Required for a 2 Year Old

The talk of our house right now revolves around Sunday. Not church, not celebrating the Gator's win the previous night (I hope!), but a very big day.. Eliaya turns 2! Last year at this time, I was in a pinterest-induced-craze. You know what I'm talking about. It was nuts. And E1 had no idea what was going on. This year, there's a much more subdued craze and I'm not sure who's more excited: me or Eliaya. Any lull in conversation is quickly filled with "yiya party day now?". Word to the wise... when a two year old asks a questions, answer quickly. Silence is their cue to ask again... louder. I asked E1 what she wants to do for her birthday and she told me "balloons... CAKE". Her eyes glossed over, I'm pretty sure her earliest memory if from her 1st bday when we gave her the smash cake, she knew exactly what to do.... she's been in love ever since.


We're (semi)full-force potty training and are thereby keeping M&Ms in business. Ever a Reed, Eliaya absolutely refuses to be in the bathroom without a book. Have no fear... I've already written than one down in her baby book!

One of the best gifts Eliaya has been given is her sister. I can already see the Lord using Elora to grow E1's

ability to sympathize and be compassionate, as well as to begin the lifelong battle vs selfishness. E1 gets frustrated and I can see it on her face... the anger builds up and eventually feels she has to hit something. We have started sitting her down with us to open the Bible and talk about anger, kindness and considering others as more important than ourselves (Phil 2:3). I pray that moments, even now, will serve to soften her heart towards the Lord.

*side note, and a bit of a soapbox*
 We work with Eliaya, and ourselves, to memorize Scripture. I realize this is not a "cool" thing to do right now, but friends it is SO IMPORTANT. Jesus said if we love Him we will obey Him. How can we obey

Elora 3 months

what we don't know? And it's one thing to read the Word and say, "oh yeah, I should do _____ to obey God". But when temptation comes and you're in a situation where it's not easy to obey, how will you know what to do? Memorizing the Word is not a way to upgrade your mansion in heaven, by saying God's truth over and over and over and over it grinds a new pathway in your mind so that when faced with a situation in which you used to not obey the Lord, the roadwork is now set for you to follow the Holy Spirit and do what He says and not follow old patterns. With Easter coming up I've heard a lot of people mention the passage in Romans 10:14-15 in regards to missionaries sharing Jesus with foreign lands. Mommas... this is especially for us: this passage means us to! We have been sent to teach the Word to our children. How will they believe and trust the Lord if we don't show and tell them how? and how can we tell them what we don't know?

whew... okay, back to what a 2 year old needs. I get these "your baby is __ old now" emails that tell me what the girls should be doing / playing with /etc. Those companies must make some serious money off advertising. If you're not careful you'll be convinced you need 5 different toys for each day, no repeats, a foreign language tutor (or educator of some type) by the time they're 2, have organized educational play dates and a prophylactic cycle of antibiotics to ward off the play-group-snuffles. Crazy!! Don't buy the lie (or the product they're selling). Buy minimally, if you discover a need borrow something and see if it truly fills the need. Eliaya is happier playing in the spice drawer, with a playground ball, or chasing the dogs than anything else. My resolution, or at least goal for this week, is to not make things more complicated. Life with 2 under 2 is crazy, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming.

Okay, glancing back over this, I realize my thoughts aren't all that cohesive.... can you tell the Gator's are playing? But stay tuned... pictures from the big party will be coming soon!

Turning 2!

turning 1