Friday, August 29, 2008

Quick Update

Hey everyone out there!!
It is a beautiful day here in Indiana (never thought I'd say that ... "beautiful" and "Indiana" in the same sentence) ... but it is ... so I can't lie!
Last night a dear friend drove down from Wisconsin to spend the long weekend with us ... and I always love to have company (especially her) ... so it's a treat to have Janelle here.
Well ... just as soon as I started writing ... little Miss Juliya popped awake from her nap ... so this is going to be short! :o)
Sorry! Gotta go ... I'll hope to be back before another 17 days flies by!
In closing ... my current Mommy Mantra ... "obey the FIRST time and ALL the way!!" (or there will be consequences! ... reality parenting!!)

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Wide Awake!

Greetings ... from the middle of the night!
Here are my observations:
1) the windows are open ...
2) nice cool evening (love that!!)
3) there is a mad skunk in the neighborhood (don't love that)
4) why does there have to be a mad skunk in the neighborhood on the night we turn off the A/C and open the windows ... ugh!
5) the water softener and sump pump are loud at 2:30 am ...
6) the computer screen is really bright at 2:30 am ... guess that's why they give you the option to "adjust contrast"
7) the skunk is getting closer ... i think the mad skunk is not only in the neighborhood ... i think they are in my yard ... yucky!! (i'm not going to check)
8) the rice krispies i just ate (with fresh strawberries) were yummy
9) i'll regret this in the morning! (not the rice krispies ... but the lack of sleep)
10) what will i do in the morning to get the skunk smell out of my house
11) i'm too tired (or just plain lazy) ... so i'm not using the shift button (oops ... just did to make the parenthesis) ...
12) that's an interesting word!
13) i know what you're thinking ... shut up and tell us something about the kids!! :o)
14) ok, i will ... but i won't tell you what we've been eating ... b/c i've been told my blog makes people hungry! :o)
15) oops ... i already told you i was eating rice krispies ... sorry. but hey, they're all gone now ... so we can move on to bigger and better (or actually little and cute) subjects.

we had a great weekend with the girls ... here are the highlights!
1) daddy cancelled his trip for the weekend :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
2) that made us all VERY happy to have daddy (husband) home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3) on saturday we took daddy to conner prairie (an outdoor history museum nearby). we bought a membership earlier this summer and the girls and i have had lots of fun going there with friends ... but daddy had been yet.
4) on sunday we went to the state fair ... that was super fun (more about that on a future post)

**** i was just interrupted by miss nataliya standing in the hallway upstairs screaming :( :( :(
i ran upstairs, sat in the rocking chair with her, calmed her down and asked her "what's wrong honey?" her response "the chicken!!!" followed by more crying! so i asked her, "a real chicken or a big chicken?" "big chicken!!!!" ... "the big chicken from mcdonald's?" ... "yes!" (more crying)
so i assured her there was no big chicken here, etc. then of course she asked to sleep in our bed ... but i met her half way and offered to make her a little bed on the floor next to our bed. she said yes to that and then said "take sheepies. sheepies have tea party!!" so off she headed to our room with about 8 sheep, 2 blankets, a pillow and a mommy shirt. i told her the sheep would need to wait until morning for the tea party ... she said "ok mommy!"

so i'm off to bed now ... b/c i'm sure she's wondering where i went. oh, and yes, there was a big chicken at mcdonald's ... about 4 months ago (when they introduced their southern style chicken sandwich ... which i haven't tried ... it can't possibly be as yummy as chick-fil-a). ok, enough about food and chickens!

ni-night!

Friday, August 01, 2008

Twice in one week ...

Ok ... I'm on a role!! :o) I just wrote on Wednesday and here I am again!!

Here's a recap of the past few days (we've had french toast everyday ... just to give you a sneak peak!!).

Let's see ... Wednesday after naps we went to the airplane port (that's what the girls call it) to pick up Daddy ... b/c he came home from New York City. We went out for a really special dinner ... to Taco Bell. It was cheap and we had fun ... so it was really special. :o) After Taco Bell we had to stop by Daddy's office and drop some things off ... then Daddy told the girls that b/c they had been such good girls we were going to get an ice cream at Dairy Queen. They were sooooooo excited ... then to make things even better ... I called John & Danielle (DD) (she is Juliya's "favorite" person in the world) to see if they wanted to join us. They were free ... so they popped over to meet us and we had LOTS more fun!! It was a great evening!!

On Thursday the girls and I had a fun little "shopping" date to the Border's bookstore. We didn't really buy anything ... but they love to go there and sit in big, comfy chairs and read books ... too cute!! When Daddy was done at work we all drove down to Nashville, Indiana to the cabin where Auntie Icki (Vicki) and Timmy (her husband) were staying (they are visiting from Florida). We had a yummy dinner, hiked in the woods, played some MadGab and then drove back home. It was a total of about 3 hours in the car ... but the girls traveled really well. Napped on the way down and fell asleep on the way home. The only bummer of the evening was that Nataliya got her first bee sting. :o( She screamed loud enough for just about everyone (except possibly the hearing impaired) in Brown County to know there was a problem in our little corner of the world. The girl has some lungs ... let's just say!!! She was pretty much convinced that she'd never go outside again ... but after dinner we talked her into it ... and she got right over it!!

On Friday the girls and I played at home. We went for bike rides in the morning, played a lot with the baby dolls, painted, had left over french toast for breakfast (just thought I'd throw that in) and watched a little of Franklin to escape the heat. In the evening the girls got to go to a new babysitter ... she was really sweet and has three roommates ... so there were lots of cool girls to play with and they had a grand time!! We went to dinner with Tim & Vicki ... since this was their last night here.

This morning the girls helped me make breakfast for everyone. You already know what we made ... but we actually took it up another notch ... Almond French Toast ... YUMMALICIOUS! We also had delicious maple bacon, fresh strawberries with whipped cream & country potatoes. It was such a yummy meal. Of course baby girl Natalie (new nick name she's trying out) was excused from the table for the first 1/2 of the meal b/c she would sit in her chair as she was asked to. I'm glad Daddy was home to deal with her this morning. After her lengthy time out and chat with Daddy ... she came back to the table a very pleasant little darling! :o) There's hope!! How can one soooooooooooo very cute also be soooooooooooooooooo very trying at times! She sounds just like her Mommy did as a little girl ... ok, maybe still. :o)

The girls had a fun trip to the pool with Daddy and Uncle Timmy this afternoon ... followed by great-big naps!! I took Timmy & Icki to the airplane port and then tonight we hung out with Chris' parents and celebrated my birthday. It was a great evening.

So there you have it ... all you ever wanted to know about the past few days in our lives. I'm fading fast ... so I'd better call it a day!