Eliza's rainbow

For the past few months, Eliza has been a little obsessed with rainbows, and especially the fact that she had never seen one. Just a couple of weeks ago, she had me write out the words "I have never seen a rainbow" on a piece of paper so she could copy them on "signs" to put all over the house. A little strange, I thought at the time. Then last week at the beach, sweet Aunt Amy (Stephen's sister) was taking some family pictures for us one late afternoon as a storm was getting ready to roll through. We were just leaving as we could see the rain coming in the distance (a BEAUTIFUL sight in itself) when we looked up and saw this. What a BLESSING that God sent it when Amy was there to snap this shot! Eliza was so excited, and it was such a sweet moment to look at it and talk about how the rainbow was a sign of God's promises and how much He loves us. I never cease to be amazed at that thought.

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Interesting blog

We just got back from the beach, and I will post pictures as soon I get caught up with everything around here (it was FANTASTIC), but for now I'm just going to post a link to an incredible blog I've come across. Another friend had a link to it on her blog, and said it was some of the best writing she'd seen in a while (and she's a writer herself, so I knew it would be good!). Anyway, the blog itself is called "Et tu? Musings of a former atheist" and is a 31 year old devoted Catholic woman who, until 5 years ago, had never believed in God. She is an amazing writer with such an interesting perspective on things, and I must confess I'm envious of her spiritual depth---I've been a Christian for 25 years and have been in church since birth, but I'm nowhere near her spiritual maturity. And she's my age with young kids so I can really identify with her season of life. So anyway, if you have some time, sit back and read and be challenged. This is everything I love about blog-reading.

This one post blew me away, and it was featured on a "blog-zine", which shares posts from some of the best blogs out there. Here is a link to that article,"Building a House of Cards", and here is a link to her blog, "Et tu?"

Soccer and markers and labels, oh my!

We've had a lot going on lately, so here's a little catch-up on what we've been up to!

Eliza had her first soccer game on Saturday, and I have to admit, she's quite the little athlete! She gets that from her daddy, obviously. She scored 3 goals including the first 2 of the game (no goalie); however, we are having to talk with her about the "team" concept; every time someone else scored, even her own team member, she would cross her arms and pout because SHE hadn't scored it.

I think she was most excited about her Aunt KK who came home from college to see her game!

Stephen took Eliza to our local team's baseball game and she had a blast. Especially eating ice cream out of the little helmets, which was always my favorite thing to do too!

This is what happens when Mommy checks her email and Davis gets a hold of a marker. (Don't worry--it's non-toxic).

Davis thought he was big stuff when he climbed into this chair and played with the princess cash register.

To offset the princess cash register picture, Stephen took this one of Davis last week; he swears that when Davis heard the College Game Day music, he went and got his football and pulled up a chair (albeit a Cinderella chair). And all I see is a pink Belle ball. Such is the life of a second child with big sister.

Lastly, I've been labeling. My dear husband and I have a somewhat different way of "organizing". I believe in the mantra "a place for everything and everything in it's place." However, Stephen is what I call a "crammer". As long as he can see the playroom floor, he thinks it's clean; whereas I get panicky when all toy parts are not together. And for some reason, he just couldn't follow the organization system I had in my head. Probably the same reason he can't read my mind :). So I made these labels for our playroom to assist us in keeping it organized. It makes me happy to just stand and look at it.

Update on Zeke

So I stand corrected. My sister Heather informed me tonight that she distinctly remembers asking me why Zeke was no longer around, and I answered "He threw up too much. He died."

Yikes. Maybe I was a total weirdo as a child?

I do really HATE to throw up.

First day of preschool!

My little cuties started mother's day out yesterday, and they both had great days. Davis didn't nap there, but he did when he got home, which was nice. They were both pretty worn out, but love, love, loved school. And so did mommy :) Even if I did have to get my teeth cleaned :(

My imaginary friend

When I was a little girl, maybe 3 or 4, I had an imaginary friend. His name was Zeke and his dad was Pete Rose. I think I remember that he died by falling off a trampoline, but that seems really morbid. Do any of my family members have any memories of this??

Now that I've confessed, please don't think that I am a total weirdo. When my husband makes fun of me about this little part of my childhood, I tell him that having an imaginary friend is really a sign of extraordinary intelligence. I have no scientific data to back that up, but it makes me feel better to think it might be true.

I have no recollection of where he came from, or why I invented him, or why he disappeared. It's not like I was short on playmates; I played with my older sister Heather (pestered her is more like it), and my brother Chris would have been a baby at the time. I went to preschool and was in the church nursery from birth. I had the great fortune of growing up in the same city as most of my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and saw them all often. But for some reason I invented a friend that did not exist. It seems very strange to me even now as I type. Does anyone have any insight to make me feel like I'm not a total freak??

I do have vague memories of talking to Zeke. Which is what led me to this post: Eliza talks to herself. Quite often. Usually when she's working on something alone while I'm doing stuff around the house, like when she's busy coloring, or doing a workbook page, or practicing writing her letters. Not when she's playing with dolls or ponies, like I would expect. What cracks me up is that sometimes she talks to herself like I talk to her:
"What's this letter? H? Yes--good job!"
"First, we are going to go upstairs. Then we are going to go potty. Then we will read books and go to bed."

Or, "Mommy says I have to clean up my playroom."

At first I thought she had obviously inherited my tendancy toward imaginary friends, i.e. extraordinary intelligence. So one day I nonchalantly asked her who she was talking to. She just said, "Myself." Well, I still think she is extraordinarily intelligent :)

Here is a little video I took of her today by holding the camera out while I stood behind a wall, because if she knew I had a camera and was watching, she would have stopped immediately and started doing her "cool gymnastic moves" for the camera instead. She's not talking to herself here, but singing. She does that often too; just her own little made-up songs. I have no idea what she is singing about here, but I do think it's pretty sweet.