Picture Update

Hello, hello from sunny Texas!   We've had a few fun moments around here lately so I thought I'd stop by and share a couple photos of what we've been up to. 

Minnesota Twins Baseball Game

A few weeks ago, Shawn and I had the chance to attend a Minnesota Twins Game after a friend of a friend and supporter of Time to Revive caught wind of Shawns love for the Minnesota Twins and purchased us tickets.  We had some other friends generously rally together and watch our kids for free so we were able to sneak away and spend a very hot, but breezy night watching the Twins play.  Shawn and I had a fantastic time spending so much uninterrupted time together and as a bonus, our team won the game! 

Blooming Friendship 

Holding Hands in Target

"Mommy, can I sleep gently next to Jonah?" 

I pray every single day for Jonah and Nicole to be bonded together in love, to forgive each other fully and to demonstrate kindness towards one another.  I am here to report that my prayers are being answered! While our days still contain a fair amount of sibling related hiccups and frustrations, there is an unmistakable friendship that is forming before my very eyes.  The kind words I overhear, the games I happen upon and the tender moments I sometimes get to be part of have encouraged me to no end.  Nicole looked at me with a little bit of surprise in her eyes at bedtime the other night as she declared, "I love Jonah".  I said, "that's wonderful, Jonah love you." She concluded by saying, "well, I love Jonah." I walked away from that conversation knowing that the squabbles between them will continue but I had new hope that their friendship and affection towards one another will grow as well. 

A New Light 

After re-arranging a couple of things in Nicoles room, we gave her the opportunity to have a small lamp at her bedside.  It's a new level of responsibility that we've extended to her and as the picture above shows, she has used that lamp to sleep in some pretty bright conditions. Nicole has been a reluctant sleeper since her conception and loves the freedom of playing in her room until she eventually feels tired enough to tuck herself into bed.  Shawn and I are accustomed to hearing the click of her overhead light turn on immediately after we put her to bed for the night and then later hearing it click off once she is ready to fall asleep.  This bedside lamp has eliminated those familiar clicks and has resulted in numerous bedtimes with her little light still ablaze.  We have a smart lightbulb in the lamp which we control from our phones, but every once in a while I quietly wander into her room to see what shenanigans Nicole was in the middle of when she suddenly fell asleep.  On this particular night you see her dressed up as a construction worker.  I usually know how many outfits she tried on based on the heap of clothes on the bottom of her closet in the morning.   On the night pictured above she had been a bunny and a firefighter and had traded her cozy jammies for the jeans and construction jacket she fell asleep in. 

Cooking 

I have involved Nicole in my kitchen endeavors since she was itty bitty but lately she has been cooking side by side with me on a daily basis.  I have been more intentional about giving her jobs that are only hers like seasoning our poultry or in this particular case, gluing our chimichangas closed.  Sometimes it feels like my kitchen and my preschooler have never been messier but other days I am blown away by the responsibility and care she puts into her jobs.  After being forbidden to ever, ever, ever touch raw meat before in her short little life, giving her the task of seasoning our meat has been truly life-changing for her.  I've never met someone some excited to touch raw chicken in my life and her careful hand washing has made soap a regular item on our grocery list.  

That's all we've been up to in our neck of the woods.  I hope all is well with you! 

Love, 

Erica