Sugar and spice

If you had asked me five years ago who these kids are, I would never have believed them to be my future children.


Two little girls? Wearing pink? With pigtails? And huge bows/flowers in their hair?!

Those who know me well know exactly what I'm talking about. For those who aren't so lucky (haha), let me fill you in.

I spent a good portion of my life being anti-pink. Anti-cat. Anti-chick flick. Anti-frills and lace and anything that could remotely be considered girlie.

So when Seth and I found out we were expecting our first baby in 2004, I hoped and prayed for a boy. It HAD to be a boy. Blue and green and frogs and dogs were all okay in my book. I could handle that. But not a girl. Not pink and purple. Not cats and ponies. Not puffy-sleeved dresses. Anything but that!

Fortunately, I experienced a huge change of heart, and when the ultrasound technician told us we were having a girl, I was actually excited (and not at all surprised).

But it still took some getting used to. When I saw the amount of pink clothes we received for our baby, I was shocked. I realized that I couldn't refuse to dress my child in these just because of the color. So Bekah wore pink.

But I still didn't BUY anything pink for her until she was about a year old. By then I had experienced another change of heart; Bekah looks cute in pink. And even if your beautiful baby girl is wearing a blue dress with flowers on it, she can still be mistaken as a boy. So pink it is.

Some of my anti-girliness remains, and I expect it to until I die. For example, I still don't like chick flicks. I have still never read a Jane Austen book. And I only own two pink shirts: one was a hand-me-down, and the other I bought so I could match my new sister-in-law's color scheme at her reception.

And while my girls may very well take dance or gymnastic classes at some point in their lives, they will also become acquainted with Star Wars, baseball diamonds and hiking trails.

I'll make sure of that.

One of these things is not like the other

We love our library.

Not only does our library have lots of great books, but it also has kid movies, an awesome fish pond, story time for 3-year-olds, and beanbag chairs shaped like animals. We go there almost weekly.

Another reason we love our library: About a month ago, the librarian announced during story time that we could sign up to receive a free copy of The Tale of Despereaux at the Junior Department desk. And if we could read it before February 24, complete an art project depicting some scene from the book, and report to the librarian, we could receive free tickets to see the movie at the cheap theater.

At first I thought, "Really? You're announcing this at the 3-year-old story time? The longest book we've read with Bekah is Yertle the Turtle. I don't think she could handle a chapter book quite yet."

But then I thought, "Well ... if nothing else, we could get a free copy of the book."

So we signed up and received our very own Tale of Despereaux.

Fast forward to last week. We finished the book. Bekah loved it. She chose a picture from the book, I sketched it, and she waterpainted it. Then we went back to the library, presented the picture to the librarian, and Bekah reported on the book. The librarian was sufficiently surprised and pleased with our little 3 1/2-year-old. And so we received our four tickets to see the movie last night.

This was Bekah's second time to the theater. This was Ana's first. We brought sippy cups, diapers (Unfortunately, there is no changing table in the women's bathroom. I had to shield Ana's head from the soap dispenser that was located right above her eyes.), fruit snacks, suckers, Valentine's chocolates, and a contingency plan. Since the movie would end a half-hour past the girls' bedtime, Seth planned on taking Ana to the mall to play on the toys if she got too squirmy (which she did, so he did).

Anyone who has both read the book and seen the movie already knows this:

This does NOT equal

this.

Did the people who made the movie even READ the book? Sure, there were some similar characters, but then they chose to add some others, cut some out and change the gender of at least one. What the ... ?!?

And the plot loosely (loosely!) followed that of the book. But as we watched the movie, I was afraid that Bekah would become hopelessly confused and lost. What was up with Boticelli being some kind of rat overlord? And when did Gregory transform into Mig's father? And what was up with that crazy fruit/vegetable apparition that accompanied the chef? That guy was seriously trippin'.

Oh well. At least the book and tickets were free.

Now we're reading Charlotte's Web. When we're finished reading, we'll watch the movie. And this time, I know that the scriptwriters had a copy of E.B. White's classic on hand.

FHE (to be pronounced "fa-hee") Fun

Seth taught a wonderful lesson about missionaries tonight, and then we all wrote Kent (Seth's brother serving in NY) letters. To top it all off, Seth decided to get all home-makey and bake some delicious brownie bite cookies.

Enjoy the many, many photos that document the night's cookie-making activity.

Rebekah covers her eyes to avoid the paparazzi.

Analee does the same.

Seth tackles the cookie dough in the mixer.

The many (and cheesy) faces of Bekah.

Ana enjoys her beater.

Keeping her eyes on the prize.

Oh, so delicious.

Seth, the master cookiemaker. Right after shooting this picture, he said, "I didn't marry your father for a reason." This only makes sense if you know that my dad is a super-photojournalist/paparazzi photographer in his own right.

Frozen pipes and spinning wheels

We once again had the opportunity to spend the weekend up at Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin in Island Park. We learned some invaluable lessons this time:

• No water in the cabin can mean a variety of things, and it takes quite a process of elimination to figure out exactly what the problem is. (In our case, it was a combination of the drain not closing properly and the pipes being frozen.)
• There is a trapdoor under the closet floor where the water pump is located. It may look scary down there, but it's not so bad once you've been under there a dozen times or so.
• When going through the trapdoor and crawling through the tunnels under the cabin, watch your head. Seth will be delaying his haircut until he has healed.
• If you're going to be without water while at the cabin, it's best during the winter because of the abundance of snow ... although we wouldn't have been without water if it were warm and the pipes weren't frozen. Catch 22.
• A cooler-full of snow will not equal a cooler-full of water once melted; instead, it equals about three pots of water, which equals about one toilet flush.
• We have no idea how many cooler-fulls of snow equals one bath. It's easier to pack up a day early and come home to a nice, hot shower in time for church.
• When melting and boiling snow for drinking, be sure to (1) let the boiling water cool for a time, and (2) scoop the water off the top to avoid the sediment that has settled on the bottom of the bowl.
• The extremely loud, crashing sound in the middle of the night is not a burglar; it's the snow falling off the metal roof. And yes, it's loud enough to wake up your children who are sleeping downstairs.
• The van is better on the icy roads than the car was, but always drive the truck up in the winter; four-wheel drive has got to be better than digging out your vehicle.

Despite the hang-ups, we did have fun playing in the snow, drinking hot chocolate, watching Snow White and eating gummy worms. And we're very grateful to Grandma and Grandpa who are always so generous to let us stay at the cabin, and to Seth's Uncle Greg who talked us through the many attempts of getting the water to run.

Lessons learned. Now here is the evidence of the aforementioned fun:

Seth and Analee sledding. Seth had just helped Ana go down the hill. Despite looking like a turtle stuck on its back, Ana did enjoy the sledding.

Bekah the Snow Bunny. We were barely out the door in our snow clothes when she plopped herself down in the snow and started eating it.

Analee constantly had her mitten in her mouth. Mmm ... snow.

Seth sledding down our steep sledding hill.

Analee, Seth and Rebekah sitting on the unplowed snow.

Interested in seeing more? Click here.

Bekahism #11

Bekah's version of "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains"

Glory to God,
Glory to God,
Glory to God on the hot earth!
Peace on earth is good to live;
Peace on earth is good to live.

First pigtails

Getting them in was like wrestling a greased pig, but I think it was worth the effort.

how the baby gets in there

"My baby is still in heaven. There's a place I call heaven, and when it's time a helicopter will come down with a little seed in an egg sac. It will come down to my house and I'll have to hold really, really still while the old men come with the egg and they will put it in my belly button. And that's how the baby gets in there."

-- Rebekah, about a week after she asked Andrea how babies get in Mommies' tummies