Kate's a Big Girl Now!

Kate is finally switched to a big girl bed (I can't believe we waited this long). She is a champ, we've had no problems at all and suddenly she and Kendall both want to play in her room all the time.

I think everyone has heard by now via Facebook but she is also going to be a BIG sister!!! Here's a video that we gave the grandparents on Christmas announcing the news

Christmas Happenings

Yesterday we built a little gingerbread village. Kate ate more then she decorated. Kendall was very serious in her decorating.

We got word that someone special was sending a box with lots of little gifts for the girls. I put together this little advent countdown mantel. We'll put a present for each of the girls in the little buckets counting down the last 10 days before Christmas.

I Can't Stop Laughing

CHEESE

My poor neglected blog. Just wanted to share this cheesy grin. Last week I was on the couch and she came up to me and said, "Let me smell you (sniffs my hair) MMMMMMM, you smell like a mommy".

Overwhelmed

Sorry I haven't been posting. I'm OVERWHELMED a bit. Brian is out of town and we're having a new drainage system put in the basement. This means: five men in and out of the house all day, a pile of JUNK in my front yard, plastic down over our hardwood floor (and on top of that mud that gets tracked into the rest of the house), a mess spread from here to there and best of all--a JACKHAMMER in my basement for the last 4 days.

Our Days

Clearly Kendall thinks I take too many pictures. We've been spending some time outside before it gets too cold.

With two sick girls and Brian out of town we've had some snuggle in days. Decaf coffee mixed with hot chocolate. (Kendall has had an ear infection and Kate pink eye).

Kate loves to carry around stacks of paper, she calls it her mail, "male-uh." As she was flipping through these she said, "This is my mail-uh mom, there's no for you."

We traced and cut out 25 gingerbread men. Now we're trying to decorate them all to make a little count down until Christmas in December.

Happy Birthday

This man, I love him so much. The best compliment that I ever received was when he asked to marry me. This man that I love and respect wants to spend the rest of his days with me?! I'm so proud of him, proud of the man he is, the husband he is, the dad he is. Thank you for sharing your life with me. Happy Birthday honey (and hurry home).

Be Still

I've noticed a difference in both girls' attention spans lately. For the first time ever Kendall will sit and watch a whole movie. She has never been one to sit and watch she would always just play and look at the TV every once in awhile. Kate is sitting still for projects a lot better now. She beaded three pipe cleaners and we made them into a bracelet and necklace. She also played with these index cards and a pen for about 45 minutes while I was cooking dinner the other night.

Kendall had "Dress like a farmer day" at school this week. She decided that she would rather be a cowgirl and this outfit was picked together. She asked all morning, "Do cowgirls have a mirror in their purse? Do cowgirls wear pink coats?" question after question. She loved it though and is still talking about it.

I'm working on a Chick's List post hopefully I'll have time to finish it today at some point.

Cleaning Solution

People think I'm always uber-organized and super clean. But I'm not always, I promise. For the most part my house is usually picked up BUT I have clothes in my room to put away from our Florida trip!!! I put the kids' clothes away but mine have just piled up. My excuse is that I want to purge clothes from my dresser and closet and I don't want to put them away to pull them right back out again. Tomorrow I finally have a day at home without plans so hopefully I can get to that. Another area I struggle with is my office. I like it when it's a crafty mess but that isn't always the cause. My solution usually is to put it all in one big pile. That looks cleaner then when it's all spread out right?! Oh, sometimes I like to shove it under the desk too....this is the carry on bag of stuff for the girls from our Florida trip. SEE, I'm not as uptight about cleaning as you people think I am, ha.

Mom thinks my new Facebook profile pic looks like I'm sad. I think she isn't used to a picture of me where I'm not making a funny face. Here is one just for you mom, is this better!?

Print

This cracks me up, I found it on etsy (artist made goods). Does this woman know me or something? It's what I DO when I have a free moment of quiet alone time, I drink my hot tea and get inspired by a few blogs.

Turkeys

I've helped out at the girls' preschool a couple of times. On Thursday Kendall and Kate sat with me while I helped all the students make handprint turkeys. These two turkeys painted their arms instead.

We've had some really fun days here at home. Kendall and Kate have been playing so nicely together. I love the way Kate plops herself down and watches whatever Kendall is doing.

School Pictures Arrived

I love getting school pictures they usually crack me up.

One day I'll tell you the story about one of my sisters that forgot to wash the conditioner out of her hair on school picture day. Cute.

Some day soon I'll have to mail these out to all the grandparents, aunts and uncles!

Weee

The girls went to a birthday party at a local bounce house. I love these videos, I like to just listen to the squealing and giggling.

For You Mommas & Gran-Mammas

Jennie and I were discussing kid's Christmas gift ideas this week. She and I have similar tastes in kid's toys. We much prefer quality to quantity. I've found that the loud, large and plastic things the kids usually want in the stores are not the things that hold their attention for any period of time. Those usually end up in the bottom of the toy box. On the other hand the things that they play with the most are usually not the thing that they flip out over while opening presents. The trick is to get a combination of toys that will make their blood pressure rise on Christmas morning as well as toys that will hold their attention while I'm cooking dinner every other night of the year ones that will last a long time and hopefully teach them something in the process.

Here are my girls' lists (note: this is the list that everyone buys for them from--including Santa not a list of things that WE alone are buying for her!)

Kendall-- 4:

The Leapfrog Tag reading system, a couple of books and some National Geographic Animal Cards. Both girls are getting one of these this year.

Small legos. She is graduating from the huge Legos this year.

Letter Tiles: Love these! She entertained herself at Barnes & Noble for the longest time making words with these one day. Also fun to use with the Baby Einstein flash cards we have--look at a flash card and then dig through the letters to spell the word.

Build a Bear Gift Card. So far my girls have only walked through and dreamed the big dream of building a bear of their own...on both of their lists

Colored Spiral Puzzle How cool is this? Endless possibilities here: sorting by color or shape, stacking, maybe even some sort of domino-esque falling thing.

Figure Tack Set: Fun stuff, eye/hand coordination, busy making, reuse it over and over.

Wooden Marble Run

Barbie Princess

Movie-Return to Neverland. This came on TV one night close to bedtime. Kendall was enchanted but was only able to watch a short time.

Furniture for her Dora dollhouse

Fancy Nancy dress up clothes and books.

For Kate--2

Elefun: Jennie says that Elefun is an "ele-mess" but her kids love it. Kendall and Kate played with Anna and Noah when we visited. Santa has this in his bag for the girls and I think it will entertain the girls until all the family arrives!

Rainbow Puzzle Stacker: Simple beautiful design but very entertaining!!

Book "How to Build an A" Combines two of our favorite things, reading and 'building'.

Book "My Mommas Tote" also available in Dady's briefcase or Pappy's Toolbox...

Bristle Blocks

Pop Snap beads

Wooden Balance Scale: Fun for playing and learning too!

The Movie UP.

Strawberry Shortcake Doll

Magnetic Puzzle

I hope this helps some Mommas come up with a few ideas!

Trick-or-Treat

The girls had so much fun trick-or-treating. I loved it because we set a big bowl of candy out on the front porch and Brian came along with us. To make it better a friend dropped by to walk with us! Kendall lasted about 4 houses before we were able to convince her to put a long sleeve shirt on under that costume. I had to tell her that was what the princesses did when they got cold..and it was a ruffled turtleneck.

Jennie blogged about this today too. Did you know that you can currently balance a broom upright and walk away?? Something to do with the Autumnal Equinox or something. Pretty cool. Ours stayed like that for about an hour before it fell.

76 Trombones

While we were visiting Gram and Pop we were able to visit a little with Great Grandparents as well. Great Pop used to be a part of a barber shop quartet and he plays the piano VERY well (he claimed he was rusty but I was very impressed). The kids had so much fun dancing along.

I spent almost 24 hours trying to upload a longer video but it never worked. Here is a shorter version, but sadly you don't hear as much of his playing.

Where to Start?

We had a wonderful time visiting Gram and Pop. The girls had a blast visiting family, going to the beach and DISNEY WORLD.

I have a ton of pictures to sort through. Here are just a couple until I have a chance to go through them all.

Momma

We had the best time. Lots of good talks, lots of fun times and evenings sitting together reading (just like we did when I was growing up). I dropped her off this morning and made the hour drive home with my eyes burning and my stomach hurting.

The girls' school coincidentally had a grandparents day presentation while mom was here. They were hilarious. Here is a video when Kate saw us sitting there. After her class performed they moved to the side and sat on the floor. The next class stood up to sing their songs and when there was a moment of quiet we hear, "HI MEMAW!!!!" Everyone in the room cracked up.

Momma

We're picking my mom up at the airport today, yippeee. I'll try to remember to take pictures, until then here are a couple of inspiration pictures that I liked this week.

Quiet Time

Kendall had swim lessons this morning, she did great. Unfortunately it leaves her physically and emotionally exhausted. I usually give her about 30 minutes after Kate goes down for nap before she is off to bed too, today we filled that with some quiet mommy & Kendall painting time. I've read about this project on a blog and was eager to try it. I admit this was as much for me to get my watercolors back out as it was for her. It turned out great and Kendall learned a LOT about mixing colors and blending.

We had a little snow dusting this morning, the girls ran out to "taste" it. Yummy right?

What We're Doing

We've had a short visit from Gram and Pop.

A quick trip to Uncle Jeff's and Aunt Jill's for a few pumpkins from their patch, luckily the girls and Pop couldn't quite lift this one.

We got to meet Carson and Corrigan.

Today for some horrible unknown reason neither of the girls could nap. I knew we had to stay occupied to avoid exhausted female dramatics so we baked banana bread and then the girls "washed the dishes."