Random, but Happier :)

Ok, I promised a much happier, funny post so here's my best at this point. I'm going to have to start with this picture because I still laugh when I look at it! Emma and I went to visit my friend Lindsay yesterday and the three of us went to Borders. This was what I parked next to....

I'm trying to find the words to say about this picture, but I think it speaks for itself. haha Jarred cleaned out my trailblazer 2 days ago and grumbled about the half eaten poptart and several other pieces of trash he discovered. I had to show him this picture to assure him that it could be worse. WAY WAY worse. I think I may need to pray for this person because clearly he/she has a problem. I also may pray for the other drivers he/she may pass on the road because I'm pretty sure this is a driving hazard! Side note: You should have seen me trying to discretely take this picture. As I'm trying to zoom out so I can capture the optimal amount of craziness, a person pulls into the spot in front of this car. I quickly tried to put away my camera, totally embarrassed that he had seen me trying to take a picture of someone else's vehicle and he laughs and says, "whoa." I think he understood my need to capture this and share it with the online world. 

If for some reason you are from Harrisburg and this is your car, I apologize for taking this picture without asking and posting it online for all to see. Please know I'm praying for you and your vehicle filling craziness! :)

Ok now onto other random things. I got Emma her first Praise Baby DVD the other night and here she is loving it! She's sitting in her exersaucer (other fav. these days) staring at the TV. If you haven't heard of Praise Baby, it's pretty much identical to Baby Einstein, but with praise and worship music. 

Here's another cute shot of Lindsay reading to Emma on our trip to Borders. We were looking for dairy-free cookbooks so that I can rejuvinate my love for cooking. Seriously I did used to really enjoy  cooking but ever since I gave up dairy, I've dreaded it! It's hard to enjoy it when you're making the same 6 meals over and over again and you aren't excited about eating what you are making!

Hope ya'll had a great weekend and are enjoying the more "fall-like" weather! I need to get moving on some cleaning around here so that I can settle in with a blanket and read the newest Nicholas Sparks book that Lindsay let me borrow! :)

Honesty

Can I be honest with ya'll? (even if it's only the 1 or 2 of you who actually might read this?)

I've been debating whether or not to post this. I'd be much easier to do a happy post about how much fun we had taking Emma to her first Lampeter fair on Friday night or the fun family night we had tonight watching a movie, but I feel the Lord asking me to share my heart - to be vulnerable and honest about what I'm working through these days. So in obedience, I'm going to write it. If you're looking for a cute post with pictures and happy thoughts, skip this one and I promise to do one of those next time. For now....here's my heart.

I cannot tell you how much I adore my daughter. Literally I often feel like my heart just might explode open and spill joy and adoration everywhere. It's hard for me to believe that my dream of becoming a mother to a beautiful baby girl is a reality! And yet, I have a deep sadness in my heart these days. You see, most (if not all) of the major, well-respected spiritual leaders in our country are in agreement that we are nearing the end times. I've heard everything from 2012 being the end of the world to definitely within the next 50 years to within our lifetime or our children's. I feel 2 main things about this. My first fleshly instinct is fear. I am terrified of pain and torture. It is all to easy for my imagination to jump right to what it might be like or what we will have to go through. Not only what I will have to go through, but my daughter. My sweet, delicate baby girl. It terrifies me. The other feeling I have about end times is a deep, dull sadness that I feel every day. I am so incredibly excited for every part of life and raising my daughter. I can't wait to do her hair and watch her go off to kindergarten for the first time. I want to be excited with her about her first crush and eat ice cream out of the carton together as I help her with breakups. I want to pick out prom dresses, look at colleges, watch her daddy give her away and rejoice with her as she has her own babies. I want to experience it all! There is SO much life I want to live! I find myself almost mourning the loss of these experiences when I think about end times. Scripture calls us to "hasten the day" and be praying for Christ's return and yet I find myself wanting so badly to pray that it wouldn't happen for a long long time. 

Tonight as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep I began to realize the only thing that will help me through this "depression." I MUST fall so deeply in love with this man Jesus that all else pales in comparison to His return. I need to know Him in a much more intimate and real way so that His return is something that I do look forward to and want to come quickly. I need a more real faith - a tangible, inquenchable hunger to know Him more and more as my Bridegroom. I've come a long way in my faith but there's so much farther to go. It almost feels impossibly far away - to get to that point. But I can take a baby step and I know that He will meet me there and walk with me the rest of the way because He is GOOD and He is FAITHFUL. 

Isn't it amazing how a little tiny baby who can't even speak yet can teach me so much about my faith? 

Raising Her Right

I have a bachelors degree in elementary education. I taught 4 and 5 year old professionally for 2 years. I planned and held weekly parent workshops assisting moms and dads learn how to help prepare their child for school. I believe in the power of reading with your child. I know the benefits of being immersed in a literacy-rich home environment are profound. I could write plans in my sleep about how to incorporate early literacy your every day life. 

and yet,

this is how we spent our evening: watching the latest Glee episode online and anticipating watching Bones and House and Lie to Me and Greys in the weeks to come. Oooh how happy I am Fall tv is back! haha Emma will be fine I'm sure academically but somebody has got to teach this girl the joy of primetime tv!! :) 

Wordless Wednesday: Walking!

So typically on Wordless Wednesdays you don't write anything but since it was my first time joining in, I thought I'd explain it a little. I went for a walk tonight with a dear friend from my girls group. It was such a nice night and we had a great time talking together! I let Emma sit forward in her stroller instead of in her carseat and she did great! I think she really enjoyed getting to look at everything. Here are a few pictures I snapped before Miss Carla got there. Enjoy! :)

Apple Day 2009

You did WHAT today Momma??

A recap of the VanderPlate Apple Day 2009....

First you get LOTS of apples! We went to Cherry Hill Orchards and bought their 2nds which turn out great, but are much cheaper. (I say much cheaper but really I'm not sure how much it would cost otherwise...all I know is they were $8.00 for a half bushel and I got 3 half bushels!) So you slice up the apples and cook them over the stove until they are nice and mushy.

Next we dumped the cooked, mushy apples into this sauce maker and Uncle Josh turned the crank. The skins separate from the sauce and out comes the applesauce!

Then we have our servant children stir in the sugar. haha This picture of Abbey cracks me up! She was doing her "eyes" but it looks like we are forcing small children to make applesauce for us!

Levi gives it another stir using both hands to do an extra great job!

Finally we have our panel of baby judges rate our work. They took their job very seriously. Note the deep concentration in their faces....

The verdict is in and....

Both girls showed their disdain by gagging. Emma was especially disgusted. More sugar please Momma!!

Our final result: Lots of yummy applesauce for the coming year! :) It turned out very pick! I haven't been a big applesauce fan after a good couple years of having to swallow my pills in a spoonful of applesauce, but something about making it yourself makes you enjoy it a lot more! I did 10 of them without sugar so I can use them as baby food for Emma. So far we've got peaches and applesauce for her to enjoy....I can't wait to start trying them! 

What I'm Eating These Days...

How's this for ironic: my husband is a dairy farmer and my daughter has a milk allergy.

Jarred's still in denial about it. Because I'm exclusively breastfeeding the little lady, that means that I have to cut out all dairy from my diet. Don't get me wrong, I'd do anything for her and really it's not so bad, but life without dairy in your diet can be a real drag some days. 

Here's the list of dinners that I cycle through (I'm getting tired of them so any new ideas are greatly appreciated!)

*Beef BBQ

*Steaks

*Hamburgers/Hotdogs

*Pulled Pork Sandwiches

*Grilled Chicken

*Tacos

*Spaghetti

*Crock Pot Roast

Here's the list of things I'd love to be eating:

*Cheesecake

*Ice Cream

*Pizza

*Bagel with Cream Cheese

*A nice creamy, cheesy casserole

*A sandwich with a piece of American cheese on it

*Cookies

*Ranch dressing

pretty much everything delicious has dairy in it. Randomly, many brownie mixes are dairy free so I make a fresh batch just about every other day. Brownies and Ritas are my sweet-treats these days...

In other news: the mouse met its match with the rat poison and died a slow and stinky death in our family room closet. He has been removed, many thanks to my father-in-law and I am a happy camper again! :)

Mouse Adventures

When you live on a farm, you know that Fall is on its way when....mice start appearing in your house. Rationally I am well aware that they don't hurt anything and they are way more bearable than rats, but I just don't like co-existing with them! I especially don't like feeling like I don't want to to lay my baby down on the ground while I get something down for fear that a mouse might scurry across her adorable little body. Anyway, we have a little visitor in our family room (I'm convincing myself that he is the ONLY mouse in our house and he ONLY lives in the family room....please don't burst my bubble, it helps me sleep at night!) Jarred spotted him the other night and the next day, Mr. Mouse graced me with his presence. This mouse must be eating well in our house because this guy doesn't even scurry! He waddled across the carpet as I sat on the couch feeding Emma. So now I'm paranoid to sit like a normal person on our couches because I'm sure he's going to be under it and come touch my feet! The point of this ramble was this: after eating dinner, we went outside last evening so I didn't have to worry about Mr. Mouse. Emma was lucky enough to get her first 4-wheeler ride and by "ride" I really mean "sit" because they didn't go anywhere. I hope this little girl has a little bit of adventure in her when she gets older for her daddy's sake. Here they are on their "ride".....don't mind the fact that the little lady isn't looking at the camera. She was looking for mice on the ground I think.

I am really proud of this next picture and I think it is SO cute! I have a pretty crappy camera so capturing good pictures is a feat in and of itself. The lighting has to be great, my hand can't be shaking at all and everyone has to hold their pose for a good couple seconds which isn't easy with a 3 month old. 
Any good suggestions for getting rid of mice? Last year as a birthday (or maybe Christmas) present, my parents got me the things you plug into the wall and it supposedly makes a high pitched noise that gets rid of them. Guess they aren't working...I've also heard of putting rat poison in the basement and attic and of course there's good old traps but I'm leery of them with a baby who's nearing the age of getting into everything. Life on a farm is fun, but somedays I would love a brand new house far away from mice and manure! :)

The Princess and the Pea

Emma is a great sleeper. She started sleeping through the night (about 8-10hrs) when she was only 1 month old. I really can't complain about being too tired because of her and in reality I don't feel all that exhausted. I do; however, tend to crash when my head hits the pillow every night.

This morning Emma woke me up at 5:15am. She had gone to bed earlier than usual so she was ready to talk and eat before the sun was up. I changed her diaper and took her downstairs to feed her. She always falls back asleep right away after these early morning feedings so shortly before 6am I carried her back upstairs, put her down in her crib, and crawled back into my own bed to catch a few more hours of sleep. I decided to flip my pillow over to get a fresh new fluffy spot and in the darkness my hand hit what I thought was a folded pair of socks under the pillow. As I lifted it up, wondering what a pair of socks was doing under my pillow, it hit me.

This was not a sock.

It was......an old dirty diaper.

oh my. I am almost embarrassed to type it!! Several days ago (I'd like to say 2 days, but in reality I think it was more like 3 or 4. ok maybe even 5) Jarred brought Emma over to our bed in the morning and we enjoyed some smiles and baby talk with the little lady. I ended up changing her diaper on our bed (it was just a wet one) and teasingly tossed the dirty diaper onto Jarred's side. He laughed and tucked it under my pillow. I remember watching him do it and laughing back, but I must have gotten side tracked and never taken it out. 

How can a person not notice a lumpy blob under their pillow? Wouldn't you smell it at least a little bit? Wouldn't you think my hand would slip up under my pillow and I'd feel it? 

Like I said, I crash when I hit the pillow and I've been sleeping well.

yuck!

3 Months

Well hello there! Guess who is 3 months old today??

Seriously...can she get any cuter?!? 

At 3 months, Emma....

*smiles all the time when you talk to her.

*sings/talks herself to sleep (majorly cute!)

*loves to be held facing out so she can see things!

*rolls like a rockstar from her back to her belly....still working on belly  to back

*sucks on her fist constantly

*has boycotted all bottles and pacifiers

*really enjoys the Bumbo and exersaucer

*is a Momma's girl when she's sleepy

*sleeps 9-10hrs a night

*is exclusively breastfed every 2-3 hrs during the day

*wears size 0-3m clothes

Here are some fun pictures from our little photo shoot this afternoon. I'll have to tell you the story behind the 

bear sometime, but for now...enjoy!

Moving. VanderPlate Style!

Yesterday we were helping my in-laws move into the other sid

e of our house. It is never a dull moment around here. Here's an example....

The Problem: A large dresser needs to be moved into the second floor bedroom, but the stairwell is fairly narrow with a twist.

The Solution: (See below for visual aid) My handsome husband to the rescue while we all held our breath!

p.s. By the time I ran into the house to get the camera they already had the dresser moved, but you get the idea....

Busy Girls!

Disclaimer: I am still new to this blogging thing and obviously have NOT figured out pictures yet. I wanted to do a fun post with lots of pictures from our week. I carefully picked out exactly which pictures I wanted to share and uploaded them and....they are totally out of order! I don't know how to fix them so they're just going to stay that way and you'll have to deal with it! ha! I'll tell you about our week in reverse order! :) 

We have been having LOTS of visitors lately! It's amazing how after having a baby, everyone all of a sudden wants to get together with "me!" I know in reality they really just want to see the little lady, but I can't complain...it's been fun! Last night Emma and I made a trip to Palmyra to visit friends, Kurt and Kelly, from college. It was fun to get out and see them in their new home! Emma requested that before our next visit, they work on getting her a playmate to play with! :)

My parents came over on Wednesday evening with my dad's mom (Oma). We did a totally unplanned 4 generation picture. I'm on the ground partly because there wasn't room on the couch but also because I have peach stains all over my shirt which leads me to the next pictures.....
We did PEACHES! This year my mother-in-law and I tried freezing them instead of canning them! I had picked almost 50lbs of peaches so it took quite awhile, but Emma did GREAT all afternoon and we ended up with all of these bags. I'm really excited to be able to make peach cobbler, peach pie, and best of all, puree them for baby food!!!

and finally....how cute is she??? She's loving the Bumbo chair these days! She chews on her fists and hangs out in this wonderful little seat. Her daddy and I even ate dinner at the SAME TIME for the first time in a while while she said in her chair. It was such a treat, but a reminder that our baby girl is getting so big already!  p.s. Check out her incredibly cute jeans! :)

Change

Last year at this time I....

*was nervously wondering what my students would be like.

*was writing lesson plans and classroom rules.

*was picking out a cute outfit to wear for the first day.

*was collaborating with other teachers.

*was praying for the strength to make it through the year.

*was thanking God for a new husband!

This year I am....

*excitedly wondering what new thing Emma will learn next.

*writing grocery lists and dinner menus.

*picking out outfits that I know will only get thrown up on in the next hour or two.

*collaborating with other mommy friends.

*praying for strength to be the best mommy and wife I can.

*thankful for a new baby girl!

What a difference a year makes! :) I am SO grateful to be able to be staying home with little miss Emma. I do not miss teaching one bit and am so looking forward to this new phase of life. As my teacher friends are heading to bed early and anticipating the first day of school tomorrow, know I'll be praying for you!