Playing in the Rain...

We had our annual Flegel Family Fun weekend this weekend out at G'pa and G'ma's house. It was a very loosely structured weekend with everyone coming and going at different times due to scheduling difficulties, but we had a great time despite the fact that not everyone was there at the same time.

The weather was very brisk for July but luckily it only rained for a short while on Saturday morning. However, the rain didn't keep E inside. She loved being pounded by the rain, and when she was given an umbrella, the rain was even more fun. We fortunately had her splashin' boots and rain coat in the car...otherwise it might have gotten ugly trying to keep her inside!

Can you see her tongue sticking out as she's trying to catch raindrops on her tongue? You'd think that it was coming down so hard that it would have hurt her little tongue!

Luckily, G'pa rescued the little girl from the rain. She did kind of freeze up when it was coming down really hard. So, G'pa went out and brought her back into the garage...which is when she found the joys of the umbrella.

Doesn't the umbrella just make the outfit?! The logo on the umbrella matched her boots perfectly. She was quite fashionable in her get-up.

It was really fun to walk in the rain with the umbrella...she even took off the shades when she was using the umbrella.

Does she look drenched? She was...however, my potty-training little girl had completely dry undies after this whole escapade! Yipee for E!

Now E is catching water coming out of the eaves after the rain stopped. When she looks at the picture, she'll tell you she was "washing her hands". She was hunting for black caps until the stream of water caught her attention. She disappeared numerous times over the weekend hunting black caps...she thought they'd ripen for her in 15 minutes! ;-)

The other place that she'd disappear to over the weekend was to the barn. She loved playing on G'pa's tractor. There were tons of levers to pull and push and a huge steering wheel to drive. Additionally, all of the kittens were out in the barn and she had a birds-eye view of them as she sat in the tractor. Luckily, G'pa was more than willing to share his tractor and I didn't have to spend all my time out in the dirty barn!

And of course, one must not forget the adventures on the golf cart. All the kids love to go for rides on the cart. The bigger kids love passengers and will take the little ones out if that means that they get to drive. I'd hate to know how many miles get put on the poor cart for our weekend gatherings. It gets lots of use!

Snappin' Peas

Life has been busy around here for the past few weeks. It is summer. I think everyone is busy. We went to Algonac for a mini-getaway the second weekend of July. Jut had the privilege of officiating a friend's wedding on Saturday. It was lovely. We were so glad to be apart of their special day. We found out that E still loves a good party! She danced the night away...or rather ran circles around the dance floor for hours. When we left the reception at 9:30, we thought she'd definitely sack out in the car on the drive back to the hotel, which was 20 minutes away. However, we were sadly mistaken...she was going strong until midnight! Crazy girl. On Sunday, we were able to go back to the ACOC where Jut use to minister and worship with the congregation. It was fun to see everyone again. We left when E was about 4 months old and hadn't been back, so it was nice to renew some old acquaintances.

We got back home around 4 on Sunday and Jut left for senior high camp at Rock Lake 45 minutes later. E and I were home alone for the week. We kept busy and had some fun.

One of our fun things to do every week is to go to the local farmer's market. On Wednesday, I picked up some peas. So, Wednesday evening, E and I shucked some peas. She was actually very helpful and worked with me for about 20 minutes. She couldn't snap the peas but loved pulling them out and placing them in the bowl (or eating them).

She'd say, "Momma, unwrap package!" I'd snap a pea and pull it apart. She'd pull out all the peas. Not all of them made it into the bowl or her mouth...they are slippery little suckers, but the majority of them made it to their intended destination. It was fun having her help. She is quite the little helper.

E's favorite thing at the market is blueberries. If you look carefully at her face (or plate), you can see the blueberry residue left from supper. She'll polish off an entire quart in a day if I let her. She loves her blueberries. I, however, hate the diapers the following day...so I try to limit her intake! ;-)

Walking Daddy and the Babies...

E loves to go for walks with her babies. We walk them around the block, to the library and sometimes even across the bridge to the playground. Yesterday, they got to go across the bridge!


Of course, one must take lots of detours along the way. Light poles are fun to 'climb'. Trees need investigating...but E always remembers to go back for the babies.

Can you tell that she loves to cross the bridge???

Notice the basket sagging on the bottom of the stroller. It is filled with all sorts of treasures that E collects on her walks...sticks, pine cones, rocks and leaves (along with the baby's blanket, cell-phone, hairbrush and various other 'treasures'.) I had been planning to empty the basket of all the 'natural' treasures one of these days while she was sleeping, but hadn't gotten around to it. However, E eliminated the need to do that while crossing the bridge. She decided to throw all the 'nature' things into the river to listen to the splash. She had a great time doing it.

She had so many things in there that Jut even 'helped' her because it was taking forever for her to pitch item by item over the bridge. When she got done, she exclaimed, "Treasures, all gone. That's sad!" Then continued on her merry way across the bridge.

On the way home, we cut across the field. E had to pick flowers for the babies. Babies love flowers!

Good times!

Transition to the Big Girl Bed...

With the hot weather last week, I decided that E needed to sleep in the room with A/C, which is our bedroom. The crib doesn't fit through doors, so I decided to give her a try on a twin mattress on the floor of our room. I was planning on transitioning her to a regular bed this summer anyway, so I thought it was the perfect time for such a transition.

The transition went fairly well. She didn't always nap while in our room...too much to explore, but she slept in the evenings there very well. I didn't enjoy always being awakened at 6:30 to "Momma, I awake!" But, at least she was sleeping through the night and enjoying being in her 'big girl' bed. Being in the A/C also allowed her to wrap up in her double layer fleece duck blanket that accompanies her to bed every day...which she was still wrapping up in when she was sweltering in her 80+ degree room...but this way I wasn't so worried about a heat stroke!

Jut came home from CIY on Saturday and the temperatures had dramatically cooled. So, we decided that for nap time on Saturday that E would sleep in her 'big girl' bed in her own room. We hauled the mattress into her room. Put it on the floor (I can't decide what type of bed/frame I want it on...so she's on the floor). Surrounded it with all of her bed toys, put a comforter and a couple of pillows along the edge in case she fell off, and then Jut and I went to take a nap too. When I woke up and looked outside of our room, I saw all of E's bed toys and blankets outside the gate.


and then I saw the funnier thing on E sleeping on the comforter just inside the gate. Crazy girl!

E has been in her 'big girl' bed in her room for almost two weeks. Thankfully, I haven't found her on the floor again. Actually she does a great job. If she's not tired, she sits and reads her books or plays with the few toys that we keep in her room. The past few mornings we've found her reading her cats book while waiting for us to come and get her out of her room. I think the crib will be coming out of her room today or Saturday. We'll see how that transition goes.

The last time in the crib saying "Goodbye" to the it. She wasn't sad or disappointed to see it go. She's never asked about it since. She loves her "comfy big girl" bed!

Potty-training update...

This is for my own personal benefit. I would again suggest that you don't read this post, just like I did for my other potty-training posts.

After one month of potty-training, we had a first today. NO DIAPERS and NO ACCIDENTS! E even pooped in the potty! Yipee! Well, the 'no accidents' is not entirely accurate...E woke up from her nap dry but she did release her bladder while we were snuggling on the couch and did need new undies, but to me that isn't so important because I'm not even worried about naptime/nighttime dryness yet. I was just excited that we spent some time outside this morning with no accidents and she had undies on most of the day in the house and had no accidents. (She's 95% accident-free when commando in the house but her stats drop dramatically when in undies and pants.)

This week she wore a diaper to the library for story-time and told me that she needed to go potty and actually went when we got to the restroom. Yipee!! She's also using the 'big' potty more often now, which is a definite bonus, as well. I've been getting more adventurous with letting her wear undies when we are out and about. She's had some successes out to Mom and Dads. She had a completely successful trip out to G'ma's house last week. She had a successful trip to the church last Saturday when we had to pick up Jut. She even told me that she needed to go potty and did, in that excursion. Yipee!!

So, we still have a long way to go. But, progress is being made. I even stopped putting stickers on the calendar for going #1 in the potty because she is so successful at it when we are at home (and I ran out of stickers). I never thought that this would be an overnight process but it is nice to look at the progress that she is making. She's doing great. Although, sometimes I think that diapers really weren't so bad when I'm asking her for the 100th time, if she's got to go potty! ;-)

I am a little worried about next week. We will be in Algonac for 3-4 days and I don't know how that will effect her potty-training. I hate to put her in diapers for that many days but I hate cleaning up messes, too. We shall see. Maybe she'll make vast improvements in the next week and she'll do great. Time will tell.

Lazy days of summer

After much anticipation, summer has finally arrived in Michigan. E is loving every minute of it! She gets time at the park in the early morning and time in her pool in the later morning. Does life get any better than that?! Her splashing table provides lots of entertainment as she pours water from the table into the pool or waters anything that remotely needs watering. However, I have found that my feet do like to be watered in this heat!

Today, she decided that the splashing table was the perfect place to clean off her feet. She got great pleasure in climbing up on top of it and stomping around in it, much to my chagrin. While she splashed, she said, "Danger, momma, careful". Hmmmm...didn't make me feel any better about her antics.

Catching bubbles is always good entertainment also. She'll chase them all over the yard. She is funny to watch. I'm certain that the neighbors love the high-pitches shrieks that follow her catching a bubble.

Nothing is better than a good push to 'go high'. Swinging is, by far, her favorite activity outside. She'll swing as long as someone will push her. It took a couple months for her to warm up to the 'big girl' swings, but she loves them now. However, she still loves the toddler swing best at g'ma and g'pa's house...it goes REALLY high.

Splashin' in the Rain

Is there anything more fun than splashing in the rain? Or catching raindrops on your tongue? E had a marvelous time doing just that on Tuesday evening with her dad. (I was thankful to remain the dry photographer on the porch and in the house.) Her face just says it all...

She loves 'posing' for the camera. We are going to try and have 2 year pics taken tomorrow...hopefully she'll cooperate.

Her boots were full of 2 inches + of water before she came back inside and Jut emptied them several times before she got back to the house. But the extra water never bothered her!

Pull-ups, a t-shirt and splashin' boots...perfect outfit for a perfect activity.