Daddy's Girls, etc.

I have two of the biggest Daddy's girls in the world. This has been especially true lately. Anytime Joe is gone a lot, they become that much more clingy to him when he is home. I thought maybe I had a chance with Natalie to be a Momma's girl but nope, she has followed in the footsteps of her older sister. Don't get me wrong, they want me sometimes. But, it's hard to compete with such a fun Daddy. It's always "I want to lay with Daddy!", "I want Daddy to get me my milk!", or "I want Daddy to read me the story!"

The other day, we were at the park and Elizabeth had picked a LOT of flowers (weeds) that of course we had to bring home with us. As we were walking home she tells me that I can have the teeny-tiniest flower, but the rest are for Daddy.

I really wouldn't have it any other way, though. I love to watch them run at Joe when he comes in the door.

I wanted to write down some more cute things they have been saying, too.

The other night for bedtime, Elizabeth wanted to tell stories instead of sing songs. I have to preface this by saying that Elizabeth's stories are often kind of morbid and usually involve someone dying. She proceeded to tell Joe a story about 5 princesses who were sisters. They married five princes and then one of them had a baby named Elizabeth. The baby was healthy and chubby and all of the sisters helped take care of her. Joe was praising Elizabeth for telling such a nice story when she added, "And then they all died." We were both laughing hard at that one.

While Elizabeth was beginning her story, Natalie told me one that went like this: "A princess was kind and healthy and...sprinkles". I'm not sure about the plot significance of the sprinkles but I thought it was cute.

Also, here's some more cute sayings:
-Natalie calls napkins "atkins", as in "I wanna atkin".
-Elizabeth and Natalie will ask each other, "Want to jiggle?" This means dance together. There was a Sesame Street episode in which Elmo was dancing a jig and somehow that turned into jiggle. If you've seen them dance, you know how appropriate it is. :)

Lastly, the other day, the girls had their friend Lucy over to play and had such a fun time dressing up like princesses and pretending to go to balls.

Here are the three of them:

What girly-girls I have.

Fun with Google

My sister-in-law did this on her blog and I thought it looked fun. You just google the following phrases, in quotes, and put the first three results that come up (that make sense).

"Ashley needs"....
1)you like water in her lungs (I like that one)
2)to get something off her chest
3)to get herself an education

"Ashley wants"...
1)more hands-on role
2)marriage and children (in reference to Ashley Olsen, of the Olsen twins)
3)your money! (actually it said "Two-faced Ashley wants your money!")

"Ashley likes"...
1)vampires but not twilight (not true--I liked Twilight)
2)science! (also not true, unless you count math as a science)
3)Las Vegas (never been there, and don't really want to)

"Ashley hates"...
1)Walmart (kind of; if only the prices weren't so cheap!)
2)eating dirt (true)
3)bananas and coffee (coffee, not bananas)

"Ashley is"...
1)very much an internet professional (why thank you!)
2)alert and aware of her environment (sure)
3)a heavenly apparition (also in reference to Ashley Olsen but I'll take it)

Try it out! It's fun. I tag whoever has some time to kill and wants to do it. :)

Valentine's Day Festivities

We had a nice Valentine's Day around here. One day last week, our little moms group had a party for the kids. They read some stories, decorated cookies and passed out valentines to each other. It was messy but fun. Here's some pictures (many are courtesy of my friend Lindsay):

Reading some Valentine's Day stories (I love Natalie smiling at the camera)

Decorating

Another view of the table

Hard at work.

Natalie just mostly dumped out sprinkles and ate them plain. Yum!

Enjoying the fruits of her labors

Natalie has mastered the art of fake smiling, as is evident in the next two pictures:

This is an expression I've never really seen on Lizzie but I think it's cute.

Our actual Valentine's Day was pretty uneventful since we were babysitting our friends' cute little boy Carden for most of the day. He was easy and fun to have around. We did manage to make some yummy sugar cookies that day. Joe surprised the girls with a rose for each of them. They loved it! The roses are in water on our kitchen table. I think their days are numbered due to constant interest and attention from two curious little girls.

After the the girls were in bed that night, Joe told me he was going to go study and then surprised me with a bowl of my favorite kind of popcorn, two glasses of Martinelli's and An Affair to Remember to watch. I had been trying to get him to watch it with me for awhile and he finally consented for Valentine's Day. It was wonderful! I love surprises like that.

I think we will get a night out this week sometime. I love Valentine's Day. It is so much more fun with kids, too.

Pay it Forward

So my friend is doing this pay it forward thing. This is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones! Good Luck!

The Sickness Crazies

I have to be honest and admit that I've kind of felt like I'm going crazy lately. We've been cooped up in the house too long, with little to no outside socializing. This is not a good thing for my girls; or me, either, for that matter--who am I kidding? Still, even as I say this I have to recognize that things haven't been that bad.

One thing I've been grateful for is that we live in California! The snow is fun and everything, but it can also make you feel like you're trapped, especially when you have sick kids. At least when we are stuck at home, we can go outside and we have a backyard to play in. It really makes a difference. Plus, it got up into the 70's lately, which was especially nice. In fact, yesterday I actually put my bathing suit on and laid out in the sun during quiet time. In February! Joe laughed at me when he found out but it really was wonderful. I love to be in the sun with a book. It's one of my favorite things. I don't think I have ever really done this since I had kids, except a few times during the summer when we lived at my parents' house and had access to a pool and and also when I've grabbed some time during a vacation or something. It's not even the tanning, although I wouldn't mind a decent tan. I don't need a pool, either, although it helps when it's 100 degrees out. It's just feeling the sun and truly relaxing. I am realizing that not only should I not feel guilty about this, but I actually need time like this, doing whatever relaxes or rejuvenates me. When I'm not taking time for myself, I'm actually less productive because I'm feeling too drained to do anything useful so I waste a bunch of time on the internet or something, and the list of things to do gets longer and longer.

Another blessing is that the girls have really done surprisingly well with all of this, probably better than me. It's pretty amazing to me that they can play and have fun together every single day and not get (too) tired of each other. Natalie will still let Elizabeth boss her around a lot of the time and Elizabeth will still take the time to patiently teach Natalie something. Don't get me wrong: they fight a lot, but I think it really is less than it could be. They are good friends.

One day I found them in the backyard like this:

I'm hesitant to show you a picture of our nasty side yard but I do want to remember the moment. They were taking pictures of each other with blades of grass as cameras.

Also, I was finally able to get Natalie an appointment for her 2 year check-up which she had this week. She missed her 18 month check-up because it was in the middle of moving and changing insurances and what not and just never got done. The result of that was that she was SO excited to go to the doctor, simply for the sticker that Lizzie came home with after her chicken pox visit. I told her she'd be getting shots and she said, "Yea! Shots!" Elizabeth knew better but I tried to keep her silent about it. Anyway, Natalie did great and only whined a little while they gave her the shots. She was over it quick when she realized she'd get 2 stickers for 2 shots. She also got her blood drawn today. It was a little more traumatic but she was still over it quick and back to her happy self.

Here she is showing off her stickers:

Sadly right after I took this picture, Elizabeth was running somewhere and completely mowed her over. She felt really bad about it, though, so she made Natalie this comfy seat and went all over the house looking for things to make her happy. It was really cute.

Here is Natalie, obviously over it but milking it nonetheless:

We found out at the appointment that Natalie is in the 80th percentile for height! I thought she was tall, but I didn't think that tall. She's in the 30th percentile for weight, which is actually better than I thought it would be since she seems so skinny. Basically, she's healthy. What a blessing. Elizabeth has her check-up tomorrow. I believe she will be getting shots, too, which she is very nervous about. Wish us luck!

Here's one last picture for good measure.

I found Natalie sleeping like this one night:

How do kids do that?

I have a 4 year old!

We celebrated Elizabeth's 4th birthday last week. It was low key but fun. It's been so warm lately that we were able to go to the park. I didn't remember to take pictures until it was almost dark.

The birthday girl running around with her stick.

Daddy decided to climb one of the big oak trees.

See him up there?

I liked this picture with the moon and the sunset.

Natalie, happy to be outside

This picture is saved as a landscape and for some reason keeps uploading this way. After 4 attempts, I've given up. Here is Elizabeth's cake:

She wanted a Sister Bear (from the Berenstain Bears) cake so I did the best I could. Not too pretty, but recognizable at least.

Here she is opening presents:

We got her a little window sill garden kit. For awhile, she has been proclaiming gardening as one of her favorite things to do (I think this also originated with the Berenstain Bears). She proves it, too, by weeding for us when she's outside (we have an abundance). Just today in fact we were all outside and she was trying to get lazy me to do something with her and she said, "Mom, what..if..we...pick the weeds!" She said it so enthusiastically that I had to laugh and weed with her.

Anyway, she was so excited to get her own garden. We planted some parsley, basil, cilantro and rosemary. We'll give some updates on the progress of our little plants. Hopefully, I can keep them alive....

Here's a picture of her with a little wallet she got from Grandma Marsha:

Grandma also gave her a necklace, purse and earrings which Natalie loved to put on.

She also got a lot of games this year. She is a game fanatic lately so it's good to have more to choose from. She got Guess Who, Don't Spill the Beans, and a set of Go Fish, Old Maid, and Crazy Eights cards. We've been playing games non-stop. She got some new art things too, like markers, crayons and paint, which we've been enjoying.

Unfortunately, we don't have anymore pictures because the battery died. It was a fun night and we were impressed when Elizabeth later said to Natalie, "Look at all the presents we got!" She has been doing a great job sharing. It's nice that she's not in the demanding stage yet, either, in regards to presents she wanted.

I can't believe she is 4. Well, in some ways I can and in some ways I can't. I can't believe she is no longer that baby that I remember holding in the hospital 4 years ago. Still, since she is the oldest, I think I am always expecting her to be older than she is. I really need to just stop and remember more that she is only 4. I need to be more patient with her.

She is such a good girl. She helps me so much and she is such a good example to Natalie. I am so proud of her and how hard she tries to be good. She is very sweet and sensitive. Her personality is different, in some ways, than I thought it would be when she was younger. She's like I was as kid, in a lot of ways. She doesn't really like attention and she can be emotional when she's gets too much of it or negative attention. I have often thought of my own sensitivity as a weakness and sometimes I find myself trying to get Elizabeth to toughen up. I want to recognize more what a strength this is, too, and praise her for it.

She is learning every day. I got her the first series of BOB Books (they are great!) awhile back and she can now read all of them. She loves to read things all by herself. She can recognize some words without sounding them out, too, like "and", "the", and other simple ones. She can also count up to a 100 with some hints as to what 10 comes next (30, 40, etc). She loves to count out on her fingers and figure out simple addition and subtraction problems.

Most of all, we are just so grateful that she is in our family. She brings so much joy into our home with her contagious giggles, beautiful smiles, and big hugs. We love you, Lizzie!

At about 9 months:

Happiness itself.