Mama's Got a New Ride

Okay, I know it has been awhile, again, but I have been busy with the girls and sewing. I have been cutting out patterns and trying to sew when I get a chance. Also, I got a new car. Isuzu is cutting their employee lease program next month so we had to decide whether to buy Keith's 5 passenger Ascender (same thing as a Trailblazer) or start looking elsewhere. We wanted something that had room for more passengers because the girls' car seats take up the entire backseat. So, we bought a 7 passenger Ascender that was turned in on the employee lease program and the girls and I are very happy with it. (Keith is now driving my Impala which is giving him much better mpg on his hour long commute each day.) I love that both girls can see out the windows. They laugh and play or just sit quietly looking out their side of the car (I love that) while I am busy enjoying my moon roof! Plus, we now have a third row to stick Grammy in! This is not a picture of my Ascender but of one a lot like it I found online. Cute, right?



Yesterday, the girls and I started our own little band in the kitchen. Lauren was playing the drums, Lilly was on the Leap Frog piano and I was shaking the popcorn jar. We took turns with the microphone. We were acting so silly but it was great! After awhile, Lilly had a chance to play some drums, too.




Lauren likes anything that lets her be loud! BANG! BANG! BANG!


Lilly is trying to be like her big sister. Lauren almost always has a hat, a bow or a crown on her head and Lilly tries to do the same thing. She was trying to put this bow on her head so I gave her a hand. It is just barely grasping some fine strands but she was so tickled to be sporting a bow that I think she is going to will her hair to grow quickly!


Doesn't she look like a little school girl? This is another great outfit from cousin Flynn. Lauren did have on her white knee high socks and brown mary janes but I didn't catch her in them.



I love this headband! We bought it at JoAnn's. All of their Halloween items were 60% the day we were there and we ended up getting this for under a dollar. Lauren got little kitty ears that flash red lights. They are nowhere near as cute as this but she wanted those. Lilly, on the other hand, loved her headband and got upset if I took it off or if it fell off. She would turn her head back and forth really fast trying to see the braids! Everyone at the store thought she was so cute and couldn't believe she actually wanted them on her head. Giddee up!!!


I just love this photo. The neighbors were harvesting the soy beans from the field behind the house and Lauren was fascinated with the tractors. She would have walked off into the field if I'd let her! You can imagine how over the moon she was the day before when they had a tractor parked all day right beside that very spot she is standing in. I thought she would be afraid - they get so loud. This is the same girl who is terrified of the vacuum!!!


I need to go to bed. It is now 12:30 a.m. and I have squeezed all I am going to get out of this day (and the next). Unfortunately, I am listening to Lilly's monitor and I hear her squealing and playing in her crib. I will try to go to bed.

No, Mommy.

And we have finally entered the "no" phase of toddlerhood. It comes after requests to pick things up, go to bed or just plain out of the blue. It is almost funny how Keith thought it was so cute the first time he heard Lauren say, "no mommy," after I had been hearing it all day. So funny. She also has the terrible thing about not napping at all this past week. Not sure exactly what she is doing in there but it isn't sleeping. Sometimes it sounds like a load-bearing wall is about to come crashing down but no sounds of sweet lullabies from slumberland have been drifting out the "Queen's" room. I say queen because Lauren now has a pink foam crown that she wore all the way through Walmart insisting she was a queen and I really admired her confidence as she glided through the store looking 80% adorable and 20% ridiculous so I bought her the $1 crown. She is now a queen and lets you know. She is saying so many more things everyday that crack us up and amaze us. For example, we have a Ladybug that lights up and projects the moon and constellations onto her ceiling at night. We always look for the crescent moon and then look to see what the stars are on (the fan, the curtains, on mama, in the closet, etc.). She just surprised me so much by her ability to connect concepts when she grabbed her ear, gave it a little tug and then pointed to the crescent moon and said ear. Wow! It does look like an ear. Great eye, Lauren.

Lilly is saying more and more every single day, too. She has started to sing along with Lauren to her favorite song, the theme song to Choo Choo Soul. When they both start singing it is crazy/sweet!
Lil is almost walking. She took about six steps tonight. So, I guess she is walking but she is really wobbly. I think she was at a huge disadvantage having an older sister who is still so young because Lauren will often push her down when she tries to start walking but after months of getting pushed down, I think Lilly has had enough.
Lilly is still trying to eat sand out of the sandbox but now she has a new trick - bathing like an elephant. She fills a little cup or shovel with sand and dumps it over her head just like an elephant.

Keith is still working really hard. He is hardly ever home. He always has something going on when the weekend rolls around and during the week, he doesn't get home until a little bit before the girls go to bed. Tonight, he was lucky I didn't have the girls in bed yet because he didn't get home until 8 p.m. It really sucks!

I am keeping busy with the girls, the house and sewing. I have been doing a lot of sewing lately and will hopefully have some pictures of some of my latest projects soon. It can be slow going because I am learning to sew as I go. It was scary at first but now it is getting so much easier. I have already made another dress for the girls, a hat, a couple of ties, a pee pee tee pee (for use during little boys' diaper changes) and a stuffed guinea pig. Fun.

For now, here are some pictures that you really want to see.

The girls coloring on a chalkboard mat I made them. Look how cute they are when they share!

Lilly wearing my favorite fall outfit of Lauren's from last year.

Lauren one year ago wearing the same outfit. My, my, my....

A very happy Lilly.

As usual, Lauren has all the accessories she needs. Whenever we go out, she has her hat and/or hair bow, sunglasses and a purse. I think she gets that from her Great Grammy Goodman and Great Grandma Frank who both always seemed to be properly accessorized, too.

Just Pictures

Nice Doctor

Today we went to visit the doctor for the girls' yearly checkup. I think Lilly knew what was up right away because she was very fussy immediately and that is so unlike her. Lauren was also very unlike herself; she was all smiles and giggles. Weird. Dr. Marshall is so good with the girls. She lets them play with all of her instruments and looks for kitties in their ears. Lauren loves that. Both girls were deemed perfect and beautiful and I now hold in my hand their long awaited measurements. So... who weighs more? Lauren or Lilly?

We all had our money on Lilly but it was Lauren! Big sister won out. Lilly only gained a pound since her last visit. Her stats were 21 pounds 13 ounces and 31 inches long. Long and lean Lauren was 25 pounds and 35 3/4 inches long. The doctor said she is almost at the 30th percentile for weight and would like to see her around 50% but she is healthy so she is okay but she is at a whopping 90th percentile for height! We all know Keith and I are known for our height (cough, cough) so this is normal, right? Actually, Lauren is growing exactly like I did when I was her age so there will be no pro-balling days in her future.

The best part of the visit happened in the car as I was buckling Lauren in. She started singing, "nice doctor, nice doctor," over and over. I asked her if Dr. Marshall was a nice doctor and she said yes then I asked her if she loved our doctor and she smiled and said yes. We are lucky to have such a caring doctor and I am glad the girls like going to the doctor. It makes it so much easier.

Cousin Jenna's 2nd Birthday Party

Jenna celebrated her 2nd birthday on Saturday, August 30th. It was a beautiful day and here are some of the pictures.

Birthday girl Jenna loved her balloons.

Jenna, Lauren and Jayden on Jenna's birthday present, her very own moon bounce. Yes, hers. She got to keep it. Lucky little girl
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A very happy Jenna.

Jayden had enough of the girls and had to butch it up with a football.

Speaking of needing to butch it up.... Hey, Justin, that will look darling on you.

Soon to be new mom Aunt Shannon and expecting poppa, Uncle Jon with Great Gram.

Lauren and Jenna push the pretty pink lawn mower. So cute. Lauren's birthday was August 11th and Jenna was born just 20 days later on August 31st. They look so close in size.

Lauren did not like Jenna holding onto the bike she wanted to ride.

Cousin Jon and little Lilly

Again, he is WAAAYYY too excited about these gifts.

See how Jenna is containing her emotions, Justin? Put on the big boy pants! (I am teasing out of love, of course.)

Tired rosy-cheeked Lauren.

Mommy Carla snapping pictures of the party.

Yes, I see you, cutie.

So much fun!

More fun.

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

If they weren't cousins he would be carrying her purse and buying her jewelry on this shopping trip.

Finally Some Photos

It has been awhile. I haven't spent much of my spare time online. I will admit I have been a little addicted to this computer game that I have been playing (a lot) after the kids go to bed a night. However, since Keith has been gone almost 2 weeks now, I figure I should update the blog with some photos like I told him I would. These are all pictures that I took before Keith left because you don't really expect me to update the blog and get the pictures of my camera in the same night, do you?

Lilly on Daddy's lap before bedtime.

Lilly is really close to walking on her own and here, Lauren is helping her learn the ropes with just a little more help from Grammy. We always say, "walk, walk, walk," when we walk with Lilly and Lauren is doing it, too. Lauren has even started to walk with her arms up in the air like someone is holding on to them and her legs spread out like we do with Lilly and says, "walk, walk, walk," as she, apparently, teaches herself to walk! It is really funny.

One weekend, Grammy painted Lauren's toenails for her and called her a lady. Lauren said she was a lady. When she got back to me, I painted her toes once the paint had chipped away and painted mine at the same time. She said, "I pretty. Mama pretty." Such a lady.


Lauren and her friend Mickey go for a ride.


She is trying to charm me into giving her something sweet for a treat.


Goofing around with Daddy before bed. I love how Lilly just peeks back at me at the bottom of the picture.


The neighbors gave us this awesome little car which the girls fight over all the time. This is Lauren driving with her sunglasses that fit her last year and her signature hat.


Lilly gets a turn in the car whenever Lauren isn't around. Maybe I should stop yelling at other drivers on the road when the girls are with me because Lilly is clearly exhibiting road rage here.


When 2 year olds dress themselves like hip hop dancers. She really was dancing in this photo and she really did dress herself. She picked out everything down to the shoes.

Clean Bill of Health

I am finally back. Both the computer and I have a clean bill of health, again. Well, for the most part. I just had a whopper of a sinus infection and a middle ear infection that left me so dizzy I couldn't get up. Our sweet doctor called to check on me and gave me something for the dizziness and I am slowly getting over everything. Lilly still has a cold that she and Lauren shared but tonight she is doing a little vomiting and has a slight fever. Poor baby. Keith, however, is escaping it all because he is in Denver and then off to Las Vegas and California for two weeks. Cross your fingers that nothing happens.
I have lots of pictures to share, so let me get to them....

Lilly was standing, playing at the sand and water table and for a change her face appears to be only covered in water as she shows Miss Piggy and her pink automobile who is the supreme ruler of her universe.

Lilly is getting to be a real monkey of a climber. Here she made the easy trek up the side of the dishwasher but she has tackled many more voyages that only seasoned hikers would take. For example, in the morning, I will place her in the center of the living room with toys to distract her while I get her a sippy cup. When I return, she is perched in the middle of an end table or trying going over the back of the couch. Luckily, she has yet to try scaling her crib. It is still a fortress of solitude.

Lilly shows picky eater Lauren the fine art of really enjoying your food as she samples her first taste of spaghetti. Classy.

It's safety first as Lauren puts a helmet on Eebee Baby to take a bike ride around the house.

Just wanted to show off the dress I made for Lauren. She loves it. I will show pictures of her wearing it the next time I post but for now, I have to go take care of Lilly. She is up, again. This is the 3rd time since bedtime officially started. I think it is going to be a super long night. Times like this is when I really can't stand Keith's traveling. I have no one to take over just one time during the night shifts. Although, it is easier now that the girls are older but it is a whole other story when someone is sick.