The Ward Family

Finally, Snow.

2012-02-13T22:10:00.000-06:00

We finally had our first real snow fall this winter. February is almost half over and it is about time winter has arrived. Lillian and Claire have been waiting patiently for the chance to build their first snow many and make snow angels. Their faces lit up with excitement this morning when I opened their blinds and they saw the snow. They wanted to skip breakfast and head straight outside. Let's just say, they were not happy I made them wait until after they had some food in their bellies.

Once we bundled up and headed out, they were all smiles and giggles. They chased each other, myself and Leia with snow balls. We had a blast.

We only had enough snow and patience to build a itty bitty snowman and he sure was a cute one.

After the body was put together, the girls insisted I run inside to get a carrot for his nose. While poking in the fridge, I also grabbed two blueberries for the eyes. This was not enough for the girls, they wanted me to get more for the mouth and track down sticks for his arms. I said no.

Claire also had the chance to make her snow angel. Actually, she made several. I also laid down in the snow and made an angel myself.

It took a lot of convincing, but I was finally able to drag the girls back inside. This was not without tears that their snowman was going to melt. They asked about him up until bed time and needed the reassurance that he was still out there. At dinner, they asked to bring him inside to keep him safe. I let them know, that probably would not be the best idea, he would melt and he would be much safer outside in the cold.

Melts My Heart

2012-02-10T23:33:00.000-06:00

Tonight Josh and I went our for dinner to celebrate 10 years since we started dating. When we arrived back home, Lillian ran up to me and said, "Mommy, I'm so happy to see you. I so glad you are home."
Melts my heart.

Something Special

2012-02-06T21:17:00.000-06:00

It has now been a week and a half since we transitioned the girls to their big girl beds. I would say that overall it has gone really well. The only times they usually get out of bed is to get a book or climb in their sisters bed and this is only during nap time. When bed time hits, they stay in their bed and haven't shown any desire to get out. I am very glad we decided to wait as long as we did, because I know it would not have went this well if we did it when they turned two, two and a half or any other time but now.

When we started the transition, I made up a sticker chart for them and if they filled all of the blank spaces they would be able to go to Target and pick out whatever toy or special item they wanted. I think I have posted before how they were able to pick out their items, but never actually were able to use them since their behavior quickly turned around and not for the better.

Last week Friday the girls woke up hearing the school bus pick up the little girl across the street. I went in their room to get them and Lillian was in tears telling me she needed to go Target to buy a backpack so she could go to school on the bus too. Lately, they have been all about wanting backpacks for some crazy reason. Claire actually picked out a toddler sized princess backpack as her special item and Lillian did at first, but changed her mind. I told her if both of them took a good nap that afternoon, then we would go back to Target and find her a backpack. Well, what do you know. They both feel asleep almost as soon as I put them down for a nap and woke up asking for backpacks. We exchanged the toy Lillian no longer cared about and never had the chance to play with and let her pick out a backpack. They are in love.

Claire has already mastered putting her backpack on by herself, although, sometimes it goes on upside down. They collect all of their special treasures and carry them around the house as they "walk to school." We still have the constant begging of wanting to go to school, but at least we are one step closer and they have their backpacks. Goofy girls.

Hair Length

2012-02-02T21:46:00.001-06:00

Just a couple of quick pictures to show the length of their hair now after it has been cut. I wasn't thinking and I didn't take any before pictures of the back to get a decent shot, but I would guess there is 3-4 inches off the length.

First Hair Cuts

2012-01-29T20:08:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we finally took the girls to get their first hair cuts. Sadly, I did not get any pictures during the cuts because the whole thing went as well as I expected it to, lots of tears and fighting. I knew it would probably end up this way, but we needed to get their hair cut. When wet, their hair reached down to their bottoms, it was so unhealthy and was constantly in knots from being so long and unruly.

We took them to a salon called Sugar and Spice, despite the way their name sounds, it is a children's hair salon, so they are used to the screaming and crying. I was hoping the girls would fight it less since they were able to pick out which special "chair" they would like to sit in. They had a few jeeps, 4-wheelers, motorcycles, and race cars, but Lillian wouldn't budge and instead had her arms wrapped around my neck the entire cut. Claire finally relaxed enough to sit in a pink and purple jeep, but she still had tears. They each had 3-4 inches cut off the length of their hair. There is no style, because, well, you can't style a crying child's hair very well, you just have to say a prayer and hope for the best. With all the weight cut off their hair, their hair feels so much healthier and bounced up into curls instantly.

I didn't take any before pictures and as I already said, I couldn't take any pictures during, Lillian nearly strangling me, prevented that from happening, but the salon did take before and after pictures along with saving a lock of hair for us.

Claire was happy as can be once she was done and out of the chair. She happily enjoyed her lollipop while checking out everything they sold in the store part of the salon.

Lillian was suddenly too cool to be bothered by me and trying to get her picture.

I have been trying to get some better after pictures to show the actual length of their hair, but of course they do not want to cooperate and have been extra wild this weekend. I will keep trying and hopefully have some photos up soon.

Big Girl Beds

2012-01-28T15:53:00.000-06:00

The switch has been made, I have to say, I am very surprised with how well it has gone so far. After the girls woke up from their afternoon nap on Thursday, I took off the front rail of their crib and added the guard rail to make it into a toddler bed. Josh was working that day and I knew if we waiting until he got off work at 7pm, it would be a late bedtime and they would not be so willing to lay down right away without having time to explore and play in their new beds.

They were both so excited about the transformation and being big girls now. We went over the rules for big girl beds many, many times over the past few weeks, but even more that evening. The rules are very simple.
-No jumping in bed, because you can fall out.
-You must stay in bed until Mommy or Daddy come to get you.
That's it, simple, right? We had a little sit down right before they climbed into bed for the night to cover the rules again. We also told them that if they cannot follow these rules and stay in bed, then they will get their cribs back since they are not acting like big girls, they don't get big girl beds. I made up a small sticker chart for them, only 6 spots to fill. Each nap and bed time they stay in bed, they will get a sticker. Once all their boxes are filled, then we will take a trip to Target and they can pick out any toy they want. Yup, it's a bribe and I don't care one bit. Luckily, they are easy to please and Lillian was so excited over some pencils she saw on our last Target trip, so I am not expecting thing too out of control for toy picks.

Lillian, especially, loves sitting with her feet dangling off the side of her bed.

Claire is all snuggled in for her first night of sleep in her big girl bed.

Lillian is snuggled and ready.

Like I have already said, I was very impressed and surprised with how well they did. Lillian did get out of bed once, but it was to climb into bed with Claire to read a book with her. After we reminded them of the rules, they both stayed put and made no other attempts. They were awake and chatting until 11:30pm, which also made it a very late night for us. Sadly, this is not uncommon for them to be awake so late. There are many nights they sit and chat with each other for hours until finally falling asleep. I think that night though, there were also nerves. While I was making the crib-bed transformation, they both told me they needed something in the spot that was open on the rail because they were going to fall out. So far, no one has fallen out. Both girls stayed in bed all night and were still there waiting for us Friday morning.

Friday at nap time was a little more difficult. Claire, my little ring leader, again was working her hardest to convince Lillian to get out of bed. "It's okay Lillian, I hold your hand and you come to my bed." Sure enough, I was watching through the cracked door and Lillian reaches for Claire's hand and walks over to Claire's bed. Right away I went in, reminded them of the rules and that was the end of it. Again, they chatted and played in bed, but they do that most days instead of napping.

Friday night, there were no attempts at getting out of bed by either of them. When Josh went into their room this morning, Lillian was in Claire's bed. When Lillian was asked why she got out of her bed, it was "because I need to give Claire a hug." How can you be mad at that?

Toddler Beds

2012-01-26T15:57:00.000-06:00

Lillian and Claire still sleep in cribs. For maybe six months now, Josh and I have been trying to figure out when we want to try to brave it and finally make the switch. We talked about maybe over winter break when I wouldn't have the little boys I watch, but Josh worked so much during that time, I really didn't want to take on the challenge by myself, so happily, we put it off.
Over a year ago both of the girls took turns climbing out of their cribs. Claire did it first and not long after Lillian followed, but since then neither of them has climbed out. Yesterday it happened. Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon both of my little guys were picked up. I did a quick clean up of the house and finally sat down to relax and enjoy the stillness of the house. That was quickly interrupted by the sound of a piggy bank shaking in the girls room. This is when I had a deep sigh and tried to calming walk back the girls room. See, Lillian has been known to show off her Stretch Armstrong arms before and some how reaches their piggy banks off their window ledge from her crib, how she does it I have no idea. This is what I expected when walking into their room. Instead, I was greeted with Lillian looking shocked as I opened the door, piggy bank in her bed, but she was standing in front of it. I look at Claire's bed. It was full of both of their blankets, Pillow Pets, random other animals and tutus. I think that about covers it. I look around for Claire and ask Lillian where she is. Lillian shrugs as Claire walks out of their closet. I told them big girls need to stay in bed. It isn't safe for them to climb out on their own, they can get hurt. I told them I needed quiet time and so do they, so they can look at books quietly. I closed their door and walked away.
Well, today I was really hoping nap time would go better than yesterday since they made no attempts to get out of their beds last night, but they had other plans. Within 15 minutes of me putting them in their cribs for nap, I had to go in three different times. The first time both of the girls were out of their beds. After walking out of their room I left their door cracked so I could keep a better eye on what they were doing. The second time Lillian was halfway over her rail as I pushed the door open. The third time Claire was out of bed saying she needed to play with her dollhouse. For the next hour they stayed in bed, even though Claire was trying to convince Lillian to climb out. "Lillian, get out of your bed and then I get out of mine. Mommy not coming in our room." Over and over she tried this on Lillian, but she didn't budge.
Midway thought typing this post (it is "nap time" right now) I went in their room after hearing little feet hit the floor. Lillian once again was out of her bed and Claire was planning her escape.
Luckily, Josh and I had already decided we were going to brave it and make the switch this weekend. After yesterdays activities, we decided to move it forward and and make the switch tonight. I am really dreading this milestone, I have been for over a year, that is why they are still in cribs. After "nap time" today I will probably start the transformation, since Josh is working until 7pm tonight and that doesn't allow much time before the girls go to bed for him to get it done.
I am really hoping tonight, tomorrow and every day in the future go better then expected. If not, pray I don't strangle my children. I will update tomorrow how the first new goes and maybe pictures. Sorry for the lack of pictures lately, I have been a terrible mommy and have not been taking many.

Zombies

2012-01-24T21:40:00.000-06:00

If you know my husband, you know that he has a thing for zombie books, movies, whatever it might be. If you have been to our house, you know that there is usually a small library by the porcelain thinking chair.
Now that you are caught up, this morning Josh took the girls to use the bathroom and Lillian looked over and asked Josh about his book that was sitting there. He told her it was a zombie book. Lillian's response, "Daddy, I don't like zombies. They are scary and they are going to get me. " Lovely, my three year old little girl already is developing a fear of zombies, not something most little girls are even aware of.
Moving along, he took the girls in our room to have some much loved daddy daughter time watching Batman in our room. Don't all little girls beg to watch Batman? Lillian continued to talk to Josh about the scary zombies. Josh assured her that zombies are not out to get her and she will be okay. The three of them snuggle up in bed and the first episode on the Batman DVD beings and here come the zombies.
"Daddy, those zombies are going to get me."
Josh laughs and then quickly changes the episode.

Seriously, my little girls know more about superheros and zombies then any other little girl I know. They are finally learning more of the Disney princesses, but they prefer Batman over Cinderella any day.

The Cough is Back

2012-01-23T15:59:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday night Claire's cough came back. We had a good run from the end of October until now without a cough, so I can't complain too much especially considering some of the other illnesses that are going around out there. It just stinks this cough comes from no where and takes what seems like forever to get out of the house. It only gets back when she is sleeping, during the day it is like nothing is going on. Silly little bug. Lillian is staying healthy and I hope is stays that way. I am sure it is because this weather has been so wonky this winter. We have days below freezing and the next it is 50 degrees outside and raining.

Sadly, other than the cough, there really isn't anything too exciting going on over here. Josh has started working 12 hour shifts with the department, so the extras days off have been great, but the days he works from 7am-7pm make for really long days for everyone.

Oh and one more sad thing. Well, as you are all very well aware of, my beloved Packers had a tough end to their season last weekend. Still hurts me. Anyways, yesterday I was folding laundry in my room watching the Giants/49ers game. Claire comes running in to see what I am doing, she looks up at the tv and see that I am watching football. My sweet girl starts cheering, "Go Packers go! Go Packers go!" I sadly had to tell her that the Packers were not playing, but I am so proud that when she sees a football game on tv, she knows to cheer for the Pack. That's my girl!

Scissors

2012-01-20T22:27:00.000-06:00

Lately I have felt like I have been failing the girls at not teaching them more while we are home together. I know that in time they will learn everything they need to, they are such smart girls, but I feel like I should be doing more. I am sure those who know what my days look like are probably laughing at me right now, since most days there is not a single moment of quiet and down time to actually be able to sit down with them and work on letter, numbers or things like that. I decided the other night to start small. Well, not really small, since scissors can go many different ways with three year olds.

This morning after breakfast was cleaned up, I took out the two pair of scissors I bought last night and two sheets of scrap paper. Before handing them to the girls, I ran through a few scissor rules.

-Scissors are not toys to be played with.

-Scissors are only for cutting paper, not hair.

-Scissors are only to be used with a grown up.

I showed them how to hold scissors and a practice cut. They were so excited to get their little hands on them and start cutting. They each had a large piece of scrap paper and cut little cuts around all four edges of the paper. When they were finished cutting, the scissors went up high in our craft basket on top of the fridge.

Baking Cookies

2012-01-15T18:00:00.001-06:00

Lillian and Claire love helping in the kitchen. They make a mess, slow me down and cramp my space, but I love that time together. I remember when I was young and pulling a kitchen chair up to the counter and helping my mom prep, cook and bake. I think that is something every child should experience and cherish. It's those little moments that stick with you and make you smile when looking back. I hope my girls will look back on this time together when they are older and tell their own children about it.

Wednesday afternoon I added a few other sewing projects to my list. I have been wanting to make aprons for the girl for over a year now. Clarie looked at my mass amounts of fabric and picked out this pink fabric from my stash and wanted me to make something with it. I love this fabric. I bought it with my friend, Angela in mind. Angela is a fellow mom of multiples and was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in August. We are a part of an online community for moms of multiple, I have posted about them a few times, including when I posted last spring about my trip to Savannah, GA. Getting to the point of this little side note, a group of us from the board sent fabric to another member of the board and she made a beautiful quilt for Angela while she was undergoing her chemo. The fabric I sent is the same fabric that Claire picked out and I made aprons with.

After the girls woke up from their nap, we went straight into the kitchen and started baking cookies. They voted on chocolate chip. They did a lot of dumping of the ingredients and mixing. They have have done a little taste testing along the way as well. They are actually very good about taking turns and we have very few fights while in the kitchen. However, they both are not fans of my hand mixer and run out of the kitchen as soon as I get ready to turn it on. We are getting better with it and will sometimes come back into the kitchen before it is turned off.

The fun thing about having them help me in the kitchen when I prep dinner, is that when they "help" chop veggies or mix things together, they are usually more likely to try something they otherwise wouldn't.

Snow Storm

2012-01-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

Wednesday night we had a "snow storm." Maybe they called it a snow storm because it is already mid-January and this is only the second time we have seen snow this season and the first time it was only flurries and a dusting. Who knows? I would not consider what happened the other night a storm by any means. I am not really sure why, but the district we live in was one of two to cancel school on Thursday. Since the moms of the two little boys I watch during the week are teachers in this district, I also had a snow day. It was nice being able to get some extra sleep and spend the day with just my girls. When they woke up and I opened their blinds, they were so excited to see snow on the ground. They instantly had plans for it. "Mommy, I want to play in the snow and make a snowman and a snow angel." Unfortunately, it was maybe mid-20's that morning, but we still bundled up and spent a little time outside, not nearly as long as the girls would have liked. I am hoping at some point this winter we will see a real snow fall, so Lillian and Claire can build their first snowman and actually be able to make a snow angel and see it when they stand up. Thursday's angels didn't work so well, when you could already see the grass through the small amount of snow that fell.

Dancing Ballerina's

2012-01-12T21:41:00.000-06:00

Took this video of my ballerinas this morning. They are singing a collection of song from Fresh Beat Band, there newest obsession.

Light Saber Ice Pop

2012-01-11T16:38:00.000-06:00

I don't usually share my many sewing projects on here, I try to keep my blog mostly about the girls and our family, but I thought these were too cute not to share. A fellow mom of multiples asked for help making ice pop holders for her little guys who are having surgery at the end of the month, since they will be eating a ton during recovery. These were a quick and cheap project and I might just have to make a few more sets.

Thinking of a Cut

2012-01-09T22:13:00.000-06:00

I have a huge emotional attachment to Lillian and Claire's hair. I have since the very beginning. I have been laughed at and teased from family members and friends for almost coming to tears at the very thought of cutting their hair. Seriously, I have a problem. I don't know what I will do if we every possibly have a baby boy. I don't really know what it is that has me so attached. Is it because that is the only thing that is still keeping them from fully being a big girl? The very tips of their hair was there the day they were born. Can that really be my reason? Is it because they will look even more grown up with a little trim? What if it doesn't look right and the stylist ruins their hair? Again, I know I am crazy and I need help.

I have started to think that I just need to take the plunge and get it done. When we mention the possibility of getting their hair cut to the girls, they respond, "no, I okay. I don't need a haircut." Claire says she wants to come with me and watch me get my hair cut. I am not so sure she will sit happily in a chair for the 45 minutes I spend at the salon when I get my hair done. Oh and they flip out of Josh and I are at the doctor, dentist or anywhere else where someone is touching us and they don't know. I think they also might have a fear of getting their haircut. I cut Josh's hair at home with the clippers and they have seen me do this before. I have a feeling they may think their hair cut will happen the same way.

If I can find a kids hair salon close to us, I think I might actually get their hair trimmed this month. We'll see. I can talk a big game now since it isn't set yet and I haven't found a salon. I will probably back down after those two things are done.

Just look at that perfect curl in Claire's pig tail. Cutting their hair might risk loosing the curl.

Little of This, Little of That

2012-01-04T23:15:00.000-06:00

Not much new going here. Winter break is over, so my extra little boys are back in the house again. I am still working on my living room makeover. I think this weekend I am going to finish off the rest of the trim work and do a few touch ups and then be done with the painting, for now. My walls are still bare, I don't want to put any fresh holes in until I know for sure what I want to hand where and I cannot make up my mind. My mantle has been rearranged several times with new things added and taken away constantly. I still have my Willow Tree Nativity up, because I cannot bring myself to take it down yet. I love that thing and I hate it is only on display for one month each year.
The girls. Well, those girls are crazy let me tell ya. For many months now, they spend the majority of their "nap" time throwing the mass amounts of animals and blankets they need in bed on the floor. Their newest adventure is taking their sheets off their mattresses and tossing that on the floor as well. Sunday we had, well, I would like it say little incident, but nothing about this disaster was little. I went into the girls room an hour after I had put them to bed for their nap because it sounded like they were about to break their beds with how hard they were jumping and playing. I open the door and instantly smell poop. My eyes, of course, go to the crazy mess of animals and blankets that littered their floor. I look up and see both of the girls, hands, faces and feel (no idea) covered in their poop. Their crib rails, mattresses, everything is covered. I am standing there completely speechless. The girls feel silent, but gave me a big smile. I lifted them one at a time out of their beds and carried them straight to the bath tub. Told them not to move, not to touch anything and don't say a word. I was furious, really, I don't think that word even says enough for how I felt.
I cleaned all the poop off of them with paper towel and the detachable shower head. Lifted them out of the tub, rinsed it and filled it. They both went back in and were scrubbed. After they were dressed, they both sat in time out until their room was clean.
Josh was still at work for the first part of the clean up, but arrived home in time to help me scrub the second crib. The girls sat in their timeout spots for well over and hour and hardly spoke a word. They knew they were in trouble and didn't want to risk it.
Since the girls have started to take their sheets off their mattress's, poop got in every little nook and cranny. There was no way we were ever going to be able to get is clean. We had to throw away their mattresses and headed to Walmart to buy new ones. They girls were very well behaved the rest of the night and the following day. Even on Tuesday they were talking about how playing with poop is not nice. I am very happy they were listening to what we told them and I have a feeling they will never attempt that again.
We have been very lucky that this is the first time this has happened in our house. I have heard stories from friends who have little ones who have does this since a very young age and do it on a regular basis. No thank you. I would like to add, that I think overall, I held it together pretty well. Sure the thought of yelling at them and throwing them out the window may have crossed my mind, but I didn't act on it. I never yelled. Really, I still don't even know what to say about the whole thing. It is done with, we have moved on and like I said, pretty sure I can guarantee that will never happen again.

***disclaimer: I would never actually throw my children out of a window or physically harm them in anyway.***

Just thought I would throw that out there for anyone considering calling DFS on me.

Happy New Years

2011-12-31T23:29:00.000-06:00

We had a very quiet evening in our house. After dinner we took a family trip to the grocery store for our weekly shopping trip, when we arrived back home, the girls helped me unpack the groceries. They love helping put everything away, makes it a bigger job for me having to unstack everything they piled, but they get so excited. We played, put on jammies, read one last book and they were off to bed. Luckily, tonight they fell asleep right away, because last night they were up partying in their cribs until 11:40pm.
Once the girls were in bed, Josh and I made a drink and a plate with a few snack and worked on catching up on some of our shows. Josh headed to bed just after 11pm since he has to work in the morning and here I sit.
One year, we will have plans again and find a sitter for the girls, but for now, I don't mind a quiet night at home with my three favorite people. Josh and I are determined to make 2012 a wonderful year for our family and so far we are off to a great start.
I hope everyone had a fun and safe night and make 2012 a year to remember.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T15:25:00.000-06:00

I was really bummed this Christmas because Josh had to work both Christmas Eve and day, but it all ended up working out. On Christmas Eve, Josh got home from work with enough time to shower and change before headed out for church. The service was wonderful. It was a family service, so the girls came with us to the "big people church" and did amazingly well. While singing, Lillian put her hand up to my mouth and said, "mommy, stop singing." When every song was ending, she would say, "we all done singing now." Claire seemed to love all the music and singing going on around her, she didn't say a peep. When Pastor Dan started to speak, he asked all the kids, "whose birthday is it?" The appropriate response would be Jesus, not my Lillian. Lillian shouted back, "it's my birthday! It's my birthday!" We all than sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and the girls both puffed their chests out and were so proud of everyone singing them Happy Birthday. We ended the service with all the lights turned off and one by one we lit candles we held while singing, my favorite, Silent Night. Right in the middle of the peace and calm in the room, my little Lillian shouts out, "Mommy, I got to go potty!" Nice. After service we headed back home with Grandma Pattie and Grandpa Jim and ate a Papa Johns pizza. Nothing says Christmas like having a pizza delivered to the house.

The girls helped Josh get cookies and milk ready for Santa before going to bed for the night. We told them that Santa only delivers presents when little girls are asleep, wouldn't you know, they feel asleep much quicker than normal. However, they did spend roughly 15 minutes wishing each other a Merry Christmas and talking about Santa's visit before they fell asleep.

I was not looking forward to Christmas morning with Josh stuck working. It didn't feel right. Well, we were blessed, because Josh was able to come home to help me get the girls out of bed in the morning and he was there to watch the girls open up every last gift they received under the tree. It was wonderful. We kept the gifts to a minimum. Lillian and Claire don't know the difference right now and there were very few items they mentioned the past few months they wanted.

They both sat down so nicely waiting for each gift to be handed to them and Lillian made sure Josh and I were not forgotten, she wanted to grab gifts to give us to open as well.

So let me tell you, I think those Sing-a-ma-jigs are beyond annoying, but every time Claire saw one at the store, her face would light up and she was ask for one. I decided, against my better judgement, I pick one up for each of the girls. Claire was instant smiles and Lillian was ready for her next gift.

Another items Claire has been begging for is a drum. Actually, she really wants the drum sticks, so again, against my better judgement, I bought a drum for the girls and a set of maracas. Eek, I should know better than that.

Their big gift this year was a dollhouse. It stands over a foot taller than them and is plenty big for both of the girls to play together and not have to fight over space. The love it!

Josh had to head back to the road as soon as we finished opening gifts, but we were glad he was able to spend part of the morning with us.

That evening after Josh got home from work his parents and his sister Maggie and her husband Baris, came to our house for dinner and more gifts.

Aunt Maggie brought the girls some of her old Care Bears from when she was a little girl since her other gift has not arrived in the mail yet. Claire loves her "new pink honey bear from Aunt Maggie."

Lillian and Claire snacked all afternoon and by the time dinner was served they were no longer hungry. I made a delicious french dip, twice baked loaded mashed potatoes and a corn casserole for dinner, but since we all snacked so much before, we all had to force ourselves to eat even more, but we managed.

We had a wonderful Christmas and were happy to be able to spend with some family, but there was certainly a lot of family that was missed this holiday season.

Christmas Update

2011-12-29T23:02:00.000-06:00

I know, I am terrible and I have not yet posted about our families Christmas and you still will not hear about it in this post. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to find a little extra time to put together a post with some of the not so great photos that were taken. In my defense, I have had a very busy last few days and that isn't just a made up line. Josh and I bought three gallons of paint on Tuesday and I have been a painting fool. This is something that I have been wanting to do for way too long now, so it feels great time finally get this project checked off the list. I (with a little help from Josh) painted the living room and the main hallway in our house a beautiful color called Sterling by Behr. That was all done (two coats) on Tuesday. Luckily, the girls spent the entire day and stayed for dinner with Grandma Pattie. Today I painted our mantle and all the trim in the living room, including the archway into the kitchen a creamy white color called Swiss Coffee by Behr. I am now falling in love with my living room again. Of course, now that the walls and trim is crisp and clean, the nasty old carpet and ugly popcorn ceiling look horrible, but those two things are just going to have to wait a little longer. Here is a quick shot of the living room tonight. I need to start figuring out what I want to hang the walls again, so for now they are blank until I get it just right. No worries, I have many ideas cooking up inside my head.

I will try my hardest to get a Christmas post up tomorrow and I will add more photos of the living room as it comes together.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T21:32:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

Time to get out some cookies and milk for Santa.

Santa stopped by to visit.

Love,

The Ward Family

Josh, Melissa, Lillian and Claire

3 Years Old

2011-12-22T23:05:00.000-06:00

I can't believe my baby girls are now three years old. Last night we had our usual snuggles on the couch and read a book before putting them to bed. Unlike other nights, I dreaded putting them in bed. It was like Sunday night, you don't look forward to the week starting, so you hold off going to bed, like you can keep Monday morning from coming, only that doesn't work. I hugged my two year olds extra tight last night and shed a few tears. I love seeing them learn and develop and discover new things, but every birthday has been difficult for me, I want my babies to stay babies just a little bit longer.

Josh and the girls right before we put them to bed.

Last night before Josh and I went to bed, we filled their bedroom floor with balloons. Josh woke up before they did this morning and heard Claire when she woke up, "Lillian, wake up. Look, balloons!" They were so excited and had a blast kicking, throwing, hitting and jumping around in them.

For months now, we have been asking the girls what they would like for their birthday and/or Christmas. The only thing they have both said over and over, is they want new honey (teddy) bears. When they told us this for the second or third time, Josh and I decided that we would take them to Build-a-Bear and let them pick out whatever bear and outfit they would like. Claire has said from the very beginning that she wants a pink bear, because that is her favorite color and spotted hers right away. Lillian took a little longer to choose her perfect bear. Once she spotted the the purple bear with hearts and peace signs, it was love at first sight.

Lillian had decided early on in the day that she did not want to smile or show any signs of happiness for the camera.

They waited to patiently for their turn.

Before you can close up your bear, you have to kiss a heart and fill your bear with love.

Lillian and Claire had so much fun picking out and making their own special bears. They did not want a special box to carry them out it, they were carried in their arms.

For lunch we headed to Red Robin, another favorite of the girls. They each ordered their own lunch, chicken fingers and french fries, but we skipped on dessert since we had cake waiting for us at home.

Lillian once again refused to show a smile, so she covered her face with the menu.

Shortly after arriving back home this afternoon, we put the girls down for a nap, and they actually took one! Grandma Pattie and Grandpa Jim stopped by this evening for cake and ice cream, oh and more presents. First the girls opened a special birthday package that came earlier this week in the mail from Grandpa Mark and Grandma Sandy, which resulted in a gasp and excitement for a new princess crown and jewels. Those will go along great with the princess dress up clothes Grandpa Mark bought them when we were in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving.
They received some fun games and scooters from Grandma Pattie and Grandpa Jim, which have already been put together and taken for a test drive.

Claire is modeling her jewels from Grandpa Mark. They have been worn all evening long.

I ran out of frosting while making this cake, so it is a little sad looking, but still tasted delicious.

This is the result when Claire grabs the camera and starts taking pictures. If her tiny fingers were not in the way, I bet she would have some really cute shots. Just look at that smile Lillian is flashing.

Decorating the Tree

2011-12-21T07:47:00.000-06:00

Sunday the commotion of a birthday party was over and the house was back to normal. Since the Packers played awful that afternoon, I decided it would the perfect time to dig the tree out of storage and set it up while the girls napped.

That evening after Josh arrived home from work and the girls woke up from nap, we turned on some Christmas music and decorated the tree together as a family for the first time. Lillian and Claire loved picking out ornaments one at a time and ask questions about it and then find a special spot for it on the tree. Some ornaments they requested to hang up high and some needed to be right at their level. The process was long, but wonderful. There were many times Josh and I took a step back and watched the joy and excitement on two little girls faces.

After decorating the tree, we sat down at the kitchen table. I made hot chocolate for everyone and we turned the kitchen lights and the Christmas music down and read our Advent story about Joy and lit the rose colored candle on our wreath. We folded our hands together said a short prayer and enjoyed this moment as a family, as we have every other Sunday evening since Advent began.

I don't think there are too many homes that have both a rainbow of balloons and a Christmas tree decorating their living room at the same time. I love it!

The girls have spent many hours sitting and looking at the various ornaments. They ask us where we got each one. Some have great stories, our first Christmas being married, their first Christmas, a wedding favor, our first Christmas in our home and some stories are not so special, Hobby Lobby.

Claire enjoys hanging out under the tree every now and then.

These last few days in our house have been wonderful. We have created so many memories in just a short time. Josh and I have decided a new tradition has began, decorating as a family, hot chocolate and slowing life down. This is what the holiday season is really about, creating memories with those you love and cherishing those moments forever. I feel so blessed.

A Colorful Party

2011-12-19T23:39:00.000-06:00

Saturday we celebrated Lillian and Claire's 3rd birthday with family and friends. Several months ago when the girls started talking nonstop about their birthday, I asked them what type of party they wanted. Together they decided they wanted a yellow party with balloons hanging from the ceiling. Well, we had some yellow, but I also added a bunch of other colors to make a rainbow party. Oh and we also had the balloons, just as they wanted.

Last year I stressed myself out and didn't get a head start on any of the party projects I wanted to get done and making all the food perfect. Well, there was a ton of left over food because not many people at the treats and I ran out of time and energy to get everything done I wanted to. I decided this year there was going to be a lot less stressful for me. I started the printing and cutting of the banner and other items well over a month ago, as well as, use a box mix for the cupcakes instead of an over the top by scratch recipe like last year. Also, instead of making all of the food, I made a fruit tray and veggie tray, but we ordered pizzas and they seemed to be a hit.

The "3" hung on our front door and greeted the guests as they arrived. I cut a giant 3 out of card board and hot glued grosgrain ribbon in rainbow order to cover the number. The girls loved it and so do I. I took down our Christmas wreath for the party and the 3 will stay on the door until after the girls actual birthday on Thursday.

Even the water was colorful!

We had a rainbow hanging from the ceiling and punching balloons which all the kids loved.

As I stated above, the cupcakes were from a box mix, but with a bit of a flare. I did make the vanilla butter cream frosting, but I couldn't get it to spread nicely, I think it was still a little too thick. They sure did taste good though.

The birthday girls cupcakes. The entire evening, Claire kept climbing into the chair right by the cupcakes and wanted to eat hers so badly. I am sure there were a few little finger pokes in them.

A fun surprise when you bite into the cupcakes.

My yummy rainbow fruit tray, which also had many little fingers picking at it all evening.

The only thing missing from the table is the pizza.

Josh helped me make chocolate covered pretzel rods with rainbow sprinkles. A little salty, a little sweet, but a whole lot of deliciousness.

The girls received many wonderful gifts at their party. Thank you to everyone who helped make their day so special.

Their faces lit up when they saw Josh coming into the living room with the candles lit on their cupcakes.

Each of their friends that came were able to pick out a ball on their way home. Actually, the balls were picked out of the bucket earlier in the evening and played with throughout the party.

Thank you again to everyone who was able to make it, Grandma Pattie and Grandpa Jim, Aunt Maggie and Uncle Baris, Kylie, Kelly, Josh and Hudson, Rachel and Olivia, Jennie, Brett and Sammie.

Another Meeting with Santa

2011-12-17T20:33:00.000-06:00

Last night we had to run some errands for those last minute birthday party items (a post about today's party will hopefully come tomorrow). We just finished grabbing our last item at Price Chopper and was heading towards the check out lane when we hear, "Wanna come sit on my lap? Ho, ho, ho." Now this could go several different ways. You see, neither Josh or I saw Santa sitting behind us on his Coke case throne built for him, so we were a bit startled. The girls were excited, but confused when they saw Santa sitting there. Claire this time was eager and ready to go by Santa, the opposite of their first meeting last month. Lillian had no interest of getting out of the shopping cart. Santa was okay with that, and said he would come stand by them. Neither of them were afraid this time, just a bit unsure. Santa gave them each a baby candy cane before we left and the girls were in heaven. While we stood in line and waited out turn, they would not take their eyes off of him and kept asking questions. We're getting there.

Just one more quick picture of our stockings. I made mine and Josh's stockings yesterday afternoon, so now our mantle is complete.

Dad, all of the fabrics on our stockings are the same that is used in the quilt I made for you and Sandy.

Smiles

2011-12-12T22:07:00.000-06:00

Have a great day!

Footie Jammies

2011-12-10T16:20:00.000-06:00

I am not ready for the cold weather that started and I am really not ready for snow that has not yet arrived, but I am sure it will be here soon. One thing that I do love about the cooler weather, footie jammies. The girls always seem to be in an extra snuggly mood when they wear them and I can't get enough cuddles when they are head to toe fuzzy.

The girls received these Tinker Bell jammies as a birthday gift last year. My Uncle Rocky was in the Kansas City area at the time of their party for training before he went over seas. He was so thoughtful and picked up these Tinker Bell jammies, matching blankets, which are a favorite for both of the girls and brought them over. The pajamas were too big for them last winter, but no worries, the girls are constantly growing and fit great this winter. A few nights ago I pulled them out of the drawer for the first time this winter and Claire's eyes seemed to double in size and she had the biggest smile on her face. She was so excited to wear her new Tinker Bell jammies!

I can't believe my baby girls will be turning three in less than two weeks. It certainly doesn't feel like it has been a year since I was stressing and loosing sleep over their party last year, now it is time to do it all again.

St. Nicholas

2011-12-06T21:32:00.000-06:00

I have been searching our house high and low trying to find our Christmas stockings and I cannot find them anywhere. For some reason some of my Christmas decorations are not where they belong (in the large storage bins with all the other decorations) and are no where to be found. Since today is St. Nick, I needed to figure something out, so I made new stocking for the girls yesterday afternoon. I still need to make something for Josh and I, but those will come hopefully in the next few weeks or by next holiday season.

Growing up, we have celebrated St. Nick for as long as I can remember. I remember being stunned when I found out Josh had no idea what I was talking about, as well as most others in both Minnesota in college and then moving to the Kansas City area. Even though the girls might be the only kids in their elementary class that will know about St. Nick paying a little visit on December 6th, i still want to carry on this tradition with them.

Last night before Josh and I went to bed, we did our nightly routine of checking on the girls, but we hung their stockings on their dresser for them. They were so excited to see them hanging there this morning, but even more excited when they found out there were a few treats in them.

The girls were very excited about the candy canes, but they were most excited about the special ornaments that I picked out for each of them. I found a purple ballerina for Lillian, since she has been obsessed with them for months now. For Claire, I found a pink Christmas tree with bells that jingle. They both love them and are so proud of their own special ornaments. As part of the St. Nick tradition in our house, I have decided that each year I am going to find an ornament for them. One that is special to their likes that year and something they will be able to take with them and add to their own Christmas tree when they have their own families.
If you do not know about St. Nicholas or this tradition you should look it up, it has a wonderful history.

Trouble

2011-12-03T23:55:00.000-06:00

My sweet and innocent looking girls have become trouble makers lately. This past month or so, they have doing everything they can do push my buttons and it only seems to be getting worse. I know it is the age, establishing independence, blah blah blah, but seriously, I am so over it. I am nervous, because from many of my other mom friends, I hear three is worse than two. Actually two has only recently gotten bad, but like I said, I am over it.

Our Thankgiving Trip

2011-11-30T21:56:00.000-06:00

This year we headed north to Wisconsin to spend Thanksgiving with my family. It was wonderful getting up there, since it has been five years since we were last able to spend Thanksgiving in the frozen tundra. Lillian and Claire were so excited to see all of their Grandmas and Grandpas up north, we had a total of 3 sets to visit. They sure are lucky girls to have so many grandparents to love and hug.

We left Wednesday morning and after driving all day hearing Claire say, "I want to see Grandpa Mark Sandy. I want to go to their house" over and over, we finally arrived in Green Bay around dinner time. They were very excited to get out of the car, play and run wild. On Thanksgiving day, we cheered along with a house that was full of people dressed in their finest green and gold and celebrated another win. There was wonderful food and great company into the evening hours. Friday evening we headed to Sir Bounce-a-Lot for dinner and fun with Grandpa Mark, Grandma Sandy, Auntie Holly, Aunt Susie, and cousins Ray and Shay. Lillian and Claire were full of giggles as they bounced and played games. Of course, none of the kids were very interested in eating their pizza, they just wanted to play. Imagine that.

When we arrived back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, the girls had to run in the yard to check out all of the Christmas lights Grandma Sandy worked so hard putting up earlier in the day.

Saturday morning while Josh was helping my Dad, the girls helped Grandma Sandy decorate the Christmas tree. They loved it and they were sad when they ran out of ornaments to hang on the tree. They were so excited to get back home to decorate their own little tree.

Saturday afternoon we went to visit my grandparents in Milwaukee, the girls great grandparents. It is always so nice being able to spend some time at their house, really the only thing that hasn't changed over the years, and catching up. I love my grandparents and I really wish we could see them more often then we do.
After visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Z, we headed even further south in Wisconsin to Racine to spend some time with my mom and Billy in the Racine area. That evening, Josh and I headed back into Milwaukee for my 10 year high school reunion. It was such a strange feeling being in the same room with so many people I have not seen or talked to for over 10 years now. It was great catching up, I just wish more of the people I actually hung out with attended. Maybe at the 20 year. :-)
On Sunday, Grandma Jessie made her delicious homemade waffles (I really should find myself a waffle maker, and not a Belgian waffle) while we all hung out in our jammies. Later that morning we headed to the mall to find Santa. Lillian was really excited to see Santa, Claire had no interest. We told them Santa gives out candy canes and they got them a little more excited. Turns out, this Santa gives out coloring books and not candy canes, Lillian was sure to tell him she wanted her candy cane. Claire wanted nothing to do with the coloring book from Santa and threw it at Lillian. Oh and since it was Grandma's idea, I stood back and let her deal with the possibility of screaming children. There were no tears, but Claire would not let go of Grandma, so our Santa picture this year has Grandma Jessie in it.

Those Santa display folks are quite crafty. They set up all the trees, computers, cameras in such a way that it is nearly impossible to try and sneak your own photo. This was the best I could get. I will have to scan the picture Grandma bought and share it. Claire looks afraid and Lillian was flashing her fake smile. Sunday afternoon, Uncle Mark, Jeannie and cousin Coy, came over to visit and play. I, of course, didn't take a single picture. Actually, I was terrible about taking pictures the entire trip. I love seeing the girls playing with their cousins.
Monday morning we woke up bright and early to head home. The girls were ready to be home and get back to their normal. They both fell asleep on the way home, which meant, I was able to take a short nap as well.

Yes, Claire slept with her sunglasses on like this. ;-)

We had a great trip seeing everyone. It is always so hard to leave Wisconsin, especially when we have no idea when we will be able to head back up or have someone come visit us. Love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:00:00.001-06:00

Hope you are having a healthy and safe Thanksgiving with those you love.

Doing Well

2011-11-22T21:12:00.000-06:00

We are all doing great here, just not enough hours in the day to get on here and update like I should. The girls are exactly one month away from turning three and I am not at all ready for it. No, seriously, I am not ready. Their party will be the weekend before their actual birthday, but I have not yet printed their invites or anything else that needs to be done. Maybe next week.

My mom came down to visit last weekend and the girls had so much fun playing with Grandma Jessie all weekend. I will update more on her visit later and add some pictures.

Weekend Away

2011-11-16T16:22:00.000-06:00

I once again apologize for the lack of posting over this past week. This past weekend Josh and I were able to sneak away and left the girls with Grandma Pattie and Aunt Maggie. It has been way too long since Josh and I have had a weekend to ourselves and we had a great time.
The girls are doing well. They are getting sassy as the weeks go on and trying to become more independent. It was been so nice being able to leave the downstairs door open so they can go up and down from the playroom as they please. Of course, this means all sorts of random and small toys come up with them on their many trips. They also love playing in their room now, but they like having the door closed when they are in there, since there isn't anything in there they can break or hurt themselves with, I don't mind. During these times though, the house seems so quiet when they are not being wild and crazy animals in the living room.

Remember our Tub Issues?

2011-11-09T22:13:00.000-06:00

Remember last spring when I posted often about my concerns about the girls suddenly being terrified of the bathtub? They got to the point they didn't even want to walk past the threshold of the bathroom door because then they would see the tub. Well, now we have the complete opposite problem, they always want to be in the bathtub.
When Claire woke up from her nap this afternoon, the first thing she said to me was, "I need to take a tubby today." Lillian was begging as soon as dinner ended to put water in the tubby for her. It is a fight now to get them out of the tub and will play until the water turns cold and their lips blue if we let them. When we flip the lever for the water to drain, Lillian throws a fit, a full on tears and yelling fit. She now knows how to flip the drain lever to stop the water, it is a struggle, but she doesn't give up.
Tonight when Josh flipped the lever, Lillian pounded her fist down on the edge of the tub and said, "no daddy, not right now. I not all done in the tubby." She said this in her most serious and stern voice. Josh and I had to turn our heads away because we were laughing so hard at her.

Holiday Cards

2011-11-08T10:42:00.000-06:00

Every fall I get so excited to take that perfect photo of Lillian and Clare and create a card even better than the year before. Every fall I also forget about the stress I was under while trying to capture that perfect photo and the many hours I spent perfect a card layout and design, only to print it and find several flaws. I rush to get them all printed, sealed and sent off and usually I only have days left until Christmas arrives. This year I have decided to do something different. I have decided I am going to take a much easier route and let someone else create that perfect card so my only challenge is the pictures.

After looking dozens of option for printing cards, I decided to go with Shutterfly. I have ordered from them many times before for various projects and I have never been let down. Their printing quality is excellent, they are fast, wonderful customer service and you have hundreds of designs to choose from.

A few of my favorites are the Very Merry Stripes card, it is so bright and cheerful. I also love the simplicity and elegance of Let Peace Flourish stationary card.

Something that makes Shutterfly an even better place to purchase your holiday cards, is the fact that you can also order so many great gifts at the same time. I have used Shutterfly to make calendars, photo books and coffee mugs. All came back with excellent quality and these personalized gifts are always the ones that get talked about for years to come.

This year the most stressful part of creating my holiday card is trying to pick from all the choices. Off to go find out perfect card.

A New Game

2011-11-07T16:51:00.000-06:00

The girls have a new game they like to play, library. They love when we go to the library and they get to pick out books to bring home with us. They love sitting at the table and chairs in the kids area and reading books. Of course, we still need to work on the quiet whispers so we don't disturb others, but thank goodness Lillian and Claire are cute and people still find them sweet at this age, I am not sure how much longer we have with that one though.

They have started their new game of library while at home. The library is their room since that is where they have several bookshelves full of books. I have boxes of books from when I was teaching, now that they know to to be careful with the paper pages, I have started putting some of those books in their room. They will take a toy bucket or something else handy to use as a chair, pick out books and sit down and read.

The other afternoon when they woke up from nap, Josh and I walked into the girls room and found that Lillian had created a library with the nap time books she picked out. She had them all perfectly lined up along the top of her crib and was looking at them that way.

Fall Leaves

2011-11-04T19:45:00.000-05:00

The girls have been loving raking and playing in the fallen leave in our yard. Every time we go outside they want to try and make the biggest pile possible so they can run, jump and wrestle in them. We chase each other around the yard and throw them, pile them at the bottom of the slide to slide into and laugh so hard we fall over while playing. I love fall. I also love that they don't remember doing this last year, so it is almost like a first time experience for the girls.

Can you spot Lillian under the leaves?

Playing Catch Up

2011-11-02T19:13:00.000-05:00

The past few months I have terrible at taking photos. Life has been so busy, but that really isn't much of an excuse, because my life has been busy for the last 34 months. The last few weeks I have been trying to much harder to take the camera with us when we go various places, playing outside or catching those cute moments during the day inside the house.

Last week we had some beautiful weather around here and it was nice letting the girls play outside in skirts or summer dresses and not have to worry about layers.

This is a self portrait Lillian took of herself. She was so proud.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:31:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween! The girls have been so excited for weeks now to dress up as ballerinas (their choice) and go trick or treating. However, I am not so sure they really had a clue what trick or treating actually was until last week when watching something on tv.

We only took them to a few neighbors since we really do not need the candy in the house and they do not eat much the way it is. Luckily, the girls did not put up a fight when it was time to head back home. Actually, after the first house, Claire said, "Let's go home and eat special treat now."

They were so excited to say "trick or treat" to everyone and get a piece or two of candy. They loved it!

I asked the girls to stand by each other so I could take a picture. Claire would not get her nose out of her bucket and Lillian ran behind the tree, poked her head out and said "peek-a-boo!"

When the trick or treaters started coming to our house, the girls were so excited. They sat in the window watching and waiting to see the kids. As soon as someone started to walk up our steps, they ran towards the front door and said, "my friends are here for a special treat." Both girls were so excited to see the different costumes and once the door opened they yelled "trick or treat" to the kids coming to our house for candy.

Faulkner's Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-30T21:52:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday we took the girls to Faulkner's Pumpkin Patch. The LSPD were hosting an event for employees and families that afternoon, however, since Josh had to work, we didn't get there until after it was over. Of course, we didn't know the event ended at 2pm and were fully expecting to see others when we arrived. Guess it was not planned with those who had to work in mind. Anyway, the girls had a blast.

We were able to see a bunch of different animals.

Race rubber ducks with a water pump.

Run around in the large, open grassy areas.

Play in a trailer full of corn.

There was also an obstacle course, climbers and so much more. We let the girls each pick out one small pumpkin and they carried them around the house for days before I finally put them in the front steps.

On the Mend

2011-10-27T16:22:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to give a quick up date that the girls are feeling better. Claire is still raspy and both still have a cough, but fevers are gone and the barking cough is also out of the house.

These pictures are from last week, nothing special was going on, but the girls were being sweet and cute so I had to take a few pictures.

We took out the last few packages of frozen waffles out of the box (we eat a lot of these in our house) and the girls wanted to play with the box. It was used as a step stool, sitting stool and storage to carry various items around the house.

Claire wasn't too interested in having her picture taken that morning.

Lillian was very willing to give me a smirk.

We went grocery shopping that afternoon and bought some popsicles. We all had to have one after dinner and laugh at our changing colored tongues. Claire's face was stained blue for a few days.

Croup

2011-10-25T23:01:00.000-05:00

Last week Thursday Lillian woke up with a cough. It wasn't too bad that day, but got worse over the weekend. Saturday and Sunday she was very horse and raspy sounding. We tried every trick, but nothing worked. Sunday I called our pediatrician and he gave me one more idea. Told me if it didn't work to come in on Monday. Well, Monday she was much better, but still had a little cough and Claire was starting to cough, so we made a family trip yesterday evening.

Last fall and winter, Lillian had a cough off and on the entire time, more on than off. Because of that, her eczema (can be caused by allergies and asthma), and nothing else seeming to really help her cough, we now have an inhaler in the house. Our pediatrician said it sounds like she may have had croup over the weekend, but she didn't have a fever with it. It seemed to help her this morning, but she was also on the mend yesterday.

Claire woke up this morning sounding raspy and a cough, but no fever. Late in the morning her temp started to rise, but it was still around 100 degrees, so nothing too alarming and it went down quickly with Tylenol. This evening though it was a different story. Her temperature rose to a high 102 and meds were not helping. We put another call into the pediatrician and we were told to put her in a luke-warm bath to help bring her body temp down, then put her the steamy bathroom for a little bit then in front of the chilly freezer. They could hear her barking cough over the phone and said it sounds like she has croup. Joy! It helped enough to not make her sob and be willing to sit at the table with us during dinner. Her temperature since then has gone down, but still barking. She seemed to be in slightly higher spirits right before heading to bed, so I am really hoping she will wake up a much happier girl.

Tomorrow will be a day to rest and recoup.

These pictures are from last weekend when we were all much healthier and happier.

The girls like finding "baby mamatos" that are left in the garden and picking them. They will carry the green tomatoes around with them while playing outside and have been known to take a bite or two out of them.

Our neighbors have a 16 month old little boy. The three of them often have meetings at the fence and laugh as they run the length of the yard watching each other between the slots of the fence.

Snow Boots

2011-10-23T14:29:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine has twin girls who recently turned four, she also had some great snowboots that were used, but still look new. Since we don't usually get a ton of snow down here there really is not too many opprotunities to wear snow boots, so I hate the idea of spending a ton of money on boots they won't use too often. The day the boots arrived in the mail, the girls were so excited when they saw them and instantly wanted to wear them. Nothing quite like a summer dress paired with boots.

Now I just need to pick up some snow pants and we will be set for winter.

Chit Chat

2011-10-17T16:44:00.000-05:00

The girls talk nonstop, really, they never stop! It is actually kind of fun though since we are able to understand most of what they are saying now and the things they say crack us up. Here are some funny toddler isms.

While watching Dora one morning Lillian stands up on her chair, turns around and faces me, "mommy, don't beat me, okay?"
Me: "Okay, honey, I won't beat you."
A few minutes later, Lillian stands up again, "mommy, don't spank me, okay?"
Me: "Okay, I won't spank you."
Josh was home while this happened and we both had a hard time trying on to laugh. I feel the need to say, we have never spanked or hit either of the girls. I have no idea where she came up with this.

Claire now walks around saying "I'm sorry" all the time, even when there is nothing to apologize for. This weekend the girls and I went to Target. We start heading towards the check out lanes and Claire says, "I'm sorry mama, but I don't want to go home yet."

Lillian has been running around dancing and singing all the time now. She makes up these crazy songs that only make sense to her, but she sings with so much passion.

In the car the other night we saw a police car with the emergency lights on, the girls were very excited to see "Daddy's car." The rest of the 40 minute drive home, Claire was saying, "I want to see Daddy's car." Josh and I were telling her over and over that there were no more cars out or that they were sleeping and taking a break. Claire did not like those answers. Since she was becoming very loud with her demands to see another police car, Josh told her that she needs to be quiet or she would scare away the cars. Claire then began to whisper, "I need to see Daddy's car" repeatedly. This went on the entire drive home, like I said 40 minutes. Josh decided to try telling her a little more sternly that there were no more police cars on the road, so she needs to stop asking. Claire sat silently for a minute, then says, "mommy, I need to see a Daddy's car." She knew Daddy didn't want to hear it so it was time to turn to mommy.

Deanna Rose Farmstead Trip

2011-10-12T20:51:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay of this post, life all of a sudden became crazy busy. In attempt to play catch up again, this post will have few words, but plenty of cuteness.

I have posted before about previous trips to Deanna Rose., but this trip was even more exciting for the girls. They knew what to expect and couldn't wait to feed the baby goats. Once I loaded the girls into the car, Lillian was yelling in the backseat, "baby goat, I'm coming! "Baby goat, I'm coming to feed you!" I took the stroller just in case, but they walked the entire time and were such great listeners and stayed by my side.

Our main reason for visiting the farm that day was because my dear friend, Lauren, from college was in the Kansas City area for the weekend visiting family. We couldn't miss an opportunity to hang out, so we went to play.

Can you see Claire hugging the goat?

Since the girls were walking/running the entire trip, I took very few photos. Lauren had her camera though and I know she took some cute ones, so I will have to share some after I receive them. After leaving the farm, we went to Red Robin for lunch. The girls did awesome sitting like big girls without booster seats and eating their entire meals. They were so excited about their balloons and were not ready to go home. You would think after walking and playing hard all morning, when we finally got home at 2:30pm, they would zonk out at nap time, but that was not the case. They refused to nap, but crashed at bed time.

Something I need to add is how proud I am of my girls. When taking bigger trips out like this, we put them in Pull Ups, just in case. Well, they stayed dry out entire time out. We had a few bathroom trips, but these girls were rock stars! They are still doing amazing with their potty training, we just need to work on the overnights, but that will come.

Is it Fall?

2011-10-04T22:49:00.000-05:00

I know it is supposed to be fall, but around here we have had temps in the low to mid 80's the last few days and it is supposed to last the rest of the week. I am not at all complaining, this weather is beautiful and sure beats the rain and cold.

With it being so warm, we have been spending as much time outside as we can. Time at the park, the yard, going for walks, and even a trip to Deanna Rose Farm (pictures to come). The girls new favorite thing to do while outside is to race around the yard in their Crazy Coupes. They still have not figured out how to go forward very well on their own, so Josh and I will push them and chase each other back and forth. Lillian laughs so hard she starts the burp/hiccup combo which then makes her laugh even harder.

They have both become daredevils and have no fear of climbing. The will climb up the side of their climber, flip over the top and go down the other side. They will walk down the slide, run up it or do anything else they can think of which will take years off my life.

Friday Night Pizza Party

2011-10-03T22:23:00.000-05:00

Friday night Josh was working overtime and wasn't home for dinner, so I decided the girls and I needed to have a make your own pizza party. They wee so excited all afternoon about being able to make their own pizza. I gave them all their usual fixing and let them create their masterpiece.

Lillian piled everything high on hers and finished pretty quickly.

Claire piled her cheese on...

but I don't think she had any pepperoni left to put on her pizza after eating it all.

Lillian did save a little bit of cheese to eat after she finished making her pizza.

They loved making the pizzas, but after munching while creating, they had little interest in eating the pizzas after they came out of the oven.

Babies No More

2011-10-01T16:06:00.000-05:00

Apparently my baby girls are now big girls. They are rocking the potty training, no longer sit in booster seats at the table, walk instead of ride in the stroller and can hold a conversation. They no longer look like babies either, they are big, beautiful, girls.

Oh and now they look like little mini-me's even more. I will have to dig out an old photo of me and scan it.

Go Pack Go!

2011-09-25T22:14:00.000-05:00

This would be a really cute photo if I didn't look like a gomer.

Claire

Lillian

Bubbles!

2011-09-18T20:57:00.001-05:00

I think the warm days are already behind us and the cold days are here to stay. These pictures are probably two weeks old, but again, I am slowly trying to catch up on uploading everything.

This weekend started off great. Well, as good as it can be while raining and cool. Josh worked Saturday, so the girls and I played at home then made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby. We had other plans, but the rain slowed us down and instead we headed back home. I cleaned out their closet, packed away some of their summer clothes and some items they have grown out of. Then the hard part started, I started taking tags off some clothes to wash and hang that are a 3T. Seriously, when did my babies turn into big girls?

After nap, we went out for pizza with Grandma Pattie and Grandpa Jim then back to their house to play. We arrived back home shortly after 7:30pm and Lillian complained her belly hurt. I figured it was because both the girls have not had much interest in eating this past week or because she hadn't pooped all day. I was wrong. Lillian and I were snuggling on the couch and she threw up all over me, herself and the floor. We rushed to the bathroom and on the way, she managed to vomit in the hall and again as we walked through the bathroom door. My poor girl.

Claire was so worried about Lillian. She ran frantically around the house trying to help in any way possible. She ran to get paper towels, alert Josh of the vomit and kept checking on Lillian. After we got Lillian cleaned up, I went and changed my clothes. When I came back to Lillian she said, "sowwy mommy, I frew on you." Broke my heart she felt so bad for throwing up on me. We had a long night of vomits and she finally stopped after 10pm and we put the girls to bed.

Since I was finally able think of something other than my sick Lillian, I realized how much my stomach was hurting me. Josh and I went to bed soon after the girls, but I was unable to sleep. I ended up getting sick too and couldn't get comfortable all night, so no sleep for me. Luckily, Josh was able to call into work this morning, because the girls were up for the day at 4:30am. That is 4 hours before their normal wake up time. It was a long morning, but their was no more vomiting just a very tired family.

Little Mamas

2011-09-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

I am not sure if I have posted about it before, but during the week I watch two little boys while staying home with the girls. Hudson, I had last school year, he started coming to the house when he was only 6 weeks old, now he is about to turn 14 months. Chase started spending his days with us last month, he is 4 months old today.

Lillian and Claire have been around little ones now since they were 19 months old, so really, as long as they can remember and then some. Because of that, they are always very sweet and gentle with babies. When there is a baby at the gym daycare they know not to touch, unlike the other kids their age, who stand around poking at the baby.

They love to be helpers at home with the younger ones. Sometimes it is helping and other times, well, they are not helping and causes extra work for me. That's alright though, because they are so proud of themselves when they have a hand on the bottle, put out toys, clean them up, or anything else they think is helpful.

There are also times, though, when the girls get upset when smaller hands grab at their toys, pull on their blankets, or are in their way.

Here are a couple pictures of Lillian's kitty and monkey she snuggled into the bouncer with her blanket. She then took the bottle I just finished feeding Chase and offered it to her animals.

Opposites

2011-09-13T22:37:00.000-05:00

Last week Sunday Claire woke up not feeling well. Actually, she woke up about an hour earlier then she normally does, so that made for an extra fun morning. All she wanted to do was hold her Daddy and he was more than happy to do that.

Lillian, on the other hand, was not sick. She didn't want to stop moving and nothing slowed her down. She went and ran errands with me and was a great little helper.

Claire woke up the next morning like nothing happened, you would never know she was sick by the way she ran around the park and never stopped talking.

The Wedding!

2011-09-10T21:39:00.000-05:00

As my final post about our vacation to Wisconsin, I will talk a little about my Mom's wedding. On August 27th we had a busy day. Last minute preparation and a lot of hustle and bustle as the final hours approached, but it in the end they said "I do" and everyone had a great time, so the day was a success.

Lillian is checking out the sparkles on Grandma's dress after getting zipped up.

Since I did not want to deal with the possibility of potty accidents in the middle of the ceremony or really, at any point during that day, the girls were in Pull Ups once we left the house. Of course, right before we were supposed to start the ceremony, Lillian yells, "I have to potty!" So, things were stalled and both girls had a quick trip to the bathroom.

We bribed the girls with gummy bears to get them down the aisle and it worked like a charm. Before the ceremony began, I gave them each a gummy bear. Since I had to walk before them, I handed a few to my brother, Mark, to give the girls and my nephew, Coy, before they had their turn to walk since he was the last one to walk with my mom. We told them Josh would be waiting for them with more after they walked. Coy was not a fan of the idea of having to hold the girls hands and be in front of a large group of people, so he held Mark's hand. Claire was so excited to be a ballerina, that she took off when it was her turn and danced her way down the aisle to Josh waving the bag of gummy bears. Lillian wasn't sure what to do, so she walked holding Grandma's hand. Hey, they all made it to the end and that was the goal. I was standing in the front laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face.

After the ceremony ended we took a few quick pictures before dinner was served.

Holly and I with Billy's girls, new sisters.

August 27th is also my bothers birthday, he turned 30 this year. Because of that, my mom had a small cake for him at the head table. Lillian and Claire spotted it and wanted birthday cake so badly. Forget the fact there was a large table full of cupcakes on the other side of the hall, this cake was colorful and they wanted it. They also, kept trying to blow out the candles at the tables.

Josh dipping Claire as they dance.

Claire and Auntie Holly.

Lillian and Coy checking out Andy's guitar. Andy and I graduated high school together and he and my brother have been very close friends for many many years. Andy sang as everyone walked down the aisle and also for the first dance. Mark will be the best man in Andy's wedding in just a couple weeks.

Mom and Billy

Mark and I

Josh and myself.

Siblings taking a birthday shot for Mark.

We had a great trip. It was wonderful being able to see everyone and not feel rushed taking a 10 day trip rather than a long weekend. Hopefully if everything works out, we will be heading north again for Thanksgiving. Thanks for bearing with me and how drawn out our trip posts have been, but I am finally on my way to being caught up, for now.

Heading South

2011-09-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

Continuing with our trip, I am finally almost done, I swear. Wednesday, August 24th we headed from Green Bay south to Milwaukee. Our only set plans for the day was to stop and spend some time with my grandparents, but on the way I wanted to drive past the house I grew up in to see what changes have been made and let the girls play at the park I played at when I was young. So, we stopped in Whitefish Bay, but since the temperature was so hot that day, we didn't play for too long.

The playground has been completely redone a few years ago. It was really neat to walk along the path into the park and be able to recognize so many names on the bricks. There were families of former classmates, neighbors, and teachers. This really opened the floodgates of memories that came pouring back.

When we head back to Wisconsin we always travel to Green Bay to see my Dad and Union Grove to see my Mom. While I have always felt very welcome in both places, being back in Whitefish Bay really felt like going home to me. Funny thing is, it hasn't been my home for about 10 years now, but I just felt so at peace being there.

Alright, moving on. After the park we went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Z. It was wonderful being able to spend time actually being able to visit, since the last time we had seen them was at Christmas and there was a house full of people, so our time to catch up was really limited.
Lillian and Claire made sure to right away inspect every inch of the house and see what they could get into. They certainly kept me moving and I am sure my grandma slept soundly that night after chasing them around as well.
I told Josh before we even arrived, I really wanted to get a photo of my grandparents with the girls since the last photo I have of them together, Lillian and Claire were only 5 months old. Here is the picture from May 2009.

Here is August 2001

We spent roughly two hours over there that afternoon and went back the following day for another few hours. It is really important to me, the girls get to spend as much time with their Great Grandparents as possible and hopefully a few of these memories may stick as they grow older.

We finally made it down by my Mom's house to unload the car again for a few days. Legs were stretched, snacks were had and then we put the girls back in the car and took them swimming at my mom's new sister-in-laws house. They were so excited to get in the water and splash.

Luckily, there were enough people already in the pool I didn't have put on my swimsuit and get in the water. It is so fun to see how much the girls have developed just over the past few summer months. Lillian was happily jumping off the side of the pool into the water (and someones arms). This is a huge step, since just a few months ago she held onto me with all her strength in the water. Claire wanted so badly to go down the slide by herself, but Josh and I were still a bit leery with this, maybe next time.

Claire and Lillian were so mad when we told them we had to leave the pool and go back and cook dinner. They were blue in the lips and shivering, but they were trying to convince us they needed to swim more. Well, their sad stories didn't work, but they did have fun cooking dinner with Grandma Jessie when we got back to the house. They pulled their chairs up to the counter and watched as Grandma chopped potatoes, they even snuck a few bites of raw potatoes.

The following morning we ran errands and went to see my grandparents again. That afternoon after the girls were in bed for naps, Josh and I snuck out (grandma was at the house) and met up with my brother, Mark, and his girlfriend, Jeannie, for some time on the lake. It was so nice being out on the water and having that time together. Mark and I not had time like that is many years, so it was a perfect way to spend the afternoon.

One more vacation post and then I will finally be caught up, well, sort of. Bear with me, my life is in a continuous state of crazy right now.

Final Days in Green Bay

2011-09-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

We have had some internet issues lately, so I haven't had a chance to upload more photos from our trip. Finally it is working well enough that I don't have to worry about our internet shutting down half way through a post, so here it goes.

Monday, a high school friend of mine drove into Green Bay for the afternoon to visit. It has been over a year since the last time we have seen each other, so it was great being able to catch up and I also had the chance to meet her 8 month old son for the first time. Lane and I have been friends for close to 15 years, we have gone through a lot together over the years and even though we don't get the chance to talk or see each other as often as we would like, whenever we do get together we are always able to pick back up like we had left off. She is an amazing friend.

That evening after Lane and Cooper headed back to Sturgeon Bay, Dad, Sandy, Josh, the girls and myself loaded up and headed to Bay Beach. Sadly, the rides were shut down for the night, but the girls were able to run around and play on the playground. They are becoming so fearless on the large climbers, swings and all the other equipment that they were unsure of at the start of the summer.

Of course, they were the only children chasing after the seagulls at the park. They got the biggest kick after running after the birds. They squealed with laughter.

Josh and I knew the only way we would be able to get them out of the park would be to bribe them. What delicious treat always does the trick? Ice cream, of course! Alright, so it wasn't just a ploy to get the girls off the slide, Josh and I wanted a scoop ourselves and I know my Dad never turns down the offer of ice cream.
We left the park and followed Dad and Sandy to a local ice cream shop in De Pere, I don't recall the name of it, but I do know they had delicious ice cream and we arrived just before a small rush. Perfect timing.

On Tuesday we watched my nephew and niece for the morning. This was a day the girls decided to sleep in and Josh had to go down and wake them after 9:30 so they could join us for our pancake breakfast. After breakfast all the girls had their hair done and danced like princesses with their special bows in their hair. We played games, read books and made lots of noise. All four kids had constant smiles on their faces. Towards the end of the morning we put the movie Rio in and they danced along with all of the songs. I have an adorable video of all four dancing, but Blogger doesn't want to cooperate with me and allow me to upload it.

After naps, we headed back to Bay Beach, but this time early enough to go on some rides. I wasn't sure how this would go over with the girls. They generally are not too crazy about rides.

There is a small carousel with two horses outside of our local grocery store. They have gone nuts over it all summer long. They want to look at it and Claire is willing to sit on the green horse, never the orange one because that one is reserved for Lillian, but does not like for it to move. Lillian, has zero interest in sitting on the horse, she just wants to watch because the horses are scary.

Claire surprised us. She was so excited when she saw the various rides. She first went to the boats and picked the red one. Lillian wanted the yellow. The both sat happily until the boats started moving, then Lillian started crying and wanted to get off. Claire had a giant smile on her face.

Lillian was done after that, Claire was ready for the next one. She spotted the bug cars and was ready to climb on. Lillian was happy watching from the other side of the fence.

All day long, the girls were talking about going for a ride on the train. Lillian was hoping it would be yellow, Claire wanted to sit next to Lillian. The train was red and since there are not any buckles on the train, they were not able to sit next to each other. They still had fun though.

After the train ride, Josh and I went to ride the roller coaster, while Grandma and Grandpa took the girls on a few more rides.

Josh and I came back to find the girls with Grandma and Grandpa on the carousal. Claire sat proud on her elephant and Lillian was unsure of it and shared Grandma's little horse with her. She was a trooper though.

Lillian got really excited when she saw the helicopters. She really wanted the yellow one. Surprise, surprise. I rode with Lillian and Josh rode with Claire. These are nifty little things. There is a strap to buckle in and the bar in front you use to control how high or low you want to go. My brave girl, Lillian, wanted to go as high as she could.

After our helicopter ride, Claire asked Josh to go on the ferris wheel. We were surprised with the ride attendants allowed her on, but she as ready to go. Josh said she nuzzled in close to him. He kept asking her if she wanted to get off, but she kept saying she wasn't scared and wanted to ride some more.

While they were on the ferris wheel, Lillian and I went for two more rides on the helicopters. We had to wait in a nonexistent line because the yellow was taken and she wanted to wait. I wasn't going to argue. They both ended up having a blast and cried when we walked back in the car because they wanted to go on more rides.

This was our last night in Green Bay, we said our goodbyes before bed and packed up Wednesday morning to head to Milwaukee. More to come this week.

A Day at the Cabin

2011-08-31T22:41:00.000-05:00

Continuing on with our vacation, we drove up to the family cabin for the day on Sunday, August 21st. My Dad bought the land in a small town called Townsend in northern Wisconsin thirty odd years ago and it has been a continuous work in progress since. Growing up we spent many weekends up there, so driving through the town and down the gravel road sent a wave of memories over me and it felt fantastic being back up there with my girls. I knew they would love having all the space to run and explore, but they seemed to have even more fun than I could ever imagine.

Lillian quickly found the baseball bats and balls and started playing.

Of course, once they spotted the swing set, that is where they wanted to be the rest of the day. They wanted to be pushed, push each other, and fought over who gets which swing, but in the end, it really didn't matter, as long as they had someone to swing with.

We took a few walks down the road to see the lake. They loved being able to run down the road and not have to hold a hand. Our cabin is at the end of a gravel road with very little traffic coming down. Of course, we were still always close by, but they loved the freedom.

They walked aroud the land picking blackberries with Grandma Sandy. A few made it into the bowl, but most of them went straight into their mouths.

We (Dad) grilled a simple, but delicious lunch of corn on the cob and hot dogs. We would have had freshly picked blackberries, but two little girls ate them all.

The thing is, you cannot head up to the cabin and not make smores, so we did. This was the girls first taste of smores and they each had their own opinion while eating them. Lillian loved every second of them. Claire enjoyed them, but was not a fan of the sticky mashmellow on her fingers and didn't want to finish it because of that.

After lunch we took another walk down to the lake before we started our drive back home.

We did have to make one more stop on the way home at the candy store. After walking through the shop, we let each of the girls pick a safety pop and Josh and I shared a milk shake. Don't worry, the girls had a fews sips as well.

I have so many memories of being up there when I was younger and I can only hope the girls will be able to have some as well with future trips in the coming years.

First Few Days

2011-08-30T23:31:00.000-05:00

I shared this photo yesterday from our first day of our vacation to Wisconsin. We stopped just in Iowa, just past the Missouri boarder for a quick bathroom and leg stretch break at a welcome center. The girls were immediately drawn to these giant cows. They ran to each of them and banged on them like giant drums over and over. They especially liked the baby cow. Not even 10 minutes after getting on the road again it started storming really bad. The girls were very concerned about the cows stuck in the rain and said over and over, "oh no, baby cow getting wet." We told them the cows were dirty and were taking a shower in the rain. They seemed satisfied with that answer and moved on.

That night, Thursday, we stayed at a half way point in a hotel Iowa City. The last 30 minutes of the drive were tough since it was past bedtime and they were getting tired of being in the car since we were on closing in on the fifth hour. To get them excited, we told them in hotels you can jump on the bed and they get to sleep in their tents with their special blankets they picked for vacation. The night before we left, I let them both pick out which blanket they wanted to take with on the trip and they were upset they didn't get them that night, but were excited when I mentioned them again in the car.

Friday morning after breakfast, we packed up and contined on our journey north. We were making great time and came up with a few errands we were going to run when getting into town, but of course we hit traffic the last hour of the drive and it was a huge set back. Oh well, we survived.

When we finally arrived in Green Bay, we unpacked, stretched, then Josh, Dad, Sandy and myself got back in the car, left the girls with a babysitter and went to the Packer game. The last game I attended was at the end of December and freezing cold, far different than the 80 degree temps we had that night. The energy in Green Bay on a game day is amazing. Walking to the stadium, people are so pumped and ready for some good footbal, you can't help but smile and soak in all the excitement. I love it!



Saturday, August 20th, was Josh and my 6 year wedding anniversary. Josh and I ran to pick up a few items at the grocery store while Dad and Sandy took the girls to the park. They were still there after we got back and unloaded our few items, so Josh and I walked up to meet them and the girls were full of smiles and giggles, they were having a blast.

The girls were beat after a busy morning of playing hard, but after their nap they were ready to play again. Josh and I took the girls outside and they explored every nook and cranny of Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. They really wanted to touch the fish in the little pond, but I put an end to that one.

Josh and I on our annivesary.

They climbed on the bench tucked away in the garden.

And checked out the bird feeder, hoping to find a bird.

Grandma and Grandpa spent the evening hanging out with the girls while Josh and I were able to go out to celebrate. The girls went absolutly nuts over the bikes and wanted to ride them nonstop. Lillian loved the scooter and Claire enjoyed the bike with training wheels. They did a great job taking turns, but they still had a favorite picked out.

The weather was perfect up there. I always forget how much I love Wisconsin summers, perfect mid to upper 70's during the day and drops a bit when the sun goes down to a comfortable mid-60's. I will add more vacation photos and updates in the coming days. We were gone for 10 days and had a lot happen, so be prepared. I uploaded more than 400 photos off my camera from our trip, it is difficult to narrow them down to just a select few when there is so much to tell and share.

Vacation

2011-08-29T22:48:00.000-05:00

We just returned home Sunday night from our 10 day trip to Wisconsin to visit my family. Right now I am trying to play catch up with life since being gone for so long really takes a hit on it. Also, it doesn't help that Josh flew out first thing this morning for some work related training and will be gone all well. I will try to start vacation posts tomorrow. For now, here is a photo from our first day of the trip while we stopped for a rest at an Iowa welcome center.

Rocking

2011-08-23T15:33:00.000-05:00

Just a few quick photos since it has been so long even though these are a few weeks old. Lillian is on the left and Claire is on the right. Right after I clicked the second photo Claire flipped her horse backwards from rocking so hard.

Giggle, Giggle, Splash

2011-08-14T16:26:00.000-05:00

Bath time is always such a mess, but they have so much fun which makes it worth it.

Potty Training Update

2011-08-12T23:34:00.000-05:00

It has been almost two months since I stopped putting the girls in diapers during the day and overall they are doing really well. Most days we are accident free all day, but they have their days where they are stubborn little ladies and would rather stand there with a smile on their faces while they pee on the floor, instead of telling me when they need to go.

Claire does really well with bladder control and holding it while out and about, but Lillian just does not care. For most trips we still put them in Pull Ups if we are out of the house for any length of time, but we are trying to get better about that. However, even when we play in the yard and have a potty chair close by, Lillian will still have accidents, yet Claire will hold it for however long we are out there. I know they will both get there with time and patience, but some days are easier to remember that than others.

Baking with Grandma

2011-08-11T22:43:00.000-05:00

I am still trying to find the time to catch up with my posts. Life is so crazy busy in our house right now and I have very little time to get the long list of things done that I need to. Sadly, the blog is taking the biggest hit.

Just over two weeks ago, Grandma Pattie came over to the house for the day to hang out with the girls while Josh and I went to run errands and go on a lunch date. While at the house, the girls were able to make a mess and bake special monkey cupcakes. They were so excited to make them.

They helped pour and mix. Of course, they even had to do some taste testing for quality checks.

After they baked, they did not want to wait for them to cool before they decorated them. Grandma brought over all the fixings and the girls had a blast as they made a mess and got creative. Again, it is very important to taste test as you go. Claire was pretty patient and waited until she was all finished decorating before diving in and eating her cupcake. Lillian, on the other hand, ate as she went and just kept piling on more.

They made a mess, they needed a change of clothes, they had a sugar high, but they had so much fun and that is what makes the memory special and one to hold onto for many years to come.

Welcome to our Home

2011-08-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

I would like to welcome band aids into our home. After two and a half years, the girls have finally been introduced to those magical sticky things that take all the boo boos away.
Sure, they have had them before, but they were always when they received vaccinations at the doctors office, never at home. Also, they have not had any shots since last fall when they received their flu shots, so they don't really remember getting them since they were still pretty young. About two weeks ago, I made the mistake of putting one on a bug bite Claire had been scratching nonstop on the back of her neck. The thing would never have the chance to heal with the way she picked at it. I pulled out some fun character band aids and let her pick one out. Claire went with Elmo. Lillian of course insisted she needed one was well and wanted hers on the back of her neck just like Claire, she picked out Nemo. I went with it because it was not worth her throwing a fit over.
Now whenever they have any sort of mark on them, even if it is just a indention on their skin from their clothes, they want a band aid. We, of course, don't give in for everything, just when there is an actual scrape or marking. Alright, I lied. There have been a few times we have given them a band aid to put on a bruise or just because, but not nearly as often as they ask for them.
It's funny though, they always need to have them in the same place. If Claire has one on her knee, then Lillian needs one on her knee as well. Same goes when Lillian has one on her arm or wherever. You get the picture. They always want to be just like their sister.

Yup, those are Transformers on their knees.

Band aids are a fix all, even when there is nothing wrong.

Big Girl Cups

2011-08-05T23:37:00.000-05:00

Slowly over the last few months we have been working on drinking from open cups, or as the girls like to call them, big girl cups. For practice we are using bathroom sized Dixie cups. I figure, perfect size for their little hands and filling them just a little at a time means less mess if/when they spill.

Lillian usually can drink like a champ out of them. Claire for some reason feels the need to stick her tongue in the cup as she drinks. I have no idea why she does this since she has been drinking their nasty bath water for the past year out of the rinsing cups in the tub just fine.

Some days they get so excited and constantly ask for big girl cups and other days they want nothing to do with them. The bright side, they know the skill and can do it. We really need to just take their sippy cups away while at the table and move to open cups full time, but I really am not ready for that messy battle yet.

Just Because

2011-08-02T22:56:00.002-05:00

Here is just a quick picture before I head to bed for the night. I will try to catch up with posts soon.

Shark Attack

2011-07-25T14:56:00.000-05:00

I have seriously been slacking lately with the picture taking and posting. I need to get better about this. I have excuses though, don't you worry. We have been stuck inside so much lately because the temperatures are too hot to be able to get out and do anything, so I feel like I am constatly taking the same photos indoors. The few times we do get outside to play it is with the water table or pool and I have already taken hundreds of photos with those this summer and we are only halfway through. To sum things up, I feel like i am always taking the same photos and like everyone is getting sick of seeing the same thing just a different day. Hey, and most of the time the girls are running around half naked.

Moving along, we had a shark feeding frenzy in our house the other evening. After an exciting bath Lillian and Claire ran around chasing each other with their shark towels. They ran up and down the hall and circles around the living room. As the they run you can hear them make the shark sound. I am sure right now you are wondering, what sound does a shark make? Well let me tell you, they sound a little like this in our house, naa na, naa na, na na na na na na, na NAAA!

Beating the Heat

2011-07-21T22:44:00.000-05:00

Since we haven't had any rain for weeks, our lawn is taking a hit. The other evening before dinner I set the sprinkler up in the yard. The girls got so excited and all through dinner kept asking to play outside in the sprinkler. I knew they would wuss out and not want to go any where near it, but agreed. After dinner, both of the girls were so excited and stripped down instantly ready to go play.

Once we got outside, neither of them would even leave the deck until I turned the sprinkler down. Even then, they did not go anywhere near it. Claire tried to brave it a few times, but once the droplets touched her, she ran in the opposite direction. Lillian avoided the water all together.

Finally, I unhooked the sprinkler since I needed to water the garden and suddenly the girls became very interested in the hose. Same with Leia. They all swarmed me and wanted a turn spraying with the hose. I showed them how to squeeze the handle and let them have fun. They sprayed the plants, Leia, the grass, but the best part was when they would spray each other. Claire, of course, thought it was funny and didn't mind so much if Lillian got her wet. Lillian, on the other hand, flipped out in her usually prissy way when her hair gets wet. They did a great job taking turns spraying, but the cherry that topped the whole evening was when Claire squeezed the handle on the sprayer and sprayed herself right in the face.

These 100 degree days are really getting old and hopefully some relief is in sight.

Sleepy Girls

2011-07-19T15:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had to go in and wake the girls up from their naps and this is what we found.

Claire was twirling her hair, surrounded by her animal.

Lillian was snoring.

Oh Happy Day!

2011-07-14T23:14:00.000-05:00

I am happy to report, the girls are no longer afraid to take baths. This is HUGE news in our house, since for months they would throw major fits and sob through the quick washings. They are now asking, well, mostly Claire, to take baths every single day. We have been taking double the amount of baths, since they beg for them and they usually end up spending a good chunk of the morning in the water playing.

For even bigger news, Claire the last two times she has been in the tub, has told me she needed to poop. We quickly get her out of the tub, she does her thing, then hops back in the tub. So much better then having floaters in the bath.

Lillian is still a little timid in the tub, but warming up. It is so wonderful being able to let them play and have fun for 20 minutes or so in the water. Of course, my bathroom is soaked after, but all worth it.

Double the Cuteness

2011-07-12T23:06:00.000-05:00

Just a couple quick pictures from this morning. Unfortunately, they were too quick and I missed the super sweet kisses they gave each other, but I love their faces in these photos.

Daddy's Weekend

2011-07-10T22:28:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I had the chance to get away for a girls weekend with a few other women. We spent the weekend at Lake of the Ozarks in a great little lake house. There is nothing like a weekend away from life, including no cell reception, to recharge.
While I was away, Josh was able to spend some quality time with Lillian and Claire. Believe it or not, this is the first time he has ever spent a day, or night for that matter, just him and the girls in the house. It sounds like they had a great time playing, swimming, and going to the grocery store together. I will have to check the camera tomorrow to see if he took any pictures while I was away.

Life is Normal

2011-07-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

Things around here have been pretty normal. The girls are still full of the crazies and their nonstop energy. It can be exhausting, but they are so much fun. Their imaginations are continuing to blossom and they are always coming up with new games and ideas. Lillian has been dancing around the house as a ballerina lately. Claire is always singing Barney.
They are both still doing great with potty training. We are two weeks in now and have maybe one accident a day. Many times when we go out, they even keep their Pull Ups dry.
Life is all around really good right now.

Left Over Birthday

2011-07-04T16:20:00.000-05:00

Here are a few left over photos from my birthday on Thursday. Josh had called my friend, Kylie, and asked her to watch the girls so we could go on a lunch date. Kylie showed up with with birthday hats and other special goodies to help celebrate. The girls have been so excited to wear party hats since they first heard my mention my birthday over a month ago. Josh and I were talking one evening about possible plans and Claire asked if she could wear a birthday hat. They had a Dora book from the library about a birthday party and they wore hats in it and it stuck.

The girls will still on occasion say happy birthday to me. I think their 3rd birthday this year will be a lot more fun since they are figuring out all the excitement that comes along with birthdays. Luckily, I have 6 more months, because I can't handle the tought of them being 3 yet.

The End of the First Week

2011-07-03T22:23:00.000-05:00

We have finished our first week of potty training and I am very pleased with how well the girls are doing. Today Lillian had two accidents. The first was very small. She was able to stop herself and finish on the potty chair. The second, was just after dinner and she was being stubborn by refusing to stop playing to go sit down. Claire didn't have any accidents today. The last few days they both have had about one each, still great for only being a week in.

We have not taken them out of the house wearing just their undies yet, they always have "special undies" aka Pull Ups on. Often though, if we take a quick trip to the grocery store or another errand, we will return home and their Pull Up will still be dry.

I sometimes take the lead if they do have not gone potty for about an hour and have them take a break from what they are doing to sit. Sometimes I will insist they sit down if I notice them getting a little squirmy. However, more then half the time they will tell them they have to go or start pulling their undies down on their own.

Claire decided one night that she wanted to sit on the bit toilet as she calls it. Since then she requests to sit there often and will spend the whole day sitting up there if I let her. She likes to grab any books and magazines that are within reach and spend a little quality alone time there.

Lillian still wants nothing to do with the big toilet. She flips out if we ask her to sit there and runs out of the bathroom. She also enjoys some of Daddy's reading material while passing the time.

I am extremely proud of how well they are doing and can't wait to see how far they come in the next week.

Happy Birthday!

2011-06-30T15:15:00.000-05:00

Today is my birthday! I love my birthday. I get so excited about it every single year, and a huge part of the reason I get so excited is because I get to share this special day with my Dad. You see, 28 years ago, my Dad received the best birthday gift ever, ME! :-) Each year we would share our birthday cake, even if it is a Care Bear cake, it was still special. Ever year on our birthday, we would also take a photo of just the two of us. I love you Dad!

Here are a few of our special birthday photos from over the years.

Day Four - Potty Training

2011-06-29T10:00:00.001-05:00

Today sort of started out a bust. We had the girls in diapers all morning, but to be able to take them to Deanna Rose Farmstead and see the excitement on their faces was worth it. We have been talking about going to see the animals for a few days now and the have been talking nonstop about them. They were also very excited for Aunt Maggie to join us and have been asking constantly to see her.

Our first stop was the baby goats. They were so cute and once you have a bottle of milk in your hands they swarm. Josh bought a bottle for both Lillian and Claire. They giggled watching the goats fight each other for a drink.

It was great being able to let the girls do more walking then being pushed in the stroller. They loved the freedom and they did such a great job following directions and staying close.

After Deanna Rose we went for lunch and Noodles & Co. always a yummy treat, then had to make a stop at the bank to take care of some business. The girls did great, but eventually got to the point where they were ready to leave, which made ready to leave. :-)

When we returned home they both went potty on their potty chair and it was time for naps. We spent the rest of the evening at home in underwear. Claire ran into their room and was really quiet. Josh went in to check on her and she pooped in her undies. This is the first since we started training on Saturday and we knew at some point it was bound to happen, however that was her only accident for the night. She managed to stay dry through dinner and while we were outside playing.

Lillian had a few accidents this afternoon. The first was before dinner. The second was while we were outside playing, but that was because she refused to go before went out and after she had about 5 oz of water with snack and another 6 oz of milk with dinner. She did however have her first poop in the potty chair tonight. She was so excited and Claire was also excited for her. It is so funny hearing everyone cheer over something so gross.

I am sure many of you are getting sick of all the pee and poop talk, so you might as well gear up for at least one or two more days of talk and then I will move onto something else. I promise.

Day Three - Potty Training

2011-06-28T10:00:00.001-05:00

Day three... Well, day three wasn't a full day because we had to go out of the house a few times and I am not brave enough to take them in their undies yet, so they had to wear diapers both for the first part of the morning and again for about an hour this evening.
Josh and I went to go work out, we can only go so many days without going, before you start to feel the blah. The girls were in diapers for our hour class at the community center. After our class ended we picked them up and took them swimming there. T
They love it! Lillian finally braved the little frog slide in the kids pool and she was hooked. Luckily, there was only us and one other family there at the time so she was able to go time and time again down this slide and splash down into the shallow pool.
As soon as we arrived back at home, they were straight back into their underwear. They stayed accident free the rest of the morning and through lunch. Lillian had an accident though right before nap time. After nap, and I use that term loosely since neither of them slept, they were back in underwear and kept them dry until we left the house for about an hour to visit Grandma and Grandpa.
Grandma Pattie has been in the hospital since Friday morning and was finally sprung this afternoon, so we went to visit. She is feeling better and they girls were so happy to see her back home. They have been so worried and constantly saying since Friday morning, "Grandma okay," "Grandma in hospital." Seeing her back at home, they ran right up and gave lots of snuggles.
Again, as soon as we got back home, the diapers went away and undies were back on. They kept dry though dinner and the rest of the evening. Around 7:30 though, only 30 minutes before bed time, they both had an accident, they did finish on the potty chair.
They really are doing wonderful and I am so proud of how well they are doing. I wish we didn't have to put them in diapers for outings, but we would all go crazy if we stayed couped up in the house all day every day until they were 100 percent trained. Maybe later in the week, we will brave it and take them out for short trips in undies.

Day Two - Potty Training

2011-06-27T14:50:00.000-05:00

Sunday was day two of potty training. Again, it had its ups and downs like day one, but overall the girls are doing great! In the morning, the girls were much more willing to go right into their undies and be big girls. They did not beg for diapers again. The first part of the morning went well, no accidents for the first two hours. They had a small snack and a sippy with water. After drinking roughly 6 oz of water we had a few accidents the hour before lunch. Lillian had two and Claire had three. They did finish on the potty chair, so that is a plus. Both Lillian and Claire stayed dry though lunch and stayed accident free until nap time. We have been telling them that diapers are only for when they are sleeping, the rest of the day they are big girls in undies.

After nap time they were excited to put their undies back on and stayed dry the rest of the evening. While eating dinner, Lillian told us she had to go potty, so I quickly got her out of her and she sat down on the potty chair and went potty. Once she was done, she was ready to eat again.

We had to run to the grocery store in the evening to pick a few items up, so unfortunately, they had to put on diapers. I am not to the point where I trust taking them out of the house in undies. Lillian did not want to take her undies off, so we just put her diaper on over them. They were great in the store, they always draw attention of other customers, which slows us down, but we are used to it now.

On the way home, Lillian told us she needed to go potty and we were only about half a mile from the house. As soon as we got home, we rushed up stairs and sat down on the potty chair. She did have a slightly wet undies, but that was to be expected. It did seem like she saved most of her urine for the potty chair, because she went in full force. Claire also had a wet diaper. Both girls kept their undies dry the rest of the evening, except for a little whoops on Lillian's part right before bed. She had to go potty, so she ran to sit down, but she forgot to pull her undies down. Whoops. Claire had another big poop on the potty last night. This is the second night in a row. I am so glad she doesn't have the fear of pooping without a diaper. Lillian tried, but just couldn't do it.

I would call day two another success.

Day One - Potty Training

2011-06-26T14:22:00.000-05:00

For months now, I had been having the girls sit down on the potty chair with each diaper change and on occasion they want to wear undies. I decided that since it would be to hot outside this weekend to do anything and since Josh would be working this weekend, it would be the perfect opportunity to start potty training a little more seriously. Potty training two toddlers is a lot like having a puppy in the house again. You always have to keep a close eye on them and you have plenty of accidents to clean up.

Yesterday morning started with a protest. I had two little girls, who did not want to give up their jammies and the comfort of their diapers or undies. It took a few minutes, but they finally gave in. They managed to be accident free for the first two hours of the day they were awake. Around 11am, Lillian had an accident, but was upset by it and finished on the potty chair. Claire also had a very small accident, her undies were barely wet and she also finished on the potty chair. They stayed dry though lunch, but Lillian had two more small accidents before their 2pm nap time. This left Lillian with a grand total of three accidents in the morning and Claire one. Not bad.

After they woke up from nap, we did put them in a diaper, which they were not happy about, so they had their undies over their diaper. We only did this because we went to go visit Grandma Pattie in the hospital. After we got home, back into undies they went. We went all afternoon and evening accident free. I am so proud of them!

What made it all even better... All four of us were in the girls room getting their things together for a bath. Well, Claire ran out of the room and into the living room. She was in there and started to yell, "I went poopy!" Josh and I looked at each other with worry of where she decided to do this. Turns out she went and sat down on the potty chair and did what she needed to there. She was so excited, Lillian was excited for her sister and Josh and I were excited as well.

The total for the day, Lillian three accidents, Claire 1 accident and 1 poop.

Wake Up!

2011-06-25T14:50:00.000-05:00

These pictures are all from a few days ago when the girls woke up. They were in such a happy and goofy mood when I walked in their room.

Claire

Lillian

Claire the hoarder

Claire

Lillian was jumping around, holding her foot, saying "owe, owe, owe" while laughing and then fell down. She did it over and over. Claire even joined in on the fun.

Mommy, I'm Wet

2011-06-23T21:45:00.001-05:00

The last few days the weather has been gorgous here. I am talking high of 80 and the mornings are upper 60's or low 70's, just perfect! Since it has been so beautiful, we have been spending a lot more time outside and my red shoulders and increase in freckles proves it. We bought a new pool for the girls since their tiny baby pool just wouldn't cut it for a third summer. Yesterday morning the girls tested it out for the first time. They were so excited when they saw it.

In the video, my favorite parts are when Lillian panics that she got wet and when Claire gets attacked by the hose.

All You Need is Love

2011-06-22T15:03:00.001-05:00

Lillian and Claire have been very lovey with each other lately and I love it! At random times, they will start hugging each other and saying, "I love you. I love me. I love you. I love me." Hearing them say this had left me confused. Where in the world were they getting the "I love me" from? The other day it finally clicked.

Since school is out for the summer and older kids are home during the day, Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel no longer play their regular programming of Mickey, Dora, and the other shows the girls enjoy. Instead they are playing cartoons geared towards slightly older children that I do not like the girls watching, like Sponge Bob. Because of this PBS has been on during the mornings, you know, Sesame Street, Clifford, Caillou and of course Barney. See, at the end of Barney they sing a sweet but annoying song, "I love you, you love me..." and this is where they got it from.

Hello Summer

2011-06-21T00:22:00.000-05:00

Today is the first official day of summer and what does that mean?

Watermelon

and swimming!

We bought our first watermelon of the season last week and when I cut through the center, it smelled heavenly. I have been waiting for a delicious watermelon since summer ended last year! The girls always have juice running down their arms and dripping off their elbows when they eat it. It soaks their shirt and turns their chins pink. We love it!

Last week I also took the girls for a play date at my friend, Sheri's house. After some playing around inside, we headed out to the yard and enjoyed her pool (photos above). We also took them over the weekend to our local community center swimming. They love being in the water. Claire has no fear of the water and goes right in. Lillian took a bit to warm up to Sheri's pool. She sat on the steps and slowly went from just getting her toes wet to coming all the way in. It was the same way at the community center. Claire ran right into the water (beach entry in kids pool). Lillian walked around the pool deck for a few minutes before walking to the edge. I think she was unsure of all the kids, the sprayers, dump buckets, waterfalls and everything else. She was so excited and ready to get in the big lap pool though.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T16:17:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day Joshua! You are an amazing husband and father and I couldn't imagine doing this all without you right by my side.

Not all Dads come home from work each day excited and ready to play with their children. You do. Not all Dads will get down on the floor and act all goofy just to hear toddler giggles. You do. Many men don't make the time to take their daughters on special one on one dates. You do. Many Dads wouldn't read the same book over and over again, just because it is their child's favorite. You do. Most men wouldn't attempt to comb their daughters hair, but you do and you even put in piggy tails.

Thank you for all that you do and all the love and support you offer not only our beautiful daughters, but me. We love you!

Before church this morning we tried to get a special Father's Day photo of Josh with the girls, they wanted nothing to do with it. Oh well, you can't force smiles.

After church today, we headed over my Grandpa Jim and Grandma Pattie's house for a cook out with Aunt Maggie. The girls sure take after their mama and went right for the veggie tray!

I also want to send a very happy father's day to my Dad. Thank you for all of your love and support over the last almost 28 years. You have been there for us whenever we needed you. My heart aches that we don't get to see each other more often, but I love being able to make the most of the time we do spend together. August is too far away! I love you dad!

Buckets of Water

2011-06-18T15:44:00.001-05:00

This video is about a week and a half old, but blogger is giving me trouble each time I try to upload it. Hopefully, this time it works.

Weekend Outside

2011-06-15T21:45:00.000-05:00

Last weekend of friend, Justin, came to visit us with his son, our godson, Levi. Levi is 1 year and a few days older then the girls. We don't get the chance to see them often, but it is always so much fun watching the kids play together when we do.

They arrived at our house Friday afternoon. After dinner we played outside and all the kids had a blast. Lillian fought going to sleep that night, she was up crying, "play with my Levi." Finally after multiple trips in to remind her that he will be there in the morning and they will play then, she fell asleep.

Saturday we loaded up and headed out to McCoy Spray Park in Independence. It is part of the Independence Parks and Rec and is a regular park with a playground, picnic table and lots of green space, but it also has a spray park. Claire was so excited and ran right into the water and never stopped. She had no fear when it came to the bigger kids running around or buckets of water that would dump on her head. Lillian, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with the water. Instead she found a little island with plants and flowers, she ran around the entire time.

We took a break from the running and playing to have a small picnic lunch. Of course, it was difficult to get any food in these three when all the wanted to do was play. After lunch, they ran for another 30 minutes or so and then we headed home for naps.

After naps, we cooked up some take and bake pizzas and had a pizza party. We then loaded up and headed to Legacy Park by our house to let the kiddos run and wear themselves out some more. They again, seemed to have so much fun running, sliding, climbing and being wild.

We had a great weekend. Thank you Justin and Levi for coming to spend some time with us. Lillian and Claire keep asking all the time to go "play with my Levi" or " play at Levi's house." Guess we need to plan a trip to visit.

Stickers

2011-06-14T23:30:00.000-05:00

Lillian and Claire have recently discovered stickers. They love them. They get so excited when they get to pick one out. We have had stickers in the house for a long time, most of them were from when I was teaching, so they are left overs that I bought for my classroom. However, previously, they could have cared less about them.

Stickers are a wonderful thing, but it is tough on little ones when they get lost, loose the stickiness of them from coming on and off them so often or have to end up in the garbage at the end of the day. I decided to let the girls each pick out a piece of scrapbook paper and hang them up on the side of their dresser. These papers are now the home for all their stickers. They get so excited to add new stickers to their collection and to be able to stand and check them all out. I love not finding them all over the house.

Lunch Time

2011-06-12T15:58:00.000-05:00

A little over a month ago we finally moved the girls out of their high chairs and into their booster seats at the kitchen table. While it is great having all four of us actually sitting at the table together, it also makes for some interesting meal times. You see, Lillian and Claire are able to grab onto each others chairs to pull themselves closer to one another. Some times it can be really sweet seeing them that close and other times it can make one of the two being upset.

They hold hands

Play

Make funny faces

Help sis with a funny face

Steal food

Feed sis

Eat sissy's food

Still Ify

2011-06-08T22:48:00.000-05:00

I am not really sure what is going on with the girls and their summer colds right now. They started last week Friday and can't decide if they are staying or going.
Monday, Lillian had a constant dry cough that she couldn't shake. We called and made a doctors appointment for the following morning. However, they both slept without a peep Monday night and slept a solid 14 hours, I had to wake them at almost 10am. After waking up, Lillian didn't cough or seem to have any issues, so I called and canceled her appointment. Sure enough, yesterday night, Lillian had the toughest time trying to sleep. She had so much phlegm in her system she was gagging on it. As a result she was got so worked up and only made things worse. It took a long time for her to settle down enough to be able to fall back asleep.
This morning they both woke up happy as can be around 9:30 (again, much later then they have normally been sleeping lately). They both had a slight cough and runny noses. Claire this time seemed worse then Lillian. Before bed tonight they both were slathered in Vicks and had a dose of medicine to dry things up. Let's hope tonight is a bit quieter or tomorrow some appointments will be made. Again.

Please Vote

2011-06-06T13:24:00.000-05:00

I entered the girls in a Cutest Kiddo Contest on a local photographers facebook page. Anna-Marie Photography, takes beautiful photos of newborns, children, families, and weddings. I have been admiring her work for some time now and hopefully we can win a free photo shoot with her. Regardless, I am pretty certain we will contact her anyways to take fall family photos for us.
Here is how you can help us. Click HERE to "like" Anna-Marie Photography on facebook. You might have to scroll down just a bit to find her Cutest Kiddo Contest album. Find the photo of Lillian and Claire and "like" it.
It really is as simple as it sounds. Thank you for your clicks.

Sick

2011-06-05T23:02:00.000-05:00

Friday morning Lillian woke up with a slight fever, nothing too high, it stuck around 99.8 most of the day. She felt miserable though all day and Claire was feeding off that and took advantage. Anything she could do to annoy Lillian, she did. Saturday, Lillian woke up grumpy and again a very low fever, but did fine the rest of the day.
Sunday, Claire woke up and was running that same 99.8 fever. Luckily, Lillian was feeling better. After an afternoon nap, Claire woke up and her fever spiked to 101.4. Still not crazy high, but she was inconsolable and was not herself, so I gave her some Tylenol. She did not want to eat dinner, but after a popsicle she was acting like herself again. I am hoping tomorrow everyone will be happy and healthy.

On a side note, Josh has been out of town for work since early Friday morning and was supposed to return Wednesday, but he surprised us and came home this morning. They were told last night that they were no longer needed and they could head home. It was a great surprise, we all missed him.

Coloring the Driveway

2011-06-04T22:08:00.000-05:00

There really isn't too much new going on around here. The girls are still growing everyday. They still like sitting on the potty chair when they feel like it, Claire more then Lillian. They are constantly amazing us with their growing vocabulary. They love coloring every chance they have.

When we pick them up from the child care center where we work out, they are always sitting at the table with the giant bucket of crayons coloring. They are always so proud of their pictures. When sitting at the kitchen table waiting for lunch or dinner, they are always asking to color. They especially get excited when we color using the chalk on the driveway.

This is what happens when I ask them to sit together so I can get a picture of them together. I never really works out for me.

Robots and Puppy Houses

2011-06-03T15:41:00.000-05:00

Lately when the girls are building with their Mega Blocks they build their two favorite things, robots and puppy houses. It gets confusing because they both look alike when the final block is in place, but they will let you know what it is.

Excuse their crazy hair, this was just after naps.

Welcoming Summer

2011-05-30T23:06:00.000-05:00

Well, summer has unofficially began and we have the heat to prove it. With temps already reaching close to 90 degrees and a hot sun blaring down, the idea of setting the girls free to run nonstop in the yard did not sound like fun. Instead, I filled their water table while Josh dressed the girls in their bathing suits to prepare for the wet mess they would become.

Lillian was refusing to put on her suit thinking she was going to have to go swimming, but after promising her there will not be a swimming pool she started to give in. Claire, on the other hand, was very eager to put on her suit and get outside. Once we got out the door, they both let out squeals of joy and soaked themselves. Lillian chased everyone around to dump water on us, but was stood there shocked when Claire did it to her. They both threw fits when it was time to head in, but even with an umbrella over them, there is only so much sun and heat their little bodies can handle.

I have a cute video, but apparently Blogger won't let me upload it. I will try again another day.

Non Potty Training

2011-05-29T23:50:00.000-05:00

We are kind of but not really potty training. We have started having the girls sit down on their potty chairs with every diaper change and they almost always pee while sitting. The last few days they have also been interested in wearing their undies (this is the word we have decided to use in our house, not underwear, under roos, panties, or whatever else you may call them) around the house. They only wear them for an hour, maybe two at a time and then ask for a diaper again. Since we are not really potty training, I am just fine with them choosing to wear a diaper if they ask for it. Really, they are only in the undies when they ask for them or pick a pair out of their drawer when they want to wear them.
On Friday morning, Claire did not want to wear a diaper and went to pick out the undies she wanted to wear. She wore them for almost two hours and kept them dry the whole time. She did awesome at pulling them down when she needed to potty or just because. There were a few times she stripped them off and wanted to run around with a bare bum. Hey, whatever... she didn't have accidents and that is the key. At lunch time, I asked her to try to pee before she sat down for lunch and she did. She then decided she was ready for her diaper again. Lillian had no interest in undies that day until we were getting ready for bed.
On Saturday they both wore them for an hour or so in the morning. After both having an accident, they decided they wanted their diaper on again. Since we are letting them make this choice right now and we are not pushing the potty training, we did as they asked.
Today, Sunday, They both wanted their undies on again this evening. Claire kept her undies dry right up until it was time to get ready for bed. She was not happy having to put a diaper on, but we are not yet comfortable putting her to bed without one. Lillian had a small accident, but it did not discourage her and she was not ready for her diaper yet.
We will continue not potty training this way for a bit longer and hopefully soon they will just want to wear their undies all day long and give up on diapers. This all start on accident because the girls wanted their big girl undies, cross your fingers for us our non potty training journey will be short.

Reading in Bed

2011-05-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

We have started to let the girls pick a couple books to have in bed with them during nap and bedtime. It has helped cut down on the jumping and playing most of the time. I say most of the time, because there are times where they will pass the books back and forth to each other, throw them out of bed and then start jumping.
Every night before Josh and I turn in for the night, we go and check on the girls. The other night Josh went in their room then came back out and told me I have to come see the girls. I first peeked at Claire, she feel asleep on top of all of her books. Then I looked over to see Lillian, sound asleep and sitting up in her bed. It was the funniest thing and I tried so hard not to laugh out loud and wake her up. I wish I would have been able to take a picture, but it was too dark in their room without a flash and I feared the flash would have startled both of the girls and woke them up. Nothing is worth waking up sleeping children.