Seven Quick Takes- Maybe if I had more coffee I would be coherent.

1. Juliette Marie will be the death of me. She started walking this week (hooray) and today while we waiting for Kyle to show up she carried a chair around Carters looking for something to climb. I spend most of my day trying to prevent her from diving headfirst off of chairs and couches... or from choking the one small magnet that slip down the fridge to where she could reach it. I'm gonna go grey sooner than I thought.

2. Right now Madeleine is playing with her ABC puzzle, Juliette has climbed up the couch and is leaning over the box with their cardboard blocks in it, removing them one by one and laughing/grunting happily. (Not that I just put them all back in there five minutes ago or anything. Really, that was just a stupid move on my part.) Madeleine looks over periodically, shakes her head, and says, "No Ju-etch. No baby."

3. Madeleine is now interested in TOYS. This means while we shop she reaches over and puts something she wants in the cart. If I take it out, she tells me, "No. Madeleine like (insert toy/movie/sock here)." This makes check out interesting. She places the item on the belt and I stealthily signal to the check out person that said item will not be going home with us. I distract Madeleine with my awesome dance skills or something equally embarrassing to us all and we get out of the store without incident. I know I could explain it to her and just tell her no from the beginning but I'm tired and just want to shop without the screaming. My system works for now.

4. With her new found interest in TOYS, Madeleine requests on a daily basis to go to Toys R Us to play with the trains. She hasn't figured out yet that we can actually buy stuff there so I'm usually good with it. She also has no idea that SANTA is getting her a wooden train set for Christmas! Until then we are making our weekly pilgrimage to visit Tomas and his friends.

5. My kiddos are tough. While we play with the train sets little boys twice their age and size usually show up to do the same and they always try to push my girls around. They hold their ground without pushing back. I am a very proud momma. We need more strong women in this world.

6.I've recently realized the power of phrasing things the right way. For instance, "Madeleine you need to eat your fruit." gets an emphatic, "NOOOOO". However, "Madeleine if you eat your chicken I'll let you have some fruit." gets an "OH YAY MOMMY." I'm hoping I can use this power on Kyle, "Babe if you do the dishes I'll let you sweep the floor!" Brilliant.

7. I'm trying to figure out ways to involve my two year old in Advent this year. I'm praying I come up with something soon... my theology and catechetics degrees should be able to help out with this. I mean, hopefully that knowledge isn't stored in the part of my brain that was wiped out when I gave birth and replaced with Goodnight Moon and every book by Sandra Boynton. Actually, I think that was the "math" and "reasonable hormonal responses" sections so I think we should be good. Advent here we come!

See more at http://www.conversiondiary.com/

Vacation all we ever wanted

So this past weekend we got the chance to put all of my travel tips to the test as we jetted off to Steubenville, OH to see out foster mother (alma mater). I'm going to be honest... we are awesome at traveling. Even going standby, using my tips made us completely efficient and relaxed. Go us!

I mean, our travel savvy awesomeness means we schooled business men traveling alone when we went through security. We were scanned, baby food and all, with our shoes on before the guy four people ahead of us had even put his laptop back in his travel bag.



Kyle was in 7th heaven because his little miss mini me Madeleine was Ob.Sessed. with the planes. This was her first trip where she was really excited to be flying. The plane we were on had two seats on each side of the aisle (my nerd husband tells me it was an Embraer 190). Kyle and Madeleine sat together on one side and Juliette and I were across from them. Juliette slept the whole time and Kyle did a photo shoot with Madeleine. Since we were on JetBlue each seat had it's own TV and I was able to watch Criminal Minds and drool over Dr. Spencer Reid in peace.




When we arrived we got settled and heading to campus to pick up Hannah. Madeleine was freaking out. All week long I had been telling her we were taking a plane to go see Lauren and Nick and Hannah so as soon as we landed she started almost chanting, "Laun! Nick! Haaaaaan!". It was 9:00 pm but no matter! Hannah thought it would be an AWESOME idea to give her some of her mocha. This lead to my two year old running around the student center screaming, "MOOOOOOOOOCHA!!!!" at 9:30 at night.

We ran into some old friends and some people we had never met before who all ohhh and ahhhed over our children and then it was time to hit the hey.

Over the weekend we stayed with Lauren and Nick, the sickeningly cute newlyweds. Lauren is the resident homemaker and has turned her house in the Steubie projects into a master piece of Martha Stewart proportions. Madeleine is obsessed with Lauren and Nick but can't seem to tell them apart. We credit this to her obvious deep understanding that when they got married they became one person. She is a theological genius.



The weekend included a very fancy type date with my adoring husband at Casbah in Pittsburgh (thanks to Andrea for the treat and my sisters and brother-in-law for baby sitting), Lord's Day with Love of the Lamb, and watching Hannah dominate at tennis.

Now, for those of you who don't know Hannah and really all you know of her is that she has great hair and you only know that from reading my blog, she is an amazing tennis play. And has an introverted phlegmatic personality. Combine those two things and you get the most entertaining tennis match you will ever see.

I would hate to play against her because not only is she good but when she is beating you she doesn't even look like she is trying. Heck, she doesn't even look like she cares. You are running around and panting and she is checking her nails and YOU GET SERVED (tennis pun intended). I was a very proud big sister.

The last noteworthy part of the trip was our adventure into the Trinintine mass with our two little Behr cubs. It went surprisingly well. It was a beautiful mass and although I prefer Novus Ordo, it was nice to switch it up. The only hitch came not from the Latin but from the incense. It sticks to be a Catholic allergic to incense because not being able to breathe does not lend itself to a prayerful and peaceful spirit.

Since we've been back we've enjoyed some time with Kyle's household brothers in the New England area. Sunday we got off our plane at 8:00 pm and drove straight to the Johnson house where I won exactly half of the Apples to Apples games I took part in (okay, it was only two). Yesterday the boys did something involving beer and today we all went to see an old, old wooden ship. I think it's called Diversity? Then the boys came back to our place and ate and drank more beer.

One more day until Kyle goes back to work. I'm not looking forward to it but I've kind of gotten the kids used to having a home and eating food so I'm thinking we may need the money to keep that all up.

Rain Suited Up

Well, the Behrend ladies are heading to Connecticut this weekend to wait out Irene. As in the storm, not the song or person. Kyle has to spend a couple of days at the airport doing damage control so he feels much safer if he knows it isn't just me, the babies, and a few flashlights.

I went out to pick up some disposable diapers to bring with me since it's not easy to use cloth with no power and "rain suited up". This meant my knee high rain boots, my water proof North Face jacket, and my rain hat. I looked adorable according the hubby but it was only drizzling at the time. I really wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

When I walked into Starbucks I got a few looks. I was the crazy girl who "rain suited up" way too early. They were all smug in their shorts and t-shirts and flip flops. Then I went into Rite Aid and by the time I got out five minutes later the sky had opened up and it was freaking pouring.

Guess who's smug now SUCKERS!

Well right now Kyle is bringing in the play house and the sand table and tying down the rocking chairs. Which really won't make too much of a difference when we get projectile pelted from all the crap on our neighbor's porch. But it really is adorable how concerned Kyle is about his girls and our little Behr cave.

I'm not looking forward to driving out to Connecticut in the rain but I am really looking forward to seeing my parents and my sister, Carly. They are heading back from dropping Hannah (the one with the awesome hair) off at Franciscan University and are really missing her. A baby Behr fix will make them feel so much better.

And if anyone is wondering, Hannah is doing very well. She made the tennis team and there are boys following her to and fro. So she is doing an excellent job of continuing the legacy. Get it girl! (And by "it" I mean your MRS degree)

That's about all I've got for today. I am praying hard for all of you who are also getting caught in the storm.