My sweet girls

How can it be?!?

How has it been 10 months? I have spent the time feeling so guilty about not keeping this up to date. Such is life I guess.

The girls have grown leaps and bounds. They're now 6 1/2 and 2 1/2. They had a monster themed birthday party that was completely awesome. We also had an amazing spring and summer. We spent more time at Lake Isabella swimming, fishing and camping. There were a couple Lakeside trips and an overnight stay at a cabin in Hocking Hills.

Annabelle is in the first grade and totally kicking ass at it. She is so advanced in all areas. She's also in her second year as a Daisy Scout. She started tumbling this year and Sunday school. She is a busy little thing but adores it.

Elsie is a crazy pants who is wild and silly but still very caring. She tags along to every event of her big sister's and has started a beginner dance class as well. We still do story time and she goes to many girl scout events, as I am a co-leader of 2 troops.
They fight like cats and dogs, but can also play so beautifully for hours.

Chris is 2 quarters into the radiology program. We still have a year and a half, but the end is becoming more in sight. He not only has class now, but work and clinicals. He works so hard. :) We do miss our time with him though.

so busy!

So we've been busy all weekend. Library trips, some shopping, girl scouts cookie rally, visiting my parents, girl scouts tour of fire station, grocery shopping...etc. Anyway, updating hasn't been the top of my mind!

Starting with the library trip...Annabelle did the sweetest thing!! As I was checking the books out she and Elsie went over to the candy machine and turned the dials to see if anything would come out. Someone apparently left a skittle behind. Annabelle's face lit up. She pulled it out, showed me, then looked down at Elsie. I could see Annabelle's face turn sad as she handed it down to her sister. It was so, so, so sweet. But then of course Elsie dropped it. haha. But it's something I hope I remember forever....seeing Annabelle's face change from excitement to 'aww man'....and just the look of Elsie looking adoringly up at her big sister. It was amazing. So, I bought them their own handfuls of candy!

At the girl scouts cookie rally we went to yesterday Elsie cracked me up. It was a big open area so I let her run free. But there were a couple other troops there so I kept my eye on her. Toward the end of the rally I sat down to fill out a form. I started writing then realized 'uh oh....where's Elsie?' Then I heard a group of girls giggling. I looked and she had made her way to the bathroom, kept the door hanging wide open, and pulled her panties and tights down. The girls thought it was so funny. Another mom said she pulled her pants down, looked up at the big toilet, then back at all of them. She must have realized she couldn't do it alone.

Tonight Annabelle has been singing "Money ain't gonna buy me love" hahaha. She's close to having the right lyrics. She told us she can't get it out of her head.

In the grocery store I tied a piece of yarn to my belt loop and the other end around Elsie's wrist. I kept calling her a little doggie. She thought it was fun for awhile and I got a few comments on it. "good idea!" or whatever. She ended up wanting it off but I told her if she wants to walk she has to have it on. So hopefully this will help us in the stores from now on.

We're into the girl scouts crazy cookie selling. I hope we can meet our goal of selling 160 boxes ourselves. Annabelle is excited about it but I'm a bit nervous. I will keep you updated on those happenings!

One day Elsie and I were napping. She usually slides her hand up my shirt and feels all around. When she woke up from her nap I was laying on my belly. Without looking at me, she slid her hand up my shirt and under my bra. She felt all around and very softly said "boobies all gone." She wasn't at all concerned, just stating that they were gone. Apparently she thought I was laying on my back and she was feeling the front of my body. Bless her heart. It was incredibly sweet. She likes to tell me when she is "all done" nursing. She usually tells me "All done. Boobies sleep" and pulls my shirt down over top of them. How adorable is she?

The great fall

Elsie learned to go down the stairs by herself yesterday. She tumbled and FLIPPED down them today. It didn't take long to get that inevitable fall out of the way! It was awful. She was so scared. Annabelle was too....who saw the whole thing from the top of the stairs. She was going down on her butt. She has since been instructed to go down backwards on her knees. Let's hope there are no more falls!!

Annabelle had a snow day today. But since we played outside so much yesterday, we stayed in. She watched a movie, played with dolls, bossed her sister around, wrote a story, and played in a ball pit (I put all Elsie's balls in the tub. They loved it.)
Her story was in a "wordless reader" they get from school. It gives the book a title and pictures and you have to write the story. She did a great job and sounded all the words out. She loves when they send those home.

Today Elsie said one of her longest sentences yet. "Oh no! Daddy threw water at me!" OK that's 2 sentences but the second one is 5 words long. Pretty good. (He just splashed her as he was running her bath water.)

Annabelle has been so sweet. She yelled to me earlier that Elsie bit her nose. I believe they had been playing doggie. But before I could even address the situation I heard Elsie say "Saahh Sahh" (Sorry.) Annabelle said "Elsie you're the best sister ever!" Then told me how she had said sorry without anyone asking her too. She wasn't even mad over the nose bite anymore....which apparently wasn't a huge bite. She cracks me up.

Elsie likes to be different characters from Dora and Diego and tells us which ones we are as well. She is usually Diego or Alicia. Tonight she named herself Alicia, me as Diego, and Annabelle as Dora. When she wanted to get into the tub she kept right on with her game. She repeated over and over "Leeesie tub!!!" (Alicia tub) She was getting angry at us for not letting her get in right then and there but still kept calling herself Alicia. It was adorable.

I think Annabelle is hoping for school tomorrow. She gets a little bored when she is stuck inside all day. She is of that big girl age now! :D

Snow fun!

The snow has been falling today. All four of us went out and played. We walked to my parents and took advantage of their big hills on the sled. It was a lot of fun but still a bit scary. I remember flying down those hills as a kid.Chris pulled them back home on the sled and we played in our yard too. Elsie was most interested in eating snow. Annabelle and I rolled down the hills and Chris made rock hard snow balls for the girls to throw at me. He also made a snow angel with Annabelle.Annabelle has wanted to make a snowman all winter but we haven't gotten the good wet snow for it yet. I made a baby one today that was rather sad looking but she was happy with it.
All in all it was a fun day and we all had lots of layers so we stayed good and warm. Here's a few pictures from the day. :)

Annabelle and Daddy. She wanted him to cover her face so snow didn't blow in it! haha



Us with the girls


Heading back home

More silly stuff

Elsie likes these silly stories. And it flat out amazes us what she can tell us and come up with. There was a dog barking outside and first she said "touch!" which is almost always hilarious to us...the things she wants to go touch. So then she said the dog was going to come in. She acted like a dog, panting and barking. Then she said "bite Daddy's pants!" and went on and on about it biting her phone, her string cheese wrapper...everything. And she yelled "no bad puppy!!" and told us she would hit him. What a mess.

We went to a friend's baby shower today. Annabelle wanted to know why it didn't have an actual shower. She also spelled manatee to me today. I don't know how often knowing the spelling of that word will pay off for her but I'm super proud nonetheless! :)

Choo Choo get

Elsie is determined the choo choo will bite her fingers. She is telling me repeatedly it will bite her fingers, mine, Annabelle's....everyone's. And "fingers fall off."

Jokester

Today in a store Annabelle loudly declares "I want to nurse!" She was just being silly but I didn't even dare look around to see the reactions it got. I just told her "you're silly." She heard one woman laugh so she kept at it, saying "I want sour boob milk!" and I asked how she knew it was sour and she said Elsie had told her! Ohhh child. I'm fine with the general public knowing I'm still nursing an almost 2 year old....but I don't want them to think I'm nursing an almost 6 year old.

Good Lord that looks scary. 2 and 6. I'm not ready for it! But while on the subject...we've picked the theme for their party. Monsters. It should be awesome. Elsie has been into monsters lately. Yesterday the dishwasher made a loud noise during its washing cycle and she yelled "No!! Monsters!!" :) And Annabelle actually asked to watch Little Monsters today. So it's something they're into and something a little more unique than a usual party which is what we like!

Is an update possible at this point?

How do you update over 4 months later? Four months in a child's life is pages of updating at least. Obviously I will only remember a tiny fraction of the stuff that happened, things that were said, cuteness that ensued. But here goes....

Elsie is fully potty trained! It took no time at all. She doesn't even need pull ups at bedtime or when leaving the house. She has an occasional accident but those are few and far between. She has been a mother's perfect dream at potty training. She's even off the little potty and onto the big potty with the seat on top.
Annabelle is loving school. She has never had a problem, never been in trouble or even given a warning. We've got nothing but high praises from the teachers. At parent/teacher conferences she was called a role model. We were told she was so advanced they had to remove part of the regular kindergarten testing and add a new portion. We're so proud of her!

As far as talking goes, Elsie says it all (nearly.) There is no way possible I could even count the words she says...and haven't been able to for a long time. She speaks in small broken sentences. "Watch Diego, me." "Annabelle come, me." "Trains, no get. Tracks" (She has had a fear of trains ever since I took her right next to one coming toward us. So we've repeatedly told her they can't get her. They have to stay on the tracks.) She's also able to tattle on Annabelle saying "Annabelle hit!" Which comes in handy when trying to figure out what's going on in a fight. It's not so one sided anymore! People are constantly asking her age when they hear her talk, thinking she is much older. Smart cookie she is!
Speaking of smart cookie, Annabelle is reading beyond a kindergarten level. They send home books from school to read at home and they are so simple to her, they are boring. Sometimes I forget how well she can read until she yells out something she read on a sign in the car. "Keep Right....what does that mean?" She can even read stories to her sister which they both enjoy.

Other things that have gone on....Annabelle is in tap and loving it. She does a good job with it. She is also in Daisy Scouts and adores this. She can't wait to go each meeting.

Elsie will be going back to story time on Monday when the winter sessions begin. It will be interesting to see how well she does sitting still. :)

Annabelle's first day of tap

Of course we went to Lakeside on Labor Day weekend. It was a lot of fun since Elsie is older and able to run around and play on the playgrounds, throw rocks in the lake, and chow down on donuts and ice cream. The whole weekend I felt so lucky to have this tradition with them and the rest of our family.

Family pic at Lakeside

Girls being cute at Lakeside

The girls had a great Halloween...dressing in several costumes each. Annabelle was the Statue of Liberty, a witch, and a fairy princess. Elsie was a cowgirl, a chicken, and a unicorn. We went to our neighborhood trick or treat, a nursing home trick or treat, Boo at the Zoo, and had our annual Halloween party. Annabelle also had a school party and her Daisy Scouts party. So the many costumes paid off. Who doesn't love dressing up?

Trick or Treat

Thanksgiving went great. Great food. Great family time. Not much else to say.


Christmas was great. It also had great family time and great food. The girls got entirely too many presents, but I guess they're only young once. They're best present of all is a wooden playhouse in our backyard. My parents got it for them. My dad is still working on building it but it is up and already fun for them to mess in. When warm weather comes, they're never going to leave it!

Christmas Eve

Cookies for Santa

We always spend New Years in so the girls and I did a couple crafts and we had a good meal and that was that!

Happy New Year!!

So I think that covers most of the big events that have happened since last posting. My intention is to update much more frequently...perhaps sometimes even more than once a day. I just wanted to post little tidbits of our daily lives and the crazy stuff they come up with!

Here's a few more pictures I can't NOT share. Love them too much!

Elsie making noodles

Cute fans

A story time tour of the fire station

At a Children's Theatre show of Alice in Wonderland

At Beth's




Annabelle's costume for Boo at the Zoo

Super cute before Church

At a Veteran's Parade they were in with Daisy Scouts

Elsie on Thanksgiving

A day in the park

Playing in the snow

Waiting for a Christmas parade to start

OK it was more than a few. :)