My little artist

This is Hannah's latest drawing.

It is a picture of a man in a canoe.

I get amazed by these little drawings. 

I can't get enough of them.

What do you see?

What do you see when you look at this?

An empty papertowel roll?

That's one option, I guess.

I learned today that it is also a spotting scope.

Go figure.

Not just a tree

While I was adjusting the ornaments on the tree I couldn't help but smile.

My tree finally has some history on it.

For instance, this ornament is as old as me.

This Pooh ornament was on our tree while I was growing up. 

I can remember looking for this ornament each year.  Mom cleaned out her ornaments last year and each of us got to take a few.  I had to have this one.  It reminds me of Christmas growing up.

This ornament reminds me of my friend Karri.

Just like I am sure that when people see monkeys they think of me, whenever I see a pig I think of Karri.

Not for obvoius reasons, obviously.....she loves pigs.

While I was putting this ornament on the tree I couldn't help but think of her and the years that we have spent together.  A true friend that I love dearly.

Mom made this ornament for Hailey's first Christmas last year.

My tree is starting to turn into a family tree. 

Ornaments that will one day belong to Hannah and Hailey.

Ornaments from the first year that Brian and I were married.

I hope they look forward to seeing the same ornaments on our tree each year.

When my Grandma Miller passed away, I really wanted a few ornaments.

Growing up, we spent every Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house.

Usually all of the kids would sit in the front room near the tree waiting to open our presents.

Viva Las Vegas.

This ornament was purchased in Las Vegas. 

Reminds me of all of the times that I have been there and all of the good times that were had by all there.

Ecuador.

Not only a reminder of the place that my sister calls home but a reminder of my sister and her family.

I sure do miss them, especially this time of year.

Last but not least, the bell.

These bells have been homemade by my great grandma, my grandma, and now my uncle Bob.

It is the ultimate staple for a Christmas tree.

Hailey Monster

Someone asked me why we call Hailey 'Hailey Monster'.

It is sort of silly considering she is a good baby. 

Although....she is into everything.
Today I find her with a box of Kleenex.

It was just a box by the time I got there :-)

It's beginning to look like Christmas

We put up the tree today.

Last night Stacey, Tammy, and I went Black Friday shopping. 

We met at 11:45pm and I didn't get home until 7:30 am.

Brian had told Hannah we would put up the tree today.

Hannah was so excited to help me put the ornaments on.

She would run from the couch to the tree and then back "Mommy, what can I do next?"

Here is Hannah seeing if there is a spot left on the bottom half of the tree for just one more.

Not sure if I should laugh or cry

or both...

This is our house.  This is what it looks like at all times.
Strollers, car seats, highchairs, Oh My!

I guess this is what happens when you have baby obsessed little girls.

There is stuff everywhere. 
We aren't just talking about a few things on the floor.

We are talking about objects.  Objects that you have to walk around to get places.  You can't step over them or put them in the toy box.  They don't fold up or get put away.  These are huge-in-the-way-and-seem-to-be-in-every-room objects.

Most of the time these things make me smile.  Reminders of how sweet my girls are.  Signs of who they are and how they like to play.
Sometimes though, and I hate to admit this, it makes me want to cry.  My house is too small for all of this stuff.  Sometimes I wish that we had a better place to put this stuff.

I just have to keep reminding myself that this is temporary. 
When they are 18 and all of these strollers aren't around anymore I am going to miss them.

Shoes to grow into

*Grunt and point*

Translation:

Mommy, I want to where these.

So, I put my shoes on her and watched her try to walk in them. 

It was adorable!

For a moment, she looked like she was wearing ski boots.  Her body was moving but her feet weren't.

She was finally able to take a few steps but she didn't get very far.

New

This weekend Brian went and bought us an over the range microwave.

It seemed a little large at first but it only took about 10 minutes to get used to it.

I underestimated how much I would love it!

We should have done this a few years ago when we first talked about it.

Love the new counterspace!

My turn

Ever since my weekend at the salon getting my eyebrows waxed Hannah wants to play 'eyebrow girl'.

It all started one night when she peeled the label off of a water bottle and found that the label was sticky.  She had me lay down and for about 20 minutes straight she pretended to wax my eyebrows. 

Tonight it was her turn to get her eyebrows done.

She was getting the complete spa experience.

Reminded me of when we were little and we would put rollers in grandma's hair.  I am sure that she loved sitting and having us brush and play with her hair.  Even if it was just for the small simple fact that at that moment we were sitting in one place for longer than 2 minutes.

That's what it says

Hannah:  "Mom.  I made you a list.  It says "I love you moder.  You are a great moder."  I wrote it in Chinese."

I'll take that

It is that time of year where all of the stores send out their holiday toy catalogs.

As an adult these books are fun to look at just to see how toys are changing but after about 5-6 pages it starts to get overwhelming and all the pictures start to run together.

As a three year old these books are hours of entertainment!

I picked this catalog up the other night to find that Hannah knew just what to do.  Circle what she wants.

It was actually pretty surprising to see that she didn't circle everything.

There are a few things that she insists that Santa will be bringing her this year....guess our pact for no more babies has already expired. 

Happy Birthday Agustin!

Happy Birthday Agustin!
We sure do miss you around here and wish that we could be celebrating with you!

We love you!

I will be here when you get home

It's always good to know that while you are away all day, someone is excited to see you when you get home.

Hannah set these babies up before she left for Jackie's this morning.

She must not have remembered that she did it because when she got home, she sure was surprised!

Trip to the store

Brian was making sloppy joes for dinner tonight but as he started we realized that the buns we had weren't good anymore.

My little side kick and I decided to run up to the store for buns.

On our way out the door Daddy yelled to us to grab chips also.

In the car Hannah told me that we should make a song so we don't forget. 

So from the backseat I start to hear this made up song about buns and chips.

Adorable right?!

We get into the store and I say "Hannah, remember what we need?"

She bursts into the song that she just made up.

All of the people in the store turn to look at her and start smiling and giggling...'Look at her!"

We grab buns.

"Mommy, I will hold those."

We grab chips.

"Mommy, daddy would like these ones.  I will hold them. Can I get these two? (as she point to a can of Pringles-the cheese ones)"

We grab some chip dip.

"Mommy, that's a good idea.  I will hold it."

Now, if you were paying attention that is a package of buns, a bag of chips, can of Pringles, and container of chip dip.  She had them all.  I was carrying nothing.

"Hannah, want me to take something honey?"

"No mommy, I can handle it."

And she did.

Felt sort of silly walking around the store only carrying my purse when this little 38 inch bundle of joy is looking like a sherpa.

Almost showtime

Tonight the girls were downstairs playing.

I mentioned that it was time to get ready for The Grandpa Dan Show.

Even Hailey understood what that meant and climbed up the stairs and then made her way to the table pointing and grunting at her chair.

The girls enjoyed the show tonight.

Lots of dancing and happy squeals!

Thanks guys

xoxo

My comfort

Last weekend I had an appointment to get my eyebrows waxed. 

When Hannah found out I was leaving she immediately started putting on her coat letting me know that there was no way I was getting out of the house without her.

Me:  "Hannah, you can come with me but I have a few things I have to do.  You gonna be ok with that?"

Hannah:  "I can be just fine mom.  Where you going?"

Me:  "I have to go and get my eyebrows waxed and then go to Cub and Target."

Hannah: "Eyebrows?!  Cub-the just my size cart place?  OK!"

Me:  "Ok, well just so you know when mommy gets her eyebrows waxed you need to be very quiet and sit very still.  OK?"

Hannah:  "OK mom.  Why can I not talk?"

Me:  "What the lady is going to do hurts mommy a little so we need to be sure that you are staying out of her way."

Hannah:  "Ok mommy.  It will be ok.  I will be there the whole time holding your hand.  I will be right next to you."

Sure enough, she was an angel.

Sat next to me the whole time holding my hand.

When I was done I sat up and she wrapped her arms around me "Mommy!  You did it.  I told you you be ok.  Great job!"

Can your heart actually melt away?

3rd Bathroom

This is my new bathroom-

or at least Nash thinks it is

In four of the last 30 days I have walked down these stairs to go get Hailey from her crib and have been greeted by Nash's poop.  The good thing about it is that I can smell it long before I start on my way down the stairs.
I think he is trying to tell me something (save your comments to yourself for this one).  He must want an outdoor dog house.

It's SNOWING

Today we had the first snowfall of the season!

I am a typical Minnesotan.  I think the snow is beautiful.  I believe that it wouldn't feel like Christmas without snow.  I don't mind sitting inside and looking out at it.  I do not need to be out there 'in it'.

Now that I have kids I don't get to 'opt out' of winter.  I can't hibernate and just use it as a tunnel between my house and the car.  I have 4 eager eyes staring at it wondering when they can get out there and touch it.

After about 5-10 minutes of dressing we were finally ready to go outside.  Hannah was beside herself.  She was so excited to just run in the yard and 'stomp through it' with her boots on.
Hailey just wanted to point and grunt.  I believe that she was telling me that someday when she is able to walk she is going to follow Hannah around in that yard "You just wait and see mom".

We made snow angels and threw snowballs.
We even had time to eat a 'snow popscicle'.

Maybe this cold, wet stuff isn't so bad after all!

Airhead

When this toy is turned on it plays music and blows balls into the air.

What happens when the balls are all blown out?

See for yourself

(I wish you could hear how hard Hannah was giggling)

Pizzaeria

Brian does all of our cooking.  Most of you already know that but I don't ever get sick of talking about it.
He is into making homemade pizzas lately.
This isn't your typical homemade pizza.  This is not a premade roll-out dough crust.  This is not an add water and roll-out crust.  This is a homemade mixed, kneaded, stretched, pulled, and rolled-out crust.
It is de-lish!

The white chicken with tomato and onion is my fav!

Peek-a-Boo

Really?!
These pics will say it all....

Momma

Brian picks the girls up each day from daycare.  I do the drop off and he picks up.  There is no way with my commute that I could assure that I would be there each day by 4:30 to pick them up.  It works well for us but that also means that the minute I walk in the door after work it is GAME ON until the kids are in bed.

When I walk in the door, Hannah usually comes running shouting "Mommy! Mommy!  Mommy!"

Hailey usually gets so exicted that she yells and then flaps her arms as fast as she can.  Then after that doesn't work to actually help move her she will start crying until I pick her up.

Nash is so excited to see that someone is opening the door that as I am coming in he is pushing his way out.

It can get a little crazy and stressful at times but even so it is wonderful to get such a warm welcome.

As fall comes to an end

Fall is coming to an end.  We are due to get snow this weekend.
Not sure if I am ready for boots, hats, gloves, jackets, being cold and wet all the time.
Especially when I see pictures like this...

The weather is so nice.  The kids are back in school, things start to feel 'back to normal' around this time.  Once that snow hits, the stress kicks in.  It will feel like Christmas is right around the corner and in reality it is.

Sleeping Beauty

Back in October, Chloe was having a sleepover Birthday party.
I bought Hannah a Princess sleeping bag thinking that that would be just the novelty she needed to make it through the night.

She wasn't quite ready at that time to have her first 'little person' sleepover (as Tammy would call it :-) and didn't stay over night but that hasn't stopped her from wanting to sleep in her sleeping bag.

Time to eat!

Babies, babies, babies.

That is what we do at our house.

It has not taken Hailey long to learn the routine.

Today Hailey decides that Talking Baby needs to eat.

You get what you pay for...

How embarrassing...
I noticed this morning while getting ready that the diamond fell out of this earring.
I wonder how long ago that happened??

I guess that is what you get when your earring cost $4 about 10 years ago (or even more).

Page-a-Week, Week 3

This week I finally completed a page for Hailey's scrapbook!

I am not in love with how it turned out but it is complete and that is what is important to me today.

Nastics

It is Brian's Birthday today!

Happy 35th honey!  We love you!!

It is also Wednesday which means that Hannah has 'nastics'.  I want to take better pictures however the lighting in the area is horrible and I am sure I would get some stares if I actually brought along my extra flash, etc.  So, this is as good as it gets for now.

Hannah is doing the bear walk on the beam here.

I wanna try

Tonight before their bath, Hailey was pointing at the toilet so we decided to set her on it.

She didn't go but she sure was proud of herself!

Isn't she cute???

Isn't she cute?
I got this bag from Thirty-One Gifts, a new home-type of party.
It is all about personalized bags and gifts.
This bag is one of my new favorites.  It is HUGE and very durable.
Besides the pattern, I love most that it stands open on it's own (it has a rectangle bottom).