Guess Who

Let's play a game. Guess which picture belongs to which of my girls. I think that they are pretty obvious?? Number 1 is the top left pic, number 2 top right pic...post your answer in the comments section.

Note: You can click on the photo strip to enlarge it.




Three posts in one day!!

This Weather Makes My Hair Frizzy

Kate's hair has been growing at an abnormal rate.

Ah, the fun we have before bedtime.

It's All Just a Blur

So many of my photos come out blurry since Kendall (and now Kate) are always in motion. Kendall received some SUPER cute Crocs from her Great Gram today. She had to test them out by running and jumping in them. They haven't been removed from her feet since we got them out of the mailbox!

Some of you may wonder what we stay-at-home moms do all day, well, we make six course dinners, polish the silver, mend a few socks, wear freshly starched aprons while we use a toothbrush to clean the air conditioning vents and then we make faces in the mirror with our little girls. At least that is what I do.

What I've Overheard Today:

You can tell the phrases that Kendall hears throughout the day because she always repeats it.

"Kendall, you're playing so nicely" (talking to herself)
"This is SO good Mommy"
"You're a good girl mommy" while I was picking up all her books

Not much to blog about here. We finally got back to the gym this week, just been hanging around the house cleaning and playing. I finished a bunch of bibs. Kate tried some sweet potatoes. Yep, it's an exciting life.

Today at the grocery store Kendall took my notepad (that has an elastic on it that can be used to keep it closed) and put the elastic around her arm like a purse. I heard her yelling to the meat stocking man, "Guy, look at my arm". One minute she is super timid and shy and the next she is yelling at random "guys". She also has started to wave at random people. As if we didn't have enough strangers stopping us to talk she has to wave 'em down. Gotta love her.

Another super exciting thing around here, I found a way to alter mac n cheese so that I don't hate feeding it to Kendall quite so much. Really, there is so little nutrition in the stuff but she loves it so much that I was super excited to find this in a magazine. I got an organic brand (you can get whole wheat pasta) and instead of adding the milk and butter I substituted a cup of lowfat cottage cheese (pumps up the protein) then I stirred in steamed broccoli and of course the dreaded cheese packet. It still has the sodium and fat but at least it now has protein and green veggies too. Kendall loved it, I tried it and liked it too.

Oh the things that get me excited these days.

Random photos from today

I love these girls.

Kate throwing some kind of gang sign.

Kendall just asked Kate a question and Kate shrugs, "I don't know" then says, "but look how I can make my legs stick out so far!"

Some of Kendall's new shoes from the sale, yes, they are purple.

Kendall played at the park today with the little boy from across the street.

Sissy Lou loved on this little dolly today.

Okay, maybe 'loved' isn't the best word to describe it, she tried to eat her toes.

This one is now up on her hands and knees rocking back and forth. She is going to crawl SO much sooner then Kendall did, well, if her big sister stops pushing her back down she will.

Setting of Priorities

So I'm starting to rethink participating in the art fair this year. I have too much on my plate right now and I want to make these things for fun and right now it is a thing on my to-do list. So, for now I think I will continue to make them and just keep them for myself (er, I mean the girls) and give them as gifts. I have been cleaning out the girls' closets the last couple of days, a near impossible task with a 2 year old. I bought this costume for $1 last year after Halloween. Kendall saw it for the first time and wanted to wear it. She has also learned to put her shoes on herself (Mary Jane's not really her sandals though). I love how she picks up her foot with one hand and tries to place it in the shoe. I guess she sees me picking up her foot so she thinks that she needs to do it too. Here she is sorting through her shoes for something to practice on. We had a productive morning, I was able to vacuum out my car and I traded out Kendall's books (we keep half in the basement and trade them out every once in awhile). See all the shoes on her floor in the picture above? Well, I've cleaned those up and now she is pulling all the books down instead.

Hooray!

So today was Kendall's doctor's appointment and we have FANTASTIC news. NO MORE BANDAGES. The burn is healing very very well and we are to resume life as normal now. I have already packed up all the gauze and lotions out of Kendall's room. The only orders we received were to keep it moisturized and protect it from the sun. Yippee. Kendall is still holding her right hand out a little bit but I think that she will start using it now that it isn't wrapped into a mitt. (Remember that the camera brightens the color)

We did amazingly well at the consignment sale too. I know some of you could care less but for the rest of you here are the pictures of our loot (minus the two pair of shoes I got Kendall). As you can tell she and Kate got a couple of matching outfits (the grey dress for Kate I bought at a garage sale while Susan and Ron were here and I found a matching one in Kendall's size at this sale). We also have a green hoodie in Kate's size already (that was Kendall's) that matches the green one I just got. So cute. Kendall got the most stuff since Kate gets all of her hand-me-downs from last year (or was it the year before) but she got a couple of her own things as well.

Exciting Day

Exciting day here. It's the Little Treasures Consignment sale so I get to stock Kendall's closet for Fall. I'm meeting my two bestest friends there so we can elbow, pull hair, and scratch together to get the cutest clothes.

Another SUPER exciting thing. Lately I have not been able to stop thinking about how it would be great to be able to turn this blog into a book. Not for sale obviously but as the ultimate scrapbook/journal with pictures, a day by day account for the last two years of our life. Well, today I found just the site. Blurb.com will turn your blog into a book, I've downloaded the software and I'm currently playing with the format. I'll let you know when it's done just in case you want to order one, ha. I don't know how much one of these babies are going to cost exactly but it looks like a hardcover is going to cost about $50 plus shipping.

Okay, pictures of all my loot to come later, stay tuned

A Horde of Viking Dwarfs

The other day while I was waiting for my doctor in the waiting room I picked up a cool magazine called Wondertime (I want this subscription!), in it there was an article about how conversation and just communication in general with your spouse pretty much ceases to exists after kids. Your relationship as you know it is no longer. The author pretty much nailed it when he said, "I liken my marriage to a once-great civilization that was sacked when a horde of Viking dwarfs came ashore and had their way with us". Ah, he obviously has been spying on my family.

Kendall has a new favorite phrase, she'll doodle on a piece of paper or put together a puzzle and say, "I made that". Here is a picture of Kate kicking up her feet and chilling out while I bathe Kendall. "It's the Viking Dwarfs vs. the Old Farts and we're getting our (butts) kicked."

And some of you may have seen this but I'm still hijacking it from Lorie's blog anyway. The poor thing has my sticky outty ears, I grew into mine I think she will too.

Monkey Face

It just keeps getting better. I see a light at the end of this tunnel. I'm anxious to return to Kendall's doctor to get the next set of instructions. Kendall was all smiles again today even during the bath. Kate has started doing this new "monkey" face and when I grabbed my camera to take a picture Kendall

said, "Now my turn" she had to do her own impression. At another point she came walking into the kitchen holding Elmo and "Mimi" saying, "Holding both my girls". Hmmmm, think she has heard that before???

Here are a few of the bibs I've made (in various stages of doneness). I took a short break from them to make some of these bunny bean bags and these play felt cookies (these pictures aren't mine, these are what I'm copying).

This morning we had our first bath without screaming. Kendall was great, I think that the burns have dried enough that the water and scrubbing doesn't sting it. Also, a lot of her skin is peeling now (just like at the end of your sunburn) so I think that is great!! It must be itchy because I keep seeing her scratching it, if she sees me looking at her she says, "Tickle, tickle, tickle". This girl could

not be handling this ANY better. Yesterday (or was it the day before?) she got a paper cut while reading her books. I think that she must have told me that it hurt about 67 times but the burn, not a word.

Carol, the principal from Lorie's preschool, let us borrow this Lego table. We have Legos that Kendall never plays with but all of a sudden then are the best thing since sliced bread and she is playing non-stop.

Kate tried out the jumper yesterday. Kate did fine but Kendall wanted to wind her up and let her go. Kate is teething like crazy so she is jamming anything that she can get her hands on into her mouth. Lots of drooling going on.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning and Dani watched both girls for me. I think I've only been apart from both girls at the same time once before. It was nice to have time to myself (despite the fact that I was going to the doctor and not something fun) and it was fantastic to see them both so excited to see me when I got home. Dani said that as soon as she told Kendall that I was on my way home she ran to the window to watch for me and before I had completely pulled into the garage she was opening the door.

Routine

Kendall has this routine down pat. This morning Lorie came to help with our a.m. bathe and dressing as we were leaving the bathroom and heading towards the bedroom Kendall kept yelling, "Mommy, cookie cutters, cookie cutters." I had no idea what she was talking about. We came to a point in our dressing that I needed more tape and realized that I had left the scissors in the bathroom. Ahhhhh, the 'cookie cutters'. The funny thing is we do that almost every single time and Kendall has heard us say that we forgot them and watched one of us run back to get them, she was just trying to save us a trip.

Bath time is still the most awful part of the process but a close second in the awful category is medicine time. Usually Kendall is a real champ at taking medicine but this stuff must taste especially nasty because we have such a hard time getting her to take it every four hours. Last night she took an idea from Kate and started to spit it out (I mean putting her lips together and blowing.....blowing it everywhere). Today I broke down and called the pharmacy to see if we could get it in a different form. They offered to add flavoring to it. She doesn't trust us that it tastes better and still doesn't want to take it but I think that it may get easier as she realizes that it isn't different. I started calling it "Candy Medicine" in an effort to persuade her.

These aren't new pictures, I didn't take any today but here are a couple from the last few days. Notice how when Kate starts to reach for the book Kendall decides to move :)

Our Day

Kendall's bedroom has been turned into a doctor's office. She is such a trooper and really is blowing me away by her strength and happy demeanor through all of this. I really hate that my two year old even knows what 'gauze' is, I hate that she is having to use her left hand to eat, and I heard the most awful phrase come out of her mouth while I was having to scrub her little fingers: "no, mommy, no". Not something that I ever want to hear one of my girls say. Really I haven't cried very much through this whole thing but that really got me. Other then bath time everything is going great. She laughs, plays, eats, sleeps, and cuddles Kate with all of her normal exuberance. Today she helped me to make this, the newest addition to the Paper Chick line, baby bibs! These two will not be sold just because they were practice and a little too imperfect for me. My sewing machine is acting a little wonky and I'll have to get that straightened out before I make a "real" one but you may see my girls sporting these beauties. Kendall tested it for me a bit today. Here at Paper Chick we're also planning quite a few more additions: a small baby quilt, fabric "cupcakes", dog collars, children's art smocks and possibly a few other fun things!