Mikayla's School Picture

Let me know if you'd like one of the photos and what size, I just ordered the CD of the picture so I can choose how many photos I want to take to Target and print.

School Friend's Influence

Kayla came home from school yesterday and said, "Did you know there's a new Hannah Montana movie coming out?!" When Nate got home, she told him about it too. He asked her if she even knew what the Hannah Montana movie was about. Her reply was something like, "Um, I guess it's about a girl named Hannah and another girl named Montana." Ha! Obviously someone at her school has an older preteen sister or something.

The other thing she came home talking about was Disney World. "Mom, can we go to Disney World?! Molly has gone and Cinderella and ALL the princesses live there. Mickey Mouse lives there too! Please can we go?!"

Mikayla's running around right now dressed up like a princess fairy (the crown, wings, shoes, and magic wand). With her incredible imagination and vocabulary, she just ran up to me and declared, "In honor of my world and my sister, you must give us back THE light." Hmm, if I only I knew where I put that light I could save a world... : )

Dress Up at Church

Last night I was providing child care at church again, but since it was only for two children, I invited Nate and the kids along to join me. Mikayla gets there and immediately starts to play dress up. She found a hat with horns (Viking helmet) and runs across the room towards me yelling, "You be horny, You be horny!!" Man, I could have died! Nate was trying hard not to laugh. I'm sure HE thought it was a great idea!

Toes

As you know, Elyana loves food. I walked into Target this morning after dropping Mikayla off at school and Ely points to the bakery and exclaims, "cookie!" They learn quick, don't they?!

Do you recall a previous posting about Ely waking up in the morning and I discovered her sitting in her crib with her pj's unzipped and she was "chatting" with her boobs? Well, yesterday I heard her waking up in the monitor and then I heard a loud, "Uh oh, UHH OHHH!" I rushed in to see what was going on and the kid had taken off her socks and discovered that her toes could wiggle. I laughed and said, "Toes, those are toes!" She replied, "ohhs?" So when Nate came home later that day, Elyana scrambles up the stairs eager to see him and she sticks her foot in the air and exclaimed, "Ohhs! Ohhs!" Very cute moment! However, middle of the night we once again woke up to her crying. Seconds later, the crying stopped and we heard, "uh oh!" I do not want to know what she discovered then, she went back to sleep on her own after a while. I'm sooo glad I don't have any boys. I don't want to imagine "that" discovery!

A little about me now...registration finally opened up for the Danskin Triathlon in Pleasant Prairie, WI. So, I am now officially registered for the Duathlon this April and the Triathlon this July. Yikes! I'm very confident in my training and that I'll be fine, just say some prayers that I stay injury free through training and during these big events. I'm very eager for spring to finally come so I can train outside. I'm getting so bored with the treadmill and stationary bike. Oh yeah, if anyone reading this has any idea how to tell if your bike helmet is ANSI approved, let me know! I might just take it to a bike shop and see if they know for starters. With all the things I'm having to buy for the triathlon, I'd hate to have to purchase another bike helmet.

It's Hard to Stay Mad

Elyana has not been sleeping well this week. We are very worn out and stressed as Nate is still working mandatory overtime. So, this morning I came down the stairs in a terrible mood. Mikayla sees me and blurts out, "Daddy says you're hands are full of Ely. I want my hands to be full of Ely too!!!" I immediately laugh and then I hear the little devil herself in the monitor waking up. I go in to check on her and find her sitting in her crib with her pajamas completely unzipped and she's pointing to and chatting with her boobs. How can you stay mad after seeing such a site! It's like they were her new best friends! Yesterday we put a ponytail in Elyana's hair for the first time (see picture below). The funny thing is after dinner, the ponytail came out and her hair was still in ponytail position from all the food she rubs in there. Gross but funny looking.


Another funny thing I wanted to mention that had me chuckling this week was on the way home from school Wednesday Kayla shouts from the back seat, "Mom! Did you know if you put your finger in Ely's mouth, she sucks on it!?" Two minutes later I hear, "Mom! Did you know if you put your finger in Ely's mouth, she bites it?!" It seemed like an obvious to me, but I guess you have to learn somehow... I swear though, Ely will eat anything. If I miss her "signals" that she's hungry, I find her pacing the kitchen (because she's walking now!) mumbling "hungee, hungee." Or I find her scrounging under her high chair for old discarded leftovers. Gross.

Minnesota Children's Museum

The MN Children's Museum in St. Paul offers free admission every third Sunday of the month. We took advantage of a free weekend and visited it. It was pretty fun, yet exhausting. They had a Sesame Street exhibit. They also had a special adventure area for toddlers. Another cool thing that the kids liked was a pretend neighborhood. You could dress up like a mail man and by matching the number on the letters, you deliver mail to the different mailboxes at the different "places" in the neighborhood. One of them was a home where you could pretend to plant flowers in a garden, hang out the laundry, etc. There was also a grocery store, a restaurant, a doctors office, and a make a music video store, etc. Here is a link to the museum if you wanted to know more about the 5 entire floors of exhibits!

http://www.mcm.org/whatshere.shtml

The only thing that I will probably have bad dreams about tonight is when we discovered the pretend ant tunnels. They have these series of dark maze tunnels you can crawl through. Nate and Mikayla crawled through first and of course Elyana crawls in after them. So, I crawl in after Ely with my huge purse, camera, and water bottle. Nate and Kayla get way ahead of us and since it's a maze type thing, I have no idea which way they went. Ely starts to crawl backwards, then decides she's ready to get out of there! So, with her in one arm (doing the whole arched back, "I want out of here" thing) and all my items in the other arm, I'm trying to figure out HOW to get out. I finally figured it out and was sweating by the time I got out of there.

Here are some pictures of our day! Enjoy!

Mikayla's Special Day at School

Since Mikayla has a summer birthday, this last week her class celebrated her 1/2 birthday. Her teachers ask that a parent spend the day with them so Nate took off the morning to spend with her since I got to go last year. We were going to make heart-shaped soft pretzels, but the dough wasn't cooperating so we rolled it flat and used a cookie cutter to make heart-shaped rolls. Then we brushed them each with butter and started to sprinkle them with a cinnamon and sugar mixture. We were half way through when Mikayla asks "what if everyone doesn't like cinnamon and sugar?" So we left the rest of them plain. I guess that when she brought them to school she told the teachers that the girls get the cinnamon and sugar and the boys don't. I'm sure that was a bit awkward. Then she came home and told me that next year, we should do the same thing except the girls will get the rolls and the boys will get hot dogs. I don't want to hear what Freud would think of that one! Here are some pictures of our baking for her school day and of what our bookworm Elyana was doing while we were baking.

A Few Cute Things Mikayla Said

Well, we pass by Mikayla's Kindergarten a few times a day (to and from preschool). She talks about it a lot. I thought I should warn and prepare her that she has a round of shots due before Kindergarten. So, I break the news to her, telling her that all kindergartners have to have shots before they can go to school. She is quiet for awhile and says, "You mean all of us kindergartners will be walking around with ouchies and bandaids on?" She seemed relieved to know that everyone should be healed from their shots well before their first day of school.

Then, on the way home from church tonight she told me that she couldn't wait to go to Heaven. I asked her which part of going to Heaven is she exited about...meeting Jesus, seeing what He looks like, etc. She said she really wanted to know what God looks like AND because there has to be a long tube somewhere that sucks you up to Heaven. "We could drive around and see if we can find it," she tells me...

Growing Up Fast

As some of you know, we have a large number "7" taped over the minutes of Mikayla's digital clock in her room. She knows when she sees the clock match the number, she can come out of her room. Lately, we've been so floored by her. Not only has this idea worked beautifully, but lately, she's been coming out of her room completely dressed for the day all by herself.

Also, Elyana is still an avid bookworm! We constantly find her little nose in books "reading" aloud to herself. She is already recognizing the letters B, C, and D. This week she learned the words "yellow" and "people." Must have learned them from one of her videos. Oddly, she's combined these words and has been talking about "yellow people." Oops. No worries though, she'll have new favorite words in a few days. I just hope it's not words that her sister teaches her.

Lately, Nate has had to put in several weeks of overtime at work. This is how an awesome tired dad still spends time with his girls...

Hugging

The girls had a rare moment today where they were hugging each other. Mikayla must have realized this too because she told me I should take some pictures. So I did!

Elyana's "Happy" and Mikayla's Exercise

Elyana has nicknamed her pacifier "happy." It's pretty cute.

Lately, when I'm on our stationary bike training for the Duathlon and Triathlon, Mikayla has been wanting to walk on the treadmill and pretend she's training for a kid race. When we're working out together, we talk about how strong we're getting. I also use these times to remind her how important what we eat is for our bodies too (since she tends to be a poor eater). There are actually some "races" for kids this summer here in town where every child gets a ribbon. It's called Hal Martin All Comer's Track Meet and is on select Tuesdays during the summer. Races start at 6pm and are held at Soldier's Field Memorial Park. Races are held for kids ages toddler- eleven yrs and are free. We'll have to check them out. It's an awesome feeling for me to know that our girls are learning the importance of exercise and that I can be an example for them!

Wisconsin Dells

Last Thursday we went to the Great Wolf Lodge in WI Dells for a night. It was a really nice place. Not too big, not too small. Very very family friendly. They have this animated show and story time by the fireplace in the evenings. They even have an entire building for kids crafts, games, etc. An area near the lobby had a little play house and other toddler toys. The only thing that bugged us about the whole trip was Mikayla's new fear of water. She stayed in the wading pool with a life vest most of the time. Elyana on the other hand was giggling and trying to get me to let go of her in the deep end of the wave pool. It's funny how different they are. Here are some pictures of us at the water park.