calls  play-town. 

Enjoying the playground, and no the Junklesons weren't at the neighborhood playground this time.

Non stop fun

Visitors, Visitors, Visitors!

Since March 15th, we've had several sets of visitors - all that we thoroughly enjoyed being with!


We began with a visitor from Texas - the manager that Bill worked for while in TX was in town for a meeting so he graciously accepted our offer to have dinner with us.  The girls charmed him with their sweetness,  and it made him reminisce of the time when his kids were younger.  We were glad to have a little Texas reunion!


Later that same evening, we were anxiously waiting for Nana (Bill's mom) to arrive.  She got here right before the girls' bedtime and they were thrilled to see her!  We're thankful for Skype, but other than Skype we had not seen Nana in person since way back in August!  We had a lot of fun.  She brought clothes, games, St. Patty's "decor" and more.  We took our first zoo trip of the season.  We shopped a little, Sophie and Nana did puzzles, and we all played outside because the weather was amazing!  As usual, we had a great visit and are already waiting for Nana to come back!  

Sophie and Nana - don't they look pretty?

Here we are, all decked out in St. Patty's attire courtesy of the Christmas Tree Shops and Nana :)

Sophie modeling one of her new outfits

Claire and her "cheese" face - she looks more constipated than like she's smiling for  the camera though

And Claire getting use out of our new accessories

 In between visits we were able to visit a family here in Kentucky we had not seen since way before we moved to TX.  I met Yukie (from Japan) at a library story time when both of our girls were 1.  We realized that our husbands work together and have gotten together several times.  Well it had been quite a while since our last visit, and it just so happened that Bill and her husband were on the same business trip so it was a perfect opportunity for the rest of us to get together.  I introduced them to Jet's Pizza...only the best for my friends. :)  Yes, this is a plug for Jets.  We LOVE it.  But more than the pizza, we loved spending time with Yukie and her kids.  Her daughter and Sophie really enjoyed each other.  We look forward to more playdates with our sweet Japanese friends!

The next day, my family - mom, dad, and 2 grandmas came in to town.  Another great time.  The kids definitely entertained everyone, they really loved playing with Dziadek (pronounced ja - dek, Polish for Grandpa).  My grandmas especially were amazed at their energy level... :)  As usual, we did a little shopping and took time to celebrate my mom's birthday, a couple days early. After they left, Bill came back from Mexico - perfect timing!  

That is my mom playing dress up with the girls (you're probably thinking that she looks too young to be my mom, she gets that all the time, a problem I would like to have one day!)

Fast forward one week, and our last set of visitors.  Our friends, Josh and Jessica, and their sweet baby Caroline came in a for a visit.  It was our first time to meet Caroline.  She was perfect and sweet, and the girls adored her, at times a little too much :)  but Caroline was a good sport.  We got out to the Levee,  walked on the purple people bridge (though Sophie was not convinced that it was purple), had some Jet's for dinner (can you tell we like it?) watched basketball, and chatted about their jobs as Apple salesmen...hehe...we really had a great time!

Here are the girls with Caroline, Sophie had made a "bed" for her 

We're thankful for family and friends to spend time with!!  Who wants to come next??  

Busy Times

Last time I blogged we were sick.  And a month later, we're just recovering from being sick, again.  It has not been a pleasant winter for us in terms of health.  Spring can't come fast enough!!  But... I was so graciously reminded this morning what light and momentary troubles these are, and what more there is to live for!  Let me share the scripture that has encouraged and refreshed me this morning:


Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:1-6

Besides for being sick, we have been busy and will continue to be.  The girls and I took a trip to Michigan a couple of weeks ago.  It was great to spend time with family and see some old friends.  And a major highlight was reconnecting with my hair stylist from high school.  She did my hair all the time...snowcoming dances to prom to my wedding!  It was so great to see her, and I'm so glad she is still in the area.  I am convinced she is the ONLY person on this side of heaven who knows how to cut  my hair.  :)  Another major highlight was that my Babcia (grandma in Polish) made paczki while I was there.  You might want to see this post to understand the full significance there.  


As far as the girls go, we have signed Sophie up for pre-school.  I'm still feeling bitter sweet about that.  Excited for her, yet can't believe she's already there. She is really interested in the sounds of letters right now.  She is always sounding out letters and trying to figure out what letters are in what words.  She is NOT interested any longer in writing letters.  She gets frustrated and gives up quickly.  So I am trying not to push that too much.  


Claire is saying more and more, in her own way of course.  I'm sure the average person would have NO clue what she is saying most of the time, but we get her :)  She continues to woo us with her sweetness, yet at times exhibits quite the little temper.  


The funniest thing around here lately has been role playing.  Sophie loves to pretend play books or movies.  She also picks who gets to be who.  Here is a little list of what characters she has picked for Claire:
- When we play beauty and the beast, Claire has gotten to be beast
- When we've played fancy nancy, Claire got to be Robert
- The incredibles, Claire got to be Buddy.
- Blue's clues - well she actually got a good part that time - she got to be Joe and I got to be side table drawer :)


You get the picture, Claire is usually the bad guy or the boy!  Guess who gets to be the star???  


That is about it from here.  In march we are looking forward to lots of activities that should keep us quite busy, but they are all good things and Lord willing we will be able to stay focused on what is most important during all of the business. 

You know you're sick...

 Us logozzo girls are sick.  Have been sick.  Continue to be sick.  We are going on week 4 of sicknesses.  If it's not one of us, it's all of us!  Currently, it's all of us.  And it has been sneaky - this virus/infection/cold -whatever it is.  It brings you down for a couple of days, you think you feel better, then BAM!  It hits you again.  Boo, to all of it.  So here's my little list of "you know you've been sick for too long when"...

-  It's special movie time, again.  And again.

- You choose tea in the morning over your beloved cup of coffee.

- A chai tea latte was a NEED today.  No ifs or buts about it.

- There are medicine droppers and cups constantly in your sink.

- Your method for disciplining the kids goes no further than "a look."

- Your kids have a favorite room at the doctor's office.

- You walk out of the doctor's office disappointed that it's just a virus that has to work itself out because   you really wanted antibiotics for them.

- Your daughter (who hasn't napped regularly since last spring) has been faithfully taking naps, sometimes even twice a day.

- Laundry day is always on Monday.  On this Monday, I hope to get through one load.  I'll count that as success.

The upside of it all is extra snuggles, time at home, and a really cute/clever 3 year old who will say things like "I think a movie will really cheer up my heart."  And though we tell her happiness is NOT what we're after, I think it might be special movie time, again.  :)