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. :)

Huge day

So it's obvious I've put off updating. And I need to catch everyone up. However, I only have time to say that today is Annabelle's first day of kindergarten. She is excited and nervous. When we dropped her off there were no tears from either of us, but it was heartbreaking. I cannot believe she is THIS big already!!
Also today Elsie pooped in her potty! We've had it sitting out for weeks because she doesn't like when her diapers are dirty or wet and tells us right away that she needs changed. So we've been telling her to go on her potty and she won't have a dirty diaper. Today she took the diaper off and was sitting on the potty. I didn't think much of it because she always messes around on it. But a minute later she was standing up saying "blehhhhh" pointing at her potty. I was SO excited. She wasn't sure it was OK so I kept telling her how good she was and hugging her. I gave her candy and a sticker. After I cleaned the potty out and she saw it wasn't going to stay in there she was fine. She smiled when I asked her if she pooped in her potty. :D
I know she won't be potty trained for a while, but the fact that she knows what to do in there is a huge deal! I'm so proud of her.
Now we are just going to have a day alone and wait for Annabelle to come home. I cannot wait for her silly stories about her day. I wish I could peak in on her and see what she is up to :)

Slacking again

So it's been a while since I updated. We've been very busy :) We spent several days at Lakeside, Lake Erie this past week. It was a nice break and the girls had fun.
I've been attempting to remember a few funny things they've said or done to put here...
One day Elsie was looking at a board book and I commented on it being a board book. Annabelle said "this is NOT a board book." (she knows they are called board books and calls them that herself) and I told her yes it was a board book. She said "But it's not even boring!" haha.
Another day Elsie was nursing and Annabelle told her she was just borrowing those boobies from her. I just kinda frowned and she said "they were mine FIRST!!!" I cracked up and made sure she knew noooo they were MINE first. I let you both borrow them :D
Elsie seems to be getting more teeth...snotty and yucky. So that's been no fun, but otherwise she's as funny as ever. She still asks to go outside ALL DAY LONG....bringing us her shoes. Also I cannot even count or keep up with the amount of words she says. She is mostly at the level where I can tell her "say _____" a few times and she will attempt it.
One day I told her to hug me and she really, really squeezed. I told her how nice it was and to give me a kiss. She did and said "llllllllllove!" and it just melted me!! She knows I tell her that I love her after hugs and kisses but she said it before I even got a chance too. How stinkin' sweet!
Storytime has started and we've went to the lake once. So we're keeping busy! What fun summer is :P

"Plants for Sale!"

Chris cut down some unknown plant/weed the other day. First Annabelle took the branches and put them in a pot of dirt "planting" them. Tonight she decided she wanted to sell them. She stood out front yelling "plants for sale!!" for a while then came back in. She begged me to let her cross the street. She was convinced that if I let her she would be able to sell some to the neighbors over there. Finally we settled on her leaving branches on the neighbors porches. She must have left them on 10 different porches for free!!
Later she told me that they were for a quarter or a penny. But people had to come pick them up. There would be no mailing them. She also made a sign and taped it to her bedroom window, just to let people know she had some plants for sale. :) She is so sweet and acts just like my sister and I did.

Today Elsie said cracker for the first time. I gave her one while I was on the computer. She ate it and then was wondering around. She came back saying "caa cehh" over and over. I was just kinda like "yeahhh..." Then after a while she got mad and cried. Finally it clicked. She's saying CRACKER!! So I made a big deal about how good it was and gave her one :) Smartie pants.

No school

So since school is out, we've been hanging around relaxing for a while. It's been nice. Summer story time will be starting up soon and we will be going to the lake some days. Annabelle is liking the break but at times gets bored....already. She was asking me 10 billion questions yesterday (about vacuum cleaners) and I finally said "well thanks for asking 100 questions" And in complete seriousness she said "you're welcome" :D It was so sweet!

Elsie is napping at the moment. She just walked toward me, binkie in mouth, pulling a huge blanket behind her that she had pulled from the closet. Love that baby :)

Tattoo!

Today Annabelle told me she wanted a tattoo. OK. Where does she want it? Her arm. ughhh. OK. What does she want? A dragon. haha ew.
Elsie got caught up on her shots today. You would never know it though. She's been great all day.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the baby pool going! She is going to LOVE it.

It's all starting...

Today while I was on the phone Elsie threw a craft jewel into the toilet. 10 minutes later she found a crayon and colored on the wall. A couple hours later she stuck a USB cord near by the outlet, touched the metal prongs of the computer charger sending sparks flying. She tripped the circuit. I didn't realize it was the circuit until later...AFTER I had ordered a new computer charger. Ohhhh boy. She's got us in for it.

Graduation

Tonight went great. After Annabelle got out of school we had a "welcome to summer" party. We wore sunglasses and leis. She and Elsie got new sand buckets, shovels and a beach ball to share. Annabelle got new squirt guns, a new kite, and a hula hoop. We had fun and ate popsicles.

Annabelle was super cute at her graduation and super excited. She sang her songs really well. She made me melt watching her. She was just so super sweet!

They had to say their name into the microphone and say what they wanted to be when they grew up. I was anxious to see what she would say. She usually has at least half a dozen things she rattles off. She said she wanted to be a baker. :D So cute.

Afterwards we had some cake and gave her small presents. We're so proud of her. She went all school year without even getting a warning about her bad behavior. Good girl. And a smart cookie!

LLLLLLOVE!

Tonight Elsie said love. My mom has been telling her "LOVE" every time she tells her goodbye. So when we say I love you, she could say love back. So I started doing it as well. Tonight I told her "I love you!!" then I said "Llllllove." she smiled and said it back!! It was so so super sweet. Almost like she knew what it meant!

Tomorrow Annabelle graduates preschool! It's a big day!

Big week!

Well this is a big week for Annabelle. She is graduating preschool Thursday. Then on Sunday she has her dance recital. I have a few surprises planned for her since she's done such a wonderful job in school and at dance. She is excited for both things!

Annabelle is reading more and more. She surprises me at times and will read stuff I'm typing or road signs. She can't wait for kindergarten already.

She has been full on nonsense as usual. During a bath she told my mom she had a really bad headache and didn't think they should wash her hair. My mom was giving her the "oh no! that's too bad!" and apparently she felt guilty. She said "Not really I just don't want to wash my hair." Freakin' turd!!

Elsie is amazing. Totally amazing. She's a MESS and into way more things than Annabelle ever was, but she is so smart. She is following more and more commands, asking for more things, and repeating more words. We can say something like "oh no, it got stuck!" and she will say "tuck!" or we can say "does Elsie want to do it?" and she will say "dooo it." She is so much fun and so friendly still. We went to a music festival all weekend and had to keep a close eye on her or else she would be with a stranger, trying to play. We get many comments on how sweet she is.

She does still throw major fits and bites a lot. She gets angry and just screams if she doesn't get her way. We just leave her alone and allow her to scream. It's a lot of fun :)

We took her to Children's hospital for a surgery consult for her hernia. It confirmed what we thought - she is fine to wait until age 3 at least. So hopefully it will close on itself before then. That was a relief.

They're so smart and healthy that it's hard to complain about a thing!

More updates

And so it is offical. Annabelle can read! :) She is so smart. I'm embarassed to say I haven't worked with her as much as I should have. However, one night I read her a book (for the second time ever) and when I was done she asked if she could read it to me. I said sure and was expecting a bit she may have memorized here and there. She took her finger, placed it on the first word, and off she went. She read the whole book with very, very little help sounding things out. It amazed me! And so she's been reading beginner reading books for the past week now. She's sitting here with me reading parts of this that she can :D My big girl.

As for Elsie, she's running, still warming hearts wherever she goes, and getting into more stuff! She feeds herself now. When it's something she can't do alone I have to get another spoon and slide in bites. Such an independant girl!!

After her bath a couple nights ago she was still messing with the bottle of lotion (a favorite of hers) and I passed by the kitchen table, saw a small piece of garlic bread from dinner that was left behind, grabbed it, and threw it away. Then I sat on the couch. A minute later Elsie came in the room eating the garlic bread. I laughed and let her have it, but decided I better look in the trash to make sure nothing too gross was right on top. I looked in and saw the lotion she had been playing with! She switched out the lotion for the bread. haha. Turd. I had previously rescued things like crayons and such from the trash. There's been other incidents since as well. Toys and such thrown away. What a help!!

Annabelle is registered for kindergarten now. And she is nearing the end of her dance classes. She will have her recital at the end of the month. I am so excited for her. She does a great job in class!

Night away

Last night our family spent the night in Cincinnati. We first stopped in Loveland, OH and toured a castle (Chateau LaRoche) which was built by hand. It is beautiful! We're so glad we took a route a tiny bit out of the way to see it!
After that we went to Newport, KY to the aquarium. We had a great time! Elsie loved looking out at the fish and of course Annabelle was full of excitement and scurrying around. Then we checked in our hotel, Garfield Suites Hotel in Cincinnati. We found out our room was upgraded from a one bedroom with kitchen, living room and balcony to a 2 bedroom with all of those! YES! It was really nice. Outdated decor and appliances for sure. But VERY clean and right in downtown! We had dinner in town and enjoyed our evening there. Elsie had a juice high and ran like a wild woman around the room. The girl giggled more than she ever has!! She was tricking Annabelle and cracking us all up. She was the entertainment for the most part!
Today we walked around the city a bit. We tried to go to the observation deck on Carew Tower but it was closed. We checked out of the hotel and went to the Duke Energy Children's Museum. It is AWESOME. There is so much to do. Great places to build, GREAT places to pretend, climb, play with different materials and machines, etc. So fun! After that we headed home and stopped by Jeffersonville Outlet mall on the way home. We're exhausted and happy to be home, but it was a great trip.
Annabelle says "the woods" in the children's museum was the best part of the trip. I was very surprised at how well she slept in her own bedroom in the hotel with no night light or anything. We didn't have a single problem with that. She's growing up!
Great to get away for a night....also great to come back home!