Cinderella Game

Mikayla has made up a new game. She dresses in her Cinderella costume and makes me pretend I'm the wicked step-mother. Then, she tells me to give her "chores" to do before the ball. When we play this game, the house gets picked up very quickly AND the "princess" has fun. Honest, she made up the game, not me!

Terrible Two's

Elyana is really testing our patience lately. She throws a tantrum for practically everything and gets into everything. Yesterday, she managed to climb on top of Nate's desk and threw our checkbook stuff everywhere. I had just checked on her and she was happily looking at books in her room. She's stealth! Today, I had to go the bathroom. I returned to find her standing on our coffee table on her tip toes reaching my Chrystal candlesticks! I know this stage is rough on Mikayla too. Today she asked me, "She (Ely) cries a lot and is always getting into trouble. Are you sure we have to keep her?" I told her that God gave her to us and we love her very much even though she causes some trouble right now. Her response to this? "So, God actually made her this way?!"

Fun in the Snow

Well, we are finally out of the below zero temperatures for one day and of course, Mikayla wanted to play outside. So, while Elyana napped, I clipped her monitor to my coat and we built snowmen together. I remember an idea I've seen in lots of magazines. You add food coloring to water in a spray bottle and let them "paint" the snow. So, we painted our snowmen and Mikayla LOVED the whole idea of coloring the snow. Another idea I've read about too, is to take clean snow and make your own snowcones. I'm still exploring recipes of what to add to the snow... Here are some pictures of Mikayla's snowmen.

Ramblings about Friday

Well, the girls are still pretty congested, but feeling tons better. Last night they each slept through the night for the first time in weeks. I called Nate up at work after their nap time today to tell him that they were back to their old selves, but by the time he answered the phone, all he heard was:
Suzanne: "NO! You cannot tie up your sister. NO, that's not a good idea!"
Mikayla: "But, I'm supposed to be a bad guy!"
I think he got the message that they were back to their old antics!

Elyana seems to be picking up a new word each day. Friday her word was "stinky." She learned this one when I walked into the room and announced, "Wow, someone has stinky pants." Ely agreed and started mumbling, "Stinky, stinky." Today she has unfortunately learned a word from her big sister, "Why, why, why!" This has already gotten annoying...

Last night, I heard a little voice from the den say, "Uh oh." And then I heard Mikayla laughing really hard. I walked in to find Elyana had gotten herself wedged inside her dress up box and was saying, "Uh oh, uh oh." She looked hilarious so I of course, took a picture.

Spaghetti and Fudge Pops

First of all, Elyana has insisted on wearing this goofy hat a good part of the morning. Lunchtime came and I'm trying to get them to eat something, anything. Spaghetti and Fudge Pops it was. Elyana had no clue how to eat a fudge pop, but I thought it would feel good to her throat and add some more calories. I hand it to her and she just laughs and laughs like I handed her a jack in the box. Then I have Kayla show her how to eat it. So then, she tries to eat it, but holds on to the popsicle part and licks the wooden stick part. She finally got the hang of it and she was quite pleased with herself. The following pictures resulted. Needless to say, I just got finished bathing them both when I blogged this!

The Girls Playing Together

The older Elyana gets, the more the girls have moments where they are starting to play together. These moments are still rare and only last a few minutes before one of them gets upset about something. So, I took a few pictures this weekend of these "rare" moments. (By the way, the two pictures of the girls coloring lasted two minutes before Ely decided she should climb up onto the coloring table in a bad attempt to then climb onto Nate's desk. This unfortunately resulted in a slight tumble and some tears.
Like I said, these moments don't last very long...)

My Builders

I had to snap this photo the other night. I came home to see Nate and Mikayla "building" things. Very cute!

Snowbound

We are soo sick of winter here. It's too cold to take the kids outside or to even run errands. Today it is snowing too much to drive anywhere if we wanted to venture out. So, what do you do when you are bored with all your toys? Make a mattress slide on the stairs. Here are some pictures of one of Kayla's favorite things to do when we're really really bored.

Know It All

Today Mikayla wanted to pray for Hannah before naptime. I mentioned that it was a good idea because Hannah wasn't doing too well today. Here's the conversation that followed:
"Why"
"Um...Because she's not any better today."
"Why can't the doctor's make her all better?"
"Sometimes even doctors don't know everything."
"Does anyone know everything?"
"God does. Only God knows everything."
"Neat, I think I know everything too! That makes us like twins!"

I smiled at Mikayla and thought, "When she's a teenager, she's really going to believe that!"

"Giant" Imagination, Dramatics, and Sweetheart

We finally caught the documentary on giants on the Discovery Channel. It was pretty good. They covered three giants, each with a different form of it. Igor is 7'8". (For comparison, Shaquille O'Neil is 7'1"). Anyway, Mikayla has asked to see "the Igor show" about 3 different times now. The other day both me, Mikayla, and Elly were all sitting on the couch together watching it. Pretty cute.

So Molly (Hannah's sister) spent the day with us yesterday (see picture of them above). At about 4:45 she started feeling sad and was really missing her parents. She told Kayla that she saw her parents drive by (she didn't) and was worried they missed her. So Kayla takes the situation very seriously and decides to warn me. I try to tell her that Molly's parents will be here at 5:30 and we'll make sure she gets together with them. Kayla wasn't buying it. "Daddy, I have the truth in my head. And you don't. Molly saw her parents and I know the truth and you don't. You're expreciating. Do you know what expreciating means?" I was trying really hard not to laugh and said, "No." "It means you're not telling the truth." I have no idea what word she was really trying to say. I finally told them that they could watch for her parents from the basement window and they both really liked that idea. As they watched I could overhear Kayla telling Molly, "But you and I have the truth. We have the truth in our heads. But Daddy doesn't. He doesn't have the truth in his head. Or his brain. Or his whole body. That's the whole problem! It's only kids that know. The big people, they don't know. But Igor. Igor knows." To which Molly said, "What?"

Oh, and Kayla did the sweetest thing. When Molly's parents came to pick her up she wanted to go to the hospital too to see Hannah. We told her No so she went and gave Molly a big hug and said, "Send that to Hannah."

And she remembers, on her own, every night to pray for Hannah. And for Maggie (her Aunt Christine's dog who's been sick).

Elly, by the way is really trying hard to walk. You can ask her if she wants to walk and she starts practicing. She's able to stand up from a sitting position in the middle of the floor right now, and can take a step or two before falling down. Suzanne said yesterday she was trying so much she was sweating and her face was all flushed.

Chores

Yesterday Mikayla was doing one of her chores, dusting the television. Elyana was being her usual nosy little-sister-self and was trying to see what Mikayla was up to. Kayla starts to explain to Ely that chores are for big kids. "Maybe someday you can do chores too," she says. I totally had this beautiful "unrealistic" day dream of the girls arguing over doing the chores someday. The reality will probably be that, yes, they will be arguing over them, who did what last and who gets to do the easy ones. Nate and I were laughing over this last night and joked, "Wait till we break it to Mikayla that when Elyana starts to do chores too, we might have to split Kayla's 10 cents she earns per chore so they each will each will get 5 cents!" Ha! Ha! By the time Elyana is old enough for her own chore list, Kayla probably will have learned all about interest, advancements, loans, and how to completely take advantage of her little sister.

Ely's Favorite Thing to Do

Elyana loves books. She is often found in her room sitting in a pile of books and "reading" them ALL one by one until all of the books on the shelf are on the floor. She does this 2 or 3 times a day. Her vocabulary is really advancing. Her new word lately is "happy." She will be playing by herself and mumble, "happy, happy!" I shared some chocolate pudding with her today and she said, "Happy!!"

Exercise is Contagious

I'm glad that Mikayla is growing up to see her parents stay active. She wanted to try the treadmill today. So, after some instructions and supervision, I let her try it. Here's a picture of her. Oh, by the way, the dress she's wearing, I bought at Target on Clearance for $5! I bought a 5T in hopes it might fit her next year as it is a little large now.

The Year in Review of Mikaylaisms

7-31-2006
Today, Kayla commented on my wedding ring. I told her, "Mommy got that ring when she got married. You get a ring when you get married."

Her reply, "Wow, do you get a watch too?"

3-28-2007
So, after being cooped up indoors since the last snow storm and trying to recover from the flu, I wanted to be creative and keep Mikayla busy so I wouldn't go stir-crazy. I got this idea to cut some holes in diaper boxes, tape them together, and make a tunnel that she could decorate with markers and stickers. It did keep her busy for a little while but soon she came to me bored again. That's when I told her that it wasn't a tunnel, it was a make-over machine. "See, you go in it with nice hair and come out with it messy hair." She thought that was neat, but still, I felt it best to demonstrate... I entered the make-over machine wondering if I would fit inside it's borders. I should also mention that I entered it wearing a pair of sweatpants that I wore in my maternity days. The make-over machine began to claim my pants as I slithered through. I felt a tad bit claustrophobic and soon just wanted out. Did I make it out alive? Yes, but pants less. I was laughing hard at myself and my own stupidity. Mikayla was not laughing, however. She simply quietly said, "Mom, you are just too big for my machine."

6-28-2007
After getting Ely down for her nap, Kayla wanted to play a board game from the closet. Pulling out the operation game she says, "Let's play the boner game!"

Maybe it's new title would help it sell better... (Speaking of the Operation game, I think a great game idea would be similar to the Operation game, but would be geared toward Preschoolers and would have the theme "The Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly."

9-23-2007
I'm hoping that Kayla is past her phase of having to wear a dress every day. Small group Bible study started up for the year and we have the next door teenage girls watching our girls. Kayla put on a pair of jeans and told me, "I'm dressed up like a babysitter today."

10-15-2007

Suzanne was at Walmart with Elly today and a stock-boy was there in the aisle, stocking things. Elly stared at him intently, as one-year-olds are wont to do. Suzanne noticed and told the stock-boy he was being watched. The stock boy turns to Elly, leans down into her face, and says with the intensity of Al Pacino in the Godfather before he kills those two guys in the restaurant: "This is why you should stay in school. Get a PHD or something." And then he walked away.

Kayla was playing with her dolls last night and Suzanne and I were sitting close by. Kayla picked up one of her dolls, lifted up the doll's dress so we could see the screw in the doll's butt, and said in a blank, matter-of-fact tone: "That's where they screwed her."

11-19-2007
Well, typical Monday morning. Ely disappears. I find her in the bathroom, with the door closed and sitting in an entire roll of toilet paper. I start to get mad, but decide to take a picture. So, Kayla asks if she can take some pictures of Ely too. I say sure as I shoo them both out of the bathroom to clean up. While I'm in there, I decide I have to go pee. Suddenly, Kayla appears with the camera to take pictures of me wiping and pulling my underwear up. Thank goodness for digital cameras and delete buttons.

12-23-2008
We are at Nate's parents for Christmas and I'm trying to get Mikayla ready for bed. I ask her to brush her teeth. Her response? "Mom, do you know what a compromise is?"

12-25-2008
We are at my mom's house for Christmas and Mikayla is admiring a Barbie doll she keeps at her house for the kids to play with when they visit. Mikayla says, "You know Grandma, I don't have a Barbie like this at home. Do you know what borrow means? It means I get to take it home with me, play with it, and you get to get it back again someday."

1-8-2008
I bought Kayla her first calendar for her room for Christmas to try to teach her about the days of the week, the months, etc. and to help her countdown till her birthday, etc. We crossed off yesterday's date this morning and I explained that today was Tues, the 8th. At some point, later today, out of the blue, she says to me, "On the 8th day, you should take a bath."

Wow, at least I know she's paying attention to my days of the week teaching.

1-10-2008
Mikayla got dressed up in an old white dress she uses for dress up. She came to me and asked, "Mom, can I borrow your wedding veil and do you know of any kid weddings you can drop me off at? I was going to get married today." I hated to disappoint her, telling her I didn't know of any.