Bedtime stories

I don't remember the exact details of how "Dora stories" got started. I just remember a feeling of desperation to get the girls to settle down. Julia has become rather fond of Dora the Explorer lately. Even Adria mirrors Swiper's infamous "Oh, man" (finger snap). If that last sentance didn't make sense to you, that can only be because you haven't watched Dora....yet. Mwah ha ha ha. Seriously, Julia loves the show, but several parts of it are meant to drive a mother crazy. For me, Map is the worst! Okay, I'm getting sidetracked here. So, one day out of desperation I made up a story about Dora and her BFF Boots the monkey. I even included Map and Swiper the Fox and mimicked the Dora format. So, now before any nap or bedtime, the girls cuddle up in my bed with their sippy cups and I tell them a "Dora story." Julia always plays the part of Dora, Adria is her trusty companion Boots and I fill in for all the other characters except for Benny the Bull who is played by Julia's Daddy. Here is a picture of Dora, Boots, Swiper and Benny. It's practically a family portrait of us. (I think I actually might get that exact evil grin sometimes) I really have come to love story time with my girls. The stories are usually about what we did that day. Dora and Boots will join Diego (Tori) in a quest for an ice cream cone or they go to find the lost book at the library. Julia's additions always crack me up. She is definately an imaginative child. I don't know how long it will last, but I love watching these two interact in such a special, sister way.

Finger painting

For those of you who don't know, Julia is a very creative little girl. She loves painting, drawing and gluing and any other artisitc activity I can come up with. She will sit with her watercolors for over an hour. So, last night at Target I found some $1 finger paints! I knew it would be messy, but I also knew that she would just love it. I took these pictures, but then she realized she could fit her whole hand into the jar and scoop out the paint. After that I was just trying to keep it off the carpet and out of her hair. I got the end result on video, but I forgot to take a picture. She was covered past her elbows with paint. She used pretty much all the paint. I think this was her favorite craft so far. Here are some of her more colorful paintings. I want to frame them for her and put them in her room.

Summertime

I love summer! I mean, what's not to love? Warm, sunny, long days, playing at the beach, cute hats.... Julia calls this her "silly cowboy hat." I also love all the yummy fruit that fills the stores during the summer. Watermelon is one of my favorite things to eat in the summer. I can eat half a watermelon at once when it's hot out. Obviously Julia has taken after her mother. She ate three slices of watermelon for breakfast today. Granted, it was a much smaller watermelon... (the company Ben works for grows produce including watermelons that are only the size of canteloupes). Julia has loved having Ben bring home some for us to try. She just hasn't been able to say "watermelon" yet. The closest she came was when she called it a "water-lemon" but it usually sounds more like "watlamelermelalon." I'm not kidding, I wrote that down while she was saying it. Anyway, I love summer!

Another First

Today was the first time that one of my kids got stung by a bee! Have I ever mentioned that I hate bees? I took Julia and Adria to the park after their naps and Adria crawled over a bee. The stupid thing was already dead so I didn't even get the satisfaction of killing the monster that hurt my baby. Adria has got such a high threshold for pain. She kind of whimpered, but no tears...none. I wouldn't have even known she had been stung if there hadn't been a bee hanging from her shin. I'm allergic to bees and so are most of my family. Ben doesn't know if he's allergic because he doesn't think he's ever been stung. So, I was worried that Adria might be allergic too. Even though we had only been at the park for 5 minutes, I made the girls leave and run to Wal-Mart with me. I grabbed some Benadryl and gave it to Adria like she was dying. Julia was just mad that she didn't get any. She keep kicking the cart and telling me she needed medicine for her owie leg. Anyway, Adria seems to be just fine so I guess I won't rush her to the ER next time she gets stung.

Happy Mother's Day!

I want to say thanks to all the wonderful mothers in my life. There are too many to name them all, but I do want to say thanks to my mom. She has always been there for me, no matter what. I hope that some day I will be as patient, wise and loving as she is. I also want to thank my wonderful husband for making me feel loved and important today. I realize that it has been forever since I posted anything. We have been keeping pretty busy. I was up in Utah with my family for 2 weeks and then my brother Nate came down here one last time before he leaves to serve a mission in Chile. This last week my sister Jessica and her husband Tyler stayed with us for a couple of days. And of course day to day life with 2 toddlers is pretty crazy. You should have seen the laundry pile in my front entry way. Julia kept pretending to be Dora climbing "tall mountain"....for four days! I finally washed it though. Yah, life gets crazy. Anyway, here a few pictures that I have been meaning to post. Most of them are from my trip to Sea World with Jessica over a month ago. In case you can't tell from the huge grins on their faces, I will say that Julia and Adria had the time of their life. I also included a video of Julia feeding raw fish (YUCK!) to a seal. She thought that was the greatest thing ever! There are also pictures from this week at the beach with Jess and Tyler and then this funny picture of Julia, Adria and Tori (who is almost like another sister) playing in the water on my deck.