Friday, May 29, 2009

what dat noise?

calla has been using this phrase for the past few months. anything & everything she hears she asks, "what dat noise?" sometimes it's the train coming, a siren, honking...but sometimes we don't even know what she is hearing because whatever it is, it seems it's audible only to her. a toddler's curiosity is such an amazing thing.

tonight over dinner she took her token "what dat noise" phrase and changed it up on us. greta was telling me a story about gymnastics and how after class (mike took both the girls so i could finish getting dinner ready) she saw "a guy with green hair and no shirt on- so you could see his ovals." apparently this is her word for nipples, and when we all started laughing calla said her new "what dat noise" phrase - "what you talk-a-ing about?" then we started laughing at her & it was all downhill (or uphill, depending on how you feel about uncontrollable laughter) from there. mike & calla started imitating each other, saying "what you talk-a-ing about" over & over, and then greta asked, "why are you guys argu-u-ing?" it was one of those nights where i wanted dinner to last forever. we frosted cupcakes after dinner for no reason other than sometimes you just need a cupcake with sprinkles and princess graham crackers on top. it was just one of those nights- love it!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

how could i forget my camera?

this past weekend was full of all kinds of fun adventure- and since i failed to have my camera around for any of it- you will just need to use your imaginations (plus a few links here & there) to get an idea of what the weekend held.

friday we headed to the gym in the morning, where the girls played with their church/school/gym friends. i then cut my hair (it seems i officially am a short hair girl. no matter what i do i can't seem to grow it out- so now the question remains- when will i officially have "mom" hair? or do i have it already?) while the girls played with more friends. then we headed to gymnastics that night and finished off the evening by going out to pizza with our gymnastics friends.

saturday we hung out at home all day & then had our first family bike ride! greta rode by herself across the streets and was awesome! calla fell asleep in the trailer and i relearned how to ride a bike after all these years (i can't even remember the last time i rode, but now that i have one of these i want to ride all the time!). it was awesome. rode to the fountain where we had a picnic and the girls played until they were soaked. well, calla was soaked, greta was not really into the fountain as much as riding the scooter we borrowed from our neighbor.

sunday was church, followed by a day spent in mcminnville in the carlson's backyard. saw friends, celebrated jakob's 4th birthday and enjoyed every minute of it. after the party and dinner we headed to my parent's house, where the girls got their first scooter, and greta received a lovely nightgown, which she is trying to convince us is really clothing.

monday we went out to a fabulous breakfast in portland with my family and grandpa. i sometimes am a complete genius and this was one of those times. i brought bead necklaces the girls could work on while they were waiting for their food (gotta love the michaels dollar bins). so they sat and created some plastic bead beauties while we waited for our food. the funniest part about the meal is that greta ordered a monte cristo- she cracks me up sometimes! we left there to head home & hit our local outdoor water park otter beach. i was not sure if the girls would love or hate it, but hours later i was pretty sure it was a hit! we met up with some friends there and it was a fabulous day, especially since mike joined us (we aren't going to see much of him these next few weeks as he finishes up school). after hours playing we went out for ice cream cones at mcdonalds (and enjoyed the play structure too), then we were off to friends from church for a bbq...a perfect end to a pretty perfect weekend.

now i really am kicking myself for forgetting my camera! but at least we can remember all the fun things we did for the weekend & we have a few visual aids to help out.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Spring sing, Belle & Calla

now that i've committed to keeping up the blog, it's time for some photos!

last thursday greta had her spring sing at school. it was about 15 minutes of the kids singing various songs & it was probably one of the tamest programs i've seen. no one did anything crazy and it was structured- kind of a big surprise and i have to admit, sort of disappointing! i totally look forward to the chaos that comes with a kid's program, so i was waiting & waiting for some sort of disaster and while it was still really nice, i wanted to see a meltdown or one kid singing & dancing out of control. at the same time, it was SO fun watching greta up there. she was so excited to see us & very diligent about making sure she followed the moves and that she sang loud & clear.



i also took greta to her first play. we went to see beauty & the beast. her friend scarlet (who is 12, but greta refers to her as her friend) was in the play and greta loved it. took a little getting over the scary beast, but she turned to me during the play and said, "mom, this is a really, really good movie!" everyone near us got a good chuckle out of that one.


then there is calla. it seems like poor calla gets neglected on this blog when it comes to story telling. and it's not because we lack stories about calla, i think it's more that she can't talk much. she's getting there, but her stories involve more physical activity and i don't know if she wants us to mention all the bullying she does on here! :) i will say my absolute favorite thing about calla is that she laughs- all the time, about everything. if she falls down - she laughs. if she is talking to greta - she laughs. if she is being a monster - she laughs. if we say it's time for...(fill in the blank- dinner, bedtime, getting dressed) - she laughs. everything she does- she does it with a laugh. life doesn't get much better than that!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

what's your name?

recently we noticed that when calla was asked her name, her response was "two". i decided to teach her the difference between her age & name. so i'd say- calla, how old are you, "two" she would say. then i'd ask her name & she'd say "two" again. i explained the difference- you are two years old but your name is calla. can you say calla? can you say calla johnson? she would repeat it all after me and i'd ask her the questions again.

me- calla, how old are you?
calla- two
me- calla, what's your name?
calla- greta's sister.

hilarious & of course we laughed, which made her laugh, which made it take weeks to get her to actually say her name. she will still say her name is greta's sister if she wants to get a good laugh out of us. it's amazing that at two she is smart enough to know she is putting on a good show. and also very telling that she refers to herself as greta's sister- even though she is the bully (we often hear greta wimpering b/c calla is literally attacking her), she still idolizes her big sister.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

back at it!

today was the first day in weeks when greta was greta. she was laughing, giggling, making boats & rainbows and butterflies out of her apple and it was SO fun to have her back! we even made kool-aid playdough tonight and she played with it for hours just cutting shapes, building people, animals, making up stories- it was awesome. aunt kaitlin sat with both the girls and played with them. calla even got into it (she is still pretty sick so it was nice to see her enjoying herself a bit). we made rice krispie treats, had a pillow fight & played belly bumpers. calla is still really sick, but she had a bit of life in her. mike took calla to the doctor today who prescribed anti-nausea meds to try to help her get healthy. she is still so weak & can't seem to keep anything in her. the only good part is that she wants to cuddle and i love when she crawls into my lap and falls asleep while i'm holding her. nothing beats that & those are the moments when i think that they will not be little forever. i have to savor every moment of it. i'm so thankful for a little bit more health today. and tomorrow we'll have a little bit more...we're getting there!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

greta's first dentist appointment

today greta had her first dentist appointment. i didn't even think we would make it to the appointment b/c of the week we've had (i'll get to that), but she made a quick recovery and we made it! let me tell you- she was not a happy camper about the fact we were heading to the dentist. huge tears filled her eyes and she was so sad as i said it was time to go. i didn't talk much about beforehand, since the one time i did mention it she said, "scaredy cat!", which i'm pretty sure means she was scared. we went today and read books while we waited and then walked back to have the BEST experience! the dental hygienist was a rock star! she knew just how to work with kids & greta was laughing and smiling the entire time. even when they told her she has two cavities (for real- how much did i feel like a bad mom when i heard that one) she was unfazed. she thought the whole thing was fabulous and doesn't think going back for her cavities is a big deal- i will just need to brace myself for that one!

now- the last week. what a crazy one! my mom was admitted to the hospital 10 days ago for an infected colon. turns out it spread to 100 feet of her large intestines and the dr explained it to her as if she had burned all the skin off her arms and needed to let it heal - that is the type of healing her colon/large intestines needed to to. she was in the hospital for 4 days, released, home for two days and is now back in the hospital for bacterial pneumonia and severe asthma. it's scary, but it appears she is doing okay and will be released sometime soon.

ps- the night after my mom was admitted my purse was stolen out of our car. i don't even want to go into details, but it's a big, huge, inconvenient mess! the worst part is of course the camera with all the pictures. bummer.

in the midst of all of this the girls got the worst flu EVER!!! we've had throwing up/diarrhea for the last week and i'm hoping, praying, crossing my fingers, disinfecting the ENTIRE house in hopes that we can be done with this. it feels like i have washed every towel & clothing item we own b/c of the girls throwing up on everything and i just want some health to return. greta missed a birthday party that was planned around her being there. her friend asked her mom "couldn't greta just come to the party with a bucket?" (about the cutest thing ever!) greta had the biggest crocodile tears when i told her she couldn't go to the party. i realized at that moment that i can handle a lot when it comes to me and our crazy life, but when things happen to my kids i get mad. it just doesn't seem fair. why greta? i know it's life, but it was the hardest part of the week for me- watching her be so sad. and calla has been furious with us & bursts into tears b/c all she wants to do is a drink a BIG huge glass of gatorade, but we have to ration it out so she doesn't throw it all up. again- so sad.

in all of it, we've been able to have some fun & i sit and think how thankful i am for our family and that we can take care of each other. i realize so often how good we have it, doesn't mean life is easy or fair, but it's good. for this i'm very thankful. as my friend steph reminded me this past week- count your blessings, even when things are bad. it's so true.

okay- off to cut some fabric for an apron. one of these days i'll post pictures of some of my projects, but this blog has become more of our place to keep track of things so we can remember them down the road. our online journal, as measly as it might be, imagine if we didn't have it. the girls have their baby books, but i like thinking there is something beyond that. now i should just get better at keeping this up!!!