Brrr...

Ellie was talking to my mom on the phone this morning. I was holding the phone for her while she told Mema that she has a cold. As she explained this she wrapped her little arms around herself and said "Brrr..."

You know, the English language IS kind of confusing!

Sick Kids.

I spoke too soon...

Yesterday I was talking to Tracey on the phone. Her family had been sick and I mentioned that our girls have been relatively healthy this winter. Not one hour later they both started sneezing and noses started running. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep last night.

It's a good thing we were planning to lay low this weekend anyway!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Relax this weekend...we plan to!

Thursday News...

Two things today.

Number 1 — Kyle has been working on a Mustang for almost 2 months now. As I type, the owner is here to pick it up. The car is from Pennsylvania and it's slated to run the Bonneville Salt Flats next week. It's a neat car and I'm very proud of Kyle, but...like all of the cars he takes on, it totally consumes him from the moment it pulls into the pole barn. I'm glad it's on it's way out the door. I don't think the next one is coming in for a week or so. Hooray! A break!



Number 2 — Below is a picture of Eleanor taken after bath time. She's holding one of my old Strawberry Shortcake dolls. She was playing on the living room while I rocked Josie. She stood up and brought that particular doll over to me. "Mommy," she asked, "what's this girls name?" I answered "Orange Marmalade." She looked at the doll, then at me and smiled. "No, Mommy! She's Oprah!" Oh my goodness.

Sprinkler Time!

It was 42˚F today and despite the wind, our backyard was begging to be played in. I bundled Ellie up and snuggled Josie into the Baby Bjorn. We walked around, visited with Daddy and Uncle Phil (who were unloading wood), and even got out the tricycle and ride-on caterpillar toy. Ellie was having a ball - FINALLY able to enjoy some fresh air. After a while she ventured into the garage and came out with her sprinkler from last summer. (See it in the background...a little green dome with a cat and dog on the edges?) These are the words that came out of her mouth:

"Mommy....I need my suit on." - AS IN SWIM SUIT!!!!!

'Gotta love her!

A tutu to the bank!

Tuesday afternoon we had an appointment at Shelby State Bank to start getting our mortgage in order for the New Era house. Since Heidi's only here until 3PM we had to take the girls. Ellie wore a tutu. She seemed to have a much better time than I did. A tutu might be the ticket for those times when you'd rather NOT be attending a particular appointment. You know...the accountant, the dentist, the OB.

Oh Happy Day...

It's been a good one. Heidi showed up on time and was really great with the girls. There was only one major meltdown (Ellie, not Heidi) during a phone conversation with Tim from FFH. He understood that Ellie was having a temper tantrum on the other side of the office door and that she wasn't being dismembered. That is truly what it sounded like! My dad came over for an hour or so and stayed with the girls while I wrapped up some work for the Community Foundation.

At 5PM Kyle and I packed up the family and drove to Muskegon. I have a 12-page ad for FFH going out today and we had to find a WiFi Hotspot so I can upload the files. On another stressful note (one that I wasn't going to complain to all of you about) our satellite usage has been cut by "da Feds". Seriously. Since we are in the boonies, we have to use a WildBlue Satellite for our internet. If we had DSL or cable there would be no problems. But, apparently the federal government (in some fine example of pork) has a regulation on the MBs that can be up/downloaded in a 30 day period on any satellite. The number is 5,000MB. Last week I surpassed that due to the large number of files I've been sending for FFH ads. Until I cut my usage by 70% I am not allowed to upload any large files. Long story short I am posting this from BW3's in Muskegon. We've been here for 1-1/2 hours, and since Ellie was getting restless, Kyle took her across the street to Meijer for a few groceries. So despite the pain in the butt satellite issues, I get to end my day with a therapeutic post - Josie on my lap, my belly full of hot wings and the dregs of a cold Killians on the table. Not too bad. Oh... and best of all...KYLE AND ELLIE are doing the grocery shopping.

Oh Happy Day!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone. Here are two pictures of the girls. Ellie in her Easter dress, Josie in her jammies. The jammies picture was too sweet no to share. I'll get a cute picture of the two in their matching dresses at another time.

We hope you had a quiet, peaceful day. Love - Lisa, Kyle, Ellie and Josie.

P.S. Nanna - Thanks for the jammies! :-)

Screetch Owl

Josephine has a new trick...SCREETCHING the loudest, most high-pitched scream we have ever heard. Over and over and over and over. The other night she was blessing us all with these beautiful baby noises at 4:24AM. It continued for 45 minutes until I brought her into bed with us and filled her happy little mouth with an early morning snack. As loud and ear piercing as it may be, it's pretty darn cute! If you'd like to hear the noise yourself, either play the movie below or give us a call. (It seems to come out when the phone is in use!)

Peep Show

Here is a little vulgarity to make up for the sickingly sweet Sound of Music quote from yesterday.

Tracey sent this to me. It's a "Peep Show". Ha. ha. ha.

Welcome Heidi!

Kyle and I just hired a young woman to watch our girls. (Insert HUGE sigh of relief!) Her name is Heidi, she lives 3 miles away, and we really like her. We interviewed 6 people. She was our favorite off the bat - the only one who immediately walked over to Ellie and started playing. Tonight when she came over to talk to us about the job specifics, Ellie ran to her and gave her a hug as soon as she walked in the door. My heart feels like this truly is the right thing to be doing.

To quote my favorite movie of all time: "When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window." - Maria, The Sound of Music

The Princess and the Sweet Pea

Sunday, Lindsey, Jacob, Dana and Simon dressed Ellie in her dress-up clothes. She came up telling us how "fancy" she looks! I think she looks a bit like a tacky bag lady!

Josie's picture is taken post-roll over. She and Natalie played on Sunday as well. Natalie isn't quite sure what to think of the little person almost her size. (The two weight about the same. But...Natalie is 5 months older!)

BUSY. BUSY. BUSY.

Those three words describe this weekend. Friday and Saturday we had 14 interviews set up from our In-Home-Childcare ad. 5 people showed up. Yep...FIVE. The others didn't even call. They just didn't show up. Unbelievable! Meanwhile, (while waiting for the no-shows) Kyle and I are both eyebrows deep in work that we don't have the time to get done. Marge came over Friday AM for a few hours to watch the girls, and Tim's daughter Alex was here on Saturday to help out. We both got a little done. But not nearly enough!

Sunday morning we made breakfast together. Kyle played with the girls while I went for a run. As soon as I got back he was off to the pole barn to work on the latest car project. I was in desperate need of a shower and managed to take one with a baby in the bouncy seat and her big sister constantly opening the curtain and pointing out my various body parts. Entertaining for sure. At 4PM my side of the family was coming over to celebrate my Dad's 57th birthday. I made the cake Saturday, so all that was left was throwing together a pot of chili and getting the house in order. The chili was the easy part!

All in all, the weekend went by too fast. The birthday part was fun. So nice to have everyone together. We did have one big milestone this weekend. Josie rolled over!!! That's quite a feat if you've seen the girl lately. At her 2 month checkup she weighed 12.5 lbs. Yesterday I stepped on the scale with her and she's tipping that thing at a whopping 16 lbs. ! We think she's pleasantly plump. :-)

Yoga tomorrow. I can't wait.

We won't give up!

Yesterday evening the girls and I were invited to an Open House hosted by my friend Rachel. At 6PM we loaded up and drove to Rachel's house. When we arrived I took the kids out of their carseats and knocked on the door. No one answered. Suddenly it dawned on me that the Open House was at Rachel's cousin's house. Not hers. So...we loaded back up in the Jeep. As I was buckling Ellie she said "Don't worry Mommy. We not give up!"

Any thoughts I had of going home flew right out the window. We pulled out of the driveway and continued on to the right location. She's right. We NOT give up!

Our Sweet Girls.

This was taken this afternoon. I think it is the sweetest picture and just had to share it.

GRANDPARENTS: If you click on the picture it will enlarge it for you. You can then either click and save it to your desktop and print it out later, or print from that screen.

Improv Everywhere....FUNNY!!

If you need a smile visit this video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=dkYZ6rbPU2M

It's Improv Everywhere performing a musical at a mall food court. It's so funny to watch the faces of the shoppers!

Mommy's Lost!

This morning Ellie said the cutest thing.

I leave for yoga on Tuesdays at 6:30PM. I don't get home until after 9PM, well after Ellie's bedtime. I'm always sure to give her a kiss "Goodnight", but she never remembers.

This morning when I walked into her room she was so happy to see I was "done with yoga". I told her I was done last night and came in to give her a kiss. She said "No, Mommy. You was lost. I not find you!"

Aww.

Manic Monday

Well, we've made it (almost) through out first daycare-less day. Aunt Marge was a LIVESAVER today and watched the girls. Tomorrow I am interviewing two daycare providers in New Era, and Thursday our ad will be in paper. I also have the name of a girl who may be able to watch Eleanor and Josephine until we find something permanent.

Speaking of the girls, here are a couple of pictures from this weekend. Ellie was very proud of her "fancy mustache" (just brownie batter. promise) and Josie looked so cute sleeping in her chair. (Isn't she a TANK! She certainly fits the nickname that Ellie gave her: "Dozie")

No More Miss Molly's

Last Thursday Kyle came home with the news that Ellie was no longer welcome at daycare on Wednesdays or Thursdays. We were informed that she has been fighting with Kennedy, the other 2-1/2 year old and Miss Molly would not have the two girls together anymore. Since I cannot run a business on 2 days a week, we spent the weekend weighing our options. Thanks to a few of our friends, we received a number of recommendations and have two appointments next week with local daycare providers. We also placed an ad in the paper requesting in-our-home childcare.
I'm not sure what will happen these next few weeks, hopefully we'll get a few calls from the ad, and I'm anxious to meet the two daycare providers I liked over the phone. It's a little unnerving making such a significant change. I've been comfortable these past 2+ years with the level of care that Ellie was getting, and soon Josie was going to be attending Miss Molly's as well. However, I need to remind myself that perhaps this change is for the best. If Miss Molly couldn't control Ellie and Kennedy, then maybe it wasn't the best place for our girls. Wish us luck!

Jessica: You'll laugh at this one. It was Kyle's idea to place the ad. He said he'd like to find someone like Sally. (Mmmm....how much did he HATE having the sweet Grandmother at your house after school.) I'm sure you never thought you'd hear that one!

Snowman Contest

We didn't win the snowman contest - we got "Honorable Mention". However, Kyle's philosophy is that we have more "win per inch" than those other two traditional sized creations!

Fun with nostrils.

Last night we were eating chicken noodle soup for dinner. Ellie showed me a "tanny carrot" (she says "tiny" like a southern girl.) I looked at it, smiled, agreed it was tiny, then went back to eating my dinner. Seconds later Ellie says "Mommy... GET IT OUT!". I looked at her panicked face, but couldn't figure out what she was talking about. She repeated herself, "GET IT OUT!", while POINTING AT THE CARROT STUCK IN HER RIGHT NOSTRIL. Fabulous. For a split second my brain went completely blank. This was something I've never in my entire life had to deal with. Do you call 911? Do you do the Heimlich? How the heck do you dislodge vegetables from 2.5 year old orifices? The answer: you push on her little nostril and the thing pops out. Gross, but a lot cheaper than calling in the National Guard. Problem solved.

Ellie's First Haircut

2 years and 5 months into her life, Eleanor got her first haircut. We went to my Aunt Julie's salon in Shelby. Ellie was VERY excited to talk about it the haircut, but sitting the chair she looked a little scared. But, she didn't squirm once! Julie barely cut 1/2" off, but she evened it out, trimmed the ends and gave Ellie a tiny bit of bang.
I think Josie is following in her sisters footsteps. She's lost almost all of the hair she was born with. Check back in August of 2010 for pictures of her "First Haircut"!

Extreme Consumer Frustration!!!!!!

In the past five days I have had the following bouts of Consumer Frustration:
1. I washed, for the first time, a brand new sweatshirt that Josie got for Christmas. The zipper pull came off in the dryer. Can't be returned or repaired.
2. I washed, for the second time, a fleece that Ellie got for Christmas. The zipper pull came off in the dryer. Can't be returned or repaired. (We have a crappy dryer...it's not the dryer!)
3. I ordered a toy/bin/shelf thing from Target online. When it arrived it had one white panel and one natural panel. I called the company, when they sent a replacement panel it was the WRONG ONE! So, in frustration I drove to Target to buy another set entirely. When we got it home it was a "new, improved, design". Same picture. Same item number. Different item. None of the parts of the first one are interchangeable with the second one.
4. Over the weekend we ordered a new printer. Ours has been slowly dying. When it arrived today I plugged it in, set it up, and suddenly it made a loud whirring noise. Then a light started flashing. I looked it up the manual: "Faulty printer component. Please call for local printer repair." SERIOUSLY?

Tomorrow is my first yoga class in more than 2 years. I am counting the hours...

Who's the fairest of them all?

Kyle took this over the weekend. I think it's a cute shot. Certainly showcases the goof-ball we live with!

The Daily View

The great meltdown has begun. Our yard is a mess and our driveway and road sheets of ice. Yuck! But, Spring is on its way. Yesterday there were two little blue and orange birds on our deck. Ellie and I opened the window above the kitchen sink and threw pieces of bread to the little guys. It felt really nice to have fresh air in the house, if only for a few minutes.

Josie "sort of" sleeping through the night!

Thursday was the first night that Josephine slept "through the night". She went to bed at 10PM and woke at 6:30AM. So, for us, that's through the night. Now, you might think, "Good for Kyle and Lisa, they got a good nights sleep!" Nope, that was the night that Eleanor came down with a cold, so she coughed all night. Oh, such is parenting!
Friday and Saturday nights Josie woke up to eat once each night. But, that's better than a few weeks ago. However, we're really looking forward to another one of those "through the night" deals. Soon, very soon.

Where have we been?

Grandma Mox has been here for a few days. It's amazing how much Kyle and I have gotten done with her here to help with the girls! Ok...back to being productive!