Monday, March 4, 2013

So What Else Is New?

1.    This...the picture below.  Clarence lost his first tooth.  Matt's brother, Mike, brought over two snowcats last Tuesday hoping he and Matt would be able to go for a ride.  Instead, he took Clarence for a ride around the yard.  As they were going (very slowly) down the ditch, Clarence let go of the handlebar to point out a cow to Mike, and his head flew forward.  And out came his tooth.  He was bawling when he came in the house, because it hurt, because he'd lost his tooth, and because there was blood everywhere.  For a day or two, he didn't eat much, because he said he couldn't because of his tooth.  Maybe it hurt a little...I don't know.  Anyway, here he is, with one less tooth in his mouth.  And I don't think he'll get a new one until Kindergarten or 1st Grade, the usual time kids lose teeth and get new ones.  Sometimes I forget about it, then he'll start talking to me.  I almost start laughing because it looks so funny. :)



Photo: Clarence lost his first tooth this last week...snowcatting.


2.   Matt was sick all last week.  At first I made fun of him, saying he was being a baby and such, but on Thursday he woke up and told me he needed to go in to the clinic.  We got there and he had some tests done.  He had strep and his tonsils were huge, so huge, in fact, that the doc was surprised he could swallow.  So much for me giving him a little grief! :)

Thankfully Mike came over Tuesday (when Matt was really starting to feel sick) and helped do chores that day and Wednesday.  And since he wanted to enjoy part of his vacation at home, he went back to Roseau Thursday morning. So, that evening, I made a "tractor rat" out of Clifford and got him acclimated to the tractor.  He was perfect....a true rancher already.

3. Our calves are leaving the farm on Thursday.  We're counting down the days....chores just seem to take forever these days!  It's at least 3 1/2 hours if Matt does them by himself, and he feeds six different pens each day.  Anyway, yay...150 calves are leaving the farm!  Clarence even gets to skip school to help load them on the semi.  He's pretty pumped.

4. Clifford had a really good night two nights ago.  He went to bed at 11 or so, woke up at 4 for a snack, then slept until 7 or 7:30 (until the bigger kids were too loud and he couldn't fall back to sleep).  I wish every night could be like that.  In time, I know it'll happen.  I just want it now! :)

5.  We went sledding at our neighbors' house yesterday for Sunday School.  It was so much fun for the kids. Most of the kids there were preschool age, and they all had a blast.  Matt brought his snowcat over and topped their afternoon off with rides all over the yard. 

6.  It was my six-week appt. in Grand Forks today, but I cancelled it due to this darn blizzard.  I was really looking forward to a day with my hubby and just Clifford! Oh well...hopefully we can plan it again soon.

7. The house is making wonderful progress.  While Mike was here (and Matt was sleeping), he so graciously tiled my downstairs shower.  It's lovely. I can't wait to finish it up! 
Matt put wood up on the ceiling in the hallway and entry, and it looks so pretty.  Now he needs to do our bedroom, although he thinks we'll run out of wood. 
We have a working toilet on the main floor - one of the things that's so exciting.  In fact, every time my Grandma asks me about the addition, she judges our progress by whether or not we have a toilet.  I know
the stairs are hard for her to climb up to the bathroom, so now she'll feel more at ease about coming out for a visit. 
Someday I'll show you pictures, but I don't think that day will happen until I have a new computer, so be patient...the new computer will happen before summer. :)

Have a fabulous evening!

Pictures

Hello again.

I haven't been able to upload pictures on here in forever because of the incredibly slow speed on my computer. However, we were in Roseau visiting last weekend, and I was able to take pictures and put on facebook with Carmen's ipad.  So, here are pics from facebook of my family (sorry if you've already seen all these!).




Meet Clifford Dean.  He'll be 7 weeks old tomorrow.  Where has the time gone?  He's been my easiest baby so far....actually, they were all really easy; I just seem more comfortable and feel like I know exactly what I'm doing now.  Except that life is three times busier  than it used to be. :)  When one is hungry, the other one's crying, and the other one has to pee.  And this is the cycle that continues all day long, except for the occasional argument between Clarence and Adina.

He's a sweet, darling little boy.  And very loved. 

Photo: Clifford in his hat made by his great auntie Jana younggren..

This is one of the three hats that my aunt has made for him.  I just love these darling little hats; they're perfect for his tiny head.  And he looks so cute in them!
Photo: Happy birthday, uncle Mike!

We  were in Roseau celebrating Uncle Mike's 34th birthday.  The kids had fun helping him blow out his candles.


Clifford and Grandma Carmen were having quite a conversation, and he was smiling like crazy.  It was fun to get a picture of it!



Here's another:




And here's one from the hospital to show how much he's changed:




And a huge thank you to my friend, Katrice, for the darling pictures she took of Clifford in the hospital.  I love them!


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Delicious Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

Yesterday, the kids and I spent the afternoon baking.  Matt was out cleaning out neighbors' yards, so I had to entertain them myself for the afternoon.  I decided baking was a good way to pass the time.  They always love to help me bake something.  First, we made banana bread; they both love banana bread so much.  I usually put most of my banana bread batter into muffins because it's so easy to give a kid a muffin rather than cut into a big loaf.  Also, it seems like muffins last a little longer than a loaf.  Anyway, after we'd made those, I decided to try a new recipe.  It's one from pinterest, and the recipe comes from www.shrinkingjeans.net.  I doubled the batch, added the full egg (rather than just the whites), added raisins and nuts, and they turned out great.  I also didn't have any whole wheat flour, so I just used regular. I'll definitely be making them again!


Here's the recipe:

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup nonfat milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites (I’ve used EggBeaters)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
raisins or nuts (optional but I haven’t used either yet)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Soak the oats in milk for an hour. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray. Combine the oat mixture with the applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients (except the cinnamon and sugar) together. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. Add nuts or raisins if desired. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough. Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and top each muffin with some of the mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. These can also be frozen and reheated in the microwave for a quick breakfast.

Number of Servings: 12
Calories: 92
Fat: .5
Protein: 2.9 g

Monday, February 18, 2013

Dear Children,

Dear  Clarence and Adina,

I've been wanting to write you a letter for a while now.  I want to remember how fun you are and to tell you what you like to do these days.  We've been spending a lot of time inside because of baby Clifford.  When we first came home from the hospital with him, we were just focused on getting through each day, trying to figure out how to handle a baby, as well as a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 year old.  You spent a lot of time under the card table (that holds my sewing machine) playing.  You'd hide in there and play for hours...you said it was your house.  You also watched a lot of disney movies...Daddy would wake up with you guys in the morning and put a movie in so you'd be quiet so I could get an extra hour of sleep.  It worked sometimes. :) 

Now we're sort of figuring out a new routine.  Clarence, you're back into playing with your farm and animals all the time.  I love how you always ask me if you can play with your animals....absolutely! I love watching you and how you think, how you haul your animals around to different pastures or off to get butchered.  You understand farm life so well.  You also like to go out and help Dad feed cows once in a while.  You haven't been going out as much because it's been so cold.  However, on the nice days, it's fun to go out and play on the big snow hill Dad made for you or go out and work in your pen.  Last week, we worked calves.  Clarence, you were right out helping push the calves through the chute.  I love watching you....you're fearless. That part scares me sometimes.  You need to have some fear when working with the cows.  But I love how you know exactly what's going on and you don't quit until the big guys do.  I also love how much you love your new little brother.  You always want to kiss him and hold him.  Lately you've had a little cold, and you're so sweet and careful not to kiss near his face.  You kiss him on the back of the head and haven't been holding him as much because we don't want him to get sick.  So sweet!  And yesterday, I was upstairs and Clifford started crying.  You grabbed his bottle and started feeding it to him.  You're such a big helper!

Adina, you mostly just love life.  You're pretty easy-going most of the time.  The rest of the time, you're incredibly stubborn.  I love watching you pack your purses full of bracelets, necklaces, toy dishes, food, lip gloss, and baby accessories.  You're 100% girl.  I don't know where your love of makeup came from...probably Auntie Nikki.  You haul all your "stuff" around the house in purses.  You love holding baby Clifford for 15-second intervals.  You put him in your arms, talk really sweet to him, say, "I love you, Baby Clifford," kiss his head, then hand him back.  I get a real kick out of how much you like to dress up, do your hair, and put makeup on.  Then you pucker up your lips and talk about how pretty you are.  Another thing that makes me smile is when you are in a good mood and you're walking somewhere; instead of walking, you kind of skip/gallop with one arm in the air.  It makes me smile every time.  You sleep by yourself most nights, except when you wake up from a dream or if your blankets fall off and you get cold.  Then you'll come into our room and get Daddy, and he'll always go and sleep with you for a while. 

You two are such fun kids.  We love seeing how your personalities are developing, and we hope to help you grow into kind, loving, helpful and respectful kids.

Love, Mom


Dear Clifford,

You're going to be five weeks old tomorrow.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  You've been such an easy-going baby so far.  You're still not that good at sleeping long stretches through the night, but that's okay.  I know this won't last forever. :)  Someday, I'll get a little more sleep.  Last night, you woke up at 1:30.  Daddy fed you a bottle, then layed you down in your cradle thinking you'd fall right to sleep.  Then he immediately fell asleep. You didn't, though.  Nope.  You cried. I woke up.  And we were awake together until about 2:45.  I wasn't real impressed, but at least you're cute.  That helps make up for losing sleep in the middle of the night. :)

You're sure growing fast, too.  You're getting nice, chubby cheeks, and a lovely little double chin.  And you're growing right into all those 3 month clothes.  It makes me sad how fast you're going to grow.  I've already been talking with Clarence about his farm and how by next year at this time, you'll be making a mess of all his animals and pens.  It makes him a little nervous, so we've already been planning a different "safe" place that he can set things up where you won't be getting into them.  I hope to enjoy all the time we have of you being a little baby, because it's going to go so fast.  I am excited, though, for a little bit of nicer weather, so we can all go out and play outside together.  Some fresh air would really do this momma good!

Clarence and Adina think you're great, which I love.  Clarence wanted a brother so bad....I only hope he's as glad to have you in 4 or 5 years as he is right now.  Adina wanted a sister, but she's adjusted to a brother, and it doesn't seem to bother her a bit.  Clarence tells her every now and then that next year we can have a girl.  We'll see, Clarence.  Your siblings love to hold you, kiss you, and pat your head.  Most mornings, Clarence comes in my room and asks how you are.  He just loves you to pieces.

Thanks for being such a good little baby.  You're such a wonderful little blessing to our family!

Love, Mom

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Fun for the kids

We went to ECFE last night at school.  Both Clarence and Adina just love it.  It gives Clarence a chance to show off his classroom, his cubby, and what he gets to do at school.  It gives Adina a chance to get acclimated to school and what she's in for next year when she starts preschool.  She absolutely loves going to ECFE...it's her chance to be a big girl at school.

Anyway, last night, Clarence's teacher, Miss Jaime, had some worksheets for the kids to do.  There was a website at the bottom of the worksheets, so today, I took some time to check it out.  It's awesome!  There's tons of free printable pre-k activities for kids ages 2-5.  I downloaded about 6 different pre-k packs, ranging from Christmas activities to fall to birthday.... and I can't wait to print some of them off for my kids.  Just wanted to share with you in case you'd like some of these activities for your own kids!  They'll love the practice, and you'll love that it's free!

Go to: www.overthebigmoon.com  and click on free printables.  From there, it's easy to find what you'd like to download for your own kids.  Enjoy!

Life as a Family of Five

Well, as you all know, we went from being a family of four to a family of five on January 15th.  Life's been going great since then, too, in case you're wondering.

I've had several people ask me, "What's it like going from two kids to three?"

My only answer is, It's an adjustment, and we're slowly figuring things out.  However, it's not as hard as I was really expecting. 

(Maybe that's due  to the fact that: Clarence and Adina just adore Clifford - there's no jealousy whatsoever; my husband works here at home, so I can sleep in if I need to; we've been getting meals from loving and caring friends and church members since we came home from the hospital; our families have been great at helping out - especially right when we got home; I can just be home and figure things out - as do most new mothers...we have a few weeks to adjust to a new routine before going back and trying to fit our old routine in with the new one.)

There are only two real things that make it hard.

#1: It's winter; my other two kids have too much energy to be cooped up in the house all day with me. :)  So, Clarence has been helping with chores a lot, and on the days where the weather is tolerable, I send them out to play, even if it's only for 15-30 minutes...at least they wear off a little energy trudging through the snow.

#2: Going anywhere. It's a chore. I start planning the night before how to go about my morning.  When should I wake up, when should I get myself ready, then the two older kids, then Clifford, then worry about pumping right before we go so I'll have a bottle for Clifford while we're gone.  Our outings have gone okay, it just takes a lot of planning - and help....again, I'm thankful Matt's home with a flexible schedule!


This morning, I sent Clarence and Adina out to play.  They've been inside way too much lately, and they need to play outside and work off their "winter bellies".  So, out they went, quite happily.  Matt's made a big snow hill right out the front door that they like to climb on and sled down.  They did that for a little bit, then walked through the knee-high snow over to Clarence's calf pen. 
From here, I lost sight of them.  So, a little bit later, I went out to check on them and make sure they were okay and safe.  I found them out in the barn, safe, but Adina was crying.  She was crying because when they were over at Clarence's calf pen, he'd told her that he heard a big buck and that it was coming.  So they went to the barn.  Once they got there, her glove fell off, so her fingers were cold.  I calmed her down and told her that bucks don't come in the yard when it's light out - because they don't like people.  She didn't really seem to believe me.

That's when Clarence said, "This morning, I heard a big buck down north.  There was a timberwolf chasing it." 
(Ok, Clarence...thanks. I'm glad you're so good at hearing big bucks. :) )  Apparently this is what he'd told Adina, so she was scared the buck was coming to get her. She told me she'd come in the house with me and help me "make hupper".  Such a nice girl!


And, as for Clifford, he's a great baby. We're sure blessed to have such good, healthy babies.  There were a couple nights he decided to stay up with me and just look around, wanting to be held, but we've seemed to figure that out now.  I try to keep him up during the day for two or three, one to two hour stretches, so then he'll sleep well for the night.  It also helps to give him a bath before bed - it seems to make him sleep better.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not really getting tons of sleep yet, but we're slowly figuring the sleep part out.  And, surprisingly, even though the lack of sleep was one thing I was dreading the most, my body just seems to adjust to the lack of it and I don't feel overly tired...thankfully!

Well, hopefully now I'll get back to more regular posts....hope you're enjoying the beautiful, snowy day!



Saturday, January 12, 2013

Adina's Mothering Skills

So Adina received a whole pile of babies for Christmas.  Each time she goes up for a nap or bed, she makes sure all the ones she can find at the moment are in bed with her and nicely covered up with blankies.  One of her favorite babies, though, is a tiny little one she got that goes with a stroller.  It's not even a baby with a hard head and a soft body, like all the others; instead, it's a baby with an entirely hard body, and quite a bit smaller than her other babies.  Anyway, she loves this baby the most right now.  She'll drag the baby, the stroller, the bottle, and two little cardboard boxes that came with it all over the house - upstairs for nap, downstairs after nap, out into the addition (like Matt wants to see her baby and accessories), all over the house, and back upstairs for bedtime. 

Yesterday and the day before, she was wanting to wrap baby up in her tiny taggie blankets.  I usually help her do this so baby gets nice and tight; otherwise, she gets frustrated and will just throw the baby because it'll fall out of her blanket.  She'll wrap the baby up, grab the bottle, then start her "mommy-bounce".  It's something I haven't even thought of...it's been so long since I've had a baby to sit and bounce.  But she'll just stand and bounce/rock her baby, saying, "shhh, shhh", then give it a little sip of the bottle she's holding, then, bounce, say "shhh, shhh", and just sit and smile at me.  It's darling.  I wonder where she saw this?  Maybe at Wendy's house?  I truly have no idea...we haven't had a baby around the house for her to see me "bouncing" yet.  Anyway, it made my day. :)

_____________

Potty Training Update:

We're making some progress.  She always likes to poop on the potty, because she doesn't like the feeling in her diaper.  The last two weeks at least, she's pooped every time in the potty (except when she was ice fishing with Matt and he had to bring her outside for her business).  Sometimes I do have to bribe her to sit on the potty because if I ask if she has to pee, she'll say, "Yater, Mommy".  Then, she'll have an accident later  on.  So I try and bribe her to sit every couple of hours if we're doing well.  One day we went out to help with chores, and she held it for almost four hours...I was really nervous she'd have an accident in the tractor (because I sort of forgot to put a pull-up on her before we went outside, and she was left wearing undies), but she did very well and went right when we got in the house. 

She's also starting to figure out when she has to actually go pee.  It's taken a while, but she can tell right before she has to go, or she'll tell me as she's going (which we then have an accident, but I still feel like it's progress because she's acknowledging that she's peeing and really wants to be on the potty doing it). 

So, we've made a little progress....hopefully when I'm in the hospital with baby next week, Grandma Juli and Grandma Carmen will be able to keep up with pottying some.  I don't expect them to sit and train her, but I don't want her to go backwards, either, so I hope they'll work with her a little bit.

____________________

Bob and Mark came over last night to help with house stuff.  At 4:30 this morning, all three finally went to bed.  They'd finished laying flooring in my hallway and part of my bathroom.  I'm so excited about it! It looks wonderful! Now all I have to do is varnish my wainscoting and Matt can get that hung up in my addition.  Progress is slowly coming together.  My office is nearly ready to be moved into - Matt just needs to hook up the outlets and put trim up.  How wonderful!  I'll be moved in before baby comes (I think and hope!).  Yay!

___________________

It's been really hard to clean the house up to get ready for baby this time around...mostly because I don't know where to put things.  I need to go through and just pick up and vacuum and whatever, but I don't feel like I can really organize anything in preparation because of my mess out back.  Oh well...hopefully Matt will just help me do it when the time comes.  So if you come to visit us when we get home, sorry for the cluttered mess everywhere!  I'm just trying to be patient until I have room to spread the clutter around. :)

Other than that, though, I think I'm ready for this baby...I don't sleep very well, and I'm so sore all day long.  I feel like an awkward stiff old person moving around.  Yesterday I made banana bread and lunch with the kids, and just standing in the kitchen for over an hour made me all stiff.  It was hard to get moving around again.  I'm just plain ready for baby.  Tuesday is the day....come see us if you want!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Clarence saw a coyote...

We were sitting in the living room yesterday, and all of a sudden Clarence starts talking about the night before.

C: I saw a coyote last night.
Me: Really? Where?
C: The puppies were barking and the coyote ran up by the river, by the chicken house - but didn't eat any chickens - and over there (pointing out by the barn). 

Me: It ran over by the corn bales?

C: Yep, then it ran back down by the river.  The puppies chased it.

Me: Wow, really, and you got to watch that?

C: Yep. And I saw a timberwolf, too.

________________

Funny what kind of stories he can come up with.  He didn't really see a coyote; he was talking about the night before when it was dark out, and he sleeps like a log, so no dog-barking ever wakes him up.  And we do have timberwolves close to our house, but definitely not close enough to see; and if Clarence did see one, I think he'd be too scared to go outside for quite a while. :)  I'm glad to see his imagination's hard at work, though!  He was totally serious when he told me his whole story; it was as if it really had happened, because he never missed a beat or acted like he was telling a story.


Today, we're picking Clarence up from preschool at 11, then heading to Grand Forks.  We meet Dr. Brown today, who'll be delivering the baby on the 15th.  My doctor, Dr. Lays, is due with twins in February and went on bedrest a couple weeks ago.  I was kind of disappointed because I really like her and how easy she is to talk to, but oh well....it's not like I can do anything about that situation. :)  Matt and the kids are coming with.  I'm excited to pick out tile for our entryway floor, get stain and varnish for wainscoting, maybe look at a bed (Slumberland's having a great New Year's sale right now), then take the kids to a movie before coming home at a decent time.  We thought it'd be fun to take the kids to a movie and do something special with them before our life is interrupted again.  I hope they like it!

Have a super Thursday!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

How We Started 2013

Sorry, I'm not even going to be creative and hold you in suspense...

We started it by painting our addition!

I'm so excited about it I could scream, or something.  :)  My mom came over today and we painted the entry, hallway, office and most of my bedroom.  We would've finished my bedroom, but we ran out of paint.  All that's left is the laundry room (which my dear husband is priming right now) and the bathroom (which is going to be wainscoting and wallpaper and will be finished a little later.)  Matt even hung up one of my pretty new light fixtures.  He's wonderful!

We didn't go out last night to celebrate New Year's Eve.  We decided to stay home - mostly because Clarence had been running a fever for the third day in a row and we didn't want to expose him to other kids - and also because we wanted to get all the rooms primed so Mom and I could really make progress today.  I'm so glad we did it.  I love the colors we chose and how nice it all looks so far.  Now we're on to flooring, wood on the ceilings, and wainscoting in the entry and hallway.  Progress is going great!

Sorry if it seems like all I do is talk about my addition.  I'm so excited for the extra space.  Some days, I'm so overwhelmed with the mess in my regular house I could cry.  And I have a hard time telling Matt how I feel because he's doing all he can to get things done for me.  The thing I'm most excited for is finishing the office...right now, my office desk and file cabinet are in my kitchen, one object on each end of my kitchen table.  Things get a little tight when we have company over for a meal (which explains why we've been pretty stingy with our invites this fall and winter). 

My dad came up after chores today, too.  He spent the afternoon working on making a skating rink out in my yard for the kids.  It's really thoughtful of him; he knows it's a long drive in to Hallock to take the kids skating, and he wants us to get them skating so they can play sports.  :)  Grandpa (well, all the grandparents) is excited for the kids to get involved in sports so they can start having someone to cheer for again. 


And, as I'm sure you already know, baby #3 is arriving two weeks from today.  Oh, dear!  We've got so much to do before he/she gets here.  I'm excited though, to meet this baby.  I don't have a strong feeling either way with what it is.  I can't wait to find out! It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone.  I'm ready to be done being pregnant again, too.  I get really stiff if I sit too long and really seem to waddle when I get back up to walk again.  I'm sure it's quite a sight...and totally cliche...the "pregnant waddle"...I totally feel like I have it these days.  Oh well.

Adina's been doing okay with potty training...today we had six successful bathroom trips and no accidents in her undies.  My only challenge is convincing her to sit on the potty.  She's such a headstrong little girl that I have to find creative ways to get her to sit for a while.  I ask if we can sit down and look at books together.  A couple times, I let her play with her plastic scissors and cut up a few pieces of paper (which she does, then asks for another and another...).  She's very content if she's got something to do while she sits there, but sometimes it seems to take forever to convince her to go potty.  Hopefully if I just keep on top of it, she'll get the hang of it and love being a "big girl" wearing undies.


Hope your 2013 is starting out great!

Tomorrow's agenda:  finish painting! (I think.)

Friday, December 14, 2012

A Clarence Story and Adina's prayer

The other day, the kids were playing under my desk (Adina calls it her house), and had all her dishes spread out all over the place.  They brought me a plate of "food" (actually, just the dishes with make-believe food and drinks on/in them).  Clarence told me everything he'd made for me: chicken noodle soup with carrots, meat and noodles, there was meat on the plate, and he'd given me apple juice and milk to drink. 

He sat down beside me on the couch and said:

I'm not hungry.

Me: Oh, you're not, how come?

C: Oh, I just had a beer.

Me: You what?

C: I just had a beer.

(It was all very nonchalant....totally not what I was expecting out of that conversation....but it sure made me laugh!)

____________________

Yesterday, he was talking about hauling bales...

C:I'm hauling bales to Danny's (Lyberg).

Me: Oh, you're hauling to Danny's?

C: No, he gave me some corn bales.

Me: Oh, I see...

C: I helped him haul hay and he gave me a load of bales.

This conversation also made me smile; Matt had helped my cousin Erik haul a bunch of corn bales last week, and his payment for it was a load of corn bales to take home.  Clarence sure doesn't miss a beat!

_________________________

We were saying prayers one night, and had finished our usual "Now I lay me....". We were on to our next section, where we ask God to bless all our family, and then name everyone.  Adina has finally decided to start participating in prayers.  She folded her hands, bowed her head right down to the blankets, and started repeating names after me.

Me: God bless Mark, Nathan, Mike, Mark, Nikki, Harley...

Adina: Mar, Nath, Mike, Mark, Dikki, Harley, all my hens,

Me: Grandpa Bob, Grandma Carmen

Adina: All my hens, Mom!  All my hens.

Me: Oh yes, and all Adina's friends: Payton, Anna, Esther, and everyone else.


Then she was satisfied.  And it sure was cute. :)