Lily isms 11

Uncle Matt and Aunt Erin gave Emma a little play set of the 3 Little Piggies, complete with 3 pigs, 3 house a Big Bad Wolf and a copy of the story. Lily currently enjoys the story more than Emma, and refers to the Wolf as "the Big Bad Ruff!"

When the girls wake up before Jesse leaves for work, he comes in and tickles them or just talks to them while I'm getting them up and diapers changed, etc. This morning, he left earlier so the girls were still in bed. When Lily woke up, she went into our room to find Jesse. She came back with the most distraught look on her face:
Lily: where's Daddy? He isn't still in bed!
Me: he had to go to work this morning, Lily. He's already gone.
Lily: but we didn't help him get ready! We didn't make his coffee!
She was a bit calmer after I assured her I had made him coffee.

Emma was eating a Pop Tart.
Lily: Momma! I would like a Pop Tart!
Emma: *I have no idea what she actually said*
Lily: Momma!! Emma said I was too little to have a Pop Tart! She doesn't know that I'm bigger!

Pretending to eat an ice cream cone:
"Would you like a bite of my ice cream? I got it in town."
^^someome understands the excitement of "going to town."

Trying to hurry out the door this morning, I plopped Lily in the closest chair so I could fasten her shoes. It happened to be Emma's chair.
Lily: Momma, no! This isn't my chair, I don't want to sit in Emma's chair, I want to sit on the bench!
Me: it's ok, Lily, I'm just getting your shoes on.
Lily: but Momma! It's dirty!

Lily and Emma were playing with my dress shoes:
Lily: come on, Emma! We have to go to church! Bye, Momma! *walks out of the room*
Lily: we're back!
Me: did you learn lots?
Lily: yes, we sang and then went downstairs to play.

"Momma! I stepped in slobber! *starts crying* AND IT WAS ZEKE'S!!!!!"
I was personally glad that's whose slobber it was..

Me: do you think you want a little brother or a little sister?
Lily: a little...SILLY!
Me: well, with you as a big sister, I think that's absolutely going to happen.

Lily was watching a video on my tablet, and Emma climbed up next to her to try and put a snow hat on Lily's head. Absolutely serious, and without looking up, Lily said:
"Not thanks, Emma, it's not snowing outside."

Looking at pictures of when Lily was 8 months old:
"Oh, when I was a little baby, I couldn't talk yet.

[untitled rambles]

I don't really feel that I have a ton to post about today, but I did want to share some pictures.

The girls are doing well and I think leaving the Christmas tree alone for the most part.  Every morning, Lily comes out to the living room and if I've forgotten to plug the tree in, tells me that she is going to "wake up the Christmas tree" and goes to plug it in for me.  And at night, she has told me a few times that it's time for the tree to put it's jams on so it can go to bed, too, and goes to unplug it.  I love that in her mind, night time means sleep and sleep means everyone and everything needs to put jams on.  The sun and the Christmas tree needing pajamas have been my favorite so far. 

Emma is so easily excited that she just smiles and does a little dance when she sees the tree lit up, but she still doesn't grasp it, which is fine with me.  Lily knows that presents are coming sometime, and I think is trying to sort out what actually is going to happen, because we regularly have had discussions about her birthday and if it's time for presents yet.  Again, Emma just smiles and nods and gets excited when Lily does.

I do want to brag on my girls for a minute.  A month or so ago, Jesse and I were discussing what to get them for Christmas and deciding for Lily was no problem.  Emma, on the other hand, is just beginning to be very expressive about her likes and dislikes, but for the most part, we don't want to buy her what she loves the most.  Not that we don't want cows, ducks and other farm animals in our house, but we don't.  And getting her stuffed animals wasn't appealing.  So while we were at WalMart one day, I decided to go peruse the toy aisles for ideas for an 18 month old.  Their eyes got really big when they saw all the toys and started recognizing characters from shows or toys they already have that seem familiar.  Emma was standing in the cart, jumping around and pointing, and Lily kept asking what everything was.  She would point so excitedly to something she saw and recognized and would calmly ask, "oh, Momma, can we buy that?"  And after I answered, "no," that was that and we kept walking.  We were probably in the toy aisles for 15 minutes, just taking our time, strolling up and down and not once did I have to deal with a begging child, a tantrum or any tears of any sort.  I was so pleased that a) I didn't have to deal with begging, b) they both accepted my "no" without question, c) I didn't have to ashamedly tell Jesse I bought the girls toys because they "had to have it."  I felt the girls and I should both get gold stars that day.  I absolutely expect melt downs at the store in the future, but I'm glad it wasn't that day!  This is the kind of behavior Jesse and I are trying to encourage.  ...I'm sure I will look back on this one day and say "HAH if only they were 1.5 and 3 again and it was still so easy!"  But I am proud of my girls and am writing it down FOR that day in the future.  Take heart, future self.    

With that being said, I do feel I should mention that I have about sworn off shopping by myself until after this baby comes.  I reached this point when Lily was about this age and I was pregnant with Emma: I just don't have the energy to chase a child through the store!  Emma is getting to the wiggly age and just wants to be down walking/running through the aisles with Lily.  I did let her walk at one store the other day and she did great, but it was a small store and not crowded.  The look of pride on her face when I'd let her pick up groceries and throw them in the cart was priceless, because you could tell she felt like such a big girl by doing what Lily was doing.  It was totally worth the extra effort to walk faster to keep up and being that extra million percent on edge and paying attention that you have to be as a parent.

did I post this one already?  first sight of the tree lit up.

decorating with Daddy

carrying on tradition: cookies and egg nog (homemade this time!) while decorating

surveying the progress

of course we needed to bake more cookies!

Emma's face

and still more cookies!

Lily was thrilled to help me make "shape cookies"

And then this morning, we had all sorts of more fun.  With the colder/freezing temperatures, we have to be more conscious of our chickens water situation and replace their waterer daily.  Typically, I wait until at least Emma is napping so Lily and I can go down together, or wait until they're both occupied during a nap and Quiet Room Time.  Since it snowed last night though, we decided to all go and play in the snow on the way back.  As any parent will remember, and most kids will remember, it took way longer to bundle up for the temperatures than we actually spent outside.  After we checked out ladies and lone rooster, we kicked snow around in the yard for a few minutes before going inside.  Lily and Emma both attempted snow angels, and while they didn't quite grasp the concept, they had fun rolling around in the snow.

Once we warmed up, we started our painting projects.  Yesterday, we made handprint "ornaments," and we painted them this morning.  I use the term "ornament" loosely, as I'm not sure we'll actually hang it on the tree...but I've wanted to keep record of handprint growth over the years, so we needed something for this year.  Painting should also be considered loosely from Emma's side, but that's ok.  We moved onto finger painting, play dough and lunch afterwards, and now little girls are napping and having some QRT.  Which means I get a few minutes to blog, clean and if I'm fast, have a second cup of coffee!

Emma's nose had an itch, I think. and what better scratching device than a blue paintbrush?

keeping things neat. typical first born? she's "finger painting" with a paint brush.

 Pregnancy wise, we're getting there.  Obviously.  There's no denying it at this point.  I have my maternity jeans out and in circulation but I do also have 2 pairs of my regular jeans I can still button, so I wear those, too, to make myself feel good.  I don't feel "little" by any stretch of the imagination, so thank you to all my wonderful friends and family who try and optimistically encourage me that I am.  You're all precious.  I'm 32 weeks, which translates to 7 months and 1 week ish.

terrible picture.  I'll try for a better one.

this is with Emma, exactly 2 months before I had her (so also 7 months).

Guys.  I'm gonna be huge again.
But that's it for now!

Except to save on time and forgetting to send it out, here is the recipe I used for the dough handprints:
Dough Handprints
1/2 c salt
1/2 c flour
1/4 c (give or take) water
Stir to combine ingredients, then knead until dough is formed.  Pat into disc and press child's hand into the center.  Trim away excess dough with a knife and poke a hole for a hanger.  Bake at 200F for 3 hours.  Paint, seal and hang!

Lily isms 10

As we were driving, I hit a bump in the road.
"What was that? Did you hit a tea pot hole?"

Jesse was working on something at the table.
Jesse: Lily, I wish you weren't sitting right there.
Lily: it's ok, Daddy, I'm just being silly.

Jesse was asking Lily if she loved him. After answering no, and going through a list of people she did love, he finally said,
"Do you love me?"
Lily: yes. And my bike.

Getting dressed one morning:
Me: what shirt do you want?
Lily: this one!
Me: the turtleneck?
Lily: yes. Is there a turtle in it?

Stall tactics are amassing. Lily didn't want Jesse to read the book, she wanted me to and was trying to get rid of Daddy.
Lily: Daddy, you stink!
Jesse: I stink? Well, I'll shower later.
Lily: no! Daddy, you stink! Go shower now!!

As she watched me separate egg yolks from whites:
"Is that a big booger?"

Watching Tom and Jerry:
"Oh, I love this. I love my Tom and Jerry show."

Driving to the store, we pass several fast food places:
"Why are yoy driving past all the lunches?!"

Discussing Emma napping and Lily having Quiet Room Time:
"Yes, I will have Quiet Room Time. Lily is 3 and will have Quiet Room Time."

"MOMMA!!!! I COULD USE SOME HELP HERE!"

My mom gave Lily a little kids songs CD, and one of the songs tells the kids to grab hold of their tongue for one part.
"Momma! My tongue won't hold still!"

Thanksgiving week recap

Hello again, and happy week after Thanksgiving!  We are now apparently into December, and I'm realizing more and more how far behind on things I am.  Not too many things in particular, just stuff I had organized in the back of my head as "by the end of the year."  Guess what: it's almost the end of the year (WHAT?!) and most of the things aren't done.  Oh well.  Life will go on and there's always next year!

This past week just seems like a happy, busy blur in hindsight, full of laughing, family and far too few naps.  Little projects here and there tried to get started and finished, Jesse went deer hunting and was a champ, we had Thanksgiving, family visitors...busy busy busy!

First things first, I'm going to brag on Jesse.  He continues to set the bar high for whenever I actually get a deer.  WV has two weeks worth of gun season for deer hunting, so he went out several times last week.  He didn't see anything Monday, but that was enough to get him fired up and ready to go the rest of the week.  Monday evening he said, "I have a good feeling about seeing a deer tomorrow." ...that guy.  Tuesday morning, I was getting ready for work, making breakfasts and such and heard a gun shot.  I did a little happy dance for him, because he's a great aim and if he shot, he got a deer.  Then about two minutes later, I heard another shot and stopped what I was doing and thought, "there's no way he missed or needed a second shot to bring a deer down..." so I waited until I heard him come back inside about 5 minutes later.  Turns out, he got two deer!  After an hours worth of hunting.  That just seems to be the way to hunt: no freezing your rear off for hours on end.  Anyway, I guess he got the first deer, started to climb down from the blind and saw another deer staring at him, so he got her, too.  It was a good day.

Thursday, we woke up early and headed off to the Pagano side Thanksgiving feast at my aunt and uncle's B&B in Ohio for a day of fun.  Considering the fact that Emma typically has been taking two naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, about 3.5-4 hours total, and we left so early, we assumed she'd doze off and nap for a bit on the 3.5 hour drive.  Not so much.  She happily played and chatted with Lily until we were about 2 minutes from our destination and finally conked out.  And that was the extent of her napping.  We had a great time visiting with family, and as always, it was over too fast and I felt like I'd barely gotten to talk to anybody!  The girls and I played in the snow while some other family members did a geo cache excursion, and Emma thought that was the greatest thing ever.  I have no idea what the ratio of real food to sugar was that Lily consumed, but she had a great time and went from aunts and uncles to great aunts and great uncles and I'm pretty sure she just got whatever she asked for.  By the time we left, the girls were exhausted and I'd eaten way too many sweets for the year.  We left about 5:45 and the girls were out within minutes of being in the car and slept the entire way home and then through the night.  Success. 

Friday was a cleaning and deer processing day.  Nothing too thrilling to note that I remember, but our freezer is now happily full.  

Saturday, Jesse's folks, Matt, Erin and Koleen all came to visit for the afternoon.  But first thing in the morning, Jesse took me out deer hunting for the first time!  We didn't see anything, which was a bummer, but that's ok because I didn't freeze OR fall asleep.  

I know you're jealous of my hat. 

When family arrived, we had such a good time relaxing and watching the girls play together.  Lily had a hard time remembering that Kole wasn't a baby, therefore didn't really want to be held and cuddled, but they all seemed to have a great time.  Erin and I had the brilliant idea that we'd let the girls decorate some sugar cookies, and while that was all kinds of hilarious fun, I think more icing and sprinkles just went straight to mouths than ever ended up on the cookies.  Which was fine as far as I was concerned.  They made a glorious mess and had a great time, so mission accomplished.  

Kole decided to forget the cookie..

and went straight for the sprinkles.  smart kid.

hold up your cookie, Lily!

xoxo

The girls and I were so tired from all of last week's adventures that we just relaxed yesterday and tried to get a few little things cleaned up and ready for this week.  Jesse and I got to go on our first date in who knows how long and braved the crazy world to go Christmas shopping for the girls.  We also picked out a Christmas tree, which we will be decorating tonight.  He and I got it set up and wrapped in lights last night so the girls could see it and be excited by it first thing this morning, and they were thrilled.  Lily had a small meltdown when I finally had to move all the boxes of ornaments and decorations away so she would stay out of them, but the anticipation of working on this when Daddy gets home from work is very real right now!

Anyway, that's all I can think of to report on, I'm sure I had more, but that's ok.  I'll hopefully be back soon!  Check out the (sparse) pictures I posted on my other blog and threw together!