Peter Pan

O.k., I know this is really bad, and as a parent you shouldn't let T.V. be part of the bedtime routine, but I just can't help myself. Little KK has fallen in love with the Disney movie Peter Pan. Every night she will come up to me and say, "Mommy, want watch Peter Pan!" How can you say no to that! Besides, she only watches for like 15-20 minutes and it calms her down. If you don't put Peter Pan on she is a nightmare to put to bed. She really likes her chosen routine.

On that note I have to ad another cute little quirk I discovered about KK's personality. Lately, she has been taking money or toys and lining them up side by side next to each other in a row. It is so cute and so methodical. It started out with coins, then the next day she grabbed plastic spoons and made like three rows of 6 spoons perfectly lined up. Today she lined up frogs next to each other. Maybe she got that engineer personality from her Daddy. ;-)

Tonight when we were having our family dinner, I told hubby that Aly's friends Nick and Kai were going to be going to Aly's preschool next year. Aly got excited because she really loves Nick. I had to burst her bubble by telling her Nick wouldn't be in her class. She started crying and said, "But I love him so much and I want him in my class." I had to explain to her that Nick would be in the 3 year old class and she would be in the 4 year old class. She said, "That's o.k. Mommy, I will just do the 3 year old class again with Nick." Anyway, she was sad to learn that she couldn't be in class with Nick. Hopefully, over time she will get used to it.

My new Saturn Outlook

Yes, we finally did it!!! After months and months of research and contemplation we finally went out and bought a 2007 Saturn Outlook. This car comfortably seats 8. I can even fit inbetween both carseats. I am excited to have a family car that we can bring family and friends in. Of course I am being completely anal and barely driving it. I want to keep it new and preserve that first tank of gas they gave me. We have put 166 miles on it in a week. 77 of those miles was coming home from the dealer. I have only driven it twice--part way home and one trip to the grocery store. Hubby has driven it 3 times--part way home, a trip to home depot and a trip to the hardware store. I prefer him to drive when we are together as a family so I don't have to have any "driving tips";-)

Here is a picture Aly took of me in front of the car. Pretty good job for a 4 year old with no camera skills.

Blackberry Pie

Remember all of those berries we picked from Summerfield Berry Farm the previous weekend? Well, we couldn't eat them all so hubby asked if I would make a balckberry pie. So, Friday afternoon I made a delicious pie. I was gone playing bunco Friday night and we didn't have any icecream so we didn't end up having the pie till Saturday night. Check out the girls eating their pie! Hmmmm deliciouso! Hubby even said it was the best pie he has ever eaten!!!!

Garden pictures

Here are a few pictures we took of the girls in the backyard. Isn't Ed's garden nice! I hope these pictures give you an idea of what a beautiful yard we have. We are hoping to try again tomorrow to take some more pictures of the girls as these didn't turn out as well as expected.

The Ups and Downs of Parenting

Well yesterday we were on an emotional high!!! KK peed in the toilet again and we were so excited. The rest of the day she tried quite a few more times but it didn't happen. That's o.k. though, at least now she is willing to sit on the toilet.

Last night she went to bed at 11:15 and woke up once at 3:00 a.m. and then got up at 6:30 for the day!!! I really could use some sleep. Where are those night time nanny nurses? Ha, ha, KK wouldn't go to anyone else at night anyway. I hope this stage passes soon as I am getting overwhelmingly tired.

Today I had to run to the grocery store and since little miss KK woke up so early she fell asleep on the way to the store. I wasn't able to wake her up so I decided to try out one of those carts with the infant seats. Guess what? She slept the entire shopping trip. It was soooo amazing. I felt so relaxed. Aly always behaves so it was nice for us to just walk down the aisles in peace and quiet. KK is usually screaming because she doesn't want to sit in the cart and just wants to be held. This always stresses me out so I usually end up forgetting half of the things I needed. So, it was nice to have a sense of peace for once!

To nap or not to nap, that is the question

Many of you probably remember me complaining about KK's sleeping issues. Well the past two days have posed a new dilemma. KK went to sleep Monday night at 10:00 p.m. She then woke up at 6:15 a.m. and had one nap from 2-4 p.m. I think I had went to sleep at 11:00 p.m. that night and KK woke me up at least once or twice during the night. So, I definately didn't get enough sleep.

Well, last night she went to bed at 9:30 p.m. Do you know what time she woke up? Can you believe she woke up at 5:30 a.m.? I totally tried to get her back to sleep but she wasn't having any of that. I think I went to bed around 10:30 and she woke me up twice last night. Yet another night of not enough sleep.

Personally, I think I like it better when she doesn't nap. Strange that a two year old only requires a total of 10 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. If she doesn't nap she typically sleeps from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. This gives me an opportunity to try and get in 8 hours of interrupted sleep but I find that much better than 7.

So what do you think? What would you prefer? A child that sleeps 8 hours at night and naps 2 hours during the day, or 10 hours at night and no nap? I bet you this girl will totally be a late night party girl when she is older, boy am I in for some trouble!

Mommy and Aly's best friends visit.

Just about a year ago Mommy's best friend Amy moved to Montana to be closer to her family. Amy's daughter Taylor was Aly's best friend. While their move broke our hearts we have kept in contact with them daily. We were lucky enough to have an overnight visit with them last January and yesterday we were able to see them the whole day.


Aly was soo happy to see Taylor and talked about it for days before her arrival. The morning of she got up at 7 a.m. and the first thing she did was ask when Taylor was coming over. Neither one of us could contain our excitement anymore so finally at 9 a.m. I called Amy begging her to come over. Apparently she was just out driving around with the kids killing time till she could come over. Within minutes of the call she was here and we were all very excited.


Amy and I share a special bond because we were pregnant with our second child at the same time. In fact, her son Timmy was born just 5 days before KK. So it has been so much fun to watch our children grow up and see their development. Taylor is 9 months younger than Aly and has really been the only "girlfriend" that Aly has made a special bond with.





Here they are together at last!








Here are Timmy and KK together. You know when they were born Timmy was 3 inches taller and 3 pounds heavier? He is still between 1-2 inches taller and a few pounds heavier but KK is really trying to catch up. ;-)





I just had to post this sleeping picture of Timmy. They were at our house from 9-3 and he had to take a break for a nap. Isn't he cute!


After they left we met them at the park at 5:30 to play for an hour before heading over to Round Table. Poor Amy doesn't have a Round Table in Montana so it is a must stop place when coming through here.


At Round Table my girls were not behaving. Aly got a time out in the corner. You know what was really funny. One of our friends daughter, Elizabeth came over to me and said, "You can't do that to her!" I thought it was soo cute that she was defending her friend.


We left Round Table at 8 and sadly said goodbye to our friends. Till next time. We will miss you deeply!

Berry Picking

I am a few days behind on my posts. With all of the company we have had and me not getting enough sleep I have been going right to bed after KK so I haven't had the energy to make a post. I am going to try to catch up today.


Sunday we went berry picking with Grandma and Grandpa T. We went to a local berry farm called Patrick's. Man are they expensive. Look at the little white bucket Aly has, it costs around 20-25 dollars to fill the bucket. It is actually cheaper to just go down to the fruit stand and buy one of their fresh made blackberry pies. I know, it is all about the experience. I am not sure who had more fun, the kids, or the grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa picked two buckets worth and grandpa really learned how to pick just the right berry. Here are some pics:





I call it, "Guardian of the bucket." Aly loved to carry the bucket around and KK was just as happy as can be picking berries and putting them into Aly's bucket.




KK loved just walking in between the aisles and trying to assert some freedom.




Here is a picture of Aly and Grandpa trying to find that big, sweet, delicious berry.



Here is Aly reaching up to pick a berry.



At the end of berry picking we went to a large grassy field to cool down. The girls played with some balls. Here, Aly is taking a rest. Can you see the berries on her face? She must have ate more than she picked!

Family Day

Today was a day filled with family and fun! Hubby's side of the family was here visiting which included his Dad, Step-mom, brother and wife, along with their six kids. We had a huge water balloon fight and a water gun fight as well. I escaped in the kitchen getting the meal prepared and let all of the fun stay outside;-) KK didn't really want to be outside getting wet so she stayed inside with me watching Dora so I could prepare the food.

It was a long exhausting day and I look forward to going to sleep. I think both of our children will be asleep by 10 tonight. KK normally has been staying up till 10:30-11 but I got her to sleep by 9:30 and hubby is working on Aly as we speak!

I forgot to tell you that Friday I was so lucky that I was able to run errands without the children. Their grandparents watched them for me and I got to jump in and out of my car at each place without unbuckling and re buckling seat belts. It felt so freeing. You know what was even more amazing? When I left I said good bye to KK and she waved her hand and said, "Bye, Bye, see you later." It felt so good to see her happy. Normally she cries and throws a fit when I leave.

If I have a chance tomorrow I will probably post some pictures we took in the yard of the girls. Hubby has the yard looking very nice with flowers in full bloom so we thought it would be the perfect time to put the girls in dresses and try to get some good shots. I think we only ended up with two or three. Hopefully we will have a chance to try and take pictures again while the garden is in full bloom.

Last batch of pics from the beach

There were just soo many of my favorite pictures from the beach that I had to post more. KK loved playing in the sand.






I think I told you in an earlier post that Aly loved playing with the seaweed and asked me to tie it to her waste so I just had to show you a pic of that.






Also, isn't the one of the guys playing playdoh with the kids cute?




KK loved jumping waves with Daddy.



The last picture is the one that made mommy so happy and so sad at the same time. A mini-milestone for Aly. Saturday night she decided she wanted to sleep upstairs with her buddy Nick and have a sleepover. (We slept downstairs in the basement which was only accessible from outside stairs). They have actually been asking to have a sleep over for the past couple of months but I wasn't ready to have her leave our house so this was a happy compromise!