Some Oldies, But Goodies

The other week I was able to make a trip to the library with only Adam, which translates to "I got to browse at my leisure in the Children and Adult sections"! Since they have a train table in a corner of the Children's section, that's where Natalia always heads, and you can't leave your kids unsupervised. Tall shelves divide the Adult section from the Children's so that means if I want a book I request it ahead of time and pick it up on our way out.


I was going somewhere with all of that...oh, now I remember. :o)


On this most recent visit to the library, I was able to peruse the Children's section for a good 20 minutes to find some books for Natalia. How fun it was to rediscover some favorites from when I was a young girl. As I was flipping through a few I got such a strong case of deja vu I think my selections ended up suiting my preferences more than what she may have chosen. BUT, I'm happy to say that some of my favorites have now become hers.


I thought I'd share a few.

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Natalia's new favorite is "The Caboose Who Got Loose", and it has enough trains and rhyming to please us both. I love Peet's illustrations. They're colorful, realistic, and he makes inanimate objects look like people without being too obvious. I also happen to be a fan of good ole' ink and colored pencil drawings.






Another book that she has come to love is "The Giant Jam Sandwich". This too is a great rhyming book full of advanced vocabulary and vibrant illustrations. Natalia has nearly the whole thing memorized so that I often pause in the middle of a line to see if she can finish it.



I hope to start reading the Little House on the Prairie series to her soon, but I think I'll wait another year. I may try Charlotte's web then too.


What are some of your favorite children's books. Got any suggestions for Pre-K age kids?

The Next Food Network Personality?

Well, maybe not for another 10 or 20 years, but you never know!

Today, while Natalia and I were eating lunch, I was treated to a sneak peek of a new show called, "My Mommy Doesn't Cut Up My Food Anymore". Since I was having an open-faced Tomato & Cheese Sandwich on a slice of Nutty Oat bread, she also had the same on her plate. She was in her own little world though, just talking away.

Here is a sample of the segment I overheard:

"...Welcome back. I'm just making a recipe. You like bus-ghetti? First you put the tomato...just a lil' bit...then fold the bread. Take a bite...UM! That is SO good! You taste the flay-bors, right?"

What a girl. :o)

MIA?

No, just in the midst of our household's busiest summer month.


Some people shop till they drop...we vacation till we drop. Hee hee. (That's the way it feels when you've got little ones. Can I get an amen?)


In all seriousness though, we've been very grateful for these special times away. I posted earlier about our beach vacation. Last weekend all of my dad's side of the family that are located in PA converge on a little Christian camp in Halifax, PA. It's a tradition that started back in '75 and has been faithfully attended every year except in '80 when my grandmother passed away.


So, it'd be accurate to say I grew up camping...literally.


Now, something you should know about the Stauffer family when it comes to this tradition: it's virtually an artform. I'm not kidding. :o)


When my dad, uncles, and grandfather put their heads together, they've got the technical trades covered. When you consider that all meals are prepared for the 30+ group over the fire, you can count on the men to engineer a fire ring fit for a chef. Even the seating arrangements for each meal are ensured to be dry due to the massive system of tarp strewn overhead. We've come to affectionately term our sites a "tarp and tent village".

A few more things about our camping tradition:

*You can trust the Stauffers to make a game out of anything and everything.


*The aunts plan the meals, the uncles cook it...for the most part.


*Sunday morning, after breakfast, is sharing time. This is one integral part of our weekend together--a time to share our joys, sorrows, and challenges in the past and/or upcoming year.


*Togetherness.


*Gettin' dirty. We work and play hard in this family!


*It's rain or shine. My aunts still talk about the weekend there was torrential rainfall and the creek our tents were pitched beside was flooding. They recall how hard it was to sleep, certain we were going to float away in the middle of the night. I recall how my cousins and I played in (and I mean IN) in the mud puddles.




Once again I was busy with a baby and forgot to take pictures. BUT, my cousin took some really great shots and shared them with all of us. They are in the next post. ENJOY!

Camping Pictures

Come Rain, Or Come Shine...

...Happy together, unhappy together, and won't it be fine?
Days may be cloudy or sunny...


There was alittle of ALL of that this past week. That's the nature of vacations with little ones and the month of June.

My side of the family heads eastward every other summer for a week at the beach. We had never gone so early in the season, but we all were feeling the need to stretch our dollars more than usual this year, and going before the price hike was one way to do that.

Despite a few really windy days and cooler temperatures, we did have some good beach time. The kids weren't too phased by the weather, except when it rained. Then there was definately evidence of cabin fever. BUT, we had a great time together and made some good memories.

Since I didn't remember my camera for the first half of the week, I mostly have pictures of the kids, and not the adults in our group. Maybe once we all share our files I'll post more.

Some highlights:

*Having EVERYBODY there!

*The fact that Natalia actually SLEPT in our closet and wasn't up at all hours like last time. (No naps for 8 days straight did take a serious toll though...that's what the week after vacation is for, right?)

*Avery was sitting out on the balcony with his daddy, and a remark was made about the bikers riding past wearing helmets. After that, ANYBODY who went by the house (by car, on foot, or on a bike) was assessed as, "No elmet!"

*Having a Ladies' Night Out and Men's Night Out. Granted, it was an abbreviated version consisting of dinner only before we swapped places. Still, not having to cut up food or wipe anyone's mouth except for our own was GREAT!

*Watching the kids play in the sand and surf.

*Eating home-cooked meals most nights--some people like to eat out and often, but our family doesn't. Besides, everyone pitched in with the cleanup.

*Getting pooped on by a seagull while eating a funnelcake on the boardwalk...oh, wait. That belongs on another list.

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What's wrong with this picture?

Morgan's love/hate relationship with seagulls on display.

Adam, just chillin' in his cabana.

My dad and Pete, waiting for the next good wave.

56, and can still boogie board with the best of them!

We tried everything to get those kiddos to nap. Ya think it worked?

Thick as thieves.

Giggles.

Adam and Grandpa.

Avery's swimming (er, jumping) hole.

Bubbles.

Adam, contemplating his escape and how to get a fistful of sand in his mouth without Mom noticing.

Elvis Impersonator?

We're still in unpacking mode so you'll have to wait a bit longer for pictures from our week at the beach.



To hold you over until then, here is my son sharing his Father's Day sentiments.




Ordinarily I would have deleted this photo but I thought his expression fit the message on his shirt perfectly. "My dad TOTALLY rocks!"

If You Say So!

Natalia's imagination, endless questions, and pure and simple nixyness (sp?) keeps us in stitches. I thank God for these moments of laughter in the midst of an intense season of discipline and instruction. It truly is medicine for this momma's soul.

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Natalia: "Dad, we need to get a niftyvan like Kaleb. We don't have enough room for the beach." (Can you tell we've been anticipating our upcoming beach vacation? And what child WOULDN'T think a minivan was nifty?!)

Natalia, holding up an old watch she's wearing on her arm: "Dad, my tick is clocking."


Natalia: "Mom, I wanna' wear my gobbles." (goggles)


After I finished painting her toenails the other morning, I was fanning her feet with a book and she said, "Mom, it's like air conditioning!"


Further proof that nothing is free, she asked me the other day whether I wanted "Cash or Debit". To which I replied, "cash". Then she said, "That's fifty dollars, please."


I'm still trying to figure out what song she's singing when she belts out, "He shed His wife!" Guess I'll have to ask her Sunday school teachers WHAT they're singing!


She loves to sing, especially in the car. Last night as we were driving somewhere, she had Pete and I in stitches as she was bellowing, "Oh no, you leck-ah-leck go! Through the air and through the storm!" (The real lyrics are, "Oh no, You never let go. Through the calm and through the storm.) When I tried to get her to sing "calm" instead of "air" she'd say, "yup, yup, okay" and then proceed with interjecting some other random word like "woods", "farm", etc.


As soon as we are back from our June travels we are potty training. Though, Natalia has insisted that, "Only pee pee goes in the potty. Poopie goes in bappers!" (She calls diapers, bappers.)


And, even though she is still in diapers, when she and her cousin Morgan had a trial run at sleeping over at Grandpa and Grandma's house last weekend (in preparation for our beach vacation), her last ditch effort to avoid going to sleep was to tell Grandma that she needed to use the potty.


And finally, she'll frequently say to Pete, "Daddy, I want to do tippy toes." (This means she wants to stand on his feet and walk around the house.) The other day an Alison Krauss song was on and she asked to do "tippy toes" to the "farm music". I guess that IS a pretty good description of country music.