A Day of Firsts

This past Saturday was a day filled with firsts. We started the day with a bus ride. I had heard the day before that the city bus service offers a trolley bus tour of key points of interest for free on Saturday mornings. In true JeffAnna fashion, it started out as an adventure. First, we weren't sure we were going to make it on time. We did, thankfully, arrive with 5 or so minutes to spare, but my Punctuality Senses were definitely tingling. About 10 minutes later I started getting a little nervous that I'd read the pickup time wrong. We were 5 minutes past the appointed time, and there was still no bus. :-/ Thankfully, someone pointed us in the right direction. It turned out the bus was picking up passengers on the next block because of road closures for another event later in the day. So, we all boarded the bus for David and Leah's first bus ride! We didn't get to hear much of what the tour guide was saying because the bus was so loud and he didn't have a microphone, but we all enjoyed the ride nonetheless.

The bus dropped us off for our next "first." This was the first time this season that we went to the Farmer's Market. We had a nice leisurely walk as we perused the vendors' offerings. We couldn't pass up some fresh apple turnovers or cashew brittle! Jeff picked up some homemade summer sausage (one of his favorites) as a sort of Father's Day gift from Anna. It felt nice to be out in the fresh air.

Next, we took the kids to the local university Memorial Union. Along the way, they enjoyed another first—a very echoey walk through the underground tunnels from the parking garage to the Union. By "echoey" I mean that David and Leah took turns saying "echo!" to see just how much echo there was down there. Just as we were entering the Union, Jeff had an idea for another first later in the day. The Union has a bowling alley in it, and the kids had never been bowling before. ;-)

We walked around the Union for a few minutes taking note of what had changed (which was a decent amount!) since the last time Jeff and I had been there. We settled on a little shop we were somewhat familiar with for lunch. As we dined on our hamburgers and chicken fingers, I realized that none of had socks on. Why was this important? Well, we were pretty sure we'd have to have socks to wear those attractive bowling shoes. :-P

We had a big decision to make: Drive all the way home and get our own socks or drive to the local Wal-Mart to buy some new socks. It was a tough decision, but in the end, we decided to drive home for our own socks. We figured that way we could check at home for any coupons and call around to the various bowling alleys around town for the best deal.

We did get a pretty good deal for the bowling in the end, so all was good. On the way in, however, Leah announced that she hated bowling and didn't want to go. This is the way of the four-year-old. Almost daily we hear how she dislikes this or that thing that she's never tried. We gently remind her that she couldn't possibly know if she likes this thing or that thing because she's never tried! Anyway, it turns out she LOVES bowling. We had the place to ourselves, which made me feel a lot better since I S-T-I-N-K at bowling and get easily embarrassed about it. Leah even beat me once. After two games of bowling, the kids were more than ready for a rest and so were mommy and daddy.

We really enjoyed all the firsts. That is one of the fun things about being a parent: getting to see something for the first time again through your child's eyes.

Adventures in Garage Sale-ing

What's crazier than trying to run a garage sale with two preschoolers? Not much! LOL!

Seriously, we did have a good time doing our garage sale last Friday and Saturday, but I do think I earned a badge in Heat & Humidity Survival and Leah earned her badge in Young Sales-Laydship with the lemonade (and cookie and freezer pop) stand. David earned new pins for a badge he already earned long ago: New and Creative Ways to Make Your Mother's Heart Stop. This mostly had to do with him messing with things he had no business messing with and doing all he could to make sure said item made it almost into the road with him on it/in it. That's David!

Little kids amaze me in their ability to get excited about just about anything. The kids were thrilled to do their lemonade stand, including all of the steps to get it set up and going (they're good cookie baggers). Several people asked them what they were going to spend their money on. This question was generally met with a "deer in the headlights" stare. I'm not sure it had ever occurred to them that they'd get anything out of the stand beyond the joy of serving their customers.

As I mentioned above, Leah was quite the little sales lady. She had no qualms about asking our customers if they would like any cookies or lemonade. After a while, however, she got a little discouraged at hearing so many "no, thanks" (I was a little surprised so many people could resist my sweetheart….), so she got a little too aggressive in her approach for my liking. It was totally cute, but I chose to use it as a lesson in social skills. She took to following people down the driveway and asking if they were sure that they didn't want any lemonade. I'm sure people recognized that she's 4-and-a-half and cut her some slack for that, but I don't want to raise an obnoxious, pushy person, so I gently stepped in. I told her it was fine to ask people once if they'd like anything from the stand, but she needed to wait until they were at least in the vicinity of the stand to ask. Being the intelligent child that she is, she caught on right away. She didn't return to sweetly asking people if they'd like something, though. She took a more manipulative approach; when anyone cared to glance at her or came close to the stand, she'd make sure she said loudly enough to be heard, "Boy, that lemonade sure looks good" or "Man, it's hot out here. I'm thirsty!" or "Cookies are a good treat on a hot day." I couldn't help but giggle. I figured she'd had enough of a social lesson for the day, so I let it slide.

In the end, we did make a little money, and we got rid of some things that have been sitting around for a while, including our air hockey table. We were thrilled to sell it to some friends from church since we know their grandsons will really enjoy playing with it. As I like to tell everyone, it had been relegated to a laundry folding table here. :-/ I cried like a baby after a couple of ladies (one obviously in the third trimester of her pregnancy) bought the kids' Intellitainer (kind of like an exersaucer). I just had to keep reminding myself that we weren't getting rid of it because there will be no more babies in our home. The kids had just worn out the electronic part of it, and it was silly to keep it if we could have something just as good that would take up less space. *sigh*

The weekend would not have been complete if we hadn't taken some time to peruse the other garage sales in the neighborhood. As such, I'm not sure we didn't actually increase the number of toys in our home, but maybe the kids will at least play more with the items they acquired than they did with the things we passed on to someone else. ;-)

Grandma and Pop

I finally have my laptop back, so I'll be playing a little catch up!

Grandma and Pop (Jeff's parents) drove out to spend a few days with us on Monday May 17th. As usual, their visit was packed with lots of fun stuff!

We went out for pizza and Monkey Joe's Monday evening. Leah, in typical fashion, made a friend while we were at Monkey Joe's. However, I'm not sure the friend considered herself Leah's friend. It wasn't clear from my vantage point whether the girl was trying to run away from Leah or if she was leading Leah to the different jumps a little too quickly. ;-) Either way, Leah was happy.

Tuesday we spent most of the day at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. That day was especially fun because Jeff took the day off to go with us. We ate our sack lunches in the museum cafeteria. That was followed by the obligatory cotton candy. We spent some time at the Etch-a-Sketch, Barbie, and Bob the Builder exhibits. We also rode on the vintage carousel and spent some time in the playscape (a cool play area with a water table area, a sand table area, and other types of play areas). We finished up the adventure with some Dairy Queen on the way home.

Wednesday we went to our local zoo. They have several new exhibits this year, so Leah and David wanted to show the new animals to Grandma and Pop. We got to see a Wallaby Joey stick his little head out of his mother's pouch. The kids also loved crawling through the tunnel under the river otter exhibit and watching the otters swim around. David was especially intrigued by the prairie dogs digging a new hole for their home. Pop loved watching the bald eagles. Jeff didn't get to spend this trip with us, so we still need to go as a family to show him the new exhibits. The kids had a great time playing at the nearby playground after we'd covered all of the zoo exhibits. We finished up the day with a trip to one of our favorite restaurants and some games at Chuck E Cheese's. Leah and David had their favorite meal: pancakes and bacon. Everyone is always amazed at how they gobble up every, single bite! The final treat of the day was a trip to Cold Stone Creamery.

Thursday was Grandma and Pop's last day with us. They took the kids "out" to breakfast at their hotel's fabulous breakfast buffet. Jeff and I took the opportunity to go out for breakfast just as the two of us. It was a nice break from routine, but I did find myself wondering how the kids were doing, etc. It turns out they did a great job of stuffing themselves. ;-)

We're all looking forward to Grandma and Pop's next visit in early July. I'm sure we'll have plenty of adventures then as well. Thankfully, we have time for our sleep schedules and waistlines to recover before then. ;-)

I will post photos as soon as a) I figure out how to get them from the camera into the computer myself, or b) Jeff has/takes the time to do it for me. :-p

Recent Quotables

David and Leah say something hilarious (at least in our opinion) almost daily. Here are some of their recent quotables.

David (as seen at right): “I’m an armadillo!”

David: “The Holy Ghost isn't in the car.” (This was sung over and over on our way to an appointment)

Leah: “I can only do big jumps on Wednesdays.”

Leah: “I can only open the bathroom door by myself once a day.”

David: “Leah, there's a barking spider on you!” (This was quickly followed by sound effects, and, no, not the kind you're thinking of. Apparently, barking spiders say “Eeeeeeeeee, bark, bark!”)

David: “Jesus put a lollipop in my throat and it went down the drain. Now it's in my belly.” (his explanation for what made him choke)

Leah: “Uh-oh! It looks like the Holy Ghost is playing on our swings again.” (the wind was blowing them around)

David: “Mr. Birdfeather!” (This was the one and only peep we heard from him on the baby monitor all evening. It was spoken in a British accent, and accents always make things funnier!)

Leah: “I'm only doing the windows, the floor, and the roof!” (said while trying to stall bedtime and convince daddy to help her build a Lego house)

Leah: “I hope my doll's hair doesn't look too dorky.”

Mother's Day

I feel blessed every day to be a mother, but it was nice to have a specific reason to celebrate today. The absolute highlight of the day was getting to hear Leah sing in church today. I was afraid she was going to miss the opportunity because she announced that she needed to go to the potty right before (or at least what we thought was right before) the children were supposed to go up for the performance. Thankfully, she said she could wait for a little bit. I normally don't make her wait, but there were clues that she was just bored and trying to get out into the hallway. ;-)

The kids first sang "Mother, I Love You" in Spanish. I know her Spanish wasn't perfect, but Leah sang out loud and strong, without hesitation. The sincere look on her face is one of the most precious things I've ever seen. The children moved on to "Mother, I Love You" in English. Leah didn't miss a beat. The children finished up with "A Child's Prayer." For those unfamiliar with the song, it has two parts. The first part serves as the first verse; the second part serves as the second verse; for the third verse, both parts are sung together (the children's choir split in two groups to do this). This type of song can be challenging for children, but Leah held her own. I could tell she was very focused on singing her part just right. It brought me to tears. I just couldn't believe that I am the mother to such a precious, talented little girl! After the song finished, a lady from two pews back said loud enough for us to hear, "Anna, you have a star there!" I couldn't do anything but giggle at that point because I am so happy to be Leah's mom.

In other Mother's Day news, the kids made me some lovely gifts. One was a flower with a tootsie pop in the middle of it and Leah's little handprint attached to it. Leah informed me that the flower and the handprint were for me, but the candy was for her! :-P David thought the tissue paper flower arrangement he made for me in nursery was a toy for him, so we had a bit of a tantrum on our hands when I explained it wasn't a toy at all. I guess we need to have a little lesson on sacrifice and giving cheerfully! ;-)

Breakfast of Champions

Scene: the Drake family kitchen, about 7:00 this morning. Leah and David have run ahead of me and by the time I get there, I find David having grabbed a box of crackers and shoving his hand into the box. I quickly grab the box from him, returning the two or three crackers to the box. (Yeah, I know, unsanitary. It’s not like anyone else is going to be eating them.) ;-)

I inform David that we will not be having crackers for breakfast; he screams. I ignore him and turn to Leah. The following conversation ensues:

Daddy: “Leah, what do you want for breakfast?”

Leah: “Crackers!”

Daddy: “No, Leah. I just told David that we don’t have crackers with breakfast.”

Leah: “But I want crackers!”

Daddy: “No, Leah. Not for breakfast.”

Leah: “Can I have crackers for lunch?”

Daddy: “If you would like some crackers with your lunch, I’m okay with that if Mommy is. Mommy, is that okay?”

Mommy (looking up from the computer): “What?”

Daddy: “Leah can have crackers with her lunch?”

Mommy: “Yes, with her lunch.”

Daddy: “Okay, thanks, Mommy. So, Leah, you may have some crackers with your lunch. Now what do you want for breakfast?”

Leah: “Oatmeal!”

Daddy: “Okay. David, what do you want for breakfast?”

David: “Lunch!”


(((sigh)))

Family Activities

I love it that the kids love being involved in our family activities. They cheer when they realize it's Monday, and they get to participate in Family Home Evening. Usually, they get to pick the songs ("Follow the Prophet" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" are some favorites) and say the prayers. Leah has even taught the lesson a couple of times (imagine a 4-year-old trying to teach about the Resurrection; it was quite touching, but also quite humorous!). They love to help plant and water the flowers and vegetable garden. David especially loves to help mommy make dinner, and sometimes pulls a few extra ingredients out of the pantry. ;-) It makes me so happy that they love being together as a family. I hope this love runs deep so that it extends later into their childhood and teen years. A girl can dream.
;-)