Dressing up

Dressing up is the game to play. Our house has a big box of dress up outfits, dance out fits and many accessories. These photos do not do justice to the many outfits the Emily and Laura might were but I thought you might like to see a sample to get an idea of the horsey riding, dancing, and princess time that goes on at our house.

Emily's Birthday

Emily is THREE.

I'm not four I'm only threeeeee. (One of our favorite cartoons.)

Birthday parties with Grandma. I think that is how my family always celebrates a birthday. So Emily's three year old party was no different. Cake and ice cream and presents with all of the family together.

Emily is not a BIG girl. This goes along with her big girl bed and the hope that one day soon there will be a big girl using the bathroom like the rest of the big girls.

Emily loved the presents and that fact that it was all about here.

Piggy Tail Queens

During a typical morning routine. Get the girls up at 5:35 AM. This means pick them up and carry them into my room and put on my bed. I them proceed to try to get them into the clothes that we picked out the evening before. Most mornings this is successful. However, many mornings the girls have other ideas. Some mornings they don't want to wear what we have chosen and they are quickly in there digging for other thing to wear. I also have to get them to brush their hair which usually means they sit while Mommy does it.

On this particular Feburary morning Laura wanted piggy tails. This is not my strong suit having never had long hair but I do my best. Emily is now fully awake and if Laura gets them so does she. So I struggle to get Emily's to match. I am not past my 20 minutes to get them ready and out the door. But I think that this 10 minutes extra was worth the morning as it put them in such good humor.

Big Girl Bed

The "Big Girl Bed"

Emily was actually caught last week climbing into the crib. Out has only been a problem once when she was barely one and once a couple of months ago. Both times she was so mad she couldn't tell what she was doing just ended up on the floor. However, the climb in was a move to be proud of if she didn't have such a good chance of killing herself. She moved the little red rocker in front of the crib and then she stacked some containers on the chair. Finally she climbed up on all of that to get into the crib. I came in after I heard the thud and found her in the crib with the stack on the floor in front of it. She had gotten up high enough but had to fling herself head first over the side to actually get in. I asked why she did it and told me her stuff animals needed out. I then asked how she was going to get out if I hadn't come. She gave me a look like I hadn't thought of that.

So Ed and Laura put together another toddler bed. This one was made of wood and looks more like a real twin bed. Laura will be moving into that bed and Emily will get Laura's big girl bed. She loves the idea. Laura loves that she got to help Daddy put it together and paint it.

Here is photo of Laura's.

She is thrilled. We put two mattresses on it so it looks like a bigger bed than it is.

Emily took a nap in hers the first day. Didn't even ask for the paci. She doesn't use it for nap at daycare but always uses it for mommy.

That night she was mad and she cried for a while. I went in a sat with her. She was quiet for a little while. I went out to finish checking the computer and I thought that was the end of it. However, she got up and snuck in bed with Daddy. He let her stay a little while and then put her back in her bed.

All was well til morning. Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

President's Day

President's day. . . A day with no school. However, this mama took her girls to daycare. Laura woke at normal time and came into my room. Wanted to know if she could sleep in daddy's spot. I knew she didn't really want to sleep. She wanted to wait for my alarm to go off so we could go out and play on the computer together. Not sure if that is good or bad that the best mommy time is at 5 am. She laid there a while and I am sure she was staring at me. I could feel it. I asked her if she wanted to go out without me. She said no. Then a minute later she asked if my bell had already gone off. I told her no I didn't need it this morning we had extra time to sleep. This has taken about 10 minutes for me to finally cave and say ok I am ready lets go. She lets me check my messages and read my facebook as long as when she needs help with her computer game I am right there with help. I get her past a hard puzzle that needs someone to read parts to her to one she can do one her own so now I am allowed to go take my shower. But only if I don't take all day.
I have laid out clothes the night before. This is suppose to make the morning easier. However, I am finding out that both of my girls have their own opinions about clothes and mommy didn't pick winners last night. Laura wouldn't wear anything I picked out and Emily thinks the pants I picked are 'ooee'. So medicine, clothes, brushing teeth, shoes, coats and finally drinks for the car and we are off. Emily wanted carried out first as Laura was still dragging her feet trying to argue again that it was warm enough for a miniskirt. I compromised with pants under it but she was still taking her time. Emily and I changed the music because she didn't like the music Laura had picked out the other day. Since Laura wasn't there she could pick what she wanted. Or what mommy had handy.
We get to daycare and everyone is hugs and kisses. It's 8:00 and what will I do with a mommy day. I promise to come and get them early right as they are getting up from nap as I still had guilt over taking them.
Tonight there was extra time because I had done my stuff earlier. Emily got to play in the bath for an hour. Laura found the easter eggs and basket I had hidden in my closet and play Easter bunny with daddy. On the whole a fairly uneventful day. And yet one worth remembering.

Olive Garden

The girls were told we would go out to eat once this weekend. So we waited til Sunday lunch to go out. Laura had a chance to pick the place. Usually her normal pick is Applebee's here in town. Some of the time she asks to go to Chinese Buffet which is one of Tabitha's favorites so we do that more often when she is here. However, this time she surprised me and picked Olive Garden. As we got there she said, I thought when we got here I would remember it. This I found funny since she was just telling Grandma on the phone that she loved their pasta and wished Grandma was going with us. When we got in a sat at our table she remember that we had been there a couple of times. She didn't think she liked the bread sticks but after much coaxing from dad she tried one and found that they were pretty good. Emily on the other hand was excited that the salad bowl arrived and it was full of her favorites, tomatoes and grapes. However, before I could explain that it wasn't a grape but an olive she had stuck the whole thing in her mouth and was chewing. The look on her face said it all. She had to finish it because it was in her mouth and as I am asking her if she wants to eat it and she is nodding yes her face is clearly telling you she doesn't like it at all and wishes it would disappear. When the next one happened to get out of the bowl she quickly dropped it back into the salad bowl. However, she was looking hard to find all of the carrot slivers in the bowl.
Both girls did a great job and were very good while we were there. Thankfully they both took a nice nap on the drive home so it was a pleasant trip.

Funny start to the day.

Both of our girls had gotten up earlier then we wanted to so they were out watching tv while we were both dreading getting up out of bed to start the day. We could hear the girls playing and then the footsteps coming down the hall. Emily arrived in the room to report that Laura had "Fraggle popped" her. Of course, mom and dad half asleep, it took us a few times hearing the story to realize she got the static electricity pop from Laura's finger on the end of her nose. Once we started laughing she realized there was no major tragedy and back to the cartoon's she shuffled.

Clumsy runs in the family

My mom would tell you that Grandma Casey used to tease that she wondered if I was getting beaten as I always had a goose egg or bruise of some sort on my head. Mostly I liked climbing up the stairs and couldn't quite make the corner and down I would come into the door at the bottom.





Well Emily is obviously just like her mama. However, there are no stairs to the second floor at our house so she just turned and took off running and found a wall instead. Not just any part of a wall. But the corner where 2 walls don't even have a rounded edge. She sounded like Ed stamping his foot on the floor as hard as his boots would let him. I couldn't get up fast enough as I was sitting on the floor about 6 feet away when she did it and had a perfect view. I scooped her up and put ice on it. In a matter of seconds, the goose egg was already turning purple and swelling up the size of a real egg. I know Laura has fallen and gotten a few bumps but nothing like this. Can't say I had seen one that size in person before. I held her for a long time and kept ice on it and got my flashlight out to check her eyes. Luckily about an hour later the swelling started to go down a little and she seemed okay.

Sugar Cookies

Making Sugar cookies at Grandma's. Mom helped the girls roll it out and use the cookie cutter. Aunt Alison made the frosting. Each of the 6 grandkids got to make 2 per tray. Then they each frosted 3. Emily's are posted here on the plate. Had to write their names on the plates because no kids can frost without licking some. So make sure you only eat your own. Then the girls were off to wash and Alison and I frosted the rest as fast as we could so they were all ready for a few sprinkles.

Another look

Okay I realized that I have a blog. But haven't blogged. I read this first post and could remember that story. But without the blog I would never have remembered. My husband will tell you that I don't have the best memory about some things. I think that is good for some things but sad for others. For example, he is the guy who always remembers the birthdays, anniversaries and which one it is. I always have to stop and do that math as I never just remember. I can't remember what was said so we can't argue later that I said this and he said that because again I know I can't usually remember so he is off the hook there. This makes for less reasons that we would need to argue with is a blessing for both of us.
However, remembering the little stuff is also very hard for me. I forget some of the funnies that the girls have said. So I am going to make a renewed effort to capture more of their lives in print so that I can remember in a more permanent way. SO to that affect, I have asked Ed to help me with this blog even though he is not really a Nightingale. (But he loves one and that is good enough for me.) We are going to take more frequent candid shots of the girls and I am going to try to have him help me add more posts and some may just be a photo with a caption to remember the moment. Baby steps.