E..I..E..I..OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I was singing Old MacDonald the other night and stopped in the middle to answer a question for Em and I heard something similar to this when I stopped...
And then I had to get Em the next morning singing too :) (sorry she is turned to the side!)

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, which to the young is a day of play with lots of good food, and to the older crowd means a day that we can be thankful for all that we have in our lives.
This year was very low key for us - we had Gammie over for a feast (we really do try to do low key on the food, but always seem to end up with WAY too much.)
The morning was spent watching the girls favorite shows, catching a little bit of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV and was followed by a walk around the neighborhood, where we met a lot of neighbors out doing the same, Em thought it was fun to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to those that we met. Once the girls went down for naps the turkey went into the oven and the cooking began.
During our meal, we taught Em how to put the olives on her fingers, just like every kid learns to do! We did attempt to teach Allie, but she just cried at the olives, so we gave up!







Our family hopes that your family had a wonderful thanksgiving!

When you are too small

So - back in July we bought Em a hippity hop ball after she fell in love with Madi's. Then we figured, better get another one, since we have 2 kids and god forbid they should share!

Last night I was cooking dinner and I turned around to see Allie using her's - guess she found away around being too short to hop herself!

Daylight Savings Ends...

Last night daylight savings went away so it was a VERy early start to our day. When we put Em to bed we always tell her she can't get up til the sun is awake (unless she has to peeps of course) - well today, the sun was awake at 6 am, so mom was woken with a gentle hand and a quiet Mamma...
We all had breakfast, then watched some of their shows and then headed out to run some errands - this was to keep us busy so we wouldn't have a HUGE case of the grumpies with lots of tears!! Anyway, we went to Trader Joes and then Target, where we got some cool 50% off Halloween decor. After we got home we had a nice snack and then I decided to take the kids for a walk around the block - which I had never done. We walked in the sun, Allie is still a little slow, but we had a nice time seeing all the leaves and flowers and saying hi to the neighbors :) After we got home, we went out back and played for well over an hour doing a whole lot of nothing, which was fun for all of us. We blew bubbles, went down the slide a zillion times and just loved the fresh air!






It helped to keep the girls busy, so I was able to make it til 1 (for Allie) and 2 (for Em) and now they are sleeping and I am getting a few hours of quiet - ahhhhh..

Weddings

October is always fun for us since it's our wedding anniversary, but this year it brought the wedding of a friend. We were able to attend, thanks to Gammie coming to watch the gremlins, and had a wonderful time! It was fun to hang out with good friends, eat good food and enjoy some lovely beverages!

Shelly, Marci and I at the wedding

October - Halloween & Pumpkins

This month was quite busy for our family.
Both girls and mom were sick twice - we had just cleared up the first round of sickies and then it hit again - luckily the second round was better, but still NOT fun. Dad was lucky enough to escape the cooties, but he had to put up with all of us!

We did manage to make it to the pumpkin patch one Saturday morning. The girls had a great time riding the merry go round (Em loved it, Allie screamed the whole time!) and the choo choo train! Then we were off to pick out the perfect pumpkins. Em weighed as much as her I think and Allie's was the size of an apple - okay, MAYBE a grapefruit! After the patch we stopped for a tasty meal of quesadillas and tacos as well as much need margaritas for mom and dad!!

Don't they look HAPPY???







Halloween seemed to sneak up on us this year - luckily we were prepared with costumes weeks ahead of time - and NOBODY changed their minds on what they wanted to be - the only glitch was the weather! Em's school has a parade on campus every year, so Jim brought them over and we got them dressed and took them to the parade. The girls weren't too sure about having to be around so many strangers, but Allie jumped right in and Em hung back a bit. Once they realized that they were both getting treats, they warmed up to the whole concept! We ran into Em's friend Mahika and her Mom so we were able to snap a picture of all 3 girls!

Allie as Minnie Mouse


Em as Cinderella


Mahika as a Bee, Allie as Minnie and Em as Cinderella




That evening we went trick or treating with our cousin Madi, who was a cute Devil - it was cut a bit short, due to the downpour that we got stuck in!

Another Month...

Here is a snapshot of a little playtime at our house - dress up is so much fun!!

Well it's been about a month since I posted - sorry for the lag, but it's been a bit of a crazy month.

The big news in our house was that Miss Em started preschool last month. We had started to look at them for maybe a start date in January, but there was an opening at the preschool on campus with Mamma, so we took the opportunity and enrolled her. She goes two days a week and had a little tough time transitioning - it was hard for her to go from a daycare where she has been for 3 years to a new school where she doesn't know anybody and isn't the ring leader! She has since made a little friend and it's getting easier to drop her off. She still goes to daycare on Mondays and Wednesday with Allie Oop - which she still loves!

Walking

Allie just started walking last month and we realized a lot of people haven't actually seen it, so we tried to capture it this morning just after breakfast :)

Allie Bug

Yesterday Allie went down for her nap EARLY - normally she is up til 1 or 2, but at 11.30 she was FUSSY so I kept her up screaming and crying until 12 and was DONE. Usually the girls don't eat after naps because then they won't eat dinner, but this is how Allie approached me when I held a banana (I gave in and gave it to her!)


Last night I told Allie to get her book for her bedtime story - this is what she did (guess she doesn't need me to read to her anymore!)

Sisters

I was trying to get a good picture of the girls together - so hard when Pablo or Dora is on the tv




What are YOU looking at??

Silly Faces

When Em went back to daycare after the two week vacation she got to take her naps on the BIG girl mats downstairs (instead of a pack and play upstairs) - One day she was NOT laying down and resting and Colista told her she would have to go upstairs to nap. Colista heard noises upstairs so she went to peek on Em and she was making silly faces at herself in the mirror! It was all Colsita could do to get out of there without cracking up (like I did when she told me!)

That evening I asked Em to make her silly faces for me and this is what I got

Summers End...

Labor day weekend was spent enjoying the last bit of summer. It has been a summer of lots of fun and many adventures and some stepping stones for our family.

We spent a lot of time as a family since Jim is now off every Saturday. It was fun to get into the habit of going to the farmer's market every Saturday morning for fresh veggies and fruit and tasty sticky buns!

Em mastered her potty training this summer - we had it down to just nap and night time pull ups, but in July decided enough and went for the full thing. She did great - we had a few weeks of middle of the night peeps, but once she realized that EVERYBODY gets up in the middle of the night to peeps and poops, she was good to go! She reminds me of this almost every time that I catch her in the bathroom doing her business - still makes me smile! We are really proud of her for being a BIG girl and tell her that every day!

Allie decided she was ready to FINALLY start walking! She was taking steps here and there, but the first day back to daycare after the two week vacation, she was walking full time! We are excited about it because it's a whole new chapter in our book!

Here is Allie walking around with her purse.

We got down to the beach this past weekend and dragged Gammie along, since Dadda was at work. She all dug in the sand and had a nice time, until we had too much of the sand flies and decided to grab sandwiches from a local bakery and have a picnic on the lawn! Both girls really had a nice time and I tried to remember why we don't do it more!

Gammie and Em

Gammie and Allie

This summer we had a lot of barbecues and swimming in the backyard with the blow up pool! Both girls can finally enjoy almost all the activities we have set up for them in the backyard. Allie already thinks she is a big kid so she really does try to keep up - and then we hear the cries ... Sorry honey, are still a little too small for that. Next year...

Em enjoying the last barbecue of summer (even though we barbecue all year!)

Dog Days of Summer

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks that we had off

Allie giving her favorite lab, Sally, a hug


Allie - getting a head start on shopping!


Em making a PlayDoh snowman with Mamma


And,, did you ever think THIS would be the reaction from a marshmellow?? WHO doesn't like them??? Well.. I guess Allie doesn't like them!

A Green Outing

On Friday we decided to go to the Children's Discovery Museum and let the kids play.

We got a late start - didn't leave the house til 12, which is late when your youngest likes to nap at 12! We got the Museum and went straight to the water feature - It's a HUGE feature with water, air and balls and it's hands on, so they provide water aprons for the kids (what about the parents??) Em loved the water and balls and figuring out how everything worked.


Allie wasn't too excited about the water, she put her hands in, but I think it was too cold for her, so she sat on the sidelines for most of it


After the water feature, we had lunch, because we were all starving by then - the great thing about this place, they cater to kids - so on the menu was PBJ, pizza, grilled cheese - everything kids LOVE!

I think Em enjoyed her pizza


Dadda (aka Jim) enjoyed his too


After lunch we just enjoyed the rest of the museum.

Em with the firetruck


And Allie waiting patiently


After we left, we bought both girls some colorful balls, so Jim and Em ran out on the meadow chasing each other!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Last Tuesday we decided to head down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with Gammie (Heather's mom), Aunt Jen (Heather's sister) and Madi (Jen's daughter - Em & Allie's cousin)

We got to watch Diver Dan (I think his real name was Paul) feed the Kelp forest, which all the kids sat 20 minutes for! It was amazing to watch the sharks and fish eat from his hand.



There are touch tanks at the aquarium which both girls enjoyed - I think Allie just liked splashing, but she was fascinated with the kelp!



After only an hour and a half, all the girls (big girls included!) were ready for lunch. We left the aquarium and then headed to a local park for a picnic, which was chaos until we got the food out and the kids fed! After lunch we played for about an hour and then headed home - thankfully the kids napped in the car!

A trip to the doctor...

Today we were off to the doc for Em's 3 year appt and Allie's 15 month appt. Em was a big girl and stood on the big kid scale and under the sliding thing (great tech term huh!!) that measured her height. She was VERY unsure of the blood pressure cuff, but we reminded her that Mamma does this to her all the time at home with her doctor kit - she just stared at the machine instead of protesting!

Em weighed in at 32 pounds 3 ounces and is 37.5 inches tall - not too shabby :)

Next we went into the exam room and got Allie onto the scale - which she screamed about and then laid her down to measure her length - all while still screaming!

Allie weighed in at 23 pounds 5 ounces and is 30.25 inches tall - gaining on her sissy, but actually smaller then Em was at this age!

The check ups went well - Allie has a small ear infection, so instead of vaccines, she got antibiotics to clear up the ear! So then we were off to the pharmacy to pick up their vitamins and Allie's medicine.

The girls were great and really great with doctor - aside from the screaming from Allie when the doctor was touching her ear!!

After we got home, we had lunch, put Allie down for her nap then Mamma took Em to the grocery store - one of her FAVORITE outings now (weirdo!!) which gave Dadda some time to put together Em's new kitchen as a surprise!!!

Mamma and her girls

Daycare is closed for 2 weeks every summer, so I get to experience being a stay at home mom - My hat comes off to ALL the stay at home moms out there! After 2 days I am exhausted and ready to go back to work, so relax!!

I am trying to keep it fun - we have been swimming in our blow up pools - followed by Allie's first Otter Pop - Em is an old pro and loves that more then the playing in the pool with mom!

We had some friends over today to play and have lunch - we were able to keep all the kids up til 1, so both mom's got a few hours of quiet time in the afternoon! And Em has decided her new tinkerbell costume is the only thing she will wear!!

And I have had fun trying to do new hair dos on Miss Allie Oop! Don't mind the dog dishes in the background, which is one of her favorite toys!!

Miss Em Turns 3!!

Here is our Birthday Girl with her Miss Spider Cupcakes

We had a little party for Em on Saturday - we blew up some pools, served some appetizers and pizza and just enjoyed ourselves!

It's hard to believe that 3 years ago we will still expecting Little Miss - she has blossomed and become some a wonderful little lady! She is fun and loving and always willing to give you a hug to make your day!

New Blog

Since we enjoy reading the blogs of friends and since we have friends and family scattered across the globe, we decided that it was time to finally start our own ... Two Buglets!

Here is Miss Em (Mimi) & Miss Allie (Allie Oop)