Little Helpers

I have been blessed by my children lately.
There are days when I feel overwhelmed by the amount of "help" they want to give me, but I am thankful God has reminded me to encourage them in that in spite of how much extra work it can make for me. I had no idea that I would be reaping the rewards so soon, however. Last week Heidi disappeared while I was cleaning upstairs and I had a moment of panic when I realized she had been in my room and quiet and was now asking me to "Come see the surprise I have for you, Momma!" I was bracing myself to not react in anger no matter what she had gotten into and opened the door to discover she had made the bed for me! She's done it every day since. Why did I doubt? My Hannah has surprised me as well with her initiative to help. Lately she starts setting the table as soon as she sees me preparing a meal. It amazes me that she picks up on what I'm doing so quickly and will drop whatever she's doing to come put all we need on the table. Thank you, Lord, for providing me with extra hands!

Eight Months

See that Pregnancy ticker in my sidebar?
The one that tells me I only have four weeks left before I meet this baby?

I don't believe it.

One, because previous experience tells me due dates are something to be bypassed before Baby makes an appearance. Two, because this pregnancy seems to have flown by compared to my first two. Three, because I still can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm actually having a baby. One would think that the feeling of having a bowling ball in my abdomen and all these kicks and squirms from within would convince me a little one is on the way. Instead, I keep forgetting and wondering what could be going on in there!
Wee Wagenhoffer #3 will make an appearance whether I believe it or not, and it seems my subconscious is picking up on that fact even if I can't fully acknowledge it. Nesting appears to be in full swing around here and every extra bit of time and energy is being spent on cleaning and organizing. I'm loving how much is being accomplished and hoping I can feel done before Baby arrives.
The other thing I'm hoping is in place before Baby comes is a name. Oh, we have a boy's name all ready (and it's NOT Maxwell, no matter how many dreams I have where I tell everyone that's my son's name) but we still have no idea what we will name a little girl should be blessed with one. Heidi is insistent she's having another sister. I've been trying to convince her a brother could be good too. She finally conceded and told me "Yes, Momma, you can have a boy baby. But first you will have a girl baby, then after this one grows up a little you can have another one and that one can be a boy. Actually, you could have one more girl to make three girls and then you could have three boys, that would work well!" I can see her point, another girl would be fun, but as I keep reminding her, God gets to choose, not us, and part of me is hoping for a boy just so we don't have to scramble for a name! Our absolutely not list is growing well, I just wish there were some names being added to the possibility list. Suggestions are always welcome!

Canada Day

Having Amber here for 11 days was a huge encouragement to me. Not only did she spend lots of time playing with and reading to my girls, she also helped me get my house a bit more organized and clean! I don't think there's any gift more appreciated by a Momma who's about to add one more to her charge.
Since Canada Day took place while she was here, we had to take part in all the festivities and show her that stuff really can happen, if not in our little town, then at least in the small town nearby. At the horse show the night before the girls delighted in the novelty of having both Auntie Amber here on a visit and Uncle David home from Bible School for the summer.

Heidi, (for whom I take no credit for her outfits these days, she chooses them herself) also thoroughly enjoyed watching from the fence with Daddy.

The very rusty fence.

Much to the demise of one of her best sweaters and recent bath.

This picture is a bit hard to make out, but that's my Karl.

On his belly.

On a tarp.

Behind a horse.

The horse is running.

Fast.

He volunteered for this people.

He said it was fun.

Maybe it's just pregnancy, but it looks like anything but fun to me.

The morning of July 1st Amber and I took the girls to the parade.

The excitement of which to them is mostly all about the candy.

It being the first parade Hannah could really remember, she was a bit confused about the whole thing at first. Why was Momma sitting with her on the side of the road?

Then the candy started to come. Momma has good ideas!

Soon she was running to greet each parade participant before they even tossed her the candy and I had to put a limit on how much she was allowed to stuff in her mouth at once.

Then we had some time before Daddy came to meet us with our picnic lunch so we spent it playing hard on the playground. Once again I found myself grateful for Auntie Amber's energy while I was already feeling done for the day!

The rodeo was next. Another event for which Hannah was wondering why we were sitting there doing nothing. Then the cows came out. They're one of her favorite animals and we were sitting right next to the chutes. The look of wonderment on her face was worth all that sitting in the hot sun! My favorite comment of the day came from Heidi as she watched the rodeo participants rope a steer, "Hmm", she said slowly and with the certainty of one who has just discovered a great truth, "I think they must be cowboys".

By the time evening arrived Hannah was getting excited about all this waiting in strange places. What would happen next?! I wasn't really sure how she would respond to the fireworks, but each one was greeted with a darling little "wow" as she clamped her hands over her ears the entire time (We had brought hearing protection for both the girls, but only Heidi accepted). Am I the only one who gets more enjoyment out of watching her children watch fireworks than in watching the fireworks themselves? This time in which all is new and exciting is so precious and short I just can't get enough of it!

Heidi's Princess Party

To welcome the pint sized princesses we set up a canopy in the living room. I had wanted an outdoor party, but the weather's been steady mosquitoes out there, so I tried to make it exciting indoors.Heidi was pleasantly surprised when she came downstairs in the morning.

Karl insisted we needed a frog at the party,

so I gave my stuffed one a crown and a sign.

I cut princess dresses out of card stock, colored then and glued them to clothespins for place tags (the invitations were similar).

I was thrilled to discover I had fabrics from different sources that matched the colors in the canopy to use for tablecloths.

I had some issues with the frosting, but I managed to put together a princess cake like Heidi requested.

She wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice cream.

I think Daddy's had some influence on those taste buds. I'm a vanilla girl myself.

We used more of my fabric stash to cover a chair and create a throne.

Heidi sat in it to open her gifts,then we took pictures of all the girls there.

I forgot to take pictures, but the girls made butterfly wands and colored princess paper dolls while they were here.

Heidi and I made "princess play dough" earlier in the week for the girls to play with at the party. I just used my regular recipe, colored it pink and added glitter, it was a great hit!

I also made some frog bean bags and cut lily pads out of paper for a bean bag toss.

Then, since it's Heidi's favorite game,we played duck, duck, goose and a few other games.

Our resident princess Auntie Amber brought a princess story about how faith in God and loving others is more important to being a princess than pretty dresses or palaces.

Heidi made some fun memories for her fourth birthday!

Happy Birthday Heidi!

I now have a four year old. How is that possible? Yet I do, and a very excited to be four - four year old at that!
We started the day with the once a year fruit loops and presents from Momma and Daddy. She got her much requested real bow and arrows

and wanted to learn to shoot them right away.

She also received a dress for her doll to match her recently finished, yet long anticipated "sparkly red wedding dress"

She had a wondrous princess party with a few of her friends this afternoon - of which there are enough pictures to fill many a post, but I'll try to condense enough to fit into one.

Heidi and Hannah had great fun checking out her new toys from her friends.

One of which was a helmet and knee and elbow pads.

Hannah could have used a bit more protection when she tipped over her chair and knocked her eye on the table- poor girl! I think we'll have some interesting colors tomorrow.

Auntie Amber flew in yesterday so she could be here for Heidi's birthday, making it an extra special day.

This evening Heidi had to show her how she can ride her bike and try out her new helmet.

Daddy got in on the fun too.

All in all, it was a wonderful day and Heidi is thrilled to be "a big girl, four years old!"

To Catch A Frog

Is not so easy as it sounds. It sits so still there in the puddle,

but as soon as you try to grab it...

it JUMPS!

Then returns to the puddle and

repeats the whole process again.

She Has A Way With Words

Yesterday I heard a crash from my bedroom. More like a series of dull thuds,actually. Then crying. From Heidi. My girl who generally doesn't cry unless it's bad. I ran to get her, noted there was thankfully no blood, scooped her up and took her to the couch for comforting and an ice pack on her forehead which seemed to be growing. When the tears stopped I asked her what had happened and though I tried desperately not to, I couldn't help but laugh at the reply.

"Well, Momma, I was doing somersaults on your bed and decided I wanted to get off. So I did, only not so very gently."



A couple of weeks ago she was putting on her boots and had no sooner slipped one on than her foot came back out again. "There's a ugly bug in my boot!" she exclaimed as she took it out and threw it out the door. (Ugly bug is this Momma's highly technical term for the insects we seem plagued with every year in early summer. They're about two to three inches long, grey with an orange stripe right behind their heads. They spit orange stuff, ooze orange stuff when you squish them and lay orange eggs, but other than their natural inclination toward one of Heidi's favorite colors, they're not much appreciated around here.) "Silly bug" said Heidi with a laugh, "He thought that was a respectable place to be. He doesn't know that my boot is NOT a respectable place to be for a bug!"