Such Big Girls!

She begged and begged to get her ears pierced. I caved.
Look at this big girl. She can stand all by herself and push her stroller!

My baby girl has been sick this week. Fevering and snotty and not interested in sleeping well. Finally, she is sleeping in her bed tonight instead of her swing (thank goodness I kept that take-along!) So she is feeling better, and hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight and can go to work tomorrow.
Ellie has been totally obsessed with getting her ears pierced this week. I was shocked that she did, since she is terrified of needles. But she kept begging and begging to please get her ears pierced. So I finally took her last night. And she sat still as can be and got it done. She is so very proud of her sparkly pink flower earrings. And she looks so old with them on. She is so very diligent about reminding us to clean them. And of course, they go with her shiny pink headband.

Kailey has been pulling herself up on stuff and attempting to cruise around. She shoves her stroller forward and tries to follow it, but her feet are a bit slower. Sometimes she can step, othertimes, she just falls over.

We have had a fairly uneventful week this week, just cleaning up snot and puke and handing out tylenol and motrin. I did steal an idea from Jodi and updated my music player with my girls' favorite lullaby, baby of mine. All mommies have a special song for their kids, and that is mine. Also added a few song from the Sound of Music, which is one of Ellie's favorite movies.

Out of The Mouths of Little Girls

When I told her to have Daddy help her...
"Daddies are so much stronger than mommies. And they are so much skinnier."

When she accidently pinched her baby sister's fingers
"Aww, crap, that sucks, baby girl."

When I told her to quit messing around...
"Mommy, I'm not messing around, I'm just taking my time."

When she had to help pick up her room...
"Are we just going to clean until we die?"

When I thanked her for helping out Kailey...
"I'm the best big sister ever, right Mom? And you are not."

When I tried to recomb her ratty hair...
"Will you quit jacking with my curls!"

When I'd had it and yelled at her go do something...
"When I'm the mom, I'm not going to boss small childs around all day"

I always wanted a sweet, kind little girl. I guess the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree :)

Just Some Cuteness...

I'm smiling so big...
For my very own paparazzi...

I'm getting lazy with my blogging lately. We have this fancy new camera, and I don't know how to download the pics to my computer yet. Ok, thats just another excuse. I'm too lazy to learn. I mean why bother when you live with a computer nerd who will do it for you? (I, of course, say that with utmost love.)

Very busy week this week, and not really much new to write. My baby turned 8 months old on Valentine's day. She is standing up by herself now. She can crawl all over, anywhere she wants. And if she can't get it, her big sister will haul her over to whatever she wants. The child has life by the tail. She refuses to eat baby food. She is entirely too good for such things as mashed carrots. She must have bits of real food, or she just throws a hissy fit.

Ellie discovered she liked guacamole this week. I about fell over. I mean, that doesn't go well with PB &J or chicken nuggets, now does it? We also discovered that she has an ever so slightly loose tooth. I mean, we're talking months before this sucker comes out. However, she is now sure she can't possibly go to school with a loose tooth, and, oh my lord, there could be BLOOD when it falls out? What ever shall she do??

Our Fabulous Find

Ok, so I will admit, there has been an obsession going on at my house late last week into early this week. It cut a bit into everything we do. You know, like housekeeping, parenting, working, etc. A website called Last Minute Travel has been running this promo that you can book a hotel for 7 nights for one dollar a night. The catch is, it is only 15 minutes a day, in whatever incriments they choose. And you never know when this will occur. So, Matt and I have been completely obsessed with getting a free room at Disney World (our fav vacation destination.) We have been up all night, all hours of the day, stalking this website. Last friday we had it in our grasps, and then the computer rebooted. I was so upset. Matt, however was absolutly determined. So on we pursued. Then, on Tuesday, when I was at work, he managed to get it. 7 nights free at Disney world. In the hotel Ellie wanted originally. We already had a pretty good package booked, but if we would pay rack rate, we are saving over $800. And, disney is running this promo this year where, for your birthday, you get free park admission or the equivilent in a gift card to spend at the park. Since we we will have multi day tickets, we will get the gift card. And since Ellie and I have birthdays in the same week, we will get TWO cards. So yeah, with flights, room, tickets, and food, this will be one of the cheapest vacations we've ever taken (including to St. Louis!)
We are beyond excited!! Mickey Mouse, here we come!!

Crawling All Around

My little hacker (literally-see the busted keys?)
On my way to my big sister!
Gonna see what she's got for me!

Oh, but what's this?

My baby and my stroller!

Sick big sister, baby getting two more teeth. Mommy working overtime, Daddy getting stuff done. Decluttering, basement cleaning, perpetual laundry, meetings, errands, park visits, more overtime, and vacation planning (hence all the overtime :).

That pretty much sums up this week!

In the Middle of the Night

I'm really not used to being at work in the middle of the night. To be honest, it's really quite nice. Very calm and peaceful compared to the utter chaos of the day. If I could actually get some sleep during the day, this might be something I could handle. But, sleep is quite important to me...
Ellie got to stay this weekend at her Aunt's house for the very first time. She was beside herself, she was so excited. She told Daddy about a hundred times not to pick her up from school on Friday, that she was probably going to stay two nights, so please pack her clothes. She seems to be having a good time.
Well since I have time...On Christmas morning I got unexpectedly cancelled. While that was great, that I got to stay home with my family, I couldn't go back to sleep after getting woke unexpectedly that early in the morning. So I laid their and for whatever reason started thinking of when Hurricane Katrina hit. After New Orleans flooded, some of the kiddos were evacuated to our hospital from the children's hospital there. I was charging Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and they came on thursday morning. We didn't have anyone here those days to accept donations, so that responsibility fell to me. I will never forget the outporing from the community. I spent the entire day friday and saturday accepting wagon after wagon full of donations. By lunchtime that friday, I had received over $1000 in gift cards. I had them all in a little paper bag by my desk, and I had a heck of a time walking away, even after I kept hiding them. Finally, the pharmacist gave me a locked bin in the medication machine to keep them in, so I wouldn't have to stalk them. The hallway was full of wagons of donations. I had never seen such generosity in my life, and to this day, that still sticks with me.
I don't know why I thought of that on Christmas morning. I can't even remember what brought it on. I just know I was thinking, I want to see this all the time, and I want everyone to know what it's like, to be so overwhelmed with kindness and goodness. I hope that my girls will someday know what that feels like. I wasn't the receiver of the gifts. But I tell you what. I got to hand out those gifts. And I remember the familes just sobbing and saying how thankful they were. And, of course, I cried a little too. So while those who gave so much may never know it, they truely made a diference. If only we could all be so lucky.

Cold Nights

I just gotta see my doggie!

Ignore the hair. Her daddy gives her that awful combover.
My big sister loves to feed me!

This would be a really cute picture if not for the fat black eye. Maybe I can photoshop it.

What?

Well, it has been super cold here. And Kailey's room is 20 degrees colder than the rest of the house. I'm not kidding, I took a thermometer to it to show my point. Matt took off the baseboard and put some fomey stuff under it and claimed it was warmer. I don't think so. I cranked up the heat in the house. Not very budget friendly, but the baby can't freeze!
Ellie and I are reading the Little House series. We just finished little house in the big woods. She is loving it so far! In the current book, Laura and her family are moving from Wisconsin to Kansas. And they travel through Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. She thinks that is way cool since that is the way we go when we go to Minnesota. I think we will try to get to the museum up there when we go next time.

Both my girls have felt the need for overnight visits the last few nights, and I am dead tired, and gotta get up for work tomorrow. So not much from here on this boring night.