An explanation of sorts

When I started writing this blog, I was just going to "try" it. I thought it might be fun. It has turned out even better than that...the truth is, I love writing this blog...and I love that you read it. But you are #3 on my list of reasons that I write it. :)

Reasons I blog:
#4 - My creative outlet. I NEED a creative outlet...but with two kids, I need one that is fast, does not require small parts a child can eat, can be done in small sections as I find time, and ultimately is rewarding on some level deeper than just something to "do". I have found that this blog is perfect. It truly is one of the few things I do that I know I am doing in large part just because it is fun for me, but also accomplishes worthy goals like documenting our family adventures. :) I like to write. I enjoy crafting stories out of our "every-day" experiences. It has been a great outlet for me and a fun way to interpret our lives and decisions.

#3 - My friends. I think it is fun to hear from all of you and to give you a glimpse of life in our world in return. It has been really entertaining to get input and comments from all over the place. Truly, I never know who is going to respond to something I write, and I find it very enjoyable to interact in this way with people from all different stages and places in my life. Thanks for being one of those people who makes this worth doing!

#2 - My parents. They don't live near us. My Mom loves to see the pictures and hear the stories and it has been a fun way to keep them, as well as my other family members, "caught up" on our lives and kids and fun happenings. It has really been awesome to feel connected in this way, and so that is a REALLY big reason I do it.

But the #1 reason I do this blog:

#1 - MY KIDS. Let me confess something to you: I am not a scrapbooker. I am not a photo-album mom. I am not even a "let's save this picture you colored" mom. I wish I was...but I'm not. But I like computers, I like to write, I love to take pictures...and I can type pretty fast. :) So...blogging is our family scrapbook. This is as close as my kids are going to get to a photo album from me. This blog is the "memory album" that I want to give to them of things they accomplished, events that were significant to our family, funny stories that we continue to re-tell...the things that shaped us and happened to us along the way. This is the place that they will find all that stuff and more...from me...thier mom...in my words. I hope someday they enjoy reading it...learning about themselves...getting a glimpse into who their parents are and what we were like at different stages of our life. If they get even a little bit of those things out of it, it's totally worth it.

So, that brings me to this little explanation: I am going to be adding a bunch of "old" stories and entries from the last several months. I missed a lot when I dropped off the blogging radar after John was born. I will be writing these and back-dating them and putting them in the order that they "should" have been in had I not been slacking off. I thought about skipping all these things...but they are stories that I want Danika and John to have...stories and pictures and events that I want to record. And so, I'm going to do it. But that means that there will be random posts appearing on Facebook that are "old"...and that if you read this on the actual blog page, several entries that will be added over the next few weeks will be showing up in past months. So...I just wanted to explain why. When I print this year's blog into a book, those entries will be in the right places and tell the stories for those months that I wanted told. It's not really so much for you...it's for me and for them. :)

Hope you understand!

-Andrea

Look Mommy! I'm Ariel!

My little princess loves Ariel, the Little Mermaid. And since both of them have red hair, I kind of capitalized on it and used it to my advantage... to persuade her to help me wash her hair. :) I told her that when she lays in the water, her hair swirls around her and she looks like Ariel. Now when she takes a bath, all I have to say is: "It's time to look like Ariel," and she puts her head in the water with no fight. I sometimes bring the mirror over so she can see what she looks like. :)


It's pretty similar don't you think???
:)
Every once in a while I stumble on a good idea. :) She just cracks me up.

Look Mommy! I'm a Bucket Head!

Those were the words I heard.
This is the image I saw.


Boredom causes strange behavior. That's what I'm blaming it on. She has been home sick and stuck in the house Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues. That's a long time for a 2 year old. :)

I think she looks brilliant, don't you?

Doug's preaching!

If you live in the Erie area and you are interested:

Doug will be preaching this weekend for all 3 services at the Edinboro campus at McLane Church. He is wrapping up the Nehemiah series we've been doing. He refuses to give me a preview - he likes it when I experience it for the first time with the rest of the audience. I'm pretty excited to hear what he has to say!

He also will be preaching Nov 29th at the Union City campus at 11am and 7pm at Church In A Bar. He is scheduled to preach at the Boro again January 16 & 17th.

If you don't live around Erie but still want to hear Doug, they will post his sermon to the website a few days after the sermon...you can check it out there.

Just wanted to share! :)

It's normal.

Our little girl has some quirks that just crack me up. And part of what cracks me up the most is how "normal" these things have become at our house. Is it true that anything can become normal if you are exposed to it long enough?


Doesn't everyone where patent leather dress shoes with jeans???? on the wrong feet????





Don't you put every sticker you receive immediately on your face????


And band aids...everywhere....all the time. EVERY injury requires a band-aid if you ask Danika.


And to be honest...those poor little knees take such a beating, sometimes I prefer she just keep them bandaged up....they get hurt less when she falls!



My poor little girl. It is yet to be seen if she truly inherited my clumsiness or Doug's incredible eye-hand coordination...but one thing is FOR SURE. She falls down a LOT. I don't think those poor little knees were without band aids all summer long.

A sad little Halloween

No trick or treating for us.


We were dressed...ready to go....and then we heard those dreaded words..."Mommy, I don't feel very good."

Indeed. Danika had a fever of 103.3 - and when we asked her to open her mouth so we could look at her throat, she threw up. That was it...the end of our trick-or-treating adventure for 2009. Doug said I was way more disappointed than Danika...but that's only because I knew how much fun she was going to have this year, and she had no idea what she was missing out on. She looked so darn cute, too!

Here is our cowgirl.

Since we were all dressed, I made our little family sit down for one quick picture before we changed back into normal clothes and took her to Urgent Care.

Here we are - the whole Bierer family - 2 farmers, 1 cowgirl, and a cow. :)

We made it to Urgent Care just a few minutes before they closed...and they were still SO nice to her. Gave her stickers and a baggie of candy and everything. :)

The verdict? Strep throat. She is on antibiotics, but still feeling pretty lousy. It was a sad little night. She had to stay home the next day from church. I stayed home with her (and John, too)...and she got to hang out in Mommy's bed and watch "PBSkids-dot-org" in there. She loved that part of being sick. :)
**Side story here: Danika is VERY influenced by advertising we have found. The only TV we let her watch is some of the PBS cartoons...and they don't really have commercials, but they do advertise their own website. She used to ask for PBS...then she started asking for "PBS kids" because that is what they call it between shows....and now she asks for "PBSkids-dot-org"...she uses the whole phrase. It is very cute...and yet slightly disturbing. :)

Yes, I am that dumb.

This is actually a story from last fall, but it is still funny. And since I just found the offending piece of equipment again, I was reminded of this and laughed at my stupidity anew. So, I thought I would share with you.

We live in a slightly older house with an older front door that has large full-length glass panels in it. The front door opens up to a little sun-room/front porch that then opens to the outside. The sun-room/front porch often becomes a "dumping" area of sorts for things that are either in transit from the house out to the vehicles, or from the vehicles back into the house. We have a habit of putting things there and forgetting to finish the trip and make sure they get to their final destination.

I went to a conference for work (I work in Highway Safety) and received this little gadget as a gift. It is a combination flashlight, seat belt cutter, and glass breaker, for use if you are trapped in a vehicle after a crash.



I took it out on the porch because I wanted to remember to put it in my mini-van. But, as often happens, I kind-of forgot about it, and it ended up sitting on the table on the porch next to our front door for a couple weeks.

One day Doug comes in from outside through the front door and he is holding my little gadget. He looks at me with that look I am used to getting right before he informs me of some ridiculous thing that I have done.

"Andrea - what is this?"

I explain the gadget's many useful functions and then ask, "Why?"

He starts to snicker.
"Well...since you've been leaving it on the front porch, under our porch light, right next to our full-length glass panel door, I assumed it was a "Do-It-Yourself Break-In Kit." It's nice that the thieves don't have to bring anything with them....no need to figure out how to break the glass or bring a flashlight to look around once they are in - you've got them completely covered."

I think it was a good 5 minutes before I recovered from my hysterical laughter enough to run over and smack him where he was collapsed in fits of laughter on the floor.

Oh - and we moved my gadget. If you are planning to break in, bring your own tools.