we were out to dinner with my aunt Linda and uncle Mike at the Iowa Machine Shed and B had been pretty shy all afternoon. we think that looking at her Papa's twin was a little eerie for her. So, my outgoing daughter was quiet and my shy girl was talking up a storm (???). I took the girls to the bathroom and B perked up a bit. She had to dance in front of the mirror and then as we were walking out, well, she was running, she stops and while waving her arms says "Listen to me, I'm serious". Then kept running. ??? What? she's so random sometimes.

Even better...
that day at lunch we were at Panera standing in line to order our food and I got a tap on my leg. I looked down to see what was going on... B points with her finger and her eyes to something she is finding odd. By her expression I can tell she thinks something isn't quite right, rather, it's out of place. I look in the direction she's pointing... and I see a little person. I knew this was her first time seeing a little person and I didn't know what to do. He could see her pointing and was waiting to see my response. I told B "Say hi, B". She drew closer to my leg and the man said "hi, are you shy?". I responded for her "yes, she is shy, especially of men". the man said "how old are you?". I again responded for her "she's three, this one is five, and this one is five days old." the little person, who was about B's height, said "wow, five days! I don't think we were out that early with my son after we had him. He's three, too." I'm not sure what else we said, I think we had finished placing our order and headed to the table. I told B that "he's a daddy, but he's just small". C didn't know what to think and didn't really comment. When I first turned around I thought "do I tell him she's never seen a little person". then I thought I better not say anything like that, he probably gets kids stairs all the time, he's used to this. He did handle it really well. it was I who didn't know what to do. I had to keep talking to him to fill the awkward silence. When we left mom and I were hashing over the story to laugh again. Mom asked "how did you know that guy?". I told her "I didn't know him". which made the whole thing even more funny. Mom asked why, then, was I talking so familiarly with him. I said it was only because I had no clue what to do. ahh! there should be a class you can take on how to handle such situations.

B's latest nickname for C "you little muffin maker".

We started our ant farm for home school this week. When they arrived in the mail we set up the habitat and then introduced the ants to their new home. Of course we had to name all 25 ants.
Pizza, Aliza, Thomas, Butter, Honey, Grass, Tree, Elizabeth, Nine (was the name of number 9), Ten (name of #10), Bella, Bella 2, (she had to write those on her own), Head, Eyeballs, Cheeks, Lips, Cup, Bowl, Three (no, not the name of #3, but #19), Twenty, Shirt, Shoe, Hair, Skin, and #25 came dead
Of course they look in the habitat and say "oh, there's Aliza".
What fun! they wrote in their science journals about the ants and had to draw a traced hand with an ant on it and wrote about how the ant's would bite! I'm glad they got that into their head so they don't start trying to "hold" their new pets.

B looked at my baby bump today and said "you don't have a belly button". Which therefore inspired her to sing the veggie tale song "he don't got a belly button- bel- ly bu-tton' repeatedly.

Our new room on the house is just about finished. We moved our furniture in two weeks ago and have really been enjoying the extra space. The girls especially have loved it. they have a giant king size bed to jump on!! They have new closets to hide in!! We both have our dressers tucked into our closet and for some reason the girls have decided they like that idea. in Micah's closet they found they can get on top of his chest of drawers since it's about 3.5 ft tall. then when they are on it they become a teacher (???). so, last night B get's on top the dresser and says "okay, I da teacher. Daddy come on" so micah is sitting on the bed next to C and B says "Okay now do dis" as she gives a dance move example. Then moves onto the next instruction "now shake." she pauses, "shake like a wet dog". Hilarious. where did she hear that? Then she said "do something that's good for everyone" Then she gave us examples of what that might be "hug someone, kiss your mom, kiss their hair, kiss their tummy, kiss their ears". we were all cracking up, but she wasn't done. "kiss their bum". OH, BROTHER! all this inspired by a dresser in a closet that begs to be taught from? What is this teacher thing? I guess they are on a pedestal or soap box. they are in charge.

Tonight B ate an onion out of her Thai Basil Chicken and said "I ate an onion!" I asked if she liked it and she said "I didn't taste it". So this inspired C to try one too. they both decided that the onions couldn't be tasted in this dish. Wow! after all this time thinking they were "gross", they finally see that they are GREAT! I hope we can move forward from here.

Wednesday I went to the Dr and she told me all my late night contractions had amounted to... NOTHING. I had made no progress. this really discouraged me. Of course my lovely girls new the perfect words to comfort me. I went in to get C after rest time and she says "when I look at your belly I don't think baby E is ever coming out". oh i wanted to burst into tears again. Knowing C didn't realize what she was saying, I held the tears in. I said after making sure my voice wouldn't reveal my sadness "of course she's coming out. she'll be here soon". I guess to a 5 yr old nine months is even longer than it is for a 30 yr old.

C has been getting leg cramps lately. poor girl! i had them all the time growing up and hated them. it would seem to be mainly at night and wake me up with just awful dull pain that wouldn't go away. so monday night she starts having leg cramps so we get out the icy-hot and the hot rice bag. I also start massaging her poor little legs. she's distracted enough for a while playing games and with grandma's kitten. then on the way home she's no longer distracted and all she can do is moan the word "ouch, ow, ouchy". B is trying to figure out what is wrong with the sis she loves. we say that she is growing and it is making her legs hurt. B says "I don't cry when I growing. I am happy when I grow" emphasis on the "I" . i told her that C 's muscles are hurting. B says "but she's whinning". of course this stems from the ongoing battle at home to "STOP WHINING". so we explained that C can't help it and then Micah and I laugh about B's comments.

c asks micah the other day "does Baby E know that I love her?" Micah, wanting to feed her little ego says "Of course she does". C replies "but she doesn't even know what those words mean". so, surprised at her intelligent retort he says "well she'll learn that you love her".

Well, we've been having car battery problems. It all started quite a while ago when one of the girls left the over head light on all night. That happened again two more times over a couple months. I decided to turn the interior lights off completely so it wouldn't happen anymore. Well, a couple weeks ago I went out to the van on Saturday morning to take the girls to gymnastics and found the back hatch of the van open. Micah had gone out the night before to unload something heavy and forgotten to return to the van to shut the back. So it was super dead. For the next couple weeks the van would struggle to start. Well, yesterday it was dead again. while leaving the church Fall Festival of Fun Bella hit the light with her head and left it on all night (since the driver, Micah, forgot to turn off all overhead lights). so we had to ask our neighbor Andy to jump the battery so we could make it to our appointment. As we were leaving the apt we said "Lord, please let the van start". It did and we thankfully made it to our next destination, Hallmark, to buy a gift for Auntie Pat. As we get back in the van we again were asking for the Lord to help the van start. so the girls feel as if they need to follow suite. Bella says with her hands crossed over her heart "in my heart, let the car start". she kept up saying "in all my heart, let it start" . when it started she changed to "thanks in all my heart". oh, how the Lord must have been pleased by her sweet innocent words. where in the world did she learn it? she was so dramatic.

well, it is the day before Halloween and Dad decided that we had to carve at least one pumpkin. I'm not a stick in the mud about doing things like that, but in such chaos I would rather not add to the mess. So, we did one pumpkin, I knew the girls would loose patience if we tried to tackle two. then mom and dad would end up carving pumpkins, since we usually don't let our children handle sharp objects such as knives. so the girls decided to make a "fancy, girly" jack-o-lantern. with eyelashes and pretty lips. so micah starts carving and makes silly eyes, he had forgotten all about the pretty request. so we ended up having a silly and pretty pumpkin. they didn't want to stick their hands inside the pumpkin, even with gloves on their hands. too, icky! they did get to pull out some of the pieces as micah cut them. we lit the pumpkin and took pictures. maybe next year they will be more into the whole festivities of pumpkin carving.

we have a new play kitchen at our house. the girls are loving it (who knows what makes it so much better in their eyes than their old one?). B is serving poison tea while she hides under the stairs for the person who is going to drink it. they will "fall asleep". Don't worry she gave me the key to the poison- an actual key, by the way. so, no one will be permanently sleeping, too bad 8*). C just told me that the kitchen looks like a real kitchen- apparently a painted wood kitchen looks much more like a real kitchen than a plastic one. the only thing that wasn't "real" about it was that the clock doesn't have pointed hands, they are square ends.

Yesterday I went in to get B from her nap- or I guess I should say what was supposed to be her nap- I was helping her clean up and found a barbie doll. she had colored on this barbie doll... in two spots (literally spots) on her chest. I asked "why did you color on barbie?". Her answer began with her lifting her shirt and pointing "she didn't have these". the crayon wiped right off, but of course I had to tell Micah later. When C heard about it she ran to go look at the doll and was very disappointed that the dots were gone. I told her I didn't try to get them off, they just didn't stick. she felt so left out for not being able to see the doll.

The day before when I was getting ready for bed I found one of my bracelets- correction: what was once one of my bracelets- piled on a pillow and covered by another pillow. So I went upstairs to ask B what had happened to my bracelet and let her know that she is welcome to tell me when she accidentally breaks something. she was zonked out already. the next morning I showed her the bracelet remains. she lowered her head, so I inquired "where did mommy find this?". Her answer "on your bed. I did this". I of course asked why she didn't tell me, if she thought she'd get in trouble. She did think she'd be in trouble, so of course I let her know she wasn't in trouble for accidentally breaking something and to tell me next time. Of course it was one of my favorite bracelets- but also one of my favorite daughters 8*)

the other day we were sitting having lunch and talking to Nana, our usual noon-time habit. Nana asked how everyone was doing and I was telling her how I wasn't sleeping very well, that Emery was keeping me awake. Claire said "why is she awake so much at night? What is she nocturnal?" what a gooof ball.

Last night the girls were being silly in the car on the ride home from Grandma and Grandpa's house. Bella asked "what's your name?" her sister answers "Claire". Bella says "what's your next name", meaning middle name, Claire instinctively says "Bear" then corrects herself and says "AnnElliese". Bella replied "no, Bear". They argued for a minute about it.
On the subjects of names...
whenever Bella prints her name on a school paper she points to it as if reading and says her whole name- first middle and last. I keep telling her that it just says Bella. Oh, well, we're working on it.

who's idea was this?

Well, about two weeks ago we had some beautiful weather so we decided to have a picnic at the park. Shortly after arriving at the park I sat down on a bench with Jacob in the stroller next to me. The girls went to the play equipment and the fun began. The park wasn't too busy, just about four other kids, all boys under the age of 4 and their parents. I was starving and started in on the picnic, Bella headed to the tall swirly slide. One of us made a mistake, and it wasn't the one on the park bench. All the beautiful blond did was wait in line for the slide... there was a mom, whom I thought was a grandma, and her little boy who had been going down the slide repetitively. She would go down first and the boy would follow and use her as a road block at the end of the slide. Personally, I thought he was too young to be going down by himself, at only around 2.5 yrs old, but like I'm gonna say something. So, in the front of the line is the mom, then the boy, then Bella bringing up the rear. The mom went down as usual (sorry, this is the boring portion of the story, but hang on a bit longer, gotta give you the background), then her son not as usual. He spun around and ended up head first. He must have been scared, but I don't see how he could have been hurt. The mom stands up and says "Someone must have pushed you. (feeding the child a line) Did someone push you?". Sitting quietly on the park bench I think to myself "She couldn't possibly think Bella pushed him?". The boys mom (we'll call her Mrs. OR, short for Over-Reactor) then says "Did you see what happened?". Thinking she must be talking to one of the other parents at the park, maybe they knew each other, I ignored this question. I wondered why she was making such a big deal. Mrs OR repeats herself "Did you see what happened?". So, this time I glance up and realize she is speaking to me. What do I say? "Oh, I didn't realize you were talking to me. Yes, I saw what happened. He went down the slide and spun around. No one pushed him." Mrs. OR- "Well, he's never gone down that way before, someone must have pushed him". Apparently she has never heard the saying "A first time for everything", or "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt". Either of these widely popular, tried and true sayings would have explained the entire situation. I wanted to bring to her attention that a boy his size shouldn't have been going down by himself, but rather he should have been in someone's lap. I decided to re-emphasize the fact that "she didn't push him". Mrs. OR was too busy to even hear what I was saying, she was ranting up a storm. she was also getting a little to close for comfort and quite irate, so I grabbed my cell phone and held it within reach of dialing 911. I was hoping I wouldn't have to report a crazy lady beating up a pregnant lady at the park. Mrs. OR says "You need to make your children behave". At this point I really am in amazement. Seriously??? I let the psycho know that my kids are very well behaved and I've never seen them push anyone (except maybe each other or cousin Grady and that then it was probably in a wrestling match). These statements made while I'm half laughing in unbelief. Mrs. OR goes on to say "You just wait until it happens to your kid". I told her of course I'd be "upset if someone pushed my kid, but no one pushed him. If you are unhappy playing at the park with us, you are free to leave". Of course I'm being nice this whole time, but had to put it clearly. She let me know she would leave, and she continued in her rage, while putting the boy in the stroller. Of course, he has been fine for the last several minutes, but Bella has been just sitting at the top of the slide with a concerned look on her face. I told her to go down, reassuring her that she'd done nothing wrong. Mrs. OR walked away repeating the rant she had been on. One of the other moms came over after OR was out of the picture and asked what was going on. we laughed about it and she, too, couldn't believe the whole thing. She was in agreement that Bella hadn't pushed the boy. In the meantime her son was sitting in Claire's way on the stairs and I observed that Claire waited patiently, not pushing, not trying to go around, just being patient. Claire didn't want to confront this young stranger she would rather just wait. My kids are too shy. There's no way Bella would have pushed this kid. Let's give Mrs. OR a round of applause for setting such a good example for her son. I'm sure he'll never come home from school because of fighting. Who's idea was it to go to the park anyway?

Pick your poison: carrots or crayons?

Okay, so once again it's been tooooooo long since I've blogged. So much has happened and I, of course regret not writing it down to remember. This week has been quite full and I didn't want to forget some of these for sure.
I went in to get Bella from nap time and she says- "I ate a crayon. It was YUCKY! It's stuck in my teeth. Get it out!" I asked her why "I just did. I not gonna do this tomorrow". She said it was a brown crayon, so I asked if she thought it was going to taste like chocolate. "yep"

Today at lunch Claire didn't want to eat her soup because it had carrots in it. Let it be known that she has had this same soup before. I made a few batches and froze them, so it was exactly the same as the kind she had before. she loved it the first time (of course she took the carrots out). So, today she freaks out about the carrots. She asks if she can eat something else. OOOH! we've been working on being grateful and not complaining. so I told her it was fine if she took the carrots out, but she needed to eat the rest. She saw little flecks of red/orange. these were pementos or peppers, I don't know, but they were small enough that she wouldn't feel them or taste them. However, since she could see them she thought for sure it would taste like carrots. so I said she needed to eat the soup, or she would not have anything else to eat until she did. She took a while, but eventually tried the soup. she loved it. she ate it all. now how did her mother know she would. Of course she asked why I put carrots in it if I knew she didn't like them. so I go up to use the restroom during nap and see her reading her bible in her room. she was reading about Moses. she saw that there were stories about him as a child and then adult. she had been reading them alone, but wanted me to read more so she could find out what happened. So we read about the Isrealites escaping Egypt. she was amazed how God kept taking care of his people. I then told her that those same people would complain about the food that God provided for them after leaving the slavery in Egypt. Of course I was hinting on how we are not supposed to complain when we have been taken care of so well. I didn't say this bluntly I was easing my way into it. She said "I know! I know why God gave us this story. He wanted me to know not to complain." Hello, my name is Claire. I'm an extremely smart 5 yr old. I told her that I knew God was pleased that she figured His story out. Now, if only that meant she would never complain again AND eat all her carrots. How can a girl like broccoli and not carrots?

I can't believe it's actually been a month since I last posted. AHHHH!!!! and to think i titled my blog "everyday memories". I guess I was a little presumptious.

Well, everyone but Micah knew that he says "correct" all the time. So of course at some point the children would pick up on that and begin to say it themselves. I recall Claire saying it quite some time ago. Bella has recently picked it up as one of her catch phrases. It started last Friday... we went to a nearby cafe to sit outside and eat lunch on a beautiful day. Micah was home for lunch and we thought we'd do something special with the kids. After lunch as we were leaving, Bella says "last time the doors were locked". I didn't know what she was recalling. Then it clicked. She was talking about the first time we tried to go to that cafe for Mother's day lunch and it was closed. The doors were locked. So, when I was able to connect her words with what happened, I told Micah what she was talking about. Bella heard me explaining her statement and said "I am correct". Poor younger siblings always having to defend themselves.
A couple days later Micah was out in the front yard watching the girls play in their pools. A girl rode by on her bike and Bella said "that's Abigail". Claire didn't think it was and argued "no it's not Abigail". Bella rebutted with "it is Abigail. I am correct. You not correct." When all this happened Micah finally realized that he said "correct" quite often. So, often in fact, that everyone else knew, but him.


Last night I was putting the girls to bed and Bella was so extremely tired that she could hardly stand. Truthfully, she kept falling: off the toilet while she stood there brushing her teeth, just walking from room to room, and while putting on her pajamas. She had acquired a "booboo" earlier that day while riding her scooter outside. It was really just a misquito bite that had been scratched open and bled a little. Of course to her it was a big deal. Anyone she saw for the next 24 hours she let them know "I dot a booboo and it bled a wot". After all her falls at bedtime she went to check out her booboos and noticed a blister on the back of her foot (that she had first seen the evening before) had lost the skin. She said, in absolute terror "my skin! it come off". With this she got off the bed and began to run to the bathroom. Right away I knew she was going there to retrieve the skin that had fallen off. Bella was thinking she could put the skin back on and everything would be fine. Being the reasonable mom that I am, I let her know that "the skin isn't in the bathroom and we can't put it back on". I told her it was okay that the skin had come off and that it was part of how it would heal. The look on her face and her thinking she could put skin back on- priceless!!

My children are beautiful, intelligent, creative, funny, happy... the list could go on. I love them dearly.
Claire made some beautiful art this week. All on her own, no prompting involved.
Bella is so determined to be big, to do things "my myself". I am glad she is cheerful and gets over things easily or she'd spend all day frustrated with the things she hasn't yet mastered.

When Claire woke up this morning she had sneezed out a snot rocket. What I saw was her leaving her room with some gross goo hanging from her sniffer. So, I prompted a tissue and put my arm around her to hug her, in the process I put my hand in a pile of snot on her pjs. Yuck!! apparently she had sneezed more than I originally saw.

and yet I love them more today than yesterday!

so Bella is sick- again. I guess it doesn't help that I "agreed" (rather was "forced") to take baby J (whom we watch 4 days a week) when he was sick. so she's been having asthma attacks, coughing uncontrollably or wheezing. In the past both the girls have coughed to the point of throwing up phlegm or even stomach contents. So, as Bella was going to bed she had a snack of ritz crackers and started coughing. As we all know when that happens you spit crackers from your mouth as you cough. Well, she hasn't had this experience before and so reacted differently than you or I would. She said "DADDY! DADDY! I THREW UP!". Micah had to convince her that it wasn't throw up.
Today, she called "I go potty mamma". So, I woke up from what was only going to be a 15 minute nap, and went upstairs to wipe a bottom. I got upstairs to find she had awoken baby J with her potty announcement. Then she let me know that her bed was "scratchy". I went in to discover crushed crackers all over her newly changed sheets. I asked her how the mess occured; had she sat on the crackers accidentally, or slept on them forgeting they were there? she showed me with her hands that she had crumbled them. I asked who she thought it was that would clean them up "mommy" was her honest reply. so I got the hand vacuum and had her clean them up. What a scoundrel!!

It has been so long since I've written things down. yikes! Which means that I might forget about the "poo poo" incident at the Steeles. See that's the only thing that I can even thing to write down about the time past without blogging.
Yesterday the girls were playing dolls and Claire did something super cute. She was pretending that she was working the church nursery and she had all the baby dolls out. She laid a blanket on the floor and then decided that she better lay the plastic painting cloth on top the blanket "so the babies don't spit up on the blanket". then she found the party hats in a play box and strapped them on the baby's faces "to catch the spit up". then one of the babies was crying and it was because she had come off the blanket. I told Claire she needed to help the baby because she didn't "want to disobey policy". She told me "that's not the baby's mom's name".

so yesterday when I picked up the girls from dance class their teacher reported to the parents that there had been a problem. Apparently, the kids had been a bit pushy that day. It seemed to all fall on Bella. Claire frequently hugs on Bella when she doesn't want a hug, sometimes Claire doesn't listen when Bella says "no, thanks". Well, that happened yesterday so Bella was tagged as pushing, then a boy in the class who has a crush on Bella did the same thing. He too, wouldn't listen when Bella didn't want him to hug. Then one little girl said that Bella punched her. Well, I was finding some of this hard to believe. My girls don't hit they know it's not acceptable. Occasionally if they are caught up fighting over a toy, they might hit or push, and right away they know they are in big trouble because that is not accepted at home. So to hear that Bella punched someone... I had to dig deeper. Bella did say that the boy was hugging her when she didn't want him to do so. She conitnued to tell me that she didn't punch the girl. though. Finally, she told me "I was flying like a bird". Okay this was making sense now. I can see her flying like a bird without knowing her arms hit someone. I believe her. Mostly because the girls tend to be honest to me, and if they don't want to be honest, they choose to be silent. I can usually tell if they are lying. I also don't think she's clever shes deceptively clever enough to come up with a bird story. It was nice to get to the bottom of things and see that it wasn't really all the teacher thought. If people are continuingly hugging on her when she doesn't want to, then it needs to be stopped before she has to push them off of her- this includes Claire. If they don't listen to her say "no, thanks", what else can she think of to do. I tried to tell her that she'll have to start saying "Help, teacher", instead of pushing. Poor girl, she was defintely far from wanting to wake up from her nap when it was time for dance class, so what a day to be bombarded by people. I talked to Claire and let her know that if she continues to "love" on Bella or mess around during dance, they won't be able to be in the same class. She was quite sad to hear that announcement since she says her favorite part of dance class is getting to stand by Bella.

Yesterday morning the girls were playing and Bella told Claire "that's silly". I don't know what she was commenting on, but what I do know is Claire's reply "silly indeed". Are you kidding me? she's so silly.

Well we have had several really warm days. In fact I'm a little disappointed that we kinda skipped the 70*s and went to mid 80*s. I guess it's better than snow, and we'll probably get some true springlike days sometime soon.
Anyway, of course the ice cream man took advantage of the unusually warm weather. He came around our neighborhood around 2:30. Right smack dab in the middle of nap time. Bella had just fallen asleep and Claire was playing quietly. I had thankfully already awoken from my slumber and came up stairs to see what Claire would do when she heard that infamous music. She saw me peaking and started excitedly exclaiming "the ice cream truck!!". I told her she could trade some of her gold nuggets (points for good character actions) in for ice cream. Of course she would decide that was a great plan. So, we went out to the truck and of course the amount I had given her was the perfect amount for one of those silly gum-ball-eye-characters. Well, I was forward enough to ask the Ice cream man if he could come back next time at more like 3:30 since it was in the middle of nap time. While all this was going on, Bella had peaked out her window and saw us go across the street behind the van. She ran out of her room, out the front door and started crying. The ice cream man apologized and I allowed Bella to get some ice cream, too. So, they only had an hour rest time today when normally it is three hours. Yikes!! After planting flowers and playing outside all morning, and hour is not going to cut it.
I hope they make it through AWANAs tonight.
When we were planting flowers Claire was so disappointed that we were not planting seeds. She must have thought that planting the actual seedlings was cheating. We also planted seeds, so we'll see if they make it.

Claire was waiting for me to finish using the potty, so she could take her turn. then when she was done she looked at me questioningly and asked "do you think there's a little potty inside you for the baby?"
A couple days ago she asked why the baby had to wait so long to come out. I reminded her that the baby was only the size of a bean and if it came out we might lose it. That made perfect sense to her.
this is gonna be a fun 34 weeks.

upping the total count

So I'm only 5.5 weeks preg and our total number of times the girls have asked "when is the baby coming?" is up to 7. Claire asked at lunch today.
Both the girls have been saying "hi baby" each morning. They love watching the videos online that tell you how big the baby is and what is developing now. Claire knows the baby is as big as a seed and in 3.5 weeks will be as big as a grape. she was telling Nana today that the baby loves it when mommy walks around.

Bella asked for a piece of gum when we were out and about 30 seconds after I gave her a piece she said she needed another one. I asked her if she ate the first one and she said "no, I swallowed it".

Okay so last night we told our girls that we are going to have a baby. Claire was excited, and Bella, as much as she understood- was also excited. Of course they asked when the baby would come out- I'm not looking forward to how many times I will here that question in the next 35 weeks. In fact lets start an official count- last night 3
today 3
total in the first two days 6

Last night bella said that if it was a boy we should name him Thomas. This is the name she first used for a ladybug, then a dead fly, then a couple frogs. And now a potential brother.

so this morning both the girls said "hi" to the baby

Bella at one point said she could see the baby- I think she was referring to what is left over from the belly that carried her.
claire wanted to look at baby names, when the name layla came up we both talked about how that is Aunt Ashlie's dog's name. Claire decided it should also be the name of the baby. When I told her the name was already taken, she had a hard time understanding. That's okay, she quickly changed her name several times.

Tonight when I told the girls that I was going to take a shower- Claire asked "is the baby going to get nice and clean?".

Claire and Bella got to tell Nana, GG, Papa, Tessa, Grandpa, and Grandma today our wonderful.

well so many things have transpired... we had Bella's 3rd birthday right after the girls had pneumonia. Then we had a week to get ready to go to Virginia to visit Aunt Tessa.
The visit to Aunt Tessa was so eventful.
Day one:
arrived, had to look around the house, had a snack.
Dave came over and helped us open presents.
Dave helped us set up the tent that came with the sleeping bags.
Ken and Erin came over and we played and played.
By the end Ken was dressed in a feather hat, apron, and was serving us dinner.

Day two:
first thing in the morning we went to the Library, picked out 29 books and 3 movies.
I think during the course of the week we read all 29 books.
Then we met another of Aunt Tessa's friends, Andie and her two little ones at the Thomas Rd Kid's Cove. The Kid's Cove was quite large and there were many children so it was very overwhelming for the girls. They had a hard time playing in such a large place. Andie and her two kids were so sweet and it was very nice meeting them.
we had lunch there and then headed home for a rest time.
then we headed to Romp 'n' Roll. that was a bit better for the girls. All padded and jumpy play things and not very many kids. they had a wonderful time, but were a quite tuckered out by the time we went to Dave's house for Pizza with his parents. The girls were quite shy, being so tired. So it took them quite a long time to warm up. What finally got them to interact with Dave's parents was serving them play food. This lead to the need for bowls. Dave had some large metal mixing bowls that started out as just bowls, but ended up being "sleds". they had the greatest time having Dave pull them around in circles and down the hall in races.
Boy did they sleep well in their cots that night.

Day three:
Tessa had to work, we went shopping, then to an early rest time. We had a play date with Joy and her kids. Claire and Bella just loved Saige, Piper, and Solomon. We headed home for Japanese food and Then went for Ice cream with Dave.

Day four: Tessa, again, had to work. We hung out with Sabrina that morning, whom Bella called "Arina". She took us to see her mom's horse. We took her to work, then played at the playground there at the daycare. We went home to Tessa's for lunch and found that we didn't have the right key. So we had to get lunch somewhere and that somewhere happened to be Olive Garden. Then since the girls needed somewhere to "rest" we went to the Dollar theater and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks Squeakual. We were supposed to be making dinner instead of being locked out. So we just had macaroni and left overs. Then we watched Up with Dave and Tessa- their first time. Claire made sure to narrate.

Day five:
Tessa took us to the children's museum (which at the moment I cannot remember what it's called). It was amazing. The girls loved it. They got to milk a cow statue, walk on stairs that lit under your feet, build a Native American village, ride a Batauex (whatever the french word for boat is), paint a glass room, and so much more. Yet Bella's favorite thing was the caterpillar statue work of art outside that we could only view. Then we went to Water Stone for Pizza- YUMM! That afternoon we were coloring and Claire started the phrase "Nice doin' it!". She like d what I was coloring and that was what came out in her haste to express herself. Ken, Erin and Dave all came over that evening and Bella made best buds with Ken, since he had an iphone.

Day six:
We went to peaksview park. Met Mrs. Jackie there. Had a picnic, then on the way out we saw my old pal Art. That night we had Ken and Erin over for a "girls night". Claire made dinner (Bella was too tired even after a long nap). On the menu was Pigs in a Blanket, and individual scalloped Potatoe "cups". It was delicious. Then we did nails (even Ken's). Erin told us how when she was at school and said several times "nice doin' it". Then we watched up again. Ken had downloaded several apps for Bella on his Iphone.

Day seven:
we got up a little early (due to Bella noticing I was gone and she started screaming). We got on the road and gave Claire dramamine right away so she wouldn't get sick. Well, we didn't know Bella would beat her to it. Bella started wriggling in her seat and making uncomfortable noises. then I looked back and saw that she had her hand in front of her mouth. I tried to give her a plastic bag, but she got mad. Then puked up oatmeal and curdled milk. since we were in the mountains on a two lain road, there was not even a shoulder to pull off onto. we finally found a little spot and cleaned her up. Having to get her dressed in the cold mountain air didn't make her happy, but there was no other choice. Well, when Claire saw Bella throw up hers wasn't far behind. At least she knew to put it in the trash can. What fun! We made it to the Hotel by 4:30 and walked around the mall then got dinner.


Yesterday our first official day back it was nice enough to play outside. Bella had a runny nose and we kept having to get her tissues to wipe all the snot. Claire came in at one point, wanting to be very helpful, and asked for a tissue. She said Bella needed it and she wanted to get it for her. So, she got some tissue out of the bathroom and went outside to wipe Bella's nose. She just had to come to the front door, knock, and tell me all about it. Who knew how exciting wiping your sis's nose could be. She told me "Bella's nose was really messy. I wiped it, but there was still more snot and she didn't want me to wipe anymore. So, I told her to close her eyes. I knew if she closed her eyes, I could wipe her nose and she wouldn't even know I did it. Then when she opened her eyes she was happy."

One runny nose on Monday, a return of pneumonia on Tuesday.
threw up her phlegm in the chiro's office all over the floor.

So the house right beside us is for sale... We watch occasionally to see who is looking at the house. I've been praying for a young couple to move in so we can have friends nearby to cook out with and such. So, Bella happened to be sitting on the trunk at the window watching the outside world. Well, there was a couple looking at the house next door. They happened to be African-American, we have never addressed the subject of different races much past "some people have light skin and some have medium, some have dark. Some have blond hair, brown, red, or black. Some have blue eyes..." you get where I'm going... "then I am always sure to say that God made each of us just the way he wanted us. We are all beautiful just the way God made us. And it would be boring if we were all the same". So when Bella said "that's the mommy. she's black" I was stunned. I mean I guess she is right. Claire had just never used words like black or white, she had said "dark and light". Well, then Bella took me way off guard when she said "I no like her". What?? So, I tried not to show my surprise. I said calmly "why?". She didn't have an answer. I know I've done my best to point out that we are all just as God wants us, and I try not to point out differences in a negative light. I want them to love all the different beauty that our Father created, and yet I don't point out anyone, I just say something if the girls mention it. So, if the people we saw happen to become our new neighbors I hope my girls don's say anything unkind. I know they are just children, but I would rather not get off on the wrong foot with someone who may live by us for a while.

Another instance in which kids say the "darnedest" ...
So we babysit an infant boy named Jacob... the girls have never seemed to notice what makes him different as a boy and since I am not looking forward to explaining the birds and the bees, I'm not going to be the one to bring it up. So, I was changing Jacob's diaper today and Bella was sitting nearby. I try to be quick at changing diapers, but wasn't quick enough. Bella states "I like Jacob's circle". Hoping she was talking about his belly button I asked "what circle?" . She got embarrassed. Normally she gets like this if she thinks she's not saying something the right way. Not wanting her to get upset, I asked "His belly button?". She said "no, the circle in his diaper". Oh, great.

Claire's great ideas today
"wouldn't it be great if no one every got sick"
"Wouldn't it be funny if no one had mouths" I think she didn't want to hear Jacob fussing at this point.

well, a while ago I believe I mentioned that Bella was loving to roll herself up in their little couch. recently when she got her new big girl bed for her birthday we moved the little couch onto the floor next to her bed- in case she fell out. yesterday, I went in her room to wake her up from her nap to go to dance class. I found her wrapped up in the couch on the bed. all I could see was a foot sticking out. She was sound asleep. when she heard me take a picture she woke up. She was so proud of herself for coming up with the idea of sleeping that way.
well, every night we go in to make sure the girls are covered up and warm... Last night when we went in, she was wrapped up in the couch again. This time she also had her umbrellas opened and tucked into the couch kinda forming a tent. Once again I got the camera out, once again it disturbed her, but I couldn't neglect taking a photo of that. priceless!! when she awoke I explained that we couldn't sleep with umbrellas. I told her they were too pokey. she was okay with that.

This morning she requested crackers. To clarify I questioned "animal crackers?". She told me "not real animals. just crackers, nice animals". apparently she's had some mean crackers somewhere else. poor thing, must have been a bad experience.

we've had a few days without posts, because we have had a few sick days. Thursday the girls started out with a cold... fever... more fever... high fever... by monday they hit 103.5 and we needed to get into the dr. we weren't getting better on rest, chicky soup, and lots of fluids, so we hit the dr. it was awful!!! first they said there was only one apt so i had to choose who to have seen. Bella was worse off than Claire and so I knew she needed attention first. We got there and it wasn't our regular dr. It was an older, less friendly, no time for the kids to warm up dr. when he asked me questions I was answering "they..." so he finally said, "well, who are we seeing? " . I told him that both had the same thing, but there was only one apt so the other kid had to come back another day. the dr said "they made you choose??" he went out to the receptionist and asked for Claire's file and told her he was treating them both. they both were diagnosed with pneumonia. so then they had to get blood tests. okay they might as well have sawed off their finger. the prick was detrimental. they pricked their finger, then "milked" enough blood for the test. we were restraining them and I hate that. they look at you like you are torturing them. Claire said later when I was describing our apt to Micah "I don't want to hear about that again".
so then we started the antibiotic... Bella looked like she could hardly keep her eyes open. the next morning she also looked very droopy eyed, which the prescription said was a side effect that you needed to inform your dr of right away. so the office receptionist told us to come in to the office. we didn't have an apt so we had to be seen at the clinic side, and waited 45 min. so then when we saw the dr, which was the same dr as the night before, bella immediately started crying and clinging to Nana. he looked at them after hearing what I said and told me that "you didn't need to come in ". he had asked if we had a history of some crazy muscle thing, or if the girls were exhibiting any other muscle weakness, when the answer was no, he said the receptionist shouldn't have had us come in. so then that night when they started having other side effects that we were supposed to inform our dr of... we called the on call dr. i was happier to talk to the oncall dr, instead of a receptionist. he said we were fine. i asked about the apt we didn't have to come to and if he knew if they might credit our account for the misunderstanding. i really don't have $50 to wash down the drain. so he said he would take care of it.
now we are just dealing with whines, and coughs. they are daily getting better, eating a bit more and playing a little. after spending all weekend on the couch that is a huge improvement. though after a few minutes of play, they are soon exhausted.
tonight bella wanted me to lay with her, she wasn't quite settled in to her new bed. so i laid... and laid... and she wanted to hide- i told her i don't like laying with my head under the sheets because it gets to hot. she was offended that i wouldn't want to hide with her. then micah came home and wanted to peek in her room- i said "are you kidding". here I was trying to get her to sleep and we really didn't need any interruptions. automatically that perked bella wide awake. she said "that was daddy, I like daddy". I reminded her that we were trying to sleep. I asked her to rub my face so I could fall asleep. knowing how tired I get when I have to rub their backs, I thought it might put her to sleep if she did it to me. well, the sweet soft hand on my face soon started poking me. then she accidently hit herself in the face. oh, sweet motherhood. so, I finally laid down the utlimatum. I told her that she had to close her eyes, and lay still. she did. then told me "I can't see". Of course I explained why we aren't supposed to be able to see when we are trying to sleep. I did have to leave, and she fussed for a while. I was in the kitchen putting some things away and Claire so dutifully informed me "someone is crying". what is halarious is that she one, thought I couldn't hear the crying, and two: wasn't sure who was crying. like we have rooms full of toddlers that all sound the same.

this afternoon we were telling Claire that maybe when she's older, seven I think I purposed, she could go visit Nana and Papa on her own. Just her and Bella. She looked a bit puzzled. Then Nana mentioned that Tessa and I had done that when we were growing up. So, Claire thought, okay they are serious, how am I going to work this out. Her solution (or great idea) "Yeah, bella could ride in her car seat, and I could drive." She said this with such confidence and enthusiasm it was sad we had to bring her into reality. We explained how we meant she would fly. I was glad to see she was excited about flying as much as driving.

Last night I went into Bella's bedroom... they had spent the whole day with Grandma and Grandpa, so I hadn't seen them since 9:30. she told me her philosophy on bedtime. "Sometimes it get dak, and we go sleep." I said "oh, is that right?". she replied "yeah, sometimes"as she did her cute sigh and shrugged her shoulders. If it's ever light out she has to mention that "the sun came up!! It time a be awake."

B's sound like G's ???

I wish I had a mental blog- the whole purpose of me doing a blog is so that when I forget all these cute things the girls do every day I can "write them down". Well, I took a nap and forgot a couple of cute things the girls did just hours ago.
Last night they needed to get out their last bit of energy and so they just started running and jumping. Then it turned into running from Rudy, the mean dinosaur on Ice Age 3. They decided to hide from Rudy on the back of the couch. I looked at them as they stood there trying to be as close to the wall as they could and Claire informed me "we're glending in". I told her "glending in" was a great idea.
Today we were in the car and the girls sometimes like to play Little Einsteins when we're driving. So they started patting their legs (which is what the LE's do when their rocket is about to take off), then they patted faster (you know gaining power), then they shouted "GLAST-OFF!". I've worked with Claire on this one before telling her that it is "b, b, BLAST OFF!". She grinned and said it wrong again. Then she decided to see what it sounded like with a "b". I am not sure what will happen next time they get into their rocket, but I would bet they use "g"-force to blast off.
There were about 5 other things that I wanted to post, but that silly nap erased them from my current memory. I thought the nap would do me good, but it deceived me.

Claire's great idea: well we use hand sanitizer quite often at our house. since the girls can't yet wash by themselves it comes in "handy". So, I went to her room after rest time I went to Claire's room to tell her to clean and come out. she had been singing at the top of her lungs some song about Jesus knocking at the door and letting him in (so cute). so since she was being so stinking cute I went in to hug and love on her because I just melt when they are so cute. Reached around her to pick her up... "why are you wet?" . C- "I didn't make it to the potty in time". Seeing as how she's only peed her pants like 6 times since she was 2.5 yrs old, I found it odd that being 20 ft from the toilet she wouldn't make it in time. So I inquired a bit further... "why didn't you get to the toilet? what were you doing?" The whole time I had seen her in her room all she was doing was singing at the foot of her bed. She told me she couldn't make it to the bathroom because the song wasn't over. Claire had wanted to finish singing a song, then she would go to the potty. So, she ran to the potty, couldn't get her pants down, and peed on the rug. she said later that she tried to stop it by positioning her hand as if it were a plug. Her bit of wisdom for my future reference was that sometimes the "hand" technique works, but this time (and she said this so surprised) it just kept coming. so after I found out her approach, I told her to go sanitize her hands. Well since she had been sitting on the bed I was taking the covers off to wash them, next was her pants, so her great idea was "wouldn't it be great if they had sanitizer for clothes?". I told her that was a fantastic idea. she said "yeah, we should buy that", apparently she thought someone had already invented it and we just needed to purchase it.

Bella's bunny she's so funny:
We were driving to K-mart, entered the parking lot, Bella says "look at da honkie". Mom asks "what is a honkie?" . B- "dat guy". Mom, laughing, "what do you mean? What is a honkie?". Here I'm thinking that she's heard Micah telling some racial joke. Bella "you da honkie". She is starting to get embarrassed at this point since she can tell I don't understand her. Turns out she was talking about the Pumba quarter ride in front of the store.
You know, Flounder from Little Mermaid is now named "Brewster"
and now Pumba is "honkie"

Bella was also using their little play couch as... well... just about everything today. she would close herself inside and say she was a bird coming out of the egg- "look I crackin".
she would close herself inside and think no one could see her. Many times I saw her pull the couch around her and then roll, kinda like a somersault- the way she was doing all this it was like she didn't even know we were watching, in a world of her own.
She was a ladybug, she just walked around folded in half with the couch on top of her.
What great entertainment. Something we've had for a couple years, entertained her all day.


At dinner we were having tortellini soup, well you can just guess how these picky- though they've made themselves that way- eaters reacted. they are so skeptical. I think it is genetic (Ed, Micah). so they are asking what the beans are and I told them "tortellini seeds". Well when they saw them in the bowl they figured it out. Claire - " I do not like that". I reminded her that we've had the noodles before. C- "well I'm not eating the beans". So Micah was helping her eat, He was hiding the beans under tortellinis, she had no clue. so then I said "hey where'd all your beans go, there's only one left? did Daddy eat them?". c- "I don't know. Daddy, did you eat them?". Bella also said "I no like dat, Blah!" . We are really working on good manners, can't you tell? so I say "we don't say 'Blah!'. You need to try the soup." she ended up liking the noodles, so then all that was left was beans and a tomato and I told her the mater was a red tortellini... will she fall for another one of mom's tricks?... is this why she is so skeptical?... Yes she fell for it. No, she didn't eat the beans.

Last night, after the girls had been put to bed, Bella was saying "daddy, daddy..." so micah went upstairs and Claire ran to the door "Daddy, Bella got out of her bed". He retorted "your out of your bed right now", and of course she ran quickly back to her bed.
so he went in Bella's room and she said "could you tell mommy to come up here". so instead of just calling for mommy in the first place, she had to send the message through daddy.
Well I went up to see what she needed... when I bent down to give her a hug, I felt wet blankets. So I asked her how that happened and she didn't know. I said "did you go peepee?". She defended herself and said "no, Claire peeped". I have no idea how Claire "peeped" in Bella's bed. The reason is just that our kids are so amazing their almost magical. I felt Bella's diaper and she had already soaked it. Then I told her how she was the one who "peeped" in her bed.

Claire was eating a few pieces of candy for a reward for doing school well. She handed me half of a piece I told her that was so sweet. She told me "I didn't want to get sick". She thought since we tell her that too much candy isn't healthy that she better not eat it, so she'll pass it off to good ol' mom.

So, last night as Micah was putting the girls to bed Claire added her "funny moment" to the day.

We have been reading a Christian girls series with Claire entitled "Mandie". She loves it and is so excited when we reach the next chapter. Well, Micah went in to read with Claire. He began reading and she had her earphones on, so she said "dad I can't hear". Thinking she meant she was unable to hear him reading the story, he suggested she should remove the headphones. She had a better idea "no, I'll just turn it up". She wanted him in her room to read, but she was listening to a book on cd. Aye, aye, aye!

Okay so we had many funny statements today. Let's see if I can remember them all.

we were doing school when Claire said "that's what we are should-posta do". translation "supposed"

Bella was jumping off the stairs into a pile of blankets, pillows and comforters and apparently something was funny. she said "that laugh me"

At supper we were having beef stew which must have looked questionable. Both girls were busy eating the other things on their plate or drinking milk. Since we have the rule that we have to try each item on our plate before getting down, I decided maybe I could spice it up for them. So I put a little salt on the stew (since it's from my meal co-op they usually need a little salt). Somehow Bella did not see me put the salt on her plate, but saw me put some on my own. She requested some on her meal, I let her know that she already had some "no, I don't". mom-"Bella, you do have some on your stew, I already put it on". Bella - "no, I not see it".
Mom- " well, I did and we don't want to put too much on". Bella - "no, it not on. It fell off". Mom and dad were stifling back laughter, or in Bella's words 'that laugh me'. She repeated that "it fell of, I need some". I convinced her to add some pepper and all was well.

Now Bella is still playing at the bottom of the stairs, only she is hiding under the blankets pretending to sleep. Occasionally popping her head out and saying "that woke my up".

Claire was playing a computer game and somehow she knocked something off the desk. I asked her what it was and she told me "the letter thing". I asked "the keyboard?" she replied "yes, the T-board fell, but it's not broken". I guess if it is a letter board then "t-board" makes sense.

Oh, here's another one- whew these girls need to be a little less cute or I'll run out of time to write it down.

We were dressing for Ballet class and I must have done something goofy (go figure, like that ever happens). So Bella says "you soopid, mommy". Now remember that sometimes she really mumbles, especially when she's unsure of how to pronounce something. So, since this was clearly her first time to call her mother stupid, she was unsure how to pronounce the word correctly. I asked "what did you say" trying to act like it was no big deal I didn't want to spook her, because then she'd never tell me. So she quickly repeated her mumble "you soopid mommy". she was saying it as if the word meant "silly". there was no disrespect or insult loaded into her small mispronounced sentence. I asked if she was saying "stupid" and she shyly cocked her head to the side and said "yeah". I explained that using that word was usually not kind. I told her that we never call someone that because it would hurt their feelings. I also told her kindly, since it was just a childish mistake, what the consequences would be if she said it again.
I'm glad I was in a good mood, because if I had been rundown and tired I may have handled that differently instead of being able to laugh about it.

I forgot

Bella did finally go potty today on the potty chair. Even once a day would be a success to me.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's for another fabulous Monday night dinner- chicken parmesan, spaghetti, homemade foccacia, salad, and caramel drenched spice cake. MMMMMMMMMMMM!!

When we returned home... Usually we take our coats and shoes off on the rug right after we enter the house. We came inside, I took off my coat and hung it up, I looked over at Claire and instead of her shoes or coat being off her pants and undies were around her ankles. So I asked "what are your pants doing down?" She simply replied "I forgot". She knew something came off right away after walking into the house, but for some reason went for the pants instead of the coat or shoes.

Claire's great ideas for the day: "Wouldn't it be great if everything was blue". I told her that if everything was blue it would be hard to see, and we wouldn't have other colors like purple, her favorite. so her idea changed to "Wouldn't it be great if everything was rainbow?". Yes, wouldn't that be great?

Just to make it public so Micah has to follow through (even if tempted to renig) he told me tonight that if I put the kids to bed tonight, that he would do it for the rest of the week. Woo hoo!!

I like my house

Had our "cousin" Grady over today to play. The kids had a good time.

Claire is holding out on me... She told me when I went into her room after rest time that she had another "great idea", but forgot it. Rap Scallion (who knows what that means, just pirate talk- and Bella was a pirate this morning).

Bella noticed that her hair is "getting brown on this side and still yellow on this side". She would really like it to stay yellow.


Yesterday the girls took Valentines to their Sunday School teachers and when we picked Bella up she asked "where my baltine" I asked if she gave it to her teacher, she said "yes, but where is it?" Apparently she thought she was just giving it to the teacher for safe keeping and would get it back when church was over.

In the morning when we were getting dressed for church Bella asked "where we goin". I let her know we were getting ready for church to which she replied "we already went 'a church". (she oftentimes uses " a" in place of conjunctions) She was correct we went to the Saturday night service, but of course were going to Sunday School and the Sunday service. Bella told us "I no wanna go 'a church". Well, she may not have wanted to go to church when she woke up, but when we got to church she ran into the nursery with a smile on her face.

The night before when we were getting ready for the Saturday night service she had said she didn't want to go to church because " I wanna stay a my house. I like my house".

Potty Training Progress: she's sitting now, so we'll let you know

Language Barrier

This morning Claire and I were sitting on the couch when Bella wondered down the stairs. Bella came to sit with Claire and I. She said something to us and Claire, having my super sense of smell noticed "Bella you're breath is stinky. You, get away". Bella apparently thought this was not a command or request to move further from us, but thought that Claire had called her a name. The name "getaway". So, Bella who is very sure of who she is and what her name is says "No, I not Getaway, I Bella". I looked at Claire and we busted up laughing. Claire reiterated "no, you, get away". Bella continued to be confused and argued "NO, I BELLA!" We didn't try to explain any further. It would not have worked.

Okay so I thought, to make things a bit more interesting, I would add a couple "features" to the blog. Things that occur often around our house... such as falls, silly sayings and "giggle parties".
So at the current time Claire has "sayings" that she uses repeatedly and great ideas. This will be one feature I try to daily put on the blog.
Claire's Saying of the Week: has been "ahhhhhh, grrrreat"- note this is usually said in a sighing fashion, a sign that she is perturbed, losing patience or rolling her eyes.
As we hit the weekend and are going into next week I'm making a prediction on what next week's saying will be... "oh, biscuits". We were watching Phineas and Ferb on Disney when one of the characters said this phrase. Claire thought it was hilarious and has been using it since then.

Claire is also full of self proclaimed "good ideas". Most of them are very clever for a 4.5 yr old. So as another great feature of this blog we will have
Claire's Great Ideas: I have a great idea! the idea is... wouldn't it be great... it's something about paint... wouldn't it be great if we only had paint. well, and clothes. (this being said while she is finger painting).
Idea 2: I have a great idea! wouldn't it be great if the car was so big that the store was already in it so we didn't have to drive to get there???


Bella- well she's just hilarious all on her own. I'm not sure there will be a category for her daily funniness will be called.
Bella: comes into kitchen while mom is filling Jacob's bottle. mom is doing "step aerobics" while filling the bottle (gotta try to burn some extra calories) Bella-"wha ya doin, mom?" mom- "getting Jacob's bottle ready." Bella this time a little more deliberate and speaking with greater diction so that I am sure to understand "no. Wha your legs doin? dancin?" In other words "why in the world are you dancing around like a wierdo? the only people who can get away with dancin at odd times are people like me, two year olds."

Exposing them to a little "culture" today, or rather family history I decided to make German puff pancakes, a family favorite. It is a custardy, thin, puffed up pancake baked in melted butter. when it comes out of the oven you can put strawberry's and coolwhip, or syrup, powdered sugar, honey... pretty much whatever on the delicious pancake. So Bella would only take one bite, she didn't get honey or powdered sugar in her bite, so needles to say, that was her only bite. Claire ate almost a whole quarter of a pancake, then suddenly raelized "does this have egg in it?" I answer "yes", and she says "I don't like the egg in it". I asked her "does that mean you just like the honey and sugar?" At least she was honest and answered "yes".

We must be having a busy day because it's only 10am and I've already had much to say.

Okay, I never thought I would start blogging... who has the time. Well I decided that whether or not I had the time, I didn't want to lose the memories. Many days notes may be in short hand, once again "no time", but they'll be things I can look back at since my memory is so poor. So, here goes..
Today, one of our favorite pass times- cushion jumping. All the pillows, couch and chair cushions have all been moved to the family room floor. A great source of giggles and exercise. Keeps the kids busy, while I do important things (like start blogs, I mean housework).
Because we took the couch cushions off you can imagine what kind of things we found underneath... play bunny ears- with some sort of dead bug on them, the barbie wii game case, and nail polish (thankfully it was closed).
Thanks to daddy being home from a business trip both children slept through the night without a "peep".
Potty training update: nothing to take note of today.