Lady Gaga

Now there's an attention-grabbing title!
That name certainly got the attention of the girls last night while I was watching the results show of So You Think You Can Dance.

Cat Deeley repeated multiple times, "coming up soon, Lady Gaga".
and this provoked some interesting conversation:


Bean - "Where is Lady Gaga?"
Bell, "Yay! We're going to see Lady Gaga?"
Both - "Yay!!"
Bean - "Who is Lady Gaga?"
Bell - "Lady Gaga is a funny name."
Bean - "I want you to call me Lady Gaga."
Bell - "Can Lady Gaga come to our house tomorrow?"
Bean - "Is Lady Gaga coming to visit?"

then a commercial for the movie "Cowboys and Aliens"

Bean - "Is that Lady Gaga?"

uh... "close enough"

and I'm a little embarrassed to say I let them watch her... they'll forget about it soon, right?

all three of them ... captivated

bailey's look here is pure irritation at the interruption

hopefully

Even though you don't miss hiccups!

I'm not sure which is more funny: the outfit or the sentence?

"day-makers"

Conversations like this are "day-makers"

Bell

 

Bell - "my baby is hatching!!!!"

Bean - "I hatched!"

Bell -  "my baby is almost hatching!"

Bean - "ayudame! ayudame! uh...I'm stuck"

Bean

Bean - "When I was a baby, I drank milk from my mommy's boobies.
Bell - "I know what boobies are. They are really funny."
Bean - "Yeah, and everybody has noses."
Bell - "Yes."

VBS 2011 (part 2)

The pictures that weren't working before are now working! :)

this was my favorite craft mostly because of the striking resemblance between Bell and the little foam girl on the frame. :)

basketball with the big kids!

Bean eating her hot dog on the last day

Bell eating her yummy New York hot dog on the last day of VBS

The girls with the VBS director, Miss Sarah. They love her and had a wonderful time all week! :)

In the bushes with the bears

VBS 2011

Last week was VBS. The theme: The Big Apple.
The girls had a fantastic time. I taught the lesson for two days, and sneaked away a few times for some much needed time on my own.

Bell

Bean 

 Both girls did a great job keeping up with the "big kids" and really didn't need me around. They were "adopted" by a sweet girl who took very good care of them. She helped them with each transition and kept them focused during the activities. She was wonderful with them and only 9 years old. :)

The girls with their friend.

I love this one. It shows how little the girls seemed compared to the rest of the kids.

Bean

  Craft time was a lot of fun!

Bell

All the activities were great! Some of my pictures aren't uploading to blogger though... maybe later.

The difficult part about this week was the very clear absence of Darin. He use to do the opening with all the songs. He would practice them ahead of time and get really crazy and silly while teaching them to the kids. He got them pumped up and excited for each day. I felt his absence and I know others did as well. Last year, we were all at VBS together. It was hard to be there without him. I also cleaned out his office... or at least started going through things. I found things that made me smile and things that made me cry. He had a lot of hopes and dreams for us and for the church. It hurts knowing that nasty disease took him away before he had was able to finish his plans.

However, God continues to show His love and goodness. He has blessed me beyond measure and continues to support me, and place wonderful caring people in my life to comfort me through the difficult grieving process.

These ladies are constant reminders of His overwhelming love for me:

Bell (l) and Bean (r)

not quite vbs

I am working on editing pictures for a VBS post I'll be putting up soon. However, I have friends coming (yay!) for a sleepover and my house needs some work before they get here in just a few hours.

In the meantime. Here are a couple of pics from today. :)

Bell

She had just fallen down the stairs. (only a few. she was fine) But she was not in the mood to smile.

Bean

Bean

colorful food!

This happened by accident one day, but the girls thought it was really fun to count how many colors were on the plate. It became a game for a couple of days and I took pictures of the plates. I'd like to say I always make sure to have such a variety, but last night we had hot dogs, peas, and grapes. As with everything, some days are better than others. But look how pretty this is:

Day 1

Day 2

This is what Bean does when I say, "smile".

And Bell responding to "smile".

We also made pizza a couple of weeks ago...

Chicken and cherry tomato!

It was delicious! :o)

summer pics

 Just a few pics from last week:
Bell -

Bean:

workers

(Bell is hammering on an empty box.)
Bean: Hey worker! You're doing good work.
Bell: Thank you.
Bean: Hey worker, you're being too loud.
Bell: Well, I have to be loud 'cause I'm a worker and I have to get all the little pieces
Bean: Okay, will you be done working soon, because your working is too loud for me.
Bell: Well, I'll be done working when the roof is all there.
Bean: Oh, Okay worker..
(bean starts hammering
Bell: Hey! Stop Banging!
Bean: No, I'm not banging. I'm a worker.
Bell: Oh. Okay, well, wait until I get out of the house.
Bean: I have to finish the roof. Then I'll stop banging.
Bell: Okay, I'm going to get ice cream.
Bean: Okay, I'll make you some.

~~As I was working on the previous post... this conversation was taking place. You have to be pretty quick to keep up with the imaginative play around this house.
From this morning:

in the "car"

Bell (this is what she does when I say, "smile")

Bean

Rules

I know it's been awhile since I posted. This post is a bit of the reason why it's been so long. I've been busy... disciplining. I find it extremely difficult and exhausting to be consistent at this age where they are testing me at every turn. Part of the problem is this:

disciplining this (Bell) is not easy to do w/ a straight face

same problem with this one (Bean)

They are now working together to get the best of me and recently they've been very successful.

However, I'm not going down without a fight. Yesterday I channeled super-nanny and the girls and I worked up a new set of rules (that will soon be accompanied by pictures that demonstrate the rule)

They did a good a job of coming up with most of these themselves. Interestingly they have no problem listing the rules, just following them. We'll see how the next week or so goes.

Here are a few pics that will soon accompany the list of rules. Can you tell which rule goes with which.

We've been very busy with VBS (or PBS as the girls call it)  this week. They love it! I really love the few "big sisters" there that take such great care for them and keep them busy. I'll do a post at the end of the week w/ some VBS pictures. 

Rock a Bye Baby :)

Rock-a-bye Baby ~ Bean and Bell style:

Bell

Bean