My dolls!

My dolls love their dolls!

Diapering a baby: I'm training them now so that my load is a little lighter!

Legoland

Hannah, Kate and I had the opportunity for a free trip to Legoland. So, despite the fact that Kate might not meet the 34" height requirement for the rides, we ventured to Legoland and had a terrific time. Kate was tall enough (barely!) so we spent the day riding rides, walking around, running through water, playing on play structures and laughing together.









What a blessing it is to be home with my girls celebrating their childhood with them!!

Bikes

Hannah is now on a big girl bike with some training wheels. She loves her bike. The other day Jeff was getting ready to go to the grocery store and asked Hannah to go too. She ran to get her helmet, hoping that the two of them would bike together, only to find out that they must take the car to carry all the groceries. Here she is biking to the park:

She waved to me and told me, "Beat you there!"
Kate still prefers the wagon, even though I have told her she can have Hannah's trike.

Getting Ready for Baby

Call it nesting, reorganizing, cleaning or whatever, we (mostly motivated by yours truly) are making room for the baby. Here is a list of things we have done:

1. Mini-van. Yes, it is a very smooth and comfortable ride, which compensates for the fact that I am that mom (which if you ever see a bumper sticker that reads, "I am that mom" please buy it and send it to me, I will pay you for it!).
2. Bunk beds. These low level bunk beds made by IKEA are perfect for the girls room so that we could still use the ceiling fan (our only cooling system) without worrying that they might hit their heads on the blades as it goes around...something that has actually happened to my cousin's kids. My parents are becoming pros at putting together IKEA products!

3. Move Hannah's bed, pulled out as a King size bed, into our room. Get a new mattress and get rid of the old queen size mattress (thank you free craigslist!)

4. Find storage for 9 large storage containers. This involved Jeff rearranging the shed, and putting some containers on the rafters in our garage. There's only one song to descibe him, "Whatta man, whatta man, what a mighty good man. He's a mighty, mighty good man!" (and yes, I did just date myself by quoting Salt-n-Pepa)

5. Go through toys, selling some, giving some away, and storing what might be used if it seemed new again. On a funny side note, this morning I took the girls to garage sales looking for baby items (like a bath tub, swing...things that we left in Boston and might want again) and Hannah found a brand new Pet Shop Play House and Pet Set. I bought both of them for her and in the car she asked, "Will you please not sell these? I really like them. They are my favorite."

6. The name game. What's the name game, you ask?? It usually goes something like this:

S: Ohhh, Hazel. I love the name Hazel. It has a "Z" in the middle and is such a beautiful color.
J: You want our daughter to be a hippie child?

End of conversation. Or sometimes it's like this:

J: How about Emma?
S: It's number two in popularity right now. We want our baby to be somewhat original.

End of conversation, again. It seems like the names I like are hippieish and Jeff likes names that are fairly common. Family has been great in throwing a few names into the hat too:

1. Wanda (from Amy, my niece. She's really hoping for this!)
2. Rachel (from my sister Rachel, since it is a name she feels comfortable giving when people ask)
3. Mary (so that it would be Mary Murry and we could call her Eminem, again from my sister Rachel)
4. Madeline (from Cindy, Jeff's mom)
5. Brooke (from Hannah...I like the way this girl thinks, but Jeff told her to keep thinking)

So, any girl names that you would like to throw into the mix? We reserve the right to make the final choice, but you never know, we just might chose your suggestion!

Bowling

The other day I took the girls bowling with some other mom friends. Hannah had a great time jumping around and getting exciting when she or anyone else knocked down any of the pins. She did really well, getting two spares and winning the game (thanks to the help of bumpers)! Kate bowled two rounds and then decided that bowling was not her thing and announced< "All done with balls. No more." She then climbed into my lap where she would not be removed for the rest of the time in the bowling alley. I think if we went a few more times she would get the hang of it, and get used to the noise.

Pre Nap Jokes

My girls are an interesting mix of grumpy/silly before naptime. Today I caught them in their prime:

Kate's Birthday

We celebrated our sweet Kate turning two with a backyard barbecue with family in San Pedro.
Kate was very happy all day and when it came time to open presents Kate opened one gift and then took the next package to Hannah for her to open. This girl understands sharing and taking turns (note: this does not mean she always shares or takes turns though). We had to explain to her that all the presents were just for her...our sweet and thoughtful Tatters! She truly is beautiful inside and out and we love her so much!

Here's my sleeping beauty the last night as a one year old.
We played at the park in the morning with the family.


Then after nap time we made wands for the party...

...Enjoyed snacks while the food was cooking....


...and opened presents!

Kate specifically wanted a Strawberry Shortcake cake. While she slept Hannah and I made the cake together.

Check out the messy and happy face on this little girl! I could just eat her up!!!