love to paint

2 + 2 = 4 Autumn turned 4 three weeks ago and Sami turned 2 this week. The summer has passed and now the fall is passing too. I wish I had more time to simply sit with my girls and enjoy them. They make me smile and laugh with amazement. I'm always surprised at what Autumn remembers and Sami already knows her letter sounds. I didn't know she could. Autumn can write her name and actually taught herself how to do it. I am thankful for these girls of mine. I hope it will be a fun year for both of them!

...or so I'm told! But, indeed it has now happened in our family, too. Last night, I was sitting on the floor with Autumn trimming her toenails, when I hear "Autumn cuts her hair". I looked up to see 3 inches of hair fall to the ground! Autumn had taken the toenail scissors from my little bag and cut a few locks of her hair. I said, "Oh, no!" And she burst into tears. So, I scooped her up and put her in a high chair in the kitchen and layered the hair in front of her face. Or at least I did my best. I don't think it looks too bad. When I retold the story to my mom this morning, she reminded me that Autumn had cut it before. But, unfortunately, I don't remember the first time. Although I think I'm recollecting it a little. I think it was when her hair was much shorter. Ah, well, adventures in parenting little girls. We did go through 4 changes of clothes today and so the trend of clothes changing continues! Sami on the other hand has not...

I have to say, that my daughter Autumn can make me laugh more than most things I've ever known. Today, I went into her room after her nap. I found her standing in the midst of changing shirts (the 5 she had already tried on were in the dirty clothes hamper) with pink polka dot shorts on, socks with turquoise and white stripes and her pink Easter shoes with flowers on them (on the wrong feet of course). She was trying to take off her shirt and search for her butterfly shirt which she had put in the hamper. I just burst out laughing. The socks and shoes were quite the match. She does this a lot. A lot of little girls love to dress up in fancy "dress up" clothes. But, my daughter, well, she just loves to change her own clothes multiple times in one day. On another note, my daughter Samantha is throwing us for a loop! Today, I walked around the corner to see her sitting on the kitchen table. She is only 17 months old! She climbs on absolutely anything she can and ...

On Monday, my little one year old spilled over half a gallon of white paint on our carpet downstairs...blue carpet. I scrubbed for 3 hours. It's better, but not perfect. But, I learned something. My husband and I were both able to handle it better than usual and I didn't feel as if I had to be perfect. For a perfectionist, that's hard. But, because I didn't feel I had to be perfect, it was easier to accept others and love them as they are too. Not because I ever haven't wanted to accept them the way they are, but in my humanness, I haven't always understood people. And I can't admit this without exposing my sin, but I suppose that's important. I always thought this was something other people did, but this week, I discovered that I've done it too. I realized that at times when I've felt criticized, I have returned that treatment by being critical of the people who indirectly made me feel that way. It isn't right and I am certain that i...

I always heard that kids say funny things, but I think it's even funnier when your own kids say them. Autumn recently got sleeping mask. It was attached to some pajamas I bought. So, when we were in the library, the library lady asked if her if she was wearing a sleeping mask on her head. But, Autumn said that she had a "pad" on her head. That's what she calls it. Ah, what kids say. Chris and I had a good laugh about that one when I told him. But, the next one's good, too. We were driving home from church and Autumn had scraped her knee in the parking lot. When we were in the car she kept asking not for a bandaid, but for a "banjo". When we got home, Chris asked where she got that from. I replied that it was from the song--"Oh Susannah, o don't you cry for me, cuz I come from Alabama with a 'banjo' on my knee!" What a good memory!

It's been a long time since I've blogged. Christmas came and went. My mom visited and loved playing with the girls. And then just after she left, we found out that my father-in-law had died. We traveled to New York and began to grieve. I don't think the girls understood that Grandpa had gone to heaven. Today Sami was on the rocking horse and Autumn tried to get on it. I explained to her that she needed to wait her turn. So, she went over and climbed onto a wooden chair that was behind it. When she sat down, I told her she was in Grandpa's chair. When we sit in that chair, it's good to think of Grandpa and that he loved her. It's hard to know exactly how to help my kids know their grandpa now that he's gone. Autumn may not remember him. She was just beginning to really remember people she hadn't seen in a long time. Food for thought... if anyone has any suggestions of how they have helped their children remember people they cared about that...