Watch Out, Michael Phelps!!!

Okay. So it's time to update my blog and I'm glad. Looking at that picture of Bryce at the top of the page all last week was killing me. It's really hard to see his pictures - and right now they are all over town on flyers for fundraisers. So everywhere I go (including my daily trip to Dairy Queen) I see a picture. There are at least two fundraisers this weekend for the Bryce Rinehart Memorial Scholarship. If any of you would like to donate or want more information let me know and I'll try to direct you to the right person. It's also one of the reasons that I'm still boycotting facebook. It's just too hard to see his pictures(plus I'm still doing really well with my B90x). Please continue to pray for his parents and grandparents. I can't imagine their pain. As hard as it's been on the rest of us, I think their grief is probably a million times ours.

So what is new with us? Well, notta lotta. We've been doing a lot of swimming and Maleah is totally rocking her swim lessons. She has had two lessons now and she is doing awesome!! Today she learned to doggy paddle, learned the breast stroke (kind of) and started swimming underwater. All within thirty minutes!! She is learning so fast and doing so well. I am so proud of her. Her teacher said she is a very good listener and follows direction well. She even jumped into the water for the first time in her life. She was holding the teacher's hands but still, that is good for her. I've told you guys before that to say that she is not a risktaker would be the understatement of the year. Jumping into a pool is a risky little move for that girl. I wish our town had a swim team because I think Maleah would love that in a year or two.

Carissa is pretty well running these days. Heck with walking! She'll just run. I'm burning more calories, so that's good I guess. She puts everything into her mouth. I found a little blue bead in her diaper this week. I had never seen it before. I hadn't noticed her having something in her mouth that I hadn't fished out or made her spit out either. I kind of feel like a bad parent over that but it's not like I saw it and didn't do anything about it or that I just allow beads to lay around for her to pick up. She has an older sister that is very "artsy" and is always working on one craft or another so it was probably inevitable. But it is good to know that they do come out the other end.

A certain blog reader will be happy to know that Carissa can now say "Lu Lu" pretty well. It's kind of funny when she does though because she moves her tongue from one side of her mouth to the other each time she says "Lu". She's very focused when she does it. So cute! She has also been trying to say "Nikki" and she says "Na". Oh well. She'll get there. We were practicing words the other night when she was sitting on my lap and I'd say "Say Nikki, na, na, Nikki." She couldn't do it, so I'd say just say "na, na" (because the only N word that she can say is "nighty night"). She'd say "ta, ta". I'd say "No, nnna, nnna" and she'd say "ttta, ttta". Oh, well, she kept at it and eventually said "na".

Miss Riss can also identify most of her body parts now too. She knows her hair, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, hands, fingers, toes, feet, her belly button (her favorite to find because she pulls her shirt away from her body and looks down as if making sure it's still there), and she also can show you her bracelet and necklace. We've been practicing that all week, so Maleah was quick to point out that she also knew her body parts. She is jealous of her sister getting attention, no doubt about that. So my Dad was here when Maleah announced that she knew all of her body parts. He said "Okay, where's your liver?" She didn't really know. So then we talked about organs and I think she now knows where each of her organs are located. So both of the girls learned some things this week.

Today when I was washing up some sippy cups I remembered how happy I am that I don't have to wash bottles anymore. I am still thrilled over that fact. It's funny how the little things in life are so exciting. I am getting a new appliance this week and I am very happy about that too. I think that means I'm old. Our dishwasher does a terrible job and is a piece of crap so it's going bye-bye. I told Jason that while we're at it we'll just put in new countertops too. He said that's the thing about me. I just can't stop with one little project, it always leads to a bigger, better project. I haven't told him that I'm also planning on buying a new storm door too and letting whoever installs the countertops put in a new door too. Ooops. I guess I just did. Hope that's okay, Honey!! Our countertops are old and have grooves in their design. It is not a smooth surface at all. It is just covered with these little grooves. It is groovy and not in a "groovy" way. It is the worst design ever! Like why would you want grooves in a countertop? Just to catch flour, salt, watermelon juice, Kool-Aid, and salmonella in? It is practically impossible to keep clean. I have hated it since day one in this house but it has been low on the priority list. I am so happy to be getting new ones. Jason, in his most serious voice, asked me "Do you think we can find a new countertop with some deeper grooves?". It took me a second to realize he was kidding. I was like "What? Are you crazy?". He's so funny. We both got a laugh out of that. I am putting groovy countertops on my list of terrible inventions.

We're headed to Holiday World on Friday. I think it's supposed to be the hottest day ever. Wish us luck! I'll share some pics of that next week.

Bryce

We are all very sad this week. My cousin Bryce died on Sunday from injuries he sustained in a car accident on Memorial Day. He was my cousin Andrea's son. Andreas's mom and my mom are sisters and Andrea and I are two years apart. We are all still in shock I think. He was 15 years old. He was a sweet kid. He always had a beautiful smile and a great tan. When he was real little he loved to spot school buses and was a Packers fan. He liked to play football and played for the Flora Wolves. He was born on Valentine's Day and I remember all the red balloons at the hospital that day and I remember thinking that he had a really cool birthday. His little brother Mason was born five years later on Washington's birthday and I always joked with Andrea that she liked to have her kids on holidays. Please pray for Andrea, Toby (his Dad) and all of Bryce's family. They are living every parent's nightmare right now. The above picture is of Bryce at Maleah and Carissa's birthday party at the end of March. I snapped it just a second before he smiled. I wish this picture would've caught his beautiful smile...

In other news, Maleah had a first swim lesson today and did great. I was so proud of her! I think she even surprised herself. She was a nervous wreck prior to going and was just sure that it was going to be horrible and that she was going to have to go under water. Well, surprise surprise. It wasn't horrible and she did put her face in the water and loved it! She has a great teacher and I think that makes all the difference.

Carissa is talking more and occasionally putting a couple of words together into little tiny micro sentences. But mostly she says "Uh-Oh!!" and "my sissy". She is also turning into a major mama's girl. She won't hardly let anybody else hold her and cries if I leave.

Maleah got a new toothbrush today. It came with stickers and she could decorate it herself. So she spent a lot of time on it and made it look really pretty. Then she held it up and told me "Look Mom, I made it look really sexy." I was like "What???". Where on earth did she get that? I have no idea. So then we had to discuss the definition of the word "sexy" and why it is not the same as "pretty" or "beautiful".

We love to watch reality shows on TLC and our favorites are 19 Kids and Counting and Kate Plus 8. But we also like Little People Big World and The Little Couple. So last night there was a new episode of The Little Couple on and we sat down to watch it. It didn't take me too long into the episode to realize that it wasn't appropriate. Apparently The Little Couple are trying to conceive a child via surragocy. Soooo, within the first two minutes of the show I was asked "What is sperm?". Oh. My. Gosh. I wasn't planning on answering that this week (or this year...). But I did. And I just explained that the daddy had a part in making the baby too and it had to do with that. It worked and she was satisfied with that. But I just know that she is probably still mulling that over in that brain of hers and trying to figure it all out.

We had a visit from Jason's Aunt Kay from Michigan and her friend Eune from Nebraska last weekend and it was so good to see them. They are so sweet!

I am currently doing the B90x program. It is a 90 day Bible reading challenge. Today is day 9 and I'm doing great with it. It's a lot of reading each day but I am really enjoying the challenge of it. I read the Bible last year too but not within 90 days! And it is surprising how much of it you forget when it's been awhile since you read it. I've given up my Facebook time to do my B90x so if I don't respond to you on there you might send me an email instead. I was spending too much time on Facebook anyway so it feels good to get away from it. It can be a little bit addicting!