My Baby's Growing Up

Tonight Maddy actually took a step on her own! She did it several times, each time it was only one step. I'm so proud and excited! =) On one hand I'm excited about it, but then on the other hand it makes me sad a little bit. She literally has grown up without me realizing it! These past almost 11 months have flown by in the blink of an eye. I know a lot has to do with the fact that she's the "second" child (technically she's the 3rd child, but with twins the first time around, it seems more like she's the second child...crazy huh?) and I have more kids and other things to distract me from totally focusing on one child. I remember with Sam and Cora, their first year seemed to take an agonizingly long time! And I was counting the days down (especially the first 4 months!!). But with Maddy, I literally was like, "WHAT???...What happened?" Well, my little Maddy-bear is growing up, and I better start paying more attention b/c before I know it, all my little cuties will be fully grown and leaving the nest!!

Proud of Myself =)

I'm so proud of myself!!! I actually cooked dinner two nights in a row!! I can't believe it LOL. PLUS...today was a day that Maddy ate almost ALL table food. I must admit that I'm a little bit lazy, in the cooking arena...hmmm and cleaning arena...okay...and laundry too (but that's besides the point!), so me saying I cooked 2 nights in a row is a big feat! tonight I made Salisbury steak, mashed potatos, and steam baby carrots. Maddy seemed to really like it. I ended up NOT giving her the mashed potatos b/c I didn't think she would like it, since it wasn't a big hit with her the first time. So I left the small container on the table after dinner. We were all sitting in the living room and I was actually cross-stiching :) and it was a little bit too quiet!! I looked over to see what maddy was getting into and this is what I saw....

If you are reading this, you've just GOT to click on the first picture and see the FULL extent of the mess she got on herself (sarah, I admit, it was no where near the "cake" episode that your girls had hahahha praise God for that). She had grabbed the small container of mashed potato and smeared it all over herself, the floor, and I think she actually ate some too. I ran over to her and yelled to Jeff "come help me!" then of course I went and got my camera!! Needless to say, she had to go straight up for a bath after the photo shoot!

Oh, another exciting thing that happened tonight was that Maddy started standing on her own!! She was standing and holding a toy with one hand and the other hand was holding the Leap Frog Learning table, and she all of a sudden let go of the table so she could play with the toy with both hands!! It was a shock LOL since she hadn't really been trying to stand on her own before this. She's been cruising for almost 3 months now, since she was 8 months old, but she's never tried letting go and standing before. I was so excited!



I guess she'll be walking really soon! She'll be 11 months in 5 days, so, she seems to be on the same developmental timeline as cora, and sam for the most part (except sam didn't learn to sit up or crawl for a long time after cora).

Well, it's another Friday, and another weekend :) Hopefully it'll be a peaceful one!!

Back in the Swing of Things

So, after a 2 week long slump from digital scrapping, I FINALLY got out of it and created a 2 page layout last night. It is about my last baby shower that our church threw for me and the youth pastor's wife, M, since we were due VERY close to each other. As it turned out, our babies are only 12 hours apart LOL. She went into labor and I thought "darnit, she's gonna beat me!!" hahahaha, and then that night at work I went into labor too. Too funny....anyways, back to my layouts. the second page is the letter that my sister wrote to me as a devotional/encouragement that she read to the whole group. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing big sister! She's not only my "mothering" role model, but also my spritual role model! She is not perfect, but she is such an encouragement to me in all things, someone whom I can go to for questions, support, or just a shoulder to cry on. I am sad that we can't spend more time with each other, especially since I moved a little farther out, but we make due with what we can.

The main picture is of my mom, my sister, and me. The smaller photo is of my mother, friend "S", mom-in-law, and my sister. Credit for both LO's are from Evening Rose Page Kit by Rene Bross
This is the letter I was telling you about. It says:

August 18, 2007

Janete,
Hasn’t this pregnancy gone by so much faster than the first time? In a few weeks you’re going to have a new little one
and life will be really wild for a while-how long? I’m not going to say. To be honest it’s a challenge to get to know who your new little one is, what she needs, and how you’re going to meet those needs. But you already know that. The question is what is it going to be like for your children to learn to be a part of the same family and how are you going to handle meeting the rigors of raising children who at this point you cannot fully rationalize with. They don’t understand you’re tired. They don’t understand why right now their sibling’s needs are being met first. They don’t understand you’ve never done this before with this many children. It may feel like for a time you’re constantly running
around, pulled in every direction. Mothering your children will be a labor of love but that doesn’t mean the sacrifice is any easier or less great. In times like these remind yourself Whose you are and who you are.

You belong to the one who made you, the Creator. He who spoke and all things came into being, He Who all things are from, through, and to, has His eye on you. He knows you, sees, and gives you what you need when you need it.

You belong to the one who bought you, your Redeemer, your Savior. Not because there was any good in us, but because God loved us He willingly bought us out of slavery to sin which leads to death and this at a great personal price.
Why? So we may live, really live. So we may have joy, real joy. So we may delight in His presence.

You belong to a family-not only to the once which you were physically born into but also to the one you were spiritually born into. God is your Father. Your Creator, your Redeemer has made you His child and has committed Himself to you. He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion.

Janete, you are a woman of incomprehensible worth, made in the image of the One who made the stars in the sky; loved with a love that did not refuse the price it meant He would have to pay, the blood of His only Son; committed to by a Father who is willing and able to bring you to
maturity, complete in every way.

These things God has said of Himself and you are real and mean something for you right now.
It is as real and immediate as Cora and Sammy telling you they’re hungry. Believing these
truths will affect what you do and how you do it, mothering included.

So may you continue to grow in your understanding of Whose you are and who you are. May
you learn more and more of the One who created you, redeemed you, and promised to bring you to
maturity. As you know the truth, live in light of it when times are easy and especially when times are
hard and you’re pulled in every direction.

Love,
T


Yesterday, the kids and I were supposed to go to the playground with our SAHM's meetup group, but it ended up with a thunderstorm in the morning (which lastest all of and hour, then was BEAUTIFUL...go figure). So, we all headed over to K's house, since there were only going to be 3 mom's going, we all piled into K's house!! =) I had a blast, and so did all the kids. K is such a fun person to talk with, we have very similar personalities.

Last night, I promised Cora that I would take them to the playground in the morning if it wasn't raining. She gets so excited anytime the word "playground" is mentioned. The beam on her face just makes me smile! So the first thing this morning that she said after I got her up was "I go to the playground!!" It's amazing how the kids now have a longer term memory! It was great back when you could tell them something, then if you didn't feel like doing it later, you knew the kids wouldn't even remember about it....not the case anymore hahahaha!! Such is life! The weather was SOOOOO beautiful! When we got to the playground, it was sunny, not too hot or muggy. By the time we left, it was starting to get humid and hot, so we got out of there at the right time. Poor Maddy was so exhausted that she had a huge crying fit, like none I've ever seen before. She wouldn't even eat her lunch...so I ended up putting her right to bed.

I didn't bring my camera to the playground this time, but I just wanted to post some pictures of the kids at past playground visits! They are just to dang cute...of course I'm hugely biased about that!!






That last one of Sam is so cute! I need to scrap that one, since poor Sammy is lacking in LO's of him!!

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was pretty busy! At least it was for me, =), since I usually don't do that much. On Saturday, my Moms' Meet-up group had a moms' brunch out!! So Jeff stayed home with the kids while I went out and had a great time talking with some other moms and eating a delicious lunch at the bakery/cafe that we went to. You ever been in the situation where you'd LOVE to eat more food/dessert, but end up not b/c you don't want to look like a complete pig in front of other people?? Well, i sure do! HAHHAHA! But I had a wonderful 2 hours away from home where I had a great time talking with other WOMEN!!!

The rest of the day was spent cleaning the house, and yard work for jeff (hmmm, that somehow reminds me that I have to make a trip to COSTCO for some diapers, don't ask me why that just popped into my head!). I was getting the house ready b/c we were actually having friends over on Sunday night for dinner.

On Sunday, we spent a good portion of the time RE-cleaning all the areas that the kids tore up again. I cooked honey mustard dill chicken (SOOOO yummy), rice, garlic bread and salad, pretty simple dinner, and she brought over a dessert. It was such a fun night! they have 4 1/2 month old identical boy twins (that's how I met her in the frist place, at our monthly twin moms get together). It's always nice to talk with other twin parents and share stories and laughs. It was also nice that we were able to answer a lot of questions and give some advice to them, since our twins are 3 now and we've already gone through so many of the same things that they are going through now. M and T are such easy and fun to talk to people, and Sam & Cora really took to them (of course Cora had to warm up since she has stranger shyness). Oh, I have a funny story to share from this evening!! We have a pack n play already set up in our living room, so I told my friend M that she didn't have to bring hers, so the boys could be put down to sleep. Well, that night, they swaddled the boys and put them down to sleep after dinner. Later on, I went in the living room to change Maddy's diaper and just happened to glance over the pack n play and jumped back and almost screamed!!! I totally forgot that the boys where in there!! They looked like dolls (with their bald heads). I was so expecting to see toys in there (since that's the only thing that we put in it), and it freaked me out when I just saw two "doll babies". The first thing I thought was "who the heck put those in there?" LOL ahahhaha, I'm a dumb dumb sometimes!! That was our weekend in a nutshell.

More Pics From 4th of July Weekend

Here are just a few more pictures...

Cora actually caught a fish LOL of course they threw it back in the pond!

Cora took to the bike like a pro! and was pedaling in no time! while....

Poor sammy just couldn't get the hang if it and was happy just pulling his bike along with him!


Sam and Cora waiting for the 4th of July parade to come down main street

Another Day in Paradise

NOT!!! Today was single handedly the most frustrating day ever! well, I say that now, but I know I've had worse days, but right at this minute it just feels that way. I don't know what it was, but every little thing that the kids did seemed to get under my skin! Even poor baby Maddy seemed to be in cahoots with Sam and Cora in trying to make my day more frustrating LOL. In my head I kept shouting "Come on kids...work WITH me, not against me!!" hmmmm maybe I did some verbal shouting too hahahha. I know I'm not the only one going through this situation, but it still makes me want to pull my hair out all the same =). But it's amazing how God puts those sweet, precious moments in my day to help remind me how much I love my kids! They can wreak havoc in the house one minute then say or do the sweetest thing the next.

My favorite part of the day is after 8pm...or 9pm, whenever all the kids are down for the night! This is ME time, where I relax, read friends' blogs, email, and digital scrap. It's the only time of the day where it's only me, since Jeff has to head to bed early every night b/c he works so far away and has to get up early to beat the traffic. So I have a good portion of the night to myself, yeepie!!

I've decided post some pictures of the kids from our visit with Gamma and TeePaw this past 4th of July. I've been meaning to get some of these pictures posted earlier, but life happens, and I just got to busy. We've spent the past two 4th of Julys with Jeff's parent down in TN. They built a huge log house on the side of a mountain (no joke!!) and they have a 15 foot deep pond with fish in it. Sam and Cora LOVED it!! This was the first year that they really enjoyed it there. They picked veggies and fruits in Gamma's garden, they rode bikes for the first time, fed the fish in the pond, and then actually went fishing in the pond too hahahha. They had so much fun!

Here We Go!

WOW! I can't believe that I'm finally joining the blogging world! I never thought that I would ever be doing this, and to be honest, I never had much interest in doing it either. But thanks to my good friends Sarah, Heidi, and Monica, I've been inspired to start journaling my day to day activities, of my family, and my thoughts. etc. When I told my husband about it, he smiled and asked "do you actually have enough interesting things happening to you to blog about?" I immediately laughed and said, "NO!" but here I am, doing it anyways LOL! I wish I had started this much sooner, like when I was pregnant with the twins, so I could have documented every step and milestone as it happened...I guess I'll have to do all that through digital scrapbooking (my all time obession!!). Oh, I must warn you now, I tend to ramble and skip back and forth in my thoughts, I apologize in advance if I get you confused!

You might wonder why the title of my blog is called "Grovers and Cookie in the 'Burg" (maybe you haven't wondered, but I'm gonna tell ya anyways LOL). When I found out I was pregnant for the first time, my husband and I were talking about what we would call the baby. I jokingly said "Grover," and that SOMEHOW stuck. Then 4 weeks later, when we found out we were having twins, the babies became "The Grovers". So, when I was pregnant the second time, hubby wanted to name the new baby in a similar fashion....hence Cookie Monster came to be ("Cookie" for short). So, in a nutshell, I have 3 wonderful children (who drive me crazy at times), Cora, Sam, and Maddy. And sometimes I can argue that I have a 4th child, my hubby Jeff =) but I love him, so I guess I'll have to keep him!

I'm hoping that I have the self-discipline to continue to journal, if not daily, then weekly. And since I'm really new at this, and have no clue in what I'm doing, I'll have to fiddle around with the settings and layout, so the look will change soon (hopefully)! Well *phew*, my all time first blogging post done...that wasn't so hard to do!! =)