Finish Line

Tonight the girls were playing in the hallway.

As we were cleaning up dinner we weren't sure what they were doing but we could here them giggling.

Turn the corner...

"See?  We have a finish line."

They were taking turns running down the hallway to knock down the finish line.

(The first thing I checked was that the scarf wasn't tied tight around the door knobs)

Immediately this reminded me of a time when I was little and we were racing our big wheels down the sidewalk.  We tied one end of a jump rope to the fence and then someone stood across the sidewalk holding on to the other end of the jump rope.

We then would ride our big wheels through the finish line.

The person holding on to the jump rope was suppose to let go once we rode through however the time that I rode through the rope was pulled tight and it clotheslined me.

I had a huge rope burn mark on my neck and I can remember feeling like the wind was knocked from me when I rode into the tightly pulled rope.

Just one of those things you do as a kid that seems so harmless.  Needless to say I was happy to see that this finish line could have been knocked down from the whoosh of Nash's tail.

Wait here

Tammy is hosting a Willow House party at her house today.

I knew all week that I was going to be taking Hannah with me but as always, I didn't tell her until today.

You have to time it perfectly.  If she knows too far in advance you will get drilled with questions or she will get so exicted that it is all you will hear about.

This morning when I told her, the first thing she said was "I better get my babies ready".

After she was done getting her babies ready she asked me to turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for them so they could sit and relax while she gets ready to go.

Ridiculous?

I guess I can't disagree :-)

Good sport

Hannah got a Cootie game for Christmas.  Everytime I ask her if she wants to play she usually says, "No thanks."  Tonight she finally said "Ok, mom.  Let's do that.  What is Cootie?"  I explained to her that it was a game that you would have to roll a dice to get peices to build a Cootie guy and then when your guy is done being built, you would jump up and yell 'Cootie!".

I wasn't really sure how well she would actually get the concept of it.  We got the peices out and I figured I would just tell her the rules (are there really rules) as we went along.

The first game, she won.  She understood the rules and did well understanding which numbers belonged to which items.
The second game, she won.
The third game, I finally won!
The fourth game.....well, watch this video to see for yourself

Heading in for a checkup

Today is Hailey's 15 mo WCC appt.  The appt was at 8:30 this morning but we started packing up to leave around 7:00 am.  It's a 27 mile drive into Maplewood so it should only take us about 40 minutes to get there, right?  Right.

Then why did we leave so early?

Well, that was because when Hannah found out that we were going to Dr Prall's before Jackie's she ran off to tell Baby Emersons that we were going to the doctor!  I knew what that was going to mean for me.

They were coming with.

Since I bought them some jammies a few days back, Hannah has been changing them into their clothes during the day and their jammies at night.  They were currently in their jammies and I knew that she would need to change them, diapers and all, before we left.

Don't worry, the double stroller is folded up in the trunk so she won't have to carry them both.  She thought of that ahead of time.

Hannah was starting to get tired on the way there so she didn't want to smile for the picture.  Apparently Emerson ('the hippo shirt one') was already fast asleep.

You can't think that I was going to get out of the house with just Hannah's babies.  Hailey needed hers too (which is the same as one of the Emerson's but Hannah can tell them apart somehow).

Hailey feeding her baby while we were waiting for her appt.

During the exam, Dr Prall was amazing.  He would check out Hailey's ears and then turn to Hannah and ask her to hold Emerson still so he could check her out as well.  She got the same check up as Hailey did.

Hailey got 4 injections today but Emerson was the luckiest- she only got one.

Splish Splash

My two are in the 'real' bathtub behind me. 
Before Hannah could get in the bath tonight she had to get her babies in their tub and set our their jammies in the bedroom.

The way I see it, my success as a parent will be keeping Hannah from being pregnant by the time she is 8 :-)

Emerson's Mom

Hannah and I were in the car on the way to gymnastics and I got a phone call.
I answered the phone and my side of the conversation went like this...
Me:  "Hi!  No, it's no problem, I am driving Hannah to gymnastics so I have a few mintues to talk."
from the backseat
Hannah:  "I not Hannah, I Emerson's mom!  Tell her that I Emerson's mom."
Me: "Oh sorry, I am driving Emerson's mom to gymnastics.  Emerson's mom.  Hannah has a baby doll, Emerson, and so    "
Hannah:  "She a baby!  Not a doll.  Tell her Emerson is a baby."

When we got home from gymnastics and as we were jammying up we were talking about her babies.

Me:  "Hannah, why don't we call this one Soda and this one Emerson?"
Hannah:  "No, they both Emerson's."
Me:  "How about we call this one Changing Baby Diaper again so we know who is who?"
Hannah:  "I not Changing Baby Diaper's mom.  I Emerson's mom."

Ok, after we get the babies dressed I would like to take their picture.

Hannah:  (while rocking them in her arms back and forth-the stand up sway that you probably find yourself doing still even though your kids are growing up) "No, not tonight.  Littles (her nickname for them) needs to go to bed.  You can take their picture tomorrow."

I finally convinced her to let me take their picture. 

Hannah:  "Let's take the picture with their mom."  "Sit here Littles.  Now say Cheese and smile."

When I asked how she decided which baby got to wear which outfit her response was this "This baby will wear the monkey one because she loves monkeys.  Whenever we go to the zoo she always tries to get out of the stroller to get the monkeys.  This baby loves the flowers and when we go to the zoo she points to them and says Uhh (kinda grunt-ish).  They love them!  How did you know?"

Hannah:  "How about we do one more with a silly face?  Make silly faces babes!"

Hannah:  "Let me see.  Ooooohhhh, that a good one!"

How could I want to get anything done in this house?!

This is the type of stuff I would miss if I spent my time doing what I should be doing....I have the rest of my life to do that other stuff. 

No comments, please

It hurts me a little bit to be blogging about this.

This is my recent purchase.

I will first start by saying that it is NOT for me!

N.O.T.

Brian has been talking about a Neti Pot for a while now and tonight while I was at Walgreens buying cough medicine for Hannah, I looked over and there was one -misplaced on the shelf- looking at me.

I think it actually even whispered something to get my attention.

Patience:  I am sure you are LOVING every minute of this after all of those years you talked these things up and tried to get me to buy one.  Well, you must be happy. Although, you can't claim success until you actually here about ME using it which I am still pretty certain will never happen.

The verdict:  he is a fan.

P U

Take a deep breath.
Can you smell that?

Came home to a couch full of dog puke today.


Wonder how long it would take Brian to build a doghouse?!

Enabler

Have you ever watched Intervention?

If you have then you are familiar with the term enabler.  As in- someone you know has a serious addiction and your actions enable them to continue their behavior.

Baby outfits (actual baby outfits from the Carters store) that were purchased for Baby Emerson.

Hannah:  "Mom!  These are so cute!  We love them! Lank you!"

A package of Preemie size diapers.

No, I haven't had another baby.  These too are for Emerson.

Guilty as charged.

Like sands in the hourglass

Something is wrong with my phone.

The battery won't hold a charge.  See that?  Up in the corner?  My phone has been unplugged, unused for only a few hours and the battery is already down to 32%!

I never thought I would be so attached and rely so much on my phone.  It is like a permanent fixture in my hands.  Especially since it contains my calendar, my clock, my social life, my reading list, my to do list, my shopping list, my emails (work and personal).....you get the picture.

Well, now that the battery is dying before my eyes I constantly feel this sense of urgency around anything and everything.  I feel like it is a race against time to beat the battery.  I need to assure that I am plugged in and charging at every moment possible. 

I MUST get this fixed.  Not sure my blood pressure can take much more of this!

Happy Wedding Day!

My friend, Lori, at work got married today.
She got engaged about 6 weeks ago and when we were asking her when her wedding would be, we were all quite surprised when she said January.  I was very honored when she asked me to take her pictures for her.
I also did her flowers for her (you can see the pictures below).

The original plan was to have the wedding outside at Goosebury Falls.  Her and Nick go there around this time each year and Goosebury is a very special place for them.
The closer it got to the wedding the more it was clear that the wedding probably wouldn't be able to be outside.  It was suppose to be the coldest day of the year with a windchill of around -40 degrees.  (YIKES!)

The ceremony ended up being inside in front of a fireplace that contained a roaring fire.

Everything was absolutely gorgeous!  Lori and Nick-  Thank you for letting me be a part of your special day!  Congrats you two!
 
Here is a sampling from the 600+ pictures that I took.

Nick, Lori, Samantha, and Seth

Nick and Lori

They did a sand ceremony.  Each of them had a different color of sand and during the ceremony they all poured their sand in a glass block.  It was to symbolize their life as it was, as it is, and as it will be.

Their cake was beautiful! 

Yes, that is a real deer behind them.  It was amazing!

There were two of them that just stood there and starred at us.

What a ham!

Hailey has turned into quite the ham!

As soon as she even thinks that you might be taking a picture of her she starts smiling.

It is almost like the camera has a string on it that pulls her eyelids down when the camera is held up.

You can hold the camera in your lap and nothing.

Hold the camera up and out in front of you and you get this face.  Everytime!

You are only hurting yourself

Just curious-

Why do you (and you know who you are) require users to go through this word verification thing before allowing comments to post?

Sometimes it actually stops me from leaving comments since it is rather annoying.

Just sayin' if it was gone it would make me happy ;-)

Silly Stacey

Saturday night we went to Stacey and Shane's.

Stacey was putting together some gifts for an upcoming party.

The gifts were cute buckets that contained a movie, 2 boxes of movie theater size candy, and 2 packages of microwave popcorn. 

Hannah and Maddie helped us put them together- picking out the candy, counting the popcorn, etc.

By the end of the night Hannah was asking about when she was going to be able to have some of those treats.  Had to break the news that those treats were not for her.  She took it fine.

The next morning she woke up and was sitting at the table.

She turned around and noticed something on top of the fridge.

Hannah:  "Mommy, look!  That silly Stacey. Look what she gave to me (as she pointed to the fridge)."

Of  course before I looked to see what she was looking at I grabbed my camera to snap this picture.

I turn to see a box of Milk Duds and a box of Mike and Ikes on top of the fridge in the 'treat basket'.

I forgot that I had bought those treats to bring to my scrapbooking day this past Friday.  We didn't eat the snacks and I had added them to the basket the day before, because we weren't home the night before she didn't notice them until now.

Lunch of Champions

You gotta have a thick stomach watching your kids eat somedays.
Today Hannah wanted meatballs and Cheetos for lunch.
No big thing right?  Sure.  Until she asked for white dip (Ranch dressing) and ketchup.
Still, not too strange until she decided to mix them together.
Then she proceeded to dip her Cheetos in her newly created mix.
At least I got one that eats.  I guess I will take it!

Oh, and of course this was all washed down with a big glass of chocolate milk.

Time out

Hannah was being sassy this afternoon and I had finally had enough.

I walked her to her room and set her up for her time out.

Of course she sat in there whimpering and whining for about 10 minutes before it went quiet.

I know that techincally time outs should last 1 minute per year so her time out should have only been 3 minutes however many times Brian and I tell her that the time out will last until she calms down.

When I no longer heard her I went in her room to get her.

The usual routine, I would go in there and we would talk about why she was put in her room, she would apologize, we would hug and then she could come out.

I quickly found out why it was so quiet.

Explains why she was so spicy this afternoon.

OUCH!

My friend, Lori, is getting married this coming weekend.
I offered to do her flowers and so I spent the day today putting them all together.

About 5 minutes in, I burnt my finger.

I layed it down in a nice blob of hot glue.

OUCH!

I spent the next hour in a bag of snow.

At least the flowers turned out.  I hope she likes them!

All of this for....

I took the day off today and will be spending it at Archivers, scrapbooking with Karri and Gretchen.

It always feel weird to leave my house to scrapbook.  I have so much stuff that it just feels silly to try to pack it up and then sit somewhere else to work. 

But that didn't stop me.

So, for the few hours that I will be at Archivers today, I will bring a few things.

I ended up getting three pages done.
Here is Hannah's B-day party page.



I also did this page of some pictures taken a few years ago.  I still need a title for it so please, if you can think of anything good let me know.

Changing time

Hannah was playing babies tonight (surprised aren't you?).

Emerson needed a diaper change. 

Hannah:  "Oh littles!  You got poop on your back.  Stay like this while I clean you ups."

Nuk Monster

I have talked before about how Nuks are like crack for babies.

If this picture doesn't prove me right then I don't know what it would take.

Hold this

I was working at the computer and the girls were downstairs playing.

Hannah needed to go upstairs to tell Brian something.

Hannah:  "Here mom, hold this.  Just like this.  Don't smell it and don't move.  OK?"

She must not trust me too much because after she turned the corner she came back just to check on me.

She has recently told me that she really loves her Dankie and she wants to keep her Dankie forever.

I told her it was fine and she could keep Dankie forever.

Hannah:  "Even when I get bigger, I want him.  I love him so much!"

Me:  "That is fine, Hannah.  You can keep him forever, just remember that    "

Hannah:  (while pointing in my direction) "I know, no bringing to places and no bringing outside."

Conversations like this make me really happy that we never let her bring her Dankie to daycare.  I couldn't imagine how we would be sending her to school in a few years without that thing......I mean without him (sorry Dankie).

Emotional strollercoaster

Baby strollers.

The reason for so many smiles and so many tears.

Hannah has always been crazy about baby strollers and since Hailey wants to do everything that Hannah does, she is now obsessed with them as well.

The girls got new double strollers for Christmas.

They are the exact same stroller but you would think that one of them was covered in chocolate.

I remember when Hannah was younger she would sit and play with the buckle on the stroller.  She would clasp it and then have us unclasp it and then she would clasp again, etc.

Just like her sister, Hailey is now the one spending day after day clasping and unclasping.

She gets really excited when she gets it clasped- raises her hands above her head and makes a sound that sounds like she is saying 'I did it'!

The double strollers each have two buckles and if Hailey gets both of them clasped on 'her' stroller and we aren't quick enough to notice and get them unclasped, she is waddling off to find the next victim.

That causes her sister to either scream, cry, or lash out in a way that sends Hailey to tears.

So usually one way or another someone is crying.

Playlist

Kimmy gave Hannah an iPod Shuffle for Christmas.
It was something she had won at work and wasn't going to use so Hannah was the lucky recepient.
We loaded it up with some of her favorite songs.
Hey, Soul Sister by Train
Splish Splash by Bobby Darin
Party in the U.S.A by Miley Cyrus
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme
Misery by Maroon 5
Kiss me Thru the Phone by Soulja Boy
(Taking My) Life Away by Default
Free to Be Me by Francesca Battistelli
Alright With Me by Kris Allen

Try to find me

Hannah loves playing Hide and Seek.

When we play Hailey just usually follows us around pointing and grunting to the seeker, most of the time giving away great clues as to where the hider is located.

Brian and Hannah left to go to Menards.

Me:  "Hailey, do you want to play?"

Hailey:  pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter

 I was walking behind her to see where she was going and find her in the kitchen, under the chair.

I guess we are playing Hide and Seek.

Two peas in a pod

Here is a picture of Hannah and Olivia from May 2009.

Their relationship is special.

After I signed Hannah up for gymnastics I had found out that Olivia's parents had signed her up as well.  Olivia's mom and I talked and decided that for the next session we would sign them up for the same class.



Olivia's mom is pregnant and went into Labor on Wednesday.

On the way to gymnastics I told Hannah to prepare that Olivia might not be at class tonight.

She was very concerned.

We were sitting in the waiting area at gymnastics and Olivia walked through the door.

Her grandparents brought her tonight since the baby hasn't come yet and she was very anxious to come.

When the girls saw each other they ran into each other's arms and hugged.

Then they just stood there looking at each other and giggling.

This is going to be Olivia's last day at daycare.  It breaks my heart that Hannah won't be seeing her special friend everyday.  She lives close to us so hopefully we can get her information and keep in touch.  I would hate for these two to lose what they have together.

RRRAAAAARRRR!

We start with Hailey thinking that I am taking a picture of her with my camera.
It quickly turns into our newest 'thing'.
She is so adorable!

Hailey and Hannah will sit across the table and roar at each other.  It will always turn into lots of giggles.

What did that say?!

What did that say? A few posts back.  Did that say that there was an iPad under the tree for me?
YES it did! 
This is actually a family gift but I got to unwrap it so I am going to claim it as mine for just a few more months.  At least I was the only one surprised by it on Christmas- thanks honey!
You would think that with an iPod Touch and iPhone that an iPad wouldn't be that big of a deal.  Think again.
This thing is awesome!

Looks like I am not the only one that thinks so....

Biggest waste of time

BUT also the most fun waste of time.

Each time I would log onto the Apple App store the game Angry Birds would be at the top.  Almost as if calling to me "Buy me! Buy me!".  It had tons of positive reviews and has been on the list of Top Grossing Apps since I have had my iPhone.

A few months ago it was finally time to break down, spend the 99 cents and see what all the hype is about.

Oh my WORD this game is fun!

You get a board like this.

Then you swing out to the left where there is a slingshot with a line of birds.  You have to slingshot the birds into the pile of stuff to try to knock out all of the green guys.  There are different birds that do different things etc, etc.  I shouldn't have to explain it too much, I am sure most of you have played it.

Anyways, I finally beat the game. 

Then I found the holiday addition...here we go again.

Mom, I can't do it

Hannah:  "Mom, see I can't do it.  I can't put my jammies on myself."

From a girl who has been dressing herself for over a year. 

She went through all of this just to have me help her get dressed.

And yes....that is her underwear on her head.



The kind of kid you are

Bean Machine

You are the kind of child that any mother would be proud of.

You are sweet, compassionate, caring, helpful, silly, smart, and adorable.

You light up whatever room you are in with your personality and shining eyes.

You are a great big sister and Hailey is so lucky to have someone like you to look up to.

When I see the smile on your face everything makes sense.

Hailey Monster

You are the kind of child that everyone dreams about.

You are easy going, content, observant, sweet, loving, and my heart melts a little everytime you smile!

You are the perfect addition to our family and we couldn't imagine our lives without you.

I can't wait to watch you grow up.  I can't wait to hear what your little voice sounds like.

You have made us complete (for now....).

I did it!

One year ago Kari introduced me to the POTD concept.

Actually it was more of a friendly challenge.

POTD = Picture of the day

What this would mean is that each day we woud post a picture and blog about it.

When I first started I didn't think that I could last 2 weeks.

I was willing to try but really didn't think that I would be able to commit and keep up with this for a whole year!  That sounded crazy.  A huge commitment that I really didn't know if I was capable of.

Well, here I am 12 months later with 358 posts for the year. 

I did it!

When I tell people about my blog they all say the same thing "That is quite the commitment.  How do you find the time??".    I usually respond the same way each time too "It is a commitment and time consuming but it is worth it."

I feel like I should be pouring my heart out about how blogging makes me feel or why I am so happy that I stuck with it but does it really need to be said?  I think it is pretty obvious. 

I do have to give credit to my sisters, my parents, my friends, and my family for actually taking your time to visit to read what we are up to.  Without the positive feedback and comments it would have been easy to stop.  I love the feedback and I love the fact that my family and friends are interested in our story.

I also love that Tammy told me about Blog2Print.com.  This is a site that allows you to turn your blog into a book.  It is so cool and now that the year is over I will be ordering a few of these to hang on to to give to my girls when they get older. 

I am still scrapbooking.  This doesn't replace scrapbooking but it does give me a place to log all those special things about my girls.  The scrapbooks will be the very best of the moments, the very best of the pictures, and my very favorite moments.  I haven't been scrapbooking as much as I want to be and I am thinking that this year it will be the thing that I work on.  Putting serious effort into the task.

I am happy to see that others have decided to blog as well.  I hope you get everything out of it that I do!