While Big Daddy's away...

we eat dinner at my parents' house. Not every single evening, but my mom invited us over last Wednesday because she knows that I have a hard time making dinner and then feeding the kids and getting us all to Church by 6:15. Since Big Daddy was out of town again yesterday, Maggie assumed we would be eating at Nana's. After I had explained that it wasn't something we did every time Daddy was away, Nana called and invited us to dinner. She also needed something from the grocery store and I had already asked if she could keep Maggie & Ellie sometime after nap so that I could have a few minutes of alone time pretty please. The alone time was nice even though it was an hour sent getting groceries.

Maggie had the best time playing with Cousin Callie! (After a breakdown because Callie was reading a library book and Maggie did not have a nap!) My dad was outside mowing the field on the tractor and Maggie & Callie were outside running around. They played in the leaves at my grandparents' house next door and rolled own the same big hill that I used to roll down with my sister when I was little. Maggie was so tired last night between no nap and all of the outside fun.

We are going on a field trip today to a pumpkin patch. The farm is just a few miles from our house and we'll be picking pumpkins and going on a hay ride. Big Daddy will be back home tonight and tomorrow I'm taking Maggie, Ellie & Callie to the zoo with some of my forever friends.

Have A Great Weekend!

Here There & Everywhere

With Big Daddy being out of town all of last week I feel a little like I'm playing catch-up around the house. We really did have a delightful week and I can totally handle things on my own, but it was lonely. Big Daddy is going through some changes at work that may require even more time spent there and school id keeping his "free" time occupied.

Big Daddy took Monday off from work to study, take a mid-term and eat lunch out with his best girls. Both kids lost it when he left before dinner to go to the local university library to meet his proctor for the exam.

I'll be taking Maggie, Ellie and maybe Callie to the zoo on Saturday. We'll be meeting some of my very best forever friends and their children there. I'm excited to spend a little time with these special people and Maggie is ecstatic.

Ellie absolutely refuses to ride in a shopping cart or at least ride while sitting on her bottom. Thank God for my ring sling. I can put it on super-quick and she's pretty happy in it. Not as happy as she would be running through the aisles of the store, but she's happy. I took both girls to the grocery store last week and we tried out the race car shopping cart. Ellie sat in it until the check out, so it was sort of a success.

Ellie is starting to say more words and I'm so thankful. Maggie talks all.day.long. Seriously. I'm so thankful when she takes a nap just because my ears need a break.
On Saturday, I took Maggie & Ellie shopping...alone. They were so well-behaved! Maggie picked out a couple of new outfits and everything we bought at the Carter's store was priced at $5 each! I wish they had my size!! I HAD to have new Big Sister/Little Sister shirts and of course, Maggie had to have the same Big Sister shirts as her best twin friends, H & A. H & A have a new set of 8 week old boy-girl twin siblings. (Moment of silence for their sweet mom...)

I'm thankful for my Awana class and I think we're finally getting into a nice routine. I am in charge of our records and I realized last Thursday that there was a paper I was forgetting to fill out. I'm hoping to get o Church a little earlier tonight and get caught-up. The problem is, it's hard to get caught-up with Maggie & Ellie going wild in my classroom!

Big Daddy hasn't been attending Church with us for several weeks. He was able to go (along with my Mom) to hear the Children of the World Choir. Our Church took up a love offering in each of the three morning services and raised over $15,000 to drill wells in poor countries.

Tonight we kick off our Awana Harvest Box Mission Project. Maggie & I enjoyed filling a shoe box with fun and useful items for needy children in the community. Next Wednesday the boxes will be delivered to those children and hopefully, they will be blessed and feel the love of Christ.

From Last Week

Here are a few pictures I took last Monday before Maggie went to school. She picked out this shirt at T@rget and wanted to wear it for picture day at school. We thought picture day was on Monday, but it was on Wednesday. Of course, she totally wore the same outfit both days!!

Silly face!!

Our beloved scarecrow...and Maggie.

We have nine foot ceilings inside and an extra tall front door. I try to take pictures once in a while where you can see the ceiling so that I can remember how small they really were.

Ellie will not open mouth if I try to feed her, but she loves for her big sister to feed her anything.

It's Wednesday!

I have had an amazing day today!!

It all started when I slept late (6:35 is later than usual) and managed to be up and almost ready before either of the girls were awake. For some reason, my hair looks really good and all I did was part it and spray it. Needless to say, that would never happen if we were running late. Ellie and I had a delightful time while Maggie was at preschool and there hasn't been a single meltdown all.day.long.

On the other hand, I have only had three real conversations that didn't start with "Mom, can I tell you something" or "Mom, can I tell you something else" since Monday. I am thankful for my mommy-friend A who called and thankful that our children gave us nearly 20 minutes to chit-chat. I have talked to Big Daddy on the phone at least twice each day (including Sunday) but our conversations are short and interrupted by little voices and hands that want o talk to Daddy on the phone.

I can totally handle being the only parent at home, but the day seems especially long and lonely when I know that Big Daddy will not be coming home. I'm not used to having help or getting any alone time until after both girls are in bed, so that much has stayed the same.

I haven't set the alarm off anymore and I made a batch of granola today. I also ate a pretzel goldfish without realizing that Ellie had sucked all of the salt off of it and cried when they showed the Chilean miners being rescued.

Happy Wednesday!

Day One

We had a busy, fun-filled weekend and sadly sent Big Daddy out of town for his business trip yesterday. He took our laptop along for the trip, so I'm attempting to do my daily reading on our ancient (for computers anyway) desktop that's in Big Daddy's room. It takes forever to get going and then it's slow after that...and I can't comment on blogs??? Just as the computer was about to finish it's first cup of coffee this morning, Ellie turned it off. I turned it back on and Ellie turned it off again. I am constantly amazed at the mischief she can get into! I was putting away old baby stuff in the attic for 30 seconds this morning and she managed to clear off two shelves of Big Daddy's books. I walked back into the room to find her reading "The Bias Against Guns" and "Freakonomics".

One of my goals for this week is to restore order to the bonus room or else we'll have to start calling it a Man Cave. For some reason I can get a little more cleaning and organizing done when I'm "single". Last night I stayed up until midnight watching CSI:Miami, but tonight I'm going to try and clean the master bedroom closet...maybe.

Maggie wailed when her Daddy left. She seems to think that we can't survive a few days without him. Of course, I may have contributed to that feeling when I accidentally set the alarm for "away" last night and then tripped the motion detector right after I tucked her into bed. She didn't have a lot to say about it, but the look on her face said "you are incompetent and we'll never make it until Friday without our Daddy". She has been repeating the days of the week all day long today and telling me that this really is sort of a short week and daddy will be home really soon.

Ellie is at the age where she's blissful as long as I'm holding her or she's getting into trouble. (Maggie was Ellie's age when Big Daddy was in Italy for thirteen days.) She thought that she heard her Daddy once today and called his name, but was quickly distracted by the neighbor's barking dog.

Anyway...we have survived nearly 24 hours without Big Daddy, but boy do we miss him!!

Random pictures from this past week

Ellie decided to try to keep up with her sister today at the Chicken Sandwich restaurant's playground.

Ellie and I went to the fire station with Maggie today (parents are required to accompany the kids) for a class field trip. Ellie was very tired and didn't feel like smiling, but enjoyed sitting in the engine truck with Maggs.

I was cooking dinner on Tuesday evening and asked Maggie what her sister was doing. She said, "She's sitting in the rocking chair drinking tea." Ellie has started "pouring" tea for us and loves to play tea party!

Maggie and Ellie spent most of Tuesday morning doing art. Maggie likes to cut and use glue and Ellie scribbles with crayons and markers.

Ellie cracks us up doing her "surprised" face. She does it at least a hundred times a day! I think her new jacket surprised her. She likes to turn the rocking chair upside down and then act surprised because she knows we'll laugh at her!

Have A Happy Weekend!

It's geting crowded in here...

I have so much in my head.

My Christmas wish list. The one that I make every single year, but don't really expect anything off of the list to appear underneath the tree.

I realized yesterday that I share the same birthday as my Grandma M. Of course, I've always known that, but I realized that now I sort of have that day all to myself. For years she told me that I was her favorite birthday present and now she's gone.

I took a long, hard look at how I feel after the second half of a couple dies and found out that I just don't feel as sad when I know that the one left behind is no longer left behind. I found this out several years ago when I had two "adopted" sets of grandparents die years apart. I pictured them reuniting in Heaven. I wish I could've felt this way when my Grandma D passed away after suffering with cancer, but I didn't. I also think my reaction to someone dying is a lot worse when they've been sick and didn't die of complications from getting older.

The homeschool dilemma. I'm almost completely sure that this decision is made, but it still weighs heavily on my mind.

And then there's a big thing that I'm not going to talk about.

Big Daddy is going on a week-long trip soon. I've never been alone with both kids for this long and I know they are both (and me too!) going to miss him so much. The most we've ever been apart is the thirteen days that he was in Italy and I remember how confusing it was for Maggie. Ellie has never been away from her Daddy for so long.

And there's more, but I need to do something more productive like prepare for my Awana class tonight,

Happy Wednesday!

Maybe Later

My last grandparent, Grandma Winnie (as Maggie knows her), passed away on Thursday morning. Lots of people have asked if it was expected or if she was sick. She was 94 years old and had dementia/Alzheimer's for some time. She had a massive heart attack on Tuesday, but was alert and her "usual" self on Wednesday night when everyone left the hospital. It always comes as a surprise, no matter what.

Maggie now thinks that the nursing home is empty. Aunt Clara and Grandma (they weren't related to each other) moved to the nursing home around the same time and were both there until shortly before Aunt Clara passed away. Maggie thinks "they're all gone now" since they've both gone to Heaven. Grandma Winnie was also Maggie & Ellie's last great grandparent.

Of course, there are tons of funny Grandma-stories that I want Maggie & Ellie to know, but can't write them down just yet.

Positive

I cannot believe how little our sweet Muffin was just two years ago when this happened!


Today is the two year anniversary of the day that we found out we were expecting Baby Ellie!

The first person that I told was my mommy-friend, A. She was the one who told me (at Kindermusik) that I just had to take a test that day.

Telling Big Daddy and seeing his excitement was priceless. I can still remember going on a walk and sitting in the sandbox with Maggie as we discussed everything baby.

Throughout the whole pregnancy, watching Maggie grow into her role as a big sister was the best.

Having two is positively the best...even when it feels not so good.

Over My Head - With Pictures

For some reason I cannot get myself together these days. I blame it on the kids or the fact that I'm getting less sleep per night than ever. Luckily, for the most part my sleep is uninterrupted. I'm starting to think that it's just the way things are and I should get used to it. I feel like I'm in over my head, but it's just life.

We have added another day of preschool and it has thrown my whole cleaning "schedule" off. I really just clean when things get dirty (umm...every single day) but I used to use Friday mornings as the time to make sure that everything was clean and I'd steam mop the floors during nap. For some reason, I'm off.
Lucky for me, I have a little help!
Ellie has become a total daredevil lately! I have to really watch her because she will climb on anything. I cannot even count the number of times I've had to get her off of the kitchen table while I'm cooking dinner over the past couple of weeks. I had to move her highchair further from the table because she tries to move the table enough to make Maggie's milk spill. Just yesterday, I caught her trying to do the same thing to our very heavy dining room table. Her new nickname is "Hercules"! All of that being said, I get nothing done around the house while Maggie's at preschool.
She looks sweet and innocent, but she's a handful!

Once Maggie and Ellie are in bed (and asleep) I fold laundry, wash dishes or make pancakes for the next day. I also use this time to watch tv and if Big Daddy isn't too busy we watch tv together (while I fold laundry). More often than not, his nose is stuck to the computer screen or he's upstairs reading for school. If that happens, I enjoy alone time.

Now...a few pictures of my lovelies!
Maggie on her way to the grocery store. She decided to wear her Halloween costume. She's Aurora/Sleeping Beauty, in case you didn't know.

I'm not sure how this happened, but Maggie & Ellie ask for hair bows after they get out of the bathtub. So...they run around in pajamas and hair bows!

I feel like I go to preschool just as much as Maggie does! Last week we had "Picnic Day" and this week it's a field trip to an apple orchard.

This is a picture from last Monday when Maggie was taken to school by her Daddy. One of the highlights of her week!