Things that make me smile

Days can get long and repetitive here. Luckily my girls are pretty darn cute. The other day I got some crayons for the bath tub. (They were on sale, still not worth it since they only lasted one bath!) Julia drew a picture of our family. It was really sweet until she drew me. She looked up at me and then said, "You need happy eyes." She drew on the wall and said, "Those are kind of cranky eyes." She erased them. Then she started muttering as she drew. "Cranky eyes" (erase) "cranky eyes" (erase) "cranky eyes" (erase) "There we go mommy, those are happy eyes."

Adria has started emphasising her phrases when she's excited about something. For example, "It's so so so so so so so so yummy!" Or she come running at top speed and shout, "Julia is being very very very very very naughty!" Yesterday we were at the beach and Adria was just standing there staring down at the water. I finally walked up to her to tell her not to play in the water and she looked up very seriously and said, "It's very scary." At first I thought she was talking about the giant waves that were rolling in. I realized a minute later though that she was talking about the seagull that was eyeing her. At one point a bird got too close and she came running to me. I told her to tell the bird to go away and it would leave. She was very firm when she said, "GO AWAY BIRD!!" And then proceeded to chase it. The bird ran under a table and then out onto the sand. Adria followed that bird's trail exactly. The bird just led her in a circle. I thought it was pretty cute.

Rainy days and Mondays

It started raining on Sunday. It's supposed to continue to storm until Friday. I've become a real baby about lousy weather since I moved to California. I don't want to go out if I have to wear a coat. Julia and Adria are standing at the deck door right now. Julia will say, "Are you ready, Adria? Let's try it again!" Then they run outside until they can't stand the cold anymore and then run screaming back into the kitchen. They've been doing it for 15 minutes. I would take a picture, but since they aren't really dressed I don't think it's appropriate. Why are they not dressed? Well, Adria has put her foot down and told Ben and I that she will be potty trained whether or not we like it. If you think I'm exaggerating, you can try to talk her out of it. She's been taking off her diaper when my back is turned for weeks now. I keep putting it off because I'm still a bit traumatized from cleaning up from Julia's potty training. Since we're under house arrest from mother nature this week, I finally gave in. She's done remarkably well. Only two accidents (not counting the ones in the middle of the night that were my fault for not dragging myself out of bed fast enough...eight times). I wish you could see how cute these girls are right now, wearing only fairy panties running out into the rain holding hands. I love my babies.

Baby Madeline

Julia fell in love with her cousin Madeline when she was born. She sat and held her for 45 minutes! I can't get her to do anything for that long. When we got home from Utah, my sister-in-law had left a doll for each of the girls for Christmas. Julia immediately named her doll "Baby Madeline." It goes everywhere with her. She won't eat, sleep or go to the store without her. Yesterday we went for a walk and Baby Madeline went too. Every day we also look at the picture of Julia holding her cousin. She talks about visiting her until I think I'll just send Julia to live with my sister. I think it's really sweet.

Cute girls

Adria playing the drums. Lately everything is a drum, including a very unwilling Julia.

Julia eating her favorite ice cream. She helps around the house and when she earns a dollar Ben takes her to get an ice cream at Thrifty's.

Hazards of blogging

Don't blog while your kids are awake. Or, if you do, make sure to check on them every 30 seconds. This is what happened while I was doing the last post. It's Ben's hair gel. She's mad because I took it away. Crazy, curious little girl.

Thomas, meet Hello Kitty

I guess this is what happens when two little girls play with trains. Julia told me that they needed to go home to the castle so that they could eat dinner. You can't see it in the picture, but Hello Kitty was the one who fed the trains. They had lots of fun.

Road Trip

We finally made it back to sunny California this week...nice, warm, snow-free California. I have to say that I have a much greater appreciation now for the family trips my parents took when I was a kid. I'll tell you what, 12 hours in the car with my screaming kids and I feel like 2 kids is all we're having. Luckily that wears off... after a few months...

Anyway, I thought you'd enjoy a look into the entertainment that we provide on our Utah-Cali tours...

We start out with a few rounds of "We Are a Happy Family." After about 30 straight minutes of it though, Ben was not feeling much love for that song.After a showing of Dora, we move on to the game "Find a New Hat."

Yes, that is a portable potty seat and it's carrying bag...don't worry, at this point they were still clean.

And, just to help us all appreciate the warm Cali weather, we make a quick potty stop on the side of the road. So. Stinking. Cold.

After Vegas the whole thing kind of goes downhill and the pictures may be traumatic to the new parents mentioned in the previous post. I will spare you all the chocolate-covered-hair-pulling-scream-your-head-off nightmares that we pulled out of the carseats when we got home. Just know that we did make it home and are back to singing happy songs.

New Beginnings

My sister had a baby this morning. There is something to be said about family ties because I already love this little bundle so much! I think it was the perfect way to start a new year (because I wasn't the one in labor all night). Jess and Tyler, she is amazing. Welcome, baby Madeline!