Mom's Memories

Mom Fail...Almost

2011-11-30T12:37:00.002-05:00

We visited Santa at Columbia Mall before Thanksgiving, and afterward, made a quick stop in the Disney Store (Jilly's favorite place). There she saw a ton of things that she wanted for Christmas, but she grew really attached to Shenzi (the Whoopi Goldberg character hyena from the Lion King).

Obviously, I told her that NO we weren't going to buy it, and that she could put it on her list for Santa. Big mistake. On Black Friday, I went online to the Disney Store to see what wish list items of hers I could pick up and what good deals I could score. Shenzi - SOLD OUT. My mom looked at the Disney Store at the beach for it (since she's out there this week)...SOLD OUT. I just got off the phone with the four closest Disney Stores...SOLD OUT. Dagger. When you ask Jilly what she wants for Christmas, this is the first thing she lists. And I keep asking, hoping it'll drop in position on the ole wish list. No such luck.

I went online to Amazon.com, my last hope. And they have list a store selling them! Only ONE left. So I bit the bullet and bought it, for about $10 more than the Disney Store sold them, and had to pay shipping since it's a third party store selling through Amazon. But...PHEW!!!

I won't be completely relieved until I see it on our doorstep, but fingers crossed that all will go as planned and Jilly will be able to unwrap the prized hyena on Christmas morning!

Weird Weather

2011-11-28T21:42:00.004-05:00

Besides enduring a very wet early fall, we've now been experiencing unseasonably warm weather. Now, I'm all for mild temperatures, but post-Thanksgiving days shouldn't post temperatures nearing 70 degrees in Maryland. The summer clothes have been put away. I'm ready for my fall clothes. I don't know how to dress me comfortably. I don't know how to dress the kids so they don't get sick. Blah, blah, blah.

After we picked up Jilly from her preschool program today, we went for a walk on the Patuxent Branch Trail that connects Columbia to Savage.

Jilly always loves looking out at the water...

Jess is pretty interested in it too...

Love this picture of the girls walking/running together...

One of several self portraiture attempts...these just get worse and worse...

Jilly is still a climber...

One last attempt for a self portrait...

I love that the girls are now old enough for me to let them both walk and not bother with the stroller for, well, strolls. If I'm out for exercise, they still both get thrown in the stroller, but for some fun outdoor time, I can set them free!

A Real Tree!

2011-11-28T20:06:00.005-05:00

We've been putting up artificial trees for Christmas over the past, at least, four or five years. We bought a pretty nice a year or so before Jillian was born, and after that Christmas put it in storage, since it's pretty big. For Jillian's first Christmas, we bought a smaller, narrow tree that we put up inside the pack-n-play to keep the toddling one away. And we've used that "Charlie Brown" tree each year since.

Maybe it's this unseasonably warm weather that's made me want to be outside, but I got the urge to go get a real tree for Christmas this year. And not just go buy one, but grab the family and have John cut one down for us. We trekked out to Gaver Tree Farm, where we picked pumpkins earlier in the fall, and picked ourselves out a Canaan Fir.

It was really a good experience. Even John said he didn't mind it so much. When we got there, they had a sample of each type of tree. They directed us to the right field once we decided which type of tree we wanted. We borrowed one of their saws and a tree cart and headed over to pick out a tree. John and Josh cut it down, we hauled it back to the barn, they shook and wrapped it up for us, and we paid. It was nice because the trees are priced by type of tree, rather than by type AND size. So $40 for the tree seemed pretty reasonable. And we have a luggage rack on the new family-mobile that made it easy to get home.

Considering the prospects...

Finding the 'right one'...

Too busy for a picture...

Getting ready to take it down...

Putting the boy to work...

The girl who doesn't want me to take pictures of her anymore...

Jilly 'helping' to push the tree cart...

Guess I'll have to post pictures of it once it's decorated. I've had it in three different locations and think I have found the best place for it now!

Thanksgiving and Gratitude

2011-11-24T21:58:00.003-05:00

After the last couple years, this word has been my self-imposed mantra: gratitude. Because we’ve had a tough couple years. It’s hard to remember to be thankful in the midst of a struggle, or struggles. But here are some things I’m thankful for this year, and why.

Family – my older cousin and his family moved out of state this summer, my grandmother is aging and after a pretty bad fall has had to be moved into an assisted living facility, where she is not particularly happy. But we’re fortunate that we all get along pretty well, love each other, and that John and I still have our immediate family all within about an hour’s drive of us. What a great thing for the kids to be able to see all their grandparents on a regular basis, and what an awesome help it is to us for them to be near!

Friends – though I don’t get to spend time “out” with my friends the way I did B.C. (before children), we were able to celebrate our birthdays this year with friends that we haven’t seen in a long time. It was a great evening, and even though I don’t “see” my friends all the time, having sites like Facebook have really helped me keep in touch with people WAY more easily than I would have been able to otherwise.

Faith – some of the ministries of which I’m a part at church have faced some pretty big challenges this year. And some of those challenges are still being worked through. But I’m grateful that I have the freedom to worship when, where, and how I choose, and even more thankful to be part of a loving church community that pulls together when things get tough.

Finances – have been tight, to say the least, over the last couple years and we’re not out of the woods yet. But over and over we’ve been blessed with the ability to make ends meet, and after losing several jobs during 2011, John has been able to time and time again find work. We’ve been blessed with means to purchase a new vehicle this year, as my aging Mazda started having problems. And we’re blessed to have family that is local and willing to help out with the kids so that I have the freedom to seek out part-time employment.

Health – the girls and I have been battling colds, John has asthma and needs new glasses, and we have back medical bills to deal with from a HUGE deductible self-insure plan that we had while I was pregnant with Jessie. But we finally have a good, employer-sponsored health insurance plan and we’re relatively in good shape. I found out over the two weeks that I now a second friend whose child is battling cancer.

Our Immediate Family Unit – like every family unit, we have our issues. I try to remind myself that when I get frustrated with my husband, there are those whose loved ones have turned on them, whose spouses have passed away, either at an old age or have died an untimely death. So when I see dirty dishes in the sink and not in the dishwasher (LOL), I feel fortunate to be blessed with a husband who loves me and does everything he can to take care of us. When we have to deal with a logistical or financial issue around the oldest and with his mother, I try to remember that we are extremely lucky that Josh is doing well in school, has a loving family, and John and his ex have a pretty decent relationship, and that there are parents out there who aren’t able to see their estranged children for different reasons. And most of all, when I hear a little one cry out for me in the middle of the night (AGAIN), or Jessie whining, or Jilly throwing a tantrum, I try to remember that there are women out there who have been unable to get pregnant, women who have been unable to bear children, parents who have lost babies, parents who have lost children of all ages. And I give my little ones an extra hug. Because I am SO blessed to have such a wonderful husband and children around me all the time.

It's nice to reflect on the "we haves" on days like today, rather than the "we wish we hads". And to give thanks!

Halloween Weekend Activities

2011-11-03T19:35:00.010-04:00

We had a pretty full and fun Halloween weekend. Made a trip to Ikea that Friday to pick up some decorative boxes in a feeble attempt to organize some of the stuff that used to live in our living room and no longer has a home since the living room makeover. For the first time, I checked Jillian into the kids play area and went about my shopping with just Jessie. It was heavenly. And Jilly had a fun time too! When I picked her up, they told me it was kids day and there was free face painting upstairs in the restaurant area. So up we went to check it out. I am glad we did. The lady did a great job, was very quick, and did I mention that it was free?!? Too bad Friday night wasn't Halloween...

On Saturday we went to a Halloween party at Jack's house. It snowed...how random and unwelcome. Wrangled Jack, Henry, Jillian, and Jessica for a quick costume picture as is tradition, though it was a bummer that not more of the mom's group mommies could make it to the party. :-(

Sunday the snow was gone and the sun was out, so we carved some pumpkins. Now I am not the artistic one in the family, but once John showed me how to trace the pattern onto the pumpkin and carve it out, I loved doing it! I carved the Lightning McQueen pumpkin and we even went to the pumpkin patch to get more pumpkins so I could do a Rapunzel pumpkin on Monday!

Jillian drew some sidewalk chalk monsters while we carved pumpkins.

I took a minute to snap a picture of our rose bush out front that is still budding...thought it was pretty against the fall leaves and blue sky.

Jillian and Jessica enjoyed playing in the leaves. Now that Jess is fully mobile, getting pictures of them together that are decent of both of them has gotten increasingly more difficult.

I took one picture that turned out ok of the girls before trick or treating. Jessica wasn't having fun yet. Jillian was Barbie and Jessica was just Halloween-y. Because the lion I put her in for the party absolutely angered her. We went trick-or-treating on Main Street Ellicott City again this year, stopped by a friend's house in Ellicott City, grabbed a pizza at Domino's for dinner, and then Daddy took Jilly trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. She has a pretty good stash of candy.

Tuesday morning I took the girls for haircuts. Jillian hasn't had one since before Easter, and Jess has never had hers cut. We're scheduled to have Christmas pictures taken next weekend, so I figured it was about that time.

We went up to my parents' house Wednesday to see their cool Halloween decorations. Jessica was fascinated by them!

My Favorite Time of the Year

2011-10-25T15:03:00.001-04:00

Fall. I love fall. I love the colors. I love the warm sunny days, followed by crisp, cool evenings. I love the apples. I love the smells. But this fall has been SO. FREAKING. RAINY. I feel like I've hardly been able to get out and enjoy the outdoors the way I like to this time of the year.

So today after we went apple picking, we took a little walk off the Savage Mill Trail to enjoy the views and the colors.

Apple Picking 2011

2011-10-25T14:38:00.005-04:00

I swear today has been the most beautiful day of this fall! We decided to go apple picking and headed to Rock Hill Orchard.

Jessie and Jilly both enjoyed the trip, and snagging a couple apples while we picked!

As always, a self-portrait attempt. Jess was sitting on my lap, but clearly no where near tall enough to make it into the picture.

And the requisite self-timer portrait attempt. Which would have turned out awesome if it was in focus. Grrrr.

Just for kicks...some apple picking blasts from the past:

2008, Larriland Farm

2009, Rock Hill Orchard

2010, Larriland Farm, with NEW baby Jessie in the wrap!

Living Room Makeover!

2011-10-24T19:08:00.003-04:00

Those of you who are my FB friends will likely have seen a couple pictures of this makeover as it happened over the weekend. But here's the background story and some before and after pictures. My Uncle Frank used to have some really nice quality wood furniture in his home. When he died, I was lucky enough to have been able to recycle some of those pieces. Like the desk that I'm using right now to type this post. In addition to the cedar chests, desks, and other pieces of furniture, there was a nice dining room set. You know, the big kind, with six "real" chairs and a table that expands with a leaf. For years my parents have stored it for me at their house - thank you Mom and Honey! And this past spring, I started noodling around with the idea that we could use it at this house. Not in the kitchen mind you, because our tiny Ikea table is already too big in the kitchen.

We have an alcove off our living room where my piano lived, joined by many kids toys, dress up clothes, etc. That area, unfortunately, became the place where my aging and sick cat enjoyed peeing the most. But as an idea formed in my head, I started working with it. Finally, late spring/early summer, I solidified my plan, but knew I couldn't carry it out until after Gus moved on. Sadly, we had Gus put to sleep in August, and shortly after I started getting excited that maybe my makeover idea for the living room would work. A couple weeks ago, John told me about a Boy Scouts camping trip coming up. I asked Bubby if she and Paw-Paw could take the girls for that weekend so that I could transform our living space. Thank you, Bubby & Paw-Paw, for having the girls over last weekend!!!!

Now that you know the story, and that I've been itching to do this project for literally MONTHS, here is the before (I actually had a big, wood coffee table in the middle of the floor, but we had already moved it out before I realized I should at least take before and after pics).

CAUTION: these pictures contain lots of messiness!

And the after...

Now there is still some aftermath to deal with - obviously way more stuff came out of this room than is going back into it. And that kitchen pass-through is still a cluttered mess. At some point I'd like for us to swap the positions of the piano and the green chair, for easier tv viewing from that chair. Even still, to say that I'm excited about the change is an understatement!

Pumpkins!

2011-10-18T21:43:00.008-04:00

Every year we've made it a tradition to visit a pumpkin patch or two during the fall. This year was no different, only we had such a beautiful weekend, that we convinced daddy to come along! We went on Sunday, so had to pick a pumpkin patch that was open until at least 6pm, so that ~~John~~ we could watch the Redskins game at 1pm, so didn't visit either of our normal pumpkin patches. Instead, we headed west and visited Gaver Tree Farm. It was quite nice - we only did the hay ride and pumpkin patch visit, though their fall-fun-festival looked really cool, with a huge bouncy thing, big corn maze, and littler mazes and activities for littler kiddos. It may warrant a trip back before Halloween at only $5/person over 2 years during the week.

Jessie had a blast at the pumpkin patch, especially now that she's fully on her feet!

Jilly had fun picking out various pumpkins. She wanted all of them.

I tried getting the girls to pose together...

And I had John take a couple pictures of me and the girls together. They didn't exactly cooperate for that either.

Here we three are last year!

Jilly from 2009

And Jilly from 2008.

Reacquainting...

2011-09-30T13:51:00.003-04:00

Now that fall is arriving, I'm reacquainting myself with my camera. I've been using the cell phone camera for most everything on the go lately, because it is so portable. This morning we went for a walk around Centennial Lake, and I decided to take the camera along. And I'm glad that I did! About 2/3 of the way around, we spotted a blue heron just hanging out at the edge of the lake. I pulled the stroller off the path, snatched out the camera, and viola! Blue heron pictures!

I can't believe it let us get so close before relocating (and I think the relocating had more to do with the fishing boat that cruised by than us).

We were going to stop by the little playground at Centennial, but it was all roped off for some kind of work, so we ran our Target errand and stopped at the Holiday Hills playground down off Rt 29. This was Jessie's first being-mobile-at-the-playground experience.
They are two very different people, my daughters. Where Jillian was fearless and daring even before she could walk, Jessie was hesitant and totally freaked out going down the short tunnel slide. I've likely scarred her for life. But she did end up giving a couple smiles while we were there.

Gift Card Giveaway!

2011-09-28T09:29:00.003-04:00

**WINNER is Commenter #2, Julie!**

Thanks to Sams Club & General Mills (through My Blogspark) I have the opportunity to give away another $25 Sams Club gift card.

For 5 years, General Mills has partnered with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Foundation to bring breast cancer support to local communities, and this year they are making their annual donation of $2 million to the foundation to advance breast cancer research and support education and community outreach projects.

Purchase specially-marked General Mills products like Cheerios and Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownies at your local Sam’s Club and help decide how half of that contribution will be donated by voting at PinkTogether.com from now until April 14, 2012.

General Mills’ donations will be divided between two important Komen programs: the Treatment and Assistance Program, which assists women in securing care they otherwise may not be able to afford, and Prevention Research, which helps unlock the keys to preventing breast cancer. Voting results will be announced on Mother’s Day 2012.

Leave a comment on this blog post to be entered to win the $25 Sams Club gift card. A winner will be drawn at random next Thursday evening (10/6) after 7pm. Good luck!!

Disclosure: The information and gift card(s) have been provided by Sam’s Club and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Jessica Is One!

2011-09-28T09:20:00.003-04:00

Yes, I'm a bit late on this post. But our "baby" turned one on September 5th. Here are some pictures of the big event, including the much anticipated cupcake eating pictures!

Thanks to all our friends and family that were able to come and celebrate Jessica's special day with us!

More Fun from the Smartphone

2011-09-12T20:43:00.009-04:00

I actually did sneak some posts in during the month of August, but here are some quickies from the cell phone camera. It is still my every day preferred method of photographing...what it lacks in quality, it totally makes up for in convenience!

Snowball Eating

Sunglasses (mommy's) Wearing

Church Attending

Butterfly Watching

Monster Drawing

Laundering

Ballet Dancing

Swimming

High Chair Napping

Car Seat Snoozing

Fall Garden Planting (tatsoi, kale, brussel sprouts!)

Climbing

Chair Climbing

Rock Climbing

And my personal favorite (not really)...Pouting

Every Now and Again...

2011-08-27T12:13:00.003-04:00

...we stay home and play. Well, we didn't actually stay home the WHOLE day, but we did lay low after getting some exercise in the morning.

Jilly and Jessie are getting better and better at playing together without Mommy's help (I'm sure this trend will reverse once Jess realizes that Jilly taking toys from her is NOT ok anymore).

My brown eyed girls.

Playing together.

You'll notice the beer boxes under the crib. Since we aren't using disposable diapers, I had to find something to store outgrown stuff in! These boxes are an awesome under-crib storage size, and perfect for stashing shoes that Jilly can't wear anymore. Really.

I let Jilly try her hand at taking some photos. Most of them were blurry messes. This one turned out alright. Despite my crazy, post-jog, flyaway hair.

Jess standing up all by herself. Still waiting for her to take some steps (she is a
super fast crawler!).

County Fair

2011-08-12T10:37:00.002-04:00

As has become custom, we made our annual visit to the county fair yesterday. The weather was just beautiful, and despite a non-sleeping, crabby, teething 11 month old, we had a nice time.

Jillian went on a pony ride first thing, then we checked out the animals, had some ice cream, climbed on the tractors, and of course, rode some rides (yay for Jillian being 36" tall this year!).

And here are some pictures of our adventure...

My favorite part was that we all got to ride the ferris wheel together! Here are some attempted self-portraits from said ride, LOL.

Pool Time!

2011-08-04T20:28:00.006-04:00

We gave up our Columbia Association membership several years ago. We didn't use most of the services and it just cost too much money. And we didn't miss it last year, as I was pregnant over the summer and on light duty for most of the hot months anyhow. But this year we've been hankering to go to the pool. Lots. So I looked around at some of the local swim clubs. Most of them have wait lists and most of the memberships are cost prohibitive for us at this point. But I did find one that offers an "August Only" membership, to sort of let you try out the pool. Score! So we joined Atholton Swim Club for the month of August (well, actually through Labor Day). Today was the first day it worked out for us to go, since yesterday's weather was questionable at best, and the day before we were all suited up and headed that way when I fell down the front steps and busted up my knee...sigh.

We had a great time today and the pool was practically deserted! We split time between the big pool with inner tubes for both girls and the kiddie pool. Obviously, I only had free hands while we were playing in the kiddie pool :-)

And just for kicks...
August 5, 2010 (36 weeks pregnant)

August 5, 2009

August 5, 2008

A Giveaway!

2011-08-04T20:19:00.003-04:00

**UPDATE**
And the winner, according to random.org's random number generator, is the owner of comment #9! Congratulations Karin!!! I'll be contacting you to get your mailing info for your gift card!

And now for something I haven't done in a while...a giveaway! I was contacted by MyBlogSpark to see if I was interested in participating in the Sam's Club/General Mills Box Tops for Education giveaway again this year. And since I'm a sucker for gift card giveaways, I decided, "why not?". Again, Jillian isn't going to school this fall, but I think I may start collecting box tops for the elementary school that my neighbor's son attends (and Jilly will likely one day attend, too).

So here it is folks! Want to win a $25 gift card for Sam's Club? Of course you do!

Sam’s Club has your favorite back to school items from computers to clothing, and at the best values. When you purchase participating Box Top items, you can collect even more Box Tops on some of your favorite General Mills brands such as Honey Nut Cheerios, Nature Valley Oats 'N Honey Crunchy Granola Bars, Totino’s Pizza Rolls, and more! Earn more cash for your local school at Sam’s Club this August with the 6 Box Tops on a Pack promotion.

How do you win the gift card you ask? Simple. Just leave a comment on this post. Yep, it's that easy. Next Thursday night after 7pm EDT, a winner will be selected, using random.org's random integer generator. Good luck!!

Disclosure: The Sam’s Club gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Once Upon A Time...

2011-08-01T14:06:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine, Jen, made these adorable pillow case dresses for her daughter and I thought they looked like a fun and adorable (not to mention simple!) project to make for Jillian. Two years+ later I finally got around to sewing one up for Jillian today during Jessica's nap. Jilly was not thrilled (and by not thrilled, I mean she wanted NOTHING to do with it), but I was pretty impressed with how simple and quick it was to make. Next time I'll make one for Jessica. Because she isn't THREE years old, LOL.

Here are some bribed pictures of Jilly ~~tolerating~~ modeling it.

A Day on the Farm

2011-07-28T18:38:00.005-04:00

We didn't actually do much farm-y stuff, but we did head to Ann's farm today to visit. I love taking the girls out there since I spent time on the farm when I was growing up. It's fun to see the girls experience some of the same things. Jilly was happy to see Matthew, and I think all of us were happy to enjoy some pool time.

Jess liked "walking" with the push toys.

I swear it looks like I interrupted their play time here - and they're not happy about it. Note that Jilly has the same expression on her face that Jessica has on her face in the picture above...

Jilly and Matthew played. And argued about whose turn it was to play with different toys, etc...

Then we all got to play in the pool! It's funny - I remember when they put the pool in back in 1985! Jilly really enjoyed her pool time; she used a little inner tube and did a fabulous job kicking and moving herself around the pool.

We even got a decent picture of the three of us!

Again with the facial expressions...geesh!

From the Smartphone

2011-07-23T13:45:00.012-04:00

I've been carrying around my big camera less and less, mostly because I'm carrying around a diaper bag less and less. And I often have a baby in my arms. But I always have my trusty Droid at hand. So I thought I'd share a few (unedited) pictures of our last couple weeks.

Jillian and Jessica have been participating in various studies at UMCP's Language Development Lab. Thanks for the info on this, Emily!! What that really means is that we've been taking little field trips to College Park here and there since this spring. Jillian keeps saying that, yes, she would like to go to school there when she gets older.

I bought romanesco at the farmers market. It was pretty good. I also picked up a collapsible steamer on the advice of a friend. Yeah, I'm a little behind the times. Anyhow, the vegetable was pretty good. The flavor reminded me more of cauliflower than broccoli.

The girls have graduated to the BIG cart at Harris Teeter, and Jess loves riding in the space ship with her sister.

Jess loves all things electronic. And all things she's not supposed to have. Needless to say, this game controller was fascinating.

Jess also loves all things food. (YAY!) Here she is killing some sweet potatoes when we had a semi-date dinner at Longhorn. Which despite being a chain, was actually quite nice.

Our garden continues to do well. To understate it.

I baked my first pie. A peach pie. It was pretty good, though it probably could have baked about five more minutes. I'm terrified of burning food.

Jessica has a ton of teeth. By a ton, I mean eight.

Food seems to be a theme around here this summer. I'm actually finding myself disappointed when I know we have plans to be somewhere other than home to eat. Can you tell that I'm one of those weird people that doesn't like her foods to touch each other on the plate? LOL.

Broccoli, chicken, couscous medley (thank you, Trader Joe's).

Beets, meatloaf.

Pear-papaya squash, steak, brown rice medley (again, I heart you Trader Joe's).

Pizza! With our first ripe tomatoes of the season and basil from the garden to top it (also, feta cheese, parmesan cheese, garlic, mozzarella).

One day I'll get back to taking 'good' pictures again, but for now, the little phone in my pocket seems to be doing just fine.

Baths!

2011-07-19T18:46:00.002-04:00

Finally Jess is big enough/stable enough to share a bath with her big sis!!! Technically, this is their second shared bath experience, but the first one was pretty spur of the moment and I didn't have the camera or cell phone with me in the bathroom to document the experience....

Farewell Johnson Crew :-(

2011-07-12T14:25:00.007-04:00

This past weekend we went to my cousin Shane's house for a going away party. My big cuz and his family are moving to Florida on Friday!

It was a nice time and we got to catch up with family while the kiddos played. Sad that Shaney is moving, but looking forward to visiting them! ;-)

Dottie and "Grandma" Helen were there and the took turns holding and admiring Jessica. Dottie, my 90 year old grandmother, is in the stylin' plaid shirt, LOL.

Frank and Mom took turns passing around the baby too. This was pretty landmark, since until now Jessica cried every time her Pop-Pop held her.

Jilly enjoyed cousin Shane's awesome tractor...

Both girls got in some good Daddy time after his trip last week.

Jessie stumbled on a big ole water gun (I think it's a water gun?).

Cousin Shane manned the grill and was the popsicle giver-outer!

And we even managed to get a half-decent picture of Shane's family, Jesse (another cousin) and Kim, and our family!

Another Beach?

2011-07-07T16:03:00.007-04:00

Indeed, another beach. We love the beach. Any beach, really, as long as there's sand and water. We prefer beaches with few people, which are a bit tough to find this time of year. John has been working in NC this week, so I decided to take the girls to Sandy Point today. On the way there, I remember my friend Amy telling me a year or so ago about Terrapin Beach Park (there really aren't any good links to the park, but this one has SOME info), on the other side of the bridge, which is pretty quiet. So we kept driving. It only took us about ten minutes longer to get there, and the cost of crossing the Bay Bridge. We parked and walked along the trail to the beach, probably about a 1/4 mile from the parking area. And lo and behold, a non-crowded beach with nice sand - SCORE!

The girls enjoyed playing together. Jilly is really enjoying Jessica now that she's able to "play". I'm sure this will end once she can 'fight back', LOL.

Self-timer portrait attempt #1.

Self-timer portrait attempt #2.

I've got SAND!!!

There were lots of little fish in the water...Jilly was trying to catch one, unsuccessfully.

The girls playing together some more - Jillian actually smiled at the camera for me!

Jessica hanging on the beach blanket.

Jilly excited to run!

Jessie really 'digs' the sand, pun intended.

I tried to get the girls to build a sandcastle together. Guess it's too soon for that.

Jessie no doubt licking sand off her fingers - EW.

And a pixelated, zoomed in picture of a bird we spotted on the way out - too bad my "good" camera battery was dead and I had to use the ole cell phone camera.

All in all a fun trip and we will for sure be visiting again!!!

July 4th

2011-07-07T15:49:00.007-04:00

Yes, it's July already and I haven't posted in ages. I got a little Martha Stewart-y with a party dessert, having been inspired by Jen.

Jilly and her cousins loved having sparklers at Granny's house.

John, Andy, and Jaime had fun setting up the fireworks display. No fingers were lost.

The girls loved watching the fireworks, but were bored by the end. I think the boys enjoyed setting them off more.

Granny took a picture of me and the girls, who actually cooperated for a change.

Dance Recital Videos

2011-06-25T07:24:00.004-04:00

If you are my "friend" on Facebook, you've probably already seen me post these videos, but I'm putting them on the blog for those of you who aren't on Facebook, e.g., Mom.

Jilly attended Princess Dance Camp last week every morning and yesterday they invited parents to the "Grand Ball", a little recital for the kiddos to show off their new tap and ballet moves.

The tap video is actually funny and cute. The ballet video is simply hilarious.

And here are a couple pics that I took.

Now Where Were We?

2011-06-23T22:15:00.007-04:00

It's bad when you have to look at your own blog to see what the last post was...10 days ago apparently. Oops.

So in the last ten days we:

Visited the National Zoo...where I didn't take any pictures of the kiddos, but a few of the zoo animals. It was overall a nice trip. They're doing construction and have one of the parking lots closed, so initially I got pretty fired up over showing up and all the parking was full. I know we went a little later in the morning than usual, but it was a weekday and ALL local public school systems were still in session. Seriously. It turned out for the best, because after circling the block we ended up back on Conn Ave headed back toward the beltway and lo and behold I started seein available meter spots. I snagged one and we were literally five cars back from the zoo. It cost like $4.25 in quarters to fill the meter to its full two hours, but still much cheaper than the zoo parking would have been anyway. And who wants to stay at the zoo with a three year old and a nine month old for more than two hours, really? Not I. The highlight of the day was seeing the orangutan walking from habitat to habitat on the cables suspended above. And I liked the tiger. Jillian was a little disappointed because she wanted to see the hippo in the water. The National Zoo doesn't have any hippos. Giant pandas, yep, but my toddler wanted to see the hippo. *sigh*

We've been playing outside just about every afternoon. Jen linked to this site that tells how to make liquid sidewalk chalk. Jillian just loves "painting" with it! There has also been lots of kiddie pool time and usage of regular sidewalk chalk. Jillian still loves to play outside.

No pictures on this one, though I probably should be taking pictures with my "real" camera.... I've been learning to 1) cook on the grill and 2) cook vegetables. I grew up with a hatred of the things and have decided to learn how to cook them so that I enjoy them. My ulterior motive here is that I'd like to join a CSA program next year, but they're not cheap. I totally can't justify the expense if I won't eat/know how to cook most of what we'd get each week. So to the farmers market I go each week and try something new. So far I've tried (in order of most favorite to least): zucchini (grilled), kale (sauteed not wilted), broccoli (blanched and lightly sauteed), cauliflower (pureed), asparagus (grilled), collard greens (sauteed not wilted), swiss chard (slightly wilted and sauteed). The swiss chard wasn't great, but honestly I enjoyed all of the others! I also have yellow squash to grill this weekend. I also made Beer Can Chicken; thank you Bobby Flay, it was the best chicken I've ever done!

We celebrated Father's Day. When we begged off the traditional restaurant get together this year, and so did a bunch of other people, John suggested we try and reserve a picnic shelter at one of the Patapsco State Parks. It was short notice, but we found one and it turned out just fabulous. It was us, John's dad and his wife, and John's brother and his family. We grilled, nothing fancy, just hot dogs, burgers, and sausages, we ate, the kids played on the playground, and us big kids tossed around the football. And Jessica let EVERYONE hold her while I was around and didn't freak out!!! Here are a couple pics from the outing.

John's Dad (Wayne) and all his grands.

Wayne with his sons and the grands.

Jessie with her Bubby and Paw-Paw.

The end of the day.

Jessie has discovered what she can do with crawling and standing up. Finally being mobile has some meaning to her! She and Jilly play really well together...I must say I'm thrilled about that!!!

Not Miserable Weather

2011-06-13T14:42:00.002-04:00

The weather has been pretty stifling lately. Until today. Last night the temps dropped and we were able to turn off the A/C and open the windows. I took the girls to Patapsco State Park this morning. I got some walking in while they hung out in the stroller and I even actually jogged a bit! Then we went over to an area where Jillian could play in the water a bit. Because she loves playing in the water. Jessica actually liked the water too - but I couldn't get any pictures of her really smiling since when she was sitting with her feet in the water, I wanted to stay in arms reach in the event that she toppled over....

Looks like we have a couple days like this ahead, so I have a feeling more outdoor adventures await!

Watching the Garden Grow

2011-06-13T14:28:00.004-04:00

Last year I planted a garden for the first time. Here is what I learned:
1. Tomato plants get BIG.
2. Plants like our red clay.
3. I can, in fact, grow things.

So this year we expanded. We made the garden deeper so that it comes out as far as our back yard fence. We turned the whole thing and mixed in some compost from our compost heap in the back yard before planting. A few weeks ago (the end of April...) I planted red bell peppers, mild jalapeno peppers, Roma tomatoes, salsa hybrid tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and rosemary. And crossed my fingers.

Here's a quick snap from my cell phone of how it looked after I finished planting on 4/30.

And here's the garden today.

Bell pepper.

Jalapeno pepper.

Roma tomato(s).

Cucumber.

Strawberries (we have yet to eat any from the garden due to a pesky rabbit that chews them up as soon as they're ripe enough to pick...grrrr).

Video Fun

2011-06-11T09:48:00.002-04:00

It occurred to me the other day that while I have TONS of videos of Jillian, I only had like ONE of Jessica. So she was getting all excited about banging a block on the coffee table while STANDING UP and I pulled out the video camera. I got a quick one of Jessica, but then Jillian stole the spotlight - big surprise. Jilly shared some of her own songs - and really, they are awesomely funny.

Here's Jessie...

And here's Jilly and her vocalizations...

Chompers

2011-06-08T15:52:00.003-04:00

Big surprise here...Jessica's been teething. Here's the first good picture I was able to take of her three top teeth. All three of these guys poked through in one week. No wonder we've had some rough nights!

And what are teeth for, if not for enjoying fresh strawberries?

Jilly got in on the strawberry action too, of course!

YUM!!!

Back from the Beach

2011-06-08T15:12:00.006-04:00

We had a chance to go to Rehoboth Beach for most of last week, and now we're back. The trip was a blast and we couldn't have had nicer weather. It was extra special, because we stayed at the cottage where I grew up vacationing and Jillian got to hang out with Matthew, who is my...wait for it...mom's college roommate's grandson. That's pretty cool, since I grew up vacationing with my mom's college roommate's sons, and Matthew is Dave's little boy.

The beach was a huge hit, though a bit challenging with both girls. I ended up holding Jessica most of the time while Jillian played in the ocean. The sleeping arrangements were also a bit challenging, since Jillian is not good at laying down for bed and going right to sleep. Initially we had me and the girls bunked up in the same room, but after night #1 of Jilly's shenanigans, she slept with my mom in another room and I shared a room (and the futon) with the baby. I will say that by the third night, Jessie went down for naps and bedtime like a dream. Not too bad I must say, for only her second time sleeping in the PeaPod tent.

The last challenge was my ability to take decent pictures. Since I found myself holding Jessica, and she's quite the grabby-grabber, most of my good camera pictures were taken one handed. And the pics of the kids of the rides were in-motion pictures. I found that the pictures I liked the best were those taken with my lower quality cell phone camera. But anyhow, we had a blast and wish we could have stayed all summer! Here are the pics.

Jessica on the beach.

Jilly tired of me taking pictures of her.

Jilly on the carousel.

Jilly and Matthew on the hot air balloon ferris wheel-type ride. Yes, we let them ride it sans adults.

My best attempt at getting a picture of both girls on the beach.

Self-portraiture on the helicopter ride.

Jilly and Matthew on the spaceship ride.

Jilly and Matthew on the swings.

Jilly loving playing on the beach.

Jessie loving the sand. Eating the sand. Putting the sand in her ear. Rubbing the sand all over. EW.

Jilly playing in the water.

Jumping in the waves.

Excitement!

We found some swings one morning - of course we had to try them out.

Jillian got a new stuffed "hookie".

Jilly and Matthew on the fire engines.

Jessie's first carousel ride.

We went twice - she loved it. Didn't stop laughing the entire time!

Ice cream on the boardwalk.

Matthew and Jillian enjoying their ice cream together.

Calvert Cliffs Day Trip

2011-05-25T20:45:00.004-04:00

We visited Calvert Cliffs two springs ago, and have been meaning to go back since then. Unfortunately, the complicated pregnancy last summer made it a no-go last year. Then having two kids and trying to figure out how to hike that trail with a traditional stroller and wearing a baby and still having a bag with us seemed pretty complicated. Enter the new Phil & Ted's stroller that I found on craigslist about a month ago! Somewhat on a whim, we packed up and headed out this morning. The trail to the beach is 1.8 miles each way, and not especially stroller friendly, but the P&T did just fine!! It was a nice walk and we saw plenty of critters along the way: snakes, butterflies, lizards, turtles, frogs, and more. I think I got better pictures during the last visit, but we definitely spent more time hanging on the beach this time!

Jillian liked the flowers on these trees we found along the trail, and even cooperated and posed for a picture!

Snakey snakey.

Turtle catching some rays.

Butterfly with a broken wing :-(

Looking up the beach at the cliffs.

Jillian wanted to hold the ladybug.

Jessie hanging on the picnic blanket.

Jilly before changing into a bathing suit - she got soaked! (I feel the need to mention here that she picks out her own outfits, so occasionally if she's wearing something not matching or a little strange, yeah...that's her choice!)

Jilly just loves the water, and it was nice and warm!

Our little setup. Jess decided that she preferred hanging in the stroller.

And the obligatory self portrait attempt!

Another One of THOSE Posts

2011-05-25T19:54:00.004-04:00

Let's see...what's new around here? Not much, but we've been keeping busy.

John suggested a craft to make with those styrofoam trays that meat and sausage come packaged with - stamps! I washed one really good and made Jillian some dinosaur stamps by drawing on them with pencil and attaching handles (aka, wine bottle corks). They probably would have worked better with just ink pads rather than paint, but it was fun anyhow.

Jessica hung out and was cute while Jillian painted.

Our baby robins have grown up and flown away. I happened to see them the last morning they were here, waiting to get fed again. And then I saw them leave the nest and take flight one by one.

Here they are in the nest the last morning. It was getting pretty cramped in there!

This is the first one that left the nest.

And the last one...this one wasn't so sure about the whole thing, and sat on that branch for probably an hour before taking flight. It was really cool for Jillian to be able to see the whole thing from the time we had four little blue eggs to the morning they left their nest.

Finally it's getting warm enough consistently to get the kids in the kiddie pool. I scrubbed out the crud over the weekend and filled it up for the girls earlier this week. Jessie only toughed it out for about ten or fifteen minutes, because the water was still a little on the chilly side, but Jilly played in it for about an hour and a half!!

Oh...these girls are gonna be trouble!

Our Birds

2011-05-13T13:10:00.004-04:00

On the side of our house, aka in our garden, we have a tree. And the tree top is pretty much level with the window in our living room. At the end of April, I looked out and saw something blue. In fact, it was several somethings inside a nest!

*Warning: low-quality pictures ahead!*

And then...they hatched!

There are four baby Robbins living in our tree! Jillian loves to check on them and see Mommy and Daddy Robbin bring worms and caterpillars for their babies!!

Cop Out Collage

2011-05-10T20:38:00.001-04:00

I've wanted to take Jillian to Assateague for a while now, and figured that May would be a pretty good time to do it. So we packed up and headed to Ocean City yesterday, hit the beach in the afternoon, stayed at my aunt's place (thank you Aunt Betsy!), and went to Assateague this morning. There were no horses to be spotted while we were there, though we did signs of them (poop and hoofprints). This being Jessie's first beach experience, I took lots of pictures. And...here they are!

Weekly Wrap Up

2011-04-28T10:32:00.008-04:00

The title of this post implies that I'll be blogging weekly. Hmmm...we shall see. But at least that often. I promise.

Jessica is really getting into playing. She loves these blocks we have - they each have a clear side that shows something inside.

Her favorite is still this cube that I got for Jillian when she was little older than Jess is now.

Jillian tried her hand at teaching Jess to crawl...with no success. But she sure looks like she wants to take off!

Last year we started an Easter Egg Hunt tradition...the older kids get to hide eggs for Jillian (well, next year it'll be Jilly & Jessie!) after we eat dinner and are killing time before dessert.

Jilly had a blast again this year.

And a quick flashback to last year...

After plenty of Easter candy was consumed, Jilly went outside to drive around in her princess car.

We even got a couple decent pictures of me with the girls and me with my man! (and here is where I shamelessly plug my awesome thrift store dress that cost a whopping $5.99...but I picked it up during a 50% off sale!)

Laundry (Cat) Room Makeover

2011-04-28T07:55:00.006-04:00

Our laundry room has been a work-in-progress for-ever. Like, since I bought the house in 2002. Sigh. It gets organized, it gets filled with stuff, it gets messy, it gets re-organized, etc. What a vicious cycle. Inspired by Emily (whose laundry room is still much more awesome than mine), I decided to try again. I didn't take a true "before" picture, but I totally should have. Here are some almost before pics...I had already made and hung curtains in these pictures, as well as having already cleared all the stuff away from in front of the windows. *Warning: poor quality cell phone pics follow*

After clearing the windows, and making and hanging curtains, John helped me stack the washer and dryer (and I can still reach the dryer...mostly). My handy husband also hung some shelves for me to store paint, which we have a never ending supply of..., and other Home Depot type stuff. That made room for some of his boxes of office stuff on one set of shelves. I stashed all our folding chairs, back in the corner near the graveyard of unwanted, ugly closet doors. The other set of shelves has some not used kid toys, and I hope to move some more kid stuff out of our storage unit into the house to have when we need/want it.

I'm still working on de-cluttering the water heater corner and wish that I could put down a rug in the room, but my cat has some weird issue with area rugs and insists on peeing on them where ever they are...grrr. So there it is. Not perfect, but better!

Dyeing Easter Eggs

2011-04-19T23:55:00.004-04:00

We dyed eggs for Easter over the weekend! I had seen various blogs showing kids using whisks to hold hard boiled eggs for dyeing, so we gave that a try. In theory, it was a fabulous idea, and would have probably been perfect last year when the word "gently" meant a bit less to Jillian. But this year, she knows how to be gentle and the whisk wasn't perfect for keeping the eggs in the dye for a long period. Unless I bought a whisk for each color. Which I didn't.

All set up.

Getting started...

WOW!

Daddy did some fancy drawing with a crayon on one of the eggs.

Jilly tried to do that too...

Jessie was pretty content to sit in her high chair and watch.

And...the eggs!

Now I need to find a good recipe for deviled eggs...because last year's were *meh*.

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-16T21:47:00.003-04:00

Last weekend we went up to Hampstead for the big Easter Egg Hunt put on by my uncle's church. The weather was cold and questionable at best, but Jillian loves playgrounds and candy, so a great time was had!

Gymnastics

2011-04-13T13:48:00.001-04:00

I enrolled Jillian in a six week gymnastics class through Rec & Parks and her class ended last week. Yes, I have been a bit remiss with posting pictures. Because I didn't actually take any pictures of her in class until the last class...OOPS.

And they're not even good pictures, for the following reasons...
1) she moved too fast
2) the lighting in the gym is kind of awful for pictures
3) I had a wide awake baby to contend with

That being said, here are the ones worth sharing...I guess.

She always did great on the beam and bars, but sorry, no pics of those! She definitely expressed that she liked ballet better, but I really loved the discipline that she got in the gymnastics class. I'm hoping I can put her in another session this fall and see how she takes to it then!

Unseasonably Warm

2011-04-04T22:30:00.002-04:00

We seem to get a few "teaser" days every spring that get us all excited for warm weather, and today was one of those. I'm not sure how ~~hot~~ warm it got today, but it was definitely in the 80's. We took a little trip over to the tire playground so Jilly could run off some energy.

Jessie was around too, enjoying a Baby Mum-Mum 'cookie'. How we didn't have these when Jillian was a baby is amazing, but they are GREAT!

It's Good to Play

2011-04-04T22:24:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, we stayed in. We did lots of playing. I love watching how Jillian's imagination works as she plays!

And Jessie is getting into playing too! She still loves books...

And now she's sitting up unassisted! This ball totally excited her!!

Mom Brain...A Funny Story

2011-04-03T10:57:00.000-04:00

Last night Jessie slept great! Like, through-the-night great. And I woke up feeling all refreshed and awesome. I got up early with her, around 6:45am, and got her ready for church. Then I got me ready. Then I helped Jillian get ready. We had a light breakfast and walked out the door on time.

When I got to church, I noticed some paint on my jeans. You know, pink spray paint from the race car bed reinvention. And I wondered why I painted in my good jeans, since I only have two pairs that fit me. That was the end of that pondering. After church, we ran into Target for a couple things, and while walking back to the car, I felt a breeze. It was at this point that I realized that I was wearing my OLD jeans (and I was smart enough to paint in OLD jeans). These old jeans have a nice hole in the crotch area too. Awesome....

It's That Time Again!

2011-04-01T22:01:00.003-04:00

Year after year, Jillian has loved visiting with the Easter bunny. We make several trips during the Lenten season to the mall so Jilly can just hug him and hang out. Because she just LOVES that big bunny!

Over the years...

2009

2010

2011

It was tough to get a decent picture of both girls, especially given Jessica's temperament...

But each girls' individual pictures turned out pretty good!

Afternoon Play Time

2011-03-29T21:03:00.007-04:00

I've been trying awfully hard to get us on some kind of schedule around here. One of the things that we've been doing is having a good hour of play time, all together, usually in Jessica's bedroom, after quiet time (formerly known as nap time...).

It's worked out well. Yesterday, Jillian was 'reading' books to Jessica. Jessica just flips out for books. We got these two puppet books for Christmas - one is called "Do You Wear Diapers?" and asks all kinds of animals if they wear diapers...to which they reply "No, I don't wear diapers. I poop in the [jungle, forest, rain forest, etc., depending on the animal]." Jilly was reading this to Jessica and got to the cat page. I got it on video - it was priceless. I translate her toddler-ese at the end if you don't understand all of what she's saying.

Here's Jessica showing off that book...and a hat I found in one of our many boxes of little girl clothes.

Today I got out the "real" camera and took some pictures during play time. Jessica is getting pretty good at sitting up unassisted. She still needs a little support, but doesn't have any problems staying upright with just the Boppy to lean against.

And she wishes she could crawl. So do we...
Trying...

Frustrated!

Really, Mom?

I'm SO done with this.

Jillian was taking a bubble bath today during play time. She took it upon herself to get out when she was done, drip water all over the bathroom floor, get a towel out of the closet herself, and join us. *sigh* She also made some funny faces for the camera.

I do so love to see the girls playing together, though.

Updated Look

2011-03-27T14:53:00.002-04:00

Some of you may remember when we got this last May...

Yesterday, we picked up some spray paint and I gave the race car bed an updated look. Now it looks like a Barbie (or Princess, or whatever girly thing she likes that day...) bed!

Great Minds Think Alike!

2011-03-23T16:44:00.002-04:00

Cow Diapers...modeled by Jessica & Henry

Astronauts...modeled by Jillian and Jack (though Jillian is getting a tad tall for hers...)

Tanks...modeled by Emily & me (thanks for the picture, Brenna...finally getting around to posting it!)

Kitchen Day

2011-03-22T21:16:00.003-04:00

Today was a kitchen day. Dishes were washed, the dishwasher was run, bread was baked, cupcakes were made, and I even threw together some chili for dinner. Phew! Jillian joined me to help with the cupcakes. She's getting to be a pretty good helper.

She adds the ingredients...

...tastes...

...tastes...

...and tastes some more.

We had some leftover blue cream cheese icing from the cake a week or so ago. Today's "lesson" was color mixing. We added some red food coloring to the blue icing and made purple!

And Jessica was pretty content to hang out in the kitchen while we worked!

Ballet

2011-03-21T22:14:00.002-04:00

I signed Jillian up for her first ballet class through Howard County Rec & Parks. The class was called "Ballet and Fairytales". Each class had music and a theme from a Disney fairytale. This week was the last class, and the theme was "Snow White".

Here's Jillian before her last class.

Learning 1st position.

At the end of each class, there is a small obstacle course (for lack of knowing how else to describe it), where each girl individually goes through and follows a set of instructions...walk around this, hop around this, skip around this, etc. Today it was a series of jumps and then leaps over the apples. Here's Jillian post-leap.

And last, Jillian looking on as her classmates finish up.

I think she really enjoyed the class, and from observing her, I can tell she got much better at following instructions and being a part of the class, rather than playing and doing her own thing!

Spring Cleaning

2011-03-20T22:22:00.001-04:00

I've never been much into 'actual' spring cleaning. But I'm starting to feel the need to organize. We pared down some things last year when prepping for the baby, but I still feel like we have TOO MUCH STUFF. Still. So what did I do? I made a list. And what a list it is!

In my free time (hahahahaha!), I've been chipping away at the list. I've started cleaning out the garden area, and we're expanding it from last year's. I helped John hang the gutter that got just about torn off with the snow and wind this winter. I cleaned, and I mean CLEANED, the bathroom in our basement. I'm starting to work in the ~~cat~~ laundry room; sewed and hung curtains yesterday. The list is daunting.... But I can't wait to get these projects done!!

And I've been knitting at night after the kids are in bed. By the time I finish the scarf I'm making for me, it'll definitely be too warm to wear it. I'm working on Mother's Day presents now, too.

Jessica is eating Cheerios. And LOVES them!!

Jillian has her last ballet class tomorrow. She has really enjoyed the class. She started gymnastics two weeks ago, and does best on the balance beam and bars. I can tell she has a hard time taking firm direction from her coach, but I think it's really good for her. I hope she ends up liking it!

That's what's going on around here. We haven't had too much exciting stuff going on, just trying to stay sane and stay on some semblance of a schedule. Oh yeah, and I can't wait for warmer weather to show up and stick around.

Pictures next time...I promise!

Sleep Woes

2011-03-13T20:02:00.001-04:00

What to do with this three year old???

Jillian has been fighting naps for some time now, but I've often been able to get her to settle down for some afternoon sleep eventually. Over the past week or so, however, she just fights me and fights me. Most days she does fine with just some quiet time, to the tune of playing quietly in her room for about an hour. But after a couple days without naps, the cumulative lack of rest catches up with her and bedtime becomes the BIGGEST.FIGHT.EVER. I'd let her just cry it out in her room, except that her room is right next to Jessica's and is not soundproof.

It's classic stalling technique: wanting one more toy from downstairs, one more hug and kiss from daddy, blah, blah, blah. And we're SO over it. As I type this, she's been punished to the basement and is crying and crying. She isn't allowed to come back upstairs until she settles down.

Jillian being three, we have several disciplinary issues right now to deal with, and I've been wanting to put together a reward system. Something visual. Much like the poster we did for potty training, though simpler. That visual seemed really make a difference in that process for her. So I've been trying to figure out what to reward...and now I'm thinking it will be bedtime. Maybe a star chart for going to bed nicely and staying in bed? Each night she goes to bed well she earns a star and after "x" stars (maybe 14 for two weeks?) she gets a special reward. She has been wanting a pink bedroom...maybe the reward could be painting her room pink? She's also been asking for a new bed and we have a full size bed in storage...we could reward her with that bed, but not until she learns how to go to bed nicely? (Of course, that would mean we have to buy a mattress...)

Anyone else out there having bedtime fights? Help help help!!!

Rainy Day Cake

2011-03-10T21:17:00.003-05:00

No, I've never heard of one either. But since it was rainy today, and Jillian wanted to make a birthday cake but it's no one's birthday around here, we made a rainy day cake. A chocolate cake with blue cream cheese icing and sprinkles.

On an unrelated note, Jessica has had some tummy troubles today. Her naps have been messed up and she's been on and off pretty cranky. So I tried a binkie again tonight. She has NEVER taken to it, but this evening it seemed to help soothe her, and at least she gave it a chance! I may regret this in two years, but for now, anything that helps her stay asleep is a winner in my book!

Six Months, Second Time Around

2011-03-06T21:47:00.004-05:00

Jessica is six months old! Where does the time go? You can go here to see Jillian at six months. Clearly, Jessie is a bigger baby, but both had their two bottom teeth! Try as I may, I couldn't get Jessie to smile for a picture today.

And just for kicks...Jilly sacked out AGAIN tonight while I was putting Jessica to bed. I could get used to her going down this early...and this easily!

A Break

2011-03-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I got a break. My mom came down and watched the girls for a few hours. This is not that out of the ordinary, but what I did was. Instead of my usual pack-ten-errands-into-three hours mentality, I slowed down. I still ran a couple errands. I went to the library, and actually looked at the books I checked out, instead of just grabbing the first three within arms reach as I'm running after an unruly toddler. I walked around Lake Elkhorn, without a stroller, and even stopped to take pictures of some birds along the way without a baby crying at me to get moving again. I made a quick stop into the dollar store and the liquor store. I even went to Starbucks for a coffee...and sat down and actually drank part of it at Starbucks before heading home. I hate to sound so complain-y, and I love my girls dearly, but it sure was nice to have some time to myself without feeling like I have to get my entire to-do list for the week done during my "me time"! Thanks mom!!!

It's Been...Interesting

2011-02-24T13:41:00.006-05:00

I feel like I've been sort of MIA in the blogging world lately. Jessica is a bit of a needier baby than Jillian was. And I am having a heck of a time adjusting to it. The past few weeks have made it even tougher. John got sick, then Jillian, then Jessica, then me (to a lesser extent thank goodness). Along with being sick, Jessica cut two front teeth and has a third that will probably be in within a week. What does that mean for me? It means that I have a baby that doesn't want to be put down. EVER. Not even to sleep in her crib. Fortunately(?) her high pitched, make your ears ring scream is dulled somewhat by her congestion, but even still, stuff needs to get done around here and the constant low whining/crying that she does when left to her own devices is irritating. And from the baby that used to sleep well at night, getting up every hour and a half and not wanting to go back to sleep unless attached to mommy is getting OLD. Smothering really. Add to that a toddler that demands attention and doesn't listen especially well, well, you get the picture. Most nights I'm frustrated and pulling my hair out. And just want the kids to go to bed and leave me alone for a couple hours. Anyway. It does seem like Jessica is finally getting on good terms with nap(s) and when I can put her down in the morning IN HER CRIB, Jillian gets some one-on-one mommy time. That helps a little. But really, I'm pretty over being SO needed. Being needed a little = self esteem boost. Being needed constantly = wanting to run away from home.

Anyway, enough venting already. If you've wondered why I haven't been blogging as much, though, there you have it. I'm mostly brain dead and exhausted and when I get a little time to myself, I sit down with a glass of wine, and not the computer. And I work on this. I'm finally making myself a scarf and hopefully it will be done before the warm weather arrives for good.

Speaking of warm weather, last week when we had our heat wave, I took the girls to the park to walk. I must admit that it felt darn good to get some walking in.

Jillian didn't much feel like smiling for the camera, or for me, but she did crack a little smile when we saw this (look hard through the trees). Patapsco is about the only park where we walk most of the time because of the choo-choo factor.

Jessica is just about big enough to wear in the Ergo.

The Daytona 500 was this past weekend. We didn't follow NASCAR much last year, but with the new HD tv, I must say that we will be watching considerably more this year. What a HUGE difference. We even got Jillian in on it this year by setting up a track for her to play with during the race.

Jillian got to spend the night at her cousin's house last night. Before she left yesterday, we did some playing in her room while Jessica napped and I folded laundry. When I was a kid, I had some prisms that hung in my bedroom and cast rainbows all around the room when it was sunny. I found two of them the other day and hung them in Jilly's room. She thinks the rainbows are really neat! You can see some of them on her Toy Story picture that daddy painted. She also loves Toy Story. I no longer do. In fact, it's possible that I can't STAND Toy Story at this point.

Though a funny story did come out of this play time. Jillian likes to narrate the action for me when I'm around while she plays. Overheard yesterday, "Bullseye peepee in Jessie's hat, and Jessie doesn't like it". Really???

And They're In

2011-02-17T21:11:00.002-05:00

Say bye-bye to that gummy smile!

And hello teeth!

Yoplait Kids Giveaway: Updated

2011-02-17T20:54:00.004-05:00

WINNER: Commenter #2, Katrina! Congratulations!!

I have struggled to find decent snack food for my toddler that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Jillian isn't just a picky eater. She's a fickle eater. One day she likes something I give her, the next she won't have a thing to do with it. Very frustrating! So when I had a chance to try out Yoplait Kids (courtesy of Yoplait through MyBlogSpark), I jumped on it.

Jillian is weird about yogurt. She doesn't like the texture and consistency of the Greek style yogurts that I like, and she loves the flavors of the not-so-great-for-her other yogurts out there. And I don't love giving her foods with aspartame in as a sweetener. Yuck.

Yoplait Kids has an excellent source of both calcium and vitamin D, a good source of protein and the delicious taste kids demand. It also contains 25% less sugar than the leading kids’ yogurt, and has no high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners. Yoplait Kids yogurt is a snack you can feel confident about serving to your kids!

With tasty flavor options, as well as calcium, vitamin D and protein to help build strong bones, Yoplait Kids yogurt is sure to be popular with parents and kids alike. A great value at just $2.00 for a pack of four, this yogurt comes in three delicious flavors, including Strawberry, Strawberry Banana and Vanilla. Kids will love finding their favorite friends, like Dora the Explorer, Lightning McQueen from the hit movie “Cars” and the Disney Princesses, on every cup.

Want to win the prize pack? You will receive a coupon for any variety of the Yoplait Kids yogurt products, along with a Yoplait Kids prize pack. Perfect for accompanying this fun everyday snack, the Yoplait Kids prize pack includes a coupon for Yoplait Kids yogurt, a foldable travel cooler (to take your yogurt on-the-go), a cool four-piece spoon set, a power magnet picture frame, trendy alphabet-shaped “Kiddie Bands”, a great big bounce ball, and a “My First Scavenger Hunt” card game for some after-snack fun.

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment telling me what your favorite (or your little one's favorite) snack food is! A random integer generator will be used to choose the contest winner Monday night (2/21) at 8pm (Eastern time), so get your comments in!

*Disclosure: the coupon, prize pack, information and giveaway were all provided by Yoplait through MyBlogSpark.*

*This coupon offer for a free four pack of Yoplait Kids yogurt is not valid in some states, including California, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota and Tennessee.

Teeth!

2011-02-16T21:45:00.004-05:00

Jessica just cut her two bottom teeth! In the same night! And I wondered why she kept waking up last night.... Add that to the cold we've been passing around here, and it's been quite a week. John got sick last Tuesday, Jilly started feeling bad Wednesday/Thursday-ish, Jessica followed a day or so later. Now I'm trying keep it from totally knocking me out of commission. Our once full week got cleared quickly and we've been laying low and trying to kick the cruddies.

No teeth pictures yet, but here is what we've been up to. Besides being sick.

Jillian was playing and Jessica was watching from her horsie the other morning. Jessica just LOVES watching Jilly play. Which is awesome for me! I was in the kitchen and looked out to see this...apparently Jilly is getting Princess Jessie started early with dress up.

This is a pretty Jessica-centric post, since despite being sick, Jillian spent a couple nights at my mom's house over the weekend. So Jessie and I got some mommy/baby time in. Which included lots of playing and smiles.

Gummy smiles - not for long though!

I bought Jessica a new rattle. It's been tons of fun. I love the concentration!

Looking through the rattle. At a cute baby and an explosion of baby toys/gear in the background. *sigh*

Jessie loves the jumper and especially this frog and mirror. Captivating.

Jillian started feeling better Sunday evening, and we had a couple things to pick up yesterday. We slipped into CVS and they had some fun stuff on their sale table. Including a bag of party blowers (is that what they're called?) for $0.18. She has truly enjoyed them.

Up next...erupting teeth pictures and a giveaway!

Hookies

2011-02-09T21:52:00.003-05:00

That's what Jillian calls horsies, "hookies". And she loves them. We got her a bouncy, rocking horsie for her first birthday. She has played with it ever since. And today we picked up a stick horse. She put it down for a nap when we got home. Complete with nightie, a 'pillow', and a teacup of 'water'.

I reattached the seat to the rocking horsie for Jessica. And she had a BLAST!

And Jillian didn't feel like posing with her hookie, since it was napping, of course.

Girly Fun

2011-02-07T20:00:00.002-05:00

Jillian had her second ballet class today! It was so cute to watch, but I had a tough time getting any pictures of her (at least with her facing the camera!). Here she is all excited before class started, though.

Then we came home and this afternoon Jillian discovered my jewelry box. She was very cute trying on necklaces, bracelets, and rings.

Jessie was getting cranky on the bed while Jilly modeled jewelry and I folded laundry, so the sweet big sister came and cheered her up.

Not a bad Monday!!!

In Need of New Post Titles

2011-02-06T22:21:00.005-05:00

Seriously. What it really means, is that I've been lame and not been posting regularly. Because titles like "catching up" and "randomness", I've already used. Hello, inconsistent blogging.

Oh well.

This is the month of birthday parties. Since all of our moms group babies were born around the same time, it means that there are birthday parties a-plenty.

Jocelyn had a pool party - and I took both girls. This was Jessica's first exposure to the water (other than baths and showers, of course). And she really loved it!! Thanks for the pictures, Denise!

Cloth diapers are addictive. Really. I picked up two consigned Happy Heinys diapers at Greenberries the other day. One was cow print and one was monkey print. How is this not adorable???

To completely jump around, Brenna had the coolest thing at Amedeo's birthday party today. It was a balloon hanging from the ceiling, and a paper plate paddle with which to hit said balloon. Jilly loved it and I totally had to make her share with other kids several times during the party. And we got one to take home as a favor!!! Here's Jilly playing with her new balloon toy after nap time!

Thanks for the balloon game idea, Brenna!!!

Jillian started ballet last Monday. I left during her first class to get a couple things done without her - yep, sign me up for the mom-of-the-year award now. Anyhow, I hope to have some pics of her in ballet soon. I do plan on sticking around for her class tomorrow!

Photo Shoot

2011-01-31T14:15:00.004-05:00

I felt obligated to do a little home photo shoot of Jessica in her baptism dress, since I remember taking pictures of Jillian in hers the day or so after her baptism. Jessie was very cooperative!

And if you wanted to see the ones I took of Jillian almost three years ago...here they are! Jillian didn't sit up quite as well, but then again, she was only about two and a half months old, where Jessie is almost five months old now.

Jillian, of course, wouldn't be left out of today's pictures. She insisted on donning the dress she wore yesterday and have her picture taken too.

And, I have to include one of these, lest you think I have a cooperative toddler.

Free Portraits

2011-01-28T21:12:00.002-05:00

When we had our Christmas pictures taken at Target, they signed me up for some program. You know the kind...you buy it for $10, but save about the same amount that day, and get coupons, etc. in the future, blah, blah, blah. One of the perks was a $50 certificate for portraits at a future visit.

Last week we went in to get pictures taken for Jillian's third birthday, and Jessica's first solo pictures.

I must say that for the price, Target does a great job. And these were the best, since I had a coupon for $3.99 portrait sheets. All our portraits were FREE with the certificate. What a deal!!!

Winter = Snow

2011-01-28T21:00:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year again. Snow time. And while I do enjoy the white stuff, I feel like we got enough last year to last us for a while. So now that we've had a decent snow, like eight or ten inches (however much actually fell...), I'm ready for some warmer weather.

This snow was a pretty one, but geesh was it ever heavy to shovel!!

I didn't take many pictures of Jillian playing yesterday, because I was, well, shoveling. But today we went out while Jessica napped in her crib (HOORAY!) and I got a few pics of Jilly playing.

After yesterday's ~~shoveling~~ snow play, the girls played on their matching but not matching blankets.

And Jillian modeled her new ballet shoes, that we picked up for the class she's starting on Monday!!

Lazy Sunday

2011-01-23T20:48:00.005-05:00

Well, not totally lazy. We did get up early and the girls and I went to church. Then to Target. Daddy had cooked breakfast and it was just about ready when we got home - sausage gravy and biscuits. YUM.

Then we lazed around and played for the rest of the day. And napped. Ahhhh.

There was some dressing up...

...and some playing with babies...

...and some puzzle time.

Jessie did some playing with her baby gym.

And I played with them. Jillian no longer wants to take pictures with me. But Jessie does!

Sleepover and Other Stuff

2011-01-22T10:40:00.001-05:00

Thursday night Jillian had her first sleepover! We went and picked up her cousin Mariah in the afternoon and brought her back to our place for the night. As soon as we got home the girls played dress up, watched the ballet movie, and did a lot of jumping around. After dinner, a couple of movies were watched, the jumping ceased (I insisted that the floor needed to rest), and the girls were winding down by around 8pm. A little after 9pm, we headed upstairs for bedtime. Mariah is older than Jillian, by a year and a couple months, so I had to leave the bedroom door *gasp* not gated. Mariah is also a good girl, very sweet, and a great listener. She was ready to go right to sleep! Well, after Jillian got up and out of bed three or four times, she too settled down and the girls slept through the night. Jillian is now sleeping baby-gate free on her own and staying in her room. I heart good examples!!

They had a fabulous time, and I now get the appeal of having a gaggle of kids. At some point, they're going to pair off or group off and play together. You might have to intervene, but groups of kids are more self-entertaining than individuals. And Jillian is pretty good at entertaining herself, but since the baby arrived, I get a lot of, "Mommy, I want doo (juice)", or "Mommy, come wipe myself", or "Mommy, I want watch Toy Stowy wee (three)". I mean, A LOT. So much so that it's not even feasible for me to strap the baby on and try to accomplish anything most days.

Yesterday, while Jilly and her cousin played, I was able to put Jessie in the wrap, cook chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast (with extra batter made for this morning's pancakes), wash dishes, run a dishwasher load, make three kinds of baby food, wash, dry, and fold a load of laundry, put Jessica down for an actual morning nap in her crib, get a shower, and blow dry my hair. Wow is all I can say. The girls definitely left quite a mess in their wake (I cleaned up after bedtime Thursday night, but they helped me clean up before Mariah got picked up yesterday), but having some uninterrupted time to get stuff done made the mess SO worth it!

I didn't take many pictures of the girls, but here they are playing dress up.

And the other stuff...
1. I need a new toothbrush. I put my toothbrush under the faucet yesterday morning, turned the water on, and out dropped a stink bug. Right onto my tooth brush. EW!
2. 2011 is the year of simplifying for me. I keep thinking of stuff to get rid of...I feel like the less extraneous stuff we have, the simpler life will feel. The purge began a couple weeks ago when I took two contractor trash bags full of women's and baby girl clothing to Salvation Army. FULL.
3. I'm making baby food this time around. I had every intention of doing it with Jillian, but just never got to it. So this I am getting around to it. And it's a good thing, because Jessica likes to eat!
4. I learned never to cut your child's hair the day before pictures. Luckily, Jillian's hair has a bit of a wave at the end, so it's not too noticeable, but I did a bad job. Also, I always put her hair in pig tails for pictures, so it doesn't look so ratty. I don't think it shows up, but I probably won't try that again...
5. Jessica is a high maintenance baby. Where Jillian used to play alone and entertain herself from day one, Jessica does not. She demands (and I mean DEMANDS. LOUDLY.) almost constant attention, and usually wants to be held. On top of that she's teething. I'm trying to enjoy it, thinking that this will likely be the last baby we have, but it can be frustrating sometimes.
6. And there was some other randomness I thought of to share, but honestly, I can't remember any more of it right now. Go figure...

Baby Stats

2011-01-16T11:59:00.003-05:00

Jessica had her four month doctor appointment on Friday.

She is definitely, without question, bigger than Jillian was.
Length: 24-3/4 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 11 pounds, 15.5 ounces (23rd percentile)

Being the bad mom that I am, I can't find Jillian's comparative stats for that age. But here's quite a comparison - Jillian at NINE months:
Length: 26-1/2 inches (15th percentile)
Weight: 15 pounds, 4 ounces (10th percentile)

Jessica's weight isn't on a totally different track from Jillian's, but she definitely eats more than Jilly did. But check out that length! I can barely keep her in clothes. So much for her wearing all of Jillian's old stuff. Jilly's six month clothing was ALL summer. And Jessica is already in six month clothes because of her length. Geesh!!

She can already touch the floor and stand up when in the lowest setting in the jumper!

The Party

2011-01-15T23:43:00.005-05:00

Jillian's 3rd birthday party was a success. Thanks TONS to Dara of Glenn's Gifts and Goodies for making a fabulous Barbie cake!

Here are some pictures from Jilly's special day...

On or About January 15th

2011-01-15T19:36:00.006-05:00

January 15, 2008

January 17, 2009

January 16, 2010

January 15, 2011

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jillian!

I can't believe you're three years old already. You are a strong willed and very independent little girl. You love playing dress up and are totally into Barbies and princesses. And you can't wait to start your first ballet class in a couple weeks. I love that you still want to go to the park, play outside, and enjoy your dinosaur toys (T-Rex is your favorite) as much as your girly stuff. You potty trained quickly this fall and do a great job using the potty, both at home and when we're out. You have inherited a love a movies from your mom and dad and over and over watch your favorites...the Toy Story movies, A Christmas Carol, the Harry Potter movies, Iron Man, Iron Giant, and all of the Tim Burton movies that we have. When you find a book you love, I find myself renewing it repeatedly from the library, because you want to read it again and again. Your favorite food by far is chocolate cookies, especially "big chocolate cookies". I love that you enjoy spending time with all of your grandparents and they all look forward to having you visit. Despite your fiesty-ness, you love your baby sister and are sweet and gentle with her. I can't wait to see how you enjoy taking different classes this year...we already have you signed up for ballet and gymnastics. You are a handful, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Science Fun

2011-01-14T21:44:00.001-05:00

Every so often we get a delivery from Omaha Steaks (thanks, Mom!). And with our cooler of meat, there is an accompanying bag of dry ice. ~~Daddy~~ Jillian loves playing with dry ice.

More Snow

2011-01-13T23:46:00.001-05:00

We did a bit of shopping this morning, and as soon as we pulled up at the house, Jillian wanted to play in the snow some more. It was a challenge getting her in the house so I could feed Jessica, and get us all bundled up to play outside for a while, but we managed.

Jillian didn't get as much outside time today, since it was windy and I was wearing Jessica, but fun was still had.

And of course I had to try and get a decent picture of me wearing Jessica. Not sure why that's so hard to do, but it's near impossible to get her to look at the camera when I'm not in front of her!

SNOW!

2011-01-12T22:03:00.003-05:00

It snowed last night. Not tons, but just enough for a little girl to play in. I wasn't sure exactly how to manage with a four month old too, but by a strange twist of events, John was home most of the day today, so he played with Jillian for the most part outside, and I merely made an appearance to take some pictures.

After Jillian came in, warmed up, and had some hot cocoa, I found myself taking pictures of a happy (for a change...) baby. And Jillian wanted in on that action. Of course.

Soon enough, those cute little gums will have teeth poking through. Sooner rather than later, I hope, for all of our sakes...

I think this would have been the best picture, but Jillian moved. Shocker.

Both girls happy.

Silly girls!

Jump Zone

2011-01-05T13:50:00.002-05:00

This morning we joined a friend at Jump Zone, one of those indoor, inflatable playground places. Turns out it's just up the street from our house! Jillian took a little while to warm up to it, since adults aren't allowed on the inflatables, but once she figured them all out, she was a maniac!

And through it all, Jessica enjoyed riding in the Moby wrap. Now that she's got enough head control to ride along facing out, she is a happy girl! She did stay awake for most of the morning, but eventually tuckered out...

Lame

2011-01-04T22:39:00.008-05:00

I have been pretty far behind on the ole blog here. So this is a catch-up post.

Jillian likes having tea parties. She got a tea cart from her Bubby and Paw-paw for Christmas. She also likes not wearing pants. I wonder where she got THAT from...

Gus the cat likes the walker. He's weird.

Christmas morning was very exciting. Santa brought Jillian a doll house, Toy Story 3, and a Barbie. Jessica got a glow-worm type sea horse and the taggie blanket I made for her.

We have officially entered the Barbie phase of Jilly's childhood. Add that to tea parties, princesses, and dress up, and we have one girly girl. Thank goodness she still likes dinosaurs, playing outside, and generally being a maniac.

Jessica is still a crankier baby than Jillian was, but she spends more and more time happy. Too bad about that teething thing...grrrr! We resurrected the jumper from storage and she enjoys spending time in it. And I couldn't just get one thing out of storage. I grabbed Jilly's sit-n-spin and she's big enough to really enjoy it now!

A couple weeks ago, Jilly had an impromptu play date with one of the boys from church who is just a few weeks her senior. She and Luke are both wild kids, so they played just great together. We had Luke and his mom Sarah over to play this week. This picture says a lot.

And here's little miss princess-dress-up-Barbie-lover herself.

Welcome 2011!

2011-01-03T14:47:00.009-05:00

I've seen a couple "top ten of 2010" posts and, though belatedly, am totally copying and doing one. So here's our top ten of 2010 (in no particular order)...

1. Knitting.
I re-learned to knit in 2010. After finding myself on "restricted duty" during the pregnancy, I needed something I could do while sitting down that didn't require as much focusing as reading a book would. My grandmother taught me to knit years and years ago, and I tried on my own with a few failed attempts over the years. This time, though, it stuck! I even made some Christmas presents:

2. Preschool.
I signed Jillian up for a six week preschool class offered through Howard County Recreation and Parks. She did just great and it was nice to have a couple hours to myself two days each week!

3. Jessica.
On September 5th, we welcomed Jessica Lynn Tindale into this world. Another crappy labor and delivery experience for me, but we had plenty of complications with this pregnancy and were thrilled to see her arrive safe and sound!

4. Dress up.
Jillian has discovered the joy that is "dress up". I picked up 'costumes' for her at a thrift store during the Halloween season and she now has a dress up box, stocked with all kinds of great outfits! She just LOVES dressing up and being a princess!

5. Tough times.
John was self employed through much of 2010. While business wasn't too hard to come by, customers were slow to pay and we had some real financial struggles. Finding good and affordable health insurance on our own being one of those. We did a lot of cutting back and made it through. John continues to do some work with his own business on the side, but in the fall accepted a full-time job and even did some part-time teaching at night to help us get back on our feet.

6. Bed rest.
Thank goodness the actual bed rest lasted for only a week, but the pregnancy with Jessica was an eventful one. A good part of it was spent on "light duty" for me, with a couple trips to the hospital including a two-night stay in May. And though I felt pretty good most of the time, it was tough to cut back on doing as many physical things as I like to. Luckily the summer was one of the hottest on record and I was pretty happy to be indoors for most of it.

7. Support.
We got tons of support during the pregnancy and after baby Jessica was born. I've never been very good at asking for help, and accepting help, but my friends, family, moms group pals, and church family pitched in to help get us through the pregnancy and those first six weeks of having two kids while John worked day and night. I am touched by how much support we received and tremendously grateful for all of it!

8. The beach.
Jillian just loves going to the beach. And although we didn't have a big family vacation this summer, we did get in a few trips to Sandy Point State Park and a trip to Rehoboth Beach, DE.

9. Cloth diapers.
Jessica has some very sensitive skin. During her first few weeks, she developed and awful diaper rash that just wouldn't clear up. Knowing some folks that use cloth diapers, I did some asking around and was loaned some to try out on Jessica (thanks, Emily2!!). They worked out great, and even though that rash is long gone, I decided to continue cloth diapering.

10. Sisters.
Jillian is quite excited to have a baby sister. She hasn't totally adjusted to not being the "only" anymore, but is really very nice to Jessica. Being an only child myself, I look forward to seeing them grow closer and playing together as they get older. Here it is already January, Jillian is less than two weeks shy of three years old and Jessica is just about four months old!

Happy New Year all!!!

"I Cow!"

2010-12-23T19:20:00.001-05:00

Since falling in love with the Toy Story series, Jillian picked a favorite character. Jessie from Toy Story 2. And Jessie is a cowgirl. Jillian loves to dress up and try on her hats. And any hat is a cowboy/cowgirl hat. Upon donning a hat, Jillian announces, "I cow!". Sometimes she'll put a hat on me and declare, "Mommy cow!". I will admit, I took it as a personal affront at first, then I understood. And it's pretty darn cute.

She sometimes does it while riding her hookie (horsie). She also rides our R2D2 shaped vacuum cleaner like a hookie. Yes, she can be a princess and a cow at the same time.

I Made a New Creation!

2010-12-18T22:52:00.003-05:00

I was searching for the perfect EASY pattern to whip up a scarflet or two for last minute Christmas gifts. And I just couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. So I took some elements from a couple different patterns, improvised some details, and made my own!

Quick & Easy Keyhole Scarflet

Stitch Explanation:
M1 (make 1) - An increase worked by lifting the horizontal thread lying between the needles and placing it onto left needle. Knit this new stitch through the back.
Sl: slip stitch knitwise (each row in this pattern will begin with a slipped stitch)
K2tog: knit two stitches together
Garter st: knit all stitches (both right and wrong side)

SCARF
Cast on 3 sts.
Row 1: Sl first st, k to end of row (right side row)
Row 2: Sl first st, M1, k to end of row (wrong side row)
Rep last 2 rows until there are 26 sts total on your needle.
Work in Garter st for two rows, always slipping the first stitch.

Divide stitches for slit:
Sl first st, knit the next 12 stitches.
Place remaining 13 stitches on stitch holder.
Turn work and continue Garter st on these stitches only for 4” (continue to Sl the first stitch of each row), ending with a right side row. Cut yarn and place sts on second stitch holder.
Slide sts from first stitch holder back to needle and rejoin yarn to right side. Continue in Garter st (slipping the first st) for 4”. On wrong side row, sl first st, work in Garter st to end of row, slide sts from stitch holder onto left needle and continue in Garter st across – 26 sts. *You can increase until your desired width, just make sure it’s an even number of stitches so that they can divide evenly to create the keyhole slit.*

Continue in Garter st, always slipping the first st of each row, until scarf measures approx. 24” from beginning.

Begin decrease.
Row 1 (right side): Sl first st, k1, k2tog, k to end of row.
Row 2 (wrong side): Sl first st, k to end of row.
Continue in pattern until 3 sts remain on needle. End with a wrong side row, then bind off.

Painting Nails and Birdhouses

2010-12-08T21:39:00.005-05:00

Last night we got a 'real' babysitter for the girls. My mother-in-law usually watches them when we go out for a few hours in the evening, but she was coming down with something, so I reached out to someone from our church. We had been to Walmart in the morning and I saw some teeny, tiny bottles of nail polish in a bunch of different colors. For under $1 each. Score. I let Jillian pick out a color. And Cierra (her babysitter) painted them for her last night while I saw the new Harry Potter movie (and John got stuck working). The outing was a success, Jillian had a great time, and the baby was asleep when I got home! Here are the awesome fingernails!

Today we went to Joann and Jillian found these little $1 birdhouses. I let her pick one out to paint at home. Clearly it won't be an outside birdhouse, but what a cool idea for Christmas gifts for grandparents! We may still do more yet...

Jessica is learning how her hands work, and how to use them to get things into her mouth. Like her bug.

And lastly, I made Jessie's Christmas present today! It's a 12"x12" blanket inspired by the Taggies blankets. This was attempt #2, after a failed attempt #1 that Jillian seems to have become attached to.

My Girls

2010-12-07T23:14:00.003-05:00

Jessie is finally learning how to use those hands...

And despite there being some question about her eye color a few weeks back, she is clearly another brown-eyed girl.

Jillian with some tootsie roll smudges on her cheek:

And the girls are playing together! I think Jilly likes having Jessie in the walker (sans wheels). It gives her a good way for her to show things to her little sister. And for little sister to be able to look at and grab for those things. Here Jilly is showing Jessica the Mary and Joseph figurines from our Nativity.

Peek-A-Boo!

2010-12-03T18:59:00.003-05:00

Jillian sees you! April 17, 2008

Jessie does too! Today!

Decorating the Tree

2010-11-30T22:03:00.003-05:00

I love how a lit up Christmas tree and some Christmas songs can brighten anyone's mood... Today I planned for us to put up the tree and decorate it this afternoon/evening after nap time. I had intended to put up the tree during naps and then let Jillian decorate it afterward. Well, I slept during nap time. So after nap, I dressed Jessie in her "Christmas tree decorating outfit" and got Jillian up. Jillian didn't want to wear her matching "decorating" outfit. I put her in it anyway. Sometimes, Mommy veto power rocks. Anyhow, I left her upstairs crying about it and came downstairs to assemble the tree. Jessica decided to spend some time shrieking in her swing. What a great start to our decorating...Jilly crying upstairs and Jessie crying downstairs. Awesome. I wasn't deterred, however, and put in a Christmas song CD, turned it up, and put the tree up. Jessica was instantly mesmerized by the lights...one crier silenced. As I was getting the nativity out, Jillian came downstairs. She loves playing with the nativity. She saw the tree. And bingo, crier #2 was happy again. And thus began today's decorating experience. *sigh*

And after we were done, I tried some self-timed portaits of me with the girls. The flash did some serious flashing. I don't know that I love any of them...though there are things about each one I like. Which is your favorite?
Attempt #1

Attempt #2

Attempt #3

Attempt #4

Attempt #5

Shopping

2010-11-29T23:43:00.001-05:00

I do believe that Christmas is my favorite holiday. Normally, I despise shopping, but for some reason, shopping for Christmas presents is really fun for me. I have found that this season can leave me a bit overwhelmed, so I've made a big effort for several years now to not have to go to the mall (or any major shopping venue) after Thanksgiving. Because I dislike crowds. Greatly.

Shopping for gifts has been easier for me since we cut back and only give gifts to our parents, our kids, and each other. And we aren't worrying about gifts for each other this year; we're probably going to pool what money we would have spent and splurge on a new tv. After picking up knitting again this year, I decided everyone would get scarves. Well, I didn't make them for everyone, but the ladies of our family will be getting handmade scarves. I picked gifts for the men of the family, and ordered one online before Thanksgiving. We've got Josh's main gifts and already too much stuff for Jillian (some of it will get put in her 'birthday' pile for January). And just like that, I feel like I'll be able to relax and enjoy the season a bit more!

So I'm curious...are you done your shopping? Have you started? Am I a total weirdo for hating to shop after Thanksgiving? Take the poll on the left hand side and weigh in!